Forrest Gump (1994) / Glenmorangie Nectar D'or Single Malt Scotch [30:34-35:36]

and I can see why they would think that, but I think that there's enough attention given to each of these relationships that he has, with Mama, with Bubba, with Jenny, with Lieutenant Dan, that they each have their own unique rhythm and dialogue to them, and then they each have their own arc and emotional payoff, and I don't feel like they were manipulating us by pulling a string in a way that seemed false, especially on those fronts. Yeah, man, I mean, I feel like there's so many directions we could go with this, but what do you think when it comes to Zemeckis as a director in this movie? What are some elements of the cinematography of the acting performances, of the different things you see on the screen that drew you in this time? So Zemeckis kind of made his bones as a Steven Spielberg protege, and then he gets deployed by Spielberg in his first few films, and then he makes it big with back to the future. And ever since back to the future, Zemeckis has been known as a guy who even more than Spielberg, like he loves him some special effects. He loves kind of pushing the boundaries on what you can do with computer imagery. You know, he's very similar to James Cameron or a George Lucas in that regard. I think that just is successful in all of his films. Yeah, I mean, he's never made a bad movie and either is George Lucas. What are you talking about? So, and I don't mean anything disparaging to Zemeckis in that regard because I think that he's a good director. I also just think that like, when you look at how Steven Spielberg maps out a shot in his mind and the Spielberg winners and the way that he is just like mentally storyboarded every shot, it's insane what that guy can do. Zemeckis, I feel like, is a really good copycat of Spielberg in that like the camera is moving around a lot in this movie. And I think the actual like the lighting of the movie, the blocking of the movie, it looks like a movie. It's a beautiful film to look at in parts. I don't think that I would look at the majority of the shots in this movie as like, artfully composed. There's a lot of shots of like, that's a beautiful mountain, but the mountains beautiful. Like the camera work in this movie is very workmen like. It's, you know, it gets the job done. But it's not on the level of like a Spielberg. Does that make sense? A hundred percent. I think there's a few moments that stand out to me. One being when, when Forrest is in the hospital and he's narrating something. And all of a sudden, you see Lieutenant Dan's hand like reach up behind him and grab him and pull him down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, like there's little moments like that. Or even when, when he's walking out from being on television in New York and the door closes and Lieutenant Dan is waiting there for him. I think there are some great moments where the camera almost hides something and gives you a bit of a surprise. Even when he's in Vietnam and it's raining and then there's the moment where the rain stops and then immediately the bullets start flying. Like there's a moment where Zamekis likes to try to surprise the viewer. But I'm with you. Like he's not a hall of fame camera usage type director. And I think like similarly, I wouldn't call him a great director of actors. That's not to say that everybody in this movie isn't very good. But we don't, we don't think about like, man, Robert Zamekis really directed Tom Hanks to that Oscar. It's like, no, Tom Hanks went and studied the speech patterns of the kid that plays Forrest Gump. Tom Hanks was leaning into like he was at the height of his powers here. And Robert Zamekis is a competent enough director that he knows when to leave the camera on Sally Field for an extra five seconds to get her her Oscar nomination. But I feel like it's more a function of working with really good actors than it is that he brought something out in these actors. Yeah, I mean, that's like always, I don't know. I feel like your distaste overall for the film, in my mind like, I don't know why isn't it a boon to Zamekis that he knew to do that for five more seconds on Sally Fields. And he knew how to let Tom Hanks be Tom Hanks. Like, oh yeah. I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing, but I think we can say that he was in charge of that final product and put together a film where people were getting nominated for best acting performances. And he was under, he was under, he received a nomination and won for best director. Like I think he was kind of doing something right for most of the film. Yeah. And I feel like I don't, I don't want you to misconstrued I'm saying either. Like, you can absolutely be a workman-like director