[Spiwak]

Shit man, there's no such thing as a bad Cronenberg (haven't seen Fast Company, which I bet if there is a bad Cronenberg out there that'd be it). He does mostly "horror" and "sci-fi" and sometimes a combination of the two, but his themes typically involve sex and the idea that horror comes from within the body (in his movies, literally). His earlier movies are interesting but probably not as worth watching, so I especially recommend Videodrome, The Dead Zone, The Fly, Naked Lunch, Crash (and jesus, not that Paul Haggis tripe), ExistenZ and A History of Violence. Scanners and Spider come a little below those for me. Shivers (or They Came From Within) is actually pretty sweet, so throw that in.

As for Requiem, sure sure I heard all that same stuff and used to believe it too, about the style being used as slave to substance, so to say. I just think filmmakers today are perhaps too preoccupied with style instead of using composition to thematically enhance their pictures. These movies look good and all, sure, but for whatever reason I don't tend to notice interesting compositions or whatever in all this style. Perhaps I am actually too preoccupied by it to notice the other visual elements, which would be an interesting twist and could very well be true. I guess it could also just be part of the recent trend in movies I've noticed, where they are trying to become experiences in and of themselves and extract a certain mood from the audience instead of intellectuality. I'm probably talking out my ass by now.