De Palma (2015) review

Baumbach and Paltrow get American maverick Brian De Palma to sit down and discuss his career and his (so very apparent) inspiration from a certain Alfred Hitchcock. De Palma is filled with some neat behind-the-scenes stories - Bernard Herrmann was abrasive, Cliff Robertson was a jerk on the set of Obsession, Orson Welles pulled a Brando and refused to learn his lines for Get to Know Your Rabbit, Sean Connery did not appreciate getting shot in The Untouchables - and gets defensive (note the consistently crossed arms) when it comes to ... let's just say his lesser efforts (Dressed to Kill and Snake Eyes) or his treatment of women. The major issue is that Baumbach and Paltrow are such huge fan-boys they really don't press him on much of anything - and he doesn't exactly take well to criticism (who does?) - so there's no real serious 'discussion' in here, only adulation. De Palma is right about one thing: Carlito's Way is underappreciated (and I think Body Double is one of his more underrated films).