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| movielover14 |
 Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:43 am |
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Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 160
Location: Salt Lake City,Utah
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chillywilly wrote: Befade wrote: I did it. I watched all of The Departed. I wish I hadn't watched it alone. I feel like I've seen a horror movie. What's that song......"Everybody must get stoned"? The Departed could have been called "Everybody must get killed"
Yuck.......doesn't make me feel good to go to bed after this one......
Getting past the multiple victims, did you like the direction? The cast? The dialouge?
I would like to see The Departed. I still haven't seen it yet. It looks very good. |
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| movielover14 |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:49 am |
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Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 160
Location: Salt Lake City,Utah
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| I recently saw the Queen. I was really good. I thought Helen Mirren did a very good job in it. One thing I thought they were going to show more of was the queen's life. I thought they were going to show more of her life before getting in to Diana's death. But I still thought it was very good. |
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How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!/The world forgetting,by the world forgot/Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!/Each pray'r accepted,and each wish resign'd-Alexander Pope |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 2:59 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| Lawrence of Arabia's one of the four or five greatest English-language films made. Calling it a snoozefest is the height of cinematic illiteracy. Sorry but it's that visceral a response for me. And O'Toole's a great actor. Certainly not up to the mighty standard of Kevin Costner, but great. |
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:07 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| LAWRENCE OF ARABIA may be a snoozefest in terms of plotting or narrative arc, but it is unquestionably a great visual experience. And the visual language of a film can be far more enthralling than the language of drama. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:14 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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Marc wrote: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA may be a snoozefest in terms of plotting or narrative arc.
Nor is it that. It's deeply layered, cryptic study of a man going mad and his madness being used for political ends, of the ironies of hero-worship and warfare, and just a good thumping war story too. The final scenes are eloquent to near-Shakespearean in its subtly vast tragedy. |
Last edited by Rod on Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:34 am; edited 1 time in total
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:19 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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I know this has been said before, but the scene where Omar Sharif appears out of the desert, first a barely perceptible dot on the horizon gradually becoming a shimeering shape and then a rider until after a couple of minutes he hoves into view is one of the great scenes in cinema. It is both beautiful and, in an I-can't-stand-it-anymore sort of way, as tense as anything found in any thriller or horror film. Lean is actually reported as saying he regrets losing his nerve and not making the scene even longer - he cut to O'Toole and removed a large chunk of Sharif's arrival.
I suppose it is in the eye of the beholder whether spending three minutes watching a shape in an empty landscape slowly getting bigger and coming onto focus is rivetting cinema or yawn inducing. I fall into the former camp. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:38 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| Lean was a former editor, so he knew the rhythms and contructive dialogue of film inside out. He knew that if carefully prepared, one long shot could be riveting. If carefully prepared for. As opposed to some directors who think if you change the camera set-up once every five minutes you've created some incredible art of minimalism, with all its entailed anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, pro-feminist meaning (or at least that's would you'd think it meant according to a certain variety of critic, when it is in fact just boring cinema) |
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:54 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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jeremy wrote: I suppose it is in the eye of the beholder whether spending three minutes watching a shape in an empty landscape slowly getting bigger and coming onto focus is rivetting cinema or yawn inducing. I fall into the former camp.
Me, too. And I believe so does Van Sant. I never even thought about it, but there's a great scene like that in Gerry that probably does go the whole 3 minutes. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:02 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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ehle64 wrote: jeremy wrote: I suppose it is in the eye of the beholder whether spending three minutes watching a shape in an empty landscape slowly getting bigger and coming onto focus is rivetting cinema or yawn inducing. I fall into the former camp.
Not to mention the long shot outside the house in Last Days.
One can call me lacking in taste and get absolutist on my ass, but that still won't make me love Lawrence of Arabia. I will perhaps revisit it, however. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:04 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Very funny article, Rod. Glad you didn't cite Lawrence of Arabia. And that you held back about Notes on a Scandal. If you'd let out your true feelings about it, I think you would have lost credibility big time.
Loved your comments about Forest Whitaker the world-class actor and the sub-mediocre director. The power he manifests on screen turns wimpy and bland behind the camera. |
Last edited by billyweeds on Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:08 am; edited 1 time in total |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:06 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Marc wrote: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA may be a snoozefest in terms of plotting or narrative arc, but it is unquestionably a great visual experience. And the visual language of a film can be far more enthralling than the language of drama.
I totally agree that Lawrence is a visual marvel. That wasn't enough for me. All that sand seemed to be a present from Mr. Sandman. |
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| grace |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:22 am |
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Joined: 11 Nov 2005
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billyweeds wrote: One can call me lacking in taste and get absolutist on my ass, but that still won't make me love Lawrence of Arabia. I will perhaps revisit it, however.
Just FYI -- It's on Turner Classic today, 4-8pm (Eastern). |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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grace wrote: billyweeds wrote: One can call me lacking in taste and get absolutist on my ass, but that still won't make me love Lawrence of Arabia. I will perhaps revisit it, however.
Just FYI -- It's on Turner Classic today, 4-8pm (Eastern).
Thanks. Will TiVo. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 11:30 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Billy, Billy, Billy.
First praise for Kevin Costner, then panning Eternal Sunshine, now dissing both O'Toole and Lawrence of Arabia? Billy, Billy, Billy. Whatever are we going to do with you.
For what it's worth, my two favorite O'Toole performances are Henry II in Lion in Winter, and Alan Swann in My Favorite Year, because O'Toole understands that if you are going to go over the top, GO OVER THE TOP. He should have won the Oscar over Cliff Robertson in Charly, and Ben Kinglsey in the boring, let's all feel good about ourselves by watching this uplifting piece of "entertainment," Ghandi. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 11:34 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4607
Location: Norman, OK
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movielover14 wrote: I would like to see The Departed. I still haven't seen it yet. It looks very good.
movielover,
It is good. So is Infernal Affairs, the film it's a remake of. Both are well worth checking out. |
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