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| gromit |
 Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:34 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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lshap wrote: Into The Wild is as powerful as a personal journey tale can be. It's based on a true story of Christopher McCandless, a 22-year-old young man from a well-to-do family who graduates from college, mails his life savings to Oxfam, changes his name and escapes everything, and everyone, he knows, bumming his way from Georgia to Mexico to California, and then up the coast to Alaska.
I'm glad that you didn't give away the ending where he gets eaten by a grizzly bear.
Oh wait, different film.
Sounds good. I didn't know what it was about. |
Last edited by gromit on Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:53 am; edited 1 time in total
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:53 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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tirebiter wrote: Very evocative of "The Godfather" and "French Connection" and "Serpico."
True, it evokes those films. If it only were half as good as any of them. Before I am misunderstood--this is not a bad movie. It is, however (and IMO) terrifically mediocre, as opposed to anything approaching excellent.
I must seriously dispute tire's praise of the story arc. To me, it looks as if the director threw up index cards, each with a separate scene, into the air and filmed them in the order they landed. There is no forward thrust to this story. Tire is right, the movie doesn't lag in pace--but it has little of the "page-turner" about it, and it needs it desperately. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:19 am |
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I was not optimistic after seeing the previews of American Gangster (many times) and Billy's review and a rave blurb from Peter Travers makes me think that my doubts about this movie may have been warranted.
Travers also had warm words for that supposedly limp Dan In Real Life. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:36 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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marantzo wrote: I was not optimistic after seeing the previews of American Gangster (many times) and Billy's review and a rave blurb from Peter Travers makes me think that my doubts about this movie may have been warranted.
Travers also had warm words for that supposedly limp Dan In Real Life.
So did Owen Glieberman, not surprisingly. |
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| bart |
| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:53 pm |
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Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 2381
Location: Lincoln NE
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Gromit, I made a nearly identical joke "....gets eaten by a grizzly bear" about In the Wild, at another website.
Which reminds of famed character actor, Bart the Bear, perhaps best known for his role as a bear in The Edge. If you search the film on imdb, click on Bart's name and check out his filmography. (I'm too easily amused)
There are anecdotes about the filming of The Edge about how difficult it was to induce Bart to look angry and menacing -- appparently, he was quite fond of everyone on the set and was such a sweetheart that the animal handlers had to go to great lengths to try and get him to at least act pissed.
Alec Baldwin, on the other hand.... |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:37 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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Quote: If this sounds like a carefree story of youthful exuberance and cool adventures, it's not. The emotional power of this film comes from the haunting lack of happiness within this guy. The farther he travels, the more beautiful the scenery, the nicer the people he meets, the less he seems to have. Into The Wild is a beautifully told arc of anger, sadness and, finally, acceptance. Ironically, the only person unaware of this trajectory is Christopher himself. He sees himself as a discoverer of some kind of truth; others see a sweet, scraggly, educated mess, running from himself as fast as he can.
Lorne........I agree with you about the power of this film. It's my favorite of the year.......But strongly disagree with your conclusion of his unhappiness. I was impressed with his joie de vivre. His journey was not away from himself......but to a self that was truly his and not the product of an unhappy family. This was a spiritual journey where his discovery was that he wanted to share happiness.......and return home.
I love the soundtrack by Eddie Vedder. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 3:37 pm |
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Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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Befade wrote: Quote: If this sounds like a carefree story of youthful exuberance and cool adventures, it's not. The emotional power of this film comes from the haunting lack of happiness within this guy. The farther he travels, the more beautiful the scenery, the nicer the people he meets, the less he seems to have. Into The Wild is a beautifully told arc of anger, sadness and, finally, acceptance. Ironically, the only person unaware of this trajectory is Christopher himself. He sees himself as a discoverer of some kind of truth; others see a sweet, scraggly, educated mess, running from himself as fast as he can.
Lorne........I agree with you about the power of this film. It's my favorite of the year.......But strongly disagree with your conclusion of his unhappiness. I was impressed with his joie de vivre. His journey was not away from himself......but to a self that was truly his and not the product of an unhappy family. This was a spiritual journey where his discovery was that he wanted to share happiness....... and return home.
I love the soundtrack by Eddie Vedder.
Weird...I'm currently working with a client in a restaurant while listening to Vedder's soundtrack on the sound system. It is great.
Gotta' contend that Chris' story was a textbook case of escaping from one's life. He disowns everything associated with his life to that point, including his own name, running from anyone who gets close during his journey, and all in service of an ostensible quest to discover something that never completely arrives. His experiences were less about discovering than hiding; each time he got close to someone, he left. He didn't nourish himself on each experience but, instead, abandoned it in favour of moving onto his next destination.
Despite the beautiful places he went, and despite the many fringe characters he met and befriended, his emotional starvation was even more profound than his physical malnourishment.
His realization that happiness was only real when shared came somewhat late in the game. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:39 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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Went to see Bee Movie today. In a nutshell, it's not a bad movie and has both kid and adult appeal to it.
In what I think is Jerry Seinfeld's first major movie role, he was pretty entertaining. There was no real lagging parts of the film, with the small exception of his initial conversation with Vanessa (Renee Zellweger), which was bearable given how it was part of the movie's plot/story.
It's an oft-told story: a rebel decides he wants to stand out from the rest of the crowd (ie. A Bug's Life, Antz) and make a change from the drab norm.
The writing was actually very well done, with some very prominent guest stars making cameos, taking their share of pot shots. The comedic lines aimed at Sting, Larry King and Ray Liotta were very funny and well placed.
There's a message to the movie, but it's not as "in your face" like Happy Feet was. It's woven very well into the plot of the movie.
We took our almost-5 yr old granddaughter to this and she enjoyed it without getting bored or running around the theater like she tends to do.
The movie brought enough consistent laughs to me, which made it enjoyable to sit through the almost 90 min running time. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:12 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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Sleuth
I'm not sure if the fact that I've never seen the 1972 original with Olivier/Caine makes me more or less qualified to judge this new film. Michael Caine now takes the role of the rich, older man and Jude Law plays the younger man who is a rival for the affections of the older man's wife. All I knew about both movies before today was the basic setup: that the two men engage in a verbal duel and battle of wits in the lavish country house belonging to the older man.
The movie had a lot going for it on the way in. Two fine actors, Caine and Law, are in front of the camera playing the leading roles. Behind the camera, meanwhile, are director Kenneth Branagh and screenwriter Harold Pinter. All four of them do their jobs reasonably well, I suppose, but I never lost myself in the story. As much fun as the movie at times is to listen to and look at, I couldn't shake loose the feeling that I was watching performances all the way around.
Caine and Law end up conducting an entertaining acting class demonstration as they barrel through a range of emotions. And while I normally eat up Branagh's flare for the grand visual gesture in a movie like Dead Again, my favorite of his non-Shakespearean pictures, here his camera trickery mostly just calls attention to itself and doesn't serve the story.
One headline I saw proclaimed this remake as "Alfie vs Alfie" and Pinter's screenplay doesn't help us forget the co-leads' shared role. One of them actually says, "What's it all about?" during Sleuth.
Well, if nothing else, the new movie has made me curious enough about the old one to put it on my rental queue. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:07 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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American Gangster made a financial killing over the weekend, and although I'm not a fan of the movie, I'm happy to see Washington and Crowe be box office heroes again.
Just as long as it doesn't hurt Michael Clayton in the Oscar sweepstakes. |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: not far away
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Both films have lots of OscarTM-winners in the casts-- even if they really like Washington or Crowe in AG, will they nominate them, given their already OscarTM-laden mantels? As for MC, Wilkinson and Clooney have already won, but Swinton is a shoo-in at least for a nomination.
Seems like a lacklustre year for awards handicapping so far. That'll all change when Fred Claus hits the theatres.... |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:25 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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tirebiter wrote: Both films have lots of OscarTM-winners in the casts-- even if they really like Washington or Crowe in AG, will they nominate them, given their already OscarTM-laden mantels? As for MC, Wilkinson and Clooney have already won, but Swinton is a shoo-in at least for a nomination.
Seems like a lacklustre year for awards handicapping so far. That'll all change when Fred Claus hits the theatres....
When did Tom Wilkinson win the Oscar? That must have been the year I fell asleep. He was nominated for In the Bedroom, but Denzel won that year for Training Day. |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 11:53 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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| Aha! I thought he'd won-- whom do I recall making an acceptance speech then? Musta been his twin brutha. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:42 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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tirebiter wrote: Aha! I thought he'd won-- whom do I recall making an acceptance speech then? Musta been his twin brutha.
Possibly Jim Broadbent? Same year, supporting category. |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:06 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: not far away
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Yeah, those British guys all look the same.
(Oddly, and tellingly, I think you're right-- I confused one for the other.) |
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