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| Befade |
 Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 6:58 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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Bart......sounds like you're saying No Country is dark without the comedy.
Quote: No disrespect to Kingsley's wonderful character, but in the pantheon of screen sociopaths, he's not in the same echelon as Hopkins and Bardem. They are in a dead-heat tie as top villain.
Gee, Billy......I think of Hannibal Lector as a charachature (why can't I spell this word?)........I guess he scared me in the first film.....but not after. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 8:02 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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bart wrote: ....Another good comic moment was Chigurh and that poor gas station guy, the whole bit with flipping the quarter -- which was pulled pretty much intact from the novel. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 8:18 pm |
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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'm off to see Angelina Jolie's tits in 3D. |
Last edited by jeremy on Sat Dec 01, 2007 10:02 pm; edited 1 time in total
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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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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 8:24 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Befade wrote: Bart......sounds like you're saying No Country is dark without the comedy.
Quote: No disrespect to Kingsley's wonderful character, but in the pantheon of screen sociopaths, he's not in the same echelon as Hopkins and Bardem. They are in a dead-heat tie as top villain.
Gee, Billy......I think of Hannibal Lector as a charachature (why can't I spell this word?)........I guess he scared me in the first film.....but not after.
Well, I'm only talking about the first film--and Manhunter, in which Brian Cox was every bit as brilliant as Hopkins in TSOTL.
You also have trouble spelling Lecter. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 8:40 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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jeremy wrote: I'm off the see Angelina Jolie's tits in 3D.
Not all of them, though, right? I've read that Jolie's nipples and areolae have been digitally removed. |
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"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:00 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Enchanted is a fish-out-of-water comedy in which a fairytale maiden finds her Prince Charming, winning her the emnity of the Prince's evil stepmother (who would have to give up her power if he married). So the evil queen pushes the maiden down a magic well whose bottom is a manhole cover in Times Square, where the maiden turns into a live-action Amy Adams. Eventually she is joined by the Prince, a sentient chipmunk, the Queen's henchman (sent to kill the maiden) and eventually the evil Queen herself.
Fortunately the naive and perky maiden Giselle meets the charming and throroughly decent single father Robert Philip, who has given up on romance and fairy tales and has to deal with a maiden who knows romance and fairy tales are real, and proves it in Manhattan. Since Giselle retains some of the magical traits of animated film maidens, Robert's cynicism is doomed.
This is a clever premise, and the filmmakers pull it off reasonably well thanks to some inspired casting. Amy Adams, in what I believe is her first major lead, plays it with the sweetness and naivety that she did with her roles in Catch Me if You Can and Junebug; her perkiness is a bit annoying at first (imagine what a live-action Snow White would be like) but she pulls the role off, managing the transition from two-dimensional fairy tale maiden to (still magical) three-dimensional woman quite well. Dempsey is just fine as her earthly romantic interest, as is James Marsden as Prince Edward, who gets some of the best laughs, and Timothy Spall, as the henchman. Susan Sarandon overplays the wicked Queen, but who wouldn't.
The film has some big laughs, especially in the two big production numbers. The climax occurs with a costume ball, which is charming, and a battle against a CGI dragon (not bad, and fortunately not outwearing its welcome).
The songs (mostly sung by Ms. Adams) are forgettable, but the production numbers accompanying them make them worthwhile, and the method Giselle uses to make her dresses is priceless. The traditionally animated scenes are rather cartoonish; I wish the animators had spent more time on them to make them look more like early Disney animated features which were feasts for the eyes. Since most of the film is live-action, this is a minor quibble.
All in all, not a major film, and some missteps, but it's sweet, often funny, and I came out with a smile on my face. And, who knows, it may give more starring roles to Amy Adams, which I wouldn't mind at all. |
Last edited by Syd on Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:43 am; edited 2 times in total
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2007 9:14 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Looks like I have something to look forward to:
From Wikipedia:
Quote: Sunshine Cleaning is an upcoming 2008 film starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt
Quote: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Directed by Bharat Nalluri
Written by David Magee
Simon Beaufoy
Cast
* Frances McDormand - Guinevere Pettigrew
* Amy Adams - Delysia Lafosse
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* Shirley Henderson - Edythe Dubarry
Plot
In 1939, Guinevere Pettigrew, a middle-aged London governess, finds herself unfairly dismissed from her job. An attempt to gain new employment catapults her into the glamorous world and dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer, Delysia Lafosse.
Amy Adams is also in negotiations to play Sister James in the film version of Doubt, alongside Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I really hope that one comes off. I could see that being an excellent film. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 8:17 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Again the intrepid Roger Ebert bucks the critical tide, this time on the otherwise savaged Awake. Ebert gives it a three-star rating but a four-star review, making it sound like a world-class B movie in the old meaning of "B movie," the kind that would occupy the second half of a double bill in the 1940s. IOW, a pluperfect DVD rental. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:26 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:17 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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August Rush
Who at Third Eye would want to see (or recommend that others see) August Rush? Perhaps the best way to discover the answer would be by process of elimination. Set aside all those who definitely would not want to see the movie, then find out who remains.
Here goes, then. If you see a statement which turns you off, stop reading because the movie is not for you:
Robin Williams is in a key supporting role.
[Now for the three or four of you who might be left...]
The movie's plot stacks coincidence on top of coincidence until it reaches high into the contrivance-sphere. In order to enjoy this story, you are required to check your cynicism and skepticism at the theater door.
Both August Rush, the movie, and August Rush, the title character, believe in the power of music to heal and unite. Indeed, 11-year-old August, played by the relentlessly cute Freddie Highmore, tells us in narration at the beginning that he hears music all around him. He is a preternaturally gifted musician who is able to play a guitar like a pro the first time he picks one up. The music is, quite simply, inside him.
Oh, wait, did I mention that August grew up in an orphanage because neither of his biological parents know he exists?
His mother, a concert cellist played by a radiant Keri Russel, was told by her controlling father that the baby died during birth. Her father wants nothing to interfere with her musical career, so he secretely gives the baby up for adoption.
August's biological father, a guitarist in a rock band comprised of Irish brothers, is played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, as a guy who, over the ensuing eleven years, never forgot that one night of romance with the beautiful cellist he met at a party. Somehow, though, he never managed to get her address or phone number.
[Goodness gracious, are you still here? Shouldn't you have dropped out two or three paragraphs ago? Ah, I know. This next bit will do it for sure.]
August has no way of knowing who his biological parents are, if they are even alive or want to see him. But he is certain that if he plays his music loudly enough, that they will hear it and it will bring all of them together. So when he conducts an orchestra in a free concert in Central park as they play a symphony of his own composition (oh yeah, the kid is that good), there is no doubt in his mind that his parents will be drawn to it...somehow. Is there any doubt in your mind that his plan might work?
[Wow, you made it all the way! Welcome! Join me! See August Rush and join me in celebrating this splendid, heartwarming tale about music, which, as one character puts it, is, "God's little reminder that there's something else here besides us." Let churls scoff at my sniffles and watery eyes as I walked out of the theater. The joke is on them because, hey, I felt better after I saw the movie than I did going in. Can there be higher praise than that?]
[Anybody still reading besides me?] |
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"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
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| bart |
| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:31 pm |
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Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 2381
Location: Lincoln NE
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| I'm still reading. I don't think I'd ever reject a film entirely on the basis of a single criterion like "it's contrived" or "it contains Robin Williams," but you have created an interesting style of review, with multiple escape hatches. I do believe in the power of music to generally make any human life better, but that might mean the film is a sort of "coals to Newcastle" thing for me. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 2:22 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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Earl wrote: jeremy wrote: I'm off the see Angelina Jolie's tits in 3D.
Not all of them, though, right? I've read that Jolie's nipples and areolae have been digitally removed.
Hold on! How many does she have???
I didn't think she was some kind of Babylonian goddess or something... |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 3:18 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| The thing that turns me off most about August Rush is that the title is a person rather than something about "midsummer madness." It's the same sort of forced cuteness that informed the title of the John Singleton-Janet Jackson debacle Poetic Justice, which was about--wait for it--a girl named..."Justice" who wrote...poetry. Barf. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 4:15 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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bart wrote: I'm still reading. I don't think I'd ever reject a film entirely on the basis of a single criterion like "it's contrived" or "it contains Robin Williams," but you have created an interesting style of review, with multiple escape hatches. I do believe in the power of music to generally make any human life better, but that might mean the film is a sort of "coals to Newcastle" thing for me.
The "Robin Williams" cut was the first one used because of how often he was listed in the "unwatchable" discussion over in Couch. I suspect several people dropped out right there.
By the way, this might more properly belong in the "Alternate Universes" section of the TV forum, but since I know you've seen the TV show Moonlight: Alex O'Loughlin (who plays Mick St John, the American vampire P.I., on that show) plays one of the Irish brothers in the rock band in August Rush. O'Loughlin, by the way, is actually Australian. |
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"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 4:21 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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billyweeds wrote: The thing that turns me off most about August Rush is that the title is a person rather than something about "midsummer madness." It's the same sort of forced cuteness that informed the title of the John Singleton-Janet Jackson debacle Poetic Justice, which was about--wait for it--a girl named..."Justice" who wrote...poetry. Barf.
I'm not sure if this will change your mind or not (and this isn't much of a spoiler since it happens early in the story). But "August Rush" is really a stage name that Wizard (the Fagin-like character played by Robin Williams) creates for the kid once Wizard realizes he has a musical prodigy on his hands. The kid's actual name is Evan Taylor. |
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"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
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