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| Nancy |
 Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 7:22 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4607
Location: Norman, OK
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Syd wrote: Nancy wrote: I love the scene where Hopkins and Marshall are stealing and returning each other's possessions all through an elegant dinner. She returns his pocket watch, saying that it was slow, but adds, "I regulated it for you." What a hoot!
What really won me over was the wonderful performance by Kay Francis as their prospective victim. She stole the movie for me.
She was outstanding. (This movie made me watch for her in other films, such as One Way Passage.) And don't forget Charlie Ruggles and Edward Everett Horton. This film had a hell of a cast. |
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"All in all, it's just another feather in the fan."
Isaacism, 2009 |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 5:39 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| Thief (1981) is Michael Mann's debut and holds up superbly. It pulsates with an already fully evolved stylistic originality, and shows that Mann in many ways took up where Coppola left off with The Conversation. James Caan leans a bit heavily on his Sonny Corleone deliveries at first, but settles into a subtler groove balancing lean cool, pathos, and a def humour. Robert Prosky is awesomely slimy as his Mafia sponsor. Mann virtually owns the genre of modern noir, and this film is a vital work in the creation of modern cinema style, in the best sense. Pity about the rather throwaway shoot-out at the end. |
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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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| bocce |
| Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:39 am |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 2428
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yippee, another THIEF and michael mann fan...
while not quite as gritty as THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, the film is remarkable for its veracity. if you liked the feel of it, try to find the dvds of CRIME STORY, a TV series produced by mann and also set in chicago...
this film also features the breakout roles for jim belushi and dennis farina and the swan song for tuesday weld. if you thought caan was a bit too sonny in this, check out Karel Reisz's THE GAMBLER (1974) where he really runs with it but makes it all work in the end as well... |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 8:54 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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I enthused about the "Crime Story" dvd's here a few years ago. They even feature Julia Roberts' first credited appearance when she was a teen.
I just saw Tuesday Weld's penultimate appearance (2001) in an Alan Rudolph film, "Intimate Affairs." The cast is stellar and the premise is good - a bunch of young men studying sexuality in 1920's (?) Cambridge, MA, but the movie falls flat. Nick Nolte plays their sexy senior backer and Weld plays his wife. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 2:51 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4607
Location: Norman, OK
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| One of the employees at a local bookstore recommended a film called Winter Passing. It has an interesting cast -- Will Ferrell, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, and Zooey Deschanel. Has anyone seen it, and if so, what did you think of it? |
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"All in all, it's just another feather in the fan."
Isaacism, 2009 |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:42 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| I just watched The Good Shepherd. It's a long, dense, dark, compelling film that was far from perfect and yet involved me and affected me more than the last three best picture Oscar winners put together. Obviously highly influenced by the Smiley sequence, it also bears comparison with Norman Mailer's novel on the same character, Harlot's Ghost. I can see why it was not popular. Matt Damon's Edward Wilson is such a cagey, enclosed character, and his motivations are kept so shadowy, that he refuses to be a hero, or even an anti-hero, we can relate to or feel superior to. What emerges is a tragic portrait of a man so determined to avoid becoming his father that he destroys everyone around him rather than himself. Robert De Niro's subtle, laconic storytelling is occasionally near-baffling and yet fits together with a fierce concentration that resembles De Niro's best acting. |
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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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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 9:59 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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MARGOT AT THE WEDDING just came out in dvd.
This film features a collection of sad and neurotic characters. Director Baumbach's "extra" says that it's supposed to be a film you can take comically or seriously. That may be part of why he cast Jack Black as Jennifer Jason Leigh's fiance. But I didn't see much comedy.
Nicole Kidman does a good turn as another ice princess. You feel the pain of the household's children who are surrounded by such neurotic and ineffectual adults. The adults can barely take care of themselves, let alone the impressionable preteens.
Kidman and Jason Leigh do happen to look like real sisters.
This film and THE SQUID AND THE WHALE seem to have their roots in Baumbach's past, but the incidents in MARGOT seem less universal and don't resonate with the audience that much.
I don't remember who else saw this movie. As a rental, I don't see what the fuss was about and give it only marginal marks. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:36 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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I reviewed Margot a few days ago:
http://www.thirdeyefilm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=147782#147782
I think ehle was touting this film, though he seems to like dysfunctional family dramas more than I do. Actually I usually go for family dysfunction, but I don't like spending time with unpleasant people, especially when it involves yelling and backstabbing.
I think the humor in Margot mainly revolves Jack Black's cynicism and his bouts of rage. I laughed when he said he ate some of the cake. That was pathetic funny.
A problem I had with Margot relates to Baumbach's writing and ties in as well with Wes Anderson Darjeeling Ltd. The symbolic elements are just too obvious and forced.
***SPOILERS***
Quote: It was far too obvious that the tree was going to fall and crush the wedding tent, with unmistakable meaning. The tree itself was a better more subtle metaphor for the family (the family tree), but that even seemed a bit belabored and overworked. And Margot ditching her handbag for no good reason was too obviously symbolic, and echoed Anderson's Darjeeling finale (or vice versa).
LEFT UNSPOILED:
There were parts I liked about Margot. Surprisingly including Jack Black an his character. Just wish we got more character interaction and less distracting incidents. For example, Torturro's husband character barely registered, but seemed only there to make one or two new points about Margot.
Overall, I felt like this was Bergman by way of Woody Allen but filled with a lot of busy incidents to keep the attention of the MTV crowd. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 1:23 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| Excellent Rod. Really excellent. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:03 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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I agree with gromit's comments on MARGOT AT THE WEDDING. Also whoever compared MARGOT with THE DARJEELING LIMITED and respective directors Anderson and Baumbach is on the right track.
They are both talented writers who should be making much better movies. Unfortunately, the humor just misses. I would think one would be able to do a lot more with screwed up childhoods, but apparently not.
They certainly don't compare to Woody Allen at his best -- at his worst...well, I can think of a lot of second-raters who've turned in better efforts. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:19 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Currently watching Saint Clara, a very weird Israeli film from 1996, about a clairvoyant 13-year old in a school full of punks. The shit starts hitting the fan when the entire class gets perfect scores on a test, the answers all done in the same way. The principal and teacher think the whole class is cheating. Clara tells the truth, and they give another test with the questions chosen at random from the book. Since Clara knows what the questions will be, and tells the class, events repeat themselves. The movie goes on from there. It's sort of like If... combined with Children of the Damned or The Fury (although Clara so far is clairvoyant rather than telekinetic, it looks like she has other powers.) And she'll lose her powers if she falls in love.
One of those films that makes you say, "What in HELL?" |
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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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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:12 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12944
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Nope, Saint Clara doesn't go the way it seemed to; it's more absurdist than anything else. Very strange film stylistically, like something new wavish from the 60s or 70s. I like the ending. |
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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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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:12 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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Random thoughts on MARGOT AT THE WEDDING and Wes Anderson's films...
I can't think of anyone who has captured the essence of dysfunctional families better than Ang Lee in THE ICE STORM. How a guy from Taiwan can grasp all these subtleties is beyond me. One could argue that his films are not tragicomic (like the ones cited above), but then IMO Baumbach and Anderson haven't been all that successful in capturing comic moments (tho' I'd make a small exception for THE SQUID AND THE WHALE which has a few bits which make one so uncomfortable you're almost forced into laughter).
Even more uncanny is how Lee, a straight Chinese guy, manages to capture the pathos of the gay cowboys in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, a film I still find tremendously affecting. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 10:31 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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You know flix a la mode, The Ice Storm frittered across my brain when assessing Margot.
Part of Lee's success might be due to using someone else's source material, so that he can craft it visually or alter it easily. I'm not really sure of the background on his films, but I think filming your own screenplay sometimes can be a tricky process.
And often times foreigners are able to assess a culture better than those steeped in it. I know when I first go back to the US after a good deal of time in China (or otherwise abroad) my antennae are especially culturally sensitive. Then after a few weeks I realize that Americans don't have antennae and I put them away. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:30 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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gromit wrote: You know flix a la mode, The Ice Storm frittered across my brain when assessing Margot.
Part of Lee's success might be due to using someone else's source material, so that he can craft it visually or alter it easily. I'm not really sure of the background on his films, but I think filming your own screenplay sometimes can be a tricky process.
And often times foreigners are able to assess a culture better than those steeped in it. I know when I first go back to the US after a good deal of time in China (or otherwise abroad) my antennae are especially culturally sensitive. Then after a few weeks I realize that Americans don't have antennae and I put them away.
Another perceptive foreigner is Polish director, Pawel Pawlikowki, who directed the British film "Summer of Love," with Emily Blunt. |
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