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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:59 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Saw The King of Kong and Down to the Bone. Kong is funny and somewhat scary, worth seeing. Vera Farmiga is good in Bone, but the movie is not so hot. She's better in the way underrated Running Scared.
Meanwhile, to miss In Bruges would be a near-crime. Make that a full crime. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:31 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Maybe due to low expectations, I got a kick out of The Happening. The deaths are morbidly entertaining and Shyamalan is willing to not take himself so seriously all the time (what a relief). Mark Wahlberg is way miscast, Zooey Deschanel looks and acts like Meg Ryan in a black wig, the basic premise is impossible. But I've spent much worse nights at the movies. Like a merely okay episode of The Twilight Zone, it entertains without revolutionizing your concept of entertainment or life as we know it. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:37 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| I'm planning to see The Happening, though it may have gotten bumped to a DVD rental. Tell me, Joe, why is Wahlberg miscast? Is he just too un-teacherish, or what is it? Because I've seen a lot of high school teachers who have the vibe of white rap stars. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:47 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Wahlberg in a sweater vest lecturing a classroom is like Steve McQueen in a suit pretending to be a cultured busniessman. You don't buy it, instinctively.
As you know, I'm a big fan of Wahlberg (my date made the mistake of referring to him as "Marky Mark", which made it easier to tell him I didn't want to see him again at the end of the evening), but he's miscast. It's not so much that I wish another actor had been found, but that I wish they could have given him a somewhat different character. He does have an appealing gentility. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:50 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Joe Vitus wrote: Wahlberg in a sweater vest lecturing a classroom is like Steve McQueen in a suit pretending to be a cultured busniessman. You don't buy it, instinctively.
As you know, I'm a big fan of Wahlberg (my date made the mistake of referring to him as "Marky Mark", which made it easier to tell him I didn't want to see him again at the end of the evening), but he's miscast. It's not so much that I wish another actor had been found, but that I wish they could have given him a somewhat different character. He does have an appealing gentility.
Yeah, the sweater vest wouldn't cut it. When I saw he was playing a teacher, I thought, wow, the kind of teacher every high school kid wants--hip, fun. But sweater vest, nah.
McQueen in a suit, you're right, same deal. Jeans and the like is all he can get away with. The wardrobe for Thomas Crown was insane. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:53 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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billyweeds wrote: ...
McQueen in a suit, same thing. Jeans is all he can get away with. The wardrobe for Thomas Crown was insane.
Yeah...not to mention Faye Dunaway and the eye makeup! That was one of the movies Theadora VanRunkle did after her big success as a designer with "Bonnie and Clyde." That was the period when VanRunkle was very hot in Hollywood. And I'm sure Dunaway was eager to go for a high fashion look. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 11:55 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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You're right that he really could play a cool teacher anyone would want to have. Or you and I would want to have, at any rate. I wish they hadn't gone the Alex P. Keaton route with it. They also make him playful and silly in the wrong way when he's in the classroom.
Thomas Crown is also a great comparison because, if you're like me, you enjoyed McQueen even as you thought he was wrong, and could tolerate the movie even though you knew it wasn't great cinema. I have the same resposne to The Happening. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 1:29 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Joe Vitus wrote: You're right that he really could play a cool teacher anyone would want to have. Or you and I would want to have, at any rate. I wish they hadn't gone the Alex P. Keaton route with it. They also make him playful and silly in the wrong way when he's in the classroom.
Thomas Crown is also a great comparison because, if you're like me, you enjoyed McQueen even as you thought he was wrong, and could tolerate the movie even though you knew it wasn't great cinema. I have the same resposne to The Happening.
Though I'm still psyched to see The Happening, I did not care for The Thomas Crown Affair except for Jewison's use of split screen. McQueen and Dunaway had little chemistry, and McQueen in suits just looked so wrong. I like him best in the little-seen Baby the Rain Must Fall. Ever seen it? He and Lee Remick rock. |
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| bocce |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 1:53 pm |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
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billyweeds wrote: I like him best in the little-seen Baby the Rain Must Fall. Ever seen it? He and Lee Remick rock.
lee remick always rocked even into her 50s. i feel the same way about her as you do about obama except i get a woodie just thinking about her in certain roles. hopefully, the same is not true of you and the big O...but, if it were, i guess that'd be okay, too... |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:05 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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bocce wrote: billyweeds wrote: I like him best in the little-seen Baby the Rain Must Fall. Ever seen it? He and Lee Remick rock.
lee remick always rocked even into her 50s. i feel the same way about her as you do about obama except i get a woodie just thinking about her in certain roles. hopefully, the same is not true of you and the big O...but, if it were, i guess that'd be okay, too...
IMO Lee Remick is to screen goddesses as Barack Obama is to presidential nominees. Well, maybe not quite: Remick was my default substitute for the loss of Grace Kelly. But Remick was actually somewhat sexier than Kelly. In any case, Remick ranks as my all-time #2 movie goddess. (And Obama is #1 in his category, but you get what I mean.)
Have you seen Baby the Rain Must Fall? One of the sexiest couples ever. |
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| bocce |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:22 pm |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
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absolutely, altho i gotta admit i've never been a fan, or even really liked, steve mc queen in ANYTHING other than THE BOUNTY HUNTER television series (and i was a kid then)...
if i had to name one in which i found him acceptable, it would be THE SAND PEBBLES or TOM HORN and i'm holding my nose saying it...
he came out of the same stable as brando and newman and just never measured up... |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:28 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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bocce wrote: absolutely, altho i gotta admit i've never been a fan, or even really liked, steve mc queen in ANYTHING other than THE BOUNTY HUNTER television series (and i was a kid then)...
if i had to name one in which i found him acceptable, it would be THE SAND PEBBLES or TOM HORN and i'm holding my nose saying it...
he came out of the same stable as brando and newman and just never measured up...
Hated The Sand Pebbles, but not as much as Tom Horn. McQueen rocked in my book, especially in BtRMF, Love with the Proper Stranger, The Cincinnati Kid, and...wait for it...Bullitt!!! |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 2:47 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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Never liked McQueen...couldn't see what the fuss was about. Watched "The Cinncinnati Kid" fairly recently and thought it was dreck.
Actually I've seen very few of his films...so am open to re-evaluating him. |
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| bocce |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:05 pm |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
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billyweeds wrote: McQueen rocked in my book, ...The Cincinnati Kid,[/i] and...wait for it...Bullitt!!!
yeah, i can see that. of course, by that time he'd established himself as STEVE MC QUEEN much in the same way as the duke had... |
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| bocce |
| Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:14 pm |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
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billyweeds wrote: [i]Love with the Proper Stranger,
whoa, i missed this on the first pass. are you serious? his fumbling, bumbling overacting on this film is only saved by a charity performance by natalie wood. you've gotta be kidding me... |
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