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| jeremy |
 Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 9:57 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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| Another question: I wish to get a feel for how America currently sees itself, would I be better off watching The Alamo or Miracle? |
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 10:05 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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Ah, Jeremy. Nice to see you, you limey scum!
I haven't had an English physician tend to me since 1975. We're probably more loaded with Indian physicians than other nationalities.
See Miracle. I watched the real thing in 1980, and was bowled over. My friend saw the film 4 times (she's a big hockey fan). |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 10:13 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 remember the 1980 Olympics too - I wanted the Russian's to win - the thought of having to watch the American team, having beaten the awesome Red Machine, celebrating with their normal restraint and dignity was more than I could bear. |
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 10:17 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| I hope we disgusted you as thoroughly as you expected. It was an awesome accomplishment. You could see the team was in The Zone the entire series. Kind of like when Andre Agassi won Wimbledon, same sense that he could not lose. It's thrilling, no matter what country the competitor is from. |
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| Melody |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 10:27 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2242
Location: TX
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jeremy wrote: Are all the hospitals in Chicago full of English doctors and did I miss out by not seeing the last 100 minutes of The Postman
 LOL! Jeremy, you crack me up. I actually have no bloody ideer on either of your questions, having seen neither a Chicago hospital nor Costner's vanity project. I like Alex Kingston (I think that's her name), but I watched her on another show a long time ago that I now can't remember.
Glad I could help. Go ahead, ask me another. |
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My heart told my head: This time, no. |
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| jenifer |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 11:05 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10
Location: Maine
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| To continue a topic raised on the old Third Eye, has anyone here seen Dennis Potter's Cold Lazarus? |
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 11:10 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| Not I. It's terribly hard to get one's hands on Potter's stuff here. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 11:44 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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Jeremy,
The Postman is a really well-made movie with a really awful resolution.
Costner has become something of a joke as a director, and even though he's earned every sniping comment about his overblown ego and film budgets the truth is he knows how to put together a fine project. His problem seems to be losing track of all the balls he has in the air. His high-concept projects build idea on top of idea on top of idea, but Costner is just not a good enough juggler to pull it all off. His projects inevitably spin out of control and the balls start dropping. Postman looks great and is built upon a good premise -- that Costner-esque post-apocalyptic shtick he tried with Waterworld. The film starts well and sets up some excellent points of interest.
But then -- whoops -- a ball drops. One of those points of interests mysteriously fizzles into...well...nothing actually. It's like Costner forgets his point mid-sentence and then continues, "Okay, nevermind, now look at this...!"
This directorial alzheimers happens on a couple more occasions to a couple more plot points, balls begin dropping everywhere, and then, finally, Costner seems to just give up on the whole rambling, out-of-control story and say, "You know what guys -- just duke it out and end the thing already!"
It's that abrupt and that stupid.
So you're left with a weird dichotomy of this slick beast of a film with a form of erectile dysfunction. Is it a great film gone sour or a disaster with some good moments?
A question for the ages. |
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| Trish |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 11:48 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2438
Location: Massachusetts
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Cold Manor Creek
Ugh - bad film. Stone over-acting in many spots. Quaid's character the supposed protagonist being so obnoxious
SPOILERS AHEAD
I mean I know murders were discovered when he did his snooping in on the Massie family - but still without any prior reason to suspect 0 he just keeps these personal family photos, scans them in his computer, sticks them on a bulliten board , friggin visits the family patriarch (after the son comes back and is renovating their pool - hasn't done any wrong yet) whose in a nursing home - videotapes their visit - without permission - disgusting invasion of privacy -If it was me - I would have made Quaid's character a victime of his own paranoid imagination - instead of the typical graon boring road of making Dorff's character the psycho - I mean the snakes slithering around their home (post visit to the nursing home)- seemed appropriate . What a stupid film
SPOILERS END
who wrote this garbage  |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 12:01 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4011
Location: not far away
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| Re. "The Postman"-- read the book (by David Brin) and skip the movie. You can easily see what attracted Costner, and how he effed it up. |
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| jenifer |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 1:25 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10
Location: Maine
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Jeremy, I agree with marilyn -- see Miracle.
IMNSHO, any story of the Alamo is bound to be cluttered up with the mythology, which bears only a passing resemblance to the actual events. Texans love their mythology -- I know, because I was raised by one. From what I have heard about Alamo,it sets the story straight on very little.
OTOH, Miracle tried very hard to get it right -- so hard, in fact, that they cast hockey players who could act instead of actors who could skate the length of a rink without falling down.
Personally, I wish they had fleshed out the Russians a bit more, but maybe that will be included in the Director's Cut.  |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 2:26 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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lshap wrote: The Postman is a really well-made movie with a really awful resolution.
...
So you're left with a weird dichotomy of this slick beast of a film with a form of erectile dysfunction. Is it a great film gone sour or a disaster with some good moments?
A question for the ages.
You just explained the very reason I've not seen a Costner-directed film since Waterworld.. The last film I saw him in was 13 Days, which actually was a very good film. For The Love of the Game wasn't horrible, but it was heads better than WW. In fact, I get shit on a regular basis for having not seen DWW or TP or WE. One of these days, I've promised to see DWW, but there are a lot of other movies that are higher up in the queue.
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| Jynx |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 2:32 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 750
Location: Nowheresville
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Costner has become something of a joke as a director ...
Aside from No Way Out, A Perfect World, 3KMTG
and
Tin Cup
he's always been something of a joke as an actor,
IMO.
Gotta say he's easy on the eyes though ... oh yea. |
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"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass ... and I'm all out of bubblegum." |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 2:50 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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No Way Out and Tin Cup are great movies. And Bull Durham is not bad, either.
The Untouchables is pretty good, with Sean Connery. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| Melody |
| Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 2:51 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2242
Location: TX
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I adore Costner in Bull Durham and Tin Cup and I'll see Waterworld any day of the week, esp. where he drinks his own pee and fights to the death over a cute lil fruit tree.
Prolly should have SPOILER on that post.
Not to mention RHYMIN' POET!  |
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My heart told my head: This time, no. |
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