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| Marj |
 Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 11:26 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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I've been doing the same as you, carrobin: skimming and for the same reasons. I hope to see Doubt soon though. I have a feeling Slumdog may have to wait. And I'm not happy about that.
I obviously didn't go to Catholic school and don't remember studying cursive. Perhaps it would have been better if I had. And for some reason, as a right handed kid, I wanted to write with my left hand. I practiced and practiced until I found some other obsession to while away my days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 12:15 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Seven Pounds is a highly implausible but quite imaginative melodrama starring Will Smith as a man who...
...and that's all there is to say, since the movie hinges on a plot twist that is meant to surprise you and almost surprised me, though I caught on to it quite a bit before the ending. It's a high-concept tear-jerker and not truly successful, but worth catching on DVD. Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson are in it and both do nice jobs in sort of nothing roles. Smith himself is a total star, but has been seen to better advantage in other movies. Seven Pounds will never be known as one of his best, but again, it's interesting at the very least. A.O. Scott, btw, gave it one of his all-time worst reviews. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 12:50 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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| I thought that Earl's point was plausible. Alsogame shows are usually taped on ONE day...meaning that there would have been no break allowing for the questioning, beating, etc. But I chalked it up to 'it's different in India.' |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 1:37 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a well made movie but it is slow and over-long (almost 3 hours). The idea is mildly interesting, and suitable for a short story that would make a good 15 minute read, but I don' think it is suitable for a 3 hour long lavishly produced movie. The short story was in fact written by F Scott Fitzgerald. The screenplay is by the same writer who wrote Forrest Gump, and it shows. The performances of Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt and the direction are all excellent, but the main credit for this movie goes to the make-up department.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:14 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| The ubiquitous comparison of Button to Gump makes me very uneager to see the new movie. Gump was a mediocre (not really bad) movie whose seizing of the cultural Zeitgeist was anathema to me. The fact that it became a touchstone says depressing things about people. I don't think Button will approach that, but if it's anything like Gump (and I guess it is) I don't need reminding. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:21 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 didn't mind A Quantum Of Solace. Daniel Craig, easily the best actor to play Bond, continues to be magnificent in the role and there is real chemistry between him and Judi Dench, easily the best actor to play M. Is their some sort of theme developing here? Olga Kurylenko was pretty good too. Within the microcosm of the scenes themselves, the action was also as hard-hitting and well put together as seen anywhere. So why wasn't the film better.
The director or editors or producers obviously took to heart criticisms that Casino Royale dragged in places, they seemed determined to come in less time than it takes to play a game of football regardless of what it did to the pacing and coherence. On more than one occassion, including most noticeably for the the finale, the almost total absence of a Bondian set up seriously detracted from the meaning and impact of the scene.
Marc Forster also seemed to have little feel for what makes Bond special, that unique mixture of ruthless, sadistic, damaged goods efficiency, suave, but cold charm and external wordliness countered by a deliberate refusal to be encumbered by self-knowledge. By not letting these aspects of Bond's character breathe, Forster was in danger of turning Bond into just another CIA, lethal weapon automoton. He almost through out the baby with the bath water.
Such is the goodwill for the new Bond, I think Quantum Of Solace will get a pass in this instance, but they better buck their ideas up. |
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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.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:29 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Your description of Quantum of Solace (no "A" in the title, btw)...
The director or editors or producers obviously took to heart criticisms that Casino Royale dragged in places, they seemed determined to come in less time than it takes to play a game of football regardless of what it did to the pacing and coherence. On more than one occassion, including most noticeably for the the finale, the almost total absence of a Bondian set up seriously detracted from the meaning and impact of the scene.
Marc Forster also seemed to have little feel for what makes Bond special.
...is precisely why I not only mind it, but why I call it unequivovally the worst movie of 2008. (And granted, I haven't seen The Love Guru or The Hottie and the Nottie.) |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:18 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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Ghulam wrote: David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a well made movie but it is slow and over-long (almost 3 hours). The idea is mildly interesting, and suitable for a short story that would make a good 15 minute read, but I don' think it is suitable for a 3 hour long lavishly produced movie. The short story was in fact written by F Scott Fitzgerald. The screenplay is by the same writer who wrote Forrest Gump, and it shows. The performances of Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt and the direction are all excellent, but the main credit for this movie goes to the make-up department.
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Make-up dept.?? That is what I feared...and really turns me off. There is nothing worse than a movie dominated by make-up. But this is what I feared all along. This plus the reference to "Forest Gump" make for real turn offs. I suppose I'll go to it, but it's beginning to feel like a duty.
I'm wondering if the movie's "wide" opening on Christmas Day was a deliberate attempt to rake in as much money as possible before negative word of mouth spread. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:22 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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jeremy wrote: I didn't mind A Quantum Of Solace. Daniel Craig, easily the best actor to play Bond, continues to be magnificent in the role and there is real chemistry between him and Judi Dench, easily the best actor to play M. Is their some sort of theme developing here?
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An affair?
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:25 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I haven't seen "Quantum of Solace," but I enjoyed Craig Ferguson's riff on it. Apart from having "the worst title" of any Bond movie, it had the worst villain--one who was only after money. In the old days, he reminded us, they had a villain who could kill you with a hat. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:30 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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| I actually... agree with Billy. (Although I wouldn't label it the *worst* movie of 2008.) If Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace had been combined as one Bond franchise reboot movie, or Quantum was scultped a little differently, perhaps, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. But as an explanation of how Bond got to be Bond, Quantum is weakened by its location in this new canon. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:59 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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I never saw the appeal of any Bond film.
Worst 2008 movie I watched was War Inc.
That was painful. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:14 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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The gadgets could be fun. And Roger Moore could get campy at times.
I haven't really followed them since the 80s, though. Mama Wakasa wanted to see the Daniel Craig Bonds, which I why I've seen them. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:36 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| The Daniel Craig Casino Royale was the best Bond since Goldfinger. Quantum of Solace was the worst...ever. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:59 am |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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whiskeypriest wrote: A. O. Scott has a video review of another one of my three favorite Christmas movies (The Apartment) on the NYT web site.
Watching The Apartment, together with R&H's Perrault adaptation with Dame Julie and Johann Strauss II's flying rodent operetta with Dame Kiri, on Wednesday, as have spent New Year's doing for aeons.
Re: current films, a piece from the LAT's much-regretted theater critic on the perils of adapting Frost/Nixon and Doubt to the screen.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2008/12/critics-noteboo.html
Spoke prematurely on Benjamin Button's Racso chances. It's the #3 movie of the weekend, after Marley & Me and Bedtime Stories. And the push goes on.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/charts/la-box-office-chart,0,6122895.ssipage |
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