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| carrobin |
 Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 12:15 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Too bad. I saw a trailer for "The Spirit" back in the summer and it looked terrific. Of course, it was all style. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 12:18 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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marantzo wrote: I haven't read the Button story by Fitzgerald, but one critic mentioned that it was a nice funny story. He made it sound as if F. Scott was having some fun with his writing. He said of course that the film's tone is not at all like the story. Unfortunately.
In the film, one gets the impression that the story must be bittersweet. However, now it occurs to me that it might be rather whimsical. Part of the problem on screen is the gross-out makeup...and the fact that it is portrayed rather darkly - and I don't see any reason for this.
In a way, it reminds me of "The Incredible Shrinking Man" where one knows that the protagonist's end is doomed. You can't imagine how this upset me when I saw TISM as a kid.
I wonder if one can unload Fitz. story ONLINE. I think that might be interesting. Let me know if anyone finds any links for this. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 12:29 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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gromit wrote: how the blind beggar child knew about Benjamin Franklin, etc.
I'm feeling lazy today (well, I'm still thinking through WwB) but this one could be explained through: (1) US currency is one of the few big ones that has consistent sizes across denominations (just checked, and Indian bills are definitely different sizes) and possibly a unique feel to the paper, so that a blind kid could tell it was US currency; and (2) most US currency floating through that part of society (this is from the brothel, right?) is in hundreds - there isn't a big cross section of US bill denominations involved. Or maybe that that was just how the street kids referred to all US bills.
Isn't the $100 the most counterfeited US bill? I think I heard that somewhere. That would imply it's the most recognized as well.
Anyway - just trying to say it's not too hard to come up with backstory to that (and most of the stuff you listed).
Also, I'd say the "improbability" aspect of the movie isn't so far removed from the average Bollywood film, though. Most Bollywood films are some flavor of boy-gets-together-with-girl-against-all-possible-odds-because-they're-fated. The way the plot's handled has something in common with the bad Engrish in Sukiyaki Western Django, which is in there as part of the homage to spaghetti westerns.
And I could, of course, just be making this up on the spot. But like I said, I'm kinda lazy today anyway. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 12:31 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| I haven't read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button for a long time, but my overwhelming feeling from reading it was one of utter creepiness, so maybe the movie gets it righter than you think. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:14 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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Review in progress of Slumdog Millionaire
Jamal is in deep shit. He's being interrogated by the police because he - an uneducated Indian youth, a 'Slumdog' - answered more questions and won more money on the nation's biggest quiz show than any contestant ever has before. The kid's a millionaire. The police are, to put it mildly, skeptical. Is he a cheater? A genius? Lucky? Or has it all been written? No matter which way he turns, Jamal has some serious questions to answer. Whether it's questions from the police detective or questions from the quiz show host as millions of viewers hold their breath, we discover the answers slowly and painfully in flashbacks, one by one, as each question opens a chapter of Jamal's poverty-stricken, orphaned, lovestruck, desperate life.
Revealing Jamal's life via a quiz show, one question at a time like moves on a gameboard, is a great touch. Jamal's an unlikely contestant, as bemused as he is life-worn, and the film moves beautifully from his painful past to his dangerous present as we learn what brought him here to TV screens across the country, face to face with an adversarial game show host, about to possibly become a multi-millionaire.
Using the game show as a framing device for Jamal's past makes for some terrific tension as we dig deep into India's urban slums, its corruption and violence. However, underneath the well-directed layers of poignant flashbacks, earthy culture and non-stop action, Slumdog Millionaire is a very simple story. It's a love story between Jamal and Latika, and it's a love-hate story between Jamal and his tough older brother, Salim. When young Jamal offers to shelter a young girl named Latika the course of his life is set. But what drives the story is the friction between him and his violent, conflicted brother. The relationship between the two brothers and the girl is an old, primal story, and whether you buy it or not depends on whether you prefer your endings seasoned with stark realism or romantic destiny. That's my diplomatic way of saying the film imposes its resolutions rather than allowing them to spin freely.
Slumdog Millionaire rides an emotionally taut rail between letting shit happen and keeping it reined in and stylized. It accomplishes both, although in the end I couldn't shake the feeling that the ride had taken place in a constructed, and ultimately safe, theme park. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:20 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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| By the way, I saw The Reader last night and loved it! No gratuitous scenes, no emotional manipulations, no violence, just a great script and cast. Anyone else see it? |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:21 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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lady wakasa wrote: . Or maybe that that was just how the street kids referred to all US bills.
Well, if so, he wouldn't need the blind kid's help. And Jamel only describes Franklin's appearance but doesn't seem to know who it is.
Quote: Anyway - just trying to say it's not too hard to come up with backstory to that (and most of the stuff you listed).
Yes, but the encounter with the blind kid was the backstory to why he knew who BF was. So we shouldn't need to make up an additional back story to explain the backstory explanation. That's what annoyed me. The main kid wouldn't normally know, so he explains his knowledge by having a less likely kid somehow know and tell him.
Quote:
Also, I'd say the "improbability" aspect of the movie isn't so far removed from the average Bollywood film, though. Most Bollywood films are some flavor of boy-gets-together-with-girl-against-all-possible-odds-because-they're-fated. The way the plot's handled has something in common with the bad Engrish in Sukiyaki Western Django, which is in there as part of the homage to spaghetti westerns.
Well, I didn't care for the way a sentimental, naive love story was grafted on to the initial gritty City of God-style narrative. Obviously, others appreciate the combo.
My other narrative complaints would involve spoilers and don't seem too necessary to go into.
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I just bought SW Django a few days ago, but I'm concentrating on recent releases, and also have Judex to get to. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:49 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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lshap wrote: By the way, I saw The Reader last night and loved it! No gratuitous scenes, no emotional manipulations, no violence, just a great script and cast. Anyone else see it?
Not yet. But between things I've been hearing lately and your rave, Lorne, I'm leaning more and more to seeing it. Perhaps scratching BB and a few others and substituting The Reader instead.
I don't know about anyone else but often I make deals with friends about movies. For example, I have one friend who wants to see Valkyrie (yuck) and I'll sit through that with him and drag him to see a movie that isn't really up his alley. The Reader might be it. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:54 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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I like lorne's last paragraph about the movie; I think he's got something there. While I enjoyed it and I liked the game show conceit (I dunno, I keyed into that with the first question, but I was in a theater), I still don't find myself mulling over it days afterwards (like I am with Waltz With Bashir).
I'd be interested in your take of SWD, when you get around to it. I'm not going to say anything (good or bad) so as not to influence your viewing, but ~ I did get a free t-shirt out of it.
Okay, maybe I'll do laundry, maybe I'll finish the writing I have going on, maybe I'll watch some more of the mediocre Korean tv drama (but it had better get better, and soon). |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:01 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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For some reason I can't get La Lectrice out of my head when I hear about The Reader. My Lectrice ambivalence, plus the American-remake-of-foreign-film phobia (although I don't know how much, if any, is from the older movie), plus having not much time to get to the theater right now is not convincing me that this should be the movie to see right now.
I'd probably see Doubt first, though. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:06 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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Here's a free link to the short story of "The Curious Case of Benj. Button" online.
http://www.readbookonline.net/read/690/10628/
You can also download an audio book for around $2 on amazon.com . It's only a little over 1 hour - so must not take very long to read. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:14 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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| lissa |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:42 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2148
Location: my computer
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lshap wrote:
Quote: By the way, I saw The Reader last night and loved it! No gratuitous scenes, no emotional manipulations, no violence, just a great script and cast. Anyone else see it?
Not till I read the book, which I plan to take off my bookshelf this week. Glad to hear the movie's a good one - did you read the book? |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:13 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 think many pof Gromit’s criticisms of Slumdog Millionaire are valid. However, the film is one of those films that doesn’t necessarily stand up to deconstruction. I prefer to remember it for the ride it gave me and feelings it engendered during and just after seeing it. Its pace, vibrancy, optimism and, romance, holed my critical faculties below the waterline and left them wading in warm sewage. While not shirking from showing Bombay’s seedier side, Slumdog, seemingly like the slum dwellers themselves, didn’t wallow in the despond. Bollywood-esque, rose-tinted, hokey, corny…I really didn’t mind that everything came up smelling of roses. In manyways, Slumdog reminded me of Trainspotting, a film that transceneded its subject or saw the humanity and hope behind it. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:41 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4607
Location: Norman, OK
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gromit wrote: I just bought SW Django a few days ago, but I'm concentrating on recent releases, and also have Judex to get to.
The last half hour of SWD is pretty good. The rest of it seriously disappointed me. |
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