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| Rod |
 Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 7:54 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| I watched The Dark Knight again tonight. It struck me more than it did in the first viewing as a total dog's breakfast of a film: starts well, but loses itself amidst horrible editing, weak dramatic structuring, piss-poor action scenes, high school debate team moralising, high school dropout nihilism, overloaded storylines, some uninspired acting (particularly from Morgan Freeman and Aaron Eckhart trying to be crazy), and a hero and villain who move about a lot without actually doing anything. It finally falls apart totally after Maggie Gyllenhaal exits. |
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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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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:01 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Thought I was going to agree with Rod for just about the first time. But then he criticized Aaron Eckhart, the only thing about the movie I totally admired, and lost me. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:09 am |
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| I thought Eckhart was fine, but aside from that Rod's review reflects what I think of the movie. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:12 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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marantzo wrote: I thought Eckhart was fine, but aside from that Rod's review reflects what I think of the movie.
Which basically is the same thing I said, but Gary said it nicer. Weird.
And, yes, I know that proper grammar is "more nicely." Sue me. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:23 am |
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| Canadians are nicer than Americans. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:36 am |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| I dunno, I liked Eckhart just fine the first time around, and think he's great as Dent, a charismatic and slightly shifty hero, but he just seems to lose the tune when Dent becomes "Two-Face", perhaps a reflection of the fact that the character as written is ridculous and unplayable. |
Last edited by Rod on Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:06 am; edited 1 time in total
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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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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:01 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| I agree the character was lousily written, but Eckhart made me a believer. He's a hugely talented, amazingly versatile, and largely unappreciated actor. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:04 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:34 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Certainly could have been worse, but only one Hitchcock??? And Wilder represented by Double Indemnity rather than The Apartment or Some Like It Hot??? (Though Sunset Blvd. is definitely in the right ballpark.) And who could hate a list that listed The Best Years of Our Lives as #1? Well, Joe, yeah, but who else? |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:40 am |
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| I'll say one thing about his list, including the extra ten he listed; There wasn't one movie that made me think, "How can you put that mediocrity on a list of bests?" A few films I haven't seen or haven't seen in there entirety, so who knows, but I can't remember a list where I haven't found at least one pick that I thought was a travesty. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 10:48 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Gary--I agree, though I've never been able to understand the cult for Red River, which to me flirts with mediocrity though never quite taking that plunge. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:36 am |
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| Funny, I've never been a big fan of Red River either. The first time I saw it when it was current, I liked it OK but it wasn't a highlight of my very early age film viewing. Subsequent viewing over the years hasn't made it any better. If I want to see a great cattle drive movie, I'll watch The Culpepper Cattle Company. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:11 pm |
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I have been heaping praise on The Culpepper Cattle Co. for over three decades and on these forums since my beginning on the NYTFF. Few seem to have seen this picture and it has received virtually no mention or kudos from any film critic.
I finally did something that for some reason I hadn't done, looked it up on Imdb. Do me a favour and check it out there and for sure click on the user comments. Read the first page of comments and you will see what I mean when I say how good this movie is.
I don't even know if there is a dvd of TCCC. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:21 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Gary--Not only is there a DVD of Culpepper, it is available at netflix, and is now--thanks to you--#1 on my queue. Will it be our next Slumdog or our next Signs? We shall soon know.
Didn't want to read too much about it on IMDB, but I notice that Geoffrey Lewis, one of my favorite character actors, has a major role. He usually gets to do funny only, but here seems to have a more developed role. As Juliette Lewis's father, he must have a lot of neurosis in there ready to be used. Can't wait. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:27 pm |
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Good. Did you read any of the user comments? When I am down in Atlanta I am going to look for it to buy. I am driving down there a week from today. be there fe=or about two weeks.
I am sure that it will be Slumdog, not Signs.  |
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