| |
| Author |
Message |
|
| Marj |
 Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 12:12 pm |
 |
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
|
I sent it back by mistake.
OK. You can start water boarding.  |
|
|
| Back to top |
   
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 2:16 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
I just watched Sweet and Lowdown for the second or third time since I saw it in the theatre. I can't understand why some people put it in the D list of Woody's movies or even give it an F.
A damn fine movie in all respects. Acting, writing, cinematography, music, humour and drama with a powerful ending. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 2:29 pm |
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
| Melissa Leo's performance in FROZEN River was right up there with Mickey Rourke's in THE WRESTLER. I could not seperate the actor from the character. Leo totally embodied the role she playing. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Nancy |
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 3:12 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4607
Location: Norman, OK
|
Marc wrote: Melissa Leo's performance in FROZEN River was right up there with Mickey Rourke's in THE WRESTLER. I could not seperate the actor from the character. Leo totally embodied the role she playing.
I thought she was awfully good also, and I liked the movie. Those who haven't seen Frozen River should check it out. It's available on DVD. |
_________________
"All in all, it's just another feather in the fan."
Isaacism, 2009 |
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 3:40 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
| I'm just haven't been wanting to see anything with a lot of hardship in it for quite a while now. Of course that means I miss some very good movies but I see enough very good movies to satisfy me. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:36 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
|
Well, it wasn't on a couch, it was in a theater, but Joe and I caught a midnight screening of Carrie last night.
All these years later it still has the power, in certain moments, to evoke a chilling sense that uncontrollable violence might suddenly erupt. For the first time, though, I focused on the heart of the story, which is that a shy, teenage girl doesn't understand the frightening things that are happening to her and is being brutalized by her mother, the person who would be in the best position to comfort her. And here a lot of credit goes to Sissy Spacek in what I suppose was her breakout performance. She got me to sympathize with her even though I knew what was coming at the prom.
I had forgotten that Piper Laurie played Carrie's insane, repressed mother. My only two quibbles with the movie are related to her performance. First, with all due respect to Laurie's acting method, I couldn't understand half of what she said. Maybe it was a technical problem with the recording or it could have been an old print, but it just sounded like a lot of mumbling to me. Second, the movie's penultimate scene, which involved the fate of Carrie's mother, combined violence and sexuality in a way that I found disturbing. So basically, all she really needed was a good penetration, eh?
I couldn't help chuckling at a scene in which Carrie goes to the library to do some research. What a blast from the past it was to see her using that ancient tool, the card catalogue, to find a book on telekinesis. Then, of course, there was the notion that a high school library would have such a book. Man, the 1970's were liberal times, weren't they? |
_________________
"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:06 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
Piper Laurie was nominated for the Oscar for that performance, as was Spacek.
A neat piece of trivia is that years later Spacek and Laurie played sisters in The Grass Harp. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 11:58 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
|
Earl,
I think the sound issue was related to the quality of the print, which was terrible. The sound was either very tinny or a muddled, incomprehsible bass (didn't matter for me, of course; I can recite the whole movie). The dark, muddy look of of the picture was probably the fault of the print, too, or the result of a bad projector bulb. I've never seen the movie look so murky.
About her death scene, I think Margaret White wanted nothing more (or less) than to be a reglious martyr and in her final moments Carrie (and De Palma) give her what she wants. I think those deep guttural moans are the sound of her experiencing religous sexual ecstasty. Sex, sin, and salvation are deeply interconnected in her mind. As is pleasure and pain. That moment is a comment on a lot of things: Catholic iconography, the sexualization of relgious experience, the confusion of pleasure and pain that can occur in a religion centered on images of martyrdom and suffering as a means to salvation. By the way, I think that final image—her beautiful face, finally at peace but for the hint of a secret smile, framed by that luxurious pre-Rapaelite hair, the kitchen utensils piercing her hands and body like the Saint Sebastian icon in Carrie's closet, innumerable candles surrounding her—astonishingly beautiful.
By the way, I was hoping all through the movie you couldn't hear the girl in front of me who was giving away every plot point to her boyfriend a minute before it occurred. I almost said something, but he was bigger than me.
The audience kinda drove me crazy in general because I don't think they wanted to be sympathetic to Carrie. They were like her fellow students, laughing at the freak with the crazy mom. I think movie audiences today seem to be very one-note. If you tell them they are going to see a soft, sensitive picture, they can adjust to that, or a rude comedy, or an action movie. But they don't know how to handle a movie that's bursting out in all directions and constantly shifting emotional gears. The could get De Palma's black humor and sadism, but they were really tentative about the extent to which he also wants us to feel for Carrie, and celebrate her transformation in to a hesitant, but genuine beauty. They certainly weren't ready, after the fun of seeing Carrie mocked and humiliated at school, for the dire homelife she lives with Mrs. White.
But I loved, for all their stifled laughter throughout, not one of them let out even a peep when the blood splashed on Carrie's head: De Palma had them in the palm of his hand. |
_________________
You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:33 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
Quote: I'm just haven't been wanting to see anything with a lot of hardship in it for quite a while now.
I find art well done exhilarating regardless of subject matter. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| lissa |
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:08 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2148
Location: my computer
|
Can't compare Frozen River and The Visitor except for their little-known-but-beautifully-done qualities. I loved both, but found The Visitor more engaging. Perhaps because of the movie, or Richard Jenkins (whom I have loved since Six Feet Under), but Frozen River does pack a wallop, albeit subtly. It is a bleak film, meant to be so, but eye-opening to today's social problems, which is also what The Visitor does (okay, another point of comparison).
I do agree that Melissa Leo did a phenomenal job in her role; what else has she done? I'd like to see more of her work. |
_________________
Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| lissa |
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:12 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2148
Location: my computer
|
marantzo wrote: I'm just haven't been wanting to see anything with a lot of hardship in it for quite a while now. Of course that means I miss some very good movies but I see enough very good movies to satisfy me.
I know someone who avoids books with themes she finds difficult to face, and knows she's missing out on some stunners as well (she refuses to read Khaled Hosseini's books). But she's aware, and I respect her choice.
That having been said - sometimes we need to see, or read about, the difficulties in life; and I agree with Marc, if it's well done (and not done for sensationalistic purposes or in that vein), it is life-enhancing. I can't think of a film I've ever chosen not to see based on subject matter. Genre, yes (I won't see horror/slasher films), but not topic. |
_________________
Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:03 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
lissa wrote: marantzo wrote: I'm just haven't been wanting to see anything with a lot of hardship in it for quite a while now. Of course that means I miss some very good movies but I see enough very good movies to satisfy me.
That having been said - sometimes we need to see, or read about, the difficulties in life; and I agree with Marc, if it's well done (and not done for sensationalistic purposes or in that vein), it is life-enhancing. I can't think of a film I've ever chosen not to see based on subject matter. Genre, yes (I won't see horror/slasher films), but not topic.
Lissa, are you under the impression that I haven't seen or read many works about the difficulties in life. Who are you talking to? A ten year old? And as far as your pronouncement about sometimes needing to see..., just because you think that, doesn't make it so. People learn about life in many ways, if you need to see movies about it or read books about it, maybe you are too removed from the real world around you. I've mentioned this before; I get enough second hand real life examples in newspapers every day. And first hand examples from people I know and meet.
Yes, Marc, art well done is exhilarating no matter the subject. That's exactly how I have often described it myself. Everyone gets their kicks in their own way. I get exhilarated by things like getting up in the morning. OK, I'm easy to thrill, but I do like it that way. Of course the down side is when things don't go the way I like and I'm just as easy to get very unthrilled.  |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:11 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
| I don't know why my printing came out like that. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| lissa |
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 10:56 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 2148
Location: my computer
|
| Wow, Gary, are you ever misreading my every word. I stated my opinion, nothing more, and I'm the LAST person to ever believe that my opinion is the right one. All I did was comment on your statement. I'll refrain from doing that, if it'll ease your sensitivities. |
_________________
Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 1:04 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
|
lissa --
Have you seen Passolini's "Salo?" That's the one film (I've seen it ONCE) that I do not go back to because of subject matter. I'm always interested in Pasolini's films, but that's one that I have avoided seeing a second time.
I can think of some other examples that 3rd Eye members have mentioned avoiding...but "Salo" is the only film I can think of that I myself have held off seeing again for content reasons.
[I'm waiting for someone (Marc??) to tell me to see it again.] |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
|
