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| whiskeypriest |
 Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:22 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote: As for Giamatti not even being nominated, I can't even talk about it.
Of course, my fondness for AS may be because of all the Cleveland stuff. I imagine it's routine for New Yorkers, but when it doesn't happen that often, seeing people, for example, eating at a greasy spoon restaurant you frequent gives a special thrill. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:23 am |
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Joe Vitus wrote: whiskeypriest wrote: Joe Vitus wrote: I'm glad you liked it. For me there was too much run-of-the mill sitcom humor involving the secondary characters, and I wasn't particularly interested in the leads. I laughed out loud when Miles described the nature of his book, invoking the French New Novel of Robbe-Grillet among other ridiculously obscure literary genres, if I remember correctly. The best joke in the movie, and the rare time the picture seemed to genuinely consider the intellectual audience it was supposedly made for. The rest of it was about as intelligent or discriminating as an episode of Frasier. ? really? Because other than they both have characters whose first names end in "iles" I'm at a loss.
Don't think I can explain it better than I did. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 9:39 am |
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Yeah, he was terrific in American Splendor. A movie that I also liked very much.
When I was in Birmingham for my son's wedding, I was shaving and listening to NPR. They were interviewing a man and his wife. They were talking about his illness and how he documented what he was going through in his comics. They were both very interesting, but I had no clue who they were. I didn't make it to the end of the interview, so didn't find out.
When I saw American Splendor some years later, it hit me who they were. And the movie portrayal of them was perfect. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 11:00 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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American Splendor and Sideways were my favorite movies of their respective years. I liked Sideways better, but AS was a fantastic movie too, and Giamatti was equally great in it.
Strangely, his post-Sideways movies have ranged from sleazy to mediocre to awful.
The HBO series John Adams was a different story, possibly his career peak. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 11:26 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote: American Splendor and Sideways were my favorite movies of their respective years. I liked Sideways better, but AS was a fantastic movie too, and Giamatti was equally great in it.
Strangely, his post-Sideways movies have ranged from sleazy to mediocre to awful.
The HBO series John Adams was a different story, possibly his career peak. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:25 pm |
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| The NYT has an article titled, A New Billy On Broadway. "Wow", I thought, "Mr. Weeden is having a hell of a year!" No such luck, though. It's just a musical version of Billy Elliot that they were writing about. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:13 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Apropos of the Bringing Up Baby talk in Current, I watched Lady for a Day (1933) last night. Frank Capra's almost hit, a year before the breakthrough of It Happened One Night. Lady is a fairly likable film combining sentiment, a little Depression-era poverty, and some harmless gangsters in a modern-day fairy tale about poor old Apple Annie who gets to play a society woman in order to impress her daughter (raised in Europe) who wants to marry into the family of a Spanish count.
All the gangsters and the panhandlers pitch in to help, complications arise, and get settled in a less than convincing manner. I always like the way that old films wrap up quickly, but I would have preferred that all of the gangsters arrived at the final reception before or maybe instead of the bigwigs.
The film is based on a Damon Runyon short story, and the first half focuses on Apple Annie, who is marginalized after she gets transformed. The second half of the film belongs to Warren William and the Runyonesque underworld characters. I probably could have done with less Ned Sparks, as a little goes a long way.
Warren William does a credible job, even if most of his actions are more than a little unlikely. Glenda Farrell's role should have been more developed. She seemed to have some potential, but was trapped in a throwaway supporting role.
Lady for A Day has a lot of Capra touches that he would work like magic over the next dozen years or so. The title is a bit odd, since May Robson pretends to be a Lady for at least a week. Given the choice, I prefer Capra's American Madness, from the previous year, which has a rawer more immediate feel. And I still haven't seen The Bitter Tea of General Yen which was made between the two. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 2:10 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Whatever else you can say about Lady for a Day, May Robson is side-splittingly funny as Apple Annie, a humor Bette Davis lost completely in the flavorless remake Pocketful of Miracles (also directed by Capra, but sans his former talent).
And how could Bette give birth to Ann-Margret? That's one of the larger posers of the movie. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 2:31 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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gromit wrote: Lady for A Day has a lot of Capra touches that he would work like magic over the next dozen years or so. The title is a bit odd, since May Robson pretends to be a Lady for at least a week. Given the choice, I prefer Capra's American Madness, from the previous year, which has a rawer more immediate feel. And I still haven't seen The Bitter Tea of General Yen which was made between the two.
I remember Lady for A Day (or was it the remake?) on The 4:30 Movie (several times) when I was a kid. I will always have a soft spot for it, whichever version it was.
And you should *really* watch The Bitter Tea of General Yen if you get the chance - although I don't think it's currently available on DVD. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 11:02 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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whiskeypriest wrote: billyweeds wrote: As for Giamatti not even being nominated, I can't even talk about it. I thought he was at least as good, if not even better, the year before, in American Splendor, and he wasn't nominated for that. either.
Of course, my fondness for AS may be because of all the Cleveland stuff. I imagine it's routine for New Yorkers, but when it doesn't happen that often, seeing people, for example, eating at a greasy spoon restaurant you frequent gives a special thrill.
I felt similarly about Reality Bites, which had several scenes filmed in Houston neighborhoods near me, including one in a convenience store where I shopped a lot. |
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"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." |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:25 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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gromit wrote: I thought About Schmidt had three letters too many in its title. While watching it, I desperately wanted to re-write, re-edit and re-film nearly every scene. Some of that film was just painful. I'm convinced that I could have transformed and improved it into ... a mediocre film. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:45 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Hiroshi Shimizu's work was forgotten until a London retrospective in 1988. Now with the release of a four disc set (reportedly he made about 150 movies) he is again gaining some notice. Ornamental Hairpin is the fourth movie in this set. It was made in 1941 at the onset of WWII, but it is a simple pastoral story taking place in an inn in tranqull countryside. Superficially it seems like a comedy, but it deals subtly with mysterious pasts, unspoken desires and inevitable disappointments. Understated but worthwhile.
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 2:23 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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So far I've only seen Mr. Thank You from that 4-film Eclipse set. The whole film takes place on a bus journey from the countryside to the big city. A subtle, low-key film, it does touch on heavy themes such as selling off rural daughters to prostitution in the city and even notes the plight of Koreans in Japan in passing.
Yesterday I picked up another 4-film Shimizu set from Japan (Vol. 2 in a series), containing 4 of his children's film from 1937-1941. Four Seasons of Children, Children in the Wind, Introspection Tower, and Nobuko. IMDb doesn't offer much of anything on these films besides cast listings. Two are still awaiting the minimum 5 votes, while only Children in the Wind has a lone comment.
Fortunately, here they stick 2 films on one disc and make 2 disc sets out of most of the Eclipse line as well as this Japanese Shimizu release.
I agree with Ghulam that Shimizu is a filmmaker worth getting to know.
[Edited because I just discovered which films are in the set -- the packaging is all in Japanese]. |
Last edited by gromit on Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:42 am; edited 3 times in total
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 3:14 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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"A subtle, low-key film, it does touch on heavy themes such as selling off rural daughters to prostitution in the city and even notes the plight of Koreans in Japan in passing." Gromit.
That pretty much describes Ornamental Hairpin[i] also. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:05 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Saw a wonderful de facto DVD double feature last night. Kicking things off was the unexpected gem, I Love You, Man, which instantly became my favorite comedy of the year (Funny People is more of a "dramedy"). I Love You, Man easily trumps The Hangover in the "dumb male bonding" sweepstakes. Featuring excellent dialogue and direction by John Hamburg, sensational performances by Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, and delightful turns by Rashida Jones, Jon Favreau, and--believe it--Lou Ferrigno among others, this quintessential "bromance" is funny almost non-stop. It's more than worth a rental, it demands one.
Then came the serious and more expectedly excellent offering, Ramin Bahrani's Goodbye Solo, which is profound, beautiful, original and moving in its depiction of the relationship between a cabdriver and a suicidal passenger. Red West as William is an old man en route to a plunge off a mountain. Souleymane Sy Savane is Solo, an unabashedly life-affirming African-born would-be flight attendant who decides it's his job to save William from death. Along the way they both learn a lot, and so do we. More than that I will not say, but the movie is a masterpiece. Savane and West are great in their roles, and Bahrani is a great director. Goodbye Solo joins the ranks of truly great films of the 00s, and is obviously one of 2009's finest. |
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