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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:00 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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I've been talking for quite a while now about how 2009 was shaping up as one of the banner movie years within memory. Well, stop the presses once more. The Informant! is one of Steven Soderbergh's best movies ever, and Matt Damon could just possibly grab the Oscar in the leading role. He's way beyond just excellent; his performance is not only his career peak but far outstrips anything I thought he was capable of. To tell too much would be unfair, but it's a dark comedy about whistle-blowing, a true story with corners and edges that had me completely buffaloed and unreasonably entertained. And listen up, Scott Bakula fans (that would include me): he's amazing and should be up for a supporting Oscar himself as a very unusual FBI man. Melanie Lynskey, who hasn't had a role as good as this since her Kate Winslet co-starrer Heavenly Creatures, is also aces as Damon's wife. The movie is a must-see. One of the year's best and a totally original creation.
Oh, and Marvin Hamlisch's score constitutes his best work in over 30 years. It's sheer delight. |
Last edited by billyweeds on Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:27 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:11 pm |
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| I hope it opens here in the next six months or so, so I can catch it. I've always been a fan of Scott Bakulla and always thought he was unjustly ignored as a talent. they never should have cancelled Star Trek Enterprise. I've also been impress with Matt Damon's work. Well not always, but more often than not. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:17 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I'm up for a Scott Bakula movie. It was nice seeing him on "Chuck" (I wonder when that season starts up), but I'd love to see him on a big screen. |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:03 pm |
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| Scott Bakula captured my heart when he was on TV in Quantum Leap. Along with him, everything else I've heard about this film has been stellar. I'll be going to see it, for sure! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:45 pm |
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Location: New York City
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I was a very big Quantum Leap fan. The premise grabbed me, the production values were terrific, but it was Bakula and Dean Stockwell who really sealed the deal. I have huge man-crushes on both of those guys.
I also was crazy about the musical theme, which I can't remember at the moment. Gonna search for it on youtube right now. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:51 pm |
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Location: Houston
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| Count me as a fan, too. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:51 pm |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:55 pm |
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Interesting side note: I didn't recognize Bakula throughout the entire movie. (He's looking a lot older these days.) But I kept saying to myself, and to Dolores: "I love this actor. He looks familiar, but I can't place him. He's fantastic!" And get this: "He looks like Jon Hamm's father."
He does. |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:46 pm |
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| Okay, taking this tangent to the end...I found a place to watch Quantum Leap online...I have my weekend set now! |
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Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 5:51 am |
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billyweeds wrote: Interesting side note: I didn't recognize Bakula throughout the entire movie. (He's looking a lot older these days.) But I kept saying to myself, and to Dolores: "I love this actor. He looks familiar, but I can't place him. He's fantastic!" And get this: "He looks like Jon Hamm's father."
He does.
A little research on IMDB proves that if Bakula were to be Hamm's dad, it would have to have been as a result of some drive-in-movie sex. Bakula is only 16-1/2 years older than Hamm. Change that to "uncle." |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 12:32 pm |
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Quote: Bakula is only 16-1/2 years older than Hamm.
Still not an impossibility... |
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Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 9:20 pm |
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| I saw The Informant! too. It has more WTF moments than any other film I've seen for a while. Whitacre (Damon) has a tendency to do odd voiceovers in his head, many of which have only tangential relationship to what is going on on the screen. The tagline "unbelievable" fits; this is stranger than fiction. SPOILER: Were you disturbed when you found out what Whitacre's current job is? WTF? |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Sep 19, 2009 11:43 pm |
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Syd--I don't quite get your spoiler. Can you explain SPOILER
what disturbed you? I remember he now owns his own company, that's all. Was the name of the company revealing of something horrible? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:40 am |
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Finally caught District 9. Yet another excellent addition to the year's list. A genuinely original piece of science-fiction, with an exceedingly strong social conscience. It's made by a South African, so its story of the segregation of outer-space creatures followed by violence when they are relocated is an obvious analogy for apartheid, but also for Katrina, Jim Crow, Nazi Germany, the Republican party's aversion to bipartisanship, and dozens of other social injustice/man's-inhumanity-to-man situations. It's stunning.
The director is 30-year-old Neill Blomkamp, the star (making his acting debut) Sharlto Copley, unusual names that you'll be hearing more of. They're both unduly gifted. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:15 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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billyweeds wrote: Syd--I don't quite get your spoiler. Can you explain SPOILER
what disturbed you? I remember he now owns his own company, that's all. Was the name of the company revealing of something horrible?
Would you want someone who embezzled 9 million dollars as head of your company? Although, checking it up, he founded the company himself. I think I'd invest elsewhere. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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