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| Ghulam |
 Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 11:58 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Billy said, "not to respect Matt Damon's marvelous performance is just...wrong."
I did like Matt Dillon and Scott Bakula. It is not a bad movie, but is not as funny as I had expected it to be.
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 1:51 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| I liked Damon, Marj, but it seems to me he's been receiving various kudos for some time now, justly. I thought it was generally agreed that while pal Affleck looked like the serious actor early on, and Damon the eye-candy, Affleck soon transformed himself into a "phone it in" movie star, while Damon has regularly, successfully, tests himself. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 6:01 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Ghulam wrote: Billy said, "not to respect Matt Damon's marvelous performance is just...wrong."
I did like Matt Dillon and Scott Bakula. It is not a bad movie, but is not as funny as I had expected it to be.
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That's what I meant when I said I understood not getting into it. It's been sold too heavily as a laff riot, which it definitely is not. It is, IMO, one of Soderbergh's best movies--in a league with Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and sex, lies, and videotape and far better than the awful Oceans Eleven series. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 6:33 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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| Occurs to me that at this point my three Blanche nominations for Best Director would all be women. This definitely has never remotely happened before, and it says something strong and important to me. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 6:40 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Joe Vitus wrote: I liked Damon, Marj, but it seems to me he's been receiving various kudos for some time now, justly. I thought it was generally agreed that while pal Affleck looked like the serious actor early on, and Damon the eye-candy, Affleck soon transformed himself into a "phone it in" movie star, while Damon has regularly, successfully, tests himself.
I heard this same conversation going on in the mens' room after the screening I saw of The Informant! I don't get it, since to me Affleck was immediately, obviously, a terrible actor and Damon was at least pretty good. My opinion of both has improved since. I can sort of stomach Affleck in certain roles, and Damon, well...see above. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:21 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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billyweeds wrote: Occurs to me that at this point my three Blanche nominations for Best Director would all be women. This definitely has never remotely happened before, and it says something strong and important to me.
Probably hard to find/see, but Kristina Goda's Kameleon is among my faves for '09.
They did a piece on The Informant! on some Reel Talk program on one of the two Chinese English TV channels. It looked a bit goofy, like a cross between Burn After Reading and Michael Clayton.
I'll probably give it a go, but 2 of Soderbergh's films are already near the bottom of my 2009 viewing: The Girlfriend Experience
& Che Pt. 1 (I don't plan to move on to Part 2). I don't think his willingness to work quickly and slap a film together on the fly has been a good idea.
I believe it started a few years ago with his digital video experiment for Bubble, which was moderately interesting, but unsatisfactory in its lack of developed characters, plot, etc. I liked the look and feel of The Good German, but ultimately there wasn't enough there, and some scenes were just kind of cheesy.
Does The Informant! have a fully developed, fleshed out, feature film feel to it, or is it more of a quick hit, limited budget type of film? Not trying to knock it, just trying to get a sense of what to expect. Am I off in thinking that it is somewhat in the ballpark of Burn After Reading, a film I liked a fair amount. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:33 am |
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gromit--Calling The Informant! a cross between Burn After Reading and Michael Clayton is about as accurate a description as I can think of. Yes.
As a matter of fact, I turned to my wife during The Informant! and said, "This is obviously a George Clooney production." (It is, if you didn't know already.)
It's also far better than recent Soderbergh films. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:37 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: NYC
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| Matt Damon always struck me as the male version of the pretty actress who isn't taken seriously because she's eye candy. Maybe that's why Damon gained weight for "Informant." |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:46 am |
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| I must admit that I have not been a particular fan of Damon until The Departed. The movie most skeptics liked him in first was The Talented Mr. Ripley, but I thought he was only okay in that one and nowhere near the great performance in the same role by Alain Delon in Purple Noon, the French version of the same story. Anthony Minghella was never my favorite director either, so The Departed was my Damon revelation, and I thought he was very, very good in The Good Shepherd, a rather long-and-drawn-out movie. But The Informant! is for me Damon's first truly superb performance. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:46 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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I didn't know Clooney was involved, but that helps connect the dots, so to speak.
Just checked the Db of IM, and The Informant! has a mere 5 Producers listed, along with 3 Executive Producer (including Clooney) and 1 co-producer (what happened? he only put up half his share?). I don't know what all of that means, but sure seems like more than enough producers.
It lists original music by Marvin Hamlisch.
Any thoughts on that? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:48 am |
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gromit wrote: I didn't know Clooney was involved, but that helps connect the dots, so to speak.
Just checked the Db of IM, and The Informant! has a mere 5 Producers listed, along with 3 Executive Producer (including Clooney) and 1 co-producer (what happened? he only put up half his share?). I don't know what all of that means, but sure seems like more than enough producers.
It lists original music by Marvin Hamlisch.
Any thoughts on that?
As I mentioned earlier, it's easily Hamlisch's best work since A Chorus Line in the 1970s, or if you prefer a movie comparison, since The Sting in 1973. Hamlisch would get my personal Blanche right now.
The score is inspired kitsch, an amalgam of all the cheesy television themes you never wanted to hear again but which Hamlisch has made completely delightful. It's one of the best movie scores in years. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:31 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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billyweeds wrote: Joe Vitus wrote: I liked Damon, Marj, but it seems to me he's been receiving various kudos for some time now, justly. I thought it was generally agreed that while pal Affleck looked like the serious actor early on, and Damon the eye-candy, Affleck soon transformed himself into a "phone it in" movie star, while Damon has regularly, successfully, tests himself.
I heard this same conversation going on in the mens' room after the screening I saw of The Informant! I don't get it, since to me Affleck was immediately, obviously, a terrible actor and Damon was at least pretty good. My opinion of both has improved since. I can sort of stomach Affleck in certain roles, and Damon, well...see above.
Well, Affleck really nails his character in Dazed and Confused, and he's the rare non-Southerner to get a specific regional accent right. And he did have the ability in early roles to seem completely unlike whatever characters he had previously played. But his acceptable-but-not-outstanding performances in Kevin Smith movies (and you know I like Smith's work, so my criticism here is particularly pointed) and series of identical-yet-not-pleasing starring roles pretty much ruined my opinion of him. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:27 pm |
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| Affleck really nailed his character in Changing Lanes, too. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:35 pm |
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Location: Manhattan
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billyweeds wrote: I must admit that I have not been a particular fan of Damon until The Departed. The movie most skeptics liked him in first was The Talented Mr. Ripley, but I thought he was only okay in that one and nowhere near the great performance in the same role by Alain Delon in Purple Noon, the French version of the same story. Anthony Minghella was never my favorite director either, so The Departed was my Damon revelation, and I thought he was very, very good in The Good Shepherd, a rather long-and-drawn-out movie. But The Informant! is for me Damon's first truly superb performance.
I loved him in Ripley too. Almost forgot about that, so thanks for reminding me, Billy. I agree with your entire post although I have yet to see The Informant! But just as things happen, I saw Ripley after seeing The Departed, so Damon's acting keeps rising in my estimation. Also loved him in TGS. I think he's perhaps one of the finest actors around, period! |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 12:47 pm |
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Location: Upstate NY
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As A.O.Scott implies in today's NYT, people need to be told before they see Informant! that it is a comedy! But casting all those comedic actors in bit roles and putting an exclamation mark in the title does not do it. SPOILER: The first two thirds of the movie is Erin Brockovich, but then it morphs into an Ealing Studio comedy with Alec Guinness! END OF SPOILER.
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