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| whiskeypriest |
 Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:37 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote: whiskeypriest wrote: Also, A Serious Man ends with a nice joke for them what stay and read the credits. Nice to leave the movie with a smile.
Can't recall this, though I thought the movie was 2009's best thus far, an incredible feat since this was the best movie year (IMO) in at least the last ten. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 6:49 pm |
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billyweeds wrote: I think that's it. I was not absolutely knocked out by his Capote (in fact I preferred Toby Jones in Infamous), nor other leads he's had.
I was knocked out by his Capote. Also loved Catherine Keener as Harper Lee. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 10:40 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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| I wasn't knocked-out. Mesmerized was more like it. It's very difficult to be subtle and Tru @ the same time. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:29 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Speaking of PS Hoffman, he does the voice of Max in Mary & Max. And he's quite good.
I was just checking out the special features (a making of doc with interviews) and checked out the commentary tracks on M&M.
This is the first film I've run into which has an audio track for the blind, describing what is on the screen. It isn't too crazy because the film mostly has voiceovers with the characters describing things in their letters to each other which we then see unfolding. The characters rarely speak. The letter-writing reminded me somewhat of About Schmidt.
The director does a commentary in which he talks incessantly, mostly pointing out which animator was responsible for a given scene. It gets tedious him thanking everyone for doing a great job. And when he compliments Hoffman on the voicework, the director could shut it for maybe a few seconds so we can actually hear Hoffman's performance.
One thing interesting is that I noticed at the beginning the film says Based on a True Story. I wondered about that a little. Turns out that for the past 20 years, the Australian director has had a Jewish New York pen-pal who suffers from Aspergers Syndrome.
You folks need to see Mary & Max. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 10:12 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Well, alright then, Mary & Max, why not add yet another needs-to-be-seen to the already massive Tower of Same? 
Syd wrote: billyweeds wrote: I think that's it. I was not absolutely knocked out by his Capote (in fact I preferred Toby Jones in Infamous), nor other leads he's had.
I was knocked out by his Capote. Also loved Catherine Keener as Harper Lee.
ehle64 wrote: I wasn't knocked-out. Mesmerized was more like it. It's very difficult to be subtle and Tru @ the same time.
What ehle said to what Syd said to what billy said. Also, there's the Most Physically Dissimilar To Character Force-of-Will Transformation Factor.
Can't say I found anything to fault in either of them (and, at that, from my Ledger edge fighting out a Straitharn/Phoenix gridlock over Terence Howard's head at the time), nor Clifton Collins Jr.'s Perry, Chris Cooper's Dewey, Bob Balaban's Wally (Shawn), ad infinitum, and, indeed, little else in Mr. Miller's agnum mopus (though it misses the ultimate ironic profundity by not dropkicking us and Truman forward to the logical final fillip of what In Cold Blood really gave/cost, i.e., post-Answered Prayers dessication). But that's just me being piggy for more PSH and elegant indie representation. Must see it again, haven't since it came out.
Back to Current Film. Am seeing The Road on Thursday. Am nervous for many reasons. I may back out and see the Herr Herzog/Mad Nicky take on Bad Lieutenant (they're both playing at the plex). Can't get it together for Mr. Fox when it's available to my schedule/means, nor can I quite do the ThrowYourselfInTheRiver leap that my instincts tell me Precious will require. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:53 am |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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L.A. Times: 'Precious' and 'The Last Station' lead Independent Spirit Award nominations
(500) Days of Summer, Amreeka and Sin Nombre finish off the feature noms; A Single Man, Crazy Heart, Easier With Practice, Paranormal Activity and The Messenger the first feature slate. Mssrs. Gordon-Levitt, Bridges and Firth, Mmes. Bello, Paltrow and Morton, La Mo'Nique, Dame Mirren, His Plummerity, the Bros. Coen, among the better-known; Gabourey Sidibe and Christian McKay among the newcomers gaining genuine Buzz heft; an encouragingly eclectic mix overall. A Serious Man takes the Robert Altman Award. Gotham Independent pic/ensemble winner The Hurt Locker ineligible because it played film festivals in 2008, earning an nomination from this body last year (though official release year is 2009). |
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"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:09 am |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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The Messenger
This was, perhaps, the exact right movie to see on the weekend before President Obama's speech about Afghanistan. Here is the horrible cost of warfare waged on foreign soil and the movie never has to leave New Jersey to show it: Young people with lives full of promise are killed and news of their deaths causes unbearable pain to the loved ones they leave behind.
The Messenger stars Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson as U.S. Army officers who are assigned the terrible task of informing "N.O.K.'s", as the movie calls next-of-kin, that their loved one has been killed in the line of duty. Just deliver the news and get out, the experienced Harrelson instructs his junior colleague. "It's not about you; it's about the news." But it's not really that simple. It's difficult, probably impossible, to be regularly near so much grief without some of it staying with the ones who deliver it. The movie does a masterful job of showing how both men handle that burden differently, but still manage to form a fragile bond with eachother. This is a well-written and superbly-acted drama.
There is a school of thought which believes that presidents should be required to serve time in the military before they can be Commander In Chief. Screw that; I have a better idea. During the three-month transition period between Election Day and Inauguration Day, have the winner of the election do the job of notifying the next-of-kin that their loved one has just been killed in action. See if the leader will still send young people to die after that. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:50 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Well said, Earl.
Time to impeach Obama. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 5:11 am |
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Location: Shanghai
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I put in the Twilight disc and it wouldn't start.
Probably a message there. Need to return it.
So I watched an hour of Thirst, a new Korean vampire film which didn't hold my interest. The film has some strange pacing, really rushing through the initial set-up rapid-fire, then slowing down to languid as the situation is revealed. And in the beginning we rush from one scene to the next, but within the scenes things progress very slowly. Odd.
It was also for me a bit disorienting having Asian priests, an African run medical center, Korean families. But maybe it was just the rapid fire pace that caused the disorientation.
I thought the characters seemed either cliche or unbelievable. Didn't like the look of the film much either. Doubt I'll finish it. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 7:46 am |
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If anyone missed my mentioning this umpteen times, Capote was shot entirely in and around Winnipeg. The Spanish villa on the Mediterranean was summer home near Winnipeg Beach on Lake Winnipeg. It's a big lake. The prison is Stoney Mountain just outside Winnipeg. And when they did a lot of shooting in a small town in the prairie PSH would have breakfast every day at a local cafe and smooze with the locals. According to the country folk he was a very nice guy.
I thought his performance was Capote down to the core. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 11:12 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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gromit wrote: So I watched an hour of Thirst, a new Korean vampire film which didn't hold my interest. The film has some strange pacing, really rushing through the initial set-up rapid-fire, then slowing down to languid as the situation is revealed. And in the beginning we rush from one scene to the next, but within the scenes things progress very slowly. Odd.
It was also for me a bit disorienting having Asian priests, an African run medical center, Korean families. But maybe it was just the rapid fire pace that caused the disorientation.
I thought the characters seemed either cliche or unbelievable. Didn't like the look of the film much either. Doubt I'll finish it.
Wade & I (and Marc in there somewhere) talked about it last spring or so.
I'll preface this by saying it's got some very good parts, it's got some weak parts. The editing took him a very long time, and it just might be he spent *too* much time on it.
Quote: It was also for me a bit disorienting having Asian priests, an African run medical center, Korean families. But maybe it was just the rapid fire pace that caused the disorientation.
Asian priests: Roughly a quarter of Koreans are Christians, which is one of the highest percentages in Asia. (Some estimates of the number go much higher.) They tend to be fairly active in the population, sometimes beyond their numbers.
In addition, Park Chan-wook was raised Catholic and that part of the movie reflects his background. I'm not Park Chan-wook's biographer (geez, I still haven't gotten a chance to read the bio I have) but several interviews have focused on that. It's a key aspect of his outlook.
an African run medical center: I forget exactly where the medical center (where he gets infected) is located, but it's outside of Asia. That's definitely mentioned in the movie.
Plus Catholic priests have always been very good about bopping around from country to country (I just have to look at my mother's church, where they continually get assigned non-American priests because there aren't enough American priests to go around, to see that - but it's true more than anecdotally). Maybe it's part of the missionary tradition (hiss, hiss).
Korean families: well... it pretty much takes place in Korea. Not sure what to say about that. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 11:42 am |
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From New Jersey, I'm aware that Christianity has quite a foothold among Koreans -- many local churches around Edison, and the seminary church (?) at Rutgers, have become Korean or joint Korean/Western churches.
Still it was disorienting for me, as that's a different world than what I'm used to in China.
Later in the film, the girl has no qualms about banging a priest, as she simply says that she isn't Christian, so he's just a lonely guy who wears black.
As for the African medical center, I didn't catch that that was in another country. He seems to come back from there, bandaged up, down a long staircase in a parklike setting (the medical facility grounds, I assumed). A car and Korean faithful are there to meet him. Maybe I missed something.
I'll search back and see what was said.
I should probably add that I'm not much into modern quirky horror/suspense films, and haven't cottoned on to the Asian film boom of the last decade. So it's not really my cuppa on both counts. |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:45 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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gromit wrote: From New Jersey, I'm aware that Christianity has quite a foothold among Koreans -- many local churches around Edison, and the seminary church (?) at Rutgers, have become Korean or joint Korean/Western churches.
Yeah, but there's selection bias there (well, here) - at least some of the Koreans in NJ likely migrated for religious tolerance reasons (something that's happened with Palestinians, for example, as well), but in the past 20-odd years Christianity has really taken off in (South) Korea itself. Likely at least partially due of the end of the military dictatorship and Korea's rise to the 7th largest economy. (Not a necessary condition, but I'm just thinking the religious and economic changes came from the same general place.)
Quote: Still it was disorienting for me, as that's a different world than what I'm used to in China.
That's actually what I was thinking - that you're filtering through being in China - and most people here will filter through being in the US (which is why some people were disappointed with The Host). Korea is Asian but still unique - which I'm sure you know, but this is a different context...
Quote: I should probably add that I'm not much into modern quirky horror/suspense films, and haven't cottoned on to the Asian film boom of the last decade. So it's not really my cuppa on both counts.
Which is fair. I don't think it's Park Chan-wook's best film, either (although I probably liked it more than you did). |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:47 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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Just back from LA where I saw The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. While there I watched my Netflix dvd of Thirst with my son and his wife. Unusual movie........did not remind me or them of Old Boy. It was too long:
2 hours and 13 minutes. Unneccessary longness. For a horror movie it had alot of laughable moments. I liked the 2 main actors. Was this really a black comedy? |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 5:25 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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Befade wrote: Was this really a black comedy?
I would say yes, very much so.
A secret: Wade is going to nominate Lady Ra for a supporting Blanche, LOL. |
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