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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:14 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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whiskey--Good list, and mostly good thinking, except about Zellweger, who was the linchpin of Chicago in a marvelous performance.
Gosford Park and Lord of the Rings would be the first to go for me. Hated them both. Otherwise, like your choices a lot.
Okay, okay, I only saw the first half of the first LOTR. Sue me. I will not go back to check it out. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:32 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote: whiskey--Good list, and mostly good thinking, except about Zellweger, who was the linchpin of Chicago in a marvelous performance.
Gosford Park and Lord of the Rings would be the first to go for me. Hated them both. Otherwise, like your choices a lot.
Okay, okay, I only saw the first half of the first LOTR. Sue me. I will not go back to check it out.
As for Zellweger, I actually didn't hate her in Chicago; I hate her generally. That was not made clear. Sorry. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:39 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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whiskeypriest wrote: billyweeds wrote: whiskey--Good list, and mostly good thinking, except about Zellweger, who was the linchpin of Chicago in a marvelous performance.
Gosford Park and Lord of the Rings would be the first to go for me. Hated them both. Otherwise, like your choices a lot.
Okay, okay, I only saw the first half of the first LOTR. Sue me. I will not go back to check it out. Different strokes, and all. I was a Tolkien fiend from about 13 on, which may have some impact on my feeling about the movie.
As for Zellweger, I actually didn't hate her in Chicago; I hate her generally. That was not made clear. Sorry.
I was a Tolk-o-phobe from 13 on. Different strokes indeed. Zellweger can be tough to handle sometimes, I agree, but I think she's a very talented lady. |
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| Trish |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:41 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2438
Location: Massachusetts
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billyweeds wrote: whiskey--Good list, and mostly good thinking, except about Zellweger, who was the linchpin of Chicago in a marvelous performance.
Gosford Park and Lord of the Rings would be the first to go for me. Hated them both. Otherwise, like your choices a lot.
Okay, okay, I only saw the first half of the first LOTR. Sue me. I will not go back to check it out.
You hated Gosford Park? - oh man - bad bad bad Billy- that film was superb |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:50 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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whiskeypriest wrote: billyweeds wrote: marantzo wrote: She was exceptional. I fell in love with her.
Her Oscar loss to Cate Blanchett in The Aviator was the rare event I call a "travesty." Amen.
Madsen wasn't the best either. That was Laura Linney in Kinsey. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:00 pm |
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I really liked Gosford Park. It was the first movie I saw after my wife had died. About a month after. I fell asleep during a few sections. As some of you may have experienced, extended stressful situations can do that. I fell asleep during a few movies after as well. I saw Gosford Park again because of my temporary apnea the first viewing and liked it just as much. Very well realized. And I also had some trouble telling some of the characters apart.
In my art school days one of my good friends kept telling me to read Lord of the Rings and how wonderful it was. A couple of years later I gave it a try. Made it to about 15 pages in and never picked it up again. Saw the first movie in its entirety. Did not like it at all. Didn't bother with the other two. My friend in Nassau saw all three. Of the third one (he liked it) he told me that Nassau natives get up to leave the theatre when they think the movie is ending and stand at the back till it is over. With the third instalment of LotR they got up and went to the back of the theatre only to stand there for a very long time waiting for the actual ending. Perfect.  |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:26 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Really like Gosford Park. The rare post-70's Altman pic I feel that way about. How he can charge that final scene between the sisters with so much emotion just amazes me. Yes, two great actresses have something to do with it, but such an abrupt change of tone needs a master to make it work in the overall context.
It reminds me of the great shots of Sally Kellerman and Donald Sutherland at the very end of MASH when he's told he's told he can leave immediately. Nothing up to that moment prepares us to expect such a connection between the two characters, and it's over in seconds, but the moment lingers in the mind. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:27 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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| The Lord of the Rings (the books) opens with Bilbo's 111th birthday party, which, if you don't know who Bilbo is, is tough going. I didn't make it past that the first time. I eventually read the synopsis of the first book and read the second and third, and enjoyed them. Second time I read the entire trilogy, and third time read The Hobbit as well. I bet a lot of potential readers have foundered on that first chapter. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:28 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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For my Top 6, they are in reverse order of preference, with why they are in. Yes, I realize what my Top Two movies make me look like.
Sita Sings the Blues
Why it is in: Paley’s retelling of and relating to an ancient Indian story manages to find the modern heart in the traditional female story and the traditional heart in the feminist modern story. The multiple style of animation works well, as does the narration’s fumbling and funny attempts to understand exactly what the story is. And the songs are perfectly chosen, sung, and animated. The whole movie is a wonder; probably my favorite animated movie of all time.
Sideways
Why it is in: Paul Giamatti gives the best male leading performance of the decade. Virginia Madsen gives my favorite performance of any kind, any gender, in any movie of the decade. And the two together, sitting on the porch and ostensibly talking about wine is the best scene of the decade. Thomas Haden Church is almost as good. The story is funny and sad, and while there were a couple scenes that looked like they were paid for by the Santa Ynez Chamber of Commerce, it was pretty beautiful throughout. Also has the second funniest nude fat man with the swinging junk scene of the decade. Plus, a great ending. As a side benefit, having this movie on my list also helps me build up a certain amount of goodwill with billy, which I will need given what comes next.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Why it is in: A sad, beautiful, emotionally true movie about love and memory – even when both hurt, and even when the first collapses. The screenplay’s inventive, and intelligent – I clearly have a mental affinity for Charlie Kaufman scripts – and funny in the right spots. It is my favorite Kate Winslet performance, and my second favorite female lead of the decade.* It’s a tough role: the way we are introduced to her character makes it easy to hate her, but Winslet makes it clear why Joel believes Clem has a personality that promises to lift you out of the mundane.
Labyrinth of the Faun**
Why it is in: Among its many virtues: the best cinematography of the decade, and a remarkable score. It is one of the most beautiful – as well as appropriately ugly – films of recent memory. I like the way the movie never commits to any answer to the reality/unreality question, and the way it contemplates the nature of obedience in a world not necessarily aligned with what is right. Acting performances are wonderful – I think; one of the drawbacks of foreign movies is you never really get the right sense of the line reading.
A Serious Man
Why it is in: My favorite script of the decade: it is intricate without appearing that way, taut while appearing loose (at least one aspect of the movie is neatly encapsulated in a single conversation with a grad student), and consistent in its logical development while feeling free form. Think you can’t have these things both ways? Please, accept mystery. It is also an incredibly funny and thoughtful combination of Job and Schroedinger’s Cat. Michael Stuhlbarg gives a revelatory performance in the lead role – perhaps my favorite by any male whose name does not rhyme with “Be a motey.” The rest of the cast is also superb: the Coens do a great job realizing the smaller roles in their films as well as the big ones. It is one of two movies this decade I continued to think about and relive on a daily basis two weeks after I saw them. That the other is also a Coen Brothers movie I think is due to the fact that no director(s) since Billy Wilder manages to strike something in me quite so convincingly when they are on their game.
No Country for Old Men
Why it is in: I’ll probably go into greater detail later, but I think it is the best crafted movie of the decade, for one thing. The cinematography, the sound design and score, the casting – again, even of the small parts; Gene Jones and Kathy Lampkin stick with me almost as much as Bardem. Well, all right, Brolin then. Bardem is magnificent, Brolin as good as he’s ever been, and if Ed Tom is no stretch for Tommy Lee Jones, he still nails the part. The movie got into me from the opening narration and never let go of me.
* Naomi Watts, in Mulholland Drive, as much as I dislike that movie.
** Because I know the difference between a minor woodland deity and a baby deer and rather resent the implication that I don’t, that’s why. |
Last edited by whiskeypriest on Tue Dec 15, 2009 1:34 pm; edited 2 times in total
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:30 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Syd wrote: whiskeypriest wrote: billyweeds wrote: marantzo wrote: She was exceptional. I fell in love with her.
Her Oscar loss to Cate Blanchett in The Aviator was the rare event I call a "travesty." Amen.
Madsen wasn't the best either. That was Laura Linney in Kinsey. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:31 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Syd wrote: The Lord of the Rings (the books) opens with Bilbo's 111th birthday party, which, if you don't know who Bilbo is, is tough going. I didn't make it past that the first time. I eventually read the synopsis of the first book and read the second and third, and enjoyed them. Second time I read the entire trilogy, and third time read The Hobbit as well. I bet a lot of potential readers have foundered on that first chapter.
I had read The Hobbit first, neatly avoiding the whole "Who the Fuck is Bilbo?" quandry. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 1:24 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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I adore Laura Linney, but thought her performance in Kinsey was as forgettable as the rest of that dull, dull movie.
whiskey--In view of the rest of your list, I will forgive you Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, as long as you resist adding a "The" to the beginning of the title. I unfortunately never gained the affection for the super-annoying Clem that you did. Winslet is a fine actress, but few could rescue a character as relentlessly coy, twee, and narcissistic as that woman.
I prefer A Serious Man to No Country for Old Men, but the fact that you have the former on your list makes me very happy. ASM and The Hurt Locker and Sita Sings the Blues are my favorites of 2009 and three of my top ten of the decade for sure. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 1:35 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: ...as long as you resist adding a "The" to the beginning of the title.... |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 6:38 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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billyweeds wrote: As great as Giamatti and Church are, without Virginia Madsen's wonderful performance the movie would be only about three-quarters as good as it is.
Oh yes, how could I have forgotten her excellent performance. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:19 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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| Love Gosford Park, one of the DVDs that gets repeatedly hauled out whenever I need to unwind, and certainly love Laura Linney (charter member of the League Of Linney Observant Lovers, aka LOLOL). She was fine in Kinsey, just fine, though my favorite turns remain You Can Count on Me, her chilling monologue in the TV Laramie Project, her various Mary Ann Singletons and absolutely The Savages. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favorite films of all time, period. Have more than once wished for a device like Joel and Clementine submit to. |
Last edited by inlareviewer on Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:24 pm; edited 2 times in total
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