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| marantzo |
 Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 7:36 pm |
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| So Mandela's taste for poetry was in his mouth. Still quite a guy. His wife was a piece of work though. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 7:42 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 16, 2009 11:47 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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| Jeff Bridges's performance as an over-the-hill, alcoholic country music singer in Crazy Heart is acting so marvelous it doesn't seem like acting at all but the true story of a real person. It's Bridges's best acting ever and the best male performance of the year. |
Last edited by billyweeds on Thu Dec 17, 2009 6:14 am; edited 2 times in total |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 1:00 am |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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Have Crazy Heart in the screener queue, so that's nice to know.
Meanwhile, Uncle Kenneth calls Avatar "'The Jazz Singer" of 3-D filmmaking," went essentially bonkers for it.
L.A. Times: Movie Review: 'Avatar': a dazzling revelation |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 1:11 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Quote: Jeff Bridges's performance as an over-the-hill, alcoholic country music singer in Crazy Heart is acting so marvelous it doesn't seem like acting at all but the true story of a real person. It's Bridges's best acting ever and the best male performance of the year.
Good news. I can't wait to see it. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:43 am |
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Marc wrote: Quote: Jeff Bridges's performance as an over-the-hill, alcoholic country music singer in Crazy Heart is acting so marvelous it doesn't seem like acting at all but the true story of a real person. It's Bridges's best acting ever and the best male performance of the year.
Good news. I can't wait to see it.
I seem to remember either reading about or seeing some clips of Crazy Heart a long time ago. It might have been a different film
but that was the story line. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 6:15 am |
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Location: New York City
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Crazy Heart itself is a terrific movie, with never a dull moment and some highly dramatic ones, a lot of laughs, and a sensational supporting turn by Maggie Gyllenhaal as a reporter who interviews and then has an affair with the Bridges character. Colin Farrell is excellent, too, as a young country singing star who "learned everything he knows" from Bridges.
An interesting sidelight is that the movie also features Robert Duvall as a friendly bartender. Duvall won the Oscar for playing an alcoholic country singer in Tender Mercies.
I recommend the movie as entertaining and moving, and Bridges's performance as an acting lesson. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 6:38 am |
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| Nine seems to be this season's Dreamgirls, only more so. Dreamgirls was touted as being a shoo-in for a nomination and possibly a win. It turned out to be mediocre and garnered only one important win, for Jennifer Hudson. Nine has been similarly touted but seems to be sub-mediocre or worse. Daniel Day-Lewis, who had also been touted, is getting some of the worst reviews of his career. What is it with La-La Land? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:10 am |
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| On second thought, I stlll am in a mental toss-up about who's the Best Actor of 2009. There are several contenders, but Bridges and Michael Stuhlbarg of A Serious Man are both so amazing that it's hard to decide. Stuhlbarg gives a truly inspired performance, and Bridges the most naturalistic I've seen in years. Both gentlemen are acting geniuses of very different stripes. The only answer may be a tie. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:26 am |
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billyweeds wrote: Nine seems to be this season's Dreamgirls, only more so. Dreamgirls was touted as being a shoo-in for a nomination and possibly a win. It turned out to be mediocre and garnered only one important win, for Jennifer Hudson. Nine has been similarly touted but seems to be sub-mediocre or worse. Daniel Day-Lewis, who had also been touted, is getting some of the worst reviews of his career. What is it with La-La Land?
Yes, this is probably true. But honestly Billy, you've sounded to me almost from the first like you're gunning for this movie. I expected it to be bad, but I'm not happy about it. You really seem to be savoring it, and I don't understand why. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:27 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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marantzo wrote: billyweeds wrote: whiskeypriest wrote: Invictus sounds noble. I hate noble.
Whiskey also answered my question.
I also loathe the poem "Invictus."
"My head is bloody but unbowed." Yecch.
YES!!!!!!!! I have always hated that poem. Self congratulating crap.
Dark is the night that covers me,
Black as the pitch from pole to pole,
I thank whatever God there be,
For my unconquerable soul.
(Probably some mistakes there, but YECCH, indeed!)
When we were taught this poem in Junior High, High School, I don't remember which, I couldn't believe that it was supposed to be a wonderful poem. It's in a class with Trees, though Trees is so goofily bad that it should have a midnight showing. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 10:37 am |
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Joe Vitus wrote: billyweeds wrote: Nine seems to be this season's Dreamgirls, only more so. Dreamgirls was touted as being a shoo-in for a nomination and possibly a win. It turned out to be mediocre and garnered only one important win, for Jennifer Hudson. Nine has been similarly touted but seems to be sub-mediocre or worse. Daniel Day-Lewis, who had also been touted, is getting some of the worst reviews of his career. What is it with La-La Land?
Yes, this is probably true. But honestly Billy, you've sounded to me almost from the first like you're gunning for this movie. I expected it to be bad, but I'm not happy about it. You really seem to be savoring it, and I don't understand why.
Here are some ratings from Rotten Tomatoes:
Crazy Heart 95% (38-2)
Avatar 84% (87-17)
The Lovely Bones 38% (30-48 )
Nine 30% (7-16)
Did You Hear About the Morgans? 0% (0-10)
Small samples on the last two, but it sure doesn't look like any of the last three are going to win Best Picture. The Lovely Bones was my dark horse pick, but it ain't gonna happen.
Sherlock Holmes is running 12-4 favorable. That's the one I'm most looking forward to. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:38 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Joe Vitus wrote: billyweeds wrote: Nine seems to be this season's Dreamgirls, only more so. Dreamgirls was touted as being a shoo-in for a nomination and possibly a win. It turned out to be mediocre and garnered only one important win, for Jennifer Hudson. Nine has been similarly touted but seems to be sub-mediocre or worse. Daniel Day-Lewis, who had also been touted, is getting some of the worst reviews of his career. What is it with La-La Land?
Yes, this is probably true. But honestly Billy, you've sounded to me almost from the first like you're gunning for this movie. I expected it to be bad, but I'm not happy about it. You really seem to be savoring it, and I don't understand why.
Joe--I plead guilty to gunning for Nine and savoring the negative reaction. And here's why, or at least part of it:
1) I despise that phenomenon called "buzz," which seems to be largely Hollywood-based and often has little to do with artistic merit. Rather, it's based on who is in and who is out. Rob Marshall--and you know I think he has a lot of talent--is still "in," and the fact that he cast a lot of superstars made this a "supporting actress" magnet from the get-go, probably before the cameras even began to roll.
2) Daniel Day-Lewis is--this is clearly IMO--one of the more overrated actors alive. His performances in Gangs of New York and There Will Be Blood, though the subject of masturbatory fantasies on the part of the critical establishment (and in the case of TWBB the Oscar community) did zilch for me. He was terrific in My Left Foot, but since then I have taken a pass on Day-Lewis.
3) Here I know we disagree, but I was not at all impressed with the musical Nine as a piece of writijng. Maury Yeston is not much of a songwriter in my book. In short, Nine is no Chicago.
Granted, I may change my mind when I see the movie, but that will probably not be until its DVD release. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:46 am |
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So no matter that buzz and an intersting casting decision (Catherine Zeta-Jones was your idea of actress who deserved her fame before seeing Chicago?) could be a boon for the movie musical? It doesn't make you sad that a man who can direct great movie musicals may run out of chances if this tanks? And that it might be another decade or so before we get a chance for another work on the level of Chicago?
Nine's a pretty fantasic score, though I think Yeston's career is uneven, and his music is better than his lyrics. But to me that's sort of beside the point. Sweeney Todd has an unquestionably great score but that didn't cause me to have high hopes for Tim Burton's movie. On the other hand, I wasn't eager for it to flop, either. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:54 am |
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Joe--You're going too far now. I did not say I am eager for Nine to flop. What I was saying all along, nothing more and nothing less, was that to anoint this movie, sight unseen, as a clear Oscar favorite--and make no mistake, that's what happened--was ridiculous. (That's "buzz.") Now that the reactions are negative, the Dreamgirls effect is happening again. Too bad it's another musical, but that's life. I would hate to see the movie musical genre go south again, but that's not a good enough reason to promote a stinker as an award winner. As for Rob Marshall, I give you Whoopi Goldberg. She had umpteen losers in a row and still reigns as a superstar. So does John Travolta, whose post-SNF/Grease losing streak was insane, and who is having another one now to little effect. Marshall will survive.
See, it's nuts that a movie as wonderful as Crazy Heart was almost relegated to straight-to-DVD status when Nine has clearly been oversold. That galls me. Oh, btw, Crazy Heart is kind of a musical too. |
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