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| Joe Vitus |
 Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 5:11 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Yes. Didn't care for it, though there were good, ambiguous moments like Gordon-Levitt giving the kid at the baseball field a treat for returning the foul ball and saying "You got to reward kids for being good" or the scene with the guy he picked up in the New York Bar. The last image of the movie was moving. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:23 am |
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Befade wrote: I will watch Gordon-Levitt in anything.
Have you seen The Lookout?
A very good movie and lots of Gordon-Levitt. Also lots of Winnipeg. 
My son saw it and told me he really liked it. I asked him if he enjoyed all the Winnipeg settings that he knew so well. He didn't even know it was Winnipeg and was very surprised. He said he'd have to see it again.
Sandra Bullock is indeed a lovely lady. I heard her interviewed a long time ago and was very impressed. She's very bright. He dad is/was (?) a scientist of some kind and I think her mother was an opera singer. I'll have to look it up. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:37 am |
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Well, her mother was an opera singer, but her father was apparently a voice coach. Some other actress had a scientist as a father.  |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:45 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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I'm taking a well-deserved break, but wanted to chime in on some Currant Scones:
- Facing Ali is a terrific doc, which just had its Dvd premiere last week. Ten Ali opponents are interviewed, and it's interesting to see where their thoughts and lives are, as these older ex-pugs reflect back on their careers and themselves. George Chuvalo and Ron Lyle are the most interesting and informative about boxing (Chuvalo talks of mob influence; while I wasn't aware that Lyle, a trainer now, served 7+ years in his 20's for 2nd degree murder which afforded him mucho training time).
Frazier, Spinks and Norton sadly are deemed to require fixed subtitles, though I thought they were pretty intelligible.
Clips of Ali and the fights are mixed in well and the soundtrack is impressive. Some stunning moments include Larry Holmes' self-appraisal, Chuvalo's mob indictment, and Ernie Terrell singing a ditty about beating Ali on the Tonight Show to the tune of Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey, two days prior to their fight. There are sad moments, including the void of Ali unable to be interviewed which the documentary spars and dances around. A wonderful film. If you liked the Tyson doc, this is like ten Tyson's, each older and with their own perspective. [The 3 other fighters are Henry Cooper, Frazier and Foreman]. After it ended, I could have sat through it again (and probably will soon, as I accidentally watched the whole thing with the color off on my TV ... which worked fine, but still ...).
- An Education
I liked this but thought the last 20+ minutes felt rushed in its storytelling. I like a nice short hour and a half film, but felt this could have used another 20 minutes to improve the pace and flesh a few things out better.
Also, I didn't take to Alfred Molina as the father. He seemed more like a caricature than a character, sort of a sketch comedy depiction of a weak blustery father figure.
- Mary & Max
I'm pretty certain I already wrote this up and touted it as my favorite of the year. Aussie stop-motion, a bit demented but affecting, and based on the director's real experience.
- Moon
I liked this film. Had a nice look to it and the story unfolded at a nice pace. I'm curious about how this film works on a second viewing once one knows the twist. I'm also curious about some of the backstory, which the writer/director didn't think through to my satisfaction (based on the dvd extras).
- Everlasting Moments
A period piece from Sweden, chronicling how one woman's life changes due to a camera she wins as a prize in turn-of-the-20th Century Scandinavia. Reminded me of Heimat in its feel and look.
A gentle low-key film that seemed true and heartfelt (based on the writer's grandmother, if I recall). |
Last edited by gromit on Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:42 am; edited 1 time in total
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:19 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Gordon-Levitt is a fine actor, but (500) Days of Summer is the first film he's been in since Mysterious Skin that I have really liked. Brick was a fiasco, The Lookout was mediocre, and he was wasted and overqualified in the disappointing Stop-Loss. Mysterious Skin is one of the most fascinating films I've ever seen. Totally unpredictable and weird in the best possible way.
I've heard Gordon-Levitt is gay and out. Has anyone else heard this or is it just one of those rumors? |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 4:32 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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I've never heard of it before -- but if he is gay, I sure as hell hope he's out.
p.s. WORD 2 yer post, Mr. Weeds |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 5:05 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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billyweeds wrote: Gordon-Levitt is a fine actor, but (500) Days of Summer is the first film he's been in since Mysterious Skin that I have really liked. Brick was a fiasco, The Lookout was mediocre, and he was wasted and overqualified in the disappointing Stop-Loss. Mysterious Skin is one of the most fascinating films I've ever seen. Totally unpredictable and weird in the best possible way.
I've heard Gordon-Levitt is gay and out. Has anyone else heard this or is it just one of those rumors?
Have I just watched too many weird movies? I thought it was okay, but not in any way particularly weird or avant garde. Gordon-Levitt was fine but not inspired, whereas I thought Brady Corbet was better (in, to my mind, the more difficult role of the kid who lost his memory) and Mary Lynn Rajskub as the handicapped girl who thinks she was abducted by aliens was best of all.
In no interview I've read with Gordon-Levitt has he mentioned being gay. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 5:11 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Brick was a fiasco
Man do I agree. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:08 pm |
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| I had to look up Brick to see if it were the movie I was thinking of. Yes it was and I liked it. At first I found it annoying and then as it progressed, liked it more and more. Strange movie. I'm not sure if I would have liked it very much if Gordon-Levitt weren't the lead character. It was sort of a mess, though, but an interesting mess. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:34 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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Quote: Have you seen The Lookout?
Gary.......I've seen all the films mentioned.......and I did like Brick. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:39 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| I saw Avatar today and I'm not going to do an all-out whooptie-doo about it. For now I'll say.....the IMAX 3-d was fun. The first half was beautiful in an Uber-Fantasia way. I kept wondering where Angelina Jolie was. But it can't be compared with other movies simply because of the expense involved in making it. It's some kind of new phenomenon the way Star Wars, James Bond, and Pixar movies were. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:11 pm |
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| I guess seeing it dubbed in Spanish wouldn't be a good idea. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 10:52 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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marantzo wrote: I guess seeing it dubbed in Spanish wouldn't be a good idea.
Saw An Education again on screener. Find myself inclined to slightly reboot my original ecstatic reaction, agreeing with gromit's take a bit in the wake of a closer viewing. It is somewhat hasty in its race to resolution -- not least in that it affords only the one critical scene with Sally Hawkins, so typically vivid that in typically greedy fashion I typically wanted more of her, tee-typical-hee. Can see why Mr. Molina could read as caricature, though he entertained me mightily, his moment with the tea and biscuits outside Jenny's room at the climax quite touching -- but that too might have been further developed with a bit more narrative time. Ditto the unexplored complications implied by the heroine's dance with Dominic Cooper as Rosamund Pike and Mr. Sarsgaard look on. It still is pretty darned involving and fresh in feel, especially for a period film, and La Belle Carey utterly deserves the plaudits she's gotten -- a translucent, mercurial performance.
Am currently waiting for The Messenger, and Broken Embraces, and A Serious Man, and Crazy Heart -- by which I mean the screeners, not some dating-service responses.
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Last edited by inlareviewer on Mon Jan 18, 2010 6:55 am; edited 2 times in total
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:06 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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| Drat my inadvertence. Double-post, begone. |
Last edited by inlareviewer on Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
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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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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 11:06 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I'm waiting on Anvil: The Story of Anvil. |
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