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| marantzo |
 Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:03 am |
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Billy. I didn't know that To Live and Die In LA got bad press. I think I had the idea that I'd like the movie because I liked the title, so I rented the tape. I more than liked it. I REALLY liked it, and Peterson became someone I always watched for. I was puzzled that he never seemed to get many roles after that and was so glad when he got the lead role on CSI.
Glad you mentioned it. I should watch it again. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:24 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Gary--To Live and Die in L.A. got okay press--and a four-star review from Roger Ebert--but it was not a major hit, and therefore contributed to the perception that Friedkin had lost his mojo. After the failures of Cruising and Deal of the Century, he was considered a has-been in H'wood and never got back his rep. The irony is that TLADILA is one of his best, if not his best of all. In any case, it's a must-see.
I agree that Petersen is a big talent and I was also gratified to see his career surge with CSI even though I don't love that show. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 5:34 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Half Moon is a 2006 film by the Kurdish Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi, who directed Turtles Can Fly, which I reviewed here a while back, A Time for Drunken Horses, which I haven’t seen, and No One Knows about Persian Cats which I’m looking forward to.
Mamo is a famous, elderly Kurdish musician and composer who gets an opportunity to play the first concert in free Kurdistan (i.e. Iraqi Kurdistan), so he gathers his seemingly infinite collection of “sons” (quotes because at least one seems almost as old as he is) and permission to cross the border. Unfortunately, he also hears a prophecy that the trip will end in disaster at half moon. He goes to hear the prophecy for himself—we don’t get to hear what he hears, so we don’t know whether he’s trying to fulfill the prophecy or finding a condition to avoid it.
He needs a female singer for his composition, a long-time collaborator named Hesho. However, Iran has banned professional female singers, and she lives in a guarded village with 1333 other female singers, a sort of open-air prison for artists. So if she is to make the concert, they have to get her out of the prison, through police checkpoints and across the border. It doesn’t help that Hesho is scared not only for herself and Mamo. On the other hand, there is sort of an international Kurdish underground which is of dubious help.
Half Moon is both drama and dark comedy, and works well both ways. The bus driver provides comic relief—among other things, he travels with a fighting cock who is his best friend, and when he rents the bus, he and the owner reminded me of Mel Brooks or Jerry Steiner. It was a joint production of Iran, Iraq, Austria and France, which makes me wonder how widely it played in Iran, because it gets pretty scathing, for example, when we see the border guards or the concentration camp for singers. As far as I know, though, it wasn’t censored. It was actually filmed on location in Iranian Kurdistan.
I liked this one better than Turtles Can Fly. Sometimes Half Moon is haunting (especially musically), and sometimes confusing, but it’s a good road story, and the characters, especially Mamo, are considerably more pleasant than in the previous movie. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 5:39 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| You know that if we did Half Moon in this country, it would have at least two gun fights, a heavily edited car chase scene, a muscular male heartthrob (probably Brad Pitt) and a gorgeous love interest. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| Trish |
| Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:11 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2438
Location: Massachusetts
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Just watched Anvil: The Story of Anvil - I am not really a Metal fan but boy this story really hit me in the heart. The Interchanges between Lipps and Rob and Lipps and his family were so genuine, moving.
My first thought after seeing the film was - how are the guys doing? Did they make some money off the documentary, has their new album sold well? |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 2:34 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Manhattan
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This week, while taking it very easy, I finally saw Up in the Air. I feel very similar to Billy's assessment of the movie: It is very good, but not excellent. However, George Clooney, indeed all of the those that were nominated, absolutely deserved their nods.
I just want to make one point as I know the film has already been discussed to death. Playing a character which may be similar to oneself - and I emphasize, may be, since no one really knows Clooney, is perhaps one of the most difficult acting assignments anyone could get. If it appears, Clooney is playing himself, than he deserves even more kudos than he's already received. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 6:14 pm |
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| My assessment was the same as Billy's. Just because he is older than I, doesn't me you can ignore me. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 7:59 pm |
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Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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| Marj - My opinion of Up In The Air was the same as yours, and Billy and Gary's too I guess. Most of my positive response centers on Clooney himself, and how easy it was to identify with him. No, my life and his aren't remotely similar, but by all appearances his personality is a mix of my friends' qualities as well as my own, plus we're the same age. Based strictly on his public persona I like him, and I'm predisposed to smile when I watch him onscreen. Up In The Air isn't nearly as solid a story as Michael Clayton, but it was another piece of the smart, accessible Clooney puzzle that I like getting to know. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:01 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| Gary--I'm sorry. I didn't see your post. But I'm glad to see we all agree. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2010 9:10 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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lshap wrote: Marj - My opinion of Up In The Air was the same as yours, and Billy and Gary's too I guess. Most of my positive response centers on Clooney himself, and how easy it was to identify with him. No, my life and his aren't remotely similar, but by all appearances his personality is a mix of my friends' qualities as well as my own, plus we're the same age. Based strictly on his public persona I like him, and I'm predisposed to smile when I watch him onscreen. Up In The Air isn't nearly as solid a story as Michael Clayton, but it was another piece of the smart, accessible Clooney puzzle that I like getting to know.
Lorne - Isn't it interesting that so many of us smile when we watch Clooney on screen? I know that up until the last part of the movie, I was grinning like a Cheshire cat. Apparently this isn't male or female specific.
Certainly Michael Clayton was a better film. But Up in the Air holds it's own. I found it hard to find anything to complain about. Which goes for the writing to all the acting. It was most pleasing experience. One which stayed with me. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 12:54 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Séraphine is the seven César-award winning 2008 biography of Séraphine Louis, an housemaid who became a famous artist in the naïve style in the early 20th century. (Although, as Wilhelm Uhde, the critic who discovered her, points out, naïve is a misnomer; primitive is a better description. She lived from 1864 until 1942. The movie concentrates on the period from 1914 (in reality 1912), when she was discovered, until the mid-thirties. As portrayed here, she was shy, and maybe a bit mentally fragile to begin with (she thought her work was divinely inspired, and sometimes it does seem like she has a point), learned to make her own pigments , and finally achieved a bit of fame and fortune at the wrong moment for history (1929) and for herself.
This is, I think, the best film biography of an artist I've ever seen. Yolande Moreau deserved the awards she got, and was, frankly, better than any of the actresses who were up for the Oscars this year, (well, Carey Mulligan was about even). She totally sinks into the character and is completely believable. It turns out I've seen her before: she had a small part in Amélie and was in the Eiffel Tower section of Paris Je T'Aime. Ulrich Tukur is excellent as Wilhelm Uhde, and Anne Bennent is striking in an underwritten role as Wilhelm's sister Anne-Marie.
For me, the highlight was 90 minutes in when we get to see Séraphine showing off her mature work, and it's stunning and often disturbing. (Her previous work was stunning and often disturbing too.) Some of them, in particular the last one, is positively scary. Since I'd not seen any of her paintings before (in fact I knew nothing about her), I was stunned. The cinematography is also excellent, and the supporting cast is fine down the line. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 3:21 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Sounds goo, Syd.
I'll be looking for that.
Somewhat different, somewhat related, did you see In The Realms of the Unreal (about Henry Darger). |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 4:33 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| The T.A.M.I. Show is unquestionably one of the greatest rock and roll concerts recorded on film. After years of being available only on bootleg video and dvd, it's finally been released on a pristine dvd by Shout Factory. James Brown gives what is considered to be the most intense performance by a musician ever documented. Trust me, this is a life changer. At least it was for me when I was 13 and it still holds up. The Rolling Stones following Brown was one of the worst decisions Mick and the boys could have possibly made. They've never looked so white. The film features wonderful performances from Chuck Berry, The Supremes, Beach Boys, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye and many many more. This is worth owning. |
Last edited by Marc on Fri Mar 26, 2010 2:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 6:06 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Something tells me Marc isn't a huge Stones fan. Am I right? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 6:08 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Made my first DVD purchases in a dog's age this week. Got bargain Barnes & Noble rates on the best action flick and the best romantic comedy I've seen in a long time--To Live and Die in L.A. and Definitely, Maybe. You've seen me rave about them here; now my money is where my "mouth" is. |
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