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| lshap |
 Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 8:41 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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Before I tell you that I saw Killers, I feel I have to explain why. One of the events I help market is a cancer organization that has an annual bash at a big local movie theatre. The owner of this entire cinema chain donates the use of this particular theatre every year, and on event night it becomes lined end to end with bars, food stations and silent auction items, and culminates with a screening of two films.
Got it? A charity event. Free screenings. Any more questions? Oh - and the other screening was Sex And The City.
So Killers it was. I think it was the first film I've ever seen with Ashton Kutcher, and my expectations were "Lots of snack food" and "Nap". As it turns out, he did manage to exceed my expectations in a performance that was likable and engaging. Okay, as a secret agent he may not threaten Daniel Craig, but he does get the nod over Yvonne Craig. Katherine Heigl is cute and has some good comedy chops, and the two actors make a good onscreen couple. The film itself is somewhere in the background, the farther back the better. It's a silly plot that floats on the charm of its two leads. A good date flic if you're 17. |
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| grace |
| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 10:16 pm |
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Joined: 11 Nov 2005
Posts: 3215
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| Kudos are in order for the Yvonne Craig mention alone. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 7:59 am |
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Ghulam wrote: Get Him to the Greek is a romp that did not amuse me nearly as much as it did some of the reviewers. It is no Hangover.
I always try to see the movies you recommend, though some are foreign ones that I don't have access to. I was not a fan of Hangover at all. If Get Him to the Greek is no Hangover, then it should work for me. So your capsule review could be beneficial in a reverse way. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:12 am |
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| Lorne, was the theatre chain Famous Players? |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 8:21 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12940
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Ghulam wrote: Get Him to the Greek is a romp that did not amuse me nearly as much as it did some of the reviewers. It is no Hangover.
It's nice to know, though, Sarah Marshall has a new tv show. I was afraid she'd be forgotten. |
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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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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:51 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Michael Douglas in Solitary Man gives an absolutely riveting performance - dark, funny, raw, honest. He blows the rest of the cast away. A very well-written and brutally naked dissection of an aging poonhound. I found it hard to watch at times...it reminded me of aspects of myself.
Douglas's performance reminded me of Jeff Bridges's in Crazy Heart.
Two aging Hollywood stars who are unafraid of being shot in the harshest possible lighting, without make-up, looking haggard, paunchy, and their age. |
Last edited by Marc on Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:32 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 10:58 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| I reviewed Solitary Man recently and was struck by the similarity between Douglas's performance and Bridges's in Crazy Heart as well. Douglas even ups the ante by playing a far less likeable character than Bridges did. If Douglas isn't Oscar-nominated there has to be a good reason why. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:32 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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| Billy, your review is one of the reasons I went to "Solitary Man". I even told Mirgun as we were going to the theater that you liked it. I don't remember you making the Bridges comparison, but great minds.... |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 11:35 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Quote: If Douglas isn't Oscar-nominated there has to be a good reason why.
Billy, provocative statement. You know something, we don't? |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:34 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12940
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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The Karate Kid is a perfectly acceptable remake. It retains the basic story line of the original, except: (1) The kid and his mother have moved to Beijing instead of the west coast of the US (2) the kid is now about 11, and a shrimp compared to the other kids (although he is also very fast and limber), (3) the tone is a lot more serious, to the point that you're actually fearful for the Kid, and (4) the romance has many more problems than just the class difference. Oh, and (5) this film should have been called The Kung Fu Kid rather than The Karate Kid. There's a tiny bit of karate, but not enough to justify the title.
Jackie Chan's character is much darker than Pat Morita's. Although there's an occasional comic moment, Chan plays it straight. It's clear that he loves his pupil and is fearful of his safety. This makes the climax a lot more powerful than you might expect.
Something that is reduced too much is the seemingly pointless training the Kid endures. The point is that the training is not pointless at all; the Kid is learning skills in an oblique manner. In the process, he learns the philosophy of kung fu, not just the martial arts aspect.There's a little of that here, but it was better done in the original.
Jaden Smith does pretty well, and I hope to see him in a lot more films. He's really convincing in his kung-fu scenes. His puppy-dog romance is cute; I liked the scene where he wins over his girlfriend's skeptical parents. (After all, would you want your Rhodes Scholar daughter to be won over by a kickboxer? See Say Anything... for the answer.
I still prefer the original, but this remake is one that's worth checking out. |
Last edited by Syd on Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:46 am; edited 2 times in total
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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: Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:35 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12940
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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On the other hand, Get Him to the Greek pretty well sucked.
But it's probably as accurate an account of Marc's rock career as we're going to get. I didn't know you did Sarah Marshall.
I half-liked the rock songs. They sound sort of plausible until you listen to the lyrics, which are even more brain-dead than the usual rock lyrics. I thought Jackie Q's were some kind of triumph, until I came across "Bangers, Beans and Mash" perhaps Aldous Snow's stupidist lyrics. But to do this right, the songs have to sound like they may actually have been hits, and these do not. |
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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: Sun Jun 13, 2010 1:59 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12940
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Of the previews, I think I'm going to have to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The preview had more laughs than the entirety of Get him to the Greek.
On the other hand, the new trailer to Despicable Me wiped out a lot of the good will I had for that film. What the hell are the CGI children doing there? |
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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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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 5:22 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Marc--The reason you don't remember me making the Douglas/Bridges comparison is that I didn't make it except in my mind. Great minds may think alike, but sometimes it takes the world's angriest hippie to commit it to black and white. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 7:53 am |
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A very interesting series of posts for my Sunday morning. Thanks.
Since it doesn't seem that anyone took my recommendation of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past seriously, Michael Douglas plays an over-the-hill hound dog, actually a dead hound dog. He still looks pretty good unlike his character in Solitary Man it seems. That role could have been a warm up for Solitary Man, though I doubt it. It may have giving the casting director an idea though.
I still recommend Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. And if you do rent it don't be discouraged by the first 15 minutes or so, where you might think, oh oh, this is not going to be good. That's what I thought, but it turns out very good, very funny and quite moving in parts. Ladies, you get to see whatshisname with his shirt and sometimes his pants off. 
Syd, after your review of Get Him To the Greek, I now think that Ghulam's comment that it is no Hangover, might be the putdown he meant rather than the compliment that my opinion of Hangover made it. I didn't care much for Hangover, but I didn't think it sucked. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2010 8:30 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Gary--I wish I'd seen the above post before I rented GoGP, which I did a while ago and disliked so intensely for, yes, the first 15 minutes that I gave up on it. Maybe I'll have to try it again sometime. |
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