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| Marc |
 Posted: Fri Jul 02, 2010 7:14 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Quote: I'm assuming you left out the word "not." Right?
you are correct, sir. I changed it. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:46 am |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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billyweeds wrote: Saw an absolutely wonderful independent dramedy last night called Please Give. This would I think definitely fly under everyone's radar, so hop on board by all means. It's directed by the extraordinary writer-director Nicole Holofcener, who created Friends with Money, Walking and Talking, and Lovely & Amazing. In many ways, Please Give tops them all (actually, I've never seen L&A, so maybe not, but whatever, Please Give is lovely and amazing itself).
It stars the great Catherine Keener along with Oliver Platt, Amanda Peet, and Rebecca Hall, with a superb supporting cast. It's like we've returned to the glory days of Woody Allen, as a NYC couple (Keener and Platt) with a teenage daughter run a very successful antique furniture shop, the furniture coming from the homes and apartments of dead people. In the apartment next door to them lives a 91-year-old woman (a wow of a performance by Ann Guilbert) whose apartment they have already bought, planning to break through after she dies and add it to their own apartment. The old woman has two granddaughters (Hall and Peet) of wildly disparate characters, and a lot of stuff--sex, death, nastiness, young love, teenage angst, personal growth, unnatural tanning, etc.--happens. It's one of the most accurately observed urban stories in my memory--as well as being extremely funny at times and very tellingly touching at others. Marvelously satisfying movie; Holofcener is a great filmmaker/writer.
I had to go back two months to find this review, but I knew you had talked about it at some point. I just saw the movie tonight and it's difficult for me to add much other than "Word!" to what you wrote. The comparison to Woody Allen is apt. I realize that might turn some people off the movie, but I hope it doesn't.
I found Rebecca Hall more attractive than ever before in Please Give and I'm not sure why. She's not conventionally beautiful (whatever that means), but there were scenes here in which she smiled and I couldn't help thinking how ridiculously hot she is.
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On the way out of the theater I met Joe in the theater's bar. We had planned to meet there because he is seeing the Midnight showing of Singin in the Rain at the same theater. I wish I could've stayed for that because I like that movie a lot, but I have to wake early tomorrow. Still, it was good to catch up with him. Next time we'll have to arrange to see the same movie! |
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"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 2:15 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Good idea. |
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-Topher |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 3:01 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Best 3 word review of The Last Airbender.
"The Last Shyamalan." Wesley Lovell. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 6:40 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Earl--So glad you liked Please Give, my favorite of 2010 so far. Rebecca Hall has something, there's no doubt, and she's something of a chameleon. She's rather a plain Jane in this one, but in Frost/Nixon, as David Frost's g.f., she was quite the glamor-puss.
And of course off screen she was the "siren" who reportedly broke up Kate Winslet's marriage to Sam Mendes, for whatever that's worth. |
Last edited by billyweeds on Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:20 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12940
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Robin Hood turned out to be my July 4 film. It's well worth watching, as carrobin wrote, with testosterone bursting all over, including Russell Crowe with his shirt off, or in borrowed armor and swinging a sword. The movie could have been called Robin Hood: The Legend Begins since it's an origin stories. Lots of battle scenes, fortunately directed by a man (Ridley Scott) who knows how to do them. There are quite a few good supporting performances, such as Max van Sydow as the father of Maid Marion's husband (and thus Robin's adopted father of sorts), Cate Blanchett as Marion, Mark Strong as the chief villain, William Hurt as Sir William Marshall, Oscar Isaac as a suitably weasly King John, and Léa Seydoux as John's s pretty young queen who seems to have a lot more political smarts than he does. Wonderful scenery, especially the castles, medieval farms and the forests. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:59 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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Please Give! Holy shit - THAT's the name of the film I semi-saw! Yes, about two weeks ago I 'semi-saw' Please Give.
A couple of Wednesdays ago I took an afternoon off and went downtown to the AMC Theater - the only theatre that consistently shows less commercial/foreign/arty films - intending to see Ghost Writer. Got downtown very early, pouring rain outside, so I bought my ticket to Ghost Writer, then went inside and found another film already in progress. Odd thing - no billboards or LED titles of the movies on the entrances over each door, just the theater number, so I had no idea what I was walking into. Was immediately caught up with Oliver Platt, Amanda Peet and Catherine Keener's stories, and almost regretted pulling myself away after about an hour to see the film I paid for. Dialogue and characters felt like like comfort food.
It's no longer playing there, or anywhere in Montreal. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 11:39 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| I'm surprised Ghost Writer is. That's due for a DVD release next month. Oh! Of course this is Montreal. Te, he. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 5:02 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Although I admired The Ghost Writer, I liked Please Give approximately a hundred times more. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 2:22 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Manhattan
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| I've yet to see either and I'm looking forward to both. A lot. Friends keep telling me that The Ghost Writer is my kind of film. So I'm approximately 100 per cent more curious about that than Please Give. But my approximation doesn't take away from my curiosity for Please Give. LOL. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 3:06 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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| Aside from their proximity to each other in that downtown Montreal mega-theater, Ghost Writer and Please Give are as far apart as any two films can be. Polanski's political thriller is a cold, grey chess match between intellectual foes, while Please Give was like watching a game of Twister played by hypersensitive family members. It's really impossible to compare the two. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 4:06 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| "Please Give" is an unfortunate title for a film these days. So many of us have been so swamped with pleas (Haiti, the Gulf, PBS, whales, whatever) that the very phrase evaporates in the ear. But if I get a chance, I'll try to see it. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 4:48 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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carrobin wrote: "Please Give" is an unfortunate title for a film these days. So many of us have been so swamped with pleas (Haiti, the Gulf, PBS, whales, whatever) that the very phrase evaporates in the ear. But if I get a chance, I'll try to see it.
There's an implicit double meaning in the title, though neither one is ever stated. One is the obvious "please give money, charity, support, etc." The other is "please surrender." Both are very resonant in the movie. It's really worth your time. I cannot praise Nicole Holofcener enough. She's a great filmmaker. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:51 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12940
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Early reviews of Despicable Me are highly favorable. It looks like a lot of fun.
There haven't been many reviews of Inception, but what there have been are unqualified raves. |
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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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| lshap |
| Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 6:10 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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Syd wrote: There haven't been many reviews of Inception, but what there have been are unqualified raves.
I hate jinxing this with a "Can't miss" label, but sci-fi plus DiCaprio plus Chris Nolan equals a film I am totally psyched to see. DiCaprio himself isn't the selling point, but the guy has an unerring sense for picking great projects. And Nolan is a talented director/writer at the peak of his career. |
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