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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:05 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Secretariat is the best movie I've seen this year. So much more than just the best horse story I've ever seen on screen, it's astonishing in the way it takes a foregone conclusion and makes it as suspenseful as most Hitchcock films. Each of the Triple Crown races is done in a totally different way, each perfectly. The photography and editing are stunning, the direction pitch-perfect, the dialogue intelligent and trenchant, and the performances by Diane Lane, John Malkovich, et al absolutely wonderful. Lane in particular is amazing, fighting period costumes and hairstyles to create a powerful female image in Penny Chenery Tweedy, the owner of Secretariat who played a man's game and won big time. Lane is superb in every way, and she's given remarkable support by my usual pet peeve Malkovich and the marvelous Margo Martindale as a sort-of-personal-assistant.
This had me cheering and weeping, but I never felt like the idiot I usually feel like at "this kind of a movie." Because it's not "this kind of a movie." It's a great movie. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 3:18 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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| It might be a great film, but they totally left out Secretariat's scandalous "celebrity behavior," especially his brief, torrid homosexual affair with Mr. Ed, which nearly ended in tragedy. |
Last edited by gromit on Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:48 am; edited 3 times in total
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 4:07 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Well, Wilber wasn't just going to stand by and let his horse go off with another. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:51 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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You misspelled his name.
It's Wi-i-i-lll-bur-r-r-r. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| grace |
| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 7:44 am |
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Joined: 11 Nov 2005
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gromit wrote: It might be a great film, but they totally left out Secretariat's scandalous "celebrity behavior," especially his brief, torrid homosexual affair with Mr. Ed, which nearly ended in tragedy.
Which is the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story currently in production. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 8:21 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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Billy,
Thanks for your and Befade's recommendation for Woody Allen's latest, and for your rave about Secretariat. I haven't seen a film in awhile and at last I've found my motivation. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 9:06 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6967
Location: Black Hills
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gromit wrote: It might be a great film, but they totally left out Secretariat's scandalous "celebrity behavior," especially his brief, torrid homosexual affair with Mr. Ed, which nearly ended in tragedy.
What sort of tragedy? Just curious. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 1:37 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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bartist wrote: gromit wrote: It might be a great film, but they totally left out Secretariat's scandalous "celebrity behavior," especially his brief, torrid homosexual affair with Mr. Ed, which nearly ended in tragedy.
What sort of tragedy? Just curious.
I'm under court order not to divulge any aspects of the situation. But so is Henry Kissinger, I might add. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 4:13 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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gromit wrote: bartist wrote: gromit wrote: It might be a great film, but they totally left out Secretariat's scandalous "celebrity behavior," especially his brief, torrid homosexual affair with Mr. Ed, which nearly ended in tragedy.
What sort of tragedy? Just curious.
I'm under court order not to divulge any aspects of the situation. But so is Henry Kissinger, I might add.
I'd heard it differently. I heard Francis the Talking Mule and Mr. Ed were seeing each other on the down-low, and Secretariat's move to steal Ed away and go public was going to cause a national scandal and possibly end three careers. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 4:38 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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You all should apologize to Mr. Weeden for using his fine review as a springboard for horseplay. And then go apologize to Clarence Thomas' wife, just to be on the safe side.
(was going to say that Billy had "set the bar high" for intelligent film chat today, but that could have misfired and been a set-up for some kind of equestrian joke....) |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 11:06 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Thanks, bart. It almost looks as though people are embarrassed by the idea of a movie about a horse. Why I can't understand, but that's all I can assume. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:05 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Or maybe we just like to joke around. I haven't seen the movie and have no pro-or-con opinion of it. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:30 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Quote: It might be a great film, but they totally left out Secretariat's scandalous "celebrity behavior," especially his brief, torrid homosexual affair with Mr. Ed, which nearly ended in tragedy.
Oh shit, that's funny! Thanks Gromit, I needed that. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 8:41 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote: Thanks, bart. It almost looks as though people are embarrassed by the idea of a movie about a horse. Why I can't understand, but that's all I can assume. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 8:43 am |
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Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Joe Vitus wrote: Or maybe we just like to joke around. I haven't seen the movie and have no pro-or-con opinion of it. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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