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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 11:42 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Befade wrote: Quote: Still, there's Mila Kunis in tights
Bart......you're so pliable........Actually she was the only relief factor in the film, the grit.
I was not offended by the horrific elements in the movie, just didn't think it was as great as all that. Agree that Mila Kunis was the best thing about it. She gives a terrific performance. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 2:21 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Marc wrote: The Black Swan is terrifically entertaining, The Red Shoes meets Repulsion. By all means, see it. It's a horror movie so, yes, there's some very brief gruesome scenes that barely rate a mention. If you are a fan of Polanski, Argento, Hitchcock or Brian De Palma, you'll gobble The Black Swan up. It's actually quite funny.
I don't enjoy horror movies or like those directors.
Except that Hitchcock guy, he's got some promise.
Will probably skip Black Swan. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:07 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Watched my screener of Rabbit Hole. Now just waiting for my Academy ballot, which I thought would be in with the Dvd.
Rabbit Hole is very good.
In the vein of other strong recent films -- Revolutionary Road, Little Children, Door in the Floor.
Good material, more or less familiar, but handled very well by all involved.
One or two moments seemed a little overscripted, showing the origin as a play, and the score was a little overdone at times (but I almost always think so). I might also quibble that the Sandra Oh sideplot seems a little rushed, but it serves its purpose. Easily one of the best films of this year and still rolling around in my mind.
Extremely Mild Spoilers for the Easily Spooked
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I liked:
-the unspoken way that in a parallel universe the boy isn't dead.
- how we can imagine Nicole as her mother, never letting go of the tragedy and finding refuge in drink or small joys. And Sandra Oh offers another cautionary tale. While Nicole tries to plot her own way out of the hole she is in, the hole in her family, the hole in her heart.
- that the boy is portrayed as ordinary. He's not off to Yale, his comic book doesn't show any true genius. He's just an ordinary somewhat awkward kid with a helluva lot of points on his driver's license (lame joke).
- the Al Green line, nicely underscoring how petty and unintentionally humorous arguments can be. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:12 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| I loved Rabbit Hole and can't wait to see it again. There's nothing more exhilarating than a well-crafted beautifully acted film. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:57 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Marc wrote: I loved Rabbit Hole and can't wait to see it again.
I'm planning to see it again, too; loved it. Even more enthusiastically awaiting my next viewing of Another Year, which is everything Rabbit Hole is and more.
Marc wrote: There's nothing more exhilarating than a well-crafted beautifully acted film.
Strong statement indeed. Not sure I absolutely agree, but close. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 6:43 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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A warning: Do not believe Manohla Dargis's rave for the Coen remake of True Grit. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune perfectly sums it up.
"The results? Good. Not great....It's a better film version in all respects than the previous True Grit. And it feels more like an assignment fulfilled than a passion pursued. But craft this strong — and, despite the tonal uncertainty, true — should not be taken for granted." |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:31 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Marc wrote: I loved Rabbit Hole and can't wait to see it again. There's nothing more exhilarating than a well-crafted beautifully acted film.
I agree.
But will wait for a non-screener dvd with accurate English subtitles, before I re-watch.
But it is good enough that I will re-buy it once a quality copy comes out.
I need to look at my list of 2010 films, but it certainly goes to the top of American films, and is up there with White Ribbon, an probably ahead of A Prophet.
Been delaying on buying The Kids be Allright and Tall Dark Stranger, as I want them to have good English subs. I'll check on them when my local shop gets them in. They might be screeners as well. But not sure I can wait for the real (pirated) McCoys. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 10:53 am |
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OK I'll probably see Black Swan, but I've been busy here so It might be in Medellin.
Horror movie gore isn't like straight drama gore. You know it's fantasy. |
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| shannon |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 11:36 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1628
Location: NC
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Huh? Black Swan isn't that violent at all, really. Me thinks someone just just has an extreme aversion to toenails. And really, it's about ballet dancing; I think every movie about ballet dancing is required to have a scene or two about "this ballet dancing really hurts your feet." All of the bloody toes scenes are in relation to this, not really used for horror effect.
I'm not sure why every review compares it to The Wrestler. It's more in line with Pi and Requiem, and is just as ridiculous. But it's fun. Nothing substantial, but extremely well-made and acted and genuinely creepy. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 12:20 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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| Toenail fungus bothers me, but I'm pretty much okay with the whole blood thing so long as it doesn't degenerate into the Texas Toe Massacre. It opens here today, and I just hope I'm not the sole audience member. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 2:58 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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Quote: All of the bloody toes scenes are in relation to this, not really used for horror effect.
this doesn't explain the bloody fingernail scenes and the bloody back..... |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:17 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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lshap wrote: I saw the preview for Another Year before seeing The King's Speech and thought, "Oh god... another earnest Mike Leigh film". The earnest string instruments in the background, the earnest dullness of everyday life, the earnest angst of old relationships and the earnest beige tones of its earnest title. Earnestly too fucking earnest.
Yes, I have no doubt that Lesley Manville is terrific. In all earnestness, Leigh has a talent for leaving large, earnest spaces in which actors can shine, as Imelda Staunton did quite earnestly in her well-earned turn in the earnest Vera Drake. But I just don't feel the burn to adjourn for a term to learn more of Leigh's earnestly churned concerns.
The Impotence of Buying Earnest. |
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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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| lshap |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:50 pm |
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Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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| The Black Swan isn't a gore fest by any stretch of the imagination. It's a psychological drama about a young woman having trouble coping with ballet pressure. The violence is mostly internalized. A very good film, if not outright great, with excellent performances by Portman, Kunis, Hershey and Ryder. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:52 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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inlareviewer wrote: lshap wrote: I saw the preview for Another Year before seeing The King's Speech and thought, "Oh god... another earnest Mike Leigh film". The earnest string instruments in the background, the earnest dullness of everyday life, the earnest angst of old relationships and the earnest beige tones of its earnest title. Earnestly too fucking earnest.
Yes, I have no doubt that Lesley Manville is terrific. In all earnestness, Leigh has a talent for leaving large, earnest spaces in which actors can shine, as Imelda Staunton did quite earnestly in her well-earned turn in the earnest Vera Drake. But I just don't feel the burn to adjourn for a term to learn more of Leigh's earnestly churned concerns.
There's a fashion clothing chain here called "Ernest". Now I have to go shop there just to use this bad pun at the cash. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:23 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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Quote: The Black Swan isn't a gore fest by any stretch of the imagination.
Carrie was a gore fest with a similar mother/daughter psychodrama.
Tell me why Natalie Portman had to looked pained most of her onscreen time.......does that take great acting.
Upsetting movie stuff for me isn't alot of blood......it's teeth being pulled/similar to nails........
A male/female dichotomy here. Where all the women are? |
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