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| inlareviewer |
 Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:32 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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lshap wrote:
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.
Sidebar: not to stray further afield from Current Film than already has been done, but what the hey: I very much appreciate and admire Mike Leigh without necessarily loving his output --- the primary exception being Topsy-Turvy, which I adored, probably because the G&S content and sparkle of the cast overrode other concerns for this lifelong Savoyard -- but have been and usually am wholly impressed by what his Stanislavsky-meets-Dogme methodology elicits from thespians, whether David Thewlis, Brenda Blethyn, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton or, yes, Sally Hawkins, and I mean that in earnest, tee-hee. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 6:18 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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| Just saw The Black Swan, and it certainly struck me, as Lorne said, more as "psychological drama" than outright horror -- about the struggle of a dancer, both in mastering a challenging and bipolar role, and in dealing with personal issues with her controlling mother and her own sexual reticence. It is rather gothic and over-the-top, as Billy said, but it serves the story (and the sense of a distorted reality that can go with immersion in the ballet dancer's high-pressure world) and, in the end, delivers an emotional wallop -- for me, one sufficient to require just sitting awhile after the credits started to roll (and not from any desire to reflect on the fine work of the key grip or foley mixer). I felt no need to pull back, or laugh, or distance myself from the action by construing it as allegorical -- which surprises me, because it was so OTT. |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:19 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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| Bart - Never mind the fancy-pants analysis, dude. What'ja think of Mila and Natalie? |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:19 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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| Sorry... just took a side trip to Guy-World. |
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"Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?" |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 9:39 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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| At no time has Natalie Portman occupied my thoughts other in the context of the part she is playing or with respect to the application of her craft. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
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I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 3:38 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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True Grit is very well made and acted, particularly by Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon (and Barry Pepper, who I wouldn't have recognized if I hadn't known he was in the movie). Hailee Steinfeld is excellent. It's a faithful adaptation of the book although I was wondering where those mountains came from in Oklahoma. The ending is intact from the book, which I gather didn't happen in the 1969 film. This is a good thing, because I'd only read the novel, and the ending made a big impact on me when I read it. Although it's a little too pat that Mattie falls into the snake pit immediately after shooting Tom Chaney. I understand why, but it's too much of a plot device, and, if I remember, intact from the novel.)
I don't think it's a great film because I don't think the material lends itself to a great film, but the Coens and their cinematographer, Roger Deakins, sure give it a noble attempt, and come up with a pretty absorbing film. It's not only about revenge, but about the price you pay for exacting revenge. It's also far from being a comedy, although it has its comic moments.
In other words, it's exactly the kind of film the Coens excel at, and it's a must-see. |
Last edited by Syd on Thu Dec 23, 2010 11:58 am; edited 2 times in total
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 5:45 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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I didn't recognize Jeff Daniels either, though Jeff Bridges was occasionally recognizable under all the facial hair. Hailee Steinfeld would be interested in knowing about this other girl Strickland. Otherwise, I sort of agree with your review, and sort of don't...to wit:
I don't think it's the kind of film the Coens particularly excel at. It's a good movie, nothing less but nothing more, partially because it's not as humorous as you give it credit for. In fact, John Wayne's performance in the inferior original had more genuine humor than Bridges's does here. Fargo, Blood Simple, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man...these are quintessential Coen for me, where the comic intertwines with the tragic so seamlessly you don't know where one starts and the other ends. True Grit is a solid but extremely lateral, literal, strangely unexciting film. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:06 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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lshap wrote: Sorry... just took a side trip to Guy-World.
I'm there with you, bro, forming a puddle of drool as I compare/contrast the Mila/Natalie bedroom encounter with the Laura/Naomi one in M.Dr. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:11 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Quote: It's a faithful adaptation of the book although I was wondering where those mountains came from in Oklahoma
Isn't there a range called the Wichitas in SW Okla, near Fort Sill? (haven't seen TG yet, so I'm guessing these are more rounded and understated than what you saw in the movie...) |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:20 am |
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bartist wrote: lshap wrote: Sorry... just took a side trip to Guy-World.
I'm there with you, bro, forming a puddle of drool as I compare/contrast the Mila/Natalie bedroom encounter with the Laura/Naomi one in M.Dr.
I don't think any woman/woman bedroom encounter could top the Laura/Naomi tsunami. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:35 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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I'm sure there's a good Naomi palindrome there, somewhere, esp. if Liam Neeson arrives for a threesome.
Gary, you won't be credible in that assertion until you've seen TBS. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 10:46 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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bartist wrote: I'm sure there's a good Naomi palindrome there, somewhere, esp. if Liam Neeson arrives for a threesome.
Gary, you won't be credible in that assertion until you've seen TBS. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 12:02 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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billyweeds wrote: I didn't recognize Jeff Daniels either, though Jeff Bridges was occasionally recognizable under all the facial hair. Hailee Steinfeld would be interested in knowing about this other girl Strickland. Otherwise, I sort of agree with your review, and sort of don't...to wit:
Corrected. I'm always doing that to Bridges and Daniels. I've given Daniels a much more substantial film career than he actually has. As for Steinfeld, I was trying so hard not to call her Seinfeld that I turned her into KaDee's little sister. |
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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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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 12:27 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Whiskey: yeah, that was kind of the joke. Or maybe you could work a tsunami in there, as Gary did....
"Naomi, I man, us tsunami, I moan."
or
"Naomi, Liam Neeson, no seen mail -- I moan!"
or
"Liam stops traffic, if fart spots mail."
OK, Bart, step away from the keyboard.... |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 1:05 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
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| I'm mostly agreeing that The Black Swan was some kind of psychological metaphor about the performing artist, but did wonder where the reality line was to be drawn in some scenes. Clearly, Kunis isn't murdered and Portman doesn't start growing pinfeathers and (dang it) Kunis doesn't really eat Portman. But I was a little uneasy with the scene where Ryder starts stabbing herself in the cheeks with a nail file, and then we see Portman leaving in the elevator with a bloody nail file in her hand. Another hallucination, to illustrate Portman pushing aside the shadow of her predecessor, or is Ryder actually attacked by a psycho Portman? They never go back to Ryder, so that kind of dangled for me. If I'm just being picky, fine, but I wouldn't mind if Aronofsky had handled the whole thing with Ryder differently. |
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