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| gromit |
 Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:03 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Didn't like Another Year that much.
I called it The Return of Poppy.
(I never made it through Happy Go Lucky on two tries ... and I usually slog through everything).
I did like Vera Drake well enough.
I thought Topsy Turvy was fun and the period touches were interesting. Maybe not knowing much of G&S was a plus. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:37 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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What a bunch of wusses. I squirmed through the first part of HGL and was rewarded in the second half, as it got dark and disturbing and slapped all the perky right out of her. Of course, I can't really talk, as I shrivel right up at the very mention of Lars von Trier.
BTW, The Company Men is available on Redbox today. One dollah. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 12:47 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Billy,
What was that movie again about teens that you recommended and wasn't available on Netflix streaming for something like one day? I'd like to check it out, but I can't remember the title. |
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-Topher |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:12 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Joe--It's A Better Place. Still not streaming, however.  |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:27 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Grrr...thanks anyway. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:22 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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| Rented "Another Year" from a Redbox....best $1.07 I ever spent. One of those films where Leigh makes ordinary people doing ordinary things...extraordinary and important. Lesley Manville, who starts out as just one of several unhappy friends who orbit around the happy couple of Tom and Gerri, gradually moves towards the center of the film and takes you on an emotional ride that is surely impossible to forget. She broke my heart and then stitched it back together, in two hours. Amazing. The overall warmth and intensity of the film, and the superb naturalistic acting, absolutely compelled me to watch, even through moments that were just agonizing. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:40 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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bartist--Now you see why I chose Lesley Manville as one of my Blanche nominees as Best Actress, and why inla chose her as a Best Supporting Actress. It's difficult to categorize her role, but however you categorize it it is a performance for the ages. The movie was my favorite of 2010. And Manville was my favorite actress.
What did you make of the final shot? What do you think was going through her mind? That's worth a thread all by itself. I have my ideas, and they're diametrically opposed to some others I've heard. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:18 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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| That final shot....arggghhhh. I may have to process this movie for a while. What you see in her, at the table there, as the ambient sounds vanish....It almost seems like one of those personality tests, whether you are a glass-half-full or half-empty sort of person. I'm....kind of leaning towards it as a moment of realization and taking a step towards getting better. By pulling in, and showing her in effect alone and in somber reflection, it could suggest that she is more accepting of herself and growing out of so much desperation about being alone. As her desperation ebbs, she can be happier in company without having to frantically extract too much validation from every moment in every conversation....she is so painfully needy in earlier scenes, that this seems like an emergence from that. Perhaps she feels genuinely comfortable and is stopping to experience this unfamiliar condition. She does seem to have made an odd and perhaps unexpected connection with the monosyllabic Ronnie, sitting next to her, and perhaps waking up from her little vanity dreams of herself and young Joe. I don't know. I might have to watch again. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 10:37 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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I agree almost completely with you. But unsurprisingly there are many (perhaps a majority) who find the shot depressing beyond belief. I guess it's that glass-half-whatever thing. Anyway, it's one of the most profound single shots I can remember from a movie, and an ending to rank with the best.
The Third Man still has the best final shot until further notice. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:12 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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And City Lights. But I loved the shot in TTM in which Welles steps out of the doorway. I can watch the entire film for just that shot. And now I have to see it again, because I've forgotten the final one.  |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:19 am |
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Guest
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| That might be a good topic for a forum. Great final shots. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:23 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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| Mephisto! |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:25 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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marantzo wrote: That might be a good topic for a forum. Great final shots.
Or great endings in general, of which Billy Wilder is responsible for three of the best: Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Sunset Blvd. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:47 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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| Not to state the obvious, but....most really great movies have great final shots. Chinatown, TTM, Sunset Blvd, Planet of the Apes, THX 1138, etc. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 12:05 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Never seen THX though I've been meaning to for decades. Maybe it's finally time. |
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