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| gromit |
 Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:46 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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I thought The Adjustment Bureau pushed the romance too much, so that it seemed artificial.
It is a rare film which I saw first in the theater and then again at home. I didn't think there was much difference at all, though at home I caught some dialogue I missed in the theater.
Just thinking about it now.
The opening stuff where Damon spots the AB in action is fairly silly. Why couldn't the agent who messed up simply contact the guys in the office so they could leave or send another agent to intercept/delay Damon? Or instead of running after a bus, why couldn't he just use some doors and beat Damon to the building?
It's set up well, since we don't know what the options are at this point, but when you think back, he/the AB had many options. And since we see all the agents consulting their books all the time, it would seem that someone would/could have been monitoring Damon's progress from inside the office where the sensitive operation was occurring, instead of just assuming that they'd be gone a little before he arrived. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 12:48 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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You may be right about the nomination possibility for MIP. It's certainly Woody's biggest box office hit in years, maybe decades, and it's charming and well performed. Marion Cotillard could get a supporting nod, even. (I doubt Owen Wilson will get recognized, though he's worthy of it.)
My wish list includes starring and supporting nominations, respectively, for Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids. (The supporting actress list could be accurately three-fifths filled by McCarthy, Rose Byrne, and Maya Rudolph, but it will never happen.) |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 2:27 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| I turned Mirgun on to Road House the other night. She loved it. A perfect date movie. We're both planning to get mullets. I'll upload photos. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 5:23 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Marc wrote: I turned Mirgun on to Road House the other night. She loved it. A perfect date movie. We're both planning to get mullets. I'll upload photos.
If you're of the right mindset and in the right mood, there is no earthly way of resisting Road House. Just the mention of the title makes me want to watch it again, right now. With the possible exception of Valley of the Dolls, it is the best example of "so bad it's great" that exists.
(I'm not talking about Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which is actually great.) |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:49 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Watched Tank Girl, which was a lot like watching a train wreck. This is the reason why Lori Petty has had trouble getting good roles; her voice is grating as well, which it wasn't in Prey for Rock and Roll. Naomi Watts was nice in support, and much sexier than the lead. Malcolm McDowell was awful in the lead. The screenplay is enough to cause brain damage.
Worse, I realized that what I really intended to watch was Barb Wire. You know you're in trouble when you're disappointed you're not watching Barb Wire. |
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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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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:48 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Strange about Lori Petty. She's a quite unappealing actress (even in A League of Their Own, where she's good in the lead but is upstaged by her supporting cast). But she's an enormously engaging person--intelligent, perceptive, riveting as a public speaker, and immediately likeable. She's an out lesbian with an agenda which she pushes convincingly, and she's funny. What happens to her when she acts is anyone's guess, but it doesn't take away from her personal style. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:08 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Louise-Michel (2008) is a definitely oddball black comedy from Belgium. A labor dispute hasn't been led more disastrously and ineptly since Ignatius Reilly. A pretty unlikely pair of misfits turn into a team of hitmen. It's pretty impressive that the dead pan humor comes off with such at times grim subject matter. I might have to watch this again.
Louise Michel was also the name of a 19th/early20th C French feminist and anarchist. How exactly that ties in is unclear, though the two anti-heroes do challenge notions of social acceptability. |
Last edited by gromit on Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:47 am; edited 1 time in total
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:59 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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billyweeds wrote: Strange about Lori Petty. She's a quite unappealing actress (even in A League of Their Own, where she's good in the lead but is upstaged by her supporting cast). But she's an enormously engaging person--intelligent, perceptive, riveting as a public speaker, and immediately likeable. She's an out lesbian with an agenda which she pushes convincingly, and she's funny. What happens to her when she acts is anyone's guess, but it doesn't take away from her personal style.
Naomi Watts is strange, too. She's a very talented actress with a penchant for really screwy fiims. (Mulholland Drive, Stay, Tank Girl, even Eastern Promises (and the Peter Jackson King Kong). She was in Babe: Pig in the City, for chrissakes.) |
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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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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:30 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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On the subject of Naomi Watts:
Yes, Mulholland Dr. is "screwy," but it's also arguably a masterpiece and certainly Watts's career breakthrough, so she can't be faulted for that one.
Any discussion of Watts and weird choices, however, should begin with Funny Games, the utterly immoral movie about home invasions which ends with every good guy dead. Yes, that's a SPOILER ALERT, but you know what? I don't care. Haneke deserves to be run out of town for this film (which I haven't seen and won't). And Watts should have her head examined for greenlighting it. Without her the American remake would never have happened.
How can I say these things about a film I've never seen? Sue me. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:17 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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| The original Funny Games was sickeningly violent and rather obscure as to what the point was beyond saying "violence isn't cool and glamorous the way that schmuck Tarantino makes it...." Also a waste of the late great Ulrich Muhe. What really gets me is Haneke remaking HIS OWN FILM and somehow dragging poor Naomi into the project. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:48 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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All true.
But that shouldn't stop anyone from seeing White Ribbon which is taut, lean Bergmaneque. Kind of reminds me of one of a Shirley Jackson story. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 10:37 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Naomi Watts was somewhere out beyond great in Mulholland Dr., a movie I could not like less.
Only Haneke I have ever seen was the tremendous, gorgeous, White Ribbon. I was in the mood to look for other movies of his based on that. but might put Funny Games down the pecking order. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:17 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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The Blues: Feel Like Going Home. This is the first of a series of seven films about the blues, each done by a different director, with Martin Scorsese as executive director. These aired on PBS and I missed them at the time. The directors included such luminaries as Wim Wenders and Clint Eastwood. This first film was directed by Scorsese himself and explores Mississippi blues, including delta blues, and, eventually, the music of Mali to show its African roots. Scorsese does this by following blues Corey Harris in both locations as he interviews and plays with various artists, and there's also archivist tapes of legends like Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker and archival recordings. In the thirties the Library of Congress sent people around to record the artists so their music wouldn't be lost, and some of those films are here.
Kind of free-form; unlike a Ken Burns historical documentary, this tends to be organized geographically. Lots and lots of great music, including Corey Harris himself. Fascinating stuff, like candy to me. |
Last edited by Syd on Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
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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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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 11:18 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| double post. |
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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: Sat Jul 30, 2011 11:01 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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| Those are great, Syd...I've seen a couple - the Scorsese one and the Eastwood one. I'm not that into blues, but when I'm watching these I feel like I should be. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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