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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:56 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain (ideally) should both be important players in the year-end awards sweepstakes. Shannon is a worthy combatant to Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt for Best Actor, and I'm pretty sure he'll get a nomination. Chastain is less of a sure thing, since her stunning supporting performance in The Help (IMO the best thing about the movie) will likely be shunted aside in favor of the African-Americans in the cast. Chastain in Take Shelter occupies that weird place between Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress that uaually (though not always) results in a no-show. In any case, this is shaping up as a banner year for great acting in the movies. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 8:37 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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Looks like Syd mentioned her calling card also includes Coriolanus. Getting to work with Brad Pitt and Ralph Fiennes in the same year is probably a pinch-me time for any rising star.
Take Shelter -- want to see this, if only to see Shannon do another take (ref. "Bug") on crazy. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:11 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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bartist wrote: Looks like Syd mentioned her calling card also includes Coriolanus. Getting to work with Brad Pitt and Ralph Fiennes in the same year is probably a pinch-me time for any rising star.
Take Shelter -- want to see this, if only to see Shannon do another take (ref. "Bug") on crazy.
I've seen Shannon (and admired him) in both Bug and Revolutionary Road, but nothing I'd seen prepared me for the mastery he shows in Take Shelter. Truly a one-of-a-kind performance. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:19 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Catching up on '11, I picked up The Beaver and Rango.
Also spotted Tree of Life and Drive, but I think I'll wait for top-brand pirate editions.
And international 2010 films likely come out in the US in 2011, if ever, so these others are fairly current:
Colors of the Mountain, a 2010 Colombian film Don't know anything about it, but I trust Film Movement for interesting indie/world cinema.
And Poetry by Lee Chang Dong.
I really haven't liked much of his earlier output, But I have a friend I can send this to.
I watched his previous film, Secret Sunshine, just last week, and got fairly fed up with the story and style. I was so disconnected that I felt like I could tell what their discussion was about adding in a plot twist and was too aware of the next slow zoom in or decision to have a handheld camera follow the character down the street. I'm pretty tired of these vague slice of life Asian films with moderate improvisation, sophomoric plot devices, and a number of art stock art house camera techniques. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:29 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Today I get to see both Dream House and then The Ides of March. If reports prove true, it's the correct order in which to see these movies, if you get my drift. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:11 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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| Didn't expect The Beaver to turn into Tyler Durden. Much darker and more interesting than I expected. Really weird film. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:25 am |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
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| It grossed $107,000 on its first weekend. There was a NYT article this summer mentioned it as the flop of the year. It total U.S. gross was around a million, and budget was 20 million. Since Carrey was the actor to originally sign on (and then backed out), I did wonder how those figures might have differed had he stayed. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 1:33 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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knox wrote: It grossed $107,000 on its first weekend. There was a NYT article this summer mentioned it as the flop of the year. It total U.S. gross was around a million, and budget was 20 million. Since Carrey was the actor to originally sign on (and then backed out), I did wonder how those figures might have differed had he stayed.
Are you referring to The Beaver? Because I was under the impression that Jodie Foster conceived of it as a vehicle for Mel Gibson and that he was the only actor ever considered for the role. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:11 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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| Scratch Dream House from my planned moviegoing. Life intervened. But The Ides of March is coming up tonight. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:40 pm |
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| Life was right to intervene. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 6:09 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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billyweeds wrote: knox wrote: It grossed $107,000 on its first weekend. There was a NYT article this summer mentioned it as the flop of the year. It total U.S. gross was around a million, and budget was 20 million. Since Carrey was the actor to originally sign on (and then backed out), I did wonder how those figures might have differed had he stayed.
Are you referring to The Beaver? Because I was under the impression that Jodie Foster conceived of it as a vehicle for Mel Gibson and that he was the only actor ever considered for the role.
http://blog.moviefone.com/2009/05/02/jim-carrey-likes-the-beaver
Looks like The Knox is correct. When I read Knox's post, it did occur to me that Carrey had "The Claw" (the shtick he does with his little boy, in "Liar") already in his resume. My guess is it would have resulted in a worse movie, but something more palatable to audiences that, as Jody Foster commented in an interview, don't like their comedy mixed with drama. I don't have that interview, but I recall that Foster said several things that made me feel she thought her film had been marketed the wrong way. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:01 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| The Ides of March is fairly compelling but a disappointment overall. It's a political melodrama which tries for something more and winds up being somewhat bland. Clooney is a candidate in a Democratic primary; his staffers include Gosliing, Giamatti, and P.S. Hoffman. Scandals ensue, but nothing is terribly exciting, though never boring--which ain't bad, just not terrific. Worth seeing, but sort of DVD-ish. Clooney's direction is okay but relies too much on closeups. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:40 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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The Beaver was okay, but didn't do much for me.
In particular, I thought everything involving the oldest son felt forced and wrong.
Jody Foster's part was underwritten, as was the female VP of the toy company.
I did like Mel. Thought he was solid and interesting.
Some of the dialogue veered from overwritten/contrived to banal and weak.
And the plot mechanisms were often somewhat clunky. Besides the odd/interesting premise, the film seemed to be pretty conventional in its approach. And it certainly avoids dealing with any of the mental health implications it raises.
Wasn't a bad watch, but unlikely to last in the memory. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 6:09 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Forgot to mention that among all the talent-heavy testosterone floating around The Ides of March, the two most interesting performances IMO were by Marisa Tomei as a take-no-prisoners NYTImes reporter and (particularly) Evan Rachel Wood as an intern who is also the daughter of the Democratic National Chair. Wood has become a national treasure in what seems like no time. (Check out her mind-boggling perf in HBO's Mildred Pierce.) And Tomei can seemingly do just about anything. She looks somewhat frumpy on screen in this movie, but there was a Q&A after the screening, and Va. Va. Voom. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 8:58 am |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
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Location: St. Louis
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I heart MT.
Not sure on Carrey's early attachment to The Beaver, but perhaps the property was originally elsewhere and Foster was not involved at that time. I would guess that, when she came aboard, she had Gibson in mind and had the script adjusted a bit? Agree with Gromit that it was Mel who made the film watchable at all, in spite of its deficiencies. And Mel had the childhood accent to draw upon, as he steeped in the Melbourne variation from age 12 until a young man. |
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