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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 6:31 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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The Descendants is another Alexander Payne winner. Even though I'm in the minority on About Schmidt, which I more or less hated, I consider Payne much more than a major talent. Sideways and Election are two of the best movies of the last 25 years IMO, and Payne is one of my cinema gods. The Descendants isn't quite on the Sideways/Election level for me, but it'll do just fine, thank you.
Clooney is in award territory here with an astonishingly subtle, sensitive--but still funny--performance as a 50-ish land baron in Hawaii whose wife is in a coma and who must deal with corporate business and two young daughters. He's been somewhat absentee parentally and has to make up for lost time. There's more, much more, and the trailer will tell you a little too much of it--so avoid the trailer.
The Hawaiian setting provides an unusual look to the film, but Payne never succumbs to using the locale for eye-popping visuals. It's just where they live, or as Clooney's character says in an early narration, "Fuck paradise." Meanwhile, the musical soundtrack is all traditional Hawaiian music, which is unique in my experience and weirdly reminiscent of The Third Man's zither soundtrack, though the two films have less than nothing in common. Whatever, the music is amazing.
The supporting cast features three unknown actors as the two daughters and a boyfriend, and they're all aces. Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, and Robert Forster pop up in cameos; they too are spot-on.
One of the sole complaints I had--or thought I had--was that Clooney's opening voice-over narration went on for so long that I thought I was in for two hours of show and tell, and I was afraid that I was gonna loathe this movie. But when Clooney's character is brought up short by certain events his claim to "omniscient narrator" is lost forever, and so is the narration. A fascinating choice by the creators, and in retrospect a gutsy one.
This is definitely one of the best movies of the year. Will be revisiting it very soon; it's that good. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 7:47 am |
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| Not here yet but I'll catch it when it comes. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 8:44 am |
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Since you mentioned Sideways which I agree with you about, it reminded me of a funny coincidence that connected me to the movie.
Around 15 years ago my friend who lives in Nassau was in Winnipeg with his wife and they were over at our place for dinner. My friend Barry didn't drink any more except wine when he was having dinner out etc. He bought very expensive wines only and brought over a Chateau Lafite Rothschild which cost around $175 and a bottle of Robert Mondavi Private Selection which ran around $145.
He opened the Lafite first and we drank it with dinner. Strangely, it wasn't that great. We all agreed. We finished eating and never got to open the Mondavi. Barry left it with us. Now there's a friend. We kept it in our wine rack and waited for a special occasion to drink it. Time went by and no such occasion occurred. I lost my wife and moved from my house to an apartment and the wine was still in my wine rack with other much much cheaper wines that I'd pick up for my dinners.
I would usually by a cheap wine to see if it were any good and go from there. One day at the liquor outlet I came across a new red wine from Chile that they had and it was under $8 before tax. I bought it of course, took it home and put it in the rack until my dinner. Forget what I had that night, but when I tasted the wine it was very good. I was very happy. I had found a wine that I would be buying all the time. I'd found a wine before like that but as fate would have it the price kept going up and up and up until it was just too expensive for me. Damn those winos who kept buying it until it was out of my range. I usually have wine with all my dinners. The next night I had the new wine again with, I don't remember what. On the third night I made hamburgers and spaghetti and was going to finish the last third of my new found bargain. Poured a glass and started on my hamburger. Picked up the glass for my first drink and my eyes fell on the bottle. It was the MONDAVI! I don't know how I didn't see that before. I broke out laughing. My cheap wine was still in the wine rack, unopened. Just like Sideways I was drinking my treasured wine with a hamburger.
I opened the cheap wine the next night and it was OK. I still buy it once in a while though it costs more now. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:00 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Nostalgia for the Light, a Chilean documentary by Patricio Guzman (Battle of Chile; Allende).
The Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on earth.
To take advantage of this, there are magnificent observatories to view the stars. And Guzman slips in that astronomy is always observing the past, digging up the history of the universe.
Then he looks at archeologists in the desert, searching for pre-Colombian artifacts. The paradox he suggest is while all this search for the past goes on, Chile is eerily unwilling to deal with its human and political past. And we meet old women searching in the desert for bones of loved ones buried there during the Pinochet horrors. Apparently at some point the military dug up the mass graves and reburied them elsewhere, including dumping many into the sea.
So Guzman uses the Atacama Desert as a metaphor for Chile. He interviews some interesting intelligent people. And one nice thing is that the Dvd contains 5 short docs, essentially material that didn't make it into the main film. Two of these are single person interviews, as we see the lives of some talented and creative people, including one guy who has made an observatory in his backyard from a sewing machine and phonograph motor. Okay, so that's only part of his material, but he has a very impressive set-up.
Another doc on one of the astronomical engineers is over 30 mins long.
It's all nicely done and interesting. With pretty shots of nebulae and such before the credits. And I wasn't aware of brown dwarfs -- essentially unlit stars -- though the concept seems rather obvious.
My rating?
I'd give it a billion stars ... |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:59 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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Gary, great sideways story!
Quote: "You know, the day you open a '61 Cheval Blanc … that's the special occasion."
Can't wait to see The Descendants, but I have to. No general release for several weeks. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:39 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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marantzo wrote: Since you mentioned Sideways which I agree with you about, it reminded me of a funny coincidence that connected me to the movie.
Around 15 years ago my friend who lives in Nassau was in Winnipeg with his wife and they were over at our place for dinner. My friend Barry didn't drink any more except wine when he was having dinner out etc. He bought very expensive wines only and brought over a Chateau Lafite Rothschild which cost around $175 and a bottle of Robert Mondavi Private Selection which ran around $145.
He opened the Lafite first and we drank it with dinner. Strangely, it wasn't that great. We all agreed. We finished eating and never got to open the Mondavi. Barry left it with us. Now there's a friend. We kept it in our wine rack and waited for a special occasion to drink it. Time went by and no such occasion occurred. I lost my wife and moved from my house to an apartment and the wine was still in my wine rack with other much much cheaper wines that I'd pick up for my dinners.
I would usually by a cheap wine to see if it were any good and go from there. One day at the liquor outlet I came across a new red wine from Chile that they had and it was under $8 before tax. I bought it of course, took it home and put it in the rack until my dinner. Forget what I had that night, but when I tasted the wine it was very good. I was very happy. I had found a wine that I would be buying all the time. I'd found a wine before like that but as fate would have it the price kept going up and up and up until it was just too expensive for me. Damn those winos who kept buying it until it was out of my range. I usually have wine with all my dinners. The next night I had the new wine again with, I don't remember what. On the third night I made hamburgers and spaghetti and was going to finish the last third of my new found bargain. Poured a glass and started on my hamburger. Picked up the glass for my first drink and my eyes fell on the bottle. It was the MONDAVI! I don't know how I didn't see that before. I broke out laughing. My cheap wine was still in the wine rack, unopened. Just like Sideways I was drinking my treasured wine with a hamburger.
I opened the cheap wine the next night and it was OK. I still buy it once in a while though it costs more now.
WP: "Who is that actor? He looks SO familiar."
Mrs. WP: Silence, sidelong stare
WP: "His FACE. His face looks familiar. I'll look him up on imdb." |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:42 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| This is the extent of the story? I'm missing something. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:46 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote: This is the extent of the story? I'm missing something. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:48 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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| "M.C. Gainey's part" -- heh heh |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:54 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:57 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I'd like to see that "Nostalgia for the Light" documentary. I don't see enough documentaries (or foreign films) since I left the film class. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 1:34 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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There has been a huge documentary revival.
I mostly credit Michael Moore with inspiring the resurgence.
Some docs from the past few years I'd rec:
Facing Ali
talhotblond
Last Train Home
Born into Brothels
Up the Yangtze
Capitalism: A Love Story
The Lottery
When the Levees Broke
maybe others can add more.
Overpraised docs not worth bothering with:
Food Inc.
The Cove
Waiting for Superman (not bad, but The Lottery was much better)
Man on Wire (I seem to be in the minority, but man was that padded out with goofy recreations, and poorly organized) |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 1:57 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| That Al Gore TV channel that now features Keith Olbermann is running documentary films after his show once a week, and I always mean to watch--but there's always something else I prefer on another channel that night. (I think last week's was one of Moore's--though it wasn't "Sicko," which I would make a priority.) I'll keep an eye out for the recommended titles. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 2:35 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) was the most recent Moore doc I'm aware of. Sicko was 2007 I think. Both are good.
I recently watched Gashole, which was very derivative of Michael Moore, but sloppy and poorly done. Harder to do then it looks. There's a lot of skill in each of Moore's films.
Watched Page One, an inside the NYTimes doc last week. It's interesting to see some of the staff at work, and some of the key players at meetings and large speeches (Keller, Abramson).
Mostly it follows around a few of the media staff, especially David Carr, and presents these guys as tough but fair good guys doing important work.
It brings up some tough issues -- Judy Miller's war cheerleading, Jason Blair, etc -- but mostly let's that slide by, and kind of blames the tough times.
And while they mention the new paywall, they fail to mention the earlier stricter paywall which failed, while alienating many readers. They never mention the op-ed writers, except a brief mention of Nick Kristoff as an example of someone who could go it alone without the support of a large media company. You'd never know that Paul Krugman worked for the Times, or Mo Dowd, Tom Friedman, David Brooks, those other conservative guys, that Frank Rich left for some reason, etc.
Overall, I think it's decent, but tries to tackle too much with a coherent framework or storyline.
I think the best parts were when they showed Carr and others working the phones, writing stories, discussing copy with the editor, etc.
It's fairly good, but I wanted more and a bit more focus. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2011 3:08 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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I want to see "Page One," but I'm disappointed to hear that it ignores Paul Krugman, who is the main reason I'm paying for weekend delivery (which allows me to continue full access to the Times website). Maybe they should do another documentary just about the columnists.
A few days ago Krugman's blog featured a photo that a reader had sent him--an Occupy Wall Street scene in which a large cardboard "Krugman's Army" sign had been set up among the bedrolls. (I really want to go down there one of these days for a copy of the Occupy Wall Street Journal.) |
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