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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 6:44 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Seeing a de facto double feature today of Tower Heist and Coriolanus (the Ralph Fiennes version). Will report. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:31 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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No "The Son of No One" for the trifecta? Hearing some awful buzz for this talent-heavy cop movie -- Pacino, Liotta, Binoche, et al.
Coriolanus, which I really want to see, doesn't open until mid-January, so lucky you, BW. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:46 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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billyweeds wrote: Saw Moneyball again last night and was--if not underwhelmed--not quite as positive as on first viewing. It's a fine movie but not quite the world-beater I thought it was the first time around. Pitt and Hill are marvelous scene partners
Jeez, I was thinking of the wheelchair sport doc and wondering what the hell was going on.
I guess that's Murderball.
Yeah, Moneyball, I plan to see it in my future ... |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 11:49 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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The double bill was interesting if not fantastic. I had a fun day.
Tower Heist has a great set-up and a sorta kinda meh follow-through, but it's a kewl popcorn movie anyway. A swell cast makes hay out of a cheesy premise--motley crew plans theft of Bernie Madoff/Donald Trump type from a tower suite in Manhattan. Ben Stiller, Tea Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe, Eddie Murphy, and Casey Affleck all are fun and Alan Alda makes a good baddie. Brett Ratner directs efficiently and the whole thing goes down easy.
Coriolanus gets better as it goes along. Ralph Fiennes makes his directorial debut with a version of the middling Shakespearean play so up to date it might be renamed "CorioCNNus." Talking heads and news headlines take the place of Shakespeare choruses and exposition and loud, violent battles in places like Iraq take the place of dialogue for much of the movie--too much, in fact, for it gets boring after a while.
But about the halfway mark they start trusting the Bard a little more, and the language takes over. And even Will at his second or (in this case) third best is better than a lot of stuff. So Vanessa Redgrave as Coriolanus's mother delivers a monologue that stirs the mind if not exactly the soul; Jessica Chastain (in her umpteenth film appearance of the week) proves once again that she's no fluke; Brian Cox commits suicide eloquently--and wordlessly, in one of Fiennes's best directorial coups; Fiennes himself burns up the screen with some semi-fiery rhetoric; and even the usually unwatchable Gerard Butler delivers a star turn as Fiennes's frenemy.
The result is a movie I can't honestly recommend to the person on the street, just to Shakespeare and/or Fiennes completists. But it's only half bad and that's not all bad. |
Last edited by billyweeds on Sat Nov 05, 2011 5:22 am; edited 1 time in total |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:04 am |
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| Butler can be okay if he's not playing a romantic lead. Although I'm not going to see 300 because it's unfair to Persians. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 2:15 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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Terrible reviews of Son of No One.
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 3:12 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| A Very Harold and Kumar 3-D Christmas is probably the best 3-D movie I've seen. It gets the gimmicky pleasure and goes for broke. If you like the previous Harold and Kumar movies, you'll like this one. It retreats back to the frivolous nature of the first picture, skipping the political satire of the second. It's, in its way, kinda sad, as it posits a Harold and Kumar who have gone their separate ways and need a Christmas miracle to save their friendship. But ultimately, it's a feel-good, funny picture. Surely this movie will become a Christmas tradition. On Showtime, at least. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 5:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Syd wrote: Butler can be okay if he's not playing a romantic lead. Although I'm not going to see 300 because it's unfair to Persians.
Not sure I agree about Butler: he was thoroughly okay in P.S. I Love You, romantically teamed with Hilary Swank, but his performances in Phantom of the Opera (romantic), Law Abiding Citizen (non-romantic), and (especially) The Bounty Hunter (somewhere in the middle) were all simply appalling. He seems to be terrible more often than good, but in Coriolanus he scores quite heavily. Fiennes spoke glowingly of "Gerry" during the Q and A, and incidentally showed more charm himself than I've ever seen him display on screen. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 8:42 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Looking over his credits, I think I've overestimated him. The only time I've seen him where he was fairly good was as Alex Rover in Nim's Island, and even there he was overshadowed by Abigail Breslin and Jodie Foster. I haven't seen his take on Attila the Hun; maybe that's the role for him. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 4:51 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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billyweeds wrote: The double bill was interesting if not fantastic. I had a fun day.
Tower Heist has a great set-up and a sorta kinda meh follow-through, but it's a kewl popcorn movie anyway. A swell cast makes hay out of a cheesy premise--motley crew plans theft of Bernie Madoff/Donald Trump type from a tower suite in Manhattan. Ben Stiller, Tea Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe, Eddie Murphy, and Casey Affleck all are fun and Alan Alda makes a good baddie. Brett Ratner directs efficiently and the whole thing goes down easy.
I'm hoping to enjoy this movie when I see it. The cast looks like it works well together and your review confirms my initial opinion from both the trailers and the non-spolier reviews I've read so far. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:23 pm |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:37 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| That's the first item I've read that revealed the word that got Ratner into trouble. Looks like anyone in Hollywood with a brain would know better. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 3:44 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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carrobin wrote: That's the first item I've read that revealed the word that got Ratner into trouble. Looks like anyone in Hollywood with a brain would know better.
I have always heard that Ratner was practically brainless. Now it's clear. |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 4:05 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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billyweeds wrote: carrobin wrote: That's the first item I've read that revealed the word that got Ratner into trouble. Looks like anyone in Hollywood with a brain would know better.
I have always heard that Ratner was practically brainless. Now it's clear.
Ratner's phone interview on Howard Stern on Monday was pretty out there. Entertaining up to a point. I had to stomach through it until he was off.
Now even more curious to see Tower Heist. |
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 4:17 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Don't get your expectations too high for TH. It's fun but certainly no classic. |
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