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| Joe Vitus |
 Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 12:32 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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bartist wrote: I'm happy that no one depends on me for film reviews, because there are many kinds/genres of film I have no interest in. A list (CUE: Gilbert & Sullivan) would be boring, but I can tell you Films About Margaret Thatcher would be near the top. Generally, if it's a bio, I'd rather read one. Exception being musical biopics where you gets an earload of good music on a good theater sound system. Like Amadeus. Or a concert docu like Stop Making Sense.
I don't like Amadeus (why the hell does the statue come bursting through the wall in Don Giovanni? That never happens in the actually opera, or even in the traditional Don Juan legend. What is he: Kool-Aid in disguise?), but I'm totally in synch with your perspective. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:11 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| R.I.P. Harry Morgan, a.k.a. Colonel Potter and so many other characters. He was 94. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 1:30 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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carrobin wrote: R.I.P. Harry Morgan, a.k.a. Colonel Potter and so many other characters. He was 94.
Loved Harry Morgan. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 2:04 pm |
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carrobin wrote: R.I.P. Harry Morgan, a.k.a. Colonel Potter and so many other characters. He was 94.
I always liked him. I think the first time I saw him was as a prisoner in a prison movie on our Friday neighbourhood movie night. He was playing a dangerous psycho inmate if I remember correctly. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 2:14 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| He was ripped in his early days. Like Charles Atlas (no kidding). He was a good tough-guy cop on the Dragnet revival (only thing good about the show) and amazing on M*A*S*H* (which I don't like, in general). |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 2:58 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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Joe Vitus wrote: He was ripped in his early days. Like Charles Atlas (no kidding). He was a good tough-guy cop on the Dragnet revival (only thing good about the show) and amazing on M*A*S*H* (which I don't like, in general). |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 3:37 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Quite possibly. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:24 am |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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| Deep sigh. 
billy: Would hardly call you crazy for preferring Mrs. Gummer in relaxed mode, The Devil Wears Prada, She-Devil and A Prairie Home Companion also spring to mind. It's one of many valid responses that SASSY has clocked over the decades. The detailed effort detected in the more ornate, transformational performances is, to my mind, an almost inevitable by-product of her stage roots and, frankly, what the public has come to expect of The Eleanor Roosevelt Of Her Profession. Re: Your review of this year's Oscar Bait Turn -- Alas, sounds as the faithful had feared, from the moment Ms. Lloyd was announced as helmer. Its general release date coming so close to the end of the calendar year makes its own comment. Likely a corrolary performance to Leo's J. Edgar valor under Carry-The-Film pressure, and if the Blessed Virgin Mother of Acting at work is the sole reason to see The Iron Lady, so be it. Pax Vobaccentiscum. As for your Melancholia observations, that's essentially the movie, even unto Antonioni and -- after yet a third screening, yes, I know, I'm outta control, it did an entirely different number on me -- Tarkovsky. It grabbed. and continues to grab, me in hard-to-articulate ways, like few other films I've seen this difficult year have. Other will have different reactions still. It's all so subjective. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 12:54 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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The Artist is an effervescent little trifle which rewrites A Star is Born as a silent movie--both homage to the era and recreation.
Black and white photography, no dialogue (well, almost), and period detail make it look and feel authentic. It's a lot of fun.
Only caveat is:
Best Picture of the Year from the NY Film Critics?????
Give. Me. A. Break. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:20 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I was very interested in seeing "The Artist," but the TV ads make it look old-fashioned and cliche'd. It looks more like something I've seen on TCM. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:30 am |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
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It looks like a bubbly little trifle to me, too. Really weird choice of the NYFC for BP.
At ease, Col. Potter.
Would only watch a Thatcher bio at gunpoint, unless it starred Lady Gaga (as Carrobin suggested). But I can't fairly compare Iron Lady and J. Ed if I haven't seen them both. So I'll just vote for J. Ed as the better bio on the basis of a falsely claimed ability to appraise films solely by watching their trailers. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:44 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| I've seen them both. The Iron Lady is more entertaining but J. Edgar has better scenes. Streep is minimally more effective than DiCaprio. Bottom line: neither is remotely a world-beater but both are intermittently worth seeing. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:49 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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Joe, I have no idea why the statue crashes through the wall in Amadeus, but I haven't seen it in years so might have to look again. Certain excesses are prone to happen, maybe, when a stage production moves to screen? Not a justification, no.
The Artist -- aaaiiieeee! for me, its appeal was that it wouldn't be likely to be voted a best pic by anyone. Sometimes you want a bubbly trifle. Well, can't let the critics scare me. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:02 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I should add the whole "Mozart was a hip, horny doofus--who was also A GENIUS!" irritates the hell out of me. It's not a problem in the stage version, which is very stylized and clearly the addled memories of Salieri. But Forman's heavily naturalistic style, and the greater emphasis on Mozart--who's a supporting character in the play--turns the movie into what seems a realistic biography of Mozart. And it definitely is not that. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:32 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Last night, Keith Olbermann gave an enthusiastic rave review for "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," which he had loved as a TV show; he found the film somewhat different in the actors' performances but the equal of its predecessor, and even showed a few clips. I've never seen him plug a movie before. Of course I intend to see TTSS anyway--I love Le Carre, read the book, saw the old series, adore the actors, have always been fascinated by the spy business. And the trailer would have gotten me even if none of the above were true. |
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