| Author |
Message |
|
| Marc |
 Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 12:05 am |
 |
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
I enjoyed The Adventures Of Tintin quite a bit. Though I was disappointed in the lackluster 3D. I was expecting Spielberg to do wonders with the technology but he didn't.
There was only a dozen people to see the film at an early evening Christmas day screening. It deserves to find an audience but looks like it will be one of the big domestic bombs of the year. It did well in Europe where Tintin is a brand name. |
|
|
| Back to top |
  
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 1:18 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
| Saw Mission Impossible tonight in a sold-out crowd. It's not having the Tintin box office problem, but for me it had problems of its own. Despite a couple of rousing sequences, I found the story convoluted, overlong, and confusing. I usually have trouble with spy-style stories involving complicated master plans, and here I was additionally put off by forays into sci-fi-ish futuristic stuff. It's certainly better than the previous MI's--though coming from me that's saying very little. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 9:29 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
|
| S'funny, my film copain wanted to see Draggin' Tat, I wanted to see Tin Tin, so we compromised on Young Adult. If that makes sense to you, you need to back off on whatever you're putting in the egg nog. I'm in synch with the mixed praise YA got here, and I marvel at Theron's knack for playing unhappy and mentally disturbed people (from The Astronaut's Wife to Monster to this...), plus the weird/funny chemistry with Patton Oswalt. And there's the eye candy of watching her beautify herself, then roll in filth, figuratively. Patrick Wilson balances his character karma by not cheating on his wife (ref. Little Children), and maintains his credibility as an affable Everyman. Diablo Cody drops a love/hate letter to her small-town MN origins, achieves some dark humor which didn't make me cringe 73% of the time, and leaves us with a character whose arc is closer to a flatline. Do not watch this when depressed. I pity her dog. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| knox |
| Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 12:26 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
|
The Austin Chronicle found War Horse to be "overlong" and "lacking in dramatic pull" -- this paragraph from the review made me chuckle....
Quote: A horse is a horse (of course, of course), and it might be said that the folly of War Horse is its expectation of emotional resonance to derive from a fairly expressionless equine visage. Yet few of the human characters make strong impressions either. Only Niels Arestrup as the jam maker who gives shelter to Joey for the joy the horse brings his orphaned granddaughter creates a character whose depth of feeling seems cut from the bone.
Where's Mr. Ed when you need him? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| knox |
| Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 12:32 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
|
| My impression of Young Adult would also be "mixed praise," with praise only about ten percent of the mix. While I respect Theron's acting talents, I figure getting dirty and ugly is part of any good actor's job no matter what their level of natural-born beauty. She was as good as anyone could be in that caricature of a role, but I still find Cody's writing to be kind of bleak -- if you hate small-town Minnesota that much, if life is that dull and devoid of meaning in "Mercury," Diablo, then please stop writing about it because you are depressing the daylights out of me. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:36 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
| knox--With all due respect, I think you misinterpret Cody's message. There's nothing particularly wrong with Mercury--it's Mavis (Theron's character) that's all fucked up. Wherever you go, you take yourself along--and she's just as sad a case in Minneapolis as she is in Mercury. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| chillywilly |
| Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:38 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
|
Didn't realize Cody was a producer on top of her writing role for YA.
And also thought Reitman did a film between Up In The Air and YA.
It's on my list to see, mostly for Theron's performance. |
_________________
Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
|
| Back to top |
 
|
| grace |
| Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 9:31 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 11 Nov 2005
Posts: 3215
|
| I thought Matt's sister's comment to Mavis over coffee - Everyone here is fat and stupid - plus the essence of that whole scene, with the sister telling Mavis how much better she is than Mercury so why did she ever leave the big, glamorous city was pretty much a broadside shot from Cody at small-town Minnesota. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 10:49 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
| I've never spent time in any small town Minnesota, but I almost always go to Sauk Center MN, the home town of Sinclair Lewis), for breakfast or lunch on my way to or from Minneapolis. I go to a very good local cafe there and enjoy the residents. It's on Main Street of course. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| knox |
| Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:30 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
|
Quote: knox--With all due respect, I think you misinterpret Cody's message. There's nothing particularly wrong with Mercury--it's Mavis (Theron's character) that's all fucked up. Wherever you go, you take yourself along--and she's just as sad a case in Minneapolis as she is in Mercury.
Sorry, I didn't mean I was interpreting Cody on the level of overall message. For sure, Mavis is the one stuck in an adolescent timewarp, with a career that deepens the teen rut further. But the Mercury characters, while there is nothing wrong with them, are painted mostly in drab colors and they do get that "broadside shot" to which Grace refers, in a couple of scenes. I just found it hard to watch, and reacted emotionally. Maybe it's partly my feeling that raggin' on the midwest is an easy out for a lot of screenwriters. And, as Bartist notes, Theron's character arc is closer to a "flatline." Not that she didn't do a bangup job with that, but it was hard to watch. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:34 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
|
| I pity the dog. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:53 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
| grace--Actually, I think the sister had an over-romantic view of Mavis's career. Mavis's condescending attitude toward the sister was more about Mavis and her pathetically stunted views than about the sister's provinciality. IOW, Mercury itself was not the problem. I think the ex-boyfriend and his wife were doing just fine--a lot better than Minneapolis resident Mavis. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 9:55 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
| knox--I know what you mean about Mavis being hard to watch, but not really for me. I thought Theron's performance was so good that Mavis became embarrassingly but gut-bustingly funny as often as she was cringeworthy. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 10:16 am |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
|
marantzo wrote: I've never spent time in any small town Minnesota, but I almost always go to Sauk Center MN, the home town of Sinclair Lewis), for breakfast or lunch on my way to or from Minneapolis. I go to a very good local cafe there and enjoy the residents. It's on Main Street of course. |
_________________
I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 10:40 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Brainerd is too far off my route.  |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
