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| gromit |
 Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 2:21 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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| Greenberg was okay -- needed more there. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 1:33 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| The Help is somewhat over-dramatized, overly sentimental and stereotypical in parts but is still worthwhile. Good story and performances. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 9:25 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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You are the master of nutshell, 'lam.
No serious movie-ing here over the break.
Tad Beacher was okay -- crude and raunchy and fun; Lucy Punch again shows her comic chops as "Ms. Squirrel." Justin Timberlake's little love ditty he sings to her -- killer stuff. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 7:48 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| After reading a feature in the NYTimes about the movies' new obsession with silent films and a shout-out to Singin' in the Rain, I decided it was time to revisit my #3 movie of all time once more, and wow, did it not disappoint. I may have to reevaluate and move it up in the ranking. Apart from the pure entertainment it provides, there is the committed performing by all three leads and the great Jean Hagen and a strong emotional current that can get overlooked. Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor have great chemistry, but so do Kelly and Debbie Reynolds despite the disparity in their ages. The movie is totally, unendingly great. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 8:19 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I'd never before noticed a disparity in their ages. Because his part is that of an established star and hers of a kid breaking in, perhaps? He still looks young to me in that movie, though. Interesting observation, Billy. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:06 am |
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| When I was 11 and out at the beach for the summer, Singin' In the Rain came to the only theatre we had back then. I was not a fan of musicals but I went to see just about anything that showed there. What a surprise I got. Right from the first scene I remember thinking, "This is going to be good." |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:43 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| Been a few years since I saw it last, but I think of Singin' in the Rain as being a rather hackneyed, cliched story full of corny humor.... and I love every Goddamned frame of it. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 10:49 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Joe Vitus wrote: I'd never before noticed a disparity in their ages. Because his part is that of an established star and hers of a kid breaking in, perhaps? He still looks young to me in that movie, though. Interesting observation, Billy.
He was 40, she was 20. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:27 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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I remember being five or six years old when "Singin' in the Rain" came out, and dancing in the front yard with a neighbor girl, waving umbrellas. Of all the movies that appeals equally to adults and kids, that one is on top.
When it had a big re-release at Radio City Music Hall in the 70s, I told my cousin we should go, and she said she hated Donald O'Connor. I promised her that in this movie, she'd love Donald O'Connor. She was doubtful, but she went with me. It's been her favorite movie ever since. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 1:46 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Someone that gets overlooked a lot is the director (in this case co-director) Stanley Donen, who, I think, directed more of my favorite movies than anyone else except Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder. Donen was responsible (alone) for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Charade, Funny Face, and Two for the Road, and (co-directing with George Abbott) The Pajama Game, as well as Singin' in the Rain. He's (and yes, he's still alive) some kind of a genius. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:19 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Sort of. He seems to know how to assemble a movie, and that's no small potatoes. But I'm at a loss to describe a Stanley Donen style. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 3:53 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Joe Vitus wrote: Sort of. He seems to know how to assemble a movie, and that's no small potatoes. But I'm at a loss to describe a Stanley Donen style.
Style is not the only sign of genius. There's a batting average in Donen that speaks of far more than simple competence. Singin' in the Rain, Seven Brides, Charade, Funny Face, Two for the Road. Five of the finest films of the 50s and 60s. Check it out. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 5:46 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I get what you're saying, but most of his pre-60's movies can be laid equally at the feet of Arthur Freed and Gene Kelley. It was a factory system that produced those movies, not a auteur. Nor do I know, after the breakup of the studios, to what extent he was still part of a strong enough team that essentially the factory system was still working for him. I like a lot of his movies, and I'm really just hazarding a thought here, not dissing him. Hope my comments don't read otherwise. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 12:03 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Joe Vitus wrote: I get what you're saying, but most of his pre-60's movies can be laid equally at the feet of Arthur Freed and Gene Kelley. It was a factory system that produced those movies, not a auteur. Nor do I know, after the breakup of the studios, to what extent he was still part of a strong enough team that essentially the factory system was still working for him. I like a lot of his movies, and I'm really just hazarding a thought here, not dissing him. Hope my comments don't read otherwise.
Seven Brides was MGM but I don't think Arthur Freed was involved. SITR was Freed all the way, but Charade, Funny Face, and Two for the Road were done for other studios. The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees (the latter not so hot) were done in collaboration with George Abbott, but the cinematic quality of TPG was, it's safe to say, all Donen. He was a great director. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 1:16 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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The 2009 French movie Father of My Children is about the suicide of a very successful and happily married movie director and how the family deals with it. Very sensitively and expertly directed by Mia Hansen-Love. Got Cannes Special Jury Award.
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