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| yambu |
 Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:01 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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marantzo wrote: Yam, am I mistaken or did you make the avatar brighter and larger? |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:15 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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gromit wrote: But indeed Yam looks like an autochthonous mzee of Eire. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 4:47 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| Fear and trembling. Fascination. What's not to get? |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:11 pm |
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yambu wrote: marantzo wrote: Yam, am I mistaken or did you make the avatar brighter and larger? No, I haven't touched it since I put it up. I wouldn't know how to alter it.
For some reason it was much darker on my computer before. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 1:16 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Gunga Din 1939 was a more interesting and entertaining film than I expected. It doesn't really meld the comedy and drama together all that well, but it's a fun ride. Reminded me of a Three Musketeer film at times. In another way it's almost a Western, but transposed to India.
I really like the beginning when we are first introduced to Fairbanks Jr, Victor Mclaughlen and Cary Grant. Cary Grant is good doing the physical fight comedy. Interesting look at the Thuggs, and their criminal strategies, and even Kali worship. A pretty expensive film for 1939 and RKO. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 1:58 pm |
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| I've seen Gunga Din a few times. Always fun to watch. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:21 pm |
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Location: Black Hills
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Saw The Conspirator on DVD this weekend, and it's as good as I remember it. SPOILERS POSSIBLE AHEAD, BUT NOT WHITED OUT BECAUSE MOST HAVE SEEN THIS IIRC.... One year after Mary Surrat was hanged, the Supreme Court ruled that all private citizens were entitled to a jury trial. And the shunned defense lawyer ends up as editor of a major newspaper -- so you feel he didn't just give up, after being driven out of the legal profession, but found a way to continue his advocacy. A downbeat ending is turned a bit upbeat by virtue of these two facts posted right before the end crawl, and one feels Surrat didn't die in vain.
All the ensemble are good (well, Justin Long not so much) -- it's not a film where an actor or two are shouting, "look at me! I'm Oscar-worthy!" -- just solid work and a minimum of bloopers....at one point, defense lawyer calls her by her first name, which in 1865 you just would not do. It would always be "Mrs. Surrat." The lighting and set design of the courtroom was notable....really captured an oppressive feeling. A lot of people underrate Redford, because what he does isn't flashy -- it's just really good - quiet competence and mastery. This is the only 2011 movie I've seen twice, and well worth the revisit.
I may have mentioned this before but it's not an accident that the nearest town to Lincoln of more than 5000 pop. is Seward, NE, just 25 miles away. Seward is the Sec. of State whose assassination tends to be historically eclipsed by Lincoln's. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:43 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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bartist wrote: Saw The Conspirator on DVD this weekend, and it's as good as I remember it. SPOILERS POSSIBLE AHEAD, BUT NOT WHITED OUT BECAUSE MOST HAVE SEEN THIS IIRC.... One year after Mary Surrat was hanged, the Supreme Court ruled that all private citizens were entitled to a jury trial. And the shunned defense lawyer ends up as editor of a major newspaper -- so you feel he didn't just give up, after being driven out of the legal profession, but found a way to continue his advocacy. A downbeat ending is turned a bit upbeat by virtue of these two facts posted right before the end crawl, and one feels Surrat didn't die in vain.
All the ensemble are good (well, Justin Long not so much) -- it's not a film where an actor or two are shouting, "look at me! I'm Oscar-worthy!" -- just solid work and a minimum of bloopers....at one point, defense lawyer calls her by her first name, which in 1865 you just would not do. It would always be "Mrs. Surrat." The lighting and set design of the courtroom was notable....really captured an oppressive feeling. A lot of people underrate Redford, because what he does isn't flashy -- it's just really good - quiet competence and mastery. This is the only 2011 movie I've seen twice, and well worth the revisit.
I may have mentioned this before but it's not an accident that the nearest town to Lincoln of more than 5000 pop. is Seward, NE, just 25 miles away. Seward is the Sec. of State whose assassination tends to be historically eclipsed by Lincoln's. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 5:51 pm |
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Bart, I agree with your review of The Conspirator. Very good movie, very well done. Can't understand why it didn't get much praise, but a lot of pans. What did they think was wrong wirh it?
Speaking of Alaska; when I was visiting Brooklyn in my late teens I was introduced to a girl and she was told that I was Canadian. I said that not a lot of Americans knew much about Canada. She said that she had a course about Canada in school and knew a lot about it. I asked, "How many provinces are there in Canada?" She answered, "Nine." I said, "Not bad, very close. We have ten." She said, "But you don't have Alaska anymore." I laughed and said, "You're right, we don't have Alaska and never did." |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:05 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Thanks, WP -- it should have read "attempted assassination...." Am aware of his later "folly."
Gary -- beats me why TC would get faint praise or pans. I didn't follow the Academy noms this year, so don't know if it got any, but it should. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:26 am |
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| Bart, TC didn't get any nominations from the academy. It got nominations from to minor orginizations, one for cast and one by the Phoenix Film Critics Asst. for Overlooked Film. Seems like we are not alone. User reviews in IMDB was 70/100 and Metacritic (which I am having less and less respect for), gave it a 55/100 rating. What were they watching? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 11:55 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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The Conspirator is one of the best films of 2011, is by far the best Robert Redford film since Ordinary People (and IMO better than OP), and features a great performance by Robin Wright as Mary Surratt and marveous support from Tom Wilkinson and Kevin Kline. It was egregiously overlooked.
Wright's performance should have been nominated. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:19 pm |
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| I saw The Conspirator in Atlanta last year. I thought it was The Informant, not remembering the real title. When the movie started I wondered what the hell is this? Oh, this is the movie about the Lincoln assassination. I remembered a review or reviews and comments of it on this site. I'm sure Billy's was one of them. So I settled in and watched it. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 4:32 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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I thought The Conspirator consistently took the most obvious and unimaginative path. A nice looking tv movie.
Was watching I Girasoli aka Sunflower. Marcello Mastroianni, Sophia Loren, 1970, directed by De Sica -- how can you go wrong? It's a pretty entertaining and fun film.
The second scene shows the two first falling in love. They start fooling around on the beach. Suddenly, Marcello starts coughing and sputtering. Unable to speak he mimes what's happened.
While making out, he's swallowed her earring. Pretty funny scene, with Sophia at first worried about losing her gold jewelry.
I got majorly distracted, but the first half of the film is quite enjoyable. Not sure how the rest will go with Marcello MIA on the Russian front.
According to wiki, Sunflower was the first Western film shot in the Soviet Union. But since someone got the basics of the plot wrong -- two mistakes in the first sentence of the summary -- who knows if that's true .... (?) |
Last edited by gromit on Mon Dec 14, 2015 6:50 am; edited 1 time in total
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 10:48 pm |
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I read your initial review of TC, gromit, and didn't agree with any of it. In your recent post "...consistently took the most obvious and unimaginative path.", What do you think should have been done? An imaginative story about an actual watermark in American history?
The movie stuck to the factual events quite accurately, and portrayed the characters sharply and believable.
You wanted to know more about the others (men) on trial. What was to know. They were Confederates or Confederate sympathizers who took part in the assassination of Lincoln. Or didn't you know that? |
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