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| knox |
 Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 12:11 pm |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
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Soderbergh is full of horse manure, regarding the "last film" thing. Which makes me happy, because I know he will make more films.
You would have to pay me money to see James Franco as the wizard of Oz. I hope I'm not offending any James Franco fans lurking around, but he strikes me as the guy you call when everyone you want has begged off. Not even Mila Kunis could possibly induce me into the theater.
I'm hideously opinionated today. Must be spring. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:01 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6967
Location: Black Hills
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Spring causes that? Must be eternal Spring at Bart's house.
Excerpt from Richard Roeper on "Emperor" --
Quote: ...on the heels of "Lincoln," this makes two movies in six months in which Tommy Lee Jones has the pivotal supporting role in a piece of historical fiction with lengthy scenes explaining the procedural customs and intricate political mores of the time. Two excellent performances in two fine films — but I'm really hoping he doesn't sign up to co-star in a movie about Gerald Ford and the machinations behind the Whip Inflation Now movement. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2013 5:20 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| Inla...........Where was Kenneth? Mr. Turan did NOT show up at the film fest. The substitution was a producers discussion featuring the producers of: 30 Rock, Michael Moore movies, Al Franken tv shows, and a doc about women in Liberia. It was interesting...........but.....One of the best events at the fest was the in person Q & A with David Strathairn after a showing of his film No God No Master about unions during the Sacho & Vansetti era. A gripping, well done film. I always like him. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:46 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Watched Argo last week.
Didn't have much to say about it.
Fairly solid film without being much more.
I really liked the early scenes of the crowds and the embassy being overrun. Some good 70's outfits and hairstyles.
The Goodman-Arkin stuff was just okay. I think both could play those roles in their sleep. The ending went in for some over-dramatization which seemed a little cheesy.
I did like at the airport when the one American starts speaking Farsi, and for a tense period you don't know if that is going to be helpful or a big mistake. I've been in a lot of situations like that, and people usually appreciate that you can speak their language and you can engage with them, but sometimes it's better playing the dumb foreigner with limited/no language skills.
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Life of Pi.
I don't really get this film.
Not really sure what the point is.
But I got tired of the jokey optimistic all religions can be combined approach. I was ready to check out after 1'30. The the film goes in for lots of fake-looking weird nature shots which weren't terribly interesting. Also, the framing device with the story being told to the young white guy (audience stand-in) was particularly flaccid.
About the most interesting aspect of the film were external -- the fact that I was just reading about a young woman who was killed by a lion at a reserve in CA and that mid-film my cat jumped up suddenly and climbed over me.
I really just didn't get anything out of this. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 1:58 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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I liked "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" a lot. Maybe its because Steve Carell and Jim Carrey were in the audience as I watched it. Maybe it was because it was the World Premier. But I was howling with laughter. A few hours after the screening, the negative reviews started pouring in. I guess I fell under the sway of the trancelike state you get at film festivals where the excitement of the moment overwhelms the reality of what's on the screen.
Also, "Some Girl(s)" is a film adapted from a stage play by Neil LaBute and the movie makes no effort to open it up. The result is a static, talky, dark comedy about the gap between the sexes that brings very little freshness to the mix. TV sitcoms have covered the same ground over and over again to the point its been trampled into dead concrete. The film is saved by stellar acting from all the leads, including Adam Brody, Kristin Bell and Emily Watson.
Predictions: "Some Girl(s)" goes direct to DVD and VOD. "Burt Wonderstone" has a so-so theatrical run - doesn't break $100 million.
Much more to come. M. Campbell reporting from SXSW. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:04 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| gromit--I appreciate your unenthusiastic response to Argo and particularly to Life of Pi. The overwhelmingly positive critical and Oscar reaction to the latter is especially mysterious to me. It's what you said. So is Argo, but I liked it quite a bit better than you did. Shouldn't have been Best Picture, but at least it's acceptable as such, as opposed to such travesties to the award as Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, The Greatest Show on Earth, and...of course and always...The English Patient. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:16 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Ginger & Rosa is a good drama from Sally Potter. Opened in the UK in Oct, and scheduled for a limited US release next week (March 15). It reminded me in some ways of Margaret, with its young female protag struggling to deal with adult complications. It's British and a period piece -- from 1945 to the Cuban Missile Crisis -- so more restrained, somewhat like a Terence Davie's version of Margaret.
Elle Fanning is quite good in the lead, more so since she was 13 and maybe 14 when filming playing a British 16/17 year old. Quite a good cast with Annette Benning in a small role as a conscience/mentor figure. Christina Hendricks as a housewife. The film has to do with growing up, family discord, intellectuals and activism and moral relativity, plus banning the bomb. I quite liked it, especially the nice use of jazz throughout, plus some tinges of that newfangled rock and roll. The Man I Love, a somewhat obvious choice given the relationship stresses, is used well in various forms. And Body and Soul can even take on a new meaning when juxtaposed with nuclear holocaust.
It's just off the festival circuit and set to open in the US and across Europe. No idea if this will create a peep anywhere or if anyone will actually have a chance to see this in a theater. But it's worth catching, and likely will pop up on cable within 6 months (I really have no idea how all that works, so that's a complete guess).
It goes right to the top of my 2013 Best list -- being the only entrant and all. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 12:00 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Life of Pi reminded me of Tarsem Singh's The Fall, which had a similar story-telling device and seemed more concerned with creating odd and intriguing visuals than anything else. Although The Fall reportedly didn't use any CGI.
I tried to discern the spiritual message or other ideas in Pi, but they seemed rather muddled. The ending with the alternate cast of characters seemed promising, but didn't seem to lead anywhere. Also, while I was pondering the relationships and/or significance, white guy/audience says that then Pi would be Richard Parker, and Pi seems to assent. This didn't make any sense to me, as the most of the sea adventure is Pi and the Tiger. I'm suppose you could posit a duality where Pi and the Tiger are one, but I'm not sure there's much there.
Otherwise, it's good and interesting to see Indian people presented as normal Americans -- here Pi seems to be a professor, while in Silver Linings Playbook, the psychiatrist is Indian (and a football fan). There's also the Exotic Marigold Hotel, which takes place in India though. I assume a lot of this is in the wake of the success of Slumdog Millionaire, but it also suggests an interest in India these days in the US, as well as attention to Indian-American assimilation. My hometown in NJ has I believe the largest Indian community in the US, so it's good to see this filtering out into the broader culture. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:42 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Gromit,
I think the the treatment of Indians in The Life of Pi is part of a welcome trend in Hollywood movies not to see 'forieigners as 'The Other' or at least less so. I think "Babel", a film I like very much, set something of a benchmark in this respect. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 1:01 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Yeah, it's a typical Hollywood both-ways approach, where they are normalized and stereotyped. So, while Pi seems to have a regular American life, his story is told/filtered through a white listener, and it's a tremendously exotic tale, to the point where a Bengal Tiger is his co-star. While in SLP an Indian plays a normal professional/authority role, but then a race fight breaks out between the Indian-American and white football fans.
I'd assume Apu from the Simpsons also had a hand in all of this -- a whole lot of stereotype but also an integrated member of the community, starting nearly 25 years ago.
I was wondering if this is just a fad, in which Americans take an interest in Indian characters and culture for a bit of time and then it moves on, as happens, or if this is part of a larger trend reflecting Asian/Indian-immigration and integration into US culture and more of a permanent fixture -- the new multi-culti reality finding its way to the big screen.
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Sidenote: a funny story. I had an old aunt who was fairly racist, a product of her time. When she was in the hospital once in the mid-90's, we went to visit her and, asking about the care, she said that she had a very nice, polite young Italian doctor. His name was .... Dr. Patel. We exchanged glances but didn't say anything but anodyne comments. Sure enough a little while later we meet young Dr. Patel, a friendly, competent, obviously Indian doctor.
I assume the mistake was partly because my aunt had hearing troubles and was never good/comfortable with her hearing aid, and probably mistook Indian for Italian. It was fairly ludicrous, but we didn't tell her and they got along well. I think my aunt just had no idea about Indian people and the idea that an Indian could be a doctor at a hospital treating her just never crossed her mind. She died a few years ago, and recently my father started renting her old house out to an Indian family. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 9:34 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6967
Location: Black Hills
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| Patel is a common Indian surname, esp. in N. America, because it signifies a subcaste of innkeepers - many immigrated here and took up the avocation with which they were already familiar. The first generation ran many motels, then paid for their kids to go to college and take up professional careers. A Mr. Patel, who runs a motel near Kansas City, told me all this. At that time, his motel was called "Patel Motel," which I thought had a nice ring to it. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:11 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| My friend who was Alan Bates' secretary had the usual English attitude toward immigrants, and when her husband became seriously ill, I thought it was amusing when she told me that his surgeon was Indian, "but of course, he's Brahmin." My other English friend had no interest in "Life of Pi" because she doesn't like Indians or "Pakis." It's pretty much the way my South Carolina relatives feel about Mexicans. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:28 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Patels are predominantly from Gujarat.
A largely landowning group, traditionally.
In NJ, there are/were lots of doctor Patels, as they could immigrate relatively easily, and their credentials are largely accepted int eh US (unlike say Chinese doctors).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patel#.22Patel_Motel.22_phenomenon
I think it's not so much that many Patels had hotel experience back in India, but more that it was a business model some got into early and others could follow and imitate, while it fit in with tradition/self-image. Maybe I'm wrong. But I think it's like Korean fruit sellers (East Asians have an odd fruit fetish) or Turkish gas station owners. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 12:13 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Haven't seen Life of Pi yet, but the buzz I've received is that its great.
But I'm so relieved that others, Billy and Gromit, were also underwhelmed by Argo. After seeing it, analyzing it to death, I was left with one question. Did I really care about these people? I didn't.
Surprisingly, I thought Ben Affleck was the best actor in the film. Any film in which Affleck is the best of the bunch has a problem. That is, unless something spectacular has occurred over night. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:02 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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One thing I thought odd in Argo.
The immigration arrival forms seemed off.
Upon departure at the airport, they present the yellow copy of their arrival form and then it is matched with the top white copy kept by immigration. But this doesn't seem like a workable scheme. It would really only work if there was only one immigration channel. If you had 3 or 4 or say 10 booths, there would be no practical way to match up every form with the top copy.
Assuming that that is the system in place -- as the film posits -- it seemed like a fairly significant flaw in their plan that everyone in the group, except Affleck, wouldn't have the original entry form on file. This would mean that they would be rather likely to be pulled aside and questioned. I understand the film presents this as an unavoidable complication. But then they are never asked why they don't have the forms, etc.....
maybe i just go through airports too much .... |
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