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| inlareviewer |
 Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 4:41 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Saw "Nymphomaniac: Vol.I" last night. Must withhold final conclusions until have "Vol. II" under my, um, belt, but feel compelled to say that: Lars here goes far beyond his own provocateur standards, indeed, anyone's provocateur standards, without exactly horrifying; simultaneously it's an infinitely more artful, entertaining, engrossing and, yes, meaningful intellectual/aesthetic/visceral experience than one might expect; the scattered deadpan yoks Mr. Von Trier found in My Favorite Film of 2011 have grown exponentially into something amazingly resembling a real sense of humor; people who have an aversion to porn actors' private parts morphed onto international stars' torsos, underage sex, raw-to-elegant promiscuity, elevated metaphoric discourse and/or flaccid penis montages should avoid it like the clap; given the specific demands, the acting is top-drawer across the board, La Gainsbourg, Mr. Skarsgård, young Stacy Martin and Christian Slater especially, but hardly exclusively; and Uma Thurman is not to be believed in her demi-climactic harangue. Seriously.
Edited for typos and clarifiers. |
Last edited by inlareviewer on Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:03 pm; edited 5 times in total
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"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:33 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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Inla,
You pre-review, replete with 'advisories', only encouraged me to see it. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2014 9:04 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| That sounds surprisingly interesting. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 12:55 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Short Term 12 is a very engaging movie about the problems of some troubled teenagers in a group home and the problems of their care givers. Sensitively directed. Brie Larson is excellent.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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inlareviewer wrote: Must withhold final conclusions until have "Vol. II" under my, um, belt....
inla--You are hilarious. Do not plan to see the movie, however. Despite not loathing Melancholia, Von Trier is probably my least favorite film director, and this one certainly doesn't sound like the one to change my mind. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2014 9:17 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Mr. Peabody and Sherman is a thoughtful exploration of child-raising techniques, young love and the role that dogs have played in history. It's really quite an education. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2014 12:43 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Hayao Miyazaki's "The Wind Rises" is probably the last feature length film of this master of animation. It is loosely based on the life of Jiro Horikoshi, the gifted Japanese aeronautic engineer, his work and his tragic love life. A visual delight!
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 7:23 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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| Saw "Nymphomaniac: Vol.II." Am now extremely ambivalent, not least because, while it remained relatively interesting intellectually, it drops some of the aesthetic invention that distinguished Vol. I's panoply of promiscuity and fetishism. A shade too much of the second half is spent ironing out narrative matters; Von Trier does dare a wickedly blatant lift from the "Antichrist" prologue, though. There's also: a lower quotient of jaw-dropping sick and/or twisted jokes; a latently racist sequence involving two African brothers; some knee-slapping stabs at sex-addiction 12-step programs; a continued portentous yet intriguing bent to the Gainsbourg/Skarsgård back-and-forth philosophical debate; and a final twist that represents Lars in vintage nasty "HA!" mode -- should have seen it coming, but didn't, and am not sure whether that's an endorsement or not. That said, La Gainsbourg, who takes over in the related flashbacks from Ms. Martin, gives herself to the abuse and worse with unparalleled physical courage and emotional abandon; Mssr. LaBeouf, as in the first half, is better than you might imagine; Mia Gill, Mr. Skarsgård, a remarkable Jamie Bell as the heroine's S&M dominant and a never-more-understated Willem Dafoe bring all they've got to the miasma; and if it never goes anywhere near the High Art realm of "Melancholia" or Stylistic Experiment arena of "Dogville," it's not inconsiderable, although a certain (for this director) restraint nears torpor at times. Fans of the Auteur Provocateur may well be divided; detractors and those allergic to the C-word and close-ups of same should probably skip it; personally, cannot quite get it out of my mind, though a couple of re-viewings of "Hiroshima, Mon Amour," "Midnight Cowboy" and/or "Women in Love" should take care of that.... |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2014 10:22 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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I'm scared to admit it, but the remake of Annie with Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis looks pretty promising. It looks better than the 1982 if only because I like Quvenzhané Wallis much more than Aileen Quinn.
On the other hand, it's still Annie. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:06 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Syd wrote: I'm scared to admit it, but the remake of Annie with Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis looks pretty promising. It looks better than the 1982 if only because I like Quvenzhané Wallis much more than Aileen Quinn.
On the other hand, it's still Annie.
Agreed, and the casting of Cameron Diaz as the evil Miss Hannigan is so off-center it might just work. I also love the idea of Rose Byrne as Foxx's love interest. Her versatility as an actor is pretty amazing. Frankly, I can't wait. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:05 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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Yeah the late-winter dearth is concluding.
Am champing at the bit to see both "Enemy" (Jake G. wrangles with his doppelganger....from the dir. who did "Prisoners") and "The Grand Budapest Hotel," both trapped in "limited release" at the moment. Ditto "The Wind Rises," a Japanese animated film that's a biopic about an airplane designer. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 12:39 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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bartist wrote: Yeah the late-winter dearth is concluding.
Am champing at the bit to see both "Enemy" (Jake G. wrangles with his doppelganger....from the dir. who did "Prisoners") and "The Grand Budapest Hotel," both trapped in "limited release" at the moment. Ditto "The Wind Rises," a Japanese animated film that's a biopic about an airplane designer.
The Wind Rises is an excellent film. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 3:50 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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bartist wrote: Yeah the late-winter dearth is concluding.
Am champing at the bit to see both "Enemy" (Jake G. wrangles with his doppelganger....from the dir. who did "Prisoners") and "The Grand Budapest Hotel," both trapped in "limited release" at the moment. Ditto "The Wind Rises," a Japanese animated film that's a biopic about an airplane designer.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but Enemy is resoundingly silly and the longest 90-minute film in ages. Gyllenhaal is simultaneously wasted and inept in the role--meaning he's an actor I generally like who is miscast and lost in this part. (Of course I absolutely loathed Prisoners, so consider that.)
Thought I had reviewed Enemy already. Guess not. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:35 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6958
Location: Black Hills
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| No, rain away, BW. I can see, from the synopsis, that it's an existential mystery that could easily turn silly in the wrong hands. Will report back. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:11 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Inside Llewyn Davis was fine enough, but I wanted a bit more.
The music was handled very well.
Oscar Isaac and the cat(s) were good.
But it seemed to rely too much on exasperated reaction shots from Isaac. Ultimately Llewyn Davis didn't really seem like he was in the early 60's, even though most of the others did.
I liked some of the Coen touches like tracking the cat down the hallway, and the secretary of LD's agent, a perfect odd-looking laconic Coen bit part.
And that great cramped hallway with two angled doors at the end.
I also like when we see how practiced Llewyn is at finding a couch for the night.
The John Goodman interlude seemed promising, but was overlong and then went in too many directions too quickly.
Was wondering what folks made of the ending.
On a night The Times was supposed to be there, we have Bob Dylan making his debut while Llewyn gets beaten up in the back alley. Is that it, his time has passed, he's consigned to loserdom, while the times are a-changing and passing him by? Or is this the start of a folk music golden age and more ops for Llewyn, even as he seems to have hit rock bottom? Are the Coenheads offering hope, keeping it ambiguous, or is Llewyn just a failure? Interestingly, his failure to get on a ship means that he's still in the folk music game.
The film was fine enough and might work as well on replay, but I thought there would be more to it, or more left to puzzle over and think through. Instead it all seemed fairly straightforward, though it seems one could question the time frame involved. |
Last edited by gromit on Sat Mar 15, 2014 7:41 am; edited 1 time in total
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