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| gromit |
 Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 10:27 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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| I'm a big Tenenbaums fan, but actively disliked Darjeeling. Thought it was poorly slapped together, with a few silly jokes/symbols (like the luggage), and hated the awful romance. About the only time I perked up slightly was when Anjelica Huston arrives as their mother at the end. And then most of that was silly and annoying as well, but at least she had presence and a character that seemed potentially interesting. Mr. Fox sort of a middle ground. I liked some elements (the cussing!), but found the whole thing kind of meandering and |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 3:09 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Hated The Royal Tenenbaums, but maybe you have to love Salinger (they are clearly inspired by his Glass family) to care for it. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:53 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| I liked Rushmore and Tenenbaums a lot. I thought Moonrise Kingdom was watchable, but nothing else that Anderson has done since Tenenbaums has inspired anything but active dislike in me. And, yes, that includes the almost universally adored Budapest Hotel, of which I loathed almost every single nanosecond, but which I still preferred to The Life Aquatic, which is probably one of my ten or 20 least favorite movies of all time. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 5:19 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Joe's not-so-recent argument against Netflix (he said there's nothing streaming on it that anyone would want to watch) keeps getting destroyed every day. Hard upon Thanks for Sharing, which (see above) I pretty much adored, we watched Blue Ruin, an intriguing revenge story which got a lot of attention at last years Cannes festival. A little too arty and slow-going to be great, it features an interestingly ambiguous attitude toward violence and two excellent performances, by Macon Blair as a homeless man turned inept vigilante and (particularly) by Devin Ratray as a gun nut who looks something like Jack Black and has a sense of humor to match. Directed by Jeremy Saulnier (who should be watched), the movie is well worth seeing.
Also on Netflix, we binge-watched the new BBC series called (sarcastically) Happy Valley, about a Yorkshire police sergeant, female variety. Violent but validly emotional, it's in the Prime Suspect tradition and is definitely a keeper. Can't wait for Season Two.
Next up on Netflix: Today's Special, Middle of Nowhere, The Unknown Known, and the oldie but good The Long, Hot Summer. Think things through, Joe. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:21 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| Not destroyed for me. I continue to search futilely. All they got I care about is Arrested Development and Futurama. Amazon streaming has a better selection. Watched Lord Love a Duck, which I need to write a review of. The long and the short of it: it's really terrible when it isn't really clever and it's worth watching at least once in your life. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 12:53 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Tried Hulu Plus for a week and didn't like it, too many ads. We are trying Netflix pretty soon.
Agree that Life Aquatic is the Andersonian nadir. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 1:05 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Joe Vitus wrote: Not destroyed for me. I continue to search futilely. All they got I care about is Arrested Development and Futurama. Amazon streaming has a better selection. Watched Lord Love a Duck, which I need to write a review of. The long and the short of it: it's really terrible when it isn't really clever and it's worth watching at least once in your life.
Joe--My point is that there are many, many fllms that were released under the radar which are terrific and which you can find on Netflix all the time. Of course you're not going to find a lot of things you want to see, but there are others you had no knowledge of which are just as valid.
Saw Lord Love a Duck decades ago and pretty much agree with you from what I remember. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:22 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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I had a Lee Tracy film festival the other day since he was TCM's daily artist a few days ago. The one I really liked was Chasing Hollywood, in which a wife picks up her husband who is just getting out of prison, and when they hear Lee Tracy trying to insure his briefcase for $50,000, think he's carrying something valuable and the wife wants to relieve him of it. (The husband would rather not like to go back to prison.) This belief is reinforced when Tracy drops a news clipping about the theft of $50,000 in bonds. This makes the prospect of a theft more promising; the couple could just turn the suitcase in for a reward. However, it turns out Tracy is a prospective script writer who specializes in crime novels. When the ex-hood reads one of the script, he starts correcting it, and Tracy and the ex-hood decide to become collaborators.
Meanwhile, Tracy has attracted the attention of a lovely young woman heading west to become an actress, but she is in the cabin next door, overhears the attempted robbery, and gets security. By the time she gets back, the deal has been struck, and now she thinks Tracy is a crook himself.
Tracy and his partner now come up with a really realistic and compelling movie series about a criminal named the Hawk. The reason it is so realistic and compelling is that the ex-hood has decided to get back at the real Hawk by putting the details of his crimes on the screen. The first movie is a hit, drawing the attention of (1) the people the Hawk bilked, and (2) The Hawk and his strongman, both of whom want to talk to Tracy. And since the actor playing the Hawk is a dead ringer, we get lots of lookalike confusion.
Lots of fun. I could see someone like Woody Allen writing this story a half-century later. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 4:40 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| The Danish film "A Hijacking" is about a cargo ship being hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. While I liked Paul Greengrass's "Captain Phillips", the Danish film has a much wider range of human emotions and a sustained confrontation not of armed forces but of harsh, even brutal, bargaining between the Somalis on the ship and the shipping executives in Copenhagen. Taut, suspenseful and absorbing. Very sensitively directed. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 5:55 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| Just watched the pretty good documentary Life After Tomorrow about the post-Annie lives of various child performers from the show. Sarah Jessica Parker once again showing she seems to be a pretty together chick. Billy, any idea why Andrea McArdle wasn't interviewed? |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 9:41 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Joe Vitus wrote: Just watched the pretty good documentary Life After Tomorrow about the post-Annie lives of various child performers from the show. Sarah Jessica Parker once again showing she seems to be a pretty together chick. Billy, any idea why Andrea McArdle wasn't interviewed?
No idea whatsoever. Didn't even know there was such a doc. I may be able to find out the answer some time. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 9:55 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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It is pretty good, if also solidly depicting the creators as totally hands-off when dealing with the struggles the kid went through (according to Kristin Vigard, originally cast as Annie but replaced by McArdle, they didn't even have the courage to fire her and made the owner of the Goodspeed Opera House do it for them while they stood by silently). But McArdle has been vocal about their behavior herself when they screwed over that poor girl for the 20th anniversary revival, so the negative depiction is unlikely to be the reason. I'd be interested in what you find out.
Plus, tell her plenty of us still know she's a star and are eager to see her back on Broadway. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 10:17 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Joe Vitus wrote: It is pretty good, if also solidly depicting the creators as totally hands-off when dealing with the struggles the kid went through (according to Kristin Vigard, originally cast as Annie but replaced by McArdle, they didn't even have the courage to fire her and made the owner of the Goodspeed Opera House do it for them while they stood by silently). But McArdle has been vocal about their behavior herself when they screwed over that poor girl for the 20th anniversary revival, so the negative depiction is unlikely to be the reason. I'd be interested in what you find out.
Plus, tell her plenty of us still know she's a star and are eager to see her back on Broadway.
The last time I saw her was at her 50th birthday party, at which time she was in rehearsal under the direcfion of Tommy Tune for a new one-woman act. She looks fantastic--better than ever, IMO--and still has the vocal chops. She's been doing a lot of regional theater, everything from Sally in Cabaret to Momma Rose in Gypsy. I will definitely tell her the fans are out there. But she's doing fine. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 12:58 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Richard Attenborough dies aged 90
Had quite the career.
I'm a big fan of Seance on a Wet Afternoon.
Need to see Brighton Rock and 10 Rillington Place |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 1:23 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Attenborough was a fine actor, but as a director he was wildly overrated. The fact that Gandhi and he beat out not only E.T. but also Tootsie for the Oscar was a travesty IMO. And his desecration of A Chorus Line is one of the worst stage-to-film musical adaptations in movie history. |
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