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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2015 11:24 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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marantzo wrote:
Billy In A Lonely Place is also one of my favorites.
One of my favorite things about it is the title, which on the surface alludes to the site of the murder but more importantly describes the Bogart character's soul. Bogart deserves credit for honestly playing a genuine anti-hero. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 2:32 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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For me, Memento is one of the best films of the past 15 years or so.
A clever idea handled deftly. It all comes together extremely well, including the cast and the disjointed time-line. A great film. I recently re-watched his debut film Following, which is a good low-budget neo-noir. It also puts intersperses some later chronological scenes into the middle of the film, which is clear because the main character gets a makeover (haircut and new clothes) midfilm, and then in his new look gets increasingly beaten and battered. It's a solid film.
Inception tries way too hard and gets rather complicated to get to its main set pieces. I think it's somewhat impressive that Nolan is able to get us to follow and comprehend the multiple level dream sequence -- but it's too convoluted and a bit silly. I thought it was amusing that Inception is an action film peopled by short actors. Maybe they need to be small to fit into people's dreams ... |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2015 7:33 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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The Judge is as corny as Kansas in August, and not in a charming way, but despite employing every dramatic cliche in the father-son-drama-courtroom-epic book, it manages to be entertaining most of the way. This is largely through the acting of the two leads, Robert Downey and Robert Duvall, who you can see "acting" at every moment, but who do it so well and at the service of such a pulpy page-turner of a story that it's a delight in and of itself.
Hotshot trial lawyer Downey comes to his old home town in Indiana for his mother's funeral and runs smack-dab into a murder case in which his long-estranged father (Duvall) is accused. Duvall, meanwhile, has cancer. Downey's old girlfriend and his two brothers are around too, and they all have issues. Do I need to go on?
Nonetheless, as I say, Downey, Duvall, and an excruciatingly professional and overqualified cast including Billy Bob Thornton, Vera Farmiga, and VIncent d'Onofrio often make the ride a lot of fun. It's almost a guilty pleasure. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 3:50 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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I would place "Wild" among the top three movies of the 2014. It is about courage, endurance, life itself! Bravura performances by Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée whose "Dallas Buyers Club" was, in my books, the best movie of 2013.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 9:27 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Oscars are ridiculous per se, but I'm still hooked, and with the announcement of the nominations this morning I am annoyed anew. The love being shown for the perfectly okay but nothing-special American Sniper is crazy. When Bradley Cooper gains a little weight and thereby displaces the likes of David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King in Selma and Jake Gyllenhaal's memorable creep in Nightcrawler, it sucks. And I am so over the Streep-love. Anyway, Boyhood is looking good and Selma was nominated as Best Picture, so there were some bright spots. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 9:50 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote: Oscars are ridiculous per se, but I'm still hooked, and with the announcement of the nominations this morning I am annoyed anew. The love being shown for the perfectly okay but nothing-special American Sniper is crazy. When Bradley Cooper gains a little weight and thereby displaces the likes of David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King in Selma and Jake Gyllenhaal's memorable creep in Nightcrawler, it sucks. And I am so over the Streep-love. Anyway, Boyhood is looking good and Selma was nominated as Best Picture, so there were some bright spots.
I think the Big Six are.lcked: Boyhood, Linklatet, Keaton, Moore, Simmons, Arquettr. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 10:17 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| Also, I am really hoping "Dick Poop" wins for cinematography. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 10:59 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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The only photography wins which are justified are Mr. Turner and Birdman. I don't think Boyhood is an absolute lock for Best Picture, though it should be. The only other acceptable winners are Selma and Birdman. And Simmons may possibly lose to Ruffalo or Norton. Keaton may just possibly (though not probably) lose to Redmayne.
The fact that Cooper (and to a lesser degree Carell and Cumberbatch) are nominated and not Oyelowo or Timothy Spall for Mr. Turner is almost barf-inducing. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 2:44 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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| Can't imagine why Selma was not nominated for screenplay and editing categories. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 2:51 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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> "I think the Big Six are.locked: Boyhood, Linklater, Keaton, Moore, Simmons, Arquette".
I agree, though Ruffalo and Witherspoon cannot be ruled out.
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2015 8:31 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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billyweeds wrote: The only photography wins which are justified are Mr. Turner and Birdman. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 7:33 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Ghulam wrote: .
> "I think the Big Six are.locked: Boyhood, Linklater, Keaton, Moore, Simmons, Arquette".
I agree, though Ruffalo and Witherspoon cannot be ruled out.
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Witherspoon can be ruled out. Julianne Moore is an absolute lock. Ruffalo is a strong possibility, and so (to a lesser degree) are Hawke and Norton. The only supporting actor who can be ruled out is Duvall (excellent performance, but he's a former winner in a cheesy flick with bad box office).
The Best Actor category is a joke to me. Cooper does not belong at all, and the fact that he and Carell and Cumberbatch are there instead of Oyelowo and Spall and Gyllenhaal is lame. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:12 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| I dunno billy. If Keaton and Ruffalo BOTH win the shock of joy to yoir system may ne bad for your health. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:20 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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whiskeypriest wrote: I dunno billy. If Keaton and Ruffalo BOTH win the shock of joy to yoir system may ne bad for your health.
I'll chance it. Mike and Mark! |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 12:57 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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