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| gromit |
 Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:50 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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I really enjoyed Birdman.
And it turned out to be a fine choice right after Whiplash, as Birdman has a drum score that kicks in throughout.
The acting is quite good.
Keaton is terrific, I loved Naomi Watts here, Norton is effective.
It's an odd film, brimming with style.
About the only thing that seemed a bit off was the actual Birdman stuff and the magical elements. I didn't find that necessary or well-integrated.
I thought the film was very funny and entertaining. |
Last edited by gromit on Mon Feb 09, 2015 3:38 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 9:51 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6948
Location: Black Hills
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billyweeds wrote: Gromit--No reasonable person could disagree with your comments on constructive criticism, but it seems you're looking for a different movie.
You two's chat makes me think I will be looking for a different movie. I don't mind the Tough Mentor theme when the mentee character requires it, e.g. the smartass in Officer and a Gentleman, but this sounds beyond the pale. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 1:59 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12893
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| It's the R. Lee Ermey approach to teaching music. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 12:50 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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I assume in Birdman, the girl leads Norton to the catwalk above the stage for sex, so that he is able to perform. I saw some praise for Emma Stone here and there, but on my dvd, she looked odd --like a 20 year old with plastic surgery. Almost creeped me out.
One theory is that Keaton dies from the gunshot.
That would explain the positive review, the successful replacement nose, the large twitter following, and even the daughter looking up to the sky at the end.
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Watched about 2/3rds of Lucy last night.
What a dumb film.
Really just an excuse to get a hot chick (ScarJo) on a killing spree. But a lot of the violence and tone seemed cartoonish and silly. It's also a stretch to believe that there is a large Asian gang just killing and kidnapping people in public all the time. But so much of the dialogue and action is just lame or downright dumb. Really a bunch of mindless junk. At least it's not as bad as A Touch of Sin or Only Lovers Left Alive. But a mistake to pick up Lucy instead of The Imitation Game or whatever else I also put off. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 3:13 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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gromit wrote: Well, I guess I meant that the film's ending shows a positive result for the brutal method, seemingly endorsing Simmons Manichean approach. Problematic. And the drum protege essentially embraces that approach as well.
I interpreted it that the Simmons character is a sadistic asshole and one of those folks who thinks he's never wrong, so he justifies his behavior by making it an extreme either/or choice. So he doesn't look for a middle-ground because it's all just self-justification to bolster the asshole he is.
The student clearly had issues of his own, almost as troubling as the teacher's. Miles Teller gave a brilliant performance, just as effective as Simmons's, and got deep into the psyche of the student, who not only "embraced" the approach but relished it. These were two severely fucked-up individuals, and if you want a happy ending in the normal sense, you don't get it here. But there's no doubt that each of the two leads gets to a good place in the context of their crazy agendas. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2015 11:58 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Teller's embrace of the harsh teaching approach was tempered by his testifying against Simmons. I realize that he reluctantly goes along with the complaint against Simmons and it's likely largely out of personal vendetta. But still he doesn't say that Simmons did nothing wrong or was merely a tough good teacher. I sort of forgave Teller for embracing Simmons methods, because he is young and impressionable, and doesn't have friends, and wants to believe there is a path to greatness for himself.
I thought an interesting question was: if Teller makes it big as a musician, will he take the same drill instructor approach to mentoring that Simmons bludgeons people with? We already see with the girlfriend (and at the dinner table) that he doesn't exactly have a winning way with people or display any empathy. So it seemed like he had internalized Simmons methods and could go on to replicate them. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:03 am |
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| As for Lucy, I'm not sure if it thought it was being profound towards the end but it seemed totally risible. Not sure how Mind Power subverts the laws of physics repeatedly. One of the many problems with this dumb film is that we really have no idea what the properties of the drug is or how it works, or what unleashing more "cerebral capacity" (a dumb concept in itself) can lead to. So the film just becomes a lot of inexplicable ish happening because of some blue chemical, or more likely because Luc Besson thought it would be cool. Utterly dumb. Probably the less said about that dreck the better. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:42 am |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1245
Location: St. Louis
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| "Hanna" is a better film, on a similar theme to "Lucy." If Scarlett were really upping cerebral output she'd be integrating quantum physics with gravity. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 11:50 am |
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Joined: 30 Oct 2014
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Location: Winnipeg: It's a dry cold.
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I saw Lucy and liked it very much. For me it was a lot of fun to watch. Scarlett acted very well. She changed from an average but good looking college girl to an ultra-brilliant woman who kills bad people without a problem.
Lots of very good visuals also. It's a sci-fi film. |
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Big bang, shmig bang; still doesn't explain how anything starts. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:59 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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I think films like Limitless, Hanna, or Lucy, are written for a mass audience, and the assumption is that the ordinary person would, if their raw intelligence were increased, want to make more money or get laid a lot more or vanquish enemies, or all of the above. It's pretty rare that a film on this theme has a person who wants to, as Knox suggests, reconcile the problems between quantum theory and general relativity, or genetically engineer grass that bears juicy steaks and pork chops, or solve Fermat's conjecture, or build a faster rocket engine, or whatever.
The reality that conflicts with these dumb storylines is that super-smart people tend to not care about money or power or squishing enemies as much as we might expect. The nature of intelligence, as any biography of a great mind will tell you, is that it is quirky and unpredictable and doesn't follow the standard canon of success. Maybe James Joyce or Richard Feynman or Craig Venter would have made terrific hedge fund managers or lawyers...but they decided early on that life presented more interesting puzzles. And movies about them would probably have much smaller BO receipts than "Lucy." |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 1:20 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| I thought Lucy became one-note after an interesting set-up, that Limitless was carried by the excellent performances, and that Hanna was inexplicably dull and lifeless, with an excruciatingly and uncharacteristically terrible performance from Cate Blanchett which almost took it into the territory of high camp. but not quite far enough to make it entertaining. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2015 7:58 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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Quote: you don't think the oscars are really about artistic merit, do you? I want to see this - LeCarre thrillers don't always translate to the screen well.
Bart......I'm paying less and less attention to Oscar nods. LeCarre said he was thrilled with P.S. Hoffman's performance. It is a very fine book also and very relevant to the issue of immigrant terrorists in Europe (Hamburg is the setting.) A Most Wanted Man..........worthy as a book and a film.
Gromit........When I was in art school (RISD) the freshman drawing instructor was fond of taking his wooden pointer and poking a tear into students' drawings......Whiplash reveals the kind of snobbish, elitist pose by professors who enjoy "fooling with" their vulnerable students. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2015 4:03 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Didn't care for Leviathan much at all.
It's not badly made, just dull and overlong, and the developments, both character and plot, are slow and banal.
Reminded me of some of those Romanian films such as Police, Adj. where little happens, nobody is interesting, the authorities are corrupt bullies setting a minor conflict in motion -- and that's the film. Snooze.
A slice of life film, where you wouldn't want to know or interact with any of these people. The only thing moderately interesting in Leviathan was the always angry boy who had a minor role. Not sure I know enough about Russia to be sure -- but I think they tempered the corrupt official by having him look and act (read:drunk) like Yeltsin, sort of deflecting the target away from Putinism. Apparently many in Russia are down on the film, worried that it shows a negative portrayal of Russia and Russians (it does, and certainly isn't subtle about it).
There are some nice rugged nature shots. Reminded me of the Jia ZhangKe film I recently watched where the only thing I liked was the nature shots, and everything with people was a bore. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2015 3:21 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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I liked A Most Violent Year a lot. It has a good story to tell and it tells it at exactly the right pace. Did not recognize Albert Brooks, who is good. All performances are good.
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2015 2:14 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| "Mr. Turner" is a visual delight, another gem of a movie from Mike Leigh. J.M.W.Turner is portrayed as an eccentric, fiercely independent, sometimes callous, sometime kind, prolific painter. The cinematography is superb. Each scene is like a Turner painting. Timothy Spall is wonderful as Turner. A "must-see". |
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