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| gromit |
 Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 3:17 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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| High Fidelity, Brother's Keeper, Triplets of Belleville -- I think we're all thrice seen by these very eyes in my head. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:37 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Didn't care much for Big Hero 6.
It looked pretty good abut you know there is trouble when the doofy big health care robot was the best character. The plot felt like something from a half hour cartoon show. The bad guy/super-villain uninteresting. The supporting characters were barely sketched in. The chases were boring. I found it kind of tedious to get through -- took me 3 nights and it's not particularly long.
None of the technology wizardry was explained.
We see Hiro tinker with a screwdriver briefly and next thing he has this amazing game-changing, world-changing technology. Or seemingly in one day he can retrofit the vinyl robot into a flying machine with turbo-thrusters. In other words, everything that happens -- including teleporting matter -- you just have to accept and say uh, okay they can do that now.
It's all right mindless amusement, but was hard to get involved with. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:57 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| The Russian movie "Leviathan" dramatically depicts how corrupt bureaucrats in local governments can ruin an ordinary citizen. Very realistic and impactful. The leisurely pace and the length (140 minutes) may not find favor with American audiences. The juxtaposition of what is preached in the church and what is practiced in real life seems to fascinate Russian (and Indian) audiences. Was nominated for an Oscar. Won the Golden Globe. I enjoyed it. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 2:12 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Thought Leviathan was a plodding overlong snooze.
Seemed the whole thing could have been handled better in 30 minutes.
A better, similar sort of revenge film is Revanche.
Or even better the taut Katalin Varga |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2015 2:38 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Really disliked Men, Women and Children.
A film about texting and who is sleeping with whom.
Snooze-a-rama.
Also didn't like the intrusive score, the pretentious narration, and the foolish Voyager probe/Carl Sagan conceit.
It was almost distracting when every 20 or 30 minutes a good line of dialogue would emerge. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 11:06 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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I realized that Men, Women and Children is in many ways a reworking of American Beauty. The Mira Sorvino cheerleader/model-wannabe/temptress is divided among two girls -- the actress wannabe and the skinny chick who is interested in losing her virginity and even looks like Sorvino.
The gay army neighbor who keeps strict tabs on his son and drug tests him, is replaced by the Jennifer Garner mom who keeps strict tabs on her daughter and checks her phone and internet activity.
Other similarities: central Mom having an affair in both. Check. Husband finds out but decides to ignore said cuckolding. Check. American Beauty toyed around with drug and video use; M,W & Ch focuses on online/on-phone behavior. Hence the switch so that the over-protective/intrusive parent drug-checks in one and phone/internet checks in the other. It's like they decided to drop the drug stuff, switch video to texting and expand upon that.
The sort of outsider girl who has a romance is in both. And she falls for the interesting conflicted boy. Both films even open and close with voice-over narration, though it seems rather tacked on and unnecessary in the case of MWCh. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2015 11:35 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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I realize I'm in the minority here, but I really liked Men, Women & Children. And did not particularly go for American Beauty btw.
I really appreciated the musical score to MW&C, which had overtones of soft- (or even hard-) core porn, obviously a deliberate choice by the director, the talented Jason Reitman. Judy Greer was a standout in an excellent cast. It reminded me of Disconnect, a likewise underappreciated multi-drama about the internet era. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 3:20 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Quite liked Big Eyes.
Amy Adams is very good as a post-war wife who is unable to stand up to her charlatan 2nd husband. I like the uncertainty that plays along her mouth even when she's speaking. Tim Burton directs and effectively plays this straight as a period piece and interesting tale of social and marital dysfunction.
Based on the life of the painter Margaret Keane.
Capri pants should have had their own end credit ...
A pleasant surprise. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 1:45 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| Great to hear mention of Big Eyes. I really enjoyed the period aspect and thought Cristolph Waltz was a riot. The mystery remains: why were those paintings so popular? |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 5:08 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6944
Location: Black Hills
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Big Eyes on my list, ditto MW&C. Am confused by the multiply derivative aspects of The Lazarus Effect, now playing and starring Mark Duplass and Olivia Wilde.
1. Isn't that a Frank Herbert novel, with a completely different plot?
2. Did they combine Flatliners and Pet Sematary? Sounds like it.
3. Is this all just a means to turn Olivia Wilde into the world's sexiest zombie?
After Safety Not Guaranteed and The One I Love, I'd watch Duplass in most any film, but.... |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 5:51 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12889
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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Befade wrote: Great to hear mention of Big Eyes. I really enjoyed the period aspect and thought Cristolph Waltz was a riot. The mystery remains: why were those paintings so popular?
Because they COMMAND you to buy them. |
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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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| Befade |
| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 9:56 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| ?????? |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 9:57 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| ?????? |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2015 11:30 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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I think big-eyed children look innocent, then depending on the context they can look cute, or vulnerable in slightly sad contexts. Somewhat kitschy pop art, but when does popular equate with high art ... or even quality? And Walter Keane did great marketing, building an art brand and mass merchandising the style even before Warhol got into the game. And the 50's was the right time for largely anodyne sweet images to take hold, after the trauma of the war and in the era of settling down.
For the last 20+ years, a lot of Japanese manga employs the big-eye style to great popularity. The Japanese being a core audience for cute and vulnerable. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2015 4:02 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Has anyone seen The Skeleton Twins or Laggies.
Two less heralded filmsI've heard a few good things about. |
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