| Author |
Message |
|
| bartist |
 Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2016 12:36 pm |
 |
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6964
Location: Black Hills
|
| "Pawn Sacrifice" is not a bad little film about Bobby Fisher and his trips down the rabbit hole of chess eccentricity and mental illness. Tobey Maguire was perfectly cast. I would have liked more board shots of the famous Game Six, but the film necessarily must give priority to character drama. Still, would have been nice to see what Spassky was reacting to, given the largish percentage of chess players you will have in an audience for such a film. Stuhlbarg does a good supp perf as Fisher's lawyer/handler. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
 
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2016 1:09 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
bartist wrote: "Pawn Sacrifice" is not a bad little film about Bobby Fisher and his trips down the rabbit hole of chess eccentricity and mental illness. Tobey Maguire was perfectly cast. I would have liked more board shots of the famous Game Six, but the film necessarily must give priority to character drama. Still, would have been nice to see what Spassky was reacting to, given the largish percentage of chess players you will have in an audience for such a film. Stuhlbarg does a good supp perf as Fisher's lawyer/handler.
And IMO Liev Schreiber all but steals the movie as Spassky. Fischer, btw, is spelled with a "c." |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2016 1:14 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
| In the middle of watching To Be or Not to Be (1942) for the first time. Always heard this was a great film and boy, is it ever. Lubitsch directed brilliantly, and Carole Lombard and Jack Benny responded in kind. Robert Stack is only okay, but he looks great, which is mainly what he's supposed to do. Benny is hilarious as a so-called Shakespearean actor. Which means he's terrible at reciting Shakespeare but terrific at being Jack Benny. Lombard is simply delicious. Never liked her as much as I do in this serious comedy about actors and Nazis in 1942. Strong stuff--but laugh-out-loud funny too. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2016 2:40 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 30 Oct 2014
Posts: 278
Location: Winnipeg: It's a dry cold.
|
Syd wrote: marantzo wrote: I saw a good movie today. Actually a very good movie. Moana. Have any of you seen it? It is worth seeing!
Yes, I have. In fact, I reviewed it in Current Film on Saturday.
Syd, I just read your piece about Moana. I'm right with you about that. |
_________________
Big bang, shmig bang; still doesn't explain how anything starts. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2016 2:43 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 30 Oct 2014
Posts: 278
Location: Winnipeg: It's a dry cold.
|
billyweeds wrote: In the middle of watching To Be or Not to Be (1942) for the first time. Always heard this was a great film and boy, is it ever. Lubitsch directed brilliantly, and Carole Lombard and Jack Benny responded in kind. Robert Stack is only okay, but he looks great, which is mainly what he's supposed to do. Benny is hilarious as a so-called Shakespearean actor. Which means he's terrible at reciting Shakespeare but terrific at being Jack Benny. Lombard is simply delicious. Never liked her as much as I do in this serious comedy about actors and Nazis in 1942. Strong stuff--but laugh-out-loud funny too.
I saw the movie at least two times. I really liked that movie. I'm surprised that you never saw it before. |
_________________
Big bang, shmig bang; still doesn't explain how anything starts. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2016 5:29 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6964
Location: Black Hills
|
billyweeds wrote: bartist wrote: "Pawn Sacrifice" is not a bad little film about Bobby Fisher and his trips down the rabbit hole of chess eccentricity and mental illness. Tobey Maguire was perfectly cast. I would have liked more board shots of the famous Game Six, but the film necessarily must give priority to character drama. Still, would have been nice to see what Spassky was reacting to, given the largish percentage of chess players you will have in an audience for such a film. Stuhlbarg does a good supp perf as Fisher's lawyer/handler.
And IMO Liev Schreiber all but steals the movie as Spassky. Fischer, btw, is spelled with a "c."
Spasiba! Yeah, he doesn't have much to do until the last act but then he really does an amazing, and stoic, crumple as he sees his doom unfolding. Suddenly the chairs turn squeaky. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:42 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
marantzo wrote: I'm surprised that you never saw it before.
Me too. But there you have it. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 4:58 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
| Speaking of movies one should have seen a long time ago: After looking in but switching away every time TCM featured it before, I finally sat down a couple of weeks ago and watched "The Lady Eve." What fun. Stanwyck and Fonda were perfectly cast--well, everyone was--and the final scene is a classic. I'll watch it again the next time it comes around. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 11:45 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
| Just watched Singin' in the Rain for the umpteenth time. There is not one nanosecond of this film I don't adore. And it never gets old. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 12:21 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 30 Oct 2014
Posts: 278
Location: Winnipeg: It's a dry cold.
|
| I'm right with you. I don't even know how many times I've seen it. |
_________________
Big bang, shmig bang; still doesn't explain how anything starts. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 1:07 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
|
| There are just some movies that give a joyful rush, no matter how often you see them. "Singin' in the Rain" is one. Recently TCM was showing a series of Astaire/Rogers musicals that I couldn't turn off, although I'd seen a couple of them half a dozen times--I can understand how they got so many people through the Great Depression. There are movies that make you think, that make you cry, that give you a valuable new outlook on life, that give you helpful information, but the great successes and most treasured are the ones that take you to that incredible height. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 11:47 pm |
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
|
| First caught up with To Be or Not to Be (1942) about 5 or 6 years ago, and have already re-watched it. Somewhat surprising how the material and cast work so well. |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 10:39 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
Self-created double feature of streaming movies was weirdly appropriate. Both A Bigger Splash and Krisha have profound things to say about addiction and its consequences. The former showcases an Oscar-nomination-worthy performance by Ralph Fiennes as a ceaselessly obnoxious record producer who (with his seductive daughter Dakota Johnson) crashes the Italian island idyll of his former lover rock star Tilda Swinton and her newly sober boyfriend Matthias Schoenaerts, which circumstance results in strange and unforeseen developments for which spoiler alerts would be necessary. Riveting.
Krisha is arguably even better, as Trey Edward Shults scores an award-worthy achievement, the almost unthinkable in a debut directing job. Using members of his own family as actors, and giving them their own names as characters so as not to confuse Billie Fairchild, the dementia-suffering matriarch of the family, Shults hits a grand-slam home run. Krisha Fairchild, the 64-year-old actress playing the title role, comes for Thanksgiving dinner to her old family homestead after being estranged for many years. The result, not to be coy about it, is far from warm and cozy. It's devastating, and Krista Fairchild and Trey Edward Shults are both worthy of year-end honors. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 12:01 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 30 Oct 2014
Posts: 278
Location: Winnipeg: It's a dry cold.
|
I saw A Bigger Splash at a movie about a year ago. I had a problem about the movie until the last twenty or so of the film. That was very good, but I could have done without the first part.  |
_________________
Big bang, shmig bang; still doesn't explain how anything starts. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 10:15 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
marantzo wrote: I saw A Bigger Splash at a movie about a year ago. I had a problem about the movie until the last twenty or so of the film. That was very good, but I could have done without the first part.
Honestly, I don't think the final 20 minutes would have worked at all if it weren't for the first part of the movie. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
