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| yambu |
 Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 4:30 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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Boy, I could do with a fresh conversation.  |
Last edited by yambu on Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:32 am; edited 1 time in total |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 2:07 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Watched a bit more than half of Jackie last night, and think it was a mistake to make this film, or at least to make it an arthouse tragedy. I thought every decision in the film was wrong.
For example, the sad portentous music was effective in a way, but got far too insistent and intrusive, and I was thoroughly tired of it by the 25 minute mark (I actually sat up to see the dvd timer when it became completely overbearing, and dreaded another hour of that). The creepy loudish music also made it hard to hear some of the quiet dialogue, but generally I wasn't engaged enough to rewind and watch again with subtitles. Also, I didn't like how the film opened with that intrusive, loud but somber music churning away. I guess it was meant to set an unsettling tone, but it was distracting and kind of annoying.
Other issues, the casting. None of the characters looked right for the part,a ndf most of the parts were hollow. LBJ? Looked like they found the first large older guy that walked by. He also had a completely zero part. Then there's "Bobby" who vaguely resembled Robert Kennedy, but it seemed like his part/dialogue was written while they set up each scene. Maybe they didn't want Bobby overshadowing Jackie, but man that was a(nother) vacuous role.
But I also really had trouble believing Natalie Portman was Jackie Kennedy, which is a problem since I was born after the Kennedy assassination and really have seen little of Jackie Kennedy beside still photos. It mostly seemed like Portman was Acting Really Hard. Also, I don't know how close her voice was to the original, but the weird accent and tone was distracting and off-putting.
The film almost comically/absurdly hung on how much blood was on Jackie and for how long. They sure milked the blood spatter visuals for as much as possible.
And the whole interview shtick didn't work for me. It felt liked a tired gimmick for inserting flashbacks, but also was very rather poorly established and awkward. I thought the interview scenes in general were the best Jackie scenes, but the reporter/interviewer was a weird enigma. There was something off about all of that. I presume they were trying to get at the tension of the situation, but it didn't work for me.
The film didn't work for me on every level, and nearly every scene. This static arthouse approach was just so wrong, that it made me feel as if the whole project was a mistake and that I didn't want to see a film about the private grief behind a very public yet also private tragedy. The costumes were good. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 7:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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gromit--Agree with you about almost everything you said about Jackie, except for two things. I think the music, while arguably too loud, was hands-down the best thing about the movie--so much so that it would have gotten my Oscar vote. And Peter Sarsgaard as Bobby was terrific, as Sarsgaard always is.
The interview format reminded me of Citizen Kane, but not in the same league. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:02 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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The music was interesting. It was just too loud, too overbearing and used too frequently. It might have worked well if tamped down and used more sparingly. I almost felt like the music came from a different film.
I think the best part of the film might be John Hurt's priest, but his role only came in mid-film and I haven't finished it yet. So far he's at least potentially interesting.
Maybe when I do finish the film, I'll give my suggestions on how I would have changed things. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2017 4:59 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Didn't get much out of the Iranian film Salesman.
A bit too slice of life/pedestrian, and the way the dramatic incident was handled seemed a bit silly/counterproductive.
I also didn't really get the Death of a Salesman angle.
It certainly didn't help that the English subtitles suddenly stopped with roughly 15 mins to go, but things were pretty much wrapped up by then it seemed. And I wasn't that involved. First time I've ever had the subtitles completely cease during a film. A new first for CH piracy. |
Last edited by gromit on Sun Apr 23, 2017 2:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2017 9:06 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| The Lost City of Z (pronounced "zed" since the characters are British) concerns a fascinating subject--the search for lost civilizations in the Amazon, and Percy Fawcett's search for the title city. He made several expeditions, got tantalizing hints then vanished on his third expedition. Unfortunately, it's not all that fascinating a movie, the problem being that this subject matter doesn't lend itself all that well to plotting a semi-fictional movie. It also tries to make you believe you would voluntarily leave England for years at a time when you're married to Sienna Miller. It would have made a fascinating documentary. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 1:58 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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| The original long NYer article on which the subsequent book and now film are based. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 12:25 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 7:21 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Gifted stars Chris Evans as the uncle and custodian of a seven-year old mathematical prodigy. (And I mean prodigy--the girl is solving calculus problems that the adults have trouble with.) The girl's mother was also a prodigy who was doing groundbreaking work on one of the Millennium Prize Problems) when she committed suicide. Evans wants to send the child to a regular school although he has also homeschooled her to a near-genius level, on the theory that the child needs some exposure to a normal life so history doesn't repeat itself. However the child's grandmother (the mother of both the uncle and the girl's mother) finds the child and fights for custody, which she has a good chance of getting despite being somewhat of a monster.
This is an excellent and absorbing movie, with Chris Evans' Frank loving and a bit overmatched as a parent (although his character is also highly intelligent), McKenna Grace as Mary, the prodigy who can't quite fit in, Lindsey Duncan as the grandmother, Octavia Spencer as Frank and Mary's friend and neighbor, and Jenny Slate as Mary's teacher who is startled to find a prodigy in a first-grade math class (and becomes a friend of the family.) To tell the truth, both sides in the conflict are partially right, and as someone pointed out, even Einstein got to ride a bike.
I like movies about the care and feeding of prodigies. |
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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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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 2:07 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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I liked Maren Aide's Toni Erdmann a lot more than some others in this forum did. It is very funny but it is not a comedy. It is a sad commentary on how being successful in modern corporate culture makes a woman (and men too) lose sight of what is important in life. A father's unconventional and somewhat embarrassing attempts to save his highly ambitious daughter from this fate may seem bizarre but do not detract from the poignancy of the theme. Excellent performances and superb direction. Was nominated for 70 international awards (including the Oscar) and had 43 wins (but not the Oscar).
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 8:23 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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Syd wrote: Gifted stars Chris Evans as the uncle and custodian of a seven-year old mathematical prodigy. (And I mean prodigy--the girl is solving calculus problems that the adults have trouble with.)
Unless she proves the smoothness of all 3-dimensional Navier-Stokes solutions, I think the bicycle and the pony should be kept on hold.
I haven't seen this, but most prodigy movies make me want to poke fun. If they managed to make one where the math whiz isn't insane or has Asperger's syndrome or has to write all equations on a café window, I would mos def have a look. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:10 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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bartist wrote: Syd wrote: Gifted stars Chris Evans as the uncle and custodian of a seven-year old mathematical prodigy. (And I mean prodigy--the girl is solving calculus problems that the adults have trouble with.)
Unless she proves the smoothness of all 3-dimensional Navier-Stokes solutions, I think the bicycle and the pony should be kept on hold.
I haven't seen this, but most prodigy movies make me want to poke fun. If they managed to make one where the math whiz isn't insane or has Asperger's syndrome or has to write all equations on a café window, I would mos def have a look.
She's a bit of a handful, but understandably so. Not insane, no Aspergers, equations generally in homework or on a blackboard. |
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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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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 2:00 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Jeff Nichol's "Loving" is the true story of a courageous and committed couple, Richard and Mildred Loving. Mr. Loving is white. Mrs. Loving is black. Inter-racial marriage in 1958 in Virginia was illegal and they were imprisoned and banished from the state. Their long legal struggle eventually reached the United States Supreme Court with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (which had been urged to take the case by Attorney General Robert Kennedy).
The story is presented in a subdued and quiet manner and at a leisurely pace. There is no attempt at dramatization. Nobody ever raises his or her voice. And yet it is a powerful account with historical significance. Ruth Negga, who played Mrs. Loving, was nominated for the Oscar.
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 11:41 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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Did they spend any time in jail? -- maybe just during the booking period? They were arrested and convicted (of miscegenation), received a 1 year sentence which was suspended if they left the state.
I was always amused by the quote from the VA judge:
Quote: Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.
Malay?
It's apparently a quote he borrowed from an older source.
And presumes God didn't expect people to walk or float from Asia to Europe to Africa, etc.
I guess Malay is supposed to represent Polynesian/Pacific islanders.
There's probably some reason they were in someone's consciousness at the time the quote was originally made. Maybe the US had just taken over Hawaii or Gauguin was popular or somesuch. |
Last edited by gromit on Thu Apr 27, 2017 1:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2017 12:10 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Upstate NY
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gromit wrote: Did they spend any time in jail? -- maybe just during the booking period? They were arrested and convicted (of miscegenation), received a 1 year sentence which was suspended if they left the state.
I was always amused by the quote form the VA judge:
Quote: Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.
Malay?
It's apparently a quote he borrowed from an older source.
And presumes God didn't expect people to walk or float from Asia to Europe to Africa, etc.
I think you are right. They did not serve any sentence as far as I remember.
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