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Syd
Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 11:48 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Michael Moore for one.

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Syd
Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 11:59 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
After suffering through Buddy, it was nice to revisit a pleasant movie about endangered species, namely The Freshman (the Brando/Broderick film, not the Harold Lloyd, though he was sort of endangered too), one of the few films in which you see a movie star take a Komodo Dragon for a walk. I know, it's actually a monitor lizard, but it's huge and potentially dangerous enough, and it's not like Indonesia is going to lend you a Komodo Dragon for a movie comedy. It's amazing how much during a rewatch you find yourself anticipating Bert Parks singing "There He Is, Your Komodo Dragon" to a high-class audience. (His version of "Tequila" is even more surreal.)

The movie's getting dated the further we get away from The Godfather, and I'm now concerned about the future of Hawaiian tiger fish.

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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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knox
Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:24 am Reply with quote
Joined: 18 Mar 2010 Posts: 1245 Location: St. Louis
Befade wrote:
Who on earth waxes enthusiastically about Cuba?


Marxists?

Probably the only ones.
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gromit
Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2019 1:49 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I came on here to discuss my re-viewing of Little Children.
There's a good deal to like, the film is put together well and fairly polished.
The casting is very good, the jester hat should get its own credit, and the film should get credit for dealing with pedophilia

But some things nagged at me, and dampened my enjoyment somewhat.
First off, how was Winslet's character actually different than the suburban moms she looks down on. Or is it that she just thinks she's different or wants to be different, but is really the same? I'm not sure the film has this worked out. We're told that she is different in the voice-over narration, but her actions barely support this. Trying to figure this out distracted me through a fair portion of the film.

Second, if you want to pass the Bar exam, and especially if you've struck out twice before, you don't go off to the library by yourself. You take a prep class. You could argue that he's deeply ambivalent about becoming a lawyer, but you'd think his wife or someone would suggest taking a study course.

Third, typical of such infidelity films, the wronged spouses are barely fleshed in, and the married couples' sex lives are depicted as null, so that the cheating seems somewhat justified. instead of having the wife decline sex with her good looking husband, I would have found it more interesting if he had trouble performing, as a result of his feelings of inadequacy as a non-bread-winner, and his wife's dominance. And Winslet's husband supposedly develops a weird online fetish with a website, and his sexual dysfunction is played for laughs. The implication is they don' have sex or if they do isn't not fulfilling. Her husband is largely a cipher, a boring business suit. but then that also seems to show Winslet's character as boring and suburban, since she married this dull business exec.

A small thing that irked me is the guy thinking they'll run off together with their small children, abandoning their spouses. Sounds like kidnapping to me. maybe it was meant to show how unrealistic their plans were(?)

Otherwise it seems rather odd/unlikely that they agree to meet in a park late at night with their pre-schoolers. Maybe their town is the last one in America without a Starbucks, or some sort of diner/Dunkin Donuts/whatever that would be open somewhat late. You know, somewhere with lights, chairs, a/c, other people. I realize the park has become nearly a character in the film, and the author wants the finale to take place in the park. But it's a contrivance. I also didn't understand how/why Larry the failed cop turned vigilante-wannabe goes to the park. It's a touching moment when he aids Ronnie there, but/why does Larry just happen to wander into that park. Did I miss something. They could have had him hear Winslet's scream and rush over, but then he'd likely think Ronnie did something bad again.

Lastly, the vo narration is handled very well ... but why is it there?

The film has a nice pace, good characters, some interesting ideas, a romance that feels genuine, yet I felt conflicted throughout the run time. I think I was much more on board when I saw this back in 2007.

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gromit
Posted: Fri Aug 16, 2019 3:35 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Jackie Brown felt pretty endless.
It seemed like a 30 minute film was stretched out to 2.5 hours, which felt like 3.5. Then deep into the film, we get one sequence shown three times from three different character points of view, and it seems entirely pointless and like padding. About the only thing I liked was a few bits of snappy dialogue and the one unexpected parking lot burst of violence.

And it seemed silly that after all this planning for a money handoff, the police are easily fooled, so nowhere around, and baffled by a simple ruse of walking into a department store at the mall instead of going directly to the food court. That was awfully anti-climactic and unlikely in my book.

I really didn't see the appeal of this film. it just droned on about the same money stashed in Mexico. I didn't even get the urgency of bringing it back to the US. Why not just lawyer Jackie up, and pay her for doing a year or two in jail? As they discussed. The end in the bail office was anti-climactic as well.

A yawn, and a long one at that ....

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bartist
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 9:03 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
gromit wrote:
I came on here to discuss my re-viewing of Little Children.


I want to see this again before replying. I recall having some problems with Winslet's character, but for some reason my recollection of this film gets entangled with Revolutionary Road which I saw about the same time. Will see LC soon, and reread your post.

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gromit
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 3:10 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I found a bunch of dvd's of 2006 & 2007 movies, so have been watching them lately.
Little Children -- polished yet vaguely unsatisfying
Notes on a Scandal -- amps things up a bit much, but solid
The Good German -- looks good, but empty. What was Toby McGuire doing in this?
The Good Shepherd -- a snooze

I'd like to re-watch Revolutionary Road.
It had some of that controlled polish of Little Children. Though I think I more often associate Little Children with Rabbit Hole. Not sure -- i guess both feature a suburban couple with marital strain with the focus on the wife transgressing boundaries. I'm a big fan of Rabbit Hole (2010).

I'd like to find all the Dvd's on my Top 50 list for 2000 - 2009, put them in one set place and watch through them. But it would be a bit of a project to find them.

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billyweeds
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 7:37 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
I've seen only five films since 2000 that I would place on a "best movies" list.

Ranked:

5) "Mulholland Dr." (2001)
4) "Boyhood" (2014)
3) "Sideways" (2004)
2) "A Separation" (2011)
1) "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood" (2019)

The last-named is now on my all-time top-ten list.
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gromit
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2019 11:11 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
I think my Top 5 for the 21st C would be:

1. Memento
2. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
3. Werckmeister Harmonies
4. Rabbit Hole
5. Margaret

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billyweeds
Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 8:20 am Reply with quote
Joined: 20 May 2004 Posts: 20618 Location: New York City
gromit wrote:
I think my Top 5 for the 21st C would be:

1. Memento
2. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
3. Werckmeister Harmonies
4. Rabbit Hole
5. Margaret


Totally unfamiliar with "Werckmeister Harmonies." Seen all the other four. "Margaret" comes closest for me. Love it. Really like "Rabbit Hole." Meh on the other two. That's what makes horse races, though.
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gromit
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2019 2:33 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
1) "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood" (2019)
Haven't seen yet.
Refuse to see until Billy watches Werckmeister Harmonies ...

2) "A Separation" (2011)
Strong film.

3) "Sideways" (2004)
Solid film. Think it got overpraised though.

4) "Boyhood" (2014)
Good film. Interesting. I should re-watch soon.

5) "Mulholland Dr." (2001)
Atmospheric and kinda boring. Didn't do much for me.
Maybe due for a re-watch.

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gromit
Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 3:47 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Didn't realize Nick Park put out a new feature length claymation film.
Don't recall hearing a word about Early Man.
Wonder if I can find it in the remaining wreckage of the dvd scene.

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gromit
Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 3:55 am Reply with quote
Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 9005 Location: Shanghai
Re-watched In Bruges. Liked it a lot less than initially, when i found it stylish and mostly fun. This go I thought all the characters, decisions, actions seemed rather phony and forced. I didn't believe or like any of it really. Bruges looked nice, though the number of times they praise it as a medieval preserved city borders on tourist propaganda. There's some verve to the filmmaking, but I wasn't much involved.

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Syd
Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 5:58 am Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
I always confuse In Bruges with Layer Cake, but, yes, In Bruges is pretty contrived, down to the whole subplot involving midgets. I have to remember which film has Sienna Miller and which has little people.

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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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knox
Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 9:38 am Reply with quote
Joined: 18 Mar 2010 Posts: 1245 Location: St. Louis
Quote:
Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If i grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me, but I didn't so it doesn't.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/07/AR2008020702707.html

The movie is perfection. The contrivance deliberate and deftly executed.
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