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| Joe Vitus |
 Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:00 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| In what sense? It wasn't very funny. The action wasn't exciting until near the end. You've got the fashion designer and some cute moments, and that's about it. Jack-Jack's revelation at the end was nice. But it was pretty long for not-so-much entertainment. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:12 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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I think the first half of the film was both layered and observant, as well as being a nicley worked, but gentle satire on the superhero genre and modern, suburban family life. Holly Hunter as mum and Elastica, brought a genuine warmth and depth to her role, in part, I think, aided by her delicous southern drawl. She was the heart of the film.
I think the second half was too long (and yes I realise the literal ridiculousness of that phrase) and too frenetic, but not to the extent that it undermined the films overall strengths.
I think this era will be remebered as another golden age of animation. |
_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 2:47 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I think the observations about "male" vs. "female" behavior were fairly obvious, and a bit too PC. I liked the neighbor kid waiting for the dad to do more cool stuff. But it all had a "been there, done that" quality to it. For me, anyway. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 3:03 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| My only problem with the movie was the overlong final chase sequence, but even that seemed okay on a second viewing (yes, I saw it twice). |
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| chillywilly |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:28 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8251
Location: Salt Lake City
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billyweeds wrote: Not even all that overrated. An excellent movie.
I'm with billy on this one. Excellent movie.
I'm a little suprised by Marc's comment on the movie, but not all from joker's.
Having seen it a couple of times on DVD now, it stands up very well and has some pretty cool parts. My only minor beef with the movie is that it's a bit too long, especially for kids. For adults, it's perfect.
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Chilly
"If you should die before me / Ask if you could bring a friend" |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 4:51 pm |
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| For the scriptwriting alone, The Incredibles is excellent. I've long ago stopped being surprised at Marc's movie likes and dislikes. He disliked KB 1 and loved KB 2, OK I was surprised by that preference. I would have been surpised if joker liked The Incredibles I, vitually, never agree with what he likes or dislikes. To me he is the forum's Peter Travers. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:40 pm |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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| Last night before going to be I watched about half of Death Wish IV; I'm going to need the wince surgically removed from my face. |
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:48 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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before going to be
Rod--You're so existential, dude. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 5:50 pm |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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I only be after midnight and on top of a mountain and when carried away by illimitable elixir of nothingness.
That should be "bed", of course. |
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 7:22 pm |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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The Goof Thief
is Neil Jordan’s best film since Michael Collins and glows with a Lautrec-tint vivacity. Yes I know it’s a remake of Bob le Flambeur - I haven’t seen it, though I would like to, being le grande fan de Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai - and cheap-hearted remakes are scattered like confetti these days, but that’s no reason to disdain a brilliant bit of film-making as this is; it what Ocean’s films, despite their entertainment value, could only fake to be - a living, breathing fusion of Euro-class and back-alley chic, a contemporary crime-flick fused with bold retro style; it is what Michael Mann’s Collateral tried to be but wasn’t - a deft, be-bop-inspired piece of genre reconstruction by an awesome soloist director who attacks the screen with enough energy to warp any cliché into a movement of alchemic beauty. You can tell Jordan’s first metier was poetry and listening to the beautiful criminal dialogue you might be listening to recitations of slightly re-written Charles Bukowski, Amiri Baraka, or Tom Waits’ spoken tracks, especially as rasped out in Nick Nolte’s bourbon-raw voice which could pass for a neat Waits imitation, although perhaps the best example of which is Anna’s (Nutsa Kukhianidze) delirious pre-mortem epitaph, “I must be made of gold, everyone wants a piece of me.”
The first half is pure Jordan, as with his great noir twosome Mona Lisa and The Crying Game, there is a colour-soaked night world of tawdry fleshpots and midnight poetry, rancid sex and crummy luck leaking off the walls - Chris Menges is the cinematographer, and so-they-say Jordan told him to shoot it like a hangover, which the master Menges achieves in spades. The camerawork is unusually fast, whirling around its characters with hungry, sensual fascination, prowling through a strip-joint into the backroom to find Nolte's Bob ensconced in a losing game tossing off his elegant lines to any passing ear, drinking in the glow from the skin of Kukhianidze’s fawn-framed body, spinning headily around Nolte and Tcheky Karyo as they indulge in 500cc repartee as criminal/buddy and cop/buddy. Karyo’s detectve Roger is desperate both to break a case and not see Bob land back in prison - “Everyone loves Bob, that’s just the problem!” he snarls when intimidating a snitch; Bob is out to break his losing streak and though every odd seems stacked mercilessly against him we can’t help but notice his buried capacity to manufacture luck, like when he fakes a fight to get Anna’s passport, when he lets her pimp fall under horse, as he deftly handles a multitude of criminals and con-men and cops and creeps.
The often exhausting demands of listening to a multi-national cast not all so proficient in Anglais pronunciation aside, the acting is tres magnifique, down to Ralph Fiennes’ cutting cameo as a cockney art dealer with an interesting artistic theory, Emir Kusturica as a guitar-strumming, vault-building-and-breaking prodigy, and the hilarious sight of the Polish Brothers as shady casino guards. Kukhianidze, surely the sexiest thing to ever come out of Georgia - okay, Nikita Khruschev not withstanding - might have an unpronounceable name, but her flesh speaks volumes, and she talks with that sound of sexified ennui so endlessly entertaining in noir heroines and French pop singers. But the film is Nolte’s; between this and Affliction - and this is a much better film than Affliction to boot - he is staking ground as the current consummate exemplar of male menopausal grace, even making Al Pacino’s recent takes on shambling ex-golden boys look tinny. It‘s a pleasure to watch the interplay of crushed romanticism and wily verve still etched in Bob‘s bones that signals his refusal to surrender to anything resembling despair; his decision to resume a life of crime is signified in one nervy, strung-out expression, and he plays everything that follows without fanfare - even in kicking his dope habit - and played to the limit. The film’s tone is as tricky as its plot, being kept in constant motion, turning from gritty evocation to playful edgy comedy to tense heist flick, before concluding on a joyful note of uncanny triumph for all concerned. |
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A long time ago, but somehow in the future...It is a period of civil war and renegade paragraphs floating through space. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 7:34 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| I supported Rod's decision not to enter existence until he was ready. I do think the Federal government is meeting right now, though, to deprive him of that right. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 7:47 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 8:46 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| merlot |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 9:40 pm |
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Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 210
Location: Cinci
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Marilyn - I agree completely with you on your take on the Gorris films (loved AL, didn't really like Mrs. D at all - I think Redgrave was miscast (!) - hard to believe I said that)
Rod - I loved, loved , loved The Good Thief. A film that one hardly hears anything about. It sort of slid under the carpet.
M. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2005 10:52 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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| Maybe people ought to proofread their reviews. If they like the sound of the film, The Goof Thief might not be available for them to seek out! |
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