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| lady wakasa |
 Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 4:31 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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I love Speedy (which, for the trivia fans in the house, is the first movie to use back projection). One of the best Lloyds out there.
I love The Motorcycle Diaries.
I love The Talented Mr. Ripley (my first exposure to the series), warts and all, so will look for Ripley's Game and have a weekend with that and Purple Noon.
Heck, I love it all. |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 5:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4011
Location: not far away
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| You're aesthetically round-heeled. |
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| censored-03 |
| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 5:50 am |
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Joined: 24 May 2004
Posts: 3058
Location: Gotham, Big Apple, The Naked City
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Quote: Heck, I love it all. |
_________________
"Life is a comedy for those who think and a tragedy for those who feel."
-- Horace Walpole |
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| merlot |
| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 8:09 am |
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Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 210
Location: Cinci
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I found Closer to be about liars. The lying liars they get involved with, the people they lie to , the people that lie to them and them not ever able to recognize the truth when it's right in front of them, because lying's all they know.
M. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 8:17 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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sioux--I agree with your comments on The Motorcycle Diaries and the way it confounds expectations. It's really a small movie about two young men and their relationship, and moments like the one you detailed are the most important ones. My favorite, however, is what is arguably the climax of the movie...
SPOILER FOR THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
...the scene where Che swims. I found myself crying all the way across the river. |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 8:17 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4011
Location: not far away
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| On the contrary, I think it was Ebert who said that they have a compulsion to tell the truth, but only when it will do them the most harm. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:54 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Sioux,
Quote: Maybe its a spoiler but the motorcycle dies in the first reel, so it becomes the hiking and hitchhiking diaries
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:41 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| Spoiler .... the scene where he offers his hand to a leper. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 7:46 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Finally watched SIDEWAYS. Whats the big deal? A real disappointment.
Sitcomish. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:08 pm |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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I was watching Taxi Driver last night and I noticed something again and I wondered if anyone else ever spotted it:
As well playing the sick passenger Bickle picks up, you can also see Martin Scorsese sitting on the railing of the Palantine campaign offices, watching Betsy walk by in slow motion, when she first appears. |
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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 Apr 05, 2005 9:54 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Closer was okay by me. It's a comedy, which I think everyone here failed to mention. But not only to the actors play it straight, Mike Nichols shoots it like a drama: a pretentious folk ballad over the credits, no soundtrack for most of the movie itself, generally subdued, austere settings, and the actors shot like specimens under a glass.
It doesn't quite work. Except for the scene in the office between Clive Owen and Jude Law, which is perfectly realized.
The rest of it is pretty mediocre. Not bad really. I don't know why everyone raves about Clive Owen's performance. Maybe there's a subtlety there you catch on the big screen that eludes a small-screen viewing. I thought Julia Roberts was surprisingly good, though I think so little of her in general, maybe my expectations were just very low. She's never looked more attractive to me, either.
The movie's problem isn't just the misguided mood (it's as if the Bergman of Cries and Whispers shot a script for the Bergman of Secrets of Women), it's that it all seems outdated. Those heavy pauses and the very concept of these people so seriously making absolute train wrecks of their lives for...what?...is more in line with a Pinter play from the 70's than what's going on with people today. (I suppose the strip club is a genuinely of-the-moment thing.)
Truth be told, I've seen worse. |
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| sioux |
| Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:56 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 802
Location: philly burbs
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joe - your lukewarm endorsement of Closer is a heavier pan than my bad review.
But I totally appreciate your emoticon at my hitching diaries comment.... |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:00 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Rod - I've noticed Scorsese in that scene every time I've seen it.
Joe - Interesting POV on your review. I wonder whether Nichols was thinking Pinter when he was deciding on his approach? And the only thing we diasagree about is Julia Roberts. But you'll see that when I send you my review which I apparently have to since it hasn't been posted yet.  |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 1:48 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Finally watched SIDEWAYS. Whats the big deal? A real disappointment.
Sitcomish. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 5:24 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Well, grouch about it in Current Film.
I finally saw Bunuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. After having wanted to see it for 20 years. Not bad, but just seems to be one of those films that you have to put into context. Some of the dreams, and the confusion between dreams and reality, were interesting and effective.
I followed that up with a movie that turned out to be remarkably similar ... Godard's Weekend, from a few years earlier. Again, it must have had a much larger impact at that time than it possibly can have for people who grew up with Monty Python and whatnot. A more polished film than Discreet Charm. Alot of play and cheek in the camera work and overall presentation. I liked when the camera keeps tracking ever farther to the right, until it arrives back at the initial scene. The political monologues seem dated and a bit boring.
And continuing with the late 60's/early 70's (accidental) theme, I watched the Maysles Bros, Salesman last night.Their films are interewsting and have a certain styleless style to them, but leave me feeling dissatisfied, especially regarding what is left out. But primarily I know them from Gimme Shelter, a movie I have seen numerous times. Salesman [1969] immediately preceded Shelter. |
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