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| Marj |
 Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 3:59 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Jeremy wrote:
Quote: Sometimes mainstream films are mainstream for reasons other than appealling to a low common denominator.
WORD! |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 4:34 pm |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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A comment on Cruise in War of the Worlds: it's possibly his best and most appropriate part since Magnolia. He plays an aggression-laden case of arrested development whose increasingly jagged pretty boy looks no longer hypnotise his wife and who can scarcely relate to his children in a fashion that doesn't evoke his own youthful desire to beat others, and who doesn't earn enough money to get a pass on any of these points. In other words, exactly what Cruise would be if hadn't become a rich movie star.
I don't think War of the Worlds is a great film - it's greatest strength is its straight-ahead, stuck in the middle of it narrative strategy but because of deciding on this it doesn't take on the breadth and substance of a grand sci-fi epic (and I wanted more vengeance at the end!). But it is a ferocious and hypnotising continuation of Spielberg's obsession with portraying individuals within catastrophic situations, of being the terrified observer of nightmares. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:27 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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| Due to your and Marc's comments on WotW, I will make a commitment to rent it when it comes out on DVD here next Tuesday. I'm sure a lot will be lost on the small screen, but it sure would be nice to see the performance you describe Cruise giving. I could be burned, though, most people liked him in Collateral and I felt it was just a bit too obvious and not very interesting. Jamie Foxx was the star of that show. |
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It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| Rod |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:49 pm |
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Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 2944
Location: Lithgow, Australia
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ehle64 wrote: I could be burned, though, most people liked him in Collateral and I felt it was just a bit too obvious and not very interesting. Jamie Foxx was the star of that show.
I entirely agree. Cruise was an efficient baddie, nothing more. Foxx on the other was a fine hero, and the film, despite Michael Mann's deft direction, overwhelmingly ordinary. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 6:58 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Rod,
I think you're probably right about Cruise's performance, though I didn't think it was anything special when I saw it, certainly not compared to Magnolia. But I think that's because Magnolia was such a departure for him (and I was so overwhelmed by the movie), whereas the character in WOTW fit the persona he usually embodies in so many ways ("regular guy" who's just a bit more successful than anyone else). Nevertheless, as I think back, he did realize the role very successfully. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 7:24 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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Rod wrote: Marilyn wrote: Paul Bettany was on in Wimbledon yesterday. It's really quite an enjoyable flick. Kirstin Dunst is terrific, as usual. I didn't see it through to the end but I probably will one day when I'm not occupied with other things.
Yeah, it's a good one, an Bettany ad Dunst play well off each-other. Actually, Dunst plays well off just about anyone, even Edward Herrmann. The big match finale is quite well done.
Wimbledon is a delightful romantic comedy, but its depiction of the pro tennis world is dodgy, at best. A British male makes the semifinals of Wimbledon and the match is not on Centre Court, but relegated to an outer court? Nowayinhell it could happen. Although I did like when an important point in a match came and we could hear his thoughts: "Don't miss. Don't miss. Don't miss. Don't miss." |
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"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 7:32 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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Re War of the Worlds
ehle64 wrote: The only reason I'd see that film for would be the brilliant Dakota Fanning.
I mentioned in my review at the time that Dakota Fanning was one of the positive things about it. It was her character, not Cruise's, that gave me my entry into the story. Whatever she was feeling was usually what I was feeling. No mean feat for an actress as young as she. |
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"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
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| Marilyn |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 8:02 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 8210
Location: Skokie (not a bad movie, btw)
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| We've had a string of great films on tv today: It Happened One Night, It Should Happen to You, Sense and Sensibility, and Shadow Magic. I've seen all of these films, but Shane had seen none of them, and it was a real pleasure to discover and rediscover them together. |
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http://ferdyonfilms.com |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 10:58 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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lorne wrote: Jeremy, Lady W., Syd, Yambu would also be great (Joe and Marilyn took themselves out of the running).
As would Lady W (although she definitely appreciates the vote of confidence). I think ehle will be a fine moderator.
befade wrote: Last Tango is a brilliant film dealing with GRIEF. Marlon Brando, after his wife's suicide, is at a loss to find any reason to live.
Bertolucci is using Brando's sexuality as an expression of his anger at his wife and his desire to find love of his own life.
Befade tags it - this is exactly what I saw in LTIP (although I would probably say that he's working through his grief more than specifically anger at his wife: similar, but not the same).
It may not be a film for all moods, but there are way worse films in that category. (There was a Bergman fest in NY in 2004 - I just couldn't bring myself to do that to myself.) |
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| Mr. Brownstone |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:08 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2450
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I'm jumping in way too late here, but I'll back Wade for being pissed about the "gay Jack" remark. It smacks of a casual homophobia that the subsequent posts clarified as non-existent.
Plus, I love the gays.
Lastly, I'm a little perplexed that someone with even a passing familiarity with Jack would not recognize the significance of The Last Detail.
It's similar to being a Pacino fan and never hearing of Serpico.
Currently watching Hotel Rwanda. Expecting nightmares for days. |
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"My name is Gunnery Sergeant Major Highway. And I have drunk more beer, pissed more blood, banged more quiff and knocked more skulls than all you numbnuts put together." - Clint Eastwood, Heartbreak Ridge |
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:32 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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Mr. Brownstone wrote: Currently watching Hotel Rwanda. Expecting nightmares for days.
I left the theater after Hotel Rwanda with a woman in front of me crying and asking her companion why no one knew what was going on in 1994. That really, really pissed me off (well, I was already pretty pissed off after sitting through the movie) because I knew very well what was going on in 1994, I discussed it with a number of people in 1994, and the information was there - if she had bothered to look. (One big problem was that the Clinton Adminstration was afraid that if the situation was declared a genocide, there would be some legal obligation to do something - so they dragged their feet. Now things get declared genocides - with no clear legal obligation, so no one does anything. Nothing learned there.) |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:32 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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Ahhhh, It Should Happen To You is one of my favorite movies. Judy Holliday is a Goddess!
p.s. congratulations on a movie-marathon Sunday. I used to be able to sit through 4 films at a time, but now I can only do about 2, tops. |
_________________
It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:38 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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| Odd. The new moderator must have held up my post. I posted that around 8:30pm. . . Wait a minute! |
_________________
It truly disappoints me when people do something for you via no prompt of your own and then use it as some kind of weapon against you at a later time and place. It is what it is. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:43 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Mr B,
Quote: I'm jumping in way too late here, but I'll back Wade for being pissed about the "gay Jack" remark. It smacks of a casual homophobia that the subsequent posts clarified as non-existent.
The thing is, Marc has said much worse and Ehle has no problem with is. So Ehle's intolerant of such remarks only when it suits him, not whenever homophobia is expressed. I think it depends on whether he likes the person making the comment or not, rather than if the comment itself is wrong. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:43 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| "no problem with it" |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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