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| Marc |
 Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:36 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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| I will go back and watch THE CONSTANT GARDENER. Now that the trauma of seeing Fiennes in a sex scene has faded. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:37 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Quote: And despite its gritty subject matter, I appreciated the universality of what it had to say. Anthony Anderson's character, despite living the so-called perfect life (perfect wife, perfect home, good job, money), suffered the same affliction as Howard's pimp: both near-middle-aged men look back on the hopes and dreams of their youth and contrast them with their current lives and just aren't satisfied. And they do something about it. And succeed. It's fucking inspirational
Interestingly, I agree completely with shannon's characterization of the film. Except I would alter the last sentence slightly. It was all supposed to be fucking inspirational. Take a gritty subject and give it a universal spin. A feel-good story for the pimp set.
From the first moment that the pimp gets a musical device, through the clunky introduction of additional musical contacts, did you have any doubt that he would succeed? Me neither. Seemed too pat and artificial to me. The all too obvious scripting left me bored. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:39 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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gromit,
HUSTLE & FLOW is a classic story told well. Yes, its full of standard Hollywood plot devices, but it spins them in interesting ways and makes them fresh. As I said, its almost operatic. |
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| shannon |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:41 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1628
Location: NC
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Quote: From the first moment that the pimp gets a musical device, through the clunky introduction of additional musical contacts, did you have any doubt that he would succeed? Me neither. Seemed too pat and artificial to me.
They could've spent time making the set up more realistic, less coincidental, I guess, but why waste all that time on set up? As with any movie, though perhaps less obviously with this one (although I didn't have the problem with it that you did), timelines must always be artificially condensed. You should try and accept it and move on. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:43 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Hustle & Flow.
as our hero DJay is being arrested, cuffed and roughed up by cops, he cries out to one his ho's something to the effect of "I got a bag of demo tapes, get em to the radio, I wanna hear my shit on the radio". Is it hokey and unbelievable? Yes. Does it work? Absolutely. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:49 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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| With all the strong praise in here, maybe I'll have to go back and watch the second half of H&F. Nothing really turned me off, but it just seemed I knew where the film was headed. And I wasn't engaged with any of the characters or the plot. Sometimes a mood just doesn't coincide well with the viewing of a film. Sometimes a film just doesn't work for any given individual. Sometimes a man has to go down to the crossroads. |
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| shannon |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:49 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1628
Location: NC
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| I liked how, at the end of the film, Taryn Manning's character ends up pimping Djay. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:53 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Quote: Sometimes a man has to go down to the crossroads.
oh shit, gromit is channelling Robert Johnson. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:53 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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Quote: I liked how, at the end of the film, Taryn Manning's character ends up pimping Djay.
very hip observation. |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 2:02 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:56 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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That is a good review.
But all of that uplift, everyone has talent within and just needs to be empowered, you-can-make-it-if-you-try vibe didn't work for me.
I liked how the film started off as an homage to blaxspoitation flicks, and provided a role for Isaac Hayes.
Also, the kaleidoscopic dvd menu is pretty cool. But I'll have to stick with The Harder They Come (or maybe Black Caesar). |
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| Mr. Brownstone |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:22 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2450
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Walk the Line is, admittedly, not a great movie, but there are at least three standout scenes:
1. The aforementioned Sam Phillips scene. "Wait a minute, now just hold on, I just wanna understand... I come in here to let 'em hear my music and now I don't believe in God?"
2. The scene where Cash trashes his dressing room. I'm pretty inured to actors acting out violently, but Joaqin Pheonix bashing the back of his head into the wall was a jarring beginning to a pretty wondrous tantrum.
3. Reese Witherspoon at Johnny's bedside. I just can't describe adquately the look on her face, which I've earlier clumsily described as some sort of definition of a woman's strength & softness. I've been sniffing my nose at Reese post-Election; for her to win me over completely with one look when I've been so disinclined to favor her at all is pretty telling. At least, for me. |
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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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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:23 am |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 12533
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Marc wrote: shannon,
I figured you liked DJ Qualls' character. Did you see any of yourself in him?
I turned off THE CONSTANT GARDENER as soon Fiennes hit the sack with Weitz. Seeing Fiennes in a sex scene was literally unbearable for me.
Me too. And I have become obsessed with his itty-bitty yellow teeth...ugh! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:34 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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I agree with all the positive stuff and all the negative stuff about Hustle & Flow and The Constant Gardener, respectively. The fact that the pretentious and boring Gardener with its generically dull Fiennes performace is being touted for the Oscar more than H&F is immoral. Is it racist? Maybe. Is it anti-genre film? Definitely.
Agree that DJ Qualls is awesome in his role. Also agree that he is one ugly mofo. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 7:44 am |
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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 have a problem about film that gives the pimps and hos thing an easy ride. |
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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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