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| bartist |
 Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 1:30 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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So glad my mention of the new masterpiece "A Separation" didn't hinder the important business of discussing "The Lorax." My fears that 3rd Eye would morph into some snobby gathering of hipster cinephiles have been much eased.
Maybe it proves the theory that bad or mediocre art leaves you with more to say than really great art. It seems that a pan is often more entertaining to read than a rave. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 4:24 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| Well, in my case I have no experience of A Separation and so can't comment, but I read and loved The Lorax as a kid. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:25 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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| Any film fan who misses A Separation is nuts. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 5:48 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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Groucho nuts or Streisand nuts?
At any rate, will be sure to see it. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 6:53 pm |
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| Bart, it's very easy and full of descriptive adjectives that you can use to pan a piece of junk with. And of course humour is so easy when you review crap. When you are commenting about or reviewing something that is great, it's quite hard to come up with language that expresses your opinion of the work. And there is no doubt that negative reviews are more fun to read. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 9:49 am |
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Location: Black Hills
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Yeah! When something is really great, you are rendered almost speechless (I'm part Irish, so it never passes "almost").
I remember seeing The Searchers and having the experience of: what moved me, I could barely describe - what made it a great movie was elusive - but I could have written pages and pages on its flaws (the often idiotic and racist perspective on the Comanches, the crude caricature of the Danish rancher, the silliness of the fistfight between Jeffrey Hunter and the groom at the wedding, the grotesque Village Idiot caricature of the guy who wants to be paid with a rocking chair, the silly hat on the preacher that no one would wear in W. Texas, the odd feat of moving Monument Valley to Texas, etc.). And yet I could sense Ford winking at the conventions of the western, as they were construed in the mid-50s, and a deeper story about men wandering around in search of their own humanity. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:28 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| Swedish, dammit. Don't blame that guy on my people! |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 12:44 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Saw Hugo.
Kept thinking it was Spielberg while watching.
Really liked the latter scenes recreating the old films. And the automaton stuff was interesting, though I was up for some basic technical explanation of how it worked. Hugo could have provided a kid's version to the cute girl with the beret. Or the notebook could have been utilized.
Was less thrilled with all of the train station shenanigans. Wasn't thrilled with the way characters changed their spots so suddenly. Most of it seemed like a children's film.
One thing I didn't get. Why was Hugo such an outcast and on the run the whole film? The clockmaster uncle was a relative and would be his legal guardian. The girl is fine even though she's an orphan living with her godparents. So why would Hugo have been kept under wraps? They only find out the uncle is gone after a few months. But Hugo wouldn't need to be kept hidden when he first arrived or when they thought the uncle was still there. And wouldn't anyone be suspicious that the uncle wasn't seen (or didn't pick up his paycheck) for months.
In my version, we could have skipped all the Sasha B Cohen and his dog nonsense, and gotten rid of the chases through the station. Yeah, Marty wanted the chases (and clock sequence) to be like old films, but I just shortened the film to a reasonable length and got rid of the goofy comic relief schtick. |
Last edited by gromit on Mon Mar 05, 2012 2:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:04 pm |
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whiskeypriest wrote: Swedish, dammit. Don't blame that guy on my people!
You also bear the burden of Scandinavian blood? Skoal, friend. As for the rancher, it's debatable, I guess. "Jorgensen" has the "sen" ending which is more common in Denmark. If he were a Swede, then "Jorgensson" or "Jorgenson" would be the more likely spelling. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:09 pm |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:37 pm |
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Location: New York City
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| gromit--I don't swear that I would have liked your re-edit of Hugo, but it definitely would have been an improvement on the real thing. Just getting rid of Sasha Baron Cohen's lame scenes would raise the level immediately. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:47 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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| I might have removed Hugo too -- he wasn't needed. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:58 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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gromit wrote: I might have removed Hugo too -- he wasn't needed.
Then you could get rid of the cineaste-snob stuff about A Trip to the Moon and its creator, inside stuff at its most cliquish, and you might have a movie. There'd be a clock, a hip young girl, and...wait, let's rethink. Maybe a sequel to GoodFellas is the way to go. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 2:34 pm |
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I liked all the Melies stuff.
It looked great. Looked fun.
And was a pretty good re-creation of the sets, and styles and tricks Melies empoyed.
Nothing wrong with prodding folks into an interest in early cinema.
When the girl brings Hugo to the bookstore, i kept expecting him to ask for or find a book on automatons, or at least on clockwork. It also didn't seem that hard to make a heart-shaped key, if it was so important. I liked how such a key seemed rather old-fashioned, but at the same time reminded me of the modern Tiffany line of heart keys (though with the heart on the end you would hold, not the insert)
The SBC stuff was pretty dreadful.
But I did like two brief moments he had --
Where he practices his smile, and the holding cage he tosses orphans into. Not much, but those touches I liked. Mostly I kept hoping he wouldn't appear again. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:01 pm |
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Location: Houston
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billyweeds wrote: gromit wrote: I might have removed Hugo too -- he wasn't needed.
Then you could get rid of the cineaste-snob stuff about A Trip to the Moon and its creator, inside stuff at its most cliquish, and you might have a movie. There'd be a clock, a hip young girl, and...wait, let's rethink. Maybe a sequel to GoodFellas is the way to go.
Couldn't agree more. And if he's shown the image of the man in the moon one more time, I think I would have walked out on the picture (which would have meant walking out on my date...which, come to think of in in both instances would have been a good idea). |
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