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< Third Eye Film Forums ~ Film Squawks: 10-Second Reviews on Current Film |
inlareviewer |
Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2016 10:33 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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Florence Foster Jenkins
Stephen Frears' gorgeously appointed, audience-friendly take on the real-life arts patroness who gained immortality by singing everything but the notes is marvelous. Meryl Streep's jaw-dropping virtuosity and seriocomic fulsomeness deserves another Oscar, period, and Hugh Grant, as loving common-law husband St. Clair Bayfield, has literally never been better. Simon Helberg nearly steals it as accompanist/audience surrogate Cosme McMoon; Nina Arianda devours her small yet critical role; and Nicholas Martin's fact-compressed script neither panders nor over-explicates. At once uproarious, sympathetic and, by the climactic masterstroke borrowed from Stephen Temperley's play Souvenir, truly affecting, it's a heartfelt testament to why "amateur" means "for the love." La Incredible! Lives. Accept No Streepstitutes. Unmissable.
***** |
_________________ "And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 9:23 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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inlareviewer wrote: Florence Foster Jenkins
Stephen Frears' gorgeously appointed, audience-friendly take on the real-life arts patroness who gained immortality by singing everything but the notes is marvelous. Meryl Streep's jaw-dropping virtuosity and seriocomic fulsomeness deserves another Oscar, period, and Hugh Grant, as loving common-law husband St. Clair Bayfield, has literally never been better. Simon Helberg nearly steals it as accompanist/audience surrogate Cosme McMoon; Nina Arianda devours her small yet critical role; and Nicholas Martin's fact-compressed script neither panders nor over-explicates. At once uproarious, sympathetic and, by the climactic masterstroke borrowed from Stephen Temperley's play Souvenir, truly affecting, it's a heartfelt testament to why "amateur" means "for the love." La Incredible! Lives. Accept No Streepstitutes. Unmissable.
*****
I second these emotions. Streep deserves the Oscar she didn't deserve for The Iron Lady (no fault of hers; it was the movie that sucked).
My favorite Streeps: 1) Postcards from the Edge; 2) Florence Foster Jenkins; 3) Defending Your Life; 4) Ricki and the Flash; 5) The River Wild. Oh, yes, I'm one of those people. (Full disclosure: sacrilege: I have never seen Sophie's Choice.) |
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inlareviewer |
Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 10:06 pm |
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billyweeds wrote:
I second these emotions. Streep deserves the Oscar she didn't deserve for The Iron Lady (no fault of hers; it was the movie that sucked).
My favorite Streeps: 1) Postcards from the Edge; 2) Florence Foster Jenkins; 3) Defending Your Life; 4) Ricki and the Flash; 5) The River Wild. Oh, yes, I'm one of those people. (Full disclosure: sacrilege: I have never seen Sophie's Choice.)
willybeeds, it remains an astonishment, on pretty much every conceivable level,and Mrs. Gummer herself at the time said, without a hint of hyperbole, that she'd never get a role like that again, and at some level, she didn't. That said, though Mssrs. Kline and MacNicol offer stalwart support, her performance is the raison d'être of a relentlessly high-minded, emotionally grueling movie (not unlike The Iron Lady, though SC is an infinitely more realized film). You've named several ones we love -- Suzanne Vale is the one even she would admit is most like her own self -- and while we have many others, of course, our favorite Streep performance, as with Sondheim musicals or Matthew Bourne dance theatre pieces, is always the next one. |
_________________ "And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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Befade |
Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 3:59 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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I could not stand Ricki and the Flash. Preposterous to me😝
I liked Julie and Julia and The French Lieutenant's Woman and Silkwood. And Kramer vs. Kramer. Florence will be dvded. |
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inlareviewer |
Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 11:29 pm |
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Befade wrote: I could not stand Ricki and the Flash. Preposterous to me😝
I liked Julie and Julia and The French Lieutenant's Woman and Silkwood. And Kramer vs. Kramer. Florence will be dvded.
Well, you've just named several other favorite turns, particularly Julia Child (the only one that's ever gotten a full-length formal review from us on 3rd Eye) and Joanna Kramer (which cemented our infatuation after the NYSF "Shrew" with the late, great Raul Julia) and would add Clarissa Vaughn, Kate Gulden, certainly Miranda Priestley and Lee Lacker to our desert island short(ish) list. SASSY has spok'n! |
_________________ "And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:19 am |
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Location: New York City
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inlareviewer wrote: Befade wrote: I could not stand Ricki and the Flash. Preposterous to me😝
I liked Julie and Julia and The French Lieutenant's Woman and Silkwood. And Kramer vs. Kramer. Florence will be dvded.
Well, you've just named several other favorite turns, particularly Julia Child (the only one that's ever gotten a full-length formal review from us on 3rd Eye) and Joanna Kramer (which cemented our infatuation after the NYSF "Shrew" with the late, great Raul Julia) and would add Clarissa Vaughn, Kate Gulden, certainly Miranda Priestley and Lee Lacker to our desert island short(ish) list. SASSY has spok'n!
Another instance of Streepriiege on my part is that I pretty much detested her performance in KvK. All I remember are three things: 1) she cried a lotta lot, 2) her character was made more sympathetic than Avery Corman's original Joanna in the novel, due to political correctness and Streep's own insistence, and 3) I was annoyed that Jane Alexander's (IMO) superior performance in the same fillum was beaten out by Mrs. Gummer. (I've always preferred JA to MS in general.)
IOW her three Oscarwinning performances were either unseen (SC) or disliked (KVK) or dismissed (TIL) by me. Believe it or not, I way prefer her work in even "Mamma Mia!" (except for the final operatic solo) to KvK or TIL.
All that said, she is undeniably a marvelous actress. Just IMO a tad overrated. |
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inlareviewer |
Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 5:24 pm |
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And see, to me, Dustin H. was right at the time when he predicted she'd be the Eleanor Roosevelt of acting. As ever (inla's mantra) it's all so subjective. |
_________________ "And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 11:04 am |
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inlareviewer wrote: And see, to me, Dustin H. was right at the time when he predicted she'd be the Eleanor Roosevelt of acting. As ever (inla's mantra) it's all so subjective.
IMO she IS the Eleanor Roosevelt of acting. Just not the Michelle Obama. |
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inlareviewer |
Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:01 pm |
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billyweeds wrote: inlareviewer wrote: And see, to me, Dustin H. was right at the time when he predicted she'd be the Eleanor Roosevelt of acting. As ever (inla's mantra) it's all so subjective.
IMO she IS the Eleanor Roosevelt of acting. Just not the Michelle Obama. That would be Viola Davis... |
_________________ "And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2016 8:59 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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inlareviewer wrote: billyweeds wrote: inlareviewer wrote: And see, to me, Dustin H. was right at the time when he predicted she'd be the Eleanor Roosevelt of acting. As ever (inla's mantra) it's all so subjective.
IMO she IS the Eleanor Roosevelt of acting. Just not the Michelle Obama. That would be Viola Davis...
Except for How to Get Away with Murder, in which Davis follows the pattern set by other great actors Angela Lansbury and Vincent d'Onofrio, who, faced with parts for which they are astonishingly overqualified (in Murder, She Wrote and L&O: Criminal Intent respectively), proceed to overact their ways into the kind of horrific performances only great actors can achieve. |
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inlareviewer |
Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2016 10:48 am |
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billyweeds wrote:
Except for How to Get Away with Murder, in which Davis follows the pattern set by other great actors Angela Lansbury and Vincent d'Onofrio, who, faced with parts for which they are astonishingly overqualified (in Murder, She Wrote and L&O: Criminal Intent respectively), proceed to overact their ways into the kind of horrific performances only great actors can achieve.
And then, there's that. Of course, I am a sucker for over-the-top guilty pleasure teevee, which HTGAWM most assuredly is, tee-hee. |
_________________ "And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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inlareviewer |
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 6:56 pm |
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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Beauty and The Beast (2017)
By some miracle of timing and/or integrity, Bill Condon's live-action remake of Disney's historic 1991 animated masterwork proves to be, if not an improvement, a remarkably well-executed and beautifully realized companion piece. Emma Watson and Dan Stevens manage remarkable character truth and genuine chemistry given the CGI/previous expectations bombardment they face; Luke Evans almost steals it as villainous Gaston; and Josh Gad justifies the choice to make sidekick LeFou a gay bromancer. Techincal and design achievements are stellar; updated story elements are subtle but definitely Now; and it kinda sorta sent us into orbit. Highly recommended.
***** |
Last edited by inlareviewer on Fri Mar 24, 2017 8:26 pm; edited 1 time in total _________________ "And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:01 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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inlareviewer wrote: Beauty and The Beast (2017)
By some miracle of timing and/or integrity, Bill Condon's live-action remake of Disney's historic 1991 animated masterwork proves to be, if not an improvement, a remarkably well-executed and beautifully executed companion piece. Emma Watson and Dan Stevens manage remarkable character truth and genuine chemistry given the CGI/previous expectations bombardment they face; Luke Evans almost steals it as villainous Gaston; and Josh Gad justifies the choice to make sidekick LeFou a gay bromancer. Techincal and design achievements are stellar; updated story elements are subtle but definitely Now; and it kinda sorta sent us into orbit. Highly recommended.
*****
Was so prepared to give this one a miss, but now I cannot. Can't wait, in fact. |
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inlareviewer |
Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:59 pm |
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billyweeds wrote:
Was so prepared to give this one a miss, but now I cannot. Can't wait, in fact.
willybeeds, trust me, no one was more surprised than me, and it's not without its overblown, overlong qualities, but what can I say? I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me. Utterly charming, essentially worthy, and by and large the A-List cast of voices for the servants-turned-objects is inspired. Hope you enjoy it. |
_________________ "And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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billyweeds |
Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 7:06 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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inlareviewer wrote: billyweeds wrote:
Was so prepared to give this one a miss, but now I cannot. Can't wait, in fact.
willybeeds, trust me, no one was more surprised than me, and it's not without its overblown, overlong qualities, but what can I say? I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me. Utterly charming, essentially worthy, and by and large the A-List cast of voices for the servants-turned-objects is inspired. Hope you enjoy it.
I'm pretty sure I will, even though the original animated version is one of my all-time favorites of the genre, and indeed of all movies. It would be hard to top it, or even to equal it, in my mind, but the clips I've seen of the new version are admittedly fairly terrific. Gonna see it for sure. |
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