Recently viewed films

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martinfoyle
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Post by martinfoyle »

Its scary how similiar your take on Cold Mountain is to mine, Bobster. The great Ray Winstone is the wonderful bad guy, while the greatest thing to come out of Cork since Rory Gallagher, Cillian Murphy, has a neat cameo.
Saw Bigger Than Life this evening, http://www.irishfilm.ie/cinema/dispfilm.asp?filmID=4064
James Mason really was good, beautiful new print. Stuck On You and American Splendor are next up for my consideration, while Last Samurai and Lost In Translation are out next week. January doesn't look so bad after all.
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Post by bobster »

Ray Winstone is one of those names I've heard many times and feel I should know and I know I've seen him around...it's just dawning on me that he was the lead in that Oscar-nominated British crime film with Ben Kingsley as the psycho gangster (and why the #$R@#$ can't I remember the name??). Terrific actor. Never would have made the connection otherwise.

Still haven't seen "Bigger than Life" -- it was directed by Nicholas Ray, one of my favorite directors, and it's in widescreen black and white, my absolute favorite film format, and James Mason is aces in my book. Hopefully that print or another new one will make its way stateside, perhaps to UCLA's film archive. Wonder if it's available on DVD yet.

"American Splendor" and "Lost in Translation" are probably the two best U.S. non-LOTR films this year, so it is something to look forward to.
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Who Shot Sam?
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Post by Who Shot Sam? »

I saw Cold Mountain a few days ago. Is there anyone else out there who feels the same way I do about Nicole Kidman? Pallid, rail thin and a very narrow emotional range (and oh, that accent). Nothing to love, no juice. It's hard to see why Jude Law's character would trudge halfway across the South to get back to such an ice princess. I would have stayed with Natalie Portman and the sick baby. Law was good though.

Lost in Translation is my favorite movie of the year. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson both excellent. If there were any justice in the world, Bill Murray would win Best Actor - but we all know there ain't.
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noiseradio
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Post by noiseradio »

Bobster,

I s the film title youu're searching for Sexy Beast?
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martinfoyle
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Post by martinfoyle »

Still haven't seen "Bigger than Life" -- it was directed by Nicholas Ray, one of my favorite directors, and it's in widescreen black and white, my absolute favorite film format, and James Mason is aces in my book. Hopefully that print or another new one will make its way stateside, perhaps to UCLA's film archive. Wonder if it's available on DVD yet.
The film I saw last night was in glorious widescreen colour, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049010/ , from the advertising I, too, thought it would be in b&w. Its part of a season of Ray films playing here and at the NFT in London, so hopefully they'll eventually make their way across the atlantic.
bobster
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Post by bobster »

Who Shot Sam? wrote:I would have stayed with Natalie Portman and the sick baby. Law was good though.

Lost in Translation is my favorite movie of the year. Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson both excellent. If there were any justice in the world, Bill Murray would win Best Actor - but we all know there ain't.
I don't know... [alert -- possible mild "Cold Mountain" spoiler ahead; not dealing with the ending, just one of several dramatic scenes in a rather picaresque tale].

*
*
*
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....her behavior toward the retreating soldier bespeaks a few rather serious emotional/moral issues, dontyathink?

Re: Nicole Kidman. I like her an awful lot, though it is conceiveable she was miscast for this role, though I don't think that was the problem. She's a very restrained actress -- warmth can shine through at times, made all the more touching for the restraint. Still I have to admit that a lot of her best work has been as women with an emotional screw-loose or two, which then has to be restrained for polite society. (I'm thinking particularly of "The Others" and "To Die For", my two favorite performances by her.) Her she's playing a basically sweet and wonderful person without a lot of other apparent qualities. Similarly, Jude Law is a wonderful actor, but his only visible qualities are loyalty and bravery. Makes for a pretty dull pair.
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bobster
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Post by bobster »

noiseradio wrote:Is the film title youu're searching for Sexy Beast?
Sure is!

And, yeah, Senor Foyle, I was obviously wrong about "Bigger than Life" (not sure where I got the idea -- I could have sworn I saw a bit of it on TV once and it was B&W -- maybe a black and white TV?).

Guess it makes sense that it was in color since "Rebel Without a Cause", which I think was just before it, was also widescreen/color. (Though I do know that "Rebel" was originally going to be black and white -- I think it was because they hadn't yet developed a 'scope color camera, or maybe it was just an expense issue. Can't remember, though I actually did a bit of research on the shooting of "Rebel" a few years back.)

I guess it's time to up my ginkgo dosage!
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A rope leash
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Nicole

Post by A rope leash »

I've always been crazy about Nicole Kidman's looks. She's easy to fall in love with. I hadn't really considered her acting until I saw her in The Hours, in which I thought she did an excellent job.

That movie still bugs me, if anyone would like to discuss it...

Thanks to you guys for talking about Memento. I rented it this past week, and I dug the Hell out of it. Very inventive, that one...
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Post by laughingcrow »

I went and saw the Cold Mountain today.., thought it was good, but Im not really a fan of Nicole Kidman. I agree with Sam, her range is narrow, and she always seem to play the same part, uptight somewhat eccentric woman. She is so overrated...IMHO the main reasons behind her top-billing is that she was shacked up with The Short Man for so long.
Rope...what bugged you about the Hours, the fact that Meryl Streep was much the better actress but was overlooked for the Oscar?

I thought Jude Law was really good in CM though, as was good ol' Ray Winstone! Renee Zelwegger had the first part that hasn't been trite and shallow, and was good too.

I didn't really like the wishing-well aspect of this film though. I thought it detracted from her character, and think that her transition from emotional recluse to love kitten would have been easier to buy if she hadn't have thought he'd been dead for 4yrs.
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A rope leash
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Who's afraid?

Post by A rope leash »

http://www.opednews.com/patricia0104_Bush_Sucks.htm

Thanks for wondering, Laffy.

I wonder about mental illness and talent. I wonder about talented folks with mental illness who live in privledged circumstances. I wonder if Virginia's husband would have put up with her madness if he wasn't fairly assured of the financial gain derived from her work. I wonder if there are other talented folks who are completely ignored due to their status as low income disconnected. I wonder if some of those folks also suffer from debilitating mental illness, and I wonder what happens to them.

I thought Myrle Streep's performance was fine, but I wonder if the character she played was putting up with the poet's madness just for the fame and fortune it brought, all of which is fabrication amid an atmosphere of wealth, circumstance, and connection. In short, I wonder how much kick-ass literature is out there unnoticed because the creator is flailing away in circumstances opposite those of the characters in this story.

If you know what I mean...

For someone so good looking, Nicole played an unattractive person pretty well, I thought.

yeah-yeah, special effects...
bobster
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Post by bobster »

Kidman was really great in "The Hours" -- don't remember catching her acting even once in that one. I think the prostethetic sort of freed her. Never would have recognized her otherwise. (Actors will talk about how make-up, or a prop, can do that. Though, I'm not actuallly an actor at all, I've found this to be true myself.)

For those who really don't think she's a good actress, I suggest another look, maybe, at "Eyes Wide Shut" -- if you can stand it! I think one of the major flaws of the movie was that her part was so much smaller than Mr. Cruise's. We want to know more about her, and less about him!
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miss buenos aires
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Post by miss buenos aires »

so lacklustre wrote:So which one were you mba? :lol:
I never went to an all-girls' school, so I can be all of those girls at once...

I love Nicole Kidman. I find her mesmerizing whenever she's onscreen. Dogville will eventually be getting released here in March; all you naysayers should go check it out. Okay, it's not like she's this emotionally healthy character or anything, but you should still go.
bobster
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Post by bobster »

You've seen "Dogville" Ms. B.A. -- that's only played festivals, right? I really want to see that. (Pretty big fan of that Lars Von Trier -- gotta love that daffy Dutch dogme dude.)
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Verbal Kint
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21 Grams

Post by Verbal Kint »

21 Grams

Not Sean Penn's best performance, although should Mystic River never been released, it could arguably be considered the best. In Mystic River, Penn ran the emotional gauntlet and never missed. In 21 Grams, his character was self-limiting, and consequently, the impact of the performance was muted by the single dimension of the role.

SO, for the sake of argument, lets say that Penn's performance in Mystic was worthy of high praise and peer recognition. I will suppport that argument. But the argument that I continue to hear and read is that Penn's performance in 21 Grams was his strongest ever. Benicio Del Toro blew him off the screen from beginning to end. An unbelievable LEAD ACTOR (not suppporting actor) performance by Del Toro that MUST be recognized if there is any justice in the celebration of the art. Del Toro played a 'saved' fundamentalist Christian during the first half of the movie. During the second half, I think he tried to capture the heart and spirit of 'A Rope Leash' as I have constructed it in my mind from his sometimes brilliant, other times frightening, and occasionally daft musings, wonderings, and deposits on this Elvis Costello site.

Rereading the above, I am editorializing, and not criticizing. But for correctness, let me say that I have made more than a healthy percentage of 'daft' remarks on the board, so I suppose I can sneak in that comment as one that is merely editorial, and probably does not represent the collective conciousness of this forum. Few would contest that 'A Rope Leash' possesses a brilliant mind, which is, of course in my opinion, a gift from that famous Master of Life and Death that I like to refer to, and honor.

See 21 Grams. Grainy, brilliantly scripted, and temporaly juxtaposed like Memento, but with a sort of A-B-B-A pentameter, versus the D-C-B-A paradigm employed by the creators of Memento.

Benicio Del Toro continues to astonish me as a performer who can communicate raw emotion through his eyes...a talent that became very noticeable in Traffic, but has reached an alsmost frightening level in 21 Grams. I urge you to see it, if for no other reason than to experience one of the greates acting performances of our time by Del Toro.

Can anyone who has seen the film answer the question (that has some scientific validity) that is posed at the end of the movie, re the "21 Grams"?
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."
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miss buenos aires
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Post by miss buenos aires »

bobster wrote:You've seen "Dogville" Ms. B.A. -- that's only played festivals, right? I really want to see that. (Pretty big fan of that Lars Von Trier -- gotta love that daffy Dutch dogme dude.)
It got a theatrical release in France while I was there.

I saw Cold Mountain with my sister last night, and loved it. I guess if bad Southern accents detracted from my enjoyment of the movie, I wouldn't have, but they don't, so I did. All three of the principals were magnetic, and I wasn't disappointed at all with the transition from page to screen (I also loved the book). It was a little hard to lose myself in the movie, because I've read so much about it, but I loved it anyway. I knew when all the sad parts were coming up, and started crying in advance. So did my sister. And how awesome is Philip Seymour Hoffman? And the sex scene was the hottest thing I've seen in some time (if I could be Nicole Kidman for just that one day of shooting...). It was the first movie I've seen in months from which I walked away fully satisfied.
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Post by verbal gymnastics »

miss buenos aires wrote: And the sex scene was the hottest thing I've seen in some time...It was the first movie I've seen in months from which I walked away fully satisfied.
A celluloid sex scene that satisfied MBA - that must have been some pretty hot lovin'!
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Tim(e)
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Post by Tim(e) »

bobster wrote:You've seen "Dogville" Ms. B.A. -- that's only played festivals, right? I really want to see that. (Pretty big fan of that Lars Von Trier -- gotta love that daffy Dutch dogme dude.)
Danish dude actually :wink: Loved the first series of The Kingdom.
bobster
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Post by bobster »

Tim(e) wrote:
bobster wrote:You've seen "Dogville" Ms. B.A. -- that's only played festivals, right? I really want to see that. (Pretty big fan of that Lars Von Trier -- gotta love that daffy Dutch dogme dude.)
Danish dude actually :wink: Loved the first series of The Kingdom.
There's a difference??? I thought people from Holland were referred to as the Hollaindaise.

(Actually I knew it was Denmark -- but I really do have this bit of confusion when it comes to Scandinavia/Benelux that makes me all Flemish.)
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johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

Just seen The Last Samurai and - after a two hour break - Lost In Translation. Both were satisfying in their own separate ways ; they also were weirdly relative in their depiction of Japan ( in as much as I know about Japan ; hope to go there one day but right now it`s merely what I`ve read or seen on telly/ the big screen).

`Samurai was formulaic Hollywood , but done very well. The blood spurted , the heros were honourable , the women compliant. Everything was beautifully filmed and the music soared when it was supposed to soar. Cruise did his usual one note turn and one can only be thankful that he didn`t insult our intelligence by doing otherwise.

Lost etc. was the opposite. The characters were less easy to define , they didn`t always do the expected and you really never knew what to expect next. It`s depiction of the foibles of relationships was , for me , accentuated by the fact that the couple sitting next to me seemed top break up as the film progressed. He - sitting next to me - clearly didn`t like the movie ; perhaps he was expecting Caddyshack 2 . He kept sitting forward and backward . Then he`d say something to the lady next to him . She`d reply abruptly. Eventually he picked up his jacket and left. She remained , arms crossed , sighing every now and then. It was a ghastly but intensely evocative echoing of a lot of what was happening on the screen.

The two films were relative in their portrayal of Japan in a very simple way. `Samurai showed a Japan curious and unknowing of American culture ; Lost` is all about a country that has and knows too much American culture. The latter was brilliantly exemplified by the Murray character understanding immediately the effect the photographer wanted when he asked for a `Rat Pack` look.

Now to go see Kitchen Stories , a Norwegian ( I think) movie.......
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Post by laughingcrow »

I went to see LIT too today, and agree with John about the characters...I think that the emptiness of their characters really perfectly depicted their loneliness/incompletedness...I also really like the fact that there were lots of unsaid emotions shown through some great physical acting by the leads. It did make me feel sad though.

Some of the cinamatog. was great....colours were vibrant, always sent in a ducky tokyo, and one shot on a golf course in the valley of a mountain was maginificent.
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Post by RedShoes »

Has anyone here seen <i>Big Fish</i> yet?

From what I hear it's excellent, but I'm interested in getting some feedback from you guys....
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Post by mood swung »

is it out yet? The previews don't look that good, but then they look really good if you know what I mean. Tim Burton's why.
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Post by laughingcrow »

From the looks of it, it seems that you guys might have to do some more complaining (post cold mountain) about brits doing deep south accents!

Go Ewan! Perthshire's finest!
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Post by pophead2k »

Big Fish was great. I'm a big fan of Albert Finney and Tim Burton. Also saw the trailer for the new Coen brothers with Tom Hanks. Looks really good.
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noiseradio
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Post by noiseradio »

If the Coens can make George Cloony shine, just imagine what they can do for Tom Hanks. Can't wait.
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