Random Movie Talk Part X: The Spy Who Loved Me

[LMP]

Oh, and thanks for mentioning The Limey, YLB. That would round out my incomplete domestic list above.

Neo and Morpheus have a bunch of cryptic shit to talk to you guys about your best movies of '99 lists.

We're showing that at our student theater for our 10 year anniversary. Very excited to see that on a big screen.

Since I had eXistenZ on my list I didn't feel the need to include the inferior film about alternate reality.

I enjoyed it, but it felt like too much of a retread of the same thematic threads of Videodrome to resonate with me. You could sell it as "Videodrome for video games" and would not be too far off.

 

[Lancemc]

McCabe is possibly my favorite Altman film, though 3 Women and The Long Goodbye aren't far behind. I was enamored with TWBB as well when it first came out, but I have the inverse feeling these days, as I think it's "instant-classic" status will probably temper a bit as the decade recedes into cinematic history. I know my personal feelings towards it have sure cooled the past three years, as impressive a visual and aural achievement as it may be.

 

[bono_212]

So the hate for American Beauty. I don't get it. Is it the film itself or the hype surrounding it?

 

[LMP]

I love The Long Goodbye and McCabe, especially the latter. If the rest of his '70s work even comes close to touching those two for me, I'll be very happy. 3 Women is towards the top of my Netflix queue and I found a torrent of Brewster McCloud recently.

 

[LMP]

So the hate for American Beauty. I don't get it. Is it the film itself or the hype surrounding it?

It's the film. I find the attitude of the film to be very smug and self-important, and also kind of obtuse. The lead performances are decent, albeit a little too mannered for my tastes. Also, Ricky Fitts is not only one of the most snide characters I've seen in any film, but to have him essentially serve as the film's moral compass, without any major flaws (unlike every other character), tanks it for me.

 

[bono_212]

It's the film. I find the attitude of the film to be very smug and self-important, and also kind of obtuse. The lead performances are decent, albeit a little too mannered for my tastes. Also, Ricky Fitts is not only one of the most snide characters I've seen in any film, but to have him essentially serve as the film's moral compass, without any major flaws (unlike every other character), tanks it for me.

I've come to despise Ricky more and more as the years past between when I first saw the film and now. I'd say he's hands down the worst part of the film. I just love Lester so much and the whole part of his story in the film it still manages to be my favorite movie, though the love affair's beginning to fade a bit. It's hard to support something when there's such a gaping bit of awful in it.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

15 minutes into Black Swan and I'm scared shitless. This thing is going to give me nightmares, I'm positive.

 

[lazarus]

WTF are you writing this from the theatre??

EDIT: didn't see the post from the last page. But this is why I don't watch films on my computer.

 

[deep]

Should be good for GAF.
Portman presents well as a teenage girl.

 

[powerhour24]

It's the film. I find the attitude of the film to be very smug and self-important, and also kind of obtuse. The lead performances are decent, albeit a little too mannered for my tastes. Also, Ricky Fitts is not only one of the most snide characters I've seen in any film, but to have him essentially serve as the film's moral compass, without any major flaws (unlike every other character), tanks it for me.

QFT, this comes very close to matching my own feelings on the film, whereas almost every "film fan" I know in real life thinks I'm a heretic for not worshipping at the feet of American Beauty.

 

[powerhour24]

I'll take nearly everything Altman did in the 70s over TWBB personally.

As time goes by more common ground opens up for us.

 

[gump]

Also, anyone in the NY area would be smart to check out the Bertolucci retrospective going on. If you haven't seen his films in the theatre, you have no idea what you're missing, esp. as the majority of them were shot by Vittorio Storaro.

And his 1979 film Luna isn't available on DVD in this country, same with Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man and The Spider's Stratagem.

1900 is a wonder for the eyes, but it does have a 5-hr running time. I saw this in Boston over 10 years ago and was enraptured for most of that time.

Thanks for this heads up. I'll try to see The Conformist. Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man, which I'd love to see, is screening during working hours on a Monday, sadly.

 

[LMP]

QFT, this comes very close to matching my own feelings on the film, whereas almost every "film fan" I know in real life thinks I'm a heretic for not worshipping at the feet of American Beauty.

I catch grief for saying that I think Robert Rodriguez's best film is Spy Kids (not having seen the El Mariachi trilogy) and that Peter Jackson's a hack. Such is life.

Speaking of dogshit, I caught William Friedkin's Cruising on Encore the other night. Good God, talk about a misfire. Pacino as a protagonist was hard to peg because he claims to be "changing" from his experience as a detective, but we never really see how or why. Then there's a scene where a huge black guy in a pair of briefs coming out of nowhere to slap Pacino and this other guy around at the police station. Then at the end, the accused killer is motivated by his father not accepting his homosexuality, but it may have been Pacino the whole time? What a crock of shit.

 

[OrARoundabout]

As they're clearly the only ones who should be capable of adapting McCarthy.

I like how they stay faithful to their source material, but I'm sure another filmmaker is just as capable

 

[powerhour24]

The Coens brothers have done exactly 3 adaptations including one that it's likely none of us have seen yet since its not out for another 2 days, the others being No Country and O Brother Where Art Thou, I'm pretty sure if Homer was around today he'd argue about them sticking close to the source material,.

Seriously though, while I'm very excited for True Grit, the Coens are too original a voice for adaptations so I hope they don't start doing a lot of them.

 

[powerhour24]

Autocorrect just changed Coens to 'Coenzyme' on me, way to go.

 

[lazarus]

Seriously though, while I'm very excited for True Grit, the Coens are too original a voice for adaptations so I hope they don't start doing a lot of them.

This, in a big way.

As perfectly crafter as No Country For Old Men was, I much prefer the uniqueness of A Serious Man, which no other filmmakers could have made.

I'm still hoping to see that Hail Cesar project they were developing with Clooney. Sounded hilarious.

 

[lazarus]

Malick’s “Tree of Life” Trailer: A Shot-By-Shot Breakdown. > SCREEN RUSH

 

[powerhour24]

I'm glad you think the same, I couldn't help but think that I would have loved No Country even more had their names not been attached to it (this is in an alternate universe where it's possible that the exact same film was made by someone else) because it is completely bleak with no comic relief (or comic discomfort to be more accurate), which is impressive but seemed so out of character for them. It's a great film, and has lead to them becoming so prolific over these past few years, but I love them for their sense of humor AND handling of dark material, typically within the exact same moment.

 

[lazarus]

I think you're way off about there being no comic relief. Woody Harrelson's entire performance? Some of the exchanges between Llewelyn and his wife?

Come on. It's dark and bleak but it's not The Road.

 

[Lancemc]

I'm with Laz. Plus, Chigurh has all sorts of funny moments. I mean, just look at his haircut too.

 

[Lancemc]

Also, Uncle Boonmee rip is out there. Only on private trackers (maybe even KG exclusively) for now, but it's sure to get out there.

 

[powerhour24]

I'll have to go back, Harrelson adds kind of a snide comic relief to anything he's in, just with his screen presence. Anton funny? Again it's been like 2 years since I've seen it, but other than maybe the way he plays with the shopkeeper, I can't recall finding him comedic. And come one, you know that hair was stylish, probably as trendsetting as Jennifer Aniston on Friends, .

 

[Lancemc]

I think his entire character carries around a sort of comic isolation about him, as though he exists on an entirely different plane from the rest of the film, even when interacting with it and its inhabitants. He's funny, yeah.

 

[powerhour24]

Yeah, he did seem separate from the rest of the proceedings. I'm bumping it up on my rewatch list, I revisited a bunch of Coens films recently, but not that one.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

I've got tentative plans to see TRUE GRIT on Thursday. Exciting times.

 

[powerhour24]

 

[LMP]

I was able to catch True Grit at a pre-screening last Wednesday. It's a load of fun, but easily the most straightforward film that they've ever produced, both narratively and thematically. I'd call it solid from nearly every perspective, just nothing ever stood out to me as phenomenal.

 

[powerhour24]

That's kind of what I was going in expecting. All the more evidence to what we were saying here yesterday, LESS ADAPTATIONS FOR THE COENS!!!

 

[LMP]

While I agree with your adaptation point, I think it was more or less following a more challenging film like A Serious Man with something as straightforward as a crowd-pleasing Western, even more than making Burn After Reading after No Country for Old Men.

My friend was quick to note that they still managed to reference The Night of the Hunter twice in Grit anyway, then went on to list other instances in their films where it's happened. Blew my mind, man.