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True Grit

Terrifically enjoyable and satisfying movie, and I'd put it very high on my Coen bros. list.

Some critics saying this is "humorless" and not funny enough? What the fuck, the movie was funny as shit from the start. Numerous laugh out loud moments that most of the theater ate up. Some of the verbal sparring between Damon and Bridges was just fantastic, and it's going to demand future viewings to catch all of those one liners. Damon's character in and of itself is a riot.

The girl playing Mattie was terrific and is just as deserving of recognition as Bridges. I haven't seen the original, so the way everything was wrapped up in the climactic sequence was great. The only thing I knew about the original was "Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!" and the way it was used here was one of my favorite moments in a film all year. I wanted to start clapping in the theater, but that would have been obnoxious.

Anyway, great shit.
 
GirlsAloudFan said:
True Grit


Some critics saying this is "humorless" and not funny enough? What the fuck, the movie was funny as shit from the start. Numerous laugh out loud moments that most of the theater ate up. Some of the verbal sparring between Damon and Bridges was just fantastic, and it's going to demand future viewings to catch all of those one liners. Damon's character in and of itself is a riot.
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Thank you!
 
Adding scenes that aren't in the books isn't the worst thing in the world. That dancing scene articulates so much about Harry and Hermione's relationship visually (since film, you know, is a visual medium, not some direct translation of the book) without them having to say a word.

As far as the Burrows sequence from Half-Blood Prince, it's one of the only moments in that film with vitality and tension. Plus, it's a piss-poor adaptation of the the core idea of the book (Harry questioning his legacy and the ties between him, Voldemort and Snape) that one scene shouldn't change the rest of the film. They fixed it up by the next one, big deal. The stakes are much higher after the fact anyway.

And on top of all that, you made powerhour use an angry smiley.
 
:lol: :up:

Exactly, just because it isn't in the book doesn't make it bad. Dan and Emma's acting in that scene is just heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.
 
So I finally caught up with Heartbeats. Pretty enjoyable and well-observed, but Lance you disappoint me at how easily you're seduced by the slow-motion and the music. When it's overused in the wrong (or young) hands, it becomes a crutch. And it has nowhere near the weight of similar imagery from someone like Wong Kar-Wai, so it becomes eye-rolling after a while. Also, this may sound petty but that girl is nowhere near attractive enough to be fetishized by the camera like that, plus she's kind of busted and looks significantly older than these people who are supposed to be her peers. The camera loves Dolan and the other guy, but her? Not so much.

I liked the mocku stuff with the kids talking about relationships, and that shot with the umbrella near the end was the best thing in the whole film, because it was original, simple, poetic, and poignant. The actual ending was kind of funny but then I realized it was a lot like 500 Days of Summer which can't be a good thing.

Regarding your original remarks, I wouldn't beat myself up over Dolan's upstart success. He's not that talented, and likely had a good deal of luck and made the most of his opportunities.
 
lazarus said:
So I finally caught up with Heartbeats. Pretty enjoyable and well-observed, but Lance you disappoint me at how easily you're seduced by the slow-motion and the music. When it's overused in the wrong (or young) hands, it becomes a crutch. And it has nowhere near the weight of similar imagery from someone like Wong Kar-Wai, so it becomes eye-rolling after a while. Also, this may sound petty but that girl is nowhere near attractive enough to be fetishized by the camera like that, plus she's kind of busted and looks significantly older than these people who are supposed to be her peers. The camera loves Dolan and the other guy, but her? Not so much.

I liked the mocku stuff with the kids talking about relationships, and that shot with the umbrella near the end was the best thing in the whole film, because it was original, simple, poetic, and poignant. The actual ending was kind of funny but then I realized it was a lot like 500 Days of Summer which can't be a good thing.

Regarding your original remarks, I wouldn't beat myself up over Dolan's upstart success. He's not that talented, and likely had a good deal of luck and made the most of his opportunities.
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I don't think it's misused, though possibly overused, and I certainly never implied his work is as sophisticated or weighty as somebody like Wong's. I think as a whole aesthetic (of which the slo-mo is only a small part) though it deserves a bit more credit than you're giving. Lots of really inspired compositions and editing going on too in this, and the film has a certain emotional acuity that I do think reveals a level of artistic maturity that is unusual for guy's his age. 500 Days of Summer this isn't. And yeah, your issue with the girl is fairly petty, especially in regard to her aged and "bustedness" since I think at lot of her casting for those very reasons should be pretty clear given the needs of her character and the themes of the film.

Also, whenever you say I "disappoint you" for something, I cringe a little (insert predictable absent father joke) because frankly it implies a particular expectation between us that I live up to your own particulars/standards of taste or what have you, when I think it's become increasingly clear our views on film and certainly individual tastes are diverging as time goes on. I understand it's often just a minor difference of opinion, and while I take a lot of shit with stride and good humor on this forum, sometimes you come off as unnecessarily patronizing , which I'm less ok with.
 
At any rate, I think there's a good chance that one won't even end up in my top 10 of the year, at least if I get a chance to see some of the films I'm still eager to - The Strange Case of Angelica, Blue Valentine, The Illusionist, Aurora. The latter two probably most likely to end up on next year's for me. Oh well.
 
Miracle on 34th Street

Natalie Wood is adorable. Edmund Gwenn has a warm screen presence, and a nice smile.
 
Lancemc said:
I don't think it's misused, though possibly overused, and I certainly never implied his work is as sophisticated or weighty as somebody like Wong's. I think as a whole aesthetic (of which the slo-mo is only a small part) though it deserves a bit more credit than you're giving. Lots of really inspired compositions and editing going on too in this, and the film has a certain emotional acuity that I do think reveals a level of artistic maturity that is unusual for guy's his age. 500 Days of Summer this isn't. And yeah, your issue with the girl is fairly petty, especially in regard to her aged and "bustedness" since I think at lot of her casting for those very reasons should be pretty clear given the needs of her character and the themes of the film.

Also, whenever you say I "disappoint you" for something, I cringe a little (insert predictable absent father joke) because frankly it implies a particular expectation between us that I live up to your own particulars/standards of taste or what have you, when I think it's become increasingly clear our views on film and certainly individual tastes are diverging as time goes on. I understand it's often just a minor difference of opinion, and while I take a lot of shit with stride and good humor on this forum, sometimes you come off as unnecessarily patronizing , which I'm less ok with.
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NOTE: I am getting fed up with this new Apple Smart Mouse bullshit. I've lost several posts already by just starting to touch the thing and it goes back a page. Really pissing me off.

Anyway, I just wanted to reiterate that I enjoyed the film and its strength definitely comes from its honesty and its perception. Aesthetically it's fine, with some memorable images, some forced ones, etc. And it's natural for a younger filmmaker to wear his influences on his sleeve; it's not a crime. But I do think that the device can be a lazy one, and while it may be unfair to compare this to the similar images from WKW, I don't even think it's on the level of Wes Anderson's usage of it. Of course Anderson was himself older and more sophisticated by the time he was doing this kind of thing in Rushmore so perhaps that's even unfair.

I do feel strongly about my point with the actress playing Marie. While you may feel her weathered appearance is somehow appropriate for the way her character was written, she even comes off as older than the random people in the "interview" segments. Regardless of her personal issues, that distinction isn't really addressed and it seems like bad casting to me. And again I just don't think she's alluring enough to be featured in those kind of slo-mo shots, especially when compared to the beauty of her male counterparts.

And don't take my patronizing words so seriously; I'm not trying to wag my finger at you, but when you recommended this you advertised it with your fetishes so that's why I singled it out. I hope you realize that I take your suggestions very seriously and I've seen (and liked) a lot of films that I otherwise wouldn't have got around to seeing (something like Love Exposure comes to mind), so you'll have to forgive the occasional Dookuism.
 
LMP said:
Adding scenes that aren't in the books isn't the worst thing in the world. That dancing scene articulates so much about Harry and Hermione's relationship visually (since film, you know, is a visual medium, not some direct translation of the book) without them having to say a word.

As far as the Burrows sequence from Half-Blood Prince, it's one of the only moments in that film with vitality and tension. Plus, it's a piss-poor adaptation of the the core idea of the book (Harry questioning his legacy and the ties between him, Voldemort and Snape) that one scene shouldn't change the rest of the film. They fixed it up by the next one, big deal. The stakes are much higher after the fact anyway.

And on top of all that, you made powerhour use an angry smiley.
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It is bad when, you know, they make no sense, visually or otherwise.

The problem is it suggests romantic feelings between H/H, when no such thing ever happened - the locket falsely projected Ron's worst fears.

I disliked Prince's adaptation into a romantics/comedy film too, but the Burrow being destroyed was unnecessary and pointless. We already know things are tough without it. Not to mention for years the Burrow has been Harry's staying place during the summer.
 
I just watched Buñuel's Belle de Jour for the first time; can't believe it took me so long to catch up with this one, especially as there was a pretty high-profile restoration presented by Martin Scorsese earlier last decade. I suppose that I had read it wasn't one of the Master's more out-there films and didn't make it a priority. My bad, in a big way.

While the film isn't as overtly surreal as something like The Milky Way or The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, what Buñuel and his frequent collaborator Jean-Claude Carriere do here is blend fantasy and reality together in a way that's easy to watch but really leaves one with something to think about. And there are some really amazing touches like the Asian customer's mysterious box, things done with the sound design, and really just the freshness of exploring sexual fantasy in an honest but not titillating or exploitative way. As much as I like Eyes Wide shut, I'm not sure that Kubrick really added much to the conversation 30 years later, at least on a thematic level.

The more Buñuel I see the more I'm convinced that he belongs in the top tier of any cinematic pantheon. His visual style is difficult to describe or classify and yet one is always aware that it's one of his films because of how they feel, and what's interesting is that he was working in France alongside all the giants of the New Wave, even sharing some of their most notable actors, and yet he seems to be operating in a completely different universe from them. The closest would be someone like Resnais but he really didn't have Buñuel's sense of humor or the biting satire of institutions.

Have any of you seen much of his work? I have a R2 boxed set that is certainly one of the best things I have in my collection, and was surprisingly cheap.
 
Alright, fair enough. Thank you for explaining. Anyway, yes, I did advertise my enthusiasm for the film with its slo-mo, pop music, shallow focus, etc, though it wasn't necessarily meant to imply I feel this film in particular is any sort of masterful utilization of them, just that its own fetishizing of said elements was probably a main reason I was so attracted to an otherwise smart and accomplished if not quite exceptional film. And I think we'll just have to agree to disagree regarding Marie and the actress. I don't necessarily feel she came off too removed from her peers in terms of age (though her character is certainly portrayed as somewhat unhip or fashionably anachronistic). Nor do I feel the film is necessarily fetishizing her sensuality (or the male lead's themselves either) so much as maybe a more general youthful sexuality or shallow hormonal attraction. So I'm not sure her attractiveness is even so much an issue, not that I even think she's as out of place as you either in that regard, though she's certainly not a movie-beauty.
 
I've only seen a handful of Bunuel films, which I've greatly admired. Belle de Jour has been a priority for a while though.
 
I was lucky enough to get exposed to Buñuel very early in film school, so he didn't become a blind spot like so many others I'm only now getting around too. We were shown his early stuff with Salvador Dali, work from his Mexican period (Los Olvidados is very good and more neorealist than the rest of his films), and then some of the more modern French/Spanish films.

His final run of Belle de Jour-The Milky Way-Tristana-The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie-The Phantom of Liberty-That Obscure Object of Desire is just staggering. I don't think there's any other filmmaker who ended their career at such an old age with that level of consistency.

In addition to the ones above, I'd also recommend The Exterminating Angel, Viridiana, and his somewhat obscure English-language adaptation of Robinson Crusoe.
 
Manoel De Oliveira, maybe, who's still putting out consistently excellent films almost yearly (he's 101 this year).

But thanks for the recs anyway. I've seen Discreet Charm, Obscure Object and some of his early films and would like to finish out that famous stretch. The Exterminating Angel has always been on the radar as well.
 
It's nice that some of his films are on Criterion, but it's a little ridiculous that you'd have to shell out so much for them when this R2 set of equal quality can be available for less than £25. And each disc has a documentary about the film, plus a postcard featuring the original poster art.
 
1076620065_ctureslink.jpg
 
U2girl said:
It is bad when, you know, they make no sense, visually or otherwise.

The problem is it suggests romantic feelings between H/H, when no such thing ever happened - the locket falsely projected Ron's worst fears.

I disliked Prince's adaptation into a romantics/comedy film too, but the Burrow being destroyed was unnecessary and pointless. We already know things are tough without it. Not to mention for years the Burrow has been Harry's staying place during the summer.
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What doesn't make sense about them visually?

No, it doesn't. For me, it suggested a stronger friendship between two friends in the face of a lot of bleak shit. It's one of the few character moments in the series that actually rings true because it's not bound by the "sanctity" of the text.

The Burrows was one of the few sequences in HBP with any vitality or strong sense of purpose. It increased the stakes and provided probably one of the more explicit visual cues of the loss of innocence and safety. Should it have been addressed in the next film? Yes, though I feel that's more of a fault on the construction of the 7th film than HBP.

It's a moot point for me to argue this anyway. Whatever.

lazarus said:
I was lucky enough to get exposed to Buñuel very early in film school, so he didn't become a blind spot like so many others I'm only now getting around too. We were shown his early stuff with Salvador Dali, work from his Mexican period (Los Olvidados is very good and more neorealist than the rest of his films), and then some of the more modern French/Spanish films.

His final run of Belle de Jour-The Milky Way-Tristana-The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie-The Phantom of Liberty-That Obscure Object of Desire is just staggering. I don't think there's any other filmmaker who ended their career at such an old age with that level of consistency.

In addition to the ones above, I'd also recommend The Exterminating Angel, Viridiana, and his somewhat obscure English-language adaptation of Robinson Crusoe.
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Most of Bunuel's films went OOP recently. StudioCanal snagged the rights for themselves. Of the ones you've listed Laz, I've only seen The Phantom of Liberty, which was hilarious.
 
The set I'm talking about is at least co-sponsored by StudioCanal, as their logo is on the packaging. I think it came out only 2-3 years ago.

Phantom of Liberty is great, probably the most out-there of all his work (not including the Dali collabs).
 
Right. I think they've always had a handle on R2 stuff, but started picking up in the States in the past year or so.
 
Black Swan

I need to mull it over a few more days before I determine how much I liked it. Some of it was so over-the-top, and I admit to some inappropriate laughter.

But I really liked the premise of it, and I thought both Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis were really good (as was Barbara Hershey, who had just the right note of crazy).

I also saw Bug, the Ashley Judd movie from some years back.

:yikes: Is about all I have to say about it. It sucked me in, but holy crap and oh my god.

And by the way - has IFC always had commercials during their movies? I thought they showed uninterrupted films. Weird to see a film that's unedited but still with commercial breaks.
 
IFC has commercials? For shame.

I think Sundance Channel is still commercial-free, although they show way too many TV shows and not enough films these days.

Also, Bug is INSANE. Ashley Judd should have been nominated for that; I don't know many other actresses who could have taken that on.
 
I swear I've seen other movies on IFC that didn't have commercials - maybe that's new, or I'm thinking of Sundance.

I had no idea that ending was coming in Bug. Yowza.
 
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