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| McBain |
 Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:45 pm |
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Joined: 26 May 2004
Posts: 1987
Location: Boston
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lady wakasa wrote: And Yi Yi is an excellent film. I hope that Criterion did it justice (which I expect they did).
"Yi Yi" is one of the best film's I've ever seen. |
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A life, Jimmy. You know what that is? It's the shit that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 3:11 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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Joe Vitus wrote: Isn't that the one with the nuns? The Bells of St. Mary's meets Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Yup.  |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 4:41 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Glad you appreciated that.  |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
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| Harry |
| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 4:48 pm |
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Joined: 08 Jan 2006
Posts: 145
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Trish wrote: Harry Haven't you seen any of the following films?
Interview with a Vampire
Jumanji
Cat's Meow
Spider-man , Spider-man 2
Mona Lisa Smile
The Virgin Suicides
No
No
No
So that's Kurstin Dunst, the good looking actress with the bad teeth! Well, they're not really bad, just less than (moving) picture perfect. Actually, I admire actresses who go with their own (slightly off-color) teeth - like Dianne Keaton. But I seem to remember the lead in Bring it On as a blond and K. D. has been a redhead in every movie I remember seeing her in. Maybe, when she made Bring It On, she was a no-name actress. Anyway, thanks for the heads up, Trish.
Saw about a third of it.
No. |
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| Harry |
| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:05 pm |
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Joined: 08 Jan 2006
Posts: 145
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Joe Vitus wrote: Oddly, most of the people I know who like it are gay men.
Outed! |
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| lshap |
| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:23 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 12 May 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Montreal
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I've got Yi Yi in my DVD queue, probably showing up within the next week or two. Can't wait to see what all the fuss is about.
Just finished City Of God. What an amazing, intense trip! That also came with the Third Eye Seal of Approval, and I thank whomever may have recommended it. Great, great film! |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:16 pm |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Quote: I've got Yi Yi in my DVD queue
ouch! |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:36 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
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Harry wrote: Joe Vitus wrote: Oddly, most of the people I know who like it are gay men.
Outed!
Joe,
After all the movies and conversations over coffee/tea we've enjoyed, how could you never have mentioned this to me? I thought we were buds, dude. |
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"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:39 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Now you know why I developed that flawless Liza impersonation you so highly praised. I thought it was a subtle way of explaining myself. Guess I should have been less cryptic. |
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You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:39 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Kirsten Dunst also was quite fetching in the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Though it has had a mixed critical reaction, I'm really looking forward to seeing her Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. From what I can gather Ms Coppola has given the story the Baz Luhrman treatment. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| Harry |
| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:32 am |
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Joined: 08 Jan 2006
Posts: 145
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| Though I admired Sophia Coppola's artistry in that Bill Murray movie (I forget the name) I will not be watching Marie Antoinette for the same reason I will not be reading anymore James Ellroy novels, in spite of his literary skill. I try to avoid anything that will make me feel like shit. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:12 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| Dave Chappelle's Block Party is chockful of good humor and good music. Two hours of good-hearted fun. |
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| shannon |
| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:49 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1628
Location: NC
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| Hard Candy is basically I Spit on Your Grave for artsy folk. Mr. Pedophile stalks 14-year-old on the internet, they meet at a coffee shop, he convinces her to come to his apartment, it turns out it was she who is stalking him and he ends up getting tortured for 1.5 hours by this cute teenage girl while we hoot n' holler. It's not exactly a bad movie (it's impecabbly made, like a high-gloss music video, and Ellen Page, the teenager ― who was really 17 when the film was made, just in case you feel guilty for finding her cute yourself ― gives a kinda wonderful performance), but there's really no point to any of it, unless you, you know, enjoy watching cute teenage girls torture 35-year-old men. I think the film was made for people to get off on. The film's basically porn in disguise, which, if you spend enough time thinking about it, is kinda brilliant, or rather it could've been brilliant had it truly had balls and was as sick and degenerate as it ultimately needs to be. But ultimately, who cares? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 7:40 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Marj wrote: Joe Vitus wrote: Isn't that the one with the nuns? The Bells of St. Mary's meets Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Yup.
Very apt description. For Gary's info, Lilies is the movie for which Poitier won his only Best Actor Oscar. He didn't deserve it for that one either.
The only movie I ever really liked SP in is In the Heat of the Night, and that was more for his chemistry with Rod Steiger than anything great about his own performance. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 10:13 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9015
Location: Shanghai
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Had a pretty good time with Compulsion (1959).
It's based rather closely on Loeb and Leopold.
Much later, I followed in their footsteps. ...
by going to the same law school.
(That used to be one of my stock jokes about the school,
"well, if it was good enough for Loeb and Leopold ...")
I used to sometimes even go jogging past Clarence Darrow's grave.
Uh, yeah, well ... back to the film.
Dean Stockwell is very good as the insecure, dependent half of the duo, who has feelings of superiority, partly based on applying Nietzsche's writings to himself. Bradford Dillman plays the dominant, charismatic, show-off, who pushes things (and Stockwell) further and further. [Echoes of Dick and Perry's relatiosnhip later in the century].
I enjoyed the first half alot, when we get to meet the duo and get a feel for their philosophy and background. The film has a steady pace and lets the viewer enter into their world. There's a nice look and feel to the film, and steady, assured direction. The crime itself is not shown, which is a nice touch. The criminal investigation and the boys' interest and reaction to it are interesting, if a little overplayed.
Then the movie shifts gears for the last third and in trudges Orson Welles in the role of (a re-named) Clarence Darrow. He's in good form, all world-weary and sizing people up before chopping them down with a clever sentence or two. It seems as if he's saving his words for his long closing monologue (long, but good ... an anti-death penalty speech apparently taken from Darrow's actual 12 hour-2 day summation). The only thing bad is that then the two killers are removed to the background. This is a bit like Native Son (the book), where the trial and the social message overwhelms and obscures the characters. Different message, of course.
The Jewishness of the killers and the resulting anti-Semitism are downplayed. But there is a brief Klan cross-burning scene which gets the idea across subtly (probably one of the first times a cross-burning has been referenced as subtle). Similarly, late 50's moviemaking probably wasn't too comfortable delving into the homosexuality of the characters, but again relatively strong hints exist in the dialogue between the two (though not the actions).
In any case, I preferred this film to Hitchcock's Rope, which is more stagey and obvious, but whih does play up the homosexual angle to a greater degree than Compulsion.
This was a nice find for me, as I wasn't at all familiar with the film, and I always enjoy Orson Welles. As much as I like Welles, I still have to wonder if this would have been a better film if the Welles/trial scenes were cut, and in their place the crime was depicted (hatching the plan, scouting the neighborhood, selecting a target, the killing and body disposal). |
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