| Author |
Message |
|
| bartist |
 Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 11:51 am |
 |
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
|
Looks like BLJ might have some actual Reed College location shots, so I must rent soon. Interesting how I meet so many people who somehow connect with Reed. It's like the number 108. Sounds like your ex-GF Ukrainian feminist sociologist has found herself a very specific field. I still have my Reed teeshirt which has a griffin with "Communism, Atheism, Free Love" on the surround.
OU is a beautiful campus - I lived in Eugene for half a year. Saw Ken Kesey a couple times while wandering the pedestrian mall downtown. Eugene, like Austin TX, prides itself on its eccentricity.
Good list for the niece. I'd add "do your studying in the library stacks, not your dorm room - you'll absorb twice as much in half the study time." |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
 
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 12:29 pm |
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9015
Location: Shanghai
|
Oh, I'm pretty sure Blue Like Jazz has lots of location shots of many Reed College features. The Blue Bridge is heavily featured, also admin buildings, a giant rope spider web, Renn Fayre etc. I probably should have mentioned that the book and film are semi-autobiographical. I'm not sure if the writer was a full-time student, but he did study there.
BLJ was actually mostly financed by crowdfunding on Kickstarter
As for my old girlfriend, that's an accurate description of her academic interests and research. I assume she teaches a broader variety of sociology courses than just that.
I might be getting close to going to Ukraine and Belarus and Russia. Possibly just 2 years away -- if it happens. This month was supposed to be Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova (they're basically Romanians), but somehow motivation and planning were lacking. |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 5:32 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
| I saw The Expendables 2 today. I never saw the first one. I don't even remember it being shown. E 2, as pretty well all the capsule reviews I read said, it was no masterpiece but was fun to watch. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. The veteran action actors carried the film with dialogue and actions that was quite funny at times. Filled with wild, bloody, inventive slaughters that doesn't, like the actors themselves, take it too seriously. There were some emotional moments, but they were what propelled the action. Maybe I'm weird but I laughed at a lot of the massacres. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:09 am |
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
| Gromit, I saw Margaret and it knocked me out. I think it's a masterpiece. Not perfect, but even when it goes wrong it does so with such absolute conviction and feeling you forgive it. It should have been a multi-Oscar winner. Just stunning. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:09 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9015
Location: Shanghai
|
Margaret was really interesting.
Had an ambition and drive to it.
Did you see the theatrical release (2.5 hours)?
That's what I caught.
I wanted to watch it again, but am holding off to see if I can get the director's cut. I'm going to check out the BR package and see if here in Pirateland it actually contains the director's cut in SD, as it is supposed to. I'm intrigued by the editing changes, though the extra scenes I've heard mentioned don't seem important to me. But of course hard to judge without seeing them. Mostly I've heard a preference for the longer director's cut.
It's really too bad the film had such a rough post-production and lawsuits. If this came out when it should have, it could have done very well. I'm sending a copy of Margaret to my niece who is heading into her 2nd year studying photography in NYC. |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:32 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:35 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
Where did you buy it? And how much did it cost? On Amazon the DVD costs about a hundred dollars. You can rent and/or buy it on Amazon on Demand, however. Is that what you did? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 12:04 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9015
Location: Shanghai
|
Right now the theatrical version is a rental exclusive. In fact that's slapped across the front cover of my pirated Dvd. The combined Blu theatrical version and SD director's cut will be re-issued shortly. I can check on the details, but that's what i recall reading. So you can either rent it from wherever, or wait for the full package. Billy, if it remains hard to get, I'll mail you a copy .
Marc, the director's version should be almost 3 hours, I believe.
The theatrical release 2.5.
The simplest way to tell:
SPOILER
Did the girl just blurt out that she had an abortion (theatrical) or were there scenes of her getting an abortion (director).
The directors cut is supposed to have a lot more operatic music cues and a different feel. I quite liked the soundtrack in the theatrical version, and usually the background music and soundtrack in films annoys me. I think that's the weakest and worst part of many films. Frequently too loud, too intrusive, unsubtle, or just awkwardly inserted music cues and songs. |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 2:41 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
Gromit, Billy,
there's a "theatrical cut" which is 150 minutes and is available on Amazon. I bought that one. There's an extended cut which is three hours. The extended cut is not exactly a "director's cut." Kenneth Lonergan has never finished Margaret in the way he intended. From what I understand, he's not happy with any of the cuts.
The extended cut was available for a very short time as part of a two-disc Blu-ray package. I have not seen it. I am kicking myself for not buying it when it was $29.99. It is now out-of-print and selling for a thousand dollars on Amazon.
There's also a 120 minute cut which got a brief theatrical release.
The buzz on Margaret continues to grow and I think we will see an affordable version of the extended cut released within a few months. I certainly hope so.
There's a good article on the movie in the current issue of Film Comment.
Billy,
this is the "theatrical cut" (the one I saw and loved) from Amazon as a streaming rental:
http://www.amazon.com/Margaret/dp/B0089GQB28/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1345621994&sr=1-3&keywords=Kenneth+Lonergan
Lonergan on the extended cut:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/kenneth-lonergan-discusses-the-extended-cut-of-margaret-im-happy-to-have-both-versions |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:37 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9015
Location: Shanghai
|
I gather that the BR package will be re-released in October.
Amazon apparently already taking pre-orders.
And the BR package is available form Amazon Canada for 34 Loons or whatever currency they use this year.
Well, it looks like the shipping costs $8 to the US.
I could charge you $8 shipping and give you the Margaret BR dvd free ....
I'm going to hit the shop that has the BR package and see if it indeed has the SD director's cut. It says it does on the cover but I think it's just a one disc BR of the theatrical cut, which I already have in SD. I'm guessing the longer cut in SD isn't there.
And you're right it's not an actual director's cut, but fairly close. There another 2.5 hour cut that Thelma Schoonmaker and Scorsese made which hasn't been released and has been very very little seen.
So you can either wait a month or two, buy it from Canada or check if your library has a copy.
Hell, you might want to buy them from Canada for $35 and sell them on ebay or amazon to goofy Americans for $100.
And you're right it's not an actual director's cut, but fairly close. There another 2.5 hour cut that Thelma Schoonmaker and Scorsese made which hasn't been released and has been very very little seen.
EDIT: some questions on whether the Canadian package has the extended version. Why would anyone want to buy a two disc BR/Dvd combo if both discs had the same version? |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| bartist |
| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:56 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
|
Quote: ....and usually the background music and soundtrack in films annoys me. I think that's the weakest and worst part of many films. Frequently too loud, too intrusive, unsubtle, or just awkwardly inserted music cues and songs.
If it's suspenseful, all you need is to do a chromatic run, up and down, four or five notes, near the bottom of the piano keyboard. If it's mysterious and disturbing, repeatedly strike a tritone somewhere above C-prime. If it's happy, a series of arpeggiated major chords, I, IV, and V, executed quickly and playfully. If there are spies involved, you just play "Every Breath You Take" by the Police. If there is a pretty woman, you play Orbison's song. If the woman has man problems, then it's "Respect." If people are wandering around in a storm, you play "Gimme Shelter." If there's a bar brawl, you play "Barroom Blitz." If the lead gets drunk first, you play Foreigner's "Double Vision." If it's a romcom and time to win back the object of affection, you need Toto's "Hold the Line." If it's a gritty indie film about rural decadence, then "LaGrange" by ZZ Top. And, last but not least, if you have sex-starved geeks, then you play "Satisfaction."
These are all good ways to tell people what to feel. Because they just don't know, until you tell them. |
_________________
He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 9:13 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
| Bart--Hilarious. But then there are Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman, and Alex North to prove the other side of the argument. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 9:26 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
I just heard a movie critic on PBS review The Expendables 2. His review was right in line with what I said about it though he gave a more detailed and better coverage.
Have any of you on here seen it or do you just watch the more obscure pix? How about some films that are actually playing in theatres? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:25 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
marantzo wrote:
Have any of you on here seen it or do you just watch the more obscure pix? How about some films that are actually playing in theatres?
I never go to theaters. I watch only Serbian films and only watch them on my iPhone. The Expendables Who? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:34 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
