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| bartist |
 Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 11:43 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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I've heard some good buzz from people who saw The Possession. Pay no attention to those picky Canadians. Seriously, it's a coin toss.
PT Anderson fans take note.....news from Toronto (speaking of picky Canadians) on the Joaquin front, and how glad am I they didn't try some title like "Phoenix rises from the ashes of..."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/movies/joaquin-phoenix-bounces-back-in-the-master.html?_r=1&hpw |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:00 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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knox wrote: Saw Blue Like Jazz - it tries really hard, but somehow I had trouble buying into the whole fish-outta-water theme. Or that Amy Winehouse pees standing up. Or etc. An interesting misfire. JMO.
That's what I meant when I criticized the title as an example of things that didn't add up/work.
There were a number of small things where they laid it on too thick, and I found hard to believe.
Another example:
The sort of random book burning by The Pope is kind of amusing, but I just can't imagine he could go into someone's dorm room and throw their books out the window into his bonfire. Books are expensive and prized possessions in college.
Theft and vandalism tend to be frowned upon ... |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:11 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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| "Bachelorette" looks like it might be enjoyable for fans of "Bridesmaids." I don't fathom the "limited release" decision (today), but I'm used to waiting, and then waiting some more. I adore Isla Fisher, so am chafing a bit. Stephen Holden's review suggested something that, like Bridesmaids, transcends "chickflick." |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:22 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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bartist wrote: "Bachelorette" looks like it might be enjoyable for fans of "Bridesmaids." I don't fathom the "limited release" decision (today), but I'm used to waiting, and then waiting some more. I adore Isla Fisher, so am chafing a bit. Stephen Holden's review suggested something that, like Bridesmaids, transcends "chickflick."
Holden's review was the only rave the movie got. It sounds amazingly, unpleasantly vulgar in a way only hinted at by movies like Bridesmaids or The Hangover. I will probably see it, but Holden is gay and the movie sounds like the kind of "women are larger than life and just as profane as men" movie that has a lot of gay appeal. Hope this isn't too politically-incorrect a statement, but it's valid, I think. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:26 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Speaking of gay NYTimes critics, Ben Brantley provided one of the cutest bows in the direction of equality in today's review of the stage production Forbidden Broadway. This quote tickled me no end (emphasis mine):
"Pssst. Hey, buddy. Yeah, you with the double-breasted pinstripes and the clueless expression. You in the market for the ultimate cheat sheet on Broadway musicals? You know, something that’ll let you join the conversation and sound supersmart when your girlfriend (oh, sorry, dude, boyfriend) starts talking about these silly singing shows that put you to sleep?"
I like this on two levels: first, the obvious one of "you can't always tell a gay by the way he looks and acts," and second, "not all gays are into musicals." Good on you, Ben. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:11 am |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: St. Louis
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I don't know about its appeal to gay men, but I think there's an element of the male psyche generally that enjoys women acting like drunken sailors on shore leave. But it's like mushrooms on pizza - a few are quite tasty, a solid coating is just gross. It's all about how heavy-handed you decide to go with this sort of crude comedy, and it sounds like maybe this one is de trop.
The lineup this weekend seems to be coated with tomato paste - both The Words and The Cold Light of Day sound pretty awful. The Words is more disappointing, because it sounds like many wrong turns led away from a plausible film about the literary life -- and also disappointing to those who liked Cooper as a writer in the fine "Limitless" and expected something of that calibre. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:17 am |
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| Just read a full review and multiple capsule reviews of The Words. Boy, not a good thing said about this film. The title of the critique by our local critic is, "How weak is this film? Words fail us." |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:23 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| The Words sounds utterly pathetic. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:36 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Location: NYC
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I saw a trailer for "The Words" (must have been in May, since that was the last time I was in a movie theater), and it was confusing and not particularly interesting. Which was unfortunate, because I thought it sounded like a subject that I'd find intriguing, as a publishing professional.
Also, despite his patrician looks and elegant accent, I've never really cared for Jeremy Irons. Though he does great voiceover. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 1:08 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Sidling in sideways from the soap opera-worthy events of the last few months (retrenchment and diminished outlets, don't get me started), have little Current Film currency to provide. This is because I've seen exactly 4 films in a cinema thus far in 2012.
One was The Dark Knight Rises, which, apart from some nifty effects and the sly edges La Belle Anne managed to imbue Selina Kyle with, seemed not remotely a patch on the previous installments. One was The Best Most Exotic Marigold Hotel, which I found sweet and charming and ever so faintly ersatz after the fact. One was Hope Springs (SASSY dictated, of course), which is reviewed in 10-Minute Squawks -- it was terribly marketed but hardly worthless, primarily due to the genuine empathy between Mrs. Gummer (will never look at a banana the same way again) and the atop-his-game-and-then-some Tommy Lee Jones. And one was the restored Les Enfants du Paradis, easily the best thing I've (re-)encountered this year (other than I, Claudius, mentioned in Couch With a View) and at that, over a half-century old.
Am at this point mostly just waiting for the Anna Karenina remake, largely for what Keira Skinniest might bring to the role, and Tom Hooper's Les Miz tuner at Christmas, about which Buzz has already begun to build. Otherwise it's legit theeyaytur and computer-watched DiViDs for inla (have pretty much given up regular television entirely, catching the two or three shows I actually follow via Hulu and/or the roomies' recorded new episodes). Sad, really, given past years of seeing as many films as possible, but there's very little out there that pulls me in to the movie houses. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:46 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Have to see that restored Children of Paradise. The unrestored version, which I've only seen in lousy prints, is one of the greatest films I've ever seen, so restored--one can only imagine. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2012 7:11 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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willybeeds, it's still one of the greatest films ever made. Now it's one of the prettiest as well.
As with the Oz and Red Shoes restorations of a couple of years back, a breathtaking resurrection of a breathtaking film. |
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"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:19 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Quote: Martin Scorsese and Steve Zaillian are teaming to produce a documentary on Roger Ebert inspired by the film critic’s 2011 memoir Life Itself. Steve James, who directed the doc Hoop Dreams, will helm it.
Ebert has been reviewing films for the Chicago Sun Times since l967 and on TV for four decades, and he was the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize. His personal life, detailed in the book, include bouts with alcohol and thyroid cancer that cost the critic his voice and parts of his jaw and shoulder. Despite that he remains a vital voice in the film world and has more than 700,000 Twitter followers.
“Roger’s life has so much to say about movies over the last 30 to 40 years. And as his memoir makes so clear, his story is also one of great personal struggle and triumph. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Steve and Marty to tell this poignant and entertaining life story.” |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| grace |
| Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:29 pm |
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Joined: 11 Nov 2005
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whiskeypriest wrote: Well, given our conversation recently in the Lobby, maybe billy would be more up for Whedon's next movie, already in post-production: a new production of Much Ado About Nothing, featuring Amy Acker as Beatrice and Alexis Denisof as Benedick. Neither of whom have ever made an impression on me, though by looking at their imdb filmographies, I have seen them in a couple of things each. Both are Whedon vets - Densiof was in the never seen by me Buffy and Angel, and Acker was in Angel[, Dollhouse (also unseen by me) and Cabin in the Woods.
Personally, I expect the worst. But you never know.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2094064/
So, Much Ado About Nothing was well-received at the Toronto Film Festival, says the LA Times. Granted, the audience might have been predominantly Whedonites and therefore hardly impartial. And it's Toronto, not Cannes or Venice. But the news is still maybe kind of a little semi-encouraging. Ebert said he wants a screener, that's good enough for me. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 10:39 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| That's great news. I don't expect Acker and Denisof to overwhelm my memories of Felicity Kendal and Alan Bates, but as a Buffy/Angel devotee, I'm so there. |
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