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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 10:08 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Saw one of the most wonderful movies in years tonight. I've been a huge fan of Nicole Holofcener's ever since her first feature Walking and Talking, through Friends with Money, Lovely and Amazing, and Please Give. But with Enough Said she has outdone herself. Perfect is the only word for it.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a divorcee working as a massage therapist and getting ready to send her daughter off from California to Sarah Lawrence College. At a party she meets two people, a man she starts dating (played by the late James Gandolfini) and a poet who becomes her client and her friend (Holofcener regular Catherine Keener). To say more would constitute a spoiler, but nothing seems contrived or manipulative. It's the dialogue, hilarious and touching by turns, and the superb acting that sell the story. Holofcener is an immense talent as both writer and director, and Louis-Dreyfus is marvelous in the lead. But the most memorable thing about the movie is the charming, funny, indelibly poignant last appearance of Gandolfini, who was never this good in any role other than Tony Soprano. A posthumous Oscar is a necessity.
Oh, one more thing. Enough Said has the best ending since Sideways. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 11:55 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I still say it's hard to beat a movie ending with a burning dragon ship. (What can I say--"The Vikings" was my first Favorite Movie.) |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 12:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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| How about the ending of Lost in Translation? |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 5:16 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Just watched the trailer for Enough Said. WARNING: it contains all the spoilers I attempted to avoid above. DO NOT WATCH TRAILER BEFORE SEEING FILM. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 5:26 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Sorry, but I'm gonna get kinda one-note about this. Enough Said is so astonishingly good that I can't stop thinking about it. Here's a quote from IndieWire saying something that needs to be hammered into Hollywood.
"If there was ever an occasion for a studio to mount a posthumous acting campaign, Gandolfini deserves it -- far more than, say, the successful efforts to acknowledge Heath Ledger for his work in The Dark Knight, when the award ostensibly functioned as a de facto lifetime achievement recognition. Gandolfini deserves an Oscar for Enough Said not because it's the culmination of everything that came before it but rather because it goes in a completely different direction. And his least characteristic achievement is also one of his best." |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 10:43 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6967
Location: Black Hills
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I saw the trailer for Nuf Said and didn't feel spoilered. Was having a whispered chat with my copain, so maybe I missed the spoilers.
Befade, how did you like Prisoners? Was my spasm of 'casm uncalled for? |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 10:58 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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billyweeds wrote: Gary--We couldn't disagree more. The last five minutes of The Apartment are among the most glorious in screen history IMO, and the final line ("SUAD" to avoid spoilers) is one of the best final lines ever.
Not sure how SUAD could be a spoiler - arguably the most famous movie line in history, so I'd imagine everyone here knows it. But I'll shut up and deal with another famous ending you mentioned, Sideways, which is IIRC Miles knocking on Maya's door and then FTB - it's good, but nowhere in the same league as Third Man or The Apt. But I rank it slightly ahead of the space fetus at the end of 2001. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 12:28 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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bart--What can I say? That knock, a simple gesture that spoke multitudes about Miles's character, made me cry.
The ending of Enough Said made me laugh and cry, which is even better.
Seeing Rush Monday and Prisoners Tuesday. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 10:23 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 3784
Location: AZ
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Ha! Bart....Prisoners. 2 1/2 hours. Why are films these days so long? To convince people they're getting their money's worth? I noticed: Hugh Jackman has no ear lobes, Jake G. has taken to blinking a lot, the PA setting
is wet and dreary (it's really NY), Hugh is still the Wolverine but more unleashed, and there was little extraordinary in the writing. As a thriller it had atmosphere. I didn't get bored. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:21 am |
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Prisoners may be a very good movie, but I am fed up with kidnapped kids movies or TV episodes about it. And 2 1/2 hours of this is not something that will entertain me. Over the top kidnap movies like Taken, don't bother me because the kidnapped are older spoiled girls who are unlikable. Plus, it is an action fantasy flick.
Many of the child kidnap episodes on TV are one episode and only about 45 minutes so they don't bother me very much. I rarely watch repeats of those episodes.
I'll bet there will be a movie about that asshole who kidnapped those three (?) girls and kept them for ten years. You won't see me at that movie. 
I am still baffled why they couldn't have got away during that ten year capture. Only one of them was enough to get away and then the others would be rescued. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 12:56 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Last year I watched a 1953 Brit film The Little Kidnappers set in Nova Scotia circa 1900. Kind of an odd film, with Dutch and British Canadians as enemies due to the Boer War.
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As for the kidnapped women in Ohio, they were physically and mentally abused, chained up at times, mostly kept in separate rooms/areas, etc.
And the sadistic asshole would test them by leaving a door slightly ajar and hiding nearby to catch them trying to escape.
They were probably threatened with death, especially since at least one of them knew exactly who he was he. Hard to believe he was able to keep that insanity going for a decade. It might sound harsh, but I'm glad he killed himself. Somebody probably would have done it for him in prison eventually anyway.
I agree, I'm not interested in films or books about him or Dahmer or any other sick criminals. It probably would be a good idea if news organizations wouldn't use their names. Just say the Cleveland kidnapper or whatever. Because many of these folks want the publicity. Though this guy seemingly just wanted the sex and power trip.
Just reading about the horrific terrorist attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi. At least 60 people dead. 10 - 15 Somali gunman with grenades. Hard to understand how people can plan and execute a military operation against unarmed civilians and children and such. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Befade |
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:07 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: AZ
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And after that....the slaughter at a Christian church in Pakistan.
Jeremy Renner starred in the movie Dahmer. Not a waste of time to see this.
Glad that type casting didn't stick. Paul Dano played the bad guy in Prisoners very affectingly. But he's known for other characterizations.
I think Prisoners is worth seeing for Jake Gyllenhal's calm, steady performance. And Melissa Leo. And even Terrance Howard. Plus atmosphere.
You can scratch Hugh Jackman completely. Why is he everywhere? |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:49 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6967
Location: Black Hills
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Befade, thanks for the thumbnail on "Prisoners" and I don't know what is to be done about Hugh Jackman's missing earlobes or if this will result in typecasting of some kind. Maybe it already has, at some subtle level.
I'm going to have watch Sideways again. Love ANY excuse to do that.
Just went to a birthday party where kefir was served (instead of ice cream). Kefir is basically milk that has gone bad. I'm surprised how much I liked it. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Sep 22, 2013 7:01 pm |
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I'm not crazy about hostage movies either.  |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Sep 23, 2013 8:48 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6967
Location: Black Hills
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| Me either. The cliches of the genre are tiresome. One hostage has to be a plainclothes cop. Always an hysterical woman (or less often, man) who ends up being pistol-whipped. Always someone who somehow manages to keep a cellphone hidden on themselves. Always a jumpy hostage-taker who says things like, "Quit eyeballing me, boy!" The hostage takers, if pinned down somewhere, always demand the ridiculous, when a reasonable request might actually get some traction - e.g. a private jet, instead of a getaway van. Etc. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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