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| carrobin |
 Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 2:09 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| Everything I know about the law, I learned from "Law & Order." Even so, most movie trials are pretty awful, realitywise--but most of them are also very entertaining. There was one in a Doctor Kildare film recently on TCM in which our hero and the hospital were being sued by a woman who would have died if Kildare hadn't dealt with her injuries immediately after her accident, but she was left paralyzed. (That turned out to be temporary, of course--can't have a non-happy ending in a series.) One thing that really bugged me was that a whisky bottle in the car was presented as evidence that the driver had been drinking, but nobody even asked if the bottle was full or empty, capped or open, on the front seat or on the rear floor. And nobody went out to find the driver of the truck involved in the accident, until our heroic doctor thought of doing so himself. It was more of a comedy than a drama at that point. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 3:57 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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I've been through a couple voir dires, and after they heard me dire, they didn't want to voir me anymore. But, yeah, they were nothing like any voir dire I've seen in a movie. The one trial where I was actually selected, the proceedings were approximately 500 times less fun than anything you'd see in a film. I dimly recall, though I've mostly blocked it out of my memory, about ten hours spent watching medical videos of various propane burns that various people had suffered. Another ten hours involved how exactly you can tell a propane valve is shut off when you glance at it from a distance of 20 feet.
I will soon stream Anonymous and then heap praise upon it. Lavish fulsome praise. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 5:33 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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whiskeypriest wrote: Even the truly excellent Anatomy of a Murser does that, along with argumentarive questioning, speaking ojections, leadinf your own witnesses, allowing a doctor to testify on mntal atatus without ever examining the pafient.
A movie that conformed to actual courteoom drama wojld SUCK. It would bore the piss out of everyone.
Two that lawyers admire are Anatomy of a Murder and My Cousin Vinny. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 5:43 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| I was in a voir dire where the lawyer asked people what their favorite movie was. Most of the people were about 300 years younger than me and they all said Star Wars or The Godfather. I said Rear Window and the lawyer said, and I think I quote verbatim, "Oh, my God, that's my favorite movie too!" Almost needless to say, I got on the jury. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 10:00 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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| Well, someone has a lot to learn about getting out of jury duty ... |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2014 8:02 am |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| Just tell the prosecutor your favorite movie is 12 Angry Men. |
_________________
Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:48 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Syd wrote: whiskeypriest wrote: Even the truly excellent Anatomy of a Murser does that, along with argumentarive questioning, speaking ojections, leadinf your own witnesses, allowing a doctor to testify on mntal atatus without ever examining the pafient.
A movie that conformed to actual courteoom drama wojld SUCK. It would bore the piss out of everyone.
Two that lawyers admire are Anatomy of a Murder and My Cousin Vinny.
Scott: He was gour lover, wasn't he?
Witness, near tears: No.
Scott: He asn't your lover? Than what was he?
Witness: He was my father.
Scott: Well.... fuck me.
Last line may not be direct quote but conveys the meaning. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2014 6:00 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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With Citizenfour it's not so much "overrated" as "incredibly disappointing." This documentary consists 75 percent or more of the talking heads of Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald discussing how to release the information that Snowden blew the whistle on. The documentary has been called "the film of the century" and even better. The reviews are the ultimate in mindblowing raves. But listen up: the movie presents us with approximately nothing that any up-to-date person didn't know already, and the filmmaking is strictly of the point-and-shoot variety. Anyone who has seen the sublime work of Errol Morris or Werner Herzog has to throw up his/her arms in dismay at seeing this glorified home movie described as "the greatest documentary in movie history," which is not a direct quote but an accurate paraphrase of several reviews.
What makes it possible to sit through the film is the personality of Snowden, who (even for an on-the-fence skeptic like me) proves to be an enormously likable presence. His conviction and passion, not to mention his boyish charm, go a long way toward fighting one's (read: my) feeling that he overstepped his bounds and that his revelations feed a national paranoia that was just waiting for Snowden to happen. No matter, though: he's a really charismatic dude. The movie, however: no. Worthwhile for those who have been living on Mars for the last three years. A waste of time for most others. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2014 8:22 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Seldom have I been as happy to see a movie end as I was when the closing credits rolled on Interstellar. If I say it's better than Inception, you have to understand that in my world that's like saying being slowly poisoned is slightly better than having your fingernails extracted one by one with hot pincers.
What makes Interstellar intermittently watchable can be summed up in two words: Matthew McConnaughey. His opening scenes as a farmer with two children are mildly interesting and his chemistry with his kids is sweet. Immediately, however, the movie goes south as the man goes into space. From that point on we are in Christopher Nolan territory, and for me there's no country I'd less like to visit. The movie deals with science fiction of the most indecipherable, incomprehensible sort. The supporting cast is wasted and Anne Hathaway is very annoying--not just her terminally snarky astronaut but the fact that Hathaway seems to be doing a Liza Minnelli impression without Liza's charm.
And as if you didn't know already, the movie goes on and on and on. And. On. For three hours that seem like ten.
Oh, and the audience (same as the one Marc saw it with) did not applaud. And this was an audience full of actors who lovelovelove to applaud at the end of movies. Bad sign.
Never again will I do the Nolan. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 2:46 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| "Interstellar" starts off as an impending dust bowl dystopia, goes on to become a space thriller and ends up as a futuristic fantasy. The best part happens right here on earth as the study of a close knit family with a beautifully portrayed father/daughter relationship. Mackenzie Foy as the young daughter is very good. Someone has aptly described the movie as an attempt "to reconcile the infinite and the intimate." Christopher Nolan's old mind games from his "Inception" and "Memento" are very much in evidence here too. While the movie does not have the uplifting attributes of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey", it is chockfull of ideas and consistently holds your interest, in no small measure because of Matthew McConaughey. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 8:05 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| On the basics, Ghulam and I are on the same page: in other words, that the best (IMO only) good scenes in Interstellar are the early ones on Earth, and that the best (IMO only) good thing about the movie is the performance by Matthew McConaughey (with a nod, yes, to Mackenzie Foy as the youngest incarnation of the daughter). |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 12:16 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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Though I found more to like in the film (being a bit of a physics and outer space enthusiast, or "geek" perhaps), I can't disagree with the above comments. If the science is obscure to a viewer, then the film's weaknesses glare brighter. Hathaway was annoying. Matt Damon was wasted. The film was 30 minutes too long.
Yet I cannot forget the wonderfully imaginative visual conception of a wormhole and the perilous neighborhood of a black hole. For a science guy, the eye candy is considerable. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 2:21 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 2:44 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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bartist wrote: Though I found more to like in the film (being a bit of a physics and outer space enthusiast, or "geek" perhaps), I can't disagree with the above comments. If the science is obscure to a viewer, then the film's weaknesses glare brighter. Hathaway was annoying. Matt Damon was wasted. The film was 30 minutes too long.
Yet I cannot forget the wonderfully imaginative visual conception of a wormhole and the perilous neighborhood of a black hole. For a science guy, the eye candy is considerable. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2014 6:40 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Oh, yes, I forgot. Interstellar also proves what I thought was impossible: Matt Damon can give a bad performance. True, bart, he was wasted, and that long scene on the ice with MM was totally unplayable--but what he himself brought to the table was pretty lame. |
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