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| billyweeds |
 Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 7:01 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| For the first time in at least a decade, I'm actually looking forward to seeing a Shamalama film. Which still doesn't mean I'm not going to WFC. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 10:42 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6963
Location: Black Hills
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Now you've got me wondering about your acronym - there's a switch!
Wait For a Carpet? (perhaps they are remodeling your regular moviehouse)
Whine and Fret Constantly? (doesn't sound like you, BW)
Wrestle for Cash? (we might be in the same weight class - call me)
Wait for Compactvideostorageformat? |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:45 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2015 5:18 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12933
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| A Walk in the the Woods is a warm, sometimes very funny, loose adaptation of Bill Bryson's assault, with one companion, on the Appalachian Trail. Don't expect anything consequential here; this is not "Wild" or "Tracks," but more lighthearted, though I suspect the encounter with bears or the snowy March nights in the Smokies weren't all that pleasant. Robert Redford and Nick Nolte are pleasant company (although at least twenty years older than Bryson was when he wrote the book--he was 47, which makes more sense if you want to attempt a 2100 mile hike. (Perhaps they were wanting to reflect his current age.) I was amused how much some of the trail doesn't look that different from the woods I used to wander through as a kid, with no thoughts of bears. Emma Thompson plays Bryson's wife--he has a considerable extended family--and Mary Steenburgen has a sweet cameo as a woman who owns a hotel and restaurant along the route. |
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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: Mon Sep 14, 2015 5:30 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Pawn Sacrifice is a very well made and entertaining take on the chess duel between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky that galvanized the world in 1972. Edward Zwick directs Tobey Maguire as Fischer and Liev Schreiber as Spassky, and they are both excellent. The movie is good, not great, but "good" ain't chopped chicken liver. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 11:19 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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I watched part of Love and Mercy.
Viewing problems included dozing off once and then my disc freezing every 10 mins or so. Then when I tried to return the thing, the store was closed all weekend. Finally got another copy and will start again from the start.
I liked the early Beach Boys stuff, but had trouble getting interested in the scenes with the burnt-out Cusack latter day Brian Wilson. But I only watched about 40 minutes with significant choppiness and personal edits. So can't really judge.
Also picked up a Latvian animated film Rocks in My Pocket, which looked interesting. |
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:31 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| In the spirit of William Castle, the illustrious indie director Onur Tukel is giving away BODY PARTS to a few unlucky audience members at the upcoming midnight screenings of Applesauce, his really truly ultra-cool new flick that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The dates are September 25 and 26, the venue is Nitehawk Cinemas in Williamsburg, and...oh, yeah, the cast includes me and the love of my life Dolores McDougal as the in-laws of the cult fave Max Casella. Be there...at midnight, yo. Trailer for the event here---and it's a pretty fun trailer, so watch. https://vimeo.com/139630460 |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 2:52 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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"Amy" is an amazing documentary on the short and remarkable life of Amy Winehouse. It is based entirely on existing film footage, still photographs and recorded voices of Amy herself and those closely connected with the dramatic events in her life. There is no other commentary or amateur psychologizing. She comes across as a gifted but flawed and tragic figure. It is directed by Asif Kapadia who has earlier been praised highly and received several awards for his films, "The Warrior" (shot in Rajasthan) and "Senna" (about the Brazilian motor-racing legend Ayrton Senna.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 8:50 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Finally saw Grandma and pretty much loved it. But here's the weird part. The title role is played by Lily Tomlin, who is not only a great performer but also someone I know, have performed with, written for, and very much admire and like. She has received great reviews, been talked about for the Oscar, and that's all great and wonderful. But she's not really an actor IMO. She makes things work on her own terms, but her delivery is frequently off-key and sometimes feels like a first reading. She is a star to her fingertips, but almost everyone in the cast outacts her.
This particularly applies to Sam Elliott, a great actor who appears in only one sequence but could and maybe SHOULD win a long-overdue Oscar for the role. His voice has always been his trump card, and here it's in full flower. He paints a great character in maybe five or six minutes of screen time. The marvelous cast also includes the great Judy Greer, Marcia Gay Harden, and a genuine find, Julia Garner, playing Tomlin's granddaughter, whose need for an instant abortion propels the plot. Paul Weitz wrote the screenplay, especially for Lily, and he directs the actors brilliantly. It's a wonderful film, and if Lily wins the Oscar I will cheer. But she's not really acting here. She's being Lily Tomlin. And who can really complain about that? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 10:42 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6963
Location: Black Hills
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Sam and I have odd parallels - both attended school in Portland OR, both born same date, both have daughters who are musicians, both have droopy moustaches, and both of us feel Katherine Ross makes a suitable marital partner. He, however, can paint a character in 5 minutes of screen time, while I can only do a feeble impression of Christopher Walken reading Hamlet's soliloquy*.
As for Judy Greer, when is she ever not great? I was going to skip Grandma but now maybe I'll WFC, whatever that means.
Also want to see Eliz Moss new flick, Queen of Earth, though unsure I can stand to watch. it may not make it to stixville anyway.
*To be or not to be, who the f--- gives a rat's ass? Seriously, is there some other f---ing question? |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 11:00 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| My friend David was born on the same day as Christopher Walken--not much else in common, though, apart from a generally artistic temperament. I'll have to tell him about that Hamlet impression. |
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| Ghulam |
| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 2:00 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4742
Location: Upstate NY
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Grandma seems contrived, an over the top attempt to showcase Lily Tomlin. The character is neither very interesting nor very convincing. Julia Garner and Sam Elliott are good.
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 5:25 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Yes, I know I said I was going to WFC on Shyamalan's The Visit, but how can you pass up a five-buck flick? So I saw it, and here I am this morning avowing that yes, Night has finally made another good flick. The director, whose mouthful of a name and lousy of an output has made me call him Shama-lama-dingdong for a long time, comes through with a funny, scary item that made me laugh out loud, gasp a lot, and cheer a bunch of actors including an Australian kid named Ed Oxenbould, a Tony-winning actress named Deanna Dunagan, and (the only actor familiar to me) the remarkably versatile Kathryn Hahn. We can't count Night out yet! |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 4:00 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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Anomalisa
Charlie Kaufman's first feature film in seven years features sex, heartbreak, and a Japanese automaton that sings. Did we mention it's also a stop-motion animation movie and pretty much a masterpiece? Using only the voices of three actors (David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tom Noonan) and a host of dolls, Kaufman and co-director Duke Johnson bring to life a world of chatty cabbies, convention-hall ennui, absurdist humor, explicitly detailed hot puppet-on-puppet action and a bone-deep level of sadness. This was the closest thing to a critical consensus that emerged out of T0ronto this year, and it's easy to see why: There's more humanity in this small, painstakingly moved and manipulated figures than in most of the live-action movies on display.
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/10-best-things-we-saw-at-2015-toronto-film-festival-20150919/anomalisa-20150918 |
Last edited by gromit on Sat Sep 26, 2015 10:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 5:10 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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gromit wrote: Anomlisa
Charlie Kaufman's first feature film in seven years features sex, heartbreak, and a Japanese automaton that sings. Did we mention it's also a stop-motion animation movie and pretty much a masterpiece? Using only the voices of three actors (David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tom Noonan) and a host of dolls, Kaufman and co-director Duke Johnson bring to life a world of chatty cabbies, convention-hall ennui, absurdist humor, explicitly detailed hot puppet-on-puppet action and a bone-deep level of sadness. This was the closest thing to a critical consensus that emerged out of T0ronto this year, and it's easy to see why: There's more humanity in this small, painstakingly moved and manipulated figures than in most of the live-action movies on display.
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/10-best-things-we-saw-at-2015-toronto-film-festival-20150919/anomalisa-20150918 |
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