Sunday good movie bi-fecta

[Sarah]

Just finished Salò.  Interesting movie. The allegory is unsubtle, which is just as well, I suppose, since the imagery might otherwise have overwhelmed the message.  Most disturbing to me is that today's viewers are probably so jaded that what they see and hear in the movie, and hence the underlying meaning, might pass them by entirely.  I could imagine people laughing through this nowadays--thus proving Pasolini right, I suppose.

[Martin]

I've been enjoying these capsule reports, Sarah.

I've decided to go on a movie binge for as long as I have this horrible cold, or for as long as my conscience allows me. Today was a good one: four movies seen.

Started off with the proudly boneheaded Eagle Eye, which had aspirations of stuff like The Conversation but ended up being a really dumb movie in the same vein of stupid as The Game and other films with similar mindbending premises. Though I did watch it in HD, which was pleasant.

My impressions of Freeway had up until today been "it's a Kiefer Sutherland b-movie featuring a post-action star of the 80's, but pre-24, Keifer". How wrong I was. It wasn't until a friend of mine made a copy of it and sent it to me that I started to realize it's something else entirely. It's essentially the Little Red Riding Hood story set against a trashy, pulpy 90's exploitation backdrop without any traces of QT (thankgod). Shocked to see a very young Reese Witherspoon in full-on trashy southern juvenile delinquent mode, with a toilet mouth that wouldn't stop. "Don't Fear the" Kiefer plays a murderous creep who gets what's coming to him (more than once). Very amoral, funny, violent but gratuitous in the way 50-60's exploitation was, not like most crime movies of the 00's. And packed with cameos, colorful characters, and ridiculous scenes. I dare to say that this is Witherspoon's best performance alongside Election. (And now I must seek out the sort-of sequel Confessions of a Trickbaby, which promises to be even sicker - Natasha Lyonne? Vincent Gallo as a Mexican nun? I'm there!)

American Teen was fairly entertaining but increasingly depressing as it went along, and it irked me that the filmmakers apparently bought into the strict high school hierarchy/clicque system they supposedly criticize; even at the start of the film it was obvious they were engaging their subjects from the perspective of what cultural-social group they "belonged" to. Reinforced lots of cliches about the American High School, and made me hate nearly all the parents.

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson was very well made, overlong and ultimately didn't say too much new stuff about Thompson, especially after seeing every other documentary about him. My opinion stands: I love to read and hear about him, I enjoy reading his stuff, but I'm positive I would hate him if I ever spent time with him.

[Sarah]

I feel very self-indulgent making all these movie posts, Martin, so it's good to know someone's not minding them.  The thing is, those in my small circle can take only so much of my movie talk, and while I'm on this binge, I risk overloading them.  Posting here is better:  everyone who wants to ignore me can.

That said, I think you'll get a kick out of Confessions of a Trickbaby when you get to it.  It's muy silly but fun if you're in the right mood.

SJK, what did you think of Button?  I keep asking people to report on it, and so far no one has complied.  Does Ben marry his wife when he's in effect 50 and she's 20 and then tire of her when she's 40 and he looks 30?  Is he sent home weeping when he tries to report for duty as a a veteran general when he looks about 14?  Does he end in a milky haze, as in the story?

[SJK]

SJK, what did you think of Button?  I keep asking people to report on it, and so far no one has complied.  Does Ben marry his wife when he's in effect 50 and she's 20 and then tire of her when she's 40 and he looks 30?  Is he sent home weeping when he tries to report for duty as a a veteran general when he looks about 14?  Does he end in a milky haze, as in the story?

***Spoiler Alert***
I am looking forward to reading the short story that you provided the link for. I'll have to remember where you did that, could have been earlier in the thread, will look for it shortly. I must admit my motivation for seeing this film was not entirely for the story, I had never heard of it before I saw the trailer. Shame on me. I work in film post production and was blown away by the look and the feel of the images presented in the quicktime trailer. That being said, I found the story very interesting although slightly jarring regarding its presentation. There was a lot of bouncing back and forth between present day and the time that Ben's story takes place. The story is told, present day, through his autobiography read by his daughter to her dying mother in a hospital, during hurricane Katrina. Did you catch that? Each time she begins to read the story to her mother we slip back into Ben's time and watch as the tales unfold.

So directly answering your questions, Ben does not get married to his wife...he basically abandons her and their new born daughter based on the idea that his condition would become too much of a burden, he wouldn't be able to be a proper father. He never actually serves officially in the army, only participates in the sinking of a german u-boat using a tugboat which he worked on that was helping out in the war effort on the Pacific. He dies as a baby in the arms of the woman he loved, at the retirement home where he was abandoned at the beginning of the film. I can see from your questions the adaptation for film must be out in left field.

Not having read the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I am left feeling slightly cheated. I wonder if the devices the film makers used to tell the story were necessary. The performances were solid throughout, indeed there were very poignant moments. It seemed disjointed due to the time jumps, used to push the story along. Honestly, the film was getting tedious for me at the end. Perhaps I was tired, not in the right frame of mind. Not to mention the technical perfection I was hoping for, did not materialize in the print being screened. The colour fidelity was lost, which I blame entirely on the projection in the cinema where I watched the film. The quicktime trailers are outstanding.

Apologies if this leaves you with more questions then it answers. I would like to watch the film again in a better cinema, hopefully after I have read the short story. For some reason I really want to like this film.

[masterofsparks]

I'm scared of Benjamin Buttons. All the Forrest Gump comparisons (yeah, I know, same writer) have me spooked.

I watched Tarkovsky's Solaris today. Only one movie, but long enough to count for two. I loved it even though I'm not sure I fully understood it.

[Omar]

(And now I must seek out the sort-of sequel Confessions of a Trickbaby, which promises to be even sicker - Natasha Lyonne? Vincent Gallo as a Mexican nun? I'm there!)

It's nuts, but the original Freeway is far superior.  Have you seen Bright's Tiptoes?  Gary Oldman plays a dwarf.

[Sarah]

I've seen Tiptoes!  I wonder how Peter Dinklage felt about Gary Oldman's performance.

SJK, here's that link again.  From your description, the movie sounds like a travesty--exactly as saccharinated as the ad made me expect.  If you want to like the movie more, don't read the story first; you'll just find out how many liberties were taken with it.

Yesterday, after Salò, I decided I needed something light and silly, so I watched Possessed, an inadvertently funny exorcism film starring Timothy Dalton, who struggles with his accent with less success than his character fights his PTSD.  The best laugh for me came during the big exorcism finale, when Dalton's priest actually says, "Fasten your seat belts; it's going to be a bumpy ride." 

Forget to mention that before Salò I watched True Love, which was unobjectionable but a bit dull. 

Hey, today is Sunday!  I can actually honor the title of this thread if I choose.  I'm thinking, though, that after I dutifully slog through Mr. Brooks, I might go on an Oz fest.  My DVR is filling up with the backlog.

[Martin]

Haven't seen Tiptoes, but will look for it.

[Sarah]

My goodness Mr. Brooks is bad!  [Note:  spoilers galore ahead.]  I did take a certain amount of pleasure in seeing Dane Cook brutally murdered, and I do have to congratulate him for portraying so successfully an impotent, blustering weasel (a performance that didn't require much in the way of acting from him, I suppose), but that's not enough to compensate for the rest.

Here, in Top Chef list style, are a few moments and/or details that stood out for me as particularly bad:

* Kevin Costner's self-conscious Casper Milquetoast schtick
* All the knowing laughs Costner and Hurt share
* The figure no one could ever mistake for Demi Moore slamming onto the roof of a car after flying out of the moving van
* The strained coincidence of the escaped criminal who's after Det. Atwood pulling into the parking lost where Mr. B. and Mr. S. are staking out the first potential victim's car 
* Hurt's delivery of the line "The next victim could be [far too long pause] you"
* The painfully transparent code of circling relevant words in the newspaper in red felt-tip
* Hurt's delivery of the line in the farewell note:  ". . . instead of subjecting you to my deterioration"
* The complete absence of grounds for a warrant to search Mr. Smith's apartment (at least the warrant is denied, but that Det. Atwood even instructs her sidekick to request one is too silly)
* The fact that, if the explanation for Mr. Smith's DNA being at the scene where the detective's husband and his lawyer were killed is that Mr. Brooks forced him to come along, then there's no way Mr. Brook's identity as the Thumbprint Killer was going to be concealed from his family, yet that was the basis for his considering allowing Mr. S. to kill him

I can't wait to hear Tom's performance.

P.S.  I suspect that the writers of Dexter stole the NA bit from this movie, which makes me think even less of that show.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

last nite was not nearly as entertaining as the past few days have been for the rest of you and your cinematic exploits, but i toggled back and forth between Waiting... and Jurassic Park III.  i preferred JP3.

[jbissell]

I celebrated my last day of vacation with 3 movies yesterday.  Milk had a lot of great performances and was probably the first time I haven't really hated Penn.  Didn't quite manage to escape all the biopic conventions but still worth watching.  Slumdog Millionaire was alright, I can see why some people like it a lot but the emotional connection just wasn't there for me.  Mister Lonely had a lot of really great moments but overall was a hot mess.  Definitely the most I've ever enjoyed anything Harmony Korine related.

[buffcoat]

I watched "Dog Day Afternoon" today, and despite having no dogs in it and thus being false advertising, I give it very high marks.  It is a very good film, and proof that Al Pacino was once an excellent actor.

Plus Jon Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, Lance Henrikson, Uncle Junior, and much of the guest stars of the early years of Law & Order.

[Pidgeon]

There's something that feels right about watching shitty movies on TNT at like three in the morning. Tonight I'll be watching The Peacemaker.

[nec13]

I watched "Dog Day Afternoon" today, and despite having no dogs in it and thus being false advertising, I give it very high marks.  It is a very good film, and proof that Al Pacino was once an excellent actor.

Plus Jon Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, Lance Henrikson, Uncle Junior, and much of the guest stars of the early years of Law & Order.

Dog Day Afternoon is my favorite movie so I am glad to hear that you enjoyed it. It's one of those films that I will probably never get tired of watching. The script is fantastic and the acting is uniformly great. I just really can't say enough good things about it.

[Chris L]

I should've known better than to think a 21st century Woody Allen movie might be halfway decent, but Vicky Cristina Barcelona was more loathsome than I expected.  Woody's "insights" into the female psyche have never been more patronizing, and seeing the women in this film melt for Javier Bardem's cartoon lothario is beyond ludicrous (get a load of the trip to his dear papa's house).  Bardem and Penelope Cruz heroically salvage their dignity, but Rebecca Hall is saddled with too much awkward psychobabble, and the clock continues to run down on Scarlett Johansson's credibility.  Also irritating is the superfluous narrator who sounds like he was recording credit card commercials between takes.   

The three (!) other films I saw this weekend were much better:  Wendy & Lucy was as good as I hoped (Michelle Williams is indeed heartbreaking in the final scene); Surfwise was a compelling dysfunctional family doc; and Andrei Tarkovsky's debut feature Ivan's Childhood proved more accessible than his later work but no less poetic, and features some of the most beautiful and best-restored b&w cinematography you'll find on dvd, thanks to a boutique label whose name escapes me.