General Movie Thread

[masterofsparks]

Saw Crazy Heart over the weekend. Not a great movie, and Maggie Gyllenhaal's character was annoying, but it's worth seeing for Bridges, who will hopefully win an Oscar for his performance.

[Sarah]

I watched Temple Grandin this weekend.  Pretty good. 

[crumbum]

I forgot to bring up Me & Orson Welles, which I saw over the holidays. It's really too bad it got so little attention because it's terrific. I think it stacks up well against Linklater's best work, and to my surprise Zac Efron is a really charming actor.

[wood and iron]

I watched The Night Porter (1974) tonight. I don't really know what to think about it but I think I liked it. At first blush, the movie strikes as nothing but exploitative. I get the feeling there is more there, but I'm not quite sure what the movie is trying to say, so I'm not sure why I like it. I think that's a sign of an interesting movie, at the least.

At the very least, it's pretty gorgeous looking despite the deteriorated nature of the film (so bad that a Criterion restore didn't make it flawless).

[Christina]

I watched The Night Porter (1974) tonight.

I love Charlotte Rampling ...starting with those early swinging London movies through all her crazy cuckoo roles up to this day.

[buffcoat]

I watched The Night Porter (1974) tonight.

I love Charlotte Rampling ...starting with those early swinging London movies through all her crazy cuckoo roles up to this day.

Liked her in Stardust Memories, although I think I only understood about a third of what she said.

[wood and iron]

I watched The Night Porter (1974) tonight.

I love Charlotte Rampling ...starting with those early swinging London movies through all her crazy cuckoo roles up to this day.

She had maybe 5 lines in The Night Porter and yet she was an indelible presence.

[yesno]

Just caught two movies in the actual movie theater, because I was on a work trip, and how else do you kill time in the evening?  I believe that I shall start going to the theater more.  It's a good way to go "out" but do the kinds of things you were going to do at home anyway.

Anyway, "An Education" is really good, and I finally caught "Avatar 3D."  3D is cool.  As for the movie, I hope there's a sequel where it turns out that the Earth in the Avatar universe is the same as the Earth in "Starship Troopers," and the humans come back in force to stick it to those giant blue woods hippies and avenge the Colonel.

[cutout]

Randomly watched Midnight Cowboy via Netflix and really loved it.

That line, "Hey fella, you fell!" - am I imagining that, or was it mentioned on the Best Show once?

[buffcoat]

Tom's angriest schtick - so pissed off he can barely speak - is redolent of Ratso Rizzo.

[dave from knoxville]

I do this blog, very irregularly. It's got like, maybe 7 readers, at least 2 of whom are related to me, and one of whom works for me.

It frequently has to do with career achievement in film for actors, based on the strength of the films they have clawed their ways into and their prominence in those films.

FOT Lisa Jane Persky, the most important film actor in MY life, read part of it, and didn't hate it.

If you are interested, here's a recent post.

http://gaughin.edublogs.org/2010/03/06/bernie-mac-rip/

Thank you for your consideration.

[buffcoat]

I do this blog, very irregularly. It's got like, maybe 7 readers, at least 2 of whom are related to me, and one of whom works for me.

It frequently has to do with career achievement in film for actors, based on the strength of the films they have clawed their ways into and their prominence in those films.

FOT Lisa Jane Persky, the most important film actor in MY life, read part of it, and didn't hate it.

If you are interested, here's a recent post.

http://gaughin.edublogs.org/2010/03/06/bernie-mac-rip/

Thank you for your consideration.

I thought you were going to be ripping Bernie Mac.  I can't decide whether I'm relieved or disappointed.

[Barry Egan]

This is the best documentary I've seen since Red Without Blue. It's called "Trust Us, This is All Made Up" and is streaming on Netflix.
[youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnuohnCNUY4[/youtube]

[crumbum]

Saw A Prophet yesterday and The Ghostwriter tonight. Good week for me. Both were really, really, really good.

The Polanski movie is rightfully being held up next to Hitchcock. It also reminded me of DePalma's Blow Out in the way it mashes all kinds of rumours and suspicions about the government and other bits and pieces of free-floating cultural paranoia together into a satisfyingly ridiculous nightmare scenario.

[Reeleyes]

Saw Extract, better than I thought.

Took my daughter to see Alice in Wonderland which I was ok with until...

SPOILER ALERT!!!

The Mad Hatter does this ridiculous dance of joy at the end after Alice defeats the Jabberwocky that was so contrived and really didn't have any place in the film at all. A friend of mine argued that it was for the kids but I argue that the whole friggin' movie is for the kids and can't we make a kids film with some dignity? Anyway, it was still better than Willy Wonka and Planet of the Apes put together.