If we still lived in a Roger Corman world, Bellflower would play drive-ins under the title Fuckin' Bitches, Man.
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 29 November 2011 18:58 (twelve years ago) link
I'll never understand how people watch Bellflower and take the woman-hating at face value.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 November 2011 00:51 (twelve years ago) link
This was Armond's five for the S&S poll apparently:
IncendiesRise of the Planet of the ApesAttack The BlockPaulFilm socialisme
Attack The Block tied for twelfth in the overall list
― Number None, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 11:57 (twelve years ago) link
planning to see Incendies and Paul in the next 10 days...
It's arguably the kind of face value that's a secret to the filmmaker, like Tarantino's racism.
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 15:02 (twelve years ago) link
Had no idea Armond was so big on Incendies.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 November 2011 15:36 (twelve years ago) link
well he doesn't like Georges Melies!
http://cityarts.info/2011/11/25/how-unique-got-ordinary-hugo-is-scorsese%e2%80%99s-fantasy-autobiography/
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 15:44 (twelve years ago) link
There's a little truth in:
Scorsese seems to be imitating the pixilated world of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, a vision of Paris’s cultural heart that was authentically marvelous in Amelie, City of Forgotten Children and last year’s wondrous, underappreciated Micmacs.
Aside from the implication that Amelie is anything other than excrement souffle.
― Eric H., Wednesday, 30 November 2011 16:04 (twelve years ago) link
or that Micmacs was any good at all
― gukbe, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 16:05 (twelve years ago) link
authentically marvelous
more confirmation that I loathe adverbs.
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 16:07 (twelve years ago) link
Or that "pixilated" is a word choice.
― Eric H., Wednesday, 30 November 2011 16:07 (twelve years ago) link
not a fan of Mr Deeds Goes to Town?
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 16:15 (twelve years ago) link
To the extent it matters, Melancholia and Hugo were runners up at the NYFCC.
http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/movies/oscar_watch_nyfcc_artist_streep_cgtEJaBqTH0iqr9hhEmzpN
― Eric H., Wednesday, 30 November 2011 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
Not The Tree of Life.
― Eric H., Wednesday, 30 November 2011 17:22 (twelve years ago) link
Authentically marvelous?
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
has anyone warmed up to these Russian art movies Silent Souls, My Joy, etc? They're morbid as hell and yet I still can't get into em.
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 17:47 (twelve years ago) link
Huh...watched Attack the Block last night and I thought it was ok, but not great or anything.
― William (C), Wednesday, 30 November 2011 18:09 (twelve years ago) link
I agree. I much preferred "Submarine" in terms of film debuts from British comedians
― Number None, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 18:13 (twelve years ago) link
what is the guy who did Submarine known for? I have been putting that one off since the US reviews were "minor league Rushmore."
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 19:21 (twelve years ago) link
He's a very mannered comedic actor who's appeared in a couple of fairly well known UK sitcoms (The IT Crowd being the most prominent). It is very Wes Anderson but it's a little bit nastier than he normally is. The shots of a perpetually gloomy Swansea are quite lovely
― Number None, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 19:47 (twelve years ago) link
I think The IT Crowd has run on US cable, but I've never seen it.
Probably blowing off J Edgar screening (they sent a disc) so I can see A Dangerous Method tonight.
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 20:03 (twelve years ago) link
It is very Wes Anderson but it's a little bit nastier than he normally is. The shots of a perpetually gloomy Swansea are quite lovely
Submarine reminded me of what the Youth In Revolt movie should have been. I wish they'd been able to have a genuine 80s soundtrack instead of all the Alex Turner stuff. Noah Taylor & Sally Hawkins both superb as well-drawn parents.
Also features a Pink Floyd reference on a custom van, so it rules.
― Sandbox Grisso-McCain, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 20:12 (twelve years ago) link
They actually made a pilot for a US version of The IT Crowd with Ayoade playing the same character. It pretty much sank without trace though
― Number None, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 20:16 (twelve years ago) link
I liked the Alex Turner songs too. I think having a load of period pop songs would have been an Andersonism too far
― Number None, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 20:18 (twelve years ago) link
Perhaps. I imagine that--along with budget restrictions--was part of the reasoning. Though it still bugs me that the dad gives the kid his mix tapes from his own youth to listen to and we hear Alex Turner pretending to be Nick Drake/Cat Stevens/James Taylor etc. instead of the real deal.
― Sandbox Grisso-McCain, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 20:35 (twelve years ago) link
submarine was the most generic indie movie possible
― n/a, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 20:38 (twelve years ago) link
for something with absolutely no trace of originality in story, concept, or style, it wasn't that bad - the teen actors were good
― n/a, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 20:39 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.change.org/petitions/fox-searchlight-make-margaret-available-to-us-critics-and-other-pertinent-voting-bodies
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 November 2011 20:42 (twelve years ago) link
that'd be nice, but a lost battle
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 20:46 (twelve years ago) link
The best kind.
Hmm. I think Mike D'Angelo (who I don't often agree with) has the take that most closely aligns with my own:
Glodell clearly knows these guys are pathetic, in my opinion; that a certain amount of genuine adolescent wish-fulfillment creeps in only lends the film a fascinating tension. Journey from dorky sweetness to epic misogynistic self-pity is abrupt and bracing, beautifully aided by the sulfurous color scheme, ultra-shallow focus and grime-caked lens. Woodrow will now turn into Death Proof's Stuntman Mike.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 30 November 2011 21:17 (twelve years ago) link
I did not find the visuals anything beyond "cool" in rather familiar ways.
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 30 November 2011 21:18 (twelve years ago) link
Liked the Croney! No classic, but worked almost all the way for me. Mortensen a surprisingly menacing daddy Freud. Fassbender's best of the 3 big turns this year.
Don't quite understand all the critical potshots at the twitches/ grimaces of Knightley (who has the toughest role). Maybe disturbed masochists don't squeal and bug out precisely that way, but baseball GMs don't fly to other cities to talk trade, either, and that drew no objections in Moneyball.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 1 December 2011 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah I thought she was really strong, and every single person I saw it with in Colorado thinks I'm nuts.
― Simon H., Thursday, 1 December 2011 15:49 (twelve years ago) link
More Mark Harris spec:
http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/37585/oscarmetrics-do-george-clooney-leonardo-dicaprio-and-brad-pitt-need-an-oscar
― Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 1 December 2011 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
pretty much "nobody" likes J. Edgar, am I wrong?
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:08 (twelve years ago) link
just dropping into say fuck submarine, carry on. it was fine & funny & not even really insulted by 'minor-league rushmore', & the perfs were good. but yeah the soundtrack was awful & an awful idea, & its stylisms are good ambassadors for what's wrong with so much of that kind of gimmicky contemporary storytelling style, cf beginners, also; it all blunted the emotional affect of seeing any of the people in the film actually interact.
― Never translate German (schlump), Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:20 (twelve years ago) link
amy taubin <3d j edgar, fwiw - was almost enticed to go see on her rec
see I even thought most of the screwball-comedy aspects of Beginners played reasonably well, including the dog subtitles. It's not going to make my Top 20, but it probably would have in any of the last three lousy years.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:22 (twelve years ago) link
what I meant re the Harris thing was DiCaprio ain't winning awards, is he? xp
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:23 (twelve years ago) link
Beginners is the equivalent of a drone rocket aimed at an American citizen.
― Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:27 (twelve years ago) link
^^ have no idea what this mean but agree 100% emotionally
I just can't even go there, the thing that sorta embodied what was wrong with it to me was the 'dramatic montage' scene of them arguing, either breaking up or reconciling, in the bedroom of a house, cut together w/shots of furrowed brows, angular stances, handed-hips, all set to piano music instead of actual dialogue, an emotional cinema born of sam mendes rather than john cassavetes. like that's what the film was meant to be about, & yet how they would function or communicate or miscommunicate in a relationship was so much less important than just the various compositions of them as pairing, propped in different modes and costumes, meaningful glances that i guess we're expected to just tether to our own and extrapolate outwards from.
there was a lot else about it that was awful: the didactic, bold & exclamatory 'THIS MAN IS THE PRESIDENT' kinda thing - like maybe I just misunderstand it & it wasn't meant to be an emotional film, but these just seemed like attractive, contemporarily appealing irrelevancies to me - as well as just the awful laziness of its dressing; the guy is a graphic designer, who doesn't even manage to be a graphic designer but who we're meant to feel for as he rejects the path of terrible conformity in fulfilling a commission as required.
i don't know i was on a plane recently and someone an aisle away was watching this, & seeing it peripherally & silently kinda renewed my bile for it. the parts w/the father were affecting. but even that kinda just felt like autopilot. i rewatched annie hall not so long ago & i feel like they're probably interesting touchstones for each other - there's such a deep dynamic analysis of the couple in AH, in addition to it being a funny, v varied film. beginners just seemed so slack and unambitious, an attractive-people-sad-romance film.
& in the interests of full disclosure i thought the future kind of a small masterpiece, so there's that
― Never translate German (schlump), Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:40 (twelve years ago) link
re: Beginners, the Plummer/MacGregor stuff is great, the MacGregor/Laurent stuff is spotty.
― Simon H., Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
The Future didn't make me want to kill everyone around me. Small victories.
― Eric H., Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:47 (twelve years ago) link
Haven't seen Beginners but The Future did make me want to kill everyone around me
― Number None, Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:48 (twelve years ago) link
it was so goodit was about "how we live now" (i know there is baggage to 'we' as white middle class college educated professionals &c&c&c&c&c&c&c but i still think it spoke for a lot of ppl)it was so well rooted in routines & behaviours & flaws that i just haven't really seen in any other films
― Never translate German (schlump), Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:49 (twelve years ago) link
I'm with you, schlump. The movie was phony, mawkish, and hysterical (my review, if you're interested)
― Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:49 (twelve years ago) link
I don't agree with your Mendes-Cassavetes binary – Cassa made some hysterical, meretricious movies too!
― Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:51 (twelve years ago) link
Soto, just imagine that Beginners stars Cary Grant, Charles Coburn and Michele Morgan.
The Future, is that Miranda July?
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:51 (twelve years ago) link
Yes, she's married to Beginners guy. Oh to be a fly on the wall
― Number None, Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:52 (twelve years ago) link
http://0.tqn.com/d/movies/1/0/0/L/X/beginners-photo-goran-visnjic-christopher-plummer.jpg
― Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:53 (twelve years ago) link
remember reading & loving yr review when i was pedalling this cynicism on ilx, alfred, i enjoyed yr hostility
i guess i'm just lazily using cassavetes as a byword for that kind of confrontational tracking of conflict approach, of following an arc of tension the way we do seeing a woman under the influence. & invoking sam mendes because the guy could make a link wray biopic & score it with meandering piano slow jams. mills just didn't seem interested in anything other than weary or challenged seeming characters, pictured in various moods.
future is July yeah, & if it offers additional encouragement I wasn't crazy about her prev film, though amusing.
― Never translate German (schlump), Thursday, 1 December 2011 16:55 (twelve years ago) link