Just hit Eject after 55 minutes of We Need to Talk About Kevin. Egad.
word, this was one of those things that i kinda just wanted to leave after five minutes in the cinema.
cool that you got to catch tilda at the cinema, simon, she always comes across v interesting to me. i love that essay she wrote to her child about film.
― Never translate German (schlump), Thursday, 8 December 2011 11:25 (twelve years ago) link
just as an indulgent aside, regarding that essay, i think i read it in fairly close proximity to catching kevin & felt it served in part as a weirdly apposite noose or lens through which to view/indict it:
How I long for documentary, in resistance - for unpowdered faces and unmeasured tread - for the emotionally undemonstrative family scene - for a struggle for unreachable words, for the open or even unhappy ending? The occasionally dropped shoe off the heel, the jiggle to readjust; the occasionally cracked egg; the mess of milk spilt. The concept of a loss for words. For a State of Cinema - as the state of grace that it affords us - in which nothing much happens but all things are possible, even inarticulacy, even failure, even mess...
how thunderingly linear & pointed & loaded & directional kevin was frustrated me & sorta limited the occasions on which one might have had some kind of emotional link w/the characters, to me. like even the scene in which the kid seemed to display some sort of momentary contrary-to-plot complicated response to TS was inevitably flipped to further contribute to its movement.
― Never translate German (schlump), Thursday, 8 December 2011 11:44 (twelve years ago) link
I don't care that the reason for the one-dimensional sledgehammer approach was that we were in Mom's head! I WANTED OUT.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 8 December 2011 12:42 (twelve years ago) link
Nonfans really beating Kevin with the MJ stick, as in Gleiberman's "Niranda July directs The Omen."
with that, Brody's #1 is The Future:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2011/12/richard-brody-the-best-in-film.html
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 8 December 2011 17:16 (twelve years ago) link
Oy, now there's a movie I never want to see again.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Thursday, 8 December 2011 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
I thought "it didn't make me want to kill everyone" was a thumbs-up!
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 8 December 2011 17:36 (twelve years ago) link
No, clearly I like movies that advocate killing everyone.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Thursday, 8 December 2011 17:43 (twelve years ago) link
Got a We Were There screener. Let's see if John Waters thinks maybe I should be dead.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Friday, 9 December 2011 13:29 (twelve years ago) link
jeez i just saw shame, i can't believe mcqueen made such a bad film! awful. it reminded me of home alone in its depth.,
― Never translate German (schlump), Friday, 9 December 2011 21:02 (twelve years ago) link
the tagline should have been HEY IT'S THE NINETIES
I hope they used SWV in all the sex scenes.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Friday, 9 December 2011 21:16 (twelve years ago) link
sexy wintergreen vaseline?
Man, I am seeing a bunch of mediocrities that aren't coming close to my top 20. The Artist might be entertaining if you've never seen a silent film (IT'S NOT ONE, btw) or Vertigo.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 10 December 2011 00:13 (twelve years ago) link
god, 'the future' was so awful and pointless
― silvana mangano, Saturday, 10 December 2011 00:16 (twelve years ago) link
Ides of March - kind of nothingSleeping Beauty - too obscureWeekend - pretty amazingPutty Hill - really liked it a lot more than I thought I wouldAttack the Block - good fun!
― gukbe, Saturday, 10 December 2011 00:23 (twelve years ago) link
oh yeah, and
The Future - fuck off with this shit
Pretty much on the same page with all 5 that I saw from those 6. (Unless you didn't mean the Catherine Breillat Sleeping Beauty.)
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Saturday, 10 December 2011 00:25 (twelve years ago) link
encouraged by this wave of hate for The Future
― Number None, Saturday, 10 December 2011 00:27 (twelve years ago) link
new Almodovar is minor and kinda fucked up
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 10 December 2011 00:30 (twelve years ago) link
btw you can find a renegade ILXor in the S&S poll if you look closely.
and now I sit down to Contagion.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 10 December 2011 00:31 (twelve years ago) link
(Unless you didn't mean the Catherine Breillat Sleeping Beauty.
I meant the Julia Leigh one, though I guess my opinion of Breillat's would be about the same - maybe less so.
― gukbe, Saturday, 10 December 2011 00:35 (twelve years ago) link
ugh I didn't like the Almodovar, and it seems like people are really overstating how fucked up it is. (this might be a by-product of covering a big genre-film fest every year.) Struck me as really plodding and weirdly boring considering the subject matter.
― Simon H., Saturday, 10 December 2011 00:57 (twelve years ago) link
but then I didn't think too much of the last two either, so, as ever, ymmv.
― Simon H., Saturday, 10 December 2011 01:01 (twelve years ago) link
i thought broken embraces was total trash but liked this one pretty well. because i was engrossed, maybe, & it felt like as good a delivery on his premise as we were promised.
― Never translate German (schlump), Saturday, 10 December 2011 01:30 (twelve years ago) link
I've never liked Banderas much when he has to kinda act.
geez Contagion was pretty good! cept for the parts that reminded me of Traffic's weak points, like some of what Jude Law was doing.
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 10 December 2011 03:02 (twelve years ago) link
yeah I liked Contagion. I like that it was basically an elaborate reearch piece disguised as a blockbuster. also, y'know, Paltrow brain.
― Simon H., Saturday, 10 December 2011 03:11 (twelve years ago) link
*research
― Simon H., Saturday, 10 December 2011 03:12 (twelve years ago) link
Bleh -- the new Almodovar.
― Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 10 December 2011 03:20 (twelve years ago) link
well, I'm done. For now.
Best thing I saw all day was the 30-minute climactic samurai battle in Miike's 13 Assassins, the busiest, bloodiest, muddiest ever. The rest of it is professional classicism.
― Dr Morbius, Sunday, 11 December 2011 02:13 (twelve years ago) link
The director's cut (2.5 hrs) of that was a fest highlight earlier this year.
― Simon H., Sunday, 11 December 2011 02:16 (twelve years ago) link
Think I'm going to blow off the pile in favor of the first episode of Fanny & Alexander.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Sunday, 11 December 2011 02:17 (twelve years ago) link
13 Assassins was good.
― Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 11 December 2011 04:05 (twelve years ago) link
In my one poll I might vote for Brad Pitt and Michelle Williams... for other movies.
http://www.bostonfilmcritics.org/content/current-winners
― Dr Morbius, Sunday, 11 December 2011 19:32 (twelve years ago) link
a music award for The Artist! Cannibalizing Vertigo pays off.
― Dr Morbius, Sunday, 11 December 2011 20:00 (twelve years ago) link
bravura best actress pick from LA critics: Yun Jung-hee, Poetry
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2011/12/lafca_is_delibe.php
― Dr Morbius, Sunday, 11 December 2011 21:55 (twelve years ago) link
YES!
― Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 11 December 2011 21:58 (twelve years ago) link
Poetry is at the moment my film of the year.
ugh on Christopher Plummer, who looks like a shoe-in for a nod now.
― Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 11 December 2011 21:59 (twelve years ago) link
racist/xenophobic assholes predictably complaining
xp
― Dr Morbius, Sunday, 11 December 2011 22:00 (twelve years ago) link
The Artist is the ugh of the year; I'd even rather see Hugo win.
I'd rather see The Tree of Life win.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Sunday, 11 December 2011 23:44 (twelve years ago) link
LAFCA have been great at championing lost causes in best actress the last few years.
Yolande Moreau, SéraphineKim Hye-ja, MotherYoon Jeong-hee, Poetry
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Monday, 12 December 2011 02:40 (twelve years ago) link
Sorry, I meant to say they've been great at championing the best actresses in best actress the last few years.
same thing.
The Sl4nt list is a good one! Coming in a few days...
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 12 December 2011 03:42 (twelve years ago) link
SF Critics a mix of yay (Certified Copy, Redgrave) dull (Oldman), and ugh (Swinton):
http://sffcc.org/main/
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 12 December 2011 03:50 (twelve years ago) link
I think now that this weekend's done, we're definitely past the point where "open race" can be used anymore.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Monday, 12 December 2011 03:52 (twelve years ago) link
Think we reached this point a little later than last year, tho.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Monday, 12 December 2011 04:00 (twelve years ago) link
if you're assigning Oscar Inevitability to The Artist, well, this is not the Oscar thread.
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 12 December 2011 04:05 (twelve years ago) link
OK, you can have this thread.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Monday, 12 December 2011 04:16 (twelve years ago) link
are we going to have to do Sandbox Oscars?
That I've seen better silent-film pastiches than The Artist on network variety shows.... it just.... a different nadir for the AAs.
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 12 December 2011 04:44 (twelve years ago) link
we're definitely past the point where "open race" can be used anymore.
But all we know is who gets nominated, not who's a lock to win.
― Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 12 December 2011 12:23 (twelve years ago) link