Sorry, Rothkopf is killing it.
Anyone notice yet that the whole #teammargaret campaign ends just like the movie itself: two people in a theater, hugging and crying? —Joshua Rothkopf
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:46 (twelve years ago) link
ok, he's captain of the philistines.
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:48 (twelve years ago) link
not strictly detritus, but I adore this para from Armond White's Dragon Tattoo review:
Trent Reznor’s score provides a new kind murder music, laughably indistinguishable from a floor-waxer or jet engine. Fincher’s team of high-priced, show-offy hacks are simply in the business of polishing and numbing Dragon Tattoo’s repugnant storyline even if it means incorporating such distractions as Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” or Enya’s “Orinocco Flow”–mash-ups worthy of Gaga. It’s all pointless enough to revoke Fincher’s Kubrick Fan Boy membership card.
― remy bean in exile, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:49 (twelve years ago) link
Another overlooked gem that barely gained any recognition during its measly release, and only now seems to have developed a slow-building cult following: Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret. I stand by the assertion that this not-quite-completed work is the director's Magnificent Ambersons, a masterful sophomore effort held down by studio pressure that has kept the director's cut from seeing the light of day (yet). It's a fragmented experience mainly anchored by Anna Paquin's impressive turn as a scowling, confused young woman, but remains one of the most unnerving evocations of teen angst since Thirteen. — Eric Kohn
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:51 (twelve years ago) link
The opening credits of Dragon Tattoo are the movie's one bright (sic) spot.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:51 (twelve years ago) link
xp not buying it
to be fair, Drive is not awful, just silly. If they'd had the sense to kill off Gosling as the genre tropes require, I might grudgingly point my thumb up at a 95-degree angle.
I was sposed to go to Dragon Tattoo screening last night, but was exhausted from drinking w/ m4tmos.
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:53 (twelve years ago) link
Have you seen Margaret, EH? If not can I FedEx my 'preemptive panner' rep to you?
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:54 (twelve years ago) link
Won't get here by Xmas, unfor.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:56 (twelve years ago) link
And passing me that title on the basis of one single film is like that episode of Golden Girls when Dorothy hands Rose Blanche's slut crown on the basis of a single story.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:57 (twelve years ago) link
hi, Morbs!
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
I keep forgetting that Eric watches I'm Not There once a week now
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:14 (twelve years ago) link
so what do I have to do to get you to send me that screener
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:15 (twelve years ago) link
lol, I misread his post as an offer to send a screener too, A.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:16 (twelve years ago) link
Which I was going to refuse with maximum prejudice.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:17 (twelve years ago) link
You have to read more carefully or run Fox Searchlight! They didn't send any; I paid to see Margaret here in October.
xxp
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:17 (twelve years ago) link
Eric, are you still in the OMGSociety, and if so are we putting Pitt ToL performance in lead or supporting?
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:20 (twelve years ago) link
This might me my last year, so I'm debating whether or not to vote at all.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:22 (twelve years ago) link
David Edelstein's half-and-half review of Tree probably approximates my own feelings.
I read Edelstein as basically saying that Tree of Life was great but would have been better if it was half an hour longer, which is kind of my view as well.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:34 (twelve years ago) link
Emerson on the dinosaurs and ambiguity and Shame
― gukbe, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 16:39 (twelve years ago) link
It seems like lots of viewers try to attach some symbolic significance to the dinosaur encounter. I tend to see it as of-a-piece with the rest of the "birth of the cosmos" section - it's just another step in the formation of the planet - no more and no less significant than other steps in the process, such as the cooling of the earth's crust or the arrival of sea-based life. I certainly don't see it as the "birth of compassion" or something like that. We shouldn't try to get inside the dinosaur's head. If anything it dramatizes a point on the evolution of life on earth - showing a creature with relatively primitive forms of social organization.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 17:10 (twelve years ago) link
Margaret reopens in NYC on Friday
http://www.cinemavillage.com/chc/cv/show_movie.asp?movieid=2348
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 18:38 (twelve years ago) link
Have to submit my top 10 today. This reminds me that I actually totally loathe listmaking.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:05 (twelve years ago) link
Listmaking is easy; blurbing is hard.
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:06 (twelve years ago) link
tree of life isn't even beautiful, is the thing. no more so than yr average nature documentary, interspersed with cheesy cgi. how was the dinosaur scene any more meaningful than any given episode of walking with dinosaurs? so hokey.
― degas-dirty monet (lex pretend), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:20 (twelve years ago) link
i did wish margaret was longer! or, i could have seen how it could have been longer.
I've banished TOL from memory except for the Brad Pitt scenes.
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:21 (twelve years ago) link
there's not much to remember. it's not just hallmark card deep, it's hallmark card attractive too.
― degas-dirty monet (lex pretend), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:23 (twelve years ago) link
haha im surprised that you liked 'margaret' lex!
― ice cræmde (є(٥_ ٥)э), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:25 (twelve years ago) link
The "creation of the cosmos" section, coming right on the heels of the death of the son, the family's grief, and its questioning of its faith is pretty clearly based on the Book of Job and God's reply to Job in particular (a verse of which is shown onscreen at the beginning of the movie) so your reaction to this section may have something to do with how much the Book of Job resonates with you.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:26 (twelve years ago) link
i posted something vaguely incoherent about why http://alexmacpherson.tumblr.com/post/14561553326/critically-divisive-films-that-last-about-15-hours-of
i tend to really like films which get human interaction right
― degas-dirty monet (lex pretend), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:27 (twelve years ago) link
xp
― degas-dirty monet (lex pretend), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:28 (twelve years ago) link
i think there are surely more resonant or meaningful ways to interrogate the nature of suffering than ugly visuals straight out of a windows screensaver
― degas-dirty monet (lex pretend), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:30 (twelve years ago) link
the entire film had the visual appeal of stock photography
your reaction to this section may have something to do with how much the Book of Job resonates with you.
what if like me you find the Book of Job beautiful and perplexing and this movie a stiff realization of it?
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:32 (twelve years ago) link
Well, that's a valid point of view - I don't agree with it, but I can understand it.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:33 (twelve years ago) link
I guess some ppl found in ToL a rich explication of humanity's role in the cosmos. The closest I came to that was Contagion.
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:36 (twelve years ago) link
I bet you giggled softly as you set up your own zing.
― Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:43 (twelve years ago) link
That's an interesting parallel. I guess both movies dramatize the human condition: though in "Contagion" the universe's relation to humanity is unequivocally one of supreme indifference, whereas in ToL, it's more ambiguous.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:45 (twelve years ago) link
I had my problems with TOL but the childhood section was truly beautiful
― Number None, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:49 (twelve years ago) link
stock photography > blogging
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:56 (twelve years ago) link
stock photography > coughing
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:57 (twelve years ago) link
stock photography < gwyneth's peeled back scalp
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:58 (twelve years ago) link
I think Andrew O'Hehir of Salon has hit a year-end wall. They put up his reviews of Tintin & Dragon Tattoo yesterday, both mixed but both literally asking "Was it worth doing?"
― Dr Morbius, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:59 (twelve years ago) link
I can relate.
― Detrius of Life (Eric H.), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 21:00 (twelve years ago) link
oh boy, Lex Pretend sharing his piercing insights into The Tree of Life once more. he sees through the bullshit maaaan.
― berg non, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 21:18 (twelve years ago) link
I enjoyed The Tree of Life quite a bit without caring what the "point" of it was.
― jaymc, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 22:38 (twelve years ago) link
― Number None, Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:49 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Permalink
yeah otm i mean saying "the entire film had the visual appeal of stock photography" leaves out yknow the entire parts of the film that were beautiful thoughtful montage taking the vantage point of children & creating a tapestry that felt like memory.
― Never translate German (schlump), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 22:44 (twelve years ago) link
why is it that the people who want to come after me are always the ones with completely anonymous, forgettable usernames that sound like caveman grunts? who the fuck is "berg non"? gtfo!
― degas-dirty monet (lex pretend), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 23:58 (twelve years ago) link
beautiful thoughtful montage taking the vantage point of children & creating a tapestry that felt like memory.
those were the bits i meant! it's like if you typed "nostalgia" into istockphoto as a keyword
― degas-dirty monet (lex pretend), Wednesday, 21 December 2011 23:59 (twelve years ago) link