Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings
I haven't seen 35 Shots of Rum. I wasn't in Los Angeles at the time. It looks rather lovely. I've heard The Intruder is impossible to get through on any level. Right now while I'll concede that Beau Travail is formally astonishing, it's also a little emotionally remote for me. It's a very good movie though. Friday Night is a glorious little movie.
"How's the despair?"
Have you seen the lovely 35 Shots Of Rum? It's my favorite Denis.Sabin wrote:Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis) - 6/10
It's Denis so it's full of pleasurable rhythms, but unlike Friday Night and Beau Travail it's quite often very dull. Especially in the middle half-hour before, well, let's just say lunch-time. Denis sets up character development that doesn't entirely matter especially considering how placid Gallo is in this film. At the one hour-mark, it becomes something incredibly striking though. That scene in particular is a stunner. It's beautifully photographed with a gorgeous score. Her commentary on vampirism-as-sex-as-drug-addiction is pretty much as you'd expect until it the one-hour mark. I hate to harp on this but it didn't really take one hour of build-up. My least favorite Denis.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis) - 6/10
It's Denis so it's full of pleasurable rhythms, but unlike Friday Night and Beau Travail it's quite often very dull. Especially in the middle half-hour before, well, let's just say lunch-time. Denis sets up character development that doesn't entirely matter especially considering how placid Gallo is in this film. At the one hour-mark, it becomes something incredibly striking though. That scene in particular is a stunner. It's beautifully photographed with a gorgeous score. Her commentary on vampirism-as-sex-as-drug-addiction is pretty much as you'd expect until it the one-hour mark. I hate to harp on this but it didn't really take one hour of build-up. My least favorite Denis.
It's Denis so it's full of pleasurable rhythms, but unlike Friday Night and Beau Travail it's quite often very dull. Especially in the middle half-hour before, well, let's just say lunch-time. Denis sets up character development that doesn't entirely matter especially considering how placid Gallo is in this film. At the one hour-mark, it becomes something incredibly striking though. That scene in particular is a stunner. It's beautifully photographed with a gorgeous score. Her commentary on vampirism-as-sex-as-drug-addiction is pretty much as you'd expect until it the one-hour mark. I hate to harp on this but it didn't really take one hour of build-up. My least favorite Denis.
"How's the despair?"
I've long wanted to watch this but the price on Amazon put me off. I think I'll take the plunge and revive my obsession with Faye Dunaway.Big Magilla wrote:Hogan's Goat (1971) Glenn Jordan 9/10
In off-year elections I try to get my fill of politics by watching The Last Hurrah, The Best Man, Advise & Consent or something else election related. This year I wanted to watch something different.
Hogan's Goat concerns the 1890 Brooklyn mayor's race in the days when the five boroughs were separate cities. This is the PBS version of the 1965 off-Broadway play that made Faye Dunaway a star. She reprises her role here as the Irish born wife of challenger Robert Foxworth with George Rose as the crooked incumbant, Philip Bosco as the local priest, Kevin Conway, Rue McClanahan and others.
I've long been familiar with the work in its musical version, 1970's Cry for Us All, but this is the first time I've seen the original play. It's very intense, with a still shocking denouement played to the hilt by Dunaway, Foxworth and Rose. McClanahan, second billed on the DVD cover, is outstanding in her one scene but the play belongs to Dunaway who mesmerizes, particularly in the final scenes. It's easy to see why she became a star. It's a performance that ranks with her best, right up there with Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown.
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Big Magilla
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Every Girl should Be Married (1948) Don Hartman 6/10
Pretty Baby (1950) Britaigne Windust 5/10
Room for One More (1952) Norman Taurog 7/10
Betsy Drake is the common denominator in these three films. Cary Grant's third wife (1949-1962), she's still quite feisty and outspoken in her 80s as demonstrated by her appearance in the Grant biography accompanying the Blu-ray release of North by Northwest in which reminisces about introducing Grant to LSD and finding it hard to believe that he was in a gay relationship with Randolph Scott when he was "fucking" her.
In Every Girl Should Be Married she plays a chatty, annoying low level clerk in a department store who charms not one, but two millionaires, pediatrician Grant and store owner Franchot Tone. Despite the fact that if you saw her character coming in real life you'd run the other way, she manages to nab Grant in the final reel.
In Pretty Baby she plays a klutz who manages to hold onto her job in an advertising firm because the firm's richest client (Edmund Gwenn) spots her in a crowded subway car where she manages to get a seat by carrying a doll, pretending it's a real baby, which she has named after the geezer - she actually stole the doll from a display of his baby food line. Dennis Morgan and Zachary Scott co-star.
In the charming Room for One More she and Grant are a real life married couple who adopt a couple of kids. She's excellent in this one.
If you look up Drake's biography on Wikipedia, the facts of which she herself supposedly supplied, you'll learn that she got out of an early contract to Hal Wallis by having herself declared insane. From her manic performances in the first two of these films one wonders if it was very far from the truth.
Pretty Baby (1950) Britaigne Windust 5/10
Room for One More (1952) Norman Taurog 7/10
Betsy Drake is the common denominator in these three films. Cary Grant's third wife (1949-1962), she's still quite feisty and outspoken in her 80s as demonstrated by her appearance in the Grant biography accompanying the Blu-ray release of North by Northwest in which reminisces about introducing Grant to LSD and finding it hard to believe that he was in a gay relationship with Randolph Scott when he was "fucking" her.
In Every Girl Should Be Married she plays a chatty, annoying low level clerk in a department store who charms not one, but two millionaires, pediatrician Grant and store owner Franchot Tone. Despite the fact that if you saw her character coming in real life you'd run the other way, she manages to nab Grant in the final reel.
In Pretty Baby she plays a klutz who manages to hold onto her job in an advertising firm because the firm's richest client (Edmund Gwenn) spots her in a crowded subway car where she manages to get a seat by carrying a doll, pretending it's a real baby, which she has named after the geezer - she actually stole the doll from a display of his baby food line. Dennis Morgan and Zachary Scott co-star.
In the charming Room for One More she and Grant are a real life married couple who adopt a couple of kids. She's excellent in this one.
If you look up Drake's biography on Wikipedia, the facts of which she herself supposedly supplied, you'll learn that she got out of an early contract to Hal Wallis by having herself declared insane. From her manic performances in the first two of these films one wonders if it was very far from the truth.
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Precious Doll
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Mammoth (2009) Lukas Moodysson 6/10
Case 39 (2009) Christian Alvart 1/10
A Christmas Carol (2009) Robert Zemeckis 4/10
Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967) Dusan Makavejev 6/10
The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) Robert Schwentke 4/10
Case 39 (2009) Christian Alvart 1/10
A Christmas Carol (2009) Robert Zemeckis 4/10
Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (1967) Dusan Makavejev 6/10
The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) Robert Schwentke 4/10
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Big Magilla
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Hogan's Goat (1971) Glenn Jordan 9/10
In off-year elections I try to get my fill of politics by watching The Last Hurrah, The Best Man, Advise & Consent or something else election related. This year I wanted to watch something different.
Hogan's Goat concerns the 1890 Brooklyn mayor's race in the days when the five boroughs were separate cities. This is the PBS version of the 1965 off-Broadway play that made Faye Dunaway a star. She reprises her role here as the Irish born wife of challenger Robert Foxworth with George Rose as the crooked incumbant, Philip Bosco as the local priest, Kevin Conway, Rue McClanahan and others.
I've long been familiar with the work in its musical version, 1970's Cry for Us All, but this is the first time I've seen the original play. It's very intense, with a still shocking denouement played to the hilt by Dunaway, Foxworth and Rose. McClanahan, second billed on the DVD cover, is outstanding in her one scene but the play belongs to Dunaway who mesmerizes, particularly in the final scenes. It's easy to see why she became a star. It's a performance that ranks with her best, right up there with Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown.
In off-year elections I try to get my fill of politics by watching The Last Hurrah, The Best Man, Advise & Consent or something else election related. This year I wanted to watch something different.
Hogan's Goat concerns the 1890 Brooklyn mayor's race in the days when the five boroughs were separate cities. This is the PBS version of the 1965 off-Broadway play that made Faye Dunaway a star. She reprises her role here as the Irish born wife of challenger Robert Foxworth with George Rose as the crooked incumbant, Philip Bosco as the local priest, Kevin Conway, Rue McClanahan and others.
I've long been familiar with the work in its musical version, 1970's Cry for Us All, but this is the first time I've seen the original play. It's very intense, with a still shocking denouement played to the hilt by Dunaway, Foxworth and Rose. McClanahan, second billed on the DVD cover, is outstanding in her one scene but the play belongs to Dunaway who mesmerizes, particularly in the final scenes. It's easy to see why she became a star. It's a performance that ranks with her best, right up there with Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown.
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Precious Doll
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Sugar (2008) Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck 7/10
This film seems to have slipped under the radar which is a shame because it's every bit a good as their previous Half Nelson.
Crossing Over (2009) Wayne Kramer 1/10
So overwrought and ridiculous that it makes Crash (the Higgis one, not the Croneneberg) look possibly subtle in comparison. It's also bad that it's compulsively watchable. A must-see for lovers of bad films.
Management (2009) Stephen Belber 3/10
This film seems to have slipped under the radar which is a shame because it's every bit a good as their previous Half Nelson.
Crossing Over (2009) Wayne Kramer 1/10
So overwrought and ridiculous that it makes Crash (the Higgis one, not the Croneneberg) look possibly subtle in comparison. It's also bad that it's compulsively watchable. A must-see for lovers of bad films.
Management (2009) Stephen Belber 3/10
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Humpday - This is the kind of film that makes indie films look like they're trying too hard to be out there.
I don't understand this.
While it's somewhat interesting, it's also relatively pointless.
It's absolutely not pointless! It's about the total lack of proximity that men have between them and how it can be misconstrued as curiosity or actually be curiosity. It's about hetero-one-up-manship and competition.
"How's the despair?"
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OscarGuy
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The Stoning of Soraya M - a thoughtful look at the desperate situation women face in Iran. Aghdashloo is wonderful presence, her performance is strong and it's unfortunate she's not talked about more frequently as a contender this year.
Humpday - This is the kind of film that makes indie films look like they're trying too hard to be out there. While it's somewhat interesting, it's also relatively pointless. The most watchable dynamics are between the man and his wife. The rest just seems like hetero-pro-homo rhetoric.
Humpday - This is the kind of film that makes indie films look like they're trying too hard to be out there. While it's somewhat interesting, it's also relatively pointless. The most watchable dynamics are between the man and his wife. The rest just seems like hetero-pro-homo rhetoric.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
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Big Magilla
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Tomei's other two nominations were well deserved, this one not so much. It's not one of those awful wins like Mary Pickford in Coquette, Elizabeth Taylor in BUtterfield 8 or Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger, it's just puzzling.
Cousin Vinny was a true ensemble piece with all the actors contributing deft performances. Was Tomei the best of the lot? Maybe, but Joe Pesci, Fred Gwynne and Lane Smith were quite funny, too.
Cousin Vinny was a true ensemble piece with all the actors contributing deft performances. Was Tomei the best of the lot? Maybe, but Joe Pesci, Fred Gwynne and Lane Smith were quite funny, too.
Big Magilla wrote:My Cousin Vinny (1991) Jonathan Lynn 7/10
It's still pretty damn funny, but I still can't figure out how Marisa Tomei was even nominated for an Oscar, let alone won.
She's heartwarming, hilarious and, at the 11th hour, steals the entire movie. Why is there so much resistance to her win now 17 years later? While any of the other four nominees would've been worthy (Redgrave, in particular, perfectly inhabits the character of Ruth Wilcox as Forster had written her, but Richardson's devastating performance and Davis' neurotic Allen female were also quite worthy), Tomei's win for a comedic performance is a rare example of Oscar looking outside of the box and getting it right. I'll always defend it.
At least she has two other nominations under her belt now to further drown out the naysayers.
Edited By flipp525 on 1257180707
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell