The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Resurrecting the Movies thread...
Meryl:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on September 14, 2007, 12:31:09 pm ---I concur on all counts, Meryl. Well-said (and so much more briefly and succinctly than I ever could)!
--- End quote ---
Yeah, but I like your lack of brevity! ;D
I just remembered that in the first scene someone tells Ben Foster's character that he's known in some circles as Charlie Princess instead of Charlie Prince. That's really the only overt tip-off that I could see to why he's so "devoted" to Ben Wade.
oilgun:
Speaking of homo-erotic sub-text and gay villains, I just got back from seeing Cronenberg's Eastern Promises. I really enjoyed it, Viggo's performance is excellent and it was great seeing him in a movie with Vincent Cassel who's another favourite of mine. Early on in the film it becomes very evident that Vincent's character is in love with Viggo's and at times their relationship is oddly touching. Despite all the psychotic goings on, lol!
MaineWriter:
I just saw 3:10 to Yuma and then read the afterelton commentary. Frankly, I think the guy is grasping at straws to say this had a homophobic subtext. It is sort of like he had a certain idea and was going to make the movie fit that context, no matter what.
The movie was a little more shoot-'em-up than I expected but I found it absorbing. It will go on my "glad I saw it, once is enough" list. Sort of like The Departed and Munich.
L
ednbarby:
Good to know, oilgun!
I saw another wonderful one yesterday: "Across the Universe." A must-see for Beatles and/or Julie Taymor fans. (She's the one who did tremendous things with color and Salma Hayek in "Frida" and who made the very interesting "Titus" with Anthony Hopkins.)
It maybe helped that I went into this with low-ish expectations. Some of the critics have been very harsh, calling it things like "a spectacular failure." I didn't see it that way at all. In fact, I found the plot remarkably absorbing.
It's basically a musical made up entirely of Beatles songs, and set during the time that each of the songs it uses came to be. One review I read said that the Vietnam War was to this movie what AIDS was to "Rent." I didn't much care for "Rent." Never saw the stage version, but I thought the movie largely sucked. So this was way better, IMO.
Here's the most pleasant surprise of all, in a movie, to me, full of surprises: Evan Rachel Wood can sing. Like an angel. I cried three times during this movie, and two of those were when she was singing, just at the beauty of her voice and the underlying emotion. This is the first movie since "Brokeback" after which a complete stranger singled me out to talk about it. It was a woman about my age waiting for her husband/partner to come out of the rest room. She goes "Great film, huh?" I said "Wasn't that wonderful?" She goes, "Oh, yes. And what a tremendous amount of talent, there."
The harmonies were GORGEOUS.
It didn't hurt that Jim Sturgess, who plays Jude (the Paul counterpart) is a dead ringer for my first longtime boyfriend and probably the love of my life. And man, what a sweet, but powerful, voice. Joe Anderson, who plays Maxwell (Max), the John prototype, had the perfect voice for his songs, too, and was adorable in every other way.
Hell, I want to see it again just to catch some of the Beatles in-jokes I missed. And to figure out some more of the cameos. One of Jakey's faves does a neat rendition of "I Am the Walrus." ;)
One part got a little too Sgt. Pepper-ish for my taste, as much as I like the actor who did the bit (not gonna tell ya who he is - you'll all figure it out). But once that passed, I was right back in it. Lovely.
Front-Ranger:
Wow, there are several must-see movies this fall!!
Regarding 3:10 to Yuma, my husband, who's seen it and I haven't, says that the 3:10 refers to a verse in the Bible. Did any of you others pick up on that? The Bible verse, John 3:10, refers to the concept of original sin.
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