The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Resurrecting the Movies thread...
louisev:
I liked 'The Namesake' more than 'Monsoon Wedding' , probably because I thought that the father character was very well drawn and understandable. However, I do agree with the reviewer about the 'whirlwind speed' of the sweeping plot, and it was never more noticeable than when when the Gangullis settle in New York and one minute Ashima is crying and saying she wants to go home to India and the next minute she has two kids. That part went WAY too fast for me! But there were some fabulous little amusing lines in it, like when Gogol decides that he wants to keep his first name at school instead of of changing to his 'good name' and his father says 'There is nothing we can do in a country where the president is named Jimmy.'
The plot went too fast but mainly because I wanted to get to know them all better, but I agree also with one of the dissenting reviewers who said the insights into the son's romantic life would be better left out, and seem oddly out of place.
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on December 24, 2007, 09:28:02 pm ---I think I've been eating all of hers. :-\
I saw "Juno" on Saturday and "Sweeney Todd" on Sunday. Thought both were good, but not great.
Is it just me, or are the critics more out of whack than ever in the last year or so? My opinions used to jibe pretty closely with most of theirs - especially the most pretentious ones from the biggest N.Y. and L.A. papers. But lately most of them are raving about movies like this, I go to see them, and go, "Hunh?"
"Juno" had some lovely moments. Ellen Page was terrific, but who really stood out to me was Michael Cera as Paulie Bleeker. He had some non-verbal reactions that were so deliciously subtle - if I squinted hard for a moment, I could have been looking at an extremely young Spencer Tracy. But some of the dialog was really contrived. All very witty, but it kept not ringing true to me as stuff these characters would actually say. God, I hate it when that happens.
And "Sweeney Todd" - well, Johnny Depp was wonderful, though - gasp - a tad over the top towards the end. But for my money, he's quite a decent little singer. And Alan Rickman was great as always - he's another one who's so subtle - is there any English actor who isn't? But there were certain directorial choices (and I love Tim Burton) that left me cold - not exhilarated like I remember being when I first saw it at 20-something many, MANY moons ago.
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I'm with ya, Barb. Contrived dialogue, plotline, plot devices and movies are becoming more and more obvious to me. That's why I seldom tolerate sitcoms or TV dramas any more. The characters do and say things that no real person would - but you realize they do this so the plot can move forward.
I'm not surprised Johnny Depp has a singing voice, he actually came to L.A. to be in a rock band as I recall. So he had to feel he had some kind of talent in that direction. I"m always in awe of most A list Brit actors. Most of them attend the Academy or whatever they call their Drama school there, and it's pretty prestigious and only the really good ones make it through, so most of the time, they're very impressive talents.
MaineWriter:
Louise and I had our simulcast film festival this weekend and saw The Fountain, The Namesake, Gods and Monsters, and Ed Wood. I liked them all but Gods and Monsters was definitely my favorite. There's a special "Making Of.." feature on the DVD that I would recommend, too.
Sir Ian McKellan was definitely robbed of his Oscar for best actor. So what else is new with the Academy? An openly gay man playing an openly gay movie director? Of course he'd never win, even though he deserved it.
L
Kd5000:
Slightly off topic, but I've seen two lists today, one on CNN.com and one on MSN.com which ranked ZODIAC as one of the ten best movies of 2007. MSN.com ranked it #2 after NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. It was released so early in the year, it will probably be forgotten by Award season. Do wish ZODIAC had done better at the box office.
http://movies.msn.com/movies/2007review/top10movies?photoidx=10
BelAir:
--- Quote from: MaineWriter on December 22, 2007, 07:18:50 pm ---I just watched "The Fountain" on DVD and enjoyed it very much. Of course, lots of close-ups of Hugh Jackman probably helped! Even so, I enjoyed the story. The music was great, too. Anyone else here see this?
L
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I saw it Les. I thought it was fascinating...
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