The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Resurrecting the Movies thread...
serious crayons:
I saw Children of Men yesterday and didn't love it. It wasn't boring, and its vision of a near-future dystopia was dazzling and scary. But overall I thought the story was bleak and kind of pointless. (Re the question Dell posed: I do have children, so that might color my view, but I really do understand why some people don't have and don't want children. However, I think the prospect of all of humanity being wiped out within a few decades would be depressing, regardless of one's parent or nonparent status. Besides, I'm not sure whether the movie was suggesting that the world was falling apart BECAUSE children weren't being born, or the other way around.)
But overall, I saw a lot of pretty good movies over the past year. (That is, once I could venture out to the theaters and enjoy any movie at all, aside from ... you know.) In no particular order, I liked:
Little Miss Sunshine -- just saw that again a week ago, and it's still wonderful
The Queen -- both lead performances were excellent
The Departed -- yes, Mark Wahlberg was great (actually I always like him, for some reason, even though he's bland and affectless) but personally I think Leo stole the show
Blood Diamond -- again, Leo was excellent, and believe me, I am NOT a huge Leo fan normally
Hollywoodland -- critics just did not get this movie; it was a lovely study on success and failure
The Illusionist -- I usually like Edward Norton, too, again inexplicably because he, too, is bland and affectless
The Prestige -- not only do I l ike Christian, but * donning hardhat * I like him even better than Hugh!
The Devil Wears Prada -- light and cute
I still haven't seen United 93 or Babel or Casino Royale or The Good Shepherd, The Lake House, The Pursuit of Happyness, Dreamgirls, A Good Year, and probably a bunch of others.
Back to the overrated movies: my picks for most overrated from that list are Forrest Gump and Chicago.
Whew! OK, now I think I've caught up.
ednbarby:
I would definitely pick Forrest Gump from that list, too. And (donning my hardhat) I would add Titanic.
I really loved Chicago - own it, in fact - so I'm going to plead the Fifth on that one.
I've avoided seeing Children of Men because it seems just too bleak to me, too. But I hear it's a good "action" movie and that Clive Owen is "the perfect action hero."
I still want to see Little Children and Notes on a Scandal next, because they contain, together, my three favorite actors right now (Judi Dench, Kate Winslet, and Cate Blanchett, in order (not respectively ;)). I might take Friday afternoon off to see Little Children, because it's only playing at a theater that doesn't have a day care center for Will-O. I'd also like to see Volver, but I'll have to try to fit that in sometime maybe next week.
ednbarby:
Oh, and Katherine, I thought Ben Affleck was *wonderful* in Hollywoodland. It's a shame he hasn't gotten more notice for it - it was really such a subtle, nuanced performance. That last scene shooting the home movie - Oh.My.God. Amazing, beautiful stuff. And like you with Leo, I *am not* a Ben Affleck fan. But I do think he tends to be more underrated than not. For instance, I thought his comic, self-satirizing turn in Shakespeare in Love was brilliant. Maybe that's where he just excels - at making fun of himself. He was also quite good in Bounce, which I hear was another self-deprecating one in the alcoholic-in-rehab sense.
Lynne:
--- Quote from: ednbarby on January 08, 2007, 09:52:47 am ---I like Keanu. He was Africa hot in "Speed." Liked him in My Own Private Idaho a lot.
I have a story about him (do I ever not have a story?). Absolutely true. About seven years ago, I worked with this guy who had studied filmmaking at the University of Miami, of all places, and whose wife Barbara had studied at the all-powerful USC. In so doing, she had worked with a few big name actors and still kept in touch with a few of them. Around the time Keanu was playing in his band (Dogstar, wasn't it?), the phone rings one day, my co-worker answers and someone says, "Yeah, can I speak to Barbara, please?" He says, "She's not in right now, can I take a message?" He goes, "Yeah. Just tell her Keanu called." We laughed about that, like, imagine if he said, "Keanu who?" Turns out he was calling her to invite her to see Dogstar play at a local club (in Miami) that night. Both of them ended up going, naturally, and they were out until 4 a.m. He said he was "a really cool guy - just acted like a regular guy you've grown up with, or something."
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the terrific story, Barb! Ah...one day maybe I'll get to brush close with Keanu's greatness! While having coffee after Gustavo with the NYC crowd, someone (John Gallagher maybe?) was trying to think of 'that actor who was born in Beirut'...I immediately came up with 'Keanu Reeves' and I think everybody else looked at me like I had two heads ;), but that's who he was thinking of. I mean just because I know all of Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal's pertinent data doesn't mean I don't have room for additional trivia!
--- Quote from: ednbarby on January 08, 2007, 12:14:10 pm ---Oh, and Katherine, I thought Ben Affleck was *wonderful* in Hollywoodland. It's a shame he hasn't gotten more notice for it - it was really such a subtle, nuanced performance. That last scene shooting the home movie - Oh.My.God. Amazing, beautiful stuff. And like you with Leo, I *am not* a Ben Affleck fan. But I do think he tends to be more underrated than not. For instance, I thought his comic, self-satirizing turn in Shakespeare in Love was brilliant. Maybe that's where he just excels - at making fun of himself. He was also quite good in Bounce, which I hear was another self-deprecating one in the alcoholic-in-rehab sense.
--- End quote ---
I need to see Hollywood - I also like Ben Affleck. He was very good, I thought, in Bounce, and I also loved him in Chasing Amy.
serious crayons:
So true about Ben Affleck, Barb and Lynne! I think JLo and a few bad role choices were his downfall. I liked him in a few things (Shakespeare, Good Will Hunting), then became soooo not interested in him for a while. But Hollywoodland changed my whole view of Ben -- he was fantastic: poignant, likeable, subtle, tragic.
And thanks for the nice words about Keanu! I probably would not fight to the death to defend his acting, but he's cute and appealing and not nearly as bad as people make fun of him for being.
I wish I could see Little Children, but it hasn't shown anywhere near here at this point. And another one I'd love to see but will probably have to wait for the DVD: Half Nelson.
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