OT: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 is a KILLER movie! GO!

[starboardlight]

I'm with you rt. i saw Crash, after the Oscars. And despite all the emotions, despite hating that it's a film set in LA, and the only Asians were used as a joke, despite being annoyed by the over exaggerated characters, I liked the film. There's some meat there to chew on. I do think that the win at the Oscar was the worse thing to happen to it. People will now not be able to see it with out all that drama in their heads. It is saddle with justifying it's win. Where one might see it and say "that's was a fine film", people will now say "it wasn't Oscar worthy." Even now, a few people have post such criticism of it, whether they liked BBM or not.

[rtprod]

More worthy then say Capote but fails in comparison to BBM or even Good Night, and Good Luck....again this is just my opinion....

Good Night to me, was a very tiny slice and a modest film that rode its way to considerable attention for two reasons -- George Clooney at the helm and and a built-in issue that resonated with the artistic industry voting bodies.  It's certainly well-made and intelligent, but to me it seems content to be a "small" picture in many ways and is a bit esoteric.  Still very well made.

Capote was my second favorite of the nominees, and to me just an amazingly complex character in Capote, with his shifting loyalties and allegiances, his dark heart and impure motivations and ability to be as much of a con man as Perry Smith himself.  And speaking of Smith, Clifton Collins, Jr., was robbed of year-end kudos in my book, and if that is not a powerful supporting character who forces the lead to re-examine himself (the ideal function of a best supporting actor) then what is?  I really dug the vibe of something sickening rising in the heartland, crime, murder and corruption of the soul.  

Guess we're on a disagreeing streak -- and that's good!  

rt

[MaineWriter]

  And speaking of Smith, Clifton Collins, Jr., was robbed of year-end kudos in my book, if that is not a powerful supporting character who forces the lead to re-examine himself (the ideal function of a best supporting actor) then what is? 
rt

I thought the exact same thing and wondered if it was because he is not "famous" enough to be nominated?

[rtprod]

I'm with you rt. i saw Crash, after the Oscars. And despite all the emotions, despite hating that it's a film set in LA, and the only Asians were used as a joke, despite being annoyed by the over exaggerated characters, I liked the film

Did you think they were used as a joke?  I love the scene where the wife rushes into the hospital to find her husband.  Are you thinking about the undocumented immigrants in the van?  

BTW, I hate the term "illegal alien" because first of all, no human being is illegal.  Secondly, how can someone be an alien on a planet that belongs to all of us?   

rt

[slayers_creek_oth]

Capote was my second favorite of the nominees, and to me just an amazingly complex character in Capote, with his shifting loyalties and allegiances, his dark heart and impure motivations and ability to be as much of a con man as Perry Smith himself.  And speaking of Smith, Clifton Collins, Jr., was robbed of year-end kudos in my book, if that is not a powerful supporting character who forces the lead to re-examine himself (the ideal function of a best supporting actor) then what is?  I really dug the vibe of something sickening rising in the heartland, crime, murder and corruption of the soul.

I felt that Capote had some incredible performances.....breathtaking in some cases but the film itself had no weight to it....IMO the performances were Oscar worthy but the film itself wasn't.....but what do I know?  

Guess we're on a disagreeing streak -- and that's good!

Yes it is.....I enjoy hearing your opinions.....

[slayers_creek_oth]

OT again.....but I also had mixed feelings about Munich.....what did you think?

[rtprod]

I liked Munich very much, actually.  However, as daring as it is at times, it does amount to little more than a series of executions (all well staged) that become a bit rote after awhile, with one really resonant theme -- terrorism corrputs everyone inside out, there's no "right" and the costs on the individual are greater sometimes than the country.  I loved the scene with the daughter answering the phone, and then the scene with Bana on the phone later in the film.  Great, bizarre sex scene that defies explanation. 

rt

[starboardlight]

Did you think they were used as a joke?  I love the scene where the wife rushes into the hospital to find her husband.  Are you thinking about the undocumented immigrants in the van?  

BTW, I hate the term "illegal alien" because first of all, no human being is illegal.  Secondly, how can someone be an alien on a planet that belongs to all of us?   

rt

the man got run over by a van, and it was played for laughs, in the boys' dilemma of whether to just drive off or to pull him out. the discovery of the people in the back of the van in that "auto-shop" also seemed like it was played for laughs to me. And the woman arguing insanely at the beginning as also such a joke. I'll admit, I maybe overly sensitive because I'm Asian. That is entirely possible but doesn't change the fact that I was annoyed by those characterizations. In spite of them, I still liked the film.

[slayers_creek_oth]

I liked Munich very much, actually.  However, as daring as it is at times, it does amount to little more than a series of executions (all well staged) that become a bit rote after awhile, with one really resonant theme -- terrorism corrputs everyone inside out, there's no "right" and the costs on the individual are greater sometimes than the country.  I loved the scene with the daughter answering the phone, and then the scene with Bana on the phone later in the film.  Great, bizarre sex scene that defies explanation. 

rt

Yeah I guess I liked it too......I went into it with a bit of a bias because I am a big Spielberg fan and I think that I felt obligated to like it.....you know?  I think that can often times ruin a film...

[rtprod]

I'll admit, I maybe overly sensitive because I'm Asian.

No, that's just fine actually and those points are well taken.  I'm overly sensitive about the BBM Oscar loss too because I'm... well, you know the rest.

Since I didn't identify with Larenz Tate or Ludicris, I found both of them ludicrous actually, and their behavior in that scene repellant.  Yes, the wife is shrill.  And again, the chop shop owner is not worth identifying with.  When that van is opened at the end of the film, there is quite a sense of poetry and wonder to the beginning of their journey.  Guess I'm sensitive to that because I know many who are undocumented immigrants who have arrived here in similar situations. 

rt