The Movie Thread

[Tinka Cat]

Any Films of the Decade list that doesn't include Dogville is worthless:

http://spectrumculture.com/2009/11/end-of-the-aughts-films-of-the-decade.html

so have you seen his Antichrist yet? talk about love-it-or-despise-it reviews!

I haven't seen it yet, but it's definitely on the list. I've been ignoring the reviews. But Von Trier + Dafoe can't be that bad!

I can't bear the idea of seeing Willem lose his, er, little willem.

from what I read, the "She" character loses her little man in the boat, by some rusty scissors.  I might pass on this one. 

[RGMike]

Just came from seeing Pirate Radio. As a radio geek, I was a bit disappointed. A fitfully entertaining mess, but not exactly a good movie. Apparently the studio trimmed 20+ minutes from the film since it played in the UK 6 months ago under the title The Boat That Rocked. Which may explain why some scenes seem to be out of chronological order -- not in a Tarantino-esque way, but in a somebody-screwed-up way. Beyond that, although it takes place in 1966, most of the music the deejays play on their pirate radio ship ("Radio RocK", meant to evoke Radio Caroline) is from '67 or later, and I'm a stickler for that sort of thing. Highlight: one of the deejays marries a beautiful blonde American -- played by none other than Betty Draper herself, January Jones -- whose name is Elenore. Can ya guess what song breaks out on the sndtk?  But I can't say I think the flick is swell. Wait for DVD.

[SFGuy]

"2012" must be awful. Mick LaSalle gives it his top rating.

[urth]

Just came from seeing Pirate Radio. As a radio geek, I was a bit disappointed. A fitfully entertaining mess, but not exactly a good movie. Apparently the studio trimmed 20+ minutes from the film since it played in the UK 6 months ago under the title The Boat That Rocked. Which may explain why some scenes seem to be out of chronological order -- not in a Tarantino-esque way, but in a somebody-screwed-up way. Beyond that, although it takes place in 1966, most of the music the deejays play on their pirate radio ship ("Radio RocK", meant to evoke Radio Caroline) is from '67 or later, and I'm a stickler for that sort of thing. Highlight: one of the deejays marries a beautiful blonde American -- played by none other than Betty Draper herself, January Jones -- whose name is Elenore. Can ya guess what song breaks out on the sndtk?  But I can't say I think the flick is swell. Wait for DVD.

Pretty much in agreement with your assessment--it seemed to me like they filmed scenes at random, then assembled them similarly. Loosely based on Radio Caroline, but only barely, it seemed more to me like Almost Famous gone to sea--and Philip Seymour Hoffman's part reminded me more than slightly of his turn as Lester Bangs in that film (although his part was bigger here). Probably the most obvious glitch was the songs that were not released 'til the 70s, i.e. Won't Get Fooled Again and Cat Stevens' Father and Son. That said, if you don't think about it too much it was kind of a fun movie, but not great art. Probably not going to be seeing it listed among the Oscar nominees in a couple of months.

Btw, I thought that the name they chose for the operation--"Radio Rock"--was perhaps least imaginative one they could have come up with. Jeez, call it Radio Jacqueline or Radio Howard or Radio Flower Pot--any of those would have been more interesting than Radio Rock.

[RGMike]

"2012" must be awful. Mick LaSalle gives it his top rating.

BWAHAHAHAHA!  I was thisclose to posting the same thing yesterday! Oh that Mick. And it actually has gotten some "good" reviews, in the "the CGI is great if you're into 'disaster porn'" vein, but a lot of very bad notices too.

And urth I totally agree that PS Hoffman is doing a Lester Bangs retread in Pirate Radio. Speaking of Almost Famous, next week's ep of American Dad (which I'm actually quite fond of; it seems to be the Seth McFarlane show he has the least to do with) is a ...Famous spoof -- Stan becomes a Deadhead-type follower of the band My Morning Jacket (!)

[Tinka Cat]

Just came from seeing Pirate Radio. As a radio geek, I was a bit disappointed. A fitfully entertaining mess, but not exactly a good movie. ... Which may explain why some scenes seem to be out of chronological order -- not in a Tarantino-esque way, but in a somebody-screwed-up way.

Pretty much in agreement with your assessment--it seemed to me like they filmed scenes at random, then assembled them similarly. ...

KFOG was talking about it this morning, asking readers if they saw it,etc.  They also asked "Did they show it in order?"  Seems like the movie's "fabula and sujet" is a major flaw. 

(Fabula and sujet, you ask?  I found those terms on wikipedia while poking around for information on Memento, Christopher Nolan's film that is told in reverse chronological order:  "The fabula of a text is the raw order in which events occurred, while sujet is defined as the way in which these events are depicted and reshaped in their emplotment."   I must have heard that term in college, but forgot it. )

[Tinka Cat]

"2012" must be awful. Mick LaSalle gives it his top rating.

yeah, it's an amazing looking, over-the-top visual feast. But it gets so sentimental and schmaltzy at times that you laugh and groan at the cliches and incessant cliff hangers.  We talked about it for an hour afterward, mostly about things that were too silly and inadvertently funny that they got in the way of the really cool look.

[RGMike]

Gotta say I'm psyched to see the new Nic Cage/Werner Herzog collab, Bad Lieutenant: Port of call New Orleans. Apparently it's Nic's most unhinged perf since Vampire's Kiss 20 years ago. from Roger Ebert's 4-star review:

No one is better at this kind of performance than Nicolas Cage. He's a fearless actor. He doesn't care if you think he goes over the top. If a film calls for it, he will crawl to the top hand over hand with bleeding fingernails.

I am *SO* there!

[RGMike]

Gotta say I'm psyched to see the new Nic Cage/Werner Herzog collab, Bad Lieutenant: Port of call New Orleans. Apparently it's Nic's most unhinged perf since Vampire's Kiss 20 years ago. from Roger Ebert's 4-star review:

No one is better at this kind of performance than Nicolas Cage. He's a fearless actor. He doesn't care if you think he goes over the top. If a film calls for it, he will crawl to the top hand over hand with bleeding fingernails.

I am *SO* there!

Just came from seeing this -- wow. VERY entertaining. Cage redeems himself for all the crappy special-effects movies he's done in the last dozen years. I suppose he doesn't have a prayer of an Oscar nom (small distributor, sordid material) but boy he's fun to watch in this one.    (And BTW it really has *nothing* to do with the orig Bad Lieutenant with Harvey Keitel; if I hear one more critic call it a "remake" my head will explode.)

[ggould]

Just came from seeing Pirate Radio. As a radio geek, I was a bit disappointed. A fitfully entertaining mess, but not exactly a good movie. Apparently the studio trimmed 20+ minutes from the film since it played in the UK 6 months ago under the title The Boat That Rocked. Which may explain why some scenes seem to be out of chronological order -- not in a Tarantino-esque way, but in a somebody-screwed-up way. Beyond that, although it takes place in 1966, most of the music the deejays play on their pirate radio ship ("Radio RocK", meant to evoke Radio Caroline) is from '67 or later, and I'm a stickler for that sort of thing. Highlight: one of the deejays marries a beautiful blonde American -- played by none other than Betty Draper herself, January Jones -- whose name is Elenore. Can ya guess what song breaks out on the sndtk?  But I can't say I think the flick is swell. Wait for DVD.

Pretty much in agreement with your assessment--it seemed to me like they filmed scenes at random, then assembled them similarly. Loosely based on Radio Caroline, but only barely, it seemed more to me like Almost Famous gone to sea--and Philip Seymour Hoffman's part reminded me more than slightly of his turn as Lester Bangs in that film (although his part was bigger here). Probably the most obvious glitch was the songs that were not released 'til the 70s, i.e. Won't Get Fooled Again and Cat Stevens' Father and Son. That said, if you don't think about it too much it was kind of a fun movie, but not great art. Probably not going to be seeing it listed among the Oscar nominees in a couple of months.

Btw, I thought that the name they chose for the operation--"Radio Rock"--was perhaps least imaginative one they could have come up with. Jeez, call it Radio Jacqueline or Radio Howard or Radio Flower Pot--any of those would have been more interesting than Radio Rock.

Just got back, and I definitely must disagree about waiting for the DVD.  No, there are no Oscar-worthy performances, and yes, it's just a modern movie, in the entertaining sense, and I guessed the ending way ahead of time, but jeez, the subject matter is uplifting if you have ever believed in the power of rock and roll.  If it bothers you hearing bits of "Won't Get Fooled Again" in what is supposed to be '67-ish, then don't go.  But I would posit that you see it quickly in a location where there are still people watching it.  I was quite surprised by the audience reaction at normally quite staid Daly City.  There is no home theatre system that matches a cranked up movie house blasting the Kinks, Who, etc.

[RGMike]

Couple of flicks I was looking forward to catching up with this weekend: The Maid, a Spanish comedy that has gotten nothing but raves, and The Messenger, the Ben Foster/Woody Harrelson Iraq War movie. 

Well... lotsa luck: Maid played for all of 10 days at the Embarcadero and now it is nowhere to be found. Not playing ANYWHERE in the Bay Area. Messenger (similar raves) has been cut back to 2 shows a day at Metreon after only a week. Yet "New Moon", "Old Dogs" and "2012" are on a billion screens. How sad -- this isn't the boondocks, it's San Francisco. Can't we support quality? WTF?

[Gazoo]

Just came from seeing Pirate Radio. As a radio geek, I was a bit disappointed. A fitfully entertaining mess, but not exactly a good movie. Apparently the studio trimmed 20+ minutes from the film since it played in the UK 6 months ago under the title The Boat That Rocked. Which may explain why some scenes seem to be out of chronological order -- not in a Tarantino-esque way, but in a somebody-screwed-up way. Beyond that, although it takes place in 1966, most of the music the deejays play on their pirate radio ship ("Radio RocK", meant to evoke Radio Caroline) is from '67 or later, and I'm a stickler for that sort of thing. Highlight: one of the deejays marries a beautiful blonde American -- played by none other than Betty Draper herself, January Jones -- whose name is Elenore. Can ya guess what song breaks out on the sndtk?  But I can't say I think the flick is swell. Wait for DVD.

Pretty much in agreement with your assessment--it seemed to me like they filmed scenes at random, then assembled them similarly. Loosely based on Radio Caroline, but only barely, it seemed more to me like Almost Famous gone to sea--and Philip Seymour Hoffman's part reminded me more than slightly of his turn as Lester Bangs in that film (although his part was bigger here). Probably the most obvious glitch was the songs that were not released 'til the 70s, i.e. Won't Get Fooled Again and Cat Stevens' Father and Son. That said, if you don't think about it too much it was kind of a fun movie, but not great art. Probably not going to be seeing it listed among the Oscar nominees in a couple of months.

Btw, I thought that the name they chose for the operation--"Radio Rock"--was perhaps least imaginative one they could have come up with. Jeez, call it Radio Jacqueline or Radio Howard or Radio Flower Pot--any of those would have been more interesting than Radio Rock.

Just got back, and I definitely must disagree about waiting for the DVD.  No, there are no Oscar-worthy performances, and yes, it's just a modern movie, in the entertaining sense, and I guessed the ending way ahead of time, but jeez, the subject matter is uplifting if you have ever believed in the power of rock and roll.  If it bothers you hearing bits of "Won't Get Fooled Again" in what is supposed to be '67-ish, then don't go.  But I would posit that you see it quickly in a location where there are still people watching it.  I was quite surprised by the audience reaction at normally quite staid Daly City.  There is no home theatre system that matches a cranked up movie house blasting the Kinks, Who, etc.

I went to see this yesterday, inspired in part by this exchange.  I had no trouble suspending my disbelief on the song chronology - helps that I wasn't born until '72 and thus don't have the same personal contextual relations to the songs.  And "Father and Son" was touching in the scene in which it was used.

Message I took from the film: Music is an effective substitute for love if you're ugly, and if you're not *too* ugly, your passion for it just might impress someone.  It's an apt bookend for my year in this way.

Currently watching Buck and the Preacher on on-demand.  Til now, only knew it from the New Birth theme song that POC sent me years ago.  Sidney Poitier lays down the law!  A good Thanksgiving message of Native Americans helping newly freed slaves escape white nightriders and bounty hunters.

[ggould]

Just came from seeing Pirate Radio. As a radio geek, I was a bit disappointed. A fitfully entertaining mess, but not exactly a good movie. Apparently the studio trimmed 20+ minutes from the film since it played in the UK 6 months ago under the title The Boat That Rocked. Which may explain why some scenes seem to be out of chronological order -- not in a Tarantino-esque way, but in a somebody-screwed-up way. Beyond that, although it takes place in 1966, most of the music the deejays play on their pirate radio ship ("Radio RocK", meant to evoke Radio Caroline) is from '67 or later, and I'm a stickler for that sort of thing. Highlight: one of the deejays marries a beautiful blonde American -- played by none other than Betty Draper herself, January Jones -- whose name is Elenore. Can ya guess what song breaks out on the sndtk?  But I can't say I think the flick is swell. Wait for DVD.

Pretty much in agreement with your assessment--it seemed to me like they filmed scenes at random, then assembled them similarly. Loosely based on Radio Caroline, but only barely, it seemed more to me like Almost Famous gone to sea--and Philip Seymour Hoffman's part reminded me more than slightly of his turn as Lester Bangs in that film (although his part was bigger here). Probably the most obvious glitch was the songs that were not released 'til the 70s, i.e. Won't Get Fooled Again and Cat Stevens' Father and Son. That said, if you don't think about it too much it was kind of a fun movie, but not great art. Probably not going to be seeing it listed among the Oscar nominees in a couple of months.

Btw, I thought that the name they chose for the operation--"Radio Rock"--was perhaps least imaginative one they could have come up with. Jeez, call it Radio Jacqueline or Radio Howard or Radio Flower Pot--any of those would have been more interesting than Radio Rock.

Just got back, and I definitely must disagree about waiting for the DVD.  No, there are no Oscar-worthy performances, and yes, it's just a modern movie, in the entertaining sense, and I guessed the ending way ahead of time, but jeez, the subject matter is uplifting if you have ever believed in the power of rock and roll.  If it bothers you hearing bits of "Won't Get Fooled Again" in what is supposed to be '67-ish, then don't go.  But I would posit that you see it quickly in a location where there are still people watching it.  I was quite surprised by the audience reaction at normally quite staid Daly City.  There is no home theatre system that matches a cranked up movie house blasting the Kinks, Who, etc.

I went to see this yesterday, inspired in part by this exchange.  I had no trouble suspending my disbelief on the song chronology - helps that I wasn't born until '72 and thus don't have the same personal contextual relations to the songs.  And "Father and Son" was touching in the scene in which it was used.

Message I took from the film: Music is an effective substitute for love if you're ugly, and if you're not *too* ugly, your passion for it just might impress someone.  It's an apt bookend for my year in this way.

The one thing I didn't like was during the credits they played Duffy's version of "Stay With Me" instead of Lorraine Ellison's.  So, today the Damn Fine Day song is "Lorraine Ellison's Stay With Me."

http://www.damnfineday.com/?p=8491

[Gazoo]

The one thing I didn't like was during the credits they played Duffy's version of "Stay With Me" instead of Lorraine Ellison's.  So, today the Damn Fine Day song is "Lorraine Ellison's Stay With Me."

http://www.damnfineday.com/?p=8491

I was the only person who stayed in the theater throughout the credits and saw this.  Made me feel really old.

I unsubscribed to Dame Fine Day once they turned their ops over to the LaLa service.  Sorry, I had to reallocate my resources.  So for those who feel likewise, here's the song for free:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBJ1rv39Pws

[ggould]

The one thing I didn't like was during the credits they played Duffy's version of "Stay With Me" instead of Lorraine Ellison's.  So, today the Damn Fine Day song is "Lorraine Ellison's Stay With Me."

http://www.damnfineday.com/?p=8491

I was the only person who stayed in the theater throughout the credits and saw this.  Made me feel really old.

I unsubscribed to Dame Fine Day once they turned their ops over to the LaLa service.  Sorry, I had to reallocate my resources.  So for those who feel likewise, here's the song for free:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBJ1rv39Pws

Note re: Lala:
If you use DowloadHelper with Lala on Firefox, you can download tons of stuff, full-length.  You didn't hear this from me.

http://www.downloadhelper.net/