The Movie Thread

[RGMike]

I was waiting for Gaz's comments on Milk since he saw it before I did, but I saw it Mon nite and it is indeed worth seeing; Penn (and everyone, really) is superb.  Spectacular re-creation of the time and place. You have until Tuesday (12/23) to see it at the Castro; worth the communal experience, and even on a Monday (traditionally a dead zone at movie theaters) it was a near-sellout. Everyone hissed when Anita Bryant appeared on screen.

[urth]

I was waiting for Gaz's comments on Milk since he saw it before I did, but I saw it Mon nite and it is indeed worth seeing; Penn (and everyone, really) is superb.  Spectacular re-creation of the time and place. You have until Tuesday (12/23) to see it at the Castro; worth the communal experience, and even on a Monday (traditionally a dead zone at movie theaters) it was a near-sellout. Everyone hissed when Anita Bryant appeared on screen.

Thanks for the reminder. Sarah and I have been wanting to see it--and it's finally playing at more than one theater in the entire PDX metro area. Unfortunately the weather hasn't been conducive to getting out much--we've got a pretty good snowstorm going on right now.

[RGMike]

So TCM is showing this odd, obscure 1969 film I'd never heard of called Model Shop, one of those existential things so fashionable back then, with people wandering aimlessly and contemplating the meaning of their existence. Very European (dir. by Jacques Demy) despite taking place in LA. Gary Lockwood (of 2001) becomes obsessed with French chick Anouk Aimee (best known for A Man and a Woman). And about 20 minutes into it, Lockwood's character goes to visit some friends who have a band, and they're played by... Spirit! And in the next scene he has a heart-to-heart conversation with Jay Ferguson! Weird.

[RGMike]

OMG -- this thing looks deliciously bad: the new Will Smith drama, Seven Pounds. the NYT sez: "may be among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made."  Wow.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/movies/19seve.html?ref=movies

[Tinka Cat]

OMG -- this thing looks deliciously bad: the new Will Smith drama, Seven Pounds. the NYT sez: "may be among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made."  Wow.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/movies/19seve.html?ref=movies

when I saw the trailer I thought "wow, I guess they chose to be really vague about this movie and NOT spoil the plot" --- which is unlike most trailers I've seen lately.  Now I know better. 

Has the look and feel of one of M. Knight Shama-lama-ding-dong's recent misguided attempts, only worse.

[urth]

We saw "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" Saturday night, and I couldn't help but draw parallels between the scam Lay and Skilling and their henchmen pulled, and the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme that's wreaking financial havoc now. And I just have to wonder how many other "smartest guys" are still out there undiscovered, running around trying to keep all the balls in the air.

[RGMike]

We saw "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" Saturday night, and I couldn't help but draw parallels between the scam Lay and Skilling and their henchmen pulled, and the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme that's wreaking financial havoc now. And I just have to wonder how many other "smartest guys" are still out there undiscovered, running around trying to keep all the balls in the air.

that's a terriffic doc, and the director went on to win the Oscar for another great one, Taxi to the Dark Side. And last year he did one on Hunter S Thompson.

[RGMike]

OMG -- this thing looks deliciously bad: the new Will Smith drama, Seven Pounds. the NYT sez: "may be among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made."  Wow.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/movies/19seve.html?ref=movies

and lo... Seven Pounds is named Worst Movie of the Year:

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/01/vultures_critics_poll_whats_th.html#photo=1

[mshray]

OMG -- this thing looks deliciously bad: the new Will Smith drama, Seven Pounds. the NYT sez: "may be among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made."  Wow.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/movies/19seve.html?ref=movies

and lo... Seven Pounds is named Worst Movie of the Year:

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/01/vultures_critics_poll_whats_th.html#photo=1

And they named the review you excerpted as the Movie Review of the Year ta boot!

[mshray]

Saw Frost/Nixon, and really liked it.  Best performance of Langella's career (imho).  Probably Sheen's too.

[RGMike]

Saw Frost/Nixon, and really liked it.  Best performance of Langella's career (imho).  Probably Sheen's too.

Thumbs-up from me too, and I saw them do the stage version last year.  Solid work, tho' I don't know if it's Best-Pic Oscar-worthy. I really liked Benjamin Button, which I guess will be slugging it out with Slumdog Millionaire for the big prize.

[Tinka Cat]

I just saw four movies in two days:

Sunday afternoon at the Castro for a Henry Mancini double feature:

Charade w Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn (fun thriller set in Paris) and then

Experiment in Terror (1962), slow moving heist/mystery set in SF starring Glenn Ford and Lee Remick.  Climactic scene shot in Candlestick park during a Giants/Dodgers game!  (you can see number 24 from the back in a couple shots) btw, the both groups of G-men were victorious: the Giants beat the Bums and the FBI shot the bad guy. 

The Roxie theater in SF has $5 Mondays! so last night we caught another double feature:

Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, a mostly sweet comedy w a great performance form the charming Sally Hawkins, and Philip Kaufman's black comedy Synecdoche, New York starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, which was quite a workout: it's a play within a movie within a play within the lives of the actors playing themselves in real life... etc... 

[mshray]

Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, a mostly sweet comedy w a great performance from the charming Sally Hawkins

Just in the past few days I've been seeing this pop up on some people's lists as a sleeper Best Pic nominee.  Hadn't heard about it before then.

[RGMike]

Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky, a mostly sweet comedy w a great performance from the charming Sally Hawkins

Just in the past few days I've been seeing this pop up on some people's lists as a sleeper Best Pic nominee.  Hadn't heard about it before

crankypants time: I hated hated HATED Happy-Go-Lucky. I found her character to be one of THE most-annoying people I've ever encountered in a film. I wanted to throttle her after 5 mins.  And the only other character in the movie who challenges her in any way turns out to be a paranoid, racist, right-wing nutjob. So the deck is totally stacked in her favor. I'm astounded at how many Ten Best lists it's on, and Hawkins has won just about every critics group's Best Actress award (yes, I suppose it's good acting if she got under my skin, but still).  Poor Kristin Scott-Thomas, so brilliant in I've Loved You So Long (and in French, not her native language!) and she's been almost totally ignored.

[urth]

I've been seeing a fair share of films lately too--admittedly, some on DVD, but when the weather sucks out, what else are you gonna do? Saw Marley and Me a couple weeks ago--nice, holiday film, and a typical dog movie, but not gonna win many Oscars (although it's killing at the box office).

Then we watched The Point (yeah, the Ringo version--I fear the Dustin Hoffman original is lost to the ages) and Stardust on New Years' Eve. Hadn't seen the former in years, and was rather charmed by it, and LOVED all the Paul Frees voices in there. And found out Mike Lookinland (Bobby Brady) voiced Oblio--who knew? And Stardust is one of my wife's recent faves--some good fantasy, with a nice story and a couple of interesting turns from Robert DeNiro, Ricky Gervais, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Saw Milk on Friday--LOVED it. Great performance from Penn and pretty historically accurate. I spotted only one detail that didn't ring true--there was an F Market streetcar in one of the scenes, and I don't think that line existed until a few years ago. Interesting also how they kept the Feinstein character out of any closeups, except in historical footage.

Then watched Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Saturday--see my comments above. Good film, just left me disgusted with where our country is right now though. Effing GOP greedheads.

And I'll probably see Frost/Nixon tomorrow--it's Sarah's birthday and she really wants to see that one, so we'll probably drive to Tigard to see it--I kinda wonder if it'll ever make it to the McMinnville multiplex (Milk certainly won't).