Paul and Karen,
Just wanted you to know that we finally saw Requiem for a Dream the
other day and LOVED it! In a summer of bad movies, this one was
refreshing to see (finally) and at long last after all your praise I can
finally comment on it and agree with you.
I too liked it better than Traffic, and found its visual style very
original and conducive to the story, not just done in spite of it (a
common thing now - see: Michael Bay). Like holding up a mirror to the
lives of four people, I found it depressing and gloomy yet was
inexplicably drawn into it. Like Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, you
kept wanting these people to realize what they were doing and rooted for
them to succeed and get out of the hell their lives were in, yet just
knew that they were destined to fail and pay the price.
Ellen Burstyn was fabulous, and what made her all the more scary for me
was that I've known and encountered people not unlike what she'd become
by the end of the film. You often wonder when you see crazy people like
that on the street how they could become such wrecks - I thought the
movie did a wonderful job in showing us her innocent descent into
addiction.
By the way, if you get a chance to rent the DVD of this movie, there are
a number of cool extras - including a neat behind the scenes documentary
with director's commentary. Unlike a lot of other behind the scenes
stuff you see, this one actually takes you into the post production
process, and more specifically them mixing the music at the Skywalker
Ranch with the Kronos Quartet. Great Director's commentary too.
So yes, I agree that this movie should have been nominated for best
picture over Chocolat any day. Now I've got to go rent Pi which I still
haven't seen.
We also finally saw Cast Away (Netflix is really cool by the way, I know
you don't have much time for movies but it's much better than renting
them at Cockbuster Video). Glad that we didn't waste our time in the
theatre with that. A really good film utterly destroyed beyond hope by
a really bad trailer. I saw it all coming. Everything. And since I
knew everything else that was going to happen, the only thing left for
me to figure out was the significance of the opening scene - after the
first package washed ashore and I saw the wings on it - I had that
figured out too. Why? Because I already knew he didn't end up with
Helen Hunt at the end thanks to the friggin' trailer! Never has a good
movie sucked so much because of it's marketing campaign. A pox on all
those involved with this!
We saw Shadow of the Vampire too. Entertaining, though not overly
interesting. Dafoe was excellent. The performances of him and
Malcovich warranted its viewing. Made me want to see Nosferatu now.
Tooch.
I can't believe you went to see Emperor , Miss Congeniality, or What Women Want
- ugh! I'm glad you're married so you can't ask me out on a date. I agree on
What's up Crouching Tiger Lily? - Nancy and I saw it at an Imax - whoosh!
Awesome. I am practicing that wall climbing technique between my house and the
neighbors'. It is just the right distance, but hell on the aluminum siding. I
was most impressed with the actress who played the love longing woman of Fat.
Her subtleties in emotion were great. It was another acting lesson when you see
that on screen, one's face is as large as the Picasso at the Daley Center. A
breath or flinch plays as good as a jig. How about that crash sequence in
Castaway? That night in bed I kept waking up and fixing my covers thinking that
I had to lie a certain way to survive. Also thanks so much for the heads up re:
free tix. - always good for starving actors.
My loaves and best fishes to you and Karen,
Randy
I just got back from spring break in North Carolina. Had a marvelous, restful time. Saw THE HOUSE OF MIRTH and BEFORE NIGHT FALLS. The first is based on one of my favorite books. The second is really hard to watch cause it's about a Cuban disadent who goes through much bad stuff. Also, it's hard to understand a lot of what they say due to heavy accents.
Rented RULES OF ENGAGEMENT and WONDER BOYS. I had some problems with RULES cause a simple forensic check would have told them which direction the bullets came from (Tommie Lee could have taken a picture of the front of the building for God's sake!) But, it was kinda fun anyway. Hollie liked it more than I did. Maybe it's a guy thing?
Here's a limited COMEBACK review from Matuszak
>
> MISS CONGENIALITY (**1/2) No desire to see it. I may rent it when I'm sick
and full of Theraflu.
>
> CAST AWAY (****) - I give it 3 1/2 stars. I think it was great. Grabbed and
yanked at many emotions in me. It was, of course, amazing because it is my
dream to be kidnapped or crashed and stranded having to fight for my
survival. So, my mind was racing this entire film with the "what I would
do" crap. Loved it!!!
> THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE (**) - I MAY rent this but will probably watch half
of it when babysitting a friend's kid 2 years from now and extremely bored.
>
> CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (***1/2) -I gave this 4 stars. One of the
years best. It was EVRYTHING a film should be. Storyline was great, acting
was actually wonderful and the fights made me leak testesterone form my ears
(Woody Allen line)!!!!! Nothing was overlooked. And the acting by ALL the
leads was sublime, simple, effective, engaging and played just the right
amount. All in looks and glances. Aamazing shit. And how much more
connected did I feel when I realized Ang Lee gave me a truly artistic FILM -
this realization came about when all the 15-22 year olds in the theatre were
ignorantly and rudely laughing during the fight scenes with out-loud asshole
yells of "That's not possible." The world Lee creates is a world in which
the things that happen CAN! Go laugh at Star Wars ya little freaks.
Apparently, the "willing suspension of disbelief" ends at Pokemon and
Brittany Spears.
>
> TRAFFIC (****) My BIG disagreement here. I give it 2 1/2 stars. I REALLY
enjoyed this film. This film has a MARK and was ENGAGING. Del Toro sucked
my skin off and subdued my soul!!! BUT BUT BUT, this movie was SO FLIP
FLOPPY. It went from RIGHT ON TARGET with certain aspects of the drug war
to BLATANT, 2 year old mistakes and lack of research. I have never been one
to look at films and say they have to get every little detail right. I dont
care if I watch a movie and some welder near me goes, hey, ya dont weld at
that angle, ya have to keep it past 45degrees. OK< got the picture? BUT
COME ON, my Dad ( a former GS 15 top level Drug enforcement agent with US
Customs) and I had a big laugh on the phone over: hotel bell boys able to
just walk into the witness's hotel room and offer poisoned food. UH, its in
this movie, ya don't think the DEA has figured that little trick out
already. It's called NO ONE enters witness's rooms and they actually shop
for and cook their OWN FOOD. Worst yet, was Michael Douglas walking out of
the White House Press Room, across the White house Front Lawn and not only
was he never stopped by Secret Service, there were none around. Not even a
guard at the gate he walked out!!! Come on, that's childish and its simple
to provide those visual images to keep reality in check. Oh I could go on
with 7 others that were blatant, but enough for now.
>
> QUILLS (***1/2) - I eat the feces of dead dogs for not seeing this yet. Too
busy travelling.
> WHAT WOMEN WANT (***) - A rental. I shall chuckle and have an enjoyable
evening the likes of Payback I''m sure.
>
> BILLY ELLIOT (***1/2) - I am the leech on the ass of life for not yet getting
to this one.
>
> SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE (**1/2) - I'm actually interested in seeing this. Even
though, forget previews, the interview show I saw had Defoe talking, Cage
talking , all hyped on it, and of course, Malcovich with a a messy hair,
unshaven face from a balcony in Tuscany saying it sucked and Cage didn't let
him do what he wanted.
>
> O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? (***) - I'm actually hyped for this, its next on my
list.
>
> FINDING FORRESTER (**1/2) - A rental
A excuse me, you have spoken about my TOP PICK for they year. Well, if not
my top pick, this movie is a top rival, a underrated codgy fighter which
holds its own. I went to this movie on a "what the heck" and came away
TRANSFORMED. I LOVED Remains of the Day, Shadowlands, and this Movie gets
right in the face of those merchant Ivories and HOLDSD ITS OWN!!!!
THE HOUSE OF MIRTH
You are not a human nor do you deserve the air we could be breathing if you
miss HOUSE OF MIRTH!!! Gillian Anderson sold me on her acting like Gwenyth
did in Shakespeare in Love. She rapes your mind!!!!!
Thanks for the rant Paul--and most entertaining despite it's epic-ness (just
realized that could sound bitchy--did I say the B word on Dis-"Ney-mail"
?--merely joshing your own self-deprecation)
On the films in here I DID see....ummmm ok I only saw 2 of the films
below....and I LOVED Quills. DARN-I've GOT to get my SAG card out to the
theatres FAST, no? How embarrassing...(but don't tell my boss I have no
desire to see "Emperor"). And YES, ESPECIALLY with my stifling religious
childhood experience via Mom's good ol' fashioned southern Baptist
fanaticism, the Bible line was a highlight for me too. And I've now decided
my movie crush has finally switched from Kevin Spacey to Joaquin Phoenix.
Paul, did you see "Nosferatu" at the Silent Movie theatre before you saw
"Shadow.."? Seemed like a good plan to me too, but didn't have the
time-sigh-
But here's my question for y'all.....I made a point to see CastAway alone,
right after work so, in addition to saving some money via the twilight
discount ;), I could see the film in a near-empty theatre....I was THAT
excited about it.
But here's my thing. Tho I LOVED Tom's work. And yes, Wilson deserved an
Oscar (maybe Marisa or Helen could give him theirs--meow). But I had a
couple issues with the film that made me upset by the time I was walking
back to my car in the lonely darkess of lovely downtown Burbank.
First: WHAT THE DEALIO (to quote Mr. Lenhart) with the editing? I'm not a
film techie, but I was distracted by awkward editing, for CERTAIN.
DISTRACTED. I thought, how on earth could this be so silly and messy and
choppy with the kind of budget it had AND Tom declaring it his labor of
love? Am I missing some funky artsy editing style I've never seen before
despite my veracious appetite for art and foreign films? Then again a
friend of mine saw it with her award-winning Hollywood feature film editor
husband, and he had no complaints. Sooooo maybe I'm just a weasel (wee-ee
wee-ee).
Second: Do skies in the more exotic parts of the world REALLY look like
LiteBright boards? I'm COMPLETELY open to the possibility that I may be an
idiot, so fire away. But I found myself staring at the the sky in
perplexion vs. watching Tom.
Third: oh how do I say this without giving away the ending... Well, I found
the FedEx box/symbol to be obvious. And I was sad and disturbed by the
Hollywoodish ending. Here was a really fine film taking some chances most
Hollywood bigbudget films won't take, and then I was sent away with an
unrealistic Hollywood ending... Well, at least I HOPE it was
unrealistic...I would hate to think love is REALLY that fickle. I dunno...I
was really disappointed. Maybe my chronic problem of too-high expectations
once again got in the way?
Just looking for feedback-
cheers-
kara
I got taken in by Vertical Limit's well edited trailer. But the movie- oh,
painful. There is nothing so bad as an action movie trying to become an
action and plot movie and failing miserably. The writing stank, and I just
kept waiting for sis and bro the finally get it on, cause they sure played
everything like lovers in a bad L.A. acting class. Hands up to the
nitroglycerine containers for being the worst plot device this year, though.
Michael
I agree - Jim Carey did a good job. Why was Carey so good in Grinch?
Because he was playing a cartoon character. Perfect for him - 2
dimensional.
rc - resident jim carey hater
Those movie reviews are really terrific, Paul. My favorite movie is
still the silent version of "Nosferatu," so I can never guess which
ones will win Academy Awards. Recently we enjoyed seeing "Chocolat,"
"Cast Away," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and "Oh Brother, Where
Art Thou." The latter has some of the best music I've heard in a movie
sound track since "Barry Lyndon." We're looking forward to "Lord of the
Rings" and "Harry Potter." Can a volley ball get "Best Supporting
Actor?"