Recently viewed films

[spooky girlfriend]

Oh gawd, Martin, I sat through that movie in college and thought I would never see the end of it. It seemed to just go on and on and on. Perhaps it was that a group of us girls went for an exciting evening at the movies and didn't find it in this particular flick, but I haven't been able to watch that movie since.

[Mr. Average]

I posted comments about 15 posts up about Meet the Fokkers. Horrible. No, better described as pitiful.

As repugnant as Striesand is, she doesn't lead the clown parade.

When 3 separate scenes are dedicated to a humping dog, you know you have problems. And when one of the most memorable lines that Hoffman delivers regarding bathroom ettiquette at the Fokker house, is "if it's yellow let it mellow, and if it's brown flush it down", you are in deeper trouble. And finally, when they attempt to reproduce the gag in Meet the Parents where Greg ejects the champagne cork into the cremation urn by using rotting penile foreskin as the centerpiece of the gag, you are no longer in trouble. Too late. You have been ripped off.

I felt completely ripped off by that film.

I apologize if I have ruined it for anyone. You can thank me later.

[bambooneedle]

I avoid Ben Stiller as a rule.

[pophead2k]

Bunch a haters..........

[bambooneedle]

I just don't like Ben Stiller's work (if you're referring to me at all).

[BlueChair]

Even The Royal Tenenbaums?

[pophead2k]

I just don't like Ben Stiller's work (if you're referring to me at all).

Nah, just yanking your chain because I am the only defender of Meet the Fokkers on here.

On a brighter note, the girlfriend and I watched Roman Holiday last night. I'd seen it several times, but it was her first. Audrey Hepburn was just plain gorgeous.

[bambooneedle]

Even The Royal Tenenbaums?

Yes .

[pophead2k]

I just don't like Ben Stiller's work (if you're referring to me at all).

Nah, just yanking your chain because I am the only defender of Meet the Fokkers on here.

On a brighter note, the girlfriend and I watched Roman Holiday last night. I'd seen it several times, but it was her first. Audrey Hepburn was just plain gorgeous.

[Boy With A Problem]

Martin Foyle wrote -

Watch Once Upon a Time in America again instead.

I watched the nearly four hour cut on DVD over the Christmas holidays. The film is well-shot, well-acted, and it takes so many chances (the pacing - the flashbacks and flash fowards almost suspend time as you're watching) and is completely troubling - DeNiro is supposed to be the hero, yet he commits a horrendous rape (probably one of the most uncomfortable scenes I've ever watched - the rape goes on forever) (a lot of the stuff in this film goes on forever - the phone ringing at the beginning for instance) - the Eizabeth McGovern character doesn't age - really strange - I didn't like the ending and the resurection of the James Woods character - just a little too unbelievable...

[Boy With A Problem]

Blue Chair wrote -

Even The Royal Tenenbaums?

I thought it blew and I really liked Rushmore and Bottle Rocket - not for a second did I believe the cast - too much of a precious little Salinger homage - boring from start to finish...a major disappointment.

[miss buenos aires]

Arg! I was supposed to hang out with my friends tonight, but they're all going to see Masculin/Féminin, which, as you may remember from the Valentine's thread, I just saw last night. It was a good movie, though.

[bobster]

BWAP --

Do you know if this is the first time this particular cut of "Once Upon a Time in America" has been available? I saw it not on it's initial release, but a slightly later rerelease and I'm not sure if it was long...or superlong! In any case, while it was a pretty flawed movie, there was enough brilliant stuff in it that I'd like to see if the longer cut is actually better, or just long! I do remember the ringing phone going on forever and the rape scene was uncomfortable enough at the length I saw it. But actually, the thing that bothered me the most was that it was clear that Leone didn't understand the cultural differences between Italian-Americans and Jewish-Americans...or at least these were the most demonstrative Jews I've ever seen! (We Jews are moderates. We hug substantially more than WASPs, substantially less than Italians. In any case, we don't kiss our same-sex friends -- or anyone -- routinely on both cheeks, as I vaguely recall happening between, I don't know, James Woods and Deniro.)

[bobster]

Blue Chair wrote -

Even The Royal Tenenbaums?

I thought it blew and I really liked Rushmore and Bottle Rocket - not for a second did I believe the cast - too much of a precious little Salinger homage - boring from start to finish...a major disappointment.

A friend of mine actually broke up with girlfriend, citing her reaction to "The Royal Tenenbaums" as a symptom of the problems in their relationship. (He hated it, she liked it. But his taste in movies is pretty questionable -- he basically has the same tastes as an elderly Jewish lady, not that there's anything wrong with that....)

Personally, I thought it was a bit of a letdown after the unalloyed brilliance of "Rushmore" and "Bottle Rocket" -- the pacing seemed deliberately narcotized in an almost M. Night Shymalan sort of way, and I wasn't sure if that worked. Still, I'm going to give it another shot as I picked up the Criterion DVD for cheap.

Recently saw "The Life Aquatic" -- this is a true example of a worthwhile failure. The movie doesn't really quite come together 100%, but this sort of "bad" movie is actually preferable to your typical, ordinary "good" movie. (I.e., less flawed than "Meet the Parents" which did pretty much exactly what it set out to, but also, in some way, infinitely better. Sort of the way the worst EC song is better than the best Tommy James song.)

BTW -- Overall, I think Ben Stiller is pretty brilliant. I cite his TV show, some strong more or less straight performances in movies including the somewhat unfairly maligned "Reality Bites," and also his amazing performance as Mr. Angry in "Mystery Men"...pure genius. I even enjoyed "Zoolander"!

Also, gotta admire his lineage. I'm a HUGE fan of both Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, so he gets some genetic props as well.

The annoying thing is that a friend of mine found an old list from an audition of actors from our days at the UCLA film school with names and phone numbers. One of the names was, yes, Ben Stiller. In that moment, I realized that I'd actually called him to be in my little Super-8 movie. He never called back.

[Boy With A Problem]

bobster -

I had a tough time time buying the Jewish angle as well - there were almost no parental characters in the film (which you get in all of the Italian gangster films) .... there were notorious Jewish gangsters on the lower east side - and Leone certainly could have explored that more - James Wood makes a great a jew though -

The word on the length - orignally shown at 227 minutes - US domestic release initially at 139 minutes (universally panned - shown in chronilogical time) and an Italian version at 238 minutes. The DVD clocks in at 229 minutes - so this is essentially the same version as the original cut (which you probably saw on re-release).

I would argue that the best Tommy James song is better than the worst Elvis Costello song, but I think I'd rather take that fight to the Tommy James board.

As far as Ben Stiller - I liked "Flirting With Disaster" and "Something About Mary" and even the one where he's the heroin addicted writer on Alf...and I really liked the few episodes of his tv show - but the dude is way overexposed.

[bobster]

It's possible he would be better off if he took a break.

[Mr. Average]

I think the interplay between Stiller and Larry David on a few episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm (before the nauseating guy from Friends took over) was brilliant. Stiller knew exactly how to play to, and amplify, Larry's quirks which are the essence of his comedy. I think his "Curb" performances prove out his lineage, because he acts as a catalyst to maximize Larry's humour, without losing his character development in the process. The sneeze-before-handshake scene at the Pantages theatre is palpably edgy, and Ben contributed a big part of that edginess. Usually, no one can take that from Larry, sans Jeff's wife, who peppers her diatribes with four letter words...a more predictable method of putting someone on edge.

I am not writing Stillers "Eugoogoly" just yet. I think the best is yet to come, but he really hasn't been paired up with the right team. Owen Wilson's schtick is highly predictable in a camedy environment, and thus, it doesn't challenge Stiller in the buddy roles that they have played together.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Saw "Million Dollar Baby" tonight with my wife. Riveting fight sequences, however brief, and I really liked the first half of the movie, as Eastman and Swank's characters are sizing each other up. I won't spoil the second half of the film for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but I think it's fair to say that it veers rather dramatically towards the end and becomes something else entirely.

Still not sure how I feel about where the movie went, and it has nothing to do with my feelings on an especially controversial issue that the film raises, but a couple of things bothered me about "Million Dollar Baby". First, did they really need to make her family so unsympathetic? It was an almost embarrassing cliche of Southern white trash. A little over the top in my opinion. Second, another Morgan Freeman voice-over narration? He is a wonderful actor and great narrator, but it reminded me a little too much of "The Shawshank Redemption". I like "Shawshank", but this was a bit of a rip-off of that style. I was also left scratching my head about how he knew about several of the things he mentioned.

Some very solid performances from Eastwood (what a tremendous head he has), Freeman (as usual), and Swank, who was totally convincing as a boxer.

Could have done without the retarded kid too. Totally superfluous to the story.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Just saw The Aviator and I think that Scorsese has finally done it. The acting is top notch (Leonardo and Blanchette may even take the Oscar, I believe), the photography is excellent, and the story of a great man fighting with mental illness is superbly told.

Absolutely. Finally saw it last night (first ever Saturday night outing to the cinema as a threesome with my wife and 12 year old, who loved it too, cool!). Best Scorsese in ages, though I confess to not having seen the universally viewed as fun but flawed Gangs of New York. Boy is the Aviator a cinematic feast. It's like an 8 course dinner from a 3-starred by Michelin chef, he just handles the material so well, and the scale of the production in terms of the glamorous Hollywood club scenes to the amazing aviation scenes is awesome. Apparently Scorsese hates flying, which I think inspired the utterly gruesome crash scene. The acting is superb, and Leo is a revelation. The scene with him and the fabulous Cate Blanchett as K Hepburn flying over Beverly Hills at night looking down on the houses is genius.

Crow: no ref to the biography hoax thing you mention, do tell more. Interesting to me how Howard Hughes was someone you grew up hearing about, and he died in '76, so I guess that got us all talking about his cleanliness obsession, but I actually know very little about him. I would like to know a lot more about how much of this is based on known fact. I guess the public hearing with a superb Alan Alda as Senator Brewster must be based on real transcription. It's great cinema. Days before HH was a naked, hairy mess, locked up in the cell of his private viewing room, with his urine-filled milk bottles, and then he's there spruced up at the hearing, contesting and crushing every one of the Senator's points, with all the necessary facts and figures at his disposal, and pointing the finger at him for his corrupt collusion with Juan Trippe of Pan Am.

I'd say Scorsese was viewing this on one level as his Citizen Kane, in terms of the American Mythologising of a huge mogul, with 'Quarantine' for 'Rosebud'. It's a film on a great scale. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Dying to see Sideways, friend said it's just hilarious. Still to see Vera Drake. Want to see The Life Aquatic purely cos the trailer features not only Bowie's Queen Bitch and Starman, but New Order's immortal Ceremony, and the film contains some lovely acoustic Bowie covers by a Brazilian, some of which I've heard (thanks, Mug!). But it all sounds a bit tedious apart from that.

Talking of Rushmore, never seen it, but it's on MTV here at 10pm Monday. Yay!

[bambooneedle]

Just saw Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River today. Enjoyed them a lot for their character portrayals. The less likeable ones in the latter were more drawn out with more of a 'yikes!' factor, so found that movie the more compelling... it powerfully reflected uncertain morality from the burden of carrying around damage so convincingly that, hours later among a bunch of people, I was unable to see them in much the same way beyond usual surfaces. The cop angle of it was dealt with very well, though I would have liked to have seen the Penn character more confronted by consequences at the end instead of so self-satisfiedly indifferent, or to have kept his promise to the Robins character at the river.

MDB was just about as good. Can't think who else could have been as well suited to the role as Swank. Someone like Fishburne could have sat in for Freeman for more edge maybe... The boxing insights were amazing. Noticed there weren't many body blows highlighted in the boxing scenes, the movie wisely avoiding the distractions of 'women in boxing' controversies. Really like how both movies are so character driven and effectively devoid of gimmickry, so I look forward to more of these types of Eastwood movies. I too reflected on how good his tough old head looked, and how good his performance, making you forget that he steps in as director. I didn't find her family over the top or their ingrate nature unrealistic, felt it helped explain her simple optimism and resiliance. The other kid perhaps "should have knowed" not to hang around the gym, but i thought he was a funny counterpoint.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Yes, but whay haven't you seen The Aviator? (Sorry, feeble excuse for notching up 1,500, though still a long way behind you, nutter boy. That and the fact that I can't stop thinking about it. Always a sign of a real film.)

[Mr. Average]

Sideways. Finally caught up to it last night. Not in the same league as the latest Bill Murray flick, "Life Aquatic". Only make the comment because some have drawn parallels. There are few if any. Murray cannot carry the proverbial SAG jockstrap of Paul Giamatti, in my opinion. And I like Bill Murray.

Great film first because it is written so damn well. The cinematography is trite, but the dialogue within this ensemble cast is absolutely so close to real life it is frightening. Is this an autobiographical film?

It is really the story of how dysfunctional male bonding can be, with a strong undercurrent of the ability to use friendship as an adhesive to hold oneself together during the lifelong search for identity. Giamatti is really something here, and has almost certainly assserted himself as the lead in the sure to be produced "Columbo....the Movie!".

Prior to seeing the film, I had heard tha Paul has no range, and this part doesn't require him to stretch as an actor. Bullshit. Incredible range. I would love to hear comments related to the sheer challenge of taking the role as "Miles" and how difficult it would be to pull it off. The word was that the Miles character was a unidimensional and single-facted sad-sack. WRONG WRONG WRONG.

Why Sandra Oh took the podium and grandstanded at the SAG awards is completely mystifying. She was forgettable, and truly unidimensional. On the other hand, Virginia Madsen, as "Maya" was lovely. There is a scene where she addresses Miles in a very, very heartfelt way that is one of the most sensuous scenes in modern film...the way she is lit, the way she delivers the message, and the fire in her eyes that is so real it made me want to jump up and hug her (properly repressed as I was sitting just to the right of my loving wife...).

Great film.

Best line: "ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" (delivered by Miles when accussed of complicity...)

[bobster]

Interestingly enough, I took, finally caught up with Sideways last night and, this time, didn't disagree with the hype -- in fact, I almost wish this was a typically ignored low-key comedy that I could then go on to champion for its genius why the world ignores me, absolutlely lovely film.

I actually liked it better than Mr. A. Thought the cinematography appropriate, if a bit overtly 70's retro. These are guys who see eveything through a kind of haze, so making it palpable makes sense.

Didn't hear about Sandra Oh at the SAG's, but she is the writer/director's wife, so she might be forgiven for being a little over-prided. I thought she was pretty much spot on in the movie.

Not much more could I say about Virginia Madsen than has already been said except that I'm in love. Won't say anything about Paul Giamatti as they could construed by some as this board as egotism and self-praise. There were definitely times when, suffice it to say, I could relate. (Though I've never stolen money from mommy!)

Re: Million Dollar Baby -- A terrific, complex film. A bit corny, in a good way, in spots, but on the whole a wonderful film. The worst thing I can say about it is that it may not be quite as great as "Unforgiven", one of the very best Hollywood films of the last fifteen years or so.

To be continued...or not.

[Mr. Average]

Bobster, let me set the record straight: I loved the movie, one of the best I have seen in the last few years. And after reading your comments about the cinematography, I retract my comment and agree with yours. I think your analysis is spot on, and I have upgraded my position accordingly. Of course, whenever interviewed by a major publication, I will be sure to give you full credit, and share a percentage of my compensation with you.

Did you think that Clint was a little conflicted as to whether "Million Dollar Baby" was a period piece or set in modern time? I felt that parts of the film looked like he was going for a dated look, yet other parts (hospital, etc) were ultra modern. I have talked to people who felt is was set in the 60's or 70's, and others that immediately see the setting as modern and completely contemperary.

[bambooneedle]

Yes, but whay haven't you seen The Aviator? (Sorry, feeble excuse for notching up 1,500, though still a long way behind you, nutter boy. That and the fact that I can't stop thinking about it. Always a sign of a real film.)

Haven't made time for it yet. Sounds like a must, seeing it on the big screen.