JACkory
Struggling Artist
Posts: 167
|
Post by JACkory on Mar 2, 2005 16:06:41 GMT -5
I read the book, and thought you could see where it was going a mile away. It disappointed me enough that I decided to skip the movie. I didn't read the book, but yeah, it was pretty obvious. No surprises and somewhat predictable. But Gosling did a good job. As a "tear-jerker" I thought it failed miserably. And believe it or not, I DO cry at a good film. Maybe it tried TOO hard to be a tearjerker and just couldn't pull it off. That may have been part of my problem with it... I've only read one Nicholas Sparks book... The Rescue, I think it was. It was light reading. I remember almost nothing about it. |
|
|
|
Post by chrisfan on Mar 2, 2005 16:14:31 GMT -5
I didn't read the book, but yeah, it was pretty obvious. No surprises and somewhat predictable. But Gosling did a good job. As a "tear-jerker" I thought it failed miserably. And believe it or not, I DO cry at a good film. Maybe it tried TOO hard to be a tearjerker and just couldn't pull it off. That may have been part of my problem with it... I've only read one Nicholas Sparks book... The Rescue, I think it was. It was light reading. I remember almost nothing about it. Part of me thinks that Sparks books just don't translate well to movies. As cheesy as it was, I thought Message in a Bottle was a great book, but the movie just sucked the life out of that that story. I thought that the one Mandy Moore did the movie version of was okay, but didn't read the book. People i know who read the book were totally let down by the movie. Come to think of it, he didn't write it, but Bridges of Madison County made a horrible movie too. Maybe the lesson is that house-wifey cheesy love stories should not be made into movies. |
|
|
|
Post by Ampage on Mar 2, 2005 16:26:36 GMT -5
Are you talking about A Walk On The Moon (or something like that)? If so, that Sparks guy sure likes to write about depressing love stories. Although I liked that one.
|
|
JACkory
Struggling Artist
Posts: 167
|
Post by JACkory on Mar 2, 2005 16:44:08 GMT -5
Are you talking about A Walk On The Moon (or something like that)? If so, that Sparks guy sure likes to write about depressing love stories. Although I liked that one. It's A Walk To Remember...but A Walk On The Moon might make for a good sequel.  |
|
|
|
Post by Ampage on Mar 2, 2005 17:31:48 GMT -5
Okay, I think the moon one was woth Diane Lane. I knew they were walking somewhere. 1/2 point for that dangit!
|
|
|
|
Post by chrisfan on Mar 2, 2005 17:38:27 GMT -5
Walk on the Moon was Diane Lane ... and a great friggin movie.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ampage on Mar 2, 2005 19:37:11 GMT -5
*ding*ding*ding*
Another movie we agree on. I really liked that one. Just a small, well acted, meaningful drama that made you think. And the scenery was gorgeous, human and nature. I really am glad for Unfaithful just because it put her back on the map.
|
|
|
|
Post by stratman19 on Mar 2, 2005 21:20:49 GMT -5
*ding*ding*ding* Another movie we agree on. I really liked that one. Just a small, well acted, meaningful drama that made you think. And the scenery was gorgeous, human and nature. I really am glad for Unfaithful just because it put her back on the map. Amp, if you start agreeing with Chris on movies, your reputation with me is shit, mister! |
|
|
|
Post by Adam on Mar 3, 2005 10:42:14 GMT -5
Rented a real find at the video store Tuesday and it's one of the best war films I've ever seen.  Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War depicts war (in this case, The Korean War) in all its dehumanizing aspects. Two brothers, both barely out of their teens, are drafted by the South Korean army (one could've escaped draft but he stayed with his younger brother since he had a heart condition). What follows is absolute hell on earth as the brothers and their unit face starvation, low supplies, constant enemy attacks (bullets, grenades, mortars), and fatigue of all sorts, including mental (in one scene, one wounded patient, driven crazy by his environment, starts shooting other wounded soldiers before he blows his own brains out). Other issues, such as the paranoia of Communism and the mass slaughter of villagers and innocent civilians by both sides (for siding or collaborating with the enemy), are touched upon in horrifying fashion. Where the plot really takes hold is when the older brother, after his involvement in some successful missions, starts to receive allocades, medals and attention and eventually gets sucked into the war machine. The younger brother, decidedly a pacifist but able to survive on his own, watches in horror as his brother, previously a kind and sacrificing soul, enjoys the attention as well as the unorthodox methods in which he completes his missions. The older brother tells him that he wants to receive the highest award possible so that, upon request, his brother can return home safely, but the younger brother can sense other reasons and turns against him. The director, it seems, is trying to one-up Speilberg at his own game with Saving Private Ryan. Tae Guk Gi shares many similar aspects: the bookends with a surviving veteran (one of the brothers; not a spolier since its revealed a few minutes into the film), graphic war scenes filmed with the same camera techniques (I think the process is called "stroboscope" but I could be wrong) and a rousing yet sentimental film score. But the performances are outstanding, the point is driven home effectively and the situations (as well as what happens to the brothers) are believable. Highly recommended, this was one of the best films of 2004. |
|
JACkory
Struggling Artist
Posts: 167
|
Post by JACkory on Mar 3, 2005 11:03:56 GMT -5
Tae Guk Gi sounds very promising. Hopefully I'll be able to find a copy in this small town...
Amp...yesterday I said that I didn't think my wife even enjoyed The Notebook very much...I was just asuming that because she didn't say anything after it was over. Well, I asked her last night if that were the case and she said she very much enjoyed the movie, that it was the kind of movie she would like to own on DVD.
Go figger...
Shows how much I know.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ampage on Mar 3, 2005 14:43:43 GMT -5
Well, it should be here by Saturday according to Netflix. I will let you know what I think. I still have Eternal Sunshine sitting there and some friends are taking me to see Sideways for a belated birthday get together so it may be awhile.
|
|
JACkory
Struggling Artist
Posts: 167
|
Post by JACkory on Mar 3, 2005 22:05:05 GMT -5
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a great film. One of the better science fiction movies I've seen.
|
|
|
|
Post by Thorngrub on Mar 4, 2005 11:15:57 GMT -5
I loved that movie. I intend to own it on DVD, eventually.
I saw "What Is It?" last night, and met the director, Mr. Crispin Glover. What a cool guy. Here's what the movie is about. Our protagonist is a fellow with Down Syndrome. He likes talking to snails. They are his friends. One day this snail whispers to him. The things it says freak our Down Syndrome main character out. He doesn't know how to take it. Eventually he reacts by smashing the snaily. Immediately he regrets his actions. In a tender, heart shattering scene, he dismally tries to piece together the dead snail's broken bits of shell, to no avail. This is when another snail shows up and hisses in a whisper "Where is our friend"?, and our protagonist won't answer, too ashamed of his murderous act, and too afraid of the other snail to admit it. He leaves the house just as the snail discovers the smashed, slain body of its friend. The piercing screams of the snail are mind numbingly sharp and harrowing, and our hero must slam the door in the face of that sound. He ends up locking himself outside. Since he can't get back into the house, he takes off on an adventure in search of his roommates, who have the key. Thus begins one of the most bizarre odysseys captured on celluloid. There is a surreal underlandscape wherein Crispin portrays a long haired cacodaemon sitting atop a stone throne, overseeing various down syndrome female attendants. He symbolizes an inner aspect of our upland Down Syndrome friend; the way he sees his inner self. There are freaky monkey masked women crawling around down there, in and out of craters, collecting watermelons which later prove to be symbolic extensions of aboveland person's heads. There is one extended scene of a monkey woman masturbating an ugly man while he rests naked in a clamshell. Yet he never gets an erection, a slight indication that this underworld might be an aspect of Hell. There is a minstrel in blackface who is there to serve the cacodaemon. This minstrel is constantly injecting snail enzymes into his cheek in an effort to wholly transform himself into an invertebrate. He muses on this dream of his of letting his human shape go, to become like the snails whom he admires so, with only 400 injections to go. In the meantime there is a doll of Shirley Temple who arrives amidst imagery of Nazi swastikas. An old war era poster shows Shirley Temple as a naked prepubescent girl holding a riding crop in her hand. A close up of the riding crop's handle reveals she has it semi inserted into her bald pubes. Meanwhile, above in the "real" world, our Down Syndrome protagonist is found in various stages of interaction with his Down Syndrome roommates. One is his girlfriend, and we are treated to a dramatic scene where they engage in a romantic kissing session in the park. The music swells terribly in a Nietzchean crescendo overdramatizing this simple exchange of tenderness. This whole time the surviving snail remains screaming horrifically over the shatttered corpse of its friend. One day our hero learns to put salt on the snails. He watches as the salt's acids corrode away the snail's live's as they foam up from under their shells, dissolving in what must be an explicitly painful demise. It seems he is asserting his superiority over the helpless snailys. The film seems to manage the impossible, which is simply putting everything into perspective for the audience member. By the end of the movie, viewers will be rubbing out their eyes from what they've just witnessed.
During the Q&A session afterwards, Crispin took much time to painstakingly defend his curious and surreal film. He went to great lengths to explain that in today's corporate sponsored age, there are certain elements or things that filmmakers simply are not allowed to show. "What Is It?" is a direct retaliation against this stifling of artistic freedom. As such, it is a pure and refined film of utter defiance. Afterwards, I was the first in line to meet Crispin and I told him as much. I said "I think your film is pure & true; keep on fighting the good fight man!" And I explained to him that I'd been a fan of his for going on twenty years now, and that if he signed my copy of his album, I'd be honored seeing as how I've owned it for at least sixteen years. He was eager to do so, and I walked out not only pleasantly surprised and satisfied, but with a significant amount to think about in wake of his disturbing, revelatory film.
Absolutely not for everyone, "What Is It?" still happens to serve an important role in the development of our counter culture. It expressly sets out to exercise those creative muscles the State would have atrophy for fear of exposing taboos generally thought to be better off never talked about. From this perspective I believe "What Is It?" to be a beautiful film, unlike any ever made before. And listening to Crispin defend his art helped me to answer the question posited by the work's title: the answer being simply, REALITY. Because it is the core of reality's often disturbing truths that are most often condemned by the state, and that is explicitly what this movie is all about, facing reality before our collective corporate-sponsored rules & regulations gradually force us to evolve into purely fantasy-based creatures.
We all owe a debt to Crispin Glover for making this film, especially those of us who aspire to express ourselves artistically in a commercial medium.
Thanks, Mr. Farr.
|
|
|
|
Post by luke on Mar 4, 2005 13:31:43 GMT -5
Going to see Be Cool Sunday night. Can't fucking wait. Big Get Shorty fan, and I'm really pumped about the cast in this fucking thing. I especially wanna see ol' Rocky Maivia...they've been saying for about a year now that this is the character that may send him to that next level.
|
|
|
|
Post by Philemon on Mar 5, 2005 7:59:54 GMT -5
For those it may interest ... Rumble in the jungle He was the hottest young director in Hollywood - before he'd even made a film. But Orson Welles' first movie, an adaptation of Heart of Darkness, collapsed even before the cameras rolled. Clinton Heylin on the story behind the greatest film never made ... film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,1429851,00.html |
|
