Gone to the movies lately? - Page 8

dissention · #**106** 10-23-2005, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Also, I am going to see Capote right now - a full report will be forthcoming after the subsequent Thai repast

Catherine Keener and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Together. In one movie. Be still my heart.

dissention · #**107** 10-23-2005, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard B

Yeah, Happy Accidents is wonderful. I first discovered Brad Anderson with Session 9, then Next Stop Wonderland.

Session 9 scared the living **** out of me! I'm not courageous enough to watch it again. It didn't help matters that it was shot at Danvers State here in Massachusetts. Crikey, that place is scary. I get goosepimply just thinking about that place; the stories of abuse from that place are legendary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard B

I really liked The Machinist (not my favorite film by Anderson though). Christian Bale really immersed himself in that role. Losing 65 pounds just to play this walking skeleton of a man. It was hard to watch sometimes and they sure played up that 'shell of man' idea. Bale only ate (1) can of tuna a day and I think a yogurt to drop the weight. Frightening.

I read that he ate apples for awhile too, but stopped eventually because he didn't have the energy to chew them.

He's one of the best actors out there. His talents are sometimes surreal to watch because he's so good.

sparky · #**108** 10-23-2005, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dissention

Whatever floats your boat, babe. Looks like you'll be the one squealing for once.

Gimme that stud puppy for two hours and you'll hear the squealing, and other unmentionable noises, all the way in Boston.

Richard B · #**109** 10-23-2005, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dissention

Session 9 scared the living **** out of me! I'm not courageous enough to watch it again. It didn't help matters that it was shot at Danvers State here in Massachusetts. Crikey, that place is scary. I get goosepimply just thinking about that place; the stories of abuse from that place are legendary.

Did it ever scare me too. Just an unsettling film all around. And Danvers State is indeed a character all to itself...looming, brooding and wicked. I've been reading that it maybe demolished soon. I guess this issue is back in court on 10/26 since MA has blocked the sale of it.

When I first saw it I was so creeped out that I had to stop the film and call 2 friends. It was in that part where the one guy goes back at night to pilfer those coins and stuff and is going through that tunnel and sees the figure. Whoa. Unrelenting. I own it on DVD and the commentary is pretty great. Here's some trivia from IMDb:
This was one of the first feature films shot using Sony's 24P HD video, which shoots at 24 frames per second, like film, as opposed to the 30 frames per second of conventional NTSC video. Using this technology, Anderson and director of photography Uta Briesewitz were able to produce the uniquely effective, deep-focus images using mostly natural light.

"Hello Gordon"

strandinthewind · #**110** 10-23-2005, 06:14 PM

Capote was magnificent. Like the book "In Cold Blood," around which the movie is centered, the movie is paced in such a deliberate manner that you are taken in from the start. Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the treasures of our time. The emotion he portrays is palpable in its depth.

I thought this review from Rolling Stone was accurate despite the source:

Philip Seymour Hoffman's unmissable and unforgettable performance as Truman Capote should make him the front-runner for every Best Actor prize in the book. Great acting is quicksilver, impossible to pin down in words. But you know it when you see it. And you see it with dazzling clarity in this landmark portrayal. Hoffman gets the flamboyantly gay public image of the whiny-voiced gadfly who swanned through New York literary circles. But his real triumph is inward, the way he finds the stillness in Capote and the emotions roiling in his eyes when what he sees in the world reduces him to awed silence. Nothing awed Capote more than the years (1959 to 1965) that he spent researching and writing In Cold Blood, his pioneering nonfiction novel about the murder of the Clutter family from Holcomb, Kansas, and the two ex-convict drifters who killed them.
It's the riveting focus on that period that lifts Capote above the herd of biopics. First-time feature director Bennett Miller won praise for his 1998 documentary The Cruise, about a Manhattan tour guide, but nothing about that romp prepares you for the dramatic fireworks of Capote. Credit actor Dan Futterman, in a vividly impressive screenwriting debut, for carving an astutely narrowed script out of Gerald Clarke's 1988 Capote biography.

From the moment Capote arrives in Kansas to start his research with the help of his writer friend Harper Lee (a terrific, no-nonsense Catherine Keener) -- her first and only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, depicts their Alabama childhood -- this haunted and haunting film holds you in its grip. The two writers charm Alvin Dewey (a superb Chris Cooper), the agent in charge of the case, and his wife (Amy Ryan) into giving them invaluable access. Capote finesses interviews with the killers, Dick Hickcock (Mark Pellegrino) and Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.), establishing a rapport with the latter that borders on sexual fixation. The film leaves no doubt that Capote is exploiting these men for the sake of a book that he knows will make his career. But his kinship with Perry cuts to his own parental traumas. As Capote said, "It's as if Perry and I grew up in the same house, and he went out the back door while I went out the front." Collins is mesmerizing, as Perry opens up to the writer whose languorous photo on the jacket of his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, is called "undignified" by the convict.

Capote's manipulation doesn't come without a price. He relies on alcohol to dull the pain of offering comfort to the killers while wishing for their deaths by hanging so he can finish his book. Hoffman makes you believe Capote was sincere on both counts. He also makes you believe in his talent. Early on, we see Capote sneak into a Kansas funeral home and covertly open the caskets of the Clutter family. Later, at a New York reading of the unfinished In Cold Blood, Capote recites the words that turn the reality of that immoral action into transcendent art. Capote is a movie that doesn't pull its punches. It's a knockout.

PETER TRAVERS
(Posted Sep 22, 2005)

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/...on=6.0.12.1069

________________________________________________________

dissention · #**111** 10-23-2005, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Capote was magnificent. Like the book "In Cold Blood," around which the movie is centered, the movie is paced in such a deliberate manner that you are taken in from the start. Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of the treasures of out time. The emotion he portrays is palpable in its depth.

I thought this review from Rolling Stone was accurate despite the source:

Philip Seymour Hoffman's unmissable and unforgettable performance as Truman Capote should make him the front-runner for every Best Actor prize in the book. Great acting is quicksilver, impossible to pin down in words. But you know it when you see it. And you see it with dazzling clarity in this landmark portrayal. Hoffman gets the flamboyantly gay public image of the whiny-voiced gadfly who swanned through New York literary circles. But his real triumph is inward, the way he finds the stillness in Capote and the emotions roiling in his eyes when what he sees in the world reduces him to awed silence. Nothing awed Capote more than the years (1959 to 1965) that he spent researching and writing In Cold Blood, his pioneering nonfiction novel about the murder of the Clutter family from Holcomb, Kansas, and the two ex-convict drifters who killed them.
It's the riveting focus on that period that lifts Capote above the herd of biopics. First-time feature director Bennett Miller won praise for his 1998 documentary The Cruise, about a Manhattan tour guide, but nothing about that romp prepares you for the dramatic fireworks of Capote. Credit actor Dan Futterman, in a vividly impressive screenwriting debut, for carving an astutely narrowed script out of Gerald Clarke's 1988 Capote biography.

From the moment Capote arrives in Kansas to start his research with the help of his writer friend Harper Lee (a terrific, no-nonsense Catherine Keener) -- her first and only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, depicts their Alabama childhood -- this haunted and haunting film holds you in its grip. The two writers charm Alvin Dewey (a superb Chris Cooper), the agent in charge of the case, and his wife (Amy Ryan) into giving them invaluable access. Capote finesses interviews with the killers, Dick Hickcock (Mark Pellegrino) and Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.), establishing a rapport with the latter that borders on sexual fixation. The film leaves no doubt that Capote is exploiting these men for the sake of a book that he knows will make his career. But his kinship with Perry cuts to his own parental traumas. As Capote said, "It's as if Perry and I grew up in the same house, and he went out the back door while I went out the front." Collins is mesmerizing, as Perry opens up to the writer whose languorous photo on the jacket of his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, is called "undignified" by the convict.

Capote's manipulation doesn't come without a price. He relies on alcohol to dull the pain of offering comfort to the killers while wishing for their deaths by hanging so he can finish his book. Hoffman makes you believe Capote was sincere on both counts. He also makes you believe in his talent. Early on, we see Capote sneak into a Kansas funeral home and covertly open the caskets of the Clutter family. Later, at a New York reading of the unfinished In Cold Blood, Capote recites the words that turn the reality of that immoral action into transcendent art. Capote is a movie that doesn't pull its punches. It's a knockout.

PETER TRAVERS
(Posted Sep 22, 2005)

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/...on=6.0.12.1069

________________________________________________________

I don't want to read that hack Peter Travers' review, I want to read yours, babe.

strandinthewind · #**112** 10-23-2005, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dissention

I don't want to read that hack Peter Travers' review, I want to read yours, babe.

The coolest part of the movie for me was the deliberate portrayal of the flamboyant social side of Capote as opposed to the almost motherly love he shows for Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr.) in a clearly calculated attempt to get Perry to tell Capote what happened the night the family in Kansas was murdered. Capote sees himself in Perry and what Capote by chance did not become though Perry did. Capote tries to save Perry for that reason but cannot and in the end uses Perry. One of the most moving scenes for me was when Perry finally tells Capote what happened that night and Perry's transformation from doe eyed victim of society to a cold blooded murderer is so subtly done that you feel almost tricked by him as Capote was in the beginning. This was a very brilliantly disturbing movie.

skcin · #**113** 10-23-2005, 06:54 PM

My most recent rentals:

The Upside of Anger (Loved it. Joan Allen was superb - "Oh, I wasn't toasting, I was ordering another drink." Of course the ending shocked me - never expected this movie to take a turn like that.)

Fever Pitch (Boring as hell, and I usually love Drew and Farrelly brothers movies. Not this time - I think I laughed out loud once. It could have been so much funnier.)

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (That's right, you read correctly. It was actually pretty good. Nothing groundbreaking, but the acting {I LOVE America Ferrera!} and the writing were pretty good.)

The Big Lebowski (Finally saw this movie after how many years & many recommendations. I enjoyed it - not really sure why, though. "Shut the f*ck up, Donnie." "The rug really pulled the room together." I think I'll make myself a White Russian.)

I still have to watch Sin City and Off The Map. No plans to go to the theater, nothing looks all that great to me.

strandinthewind · #**114** 10-23-2005, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skcin

. . . The Upside of Anger (Loved it. Joan Allen was superb - "Oh, I wasn't toasting, I was ordering another drink."

LOVED THAT MOVIE. I saw it on the plane on the way to Vancouver last Aug. I was laughing so hard people were staring at me

I loved it when she walked in the rest. after they shocked her with the impending wedding and she walks directly up to some random wait person and says "I NEED A SCREWDRIVER AS SOON AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE"

Quote:

Originally Posted by skcin

. . .Of course the ending shocked me - never expected this movie to take a turn like that.) . . . .

I did

strandinthewind · #**115** 10-23-2005, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sparky

. . . I saw the Brokeback Mountian preview before this. Lord Have Mercy. As if I don't already have a cowboy/camping/pickup truck fetish ? I want to go to the movies again this weekend just to see this preview one more time.

I just cannot keep from calling it bareback mountain