Big Fish is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I had to be careful of when I watched it even before my Mom passing. Right now? I can't even imagine watching it.
Inara: Mal, this isn't the ancient sea. You don't have to go down with your ship. Mal: She ain't going down. She ain't going anywhere.
'Out Of Gas'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Atropa - Jun 06, 2011 10:23:30 am PDT #14679 of 30000
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
billytea - Jun 06, 2011 11:36:51 am PDT #14680 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
Movie reviews! Unstoppable, Tangled, Speed Racer, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Sexy Beast, The Brothers Bloom, 127 Hours, Junebug, Bug, Open Water, City of God, The Green Hornet.
I like this one:
Otherwise known as "The movie where Ben Kingsley says 'fuck' a lot."
Also the movie where he says "NO!" a lot. (Didn't help that he looked so very much like my older brother. Who also says "fuck" and "NO!" a lot. ...Oh, look. My brother is just like Gandhi!)
Polter-Cow - Jun 06, 2011 1:06:53 pm PDT #14681 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Also the movie where he says "NO!" a lot.
Oh yeah, there are points where he just says, "NO!" like fifteen times in different inflections.
I suppose I can use this opportunity to present an observation. I watched Sexy Beast and Junebug and Animal Kingdom because one performance was specifically lauded multiple times. Those actors made the awards circuit, but the movies themselves were rarely up for the big awards. And I didn't really care for the movies. On the other hand, the only Oscar nomination Rachel Getting Married received was for Anne Hathaway's performance, and I loved the movie. I think that's the exception that proves the rule, in my case, though. I know I have a very small sample size.
Does one amazing performance make it worth watching a movie that isn't that great? For people who make it a point to watch all the Oscar-nominated films, have you found that the movies whose only nomination is for an actor aren't as good as the movies that get nominations for other things?
DavidS - Jun 06, 2011 1:18:21 pm PDT #14682 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
For people who make it a point to watch all the Oscar-nominated films, have you found that the movies whose only nomination is for an actor aren't as good as the movies that get nominations for other things?
Well, I have a bias against "actor movies." Which are small in scale and character driven and tend to be realistic dramas.
I'd much rather watch Jeff Bridges in Lebowski (a real "director's movie") than Crazy Heart.
Robert Duvall is amazing in Tender Mercies but there are about nine other Duvall movies I'd rather watch first.
Oscar-bait movies are a particular flavor of spinach derived entertainment, and tend to be (in my opinion) less cinematic.
That said I did really like Laura Linney in You Can Count On me (actor movie).
Juliebird - Jun 06, 2011 1:27:51 pm PDT #14683 of 30000
I am the fly who dreams of the spider
I went on a kick watching Famous Movies, Groundbreaking Movies, Award Winning Movies, and lasted about five movies (I think it was a Kurosawa film that broke me. Or maybe it was 2001: A Space Odyssey). I am now unimpressed with anything that wins awards or is touted. There's what makes a great film and ticks all the boxes, and what I enjoy. (This also extends to gardening, where I am stuck at my job with gardens chock full of award and medal winning plants, but a garden they do not make. This dissonance hurts my eyes). I'll take the silver-medal who lost the race by a millisecond.
If the award-winners and my tastes happen to overlap, so be it.
And I think the fame of certain movies kept me from enjoying them for themselves. Bored to tears by Casablanca.
§ ita § - Jun 06, 2011 1:33:18 pm PDT #14684 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Who was the other cameo in XM: FC?
Scrappy - Jun 06, 2011 1:55:19 pm PDT #14685 of 30000
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
See, I LOVED Animal Kingdom. Although Weaver was wonderful and deserved her nomination, I thought almost all the performances were just as good and I loved the detailed, low-key storytelling, which still managed to be surprising. Some powerful HSQ in the film.
Polter-Cow - Jun 06, 2011 1:59:20 pm PDT #14686 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I didn't think much of Weaver—given that she was touted to be so totally amazeballs it was criminal anyone else was winning awards—and was disappointed in how little she was in the movie, given the hype. As for the low-key storytelling, it seemed almost aggressively low-key. It seemed like a movie I could like, if it were, well, a different movie.
billytea - Jun 06, 2011 2:03:59 pm PDT #14687 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
I haven't yet seen Animal Kingdom. I really should rectify that.
megan walker - Jun 06, 2011 2:14:41 pm PDT #14688 of 30000
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Does one amazing performance make it worth watching a movie that isn't that great? For people who make it a point to watch all the Oscar-nominated films, have you found that the movies whose only nomination is for an actor aren't as good as the movies that get nominations for other things?
What "other things"? Special effects? Generally, no. Cinematography? Generally, yes.
But then it's not like the Oscars necessarily represent the best movies either. Shakespeare in Love comes to mind as a movie that got some big awards but really wasn't all that. Or, you know, Forrest Gump. (YCrappyOscarMovieMV).
Admittedly, I try to watch most of the nominated actors, but I'll skip it if it looks too depressing (Biutiful, Rabbit Hole) or scenery chewing (Crazy Heart). So I may be eliminating some of the worst offenders.
That said, I thought that Junebug and Animal Kingdom were far better overall films than Rachel getting Married, but I thought Anne Hathaway's performance was by far the best of the bunch.