The one I keep hearing I need to see from people I know is DRIVE. I'll forgive them stealing Tim's show's name from what I've heard.

For fuck's sake, why didn't someone warn me about Warrior? I haven't cried that hard or long during a movie since Amistad. Of which I remember little, because that was like a hotbutton blackout.

This was like...I dunno. But it was a movie made to wreck me, yet without slavery or significant female characters.

WRECKED.

Good god.

Oh, and it had one of my krav instructors in it. So that's cool, except...WRECKED.

Just saw "A Pain in the Ass" on on-demand. Hilarious film (French with subtitles - I don't speak French and I still wonder why someone translated "Mierde, Mierde, Mierde" as "Damn, Damn, Damn". )

About a hit-man and a suicidal photographer. The stars are not only good actors but amazing physical comedians. They even found a way to make a ledge scene seem fresh.

Described as a black comedy, and though every single person (no exceptions) behaves badly, there something in the outlook that is not quite cynical enough for what I normally think of as a black comedy. A certain lack of despair? But I've seen cheerful black comedies before. I dunno, maybe the feeling it gives that even though people are depraved there definitely are limits to human depravity?

I think the distinction I'd make is that it is a cheerfully tough-minded comedy rather than a cheerfully cynical one. I'm not 100% sure how to define the difference, let alone defend my position, but that is my impression.

dammit. I thought it was coming out in October.

It keeps getting pushed back, which is frustrating. I think maybe originally thought nobody would care and now they're angling for awards buzz.

And I saw Drive on Saturday and loved it. Be aware that it's not a thriller/action movie like the trailer suggests. It's LA noir, it's slow and stylized, it's got some brutal scenes, and the protagonist is basically a Vachss character. It probably helps to like crime fiction because a lot of my friends hated it -- and I get why, honestly. It just worked for me.

The more I hear about Drive, the less I want to see it. I heard it compared to The American recently, and ugh, that movie. And Vachss is Just Too Much for me! I dunno, I'll probably still see it.

Well, the plot is not as inherently disturbing as Vachss stories are. But Gosling's character reminded me a lot of his. The comparisons I've seen to Eastwood in the Leone movies are about right, too. This isn't a guy you're meant to relate to.

So Beau and I saw "Drive" last night and I liked it more than he did. He really didn't like the film at all, I'm kind of meh. The best part of the movie (it seems to me) is the first 10-15 minutes. After that, I feel like the movie got caught up in its own pretentions.

It is a violent film and I think at one point I actually said "ick" out loud in the theater.

The movie reminds me of a Michael Mann film from the 1980s. It is minimalist in some ways (until you get to the gore!) and I don't think Beau likes that style of acting. He felt that Ryan Reynolds could not act (which is not a true statement of course), but I don't think he liked his direction. Beau much preferred Albert Brooks' acting.

I agree with Strega that it probably helps to like crime fiction (which is what I read and watch 80% of the time), but still, I would have preferred more information about Reynolds' character's motivation. He seemed cunning on the one hand, but on the other hand, he displayed great naïvete and/or arrogance and for the life of me I couldn't understand why. Some light spoilers:

it is possible that I have watched too many heist movies, but I was kind of shocked at the extent to which he hadn't seemed to think that other people's planning was sufficient for the job. When he did his own, he was on point, but relying on other people like that without checking things out is a problem.

The movie reminds me of a Michael Mann film from the 1980s.

Like, Thief?

Just saw "A Pain in the Ass" on on-demand. Hilarious film (French with subtitles - I don't speak French and I still wonder why someone translated "Mierde, Mierde, Mierde" as "Damn, Damn, Damn". )

It should be. It's by the same guy who did La Cage aux folles, Le Dîner de cons (The Dinner Game), and Le Placard (The Closet), among others. You can always tell a Veber film because the loser lead is usually named François Pignon. Note: A Pain in the Ass is actually Veber remaking his own work. (Attention Hec!) The original L'emmerdeur starred Jacques Brel as Pignon.

BTW, merde is best translated as damn. It's a mild swear word; hence its acceptable use for "good luck" or "break a leg" in the theater.