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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.
She's been getting some great reviews.
She surprised the hell out of me. I'd written her off as a lightweight.
Like all Lars von Trier films, I suspect there will be a big part of the audience who'll hate it. It's overlong and self-indulgent, and I can't think too hard on what von Trier is saying thematically because it'll probably wig me out. But honestly, the movie was so sumptuous to look at and listen to, I didn't really care.
Anne, I'm glad to hear that the changes to the Station Inspector's role are good because I have been frankly dreading that a bit. I was certain they'd go stereotypical kid's film bad guy since he's kinda written that way already and just couldn't see how more would be better.
I still haven't see Hugo but plan on taking the kids this week.
Burrell, with regards to the Station Inspector, things start off as one might expect, but then it branches out in a couple of surprising ways.
I'll be interested to hear what you think.
So most of Dunst's acting talent had been sitting forgotten in a box somewhere since she finished filming Interview with the Vampire, and she recently rediscovered it during a move or something?
Despite how odious I think von Trier is, perhaps he is a good director who can coax excellent performances out of his actors?
I've always liked Kirsten Dunst, starting with The Virgin Suicides. She's been in some clunkers, and been just as bad as the movies, sure, but I've always seen more there. Her character in Eternal Sunshine tends to be ignored, and she certainly isn't as memorable in it as Kate Winslet, but I've always thought she was under-appreciated in that movie - her character is a bit vapid and annoying, but the heartbreaking parts of her role always worked for me. Really, I think she's one of the best parts of that storyline, meaning I think she out-acts more respected actors in the forms of Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood (though not Tom Wilkinson, who is wonderful).
Sure, she didn't do much in Spider-Man, but only the villains ever got to do much there. And Marie Antoinette was a crazy movie, though I actually thought her performance was good there too. But it doesn't surprise me she can transcend, given a movie that allows her to do so.
Plus, Bring It On is awesome.
perhaps he is a good director who can coax excellent performances out of his actors?
Yes, but "coax" is not the right word for how he does it. Most actresses refuse to work with him more than once.
I, too, thought Kirsten Dunst did some lovely nuanced work in Eternal Sunshine -- I'd forgotten about that.
From all accounts, Lars von Trier is a thoroughly unpleasant human being with a crushingly nihilistic world view. Basically, the whole thesis of Melancholia is that the world is a horrible place beyond salvation and embracing death is the only noble course left to us. It's just that he decided to present his thesis in this particular movie in a series of beautiful tableaux full of rapturous images. So instead of coming across as bleak, the death wish of the heroine takes on... a kind of voluptuous longing that's quite seductive. It sucked me in for the duration of the movie anyway, and my mind keeps going back to those images, even though I'm more disturbed at what the movie is saying, the longer I have the time to think on it.
Plus, Bring It On is awesome.
Hell yeah, it is.
Yes, but "coax" is not the right word for how he does it. Most actresses refuse to work with him more than once.
I heard her say in an interview that he was OK with her, but she was prepared to have a great story about being treated horribly by the great von Trier.