Movies #6

[Not_RMR]

I hate both of them.

[Beldo]

I hate both of them.

We know that, but that's just your rampant antisemitism coming out.

[Tabbedout]

watched Taking Woodstock last weekend, terrible

next up Eye of God

Cool! Let me know what you think!

[3legcat]

will do

[Sandusky]

anybody else spied this? I can't stop raving about it. Just a brutal brutal film, up there with "Papillion" and "Midnight Express" in its depiction of prison abuse. This first time director makes poetry out of piss stained cell floors and shit smeared walls. The most realistic depiciton of a hunger strike I've ever seen. The lead guy is outstanding as Bobby Sims. I watched it plus the supplement materials; gonna watch it again over the weekend. Unforgettable film. Look forward to more movies from this director.

[Bowood]

Looking for something to pass the time. I found In The Electric Mist. I did not even know this movie existed. It's too good for straight to DVD, but also not nearly good enough considering a) James Lee Burke source novel b) stylish director, Bertrand Tavernier, c) interesting and talented cast. All said, it's a bit of a mess, but worth checking out if you think this cast is spyable in any movie :

Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman, Mary Steenburgen, Peter Sarsgaard , Kelly Macdonald , Ned Beatty , Pruitt Taylor Vince ,
Buddy Guy , John Sayles, Levon Helm..

[DADDY]

Watched "Ponyo" with the kids tonight. Not Miyazaki's best, but certainly worth a nod in that Oscar animation catagory. Can't believe this was snubbed. Miyazaki has got one of the best imaginations in the business. Cat must have ate shrooms like a fiend back in the day.

[Tabbedout]

I'm watching "Leaves of Grass" tonight. "In The Electric Mist" is a mess, still, I don't hate it. They tried to fit too much in there, it works in the novel, but the script should have been cut down. Tommy Lee is right for the part and the soundtrack is amazing too. It could have been a masterpiece if they did it right. The scenes with Levon Helm and Tommy Lee were spot on! Oh, and there are two versions of this movie, the studio cut and the dir-cut. They are not much different.

[Tuxedo T-shirt]

DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FIRST 15 MINUTES OF SHUTTAH ISLAND

I just watched Shuttah Island last weekend. Just a smidge over the top. Twist was pretty easy to see coming. Like, I think me and both of my friends had the basic twist figured out 10 minutes in (I figured it out when they took the guns away, one of my buddies claimed to figure it out when he was like, "Why did he just meet his partner for the first time on the boat? They're going to an insane asylum? Oh."), and I pretty much figured out the rest of it halfway through. It reminded me of Cape Fear, in that the score was way over the top and it was way, way, way too fucking long. The other problem is that, with these kinds of movies, the "protagonist being crazy" plot device fucking sucks. Any kind of plot twist that you want to make happen you can make happen, and then explain it away by saying, "Oh well he was just fucking crazy." I don't know. Seems kind of lam0rz to me.

[Beldo]

Yikes, Bobbsy, that post was quite spoilerific for peeps who haven't seen it!

[Tuxedo T-shirt]

Yikes, Bobbsy, that post was quite spoilerific for peeps who haven't seen it!

I fixed that bitch.

*'bitch' referring to the post. Not to you. XOXO

[Blaze]

I figured out the basic twist as well, but still couldn't get the pieces to fit, like I thought he had burnt down his apartment, and I was wondering if they were gonna do the Bob Mentioned Plot Twist of "Well he was fucking crazy" and was never really sure if what he/we the audience were seeing was real. I think it led to a sense of paranoia. I think you were supposed to be guessing this. It was just too obvious. I didn't know if they were going to double back on us and make the twist be that the place really was run by evil geniuses.

[Tuxedo T-shirt]

JUST GO SEE SHUTTAH ISLAND.

I figured out the basic twist as well, but still couldn't get the pieces to fit, like I thought he had burnt down his apartment, and I was wondering if they were gonna do the Bob Mentioned Plot Twist of "Well he was fucking crazy" and was never really sure if what he/we the audience were seeing was real. I think it led to a sense of paranoia. I think you were supposed to be guessing this. It was just too obvious. I didn't know if they were going to double back on us and make the twist be that the place really was run by evil geniuses.

Yeah, I am undecided on how I would have felt about the "double twist." I think I would have hated it.

I think my preference for an ending - and I think this colors how you make the whole movie, - is to make it ambiguous. Like, he gets away but you don't know if he's crazy or not. Or he stays but you don't know. They fucking flashback the whole thing though so that you know exactly what happened, and then my thought was, "Well, why the fuck is he in an asylum? I'd probably do the same thing and I'm not crazy." But then they just conveniently tell you that he's crazy, and we have to believe them. And it's like, it'd be cool if maybe he was a little crazy, but maybe they were also kind of evil geniuses.

Max Von Sydow was terrific though. I've never understood why this guy hasn't been in more movies. LdC wasn't too shabby either and I normally want to stab him in the face because he gets to fuck Bar Rafaeli on a regular basis.

[nacho]

Bob's posts make me think i'm not the only one who pictured this guy every time Teddy opened his trap.

[Beldo]

I think my preference for an ending - and I think this colors how you make the whole movie, - is to make it ambiguous. Like, he gets away but you don't know if he's crazy or not. Or he stays but you don't know. They fucking flashback the whole thing though so that you know exactly what happened, and then my thought was, "Well, why the fuck is he in an asylum? I'd probably do the same thing and I'm not crazy." But then they just conveniently tell you that he's crazy, and we have to believe them. And it's like, it'd be cool if maybe he was a little crazy, but maybe they were also kind of evil geniuses.

I don't know what you mean by they conveniently tell you he's crazy--he is clearly crazy or at least very emotionally disturbed because he's created a whole separate persona for himself. I believe there is some talk about how he was in jail for killing his wife for a little while and then was sent to the asylum when he became violent at anyone who called him Andrew Laettis. Also, the ending was ambiguous in that you don't know if he was having a relapse or if he understood now what happened and had accepted it but still wanted to have a lobotomy so that he would stop having his visions/memories.