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Very interesting movie. People seeing this movie have to pay closeQuote:
Originally Posted by red-cyberman
attentions to clues that give hints to what's going on both during the movie (the maze painting) and at the very end. (the whistle in the hole)
There is a telling scene mid-way through ”Inside Llewyn Davis”, the new Coen Brothers movie, when a music manager called Bud Grossman, played by F. Murray Abraham (and clearly modelled on Bob Dylan’s erstwhile manager Al Grossman) listens to an impassioned musical performance by the central character and responds that” I don’t hear much money in it.”
It signals a time of transformation – when the largely coffee house based folk music tradition of the late fifties and early sixties travelled into the mainstream of popular music via such figures as Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan.
Llewyn Davies is not modelled on one of these luminaries, but on the also-rans such as Rambling jack Elliott or Dave Van Ronk (the Coens admit they based his character on Van Ronk’s autobiography).
Llewyn Davis is a nearly man of spiky personality – who plays the clubs of Greenwich villages and crashes at the apartments of friends as he ploughs (into the ground) a musical career in the aftermath of the successful time in a duo (following the suicide of his partner).
The Coens, like Pedro Almodovar and Quentin Tarantino, are darlings of the film industry and many can do no wrong – even when they producer stinkers like “Burn After Reading’ or ”A Serious Man.”
Yet they are capable of greatness with films such as “Fargo”, “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?” or “No Country For Old Men” and they do deserve praise for consistently trying out different genres – like last year’s enjoyable re-make of “True Grit”
“Inside Llewyn Davis” is one of their better films and is already picking up accolades in the US. It is really going to be liked by those who love the music of this era (currently enjoying quite a present revival of interest – check out the wonderful new CD set “ Live At Caffe Lena” - which was actually not in The Village but in Saratoga Springs.)
But while it has bittersweet comedy – particularly in the character played splendidly by John Goodman, a fat drug-addled old jazz musician – and a wonderful thread about cats – it is also run through with the Coen’s now familiar misanthropic view of the human condition.
The central character played by Oscar Isaac, is a great performer – but more in the Dave Van Ronk mode than a Dylan (a brief evocation of Dylan towards the end of the fm underscores the coming marginalisation of singers like Davis) and as Grossman judges, he is not likely to make much money.
And he is uncompromising. He clashes with his sister, with his friends and with just about everyone else.
He refuses the offer to trim his wild beard to a goatee and join a trio Bud Grossman is assembling – unnamed – but summoning the spectre of the commercialism of Peter, Paul and Mary.
In summation, a most enjoyable film evoking a now largely forgotten era of musical history. Oh and the music is god - including a hugely surprising performance by Justin Timberlake.
Inside Llewyn Davis - Please Mr. Kennedy - YouTube
G.I Joe
A Clockwork Orange[1971]...(This movie's about a week older than I am!)
Bit o' the ole Ultra Violence my little Droogies...
Surely the problem with the Coen Brothers is that even when they try out 'different genres' their films all look and sound the same, and are characterised by a cynical violence which acts as a replacement for plot or story -when in doubt, shoot it out. The question might be, How accurate is their portrayal of the contemporary USA? How many Black or Latino characters have their been in their films other than the small roles in the The Ladykillers, the camp idiot (John Turturro, Italian-American by origin and a wonderful actor) or the 'angry Black man' in The Big Lebowski? Not impressed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Prospero
That's part of the problem...Hollywood(WAY "Too Big To Fail")....These things are cyclical(Think about it, when I was little, the so-called "Renegades" were Spielberg, Scorsese, & Lucas)... The Hollywood system is set in it's ways, making particular genres of films for decades: Westerns, war flicks, slapsticks, Biblical epics, action flicks, etc...Then a bunch of new hotshot come along and shake up the game with their post film school project...They're either welcomed into the machine/community/tribe(by which they exemplify their loyalty by churning out MORE studio-dreck for mass consumption--@ higher $$$budgets) or they're pushed to the "boonies" of the indie-foreign niche..Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
Stavros, you'll have gathered I'm not that impressed either with the bulk of their work, but there is just one very brief fight in this new film - a little bit of fisticuffs in an alleyway - and precious little violence that I can recall in "Oh Brother Where Art Thou."
And while i hated "No Country For Old men" for the very violence you deplore it was a powerful piece of film making.
Indeed I have a book called The Movie Brats, about that group of new kids on the block (Scorsese, Milius, Lucas, de Palma) who have since morphed into respectability, as indeed did most of the Nouvelle Vague in France (although most of their films are not worth seeing except a couple by Rivette I suppose).Quote:
Originally Posted by goatman
Which Rivette Stavros? The only I have seen was "Celine and Julie go Boating'. First time i loved it but 20 years later it seemed rather tedious.
Well I obviously haven't seen the latest so my earlier comment doesn't apply, and I don't think there was any violence in The Hudsucker Proxy thinking back on that anaemic diversion. I think also that most music in the 1950s and 1960s was local and that reputations were made by word of mouth before the record industry, tv and radio brought local acts to national and then international fame. I doubt von Ronk would ever have made it and feel Dylan in his biography was often paying off a personal debt to obscure people rather than promoting someone for artistic reasons. He is not infallible.Quote:
Originally Posted by Prospero
Not pertinent to the thread, but isn't Dylan one of the few musicians who does not owe a debt to the Black American route which began with field hollers and slave songs, and morphed through the blues and Jazz into r&b and Soul? Do the Coen Brothers, like Woody Allen, have a blind spot when it comes to non-white/Black America? Believe it or not, I actually thought Burn after Reading was one of the most bearable of their jaded parables.
Yes It was visually stunning.
Quote:
Originally Posted by El Nino
Can't agree with that, Celine et Julie is still magical for me. Jeanne la Pucelle (parts 1 and 2) are worth seeing for a reasonable degree of historical accuracy except that, as is always the case in films, the actress playing Jeanne (Sandrine Bonnaire) was 27 when she made the first part (Les Batailles) whereas in real life Jehanne was around 16 or 17 when she first lobbied Charles VII to take on the British.Quote:
Originally Posted by Prospero
Pan's Labyrinth -yes, I saw it, and thought little of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by crystalsopen
American Hustle (David Russell 2013)
Russell directed Silver Linings Playbook and uses Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and an uncredited Robert de Niro in this film, but as with some of his earlier films (Spanking the Monkey, 1994; and I Heart Huckabees, 2004) the film promises more than it delivers. The plot is of little interest, the characters even less so, and when a character is given the name of of an Italian cheese I think you realise this film came from nowhere, has the same rythmn and tone throughout and ends up disappointing. If you do want to see films about hustling and deception, The Grifters (Stephen Frears 1990) and the Argentinian film Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens, Faien Bielinsky 2000) are both superior.
Pity as I like Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper and hope they make interesting films.
Its a caper Stavros and quite funny I think! And the cheese name is a joke. The Big cheese....
right & i did like "Pan's Labyrinth"...also just saw last week "Gravity"...Sarah should get the Oscar...just saying.
met a new friend from Columbus, OH...
...the other last movie i saw is w/Chanel Couture...which was yesterday...
Yet to see American Hustle and Inside Llewyn Davis. I agree with Prospero's take on Coen Brothers movies. I've liked a handful. Fargo, Big Lebowski, No Country, O Brother Where Art Thou, and Miller's Crossing (though I think the last one is overrated). Did not like The Man Who Wasn't There, Hudsucker Proxy, or Ladykillers. Thought A Serious Man and Burn Before Reading were okay.
Saw 12 Years a Slave and thought it was very moving.
No one likes the Coens' Raising Arizona? It's one of my all-time favorites.
Never seen it, Maxpower....
I watched the new Bazz Luhrmann version of "The Great Gatsby" last night. Well, to be honest, I watched some and then read a book while the rest played on. A drunken, careering car crash of a film. I wonder if he will ever make a calm film. Leonardo di Caprio was fine (and Carey Mulligan as Daisy looked lovely). Do Caprio, who has matured into a pretty good actor was a calm centre to an otherwise squally film. As Robert Louis said a few posts ago read F. Scott Fitzgerald read the books and avoid the movies. This film is horrible.
GREAT GATSBY Trailer (2012) Movie HD - YouTube
Battlestar Galactic: Blood & Chrome[2012]
The best part of this film is that David O Russell obviously has a huge foot fetish and likes to show it on the big screen. Love all the foot scenes and foot play. The 70's outfits and music were great too. Stavros, your basic criticism isn't necessarily wrong, but as Prospero sort of said... it's a mad caper. More Fish Called Wanda than Casino.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
But yeah, I love con movies dating back to The Sting as a 13 yr old on its first run in the theatres. Grifters was indeed a good one. I also think House of Games and The Last Seduction are two underrated movies from this genre. The con in American Hustle isn't all that elaborate and so I wouldn't put it on a par with the best of the genre. I'll have to check out Nueva Reina. Thanks for the tip Stavros.
So RL, did you ever see Nebraska? Was definitely quirky/funny, especially the mother character, but not necessarily my favorite Payne movie. Part of my view is affected by a lack of objectivity - I grew up in the Great Plains, and spent quite a bit of time in Billings, Montana where the movie starts out. The regional characterization is mostly right with Payne's skewed wit thrown in. But I guess any small town/rural region of the world has common elements to what is shown here.Quote:
Originally Posted by robertlouisPleased to hear it. On the list for this week! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Prospero
Alexander Payne has become the master of the quirky road movie.
I wend on a childhood bender and watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1 and 2 today
Dallas Buyers Club: Matthew Mcconaughey and Jared Leto have possibly done permanent damage to their health having lost so much weight portraying victims of HIV AIDS in the late 1980s and I wish that wasn't my first reaction because their performances, once you get past their startling weight loss, are simply beautiful. Imagine a cowboy homophobe and a drag queen and a situation where they are forced to form a relationship in order to survive. Thankfully, this film discards all those preconceived notions and cliché's and for that reason alone I give this an 8 of 10. My only problem is the overnight transition from drunken idiot to sober scientific scholar with the Mcconaughey character. This will get ignored unfortunately because it doesnt have robots or old guys boxing but it is worth seeking out.
The Wolf Of Wall Street: If you want to be entertained by a tall tale of the excesses of Wall Street moguls from a few decades ago, it's a fun and entertaining movie. But, nothing new here from Scorcese. However, Margot Robbie appears nekkid which gives it a 10 out of 10 review!
last night was Waynes World!
a 1992 classic, haven't seen for years and loved its childishness!!
'if she was presedent, she'd be Babereham Lincoln'
a classic of its time!!
NOT!! ahh that's where it came from and we still use it today!!
lone survivor
great film, very well done by peter berg. it's simple and very direct.
watch for the dedicated memorial at the very end. some scenes can be bloody brutal...
Abdullah The Butcher in a way you haven't seen him before.
Icons of Wrestling - Abdullah the Butcher - YouTube
12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)
For some reason this film is not being widely distributed in the UK and as it is not scheduled to play in my town until the end of January I went to Birmingham to see it. I also read the original book before going. Solomon Northup's account, also 12 Years a Slave can be read for free at this link:
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/northup/northup.html
The book is not too long and can be read in a morning or an afternoon. It is written with considerable verve and confidence by a man who refused to be beaten into submission by slavery, and whose potent sense of justice gives the book an important dimension in the decade before the Civil War. Northup after his captivity often muses on the Constitutional right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' as something denied to Black Americans, yet never loses faith in either constitutional or natural law as his route to freedom. The contradictions between the Constitition and reality are as stark as the fact that Northup prospered among white Americans in the North yet was betrayed by two of them desperate for money, treated harshly by them in slavery yet in time emancipated by them. Similarly, the Christian faith which he professes is also used in the South to justify both slavery itself and violence. Crucially, perhaps, Northup argues that slavery brutalises the slave owners and that the only remedy is abolition.
McQueen is fairly faithful to the book but edits in scenes of a sexual nature that are not in the book; and edits out other characters: he replaces a key figure, Henry Northup, the man who emancipated Solomon's father, with the trader Parker; the black slave who is murdered on the boat heading south in the book dies of smallpox; the proud Black woman Eliza, who, separated from her children slips into despair, dies in the book, but not in the film. Solomon has three children in the book, only two in the film. If anything, there are more beatings and lashings in the book than in the film, and Solomon's attempt to escape is not featured as an event in itself. I would rather have seen more time developing Solomon's character as a free man in Saratoga and filling in the background on his skills as a carpenter and raft-maker; and more time with the pivotal figure Bass (played by Brad Pitt in the film), whose encounters with Solomon are dealt with in more detail in the book. In effect he has one short and one long scene in the film. The figure of Uncle Abram is lost in the film although the scene at his funeral where they sing Roll, Jordan, Roll is one of the most moving in the film, not least because at first Solomon resists joining in. The photography is superb, the acting outstanding and the overall impact of the film is intense and powerful. It is useful to contrast this factually based and serious film about slavery with the meretricious hysterics of Django Unchained. One is a film worthy of attention, the other worthy of the bin.
Watched The Place Beyond the Pines last night on HBO. Wasn't what I was expecting by the end. Really enjoyed it.
The Place Beyond the Pines Official Trailer #1 (2013) - Ryan Gosling Movie HD - YouTube
American Splendor w/Paul Giamatti...tell ya' why...guy's an artist/works @ VA Hospital University Circle...AND one King of Porn is Cleveland born...
wow... Stavros and i agree about something. Is this a portent of the end of the world?
He's yet to agree that you agree:). Looking forward to the Golden Globes in about a half an hour. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are funny ladies, but nobody will ever compare to Ricky Gervais' hosting. Ballsy and sharp as a tack.Quote:
Originally Posted by Prospero
:wiggle: Great stuff . Dino ,thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Dino Velvet
Hmmm..agree about what? 12 Years a Slave? We also admire Tarkovsky too I think....just don't get too comfortable or complacent....Quote:
Originally Posted by Prospero
Is it true that only 90 people vote for the Golden Globes? I have a feeble view of awards, but this seems a pretty think spread of opinion....Quote:
Originally Posted by broncofan
Thanks. I'm glad somebody enjoyed that. Abdullah is more complex than we thought. His mom's a great gal and I'm glad she doesn't have to work at the funeral home anymore. One of the good stories from professional wrestling about one of the most notorious heels.Quote:
Originally Posted by sukumvit boy
http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.co...he-Butcher.jpg
Around you I would never get complacent Stavros. Yes, you are quite right. I hugely admire Tarkovsky. And on quite a few of the political threads - even if I am weaker on some of the details than you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
As I recall I liked Shame more than you did. I wasn't sure if McQueen was going to use his long shots in 12 Years a Slave but he does at a few critical junctures, the flogging of Patsey is one but there is another, toward the end when Solomon is held in mainframe looking around his landscape and gradually catches the camera's eye before moving away; intense and distressing in a way. Some critics of the film don't seem to appreciate McQueen started out with installations and is perhaps more of a film-maker moving from conceptual art into film rather than a conventional story teller although this his is most conventional film. Can't get Drumroll (1998) on the web it was one of his celebrated installations.