The Movie Thread

acronym,

Yeah, 3 stars out of 4 (or even 5) seems about right. I'm not a Cruise fan either, he's very inconsistent in the quality and believability of his performances, and he's actually damaged some of his best films due to his short-comings as an actor, they would have been so much better w/a better actor, but this movie was so preposterous and Jamie Foxx was so good that Cruise didn't take away from the enjoyment.

BTW, have you seen Mann's "The Last of the Mohican's"? A friggin' masterpiece, Mann's crowning achievement of his career so far.

H

 

Spoilers. (I suppose, thought part of the effectiveness of the film is in knowing what happens. But better safe than sorry...)

Alpha Dog is not a great film, it has lots of problems, but it's a good film on important, relevant themes. And it's mostly well-made; the build-up to a bizarre, heart-rending climax is at times excruciatingly tense and utterly believable. Based on the true story of a 15-yr old kid who was "kidnapped" and later murdered by a teen drug dealer and his friends so they could get the money owed them from his older brother, the film is full of complex relationships and wild circumstances between the characters that are continually evolving until it seems there is only one way it can all work itself out from their so-skewed pov. The cast of young actors are impressive; everyone of them, down to the most minor characters, are utterly naturalistic. (In this sense, and in some of the themes and subject matter, it reminded me of the much inferior "Bully". I don't think "Bully" is a very good movie, but the acting by the - at the time - unknown young cast is nothing short of astounding. It's like the filmmakers went out and found kids who were living that life and built a plot around their personalities. To later see these same actors in other films playing different characters is something of a jolt. AD has some of this same feel of absolute realism.)

It's after the killing that Cassavetes makes a terrible mistake. He has a long, long interview scene w/Sharon Stone in heavy makeup playing the mother in present-day. It doesn't work, it seems to belong in a completely different film. The style of the scene is completely different than anything that has gone before and grinds the movie to a halt. The worst thing is that we can see Stone is acting, she's giving a performance, and the contrast w/the naturalism of the young cast is so jarring that it takes us out of the story. All momentum is lost.

Another serious error is that Cassavetes completely drops the most interesting character right at the climax. Ben Foster as Jake, the older brother of the kidnapped boy, is fascinating, and Foster is brilliant. At times he seems over-the-top, the character is an constant rage throughout the entire film, but Foster somehow manages to be both stylized and natural, it's an amazing performance. This guy is going to be a major, major star. There's a scene where he screams into the phone in such blind fury, holding the receiver away from him like a microphone (a clever acknowledgment that his character is "acting out") that it's hilarious and genuinely frightening at the same time.

There are also some deeply moving, quiet scenes throughout, as the kidnapped boy keeps making friends w/everybody he meets because he's so likable and naive and nonchalant. The kid is having an adventure and Alec Vigil manages to convey the innocence of his youth w/o self-consciousness or artifice. The sequence in the pool when he loses his virginity is especially poignant because by that time we know his horrible fate at one of the most wonderful times of his short life. A great use of dramatic irony.

A good film, if only they'd cut out those awkward interview sequences, it could have been great.

Harold

 

A film by a disturbed genius, made for disturbed geniuses;
The Fountain must be one hell of an incredible experience for that special 0.01 percentile of the human population it was made to entertain.

Unfortunately, the rest of us need someone there to help us fill in the blanks- Sorry, Mr. Aronofsky- We’re just not capable of doing it on our own. I was NOT moved at all by this film, and perhaps that’s a good thing. Sharp enough to grasp all the metaphors, but not smart enough to appreciate them, it shows I may just have a thread of sanity and normality left in me after all.

Even the best of forecasters and prophets can get hit out of the blue by a Black Swan once in a while, and The Fountain- an unsatisfying Aronofsky movie- is really more ugly duckling than black swan if you ask me.

 

i respectfully submit..

"Cruel Intentions"


:/

 

Shooter. An amazing pos story. Sad to see Wahlberg go that low.

A no vote.

 

I respectfully disagree with your assessment of Cruise. He's a good actor, and I thought his performance in Collateral was terrific. Very menacing and believable. Foxx was great, but I thought Cruise really stole the show...

I loved Mohicans, but I thought Heat was every bit as good a movie.

Anyone seen the Miami Vice movie?

 

He is a good actor, but all his characters are Tom Cruise, thats the problem. Even Sly Stallone has better character credentials (Copland, Rocky) than Cruise, and that isnt his problem if he's cast to play Tom Cruise, sure.
When he wakes up in the morning, im sure he says to himself, "wow, thank god im not Val Kilmer".

Mohicans was a masterpeice of cinematography, no question-Heat-can you really compare different genre's so easily, i sure cant.




The real question of course, is has anyone seen Pirates 3? Arrr.

The first two were just bloody great, i cant fault them really. All that fun, and no cuss'in, damn fine entertainment value. Didnt P3 (uh, thats pirates of the carribean ) break some records or something, with its release?

 

Sorry, but I don't see how his character in Collateral - Vincent - was anything like the Tom Cruise we have seen. I think you have a problem separating Cruise from his characters, possibly because of his popularity and sometimes puzzling behavior, but I don't have that problem.

Different genres, to be sure. Masterwork motion pictures both.

I didn't see 2. Yes, I'm the lone person in the world that has never seen it.

Must say I was looking forward to 3 just because I heard Keith Richards is in it playing Sparrow's father.

 

Sure, he did a good job, but to me, its MI or The Last Samurai copy-pasted to a new film, and really, im not saying its the actors fault, their hired because their big name box office drawers, not for artistic or acting credibility.
And im not disagreeing, he WAS great in the role, much to my surprise.
Possibly his best so far, but i suspect the screenwriting made his character,and made the film, perhaps a little more than he did.

And yes, your a weenie for not having caught the pirate passion for fun, (probably gonhorrea/syphillus), they gloss over these things in the movies, but blow me down if disney hasnt produced a rollicking ripper of a movie series with the Pirate's franchise.

Ive commented on them before, and their just bloody great. I hope P3 doesnt just run a usual sequel trick.

 

I loved the first Pirates. The second was so-so, seemed mostly to be setting everything up for the finale, which I hope will be as good as the first one.

I liked Heat, but I'm mystified as to why it's regarded as such a masterpiece. Miami Vice was ok, adequate, at best.

Anybody seen the trailer for Stephen King's "1408", w/John Cusack? It looks great, but trailers often do, even if the movie sucks. I think it's one of King's best short stories, creepy as hell. I hope they don't butcher it up, like they did w/all but one of the stories in the "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" tv versions. Except for the first, Battleground, man, they sucked large. Just terrible.

H