202 replies to this topic

[John Brook]

I previously stated until Midnight in Paris, I have never seen a Woody Allen film. Intrigued by the movie, I decided to track his work down... I have watched Manhattan and Vicky Christina Barcelona. Now, I don't know if all of his films are like that, but between Paris, Manhattan and Barcelona, there is a motif of the attractiveness of impossible love. It's there in those three movies, and Idon't know his personal life at all, but if his filmography is like those three films, I am curious to see how he explores this question in other works.

[Rory Abel]

Check out Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy tonight. I wanted so much to like it but I just couldn't do it. The pace was just too slow (some might say deliberate if they were being kind) and not enough tension. More often than not it just felt plodding and methodical. Oldman's Smiley is almost a non-entity, as much a void in the film as his wife or Karla, who are only glimpsed but never fully seen. Things improve in the second half but by that point it had used up any good will I had towards it. It was also clearly made for people who had already read the book, my wife who hadn't was completely lost.

It's been a while since I read the books so can someone clarify whether it's implied that Quillam's gay? In the film they come right out and say he is but all I remember is that he's happily married in Smiley's People.

[David Meadows]

And of course, Derren Brown has never faked anything or used stooges in any of his shows.

That's the thing, you can never tell with his shows whether he is messing with them or us .

But this one involved basically an entire village -- or at least several dozen people -- and it seems hard to imagine they were all in on it and nobody gave it away on twitter or whatever.

[Steve Sensible]

I'm watching Contagion. Never thought I'd see the top of Gwyneth Paltrow's head get sawn off.

[Rory Abel]

I'm watching Contagion. Never thought I'd see the top of Gwyneth Paltrow's head get sawn off.

What's in the box? WHAT'S IN THE BOX!

[Christian U]

I'm burning through the first season of Scrubs. I've taken my time to take a look at this - I actually have never in my life seen a single episode. As I suspected, though, it's pretty damn good. This is going to be a lot of fun for the next few months.

[David Chapman]

What's in the box? WHAT'S IN THE BOX!

Cameron Diaz, unfortunately.

Also not getting your problem with TTSS. I hadn't read the book or seen the Alec Guinness adaptation before seeing the movie, and I understood it perfectly well.

[Rory Abel]

Cameron Diaz, unfortunately.

Man, my movie memory is just shot right now. I really need to hide in a cave or something.

EDIT: Nope, it's you this time. It is Paltrow in the box. Thought I was going crazy there for a moment.

Also not getting your problem with TTSS. I hadn't read the book or seen the Alec Guinness adaptation before seeing the movie, and I understood it perfectly well.

I didn't say my problem with had anything to do with understanding it. I said my wife who hadn't read it was completely lost. My problem was more with pacing and structure.

Edited by Rory Abel, 14 December 2011 - 06:32 PM.

[Christian U]

EDIT: Nope, it's you this time. It is Paltrow in the box. Thought I was going crazy there for a moment.

Different movies. You're referencing Se7en, he's taken it one step further from there and referenced The Box. Um, either on purpose as a joke or because he didn't get the Se7en thing, I don't know which

[Steve Sensible]

You're all being far too clever for your own good if you ask me.

Anyway, Contagion... it was okay. Soderbergh has this irritating habit of colour-coding his story-strands. He did the same thing in Traffic - there was a yellow-tinted sub-plot, and a blue-tinted sub-plot and so on, presumably so the stupid people can keep up.

I quite liked the somber tone, but a little bit of excitement from time to time wouldn't have hurt. The best thing was Cliff Martinez's ambient score, which was kind of reminiscent of Trent Reznor's soundtrack for The Social Network.

[Rory Abel]

You're all being far too clever for your own good if you ask me.

You can never be too clever.

[stephanie familiar]

watched this this morning. it was rather dry, and i couldn't help but feel like the whole gay thing felt very forced and inauthentic. it seemed more like a mismatched subplot to the love story, when it was intending to be the other way around.

all in all, i enjoyed enough of its moments between mcgregor and laurent for it to have been worth my while.

[Johnny Henning]

You're all being far too clever for your own good if you ask me.

Anyway, Contagion... it was okay. Soderbergh has this irritating habit of colour-coding his story-strands. He did the same thing in Traffic - there was a yellow-tinted sub-plot, and a blue-tinted sub-plot and so on, presumably so the stupid people can keep up.

I quite liked the somber tone, but a little bit of excitement from time to time wouldn't have hurt. The best thing was Cliff Martinez's ambient score, which was kind of reminiscent of Trent Reznor's soundtrack for The Social Network.

Wait... What was in Gwyneth Paltrow's box?

[Ogul]

Anyway, Contagion... it was okay. Soderbergh has this irritating habit of colour-coding his story-strands. He did the same thing in Traffic - there was a yellow-tinted sub-plot, and a blue-tinted sub-plot and so on, presumably so the stupid people can keep up.

That's probably a good idea. My dad is a smart man, smarter than me at a lot of things, and let multi-layered and time-shifting plotlines can throw him from time to time, and don't even get me started on my mom. Leaving some breadcrumbs doesn't hurt, so long as it doesn't detract from the rest of it.

Wait... What was in Gwyneth Paltrow's box?

Coldplay!

[Russell H]

Wait... What was in Gwyneth Paltrow's box?

Coldplay!

...and it was all yellow.

[Johnny Henning]

Yellow as a Soderbergh subplot!

[stephanie familiar]

you guys are gross.



i just downloaded Mixed Nuts. saw it ages ago, but i can't remember if i liked it or not.

[stephanie familiar]

*sigh*

[Nicholas Taggart]

i just downloaded Mixed Nuts. saw it ages ago, but i can't remember if i liked it or not.

I never saw it because the response to it didn't seem very good, but I am a fan of Steve Martin and Madeline Kahn.

[Robert B]

I wacthed the final Harry Potter movie tonight. There was some really, really excellent filmmaking and special effects here. Unfortunately, I think the story is just so half-baked beginning around the fourth book. Yates did a much better job than Rowling in the second half of this series.