I haven’t been to see a decent movie in a while, so tomorrow I’m going to go see either Wristcutters; Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead; Lars and the Real Girl; Lust, Caution; or The Darjeeling Limited. The Joe Strummer and Ian Curtis movies are out too, but I’m not in a biopic mood, nor am I up for the Jimmy Carter documentary. I’ve been reading too much nonfiction lately to go to the movies and see a true story.
Dopers, help me decide! I’ve been watching the trailer and clips from Wristcutters, and although I like the story and the characters, the samples have mostly left me unimpressed. I haven’t seen the stuff from the other movies yet.
Wristcutters - Didn’t see it. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead - Trailer looked good. Didn’t see it. Lars and the Real Girl - Hadn’t heard of this one. Didn’t see it. Lust, Caution - Ang Lee’s good. Didn’t see it. The Darjeeling Limited - Is this the one with Natalie Portman naked? Didn’t see it. The Future Is Unwritten - I loved the Clash. Didn’t see it. Control - Not a big Curtis fan though. Didn’t see it.
Was the Jimmy Carter documentary Man From Plains or Manufacturing Dissent? Not that it matters. Didn’t see either.
Actually maybe I’m not the best guy to answer this question.
Wristcutters: A Love Story - A cute movie. Not great, but I enjoyed it.
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead - Haven’t seen it, but it’s very high on my list.
Lars and the Real Girl - A very sweet film, well worth seeing.
Lust, Caution - Saw it twice. Brilliant, but very depressing.
The Darjeeling Limited - Lots of strange fun. I want to see it again.
The Future Is Unwritten - Hadn’t heard of this one until now.
Control - Had never heard a Joy Division song prior to seeing it, but I thought it was very good.
I haven’t seen the Jimmy Carter documentary. I’m not much help, am I?
The theaters are filled with good-to-excellent films now. Besides the ones you mentioned, Gone Baby Gone, Michael Clayton, American Gangster, Dan In Real Life, No Country For Old Men, We Own The Night, Martian Child, Music Within, Into The Wild, 3:10 To Yuma, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Across The Universe, The Kite Runner, and Lions For Lambs are all worth seeing. They were to me, anyway.
Looks like I’ll be seeing Lars and the Real Girl. I loved Ryan Gosling as a guy with less obvious issues in Half Nelson. Part of me hopes that he doesn’t get typecast as Cute Guy With Issues, although in a way, another part of me hopes that he does.
BTW, saw Gone Baby Gone, We Own the Night and Across the Universe. Across the Universe was incredible, We Own the Night is an instant classic though not the best movie I’ve seen this year, and Gone Baby Gone was well-acted but just not believable. A film of that sort leaves very little room for suspension of disbelief, so I was disappointed that it asked for so much of it. Not a waste of money, but I won’t see it again or recommend it.
!!! THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU! Someone else who likes Across The Universe!
I’m glad you liked We Own The Night. It’s such a shame it got so many bad reviews. I didn’t think they were deserved at all. Hell, it’s got Wahlberg, Phoenix and Duvall, a darn good story, and a refreshing old-fashioned sensibility (iow, it was gritty but not gross, and it wasn’t trying to be hip or ironic). It’s a very good '70’s movie that just happened to be made in 2007.
I’m sorry you didn’t care for GBG, but I hope, and think, you’ll enjoy Lars and the Real Girl.
As for We Own the Night, agreed on all counts, except that Joaquin Phoenix disappointed me. None of the vulnerability and complexity he showed in Walk the Line; it seemed like he was perpetually unable to show his emotions, and he kept trying to make up for it with exaggerated physical displays. That said, the fact that he and Eva Mendes started the movie with a fingerbang scene is all kinds of cool–because that specific sexual act is so underrepresented in the movies, and because
that was as hot as it got the whole movie, so it got the whole sexual thing mostly out of the way and focused on the story. It’s frustrating to see a movie that takes a break right in the middle and goes “Oh look, these two asshats are getting laid!”
But my favorite thing about the movie, by far, was that
the car chase scene was completely unlike any car chase I’ve ever seen before–you really had no idea how it would end, and it was heart-pounding not in a “LOOK AT 'EM GO! YEA, GET 'EM!” way as much as in a “OMGgonnadiegonnadiegonnadiegonnadiegonnadie” way, like a real-life car chase like that would be. Sheer brilliance.
I saw Across The Universe last night, came home, downloaded the soundtrack and sat up listening to it 'til 2AM while the whole visual feast was fresh in my head.
I should mention that The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford is a great film- provided you understand that it’s 2 and a half hours long and very little action-wise happens after the train robbery at the start. It’s a very worthy film, and I really enjoyed it, but it’s not a typical Brad Pitt film or a typical Western.
Saw *The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford * and Across the Universe last weekend and this weekend I saw *American Gangster Into the Wild Lions for Lambs. * I hadn’t been to a moviehouse in months and had to get away from reruns on my DirecTV. I had also seen Michael Clayton recently.
It seems that the in thing now is to have jump cut after jump cut showing either time shifts or several interrelated stories or both.
I did not enjoy *Assassination… * at all and found the acting and the old story quite dull. *Across the Universe * was enjoyable as it is a semi-operetta with the young cast of newcomers bursting out in song to many of the old songs made popular by the Beatles. I would have preferred that it included more of the more popular Beatles songs. It does have a plot, though.
I liked Michael Clayton in spite of the wooden George Clooney. It was quite suspenseful with a real surprise ending. Lawyer vs. lawyer.
American Gangster is not the one that I saw on the video store shelf later that day but is based on the same history of a Harlem drug czar, played by Denzel Washington. Quite well done, for the genre.
Into the Wild [not TMI I hope but the book has been out for years] tells Jon Kraekauer’s story of Chris McCandless who drops out of society goes into the wild after college, hoping to get to Alaska. He makes a few close friends along the way including a very craggy Hal Holbrook. Excellent flick.
Lions for Lambs tells four interrelated stories including a getting-craggy college prof Robert Redford, a couple of recent college grads who forsake civilian society, one who doesn’t know what to do, and a reporter (Meryl Streep) who interviews Senator Tom Cruise. Includes Derek Luke who debuted so brilliantly in Antwone Fisher, and Michael Peña. This one went so briskly that it ended before I knew it, and I wanted more. Good, in spite of Tom C.
I’ve seen all of those on your list except for the Darjeeling Limited.
Hands down, go see Lars and Real Girl. It’s my favorite “small” movie of the year! I laughed by butt off in the movie, and it’s also a touching movie. The best of both worlds.
All kinds of awesome. I’m straight, but I may fall in love with Ryan Gosling.
ETA: My (unfortunately platonic) date and I laughed our asses off the whole way too, especially at the framed pictures of Bianca. Brilliant!
She thought they should have used the newer dolls, where you can make their eyes and mouths move. I say that having Lars constantly adjust her eyes and mouth throughout the movie (which apparently involves turning a screw in her ear) would have ruined it. Thoughts?
