The Official Review Thread of 2011

[OscarGuy]

So someone who was a competitive sports player in Europe would never turn to another career after his sports career ended, even abruptly?

The only thing I could believe was if you had said that teachers in Europe wouldn't need to moonlight in an old profession they used to have because they were in dire financial needs.

[ITALIANO]

By the way, even the idea of a high school physics teacher who's also a martial arts champion would be absurd in Europe - but it's probably more realistic in the US where sports play, I guess, a more important role.

Criddic, I honestly think that, generally speaking, foreigners know more about American society than Americans know about foreign societies - if only because we see lots of American movies, and this helps. Plus, though this may not mean too much, and there are certainly exceptions, when I've met Americans I've noticed that often they don't know much about geography or about the history of other countries. Or actually, to be more precise, sometimes I've met Americans who are extremely expert about these things, really quite surprisingly so, and most times I've met Americans who are embarassingly ignorant. It's as if there's no middle ground. Americans who travel often abroad tend, of course, to be more open minded.

There are aspects of the American society that I wish would exist in Italy, of course. But I can't deny that I feel more confortable in Europe. Maybe because I am European, I admit it - but even more objectively I'd say that Europe (not necessarily Italy, Europe in general) is a... I can't find a better word at the moment... a healthier place to live in. For me it definitely is - can you imagine someone like me, with my mentality, with my character, living in the US? I would be destroyed. Literally.

[FilmFan720]

As for the high school kids in Warrior, I doubt they exist outside the screenwriters' imgination. Mixed martial arts is a niche sport.

Oh, they certainly do exist...as a high school teacher (well, middle-school this year, but I had 10th-12th grade last year, and I still hear from them all the time) I can attest to the fact that they were pretty spot-on in the the depiction of the high school kids. UFC is huge among high school students, at least among the ones I've known. I don't know of any with any MMA training, but they love to watch it. Doubt they would get together at the school with faculty to watch the fight, though.

As the other teacher on the board, I will second this. And if their teacher were discovered to be a fighter, especially one that they like, they would surely be excited about it and want to see it.

[dws1982]

As for the high school kids in Warrior, I doubt they exist outside the screenwriters' imgination. Mixed martial arts is a niche sport.

Oh, they certainly do exist...as a high school teacher (well, middle-school this year, but I had 10th-12th grade last year, and I still hear from them all the time) I can attest to the fact that they were pretty spot-on in the the depiction of the high school kids. UFC is huge among high school students, at least among the ones I've known. I don't know of any with any MMA training, but they love to watch it. Doubt they would get together at the school with faculty to watch the fight, though.

[criddic3]

Of course there's no perfect society. But of those I've seen, the American society isn't one of the best - personal opinion of course: I'm sure that most Americans are perfectly happy with the society they live in (they are taught this since they are children, and they don't seem to know much about OTHER societies anyway).

Success? I don't know, I don't think in terms of success or not, I usually value a person for other aspects, success isn't a myth I've grown up with. I simply don't care, I guess.

Fair enough, from your perspective most Americans are simply ignorant fools who are happy to live ignorantly. There are certainly those kinds of people here, but I would suggest that isn't unique to American society. Nor would I suggest that all of us think that way. For someone to say that they never think of success or think of pursuing it has a very narrow definition of "success." For some people it simply means an improved life situation, a measure of happiness as they see it. It isn't always material, although in today's world it is difficult not to sometimes think about having material things like money, fame or other such things. Those are the fantasies that I suspect you are referring to when you suggest it's a bad thing to desire success. But for many people, success is measured in other ways. Usually it is defined as moving up or forward in life, and that can be determined in literally thousands of ways. I don't think one is required to 'know' other societies in order to understand the human condition. I imagine people in other countries know relatively little about all the facets of American life, either. Yet it is natural to relate to other people through your own experience. No one can know 100% of everyone else's experience unless you've lived their life. So, yes, I would say you are correct to assume that some people are quite happy living in this society in a broad sense, but every experience is different. No two Americans will see things exactly the same, just as no two people in general will. We shouldn't put down whole societies just because of those differences.

[ITALIANO]

"Losers losing" is a subject that's never engaged me.

This I can understand - you don't like this kind of story, ok. It's like me with heroic horses - even if War Horse had been a better movie, I would have still found it boring probably. It's very subjective, but it's absolutely understandable. Still, "Losers losing" is a great theme of literature even before movies - and I'm not just referring to Zola and the other French, but also to the best American literature - the great American literature. It's a very human theme, because losers do lose. Often. They rarely win, actually. And while A Better Life certainly isn't the most memorable treatment of this theme, it's still, I'd say, a honest, honorable try.

[Mister Tee]

A Better Life is not a remake of The Bicycle Thief, although a key plot point steals liberally from De Sica's classic.

A guy struggling to support a young son has a new job situation that depends on his owning a vehicle. Someone steals that vehicle. The guy spends the rest of the movie frantically trying to hunt down the vehicle. In the end, he becomes a thief himself, and is humiliated in front of his son.

Tell me what part of this movie WASN'T taken from The Bicycle Thief? Every review I read when the movie opened last June referenced the de Sica film.

As for why I don't like the movie much...it may have had something to do with knowing it was based on de Sica, but I think even had I not known that, once i saw Bichir borrow the money and promise he would have it back by what he'd earn from the truck, I could see the obvious shit-karma coming at him. It was sure to be another movie about a sympathetic guy being cruelly treated by life, specifically by losing money. I didn't much like that plot when it was Toys in the Attic or A Raisin the Sun , not to mention in a dozen amateur play readings I've seen. "Losers losing" is a subject that's never engaged me, and the fact that it's dressed up in illegal immigrant garb doesn't make it any more interesting.

[Big Magilla]

There are more "ordinary" Americans familiar with The Bicycle Thief than some of us may think and more becoming familiar with it every day. It had the 8 A.M. feature spot on this morning's TCM 31 Days of Oscar.

A Better Life is not a remake of The Bicycle Thief, although a key plot point steals liberally from De Sica's classic.

As for the high school kids in Warrior, I doubt they exist outside the screenwriters' imgination. Mixed martial arts is a niche sport.

[ITALIANO]

Of course there's no perfect society. But of those I've seen, the American society isn't one of the best - personal opinion of course: I'm sure that most Americans are perfectly happy with the society they live in (they are taught this since they are children, and they don't seem to know much about OTHER societies anyway).

Success? I don't know, I don't think in terms of success or not, I usually value a person for other aspects, success isn't a myth I've grown up with. I simply don't care, I guess.

[criddic3]

Poor people do exist - even in America, strange as it may seem

There is no perfect society, Italiano. Many reasons exist for why people are poor. Some of it is the "system" and some of it is personal responsibility. I consider myself just a couple of notches above "poor." But today in America, there are different levels of poor. Many people considered poor in America have a lot more than some people considered poor in, say, third-world countries. Not that it's okay. However, one must realize that there is no such thing as an earlthy utopia where everyone is automatically on equal footing. Human nature is a lot like animal nature in that there is always a disconnect. Some people succeed at the expense, perhaps, of others. "Lord of the Flies" comes to mind. Left to our own defenses, a leveled society emerges where the strong survive and the weak do what they can. I'm not one of those who believes that the weak should always be left to fend for themselves if it can be helped. But I also don't believe that success is a right. You have to earn that.

[OscarGuy]

There is nothing new under the sun. Nearly every film we see these days is, in some form or another, a remake of another film. How many different silent and post-silent era films does The Artist rip from? How is the celebrated Super 8 not a cut-and-paste of Spielberg's past work? We live in an age where even the most unique pictures, cobbled together in interesting ways (say (500) Days of Summer) are filled with such elements that are a part of our culture that to criticize one film for being a rote retelling of the same story and not another seems disingenuous.

I liked Warrior. I didn't think it was a great film, but it was passably entertaining and the end of the film was suitably exciting and tense. I didn't care much for Tom Hardy, but thought Joel Edgerton did nice work. Sure, it seems like another version of so many other stories, but we respond better or worse to each such alteration based on how well we feel they updated the material. I thought they did an adequate job (just as I feel the same about Real Steel). I would never declare either a masterpiece or even close, but I'd much rather watch something passably uplifting than something crass, commercial and bigotry-laden (I'm talking about Michael Bay if you couldn't guess).

[ITALIANO]

Like so many American movies this year, it's not original - it looks suspiciously similar to a forgotten (abroad) Italian masterpiece of Neorealism, Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief, but in this case it's probably more an - unofficial - tribute than a shameless copy.

In what universe is The Bicycle Thief forgotten anywhere?

In fact, the makers of A Better Life specifically posited it as a remake of deSica's classic.

As I said when I talked about it a few weeks ago, I find A Better Life tiresome misery porn. I'm no fan of Warrior, either, but I don't think A Better Life is particularly better. It just appeals more to liberal sensibilities (and actors I'm sure like Bechir's tearful scene with his son at the holding center).

By the way, in talking about Warrior, you presumed it was a hit here in the U.S., but in fact it wasn't. The trade reviews had been strong, and the subject seemed commercially exploitable, so alot of folks thought it might be a sleeper, but it died almost immediately. Which makes Nolte's nomination that much more incomprehensible.

Yes, well, as FilmFan says, I doubt that for example young Americans - or Americans in general - know The Bicycle Thief frame-by-frame honestly. Not the high school students from Warrior, definitely. But I'm glad that they admitted that it's a kind-of remake of the Italian classic.

And while A Better Life IS about misery, why is it "misery porn"? Poor people do exist - even in America, strange as it may seem - and I wouldn't say that this movie obsessively exploits this aspect the way that, for example, Biutiful did. Now THAT was porn.

As for the fact that you didn't especially dislike Warrior, well, I mean, you didn't even dislike The Help; It's a cultural difference, I guess, and I kind of respect it. But if I really have to choose, I prefer the America of A Better Life to the America of Warrior and The Help.

[ksrymy]

Here are quick, early notes to Take Shelter I had back in October.


Nichols’ script is not very good as the words get clunky at times, but Shannon and Chastain are able to overcome the dialogue and make fully realized characters our of the LaForches. Shannon gives a powerhouse performance all while being very subtle in the way Gary Oldman does the same in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. He is only given one explosive, maddening scene but that does not hold Shannon back; he is able to capitalize here and emote such a deep pain that the line between frightened and insane become blurred. Casting Shannon is almost as essential to the film as his acting ability is. Shannon has such a weary look about his face that makes his character so utterly believable much like Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone.
And, in an all-star year for her, maybe the most impressive list anyone has ever seen in one year, Jessica Chastain plays a more original take on the “goodwife” character so often overused in the male-oriented, psychological thriller. Chastain is profoundly affected by Curtis’ obsessive activities. Where most roles would have her character cry and have a lengthy monologue about not being understood or not being able to understand him, Chastain is given a loyal personality trait and character mix that can be especially noted in the shaking climax in the storm shelter. This scene alone is better than her entire body of 2011 work.
Also commendable is David Wingo’s original score. While not as extravagant as the score’s for The Artist or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Wingo’s leitmotifs for the storms in the film are just as frightening as the terrors of the storms themselves.

[FilmFan720]

Like so many American movies this year, it's not original - it looks suspiciously similar to a forgotten (abroad) Italian masterpiece of Neorealism, Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief, but in this case it's probably more an - unofficial - tribute than a shameless copy.

In what universe is The Bicycle Thief forgotten anywhere?

In fact, the makers of A Better Life specifically posited it as a remake of deSica's classic.

Well, while the American cineaste community still regards it as a masterpiece, it isn't exactly a Wizard of Oz over here. My guess is the majority of Americans, and the majority of people watching A Better Life, have little knowledge of the film, except POSSIBLY as a title.

[Mister Tee]

Like so many American movies this year, it's not original - it looks suspiciously similar to a forgotten (abroad) Italian masterpiece of Neorealism, Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief, but in this case it's probably more an - unofficial - tribute than a shameless copy.

In what universe is The Bicycle Thief forgotten anywhere?

In fact, the makers of A Better Life specifically posited it as a remake of deSica's classic.

As I said when I talked about it a few weeks ago, I find A Better Life tiresome misery porn. I'm no fan of Warrior, either, but I don't think A Better Life is particularly better. It just appeals more to liberal sensibilities (and actors I'm sure like Bechir's tearful scene with his son at the holding center).

By the way, in talking about Warrior, you presumed it was a hit here in the U.S., but in fact it wasn't. The trade reviews had been strong, and the subject seemed commercially exploitable, so alot of folks thought it might be a sleeper, but it died almost immediately. Which makes Nolte's nomination that much more incomprehensible.