Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[Sabin]

/Drugstore Cowboy/ (dir. Gus Van Sant) - 7/10

What a different a decade of life can make. Not to suggest that I've dealt in matters like this, but...

When I saw this film in my teens, I had no idea I was watching a noir. Maybe dreamy naturalism of Jesus' Son or the amped-up adrenaline rush of Trainspotting has ruined me a bit, but Drugstore Cowboy feels ever so slightly lacking now. It assumes an intimacy that I don't feel is truly realized. To call Drugstore Cowboy romanticized misses the point entirely. Drugstore Cowboy views this motley crew with a dreamy detachment that almost encourages play. Play that never comes. Van Sant & co-writer Yost fashion the trappings of a noir by way of archetype and construct. They don't realize that this crew is defined just as much through action as lack thereof. Dillon springs to life as their leader, but everyone else feels defined through the margins around him. He's a perennial schemer with little interest in anything beyond a quick fix and his early scenes feel clumsy. I seem to be alone in not being entirely compelled by his intriguing transplant from the 1940's streets of New York, almost Widmark-style "Sleep is for squares!" to 1970's Portland. It's an interesting performance that roots the film.

Kelly Lynch and Heather Graham do what they can around him but there's so little to define them outside of Dillon that they can't stay afloat. James LeGros is the true MVP, finding just the right notes in a performance that seems to consist largely of finding innovative ways to end his sentences with "..., Bob?" Drugstore Cowboy comes up a little short by way of foundation in the beginning and by way of conflict in the end. There is an uncluttered resignation to Bob that feels underutilized, a lack of comedy and development. Were I to view this film in 1989, I might feel differently and ask myself who this young, talented filmmaker is. Right now, I'm a little mystified that so many of (what I perceive to be) slights escaped their periphery.

BTW - it's still very good.

[Precious Doll]

Bachelor Flat (1961) Frank Tashlin 4/10

The Pursuit of Happiness (1971) Robert Mulligan 4/10

Quick Millions (1931) Rowland Brown 6/10

Big City (1937) Frank Borzage 5/10

The Proud and the Profane (1956) George Seaton 3/10

Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (1937) Charles Reisner 4/10

Red Cliff (2008) John Woo 1/10

I've only seen the 149 minute 'international' version of the film. I believe the original Chinese version is broken into two parts each running 2 hours.

The version I saw clearly had missing chunks of subplot and what is left is a bunch of overlong fighting sequences with I'm sure more deaths by sword that minutes in the running time. A soulless bore.

[Hustler]

Norma Rae (1979) - Martin Ritt

8/10

A very deserving oscar win for Sally Field (although I haven't seen The Rose yet)

Wow! A terrific movie with SuperBette!

[Sabin]

Birds of America (Lucas) - 2/10
About the dullest fucking thing. As uninspired as any film I've ever seen. Poor Hilary Swank. She really is the least castable actress on the planet.

The Great Buck Howard (McGinley) - 6/10
Sweet, old-fashioned film features John Malkovich in an enjoyably batshit performance. Film starts strong, hedges best for short story corniness. I'm fine with it.

Still digesting Summer Hours. Knocked for a loop but mulling it over.

[dreaMaker]

Defiance (Edward Zwick, 2008)

3/10

Wow! That was surprisingly bad.
Acting and screenplay were lousy.
The only good thing is music...

[Precious Doll]

The Most Important Thing: Love (1975) Andrzej Zulawski 7/10

Abigials Party (1977) Mike Leigh 6/10

Hank and Mike (2008) Matthew Klinick 1/10

Chrysalis (2007) Julien Leclercq 2/10

[Bog]

I Love You, Beth Cooper- absolutely zero

I cannot even recall the last time I've walked out on a movie in the theater. I'm embarrassed that I even chose this but I had nothing to do but chill for 4 hours and it was pouring rain and the only theater in this area was one of those nasty multiplexes where the UAADBiest film is Public Enemies (done) so it was this shit or Transformers or Ice Age 3, both of which might actually qualify as better filmmaking.

[Big Magilla]

Given the from-hunger quality of the best actress slate as it was, it's painful to even consider who might have taken a fifth available slot. Karen Black in Day of the Locust? Streisand in Funny Lady? The least offensive choice by far would have been Florinda Bolkan in a Brief vacation -- who was actually on the short list -- but, with Jackson, Adjani and Kane already there for wee pictures, I'm not certain another could have prevailed over something from a studio.

Bolkan was my choice over Ann-Margret in lead; Barbara Harris in Nashville was my choice over Vaccaro in support.

[Big Magilla]

Louise Fletcher has no business being nominated for Best Lead Actress though, let alone winning. She's pretty good but this is clearly a supporting role.

Agreed

Isabelle Adjani should have won

If Louise Fletcher had instead been nominated in the supporting category wonder who she would have bumped off the nominee's list and who would have taken her slot in the best actress category?

I agree Isabelle Adjani gave the year's best performance by a lead actress in 1975, but there's no way Louise Fletcher would have been nominated in support after all the hullabaloo preceding the nominations.

Her role had been conceived as a major star turn and was offered to Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Geraldine Page, Colleen Dewhurst, Angela Lansbury and just about every middle-aged actress in Hollywood, all of whom turned it down. Had any of those then very big stars played the part it surely would have garnered them a lead nomination, not a supporting one. To add insult to injury, Burstyn, who won the year before for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore went on national TV and said they should suspend the best actress award that year because of the lack of good roles for women, which had all the columnists wondering whether she would have thought so if she had in fact played Nurse Ratched herself.

In addition, Lily Tomlin's role in Nashville had been written by and for Fletcher whose husband Jerry Bick was Robert Altman's producer. When the two men had a falling out Altman fired Fletcher even though she had nothing to do with the argument. Fletcher clearly had sentiment on her side.

But to answer the question, if they had relegated her to support, the one to have been bumped would have been either Sylvia Miles or Brenda Vaccaro, probably Vaccaro.

[Mister Tee]

Louise Fletcher has no business being nominated for Best Lead Actress though, let alone winning. She's pretty good but this is clearly a supporting role.

Agreed

Isabelle Adjani should have won

If Louise Fletcher had instead been nominated in the supporting category wonder who she would have bumped off the nominee's list and who would have taken her slot in the best actress category?

I'd assume Vaccaro or Miles, the weakest of the nominees, would have been bumped, but you never know with the Academy -- for all I know, Ronee Blakely (who was as valid for a lead nomination as Fletcher) would have been the unlucky one.

Given the from-hunger quality of the best actress slate as it was, it's painful to even consider who might have taken a fifth available slot. Karen Black in Day of the Locust? Streisand in Funny Lady? The least offensive choice by far would have been Florinda Bolkan in a Brief vacation -- who was actually on the short list -- but, with Jackson, Adjani and Kane already there for wee pictures, I'm not certain another could have prevailed over something from a studio.

[Reza]

Louise Fletcher has no business being nominated for Best Lead Actress though, let alone winning. She's pretty good but this is clearly a supporting role.

Agreed

Isabelle Adjani should have won

If Louise Fletcher had instead been nominated in the supporting category wonder who she would have bumped off the nominee's list and who would have taken her slot in the best actress category?



Edited By Reza on 1248703589

[Reza]

Le Sauvage (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1975) 3/10

Silly chase film that goes on and on although the two leads - Yves Montand and Catherine Deneuve - are quite appealing. I was surprised to find Tony Roberts and Dana Wynter in supporting roles.

Fort Saganne (Alain Corneau, 1985) 5/10

Gerard Depardieu and Phillipe Noiret are both excellent in a story set in the Sahara desert about the French Foreign Legion. Filmed on an epic scale, it has beautifully photographed (shot by future director Bruno Nuytten) battle scenes in the desert but the script is dramatically uneven and at 190 min the film is simply too long. The two female stars both come off badly. Sophie Marceau is stiff while Catherine Deneuve looks and seems too modern for the period the film is set in (pre-WWI).

[Penelope]

Edith Scob can currently (and gloriously) be seen as the mother in Summer Hours.

Yes, she's wonderful. Do we know if Summer Hours is eligible for the Oscars? I'd so love to see her nominated for Supporting Actress.

[Damien]

Eyes Without a Face (1960; Georges Franju) 7/10

Well done but a bit too leisurely paced, making it more tense than scary or even thrilling; but Alida Valli and (especially) Edith Scob are terrific and the finale does pack a wallop.

Edith Scob can currently (and gloriously) be seen as the mother in Summer Hours.

[Penelope]

Eyes Without a Face (1960; Georges Franju) 7/10

Well done but a bit too leisurely paced, making it more tense than scary or even thrilling; but Alida Valli and (especially) Edith Scob are terrific and the finale does pack a wallop.