--HarryGoldfarb wrote:Twilight (2008): 5/10
Some kind of entertaining at the beggining but eneventfull in the end. Is the book that simple, underdeveloped and sketched as the film?
I heard from numerous sources that this is the case for all of the books in the series.
My 14 year old daughter is an absolute fanatic of this series of books......although she did not like the film version of Twillight.
--HarryGoldfarb wrote:Twilight (2008): 5/10
Some kind of entertaining at the beggining but eneventfull in the end. Is the book that simple, underdeveloped and sketched as the film?
I heard from numerous sources that this is the case for all of the books in the series.
Edited By Big Magilla on 1241577590
"It's the least most of us can do, but less of us will do more."
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Noir by way of fly-by-night. A study of noir-ish manners and the desperate need to be chosen. Three great performances and a song that fills in the gaps between their lips.
Twilight (2008): 5/10
Some kind of entertaining at the beggining but eneventfull in the end. Is the book that simple, underdeveloped and sketched as the film?
"If you place an object in a museum, does that make this object a piece of art?" - The Square (2017)
Episodic account of Grace Elliott's experiences during the French Revolution. Fun for us students of the Revolution, and Rohmer's use Digital Video and an unsual CGI approach make for an interesting visual experience, and the heroine's pro-royalist sympathies are certainly different...but film overall lacks dramatic oomph.
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston
"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
I've been too busy for movies lately. I'm going to see Duplicity tomorrow and hopefully Silent Light, Two Lovers, and Coraline by the end of the week. I did catch the last half hour of Saving Private Ryan last night and after not having seen it since its release, I enjoyed it but was astonished at how much stronger Spielberg's mise-en-scene has developed this decade. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Terminal aside, I think his visual storytelling has never been stronger. What I saw was certainly enjoyable but I don't see much reason to revisit it. I probably will just to see how it has aged as a whole and because I'm fairly fascinated by the man's work these days, but on the whole it felt somewhat impersonal and rooted in basic-yet-efficient coverage, solid performances, development of archetype, et al. Tom Sizemore's speech about how in "saving Private Ryan, we all earn the right to go home" felt especially reeking of clap-trap.
Despite Maggie Smith's Emmy nominated turn this is such a boring remake. The 1959 starry version is a masterpiece in comparison.....and Hepburn is much more predatory than Maggie.
Never liked Natasha Richardson with an American accent.....pity most of her film career was spent putting on this accent!!
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Vincente MInnelli, 1962) 6/10
Visually stunning, if overlong remake of the film that made Rudolph Valentino a star, updated from World War I to World War II France.
Glenn Ford at 45 was almost twenty years older than Valentino at the time he made the original and way too long in the tooth to be believable as the carefree young man he plays, especially when Karl Boehm at 33 is supposed to be the cousin he grew up with and Yvette Mimieux at 19 is supposed to be his sister.
Ford's credibility aside, the film features top flight performances from a trio of stars of another era - Charles Boyer as Ford's weak French father, Paul Lukas as his Nazi general uncle and Paul Henreid as the Resistance leader husband of Ford's paramour played by Ingrid Thulin whose voice is dubbed by Angela Lansbury.
Lansbury was only 36 at the time but she had already played so many middle-aged women it has always been disconcerting hearing her wax romantic to Ford the same year as All Fall Down and The Manchurian Candidate.
But it's a Vincente Minnelli film and Minnelli's films are never boring. He fills every inch of the wide Cinemascope screen for all two hours and thirty-three minutes of its running time.
Call Me If You need Me (2009; Malaysia) - 6
Sugar is Not Sweet (1965; Thailand) - 3.5
Disgrace (2009; Australia/S. Africa) - 6
The Shinjuku Incident (2009; HK) - 5
L.O.V.E. (2009; Taiwan) - 5.5
The Sniper (2009; HK) - 5
Confession of a Shopaholic (2009; USA) - 4
Notorious (2009; USA) - 4
Girl Inside (2007; Canada - documentary) - 5.5
Knowing (2009; USA) - 3.5
The Opppsite Sex (1956; USA) - 3.5
Cream Lemon (2004; Japan) - 6
I see I haven't post in ages in this thread. Here's a few of the most recent films I've seen.
Singles (Cameron Crowe, 1992) 7/10
---The second time I've seen this film. It was better than I remembered it to be.
Henry V (Laurence Olivier, 1944) 8/10
The House Bunny (2008) 1.5/10
---I don't usually watch films just to see a specific performance, but the reason I watched this film was to see if Anna Faris is as good as I had heard ...She's fine, but with this material, nobody's going to impress me.
Pieces of April (Peter Hedges, 2003) 5.5/10
The Art of Crying in Choir (Peter Schønau Fog, 2006) 4.5/10
---I expected it to be better
Shrill, occasionally amusing comedy with Judy Holliday and Jack Lemmon as divorced couple obviously meant for each other. Kim Novak gets star billing for a minor role, but she's actually quite good playing a dumber blonde than Holliday.
Goodbye, My Fancy (Vincent Sherman, 1950) 6/10
Joan Crawford is actually more believable as a Congresswoman than she is as the center of a romantic triangle involving college president Robert Young and reporter Frank Lovejoy. Eve Arden's acerbic wit helps make it a pleasant experience.
Mrs. Parkington (Tay Garnett, 1944) 5/10
Flawed, episodic melodrama goes back and forth between the present (1938) and the past (1872 onward) to tell the not very interesting story of grand dame Greer Garson's life as the wife of millionaire Walter Pidgeon. Agnes Moorehead as Garson's friend and Gladys Cooper in a role reversal as Garson's sixty year old daughter in the "present" steal every scene they're in.
