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Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 8:10 pm
by Okri
Heh. Not only have I heard of Justin Timberlake, I really liked "Bye Bye Bye." I think I'm a year older than Sabin, so I have no defence.
Didn't care for him too much in TSN though. He was fine, nothing special.
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 12:08 pm
by rain Bard
I wonder what my excuse is. I had no idea which character Timberlake played until I read the end credits.
If his initial burst of popularity was the summer of 1999, I could easily have missed that since that's when I went abroad myself. But I've been back in the USA for nearly ten years now, and during that time, the only instances when I've been made aware I was looking at Timberlake were when I saw those two SNL novelty music videos for "Dick in a Box" and "Motherlover", where he's disguised by sunglasses and a beard I presume he doesn't usually wear.
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 6:59 am
by Big Magilla
To be fair, Justin Timberlake is someone you can't get away from in the U.S. - he's on this program, he's on that program, he's in commercials, but those programs and those commercials are not shown outside the U.S. so unless you're into his music, you probably wouldn't know who he was in Italy or Pakistan.
On the other hand, he's been in other films. I've mentioned several times a film called The Open Road which came out last year in which Jeff Bridges played pretty much the same character he played in Crazy Heart but in which it was Timberlake as his on who got the girl, not Bridges. Timberlake was surprisingly quite good in that as well.
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 5:56 am
by ITALIANO
I'm also dead. I've heard the name Justin Timberlake and I know that he's a singer, but I would never recognize his face nor any of his songs.
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 2:37 am
by Reza
Eat Pray Love (Ryan Murphy, 2010) 3/10
Boring characters made it such a chore to sit through despite the Italian locations. Hollywood needs to show modern India in it's proper light. Yes the world knows there is a lot of poverty there but it would be a change to see so many of the lovely sights in that country instead of the usual shots.
The American (Anton Corbjin, 2010) 7/10
Italy seems to be the place to shoot films........and I'm glad. Can't get enough of this lovely country. The film has a John Le Carre feel to it, sparse and vague, which works in it's favour. Clooney is superb and extremely charismatic as the assassin and proves again and again that he is a star in the old fashioned sense like the ones from Hollywood's golden era. Great new faces amongst the female actors along with great cinematography of the beautiful locations.
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:25 pm
by Sonic Youth
Reza wrote:My daughter just said to me ........''You have to be dead NOT to know who Justin Timberlake is''. I guess I'm dead then !!
You're also not a young girl.
I'm surprised at your take of "Social Network", Reza, because I found the film to be, above all, a superlative ensemble achievement - like most great screen comedies, which is what SN is first and foremost... and is much less compelling when it tries to be less acerbic. This was a crackling cast and at the very least the film deserves the SAG Ensemble award. But I'll save this for my proper review, which will be... god knows when.
But as for Timberlake, I can only reiterate what Sabin said. He is is a born entertainer. Some people have this innate ability to be the focus of attention, and make an audience thankful that he/she may do so. I was reminded of it several months ago as I watched the Rolling Stone concert film "Gimme Shelter" and the onstage patter he engaged the audience with in between numbers. "My trousers almost fell off as I was singing! ... (pause)... You wouldn't want my trousers to fall off... (pause, twinkle)... would you now?" Jagger brought this bit of silliness off with a veteran's confidence, taking command of the stage before a crowd of several hundred thousand attendees. At the age of 26, he was as polished a Master of Ceremony as any Rat Pack member.
Timberlake possesses this same sort of essence. A master entertainer is a master communicator, and Timberlake isn't riding the wave of his success on his music and looks alone. He wants to expand his image, and he has the ability to do it. He sort of reminds me of Madonna in the sense that he knows what he wants and he's able to take command of his own career on his own terms. His guest spots on Saturday Night Live was self-depricating evidence of this; his performance in "Social Network" is the proof. He has screen presence aplenty, which with iconic pop stars is not necessarily a given. (Elvis never transistioned well.) But as a comic performer, Timberlake has the timing of a musician. He sells the lines Sorkin supplies him like they were lyrics, perfectly getting down - word-for-word - the sing-song intonation, the nimble rhythms, even the duration of silences before springing a particular emphasis on the next set of words. It bespeaks a musical entertainer's desire to communicate his message. It's perhaps very, very calculated, but apropos for a portrayal of a sickeningly privileged businessman who's also a pop icon of sorts, at least in the eyes of university wonks.
Edited By Sonic Youth on 1288671988
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:13 pm
by anonymous1980
Sabin wrote:Justin Timberlake has done such an astonishing job of legitimizing his wretched 'N Sync career.
Even during the late '90s glut of boy band music, I've always sensed that Justin Timberlake was better than that because among all of them, I kind of like N'Sync and never really actively disliked him.
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 9:37 pm
by Reza
Mister Tee wrote:I would think even the most culturally-hermetic would know Timberlake as the guy who ripped off Janet Jackson's top at the Super Bowl (and then left her to basically take the heat, for which I don't plan to ever forgive him).
Oh he was that guy !!
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 6:12 pm
by Sabin
But, Tee! He somehow didn't know it was going to happen!
And I feel kinda bad for him because that statement makes absolutely no sense.
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 5:52 pm
by Mister Tee
I would think even the most culturally-hermetic would know Timberlake as the guy who ripped off Janet Jackson's top at the Super Bowl (and then left her to basically take the heat, for which I don't plan to ever forgive him).
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 4:16 pm
by Sabin
Justin Timberlake has done such an astonishing job of legitimizing his wretched 'N Sync career. I've heard maybe one or two of his solo career songs, and they're fine if not for me, but he is an incredibly talented performer. I don't know how much range he has, but on the basis of The Social Network (in which he is quite good, although his role does slightly ice berg the film's greatest strength - Zuckerberg's POV - and thus the film) and his hosting gigs on SNL, he has quite a career ahead of him. Which is saying something.
To me? He will always be one of those obnoxious fuckers who destroyed my summer in '99 when I worked at a Blockbuster and every day was slightly ruined by having to watch/hear the "Bye Bye Bye" music video on the screens. What a horrible summer for music! The Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, Christina Aguillera, Ricky Martin, Enrique Eglelias, Britney Spears...that was what greeted me as I left high school. I should have taken it as a sign of things to come.
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 2:25 pm
by Reza
Big Magilla wrote:Andrew Garfield (the new Spiderman) played Eduardo Severin, the guy Eisenberg's Zuckerberg screwed over. Justin Timberlake played Sean Parker, the Napster founder who screwed everybody over.
I must be REALLY losing it. Can remember these characters but cannot put a face to them........and I watched this film yesterday.
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 2:13 pm
by Big Magilla
Andrew Garfield (the new Spiderman) played Eduardo Severin, the guy Eisenberg's Zuckerberg screwed over. Justin Timberlake played Sean Parker, the Napster founder who screwed everybody over.
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 1:06 pm
by Reza
anonymous wrote:You do not know who Justin Timberlake is, Reza?!?
I know he's a singer but have no clue what he looks like or what his famous songs are.......although I'm sure I must have heard his songs on FM. While watching the film I kept thinking Timberlake was that kid married to Demi Moore but later remembered that she is married to Ashton something or the other !!
My daughter just said to me ........''You have to be dead NOT to know who Justin Timberlake is''. I guess I'm dead then !!
Edited By Reza on 1288635092
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 1:01 pm
by anonymous1980
You do not know who Justin Timberlake is, Reza?!?