One of the best films of the year. Even got me to start liking Eddie Vedder again....but what do I know...I loved 300.

it's a beautiful movie. i'm glad you liked it. it did a pretty good job with the book i thought. it had the potential to be over sentimental but didn't really sway too far into it.

25 minutes or so into Trainspotting. Great so far.

I thought it was adapted beautifully....especially using the Mom's delusion at bed time as the opening shot and then the postcard script blending its way into the title.

I really enjoyed Into The Wild as well. Was rather surprised by the unsentimental approach Penn took. The devastation his actions have on his family is palpable. Smart people doing selfish things. What a shame.

Man I'm having a hard time getting excited for an Emile-Hirsch-led drama.

Agreed. Definitely one of my favorites so far. I loved it in spite of 1) its terribly designed opening credit sequence, 2) Emile Hirsch and his flatness, and 3) Eddie Vedder threatening to topple the thing with his vocals.

I didn't like the book. Is it still possible for me to find something to like about the movie?

Sean Penn is three-for-three, directing-wise. I've got to think there's something there.

Ambitious, yes, but dammit, I don't feel like doing anything else this weekend.

Michael Clayton / Sat 1:20
Lars and the Real Girl / Sat 4:00
Gone Baby Gone /Sat 7:40

Lake of Fire / Sun 2:30



Depends. Why didn't you like the book? If you found the kid incredibly unlikeable (as many do), and an unlikeable lead makes it hard for you to embrace a movie, then skip it.

Are you really going to see three movies on Saturday? That's kind of crazy. I'm going to see The Darjeeling Limited Saturday. I haven't seen a movie since Superbad.

My own mini film festival. Apropos since I completely blew off the CIFF this year.

Ok, fair enough. I just know my butt couldn't handle sitting through that many movies at once. Now, is there something I need to know about this Lars and the Real Girl movie? I thought it looked awful when I saw the commercial, but if you are going to see it I have to believe I'm missing something. Is it getting good reviews? I'm soooo out of the loop these days.

This pretty is how I feel about it. And for my senior year in high school we did a mock trial of McCandless's character when we read the book in my Politcal Thought class. I was a witness of a co-worker or something with very obvious holes in my testimony supporting his character. And the guy who was assigned to cross-examine was a real chach. So he "nails" me in front of the class and feels so good about himself, and then offers me a "good game" handshake afterwards with a smug grin. But if you're doing your job right cross-examining, you keep all your questions close ended. So I'm "yes"ing and "no"ing to his questions, looking stupid because I have to answer true to the book. So basically he did his job and I did mine. We both got good grades, but he made a bitch out of me in front of the class.

You know what...fuck Into The Wild and fuck Sean Penn!

I blew off CIFF this year too. I think my weekend looks like:

3:10 to Yuma, Things We Lost In The Fire, Talk To Me, American Gangster.

I'm also hoping to get out and see Gone Baby Gone or Jesse James or Dan In Real Life or Lars or Michael Clayton.



Fuck Eddie Vedder.

No way...I thought that was a great treatment from the book. Wonder if that was McCandless's penmanship.

Socially inept dude (Ryan Gosling) introduces his neighbors and relatives to his new "girlfriend"--a blow-up doll. All reviews saying it's a lot better than you would think.

Of these, I've seen 3. Would rank em'- 1. Jesse James; 2. 3:10 to Yuma; 3.Michael Clayton

Funny, I saw all four films in as many days. The worst being Things We Lost In The Fire. Though I did admire parts of it.

How's Gangster?

Wonderfully shot and well directed. The movie has a street level kineticism of early-70's films like Midnight Cowboy and Serpico, from a cinematic and production view anyway. But it's too goddamn long.

The performances of Washington and Crowe are good but at a certain point you wish the redundancy would stop and they'd just get on with it. A bit like 3:10 To Yuma, actually. In that it's a well-made genre picture with some distracting hiccups.

Your mileage may vary depending on how charismatic you find Washington's character to be.

The only thing I'm hoping for from Into The Wild is that it will prompt a re-issue of Indio's Big Harvest.

ESCHEW OBFUSCATION

You talkin' to me, or are you shouting in the street?

Might not bode well...growing a bit tired of Denzel as the most self righteous.

I read an interview with Gosling where he said he was so attached to the doll after shooting that he took her home with him where it still is today. He doesn't see anything creepy about it either.

Method actors, man.

If it relieves your trepidation any, Washington is established as a despicable criminal from the opening scene. Crowe's detective is unrelenting in his resolve to bring Washington's heroin empire down. Crowe is pretty incorruptible in doing so too.

White/Black hats.

...but does he play a most self righteous despicable criminal? I'd hope to see a truly different side to Denzel, but anymore, it seems he could play a pedophile from the Ozarks and still come across as Malcolm X.

Only self righteous in the way that all men of low cunning justify their actions in preying on the weak and taking advantage of others. Washington's character is decidedly brutal and casual in his use of violence.

That being said, Frank Lucas (Washington) has a charismatic demeanor and there is some attempt to humanize him via his love for his children.

Whither Training Day?

Re: Steve Carrell

Isn't it a little early for him to start making a string of shitty Jim Carrey family movies?

Really, with his decade long streak of Oscar caliber pictures he's wasting his talents in mainstream comedies.

not that great not that bad

I thought that movie was abysmal when I saw it in theaters; then again, I was 14. Still, not in a rush to reevaluate.

This was pretty awesome, nice debut from Anton, the performance scenes gave me chills, highly recommended to anyone who's remotely a fan. Man Ian Curtis seems like a total prick, though.

Johnny Depp as a semi-literate character in a horror movie (Secret Window, The Ninth Gate, Sleepy Hollow and From Hell) = something not terrible, but not all that great, either.

He was phenomenal in Sleepy Hollow.

Fun movie. I'm glad I didn't pay for the rental, though-- just watched it on Comedy Central.

While the rest of the movie....meh.

The cinematography and art direction were gorgeous, but yeah, the movie suffers from a surfeit of byzantine plotting.

Welcome to Timburtonville.

Hal Holbrook just does an awesome job playing the old dude. Second best supporting actor job this year behind Robert Downey in Zodiac.

fun movie!

impressive

Not bad, not great - loved Mos Def as Ford, hated the contrived love story. The books are still the best approach to this material.


This movie is so frustrating - I've always wanted to dismiss it as a bunch of pretentious rubbish, yet I can't. In fact, I enjoy this film more & more every time I watch it. It puts a hook in ya or something. I didn't watch it for nearly 10 years and yet it was always there in the background of my brain... so I finally got the Criterion DVD and when I revisited Naked Lunch I loved the film. Go figure.

I disagree...even though the radio show was first, and I do own the books, the TV miniseries is still my fave-- even with the now laughable special effects (all that blue screen, those latex monsters, and Zaphod's twin head).

everyone who has seen this has loved it and I wasn't that impressed with it. I don't know why I wouldn't like it either I love WWII and boobs... thats basically all this movie is.


this pretty awesome. more of the same as Hero and House of Flying Daggers but cool as hell none the less.

Dug Hero, did not really dig HoFD--Curse of the Golden Flower falls somewhere in between for me.