The Movie Reel

[Moxie]

I think Julia Child (Meryl Streep), Harvey Milk (Sean Penn), Capote (PSH) and Lenny had similarly over-the-top, distinct personalities, but only one of those performances made me cringe.

I get it. It's your opinion. You don't have to defend it. You don't even have to have watched the whole thing. And it's not a movie that I liked so much I'd encourage you to give it another try. Life is too short. The other day, I read something David Mamet said: that if he doesn't like the writing in a book, he doesn't just stop reading it, he throws it away. "I don't even recycle it."

A couple other films I've like recently: "Anatomy of a Fall" and "Revoir Paris."

 

[Kieran]

I watched Maestro on netflix dont bother watching it, talk about over acting from Bradly Cooper from the start to finish, Casey Mulligan who played his wife, was okay in places, both chain smoked, it really didnt show how Bernstein became a great conductor, the film was all over the place, it was a disappointing film from start to finish.

Bradley Cooper is basically a b-list actor that they’re trying to convince us is more than that. I’m not surprised this flick is getting middling reviews. I remember @tented complaining a few years ago about actors getting the Oscar for impersonating famous people. He’s right, as usual. That ugly bloke from Fantastic Beasts sat down for a while and got an Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking. The following year he yanked on a dress and almost achieved the career slam by getting an Oscar for playing a cross dresser. Give him credit: he wouldn’t get away with trying that now, the transphobe.

Cooper jammed on a rubber schnozzle and yelled ‘Action!’ I’m not a huge fan of biopics. I have the Elvis dvd gathering dust. It also being a Baz Lurhmann movie makes me shudder. I might try it though. I see they’re making a Bob Dylan biopic with Timothy Chalamet playing a young Dylan. He’s using the same voice coaches that taught Tex from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to sing like Elvis. The mind boggles. You can be Dylan or Elvis after a coupla warbles in the classroom? And there’s me thinking…

 

[Moxie]

Bradley Cooper is basically a b-list actor that they’re trying to convince us is more than that. I’m not surprised this flick is getting middling reviews. I remember @tented complaining a few years ago about actors getting the Oscar for impersonating famous people. He’s right, as usual. That ugly bloke from Fantastic Beasts sat down for a while and got an Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking. The following year he yanked on a dress and almost achieved the career slam by getting an Oscar for playing a cross dresser. Give him credit: he wouldn’t get away with trying that now, the transphobe.

Cooper jammed on a rubber schnozzle and yelled ‘Action!’ I’m not a huge fan of biopics. I have the Elvis dvd gathering dust. It also being a Baz Lurhmann movie makes me shudder. I might try it though. I see they’re making a Bob Dylan biopic with Timothy Chalamet playing a young Dylan. He’s using the same voice coaches that taught Tex from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to sing like Elvis. The mind boggles. You can be Dylan or Elvis after a coupla warbles in the classroom? And there’s me thinking…

The reviews aren't that "middling." A lot of of the best reviewers are rather glowing. But, for reasons I find confusing, it's bit polarizing. I just don't find it that controversial, but whatever. The argument about the schnoz is if it's anti-Semitic, which I think is silly, and I'd think you would. (The make-up/hair is fantastic, including aging. Interesting point is that, for all of his meticulousness, Cooper didn't change his eye color to brown. He could have worn lenses. A friend called me from Italy today to say how much she'd loved the film, for the music, and the filmmaking, and she wondered at that choice...if it was egotistical.) I think the key factor is that people find Bradley Cooper off-putting, and I'm with you on that. He just doesn't appeal to me, and he's the reason it took me so long to see a film that I was inclined to, otherwise.

I will say, that so many people have pointed out the moment late in the film when Bernstein conducts Mahler, and it's a 6 minute or so sequence of Cooper totally channeling LB. It's really amazing and affecting. I know more than a few people who have gone back just to watch that again. And the music is great.

Anyway, I have long been with @tented by being bored with folks getting big awards for doing a decent impersonation of an historical figure. It's not my favorite of actor turns, though some have been great performances, I have to admit.

I liked the Baz Luhrmann Elvis movie (with reservations, mostly as to Tom Hanks,) but that, I get, is a polarizing film. I like Elvis, and I like Baz Luhrmann. As I believe I've said here before, there may be a better Elvis biopic to be made. (Sidebar: I'm keen to see Sophia Coppola's "Pricilla.") This was Luhrmann's interpretation. Sometimes you have to free yourself from the source material and go on the journey with the filmmaker. If it's not documentary, it will be interpretive. Did you see "I'm Not There" by Todd Haynes, about Bob Dylan? Even Cate Blanchette plays Dylan.

If you don't like Baz Luhrmann, don't see his "Elvis" movie. If you don't like Bradley Cooper, don't see "Maestro." If you want your Dylan straightforward, don't see "I'm Not There." But, IMO, these are not terrible movies, they're worthy movies...intelligent, and well-crafted. You'll never know unless you watch them. It's not like skipping "John Wick 4." But I'm not here to tell you that you "should." Everyone says "Succesion" is great, and I hated those characters so much, I had to stop watching. It may be great television, but not for me. To each his own.

 

[Kieran]

The reviews aren't that "middling." A lot of of the best reviewers are rather glowing. But, for reasons I find confusing, it's bit polarizing. I just don't find it that controversial, but whatever. The argument about the schnoz is if it's anti-Semitic, which I think is silly, and I'd think you would. (The make-up/hair is fantastic, including aging. Interesting point is that, for all of his meticulousness, Cooper didn't change his eye color to brown. He could have worn lenses. A friend called me from Italy today to say how much she'd loved the film, for the music, and the filmmaking, and she wondered at that choice...if it was egotistical.) I think the key factor is that people find Bradley Cooper off-putting, and I'm with you on that. He just doesn't appeal to me, and he's the reason it took me so long to see a film that I was inclined to, otherwise.

I will say, that so many people have pointed out the moment late in the film when Bernstein conducts Mahler, and it's a 6 minute or so sequence of Cooper totally channeling LB. It's really amazing and affecting. I know more than a few people who have gone back just to watch that again. And the music is great.

Anyway, I have long been with @tented by being bored with folks getting big awards for doing a decent impersonation of an historical figure. It's not my favorite of actor turns, though some have been great performances, I have to admit.

I liked the Baz Luhrmann Elvis movie (with reservations, mostly as to Tom Hanks,) but that, I get, is a polarizing film. I like Elvis, and I like Baz Luhrmann. As I believe I've said here before, there may be a better Elvis biopic to be made. (Sidebar: I'm keen to see Sophia Coppola's "Pricilla.") This was Luhrmann's interpretation. Sometimes you have to free yourself from the source material and go on the journey with the filmmaker. If it's not documentary, it will be interpretive. Did you see "I'm Not There" by Todd Haynes, about Bob Dylan? Even Cate Blanchette plays Dylan.

If you don't like Baz Luhrmann, don't see his "Elvis" movie. If you don't like Bradley Cooper, don't see "Maestro." If you want your Dylan straightforward, don't see "I'm Not There." But, IMO, these are not terrible movies, they're worthy movies...intelligent, and well-crafted. You'll never know unless you watch them. It's not like skipping "John Wick 4." But I'm not here to tell you that you "should." Everyone says "Succesion" is great, and I hated those characters so much, I had to stop watching. It may be great television, but not for me. To each his own.

It’s at 6.7 on IMDb, and reviews I’ve read are tepid. But I’m glad it’s getting some good reviews too. I don’t mind that he wears the fake nose though I can see why some might find it a little strange, to say the least. Zoe Saldana caught flak for darkening her skin to play Nina Simone. I thought that was unfair, but typical of touchy race pedlars.

I think a biopic I enjoyed was Walk The Line and I love Yankee Doodle with James Cagney, but generally it’s not a genre that grabs me. As for the Todd Haynes Dylan, it’s on the list, and I’m aware of how they made it, which at least is an imaginative way to approach a complex individual, but I’m not hurrying towards it. People I trust on Dylan tell me it’s doesn’t add up for them but I think I’ll still watch it, sometime.

I got the Elvis dvd to watch over Christmas. It’s from the library and I haven’t returned it yet. I thought it would be enjoyable some evening over a few drinks. We binged some shows instead, and also watched the new Indy. I know. But actually it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Some of it was very enjoyable, including the ending. They de-aged Harrison Ford at the start, that worked better than it did for de Niro in The Irishman, but I’m surprised the tech still looks like characters from a video game transplanted into a movie..

 

[Kieran]

Why am I getting trigger warnings on Disney that a film “contains tobacco depictions?”

So what if it does?

 

[shawnbm]

^ just more PC baloney kowtowing to the wussies of the USA.

 

[tented]

Why am I getting trigger warnings on Disney that a film “contains tobacco depictions?”

So what if it does?

Which film?

 

[tented]

A final comment on Maestro …

I found this in a review: “Bradley Cooper's mimicry eventually becomes overbearing. If an actor is working so hard that all the audience can focus on is the work, rather than the character, it’s self-defeating.”

Perfect.

 

[Kieran]

Which film?

Die Hard With a Vengeance. I thought actually they might have substituted the warning about tobacco with a warning about explosions.

Warning: this film might inspire you to blow stuff up!

 

[Kieran]

A final comment on Maestro …

I found this in a review: “Bradley Cooper's mimicry eventually becomes overbearing. If an actor is working so hard that all the audience can focus on is the work, rather than the character, it’s self-defeating.”

Perfect.

There’s so many films like this, where the actor or actress acting method and ego distract from the film itself. I don’t even have to name names because we all could name examples, but it’s kind of irritating to watch a precious performance and be more aware of the actors turn than the film itself.

I love a great performance, don’t get me wrong, and the more fearless and committed the better, but you know what I mean…

 

[Moxie]

I saw "The Boys in the Boat" today. A good old-fashioned underdog story. With a sports theme. It's well-crafted, like the boat. You won't be surprised, but it's hard not to like.

 

[tented]

I saw "The Boys in the Boat" today. A good old-fashioned underdog story. With a sports theme. It's well-crafted, like the boat. You won't be surprised, but it's hard not to like.

Ah, good. I’ve been intrigued by the commercials, but a little worried, too.

 

[Moxie]

Ah, good. I’ve been intrigued by the commercials, but a little worried, too.

If by "worried," you mean that it might be "sentimental?" It's a little bit baked into the genre, I think, but it still works. I knew what was going to happen, and it kind of made me cry, anyway. That kind of film. Audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes much higher than reviewer scores. THAT kind of film. It's also a little slow. I don't think you have to see it in the theatre.

 

[Federberg]

 

[Federberg]

 

[tented]

I watched Asteroid City last night. It was … OK. Wes Anderson has become too affected, IMO, in his quest for curiosities. The play-within-a-play idea is fun, but it doesn’t work with the heavy-handed direction.

 

[Moxie]

I watched Asteroid City last night. It was … OK. Wes Anderson has become too affected, IMO, in his quest for curiosities. The play-within-a-play idea is fun, but it doesn’t work with the heavy-handed direction.

I thought it was fun, but forgettable. (I saw it ages ago, and have basically forgotten it.) I do agree that he risks becoming too precious. I don't remember the heavy-handed directing, but maybe we mean the same thing. I'm going to compare him to Almodóvar, who I thought for all the world would stay "style-over-substance," and yet he broke out beyond that. By a lot. I'd love to see Wes Anderson break his bonds. Likewise, though I can tolerate Baz Luhrmann more than most, I'd like to see the same from him.

 

[britbox]

^ just more PC baloney kowtowing to the wussies of the USA.

Next, they'll have warnings about using protective goggles before screenings of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

 

[tented]

I thought it was fun, but forgettable. (I saw it ages ago, and have basically forgotten it.) I do agree that he risks becoming too precious. I don't remember the heavy-handed directing, but maybe we mean the same thing. I'm going to compare him to Almodóvar, who I thought for all the world would stay "style-over-substance," and yet he broke out beyond that. By a lot. I'd love to see Wes Anderson break his bonds. Likewise, though I can tolerate Baz Luhrmann more than most, I'd like to see the same from him.

Yes, that’s exactly it: too precious, too style-over-substance. The Almodovar analogy is perfect. He was style-over-substance, but then managed to take a turn towards the serious (beginning with All About My Mother) without sacrificing overall quality. If anything it has made him an important filmmaker, and one of the greatest living directors.

 

[Moxie]

Yes, that’s exactly it: too precious, too style-over-substance. The Almodovar analogy is perfect. He was style-over-substance, but then managed to take a turn towards the serious (beginning with All About My Mother) without sacrificing overall quality. If anything it has made him an important filmmaker, and one of the greatest living directors.

IMO, Almodóvar IS the greatest living director. And I know that Scorcese is not dead. I'd be interested who you or others might nominate.