Miscellaneous Movie Musings the Sequel

[cirquelover]

I just watched The Brave One with Jodi Foster. I thought it was a good movie. I loved the little twist at the end. It was cool to see Naveen Andrews in something new, outside of Lost.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Crap, I thought that guy looked familiar.

Jay Baruchel was in Undeclared, the almost-good sitcom follow-up to Freaks and Geeks.

How old is he supposed to be in this movie? He was playing a college freshman in 2001, and he's actually 27 right now, but the trailer made it look like they were trying to pass him off as 17....

[3894]

"Julie and Julia" - awful except for Stanley Tucci. Meryl Streep did Julia Child as the lumbering village idiot, the spotless sunshine of Julia Child. Amy Adams did not have a lot to work with to make her character likeable or even interesting. Tucci's performance was nuanced, interesting, believeable.

And then there's the film's weird veneration of Julia Child. She did not originate these recipes. She was an excellent cooking teacher. The whole shebang was so Nora Ephron pre-fab you could hear her in the background: I did people finding each other via call-in radio. I did people finding each other via internet chat. Now I'll do people finding themselves via a blog.

Ick, ick, ick. Except for you, Stanley Tucci. You can stay.

[mousepod]

Loved The Princess and the Frog. I even shed a tear or two. My only nitpick on first viewing was that Dr. Facilier's song was way too close to Oogie Boogie's song in NBC. I guess that Randy Newman is an Elfman fan, too.

[Andrew]

Primer (2004). I'd never heard of it until this xkcd comic, did a little reading and decided I wanted to see it. In brief, it's a super-low budget hard science fiction story about a very limited form of time travel.

It takes a lot of attention, and there's a fair amount of Howard Hawks-style fast-talking and talking over each other which makes it very difficult for me to follow (but that's why there's a back button).

I recommend it, especially to engineers, programmers and other geeky types (like me) or anyone with an interest in hard science fiction. If you liked Pi (1998) you will like Primer. When you're done, the Wikipedia page will help make sense of what you just saw, as will this scholarly deconstruction.

[Gemini Cricket]

Although it's not a perfect film, Fiddler on the Roof has a special place in my heart. (It's on TCM right now.) It's the first big stage play I did in Hawai'i. Motel the Tailor was the start of me being cast in a ton of character roles.
Love the cast in this film.

[cirquelover]

I love Fiddler on the Roof too! I so wanted to see the live version when it came through Portland but sadly it was not to be!

[flippyshark]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

Although it's not a perfect film, Fiddler on the Roof has a special place in my heart. (It's on TCM right now.) It's the first big stage play I did in Hawai'i. Motel the Tailor was the start of me being cast in a ton of character roles.
Love the cast in this film.

Heck, I can't really find fault with Fiddler the movie. (I guess it's missing a couple of numbers from the show, but oh well.) The exceptional cast and authentic location make it pretty timeless. Only the dream sequence feels stagey and artificial, but then, that's what makes it such a highlight in an otherwise naturalistic film. I wish there were more musical adaptations that worked this well.

Edited to add - The last few minutes, in which the movie takes on an almost documentary quality, are really haunting and unforgettable. I doubt anybody would risk such an approach nowadays.

[Gemini Cricket]

I think the movie is quite slow in places. And the one number that I can think of off the top of my head that they cut from the film was cut from our version of the play as well. It was a kinda clunky song where the town gossips with Yente...

[flippyshark]

Yeah, it's missing two numbers - "The Rumor" and "Now I Have Everything" Neither is a big loss.