mitch-4

Member since 6/2/2007, last signed in awhile ago.

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Snow Angels

Most-Anticipated comes thru! (S ...
By mitch-4 in mitch-4 Blog
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"David Gordon Green is, to my mind, the best up-and-coming director we have working in the general realm of realism. This film, based on a Stewart O'Nan novel I've just begun reading, explores the interests, concerns, relationships (family and romantic), and local dramas of believable well-drawn characters. Among movies I've been aware of coming out this season, this was my most-anticipated one; and I felt my trust was very well rewarded. Not to be pushing realism as against script self-reflexiveness, trickiness, irrealism, surrealism, and so on -- I can get into any of those, too, when well done. But looking within the traditional alternative of character-based stories, convincingly and movingly told, who is more exciting than Green in his first four features? Only Nicky Katt was a biot disappointing among the players in sizeable roles. Amy Sedaris, a little to my surprise, was really spot-on as friend/co-worker Barb, admittedly a somewhat comic part, but with dime ... " [More]

Rocket Science

Rocket Science (discussed on Fi ...
By mitch-4 in Filmspotting
"(Rocket Science) I agree with Adam's comment applauding the director's choice not to give the payoffs some of the storylines seem to be leading to. Though this leaves the tone a bit depressing, it's ultimately more satisfying than a too-pat triumph or revenge wish-fulfillment would have been.(spoiler notice probably needed here)However! Since he didn't go through with those temptations to cheap triumphs, why spend all that time and effort on the storylines building toward that? I'm thinking particularly of the whole digression of seeking out last year's almost-champ, practicing with him, and entering the tournament as home-schoolers. It was a lot of buildup for a rather short and undramatic deflation. Question: was their coach from the public school (Margo Martindale's character) actually behind the protest and ruling that had them disqualified? Or was she just accompanying the official, as someone who knew these boys and might help defuse the s ... " [More]

Breaking the Waves

Re: Antonia Bird Re: Top 5 Mov ...
By mitch-4 in Filmspotting
"Hi there, Dana! Speaking of Antonia :-), I think you were not there at our mutual friend G's party when another guest and I got into it over Breaking the Waves and Marleen Goren's Antonia . (Not relating or comparing the two movies but reflecting differences of taste.) She declared Antonia one of her all-time favorites and I regard it as the sort of one-sided hack job that gives political art (in this case, feminist) a bad name. All adult males who might even potentially be the central character's suitor are skunks; for a male to be non-horrific he must be a child or an old guy or her blood relative or gay or castrated or a priest. And even those are a little unsavory.Later I saw other work by Gorris and liked it better, in particular her adaptations of two classic 20th Century novels from the Modernist era and authors, The Defense (or The Luzhin Defence) and Mrs Dalloway. I have to confess Ihave long been unable to get very far into the novel Mrs Dalloway, but ... " [More]

Cherish

Thanks, that's it! Re: House a ...
By mitch-4 in missing a film
"Thank you! It was indeed Cherish I was thinking of. The IMDB listing shows "House arrest" as the first entry in the keywords list for that movie. I guess that tool would have worked out, but I didn't expect it to so didn't try. ==mitch " [More]

Nights of Cabiria

Nights of Cabiria Re: What are ...
By mitch-4 in What An Ending
"(Spoiler --- but I guess this whole discussion thread and even group imples spoilers...) The end of Fellini's Nights of Cabiria is unsurpassed. Somewhere on spout there may be a list of top 5 closeups, and I ought to go find that and list the final shots of Giulietta Masinatrudgng along that miserable road, having lost everything, everything, and the teenagers on their vespas weave around and start playing a guitar and singing, and somehow, from somewhere in her soul, Cabiria starts to smile She smiles! Where, o where, can that be coming from? There's no answer to her practical disaster, it isn't a deus ex machina, yet somehow it has trned around and the ending is upbeat, we believe again in hope and possibility. " [More]

House arrest Re: Help to find ...
By mitch-4 in missing a film
"The whole time I was watching Disturbia I was trying to remember the title or other pertinent details of another recent movie that used the device of putting the protagonist under house arrest, with an electronic anklet and phone check-ins. The one I'm trying to recall was smaller and hipper than Disturbia, and had a female protagonist. Also the setting was not suburbia but a city apartment buildng. I thnk it does share with Disturbia the bit about mapping out the detector's coverage and timing details, so that the protagonist can for a limited time slip away for adventures or whatever. (Or maybe that's just a natural outgrowth of the theme.) Thanks,==Mitch-4 " [More]

Re: Filmspotting #163: Knocked ...
By mitch-4 in Filmspotting
"Say, Jeff, is there a typo in your pronunciation guide? Or is it really the case that the 'L' in the spelling 'HEIGL' doesn't contribute to the sound at all? ==Mitch " [More]

What to go see after work today ...
By mitch-4 in Filmspotting
"It's Friday, so I can probably get away by 3:00 or 3:30 PM and catch a movie at a regular theatrical show anywhere in the 3:30 to 6:00 range. What would be good to see, in that context? Here are some parameters:I'll be going on my own, so "good date movie" factors are for some other time The weekend is available for must-see movies or last-chance movies. Not that they are ruled out, but we can ignore the "Maybe I'll never see Fay Grim if I don't get there today" factor.Okay, my daily energy systemis not what it used to be, and here I am up and online at 6:30 AM. So there's a genuine danger of dropping into the arms of morpheus in the late afternoon if sitting in a darkened auditorium and watching something a little too quiet and slow. I'm a big fan of the sensitive character study genre, but maybe not for this Friday-after-work slot.As an example, I didn't get to do this last week, but two weeks ago I saw Bug and it was a perfect choice.So here ... " [More]

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
By mitch-4 in Filmspotting
"I really enjoyed the trailers for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou ... the movie itself, okay but not really special. ==Mitch 4 Tech P.S. -- sorry for the bad link, experimenting with using Spout's "link to a movie" feature but clearly I don't have it right yet. " [More]

Harron
By mitch-4 in Filmspotting
"I was glad to hear you wanted to include a Mary Harron film (and chose two!) -- but I might have upgraded "I Shot Andy Warhol" over your choices. There was really something special about that one. ==Mitch " [More]

Re: Filmspotting #161: Waitress ...
By mitch-4 in Filmspotting
"I was startled and embarrassed that I was so moved by Away from Her. The acting from Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent (after getting used to his style of understatement) was stupendous. However, I think I've had more than my fill of Olympia Dukakis (from lately catching up with the "Tales of the City" teleseries) and could barely stand her in this. ==Mitch " [More]

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