i can just imagine how all those "funny" scenes play out (ok, maybe i'm remembering some from the trailer) and... no thanks.
― ah, how quaint (Matt P), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:40 (1 year ago) Permalink
"To call “The Descendants” perfect would be a kind of insult, a betrayal of its commitment to, and celebration of, human imperfection"
is it better than Citizen Kane?
― nostormo, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
Reitpayne movies are such critnip.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
but but but "like an angry flightless bird" modifies "runs"
― Mr. Que, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
i'm excited for this cuz hawaii tho. edelstein's review seemed more trustworthy!
― occupy the A train (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
Its flaws are impossible to distinguish from its pleasures.
― buzza, Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
that should obviously be on the poster, solemnly intoned in the tv spot, etc.
― occupy the A train (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:46 (1 year ago) Permalink
You're all right to be hearing alarm bells, but I thought it split the diff between Election and About Schmidt.
― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
That'd be 2.5/4.
I've only seen one Jason Reitman movie -- really, Juno was not mandatory -- vs all four of Payne's, but I'd say it's pretty insulting to lump him in with JS, even if About Schmidt was kinda loathsome.
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
JR, grrrr
a young girl utters an outrageous obscenity
We already had this movie and it was called Kick-Ass. Is this better than that?
― i couldn't adjust the food knobs (Phil D.), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
creators of guilt-ridden slice of life angst starring inevitable Oscar nominees and Best Screenplay winners.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
xpost No.
― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 17:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
I would totally screw Matthew Lillard over George Clooney, btw
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:06 (1 year ago) Permalink
An angry, flightless Lillard in boat shoes is my kind of evolutionary move.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 November 2011 18:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
Stephanie Zacharek thinks this resembles Up in the Air way too closely.
That’s the thing about Payne: In pictures like Sideways and About Schmidt, he’s gotten away with the junkiest kind of sentimentality by packing deadpan gags around it, like ice around a dead fish.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 18 November 2011 14:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Erudite white people suffering domestic strife in Hawaii. I wonder what Terry Gross will say?
― remy bean, Thursday, May 26, 2011 4:18 PM (5 months ago)
― PEDAL TO THE METAL GRANDAD parp parp (remy bean), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
Mr. Clooney slips on a pair of boat shoes and runs, like an angry, flightless bird, to a neighbor’s house
you know how angry, flightless birds are always running to their neighbors' houses
― Much Ado About Nuttin (DJP), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
oh hey domestic turkey next door can i borrow some worms? thanks i can't go fishing today on account of my awesome boat shoes that i don't want to get wet. thanks and * SQUAWK *
― PEDAL TO THE METAL GRANDAD parp parp (remy bean), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
missing the "angry" imo but otherwise excellent
― Much Ado About Nuttin (DJP), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
this is going to be this year's american beauty, huh?
― PEDAL TO THE METAL GRANDAD parp parp (remy bean), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:24 (1 year ago) Permalink
i've had to sit through this preview on multiple occasions and each time i hate it a little bit morethat turning point where it goes from family weeper --> lol clooney music is the WORST
― the MMMM cult (La Lechera), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
lol clooney music
yeah this is a subgenre already isn't it
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
if this is this year's "American Beauty" I will probably see it once, enjoy it, and then refuse to ever see it again after everyone I talk to online savagely rips it apart for fear of getting Gumped
― Much Ado About Nuttin (DJP), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
have you seen Up in the Air? It's worse.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
i said on the other thread that i've liked (softly) everything payne has done, but this line from hoberman's review gives me the big fear: Still, save for a reflexive response to the spectacle of “girlfriend in a coma” (ironically, the best scenes are the solos Clooney directs at comatose Hastie—moments that make clear what is otherwise implicit), it left me cold. The pathos is as unearned as the protagonist’s privilege.
― PEDAL TO THE METAL GRANDAD parp parp (remy bean), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
I have not seen "Up in the Air"; that got savaged before I had the chance to see it.
― Much Ado About Nuttin (DJP), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
yah, ditto
― PEDAL TO THE METAL GRANDAD parp parp (remy bean), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
ppl shld stop making movies
― Lamp, Friday, 18 November 2011 19:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
The Dean from Community co-wrote this
― encarta it (Gukbe), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
i want to hear gr8080's take on this
― PEDAL TO THE METAL GRANDAD parp parp (remy bean), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:35 (1 year ago) Permalink
Hey, Hugo has street urchins if that's what you like in a movie.
― Love stream of mic checking (Eazy), Friday, 18 November 2011 19:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
i'm looking forward to this, although i'm not raising my expectations too high.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, 18 November 2011 22:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
payne has a streak of boring, especially lately, but he's a real good director i think.
i liked this! shailene woodley was really good i think, also she is really hot
― rebecca blah (k3vin k.), Saturday, 7 January 2012 01:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
I hope you're under 30
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 7 January 2012 01:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
No, but luckily she is.
― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Saturday, 7 January 2012 01:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
the triviality of this film is snowballing since I saw it 5 weeks ago
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 7 January 2012 01:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
it was better than i thought it would be, though most of the humor didnt work imo
@ the time it made me want to go read my law school notes on the rule of perpetuities, which of course i absolutely did not do
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 7 January 2012 01:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Friday, January 6, 2012 8:23 PM (44 minutes ago)
she's a year and a half younger than i am
― rebecca blah (k3vin k.), Saturday, 7 January 2012 02:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
go for it
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 7 January 2012 02:15 (1 year ago) Permalink
i thought her character was the best part about the movie - her decency, and the way she supported her family, the whole thing seemed very loose and natural - not gonna win an oscar or anything but i thought it was a nice performace for the kid. had to be one of her first major film roles?
― rebecca blah (k3vin k.), Saturday, 7 January 2012 02:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
Didn't buy her as a wild child by scene #2, but I'll blame the script on that, not her.
― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Saturday, 7 January 2012 02:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
yeah the contrast between her first scene and the rest of the movie was pretty odd, kind of surprised they didn't go back to that or even allude to it besides when she talked to her mom. that's not to say i didn't buy that someone who acted the way she did for 90% of the movie couldn't be more of a wild child in other parts of her life - she's only 17 and seemed less like an addict than just a girl with a wild side. "drugs" in clooney's dad-speak probably meant "weed"
― rebecca blah (k3vin k.), Saturday, 7 January 2012 02:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
This and Beginners are the worst movies of the year because they actually try to Say Something.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 7 January 2012 02:46 (1 year ago) Permalink
we disagree semiviolently on Beginners, but Shame & We Need to Kill Kevin Now fail at Saying Something much more foully than either of your suggestions.
― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 7 January 2012 02:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
We love each other because we disagree on what we hate.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 7 January 2012 02:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
xxpdoes it? i've been removed from the film hype cycle long enough now that i was able to walk into this without knowing a thing about it other than clooney was in it (my mom took me). unable to react to any of that, it seemed like a nice, harmless little movie, and i thought it avoided the sap and other traps it easily could have fallen into
my best friend just a couple weeks ago lost his mother in a similar fashion, so maybe i was biased in that way
― rebecca blah (k3vin k.), Saturday, 7 January 2012 03:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
It's not as poisonous as Up in the Air, true.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 7 January 2012 03:02 (1 year ago) Permalink
and it covered itself in sap.
how so? i don't actually remember the last shot.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 05:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
i think "bogus" is actually a kind of brutal but fair term to apply to this film.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 05:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
ok wait now i remember. do you just mean it ends w/ a silent long take meant to make us wonder what the character(s) are thining? that's kind of tradition that goes back far beyond michael clayton though.
a.o. scott's incredibly enthusiastic review was really weird btw, and reads even weirder today.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/movies/descendants-with-george-clooney-review.html?pagewanted=all
To call “The Descendants” perfect would be a kind of insult, a betrayal of its commitment to, and celebration of, human imperfection. Its flaws are impossible to distinguish from its pleasures. For example: after what feels as if it should be the final scene, a poignant, quiet tableau of emotional resolution and apt visual beauty, Mr. Payne adds another, a prosaic coda to a flight of poetry. Without saying too much or spoiling the mood, I will say that I was grateful for this extra minute, a small gift at the end of a film that understands, in every way, how hard it can be to say goodbye.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 05:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
i mean it's a kind of 400 blows gesture in a way.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 05:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
I wish more movies simply ran out of film and were forced to freeze.
― Count-Dracula-Down (Eric H.), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 11:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
...on George Clooney in sockless boat shoes
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 11:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
"bogus" is a good word. A dubious honor for Clooney to star in two of the most meretricious Oscar films of the last twenty years.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 11:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
There’s a scene at the end of the movie where they’re spreading the mother’s ashes in the ocean, and it gets broken up by a cruise and a bunch of drunk guys. That was shot, it was funny. But they didn’t want to cut away from that very poignant emotional closure.
You can't have humor interrupting very poignant emotional closure!
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 11:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
Still prefer both to Syriana.
― Count-Dracula-Down (Eric H.), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 11:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
DWH needs to reappreciate Kramer vs Kramer
someone get Sotosyn some friggin' boat shoes already
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 11:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm wearing a pair with argyles.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 13:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'm not saying Kramer Vs. Kramer is bad, Morbs. It's just nothing terribly special, and surely not the best film of 1979 any more than The Descendants has one of the very best screenplays of 2011 (hopefully you'll forgive my dubiousness towards the decisions of the esteemed Academy).
― Quiet Desperation, LLC (Deric W. Haircare), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 13:53 (1 year ago) Permalink
Morbs agrees, I think.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 13:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
he liked Boat Shoes Vs. Boat Shoes more than a lot of us
Both end with the credits rolling over George Clooney as he stares thoughtfully into the middle distance
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 14:02 (1 year ago) Permalink
It's not the fact that they end with that kind of shot, but holding it for so long with the credits over it is something I can't remember seeing before MC
i considered barking a little in defense of kramer vs. kramer, yesterday. i remember it fondly, though i was only 12 at the time, but i decided that it's been too long for me to say with any certainty that i'd still like it. also, i thought there was a slight misogynist streak to the descendants, similar to what jonathan rosenbaum objected to in KvK.
― spextor vs bextor (contenderizer), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 14:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
I kinda think all the characters in The Descendants are equally miserable.
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 22 May 2012 15:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 9:02 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i'll agree that it works better in michael clayton.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 23 May 2012 03:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
I found this kind of a snore, tbh. However I really loved seeing Hawaii shown in a 'hey people live here' way. Honestly I enjoyed it more once I ignored the story and just watched it as a travel documentary, lol
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 24 August 2012 15:33 (9 months ago) Permalink