The Films of Alexander Payne - C/D

jeezus, the last 5 minutes is crazy obvious; it feels written by a test screening.

I'm not sure what kind of surprise ending you were looking for. It was no more or less obvious than the ending of The Straight Story. (The really obvious ending would have been--well, I won't say, but I'm sure you can fill in the blank there.)

Would've been OK if the endings for Nebraska and The Last Stand had been swapped.

I'd have settled for "I'm not buying you an air compressor, Dad, I don't have the money."

I saw it on Christmas Day with a young Chinese lady. We were trying to see Her, but it was sold out. Afterwards, she asked me, "What is a compressor?"

As a midwesterner with these folks as relatives, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Was surprised at how much I liked Will Forte in this, but I think this is Payne's worst by some distance. If it weren't for Kristen Scott-Thomas comparing her son's cocks in Only God Forgives, June Squibb flashing the grave of her ex would have been the most embarrassing scene of 2013.

i think the descendants was worse, maybe. neither of them was particularly good or bad IMO. payne mostly inspires shrugs chez moi.

apparently payne had to work really hard to get bruce dern not to overact in every scene.

apparently sometimes he would actually film him in what were, ostensibly, moments in between takes just so he could get reaction shots of him where he wasn't doing business or mugging

<-- this from horse's mouth

i think they say something similar about kaurismaki, too, that he'll secretly shoot what are ostensibly dry runthroughs to get readings as affectless as possible

jeez, i sound like the "apparently kid"

i think they say something similar about kaurismaki, too, that he'll secretly shoot what are ostensibly dry runthroughs to get readings as affectless as possible

― schlump, Sunday, October 26, 2014 12:46 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

malick did this a lot on the new world, probably his more recent films as well. but in payne's case it's not a general strategy, just an attempt to get some reaction shots of dern where he wasn't mugging. i do like dern as an actor, but here he's playing a guy who's living mostly in his head, and you'd have to say that for that sort of role he's definitely being cast against type..

http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to-me/bullied-by-oscar-winner-on-movie-set

Alexander Payne‘s long-in-the-works “Downsizing” has been handed a big holiday release date of December 22, 2017. The high concept movie stars Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig, Christoph Waltz, Alec Baldwin, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Sudeikis, and Hong Chau and follows an Omaha man in the not-too-distant future where humans are now able to shrink themselves to 1/8 their size as a means to battle over-consumption and the rapid depletion of earth’s natural resources. He decides to undergo the process himself, and joins others who have done the same.

http://theplaylist.net/alexander-paynes-downsizing-coming-december-2017-mission-impossible-6-arrives-2018-20161109/

Sweet jesus, this sounds awful:

http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2017/09/downsizing.html

Classic for Nebraska, Citizen Ruth and Election. I could take or leave the rest

Nebraska was terrible. The other two are great ... his only great films.

Was wondering what Payne was up to and it turns out he was right up to the point of shooting a road movie for Netflix based onMy Saga until Karl Ove Knausgard pulled the rights at the last minute.

Jesus, I just saw this. Terrible. The only instance of test audiences forcing the filmmakers to shoot a new, correct ending?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhezOPupmj4

RIP Election's, Jessica Campbell (Tammy Metzler), 38

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jessica-campbell-election-star-dies-at-38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqpGy-DxPF0

Checking her imdb, two things astounded me: How few credits she had (six total: a tv movie when she was a kid, Election; two eps of Freaks...; The Safety of Objects; a short film; and what I assume was an unreleased feature called Junk from 2002), and that she was two days younger than me, which means she was 15 when filming Election, and 16 when she was Tuba Girl.

that is weird.... only SIX?

I noticed that Payne's wiki has a "2017–2022: Career slump" header and a "2023–present: Resurgence" header. New one is getting a pretty positive reception.

Didn't realize he was originally on board to direct "The Menu."

The trailer, no surprise, looks dreadful.

I did like the very 70s voiceover for the trailer.

No one else will bother to see The Holdovers, so: not very good. The Killer is heavy-handed not-very-good, Priscilla is lifeless not-very-good, The Holdovers is clunky not-very-good.

anyone do the daily framed.wtf quiz?
I'm inordinately annoyed that the last few were "Brought to you by The Holdovers, in cinemas now..." and they were Election, About Schmidt, Nebraska (which I remember quite liking but immediately forgot) and The Descendants. I think they'd already had Downsizing some time ago.

I saw Nebraska on an airplane this year, thought it was hilarious.

I did bother to see it, FWIW there clemenza. A minor/gets-a-pat-on-the-head effort, but certainly not great; a better movie would have actually gone further with Da'Vine Joy Randolph's character rather than essentially having her disappear for a good chunk of the closing half and I rather suspect Payne would have been more comfortable with just the other two leads. Atmosphere was excellent in general, though, it gets a quiet holiday mood well, and the blend of original score and choice of songs helped.

Found that blend a little meandering--rather he'd gone for an imaginative period soundtrack. Although, going by the oft-used Chambers Brothers and Cat Stevens (two things I like anyway), he probably didn't have that in him.

I should mention a couple of wall hangings I liked, both of which I remembered from the time: the W.C. Fields poster and the MLK wall tapestry (there was a matching JFK, I'm pretty sure, but can't find images of either).

Atmosphere was excellent in general, though, it gets a quiet holiday mood well

this is what i was curious about tbh. i don't expect this to be good, but i think spending 90m [edit: the film is 133 minutes] in christmastime '70s boarding school wouldn't be the worst and maybe even charming

Probably what I was hoping for, something like Bill Forsyth's Comfort and Joy (the tagline for Payne's film is "Discomfort and Joy," which may or may not be coincidental). But the two male leads are thoroughly unlikeable (each tells the other that everyone at the school hates them--typical of each, also true), and the lead is in mourning twice over. Hard to get there from here.

"lead female"

I was hoping for, something like Bill Forsyth's Comfort and Joy (the tagline for Payne's film is "Discomfort and Joy," which may or may not be coincidental).

Probably coincidental, as both that title and tag are inspired by the refrain of the traditional Christmas Carol "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

Tidings of...I knew that, and probably yes (with a slight chance of probably both).

No one else will bother to see The Holdovers

Weird assumption to make about a movie that's largely gotten very good reviews and heralded as a return to form for Payne. It was the first runner-up for the audience award at TIFF and has been touted for Oscar nominations. I'm planning to see it eventually.

i saw this tonight, it's a very sweet story

(xpost) That was referring to here, ILX, perhaps unduly influenced by the preponderance of negative commentary past Election when Payne's name comes up.

I love Election, liked Sideways a lot, liked Nebraska. The Holdovers probably will get AA nominations, primarily, I'd say, because it's the kind of film that gets AA nominations. I think there's an attempt to recapture some of Sideways and Nebraska's mood, but for me it falls well short.

133 minutes!!

Nebraska is my favorite of his films that I've seen. A lot of the credit should go to the screenwriter though I think.

For what it's worth, the screening I was at--rep theatre, maybe 20% smaller than a Cineplex--was packed.

Weirdly enough, despite not liking any Payne post Election, and not actually holding Hal Ashby in any particular reverence, this is a movie that I'm not actually dreading that much this Oscar season ... at least not compared to Maestro or The Color Purple (or Killers of the Flower Moon)

(Also, related, American Fiction felt like a Sideways redux that actually worked.)

Just seen The Holdovers... This was so bland and dull. The script is predictable and sickly sentimental, and the film is way overlong.

Yay!

(for some reason it's only just been released this weekend in the UK, missing the Christmas tie-in)

I feel like I know exactly what this movie will be like and am not interested in finding out if that’s true.