This is the thread in which we anticipate "Capote"

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (234 of them)

View Previous Page...

A totally rad list, John.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 7 October 2005 19:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Ha, you've already seen it, Alfred.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 7 October 2005 20:06 (eighteen years ago) link

Just for the hell of it, my top ten of the '00s as it is today, without using the cheat sheet of my own lists.

Femme Fatale
Light is Calling
Kings & Queen
Mulholland Drive
Wet Hot American Summer
Elephant
Pulse
Crimson Gold
Tropical Malady
music video for "Star Guitar" (Chemical Brothers)

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 7 October 2005 20:36 (eighteen years ago) link

You really liked Kings and Queen that much?

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 7 October 2005 20:37 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, in retrospect I did. Esther Kahn was the immediate sensation, Kings & Queen was the slow-burner.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 7 October 2005 20:41 (eighteen years ago) link

Though I did only see it the one time.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 7 October 2005 20:42 (eighteen years ago) link

It was too ... messy for me.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 7 October 2005 20:53 (eighteen years ago) link

I'd still like to see a top-50 poll of 2000-2005. The '80s and '70s polls didn't garner as much interest as the '90s just because most of us hadn't seen as many of the films.

jaymc's list is mixed between films I love (25th Hour, Before Sunset) and 'please gouge my eyes out instead' (Lost in Translation, The Dreamers, Lost in Translation, MIllion Dollar Baby, Lost in Translation).

quickie top-10 of the millenium thus far:
25th Hour
Before Sunset
The Straight Story or Mulholland Dr.
Twilight Samurai
Morvern Callar
Jesus' Son
Gosford Park
Band of Brothers (boo-yah)
Bad Santa
Kill Bill Vol. 1

There are a lot of films (including these) I'd put in a top 50, but a top 10 is tough, there are just too few exemplary films coming out each year.

honorable mention to David Gordon Green's movies, which are always interesting, but too flawed for me to really love them. I think he'd be fantastic if someone else would write his damn scripts.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Friday, 7 October 2005 20:59 (eighteen years ago) link

The Straight Story or Mulholland Dr.

I'll help you choose. The Straight Story is '99.

Re: messiness... I think that's sort of the effect Desplechin wanted with this particular movie, since any way you cut it, 150+ minutes is a pretty flabby running time. There are obviously better defenses to be made on behalf of the film aside from "it's unpredictable, it's sloppy, it's like real life," because it's not at all like real life. Maybe it's more like real life filtered through that late-night fantasy of what the previous day's events should've been, if only you'd been more honest, and by "honest," I mean brutal and nasty and tough-lovey.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 7 October 2005 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link

There are obviously better defenses to be made on behalf of the film aside from "it's unpredictable, it's sloppy, it's like real life,"

C-ing my A -- By that I mean that my own defense of the film as messy is not necessarily adequate, not that your dismissal of the film as messy is not adequate.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 7 October 2005 21:22 (eighteen years ago) link

Well, anyway, the clip on the Daily Show seemed sweet, mostly because I've long been fond of the Capote voice. But I'm not entirely sure I can sit through a whole movie of it. We'll see if it comes to the second run theaters here.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 7 October 2005 21:47 (eighteen years ago) link

My film-actor friend wrote Capote!

― aimurchie (aimurchie), Friday, 7 October 2005 22:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Ha, you've already seen it, Alfred.
-- jaymc (jmcunnin...), October 7th, 2005.

But I have to reprezent over here.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 7 October 2005 22:41 (eighteen years ago) link

My Capote-critical friend wrote a film critic, once.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 7 October 2005 22:45 (eighteen years ago) link

some bizarre lists, guys!

Not that I'm going to post one of my own.

― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 October 2005 22:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Casuistry: you should go to Capote for sure as they filmed it here in Winnipeg. You might recognize something!

― Bryan (Bryan), Friday, 7 October 2005 22:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Not that I'm going to post one of my own.

I could post your 5-star DVDs over at Netflix, but I won't.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 7 October 2005 22:56 (eighteen years ago) link

hahaha! touche'. Can't a man enjoy a good cheerleader high school movie and rate it accordingly?

― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 October 2005 22:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Can't a man enjoy the adventures of awkward robot Johnny 5?

― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 October 2005 22:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Can't a man enjoy the "art" of Vincent Gallo and Harmony Korine?

― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 October 2005 23:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Does at man not split his sides at Ren & Stimpy? If you show him Dumbo, does he not shed a tear?

― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 October 2005 23:02 (eighteen years ago) link

You gave The Brown Bunny 2 stars.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 7 October 2005 23:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Will he not give "Rocky & Bullwinkle" a 4 star rating even if no other man is around to sing its praises?

xp Brown Bunny!

― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 October 2005 23:03 (eighteen years ago) link

I mean Buffalo 66!

― 400% Nice (nordicskilla), Friday, 7 October 2005 23:03 (eighteen years ago) link

I know, I just wanted to point out that at least one of your questions is rhetorical.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 7 October 2005 23:04 (eighteen years ago) link

You might recognize something!

Are you in it, then?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 8 October 2005 00:41 (eighteen years ago) link

B-b-but I really do know Dan Futterma@! He might win an Oscar! His role on "Judging Amy" should have won him an award-for actor acting like he didn't want to be in a tv drama.

― aimurchie (aimurchie), Saturday, 8 October 2005 01:53 (eighteen years ago) link

capote was very good! but i couldn't help thinking that philip seymour hoffman's vocal affectations reminded me of damon wayans.

catherine keener was all kinds of terrific... i wish they'd given her more to do, but she's great at conveying nonverbal expressions. i liked the "jealousy" subplot between harper lee and truman's boyfriend (such a little bitch!).

but yeah, it was nice to see a movie with such a conflicted main character -- proving that being a self-interested, vain careerist doesn't preclude caring about people, and unfortunately vice versa. (fuck, those were some lars von trier levels of emotional cruelty.)

― glasgow coma score (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 04:07 (eighteen years ago) link

also, it was kind of a trip seeing bob balaban playing wallace shawn's dad!

― glasgow coma score (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 04:33 (eighteen years ago) link

?!?!?!

How do they pull that off?

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:33 (eighteen years ago) link

they're not that different looking...

http://www.vedmehta.com/gallery/shawn_william.jpg http://www.shortsupport.org/gif/whowho/Balaban_Bob.jpg

― glasgow coma score (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:41 (eighteen years ago) link

That's not the Wallace Shawn I was thinking of.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:43 (eighteen years ago) link

― glasgow coma score (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:44 (eighteen years ago) link

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/walt_disney/the_incredibles/wallace_shawn/record1.jpg

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:44 (eighteen years ago) link

wallace shawn's dad was william shawn, who edited the new yorker for many many many years. bob balaban played william shawn in the movie.

― glasgow coma score (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Ah, that makes sense. I thought you meant Balaban played a character who was the father of a character played by Wallace Shawn in the movie, which seemed weird because Shawn looks older than Balaban. I r dum

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:47 (eighteen years ago) link

now wally shawn has to play bob balaban's dad, so everything can come full circle and the world can explode.

― glasgow coma score (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:49 (eighteen years ago) link

They should do a biopic of Chang and Eng.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:52 (eighteen years ago) link

This is the best movie of 2005. No contest. Not only is the performance great (if they give an oscar to Jamie Fox and not Hoffman, there is no good in the world), but the movie is also brilliantly written and beautifully shot. The implications of the trap Capote sets for himself are nearly bottomless -- humanism vs. careerism is only the tip of it. Humanism toward who? A man who shot a whole family in the face with a shotgun? To what end? Is the work of art that Capote created more important than the lives of the people it's about? More important than his own feelings? These are the questions, the movie implies, that Capote could not handle, and that ultimately drove him to slow, alcoholic suicide (not to mention career suicide). Capote is a mess of contradictions. Brilliant and arrogant is not an uncommon combination, but manipulative and warm is not something you see too much of, not in movies anyway.

What a great movie.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 23 October 2005 04:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Manipulative and warm: The scene where he gets the young girl to talk by telling her what an outsider he always felt like. He does it for his book, but it's not untrue and it doesn't feel the least bit contrived (a testament to Hoffman's acting as much as anything else). He's getting his way by telling the truth. It's only when his interactions with Perry Smith begin to require lies that he's eaten up inside. He says early in the movie, "I don't lie." And you get the feeling that he doesn't -- he brags, he manipulates, he is full of grandiosity and extreme self-centered-ness, but he does not lie. But eventually, his art begins to require sacrifices to his soul.

Can I say it again? What a great movie.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 23 October 2005 04:23 (eighteen years ago) link

i tried to see this tonight but the projector broke down and they kicked us out.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Sunday, 23 October 2005 07:05 (eighteen years ago) link

It is indeed good, and a marvelous performance. At first I said "uh oh," worried that the vocal tics would result in caricature, but he embodies the role so well that it seems natural.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:17 (eighteen years ago) link

i am excited to see this.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:30 (eighteen years ago) link

I thought this movie might cure me of my PSH crush due to the vocal tics, but it was so good that it didn't. Kenan OTM about everything. I also enjoyed Catherine Keener's performance a lot -- she was dignified and earthy and fun and modest. I loved it.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:31 (eighteen years ago) link

keener rocks. she brings so much.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:34 (eighteen years ago) link

I wanted more of Keener! Harper Lee biopic, please.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:34 (eighteen years ago) link

No kidding!! I liked the dynamics of the two of them too, the old friends, and how she cared for him but found herself tiring of his relentless self-centeredness. Her face rules.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:36 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, she has that great moment where she's anticipating everything Truman is saying and repeating it with him ("94 percent accuracy"), and it's just the kind of thing old childhood friends would do -- her laugh at the end of the scene is so generous.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:36 (eighteen years ago) link

you know what movie is the best example of keener's keenness? the 40-year-old virgin! a role that coulda been so nothing, so sleptwalk-through, and she's so totally alive and real in it.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:37 (eighteen years ago) link

I thought PSH was magisterial in the role. He managed to perfectly invoke the mixture of fascination and repulsion I always felt for Tru. Keenan was great but Clifton Collins, Jr., as Perry Smith was excellent.

― M. White (Miguelito), Monday, 24 October 2005 15:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Skipping 134 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.