Movies

Claire · Post by **Claire** » February 20th, 2010, 3:50 pm

Haven't seen Synecdoche, New York but it's on my list. I really enjoyed Hoffman's performance along with Laura Linney's in The Savages.

Chrisczech · Post by **Chrisczech** » February 20th, 2010, 5:05 pm

Another film I just saw for the first time that is absolutely stunning is "The Son" (Le Fils), a French/Belgian film starring olivier Gourmet (who won Best Actor at Cannes for this performance).

It is very emotional, and highly recommended.

Roger Ebert's Review said this, in part:

The directors, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, do not make the slightest effort to mislead or deceive us. Nor do they make any effort to explain............

Let me describe a very early sequence in enough detail for you to appreciate how the brothers work. Olivier (Olivier Gourmet), a Belgian carpenter, supervises a shop where teenage boys work. He corrects a boy using a power saw. We wonder, because we have been beaten down by formula films, if someone is going to lose a finger or a hand. No. The plank is going to be cut correctly.

A woman comes into the shop and asks Olivier if he can take another apprentice. No, he has too many already. He suggests the welding shop. The moment the woman and the young applicant leave, Olivier slips from the shop and, astonishingly, scurries after them like a feral animal and spies on them through a door opening and the angle of a corridor. A little later, strong and agile, he leaps up onto a metal cabinet to steal a look through a high window.

Then he tells the woman he will take the boy after all. She says the boy is in the shower room. The hand-held camera, which follows Olivier everywhere, usually in close medium shot, follows him as he looks around a corner (we intuit it is a corner; two walls form an apparent join). Is he watching the boy take a shower? Is Olivier gay? No. We have seen too many movies. He is simply looking at the boy asleep, fully clothed, on the floor of the shower room. After a long, absorbed look, he wakes up the boy and tells him he has a job.

Now you must absolutely stop reading and go see the film.

Yes, see the film!

Bead Krazy Dawn · Post by **Bead Krazy Dawn** » February 20th, 2010, 5:50 pm

The Son is an excellent movie. Anyone who has Netflix can watch it online as streaming video. I have a Roku box and watched it on-demand on my television.

Chrisczech · Post by **Chrisczech** » February 22nd, 2010, 5:13 am

And Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker get best director and best film at the BAFTAs. In fact 5 BAFTAs for The Hurt Locker.

Chelsea · Post by **Chelsea** » February 22nd, 2010, 3:16 pm

Chrisczech wrote:And Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker get best director and best film at the BAFTAs. In fact 5 BAFTAs for The Hurt Locker.

Okay, I went and saw The Hurt Locker this last weekend (after a lot of searching to find a place in my small area still playing it) and I have to admit, it was a very good movie, and very well directed. I don't think that up to this point I've seen a movie about the Iraq war that was any good, but I think Kathryn Bigelow did her job well.

I wish it'd had a bit more of an ending, but I guess it did a nice full circle...

BellonaTimes · Post by **BellonaTimes** » March 7th, 2010, 3:05 pm

Anyone for predictions?

Who I'd like to see win:

Best Actor: Colin Firth
Best Actress: Gabourey Sidibe
Best Supp Actress: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Best Supp Actor: Christopher Plummer
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow (duh

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

Who will probably win:
Jeff Bridges, Sandy Bullock, Mo'Nique, the guy from Inglorious B., Bigelow (they would be nuts not to), and Avatar.

markpenfold · Post by **markpenfold** » March 7th, 2010, 11:00 pm

BellonaTimes wrote:Anyone for predictions?

Who I'd like to see win:

Best Actor: Colin Firth
Best Actress: Gabourey Sidibe
Best Supp Actress: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Best Supp Actor: Christopher Plummer
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow (duh
Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

Who will probably win:
Jeff Bridges, Sandy Bullock, Mo'Nique, the guy from Inglorious B., Bigelow (they would be nuts not to), and Avatar.

Although I'm happy for Jeff Bridges, my mom and I were both rooting for Colin Firth. I was also shocked that "The Hurt Locker" won Best Picture, and I'm sure Mr. Cameron was a little, ahem, green around the gills when his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow, won for Best Director. But I will say that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were the highlight of the show! Not a bad ceremony, but I thought having 10 Best Picture nominees was a tad excessive. I thought for sure that Meryl Streep would win for "Julie & Julia", but kudos to Sandra Bullock.