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Author Topic: Top 100 Club: Sandy  (Read 56528 times)

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #40 on: April 27, 2018, 01:23:11 PM »
Across the Universe (Julie Taymor, 2007)

This movie is a mess. I'm pretty sure that's what it's trying to be that, if it's trying anything at all beyond "hey, let's take a bunch of Beatles song and try to connect them with some kind of a narrative". I don't know that Taymor has anything to say about The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix (right?), Janis Joplin, the 60s, Vietnam, drugs, the relationship between the UK and the US, the music industry and the counterculture in general, in fact it seems to me that she actively wants to avoid saying anything about it at all: the whole film basically amounts to "the 60s, weren't those years something ?"

WHich is not to say I didn't find this enjoyable. I'm not a huge fan of the way the songs are produced, but some of the numbers are quite effective: Come Together and I Want You (She's So Heavy) particularly, and then it's hard to screw Hey, Jude up... and then there's that weird Sgt. Peppers interlude which fills no other purpose than being weird, but in a way that's kind of fun. It's hard to find anything meaningful to say about this film, frankly: its pleasures are all on the surface... and there's nothing wrong with that, but then maybe it shouldn't last for over two hours.

It's also quite remarkable that, of the six main players, all of them young and seemingly talented singers and mediocre (Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther) to good (Joe Anderson, Jim Sturgess) actors, only one is in any way recognizable ten years later. She (Evan Rachel Wood that is) is obviously the best part of the film, if only because - to get back to that surface level pleasures idea - of how perfect she looks. I mean, she's also good in the role, but she doesn't get much to play, and her singing voice - while lovely - is the one that clashes the most with the period, so mostly I'm admiring her beautiful eyes any time she's on screen, and I'm pretty sure that's what the film wants, given that it seems to remember at the end that it actually has something to say: nothing that happens in the 60s matters quite as much as two somewhat bland people loving each other. And maybe they represent America's love for The Beatles, too ? Sure, let's go with that.

Well, enough rambling: despite all of that, I had fun with it. It's a ballsy (well, maybe "gutsy" would be more appropriate) film, and there are enough individual moments that work, I just don't think it all adds up to much of anything.

6/10

Haha! I don't know what to say, Teproc, because everything you say is completely accurate!

It is a wildly experimental project. I guess with my love for Beatles songs and the heart that was put into it, and the effort to make the music into a narrative, I let it carry me away. Even when I tried to review it, I ended up gathering screen shots because my words failed me then too. Thanks for giving it a shot! And yes, Evan Rachel Wood is lovely. :)

Here's my (non) review.

Across the Universe
« Last Edit: April 27, 2018, 01:30:57 PM by Sandy »

jdc

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #41 on: April 27, 2018, 07:11:54 PM »
Amadeus

I use to be a huge classical music fan where it was what I mostly listened to. I still enjoy it but not as my main goto music. For some reason when I got into it and started exploring composers, it was Mozart that just never resonated with me. I could usually find something from most others of the biggies that I enjoyed and played. But not this guy. Maybe it is cause I knew he just seemed like a spoiled kid with an annoying laugh.

But actually, I enjoyed the movie and it really is just beautiful to look at which makes it hard to turn away. I am sort of sorry I watched it on a TV and not waited till I have the projector up and running. So maybe try it again in a year or so.

My only other thought is whatever happened to that guy, I only could remember him from being the troubled son in Parenthood. Though checking his credits, he did do some work from time to time but seems to have stopped about 10 years ago.

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Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #42 on: April 28, 2018, 03:07:55 PM »
Yeah, Tom Hulce moved over to theater: acting and then directing and producing. His role in Amadeus is one of those lightning strike moments where actor and character line up so perfectly, it's hard to imagine anyone else doing it. I bought the album in '84 and listened to it a lot. I think it was my beginnings of seeking out Mozart's music, and then on to other composers. jdc, you and I started in opposite directions. :) The movie is so beautiful, even on a tv! Glad you got a chance to see it.

jdc

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #43 on: April 28, 2018, 06:36:46 PM »
My introduction to classical came from Clockwork Orange so I started with Beethoven then moved out. While I branched out to many different composers and era's, Mortzart and his gang at the time just didn't do it for me. I much preferred the later periods of Classical with the exception being Bach. 
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Bondo

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #44 on: April 28, 2018, 11:59:20 PM »
It's a push for me whether to remember Tom Hulce for Amadeus or for The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #45 on: April 29, 2018, 07:12:55 AM »
Short Term 12 (2013 - Destin Daniel Cretton)

I had a wonderful time in the care of a group of characters. The wonder was as much apart of their believability as real people. The moments came and went without force, just flowed naturally out of the story. However the shaky camera, intruded into the viewing experience. It took me out of the film and made me a viewer again. The introduction to their work, was superbly done, the crashing of Sammy out the door and bursting across the lawn where they are talking. A scene that beautifully bookends the film.

Overall a delightful film, with troubled people who's realness lifts this film up.

Rating: 79 / 100

Thank you for having this on your list, so I had the excuse to finally watch this film.

PeacefulAnarchy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #46 on: April 29, 2018, 08:42:22 PM »
Becoming Jane
I like that the title works both as the story of how a woman became Jane, as well as the story of Jane, who is very becoming, though I wish it was more about the former. Hathaway does a perfectly good job, but she doesn't really command it, and this film really needs someone to dominate the screen in the lead. The text is fine, but it needs something more going on underneath; Emotions and thoughts that go beyond "I want to be a writer, I want to marry for love not money, I put my family above myself" would make Jane an actual person and not just a walking dilemma of torn convictions and contradicting feelings. Those scenes McAvoy gets as his introduction, expository and perfunctory as they are, are more than Jane gets in terms of building a character that stands on its own, her scenes are all plot point to plot point with her development always in contrast or reaction to events. I suppose that could speak to the role of women in her time, always controlled by events and never being able to be truly independent, but that is already seen more interestingly in the way Jane acts and reacts like a caged bird, fiercely independent of thought and word but always constrained by her upbringing and the harsh realities of her society. A peek into her thoughts and beliefs would help us know who she is as an actual human being, otherwise it treads closely to reinforcing the constraints of the time rather than just highlighting them. Jane's sharp wit is the only piece of individuality we really see, even her writing is obscured by montage structures and something we must take on faith from everyone saying she's a good writer. This might seem a really critical review, but I did enjoy the film. It has a nice tonal balance between happy moments and bittersweet ones and doesn't overdo the drama. I like what it does and enjoyed the way it does it, but I feel there's an even better movie in there struggling to get out.

Teproc

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #47 on: April 30, 2018, 02:21:25 AM »
Haha! I don't know what to say, Teproc, because everything you say is completely accurate!

It is a wildly experimental project. I guess with my love for Beatles songs and the heart that was put into it, and the effort to make the music into a narrative, I let it carry me away. Even when I tried to review it, I ended up gathering screen shots because my words failed me then too. Thanks for giving it a shot! And yes, Evan Rachel Wood is lovely. :)

Here's my (non) review.

Across the Universe

I like that review (response?) a lot, because I do get how you appreciate the film that much, by focusing on those individual moments which work really well. Definitely agree on the "Jude, Jude, Juday Juday!" for example.
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Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #48 on: May 01, 2018, 12:49:12 AM »
I like that review (response?) a lot, because I do get how you appreciate the film that much, by focusing on those individual moments which work really well. Definitely agree on the "Jude, Jude, Juday Juday!" for example.

Thanks for looking at it. I wasn't sure how to express my thoughts, so tried that instead. Yes, it's a mess as a whole, but there are magical moments!




Dave and PeacefulAnarchy, I'll reply to your reviews tomorrow!

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: Sandy
« Reply #49 on: May 01, 2018, 03:21:52 PM »
Short Term 12 (2013 - Destin Daniel Cretton)

I had a wonderful time in the care of a group of characters. The wonder was as much apart of their believability as real people. The moments came and went without force, just flowed naturally out of the story. However the shaky camera, intruded into the viewing experience. It took me out of the film and made me a viewer again. The introduction to their work, was superbly done, the crashing of Sammy out the door and bursting across the lawn where they are talking. A scene that beautifully bookends the film.

Overall a delightful film, with troubled people who's realness lifts this film up.

Rating: 79 / 100

Thank you for having this on your list, so I had the excuse to finally watch this film.

Shaky cams are highly overrated. Hold still! In spite of that, I'm glad you enjoyed this, Dave. I saw this at a time when I myself was having to use my skills to keep someone safe and moving forward, even though it wasn't appreciated at the time. This movie made me feel understood and in good company. Yes, "troubled people who's realness lifts..."