Author Topic: 1990s US Bracket: Verdicts  (Read 712540 times)

facedad

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 10983
  • World Phucking Champions.
    • Be my netflix friend
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #800 on: July 26, 2008, 09:19:22 PM »
I haven't been following this 90's bracket thing so maybe someone can fill me in, how did you all select this movies in the first place? And is it too late to get involved?

btw, winrit I just read your break down of The Joy Luck Club and thought you were bang on. I'm a big fan of the movie myself, and glad to see it move on.
Check out the first page and the most recent pages of the 1990s Bracket thread for more information.

I am Face, Master of Information!
You're just jealous! Nobody loves you because you're tiny and made of meat!

https://twitter.com/thefaceboy

http://www.thereelists.com

winrit

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 4934
  • “Positively the same dame.”
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #801 on: July 26, 2008, 09:27:50 PM »
btw, winrit I just read your break down of The Joy Luck Club and thought you were bang on. I'm a big fan of the movie myself, and glad to see it move on.

Thanks!
"Kickboxing. Sport of the future."

skjerva

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 9448
  • I'm your audience.
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #802 on: July 26, 2008, 11:55:21 PM »
I haven't been following this 90's bracket thing so maybe someone can fill me in, how did you all select this movies in the first place? And is it too late to get involved?

btw, winrit I just read your break down of The Joy Luck Club and thought you were bang on. I'm a big fan of the movie myself, and glad to see it move on.

and yes, you can still get in (if face's direction did not provide that info for you).  the second round will start any day now (i had hoped to have my match-up complete as of about now, but am now hoping for late tomorrow/early monday).
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

¡Keith!

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 26774
  • Bitch, I been around since LimeWire.
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #803 on: July 27, 2008, 11:54:53 PM »
Groundhog Day vs. La Ciudad (The City)

What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?

This is the life of the denizens of La Ciudad (The City) (gotcha, didn’t I?  Its ok you can admit it).  We open in grainy 16mm black and white to a desolate cityscape and then cut to a portrait studio which will become the anchor of the film which actually is 4 vignettes revolving around the lives of Latin American immigrants in where else but NYC.  The first story is of a group of day laborers that are picked up and have to clean bricks at a crumbling old factory.  Tragedy strikes when a wall collapses.  The second is the story of two young lovers who meet at a Quinceañera only to discover they are both from the same villiage in Mexico.  The third deals with a homeless puppeteer and his struggle to do the best for his daughter and the final chapter with a seamstress in a sweatshop who’s daughter is sick back in Mexico.  These people are stuck here trying to build better life for their families and loved ones back at home and the film never fails to have the characters state this explicitly!!  At least in the first 2 chapters.  They are didactic and the non actors aren’t terribly great in their roles.  Lovers feels out of place as the only uplifting piece in the set but also because its just very bland.  Feels like a first cut of a first draft of an unvetted idea.  The piece that really shines though is Puppeteer.  This feels like a modern retelling of The Bicycle Thief with a fantastic performance (by another non-actor like most of the roles) from the father.  There is very little in the way of exposition just beautiful mood that captures their precarious situation.  This is also why their images are on the poster I believe.  I can’t say that this film is very bracket worthy though.  Pix was wondering that as he wasn’t sure if anyone had even seen it.  It does make a strong case for immigration reform but unfortunately I watched the director’s featurette on the DVD and now it feels more like exploitation, but for 25 minutes there was greatness in this film.

Of course this match-up was unfair from the beginning.  After watching GD (for the millionth time – but probably the first in its entirety since the theater) I’m not sure what could beat this film for the title.  There are 2 wrong notes in this entire film: 1 when the old man dies for the first time, the nurse’s dialogue is just too insipid “it was just his time” and 2: the linger on Ned Ryerson’s reaction at the final party.  Other than that this film is pure bliss.  Murray and MacDowell are not only pitch perfect in their roles but their chemistry is a sight to behold.  I’ve heard some slag the film for its depiction of small town America but don’t think that is what Ramis does here.  These stereotypes just add contrast to the self-importance that is Murray’s Phil Connors at the start.  Some people can just be happy with the simple things like a honeymoon in Pittsburgh and Wrestlemania tickets especially when they have each other. Also this is the (first or second) best fantasy film ever made.  The purgatory that Connors lives in Punxsutawney for the innumerable decades that pass is a powerful concept.  He is able to make things right on earth and until he gets the balance just right he cannot move on and in the end that is what the film is about, getting that balance right and live the most perfect single day of your life.  Not about love or friendship or helping those in need – though these are all parts of it.  No matter how many times he tries to save the old man, he dies.  No matter how many times he comes to the rescue of others he still wakes up on February 2nd.  No matter how hard he tries to get the girl he gets slapped or again wakes up to “I Got You Babe.”  No, it’s when he has bettered himself to the point that this perfect day no longer seems forced but becomes a peaceful, natural occurrence born out of personal growth without ulterior motive that Connors is permitted to move onto to the next phase.  Oh and the jokes are really funny.

Note: I am now typing this as the GD dvd menu loops… I feel all gushy inside. :D

You know who goes on from here, and I hope it keeps going on over and over again.

winrit

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 4934
  • “Positively the same dame.”
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #804 on: July 28, 2008, 12:35:08 AM »
Very nice write up. If I had a stamp I would approve it.
"Kickboxing. Sport of the future."

StarCarly

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 4193
  • Something about a pillow.
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #805 on: July 28, 2008, 01:05:15 AM »
"Baby I'm your weatherman" great DVD menu song, and one of the only choices I have agreed with in the tournament so far.  :)
"I've been very lonely in my isolated tower of indecipherable speech."

Films Watched in 2017

Letterboxd

pixote

  • Administrator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 34237
  • Up with generosity!
    • yet more inanities!
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #806 on: July 28, 2008, 01:17:17 AM »
"Baby I'm your weatherman" great DVD menu song, and one of the only choices I have agreed with in the tournament so far.  :)

Not a fan of La Ciudad:P

pixote
Great  |  Near Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Fair  |  Mixed  |  Middling  |  Bad

StarCarly

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 4193
  • Something about a pillow.
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #807 on: July 28, 2008, 01:48:47 AM »
"Baby I'm your weatherman" great DVD menu song, and one of the only choices I have agreed with in the tournament so far.  :)

Not a fan of La Ciudad:P

pixote

I'm not so in to the whole "watching movies" thing. I prefer to blindly agree what _Keith_ says.  ;D
"I've been very lonely in my isolated tower of indecipherable speech."

Films Watched in 2017

Letterboxd

Wilson

  • Elite Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3095
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #808 on: July 28, 2008, 10:33:32 AM »
Pleasantville vs Sling Blade

Pleasantville
This movie is beautiful to look at.  Once they go into pleasantville, the use of colour against black and white looks fantastic, the scene with the leafs falling off the tress in particular is great.  The performances are pretty much spot on throughout the entire thing.  Tobey & Reese are both great here, Tobey in particular, this is definitely the best I've ever seen him be.  The performances from Macy and Allen as the Pleasantville parents are great, and Daniels is good as the cafe owner.

Unfortunately, it seems to send out a message that in order to turn colourful and real, you have to go have sex as often as possible.  Excluding a few, the whole town turns into technicolor by going upto the hills and having sex in their cars and somehow this is portrayed as a positive thing.  They don't show any repurcussions that could come off, nobody gets pregnant, nobody gets any diseases, it's simply shown to be a wonderful carefree thing and I don't believe that's a good message to send.  There's also an extra-marital affair in which we're, I assume, supposed to sympathise with the cheater rather than the loving husband who's done nothing to deserve it which annoyed me and then at the end, the husband is one we're expected to forgive when he turns into technicolor by admitting he misses her.  Again, not a fan of that.

It also makes heavy handed comments on racism and fascism, big surprise folks - it's bad.  Also, it's weird for a movie so concerned with racism, including a massive nod to To Kill A Mockinbird towards the end in a terrible court room scene, that there isn't a single black person in the entire movie; even with Pleasantville 'opens up' it's still an all-white town.

However, despite these problems I did really like it and I certainly think people should see it as it took me by surprise.

Sling Blade
Now this is something completely different, there's a few outstanding performances in this.  Billy Bob Thornton's is the obvious performance here as the 'simple' man, released from the state hospital for the murder of his mother, starting a new life in a small town.  Upon release he makes friends with a little boy and, perhaps incrediously, is allowed to move in to the garage at the boy's house with him and his mother.  The other great performances here are from Dwight Yoakam as Doyle, the alcoholic, abusive lover of the boy's mother, Lucas Black as Frank the boy and perhaps best of all is the almost unrecognisible John Ritter as the gay best friend of Linda, the boy's mother.  It says a lot about the performances that, while almost all of the characters are stereotypical, they feel like real characters from the minute they step on screen.  The only poor performance is from Rick Dial as the boss who gives Karl (Thornton) a job.

This movie had a lot going for it.  Obviously the performances as stated earlier, there's the deliberate pacing in the direction from Thornton who keeps the movie going at a steady pace and doesn't feel the need to rush anything.  The soundtrack is fantasic and while the ending is perhaps a little predictable there's a great touching moment between Karl and Frank towards the end which made me forgive the predictability of what was to follow.

I don't want to say too much more about what happens as I want the next person who watches it to not know too much about it.  So, progession for Sling Blade I reckon, uh hum.

pixote

  • Administrator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 34237
  • Up with generosity!
    • yet more inanities!
Re: 1990s US Bracket commentary
« Reply #809 on: July 28, 2008, 10:49:38 AM »
You have done well in all respects!  :D

pixote
Great  |  Near Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Fair  |  Mixed  |  Middling  |  Bad