Poll

Your Favorite Albert Brooks Film Is:

Real Life
1 (2.3%)
Modern Romance
3 (6.8%)
Lost in America
11 (25%)
Defending Your Life
10 (22.7%)
Mother
1 (2.3%)
The Muse
1 (2.3%)
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
14 (31.8%)
don't like any
3 (6.8%)

Total Members Voted: 44

Author Topic: Brooks, Albert  (Read 5559 times)

Carson

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Albert Brooks
« Reply #20 on: March 26, 2012, 12:48:17 PM »

They oblige him to be polite and give him one more chance, but he still sucks so they bail.  It's just a funny little bit, I'm not sure why it would bother you.

It's really a minor quibble, but it felt like the scene just went on a minute longer than necessary. I never found it particularly funny, it just felt like padding.

Well, they keep piling food on you, you can't really "finish".  And of course, it's Brooks' lifestory that he can't truly enjoy anything, whether by fate or his own subconscious design. 

Yeah, but he barely starts these meals. It's like he goes one bite in and then leaves. Once again, I'm just picking nits.

I think it's just another indicator that the afterlife is as subject to bureaucratic snafus as the real world, and serves as another comic scene where things don't go well for Brooks.  It gives us that great "Oh, you are good" moment.

I guess. I'll give you that one. I just got excited when Henry arrived because I'm a big fan, but didn't have a great sense that his presence had much purpose.

1SO

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Brooks, Albert
« Reply #21 on: January 02, 2013, 02:09:10 AM »
1. Defending Your Life
2. Lost in America

3. Real Life
4. Modern Romance
5. Looking For Comedy in the Muslim World

6. Mother
7. The Muse
« Last Edit: December 28, 2017, 11:43:02 PM by 1SO »

worm@work

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Albert Brooks
« Reply #22 on: March 11, 2013, 05:57:43 PM »
Modern Romance | Brooks | 1981

Can we really tell movie love from real love? I can't believe I waited this long to watch this. So cringeworthy and yet hilarious. I am not at all pleased with how much I related to Albert Brooks's character here :|. It's also clearly an inspiration for Tom Noonan's directorial efforts which I've very much enjoyed as well as Birbiglia's film from last year. Really great stuff.

Mother | Brooks | 1996
It's not as sharp or scathing or resonant as Modern Romance but it's still very good. I love the way Brooks is able to combine these really silly gags (the moving around of the furniture, the ginormous piece of cheese) with such sharp incisive insights on human relationships. Debbie Reynolds is just sooo great here and totally reminded me of my grandmom with her complaints about the TV and that freezer burnt ice-cream :P

Defending Your Life | Brooks | 1991
This movie  :heart: My favorite of all the Brooks I've seen thus far. I just love the conceit which on paper is so silly but Brooks's brilliance ensures that it ends up being a painfully accurate portrayal of our foibles instead. The '164 misjudgments'  montage is one of the most hilarious things ever... I keep being surprised by how good Brooks is at visual gags. The whole idea of courage being the metric of how well one has lived one's life is one that really resonates with me and in that sense, Brooks is comparable to Woody Allen and Larry David but Brooks's film is so much sweeter. Cried my heart out.
« Last Edit: February 20, 2020, 09:27:32 AM by 1SO »

MartinTeller

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Albert Brooks
« Reply #23 on: March 11, 2013, 06:32:05 PM »
I should revisit Mother, perhaps.

I feel I was probably too harsh in my last viewing of DYL.  I used to love it, but last time I got too hung up on why would Streep be interested in Brooks.

worm@work

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Albert Brooks
« Reply #24 on: March 11, 2013, 06:46:56 PM »
I got too hung up on why would Streep be interested in Brooks.
because he's funny and makes her laugh :)?

roujin

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Albert Brooks
« Reply #25 on: August 13, 2014, 11:25:03 AM »
1. Lost in America (1985)
2. Modern Romance (1981)
3. Defending Your Life (1991)
4. Real Life (1979)
5. Mother (1996)

smirnoff

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Albert Brooks
« Reply #26 on: November 29, 2014, 04:00:12 PM »
I got too hung up on why would Streep be interested in Brooks.
because he's funny and makes her laugh :)?
And one of the few guys around who isn't like 80 years old. :)

colonel_mexico

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Albert Brooks
« Reply #27 on: November 30, 2014, 11:54:45 AM »
I got too hung up on why would Streep be interested in Brooks.
because he's funny and makes her laugh :)?

.

Loved the reviews and those Brooks films, especially DEFENDING YOUR LIFE.
"What do you want me to do draw you a picture?! Spell it out?! Don't ever ask me, as long as you live don't ever ask me more!"

oldkid

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Albert Brooks
« Reply #28 on: January 05, 2015, 12:22:25 AM »
I've only seen Defending Your Life 3/5

I've always wanted to see Lost in America.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

1SO

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Albert Brooks
« Reply #29 on: January 05, 2015, 02:08:51 AM »
That's the one I'd recommend.

 

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