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Author Topic: Ferris' GooseEgg Marathon: 40 great films from this decade  (Read 101394 times)

ferris

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: FORTY(!) Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #330 on: February 03, 2010, 04:01:40 AM »
Goose Egg Marathon Film #25



Y Tu Mamá También
(2001, Alfonso Cuarón)

I love going into a film like this with really no notions of the plot or who was in it.  It was a lot of fun watching this story unfold and go it directions I didn't anticipate.  I loved the flirtful relationship of our three leads and that dialog was just spot on.  Gael García Bernal again has a superb performance for my marathon.  No idea he was in this.  (I take this spoiler-free thing pretty seriously).  He has this knack of playing cool and vulnerable at the same time - very smart but never arrogant.





I was really impressed by the road trip sequences - like a gorgeous travelogue of back-country Mexico.  Cuarón has this adoring lens on the countryside and it's people, making me wonder if he himself is a product of this world.  It seems he has a pretty cynical outlook on the future for these people and these areas.  





What can separate a good film from a great film are little scenes like the stop where they were asked to "donate to their princess".



I kinda half expected the film to wrap up once they got to their destination, but there was great bonus stuff where they hung out, meet this family, and hang out for awhile.  As you drive away from home the layers of the protective cocoon you build up around you starts to peel away one by one.  I guess the climax (umm literally and figuratively I suppose) was pretty well telescoped from the beginning, but it does put a punctuation mark on this theme.



The voice over...huh...very interesting.  I like that choice.  I haven't watched this a second time.  I'm curious about the specific content of that text and how it was chosen.  In some cases we are given what might be considered useless backstory on parents and upbringing...but I have a suspicion this is not by mistake.

We have this interesting thread of death, which might take a rewatch to fully understand.  There is this matter-of-factness to it that seems to underline its permanence and inevitability.  This is so much breaking down of traditions, right down to the "rules" being broken.  



As in all great summer coming of age stories, our characters all change for ever.  But here it's not done with some tidy conveniences.  Here it is rather poignant and far reaching.  



I do think very fondly of this film.  I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of gratuitous sex in movies but I do appreciate and totally get what Cuarón was doing with it here.  Certainly it had a major point to the story, and was no more meant for titillation than Eyes Wide Shut.  But just as earlier in my marathon with Apocalyto, I do find that being somewhat uptight about such things is often at odds with being a film lover.  I'm figuring out how to compartmentalize this.





All-in-all, a fun film.  I'm finding myself missing these characters already.  Another fine film for the marathon :)



Verdict:
Beautiful to look at, great characters, and interesting thought-provoking themes.

Grade: B+  

« Last Edit: February 03, 2010, 04:09:17 AM by ferris »
"And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" - Exodus 8:2 KJV
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roujin

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: FORTY(!) Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #331 on: February 03, 2010, 08:33:07 AM »
Should be a good double feature with American Pie.

Melvil

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: FORTY(!) Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #332 on: February 03, 2010, 12:16:39 PM »
Glad you liked LAPI, ferris! I agree that it gets a bit messy, as Anderson gets a little carried away with himself, but I found it to work on several levels. First of all, it works as a sorta love-letter to the city from the director. He may get carried away at times, but you can tell it's because of his passion for the city and what it means to him. Secondly, it's a great case study of how things are portrayed in movies, and the trends and evolutions that affect them through history. I have no personal investment or familiarity with LA, but using it as a microcosm to study film in general was both a lot of fun and pretty insightful, I thought.

Nice writeup on YTMT also. Pretty pictures! I recently watched in my own marathon for the first time, and pretty much agree with your thoughts on it.

ferris

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: FORTY(!) Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #333 on: February 03, 2010, 01:04:09 PM »
Glad you liked LAPI, ferris! I agree that it gets a bit messy, as Anderson gets a little carried away with himself, but I found it to work on several levels. First of all, it works as a sorta love-letter to the city from the director. He may get carried away at times, but you can tell it's because of his passion for the city and what it means to him. Secondly, it's a great case study of how things are portrayed in movies, and the trends and evolutions that affect them through history. I have no personal investment or familiarity with LA, but using it as a microcosm to study film in general was both a lot of fun and pretty insightful, I thought.

Nice writeup on YTMT also. Pretty pictures! I recently watched in my own marathon for the first time, and pretty much agree with your thoughts on it.

Thanks Melvil.  I have a friend that is going to just adore LAPI.  Hoping to get even more insights from him!
"And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" - Exodus 8:2 KJV
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mañana

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: FORTY(!) Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #334 on: February 03, 2010, 01:36:36 PM »
Should be a good double feature with American Pie.
Jason Biggs and Stifler should have made out.
There's no deceit in the cauliflower.

roujin

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: FORTY(!) Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #335 on: February 03, 2010, 04:14:15 PM »
13-year-old roujin would've probably not liked that, but 21-year-old roujin would be all over that.

Holly Harry

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: FORTY(!) Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #336 on: February 03, 2010, 04:54:46 PM »
13-year-old roujin would've probably not liked that, but 21-year-old roujin would be all over that.

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mañana

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: FORTY(!) Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #337 on: February 03, 2010, 05:20:35 PM »
13-year-old roujin would've probably not liked that, but 21-year-old roujin would be all over that.
You've grown.
There's no deceit in the cauliflower.

roujin

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: FORTY(!) Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #338 on: February 03, 2010, 05:23:32 PM »
Should be a good double feature with American Pie.
Jason Biggs and Stifler should have made out.

American Pie 2 is the Miami Vice of the American Pie franchise.

I own it (on vhs!)

ferris

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Re: Ferris' Goose Egg Marathon: FORTY(!) Great Films from this Decade (2000-2009)
« Reply #339 on: February 05, 2010, 09:23:09 PM »
Goose Egg Marathon Film #26



25th Hour
(2002, Spike Lee)

"I'm Irish, I don't get drunk...I know exactly what I'm sayin' "

Whoa. This was a big surprise.  When I first put this in and realize it was 2 hours 14 minutes I really was kinda dreading it being kinda a slow pretentious emotion wrangler.  Instead it was truly fascinating from scene to scene.  I loved this film right through to the awesome Springsteen song in the closing credits.





There is so much I want to talk about with this that I really can't get into without discussing spoilers.  However of the stuff we can discuss:  the 9-11 imagery, the (undoubtedly polarizing) montage sequences, and some little slight-of-hand jump cuts -- much of this really REALLY worked for me.  Eh, some of those little cuts were silly.  Anyone who has seen this will probably have immediately come to mind
one dolly shot that takes place in the upstairs of a bar.  I can see how someone would roll their eyes....but I giggled with delight.  Loved that. 








This is only my second Spike Lee movie - -Inside Man being the first - which didn't do a thing for me.  I've seen bits and pieces of Do the Right Thing, enough to make me want to watch the rest.  Nevertheless I don't enough to have a finger on what "makes" a Spike Lee joint.  This film certainly makes we want to investigate more.







So the performances...we've got Ed Norton, who has never made me hate him or love him.  He seems quite appropriate here.  Philip Seymour Hoffman is as dependable as you'd expect.  Rosario Dawson (although having a tough time looking 18 in one of the flashback sequences) is very nice.  But my two big takeaways are the fabulous performances by Anna Paquin and Brian Cox.  I love Paquin's line: "That's what Grandmother's do...they die!".  Barry Pepper --eh---not so much.  Hey I think I know New Yorkers.  Half of my wife's said of the family works within 5 blocks of the World Trade Center and all their names end in "I".  Pepper was just a bit on the nose for me.  I





I loved the ending.  I can't talk about it except to just repeat I love what Spike does here.





There are little annoyances through the film - I can't say it was perfect, but while the closing credits played I was going through my snapshots of the film.  The music and imagery were so effective, I immediately ran through and repeated the song and started back at image one.





This is a great tribute to the city.  I'm listening to David Benioff's commentary (author of the novel, and the screenplay writer).  Interesting to hear that the book was written long before 9-11.  Spike Lee was adamant about fitting the imagery in the film without making really much commentary about it.  For a man who is so quickly associated with the city, it would be disingenuous of him to not address it in some way.  I couldn't think of a better way to handle it.  Benioff's dialog is really great in places.




Verdict:
Loved It. Probably the biggest surprise of the marathon so far. Perhaps top 100 material

Grade: A+ 
« Last Edit: February 05, 2010, 09:40:35 PM by ferris »
"And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" - Exodus 8:2 KJV
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