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I am hoping for a sequel. This is the "Lethal Weapon" of the 21st Century, but much better. Hardly a work of art, but does its job-to entertain.
Some laugh out loud moments, mostly on behalf of Ryan Gosling. Russell Crowe is an asshole, but it turns out he has a heart. The little girl provides us with both humour and a couple of really heart gripping scenes.
The score is 70s enough. All in all a nice pastiche.
I saw that in 3d, one of the top five films of last year.
Agreed, she is consistently good throughout.
Dog Soldiers (2002)
One of the most fun film I've seen in a long while. There's nothing better than seeing brit actors like Kevin McKidd and Sean Pertwee being badass soldiers stranded in a big house in the middle of nowhere and fighting big ugly monsters. High level of blood and guts, insane level of badassery and tension. This is in my top 3 best horror of the 2000's with 'The Descent' and 'Outpost'. I am damn sure I am going to rewatch this film a lot, just 90 minutes or pure British hardcore awesomeness.
Agree Hutch is just Wilson he always plays himself, Stiller is funny I am often hit and miss with him. Tropic Thunder, Zoolander, Mystery Men and Dodge Ball films I like that Stilled did, I appreciate daft humour :)
I have majority of Ferrell movies Casa de me Padre is nuts love that film, Anchorman, Taledega Nights and Step Brothers to name a few are hilarious I have both Ferrels best of SNL dvds. In Taledega Nights when Ricky Bobby thinks he is on fire. :))
I own that film Polanski on good form, one of my favourite none Bond Brosnan performances.
That is one fantastic movie, albeit tough to watch at times. Phenomenal work by Polanski and Brody.
It's been about five years since I last watched this classic. The influence on several films since, including most notably Skyfall, is quite clear. In fact, I realized how much of an influence on this watch. The Hong Kong kidnapping of Lau (such a beautifully shot scene) definitely influenced the Shanghai skyscraper sequence in SF. Even the Joker's hand machine gun was utilized by Mendes for Patrice 4 years later. The night shots of the top of skyscrapers etc. in the Bond film was also influenced by Nolan's work here, and Silva was certainly inspired by Ledger's Joker.
I've always been impressed by the sense of foreboding and menace that permeates the 2nd half of this film (after the Joker is captured). It's downright uncomfortable feeling and brilliantly captured. One can sense the fear and worry of law enforcement as the extent of his diabolical plan becomes clear.
Performances are pitch perfect across the board. Zimmer's score is absolutely spot on, including his cue for the Joker himself, which is very ominous. The film has a broader thematic message, but manages to incorporate that into a superhero film combined with a crime thriller, which is commendable. Once again I'm so impressed with the apparent limited use of CGI. The cinematography is also top notch across the board, and all scenes (including night shots) are very clear.
The only negatives for me are Maggie Gylenhall (I preferred Katie Holmes), Two Face's damaged visage, & the final fight in the Trump Tower construction site in Chicago, which could have been better. The finale between the Bat, Gordon & Two Face is first class however.
This is landmark film making & highly recommended for those who've not seen it yet.
Fourth time seeing it, and I had forgotten how much I loved it. A superb film both on a dramatic and visual level.
Finished The Pianist (2002). Simply superb.
I have a strange trend when it comes to my first discoveries - of great actors, of great directors - in cinema. It seems that, somehow, these discoveries are often eclectic and not what you would expect. For example, my first James Bond film was not Goldfinger, nor was it Live and Let Die, nor even GoldenEye; it was The World is Not Enough. My first Kubrick was not 2001 or Dr. Strangelove, it was Barry Lyndon. And my introduction to the effervescent, brilliant Martin Scorsese was not Goodfellas, Casino, Taxi Driver or Raging Bull; of all things, it was The Last Waltz.
And so it was in keeping with this trend that I had a very different first glimpse of the aggravating yet endearing, foaming at the mouth insane yet subdued, angry yet caring, and above all else masterful Jack Nicholson. It was not, in the first category, as unpalatable neighbour Melvin Udall in As Good as It Gets, for which he won his third Oscar; nor in the second category, as Randle McMurphy, desperately faking insanity to avoid prison, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which garnered him his first Oscar; it was not even under the third category, in my favourite of both his films and performances, as private eye Jake Gittes in over his head - physically and metaphorically - in Roman Polanski’s 1974 masterpiece, Chinatown. No, my first glimpse of Jack Nicholson came in a Cineplex in late 2001.
I was six years old, likely in the theater to see the latest creation of Pixar, my father at my side, when on the screen flashed the trailer for About Schmidt. I was fantastically engaged, and ninety seconds later I turned to dad and said “I’ve just got to see this movie.” Doubtlessly, anyone who has seen About Schmidt will know that to say this was a mature decision of me is an understatement. Of course, when I first saw the film, most of its’ intricacies went over my head. Oh, sure, I understood the main plot points - man retires, man’s wife passes away, man sponsors an African child, man crosses state lines in his RV to try and support his estranged daughter - but those are barely the surface of this film. There are intricacies, and there are many of them at that.
There are many moments in the film, elements of shots and scenes, which matter, which tell their own stories, but are so slight as to be easily missed. My favourite of these is at the beginning of the film, as Warren Schmidt leaves his office, and you briefly see all of his files stacked in dozens of boxes against the wall. A short time later, he visits his young - and arrogant jackass - successor to offer assistance in the transition. As quickly as he knocks on the door, he is ushered out. And as he walks up the street, he sees those dozens of boxes of files, so carefully arranged and compiled by him, left out for garbage collectors.
About Schmidt is, at its’ core, a road movie (and one hell of a road movie at that). But it breaks convention quite a bit. Warren doesn’t actually hit the road until close to an hour in, and he spends virtually all of the last 50 minutes in Denver. Altogether, he spends barely a third of the movie travelling, if even that much. Contrast this with Rain Man, where Charlie spends no less than half the movie in his father’s expensive roadster; or Dumb and Dumber - coincidentally, a road movie where the “goal destination” is ALMOST Denver -where Harry and Lloyd are on the move nearly right off the bat to avoid hitmen. About Schmidt is most certainly a road film, but is it outside of reason to argue that it is simultaneously two films in one? That it is both a road movie and an immensely rich character study of a man who has hit every imaginable crossroad that comes with old age at roughly the same time?
And what a character study it is, driven at Winnebago-speed by one of the finest actors you, me, our children, or the aliens who will discover our movies in 50,000 years will ever watch. Polanski once referred to Jack Nicholson as the greatest actor he has ever worked with, and I agree with the man. The proof is always in Nicholson’s pudding, but it is especially apparent here.
Warren Schmidt is a man who has left his workplace behind, his outlet of creativity and - in his mind - usefulness; he has lost his wife suddenly to a blood clot in her brain (and the haunting push-in on the still-running vacuum nozzle as he weeps over her body is one of the film’s highlights); his daughter is marrying a man he views as useless, and he barely sees her anymore; and the inevitability of death haunts him in perpetuity. Warren is unsatisfied, untenable, and most of all, unhappy with life; something that is all but confirmed in his final letter to Ndugu. He loves his daughter, and yet fails miserably to understand her; he is so off-put by her fiancee’s profession and his family’s eccentricities that he blindly refuses to see how she could love him, or that he and his family care for and love her just as much as Warren does. I’m not sure if Nicholson gained weight or otherwise changed his appearance for this role, but many times in the movie he looks unlike himself. Often this is due to him contorting his face - something that Nicholson is THE master of - but it is just as often because the man appears on the verge of falling apart.
Nicholson says many, many words in a near-perfect screenplay, but he says just as much - nay, he says even more - with just his eyes. My absolute favourite moment in the entire film is also a rather slight one: soon after Helen passes away, and immediately before Warren discovers her old affair with his best friend, he is examining her makeup and hygiene products, taking in their scents in order to feel her briefly. The moment in question comes as Warren stares at himself in the mirror, his wife’s face cream in his hands. As he opens it and dips his fingers in, for the briefest of moments his youth returns to his face, flashing in his eyes and in his features as if he has suddenly become twenty years younger. But just as quickly, as he touches the cream to his face, the spark disappears and he roughly smears the substance on himself, looking now even sadder, even more fatigued, and somehow, older than he did before. It is the type of brilliant moment that only the finest of actors can achieve, and an image that stuck with me on my first screening, and now fifteen years later persists after my fourth.
Of course, one cannot discuss this film without providing thorough mention to Kathy Bates’ performance as the mother of the groom. A Best Actress nomination may be a curious notion for a role that does not appear until the final 50 minutes of a movie, but there are two undeniable facts in question here: one, that it is the most promiment female role in the film, the most accentuated - even moreso than Hope Davis as Warren’s daughter - and two, that it is one of the seminal roles not only of Bates’ career, but of the last 30 years of comedy. Kathy Bates could read a phone book and leave an impression, but here she is given gravitas, pep, and memorability all in one. The “soup in bed” monologue is a work of comedic genius on the level of Chaplin, and to boot, she has the funniest line in the entire film: “Larry, we’ve been welcomed by you, thank you so much. Now would you please just drink your fucking milk and shut the fuck up?”
I think About Schmidt is neither the funniest movie of all time, nor the most effective in its’ emotional communication (though it most certainly excels in both departments); I do think, though, that of all the countless movies that have tried to balance the two, it does it the best.
I also don’t think the movie is 100% perfect; June Squibb as Helen comes across as too kindly and likable to me to justify Warren’s aggravation with her, as funny as the scene is where he outlines to Ndugu his many problems with her; the revelation of her affair likewise feels like tacked on drama, and ultimately does nothing to service the shooting star scene later on, which would’ve been just as effective - if not moreso - without mentioning the affair; I’m hot and cold on the trailer park sequence, which I think is better in concept than execution, due to the way they telegraph that Warren is going to make a pass at the wife almost from the second she is first shown; I’m also hot and cold on the wedding speech, which is delivered perfectly by Nicholson but feels incomplete and lacking cohesiveness towards the end. This is supposed to be the point, but it comes across as sloppy writing in the screenplay rather than unprepared speech on Warren Schmidt’s part. It feels like there was more that needed to be said; and Dermot Mulroney is basically playing himself here, as he pretty much always does, which is a bigger distraction than it needs to be (though I do love the shot that introduces his character, establishing everything we need to know about Randall in about 15 seconds).
Those are all incredibly minor nitpicks, however. I adore this movie. I couldn’t run out of great things to say about it. Before I close off, I haven’t really given much mention to the relationship between Warren and his sponsored child, Ndugu, which is told through narration in the form of Warren reading aloud the contents of each letter he sends to Ndugu. I wanted to save this for last as it is probably the part of the film I most enjoy. Each letter is tediously overdetailed, laughably naive (Warren consistently mentions the money he is donating to Ndugu as if the child has a vast scope of use for American currency), and remorsefully sad all at once. At the end of the film it is revealed, in a letter sent to Warren by Ndugu’s teacher, that Ndugu cannot read English but has nonetheless enjoyed his correspondence. Attached is a painting Ndugu has drawn, which reduces Warren to tears. And dare I say it, this time I cried too.
9/10
Wow. Thank you for joining us on tonight’s edition of Inside the Actors’ Studio. I’m not sure quite what compelled me to write such a long review of About Schmidt, in comparison to my one- or two-paragraph film reviews I normally post. About Schmidt is not my favourite film of all time, nor is it even my favourite Nicholson film. I guess I really just love this movie.
The Descent is really impressive. One of the best horror films of the last few decades I'd say. Has one of the best 'jump' scares ever!
Shame the director followed this with the disappointing Doomsday
Glad you liked it, @DaltonCraig007. I see people complain as though there hasn't been a good horror film since the 80's or since 2000. You've just name checked three films that disprove that idea.
So many stars, but very dissapointing. Non of the characters got enough screen time for me to really care for them. I think it would be fair to call this a bad movie or mediocre at best.
Been 3 years since I wanted to watch this. And what a film! I was on the edge of my seat for the whole 90 minutes. Spectacular directing from Cuaron (that opening 10 minutes single-shot sequence is fantastic), stunning special effects and riveting moments of tension. I'm going to be ruining my Blu Ray by endlessly rewatching this film. One of my new favorites of the 2010's.
I don't know what I'll check out after the football tonight. I think I'll try 'The Limey'. A revenge film that I've never seen before, with the ever so awesome Terrence Stamp.