It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
@bondsum, I have indeed seen The Two Jakes. Definitely an inferior film (though it could never match the original at any juncture), but I didn't find myself upset or disappointed with it. I really like the character development of Jake that tied it together, and how the events of the previous film really sent ripples through his life and how he acted later.
And of course the script weaves a lot of callbacks to the first film into the mix, which made for enlightening viewing. It's flawed and perhaps a bit too "made for TV" in some ways, but I came away enjoying how the film did as the first had and commented on how society in California was developing and tied Jake's personal journey and development to the journey and development that America, and more specifically the west coast, was having at that time and place. Not to spoil it for others, but I was also happy with the conclusion, as I think it stayed true to the characters involved and the noir genre as a whole.
I had always hoped Jack would rap up his Gittes journey with Towne in a third and final film, following Jake during his twilight years in the 80s as the world was really moving past his "old days" into an advanced society. The films are always commenting on some aspect of human or natural development and the same was to be done with air and air travel in the third movie, as Towne or Jack revealed once in an interview. A shame that it seems to not be in the plans anymore, and Jack isn't getting any younger. It'd be a hell of a movie for him to tackle at the end of his career, though, and it would carry a lot of emotional weight along with it as Jake's age and experiences would be commenting on his performer's own in a meta way.
It was many years ago I had it on VHS, it's a mere shadow of the original and like you say although Towne and Jack are present, Nicholson is no Roman, Goldsmith's score is one of his best and it's not surprising he reprised that equisite trumpet sound for L.A Confidential.
It surprises me @BradyM0Bondfanatic7 that you don't like LA Confidential, I'll admit it doesn't aspire to the greatness of Chinatown but I still think it's one of the best films of the 90's and has a superb ensemble cast.
Both Hanson & Helegeland really did a great job with their adaptation, as someone who's read Elroy's novel they did something quite different with it but still captured the essense of the book and Elroy said as much himself.
Even the ending which seems a little throwaway initially has a dark undertone to it and isn't actually the happy hollywood ending that it might seem, I picked up on this on later viewings.
No it's not the gut punch you get with Chinatown (Polanski was so right to disagree with Towne on this), although when I watch it now, it gives the sign off somewhat of a more ominous tone, the good guys didn't really win if you think about it.
@Shardlake, I didn't really dislike L.A. Confidenial; it's fine, just not memorable to me or exceptional in any one area, despite how lauded it seems to come. For its genre it just didn't really stand out, as it just lacks the power I find in other noirs. I'll have to rewatch it one day, and see how it stacks up now.
A night or two ago I caught the last half of another Bogart movie on TV, The Caine Mutiny. And I'm a big L.A. Confidential fan.
I just watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Interesting to see Connery in that role, and Michael Byrne, who was also in TND, as well as in another favorite of mine, Smiley's People. Reading the page in Wikipedia for Last Crusade was one of the most fun reads about a movie I've had in a while--all the different drafts of the script they went through, including an idea to make the main plot device a Garden of Immortal Peaches.
I would definitely recommend it, I must check out Brick as I've not seen it sounds very intriguing, also it's Rian Johnson isn't it?
I really enjoyed The Brothers Bloom but couldn't get on board with Looper, started out fine but went very silly towards the end.
He did a great job of his Breaking Bad episodes though.
I'm sure he's attached to some film coming out soon, can't remember what it's called though.
@Shardlake, you seem to like noirs and know them well, so I think you'll find a lot to appreciate and enjoy in Brick, as it's very much a film made by fans for fans with a self-awareness of what it is. It knows all the conventions and plays with them in sometimes amusing ways, one of which amounts to my favorite moment of the film. But it's just a damn clever film and really strikes that noir chord, despite being jarring in other ways (a bunch of kids speaking like adults). Its style and script gives it a quirky feeling that is one of its greatest and most unique assets, for me at least.
Be sure to let me know what you think when you do see it.
I was surprised to read about the third movie, called Gittes vs. Gittes, which was to be set in 1968 and deal with Gittes' divorce. Until you brought it up @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7, I’d never even heard about it.
I must say, I like LA Confidential very much, especially the music score, script and acting. I’m also a fan of James Ellroy, even though the movie is loosely based on the book. The Black Dahlia Is the movie that deserves to be slated, but for this I blame the production company that forced De Palma to make drastic editing of the finished product, which initially ran for three hours and was eventually cut down to two. There’s a petition for a Director’s Cut, and James Ellroy was shown a print of this version and wrote an essay praising it, so it must be good. An extended director’s cut of both The Black Dahlia and the Marathon Man are two movies I’d love to see made available on DVD.
I really enjoyed that as well. One of the better films I have seen recently.
The real crime about The Black Dahlia is Fincher's proposed 3 hr B/W version, Ellroy was well on board with it but it never came to fruition.
Ellroy's contribution to one of the Zodiac commentaries is most enlightening, he rightly thinks it a masterpiece and DF's best film.
@0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Excellent rec. BRICK is wonderful. The high school setting is genius, as is the argot Johnson develops throughout the film. As you say, the film should hold special value for those who have a real familiarity with the conventions of the genre, and in fact the film depends on them to the extent that I could see the film falling flat on the whole for anyone who is unfamiliar with film noir and hence judges BRICK as its own thing.
As for other post-Chinatown noirs, the other two that come to mind as standouts are MEMORIES OF MURDER (a Korean take on noir, more or less) and INHERENT VICE.
I have absolutely no idea what the critics had been smoking when they went and saw this movie. Judging by their reviews this was going to be a fairly uninteresting, rather dull been there seen it experience. Well, all I can say having just left the theatre is that this was one he'll of a ride! Truly an amazingly enjoyable film which some may actually consider better even than the first one, depending on which elements from the KINGSMAN universe you like best. I will watch this one again very soon! Highly recommended.
Again, I had to turn off a film halfway through. Really bad, really boring. Adam Driver was good, but that wasn t enough to keep my attention fixed on the screen.
@bondsum, I know Jack has expressed interest in touching up the film and releasing it, which I'd love. I've never seen the film in great quality and think it deserves a blu-ray restoration, which would go a long way towards making it feel less made for TV. One day?
@Strog, really great to hear your appreciation for Brick. And it's a film that is just as you say, very niche and for a specific kind of film fan. If a person sat down to see it and didn't know how noirs work, they really wouldn't "get" it or be able to understand why certain things were happening, why the script was written the way it was or why the tone was bleak at times; etc. To enjoy it there's a certain pre-requisite you must reach and homework you need to do as a viewer, at least by watching The Maltese Falcon for starters to just understand what the genre is and how previous films really made those tropes famous.
I remember reading some reactions to the film back when IMDb still had comment sections and I saw proof of this disconnect quite directly. People who didn't know noirs or the conventions and tropes the film was cleverly and quite brilliantly playing off of (in my opinion) were completely misunderstood or taken as things the film was doing naturally and not out of commentary or homage. I read comments like, "Why do these kids talk like that? Nobody actually talks like that in real life, especially at that age. Weird script." The understanding of noir jargon, of the lively and near poetic nature of the dialogues with their cynical, rough and rapid style of speech, were lost on viewers who knew nothing of the conventions. In many ways I think that what the film demands of viewers can make Brick look ill realized or designed to those who aren't in the know or in on the "joke" of the film (to borrow a comedy metaphor).
I could picture a group of friends watching it and, as the style of the film became known, some of the people would grin and laugh because they knew the tropes and what the film was playing at, while the other viewers would awkwardly look around with "What's so funny" looks on their faces. This isn't to say that a viewer unfamiliar with the noir genre could never enjoy Brink, as I think it has a lot to offer as a general film, but I think it can certainly be agreed that it is best experienced with the above pre-requisites under one's belt and a firm understanding of the genre it fits into.
How are you switiching off these films that are in theatres?
1.mother! 10/10
2.Dunkirk 9/10
3.Covenant 8/10
4.Kingsman 2 8/10
5.Spiderman 8/10
6.A cure for wellness 7/10
7.Get Out 6/10
8.Kong skull island 6/10
9.guardians of the galaxy 2 5/10
10.Logan lucky 4/10
11.Gold 0/10
The Beach (2000)
I didn't remember anything about this, which doesn't even surprise me. I don't know if Ewan McGregor ever saw this, but if he did, maybe he didn't mind so much about not being in it - Danny Boyle having given him the boot in favor of getting a bigger budget with post-Titanic DiCaprio. Bad movie. Like I've said before, I'm happy DiCaprio did this and got the hell away from messing with American Psycho. But this... Ugh.
Memento (2000)
Fascinating like always.
High Crimes (2002)
Meh.
Calendar Girls (2003)
Quite entertaining.
Lost In Translation (2003)
Good.
The Island (2005)
Meh.
Fracture (2007)
Ryan Gosling, Anthony Hopkins and Rosamund Pike in a moderately good movie.
Sleuth (2007)
Jude Law and Michael Caine sparring in a Kenneth Branagh directed movie. This wasn't bad, but not exactly good, either. But a pretty interesting watch all the same.
Hairspray (2007)
I'm not generally into musicals, but I like them sometimes. This one was enjoyed by many a lot more than it was by me. I found the tone and the style and the themes exhausting - instead of uplifting and fun, which presumably was the intended effect.
Into The Wild (2007)
Somewhat messy in its execution, but managed to hold my interest, despite being kinda hopeless and depressing in the end as well.
The Wrestler (2008)
I finally got around to watching this. Not necessarily easy or pleasant viewing... eeeh, well, it's Aronofsky, so that's goes without saying, I suppose... but interesting and very well acted. I would have given the Oscar to Rourke for this over Sean Penn (in Milk), and why after all the other awards Rourke didn't get that one I have no idea. He's fantastic in this. Marisa Tomei is wonderful as well. I couldn't help wondering if Aronofsky's approach to The Fighter would have been something like this had that been ready to go when he was supposed to direct it. If so, then I'm kinda glad he didn't make it, though I still would have wanted to see his take, too.
Coraline (2009)
This turned out to be entirely different from what I thought it was, and more interesting than it seemed at first. Quite a horror story. Not for little kids.
The Social Network (2010)
Thought I'd give it another try, since it's Fincher, but I'm still not a fan. The Atticus Ross & Trent Reznor score gets a thumbs up from me, though - the best thing about this movie for me.
Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
Moderately good. Pity about some cliched solutions on the story and how to wrap it up.
Frances Ha (2012)
Okay.
August: Osage County (2013)
I liked this more now than at the time in theatre. Getting along with family can be tough...
Starred Up (2013)
Kinda brutal, but Jack O'Connel and Ben Mendelsohn were both excellent as son and father in prison.
Black Mass (2015)
A re-watch I've been planning for a while already. I know it only came out two years ago, but... well, unlike many other people I really like Scott Cooper's work, and he always has great casts, and he gets excellent performances out of them - both the famous actors and those whose names I have to look up. The same here. The (true) story was interesting as well.
Love & Friendship (2016)
Okay.
_____
_____
And seen in theatre the last two weeks:
The Beguiled
Me and my friend both enjoyed this a lot. This is a movie where seemingly not a lot happens - on the surface doesn't, but beneath it does. Sofia Coppola an his fab cast did a great job. I haven't seen the Don Siegel directed 1971 version starring Clint Eastwood, so I can't compare, but I'm curious now.
Logan Lucky
I think it may have been the first time I ever got a private screening in theatre... I was the only audience. I thought this was quite entertaining, though nothing special or new. The cast did a good job.
mother!
I wanted to see this before they even started shooting it. Aronofsky alone was enough, really... though the cast isn't bad, either... his casts never are. And I managed to avoid teasers, trailers, reviews and spoilers, phew. That took some work.
Well, saw this a few hours ago, still thinking... Definitely very interesting. I'll go read the poem handed out to audiences at TIFF before screening, and Aronofsky's interview where he actually answered questions more than the interviewer expected, and maybe even watch some junket stuff, and then I think some more...
But I'm so glad stuff like this gets made, and that I even got a chance to see it in theatre. Weird, non-commercial, and food for thought.
"Enjoyable" is an interesting adjective to pick. ;)
That's only happened to me twice when I watched Alien³ and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull I had the cinema to myself on both occasions.
@Fire_and_Ice_Returns, that happens to me more often than others, I'm sure. But that's all part of living in a small area, where you won't have big crowds most days and not on weekdays or anything either. I like sitting to watch a film with a smaller group, as it just fits my personality. I don't like going to see movies with others, as I like to get into my own zone and really focus on it; you won't ever find me sipping a drink, munching on popcorn or chatting as the movie plays, all big no-nos for me as a film viewer. That's why smaller crowds are preferable to me, as it's usually indicative of less noise, bustling, and a better view of the screen with nobody getting up every two seconds.
I guess in a way movie theaters and I are like priests entering temple, where massive respect is paid upon entering and silence is kept as we behold what we're there to celebrate or feel blessed by. I just don't take my shoes off as I go into the front door. ;)
Boring film.
Agreed. Not bad but would have been better had it not been announced as the greatest film ever.
On both occasions they were both medium size old opera houses, to be honest I often wait for Bluray release I have a decent movie room.
Just watched Wonder Woman Wow that was more emotional than I was expecting, Gadot was raw emotion at times really enjoyed the film.