Comments on: Million Dollar Movie

By: cult of basebaal

cult of basebaal — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 02:32:35 +0000

[13] Casey Affleck is also absolutely fantastic in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

While we’re on the subject of films we want to see, Chuck Klosterman has a piece up on Grantland.com raving about the documentary ‘Room 237′, which is about relating 5 separate theories about secret meanings hidden within Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining

Here’s a quick slice:

Still, the movie itself is fantastic. It approaches The Shining from the perspectives of five obsessive theorists (none of whom are ever shown onscreen — you only hear their voices). Two of the theories are really just deep critical readings of the film: One insists The Shining is about the Native American genocide and the other suggests The Shining is a metaphor for the Holocaust. The other three hypotheses are less reasonable, but more creative and inimitable: One person sees the entire film as Kubrick’s unspoken confession that he faked the moon landing. Another focuses on secret images in the movie that involve the Greek myth of the Minotaur; the third is built around the premise of subtextual synchronicities that hinge on watching the film backward and forward simultaneously.

And here’s a 30 minute video put together one of the 5 theorists, the guy who thinks that the film about the faked moon landings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMEq6IjgR04&feature=player_embedded

By: knuckles

knuckles — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 19:30:35 +0000

I was a big fan of Gone Baby Gone, and think Affleck da Younger actually pegged his character pretty nicely. It wasn’t too much of a departure from the one he played in Good Will Hunting, if you remove the genial roustabout, maintain the lower class idleness, and add a hint of menace/desperation.

Freeman and Harris were also quote good, and the plot moved along in a somewhat disconcerting, taut, manner.

By: Matt Blankman

Matt Blankman — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:16:04 +0000

[11] It’s flawed (has a fairly egregious love montage), but its a really good and scary thriller. Gotta love Don Siegel as the bartender, too. He must have been a pretty cool dude.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:14:42 +0000

I need to watch PLAY MISTY this winter. Never seen it.

By: Matt Blankman

Matt Blankman — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:37:28 +0000

Seriously, did Eastwood once stand up Barra for an interview or something? Even in the comments (where he can never resist arguing with trolls and serious commenters alike, which does not speak well of him), he displays an unusual animus towards Clint, which he uses, oddly, to puff up Affleck. He dismisses Clint’s first 3 movies as inferior to Affleck’s “by a wide margin.” Nonsense. I’d much rather go back to HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER or PLAY MISTY FOR ME than THE TOWN. As I said, I haven’t seen ARGO and I plan to. I have no beef with Affleck the director, but this is really just about Barra’s continued attempts to denigrate Eastwood.

By: boston yank

boston yank — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:10:04 +0000

I love the series of books by Dennis Lehane that gone baby gone was based on. I also like Casey Afleck, although I never would have pictured him for this role when I was reading the book. The movie stayed pretty close to the book. Good popcorn flick, nothing remarkable. Better than the Town.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:35:23 +0000

[6] Part of backstory is that Affleck apparently personally screened the movie for the Canadian ambassador who was at the center of Op Argo. He objected that it did not give the Canadians appropriate credit and Affleck actually changed the movie a bit in response. Apparently Op Argo was originally the Canadians’ idea and you get the opposite impression from the movie, until the end, and assuming you stick around to read the narrative.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:28:32 +0000

6) How was “Gone, Baby Gone?” I don’t like Casey Affleck. Was he okay in it?

By: Matt Blankman

Matt Blankman — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:24:30 +0000

[3] That’s what I mean – it was fun, but it wasn’t some Jean-Pierre Melville crime movie. Without Renner, I don’t think it rates remembering.

Even though they reportedly Hollywood-ed up the story, Argo still looks terrific.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 16:21:40 +0000

ARGO fuck yourself!!!

This was a great movie. And I don’t say that often.

I am definitely not a fan of Mr Hennifer Lopez, but I thought he also did a great job as lead actor. I’ve known a few intelligence analysts and I thought he got the “dullsville” part (well said [2], BTW) spot-on.

By: RagingTartabull

RagingTartabull — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:59:14 +0000

The Town was the ultimate Channel 11 movie, the only difference being that it came out in 2010 and not 1975 and had Affleck and Renner as opposed to Eastwood and Bronson

But other than that…total Channel 11 movie.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:28:35 +0000

I thought “The Town” was okay. Slick, not entirely credible, but well made. I didn’t see his first one, which people seem to love.

The new one looks appealing.

By: Matt Blankman

Matt Blankman — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:44:43 +0000

Great, another excuse for Barra to take gratuitous shots at Clint Eastwood. I like Barra’s baseball writing, but I find his movie writing middlebrow and snotty. He also totally overrates The Town, which was a good movie, nowhere near great, made memorable by a fantastic supporting performance by Jeremy Renner. Affleck’s direction is fine, but as a lead actor, he’s dullsville.

That said, looking forward to Argo.

By: knuckles

knuckles — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 14:27:05 +0000

I am really looking forward to seeing this movie.