Sandra Oh...Amazing performance
I cant say I have ever been a big fan of her work Greys Anatomy, Sideways etc. But she was VERY impressive in this.
Be the Change You Wish to See in the World. Gandhi
There is NO Gene for the Human Spirit. Gattaca
Yes, she definately brought her character to life. she was excellent. This film is very, very good.
Oh yes! Sandra Oh was by far the highlight of the film for me. That scene toward the end where she sheds a tear on cue while admitting she wrote the poem about herself in stunning. It was all filmed in one take, and her timing was perfect. The performances made this film worthwhile for me, though some of the improvised scenes seemed a bit meandering.
So whom would you say is the audience for a film like this? It seems like it's too much of a "chick flick" for horny guys, but I think all the nudity and objectification of the strippers would put women off ... or at least some women.
I take it from you post (do I detect a wee bit of sarcasm?) that you didn't like this afterall? And I was the one who suggested you seek it out in the first place, That it was kinda of like "Exotica", one of your very favorite films. I feel like crap now, warped.! I'm sorry. Did it not have Elias Koteas in in it? I have forgotten now. I know you like him.
I thought the film was unusual. Had some kind of uniqueness going for it. The music and the atmosphere.. I thought Jennifer Tilly was good and what's--her-name.. the old one who wanted the kid even tho she was a child herself (ie) had smoked so much weed that it killed all her brain cells too early on? I thought she was hilarious and I don't usually laugh at characters like that. She in her pink shag carpret boot rims and fluffy pink bag and rat friends living in the air conditioner unit.
I can't tell from your post whether or not you thought the film carried any merit or not.
Did you appreciate the link to the Tom Russell song I left in one of my posts last night. I thought you would enkoy him. He's my favorite songwriter who's still alive. Townes Van Zandt, Tom Russell, Tom Waits, Johnny Mercer and Bob Dylan.
Do you like pumpkin pie? I made up a large batch of pumpkin pie mixure for a lot of pies and I baked three and they didn't set up right.. I am really steamed and screwed up in the head right now. I feel like Joe Buck not being able to get it up in Midnight Cowboy. Remember that scene with what's-he-name were in bed after the party scenes? I've made a million pumpkin pies and I have no idea what I did wrong that these won't set up properly after baking for the alloted time! *beep*! They're expensive too
Whither goest thou, America, In thy shiny car in the night? ~ Jack Kerouac
Sorry for being unclear. It's been a long day, and I'm not communicating clearly. I did like this film. Didn't love it, but liked it enough to pay attention all the way through.
I liked some threads in the film more than others. Sandra Oh was amazing and very believable, Jennifer Tilly was over the top but very provocative, but Daryl Hannah's character was just too dippy to be believed.
I wasn't expecting a great "aha" moment where everything comes together, but I wouldn't have minded a little more insight or resolution in the final analysis. The film seemed to end pretty abruptly, and I could tell it was improvised.
I am kind of confused about a film so heavy on the T&A but also presumably a feminist statement, though. It seems like this films exploits women as it tries to understand them. Does that make any sense? The one with the implants was particularly horrendous (whorendous?). She has enough of a gap in her chest to fit a third one in there: The girl with something extra. Don't plastic surgeons have any interest in making implants look at least slightly real?
I love pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin bagels – anything pumpkin, really. Pies are difficult because the crust burns before the center is done (put tin foil around the edge to prevent this). And sometimes the center sinks or becomes separated like a fault line. I find pumpkin bars a lot easier to make, and they taste great. I have the recipe in a Better Homes and Gardens book, and it's very easy. And I top them off with cream cheese frosting, so even if it sinks a bit, it looks fine.
Maybe I'll invite Sandra Oh over for some pumpkin pleasure. Or Elias Koteas.
Oh, I know all the tricks to baking the pies but the bastards have never ACTED this way before! I had to make a whole new batch. I had to go out to the U-Tote'em hoping all the way that they had pumpkin pie spice on their shelves.. They did. The store's about 2 miles from here. That's one good thing.
Anyway, I read that you like Tom Russell.. Great song? You ever heard of him? I'm in love with his work...
This movie.. I can't figure out who the audience to this film might be.. Me? You? Weirdos like us evidently..
You play for both teams? Are you trying, in your own especially subtle way, to let me know that my friend, War_Ped's . . . GAY? Hey, you ain't comin out of the closet for me. I already knew...;) You're a doll baby, warped
Whither goest thou, America, In thy shiny car in the night? ~ Jack Kerouac
Oh my gawd, is it my typing that gives me away? The fact that I don't refer to women as "bitches" or men as "douche bags"? Anyway, I haven't had sex for years, so I'm closer to being a boner fide asexual.
I had never heard of Tom Russell before you provided that link, and I assumed this was an obscure '70s artist who never made it big because he doesn't sound like any country I've heard lately – and that's a very good thing indeed. It's rare to hear that kind of heartfelt singing and playing these days. How did you stumble upon him?
But back to the audience for this film – it's really puzzling because this is both a chick flick and a dick flick (gawd, I hate both those phrases, but they rhyme). This came out long after the "Showgirls"/"Striptease" phenomena, so it wasn't trying to ride that wave. I'm not offended by sexuality or nudity except when they're gratuitous, and I have to say this film bordered on that. On the other hand, the stories were compelling enough that I cared about the characters. So this is a very strange mix of exploitation and social commentary.
Hey Warper - You and I have something in common - We're BOTH asexual. I hate the stuff and all the nastiness that goes with it.. They told me when I was young that I would start being interested in sex, but I knew, even back then, that it wasn't going to part of my life. I know a handsome fellow when I see one but.. i don't dwell on it. We both grew up in that era when everyone we knew was huffin and puffin and whatever else goes along with the crap but I never possessed the inclination I never had time. There were always too many movies to see ..too many books to read.. too much more important things to dream about. I always thought it was embarrassing and so ordinary, and so I just refused it. I guess that's why, at the age of 52, I still look "fresh" Everybody commnets on it. I will flirt but.. that's all. There's one of my deep dark secrets. Did you know that Eudora Welty was a virgin when she died? It's more common than people might think.
Tom Russell is a revelation to me. He's been around for years. I linked his wikipedia thing down here. It's amazing where the guy's been. He came to writing songs and performing rather late in life. Amazing, ain't he? How did I stumble upon him. He was born in California, but lives in the southwest down near Mexico. I'm a big Texas songwriter fan and I adore Sam Peckinpah films. I loved Doug Sahm and Flaco Jiminez, Freddy Fender, and Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, Auggie Meyers, Townes,(of course) Bob Neuwirth, All those great, great songwriters who worked the outlaw circuit. Tom Russell's one of the finest songwriters in America. I love the work of Sam Shepard for the same reason. Mr. Russell's also an author of novels and a painter. He paints the southwest... in words, music and in actual paint.
Another one, my friend ... And he and I are in love with the same things. Trains, rivers, boxcars, hobos, cowboys, highways, old road signs..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTPsxKK8Ats&feature=PlayList&p= E86DB5CF7586D11D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7EkbkPxKGo&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqgNagMVydU&NR=1 Gretchen Peters' version is magnifique
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Russell
I remember that chick from the movie. She was a young one.
Whither goest thou, America, In thy shiny car in the night? ~ Jack Kerouac
Well, Ms. Welty certainly found an appropriate vehicle with which to expression herself, didn't she?
That Tom Russell is amazing – so authentic with his words, his voice, his paintings. I see he's now on Shout Factory, which is a great label, sort of what Rhino was 15 years ago before WEA bought them out. He had one song in "Tremors" and one song in "Songcatcher." His music should be used in more films because it's perfectly cinematic.
Yes, she did... She took care of every member of her family in heath and in sickness and when the last one passed away.. she lived on. I love her writing. Talk about cinematic! She makes the South breeeeethaaaa... in and out in and out... She's wonderful.
I'm watching that Woody Allen movie "Celebrity" I had seen pieces of it before but .. I found it boring and sort of stupid. This time I'm taping it so I can get through it. Even if it takes me a year! I love Judy Davis!
Do you remember which Tom Russell songs was in those films you mentioned. I didn't catch "Songcatcher" yet and I have never seen "Tremors" either.
How did your oatmeal bars turn out? Did you make the no-bake kind? I always loved them. They're really easy too. You know, next time put some pumpkin pie spice in them... I use that MacCormack Pumpkin pie spice for cookies and cakes and sauces and things. It's a multi-tasker
I hope you enjoyed the links...
L - shel
Whither goest thou, America, In thy shiny car in the night? ~ Jack Kerouac
I have a "Celebrity" story. I went to that in the theater shortly after it opened, one of those mega-complexes with stadium-style seating. After the previews and all those annoying ads they run at the movie's start time, they film started playing – but the sound was the theater's canned "Movieplex" track. This went on for about five minutes while the audience continued to yell, and finally we got the kid's attention. So he rewound the film, and we had to sit through all the previews and annoying ads again before the movie.
Anyway, it's entertaining, but one of Woody's weaker films of the '90s in my book (but I think it was a very strong decade for him otherwise). The cast is mostly strong, but Kenneth Branagh doing his Woody impersonation is a big distraction. I loved Leonardo DiCaprio's take on Johnny Depp – and I normally don't like Leo.
Tom Russell had "When the Mountains Cry" in "Songcatcher" and "Heart of a Working Man" in "Tremors." I looked that up on his page. I haven't seen the first film and don't remember his song in the second one.
I just watched an indie film called "Clean," with Maggie Cheung as a recovering heroin addict and Nick Nolte as the grandfather of her child who raises the boy. It's a mostly forgettable film, but Nick is nothing less than extraordinary. No matter what state of sobriety he's in when he makes a film, he always delivers!
The oatmeal bars turned out great. I just follow the recipe on the box, put the dough in a 13x9 pan and bake for about 20 minutes. They're nice and chewy and don't crumble like cookies sometimes do. How do you make the no-bake kind made?
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/no-bake-cookies-i/detail.aspx
If you want them to taste like oatmeal pumpkin pie bars, just delete some of the peanut butter and use a little pumpkin in it's place. Add a little pie spice (to taste) instead of cocoa. (sometimes you have to add a bit more quick-cooking oats to make up for the pumpkin being more liquidy than the peanut butter) Waa Laa!
These cookies were big back in the seventies with girls at sleepovers and at weiner roasts and stuff. I never got to go to too many of those because I was never one to socialize. I was working alot. During my teenage years I was at one place but in my childhood, I travelled. I guess it screwed me up and showed me too much too early or something. I grew up bass-akwards.
That "Celebrity" movie kinda suckled! I agree, I dug Leo's bit. (I would never have thought about him "Doin' a Depp" if you hadn't mentioned it!) I think Leo is a really good actor but I think he and Martin Scorsese are becoming typecast. I do want see "Shutter island" tho. I don't like Scorsese's non-sensical violent crap at all, but the subject matter in "Shutter Island" interests me.... with the mental facilities and insanity and all.. I haven't even read the book yet.
I don't like Kenneth Branagh. He bores me. He comes off as non-existent, interchangable or something. he should have been a shoe salesman.. Ouch!
Speaking of Nick Nolte - I LOVE HIM! loved him in that Alan Rudolph film called "Trixie". Did you see that? Emily Watson, Lesley Ann Warren and Nolte.. strange little piece of weirdness.
Thanks for the heads up on those movie titiles..
Iron and Wine -- Flightless Bird, American Mouth.. beautiful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYUFcxBq1y4
Tom spends a lot of time on the computer telling us, his cult following amazing true and fictional stories. He's an amazing writer
http://www.russelltom.blogspot.com/
Thanks so much for the link to that recipe! I just returned from the supermarket and bought a can of pumpkin (along with pumpkin ice cream) because I'm a total pumpkinhead. I don't have a printer, but that recipe is very easy to write down.
I like Leo when he's playing an appropriate part, but it seems like he's often miscast. Did you see him in "Revolutionary Road"? He just seemed like a kid wearing a suit and acting all grown-up there. But he was amazing in "Celebrity" and "The Aviator." Kenneth Branagh is general too "stagey" for my tastes; he seems to be projecting to the cheap seats. I love Woody even at his weakest, but "Celebrity" was clearly Woody's homage to Fellini's "8 1/2," and it didn't feel like a real Woody film.
I also hate Scorsese's over-the-top violent films like "The Departed" and "Gangs of New York," but I'll watch anything from him. I trust you've seen "The King of Comedy"? Viciously funny, and still relevant.
I haven't seen "Trixie," but I'll check it out. I'm having great luck at the library these days.
Do you like Danny O'Keefe, he of "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues"? That's one of my favorite songs of the '70s, and it continues to break my heart. He just posted some new clips on his page, including a 1990 video of "Along for the Ride." It's an astonishing song:
http://www.dannyokeefe.com/media.htm
Shelby, you have such great taste!
Punkinhead -
http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Family-Lifestyle/Holidays/10-Stunnin g-Pumpkin-Carvings.html
I am hoping that you have a can of pumpkin that is more dry in general. That works better.
Danny O'Keefe's Good Time Charlie IS my favorite song of 1972!
When I finally got a computer It was one of the first songs I tried to find, along with Don McClean's "Vincent" and "People Make The World Go Round" by the Stylistics and that Beverly Bremer one hit wonder called "Don't Say You Don't Remember" Do you remember that song? I always thought it was so lovely.
Everybody's gone away..
Say they're movin' to LA
There's not a soul I know around
Everybody leavin town..
Some caught a freight some caught a train ...
Find the sunshine, leave the rain.. ahhh
Did you know that Jerry Lee Lewis done a decent version of that? Kept the spirit of the song intact and everything.
A lot of people have recorded Good Time Charlie.
I agree with your accessment of Leonardo's performance in Revolutionary Road. I saw a kid in a suit too. That scene at the car at the beginning of the film with Kate and he fighting was so forced on his part. I hate to see an actor "act". The first thing I ever seen him in was "This Boy's Life" and that's a performance and a film I will never forget. It hangs in my head like a bat! I am drawn to watch it every time it comes on but I can't stand it. I hate domestic violence and child abuse films because it's not just a movie ..it's always happening and it's always worse and worse than what you're watching. I think they should outlaw that Lifetime Movie network !
The King of Comedy! I heard a interview with Sting back thn where he said that he went to see the film at a movie theater in NYC. He was walking out of the theater and he heard everybody laughing and talking about the kidnapping, and he was apalled at their flippant view that famous people were comodities to be used and abused and that they weren't really even human. That people thought it was humorous that an obvious maniac, some guy who's so desperate to become famous, that he'd go to the extreme length of kidnapping a "successful" person for selfish personal gain, for a spot on a television show. Oh Oh Oh! Sting was disgusted, disturbed and frightened by what the American psyche had become capable of. That there were actual people walking around on the earth that would take sheer advantage of someone's celebrity for their own gain. Oh brother! I remember thinking that Sting must live in a bubble and obviously didn't have a clue and that nobody was twisting his arm to live in the Sherry Netherland Hotel! Ominous shadows of the Dakota Hotel?
I have aways hated Jerry Lewis! The only time that jerk ever made me laugh was when he was trying to be serious. Him sucking his invisible lifesaver or whatever but he deserved an Oscar for portraying THE REAL Jerry Lewis in this movie..I bet he was never more himself. I thought he was astounding in this film. Very brave indeed. Not exactly your average nutty Professor ...or wait...
I have that soundtrack on vinyl. It's got a photo of Robbie Robertson with his arm around Martin Scorsese's shoulder on the dust cover. The album's got a wonderful song by Robbie called "Between Trains" on it.
I got to let it roll
I gotta let it ride
And I can never show
What's really goin' on inside
If I'm too young to learn
Or too old to change
I guess I'll always be
between trains..
Oh, Yes, Branagh is stagey. He oughta stick to the stage. There are certain people who can pull off both movie and stage acting but.. he ain't one of them.
Fellini's was better! I loved Fellini's Amacord.. and his "Toby Dammit".
Thank you for the sweet compliment. Right Back At Ya ! I'm glad we got a connect.
Whither goest thou, America, In thy shiny car in the night? ~ Jack Kerouac
I'm not glad you're a complete wanker, to be honest.
shareI only treat people the way they treat me, Aiden. And why follow me around reading up on where I am and then follow me there to try and start some altercation. I don't want to fight. I don't like to argue. Please respect my wishes and go away.
WarpedRecord and I are friends.
Whither goest thou, America, In thy shiny car in the night? ~ Jack Kerouac
It's "Aidan".
You expect too much of me to go away after your words on the Hitchens board.
Sorry for the delayed reply, but it's been a busy couple of days.
Those a some great pumpkins – amazing, creative and in many cases creepy. I made some chocolate-pumpkin bread today from a cookbook I found on the streets (but with fresh ingredients, of course), and it turned out OK but the chocolate tends to overwhelm the pumpkin flavor.
I haven't heard Jerry Lee Lewis's version of "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues," but Willie Nelson and Chris Hillman do their own "killer" versions of it. And I also have Beverly Bremers' single of "Don't Say You Don't Remember" (she was a bit of a Karen Carpenter clone, wasn't she?), but I also have Beverly's album. She still records, teaches and does voice-over work:
http://www.beverlybremers.com/
And yes, I have the soundtrack of "The King of Comedy" on vinyl. I'm sure Sting and others were shocked – SHOCKED – at the obsession with celebrity in a 1982 film, but that movie seems almost quaint now in these days of "reality" TV and Hilton/Kardashian "fame."
Not that any of this has anything to do with Sandra Oh, but if she were reading this board, she'd probably join in the conversation ... or not.
I'm trying to recall the chick with the implants now.. No, surgeons are not interested in what their work ultimately looks like. They only want their cut of the pie (so to speak). I know a several women with THOSE THINGS and I'm always afraid that one day they're going to fall on their chests and bust'em and possibly drown. Plastic surgery for mere superficial cosmetic purposes should be outlawed. It's a crime against nature.
Did you catch the incest vibe in this film? It was suppose to come off more obvious (i read that somewhere)
yeah, I understand what you mean about the celebration of feminism by route of exploitation.. That's been around since the women's movement began. I remember being a little girl and watching women of all sizes and shapes standing around that burning barrel gleefully throwing their bras into it (burn, baby burn) in celebration of freedom. It was a mystery to me then, but when I grew up I began to realize what a back-asswards thing to do that really was. The women's movement is ultimately all about R-E-S-P-E-C-T, right? Well I'm sure there's nothing more respectable than a woman with her nipples sticking out of her top and rubbing up against her blouse. Men really, really, really respect THAT! I've seen'em do it. I come to the conclusion that the women's movement wasn't referred to as "a Movement" for nothing. Respect is not gained communally, it is earned and it's earned individually, through long years of constant decency.
Whither goest thou, America, In thy shiny car in the night? ~ Jack Kerouac
I think the woman with the whorrendous implants is named Kristen Bauer. She's sitting next to Sandra Oh in this photo:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2760350208/tt0217355
The incest vibe in this film was between a stepbrother and sister, right? I saw that mentioned in other threads. I regret to admit I didn't catch it, though I was preparing oatmeal bars while I watched this so I didn't pay as much attention as I should have. The bars turned out excellent, by the way, and if the technology allowed, I'd upload one for you now!
I did notice at the beginning of the film where the woman calls her uncle and says she's just arrived in L.A. – and he brushes her off – that it sounded like they had "a past." I was expecting that thread to be developed later, but it wasn't.
You've seen AwfulPlasticSurgery.com, right? Here's an entry about that breast chasm I was talking about:
http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com/2009/10/29/why-do-some-women-have-s uch-a-large-gap-between-their-breast-implants/