Random Film Thoughts: You've Been Blackballed

[misplaced validity]

(03-07-2015 11:57 AM)mahogany soul Wrote:  I thought his breakout role was Wanted. Or Atonement.

Sure. I meant more in terms of getting him an Oscar nom/win and taking him to that kind of level.

(03-07-2015 01:31 PM)dws1982 Wrote:  I don't think McAvoy wants a breakout beyond what he's experienced. Based on interviews I've read, he seems to very much prefer the low-key lifestyle in London with his family, mostly just doing films and plays that interest him. I think he was better than any of this year's Best Actor nominees (well, give or take Cooper) in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him.

Ok that makes sense. Anyway I haven't yet seen The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby but need to. Isn't it 3 films? Have you seen Filth from that year?

[dws1982]

It's basically a story of the disintegration of a marriage with Him being told from McCoy's point-of-view and Her from Chastain's. From what I gather, the third version (usually called Them) is neutral-POV, edited together with material from both versions, and was more or less mandated by Harvey Weinstein after he balked at releasing the 200-minute double feature.

As for Him and Her, I think Him is a great or near-great movie, and Her, while less successful, is a very good movie trying to do great things. A lot of people may find the films frustrating because they don't give a lot of exposition or answers as to what happened, but part the point of the film is about the difficulty of getting definitive answers. (It hints at something that most films would make much more explicit.) I think Him could stand on its own, but Her wouldn't make much sense if you watched it on its own or before Him. But then again, Culturegeek, I believe, watched Her first, and liked them both.

Haven't seen Filth, but I'll put it on my catch-up list.

[tonygoldenemmy]

A couple of uber-random thoughts after a weekend of Netflixing...

Ashley Judd is really, really good (and Oscar-worthy) in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

I never thought I'd feel this way, but I actually think I now prefer Basic Instinct over Fatal Attraction in the "Michael Douglas gets down and dirty" echelon. The two Oscar noms it garnered - Film Editing and Original Score - are richly deserved, but the film just looks damn spectacular in HD now (don't think I've watched it since a VHS rental). And Sharon Stone was definitely more deserving of an nod than Michelle Pfeiffer and Mary McDonnell that year.

[NGL]

According to Box Office Mojo, here are the 13 films released in 2014 that have made $200 million or more:

1 American Sniper $338,215,533
2 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 $337,005,123
3 Guardians of the Galaxy $333,176,600
4 Captain America: The Winter Soldier $259,766,572
5 The LEGO Movie $257,760,692
6 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies $254,748,382
7 Transformers: Age of Extinction $245,439,076
8 Maleficent $241,410,378
9 X-Men: Days of Future Past $233,921,534
10 Big Hero 6 $221,313,746
11 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes $208,545,589
12 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 $202,853,933
13 Godzilla (2014) $200,676,069

http://boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2014&p=.htm

That means 5 comic-book franchises (#s 3, 4, 7, 9, and 12), 4 near-comic-book franchises (#s 2, 6, 11, and 13), 2 animated films (#s 5 and 10), a movies based on a fairy tale (#8), and American Sniper (#1). I know the box office is dominated by juvenile-type films, although some are good juvenile-types films; but, this is still shocking.

[pvdk]

Looks like Ann Dowd's career went okay without the Oscar nod after all.

[dug11]

Erin Brockovich was released 15 years ago today. I feel old. Haha.

[dug11]

So.... The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby..... what is the version to watch? It was conceived as two separate films, right? So I should skip the two hour version and watch Her and Him?

[dws1982]

I would say watch Him and Her in that order. I don't think Her would make much sense if watched first, and it wouldn't make much sense as a standalone film. (Him kind of would, but Her complements it well.)

[dug11]

(03-23-2015 10:49 AM)dws1982 Wrote:  I would say watch Him and Her in that order. I don't think Her would make much sense if watched first, and it wouldn't make much sense as a standalone film. (Him kind of would, but Her complements it well.)

Thanks!

[Brad]

I watched The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them since that's what Netflix shipped me (and in truth, I was sort of ignorant about there being such a version). I liked quite a bit, though I can't say that it left me compelled to go check out two additional versions of the film.