Hey John, it's great to read you. Thought you'd finally deserted AB! I
can see how ****co Rosso wouldn't fit the cartoon stereotype. Many of
those anime have adult themes and are not anything like what you'd see
on Saturday morning or from Disney.
I had to take A Lot Like Love out of the list last night. I watched a
preview for it and it just looked too stupid.
I moved Dear Frankie up to #2 as the preview for that one nearly brought
me to tears. (Very pathetic of me)
I don't like Nic Cage that much. I haven't had any desire to see the
Weatherman. The Fog - I can't stomach thriller or horror without
someone's arms around me...lol
Lord of War, I don't think I've heard of it.
JohnS@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Mar 2006 20:39:54 -0700, WeeVixen <not@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> Memoirs of a Geisha - Releases on DVD Mar 28, 2006
>> Bride and Prejudice
>> The Trans****ter 2
>> A Lot Like Love
>> Layer Cake
>> Angela's Ashes
>> ****co Rosso
>> Dear Frankie
>> Parineeta
>> Back to the Future
>
> I rented ****co Rosso for my nephew and he turned it off saying it
> wasnt a cartoon. It didnt fit his definition of a cartoon.
>
> I just saw The Weatherman which got mixed reviews and did lackluster
> box office starring Nicloas Cage. Some people really like it seeing in
> it the usual kind of critical scathing look at the hollowness of
> modern life under capitalism and all that. They tend to downplay the
> central human drama of such stories nowadays.
>
> The big novelists and writers of the post WWII generation who wrote
> about characters and their usual stories of male midlife crisis,
> alienation and feelings of failure while trying to grab for the
> American Dream --- the focus then when criticizing their work etc
> seemed to talk a bit more about the human aspects --- like the work of
> John Updike and his novels of aging males and short stories of
> marriages cracking up and Bellows --- Seize the Day etc.
>
> I guess back then even when it was fa****onable to depict the downfall
> of the traditional white male trying to survive, adjust --- against
> the backdrop of a radically changing society such as the youth
> revolution of the 60s and the materialism and hedonism of the 70s and
> 80s, it was still within the context of a society dominated largely by
> the white middle class. Both popular and high brow culture were like
> that so many could identify with such characters in a much more
> personal way ---- and later female writers like Anne Beattie, Anne
> Tyler.
>
> Now it seems much more abstract even when you do connect I think in a
> emotional way, since its against this backdrop of the old US and
> Europe/the West dying, especially within the next few decades and
> definitely within this century. Itll be dominated by a few new,
> different elite power groups.
>
> The weatherman ---- seems in some ways like a modernized version of
> Seize The Day by Bellows. Cage plays a weatherman ---- I think the
> filmmakers think its the perfect symbol of how shallow much of modern
> culture is. Even in present day pop culture with disposable everything
> where the cliche is it doesnt take much skill, talent as much as luck,
> looks and likeabilty to make it ----- people tend to think of
> weathermen and weathergirls as lightweights. Just think of Al Roker
> etc. In the movie he compares himself to fast food ---- and they
> emphasize the point of the contempt the public has for him in a
> running gag , random people driving by throw drinks and food at him.
> It also shows the contempt he feels for himself.
>
> Like the character in Bellows slim book , Cage is having a mid lfe
> crisis --- he has a heavyweight serious father , who is a well known
> writer who he feels has never thought much of him, being a weatherman
> and his former marriage/family has crumbled apart which hes trying
> desperately to reclaim. The big difference in the movie is Cage is
> moderately financially successful. In Bellows book the main chracter
> is desperate on all levels ---- financially hes a bust and and wants
> to show his father he can "make it" , but ends up losing the last of
> his money foolishly. in the movie instead Cage shows his emotional
> impoverishment, lack of character development by blowing it with his
> family and wife in front of his father over and over again instead.
>
> Both characters have a kind of faith in the power of money and success
> to make them happy, turn their lives around - the American Dream. With
> Cage hes banking on a spot with a national morning show where he
> thinks the resulting fame and greater fortune will get his family back
> into his life.
>
> The director is the same guy who did THE RING. It has a really
> relatively quiet but wicked streak of black humor and yet its so low
> key in a grimly ironic way ---- its very depressing. Some will find it
> boring. I wonder if they made Cage more sucessful finacially to drive
> the old cliche home that money doesnt equal happiness or if they
> decided marketing wise that making him more desperate would have been
> too much of a downer in an already depressing film? Others have noted
> many of the middle class and working class depicted in many US films
> tend to seem far better off than their real life counterparts.
>
> Cage has a certain likable everyman kind of quality which makes it OK
> more accessible and its supposed to alternate between a lightly
> comical , yet still dark tone to it ----but you always wonder if it
> would have felt richer and more realistic without such well known
> stars in these type of films.
>
> I just saw in Lord Of War too , another over the top "message" flick
> with huge flaws but his likable presence makes it barely watchable.
>
> This flick the tone , style really cries out ---- DRAMEDY in the cable
> series mold of such things like Six Feet Under and other modern shows.
> The problem is those type of shows have multiple characters and
> storylines they can switch to. This only focuses on Cages
> disintegrating life and increasing alienation and frustration though
> there are darkly comical moments --- it feels a bit thin and dull.
>
>
> The Fog ----- I havent been able to finish it , its sooooo DULL.
> Has that superman actor in it from Smallville. The orig Fog was deadly
> dull and old fa****oned and they cant do much to fix it.
|
