Friday, October 28, 2011

ASIDE FROM THAT, MRS. LINCOLN, HOW WAS THE PLAY? The opening paragraph of the NYT's takedown of Anonymous (the inexplicable Roland Emmerich "Shakespeare was a fraud!" movie) is well worth your time, even if the movie apparently isn't. What's exciting you at the movies of late as we move into Oscar-bait and holiday blockbuster season?

12 comments:

  1. christy in nyc12:19 PM

    I've had a browser tab open to my favorite (AKA tastiest popcorn) theater's page for The Skin I Live In for about a week, trying to decide if I'm brave enough to go on my own. I don't know.

    Also want to see Being Elmo. And Martha Marcy May Marlene.

    As for upcoming, other than the Muppets of course...I think I can't help but see Young Adult. I have a feeling folks in my circles will have strong opinions about it, and I won't want to miss the discussion.

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  2. I'm looking forward to the Descendants, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Artist, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Carnage and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

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  3. I really liked the synopsis/cast of Young Adult, but the trailer was not what I was expecting and left me a little cold.  Still have high hopes.

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  4. The Pathetic Earthling1:47 PM

    Reminds me of the theory that the Odyssey and the Illiad weren't written by Homer, the well-known 9th century BC poet, but rather by some other 9th century BC poet named Homer.*

    * From where did I rip this off?  It's been bugging me for years.

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  5. Genevieve1:51 PM

    I like the closing line of the review as well:

    “Anonymous” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Swordplay, bodice ripping, bawdy speech and the cold-blooded murder of the truth.

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  6. Goghaway2:10 PM

    Martha Marcy May Marlene was extremely unsettling, and very good. I'd heard a lot of good things about Elizabeth Olsen's performance, and she definitely delivers, but John Hawkes is also good- and completely terrifying. I'll be thinking about the movie for awhile, and I'll be really surprised if Elizabeth Olsen isn't at least nominated for this.

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  7. Jordan2:48 PM

    I am most intrigued by the trailer for the Immortals.  How can you have a movie about Theseus (whose name they prominently feature), but mention neither Minotaurs nor philosphical paradoxes?

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  8. Benner4:24 PM

    "The World According to Student Bloopers."  

    Without the Greeks, we wouldn't have history. The Greeks invented three kinds of columns - Corinthian, Doric and Ironic. They also had myths. A myth is a female moth. One myth says that the mother of Achilles dipped him in the River Stynx until he became intolerable. Achilles appears in "The Illiad", by Homer. Homer also wrote the "Oddity", in which Penelope was the last hardship that Ulysses endured on his journey. Actually, Homer was not written by Homer but by another man of that name.

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  9. Devin McCullen6:01 PM

    The Star-Ledger's reviewer took the time to put his opinions in verse:

    http://www.nj.com/entertainment/movies/index.ssf/2011/10/anonymous_review_to_see_or_not_to_see.html

    Not that it's an award candidate, but I enjoyed Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame a lot.  I also saw Take Shelter recently, which is very good, but I really didn't like the ending.  Didn't ruin the film or anything, but I came up with a couple of alternatives I would have strongly preferred.

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  10. JosephFinn7:16 PM

    I'll admit I want to see In Time, mostly for Cillian Murphy.  But Young Adult is the one so far (besides Muppets, of course) that I'm really anticipating.

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  11. I saw Johnny English Reborn. Know that it wasn't my first choice, or my second choice, just know that you shouldn't see it.

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  12. sea0tter1210:16 AM

    I actually liked Anonymous. Granted, I saw it for free, which may have influenced, but as someone who dearly loves Shakespeare and doesn't really care who really wrote it, it was an interesting take on it. Sort of like historical fan fiction. The acting was good, and the completely full theater I was in cheered in spots and booed in others, so it clearly did something to draw us in.

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