I saw Moulin Rouge for the first time on Sunday and was pleasantly surprised by it. Most people that I knew who saw it thought it was rubbish. I thought it was quite tragic myself.
I admit, it took me a while to get into it and some of the renditions of songs was a bit odd to say the least but I think the plot was very good when it got going.
Have any of you seen Ang Lee's Lust, Caution (色，戒; Sè, jiè), with the great Tony Leung Chiu Wai and beautiful newcomer Tang Wei? The movie was alright but the sex scenes were I highly recommend it for that alone. Make sure you get the NC-17 version, not the R-rated version.
I heard they were quite the scenes! I also heard that the actress is being a little censured back home for being so explicit.
Speaking of sex scenes, I think Good Luck Chuck was a very silly movie (and practically softcore porn), but it was worth watching just for the scene at the end, where he, um, orally pleasures a stuffed toy penguin for his girlfriend's viewing amusement (and my viewing amazement) -- I think now I can safely say that I have seen it all.
The sex scenes in The Last Kiss were quite good, too, I thought -- although I'm not sure some of them are physically possible (and the actor mentioned that at least one of those Kama Sutra style positions was a lot less than comfortable!) _________________ An apple a day....
I tried to talk my buddy into renting it with me tnoght, but he nixed it in favor of Idiocracy. Which is an amusing but forgettable flick about a modern day average Joe who gets frozen by the army and wakes up 500 years in the future to find that evolution has favored the farting, scratching, TV-watching, couch-potato moron, and he is now the smartest man on the planet.
Last night, however, we watched Southland Tales, which I have to say I enjoyed quite a bit, even if it went off on so many tangents and wild mini-plots that it was hard to keep track of it all. But it was still a fun ride, and it had a crazy all-star cast for a movie that tanked out of sight at the theaters. Donnie Darko was a better (and much more coherent!) movie, but I sort of dug the whole and-the-kitchen-sink thing. Not unlike the Fifth Element in that respect, or some other odd crazy sci-fi movies I can think of. And I thought the opening sequence was brilliant and inspired: a funny, hand-held home movie of somebody's 4th of July party, that culminates in a bang -- a really big one. A mushroom cloud, in fact, that everyone at the party crowds into the front yard to gape at, as Texas comes under nuclear attack. The movie then veers off the road into really weird.... with Justin Timberlake, of all people, providing a bizarre voiceover commentary as a whacked-out Iraq War vet! Plenty of subtle references to Donnie Darko thrown in here and there, along with quite a few of the supporting character actors parodying their own most famous lines in other movies, so it was really pretty entertaining on many levels -- tons of aha! moments. _________________ An apple a day....
André, have you seen Blood Diamond yet? I was wondering what you thought of Leo DiCaprio's Afrikaner accent. Did he nail it?
I don't think I'll be buying real diamonds for awhile (if ever).
Finally I got to see Blood Diamond last night. BTW, brilliant movie, very honest depiction of Africa.
Yes, Leo did well on the South(ern) African (white) accent. A few flaws here and there, but generally he did well. Not an Afrikaans accent, rather an English South African accent (close to the [former] Rhodesian accent. Coming from "Rhodesia", his character is indeed most likely to be English speaking. The few Afrikaans words he threw in (like "doos" ) is perfectly normal for an English speaking South African/Rhodie.
And loved it when Arnold Vosloo spoke Afrikaans! _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Oh, I love it when he speaks anything! Had no idea he was in it -- I think now I'll have to go see it. And the fact that you say it is an honest portrayal of Africa piques my interest -- I realize that I know very little about the place at all, especially on a non-headline level.
And Djimon Housou (probably butchering that spelling, but bear with me) ain't hard to look at, either....loved him in Gladiator and Constantine. I know he's been in a lot of other (better) movies, but I like my fluff, okay?
Will watch and report back!
In the meantime, I saw a fabulous (and very obscure) little flick called The Nines. Starred Ryan Reynolds, Hope Davis, and another actress who I don't know, but she was excellent ... and pudgy. Which was not only unusual (and kudos to the casting director), but a jumping-off point to explore the shallowness of the Hollywood system.
On one level that's what The Nines was about -- a scathing critique of Hollywood and American television. on the other hand, it was a mystical metaphysical mystery (no shit -- honest!), and sadly, I can discuss almost none of the plot without spoiling it. Suffice it to say that it was incredibly clever, outlandish, and thought-provoking, a la Donnie Darko and Jacob's Ladder.
I was also shocked by Ryan Reynold's performance. He is usually a vapidly handsome actor who mugs his way through a lot of dumb B-grade comedies. But here he starts out as that, and then progresses through some major character shifts (he and the other two stars literally play three separate characters each through the course of the movies, all of which are related to the other characters they play -- it's downright fascinating to unravel the threads!) that really show a range and talent I would never have suspected -- I hope it presages better things to come. But he really got the benefit of not only a very unusual storyline, but some very clever dialogue, and some very real-sounding scenes that played like a documentary. There were also a number of surreal fantasy sequences and a baffling but very amusing musical number.
It was also cool to see a very handsome man bonding/befriending/ falling in love with not only the usual skinny blond (played by the fairly unusual Hope Davis) but also with the short fat brunette. Hollywood usually doesn't allow that, but here it played as very real, and very human. (Which sort of belies and yet also rounds out what Ryan Reynolds really was in this movie, but I can't reveal that!) _________________ An apple a day....
Oh, I love it when he speaks anything! Had no idea he was in it -- I think now I'll have to go see it. And the fact that you say it is an honest portrayal of Africa piques my interest -- I realize that I know very little about the place at all, especially on a non-headline level.
And Djimon Housou (probably butchering that spelling, but bear with me) ain't hard to look at, either....loved him in Gladiator and Constantine. I know he's been in a lot of other (better) movies, but I like my fluff, okay?
Will watch and report back!
It's an honest portrayel of the plight of the war-ridden countries of Africa, th impact the wars have on ordinary people, the poverty, etc. I think the producers really did their homework, and understand the issues of Africa.
\Interstingly, there is also an understanding portrayel of white Africans.
There is one scene where Archer (DiCaprio) first meets an American journolist in Sierra Leone (where the movie is set).
The conversation goes something like this:
Archer: You're American, aren't you?
Journo: Guilty.
Archer: As all Americans are.
Journa: That's rich, coming from a white South African.
Later in the movie in another scene, Archer tells her more of the experience of being a white South African (his character was born in the old Rhodesia, but mainly grew up in SA), which was surprisingly close to what most white South Africans his age would tell you.
Arnold doesn't have many scenes, but they're long... _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Just tell me there's gratuitous male full frontal nudity.....
Unfortunately not.
It's ironic that Arnold plays a former member of the South African Defence Force who is now a mercenary. In his first movie in South Africa, he played a young guy doing his (compulsary) military service in the SADF. Oh, and in that one he was in a nude scene (from the back)...
_________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
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I highly recommend it for that alone. 
Make sure you get the NC-17 version, not the R-rated version.
Had no idea he was in it -- I think now I'll have to go see it. And the fact that you say it is an honest portrayal of Africa piques my interest -- I realize that I know very little about the place at all, especially on a non-headline level.
