Ed from OC Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 If you want to see Natalie Portman (from Closer) in a good movie, try _Where the Heart Is_ (2000). She was terrific in Beautiful Girls and Garden State. Terrific acting. Great characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen_speicher Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 She was terrific in Beautiful Girls and Garden State. Terrific acting. Great characters. It is hard to beat her role as the twelve year old Mathilda in The Professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeus Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 Are there any Objectivists (or people who make almost-good films) out there working on original material? Well, once in a while, a diamond is found amidst the crap. One of these has already been mentioned here: Gattaca. Try also Andrew Niccol's other film, S1mone (with Al Pacino). Very high quality, both of these. Also see, Secondhand Lions (with Robert Duvall and Michael Caine). I saw this two months ago. It left me feeling very energized. One scene in particular, I rewatched about fifteen times. I actually enjoyed Hellboy. In its seeming disintegration, I was able to make out its essential theme: Even if a man were to be spawned by the Devil (the worst possible being) in Hell (the worst possible of origins), it's not his background that makes him a man, but his choices. This is spelt out in the script, so I'm not revealing anything. I found that quite powerful. I also liked the way he laughed off big problems, making them seem trivial to him, as they ought to be, in his widest frame of reference, i.e., in his metaphysics. The artwork suggested a grim universe, yet this guy walked defiantly right through it all. As for Closer, I think that Mr. Speicher is being too civilized in responding to any comparison of an Atlas Shrugged hero to any participant in that drivel called Closer. But, altogether, I agree with nemethnm's comment about the cultural bleakness, a bleakness which, I confess, I may not have seen through without Ayn Rand's benevolence. I saw Ben-Hur again over the weekend and was struck yet again by how moved I was by the tightness of the script and the beauty of the production, inasmuch as I disagreed with the philosophy. A young Charlton Heston has been my first choice to play John Galt ever since I read Atlas. I chalk that up to pre-existing psychology. My first notion of a hero owes to his portrayal of Rodrigo De Bivar in El Cid which I saw when I was very, very young. My yearnings for Sophia Loren are another story entirely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed from OC Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 Also see, Secondhand Lions (with Robert Duvall and Michael Caine). I saw this two months ago. It left me feeling very energized. One scene in particular, I rewatched about fifteen times. I was really impressed by that movie as well. I think it is a most excellent family movie. If I had a son in his pre-teens, it's exactly the kind of movie I'd have around for him to watch. IMDB.com gives the plot outline as: "A coming-of-age story about a shy, young boy sent by his irresponsible mother to spend the summer with his wealthy, eccentric uncles in Texas." That's spot-on (and exactly the kind of one-sentence description I wish movie reviewers would provide more often). As for the comment about occasional diamonds in the rough: the diamonds may be occasional, but there are plenty of other gems to be found more often. Their sparkle may not be quite as bright, but they sparkle none the less, and deserve to be recognized for such. It depends on being willing to accept a few blemishes in a mixed case and enjoy the virtues that are present. As an example, Closer can be enjoyed for its acting and dialogue, even though the movie fails on the whole because of significant story problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed from OC Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 Stephen wrote: It is hard to beat her role as the twelve year old Mathilda in The Professional. You're right, from the perspective of interesting roles to act. But I meant from the perspective of female characters I wish I knew in real life. In that personal sense, her characters in those two films really stood out for me. It was an instantaneous, emotional reaction that rarely happens, despite seeing many movies. (Sorry, the quote function got screwed up.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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