Comments on: Open Thread Friday

By: aclay

aclay — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:08:51 +0000

This movie really stinks. It's one of these self-important movies where every shot is a couple of seconds too long, every bit of dialog is self-important, and it just drips with meaning every moment. None of the characters are sympathetic, I remember laughing out loud when one of the more sympathetic ones jumps out a window to commit suicide. The people who like this movie are the types who like any movie where the characters have posh accents and nice clothes. If you aren't one of them, steer clear. And what's all this supposed heat emanating from Juliette Binoche – she strikes me as the coldest of cold fish. And in this movie, she's a cruel cold fish.

By: FuneralGuy

FuneralGuy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:29:42 +0000

This film has never left me. I've probably seen it 4 or 5 times and I still want to turn away from the screen at certain scenes. Highly erotic. The chemistry between Juliette Binoche and Jeremy Irons couldn't be more intense. A film of obsession from the male point of view as "Unfaithful" was more from the woman's point of view. The scene between Miranda Richardson and Jeremy Irons after the affair goes horribly wrong is so painful to watch that it literally hits me in the pit of my stomach. If Mark Sanford had seen this film before his little fiasco he might have saved himself a lot of grief.

I agree that The English Patient sucked big time.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:23:57 +0000

Indeed. It wasn't just the adultery, but that the adulterous affair in the end led the Ralph Fiennes character to sell out to the Nazis.

By: maatkare

maatkare — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:32:34 +0000

Forget the adultery–didn't the dude spy for the Nazis?

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:46:35 +0000

The English Patient was one of the worst films I ever had the displeasure to sit through, doubly so, since in the after-the-movie post mortem over coffee, it was evident that some of those who had just seen it loved it. I thought it was morally bankrupt (I recollect a number of essays at the time contrasting this film with Casablanca where nobility wins out over self-absorption as typified by the "heroes" of the English Patient.) I felt so vindicated when an episode of Seinfeld came out a little while after this film opened and it revolved around how Elaine Benes hated the movie — one of the few times I actually identified with a t.v. character.
Damage is a film that I can't say I ever warmed up to, but I remember seeing it and respecting it for its honesty — as a former pastor, I have seen the damage of adultery up close, it is devastating, soul-crushing stuff.

By: maatkare

maatkare — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:35:37 +0000

Mark, wasn't trying to put McMahon or Fawcett down, didn't mean to imply that at all. But Jackson was by far the biggest star of the three, and there is no stronger sense of nostalgia than the music of one's youth, so I'm just more touched by his death than the others. Prime time coverage seemed appropriate the day of his death at least. As for Lennon–the news cycle was different then, and we didn't have cable in my house (oh, the deprivation I suffered!), but New York CIty (where I lived then) literally stopped. It was the full level of t.v. coverage the era could muster. (and can you believe it–special late editions of newspapers!) A murdered Beatle trumped everything. I think everyone's acting a little _too_ indignant at the Jackson coverage, based on how superficial we know media coverage has become. It shouldn't be surprising anyone.

By: ivybelle1

ivybelle1 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:25:40 +0000

What an interesting choice of films for this site!
Damage is an amazing film – I saw this years ago.

What is it about affair movies that we love? And when do we root for the cheating couple? I remember in The English Patient, loving the Almasy and Katherine couple. Even though I knew her poor husband didn't deserve the pain, I was so in love with this couple.

What do you guys think?

By: writestuffla

writestuffla — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:30:55 +0000

Anybody ready for the remake of the Stepfather? The Hollywood Regurgitron keep on churning. Word has it they're remaking "Up" next year because it's a long time since the first one has come out.

By: Mark_S

Mark_S — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:00:03 +0000

Maat, I disagree sort of… McMahon was an icon to some of us, as Farrah was our "sex-kitten' (for those of older), and I would have been upset if the same thing happened with them.

I'll give you an example… CBS found out about the death of MJ… and they decided it was _so_ important to interrupt their primetime programming last night, that they had to do an entire hour special about him? UGH!!!

Just to compare, and for those of you who were around for it (I wasn't)… did Lennon's death get this type of airwaves attention, where an entire network rearranges something for someone like Lennon?

By: jaciscully

jaciscully — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:36:14 +0000

Thank you! I totally do not understand this mass mourning for a child molester who happened to make good music.