Comments on: More Critical Bloodlust

By: sartre

sartre — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:57:36 +0000

Prairie’s love of Jesse James certainly makes up for her unfortunate TWbB green tomato rating. But let’s not speak anymore of such unpleasantness.

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:49:55 +0000

And you have Assassination of Jesse James at #1 in the good section. You’re okay in my book. :-)

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:47:02 +0000

Thanks for that link, prairie miller!

By: prairie miller

prairie miller — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 00:13:43 +0000

Hi Alison:
Actually, TWBB ended up on my Top Ten Best Movies List of 2007, but it’s a subcategory – Guilty Pleasures! Here’s the link, and you’ll see what I mean:
http://newsblaze.com/story/20071227065313tsop.nb/newsblaze/ENTERTAI/Entertainment.html

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 03:28:28 +0000

Thanks! I’ll check it out.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:55:06 +0000

Here’s the article that questioned the Handel:

http://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/insidetheclassics/blog/2007/12/charlie-wilsons-soundtrack.html

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:52:57 +0000

Sometimes with soundtracks, the only include the score that was composed specifically for the movie. There Will Be Blood for example only has the Jonny Greenwood stuff (which is all awesome), but none of the Brahms or…the other guy whose name escapes me.

I was trying to find what Brahms piece(s) they used, but I haven’t had any luck so far.

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:29:34 +0000

I’ve been looking for information on the soundtrack on the web, but have come up with nothing. Amazon has the soundtrack on sale, but the tracks are listed by scene (and there’s no sampling).

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:20:24 +0000

Perhaps I misunderstood what I was reading in my Messiah-know-nothingness. I’d link you to it if I could find it.

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:18:22 +0000

They mixed excerpts of an instrumental version of it in with excerpts of the choral version. Other than that it sounded pretty traditional to me.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:16:02 +0000

Did you like that version of it? It was kind of non-traditional, wasn’t it? (no I’m not trying to sound like some kind of Messiah expert…I’m not….this is just what I’d heard)

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:29:33 +0000

Yes. The music over it was “And He Shall Purify” from the Messiah, one of my favorite parts of it.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:26:48 +0000

Which part did they use Handel’s Messiah? Was it when they were shooting down the helicopters?

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:15:12 +0000

Yes, there are rumors about it getting re-edited, and about them being ‘gagged’ of course.

The tone is uneven. It was funny, which was good for lightening the mood. But there were some scenes and images that affected me. If they had fleshed them out more I think it could have been a much more moving fim.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:08:02 +0000

You had a really similar reaction to what I had Alison. I’m glad you enjoyed it. The person I saw it with was mad because the script was more political.

I thought it was fine. It made its point but also entertained.

I do wish they’d let Wilson be a little rougher around the edges as he supposedly was in real life, I think it would’ve given the movie a little more of an edge.

The main problem was the movie had a hard time finding a consistent tone or at least balancing the range of tones it contained…which is kind of what you just said.

This is pure speculation, but I have a suspicion with this movie that they did some re-editing after the thing was almost done. This might explain why it took so long before they started showing it to the press, it would account for the stories of how the final product was missing stuff that was in the screenplay, and would also explain some of the unevenness.

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 23:51:03 +0000

Craig, I did enjoy CWW. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good film, with solid performances all around. Tom Hanks looked miscast in the trailer, but I actually thought he did a great job. Julia Roberts as well. And Amy Adams has such great screen presence. PSH is also good and he was hysterical in this.

The trailer was crappy so I really had doubts about the film. But it was actually a good film, with a terrific screenplay. I thought the ending was fine. The audience gets the point and they don’t need to be hit over the head with it, in my opinion. There were some touching scenes, and I guess what I found to be the movie’s flaw had to do with the balance of the comedy with the drama. It wasn’t bad, but it could have been better.

I appreciated the use of “And He Shall Purify” from The Messiah, too. I’m probably the only one who cares about that, but…just saying.

By: Nicholas Plowman

Nicholas Plowman — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 19:29:05 +0000

Let me just put this out there, you people living in the US are so lucky that you get to see all these films now, in South Africa, CWW is released on February 8. 2008. How sad

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:46:16 +0000

That’s a very fair trade off and I predict you will enjoy CWW, especially if you like the cast or if you like Aaron Sorkin’s writing.

That’s all I will say about it until you see it.

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:37:24 +0000

:-)

I thought TWBB would be my only film this week, but it looks like I’ll be seeing CWW today, which I was planning to see eventually. It just wasn’t first on my list of films to see.

But my mom wants to see it. Since she indulged me and allowed me to drag her to see No Country on Thanksgiving I owe it to her to give in on CWW today.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 17:29:23 +0000

I shouldn’t say this because I review movies, but: never trust a critic.

By: Nicholas Plowman

Nicholas Plowman — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 15:25:20 +0000

Critics are the last people I expect to trust or be influenced by, I mean, all they do is give opinions, just like I try and do, and sometimes trash a film just because it’s doing well. I enjoy what they have to say but I don’t care to much of what they have to say. I do like it when we can come to an agreement, for example, an agreemen that There Will Be Blood is brilliant and great and one of the best films of the yar.

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 03:35:34 +0000

joel, I’m actually not trusting the critics either way. I have been dying to see this movie since I heard reports about it from Film Fest. I’ve actually been checking Rotten Tomatoes just to get a sense of how well it’s being received. I want the film to get a good critical response. So every time I see a rotten and the percentage go down I worry.

Though, with all the critic society awards it’s won or been a runner-up for, you’d think the reviews would follow suit. I guess Prairie Miller was out-voted.

By: joel

joel — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 03:25:47 +0000

I’d suggest you stop reading other people’s reviews, Alison. I think a movie like this is going to have to come down to you and what happens on that movie screen. You can’t trust the critics to necessarily steer you in the right direction.

I suppose I’m being a bit presumptious so take it as you will. And maybe lowered expectations aren’t a bad thing either. I just know that I’ve given up on trusting the critics to give each film a fair shake after the way Assassination of Jesse James, Zodiac, Grindhouse, Marie Antoinette, and a number of other smaller films in the last few years have been received.

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 02:57:44 +0000

Damn. Prairie Miller hated it too. At least she’s not cream of the crop.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:08:24 +0000

Nah, you’re not weird. Well, as far as I can tell. You could be batshit crazy for all I know. :)

I think some critics love to go against the grain. They like to be the ones to declair the emperor has no clothes because they stand out.

I haven’t read what the guy said yet because I still haven’t written my own review, but he might not be totally off the mark.

I can see a lot of room for people to disagree on TWBB. For me it was more of a visceral experience than an emotional one if that makes any sense. Many people like to have emotions to sort of hang their hats on. They like to laugh or cry or be scared. TWBB isn’t quite that kind of movie.

It will probably leave a lot of people cold, and that’s ok.

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:49:44 +0000

I know, but I hate seeing that tomatometer % go down.

Call me paranoid, but I actually believe that there are some critics who pan a movie for the sake of knocking it down a few notches – just because. I sense a lot of that going on with Sweeney Todd.

I’m weird, I know.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:20:12 +0000

Well, there’s no accounting for taste!

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 15:50:00 +0000

Uh oh. Harry at CultureVulture did not like this and gave it a rotten. :-(

At least he praised DDL.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/there_will_be_blood/articles/1698702/1.php

By: Alison Flynn

Alison Flynn — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:24:15 +0000

You bet. Day after Christmas I will be at the theater.

By: Craig Kennedy

Craig Kennedy — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:19:47 +0000

Thank you Alison. Those are great.

Are you getting TWBB fever??