Boz
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Post by Boz on Feb 12, 2007 18:33:38 GMT
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Feb 14, 2007 18:44:35 GMT
I guess a few weeks or so of reflection will tell if Flags has a lasting impact on me.
I admittedly caught it when I was tired, and I can't help but see an Eastwood film now without some kind of pre-conceived need to hide beneath my shirt at the mediocrity.
That said, I got a lot more out of it than I expected, and there was at one point a moment where I even thought it was a good film, and said, "You know, this isn't all that bad". It's his most solid effort in years without ever being extraordinary; like Nolan's The Prestige, it sheds new light on its director's work as a whole, a sort of thematic binding - in this case, Eastwood is dealing with myths, how they're formed, how they're maintained, the implications of all involved in that maintaining.
The battle scenes were "cool"; at one point, you get a POV from a plane flying towards a hillside turret-point, and it feels like something out of a Medal of Honor videogame. They did at times, however, feel like limp imitations of Saving Private Ryan... speaking of which, Barry Pepper, as if having gained experienced since the 1998 film, plays a more authoritative role here which nevertheless seems typecast.
Spielberg's Executive Producer brings up another similarity between the two directors: both are in desperate need of a) better scriptwriters, and b) editors. Eastwood's relying on Paul Haggis for his scripts and it's hurting him badly; the battle scenes are fine, but whenever anybody opens their mouth in the scenes thereafter, you want to cover your ears. Like Spielberg, too, Eastwood can no longer finish a film. Flags is overlong, and ends with a lengthy coda narrated with a voice-over and sudden introduction of this sort of reporter character who's the son of one of the now-dead protagonists. I liked the idea of having the narrative unfold as a succession of collective, multi-perspective memories, but the impact was deadened and run into the ground long after the film should have ended.
I'm looking forward to Letters from Iwo Jima. I see Ken Watanabe's got top billing, which doesn't look too hopeful, but we'll see.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Feb 14, 2007 19:26:06 GMT
I'm looking forward to Letters from Iwo Jima. I see Ken Watanabe's got top billing, which doesn't look too hopeful, but we'll see. Not a fan of him? I thought he was the best thing about "Letters From Iwo Jima". Anyway: 1. Mystic River (2003) 2. Million Dollar Baby (2004) 3. Flags of Our Fathers (2006) 4. Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) The only other Eastwood film I really want to see is "Play Misty for Me", or maybe "High Plains Drifter".
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Feb 14, 2007 19:44:41 GMT
I've only seen him in The Last Samurai I think, and he was alright. But I have problems with actors playing "foreign" characters in even more "foreign" languages. Memoirs of a Geisha had the same problem.
I won't lie; Herzog's characters get away with it because I do not speak their languages. And because Herzog in general is interested and often explores language itself.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Feb 14, 2007 23:49:15 GMT
Flags of Our Fathers was interesting and frustrating. I admired the thematic and narrative ambition, but both Haggis and Eastwood get bogged down in the most ininteresting aspects of the story. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Eastwood has never made an even remotely self-referrential film, and I think a movie about the extreme duplicity and incalculable power of images really ought to be. In a way it reminded me of Atom Egoyan's work, and Ararat in particular.
Anyway, in the time since I viewed it its more clunky and clichéd elements have faded from memory and its provocative narrative dynamics and profound central premise remain, so it's retrospectively gained itself a star.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Feb 14, 2007 23:52:03 GMT
I've only seen him in The Last Samurai I think, and he was alright. But I have problems with actors playing "foreign" characters in even more "foreign" languages. But Watanabe is a Japanese guy playing a Japanese guy in both films.
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Feb 15, 2007 0:02:02 GMT
I know, but he's speaking English... and (probably) badly scripted English at that.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Feb 15, 2007 0:16:30 GMT
I don't think he speaks English in Eastwood's film to anyone other than the Americans (and his character was educated in America), and in The Last Samurai doesn't he only speak English to English-speakers, and Japanese to the other samurai?
What I find really amusing is the movie cliché of having all peoples of ancient civilizations, like the Greeks/Romans/Trojans/Egyptians, speaking English with English accents. For some reason it seems less forced than having them affect phony Greek/Roman/Trojan/Egyptian accents. Eric Bana's Israeli brogue in Munich was very distracting. Funniest of all, I suppose, is Diane Kruger's turn in Troy: she's a German-raised actress with a lot of acquired American inflections playing a Greek by putting on an English accent.
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Feb 15, 2007 2:12:44 GMT
I know, but he's speaking English... and (probably) badly scripted English at that. Wetdog is correct. He speaks English only to Americans, but I don't won't to spoil anything. For the majority of the film, he speaks in his native tongue. And once again, I think he was the best thing about the film.
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Blib
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Post by Blib on Nov 24, 2007 22:49:06 GMT
Unforgiven (1992) - Mystic River (2003) - Million Dollar Baby (2004) - Space Cowboys (2000) - Pale Rider (1985) - The Bridges of Madison County (1995) -
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Post by Michael on Oct 24, 2008 8:30:12 GMT
1. Unforgiven (1992) **** 2. Mystic River (2003) *
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Post by Anasazie on Oct 24, 2008 10:09:23 GMT
1. Unforgiven (1992) 7/10 2. The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) 5/10 3. Play Misty for Me (1971) 5/10 4. Heartbreak Ridge (1986) 4/10 5. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) 4/10 6. Changeling (2008) 1/10
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