RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 25, 2006 22:37:26 GMT
Sam Mendes (1965- )1. Jarhead (2005) 7/102. American Beauty (1999) 5/103. Road to Perdition (2002) 4/10
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Omar
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Post by Omar on Jan 25, 2006 22:39:18 GMT
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Post by Vercetti on Jan 25, 2006 22:42:11 GMT
American Beauty Jarhead Road to Perdition To be honest, I can't decide between Road to Perdition and Jarhead.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 25, 2006 22:52:26 GMT
Wetdog, what are your thoughts on "Jarhead"? I thought it was very good. Mendes abandoned storyboards for it, and it shows, because it's visually gorgeous, organic and Malick-esque. I loved the march into surreality toward the end, and the moment with the horse in the oil was incredible. Actually, it's full of brilliant little scenes. My only points of contention, really, are that the early bootcamp scenes feel like limp impersonations of Full Metal Jacket, the drill sergeant's put-downs are forced and awkward. And I could've done without seeing their return home, which didn't offer much. I'm already looking forward to seeing it again, though. It was much better than I'd anticipated.
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jrod
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Post by jrod on Jan 25, 2006 23:12:37 GMT
American Beauty Road to Perdition
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Post by svsg on Jan 26, 2006 1:22:35 GMT
American Beauty Road To Perdition Jarhead
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Post by svsg on Jan 26, 2006 1:26:52 GMT
And I could've done without seeing their return home, which didn't offer much. I thought that was a great scene. The common people treat them like heroes, but they had done nothing heroic in the battle field. When people credit you of something you don't deserve, there is an awkward embarassment/guilt feeling. There is also a temptation to live in the limelight. This contradiction was shown well in that scene.
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RNL
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Post by RNL on Jan 26, 2006 1:36:57 GMT
True, but I don't think that needed to be conveyed at all.
Discharging their weapons into the sky should've been the last scene, with maybe a very brief coda - but I'm all for abrupt endings. Showing their return, showing his reunion with his girlfriend (situation already implied), showing all the marines back in their civilian jobs, showing [SPOILER]-Troy's funeral, or having him die at all-[/SPOILER] seemed completely pointless and ineffective to me.
I'm all for hermetic worlds, too. So isolating the film to the boot camp and the desert is better, I think, than allowing it to spill over briefly into hometowns and greater communities for the simple sake of securing loose ends (it wasn't even plot-driven to begin with).
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Post by Vercetti on Jan 26, 2006 5:05:25 GMT
SPOILERS I thought the final scene was good. We see these men as soldiers, but in the end, once they return home, they're back to normal, shit jobs like working in the super market or whatever. Though I would've liked the film as much had it ended with the gunfire. And I agree, the death didn't really move me a lot. SPOILERS
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Post by svsg on Jan 26, 2006 6:25:16 GMT
SPOILERSI thought the final scene was good. We see these men as soldiers, but in the end, once they return home, they're back to normal, shit jobs like working in the super market or whatever. Though I would've liked the film as much had it ended with the gunfire. And I agree, the death didn't really move me a lot. SPOILERS Exactly my thoughts too Vercetti. The death scene was not necessary, but the (supposed) war hero working in a grocery shop shows how he cannot live in the glory of war all the time. It is ironic though that there was no glory in the war that he fought. In that sense his grocery job and war are equally mundane. That was truly genious of Sam Mendes.
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Post by ronnierocketago on Jan 26, 2006 15:00:37 GMT
was it really "not" necessary? Besides, if one is to show all these people going back home, but not mention the fate of that one person...people would not only have questioned about it, they would have given that as a complaint against the film. Come on, you know I'm right about that.
Whatever narrative-wise it was necessary or not, I'm open to both valid opinions.
AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999) - ****1/2 ROAD TO PERDITION (2002) - ***1/2 JARHEAD (2005) - ****
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Capo
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Post by Capo on Jan 29, 2006 19:31:23 GMT
1. American Beauty 1999 2. Jarhead 2005 3. Road to Perdition 2002
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Aug 18, 2006 8:46:02 GMT
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Nov 8, 2006 21:03:56 GMT
I probably don't remember Jarhead well enough at this point to comment on the coda discussion going on here, although I will mention my main complaints with the film were the unneccesary over-abundance of humor, and Mendes' lacking the balls to explore more surreal dream sequences and the like.
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Blib
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Post by Blib on Dec 8, 2007 20:08:12 GMT
Road to Perdition (2002) - American Beauty (1999) -
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Post by svsg on Dec 8, 2007 20:15:38 GMT
Road to Perdition (2002) - My least favorite of his filmography. American Beauty and Jarhead are excellent.
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Blib
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Post by Blib on Dec 8, 2007 20:27:59 GMT
I just added those two to my list of movies I need to watch soon. I wasn't interested in them before but going by the high ratings they've been given on here I'm really looking forward to see them.
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Pherdy
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Post by Pherdy on Mar 20, 2008 11:57:02 GMT
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Post by Michael on Oct 25, 2008 2:29:47 GMT
1. American Beauty (1999) *
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Post by Anasazie on Nov 15, 2008 13:09:43 GMT
1. American Beauty (1999) 5/10 2. Revolutionary Road (2008) 4/10 3. Road to Perdition (2002) 3/10
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