I just watched "Grace Is Gone" with John Cusak on Lifetime last night. A lowkey, yet much like "Taking Chance", it was very touching.


TIS

Hi, TIS!! My daughter hates John Cusack, and any time I want to watch one of his movies, she has a fit! LOL

Hi SB,

I can't really name a Cusak movie I've seen, but I'm sure I've seen one or two. I don't dislike him, but never have been interested in seeing many of his movies. This one sounded pretty good.

TIS

I saw the premiere of this film at the London Film Festival in 2007. I went with my university's film society, of which I was the then president, and I was possibly the only person that liked it. It's very sugary and skirts over a lot of wider issues, but as a linear, sparse film about a father deciding how and when to tell his children that their mother has been killed in combat, I found it very affecting.

Cusack's a great actor.

Capo, I know what you are saying. I really only knew the basic storyline of the film. I thought they might show flashbacks of Grace or give us some insight on their relationship; or even show perhaps exactly how she died.

I can get teared up pretty easily when I see people suffer (even if in movies). When he was at his brother's house all alone in the bedroom crying was sad, but leaving messages on the home phone as though Grace was there, was particularily touching. Then again, I'm a big sap. Not a fantastic movie but more of a "real" movie focusing only on one man's struggle to tell his children that their mother is gone.

TIS

Chloe

I wanted to watch this because of the director, Atom Egoyan and the lead actress Julianne Moore. It also stars Liam Neeson and Amanda Seyfried. The easiest way to describe it is sort of a "Fatal Attraction" with the genders reversed and a healthy dose of Oedipal overtones. In some respects it's much of a piece with the sort of B-movies that Shannon Whirry and Shannon Tweed made back in the late eighties/early nineties. So in that respect Julianne Moore is slumming quite a bit but people have to eat I guess.

Why is everybody so down on the 'Twilight Saga' movies? Have to admit, I wouldn't have known a thing about them were it not for my 11yr old daughter...but I think they're neat!! You have to remember it's a love story more than anything else. And it's geared toward teens, more than true 'Vampire' junkies. Not simply Dracula going from victim to victim and turning into a bat...

Taylor Lautner's not a 'horse-face'. Awefully nasty comment. He's a good looking kid but Pattinson clearly has the 'personality'. While Lautner's good in the part of Jacob the buff body he had to acquire between 'Twilight' & 'New Moon' in order to keep playing the role just seems out of place for his persona. Hopefully when he's through with this film series he'll be able to keep a more 'normal' body.

I don't know, but I think there's a resemblance.

SB, I was reading through this page and saw your picture of the dude, then came back here to post about my "movie just watched," and suddenly the horse picture pops up next to him. How convenient that you even include a comparison pic.

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I just had to share that I watched The Usual Suspects for the first time, yesterday with my mom, who also had never seen it. I MUST watch it again.

I love "The Usual Suspects". It's such an engaging cast and script. Talk about a great ensemble cast!

LOL!!! I still don't see it, but you gotta admit the kid did what he had to to avoid being replaced. (They were going to recast the part if Lautner couldn't get buffed up enough for Jake's 'transition' in New Moon. He had a much smaller build in the 1st film.)

A few months ago my daughter was watching a Disney movie with characters named 'Lava Girl' and 'Shark Boy'....made around 2005. I recognized 'Shark Boy' as Taylor Lautner, he had to be around 12-13 at the time. So, I guess he's had a pretty decent career that will hopefully continue into adulthood after this 'Twilight' series ends.

I also really enjoyed 'L.A. Confidential' recently. Came across it on TCM around 3a.m. one night, intended to switch channels after 5 minutes but got caught up in the story right away. I believe that marked Russel Crowe's first Oscar nomination, and a win for Kim Bassinger as Best Supporting Actress. REALLY good movie.

I've seen bits and pieces of "LA Confidential", but never the whole thing. Kim Basinger was stunning in that role - really captured the feel of old Hollywood glamor.

"LA Confidential" is worth watching all the way through.
It's based on the book by James Ellroy, who's a pretty effective but odd writer who has a lot of interest in the LA of yesteryear. The movie "Black Dahlia" was also based in part on one of his books. If you liked the part of "LA Confidential" that you saw I imagine you'd also like "Black Dahlia".

The best movie based on the Black Dahlia murder was "True Confessions." Great book. Great film.

Is that the one with DeNiro, Duvall and Durning?

Turnbull has recommended that as well. It's one of those movies on my "to watch" list that I just never got to, along with LA Confidential. Don't know why, but I really should.

One of Plaw's favorites.

You know that was on one of the cable stations a couple weeks ago. I was debating watching, but for whatever reason, I didn't end up seeing it. It DOES sound interesting though.


TIS

It's a 'remake' of Anne Fontaine's 2003 film Nathalie, starring Fanny Ardant and Gérard Depardieu, with Emmanuelle Béart in the title role.

I saw the Egoyan last October at the LFF and thought it was dreadful; Moore hams it up to the max and I was regretfully reminded of Magnolia throughout.

Because they're mostly dreadful.

Vampires are 'in' again and so Meyer's worldview has commercial worth. It's pretty cynical stuff overall.

As a 'love story' it's one-dimensional - just because it's aimed at young'ns doesn't mean it can't be otherwise, unless we're actively seeking to condescend to the young.

Absolutely nothing is made of Bella's essential emotional transience, her moral fickleness or the fact she invests all trust and faith in someone at the expense of actually living a life.

I can see why that sort of thing - the uncritical stance on many would-be important issues - has a certain appeal to a certain sort of mindset, though...

I heard it was a remake, thanks for the confirmation. I will have to see the original.

Adding onto Capo's beatdown...those books have a fucking weird abstinence allegory to them, followed by some fucked up pedophila.

Yet Middle America gobbles it up like Meth.

Thank you Meyer.

I just didn't think that the Twilight movies/books were aimed at my demographic. From what I can tell they are primarily romance novels just overlaid with vampire myths. I'm a huge Brian Lumley fan and by comparison the Twilight vampires seem somewhat effete. Not that there's anything wrong with that.... The world is big enough for different versions of myths. Hopefully if a Necroscope movie is ever made it will put some bite back into the genre.

Salt
This starred Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Andre Braugher has a brief cameo.

Originally this was to star Tom Cruise in the lead role but he declined and the movie was rewritten for Jolie. If there's one actress who can make you believe that she has the capacity to fight men and occasionally win it's the statuesqe Jolie. I think Jolie is much better suited for this than Cruise would have been. I have trouble believing Cruise could win a fight with the paperboy.

Jolie is a deep cover CIA agent (Evelyn Salt) who is interrogating a Russian defector who suddenly states that Jolie is actually a deep cover Russian mole planning an assassination. Jolie refuses to be interrogated in turn and escapes. Mayhem ensues. Schreiber is Jolie's CIA supervisor, who doesn't want to believe she's gone bad. Ejiofor is a counterintelligence officer who does everything by the book even as he starts to notice some anomalies.

The movie is fun but mindless. The director realizes this and attempts to make up for it by plenty of closeups of Jolies' lush lips or pencil skirted legs. Jolie's character even uses her panties to escape lockdown. While this is... interesting I'm not sure it really balances out a script that has some very obvious holes in logic and some misdirection that doesn't quite work. I probably should have waited for DVD. In its defense though the movie is anything but ponderous and moves pretty quickly. It's just under 90 minutes. In general though I couldn't really care about any of the characters. They didn't quite come across as real.

SALT was pretty forgettable. Why can't Angie make a good action movie for once?

Wow, you guys saw it already? It just opened yesterday. Even tho I love movies like the Bourne films, I've never been into the "Bond-ish" movies, don't know why. Not really a Jolie fan either, so most likely I won't see the movie.


TIS

A friend of mine dismissed it as "Jason Bourne with a vagina," and that sounds about right.

I like those BOURNE movies because asides from good cast and thrilling captivating action cinema....I generally care about that character. Rootable kickass underdog born and shaped by the 2000s much like Dirty Harry was in the 1970s, both loners sticking it to "The Man" establishment.

That said, I'm sick of uncreative Hollywood still aping Mr. Bourne because they either don't know any better or they refuse to be different.

In contrast, look at INCEPTION which isn't Bourne bullshit with the action cinematography and its rather damn good with that sorta thing. OR to put it another way, no moment in SALT ever come close to impressing me like that hallway fight in the no-gravity hotel floor in INCEPTION.

Perhaps a reason, among others, why INCEPTION held off SALT at the box office this weekend.

RR,

Funny mentioning the Bourne films. I am watching the Bourne Identity on FX right now. I've seen it several times, and even have the DVD, but I can't resist seeing it again (it has been a little while since I've seen it at least).


TIS

P.S. Btw, of all the newer current movie releases, Inception is the only one that I would like to see.

Stallionette, I just watched The Bourne Identity the other night too. :-) Crazy!

Anyway, I got to this thread by searching "wisegal movie" - Its a movie listed in the sidebar, supposed to be on tonight the 28th. If its the one with Mariah Carey its a good movie but I don't know what channel LMN is? Is that Lifetime Movie Network? Just a wild frickin guess!

Good Movie though if its the one I'm thinking about ...

BIZ

I watched RAY again the other night, still just as good the as the first time i watched it, amazing sound track and acting Jamie Foxx very much deserved the oscar he won for his role,he was so convincing as Ray Charles..

8/10