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INTOLERABLE CRUELTY review
INTOLERABLE CRUELTY is like the sardonic creation of Howard Hawks’ evil twin sons! It has all the breathless wit and charm of his classic screwball comedies, but with a level of just vicious wrongness that I found absolutely breathtaking.
Watching some old lady testifying about being made into a sex slave for her pathetic husband, who apparently sexually experimented upon her with devices designed to use spare parts from the vacuum cleaner… well… it made me cry laughing. Then there’s the I.V. Love magazine…. Which is so wonderfully wrong… or all the “I’m Gonna Nail Your Ass” lines… I felt like I was in the room with Ravvy and Quint again!
All this talk about this being a “toned down” Coen Brother film… I’m not sure if I entirely get. The wit and repartee is right on target. The cinematic conventions that they wield and break are as brilliant as ever. The devilish details that they sprinkle are throughout. The Raymond Chandler and Pulp aspirations they so adore are present. Their cruel torturing of their characters is ever-present. Their gifted use of wonderful music is again on display.
To me… the star of the film is Too Mean Levine playing WHEEZY JOE. I mean… not since the brilliant Joe Ranft gave voice to WHEEZY in TOY STORY 2 has there been a character with a respiratory dilemma that warmed my heart or made me care so much. I think, if INTOLERABLE CRUELTY happens to catch on… then Wheezy Joe will become one of the most beloved characters in film history… Right up there with Mike Mazurski’s Moose Malloy!
As for Clooney’s Miles Massey… he’s the fucking Sam Spade of Divorce Attorneys… the Phillip Marlowe of Matrimonial Litany. Only, imagine if Cary Grant had played those Dicks. Only, that’s not entirely accurate… I’m seeing a lot of folks bringing up Cary Grant around Georgie, but that’s the cheap way out… Clooney’s part Groucho Marx here, part Cary Grant and part Ray Milland ala his LOST WEEKEND days. He’s an immaculate mess of confidence and idleness. He’s the sort of guy that can win with every dime and is just bored of the here and there. He’s ho-hum with the day to day and he’s climbed Everest so often he’s carved steps, and there’s no fun going up and down those any more. There’s some of Gable’s Peter Warne here, but also the love sappy yolk of a Mr. Smith. He’s just a delight and a wonder on-screen. There’s a texture of Preston Sturges on this character… that "I’ve been wrong for so long, I’m gonna make an exception, just cuz I can.." type of thing. Whatever, Clooney makes me giggle, in fact Richter would need a new instrument of measurement to capture my ripples from this flick. Clooney had me going throughout. I mean… that look on his face when he visited that guy, who I swear was Sam Jaffe… only that’d mean Sam Jaffe was 112, and while he looked it, I’m told that Sam died back in 1984, so either they did a cg job after scanning his corpse… or … they found someone that bares a resemblance to Jaffe’s corpse… only kinda moving.
Then there’s Catherine Zeta Jones – and she’s got the most luminous skin I’ve seen on screen in quite some time. You just know she’s gotta smell like a peach, though as played, you know it’s got a black pit underneath. She’s bad news… bad news in that classic, oh hell, here comes a determined woman that stirs us like Ovaltine. Her Marylin Rexroth Doyle is just a splendor… There may be no leopard per se in this flick, but she’s definitely got the Simone Simon thing going. Her eyes devour, tempt and taunt. They ask questions that only the sheets can answer. She waltzes with wit and tangos to trouble. She reminds here of Stanwyck, and in particular… she strikes me like Jane Russell did… she might not be the top heavy talent that Jane was, but she has enough curves to make ya want to slow down, cuz you know if you go too fast, you’ll jump a rail and she will laugh at your broken blazing body in the crevice below.
But, ya know what… as great as Wheezy Joe, Miles Massey and Marylin Rexroth Doyle may be… it’s the whole of a Coen cast that collects my coin.
From Rush’s crazed Donovan Donaly laughing while photographing his punctured ass to Cedric the Entertainer’s “I’m Gonna Nail Your Ass” Gus Petch, to Edward Herrmann’s train fetishist, to Billy Boy Thornton’s graduate of Texas A&M Oil retard Howard D Doyle to Julia Duffy’s terrible evil desiccated divorcee to Jonathan Hadary’s hilarious Heinz the Baron Krauss von Espy and on and on… There’s this seemingly endless cast of characters that just kill on screen. I mean, that singing preacher was the scariest thing I’ve seen, till the kilted one.
How anyone could go to this movie and think it is a toned down whitewashed version of a Coen flick, I’m not entirely sure.
All I do know is that it rules, as do all the Coen films. These guys have a knack of just owning every second they command of my time. Again, Roger Deakins is just in a class all his own. While definitely not as overtly showy as say… his THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE or O, BROTHER WHERE ART THOU… I dare say, the way he shot windshields on moving cars in this film were just beautiful. And that’s when you know you’re dealing with a genius… when he can take the ordinarily mundane and bring it to life.
The interesting part is this… Both INTOLERABLE CRUELTY and KILL BILL VOL 1 are covering a very similar subject in both their auteurs' signature fashions. Both films are about the price of love and betrayal and revenge. In a strange way, they’re a perfect double feature – but only if your tastes are wide and a bit on the amoral side. ENJOY…
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Kill Cruelty; Intolerable Bill...
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I got to see a sneak preview showing tonight, and I thought it was great, just hilarious. I didn't think it seemed toned down either, it had the dark comedy and the demented characters, topped off with the quirky dialogue. I guess people are thrown off by two mainstream stars in the leads, but Americas Sweethearts this aint. I saw it for free tonight, but I'll probably end up paying to see it again, it's just that good.
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Well Friday will be great! Two new films by my two favroite filmmaker. We are lucky indeed. Good review Harry, well even if you did not care for it I would have seen it anyway. Come on it's the Coen bro. Never let me down once. Now the hard part is choosing which one to see first?
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(filmmakers)
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...must smell like a peach, the first thing that popped into my head is Harry--sitting the the theatre--moaning aloud, "You know, I could eat a peach for hours..." ala Face/Off...
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Oct 08, 2003 5:03:59 AM CDT
Why is this considered a Coen Bros movie when they didn't even w
by brody armstrong
It didn't come out of their own twisted minds so I don't give a shit if they directed it. Its not an original Coen Bro flick.
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we'll know if its a real coen brothers' film if its not actually about love and deception but about other films that were about love and deception. if anything will date their movies it'll be that the universe they exist in is made out of other movies, not out of human experience. Lebowski is the best film ever.
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Oct 08, 2003 5:52:54 AM CDT
LOVED IT!! KILL BILL AND INTOLERABLE CRUELTY! WHAT A MOVIE WEEKE
by mentallymariah
Make it a double...thank you!
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It's just a pseudenym that Joel and Ethan came up with. They do their own DOP.
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Roger Deakins does exist. Nagging doubt and a fact check proves me wrong. I think the Coens did invent a cinematographer once though...
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... and he's a cutter. and to all you fucktards already seen IC ... I HATE YOU ... cause I'm in the middle of nowhere ... where is no cars ... no cinemas ... no nothing. just a fuckin 33.6 modem and thats it. Oh I'm so filled with hate right now
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Their movies have Roderick Jaynes as editor, they edit their own stuff, though.
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You beat me to Roderick Jaynes. Shit! In the words of General Cartman Lee: "I hate you so much right now". ;) The amount of jaelousy I feel towards people who have seen IC knows no bounds.It seems really cool.
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But those blasted Coen Brothers stole my title! Mine takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where everyone in the state is dead! Until a Voodoo priest brings them all back - as flesh-eating zombies! Now isn't that a better idea than those Coen hacks spewed up? sk
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is there any difference between this and some hugh grant schlock?
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And their rotting zombie mouths make them talk in a slurred drawl that no-one can understand. Then they just sit around shooting crows and fucking their zombie sisters. "excellent" says the mad scientist "Its back just like it was before." Great idea! anyway, i really liked the hudsucker proxy and i'm going to like this. The man who wasn't there was the coen's trying (as much as they can) to be serious and, well, it was kind of boring. maybe i have ADD. And another thing...ah fuck it.
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Coen Brother movies are the hardest ones to sell. Trailers never even begin to do their movies justice, because Coen brothers' movies never find their power in moments or clips, everything is built in such a way that everything works as a result of a payoff from the scenes around them. Take the Big Lebowski as a great example. While it certainly didnt make a killing at the box office, it has become one of the most loved comedies. Thats because the trailers were not able to sell it, there wasnt enough independantly funny moments in the film to fill up a trailer, because the sucess of the movie's jokes relied on knowledge of what happened in the movie. I am definately going to give this film a chance. Be Cool, ToJ out.
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Sorry, I have this Pavlovian dog drool thing whenever her name is mentioned...I'm straight, and I'd do her in a second. :) I don't care about this movie, though. I'm waiting for Kill Bill.
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Thank you Harry for the Simone Simon reference. She was hot. Meeow!
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Katherin Zeta Jones involvement has me thinking this might be the Coens' For the Love of the Game. You know, to try to make some extra doe and get some studio backing for future projects. No one should ever want to make a Romantic Comedy. Least of all, the Coen Brothers. I'm really hesitant to see this. I eventually will because I'm a sucker for a good Coen Brother movie, just like I'm a sucker for a good Sam Raimi movie. But I'm walking on pins and needles here.
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wow, a reveiw that did not mention your personal life at all...what a novel concept...and it was great, just like your older reviews, keep it up...i see this may gal will see kill bill...the weekend is looking up...o yea, cowboy up...go Red Sox...
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*A person reads a short, quick, summed up review with a simple grade (like the ones in EW that have 8 or 9 people expressing their reviews with a simple grade) then that person wants to know whether or not to waste time with the movie...........*A person reads a full blown, spoiler-filled, no-holds-barred review AFTER seeing the movie then they want to know what others thought of it........... *But a person reads a full blown, spoiler-filled, no-holds-barred review BEFORE seeing the movie then they want to know what they should be thinking because they can't think for themselves.......... As for reviewers who don't give a quick summary or a rating system and force you to dig through their full blown, no-holds-barred review... they have an agenda and a case of the "Look at me" syndrome and should be disregarded........ and THAT's the BOTTOM LINE.
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Oct 08, 2003 12:02:30 PM CDT
Maybe the reason Harry mentions Kill Bill all the time is becaus
by blacklist
I don't know. It's just a hunch.
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I'd love it if George Clooney did a new take on the old spy series "Matt Helm" that Dean Martin once held. Not make it soooo camp and I think it'd be a big bit hit with lots of sequels. Base the movies more off the books, though ... __ It would/could be what the Mission: Impossible movies should've/could've been (if Tom Cruise had played Jim Phelps instead of making the Phelps character inexplicably a villain and basing all MI movies on some guy named Ethan something or other.) George Clooney as Matt Helm, an assassin working for an unnamed U.S. Government agency, whose job it is to kill people who pose a threat to the United States. That's Matt Helm and with a little swagger to it, I think it could be just as big as any new James Bond movie could be.
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Oct 08, 2003 2:04:03 PM CDT
The Coen Brothers want a mainstream hit -- just like everybody e
by carson dyle
I've seen the movie, and while it certainly feels like a Coen Bros. film in all the ways their fans have come to expect, it is also their first real attempt to cross over and attract a broader audience. Thus, while the film has that Coen Bros. feeling in spades, it also has a decidedly Brian Grazer-ish feeling. It's a big, high concept, star-driven, mass marketed, Hollywood movie -- which is probably why the Coens were attracted to it in the first place. Let's face it, they'd like to make some money here.
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I knew this guy had made it after Out of Sight's Jack Foley. I've turned a number of Clooney haters into fans. He has true moviestar charisma. Now if someone would just take a nailgun to Affleck and Damon.
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Oct 08, 2003 2:16:37 PM CDT
Out of Sight was about the time I jumped onto the rather light C
by iamjacksuserid
I think sometimes fanbois cannot fathom a popular, handsome leading man that actually can act dramatically and comedically. Plus his discretion in movie roles is admirable and respectable.
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Intolerable Cruelty sounds fun enough, but the Coens directing Tom Hanks in that "Ladykillers" remake (for shame, but what the hell, it SEEMS like a good remake idea for once), sounds even better. Odd: Hanks has finished "Ladykillers," is starting "Terminal" for Spielberg. "Terminal" already has a summer 2004 release date. Hanks' "Polar Express" has an Xmas 2004 release date. Bupkis news on "The Ladykillers" release. Next fall? AND...who is playing Clark Pancake in that damn thing?
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He;s shot for lots of movies besides the Coen's; most recently A Beautiful Mind. It's their editor that the Coens made up.
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I can never look at Douglas' young lady in good light again.
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and I miss those. But I still like Harry's review style. I have faith that the Coen bros. are not true sell-outs, because they have made beautiful films in the past, which strongly indicates to me that they have genuine love for movies. The snobbish attitude of dismissing all things imperfect, of pointing out only the flaws, is getting on my nerves. What is the purpose of giving negative criticism? I submit that the purpose should be only to pave a way for the further advancement of the art of movies. People who do not have good intentions in their criticism either are insecure about themselves, or they take things too personally. I believe that you people have the creativity to see the possibilities a film -- flaws and all -- evokes. Why is there so much pessimism these days? I hope people will learn to form constructive opinions.
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is it just me or has every review since kill bill had a reference to kill bill. i don't know about you guys, but frankly, i'm getting pretty tired of kill bill being mentioned. i mean who really wants to hear about kill bill 24/7. granted kill bill is going to be a good (no wait, excellent meedely meedly mee) movie, but who wants to read kill bill every two seconds. you know, kill bill is pretty fun to type. kill bill kill bill kill bill. hey that was fun!
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{nt}
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I am confused. A few people above caused it. Roger Deakins is a real cinematographer. He is from Devon England and has done more than just Coen Bro. movies. Also, someone above said that this isn't a real Coen Brother's movie because they didn't write it. But they did. They have credit for the screenplay. It's just that they aren't the only writers. Just thought I would throw this out there.
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No comped visit to the set, no rambling about Harry's film "credentials", no talk about his personal life, no Kill Bill referrence. Has Harry been scared into submission by the talkbackers?
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I was wrong there is one Kill Bill referrence. Couldn't let it go could you Harry. Kill Bill is at 69% and dropping at rottentomatoes.com. Are you enjoying all the reviews Harry?
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'nuff said!
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"As You Like It" is a romantic comedy. "Pride and Prejudice" is a romantic comedy. "The Philadelphia Story" is a romantic comedy. Romantic comedies are as valid as any other genre. Some are crap, but few are as crappy as a crappy action film - because people who make romantic comedies nearly always know just a little about romance, whereas 50% of action films are made by people who've never heard a shot fired in anger.
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HHMMMM...oh yeah! nuts on your chin...HHMMMMM oh shit! all over you face beeatch...ooooohh motherfuc...almost there!!!right there on your face Ms.Jameson...Sshhhitt, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH...Peter North got nothing on me! Oh shit...here comes another Kill Bill Plug, get ready Nina Hartley.
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KILL BILL is at 74%, with only 5 negative reviews. Most of them either weren't big Tarantino fans or are just complaining about the movie being split in half. I'm confident the percentage will go up as more reviews come in. Cannibal Nun shut the hell up.
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Listen Junior, the rottentomatos.com I go to has the movie listed at a 73% aproval rating with the major dissent coming from people like David Poland who got all confused because the answers weren't spelled out for them and they have to wait a few months for closure. And there's still more to come like Roger Ebert's rave (he gave the movie a BIG thumbs up on T.V.) one the review embargo has passed. And where the hell did all this Ebert-bashing come from. Has anyone even READ his reviews? He may not have liked RD all that much but he gave QT props for a new and inovative stye saying good things were comming from him. Then he gave Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown four stars (his highest rating) and praised till it got old (even naming PF one of the greatest movies of all time). So really, get of Ebert's ass. It just shows you don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
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great news, Jay-z could star in the life story of tupac. that dad from "the fresh prince" as Suge Night?
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she was beautiful, but alas she was an evil bitch.
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Oct 09, 2003 5:17:43 PM CDT
If Roger Deakins doesn't exist, are we to take it that....
by shanghai nicky
....the Coen Brothers shot DEFENCE OF THE REALM, SID AND NANCY, WHITE MISCHIEF, STORMY MONDAY, PASCALI'S ISLAND, MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, AIR AMERICA, THUNDERHEART, THE SECRET GARDEN, ROB ROY, DEAD MAN WALKING, COURAGE UNDER FIRE, KUNDUN, THE SIEGE, THIRTEEN DAYS and A BEAUTIFUL MIND, among other films? Or did they assume Deakins' identity like the villain did with the English nobleman in the Bond film DIE ANOTHER DAY?
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I wish I'd read this Talkback all the way through before debunking the Deakins Is The Coens claims. And I was feeling so smart for a minute or two...
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I have met the man! I worked on Shawshank. This site makes me laugh with all the film geeks who think they know whats going on. Haha.
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who said the coens didn't write this movie? yes they did. and they DIDN'T want to direct it because it was too damn hollywood for them. but, in the end, they decided to because they were able to sign on Clooney and Thornton--two guys they've worked with in the past and trust to deliver good performances despite their Hollywood ethos. Geeze. Don't any of you people listen to interviews?
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Oct 10, 2003 4:35:45 PM CDT
Harry Likes a movie with George Clooney? Oh how surprising!
by sexybeast
Look any movie that stars clooney right now is going to be an instant hit with Harry because Clooney's political views are so close to Harry's. They are both Anti Bush and Hollywood left. If this movie had starred Ron Silver or Bruce Willis harry would have panned it big time. -
Oct 10, 2003 5:32:55 PM CDT
If this movie had starred Ron Silver or Bruce Willis harry would
by brain_bug
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Oct 10, 2003 5:35:38 PM CDT
Re: "If this movie had starred Ron Silver or Bruce Willis harry
by brain_bug
(sorry, hit return a little too quick there before)
Yeah, you know, he probably *would* have panned it big time, because if the movie had starred Ron Silver, it probably would've sucked ass and/or made for Fox Family. And of course, there's nothing HK pans more often than a Bruce Willis movie, oh, except Armageddon, The Sixth Sense, Die Hard... -
Oct 10, 2003 9:32:12 PM CDT
Rom coms can be just as bad, if not worse, than most action film
by blacklist
Just because the filmmakers know something about love doesn't necessarily mean that it will translate into a good idea. Sure there are some good recent romcoms like Lost in Translation, Down With Love, and Intolerable Cruelty, but have you looked at the rest? How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days? Bringin Down the House? Wedding Planner? Some of these should be defined as war-crimes. Oh, and Kill Bill seriously rules. How would you Kill Bill haters like your crow prepared?
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Really, what is Hollywood, a forum for honest political debate? Get a clue, it's a safehaven for demagouges and elitests of the left. Don't you dare criticise it either, you hater of free speech!
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INTOLERABLE CRUELTY! I can not believe that anyone actually likes this. Not only the worst Coen Bros. movie ever, but also has to rank around the top 10 worst movies I have ever seen. This was more over the top camp than Batman and Robin! Yes, in my book the Coen Bros have now proven that they can do a movie worse than Joel Schumacher, and that is very very low. I really don
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You know your Zapped! trivia, Harry.
In 1981 at the age of 29, Irwin (88) Keyes was the oldest castmember of "Zapped!" to be playing a high school student. What is more remarkable than that, though, is he told me that he was wearing no make-up. -
At least Catherine is uber-hot like a fire or something. And what the hell is a Coen Brother?
Anyway like the one guy said Cowboy up...Go Red Sox...Screw those world-series-buying-pieces of ape dung, screw them in their stupid asses. That is all.
Oh, Yeah and uh Go COLTS! -
Also Poland didn't hate Kill Bill because it "confused" him, he hated it because it's a glorified Charlie's Angels. Which it is, undeniably.
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Oct 12, 2003 9:31:35 AM CDT
Why the FUCK are people twiddling on about KB on this talkback?
by minderbinder
Funniest movie I've seen in a while (is it just me or has this been a shit year for comedies?). Totally stylized dialogue, but it's funny and it works. The stuff with Rush, the Baron, and Billy Bob, and ESPECIALLY Wheezy Joe is hilarious. Totally feels like a Coen movie, anyone who says they sold out is full of shit.
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Oct 12, 2003 9:44:56 AM CDT
I'm new here; since Harry likes it, does that mean that it sucks
by switchdogshits
I hope not se
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These past 8 days have been awesome. I finally caught Secondhand Lions and School of Rock. Saw Kill Bill Friday night, then took my 9 year old to see School of Rock with his best friend. And last night my wife and I saw Intolerable Cruelty. Amazingly, all 4 of these films are great in their own way and people should make every effort to see them. That said, Intolerable Cruely is that little bit better than the rest. I say that as an avowed Coen brothers fan and I admit prejudiced judgement here quite freely. I also agree with Harry, this is a Coen brothers movie all the way. It is packed with sardonic, satirical black humor all the way through. Turning a pre-nup agreement into the symbol of true love? Wheezy? The 60 year old deviant sex slave? The silly train guy? I think folks get selective memory when talking about the Coen brothers. I am fondest of their more broadly comic efforts - Raising Arizona, Big Lebowski and this fits right in. If you want Blood Simple or Fargo, this isn't it. But to restrict the Coen brothers in such a narrow way is unfair to their talents. They can do a lot of stuff and that's why each of their movies is a great new adventure and worth seeing. One thing I really enjoyed was the return to some of the visual, modern slapstick that they used in Raising Arizona in particular. As my wife said later, during the pepper spray scene, you know what's going to happen and it's funny anyway. Go see this movie
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The Cohen Brothers are making movies that are too over-the-top for me. Just as most of Woody Allen's lesser films are still good and entertaining, so are the Cohen Borther's. That Said, their greatest film is Fargo. The key difference between a great Cohen Brothers film (like Fargo) and a good Cohen Brothers film (like Intolerable Cruelty) is that in Fargo you have funny characters, whilst in Intolerable Cruelty you have funny caricatures. In Fargo, I BELIEVED in the characters. They were funny and eccentric, yes, but they seemed real, which allowed the movie to be both effective as a comedy and a drama. Intolerable Cruelty is an example of this failing: the actors are playing caricatures, not characters. So, in effect, you have a funny and entertaining movie, but I don't feel at all connected to the characters as if they had any reality. In Fargo, you BELIEVE in the characters, despite their eccentric natures. They were still grounded enough in realism to carry weight, but not so much that it inhibited the comedy. The Cohen Brothers, who are their own sorts of peculiar geniuses, seem to cross the line with many of their latter day films, and their characters veer so far into caricature as to lose their own sense of reality and possibility. Yet still, the movie is good and very funny. But, it is not a great film like Fargo, but merely a "good" film. I would suggest to the Cohen Brothers that their greatest work involves more naturalistic characters than those we are treated to in Intolerable Cruelty. I liked the movie a lot, but I still hope for another Cohen movie that reaches the heights of both comedy and drama that Fargo reached. I think that if such a height is to be reached, it might involve the Brothers reining in the eccentric characterizations a bit, and adding a dash more of naturalism to the characters. Still, the movie was great fun.
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Why I typed "Cohen" rather than "Coen" in my last post, I have no idea. Too little sleep...
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To Barron34's point about caricature vs character. I agree that IC features more of the former. But I submit that in the hands of gifted satirists (like the Coen brothers), that either can be used to great effect and can be watched and understood at a great many levels. For example, is Miles Massey just an overly broad depiction of divorce attorneys everywhere? Or of lawyers in general? Or is he meant to represent men everywhere whose only real thrills are gained from "conquest"? Personally, I think it is the last and Miles makes several comments that back this up.
When you watch Fargo, the surface seriousness of the movie makes it obvious that you are supposed to look past the surface to see the sardonic way the Coen brothers view reality. With IC, you already start with one layer of the onion peeled for you. Which might make it seem shallower, but I am not so sure. One aspect of every Coen brothers movie is that they carefully balance barbed satire with real affection. IC could be taken as an indictment of modern love (only slightly redeemed by its Hollywood ending). But I think the Coen brothers actually believe in love. They just find the various wrong-headed ways we go about chasing it so fascinating and amusing that they can't help but turn all our attention to the inherent ridiculousness of modern men and women who joust fiercely for the "right mate" for all the wrong reasons. -
"I didn't know them dogs had an appetite for anus africanus"
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IM SICK AND TIRED OF THIS SHIT. HOW NICE WERE YOUR AMENITIES FOR A GOOD REVIEW OF THIS FILM HARRY? YOUR SOUL IS BANKRUPT! Just kidding, never seen it so i don't really know what I'm talking about. Peace.
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Two questions: 1) Who were all the people on the groom's side of CJZ and Billy Bob's wedding? I mean, they can't be his real family, because then they'd be scratching their heads wondering why he's acting like a crazed Texan all of a sudden. So they're all actors that are in on it for the sole purpose of fooling George Clooney? Please. 2) Miles Massey is supposed to be the best divorce lawyer in town, with a thorough knowledge of divorce law. So rather than seek an annulment in court due to the fraudulent nature of his marriage, his first course of action is... to hire a hitman to kill his wife?! Lame. I expect more from the Coen Bros. The Big Lebowski was silly too, and there are no huge gaping plot holes in that one.
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The chances of "Intolerable Cruelty" coming to a cinema near me are as dismally low as those of a Republican ex-bodybuilding champion (not to mention part-time evil killing machine from the future) becoming Governor of the state of California. Oh, hold on a sec..._______________________________________________________________________________________Seriously, tho', I'm REALLY looking forward to both Kill Bill and this one, and I'm hoping that they both come to our local multiplex. One's Tarantino and the other stars the Cloon and Mrs. Michael Douglas, so fingers crossed, they SHOULD. Having said that, "Cruelty" probably won't.______________________________________________________________________But on a different topic, I want to dissuade anybody who might have received the impression, from Harry's review, that Bad Boys 2 is actually FUN, to rid themselves of that delusion RIGHT NOW. It is AWFUL. I mean, "BATMAN AND ROBIN" awful. It tries to be as shockingly funny as possible and ends up managing to be utterly offensive without being the least bit funny. (Except for one scene in a video store, but I've seen the same joke done better in many other films.) Other than that, it is BORING. The car chases are AWFUL. And the movie contains practically nothing BUT car chases. Hell, I spent about twenty minutes in the middle of it in the foyer chatting up one of the cinema girls, and it STILL lasted nine hours! Will Smith looks are though he's got a severe case of constipation whenever he tries to do "emotion" - is this the same guy who did "Ali"? - and, amazingly, is beaten in the acting stakes by Martin Lawrence. Trouble is, Lawrence is so chubby here that he's about as well equipped to be an action hero as Arnie's opponent for California was to run an election campaign.______________________________________________________________________________Thin Man out.
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Harry is wrong. THis is the worst of all the coen bros movies. It just never takes off.
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I agree with the writer who preceeds me. This movie was just a little funnier than "Hudsucker Proxy." I wish reviewers, like Harry, would stop calling it a screwball comedy. It's a black comedy. I guess the fact the dialogue has a modicum of wit catches everyone off guard in these stinky Adam Sandler days. Either Harry has to take ten deep breaths before writing a review, or lay off the sugar. How he can get so gushy over this flatlined film, I do not know.
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(spoilers)
Up until Clooney's character marries Zeta Jones', this movie was just about perfect and then after his big speech -- which is heartbreaking because you know he's just been screwed royally -- the film jumps the tracks. It was still fairly funny but instead of the escalating battle of wills it should have been, we have an increasingly desperate Miles Massey hiring a lunkhead killer (again, Weezy Joe is pretty funny but not what the movie needed) and then being saved by Deus ex Machina (another character's fortuitously-timed heart attack), not to mention a convient change of heart from Zeta Jones. A fun film all-in-all but it could have been so much better. -
...for measuring Harry's "ripples". It's called the Richter Scale! PS: vinylsaurus is right.
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Very clever film, first Coen film I've seen since "Fargo" (which I loathed...just a hateful, ugly film, sorry fanboys). IC was thinking funny...you had to be quick to follow it...(didn't have the "see Stifler eat Dog shit" moments, for instance).
Unfortunately, the intelligence requirement will work against it with the average movie-goer. Too much work to follow, I imagine. -
Harry's featured on FoxNews.com!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,99934,00.html -
Harry's featured on FoxNews.com!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,99934,00.html -
"I USE THE WINDOW TO ESCAPE! I WISH IT WAS A BUTTER WINDOW TO EAT! HA HA HA!" (http://www.fatchicksinpartyhats.com/part34.shtml)
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I am a porkfag.
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... i believe that's the joke Harry was already making, dude.
He's making fun of himself so we don't have to (or shouldn't need to). OK, so the guy is fat, big deal.
"I do mind, the Dude minds. This will not stand, ya know, this aggression will not stand man." -
For those wondering if vol2 will pay off.. the script is up at
http://www.bol.ucla.edu/%7ealexward/script.htm
And it fucking rocks. -
goddamnit fattie.
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(SPOILERS on "Fargo" and "Intolerable Cruelty ahead)
In "Fargo," all the greedy, crooked characters were killed or arrested, and Frances McDormand's wonderful Marge chided one of them, "All over some money. There's more to life than money, ya know." "Intolerable Cruelty," black comedy it is, is about NOTHING BUT characters who are greedy, who think that life is all about money. Zeta-Jones and her female friends suck rich husbands dry like vampires in loveless marriages, divorce them, and then sit around doing nothing. Clooney is money-obsessed, becomes love-obsessed, but ends up with a ton of dough anyway. Indeed, both he and Zeta-Jones end the movie richer than ever, their greed and lust for each other both satisfied. A lot of audience members, barely making ends meet, didn't want to see that. Marge would have scolded these two harshly, you betcha. -
Test
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This movie is NOTHING like the masterpieces Fargo, Lebowski, Barton Fink. The resemblence to the Coens is that its "quirky", but the themes the casting and even the dialogue is so commercial, I was REALLY dissapointed. Like they said in the making of, they didn't want to do the film initially because it was "too commercial" then the script was passed around for 8 years and finally came back to them, and it showed. Ladykillers looks to be awesome though. They need to stop casting George Clooney and redeem themselves.
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