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Capone willingly loses himself in the melodramatic mystery that is Roman Polanski's THE GHOST WRITER!!!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here, to discuss a movie that is expanding into more cities this weekend, and will continue to move into additional markets in the coming weeks.
As I have so many times before, I am here to judge a film and not a man. And the particular film I'm here to judge is the eccentric and enjoyable THE GHOST WRITER, directed and co-adapted (from a novel by Robert Harris, who also co-wrote) by Roman Polanski. The film is loaded with political intrigue, bizarre, double-crossing characters, a loopy plot and loads of unexpected but much appreciated humor. I, for one, had a royal blast watching this story of a politician's ghost writer finding out a bit too much about his subject's past and present to the point where his life may be in grave danger.
Ewan McGregor is the titular character (if he's ever given a name except "The Ghost," I don't remember it), a professional ghost writer with a reputation for taking hack first drafts, polishing them, adding new material, and turning them into highly readable memoirs. He's hired to do exactly that by former British Prime Minster Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), whose recently dead assistant took a first crack at pulling together his boss's life story. The assistant died under mysterious circumstances, and now The Ghost is called in to pick up the pieces of his research and turn them around in one month. It just so happens that while McGregor and Brosnan are just getting to know each other, the Prime Minister is being accused by the World Court of sanctioning torture of Middle Eastern prisoners while in office. Now the book has taken on a whole new perspective, and the publishers push up the deadline.
The Prime Minister is surrounded by a small team devoted to keeping him out of prison and doing damage control. Kim Cattrall plays his secretary (who is also clearly his mistress--or at least a mistress), the astonishingly good Olivia Williams plays the bitter wife, and Timothy Hutton is on hand as the Prime Minister's lawyer. In amongst the research files, McGregor finds clues to a bigger, darker truth about his subject. At first he just thinks they are small lies about Lang's early years in politics and at college--the kind of glorified white lie that politicians use to make themselves seem more like an everyman. But as he digs deeper, things get potentially dangerous.
What Pierce Brosnan pulls off here is incredible. He's got Bill Clinton's ladies' man charm, Tony Blair's goofy smile, and George W. Bush's tact when it comes to shitting on human rights in the name of security. And he wraps all of these traits into one unique individual that I actually did want to know, even if what I found out was worse than what I expected. A lot of people told me they figured out some of SHUTTER ISLAND's twists right near the beginning; I did not. For THE GHOST WRITER, however, there's a crucial scene in the middle of the movie that I not only didn't buy would ever happen with these characters in this story, but it made me question why these events needed to take place. My conclusion was the a particular character was being deceitful, and that pretty much tumbled the rest of the dominos in this fairly easy to predict story. Knowing didn't stop me from enjoying the heck out of the movie, but predictable is predictable.
The one thing I was not expecting to do as I watched this movie was laugh as much as I did. I'm not sure why I was so surprised, since Polanski has a history of injecting absurdity and even the occasional joke into his screenplays. But I have to give McGregor credit for his understated delivery of the humor. His seemingly throwaway, under-the-breath cracks are some of the best dialogue in the film. And the scenes between him and Brosnan absolutely crackle with wit, tension, and energy. Later in the film we meet supporting characters played by Eli Wallach and Tom Wilkinson, just in case THE GHOST WRITER wasn't unpredictable enough.
And all the while, The Ghost somehow manages to keep his cool while he digs deeper into the past. I should mention that what he uncovers is pretty fascinating stuff, but it's all kind of a ruse for us to spend time with the weird and wonderful characters that populate this movie. So feel free to debate Polanski's moral integrity for days. As long as they keep releasing his movies, I'm going to keep checking them out because the man still knows how to fashion a thriller the way they used to, where not every clue means something and the ones that do may not mean what you think. I found THE GHOST WRITER to be fascinating stuff.
-- Capone
therealcapone@aintitcoolmail.com
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this sounds classic! I don't care who directed it, who's starring in it or who the best boy is. I go to movies to slip into a story or another world, and this sounds great. Great review, Cap.
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He has none. He raped a child.
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Eli Wallach is still acting. I wonder if he and Ernest Borgnine have a bet going down as to who can keep working the longest.
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thanks
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He has none. He put the word "sex" in his name.
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He has none. And he supports child rapists.
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Sounds like someone has a "sexy" secret...
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But I usually trust Capones view.
Not going to judge Polanski as I dont know what actually happened. But I guess he is as guilty of living in an alternative reality as most movie people are, with skewed visions of what is right n wrong... -
He has none. Unless spamming Polanski talkbacks with lame one-liners counts. What's "(500 Days) of Roman" even supposed to mean? Just because you repeat it continuously doesn't mean it makes any more sense. Shouldn't you be on some Jew-haters site posting about the tapdancing Jewish trillionaires who rule the world, anyway?
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What's your job? Defending child rape? Good work then!
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.not that I am a Jew-hater, but pedophilia is the fucking lowest of all lows.Mel (Gibson) is deserving of a second chance than this cowardly chickenshit rapist.Fuck him and Paris, France.
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I don't think Professer Humbert would want to be mistaken for a mere lowly pedophile.
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Capone = gold
Massa = silver
Harry = bronze
But did we really need three reviews for a film that's not even genre material?
The simple fact remains that Aicn *is* promoting the work of a convicted pedophile. The reason why these tb's attract a lot of venom is a lot of your readers feel mightily uncomfortable with that.
You can blather on about art but they don't call it the 'movie business' for nothing. It's about making money. Money for a man who raped a child and then ran from the law. No Polanski. You won't get a cent from me. -
*I don't think Professor Humbert would want to be mistaken for a mere lowly ephebophile.
Anyway, if this were Spain, Nigeria, South Korea, hell even Vatican City, she'd have been legal. It's not the sex with a well-developed 13 year old that bothers me so much, it's the rape (if that even happened). Not that I think kids start having sex way too young as it is. The moment sex enters the picture, the child leaves it. -
isn't the whole point of being a criminal to try and evade the law? It's part of the job description. It's almost like Prisoners of War being encouraged to escape from concentration camps in WWII. It'd be almost perverse for a healthy, free man to want to willingly incarcerate himself. The only thing which has brought up this "come back and face justice" shit is the mere fact that Polanski got caught. America hates losers.
And the American justice system is erratic and prone to manipulation. It wouldn't surprise me if someone didn't want to be subject to the whims of a people who've been known to get themselves rum-drunk on hysteria and self-righteousness, and who are still so damn backwards that they still have the death penalty in practise. Way to set an example for the rest of the world... -
Just stay the hell away from children.
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Seppuku: "So ... you're married."
Summer: "Yeah. Crazy, huh?"
Seppuku: "Not if you're over 12." -
Even for people who rape and kill children?
Well, I beg to differ. -
Try changing the DVDs once in a while.
And sorry for all my typos in this thread: English is my third language, so my sentences occasionally go a bit haywire. -
Have you seen it yet? It's great.
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But it wouldn't even make my Top 100. It's just this year's Little Miss Sunshine and Juno- the random indie flick chosen by the masses to make themselves feel hip and urbane by watching it. Although it's definitely way better than those two.
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To each his own.
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(500) DAYS OF THE DOJO
*closes dictionary* "Yep, we can now confirm that absolutely nothing exists in this dojo." -
I will download it from a Torrent site in a few months so!It's sooooo easy to do
If anyone is unsure how to do this just let me know ill post step by step instructions right here!That way anyone whos uneasy about suporting a pedophiles work can watch it for free!! Like me!! -
That is all.
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Just glad you didn't tear the fabric of the universe apart.
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got fucked by a famous and talented artist. i'm over it
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Don't cross the schticks... it would be bad.
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But don't you see by AICN encouraging people to see this movie, we're basically contributing to the Polanski Legal Defense Fund? So you could theoretically hate the guy, but still support him with your wallet. Anyway, my conscience will be clear when I download this movie.
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lots of self righteous clueless yokels. funny stuff. By the way, paying to get into a movie doesn't give a cent to the artist. He's not paid by the ticket sales... bunch of (insert insult)
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Polanski apologist = peadophile apologist.
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is that the victim of the alleged rape has repeatedly asked that he not be brought to trial again. Not because she thinks he is innocent, but because she has described the press intrusion that surrounded her at the time of the original arrest as being far more traumatic for her than anything Polanski did and doesn't want to relive it.It'd be nice if some of the pitchfork waving idiots actually considered the most important person in all this - not Polanski.
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He is in jail because he ran to avoid jail for the rape. The rape he plead guilty to. He would be free today if he'd done his time. And I still wouldn't watch his movies.
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He put Polanski's name right there in the title of the article and then said he wasn't gonna get into that particular debate. Harry went out of his way to act like TGW was directed by absolutely nobody, which was a damn dirty trick from a guy who mentions the director's name in every other review he's ever written.
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The two can not be separated as long as money is involved.
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He's no sicko
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You let one rich, powerful, influential person get away with rape, other rich, powerful, influential man who has those kind of tendencies may decide to go ahead and do it, because he figures there's a chance either a) he won't get caught, b) can hire the best legal team money can buy, and beat the case, c) skip the country if it looks as though he's going to be convicted.
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God, how i love 70s cinema.
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... fucking a teenager. Many of you geeks would lose your reason to live.
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ha ha ha. Keep pimping "Ghost Writer" though.
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no rich & influential person would ever think of hiring "the best legal team money can buy" or running off to a non-extradition country if things don't go his way? I sincerely doubt Polanski going on the lam, or had he been incarcerated, has made, or would have made, one iota of difference in the thought process of a would-be rapist. To the rich and powerful, no matter what the situation, the outs for things "going south" is A) Maybe he won't get caught. B) Hire the best lawyers to get him off. C) Run away!
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Feb 26, 2010 7:26:30 PM CST
McGooCain... Not at all. I'm all Liberal.
by nomoredirtyjokespleaseweareyanks
just not when it comes to diddling kids.
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and then didn't have the decency to stand up for his crime. Go see this movie if you want to keep him rich enough to stay out of court.
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I can't wait for Mikey B. to get cuaght in some fucked up scandal so that they can throw the book at his sorry ass....oh, then again, when you have fortune and clout you can get away with almost any fucking thing.Well atleast for now as karma has it's way of catching up with ya, just ask OJ,Jason Williams and to a far lesser extent Polanski. (0:
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Feb 27, 2010 7:10:54 AM CST
Bunch of nauseatingly hypocritical holier-than-thou...
by skyway moaters
ASSCLOWNS. You claim that you're offended by AICN's suppport of a child rapist, while at the same time SUPPORTING AICN in their alleged support of said child rapist by posting to Polansky related threads. The idea that the AICN TB readership constitutes some sort of social 'moral aribter', is so ridiculous that it would be hysterically funny if it wasn't so incredibly pathetic. Noone give's a fuck what you think.
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Where'd that 'y' come from... lol...
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It's cute that most of you are too young or naive to fully understand how the world works - the last time I saw things as black and white was as a child. I've said it before, but if your principle is to boycott a movie because it will provide funds to someone(s) who engages in criminal activity, then you'll have to boycott almost every film that comes out. If it's just child rape/sexual abuse of a minor that you're particularly adverse to, then you'll only have to boycott approximately one third of movies coming out. Unfortunately I'm not exaggerating.
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It may be somebody's business, but it isn't yours. It's just a movie, and can be separated from the man (overlooking the fact that it takes hundreds to make a movie). Also, this fury wasn't around when Oliver Twist came out. The arrest and subsequent moral outrage has propelled his movies into the spotlight more than anything else he's done.
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