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Shoehorned takes a gander at Billy Bob Thornton's ALL THE PRETTY HORSES!
Hey folks Harry here with a report on the latest test screening of ALL THE PRETTY HORSES that Billy Bob and crew did. The first couple of screenings took place here in Austin, and yes I had people there. BUT FOR SOME REASON THAT I AM UNSURE OF... Robogeek, Johnny Wad and Line Lady all didn't send in their take on it. Sigh. So... it was up to folks out in California where they... 'GET THE JOB DONE' to do it. Line Lady has told me that the movie was an astonishing film, while both Johnny and Robogeek felt that it was too long and ponderous... of course those were VERY VERY ADVANCE LOOKS AT THE FILM, and hopefully it's been improving. I have great expectations for the film. It has an amazing pedigree to it. Here we go...
A transitory film from the great Billy Bob Thorton leaving me thinking, "I
can't wait to see what he does NEXT."
I blame the script. It's based on one of those Western novels so maybe it's
the form or maybe it's the adaptation, but the group seemed to agree that at
its length right now it plays toooo long. Now I like long movies. Films
that can take me away are fantastic finds. But there just wasn't enough
story here. It played like a parable, but it ran like an epic. Every time
it made a point it felt like an ending.
Microview, it showed wonderful storytelling. Mr. Thorton got compelling
performances out of his male cast. The three leads were wonderful, Matt
Damon said paragraphs in his reaction shots. His relationship with Henry
Thomas was excellent when they were on screen together (which wasn't long
enough). But the real gems were the supporting parts of Robert Patrick,
whoever played the Mexican police officer and the Texas judge (played by the
guy from Diggs Town). There was talk of taking the judge out which would
be a shame as it was a very important part and it was a joy to watch the
actor (I really wish I knew his name, Harry) play off of Matt.
Me? The whole story could have ended at ninety minutes with a very
satisfying ending. But it kept going... If they can get it down to closer
to 2 hours, it would be a better film. With the exception of Magnolia, less
is more. Less is more.
Keep up the good work, Harry!
Shoehorned
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Billy Bob. What a guy! I can't wait to see what he does with this kind of movie. Could he maybe even get an Oscar nom. again? Hell, I' guess we have to start calling him Mr. William Robert.
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The book was amazing. I've heard so many great things about this movie like the cinematography is excellent, the spanish actress Penelope Cruz really shines in this film and Damon & Thomas both do good job in this flick. Can't wait to see it but I hope is not too long.
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I went out and bought the book when I first heard that Thornton, Damon, and Thomas were going to be making this film. It's a great story, but it did seem to meander at times. It seemed like the same story could have been told in a condensed format. That made me think this might end up making a great film, but I'm not surprised to hear some say that it comes off as too long. It is pretty heavy material. That may turn off some viewers. Assuming they didn't change it too much from the novel, it's got a downer ending and not in that hopeful Titanic way. Although it doesn't usually matter much to the critics, audiences prefer happy endings.
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That was the judge at the end of the movie. I was one o' them people who saw the screening here in Austin about a month ago. Complete with Billy Bob, Micke Nichols, and a buncha guys in Limos and cell phone. Anyway the movie was appearently the first cut shown and clocked in at an epic 3.5 hours. What I can say is Billy has the beauty in the film both from the scenery and the actors. They made the best from the script they worked with. What can easily be cut, sadly, would be the first 30 to 45 mintues which shows Damons character and brother deal with the death of their father. It was nice but completely unnessesary in helping with the direction of the rest of the film. But everything after they leave and arrive in Mexico, was a beautiful, slow, elegant drama that wanders without end. It's like the saying, "it's the journey, not the destination." Thats' what this movie is. enjoy the journey, don't expect a destination.
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How do I change my User IDs email address? Is it possible?
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Having not seen the movie but being familiar with both Thorton and McCarthy's style, I would say that the pacing was slow and deliberate. Thorton showed in Sling Blade how much he likes subtle, long takes with out cutting, and McCarthy's story is a meditation, also subdued. I always figured that when it came to a movie version, depending on the director, the best possible translation would be extremely long and unhurried, and most likely bore the Hell out of the MTV fed, Con Air loving, movie going public.
The main reason I have heard the movie is slow is because of long shots of scenery and grand vistas of nature, witch is perfectly in tune with the books respectful, quiet look at the West. If that is the case, then I say dont cut a single frame. The movie going public needs to learn how to slow down every now and then and fall in love again with the voice of one long shot. It is a tale of nuetral, inner discovery, not loud and quick, and I hope that isnt sacrificed by too many urgences, by anyone, for a film that screams its point at you and pounds its purpose over your head. -
I don't care if Matt Damon was in a fucking gay smut porn, I will see it. He and Ed Norton are fucking messiah's, yo, and will rule H-town in ten years. It's beautiful to see them act, it's just too bad they had to team up for Rounders and not something else. I have a weakness for actors who can carry a movie; Pacino, Stiller, Wahlberg, De Niro, BRANDO, Evestevez, oops, did I say Evestevez, I meant his brother Charlie. Anyhow, I'm forgetting many, but it doesn't seem as though there is going to be that issue here as its a great story, probably great filming, and a great script. Fuck, I miss Brando.
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Is it just me, or does anybody here feel that there could have been editing done on Magnolia? The Hurricane was very long but it was still an incredible piece of filmmaking, and mainly that has to do with the fact basically every scene in the film is relevant and necessary. That's not to say the majority of Magnolia was not relevant to the entire premise, and it's definately not to say the film sucked, but there were scenes that could have been cut that wouldn't have detracted from it. I still really enjoyed Magnolia, and I will be having fun analyzing that film and further discovering the overall universe of that movie, just like I did with the Matrix and Quientin Tarantino's first two directorial films. (Maybe it was just me, but not all of the loose ends were tied at the end to the naked eye, like whenever the "What Do Kids Know?" show went to credits and the production company was that of the dying old man's name.)
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Jan 22, 2000 6:23:10 PM CST
I predict this movie will be a definate oscar contender next yea
by el duderino
This movie right now has the most potential than any film I know about right now. But then again, a lot of movies that come out this year will also have been made this year, so it's still too early to tell. I am doubtful that this year will ever top last year's incredible lineup. 1999 was to movies like 1939 was. From the top of my head, the only other true oscar contender for this year might be "Natural Beauty", or something like that, which reteams Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze to tell the story of a woman who is completely covered with hair. I personally didn't care all that much for Being John Malkovich, but the concept for this movie already has me laughing.
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I don't think there should have been editing done on Magnolia. The thing with the movie, is that it's a complex story. It's basically telling that these characters are somewhat connected to each other somehow. The cop (John C. Reilly) falls in love with Melora Waters' character, whose father is the game show host. Then there's Jason Robards' character, who is the main sponsor of the show itself (or whatever he is, but he has a connection with the show) and so forth. There needs to be time to develop these characters, to get to know them, and to understand P.T. Anderson's thesis at the beginning of "Magnolia". Now I don't understand this shorter is better crap. A shorter film should be something brief or a short story. I really don't know about you all, but I hate it when people keep complaining about a film being too long. If the film is so continuously pondering on things that don't need to be explained, then I can understand. However, Magnolia, being 3 hrs long, it didn't have just one story. It had all these other stories happening in the same area, that somehow seemed to be connected to each other. And these stories all happen within a 24 hr period. I honestly don't know how Magnolia could have been done in 90 mins or 120 mins. P.T. Anderson gave enough time to get to know all of the characters. There isn't a lead character in the film. Just about everyone has somewhat equal amount of screen time. I believe the reason why directors want to make their movies longer than 2 hrs, is not to bore audiences, but to concretely give a good/great story and to give their message. I happen to have loved the opportunity to watch Magnolia in its 3 hr running time, because it was fascinating to see these characters talk, act as logically as they could, and attempt to solve problems. Meet Joe Black... Now that's a film that needed to be cut. Think about this... The Limey was 90 mins long and it felt like 2 hrs. However, it was a short story and didn't contain the complexity of Magnolia. The more complex the story of the film is, the more time it needs to explain itself. Well, I guess maybe why this person feels Magnolia needed to be trimmed, was because he wasn't really adjusted to complex 3 hr films. I dunno. I'm just giving my response.
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would've been just as stirring and intense a movie if he had removed William H Macy's character altogether (He adds ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to the movie and a good 20 minutes of screen time is wasted on him) and Phillip Baker Hall's back story. You want to have Hall reveal he has cancer to one of his production assistants, fine but under no circumstances so you stop a movie in its tracks, which PTA did several times, whenver he followed Hall home to his house to discover that he's been cheating on his wife or abused his daughter in the past. Simply put, those scenes held no power and, if you want to know why people think the movie should've been a bit more tightly edited, that's why. It dilutes the movie's craft, its focus and not to mention Anderson's storytelling ability.
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Jan 23, 2000 3:45:11 AM CST
Why some people think Magnolia should have been chopped down...
by renly
Losoptomist- um, some of the things you say about Magnolia make me think you haven't really comprehended they relationships between the characters fully. You say, first off, that Bill Macy's character "adds absolutely nothing" to the movie. Wow. How can you not see that each story is interdependent on one another? Whiz-Kid Donnie Smith exists to show the audience what young Stanley Specter can look forward to if he's not careful. *******
Spoiler ***** Also, if he didn't climb up that wall, Officer Jim would not have u-turned into the frog-storm. But that's a more literal reason for his existence. Secondly, you most definitely could not extract PBH's back story. Without his admissions of molestation and cheating, we have no basis for caring about the Melora Walter's character. We would have no understanding of her early-morning rant, or of her reluctance to be truthful with John C. Reilly. In summation, there is no one plot thread that needs to be excised from the flick, but there could have been about 5 min. worth of trimming done, on some of Robards' scenes. Nothing specific, just tightening up. But I'd rather have the movie we have now, than some studio-botched movie "Starring Tom Cruise", which they inevitably would have done. -Renly -
a bit off topic here, but the comments about letting a film find its own pace made me think of Snow Falling on Cedars. I read some really bad reviews at first, and then a couple VERY good ones by some extremely picky critics (Peter Keough from the Boston Phoenix was one, a notoriously hard-to-please alternacritic who actually named Talented Mr. Ripley as best film of 1999...who knew?). Snow Falling was definitely not out to make things simple or easy for the audience (at least the people that hadn't already read the book). The film flashed back and forth, almost overloading on the rush of memories that one sometimes experiences...I thought it was a pretty original film, and daring on the part of Scott Hicks (and the writer, who was someone that I don't remember liking their previous work very much) to film it in such an uncompromising way. And of course, it's doing terrible at the box office. God forbid people are required to actually use the thinking part of their brains once in a while...I hope Billy Bob isn't intimidated into making a more idiot-friendly film. Since Mr. Ripley showed Matt Damon can carry a non-High Concept film, they should take another chance by making this film the way they want to.
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