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Art Snob turns up his nose at a batch from TIFF! Stuart Gordon's STUCK, Pitt's JESSE JAMES, ELIZABETH 2 and much more!!!

Clayton and Jesse by mastidon	Sep 14th, 2007 03:25:55 AM
I totally agree with you on Jesse. I needs to be cut down and tightened up. I completely disagree with you on Michael Clayton though. I thought it was fairly predictable and just a bad John Grishum ripoff.
I cannot stand... by raw_bean	Sep 14th, 2007 04:00:34 AM
...film reviewers that go on and on about the oscars, and oscar predictions, and who's a 'lock' for which oscar, as though the Academy Awards are the only (or even are in any way at all a) measure of a film's quality.
Samantha Morton is a newcomer? by Shoegeezer	Sep 14th, 2007 05:06:14 AM
She started her film career in '96, the same year as that other newcomer Cate Blanchett. Wrong about The Orphanage too.
In all fairness,... by raw_bean	Sep 14th, 2007 10:58:07 AM
...I think he meant Samantha Morton is a newcomer to the world of 'Elizabeth'.
Samantha Morton Sucks by Series7	Sep 14th, 2007 11:50:28 AM
And Joseph Fiennes kind of looks like Borat. And these reviews sucked. All this made we want to do is see Stuck. I just saw Caligola last night and that movie is fucking crazy.
Ya, El Orphanage rocked muy bieno by heimp	Sep 14th, 2007 12:00:43 PM
It had more endings than The Return of the King, though.
Festival by Cobbio	Sep 14th, 2007 02:44:45 PM
Thanks for the review, Art Snob. I enjoyed your teaser descriptions and strengths/weaknesses list for each film. The Toronto Film Festival sounds pretty cool. I'm glad to hear "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" and "Atonement" were compelling, well-made films. The trailer for Kapur's sequel was pretty intense, so I'm glad the film is too. Can't wait to see Blanchette rousing her troops in full plate armor! I've got goosebumps already.
What I liked most about Caligula by Series7	Sep 14th, 2007 05:22:54 PM
was its fucking size, every set was football stadium big. I wish every crazy idea movie got a budget this big.
Chiming in from Yongesterdam by artsnob	Sep 14th, 2007 06:44:53 PM
IAmMrMonkey! I'm now confessing to having underestimated him ... what's the problem? mastidon: We'll have to agree to disagree on MC ... a movie that Art Snob wants to see twice theatrically has to have something more going for it than some formulaic Grisham adaptation. Shoegeezer: It would have been clearer if I'd said "cast" newcomer (or better still, "addition"), but I'm sure you can see now what I was trying to (correctly) say. Re Orphanage: Would you assure a fan of Devil's Backbone and PL that they won't be disappointed with this? What's your idea of a great "horror" film? Cobbio: Thanks, glad you like them. More stuff to follow ... be patient. You can believe everything you're hearing about the fight sequences in Donnie Yen's FLASH POINT.
Artsnob by Shoegeezer	Sep 14th, 2007 09:32:44 PM
well, you didn't say Owen was a newcomer, that's probably what threw me. I would think a fan of PL would like Orphanage, it is to Peter Pan what Pan's is to Alice In Wonderland, only not so blatant. I'm far too drunk at the moment to give you my best horror picks, but I shall get back to you.
Artsnob you are confused by calvart	Sep 15th, 2007 01:41:13 PM
You reported on Run Lola Run 10 years ago? That is quite remarkable, since it's only 9 years old (it played in Toronto on September 16th 1998 for the first time). I hope your wife is more forgiving when it comes to your 10 year anniversary.
Calvart, learn math by artsnob	Sep 15th, 2007 03:00:12 PM
Re-read the first sentence. If I've been coming to the festival for 10 straight years, then my first year was .... ?
I'm very good at math! by calvart	Sep 15th, 2007 04:16:38 PM
But maybe I should learn to read more carefully. Stupid... My apologies!
thanks for the reviews by mattd747	Sep 15th, 2007 06:02:45 PM
Artsnob, although an avid reader of aintitcool this is my first time posting on the talkbacks. I thought your comments were concise and insightful and the additional references actually helped to give context to the films. i was uninterested in seeing michael clayton but you've convinced me to give it a chance, and although I thought some of kapur's choices in the first elizabeth were suspect I'm looking forward to the sequel. Keep up the informative reviews.
Lamentably, Art Snob is mostly right about Jesse James by Trader Groucho 2	Sep 16th, 2007 02:49:08 AM
Though I'll give Casey more credit than the Snob. I thought Casey stamped a pretty strong John Hinkley/Mark David Chapman arc on the Robert Ford character, going from the sycophant who had his box full of nickelbooks and clippings to the resentful cuss who sums up the legend as "just a man". The filmmakers also explored through Casey's character what happens to a man when the one defining deed he is capable of committing happens at such a young age (paging Britney Spears....). Casey Affleck notwithstanding, what the film as a whole brought up for me is all the potentially fascinating stories about Jesse James that could be told - how his relationship with his brother went south, how he balanced for years what looks like a relatively sedate married life with his less conventional means of bringing home the bacon.... I want to see the slightly younger Jesse James who obsesses about his image in the media, leaving press releases at his robberies. I want to see how Mrs. Jesse James tames - at least under her roof - this savage beast. I want all the stuff that would have been part of the package if David Milch had Deadwooded this. Cocksuckers.

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Art Snob turns up his nose at a batch from TIFF! Stuart Gordon's STUCK, Pitt's JESSE JAMES, ELIZABETH 2 and much more!!!

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