| Author | Message | ||
     Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.125.7 |
Is it me, or is there a greater than usual load of interesting films on at the mo'..? We saw The Reader last week...Off to see Valkyrie today...Usually it's no problem picking a promising film from the dross...Not this time though, lotsa goodies...Slumdog Millionaire....Frost/Nixon...The Wrestler...Milk. A bit of light at last! gcw | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.157.92.146 |
What did you think of THE READER, gcw? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
If anyone gets to see The Wrestler, let me know what you thought. I so want to see this that I might just toddle off one evening on my own. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.177.56 |
Zed, I'm hoping to see it tomorrow! My brother somehow 'came by' a copy on disc (don't ask me how). I'm looking forward to it, to say the least, being a Rourkamaniac.  | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.109.37 |
Huw - just read Croatoan. Left you a message on the other board. In a week where I have been listless and no story could do anything for me (haven't read Tuttle this week as I'm still savouring her) Ellison just blew me away. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 89.19.81.71 |
I may see it this weekend too. They time it so that good films are around for Oscar nomination time. Funny how they keep managing to find roles that suit Mickey's new face. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.254.137 |
Forget all that crap - who's seen the trailer for the Michael Bay-produced FRIDAY THE 13TH?!? - OH YEAH!!! (trailers always make the films look 10x better than they are, sure, but still - OH YEAH!!!) | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
Ally - where did you find Croatan? I've been wanting to read that story for over 20 years... | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.109.37 |
Hi Gary - Abe books. Picked up DEATHBIRD STORIES and ANGRY CANDY too :>) | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 206.53.144.35 |
That's a long time for one story, Zed - was it going to be one word a day? | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.109.37 |
There's a wonderful rant at the beginning of Strange Wine, which CROATOAN is in, about the dangers of television and that people when they first saw telly believed that the fiction was true life. Wonderful stuff. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.178.218 |
Glad you enjoyed 'Croatoan', Ally! I had a feeling you would. I like the introductions to his stories too. Angry Candy is a brilliant collection. The heartfelt, bitter introduction alone makes it worth buying. Zed, it's a shame 'Croatoan' wasn't included in The Essential Ellison - it's in Strange Wine (don't know if it's in print these days, but you should be able to find it secondhand easily enough). | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.125.7 |
I enjoyed "The Reader" alot, it wasn't perfect, and Kate Winslet iS GOOD not brilliant in it. Nice rump though. It was slightly overlong, Bruno Ganz in a supporting role seems to have been completely overlooked, but as in "Downfall" he was quite excellent. "Valkyrie" was surprisingly good if you can get past Cruise's American Von Stauffenberg. It's not his fault, English actors just seem to lend themselves better to playing Germans. Let's not be pious & say it should have been subtitled, it is a solid piece of interesting history presented evenly for both officianados & the casual viewer. gcw | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.125.7 |
"If anyone gets to see The Wrestler, let me know what you thought. I so want to see this that I might just toddle off one evening on my own." HAH! -You can only push the missus so far eh Zed? This movie has BLOKE written all over it. gcw | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
This movie has BLOKE written all over it Ha! You're so right, mate. Emily simply doesn't understand my great fixation on Mickey Rourke, either. | ||
| Gcw (Gcw) Username: Gcw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.151.125.7 |
Rourke is a glorious tragedy in his own life...The man who had it all and threw it away..Until now.Maybe. Anyway, Sin City was his comeback surely? even though he was heavily made up, hell, can anyone remember what Rourke used to look like anyway? Johnny Handsome, thats what. He reminds me of the musician Arthur Lee, a genius who couldn't or wouldn't do the necessary things to make himself a star. gcw | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.213.27.228 |
I enjoyed Slumdog Millionaire very much. I'm not sure if the depiction of India's slums is accurate, but it left a deep impression on my mind. It's such a Hollywood-esque story though, I can't believe it's based on a true story. It'd be interesting to read Q&A to see how different the book is. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.241.143 |
Rourke was incredibly handsome back in the day; he was also a better actor even that de Niro. awesome. a genius who couldn't or wouldn't do the necessary things to make himself a star. I'd agree with that. I don't think he knew how to do the necassary things. He's said that he never respected acting as a way for a man to make a living, until now. He's such an odd, contradictory, and ultimately fascinating character. | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.39.177.173 |
I thought Rourke was superb (first saw him in "Body Heat", thought he was excellent in "Angel Heart") and read a biograpy of him around the time of "Barfly" where he seemed like the angriest man in the world, who was desperate to throw everything away. And, apparently, succeeded. As for "Croatoan", I've wanted to read that since I read about it in "Danse Macabre". Have you read "Shatterday"? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Q&A is a novel, I'm sure. And while Slumdog Millionaire is a splendid film, I've been told the novel has a stronger and more politically contentious ending. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.14.17 |
Angry Candy and Deathbird stories arrived this morning. I'm in book heaven. Have you read Shatterday Mark? Apparently I'm in for a treat :>) So many books so little time.... | ||
| Steve Bacon (Stevebacon) Username: Stevebacon Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 90.213.27.228 |
Joel, I looked at Q&A in WHSmith's today - it is a novel. That explains the strange logic and cheesy plot turns. | ||
| Mark West (Mark_west) Username: Mark_west Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.122.33.176 |
"Shatterday" is very good, Ally - I haven't read it for ages, so I might put it onto the TBR pile again. The title story is great and it also has, if memory serves, "Jeffty Is Five" in it. The story notes alone are worth the price of admission! I envy you your first read. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.199.0.162 |
Mark - I agree - the introduction to Shatterday is marvellous on its own, but there are some splendid stories in that collection. Strange Wine received an iBooks reprint a couple of years ago. No idea if it's still in print but that's a great book as well | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.125.177 |
I just read the introduction to ANGRY CANDY and was very moved by it. Recently I had never been so angry in my life after two bereavements. What Ellison did in that introduction was important to me - it reminded me of why I took pen to paper. I wrote out of anger and fear (that middle of the night fear that can come along just after death and makes you feel too much a part of it). I've been brave in my life, bold in fact but that experience was so profound - that it changed my life forever. I'll always thank Ellison for sharing those feelings. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Ally, I think the introduction to ANGRY CANDY is a remarkable piece of writing – and the stories, especially the first and last ones, bear out its promise. The experience of bereavement has sparked off a lot of my writing over the past five years, but I'm too tired just now to try and articulate how that felt. 'The Quiet Hours' is an example. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.125.177 |
I'll go and read it again Joel. I find it easier to write about it all in story form than on a board. |