Drive (2011)

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by Fallglimmer

Not to totally derail the whole topic, but I really don't agree with that. He almost ruined that film, Gosling seems to be a very method actor and if he doesn't have good director around to rope him in he can get very "busy" with his performances, which he was in Blue Valentine. He was just trying SOOOO HARD, and you could tell. He was great here, not so much in Blue Valentine.

"It insists upon itself."

[BStecke]

I do have to agree that the trailer quite misleading. I wasn't really sure what I thought about it when I first came out, just because it wasn't what I was expecting at all. With some reflection though I got kind of excited about it, and I can't wait to see it again in a couple weeks.

But I'm still suing, because this is America, and that's how we roll

[seabterry]

Originally Posted by spiritfox

I'm going to give this one a blind buy try.

This would be a risky blind buy. This is my favorite movie of the year, but my wife absolutely hates it. I can see why she hates it, but this movie hits the right niche for me. The margin of people who will love this movie seems small.

[lolwut]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

There's a lot of that going around. Warrior being completely snubbed, I can kinda-sorta get over it, but Nolte's performance in it not even talked about?! Brutal. Yet Jonah Hill gets awards buzz for simply being in a serious movie? Come on now. Moneyball is awesome but hardly an award-worthy performance from Hill.

Nick Nolte wasn't nominated? Wow, what a joke. His performance in Warrior blew me away. I loved Moneyball but Jonah Hill's role was nowhere near as challenging. Like you said, it's because he's playing against type.

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by lolwut

Nick Nolte wasn't nominated? Wow, what a joke. His performance in Warrior blew me away. I loved Moneyball but Jonah Hill's role was nowhere near as challenging. Like you said, it's because he's playing against type.

Well he wasn't nominated for the Golden Globes... not even a whiff of Warrior at that show. Hopefully the Oscars rectify this. They just always pick such predictable shit for their "Best Actor/Actress" categories. Oh, Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher? Gee, I wonder if that's going to get a nomination. Doesn't matter if the movie sucks. Colin Firth in a period movie? Dame Judi Dench playing Queen Elizabeth for the 19th time? Throw another one at her.

[Cinemach]

Originally Posted by 42041

Sometimes I prefer to not know too much about whatever I'm seeing.

Yeah, but I'm going to assume a base level of intelligence here and presume you'd, well, know that The Artist was a silent film before plunking down your money to see it. Or that The Tree of Life wasn't Ocean's Eleven. These things aren't hard to figure out without spoiling details of plot.

Originally Posted by Fallglimmer

Not to totally derail the whole topic, but I really don't agree with that. He almost ruined that film, Gosling seems to be a very method actor and if he doesn't have good director around to rope him in he can get very "busy" with his performances, which he was in Blue Valentine. He was just trying SOOOO HARD, and you could tell. He was great here, not so much in Blue Valentine.

Yeah, I can see that. He reminds me of Ed Norton in that respect, another actor who can get 'busy' in a role, i.e. overract. As you mention though that's not really a problem in Drive.

Originally Posted by El_Jay

Well he wasn't nominated for the Golden Globes... not even a whiff of Warrior at that show. Hopefully the Oscars rectify this. They just always pick such predictable shit for their "Best Actor/Actress" categories. Oh, Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher? Gee, I wonder if that's going to get a nomination. Doesn't matter if the movie sucks. Colin Firth in a period movie? Dame Judi Dench playing Queen Elizabeth for the 19th time? Throw another one at her.

Warrior won't get a whiff of Oscar attention.

Speaking for the umpteenth time about bad marketing, I still can't lose the notion in my mind that it's not an MMA movie: I have zero interest in MMA so that's why I ignored it when it came out. Apparently that's not the case, or at least the major case, with this movie (I still haven't seen it). What are people in these marketing departments paid for?

[dancel]

[Allforce]

Originally Posted by Cinemach

I don't get people sometimes. Do people read reviews, watch trailers (which play for twenty minutes before most showings even begin), look up movies...or do those catchy posters have that much sway as people wander aimlessly to seek refuge in the theaters?

The Artist one is particularly amusing. How could you not know that was a silent picture: that's the crux of it's advertising!

I remember reading a study a few years back showing that more than half of the movie-going public chooses a film to watch at the time they enter the theater.

But I read another quote from Robert Zemeckis that shows their researsh showed something ridiculous like 80% of people prefer to know the ending of a film before seeing it so who knows.

I guess this is why smartphones were invented. Walk in, choose a movie off a sign, and read the ending while waiting in line for popcorn!

[Nielsb90]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

Well he wasn't nominated for the Golden Globes... not even a whiff of Warrior at that show. Hopefully the Oscars rectify this. They just always pick such predictable shit for their "Best Actor/Actress" categories. Oh, Meryl Streep playing Margaret Thatcher? Gee, I wonder if that's going to get a nomination. Doesn't matter if the movie sucks. Colin Firth in a period movie? Dame Judi Dench playing Queen Elizabeth for the 19th time? Throw another one at her.

Couldn't agree more!

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by Nielsb90

Couldn't agree more!

Just like George Clooney. It's like sports and seeing the same teams in the championship all the time. and you almost know who's gonna win.

[eiknarf]

Originally Posted by Michael Bay Fan

Just like George Clooney. It's like sports and seeing the same teams in the championship all the time. and you almost know who's gonna win.

It amazes me to this day that George Clooney is considered a great actor.

Has anybody in here ever watched the out-takes on the 'FROM DUSK TIL DAWN' DVD? Holy crap!!! It took Clooney at least 24 takes to do the five second scene where he points a gun at the store clerk while saying a six-word line of dialog!!

He couldn't say the short-ass line correctly, forgot a word, forgot multiple words, held the gun wrong, forgot a word, delivered wrong, forgot a word...etc. This was not a speech or dialog heavy part! It was six words, and he couldn't do it!

You cant get away with that on the stage, in front of a live audience! Of course Quentin Tarantino uses the one good take. By that logic, most anybody can be a movie star!

[Mandalorian]

Originally Posted by eiknarf

It amazes me to this day that George Clooney is considered a great actor.

Has anybody in here ever watched the out-takes on the 'FROM DUSK TIL DAWN' DVD? Holy crap!!! It took Clooney at least 24 takes to do the five second scene where he points a gun at the store clerk while saying a six-word line of dialog!!

He couldn't say the short-ass line correctly, forgot a word, forgot multiple words, held the gun wrong, forgot a word, delivered wrong, forgot a word...etc. This was not a speech or dialog heavy part! It was six words, and he couldn't do it!

You cant get away with that on the stage, in front of a live audience! Of course Quentin Tarantino uses the one good take. By that logic, most anybody can be a movie star!

That was 16 years ago. Aren't you better at what you do after years of doing it?

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by RJ Smoove

That was 16 years ago. Aren't you better at what you do after years of doing it?

No kidding.

Think Clooney isn't a legitimately top notch actor? Watch Michael Clayton. Up In The Air. Good Night and Good Luck. Syriana. Apparently The Descendants, though I still haven't been able to catch it.

Judging a guy from a Robert Rodriguez/Tarantino movie he made in the mid-90s is ridiculous.

[balthazar_bee]

Originally Posted by eiknarf

It amazes me to this day that George Clooney is considered a great actor.

[...]

He couldn't say the short-ass line correctly, forgot a word, forgot multiple words, held the gun wrong, forgot a word, delivered wrong, forgot a word...etc. This was not a speech or dialog heavy part! It was six words, and he couldn't do it!

I call this "having an off day".

I never know how to respond to criticisms of Clooney's acting ability. On one hand, I want to lash out and gesture emphatically towards his very impressive body of work. On the other hand, I feel a kind of pity for the people who simply can't/won't/refuse to appreciate his numerous solid-to-great performances.

Is it simply sour grapes? The same kind that followed "DiCrapio" around like a swarm of locusts after Titanic? "How dare this man be handsome and successful and talented?!" Because this is unacceptable, at least one of these things must be false.

I wish I could remember the name of the critic who wrote the piece about Clooney and why he's probably the best leading man in Hollywood right now, towering over the likes of Depp and Pitt. Anyway, the point this critic made was that, despite the "he's barely even acting" complaints, he's really the only A-lister who can do what he does. Said critic used the confrontation scene at the end of Michael Clayton as an example. Try picturing Pitt or Depp in that scene. Doesn't work, does it?

If anyone knows the piece I'm talking about, help me out with this guy's name, would you?

[Mandalorian]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

No kidding.

Think Clooney isn't a legitimately top notch actor? Watch Michael Clayton. Up In The Air. Good Night and Good Luck. Syriana. Apparently The Descendants, though I still haven't been able to catch it.

Judging a guy from a Robert Rodriguez/Tarantino movie he made in the mid-90s is ridiculous.

You're in for a treat with The Descendants. That was my favorite film last year, and possibly my favorite work of Clooney's.

[FreakyFraser]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

No kidding.

Think Clooney isn't a legitimately top notch actor? Watch Michael Clayton. Up In The Air. Good Night and Good Luck. Syriana. Apparently The Descendants, though I still haven't been able to catch it.

Judging a guy from a Robert Rodriguez/Tarantino movie he made in the mid-90s is ridiculous.

Michael Clayton did it for me.....excellent movie by all involved. If Clooney sucked, you'd certainly know it 'cause he'd be the only one.

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by FreakyFraser

Michael Clayton did it for me.....excellent movie by all involved. If Clooney sucked, you'd certainly know it 'cause he'd be the only one.

+1

Tom Wilkinson was a FORCE in that movie. If Bardem hadn't been so awesome in No Country he was a lock to win the BSA Oscar that year.

[CHEЯNOБLY!]

Originally Posted by Cinemach

To retread a bit from above though, Drive is for the record one of those rare films that exceeded my expectation of it going in. It was indeed marketed terribly in this country; the Fast Five comparisons have been made ad nauseum [and no wonder, that movie grossed over $500 mil worldwide]. But this is NOTHING like that: it's slow, quiet for large parts, and very much an exercise in style as substance - meaning not much is explicitly stated.

What blows my mind is that they did it all over again with the BD release. Besides being terrible artwork, the BD completely misrepresents the film again. They make it look like a Fast 5/Bourne Identity hybrid.

...prepare for a whole new wave of "not enough driving" or "slow and not enough action" comments.

Originally Posted by eiknarf

It amazes me to this day that George Clooney is considered a great actor.

I don't mind Clooney as an actor. I liked him in Up in the Air and Burn After Reading, and I want to see The Descendants, but that might have more to do with the films then his acting. However, I find his celebrity and overblown Hollywood status taxing. "Clooney in a film? Nominated!"

[Icedburden]

Clooney in The Descendants was excellent. When

[Show spoiler]he says goodbye for the final time to his wife is the first time I've seen an ENTIRE THEATER in tears.

[Nielsb90]

Wow this thread is derailed