As I sat and watched Mystic River the other day...

Discuss the fabulous movie Lost In Translation!

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LJ Rucker
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As I sat and watched Mystic River the other day...

#1 Post by LJ Rucker » Fri Jun 11, 2004 6:53 pm

I realized that in a way, Lost in Translation was one of the most shocking movies in years. Hello, there is no violence in that movie. And no swearing. Nobody dies! The past few years, a lot of acclaimed films have been trainwrecks, even ones I love (Road to Perdition, American Beauty) but LIT is different. It's nice and sweet.

I also realized that Bill Murray deserved that Oscar.
"What's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?"

Glyphiks
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#2 Post by Glyphiks » Sun Jun 13, 2004 2:43 am

Yeah, you're right.

It's funny because I thought about that very thing myself a few days ago. I thought I was the only one who realized that the movie was able to provide the audience with not so much a feeling of "shock" (because, really, the shock would've emerged if Bob and Charlotte had fallen into stereotype and archetype), but of unconventional surprise due to what DID NOT HAPPEN.

And Bill getting the Oscar...

over Sean Penn??

Hmmmm....

Drood

#3 Post by Drood » Thu Jul 15, 2004 4:53 am

Overactors anonymous though isn't it. I mean I've only seen select scenes of the movie, but really, Penn is screaming "WORSHIP ME ACADEMY, WORSHIP ME!"

I thought the award was best ACTOR. Not OVERACTOR.

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phillygalinutah
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Re: What Didn't Happen

#4 Post by phillygalinutah » Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:45 pm

I agree... LIT was filmed so simply and lovingly...and it's why posters still discuss it 10 months after its release.

Bill and Scarlett's performance was incredible, and I really felt they both deserved Oscars...at least, the BAFTAs recognized them.

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I haven't watched Mystic River to determine if Sean overacted in it. I had watched 21 Grams, and thought Sean's performance was great, and didn't understand why he wasn't nominated for it in that movie.
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#5 Post by Glyphiks » Sat Jul 17, 2004 11:37 pm

Yeah, he was real good/great in 21 Grams.

His performance in Dead Man Walking, for me, is one of the best I've seen...Probably top five...
Drood wrote:Overactors anonymous though isn't it. I mean I've only seen select scenes of the movie, but really, Penn is screaming "WORSHIP ME ACADEMY, WORSHIP ME!"

I thought the award was best ACTOR. Not OVERACTOR.
Or maybe he's just a good actor.

Where do you draw the line between being a good actor and "begging for the Oscar?" Perhaps the role warranted that level of performance.

Drood

#6 Post by Drood » Thu Jul 29, 2004 4:07 pm

When it goes BEYOND acting. Don't get me wrong, Penn is a good actor, but the stuff I've seen from Mystic River, his acting is almost a parody of other roles he's done. It's so over the top.

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#7 Post by Glyphiks » Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:28 am

I understand what you're saying, but again, perhaps he chooses similar roles...thus, your observation of one role "parodying" the other.

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#8 Post by Guest » Mon Aug 23, 2004 6:28 pm

Maybe. The academy never seems to award subtlety and... I guess UNDERacting. Watching LiT again last night, I still say it was criminal that Murray didn't win.

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Bill about his reaction at the Oscars

#9 Post by jm » Sun Jan 02, 2005 12:54 pm

"Quoting from this post elsewhere:

[quote:8e9b181bf8]I was actually joking. My first movie, I got nominated for a Canadian Oscar -- for Meatballs. For MEATBALLS. And who am I up against? George C. Scott. So he wins the award and I stand up and go, 'That's it -- let's get the hell outta here.'

So I'm tellin' this story to someone I'm sittin' next to, and when Sean Penn wins, I think they're goin' to a commercial. I say, 'That's it -- I'm outta here,' and I start to get up, and Billy Crystal sees me and he's like, 'Whoa, Bill, sit down.’ He thinks it's serious. I was just screwin' around, and he thought it was real -- because I'm such an effective actor, I guess.[/quote:8e9b181bf8]"
Last edited by jm on Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Bashing the Oscar-stealing Mr. Penn

#10 Post by jm » Wed Apr 13, 2005 11:09 pm

"Reviewing [i:f96a92efc4]The Assassination of Richard Nixon[/i:f96a92efc4], Mark Steyn writes this of the man who took Mr. Murray's Oscar (and has yet to give it back):
[quote:f96a92efc4="Mark Steyn"]But, if you wanted to guarantee you’d throw the entire thing down the toilet, who would you cast in the role? Right: Sean Penn! For one thing, he’s not overweight, except in the vast bulk of his self-perceived grandeur. So, instead of the rough-edged loopiness of the no-name actors who’ve played Byck in [i:f96a92efc4]Assassins[/i:f96a92efc4] ((a stage musical)), Penn plays him with all the plonking A-list humourlessness he brings to mega-intense one-note Oscar-bait roles like his turn in [i:f96a92efc4]Mystic River[/i:f96a92efc4]. If they have to give him another Oscar, they should give him a Lifetime Achievement award for his appearance on last month’s awards show in which, before presenting the Best Actress with her statuette, he huffily protested the deplorable lèse-majesté Chris Rock had shown by making a mildly disrespectful joke about Jude Law: with hindsight, that may be the defining Penn performance -- and, unlike this one, it’s only two minutes long. Everything that’s joyous and gleeful in the Weidman sketch on Byck is dragged out beyond its natural length here....

Disdaining variation, tempo, shading, lightness of touch, Penn weights everything down till his character might as well be wearing a cement overcoat on the bed of the East River.... But every other element of the story has been pushed to the edges in order to accommodate the ego of Sean Penn: he’s far more self-regarding in that sense than the real Byck, and his film is a bigger exercise in sheer vanity than the original conspiracy was.[/quote:f96a92efc4]"
Last edited by jm on Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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#11 Post by jml2 » Thu Apr 14, 2005 12:01 am

my favourite bit:
Penn plays him with all the plonking A-list humourlessness he brings to mega-intense one-note Oscar-bait roles like his turn in Mystic River

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