Films/DVD Asylum

• Gritsman: I care not if many eat shit and call it paté, - tinear 17:42:05 02/02/05 (4)
  In Reply to: Check out the laudits . . . posted by mr grits on February 2, 2005 at 13:34:50:

  for I must do my own swallowing. Giamatti's character was so over the top "loser" that it hurt. Can we spell m-e-l-o-d-r-a-m-a?
  Reality check: if you think that chick would have called him back after that self-serving, whining, self-lacerating and self-pitying message....well, go for it.
  I don't understand why guys like to see such jerks end up with babes (blonde, smart, and with a SERIOUS rack) when it's so out of touch w/reality. Wait a mintute....now I understand.
  
  

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  • Re: Gritsman: I care not if many eat shit and call it paté, - jamesgarvin 10:44:51 02/04/05 (0)
    In Reply to: Gritsman: I care not if many eat shit and call it paté, posted by tinear on February 2, 2005 at 17:42:05:

    What about people who eat pate' and call it shit? At least the former have more fun eating.
    
    

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  • Overthetop loser? - Bulkington 10:19:15 02/03/05 (1)
    In Reply to: Gritsman: I care not if many eat shit and call it paté, posted by tinear on February 2, 2005 at 17:42:05:

    No offense, but did the hurt strike you at home in any way? In response to just this kind of criticism of his character, a friend of mine observed that "film critics don't suffer yuppies lightly, not especially yuppie film critics."

    Reality check: if you think that chick would have called him back after that self-serving, whining, self-lacerating and self-pitying message....well, go for it.

    This comment baffles the hell out of me. Do you live your life in a John Wayne movie? Or a Rumsfeld press conference? Self-serving? Hardly. Sincere, deeply regretful, and heartbroken is more like it. Self-pitying? Well, sure. I'm not sure whether to congratulate or pity you for the apparently square-jawed, unscarred emtional life from which you're criticizing Giamatti's character.

    I don't understand why guys like to see such jerks end up with babes (blonde, smart, and with a SERIOUS rack) when it's so out of touch w/reality. Wait a mintute....now I understand.

    A-haaa. Ha ha. I seee. Yes, I'll admit that Giamatti was pretty well outclassed by her in terms of physical beauty--though I happen to think blondes and SERIOUS racks are grossly overrated, so maybe I think he's maybe a tad less outclassed than you do. But there was more to his character than this broad tarring of "jerk," (though that's not to deny he was a jerk) and I think the chemistry between him and her was very convincingly pulled off.

    Payne's films are refreshing for their deeply flawed "heroes." I read recently . . . where did I read this? Oh. I was reading Harold Bloom's chapter on Ibsen in The Western Canon , and there he cites a critic who refers to Ibsen's characters as instancing the truism that most people's virtues are implicated in their faults. The flipside to this, which I think is no less true, is that most people's virtues are indebted to their faults. I think Giamatti's character fits this bill. His faults just happened to be more apparent for his being at a decidedly low point in his life (still carying a torch for his ex-wife, unable to get published, deeply disappointed, yes, self-pitying, etc.), sunk all the lower by his regretful betrayal of a woman who looks to be a fresh turn of fortune for him.

    Also, while I agree that as a crafted film Sideways leaves much to be desired, and that it did have its share of over-the-top moments (the retrieval of the wallet, however funny, I could have done without), I think it was very self-consciously flirting with some of its sylistic cliches. It also has what is in my limited experience the best depiction of drunkenness in the history of film.
    
    

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    • Ditto on almost everything - mvwine 11:53:38 02/03/05 (0)
      In Reply to: Overthetop loser? posted by Bulkington on February 3, 2005 at 10:19:15:

      I do think the film was well crafted, from the use of the unpublished book as metaphor (which although hardly completely original, was not too overplayed), to the ending, which I think was nearly perfect.

      The "wallet retrieval" scene, I think was great and established (or at least reinforced) some character traits in both characters. And also was a great illustration of how wierd life can be sometimes.
      
      In Vino Veritas
      
      

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  • She called him back - sjb 17:52:01 02/02/05 (0)
    In Reply to: Gritsman: I care not if many eat shit and call it paté, posted by tinear on February 2, 2005 at 17:42:05:

    a while later after receiving a letter from him and reading his book. At the very least this allows one to believe that he expresses himself better in writing.
    

    "Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
    
    

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