Vendetta1 said:

He was very gracious

We all have our moments Apples darling..lol

2freaky4church1 said:

'Mickey Rourke rises again and he is my brother'


Major kudos

I was happy to see Sean Penn and Kate Winslet receive best actor
and actress respectively.....

as for best picture, anyone of those could have easily won the award
as far as I was concerned, with the exception of The Wrestler, and that
was only because I didn't see it.

PanthaGirl said:

Excellent speech. Articulate and gracious.

InsatiableCream said:

Almost missed this comment...

2freaky4church1 said:

That being said, I DO wish he would have said something about Harvey himself...he was an incredible man.

sextonseven said:

Yes, that fact gives the movie more metaphorical scope and poignancy. Definitely.

errant said:

errant said:

wow, you are harsh

heartbeatocean said:

Did you see the extras on the DVD?

sextonseven said:

No I saw it in the theatre.

heartbeatocean said:

There's an interview with Philippe and he explained how if the movie suggested that once he became famous for the WTC crossing he immediately dropped his friends and girlfriend, that wasn't the case. Yes, they eventually all grew apart after the event, but it wasn't so abrupt as people may have thought.

And there's a mini doc about Philippe's Sydney Harbor Bridge crossing in 1973.

All cool stuff.

sextonseven said:

Sounds neat. Now I have to get out and see some of these other movies. I'm way behind this year.

heartbeatocean said:

I'm sure you know that the winners weren't necessarily the best films. I highly recommend The Visitor (performance by an actor in a leading role) which I rented at the same time as Man On Wire and together made a very nice WTC double bill. It made me feel good about people afterward. I can't say the same however about the government.

And Happy Go Lucky! (best original screenplay) Definitely rent that one.

sextonseven said:

Oh , I actually did see The Visitor. I didn't realize that got a nomination.

heartbeatocean said:

I love when movies in which I think I'll have absolutely no interest make a really big impression on me. The Visitor, Happy Go Lucky and Frost/Nixon all fall into that category. I thought for sure I'd be throughout Frost/Nixon especially, but after it was over I considered it one of the best films of 2008.

sextonseven said:

That's a great review. I saw The Wrestler Saturday night. Very good!

heartbeatocean said:

I liked The Wrestler a lot. It was very sad that one argument with the stripper undermined all the progress he was making in his life and basically returned him and those close to him back to the state they were in at the beginning of the film.

Do you agree with my assessment of The Visitor? I found it very heartwarming how the professor and the drummer's family all got along so well despite their different backgrounds while the drummer was in the detention center.

sextonseven said:

Wait, I thought the wrestler's unraveling was due to his daughter's rejection, but you're saying the cocaine night out was following an argument with the stripper? It was very sad and very affecting. I thought it to be a very realistic picture of what a lot of people go through, who can't pull themselves out of self-destructive habits (like prisoners released from jail for instance). And for someone who would NEVER get near a wrestling show, I thought there was a lot of fun in it too, with all the wrestling characters and that whole backstage comraderie. Really a full, interesting picture of an underground world. I also thought the tension between masculinity/machoism and femininity/vanity in Randy(Robin) to be very intriguing. Mickey Rourke was great!

Yes, I love the ending of The Visitor where he ends up drumming in the subway - a sort of no man's land for a man with nowhere to go (even though the other characters' stories were worse than his). Having helped an immigrant get a green card myself, and having gone through 5 years of hell for it (an Egyptian no less who arrived a year after 9/11), I could very well connect with the themes of this story. In my experience, it was not an exaggeration or a just a movie plot. But a very real depiction of the constant fear, instability, and inhumanity illegal (and not so illegal) immigrants must experience at the hands of an extremely arbitrary mode of justice.

heartbeatocean said:

The argument between Randy and his daughter is definitely what sent him over the edge, but the seed was planted when he went looking for solace in drugs and that one night stand after being rejected by the stripper. He never would have missed the dinner date with his daughter if Cassidy just acknowledged her feelings for him at the time. When she finally did at the end of the movie, it was too late.

Excellent summation of The Visitor. I liked how the professor finally found something he was passionate about after being a zombie ever since his wife died. Losing his temper in the detention center was very important. And it was very important that Tarek's mother saw him lose his temper I thought. In my mind after the movie ended, he stayed in contact with the mother and eventually went to visit her and Tarek in Syria.

sextonseven said:

The movie did a great job of letting us identify and understand Randy's loneliness. So when that babe came onto him and said he was hot and asked him to party, it was so natural that he just wanted a bit of company and attention. Great character study all around. Even though his life was strange, irrational and irresponsible, I felt like I completely understood him and felt sympathy.

heartbeatocean said:

That it was shot almost like a documentary helped a lot in that aspect. That reminds me, another movie you should track down that generated some minor Oscar buzz (but wasn't nominated) is Wendy And Lucy. It's about a girl (Michelle Williams) and her dog on a road trip in the Pacific Northwest.

If I ever visit SF, I'm coming to visit you so we can talk about movies ALL DAY.

sextonseven said:

That sounds fun. But maybe I'll come to New York first!!! Hoping to catch some more movies this coming week.