American Hustle. Don't see/spoilers

Was a slow, boring movie. First a pudgy Christian Bale very dully explains the passion in his current affair, for about 30 minutes. Almost long and lame enough to already just leave at that point. Then all that basically goes on for the rest of the movie is Bradley Cooper, as a low ranking fbi agent with an annoying inferiority complex, attempts to build his reputation by taking down politicians for receiving bribes. His way into this is by using Christian Bale, a crafty conman, who he coerces into straight snitchin'. Other than that there is a lot of lightweight romance and sap that I think was intended to be heavily reflective, possibly philosophically deep. Failed attempt at an enlightening gander into the fragile human condition. There wasn't anything happening, the characters were cardboard cutouts, the emotional inner-stories woven throughout that had plot and movement playing second fiddle and the spoons were sitcom level lightweight. Jennifer Lawrence was a Long Island ditzy housewife hermit who liked the rank smell of her specific nail polish topper. Not exactly the powerhouse performance I read of. Amy Adams looks older and rattier and more like someone trying to catch a ride to the methadone clinic as the movie goes on. Jennifer Lawrence do look perrttyy though. Not 10 dollas pretty though.


Bottom line the movie was not as clever, deep, or expertly acted as it has been made out to be.

Nine times out of ten remakes blow. The numbers of remakes that have been coming out lately shows Hollywood is running out of ideas.

reply to post by LizardSlicks


I liked it. Aside from the poor representation of the 70s; I thought the acting was good, and a good script with a proper arc for the story. Good background sound trac and it was so refreshing to see a movie with characters instead of BS green screen fantasy fest.

Quite a few set dec glitches but that didn't take away from the movie. As a SAG/AFTRA actor I'll probably be voting for it when the SAG awards come around pretty soon.


www.sagawards.org...

reply to post by LizardSlicks


I have not seen it but was potentiality eventually seeing it. Is it possible your opinion is very biased, is it possible this film can be enjoyable and entertaining and that it was just you with a bevy of specific personal reasons that you did not enjoy it? Do you plan on seeing 'The wolf of wall street' ( unrelated but another highly advertised film coming out)?

And though I never give it all the credit in the world, they often do grade good movies quite well; How do you explain this: www.rottentomatoes.com...

www.metacritic.com...

It seems from my limited view as I have not seen it, to at least be entertainment, of a higher degree or even then the average pop/blockbuster film. Or is your dislike mainly existent from the fact you had very high regards and standards and expectations going in, and so across the board you were let down? What is the last good movie you did see (or a few if youd like to name...just to get a since of your tastes)?

reply to post by olaru12


Although quirky and identifiable, I thought the characters were not very developed; very shallow, hence the cardboard cutout comparison. Just an interpretation of mine that my wife also shared. Small sample group, to each their own.

edit:

I did like soundtrack and aspects of it overall though as well.

reply to post by ImaFungi


I actually liked Silver Linings Playbook. So if anything, I wanted to like the movie going in.

I too went in with the rotten tomatoes critic/user rating reinforcing my confidence in the film. I have deduced it must have been a mild form of mass hysteria and people not quite knowing how to judge modern cinema that garnered those stellar stats.

It was probably the best thing out right now, despite my disappointment. I have not seen Out of the Furnace but that looks pretty good. I would have rather taken the chance on a few cheap laughs from Anchor Man 2 though in all honesty, if that works as any sort of indicator for you.

What are some of your favorite movies of recent and of all time, and if I'm familiar I'll do my best to let you know how I think you'll receive this flick.


edit: I do plan on seeing The Wolf of Wall Street. The trailer looked good and I can't deny that I like Leo Dicaprio and think he usually does an aquedate job with the potential to absolutely nail it at times.

In general on movies I would say I am critical but not really biased. I am very open minded and would rather seek the good in something than pick at the bad. But I do hold certain things to a pretty high standard. Make of it what you will, it is after all only 10 bucks to see it.


edit again, presently short attention span: Out of what I've seen recently (past 2 years or so) in theatre or at home that I have liked disliked, that come to mind right now:


Bottle Rocket; Liked
Moonrise Kingdom; Liked

Drive; Liked for its starkness and simplisticness
Only God Forgives; I appreciated the stylishness and wanted to like what it was going for (almost saw it as an artful adaptation of something that would have been suitable as an anime) but ultimately didn't really care for it. Blue Valentine, ehhh. Didn't too much care for the movie but found it believable; authentic, through the acting and the situations.

Recently watched Twin Peaks and liked all of season 1 and about half of season 2 but thought it started really reaching for material and twists when it burned itself out.

Tarantino related films in order for me: Pulp Fiction (can't get old ever for me, check out the fan theory about it being a metaphor for the history of music in the US in the 20th century, pretty awesome), Jackie Brown, True Romance, Reservoir Dogs, The Kill Bills, Inglorious Bastards, and then Django. That would admittedly most biased film list though.

Dave Lynch that I have seen: Wild at Heart I thought was really interesting and overall a good piece of film (and I'm far from a nic cage fan), Mulholland Drive I liked but was not crazy about, and Eraserhead is disturbing but I cannot deny that it strikes chords that I'm not quite ready to submerse myself in.

I really liked There Will be Blood and was absolutely sucked in the whole time even though it was not a very enjoyable film. I really though it was art though, whatever that means.

I thought Gravity was terrible to the point I left 30 minutes in and got a refund.

I watched Holy Motors on netflix and did not particularly like it, although I appreciated certain aspects of it.

Out of movies that were received with rave reviews and a general acceptance of the last 5 years that I saw:

Inception: Honestly, did not like it at all. Makes me fall asleep 3 out of 4 times. Is that possibly the subliminal point,? lol.

The End of the World (seth rogen jaruchel franco mcbride etc): Saw it in the theatres. Liked it, was enjoyable and well worth paying for to me.




Random Movies I will always like:

One Eyed Jacks

White Men Can't Jump

Taxi Driver

Dr. Strangelove

The Parallax View

Donnie Darko

The Shining

Garden State

I Heart Huckabees

Basketball Diaries

Apocalypse Now

Buffalo 66

The Life Aquatic



Oh, and something I just randomly thought of. I don't really like Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump is cool though) but though Road to Perdition was better than Goodfellas after seeing both about a dozen times. Shrug. No shame in my game.


Tell me some new stuff to watch and let me know about some of your likes!