The Invisible Counterpoint

Hollywood Has Ruined Method Acting Jared Leto’s turn in "Suicide Squad" is the latest reminder that the technique has become more about ego and marketing than good performances. THEATLANTIC.COM Eric Mattingly  shared  The Atlantic 's  post . Yesterday at 8:35am This is old (ish), but I agree that so called "method acting" has become more stunt than a direct pipeline to gritty human sublimity these days. - - - - Patrick McEvoy-Halston  Right now it would seem perhaps more accurate to say that doing method acting means for being ridiculed as fancifully, self-glorifingly feminine. The cool guy just "acts" and is done, hardly knowing it even happened. Lizzie Nicholson  not quite sure what you're saying... Lizzie Nicholson  i don't see the 'feminine' side to method acting Peter Hoffman  overly-emotional, flamboyant, gesturing = female Lizzie N...

Bilkish Vahed July 28 at 11:35am "Miss Sloane" is a long, emotionally brutal film that I had to steel myself to stay with. It was the remarkable performance of Jessica Chastain that held me, made me want to know the full unravelling of this woman, Elizabeth Sloane.   At the end though, I felt hollow. I was still reaching for a missing piece - what is the backstory of this character, I kept wondering? That Sloane was driven by a singular will to win, that she ruthlessly arranged the details of her life to keep her top of her game, I saw. Yet still I felt cheated of a crucial element of a back story that could credibly explain the psychology of this character. Did I miss something? Yung Ahn  I watched that the other day and wished for the same. Big reveal Richard Brody  I agree that, contrary to some critics, backstory is usually a great improvement to a movie--the use of it is one of the advances in recent films--and the lack of it is ...

Jacob Dyson August 14 at 5:21pm  ·  Webster, NY, United States I've always been intrigued by the intersection (or lack thereof) of post-structuralist critiques of authorship in literary criticism (e.g. Roland Barthes' "The Death of the Author") and that of auteur theory in film. To quote Barthes, "To give a text an Author is to impose a limit on the text, to furnish it with a final signified, to close the writing. Such a conception suits criticism very well, the latter then allotting itself the important task of discovering the Author (o r its hypostases: society, history, psyche, liberty) beneath the work: when the Author has been found, the text is 'explained'-- victory to the critic."  Richard Brody , however, argues that in film, auteurism "adds another dimension to those criticisms"-- that it enriches criticism, contributing another lens (that of "artistic psychology") through which to evaluate a film. ...

Kenneth Davidson August 14 at 8:08am THE GLASS CASTLE. Seen this weekend. A strong film with uniformly fine performances all around. Woody Harrelson stands out among the cast. Fingers crossed he's recognized at Oscar time. I didn't read the book, so I can't make comparisons. Comment if you saw it this weekend, with your thoughts. - - - - - Patrick McEvoy-Halston  I enjoyed the movie. Perhaps to make it easier on audiences, or perhaps owing that it was a "safe zone" in which the director and writer needed to operate to keep their own psychic balance, it creates an unbelievable situation where, after showing how child abuse gets repeated through generations, it has one mostly get off--the kids... are okay. There is one scene where Brie Larson's character Jeanette carries some of the same inanity as her parents, to her partner's shock, but I felt it marginal. Basically, the kids escaped. Braver would have been scenes where she herse...

Milosz Siebert August 14 at 8:13am Hello everyone ! I’ve recently attended a screening of « Lost in Translation » at our local cinema with some friends and a lively discussion followed, which I would like to share here and get your feedback. The main issue was that the film was considered quite racist towards the Japanese culture by one of my friends. I thought it would be interesting to see if any of you here share this opinion? My response to that was that I did not consider the depiction of Japan racist. If anything, I do agree that the culture has been objectified to some extent, and used as context for the development of the story and the relationship between the main characters. However, I did not find it in any way critical, diminutive, or offensive (alright, maybe the character of the “professional” translator in the Santory commercial scene wasn’t very flattering). Rather, I think the movie depicted Japan as probably imagined by most of us wh...

Sanyam Uppal August 13 at 10:58am I just watched Drive again. What do you think about it. I just loved it's cinematography and it's way of saying so much with minimal dialouge. Oh and what soundtracks!! I just talked to some of my friends and people on the internet about it and some of them really dislike it. I could not understand why. Drop your comments I'd love to hear your opinions about it. Patrick McEvoy-Halston  There is something extremely grotesque in how Albert Brooks character tries to manage Cranston's character into a quiescent mood, even as he has just murdered him. He plays the nurse to him, even as he's clearly the executioner, and something in the movie has us detach ourselves to Crayston for understanding him as probably just agreeable at this point... can't put up a fight against his own desire to please by not being aggravating to someone who is speaking to him with some sympathy. Not a movie with much sympathy t...

Raquel Herrera The recent horrifying events at Charlottesville brought to my mind a film I very much enjoyed back in the day: I am talking about American History X (1998) starring Edward Norton. Are there any other films that have similarly inspired you to reject discrimination, bigotry? Patrick McEvoy-Halston  The right thinks we are bigoted. We're more emotionally evolved, but overall, the right is right about this. There may well be some amongst us that learned, through exposure to films, to unlearn bigotry, but I can't imagine all that many--especially those under a certain age. So possibly by listing films, we might more genuinely be bragging. The film didn't turn you from pro-life into pro-choice, it didn't change you into being sympathetic and respectful when previously you were ardent racist, it didn't turn you from being nativist into being pro-immigration. They played to your already established sympathies, and you may well have gone to the film i...

Lisa Salazar Just rewatched You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, a,1998 film based on the 1940 film, The Shop Around the Corner.   It stood up to the test of time, despite the obvious advances in technology (for one, I am writing this on Facebook via my Kindle, a technology which has nearly eclipsed the big box bookstores). I was enthralled by a few things: the Ephron sisters' script that repeatedly referenced and reflected Pride & Prejudice; the very solid Godfather references; an d the Manhattan-ness of it all. And what a cast! Dave Chappelle as the sidekick (!), the erstwhile Greg Kinnear and inimitable Gene Stapleton. And lest I forget, a waspish Parker Posey.   I can definitely see another remake of this story within the next 60 years. Anyone care to predict the remake of what they dare to predict is a modern classic? Patrick McEvoy-Halston  I love it. It's ebullient froth, life and charm. I remember one critic said that aft...