David Germain says it's "dull". It has a 48 at metacritic.
I saw Phoenix last night on Letterman--was he high?
Anyone else seen it?
Full Version: Ladder 49
| QUOTE (Alan Thomas @ Oct 2 2004, 09:48 AM) |
| David Germain says it's "dull". It has a 48 at metacritic. I saw Phoenix last night on Letterman--was he high? Anyone else seen it? |
I saw it yesterday and REALLY liked it actually. Could feel a little manipulative to many, but I enjoyed it. It's about the lives of firefighters from an emotional level moreso than technique and whatnot ... more about the feelings they deal with and have to face. I cried a couple of times actually.
8/10
::begin Davide Spade voice::
Yeah, I like this movie the first time it came out. When it was called Backdraft.
::end Davide Spade voice::
It looks like Backdraft 2: The Feel-Good Crew to me. Unless I hear otherwise I'll skip it.
Yeah, I like this movie the first time it came out. When it was called Backdraft.
::end Davide Spade voice::
It looks like Backdraft 2: The Feel-Good Crew to me. Unless I hear otherwise I'll skip it.
Surprise, surprise, I actually liked this film. It's predictable as all get-out, and it follows several formulaic conventions (yes, you WILL see at least one baptism, marriage, and funeral -- one hatching, one matching, and one dispatching -- before this movie's over), but it's thankfully free of the sort of villainous-arsonist subplots that keep lesser movies like Backdraft going. Maybe I'm just unusually receptive right now to movies about people starting families, but I thought it was okay.
Just remembered, this film may be worth a footnote because it makes use of a Sam Phillips song, 'How to Dream', at the tail end of the wedding sequence. (Does that make ya want to see it, Jeff?)
I was pleasantly surprised to hear David Gray's "As I'm Leaving" after the minor argument b/t the couple.
I'm surprised that SDG hasn't popped in here to comment on the "fake confession" pranks in the film. I felt that was in really poor taste. I enjoyed most of the rest of the movie. Yes it's very predictable (or at least unsurprising) in many ways, but I rolled out of the theater happy because of the way Ladder 49 affirmed the values of family and living sacrificially.
Was it manipulative? Maybe, but I don't care.
Besides, it was my birthday (Friday night), and so obviously I would want to focus on the positive aspects.
| QUOTE |
| I'm surprised that SDG hasn't popped in here to comment on the "fake confession" pranks in the film. I felt that was in really poor taste. |
SDG hasn't seen it yet, but a friend who works full-time as a Catholic apologist (not Jimmy) saw it and liked it quite a bit, so that gives me some hope that the fake confession pranks, whatever they are, don't necessarily ruin it for Catholics. I'm planning to see it sometime in the next week or two if I can.
I saw this tonight (after a week of solo parenting, I wasn't exactly in the mood for Au Hazard Balthazar) and liked it quite a bit, too. Its plusses include main characters that seem believable, empathic, and human - as well as an engrossing storyline. The firefighter heroics certainly liven it up, but didn't seem immensely over the top.
I found the religion aspects to be handled respectfully, too - while one doesn't see the faith having a day-to-day transformative aspect in the characters' lives, it certainly functions as ritual that provides meaning and cadence on some significant level (and with a much greater prominence than the typical film).
Not a bad introduction to the concept of vocation, that would be suitable for teens and up. I was surprised by how much I liked this film.
I found the religion aspects to be handled respectfully, too - while one doesn't see the faith having a day-to-day transformative aspect in the characters' lives, it certainly functions as ritual that provides meaning and cadence on some significant level (and with a much greater prominence than the typical film).
Not a bad introduction to the concept of vocation, that would be suitable for teens and up. I was surprised by how much I liked this film.
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