119 replies to this topic

[Overstreet]

Critics at Cannes are going bananas for Drive, and raving about Ryan Gosling's Steve McQueen performance. Oscar buzz for Albert Brooks has already begun.

The post-screening tweets are promising a cult classic.

Edited by Overstreet, 01 September 2011 - 05:54 PM.

[Christian]

Interesting. The director is Danish, but I haven't heard of him. I'm guessing he's not part of the Dogme movement.

IMDB tells me his next film is Only God Forgives. The plot description for a film with that deeply theological title? "A Bangkok police lieutenant and a gangster settle their differences in a Thai-boxing match."

[Overstreet]

I haven't seen anything he's made, but Bronson and Valhalla Rising have had plenty of attention, even here.

[Tyler]

He's supposed to direct the Logan's Run remake too, which Gosling is also starring in.

Edited by Tyler, 19 May 2011 - 04:33 PM.

[opus]

Overstreet, on 19 May 2011 - 04:25 PM, said:

I haven't seen anything he's made, but Bronson and Valhalla Rising have had plenty of attention, even here.

I've also heard very good things about the Pusher trilogy.

[Overstreet]

Wells:

Quote

It's Bullitt in the clothes of a curiously motivated stunt-car driver (a very stoic and charismatic Ryan Gosling) who moonlights as a freelance getaway guy. And yes, it has that stripped-down '70s atmosphere in spades. And it delivers three killer performances from Gosling, Carey Mulligan and -- big jolt -- a darkly cynical and altogether splendid Albert Books (!), and a very fine one from Ron Perlman. It holds back, invests in silences, lets the ingredients percolate and build and then wham! And then it chills for a bit. And then wham! again. And then more quiet, waiting, looks, intimations.

It's the kind of high-end genre flick that "they" stopped making a long time ago when "they" decided that the Fast and Furious movies were better investments. Jerks.

If I was Justin Lin, the director of Fast Five and two other Fast & Furious films, I would put on a fishing hat and a fake beard and hide out in the desert until things blow over. Lin churns out bonehead CG car fantasies that are impossible to even half-believe in. Deliberately. Lin pushes his absurdities in your face and says, "Cool, huh?" But Nicholas Winding Refn is a director, a real director, and one measure of this is that he makes you believe that much of what's in Drive is fairly plausible. By today's standards that's almost a Godsend.

[Ryan H.]

Overstreet, on 19 May 2011 - 02:46 PM, said:

Critics at Cannes are going bananas for Drive, and raving about Ryan Gosling's Steve McQueen performance. Oscar buzz for Albert Brooks has already begun.

The post-screening tweets are promising a cult classic.

I can't wait. This was one of my most-anticipated films to show at Cannes. (I really dig BRONSON.)

[Christian]

Ryan H., on 19 May 2011 - 05:36 PM, said:

Overstreet, on 19 May 2011 - 02:46 PM, said:

Critics at Cannes are going bananas for Drive, and raving about Ryan Gosling's Steve McQueen performance. Oscar buzz for Albert Brooks has already begun.

The post-screening tweets are promising a cult classic.

I can't wait. This was one of my most-anticipated films to show at Cannes. (I really dig BRONSON.)

I overlooked Bronson in the director's credits. I have a screener of that film that I never watched. Guess I should do that.

[Ryan H.]

A clip.

[Overstreet]

Refn just won Best Director at Cannes for this. Wow. It's gotta feel good to win in the year that many thought belonged to Terrence Malick!

[Tim K]

Didn't really think this film would do so well, I thought the plot sounded a little generic at first. I think Hugh Jackman was originally attached to it, too. After that clip I'm really excited to see this, Ryan Gosling just looks cool.

Thinking back on it - I think the reason it sounded so generic was because of what I would normally expect Hollywood to churn out, especially if it had to do with fast cars and stunt drivers.

Edited by Tim K, 22 May 2011 - 01:07 PM.

[Ryan H.]

Overstreet, on 22 May 2011 - 12:45 PM, said:

Refn just won Best Director at Cannes for this. Wow. It's gotta feel good to win in the year that many thought belonged to Terrence Malick!

Nice.

[opus]

My first thought re. this film was that it sounded like a high-brow version of the Transporter movies. Which, come to think of it, doesn't sound all that bad, especially considering that the first Transporter movie was actually pretty enjoyable. (The second one had its moments, too, once you surrendered to the overall silliness. The third one was just lame.)

[Darrel Manson]

Pretty positive tweets from last nights screening - can be seen if you follow the #LAFilmFest hashtag. (others at #LAFF)

Edited by Darrel Manson, 18 June 2011 - 11:10 AM.

[J.A.A. Purves]

[Tyler]

That looks like a movie normal people would watch. What was it doing at Cannes?

[Christian]

Darrel Manson, on 18 June 2011 - 11:09 AM, said:

Pretty positive tweets from last nights screening - can be seen if you follow the #LAFilmFest hashtag. (others at #LAFF)

I'm not assigned to review the film. Just a casual viewer. I don't know what I'm allowed to say, but I'll go with this: If you can get to a screening, make it a priority.

Edited by Christian, 18 August 2011 - 10:16 PM.

[Ryan H.]

Christian, on 18 August 2011 - 10:16 PM, said:

Darrel Manson, on 18 June 2011 - 11:09 AM, said:

Pretty positive tweets from last nights screening - can be seen if you follow the #LAFilmFest hashtag. (others at #LAFF)

I'm not assigned to review the film. Just a casual viewer. I don't know what I'm allowed to say, but I'll go with this: If you can get to a screening, make it a priority.

Believe me, I'm chomping at the bit.

[Peter T Chattaway]

[Overstreet]

Wow.

Just...

wow.

What Christian said.

If Sophia Coppola was a dude who made edge-of-your-seat crime thrillers, it would be kind of like this.

This and Out of Sight: Does Albert Brooks know how to pick films in this genre or what?

Spoiler

It's forever going to bother me that they didn't end the film about 30 seconds before they did. They missed out on what could have been one of the most famous final seconds of a movie ever. But then again, that might have been a little bit too gimmicky. I'll have to think about it.

Edited by Overstreet, 01 September 2011 - 05:53 PM.