Thank you for smoking

[Drunk Monk]

I can't remember the last time I chuckled out loud in a movie theater this much. I went in with zero expectations and felt very entertained upon leaving. A very amusing film, quick paced, witty, political, packed of despicable characters (the MOD squad rocked, especially the S.A.F.E.T.Y. guy), in fact, only a few minor characters had any redeemable qualities. It'll probably play equally well on DVD, but the audience was roaring and applauding, which adds to the experience of such films in my mind.

[The Queen]

This was excellent. I loved the alcohol girl being offended at the idea that she wasn't high on the list to be kidnapped/attacked. I thought Rob Lowe was perfect and his assistant was brilliantly creepy.

Illustrates very well how the bad guys are so good at twisting a message to their own advantage and that the "good" guys screw themselves and us by failing to be as good as the devil at spinning the message, and at their core aren't any better, morally, just happen to be on the "right" side of the argument. But, as was pointed out to me, the bad guys have to get paid a LOT to be that good, and the good guys do it for nothing.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Funny. Incorrect. Funny. I know I'll have to see it again on DVD just to remember the priceless dialogue.

And for a film about smoking, no one in the film smokes. The one person who does light up is shot while trying to get a cigarrette out of his package. Another person holds a cigar and in the next scene he is in a coffin. Ah, irony. And you thought it was dead.

[Drunk Monk]

Especially ironic in contrast to Good Night and Good Luck. We watched all the I Love Lucy's and Ol' Phillip Morris had them all lighting up in every episoe.

[cranefly]

We saw it and ditto the excellent.
Hmmm. Is that English? Or is all the chinglish I edit finally getting to me?

Interestingly, there was a review in Metro, a local paper. It is normally pretty savvy. But it vetoed the movie, saying that the main character changed too little and too late, and so the message against smoking was too subtle to be effective.

And I'm thinking, "Now wait a second. He didn't change at all!" Not in his attitudes. His relationship with his son grew nicely throughout the movie. If anything, it was the son who changed in a big way, becoming more like his dad. The message, really, is that everyone has a mortgage to pay, and you need to be aware of that. Or, put another way, Everyone's in bed with the banana king.
In the final scene, the dad even demonstrates that the only thing that's changed for him is his employer.

Anyway, Joaquim Phoenix was excellent.
Okay, that needs an explanation. I think the kid is a dead ringer for Joaquim at an early age. So Joaquim needs to quickly tackle a project covering a character's complete life, then have this kid play his early years. Really, it's an opportunity not to be lost. Time marches like a flagrant foul in the end zone of eternity.

--cranefly

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

Excellent again on DVD. More chuckles. We need more irony in films. We need more fighting for what you believe in rather than fighting for what you get paid to do..