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#1
01-20-2010, 04:58 PM
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The Lovely Bones (2009)
I went to go see this last night with a couple friends. I never read the book, but I knew about it and liked what I heard. It was directed by Peter Jackson and had a pretty good cast. Reviews were terrible but I was curious to check it out. In the end, I'm not sure what I thought of this movie. I don't know if it was actually really good, or if it was a bit much. I wouldn't go as far as to say the movie is bad, but it's definitely strong material and the themes of murder, death, and grief are very present here. It might not be much for people here (hell, you all flourish on Rape), but I guess for me personally- having known two Child Rapists in real life- it was a bit closer to home than I had anticipated. The movie definitely has a lasting impact.
The story involves Susie Salmon (Saoirse Ronan), a 14 year old aspiring to become a photographer who lives a relatively average life with her parents, Jack and Abigail Salmon (Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz) and her sister, Lindsey (Rose McIver). All Susie wanted was to kiss the British kid from class, when on the way home she is met by her neighbor George Harvey (This is definitely an Oscar worthy performance by Stanley Tucci). He takes her to a secret clubhouse he built for the neighborhood kids only to rape and murder her. Susie is dead, unable to go forward, stuck in a purgatory of some sort until she is able to let go of her previous life. The rest of the movie deals with Mr. Harvey's lust arising again, the Salmons dealing with the lose of their child, Jack trying to find his daughter's killer, and life after death. Peter Jackson definitely created a beautiful afterlife. No God, no Religion, and no contact with the living. Instead, the dead are watching us, present amongst us. I'm glad that the movie didn't go the spiritual route, it definitely would have made the movie feel preachy. Some of the CGI looks odd, but for the most part it is creative and quite pretty. The score is pretty good, too. The acting for the most part is pretty good all around. Saoirse Ronan is pretty damn good, and gives a pretty heart-breaking performance coming to terms with her horrific death. I'd love to see her get an Oscar nod for her role in this, but that probably won't happen. And in a non-Catman-checking-out-underage-girls-with-unbroken-hymens, she's really cute. She has a natural innocence to her, which makes her fate all the more tragic. It doesn't help that she looks just like an older version of my friend's little sister. I can't decide if Mark Wahlberg is a good actor or not. Given the vehicle he's in, he can be really good (See Boogie Nights) but most of the time he's pretty bad. I guess given the material he's in determines that. Thankfully, he's pretty good here. Although, he slips a few times. My friend said to me that Marky Mark is at his worst when he acts surprised or sad, and I totally agree. But for the most part, he's fairly consistent here. Rachel Weisz is hardly in the movie enough to comment on. But when she's there, she's quite good. Same with Susan Sarandon. The real show stealer here is Stanley Tucci as Mr. Harvey. Tucci is usually the nice guy in all of his films or an ass. Here he completely departs from his norm and is transformed into a complete creep. The way he tries to entice little Susie will send chills down your spine. Complete pedo. It was funny seeing him with hair, too. But seriously, I doubt I'm going to be able to look at Stanley Tucci the same after his role in this. He definitely deserves an Oscar nomination for this. Spoiler:
All in all, beautifully made, but the subject material isn't for everyone. I guess I might be overreacting since the subject matter is a bit closer to me, but it might be completely fine for others. Apparently my sister read the book and saw the movie and absolutely loved it. So I guess it depends on you, really. Also, Peter Jackson shameless advertises. A shot cuts into a book store and you see a huge sign for the Lord of the Rings books on sale, haha. Also, you see him in the background in one scene. It cuts to him three times! 
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I want to tell her that I love her a lot
But I gotta get a belly full of wine Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl Someday I'm going to make her mine Last edited by Nirvana; 01-21-2010 at 09:23 AM. 
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#2
01-20-2010, 05:23 PM
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Holy that's Stanley Tucci? He looks so horrifyingly creepy. I read the book and that is EXACTLY how I pictured Mr. Harvey.
Oh and thank god the book wasn't preachy in any way, because the book had no mention of religion in it, and I would have been annoyed about it if that were included in the film.
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Biebz 4 lyfe
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#3
01-20-2010, 05:59 PM
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Good job covering your bases with the Catman comment.
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#4
01-20-2010, 07:44 PM
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Tucci is amazing in the movie. Best thing about it. I also think the girl who played Susie was cute. (I'm 18...we're only a few years apart....
 )There was just some really silly shit and some really good shit. I dont know what I thought of it.
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#5
01-20-2010, 08:18 PM
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And yes, Tucci was creepy as hell in this.
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I want to tell her that I love her a lot
But I gotta get a belly full of wine Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl Someday I'm going to make her mine
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#6
01-20-2010, 10:15 PM
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And, Marky Mark getting his ass whooped by a teenager was embarrasing. Quote:
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#7
02-06-2010, 11:25 AM
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Nirvana wrote a very well done review up top, so I will just jump into my thoughts...and beware spoilers...
This movie sucks. Holy shit does it ever suck. Where to goddamn begin? OK, let's go with the whole Susie Salmon, like the fucking fish, got brutally raped and murdered and she seems pretty fucking OK about it route. Mandatory joking about rape at LSP aside, how absolutely, positively TERRIFYING for a young girl, for any girl actually, must it be to be suddenly hit with the realization: I am going to die. Jackson does a decent job with that. He really does. Or at least Saruman Ronan (or however you spell it) actress does a fantastic job of conveying that in the moment. But...then it's gone. After being FUCKED AGAINST HER WILL BEFORE BEING HACKED UP WITH A STRAIGHT RAZOR!!! Susie just goes off into this weird purgatory thing and is like, "Lalalala!" for most of the movie. WHAT!??! THE!! FUCK!!!!!? I'd be pissed! And she get's pissed once, magically takes possession of Marky Mark to go fuck up Tucci, but then at the last minute de-possesses Marky Mark just in time for him to get the everloving shit beat out of him by a guy wearing the same letterman's jacket he was wearing like, 5 years ago. What!??! And then the other daughter, the whore we'll call her as she is knocked up at the end for randomness I guess, finds the Tucci rape kit and turns that shit in. And then...Tucci drives away, throws the safe with the body of Briony in the sink hole, and then just drives off into the sunset? They don't have a goddamn APB or anything in 1978ish or 9? This guy just changes towns and the cops never find him? Fucker never even changed his hair! And he lives long enough to be icicled by a goth chick? Stupidest fucking death since a log took out Miss Havisham. Seriously. Also, why the fuck was the one "dark" psychic broad even in the movie? She did nothing. All she did was to be a vehicle for Briony to come back and kiss Fez. And then she like, Quantum Leaps into weird '70s goth's body, and Fez just looks down on her, and this fucking dead 14 year old bitch when he is like, 23 or something by this time (looking the exact same, mind you), and he's like, "Hey dead bitch! Let's kiss!" WHAT THE FUCK!!??! And after Briony is dead, you know, after she got fucking slaughtered and raped!, she goes off into purgatory and lives it up with random Asian? Dude. Hey! Mom is having a rough time adjusting to her raped daughter being slaughtered...what should we do? Oh I know! Let's bring in her SUCH A FUCKING RAGING ALCOHOLIC MOTHER THAN SHE DRINKS THE COOKING SHERRY to fix everything. And then the mother skips town to live the real life version of Of Mice and Men...and then comes back like, 30 years later or whatever and everyone is all like, "Yay! Mom! That's niiiiiice." OK, so the story is absolute shit. It's so shitty that I actually DID start to enjoy this movie for being SO shitty. I mean, the fucker built a goddamn underground den in a cornfield and decorated it, a cornfield that is obviously a main drag for kids walking home from school, all while not being noticed by anyone. Seriously? I mean, stop, think about this for a second: ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS PETER GODDAMN JACKSON!??! Why not just begin the goddamn movie: "In a hole in the ground, there lived a RAPIST!" Holy shit this movie was awful! Technically? Shitty CGI, horrible pacing. This scenes in purgatory or whatever just went on and on. I don't fucking care! And they looked shitty. The continuity in this movie is shitty. The costumes are shitty. Marky mark is shitty. The guy, in seriousness, was like, "See all these boats in a bottle? This will all be yours some day!" To his teenage daughter. And Briony is all like, "Fuck yes!" Such a bullshit scene and Marky Mark only makes it shittier. And I like the asshole! And I like Briony! And I like Rachel Weizse or however you spell it, and I like the Tucci and Sarandon. I like this whole cast. But holy god is this movie a clusterfuck. And I know why. After LOTR, everyone told Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh and that other bloated whale they work with that the sun rose and set in their assholes, and they believed it. This thing is a mess of overindulgence, made by a guy who evidently believes his own hype. I wish rather than Briony, it was this movie that got assraped and murdered. Fuck this movie. (Still not as bad as The Men Who Stare At Goats)
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If God liked old people, he wouldn't kill them. Make a friend of God. Kill old people.
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#10
02-06-2010, 06:27 PM
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#11
02-08-2010, 02:17 AM
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#12
02-08-2010, 03:24 PM
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Of course Catman saw this. It is a how-to-not guide for pedophiles.
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Hello, How about that ride in, I guess that why they call it Sin City... ha ha. You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself, as a one man wolf pack.
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#16
02-09-2010, 07:38 AM
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Hate is too strong for Coraline. I might have said it, but I don't hate it. It just bored me to tears.
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If God liked old people, he wouldn't kill them. Make a friend of God. Kill old people.
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#17
07-20-2010, 06:23 PM
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This movie was great.
Tuki is an idiot.
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#18
07-21-2010, 02:17 PM
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I never want to watch movies where Stanley Tucci is the big reason to see it.
I remember I watched this movie where the big reason to see it was that it had Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub and Minnie Driver. 
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#19
07-21-2010, 02:22 PM
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Yeah, but forget them. You should have seen it for Marc Anthony and the dude from the scream movies!
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(267): After you pregamed and were plastered you saw the cop was parked illegally so you gave him a citizens arrest
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#22
07-21-2010, 07:33 PM
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Pretty lame to go through all that trouble building an awesome underground fort just to get one dip in the teen.
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Hello, How about that ride in, I guess that why they call it Sin City... ha ha. You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself, as a one man wolf pack.
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#23
07-21-2010, 08:48 PM
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#24
07-22-2010, 05:59 PM
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One of the things that Tuki mentioned was for certain one of the most bizarre aspects of the film for me: no apparent anger over the fact that she was raped. That clubhouse scene horrified me. Like, wow, sickeningly awful situation. And yet, no one in the film was as horrified as I was, and it wasn't even me in the movie. Wtf.
Overall, I feel pretty ambivalent about the film. I expected it to be the most awful movie ever, so in that respect it was better than I thought. Marky Mark's acting was hilarious, as usual.
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"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love." ~Anonymous "Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love."
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#25
07-23-2010, 11:35 AM
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He's kind of the George W. Bush of acting...in this whole wide world full of so many amazing, intelligent, talented people, that was your choice for the job?!
You looked at that guy and said, "There's no one better for the job than this guy." ?!?!?
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#27
07-23-2010, 06:33 PM
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"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love." ~Anonymous "Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love."
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#28
07-29-2010, 08:35 PM
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Just started watching this... holy fuck. Tucci is so disturbing. His voice is what makes me cringe.
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