Bone Experience
This is probably the classiest and most generally appealing one-sheet of the year so far, and it had better be that, given what it’s selling. Debra Granik‘s Winter’s Bone, which I caught at Sundance 2010, is a straight, earnest and well-honed backwoods tale…but occuring within a grim and scuzzy atmosphere. Joe Popcorn is going to take one look and say, “I work hard all week for insufficient pay at a place I don’t like, and then I’m supposed to watch this when I want to be entertained?”
Aside from Jennifer Lawrence, who plays a steel-backboned 17 year-old trying to fend for her family as he tries to locate her errant father, every setting and character in Winter’s Bone has that weathered, dog-eared Ozarkian quality. Everyone has bad teeth or grayish skin or ugly half-gray beards, and they’re all sucking on cigarettes and wearing grimy clothing. I sat there imagining what torture it would be to live my entire life with these toothless hee-haws, and how heroin addiction might seem like a pleasant thing under such circumstances. It’s a decently made film but not as compelling as Granik’s Down To The Bone. I knew I was watching a sturdy honest effort with good dialogue and always-believable performances, but it was all I could do to get through it.
I’ve looked at it a few times, trying to see exactly what it is you admire about it.
Seems pretty dull to me — a little too gray — but I think the prime offender is the foggy overlay of the woman behind the woods. This makes it look a little too unintentionally comical, like a backwoods version of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.
Much better poster without her. When are marketers ever going to learn that it’s okay to leave negative space on a poster?
Come June 11th, I thought I only had to decide between seeing the A-Team movie or the Karate Kid remake. Now there’s this crowd-pleaser to think about as well.
Goddamn!
“Oh god, I didn’t see one Starbucks or Wifi hub the entire runtime–the horror, the horror!!”
Damn, Jeff, you’re getting to be the master of the schizoid backhanded compliment. You love to spew contempt for Eloi taste, and then you’ll acknowledge that a film such as this one is well-made, honest…and you could barely sit through it. And you don’t expect anybody else to be able to either. Of course it’s about a particularly scuzzy breed of the middle-Americans you can’t stomach, so I guess that’s a compounded insult to your delicate sensibility. So let me offer my own whole-hearted recommendation here, before I look at it in depth elsewhere. Frankly, I actually was dreading this film, precisely because of its theme and milieu and the over-earnest treatment I expected it to be given. But I was quite pleasantly surprised. It’s got a really engrossing storyline, a fantastic lead performance and it’s just beautifully done all down the line. No granola here.
And it’s not heroin, it’s crystal meth. Pay attention!
It’s the first movie this year to stick with me. But if the millions go, it won’t be due to this cute-girl-centric poster.
If they don’t go, it’s because it’s downbeat and demanding.
Certainly looks blue.
I had a similar thought when considering the relative lack of interest in Robin Hood compared to Gladiator.
Gladiator was full of varied backdrops – the muddy fields at the start, the sunny golden cornfields, the lovely country estate of Maximus, the lavish Roman Colosseum, etc. It also had some colourful costumes. Whereas Robin Hood is set entirely in a muddy English field with everyone wearing earth tones. I can imagine some people simply look at the visual palette and decide they just can’t be bothered. Sunshine = a good time, earth tones = a slog.
Probably explains why every single romantic comedy is shot in the brightest primary colours, full of pleasant interior shots and filled with the most lavish of home furnishings. If they had made ‘The Back-Up Plan’ in Greengrass-style shakycam, with Janusz Kaminski in full Minority Report-mode shooting it, and J-Lo’s apartment located in the Lower East Side instead of the West Village or wherever, it probably would have appalled the female target audience.
>Gladiator was full of varied backdrops – the muddy fields at the start, the sunny golden cornfields, the lovely country estate of Maximus, the lavish Roman Colosseum, etc. It also had some colourful costumes
Funny you discuss Gladiator in this context, because its blueness irritated me. The cornfields are nice I suppose, but when we finally get to see Rome in all its glory, it’s shot through some kind of yucky blue filter. I wanted to run out of the theater and go watch Ben-Hur on home video.
Also, the Praetorian Guards wore black, which always struck me as ahistorical and too stylized…
While it would certainly seem to be necessary in this film, I’ve never understood the fascination with overly-muted color palettes in big blockbuster films. The biggest moneymaker of all time was one of the most colorful films ever made. (And if you adjust for inflation, you could say the same about GWTW.)
Forget about Joe Popcorn. What about Louie Lunchables, Max Ramen, Britney Bomb Pop and DeShawn Dr. Pepper?
It’s dull. No question. And i thought Renee Zewelleger was done making movies.
Wells’ heart exploded when he realized the characters might never have known the splendor of Starbucks or Wifi hotspots.
Respectfully disagree about the poster.
I think From Paris with Love, Inception, Frozen, and The Expendables have much classier imagery to name a few…
“deshawn dr pepper” is one of the most brilliant things i’ve ever read in a blog comment. goddamn, i wanna change my handle to that. and for you football fans out there, i went to high school with deshaun foster in orange county, although he was a few years ahead of me.
i agree with kenny re: wells’ “complicated” relationship with the eloi. i mean, wells ranked avatar above there will be blood in his best of the decade list. say the hell what? avatar is the ultimate eloi movie if there ever was one.
lastly, jennifer lawrence is one the hottest chicks to come down the pike in years. saw her in the latest issue of nylon guys and had to pick my jaw up off the floor.
every setting and character in Winter’s Bone has that weathered, dog-eared Ozarkian quality. Everyone has bad teeth or grayish skin or ugly half-gray beards, and they’re all sucking on cigarettes and wearing grimy clothing.
This statement stood out as I finished my DVD of “Crazy Heart”. That just about describes Jeff Bridge’s throughout the entire movie. And now that I’ve seen it, can he trade his Oscar in for honorable one for “Tucker”? Completely unbelievable plot that would have the well-scrubbed Maggie G with her clean and well tended home and cute toddler falling for the Ozarkian Bridges? I think not. Does not compute.
It looks like a Twilight movie the damn kids are all raving about.
*yawn*
So Jeff doesn’t like poor people, big deal. I don’t know why this light little battle has to be fought every day. He’s not sophisticated enough to understand the class-based reasons for lack of sophistication (there’s a reason being charming and sophisticated is called having “class”, after all). He’s, at heart, a very conservative man. This is clear. Move along, now.
What I’M really interested in ascertaining is exactly how “Eloi” is pronounced? I’ve been saying it, in my mind, as “el-uh-i” – is that correct, or am I pulling a classic hyper-correction, and it’s really just “elloy”, rhyming with hoi or pelloi?
I’ve always assumed it was simply “ee-loy,” but I don’t know if I’m aware of any authority on the question. Maybe go back to the George Pal “Time Machine” film to see how it ought to be pronounced…
Jennifer Lawrence, born 1990?
YEP YEP.
Just when you thought Lex couldn’t get any closer to the “way too creepy” line…..
It means she’s 20, DTG. 20. An adult. Nothing creepy about it in the least.
What does McConaughey say in Dazed and Confused? With Hollywood starlets, I just get older but every year they got a new batch of the young stuff.
And show me an 85-year old-man who doesn’t still pine for 18-year-old girls, and… well, you’ve found a gay 85-year-old.
Talk about a Bone Experience.
Sorry, still technically 19. Even better.
And on deck in the months/years ahead? Miley, Dakota, AnnaSophia, Taylor Momsen (who looks 33 and no jury in the world would convict any guy over…)
“”I work hard all week for insufficient pay at a place I don’t like…”
This blog is such a steady, reliable stream of the things that Jeff only thinks he knows about that it is always amusing when the next nugget will drop. I grew up in a place that is full of “Joe Popcorn” folks and I think Jeff would want to slit his wrists if he found out that many of them make more (much more) than he does. They might not love their jobs, but those jobs sure do put an awful lot of toys (boats, RVs, off road trucks, etc) in the driveways.
No, nothing creepy at all about getting all excited that an actress who looks 14 is actually of legal age.
Nope, nothing creepy about that…
I’ll agree with the crowd: lousy, lousy poster. Looks like a Twilight knockoff.
Also, CitizenKanedforChewingGum is dead on: most of the best posters make use of negative space. I know not to blame the marketeers for the quality of a film, but the busier the poster, the more scared I am of the movie.
One recent teaser poster that impressed me made excellent use of negative space: the poster for “Buried”
http://aintitcool.com/node/44839
Darn, forgot to mention: if you had made me a bet that the girl in the poster WASN’T a heavily-airbrushed Leelee Sobieski, I’d probably have lost it.
If it were up to DTG, we’d ban pigtails and lollipops next.
C9: Ha! My first thought was the poster for Sobieski in GLASS HOUSE.
I don’t think you are helping yourself, bro…
I don’t know what that means.
Again, for the cheap seats. 18, 20… ADULTS. A nonissue. Doesn’t matter if it’s Emma Roberts in pigtails and bare feet hopping up and down on a fluffy pink bed wearing a cheerleader costume or jammies and oversized nerd glasses, popsicle in hand singing along to LFO Summer Girls into her Bratz hairbrush.
She really doesn’t look that young. I’d say she looks college-age based on the poster. Which she is. So all is well in the world.
Lex, my only problem with your fantasy is why would Emma Roberts be singing along to a song that came out when she was 10…. Also Chinese food makes me sick.
Because I didn’t want to give that tool Justin Bieber the fucking airtime by dropping his name, even though the reference would be far more appropriate.
Speaking of appropriate, HAPPY 28TH to Kirsten Dunst, one of my all-time favorites I haven’t mentioned in a while. I don’t know why DTG gets on me like I’m some huge-time perv with a bait-fetish, when most of the Lex List is well into their twenties, even pushing 30 (Fox, Seyfried, McAdams, Biel, Alba, Dunst, etc etc.)
Of course ALL THE WOMEN IN THE WORLD COMBINED can’t equal One Kristen Stewart…. But even she’s a perfectly adult and appropriate-for-me 20. The only borderlines ever mention are Dakota, Momsen, and Miley, all of whom have probably seen and done more debauchery than I have in 37 years. Plus Fanning has a poise, a charm, an inner strength and a maturity that transcends trivialities like Age of Consent laws.
Lex, it just seemed you were dancing around in horny glee over the fact that a chick was “barely legal” for you to leer at.
Well, I was pretty stoked recently to find out the oldest daughter on Modern Family, who looks like a jailbait Mila Kunis, is 19 years hot.
YEP YEP.
But there’s nothing “barely” about 18, 19 or 20. It’s exactly the same ADULT that I am at 37.
And if I ever have fame or money, I’ll never date a woman over 30, ever.
Links of London Jewellery on Sale! Buy Cheap Links Of London Bracelet, Links Of London Charms,Links Of London Necklace, Links Of London Bangle,
links london
links of london
links of london Bracelets
the best Links of London jewelry provider. You can find the wholesale links of london jewellery here. There are Links of London Sweetie
links of london Charms
links of london Sweetie Bracelets
Friendship Bracelets
links of london Necklaces
links of london Rings
Links Of London,Fast Delivery!linksoflondon silver range for 2009 including linksoflondon necklaces,Links Of London Earrings,Charms,and Bracelets.links of london
Best deals on LV, Gucci ,Chanel ,Coach handbags at
http://www.coachonlinebag.com
http://www.coachonlinebag.com/chanel-handbags
http://www.coachonlinebag.com/coach-handbags
http://www.coachonlinebag.com/gucci-handbags
http://www.coachonlinebag.com/louis-vuitton-wallets
http://www.coachonlinebag.com/gucci-wallets
http://www.coachonlinebag.com/chanel-wallets
http://www.coachonlinebag.com/coach-wallets
http://www.coachonlinebag.com/louis-vuitton-handbags
they have the best selection of LV, Gucci ,Chanel ,Coach handbags
The cost for P90X is about three months of a paid gym membership but you get to keep the program forever
As the most professional video converter,iPod Touch Converter can easily convert all the video formats to iPod Touch, including
MPEG,MPEG2,SWF,FLV,VOB,MOD,MP4,H.264,M4V,AVI,WMV,3GP,MOV,DivX,XviD,QuickTime Video,DV,MJPG, MJPEG,MPV,etc,even the High Definition video files
(HD/AVCHD videos),such as TS,MTS,M2TS,HD MPEG 2,HD MEG4,HD WMV,HD MOV,HD H.264,HD RM etc.
iPod Touch Converter
AVI to iPod Touch Converter
MP4 to iPod Touch Converter
Divx to iPod Touch Converter
YouTube to iPod Touch Converter
DVD to iPod Touch Converter
MKV to iPod Touch Converter
iPod Touch to PC Transfer
Transfer Music From iPod Touch to Computer
iPod Touch Video to PC
Backup iPod Touch to Computer
iPod Touch to PC Copy
iPod Converter Suite