Release date: November 21, 2012
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawerence, Julia Stiles, Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker
Directed by: David O. Russell
Premise: After spending four years in a mental institution, a former teacher moves back in with his mother and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife.
Man, I'm really not liking the looks of this. And seeing Bradley Cooper reminded me- he's another one of the most boring actors.
You know who would have been better than Bradley Cooper in this? Literally any mid-30s actor in Hollywood. And I'm including Paul Walker.
That said, I still love Jennifer Lawrence.
That said, it really feels like David O'Russell is coasting.
That said, The Head and The Heart was a good music choice for the trailer.
That said, this is the sort of movie that people will have forgotten existed in a few years, like "Catch and Release" or "The Alamo".
Quote from: polkablues on June 28, 2012, 05:41:36 PM
That said, this is the sort of movie that people will have forgotten existed in a few years, like "Catch and Release" or "The Alamo".
Or almost any movie Robert sleepwalking deniro has made in the last 15 years.
At this point if he agrees to be in your movie you shouldn't be honoured you should be insulted.
Why am I the only one interested in this? Agreed about Bradley Snoozer, but I liked some of the dialog and the chemistry seemed interesting in the trailer.
Quote from: RegularKarate on July 05, 2012, 12:16:56 PM
Why am I the only one interested in this? Agreed about Bradley Snoozer, but I liked some of the dialog and the chemistry seemed interesting in the trailer.
Meh... It just feels like another crappy David O. Russell movie. "3 Kings" was great, the fighter was alright but that's it. De niro reprises his "I'm the old man in the movie" role and Bradley Cooper does another one of his half-assed performances.
The only reason I would go watch this is Jennifer Lawrence *Drools*.
Quote from: InTylerWeTrust on August 07, 2012, 07:46:42 PM
"3 Kings" was great, the fighter was alright but that's it.
No, that's not it. Spanking the Monkey and I <3 Huckabees are great, too. I think O. Russel must've had a serious breakdown on the set of Huckabees as evident in that youtube video and probably isn't trusted by studios to go for his more audacious projects from now on.
Quote from: Reelist on August 07, 2012, 07:53:21 PM
Quote from: InTylerWeTrust on August 07, 2012, 07:46:42 PM
"3 Kings" was great, the fighter was alright but that's it.
No, that's not it. Spanking the Monkey and I <3 Huckabees are great, too. I think O. Russel must've had a serious breakdown on the set of Huckabees as evident in that youtube video and probably isn't trusted by studios to go for his more audacious projects from now on.
I just saw I <3 Huckabees like 2 weeks ago. I thought everyone gave a great performance (specially Walhberg, Watts and Jude law) and the movie was funny and it made me think a couple times. But it's not the kind of movie I would call "great" or would I ever watch it again. But to each his own, bro.
On second thought, THE FIGHTER was more than alright! Bale's performance was amazing and I think Amy Adams should've gotten the oscar over melissa leo.
Haven't seen "SPANKING THE MONKEY", let me check it out...
Quote from: InTylerWeTrust on August 07, 2012, 08:22:01 PM
I just saw I <3 Huckabees like 2 weeks ago. I thought everyone gave a great performance (specially Walhberg, Watts and Jude law) and the movie was funny and it made me think a couple times. But it's not the kind of movie I would call "great" or would I ever watch it again. But to each his own, bro.
Haven't seen "SPANKING THE MONKEY", let me check it out...
well, neither of these movies have the raw, visceral feel of Three Kings, but they dove into issues that I'd never seen portrayed on film before, at least at the time. I've seen them both several times and will again several times more, and knowing that is all that really qualifies a movie being 'great' TO ME.
definitely see Spanking the Monkey..then call your mother and tell her how much you love her.
Mental illness is not the subject most filmmakers would choose to set a romantic dramedy but most filmmakers are not David O. Russell ("The Fighter," "Three Kings"). Winner of the Audience Award at TIFF (a distinction previously held by "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The King's Speech"), "Silver Linings Playbook" is a crowd-pleaser in a way that only O. Russell could have made one. Bradley Cooper stars as Pat Solitano, a guy with extreme anger issues and diagnosed bi-polar disorder whose issues led to the dissolution of his marriage after a violent incident where he caught his wife during an infidelity. As we meet Pat he's being released from a mental institution in Baltimore and returns to live temporarily with his parents (Robert DeNiro and Jackie Weaver) until he can get his life back together. Pat is determined to get his outbursts under control and is absolutely driven by this idea that if he can 'fix' all these things about himself, his wife will have to forgive him. He takes up an intense workout regimen and to try to channel his energy and loses weight but can't keep his emotions in check.
Pat's freakouts, it turns out, can be spurned on not just by hearing his and his wife's song (which in a cruel irony was playing when he found her with another man), but also by innocuous things like Ernest Hemingway novels. While out on one of his epic jogs Pat runs into Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a similarly damaged young woman, who after the death of her husband ended up sleeping with half of her office to cope with the depression. Despite their kindred natures, Pat can only focus on getting back together with his wife. After a contentious back-and-forth, Tiffany agrees to pass her a note from him (bypassing the restraining order) explaining his progress if Pat will agree to be her partner in a dance contest. (Yes, seriously.) What happens from there is probably pretty easily telegraphed but what sets it apart is how well it works. Cooper and Lawrence are both at their best here and unlike so many romcom's where a once volatile pairing eventually warm to each other, this romance feels earned.
Parallels are also drawn from Pat's father's obsessive sports watching habits to his own less societally acceptable compulsions. Russell seems to be channeling a "Broadcast News"-era James L. Brooks here and the result is as offbeat as it is endearing. Perhaps its just me projecting but the subject matter feels very personal for O. Russell. Though adapted from a novel by Matthew Quick, as someone who's had his own share of public outbursts you can see what attracted the writer/director to the material. Particularly in the first act of the film, Pat's outbursts were more abrasive than comedic because I didn't feel comfortable laughing at someone who can't help himself. Where another director might have leaned on the character's violent outbursts for moments of comedy, leaving the audience at a safe remove from the effects of the disease but O. Russell dives right in and as the film went along I realized it was that uneasy tone that made the film work. With "The Fighter" and this film it's great to see an auteur reminding us of how well these familiar tropes can work when they're employed properly.
I thought this was great. Crowd pleaser, yes. Predictable, yes. Still, it was funny, emotional, well written, entertaining. I was pleasantly surprised with Bradley Cooper's acting. He was great in it. Jennifer Lawrence was amazing. Even Chris Tucker nailed it. I wasn't into this at all when I first watched the trailer, and then seeing some good reviews made me curious. I liked it a lot.
I liked it.
It shouldn't have been as good as it was. If I had just read the screenplay, I would have skipped it.
I think it falls apart at the end, but really enjoyable until then.
I liked it a lot. Just because a movie ends happy doesn't mean it's predictable. Great acting. I didn't know who jennifer lawrence was but she killed it.
SPOILERSQuote from: pete on December 07, 2012, 02:15:33 AM
Just because a movie ends happy doesn't mean it's predictable.
I agree, but come on, this one was pretty predictable and cliched. It's like an eighties movie where you know he's meant to be with this girl the whole time and you know that he's going to realize it at the end. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but it was hella predictable.
SPOILER BUT COME ON NOT REALLY
I hated the two kissing scenes. they felt out of character. but I think most onscreen kisses are pretty terrible. the girl looked older and acted older and held her own all the way until the kiss.
SPOILER BUT YA FOR REAL
Quote from: pete on December 08, 2012, 01:59:08 AM
SPOILER BUT COME ON NOT REALLY
I hated the two kissing scenes. they felt out of character. but I think most onscreen kisses are pretty terrible. the girl looked older and acted older and held her own all the way until the kiss.
I respected that, but man, like that's not what you wanted to happen... because really, the guy looked older and acted older and held his own all the way until the kiss... and maybe that's just how we get in those moments.
I've never seen a good kiss in which the camera spins around. I think that's a lazy move that's way below O'Russel's game that substitutes a genuine moment with genuine emotions for something the audience has seen so frequently before.
Aw I liked this a lot. Good Christmas movie. Both the leads were great and even DeNiro showed up to play. Yeah it was predictable but it was well done so you go with it. I agree with Mod the uneven tone and the performances is what elevated it. RK is right the script alone was somewhat unremarkable.
Quote from: pete on December 08, 2012, 01:08:19 PM
I've never seen a good kiss in which the camera spins around. I think that's a lazy move that's way below O'Russel's game that substitutes a genuine moment with genuine emotions for something the audience has seen so frequently before.
Oh god yes. This was my one big eye roll. The camerawork in general was pretty erratic and almost felt like a film student trying to imitate Scorsese.
yeah, the camera had these moves that didn't make any sense and were way too menacing and this is coming from someone who loves push-ins. Also another thing that bugged me long after the fact was the dancing. It seemed so out of place and it was done in the same exact way Napoleon Dynamite and Little Miss Sunshine did. That was the movie's laziest move. Still, good acting and whatnot. I still liked themovie a lot.
The pushin (and push outs) were similar to the extremely long push out in beginning of The Fighter. The excessiveness worked for me for the same reasons most of you guys disliked it. Specifically the scene with the cop entering at the door. I can't help but think that Dancing with the Stars somehow influenced this movie and made it more accessible, albeit predictable for an audience.
"YEAAAAAH... THAT'S CINEMA!" - David O. Russell
ahaha
CRAZY TIME!
That's fantastic.
I love the cameraman grinning from ear to ear as he's watching the scene.
I like the bit where Jennifer Lawrence.
SPOILERS
This is a talented film. Definitely uneven, but when I look at other O'Russell ventures, I see the same thing. Case in point, he even admitted if he had to go back and redo a film like Three Kings, he would have probably added a darker ending. The happy ending in that film definitely felt like the filmmakers didn't know how to come up with anything better.
The best part of Silver Linings Playbook is the commitment to staying with Bradley Cooper's character at every embarrassing interval of his recovery. Since a majority of his "recovery" is living in some delusion his wife wants to be with him, the film knows how to let Cooper lead with the performance. O'Russell also spikes the showcase with constant whip-around movements by the camera so you feel like you're someone in the moment with Cooper and trying to keep up with his manic energy. It's a nice balance because the filmmaking accentuates the performances instead of handicap how much of it you can/can't see.
I also like how the film didn't try detail the diagnosis that Cooper's character was bi-polar. It had no interest in the clinical explanation of what he was going through. No secondary characters really went in depth with it. Sometimes it happens to moralize a character who may be losing grounds of appealing to the audience. All it focused was on them trying to deal with Cooper and keep up with whatever his new tantrum may or may not have been.
Of course, the questionable things in the film come later. It isn't just the last ditch romantic run for the one Cooper really loves. It all begins when the film makes a plot grandstand over the fact De Niro's character is obsessive compulsive with what he thinks is good luck for Philadelphia Eagles games. It's one thing to showcase a character like that and have it be a contrast to Cooper's to show there is a lot of emotional instability in the family, but it's another thing to stretch out a scenario where Cooper's dance finale will completely play into De Niro winning a huge bet and also getting the restaurant he always wanted. Also add on the dance is a peak moment for Cooper to challenge his feelings for Lawrence and his wife, too. It's all way too convenient for easy drama. For me it was way too much of a detour from a fine realistic approach to the story.
The end moments where Cooper runs off Lawrence and she has her Romeo and Juliet moment where she thinks all is lost is definitely a movie cliche. Not only is the sequence and music overplayed, but it's always struck me as faulty drama. If both truly love each other, it's not going to matter if the person running off gets home or not. The person chasing them with eventually catch up and pour their heart out and the other will accept because they are that much in love, too. However, what I did like about the idea of the romantic finale is the sudden change-of-heart for Cooper's character. No rationalization for why he suddenly loves Lawrence and can look beyond his wife. What it feels like is the time traveled together in the film finally caught up to his character and he found himself wishing he wasn't going to lose her. The film is about steadying Cooper's character down until he finds something relaxing in being with Lawrence's character and working on a dance routine. Presumably, a very simple love and attachment settles in.
Still, another talented output by O'Russell and both performances were excellent by the leads. Hard to really fault the very good.
just come out and say it, you fucking HATED the master.
you thought it was the worst film of the year.
worse than dark knight rises. go on.
Haha, haven't seen it. Closest it came to my plot of earth was 2 hours away and it only stayed there for two weeks. Kept thinking it would get closer and never happened. My friends who saw it didn't like it and based on their taste and mine, I think it bolds well for me actually liking it.
I just rewatched this and loved it as much as I loved it the first time I saw it. it's such a sweet and warm film with great performances all around, especially from jennifer lawrence... yeah, even bradley cooper was good in this. I think they worked really well together and had a good chemistry. sure, the ending is predictable but I liked the cheesiness of it.