Invictus (Clint Eastwood, 2009)

[angrycinephile]

Couldn't find a thread about this.


From director Clint Eastwood, “Invictus” tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.

Trailer - http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/invictus/

[megladon8]

Is South Africa like, the new "penguins" of Hollywood movies?

[Winston*]

Is South Africa like, the new "penguins" of Hollywood movies?
This one, the one with aliens and...?

[Dukefrukem]

I'll see this because of Eastwood, but I'm not feeling the story.

[megladon8]

This one, the one with aliens and...?


Tsotsi a couple years back, The Last King of Scotland, Blood Diamond, Son of Man, now this Invictus.

Also Gavin Hood, the guy who did Tsotsi, did X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

My post was partly meant in jest anyways. Just seems like there have been several South Africa-based films come out in the last few years, but I don't remember there being too many before that.

[Winston*]

The Last King of Scotland

Uganda

[Ezee E]

and Blood Diamond is a little north as well.

[megladon8]

and Blood Diamond is a little north as well.


So is it just DiCaprio's character who is South African?

[Mysterious Dude]

It does seem that Hollywood cares a little more about Africa than the rest of America does.

[B-side]

Yeah, I'll pass. Freeman sounds terrible. He sounds like he's doing a really bad voice impression. Damon sounds somewhat believable.

[Ivan Drago]

This looks like something the Academy would eat up.

[Dukefrukem]

Yeah, I'll pass. Freeman sounds terrible. He sounds like he's doing a really bad voice impression. Damon sounds somewhat believable.

At least it's encouraging to see him well after his big accident. I haven't seen The Maiden Heist, but I plan on blind buying it this weekend.

[Kurosawa Fan]

That looks preachy as hell. No thank you.

[Sycophant]

About a month ago, at 3 in the morning, I found out about this project and made some funny jokes about how Eastwood just demanded that Matt Damon be in this movie, which made little Matt Damon's heart flutter and his knees weak.

I will watch this because it is an Eastwood film.

[megladon8]

I think it's worth noting that Gran Torino's trailer made many people here nervous, yet many of those same people ended up thinking it was fantastic. Some even thought it was one of the best films of 2008.

I still think this trailer looks pretty bland and preachy, but I'm not willing to write it off just yet.

[Watashi]

That looks preachy as hell. No thank you.
It is.

It's also not very good.

The worst part was surprisingly the direction. It's very poorly done.

[Derek]

Invictus (Clint Eastwood, 1955) - **

Interesting typo...

Otherwise, I agree that the direction was weak. It's not Clint-like material, so that probably didn't help things.

[Qrazy]

I find Eastwood to be underwhelming at his best so I'm sure I'd hate this.

[Winston*]

Is it true the All Blacks are portrayed as evil in this movie?

[Adam]

Yeah, not a huge fan of Eastwood as a director, either. Though I do feel there is something charmingly old-fashioned about the simplicity of his filmmaking. And I mean Tightrope will always be the balls, so he's got that going for him, too

[amberlita]

At least it's encouraging to see him well after his big accident. I haven't seen The Maiden Heist, but I plan on blind buying it this weekend.

Hope you didn't. It's awful. Though Morgan Freeman does play a gay man, which was cool.

[megladon8]

I find Eastwood to be underwhelming at his best so I'm sure I'd hate this.


You don't even like Unforgiven?

[Qrazy]

You don't even like Unforgiven?

I liked it, didn't love it, but I had late period Eastwood in mind (Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby) when I made that statement. I'll probably/hopefully have more luck with his earlier westerns.

[megladon8]

I liked it, didn't love it, but I had late period Eastwood in mind (Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby) when I made that statement. I'll probably/hopefully have more luck with his earlier westerns.


I should hope so, because he's made some incredible films.

I agree, though, that his output over the last 7-10 years hasn't been his greatest. But Gran Torino is fantastic.

[SirNewt]

Yeah, I'll pass. Freeman sounds terrible. He sounds like he's doing a really bad voice impression.


yeah that's pretty much all I got out of that trailer as well

[balmakboor]

Saw it and man oh man I thought it would never end.

[Sycophant]

I'm usually pretty big into Eastwood, but this really bored me.

[Raiders]

I'm usually pretty big into Eastwood, but this really bored me.

This.

[balmakboor]

With this disappointment running 77% on the Tomato-meter, maybe I was right a while back when I suggested that we at MC are the best movie critics on the Internet. By my calculation, we have it running a weak 14% with only Qrazy giving it a tentative recommendation. I really don't understand how the "Creme of the Crop" has it at 89%.

[Benny Profane]

With this disappointment running 77% on the Tomato-meter, maybe I was right a while back when I suggested that we at MC are the best movie critics on the Internet. By my calculation, we have it running a weak 14% with only Qrazy giving it a tentative recommendation. I really don't understand how the "Creme of the Crop" has it at 89%.

I haven't seen it, but sports movies typically satisfy the audience on a very basic level, so that even if it's a bad sports movie, it's still an easy, entertaining, "root for the good guy and the good guy wins" type of experience.

[balmakboor]

I haven't seen it, but sports movies typically satisfy the audience on a very basic level, so that even if it's a bad sports movie, it's still an easy, entertaining, "root for the good guy and the good guy wins" type of experience.

I agree. I'm almost guaranteed to like any sports movie. The last two I've seen though have really fumbled the ball in this respect. To be fair to The Blind Side, it had other things it was trying to be and didn't put much effort into being a sports movie.

Invictus though devoted much of its screen time to an initially hapless rugby team eventually getting its chance in the big tournament and it was a complete failure in this respect. Sure, I came away with a newfound appreciation for how violent the sport is -- and apparently something sort of like a field goal is also worth three points -- but I had no idea how the team managed to transform over the course of the story. They just seemed to suddenly get really good over night out of thankfulness that Mandela cared enough to learn most of their names.

I got none of the thrills or suspense during the final conflict that I got from really good sports movies from The Bad News Bears to Miracle.

[Ezee E]

With this disappointment running 77% on the Tomato-meter, maybe I was right a while back when I suggested that we at MC are the best movie critics on the Internet. By my calculation, we have it running a weak 14% with only Qrazy giving it a tentative recommendation. I really don't understand how the "Creme of the Crop" has it at 89%.
This brings up a good idea.

Anyone think that having a MC New Releases % would be a good idea? Have it all in one thread with a simple like it or not type of calculation? We could keep it throughout the year.

[balmakboor]

This brings up a good idea.

Anyone think that having a MC New Releases % would be a good idea? Have it all in one thread with a simple like it or not type of calculation? We could keep it throughout the year.

I would support it.