PDA

View Full Version : Green Book (Peter Farrelly)



Stay Puft
10-19-2018, 02:44 AM
GREEN BOOK
Dir. Peter Farrelly

https://i.imgur.com/UOUVNit.jpg

IMDb page (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6966692/)

Stay Puft
10-19-2018, 02:51 AM
This won the top prize at TIFF this year, so I got to see for free when it screened again on the last day. Lucky me?

It is exactly the kind of film you would expect to win an audience prize at a public film festival.
It is exactly the kind of film you would expect based on the premise, trailer, etc.

You don't have to see Green Book to know exactly where it's going, and what it has to say about racism.

Which is to say, it's a very white movie, made by white people and for white people, all so white people can convince themselves they're not racist.

Spoiler alert: Turns out they're pretty racist.

Idioteque Stalker
10-19-2018, 01:56 PM
Oof haha

Ivan Drago
10-19-2018, 04:46 PM
Sounds like the new Oscar bait.

Pop Trash
10-22-2018, 07:17 AM
I can't escape the trailer anytime I see a new movie at the theaters. It looks like My Cousin Vinny Driving Miss Daisy.

Ivan Drago
12-02-2018, 09:51 PM
This was alright. I felt like it danced around the subject matter and a lot of its messages more than once in favor of sentimentality. But Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortenson are tremendous, it's well shot, and the banter between the two leads has some humorous moments. I can certainly see why Peter Farrelly was brought on to help write and direct because his style of comedy is very prevalent here. The ignorance of Mortenson's buffoon of a character is played for laughs for the first half of the movie, although he does become more of a character as it goes along. Mild yay for the performances and humor, but that's all I'll give it, because by the end I felt like I had just watched a Christmas movie for the woke generation.

Peng
12-15-2018, 09:54 AM
Mortensen and Ali are fantastic, but is that enough? I am not talking about the "problematic" stuff either; one aspect of growing up in a homogenous Asian country as a viewer is that I still have some weird little distance in watching films like this (even then, this still somehow manages to make me cringe hard at many moments). But this feels so obvious in every story beat, especially early on, where the script seems to be filmed with little sense of its own rhythm or cut, so every dramatic or comedic beat just lays flatly there, almost purely rescued into mild effectiveness by the great, entertaining strength of two performances. Not enough for me. Still, this makes me feel retroactively better about mildly liking The Help now; at least that one has a sense of being directed. 5/10

Ezee E
01-13-2019, 06:21 AM
It's harmless and plays all the nice beats. I certainly can't see why one would love or hate it. But it is enjoyable at least for Viggo and Mahershala alone. They're great actors.

Farrelly has been doing road movies since the beginning. He knows how to do these.

It's fine. Surprised it got as big as it did, and even more surprised that there's a lot of hate for it too. If anything, it exposes us to a musician that we more than likely didn't know about.

Pop Trash
01-24-2019, 04:53 AM
I certainly can't see why one would love or hate it.

I pretty much hated it. It's almost saved by Ali, but even his character is often cringe. Fuckin' everyone is a stereotype in this. It's honestly more insulting to Italians than Black people, but even Ali's character is almost a magical negroe. I can't stand these phony movies (like The Help) that self-consciously make the White characters broader and dumber just to prove White people can be dumb and broad too. There's also some questions about how accurate it is. Don Shirley's family is hitting it hard and has said Shirley was friends with lots of Black people (inc. Sarah Vaughan) in music or otherwise.

I'm sorry I criticized BlacKkKlansman so much, Spike Lee. All is forgiven.

Irish
01-24-2019, 05:38 AM
I enjoyed the hell outta this. The performances are ace. It's very well written. Grade-A, old school Hollywood moviemaking. (And by "old school," I mean the 1990s.)

It's also weirdly regressive and paternalistic. I get the hate, but I can't deny my reaction, either.

PS: Vallelonga isn't dumb. The film goes out of its way to demonstrate that he isn't, so I dunno how people walk away with that reaction. (To qualify: I've seen this reaction in many place outside Match Cut.)

PPS: "Black Klansmen" is as reductive about race as "Green Book," and almost as condescending and pat, but I guess Spike gets a pass? How does that work?

Pop Trash
01-24-2019, 05:56 AM
PS: Vallelonga isn't dumb. The film goes out of its way to demonstrate that he isn't, so I dunno how people walk away with that reaction. (To qualify: I've seen this reaction in many place outside Match Cut.)

PPS: "Black Klansmen" is as reductive about race as "Green Book," and almost as condescending and pat, but I guess Spike gets a pass? How does that work?

Were you asleep when he was trying to write a simple letter to his wife? The guy acts like he dropped out of 8th grade.

re: BlacKkKlansman I criticized it for having super broad stereotypes of the Klan guys (except for the David Duke portrait, which is well done aside from some clunkers of Trump-forshadowing lines) ... but at least there is some interesting dialectic going on with the Black Panthers and Harry Belafonte's scene, and the editing over all. Plus I mean, do I really need to say Peter Farrelly is no Spike Lee? I love Dumb & Dumber as much as the next guy, but there's nothing more pathetic than a diarrhea comedy guy "maturing" into the most milquetoast TV movie level race relations buddy comedy around.

Morris Schæffer
02-19-2019, 09:00 PM
I had a great time. It's nothing too sophisticated, but that's fine too for a change. Really entertaining, went down easy, probably funnier than most 2018 movies.

Morris Schæffer
02-19-2019, 09:08 PM
Were you asleep when he was trying to write a simple letter to his wife? The guy acts like he dropped out of 8th grade.



Richard Branson didn't finish school either. Anyway, being unable to write a letter to one's wife without grammar mistakes doesn't mean one is dumb. And the film makes the point that the letters weren't romantic enough. I can imagine writing from the heart may not be easy for anyone, let alone a tough guy Italian.

I dunno, it's an ironic comment to make about someone, given the subject matter of the movie.

Mal
02-21-2019, 01:36 AM
This movie is simpleton garbage. I feel so bad that Mahershala Ali had to show up to work everyday and make do with this script. How he manages to make Shirley so interesting when nothing is from his POV is incredible, and opposite Viggo who is mugging for the back row- give Ali the damn award. GAH.

transmogrifier
02-21-2019, 02:14 AM
I feel so bad that Mahershala Ali had to show up to work everyday and make do with this script.

I'm assuming he reads scripts before choosing his roles, no?

Mal
02-21-2019, 03:24 AM
I'm assuming he reads scripts before choosing his roles, no?

between this and Alita... debatable.

Rico
02-23-2019, 07:18 AM
This years Hidden Figures.

Morris Schæffer
02-24-2019, 08:23 AM
I feel so bad that Mahershala Ali had to show up to work everyday and make do with this script.

Well, don't overdo it bud. The reviews are good, the oscar noms are in, he probably collected a solid paycheck for Green Book. :)

Mal
02-24-2019, 07:35 PM
Well, don't overdo it bud. The reviews are good, the oscar noms are in, he probably collected a solid paycheck for Green Book. :)

I still feel bad. you go from winning an oscar for working with Barry Jenkins, to then working with the f-in Farrelly. Lucky for him it all has no impact on his career, but he deserves better.

Ezee E
02-24-2019, 07:45 PM
I still feel bad. you go from winning an oscar for working with Barry Jenkins, to then working with the f-in Farrelly. Lucky for him it all has no impact on his career, but he deserves better.

True Detective has been all kinds of good in terms of his performance. He'll be winning Golden Globes and Emmys next season.

Yxklyx
02-25-2019, 11:32 AM
Sounds like the new Oscar bait.

Someone called it.

Grouchy
02-26-2019, 12:50 PM
This was frankly abysmal. My only positive takeaway is that Viggo Mortensen plays a great dago.

Stay Puft
02-26-2019, 10:25 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_96bgvIDlM

Irish
02-27-2019, 01:07 AM
Btw, Steven Spielberg championed this movie and he's the reason it landed at Universal. He told Farrelly that it was the best buddy-comedy he's seen since "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and reportedly watched it 5 times in 2 weeks.

WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW, MATCHCUT? WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW???

;)

baby doll
02-27-2019, 01:18 AM
He'll always have Duel.

Dukefrukem
02-27-2019, 02:00 AM
We always said Spielberg died after Minority Report. This new guy we don't know...

Peng
02-27-2019, 02:17 AM
Spielberg is my favorite director but that coming from him isn’t too surprising tbh

Pop Trash
02-27-2019, 02:25 AM
We always said Spielberg died after Minority Report. This new guy we don't know...

I'd say Munich personally. I honestly like that post 9/11 hot streak from A.I. to Munich a lot.

Morris Schæffer
02-27-2019, 10:50 AM
Well, I think it is a really fun buddy movie, arguably one of the best in quite some time, but the perception changes once such a movie becomes Oscar-nominated.

But best buddy movie since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid means Spielberg hasn't seen Midnight Run.

Grouchy
02-27-2019, 12:16 PM
But best buddy movie since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid means Spielberg hasn't seen Midnight Run.
Or, hell, Bagdad Café, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Die Hard with a Vengeance or any number of really excellent buddy movies. /baby doll

I think Spielberg is a smart producer. If he's involved with the movie in any capacity, he knows what his words of praise are worth.

baby doll
02-27-2019, 09:35 PM
I'd say Munich personally. I honestly like that post 9/11 hot streak from A.I. to Munich a lot.A.I. was pre-9/11.

transmogrifier
02-28-2019, 12:17 AM
A.I. was pre-9/11.


Not if Spielberg was in on it.

*taps nose*

Dukefrukem
03-30-2019, 01:17 AM
It's harmless and plays all the nice beats. I certainly can't see why one would love or hate it. But it is enjoyable at least for Viggo and Mahershala alone. They're great actors.

Farrelly has been doing road movies since the beginning. He knows how to do these.

It's fine. Surprised it got as big as it did, and even more surprised that there's a lot of hate for it too. If anything, it exposes us to a musician that we more than likely didn't know about.

I hadn't read through this thread knowing this was Oscar Bait of the year, but I found myself completely enthralled by Viggo and Mahershala's relationship, sometimes just laughing at all of Viggo's line. He's a cartoon character. But I get it. It's this year's Imitation Game or the Help, or Hidden Figures. It's completely predictable beat by beat, which is why people get spun up about this winning best picture. Somehow, it manages to muscle through the predictability, the momentum carries it to the next scene, so we can see more Viggo and Mahershala. They make this movie. And that's fine with me.

The two scenes I really hated was the argument in the rain, "if I'm not black enough, I'm not white enough and I'm not man enough than what am I?" and the outrage in the restaurant. Really forced, over the top and unnecessary.

Yxklyx
04-01-2019, 04:22 PM
I liked this, especially Viggo. It's light hearted fare.