This bit of Armond's review seems a bit odd: When Irving describes Sydney’s awesomeness, he says “Like me she had to reinvent herself” but “reinvent” is a 90s word, Stephen Holden coined it in a New York Times article describing and institutionalizing a Madonna tour. And Russell understands how “reinvention” expresses contemporary American ambition–and American Hustle’s 70s story of the controversial ABSCAM sting operation draws a bead on American instability.
The word wasn't coined in the 90s - first known use is around 1686. People had been talking about David Bowie reinventing himself for years.
I enjoyed the film: I thought it was lighter film in tone than some of the critics would have you think.
― mohel hell (Bob Six), Monday, 23 December 2013 12:09 (ten years ago) link
It's true the movie's dead about 10 minutes in the first third but damn if I can tell which ten minutes.
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 December 2013 12:45 (ten years ago) link
I thought Bale was amazing
― Le passé, non seulement n'est pas fugace, il reste sur place (Michael White), Monday, 23 December 2013 15:06 (ten years ago) link
I thought of all the acting was great: particularly Bale, Amy Adams, and Jeremy Renner.
― mohel hell (Bob Six), Monday, 23 December 2013 15:17 (ten years ago) link
yeah, if pretties playing dress-up to caricature working/jumped-up immigrant slobs is great acting, I guess.
I guess I noted the Armond "reinvent" thing on the Armond thread. He just makes shit up.
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Monday, 23 December 2013 15:53 (ten years ago) link
The word "reinvent" had been around for a long time, in stock phrases such as "reinvent the wheel". However, I'm not sure if it was very prevalent in the sense of "reinventing oneself". Google Ngram Viewer shows usage of the phrase "reinvent myself" starting around 1970 but not really taking off until the mid-80s:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=reinvent+myself&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Creinvent%20myself%3B%2Cc0
Self-help author Herbert Arthur Otto appears to have been one of the earliest to use the phrase.
― o. nate, Monday, 23 December 2013 16:14 (ten years ago) link
also the NY Film Crix Circle is on crack
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, December 4, 2013 10:59 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink ^^^^^^
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 14:47 (ten years ago) link
the fuck was up with this dumb movie
when bradley cooper's triumphant comeuppance occurred i was like... wait... he was supposed to be the bad guy??
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 14:48 (ten years ago) link
or the gangster at the end being all like "ayo bro, mr. ruggiero says you did him a solid, fuhgeddaboutit"
or christian bale mourning his amazing friendship with jeremy renner, which consisted of like.. one fun night on the town? not exactly donnie brasco there
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 14:49 (ten years ago) link
Don't think the movie frames him as a bad guy, just a guy not as sharp as the competition.
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 14:49 (ten years ago) link
no, but he had the denouement owed to a movie bad guy—our heroes get off scott-free and he's humiliated
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 14:53 (ten years ago) link
xp Something he and the movie have in common.
― Alfre, Lord Woodard (Eric H.), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 14:54 (ten years ago) link
i felt his character was somewhat... vague... despite his tics. didn't really buy his dog day afternoonish homelife.
though i did like the scene where he was on the phone with amy adams and they were both in curlers
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 14:54 (ten years ago) link
Oh man, his mom was strained.
― Alfre, Lord Woodard (Eric H.), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 14:55 (ten years ago) link
FBI = bad guy
(one of the few things Russell got right)
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 15:38 (ten years ago) link
i... guess... the whole thing seemed rather confused tbh
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 15:40 (ten years ago) link
how were the fbi the bad guys in abscam?
― balls, Tuesday, 24 December 2013 15:41 (ten years ago) link
Russell makes the most of Coop's limited range and un-charm, and extraordinary hair.
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 15:42 (ten years ago) link
dude felt way out of his depth
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 15:43 (ten years ago) link
bradley cooper is limitless iirc
― balls, Tuesday, 24 December 2013 15:46 (ten years ago) link
FBI entrapped "ordinary" crooked pols
hetero guys weirdly worship Cooper, idgi
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 16:01 (ten years ago) link
The only thing I can say about Cooper is that I don't feel he's as handsome as widely reported but he does have charisma
― Le passé, non seulement n'est pas fugace, il reste sur place (Michael White), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 16:08 (ten years ago) link
Looking 'out of his depth' was pretty appropriate for his character and the storyline.
― Le passé, non seulement n'est pas fugace, il reste sur place (Michael White), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 16:09 (ten years ago) link
The older woman behind me at the awards screening was wowed by the Jerry Vale cameo (a direct steal from Scorsese, no?).
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 16:33 (ten years ago) link
sorry, NOT Jerry Vale--- Jack Jones
same thing, really
yeah I thought Renner was the standout, and Elisabeth Röhm, who played his character's wife, was the strongest female performance
― rip van wanko, Tuesday, 24 December 2013 18:49 (ten years ago) link
Amy Adams was good. I particularly liked the scenes where she was interacting with Cooper, and you can kind of see from her eyes and general expression that she's thinking 'how far can I string this guy along?'
― mohel hell (Bob Six), Tuesday, 24 December 2013 19:18 (ten years ago) link
Elisabeth Röhm, who played his character's wife, was the strongest female performance
egg nog all over keyboard
― napgenius (goole), Wednesday, 25 December 2013 07:43 (ten years ago) link
hahahaha
― balls, Wednesday, 25 December 2013 08:00 (ten years ago) link
that 'emotional' scene where Renner tells Bale to leave his house = zero
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 25 December 2013 09:58 (ten years ago) link
Interesting for a movie set in the 70s that he was the only one shown using cocaine (at least I assume that's what he was huffing in one shot).
And why are we not talking about Louis C.K.'s performance as his supervisor?
― Word Salad Username (j.lu), Wednesday, 25 December 2013 11:38 (ten years ago) link
Cuz I had to look at the credits to realize who it was?
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 25 December 2013 12:39 (ten years ago) link
(same thing happened in Blue Jasmine)
cmon, i've never seen his show and i knew who he was
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 25 December 2013 12:41 (ten years ago) link
It was a stretch for him to play Renner's wife.
― Alfre, Lord Woodard (Eric H.), Wednesday, 25 December 2013 16:24 (ten years ago) link
Some decent performances, but I don't even want to acknowledge them cuz the movie was phbbbt and probably Oscar bound.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 25 December 2013 21:27 (ten years ago) link
Decent performers is prob a more apt description than performances. Lawrence has energy, cooper has those blue high beams.
― da croupier, Wednesday, 25 December 2013 21:32 (ten years ago) link
They should have just named the movie "Decent Performers."
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 25 December 2013 21:56 (ten years ago) link
Mike Leigh filtered through Scorsese
― mohel hell (Bob Six), Wednesday, 25 December 2013 22:10 (ten years ago) link
If Mike Leigh had directed this we would've seen 45 minutes at Renner's watching him interact with his wife and children -- and it woulda been the best in film.
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 26 December 2013 01:14 (ten years ago) link
Also, it rather misused "I Feel Love." (It accompanied a scene in a depressing bridge-and-tunnel disco, which should've hammered it home with something corny like, I dunno, David Shire's "Manhattan Skyline.")
fwiw not b+t, on the phone they said something about meeting on 54th st., so I assumed the intention was Studio 54.
― dan selzer, Thursday, 26 December 2013 15:55 (ten years ago) link
louis ck was... ok
the joke of his character was pretty done to death, he could have just been in 1 or 2 scenes rly
― socki (s1ocki), Thursday, 26 December 2013 16:08 (ten years ago) link
i was having a hard time getting myself to want to see this (dreading that Bale performance tbh), and after seeing el lobo de wall street i feel like this is just gonna come off even worse
― Hungry4Ass, Thursday, 26 December 2013 16:11 (ten years ago) link
Haven't seen this or Wolf of Wall Street yet, but all the critics saying this movie out-Scorseses Scorsese, what have they been saying about the actual OTT Scorsese?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 26 December 2013 16:33 (ten years ago) link
theres been a lot of pearl clutching from what i can tell
― Hungry4Ass, Thursday, 26 December 2013 16:34 (ten years ago) link
It has little in common with Scorsese except milieu.
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 26 December 2013 18:04 (ten years ago) link
I thought this was sort of inert but still pretty good. Especially Adams, Lawrence and Renner. Bale doing his usual Acting and manic Cooper were a tad much, but didn't really hurt things.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 27 December 2013 03:54 (ten years ago) link
couldn't stand Bale. As you point out, the more obvious and ridic the performance the taller the Oscar.
― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 27 December 2013 04:01 (ten years ago) link