Boyhood- Page 2
Boyhood
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#30Boyhood
Posted: 2/13/15 at 12:51pm
"Boring" and "dragged" are in the eye of the beholder, it seems. I've never been quite so bored in the cinema as I was during that avalanche of tedium called BIRDMAN, despite all the furious acting and camera-waving and stuff going on all over the place. And the less said about that idiotic TREE OF LIFE thing the better...
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
Updated On: 2/13/15 at 12:51 PM
#31Boyhood
Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:00pm
I didn't like either one as much as I wanted to. Birdman peaks too early for me and Boyhood sort of just trails off into nothingness when we get into Mason's teen years. I also couldn't help but feeling I was being savagely manipulated with nostalgia while watching boyhood, lol.
Boyhood is a nice film with a gimmick that works, but beyond that, it's pretty overrated.
Countdown til Jordan comes on raging about how much loves me! 3..2..1...
Showface
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/25/14
#33Boyhood
Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:00pm
Boyhood was a movie that took 11 years to make and 11 years to watch. At least it felt that way.
Painful, despite some nice moments and a really good performance by Patricia Arquette.
I don't get why this movie is the "critics' darling" this year. It adds up to a nicely-made after-school special with the gimmick of watching everyone age throughout the film.
End result: Snooze.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Showface
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/25/14
#36Boyhood
Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:06pm
It's a collection of milestones and moments in life.
I don't really get why it's called "Boyhood" either, when the four principals (father, mother, boy, girl) all share the storyline. Especially the mother has as much if not more screen time than the boy.
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#37Boyhood
Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:06pmThere's no particular plot -- it just follows a group of characters over a period of years. Life happens. It either works for you or it doesn't.
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#40Boyhood
Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:20pmBest, do you like Linklater's other films, like DAZED AND CONFUSED?
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/
Wildcard
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/21/06
#41Boyhood
Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:22pm
I don't get why this is the critics' darling either. If it had been made the "traditional" way with a different actor portraying him at different parts of his life, it would be a totally dull movie. Hence, it's all about the gimmick. Sure, it's cool to see him growing up before our eyes but if that's what I wanted to see, then I'd rather watch Harry Potter instead. At least those films had an exciting plot to back them up.
If it were up to me, The Grand Budapest Hotel would be the Best Picture winner. Every little detail of the film was meticulously designed, the casting superb and it had an engrossing story (and I'm not even the biggest Wes Anderson fan). This film truly showed the craft in filmmaking.
#42Boyhood
Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:22pm
"None of the kids they used to play Mason at different ages looked anything like the others and it really took me out of the film. Indeedio."
You can change your screen name a thousand times, broadwayguy, but you'll always be the same insufferable child everyone here has grown to detest.
#43Boyhood
Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:23pm
BOYHOOD worked for me like gangbusters. (SPOILERS ABOUND) I found the alcoholic second husband scenes to be shocking in just how banal the abuse seemed. The forced haircut was heartbreaking. Her decision to leave her step-kids behind was unsettling. The kindness afforded to the step mother's religious parents was quietly beautiful. Arquette's ambivalence at being told by the young Latino man she helped is some of the best screen acting I've seen in years. And Hawke's scene with his son as the band sound checks felt like a moment of grace. There was no traditional narrative arc, but this film captures something no other narrative film I've seen does: life. I can't agree that it's a gimmick. It's the point.
I do have a question that I've been wondering about. After Mason gets the forced crew cut, a pretty brunette girl passes a note that says she likes his haircut and its signed with her name. Near the end of the film, he's introduced at college to a pretty brunette young woman whom I thought had the same name as the note-writing girl, and for a second, I thought it could be the same actress/character. Did anyone else notice this? Am I making it all up?
#45Boyhood
Posted: 2/13/15 at 1:31pm
"Arquette's ambivalence at being told by the young Latino man she helped is some of the best screen acting I've seen in years"
Funny. That's actually the one scene I hated from the film. It just felt so forced to me. Up to that point, it really felt like a natural film but then that scene made me like I was watching some educational ad. It just felt vey cliché to me and not in the realm of what Boyhood set out to do.
Countdown til Jordan comes on raging about how much loves me! 3..2..1...
Showface
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/25/14
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