Pajiba

I couldn't watch all of In America. I'm sure it's brilliant but all the horrible things that happened were too much for me. Obviously I am far too sensitive, but I got to the bit with the air conditioner and gave up.

Tobey Maguire looks about as far away from Spider-Man as you can get. It looks pretty damn good, and Natalie Portman is gorgeous, as usual.

Is it weird that I can't see Natalie Portman around snow without thinking of her as Marty and not wanting anyone to lay a fucking hand on her?

Tobey Maguire's dead eyes seem to be working in his favor for this film. I like the guy just fine, but he has a bit of a blankness to him that isn't well suited for some roles.

I can totally buy him as a psychopath though.

Bad trailer, but I think it'll be a good film. Just say no to The Fray.

Hey way to tell the entire story in the trailer, guys.

Jim Sheridan also directed Get Rich Or Die Trying. Portman is a marginally more compelling actor than 50 Cent though. Marginally.

This looks like one of those beautiful sad films that I can't get enough of. Plus, Maguire looks TERRIFYING.

When is it out?

Posted by: Anna von Beaverplatz at July 7, 2009 10:50 AM

Exactly, I love the heartbreak, I'm glad I'm not a sick puppy afterall - or at least not the only one ;)

Still though, it wouldn't kill people to try and learn the art of trailermaking again. I blame the birth of the teaser trailer, I mean seriously isn't the point of every trailer to be a teaser? Why make a distinction?

Ah whatever - Jake Gyllenhaal is HOT, hence I will see this movie!

Wow. That made absolutely no sense. I think I need another cup of coffee.

i typically abhor portman and macguire, but that trailer wasn't so bad. nat still makes me wanna gag, but toby look solid. i think it's what melissa mentioned-his dead eyes working for him instead of against him this time. i really do wish they'd stop giving away every last f'n detail in trailers tho. jake actually looks pretty hot for once too. interesting premise overall. will probably wait to rent it tho. as a side note-u2's best song, in my opinion, is 'all i want is you' off of rattle & hum.

The trailer lost me when it skipped from sad sack into psycho smash territory. Did anyone else get the feeling they were watching the trailers for two different films spliced together? The first movie I'd see. The second one, not so much.

i'm so confused. why is emo-spidey so skinny and angry????

cannot wrap brain around these folks being parents/soldiers/grownups with real emotions.

Posted by: The Wandering Parakeet at July 7, 2009 12:28 PM

Didn't you know? Americans are stupid, and we only like American movies with American actors. We hate foreign films. They frighten and confuse us.

Nice to see Tobey Maguire working again. Very "machinist"look! i don't remember his last time i saw him in a movie(may be a funny trailer with RDJ)

Nice to see Jake Gyllenhaal .I don't remember the last time i saw him in a movie exception in "Persia"photo (when is it out? is it finished?)

Not nice to see Nathalie Portman because she may be charming but she looks so childish even her daughter looks older!

Anna, I guess you're right. I guess I wonder from a creative standpoint why a director would re-make a film so similar to one already there (and not that old)?

I am not opposed to re-makes in different cultural contexts (The Magnificent Seven and Seven Samurai were both plenty good) so why not adapt the story instead of just re-shooting it with English-speaking, quasi-identical actors? Why would a director want to do that? The easy paycheck?

Then why did I immediately think it paralleled Pearl Harbor?

I concur. Didn't even have to watch the trailer to get that thought in my head.

Of the trailer though. I thought it was going strong up until the point of the psycho shit. Why is it that they always seem to have to portray soldiers with PTSD? Not everyone who comes back comes back with messed up heads. I have plenty of friends who come back unchanged and the same amount who come back different.

So really, why couldn't they have just done a film that involved the love triangle, and left out the crazy shit?

Even better idea.

Wandering Parakeet, you are not alone!

Brode is one of my favourite films, and I am alternately intrigued and revolted at the idea of a Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire remake.

And I echo your comment - it looks like a shot-for-shot remake. The pancake scene, the shot of the helicopter... it looks the same, only way, WAY more trite.

I was also thinking that she looks too young to have kids that age. In earth years, she is. In Hollywood, hmm.

That dinner table scene, in which mother's desires are spouted? No. No kid that age would believably say that. No, it should be some impossibly glamourous, quick-witted bon viveur who glistens gin and tonic while launching into a chorus themed as 'Live! Live! Live!'

Hushed longings, why can't can they re-up my heart?

This film was remade with the blessing of Brodre's scriptwriter, Bier, because
she felt that while people were into the family dynamic, they didn't really relate to the war angle as Denmark has like 15 soldiers in Afghanistan.

So the film is a remake that tries to approach the story from a different angle.

The film was not only re-edited, but other scenes had been shot regarding Toby Maguire's character.

I've never been big into Maguire, and In America could be a little too much for
me. But I like Sheridan overall, he's great with actual actors, and Portman and Gyllenaal are pretty reliable. If it gets solid reviews I'll probably see it in a
theater, otherwise: Netflix.

Bollocks, the trailer's been pulled...

Having just seen the original film, I think out of many remakes out there, this one makes sense. I mean, a film where a young man sent to war is presumed dead and his wife has to deal both with her 'loss' but life after him. So when he returns, conflict arises. It has the potential to be very powerful.
Still, the trailer gives away a lot of the film, and direct scenes from the original seem to be pulled very much so. I hope the director sticks with the wife as the main character because unlike many of these war films, she is truly the character who the story revolves around. And Anne von Beaverplatz, if sad dramas suit you, this one is at the top of the pile. The second half will make you feel so somber and compelled. It's fantastic filmmaking, the original one, let's hope for a second shot of beauty.