Movie Club - A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

[used44]

I don't have time to write a bunch at the moment, but just wanted to quickly start off by saying how much I love the scene where Carl loses his cool with the food critic, Ramsey Michel. We all know Jon Favreau is capable of writing beautiful, witty, grumpy dialogue but in this scene our protagonist just makes a total ass of himself in a way that grows uncomfortable for the audience. He doesn't have any cool lines or particularly good points to make. He just has a total meltdown and it's awesome. It gives him a good 'rock-bottom' to climb from.

How effective do you think the twitter special effects were. Odd choice, right?

 

[UghRochester]

I was pausing reading all the tweets given out when Ramsey gave his review. Loved how Carl had no idea how to use the form of social networking and thus thinking he sent that tweet as a private message. I actually enjoyed a part of the credits. Jon Favreau was actually taught how to make that grilled cheese sandwich.

 

[Green_Lantern]

That was probably the best movie that I've watched without ever actually hearing about it until this thread. It's especially crazy that I've never heard of it considering the cast, which overall I thought was great. My biggest gripe I would say is that it was a little too "happy ending" for me. I mean, it's great that he found himself again by starting the food truck and his cross country road trip, but then when they get back he immediately gets his own restaurant again and gets back together with his ex? A little over the top. I actually liked the Twitter effects, I thought it worked really well with the story, and plus it's the world we live in now.

Oh, I get that Sophia Vergara is super hot, but damn is she a bad actress. Easily the worst character in the movie.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

I felt like the Twitter effects weren't completely horrible. It was the actual audible tweeting and flying that got me. I liked the pop ups more than over the shoulder close-ups most movies use.

I'm glad you liked it, GL. I was going to pick several classics from Netflix, but this was one of the few small movies I saw last year that I really enjoyed. The main reason I went to see it was because Swingers was one of my favorite movies in highschool and I think that his message has matured since then. In Swingers, his character finds his "happy ending" in moving on and experiencing new love, but in Chef happiness is so much more--creative and professional fulfillment, support from your loved ones (Martin, Percy, Inez) and teaching and enriching others.

There are so many great moments revolve around the contrast of him taking Percy to go do stuff (errands, movies and theme parks) and finally sharing the things that are special to Carl with Percy (beignets in New Orleans, teaching him to cook).

The other message I think is cool is the importance of shitty moments in life. Without that review, without having his whole life turned upside-down, his pride would've continued to convince him that busy = happy = fulfilled. Because of that he had to slowly strip away pieces of his pride. He had to turn to Inez for emotional support, to RDJ's douche bag character (great scene) for financial help, to Martin for help on the cross-country trip.

My one complaint is that Favreau also writes very entertaining cardboard cut outs for supporting cast. His main characters are so well-written and fleshed out that everyone around them are glaringly sparse in motivation, background, etc.

 

[LinksOcarina]

So yeah, I enjoyed it.

The point I liked the most was the natural progression, from the low to the high to the rebirth of it all for Faverau's character and his passions. I thought it was a good arc for him to go on, and it came off as natural, almost as if he was in a mid-life crisis.

I even liked the kid, who came off as a natural foil as someone who wanted to have a relationship with his father, and who enjoyed working with him. Although I am pretty sure there are child labor laws that were ignored between him and Leguizamo's Character. What really sold me is how much the kid really paid attention to Faverau when he finally hit the road and started sharing moments outstide the passive movies and drives to the market.

Also, the ending was way too good to be true in all honesty. But it was very short and abrupt, which kind of helped in the endings favor. I think if the last shots were just the truck and his family working on it, it would have been a lot better versus rekindling with his ex-wife and having the critic back him so he can open a restaurant.

I have to say though, I am glad they threaded the subplot with his wife in there though. You notice throughout the movie how she pushes him and subltely and accidentally shows her love for Faverau's character. Sofia Veraga was really good at her part, what little she had to do in it.

I also was upset about the supporting cast. You had great actors and actresess in this movie all over the place, Oliver Platt, Dustin Hoffman, Scarlett Johannsen, yet it felt like extended cameos for them all, which is fine, but once we hit the hour mark, they more or less drop from the entire story. The cameo by Robert Downey Jr. however was a scene stealer You know that was a personal favor for Faverau, glad he did it.

I also liked how this movie really focused on the food at times. You can see Faverau's character really dig into his craft, from simple stuff like the Grilled Cheese and the Pasta dish, to the wholly complex dinner he made at home after he walked away from the restaurant. I loved the contrast in that scene too, noticed how dainty and plain the meal was for the food critic, compared to the extravagant meal made by Faverau?

Anyway, thumbs up, I enjoyed it. Whats next?

 

[used44]

Yes, it has a VERY happy ending, but I love it. I think the lows earlier in the movie are low enough to warrant such highs.

Great family movie.

 

[Bretimus_v2]

I was so pissed that he didn't take that delicious meal to the critic instead of word vomitting on him.

 

[UrbanMasque]

Just watched it!

Loved it (timely too - I eat at these things every other day). I think i loved the soundtrack more than anything else in the movie. Its rare that I watch a movie without extreme ups and downs. This was funny and up and up and upper. I kinda predicted that he would redeem himself and win over his critic, but I wanted him to shove it into his former bosses face as well. I didn't think he was DOWN DOWN,ever in the movie. Even though his son was a pain at times, he wasn't rebellious. His wife wasn't trying to make his life hell. he quit as opposed to being fired. The entire time this was happening I was like, 'he's fine' just waiting for the fall that never happened.

I mean, I know some SF chefs and the best thing about having that as a career is that you're never really out of work. Also I feel like they should've resolved more with Sofia Vegara's character. I wanted them together and had a hard time believing they couldn't make it work. They're so likable together (in Jon Favearu's FUCKING dreams). The cast was awesome, and the acting was awesome - I like seeing John Leguazamo and Downey Jr. in these smaller rolls. He almost stole the show though. I'm hungry after watching that, but I'm also surfing Youtube for the songs.


Did anyone else think that the Chef was too young to NOT know how Twitter worked? I'm putting him early 50s max, and he's been a chef in high society for a while - no one's said 'you need to be on this?' to him before? I get it - for the sake of the story, but I tend to dwell on dumb stuff. Regardless - great first choice! Next?

Also, I need to go back to NOLA, I'd live there if i could.

Urban must've given up...what's the next movie?

Shove that up your ass greenie

 

[Green_Lantern]

Urban must've given up...what's the next movie?

 

[WickedLiquid]

Why Stop Now

 

[used44]

Ok I put the 30 replies into a random number generator (so the more active you are in this thread, the better your odds are!) and the result was #28.

UrbanMasque's pick! Warren, pick before the weekend please and we'll start the discussion Monday.

 

[UrbanMasque]

UrbanMasque's pick! Warren, pick before the weekend please and we'll start the discussion Monday.

Who the fuck is Warren..

Urban's choice: Filth

Enjoy.

 

[UghRochester]

Is it clean? I won't watch anything with filthy language.

 

[UghRochester]

^Obviously a joke. The film was great. I nominate James McAvoy to play the Joker. I really liked how the filmed portrayed the protagonist's mental state from a childhood tragedy. This was a great example of how a person should have reached out to a friend.

 

[UrbanMasque]

Absolutely! So, I love everything about this movie. The characters, the style, the music, the constant downward spiral and the ending. My favorite scene was the the Hamburg trip segment - up to the point where Bladesy was tripping out.

James McAvoy (badass actor) makes it really hard to like him, but i still do - even apart from the separation issues that may or may not have been causing his bigotry. I guess, his wife wouldn't have left him if he wasn't a half-way decent person, but I wish I knew why she did. A quick guess makes me think infidelity. At some point he must've been a decent person and you get shades of that when the newly widowed woman comes into his life.

I think the biggest problem with McAvoys character and people like him are their aspirations alienate everyone around them and while they do have "friends" they dont have anyone to confide in - which you really need in life. I'm sure people do disgusting things in an effort to advance but I think being a cop makes this kind of underhandedness terrible (even though amusing) - but none of his victims we're really 'Victims' except Bladesy. Even then, I think he was just trying to open him up a bit to different experiences. Stealing from a Friend and sleeping with a friends wife is bunk - but i suspect that McAvoy didn't expect to live out the month anyway so why should he care. At that point I think he knew he would off himself after, promotion or not..


..same rules apply..

I think McAvoy would've been an INSANE joker, but we'll see how Leto does.

 

[LinksOcarina]

That was a difficult movie to watch.

Maybe because i'm past the stage of pure cynicism in films I see, and this one felt like a very cynical film in the end, there was really nothing likable about James McAvoy's character, and I was quite happy when the basically got screwed at the end out of what he wanted the most, his job position.

The trippy scenes were really good too, enjoyed them a lot and it showed his descent into madness quite nicely, in the only way a film can.

The movie does live up to it's name. I doubt I will ever watch it again, I did not enjoy it as much as Chef. Good acting all around, lots of dark British humor, but I really struggled to care about anyone in this picture, and cheered when the anti-hero more or less got fucked.

I guess that made me invested in the picture, but it felt kind of forced.

 

[UghRochester]

I agreed. I didn't cheer for the character he was and I knew right away being a corrupted person on the force it would end badly. It was capturing his mental state which I thought the film did best at.

 

[Green_Lantern]

I don't really think the point of the movie was for youto cheer for him....

But I watched this Saturday night and ever since then I've been having a hard time figuring out what I felt for the movie. On one hand, the story arc was great and his descent into madness was quite fascinating, which James McAvoy owned the screen in a really good way. On the other hand he was SUCH an antihero that it was like, damn really? I mean, extorting a 16 year old into sexual favors?

I liked it and at the same time I didn't like it, which I think is almost the point. The second half was much better than the first I felt. I'm kind of interested in reading the book now though.

 

[UrbanMasque]

Sweet! I was worried you guys would think too narrowly about this movie, I'm glad you all took it in with an open mind (whether you liked it or not).

 

[UrbanMasque]

Moving this thing along for the weekend - I randomly select...

Longo..

This should be interesting. Choose wisely.