I <3 Huckabees

c hack · Post by **c hack** » Tue Oct 05, 2004 7:02 pm

I <3 Huckabees. Discuss.

I thought it was greatness surrounded by greatness, and you couldn't tell where one greatness ended and the other began.

ps- does the poll graph jump out at you if you're wearing 3D glasses?

erik · Post by **erik** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 11:41 pm

Man, this movie is fricking weird. I liked it, but I didn't know that it wasn't a straight up comedy. I mean, just from the trailers, that's how they are selling it. And I was all ready for laughing. And then I got Huckabees.

I think I would have liked it more if there was more cohesion between the funny parts and the armchair stoner existential parts. It seemed to be going in a lot of directions at once, and I know that's part of the point, but lots of times during the movie I was like "What the fuck is this movie all about?" I thought the beginning, up until Marky Mark shows up, kind of drags.

c hack · Post by **c hack** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 7:16 am

Ah -- the trailer I saw made the existential stuff clear, so I knew what I was getting into.

Sort of same thing happened with "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" for me. I thought it was something like Magnolia, and it was a bit awkward to accept that it was possible to erase specific memories. I think they should've prefaced the whole movie with a commercial for Lacuna, so you know in advance which disbeliefs you have to suspend.

Jim of Seattle · Post by **Jim of Seattle** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 8:14 am

Saw it last night based on someone here's recommendation. I loved the relentless pacing, and the general breakneck speed on everything, and Jude Law and Naomi Watts were terrific in it, but I came away with the sense that the filmmakers were merely using philosophical ideas as their personal playthings on which to make an offbeat indie-like movie, and that they didn't really have an opinion either way about what they were talking about. In the last half hour they'd kind of lost me.

And I was extremely disappointed by Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman, neither of whom had much to do with their parts other than traipse around looking goofy-somber. Also, they had too much starpower to make those roles work. I could never get past the "Oh look, it's Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman!" factor.

Stil,, I gave it a B.

prayformojo · Post by **prayformojo** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:12 pm

Marky Mark is the goddamn man!

I really liked this movie a lot.

Post by jb » Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:23 am

I give it a B+. There was lots of good in it, but there were a bunch of sections that looked like D.O.R. wasn't paying attention. In those spots there was sloppy acting, editing, blocking, etc. Nowhere near as tight as Three Kings. But it was full of endearing moments and funny lines, and so I liked it despite its flaws.

jb

fodroy · Post by **fodroy** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:57 am

a - i loved this movie. there were alot of funny moments and the whole thing just flowed so well and was upbeat. it's definitely one of the better movies i've seen in a while. and the soundtrack was pretty effin' sweet also. i really liked mark wahlberg in this.

tonetripper · Post by **tonetripper** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:13 am

jb wrote:There was lots of good in it, but there were a bunch of sections that looked like D.O.R. wasn't paying attention.

I'm sorry JB, but it seems that you may have been talking about the D.O.P. If not, then what is a D.O.R.? In my world a D.O.P. is the director of photography and would be in charge, along with the director, of the edit as such. Just curious cuz I'm not sure if the title is different in the states, although I work with a lot of stateside D.O.P.s that call themselves D.O.P.s and not D.O.R.s. Type-O?

-Pablo

Eric Y. · Post by **Eric Y.** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:17 am

i think he means the writer/director/producer of the film.

Post by jb » Sun Oct 24, 2004 11:24 am

tonetripper wrote:
jb wrote:There was lots of good in it, but there were a bunch of sections that looked like D.O.R. wasn't paying attention.
I'm sorry JB, but it seems that you may have been talking about the D.O.P. If not, then what is a D.O.R.? In my world a D.O.P. is the director of photography and would be in charge, along with the director, of the edit as such. Just curious cuz I'm not sure if the title is different in the states, although I work with a lot of stateside D.O.P.s that call themselves D.O.P.s and not D.O.R.s. Type-O?

-Pablo

TV's got it. D.O.R. = David O. Russell.

As for the D.P.-- the movie, seemingly intentionally, looked pretty crappy, animations and everything. so either the D.P. was asleep at the wheel, or he gave Russell exactly what he asked for. Looking at his credits, I'm inclined to think this is just the way that guy's stuff looks. Also, he appears to be Lynch's DP of choice these days. And while David Lynch is out there with editing and story, his films don't cinematically *look* as awesome as a Ridley Scott picture, for example.

http://imdb.com/name/nm0005687/

I don't have *any* experience with *any* of this stuff aside from what I've read or seen or assumed. I wasn't aware that DP's had much of anything to do with the editing of a film. Huckabees had some problems in that area. Things like matching a close-up expression on Marky Mark to his expression in the mid-shot as he exits a scene. It was way too obvious that he only did the scrunched-up face in the close-up, and not in the longer take that's a mid shot. Maybe they only thought of having him scrunch up his face after they did the longer shot, but still, they should have fixed that. Bugged me. I know, I'm the only one. It's a curse.

tonetripper · Post by **tonetripper** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:07 pm

Cool man..... lol..... I was just bombing around the movie thread cuz it's cool that you guys are chiming in reviews. I watched Mean Girls on the, seemingly, good reccomendation from some of you cats. Funny flick.... but for a different thread. Stumbled into this one cuz I want to catch this film too. Thread surfing.

Thanks for clarifying that for me and D.P. is seemingly more correct than D.O.P. For some reason the movie business is always intent on short-forming titles and processes all the time, so I was confused on the D.O.R. thang. Haha. Cheers. I'm gonna try to check that one out and formulate my own opinion. Good cast.

And ya, you're right, it depends on the director and editor if the DP is present in the edit room.... usually not there for the final edit (prolly too busy working on another movie). They would be used in establishing problems with rushes and the prints mostly....... but if there was a problem with one of the frames, final print or jump cut in one of the edits they may be consulted as to the nature of whatever error may have transpired. There are so many cogs on a wheel for making a movie.... sometimes hard to really nail down anyone's position entirely. Although I'm in the business, I still have a hard time keeping track, entirely, of what everyone does.

- Pablo

Duncanzits · Post by **Duncanzits** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:52 pm

I like it better than Garden State and Eternal Sunshine just because I didn't know as much about going in as the other two.

fodroy · Post by **fodroy** » Thu Oct 28, 2004 9:28 pm

so is the style the new trendy thing to do with movies?

JonPorobil · Post by **JonPorobil** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 12:44 pm

is grammar bad?

Leaf · Post by **Leaf** » Fri Oct 29, 2004 1:14 pm

Generic wrote:is grammar bad?

Just Kelsey.

Sorry.

Couldn't resist.

the Jazz · Post by **the Jazz** » Sun Nov 28, 2004 1:31 am

Just saw this today, and enjoyed it very much. My new favorite movie! And I'm glad the ending didn't suck. It wasn't perfect but it was far from sucking and that makes me very happy.

j$ · Post by j$ » Sun Nov 28, 2004 5:50 pm

Generic wrote:is grammar bad?

you forgot to capitalise.

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:24 pm

I saw this last night and am enjoying the soundtrack now. (Jon Brion, man. Great shit.) I think I really liked it, but I'll probably have to give more thought to it before deciding. I liked it less than Eternal Sunshine, or at least less as of right now. Maybe I'll end up liking it more, but I don't know that I will. A big barrier to me digging on it was that I've grown to really dislike Jason Schwartzmann. He grates on me.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Mon May 22, 2006 5:45 pm

I just watched this again, on DVD. I give it a solid A, word. The commentary track with "D.O.R." and Marky Mark and Jason Schwarzman is pretty good, too. I think I liked it more the 2nd and 3rd times. The commentary was cool because I found out that a few of the little moments I really liked were ad-libbed.

I <3 Huckabees

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I <3 Huckabees