Frost/Nixon

[catsclaw227]

Today I did a rare thing these days considering there's a 1-yr old stumbling around the house.

I watched two movies, back-to-back.

I first watched Caprica, which I really liked, and commented on in that thread.

Then I watched Frost/Nixon. Very good film, and Frank Langella was amazing as Richard Nixon. The mannerisms, the tone, his whole performance was brilliant.

Admittedly, the film didn't cast a terribly negative light on Nixon. It humanized him, if only for a few moments, and provided an subtle statement about the way media shapes our perceptions of things.

What did you think of the film?

 

[Morrus]

I really liked it. Some sterling performances.

 

[Mallus]

It humanized him, if only for a few moments...

I understand that Nixon was human for a few moments each day. It was part of his curse.

(The movie's near the bottom of the Netflix queue. Maybe I'll move it up)

 

[catsclaw227]

Yea, it's worth moving it up the Netflix queue. That's what I did. Really great performances.

 

[Psionicist]

Frost/Nixon is awesome; the acting, the story, even the soundtrack/original score. A much more interesting movie in my opinion than Milk, which won best actor at the oscars (let's face it: Sean Penn is a really good actor, but he always does these difficult emotional movies, and we've seen this before in "21 grams" etc).

I'd say that if you like the movie adaptions of John Grishams novels, you will enjoy Frost/Nixon. Check it out.

 

[Croesus]

What did you think of the film?

1. Ron Howard should get an Oscar for directing. I really was on the edge of my seat at the climax, wondering just what Nixon would say, what he would reveal.

2. Frank Langella also deserves an Oscar. His performance was more forceful than Nixon was in the actual interview footage, but that's not a criticism. He did more to show the good and bad of Nixon, while keeping the man human, than any 20 books on the subject.

The best DVD I've seen this year.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

1. Ron Howard should get an Oscar for directing. I really was on the edge of my seat at the climax, wondering just what Nixon would say, what he would reveal.

The Best Director Oscar went to Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionare.

2. Frank Langella also deserves an Oscar. His performance was more forceful than Nixon was in the actual interview footage, but that's not a criticism. He did more to show the good and bad of Nixon, while keeping the man human, than any 20 books on the subject.

The best DVD I've seen this year.

The Best Actor Oscar went to Sean Penn for Milk.

 

[Croesus]

The Best Director Oscar went to Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionare.

The Best Actor Oscar went to Sean Penn for Milk.

The Academy really should have called me first...

 

[Morrus]

1. Ron Howard should get an Oscar for directing. I really was on the edge of my seat at the climax, wondering just what Nixon would say, what he would reveal.

Not a fan of history then? Crap, I live in a different country, and I knew the ending. There's no drama in this movie; it's about the characterisation.

2. Frank Langella also deserves an Oscar. His performance was more forceful than Nixon was in the actual interview footage, but that's not a criticism. He did more to show the good and bad of Nixon, while keeping the man human, than any 20 books on the subject.

Have you read 20 books on the subject? Which 20 have you read?

I'd argue that Nixon was portrayed (through fictional personal scenes which weren't witnessed or filmed in real life) as more human than any existing evidence suggests. For example, Frost has repeatedly stated that the midnight drunken phone call call to his hotel room did not happen. As I understand it, that was required to get biographical data from certain real people. But it's a drama, not a biography.

Despite your opinion that it deserved the Academy Award, have you seen Slumdog Millionaire? I liked both movies a lot, but Millionaire was the better film.

 

[Krug]

Great performance by Langella. Honestly I liked this as much as Slumdog, though I can see how Slumdog won because it went into relatively uncharted territory for Hollywood. Quite gripping and yes Nixon was definitely made more human; I'm sure Howard wanted to present him as a fallible person.