The Moderns
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.44 You Save: $10.54 (70%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.38 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Moderns
Movie Review: good movie
Summary: 4 Stars
Gave as a gift to my boss. Anyone who has taken a survey of western art II class will enjoyMovie Review: Agelessly Elegant
Summary: 3 Stars
Although this film is far from perfect it is a wonderful depiction of Paris during the infamous 1920's when all the great American writers and artists resided there.
Nick Hart (Keith Carradine) is a starving American artist who haunts little Parisian cafes with his charcoal pencil and drawing pad in hand as he sketches people he deems interesting. He becomes intrigued with a darkly mysterious woman named Rachel Stone (Linda Fiorentino) and her corruptly powerful husband Bertram Stone (John Lone). As the story unfolds we discover a past exists between Hart and Mrs. Stone and danger follows their lurking interests along Parisian streets. Mr. Stone is supposedly an art dealer/collector who seems to know all of the most important of people while reducing those he cares little for to pulp. A drunken Hemmingway (Kevin J. O'Connor) along with the likes of Alice B. Tolkas (Ali Giron) and her mate Gertrude Stein (Elsa Raven) make fleeting appearances during the film in a half-hearted attempt to maintain the allure of Paris during the 20's. Hart discovers a way to make a living through his involvement with a rich heiress (Geraldine Chaplin) and an influential gallery owner (Genevieve Bujold) but this connection could also be his decline.
If you are someone who carries on a romance with Paris and all that she holds then you will probably find this film very appealing. Director Alan Rudolph manages to capture what life must have been like during the time of Hemmingway, Fitzgerald and Stein as Americans in Paris. One would almost prefer he had made a film directly related to the famous people he randomly refers to in this movie, we all know they were in themselves extraordinarily interesting subjects. But overall this film is worth watching despite the little imperfections and a bit of bad acting here and there. Carradine and Fiorentino display a decent chemistry in order to carry the story to completion. As always though the true hero here is Paris, a city as old as it is timeless.
Movie Review: We'll Always Have Paris
Summary: 3 Stars
For we English majors, Paris in 1926 is like Woodstock 1969. The cerebral high jinks of the period are familiar. The Dada movement, which is a self-parody of European artiness, has a cameo during a surrealistic funeral of the movie's cad. Hemingway and Gertrude Stein are also parodied. The literary icons are not treated well. Hemingway is a failure with two Parisian painted ladies and Stein comes off as a bully and a boxing fan, which is ridiculous.
I'm reading the life of Scott Fitzgerald now and I must admit that this fellow met everyone in Paris and New York with his mad wife in tow. I wish someone would do a film about Scott and Zelda. This wistfulness to experience the lives of the Celebes of an artistic and sociological watershed is the stuff dreams are made of.
The Moderns is really a forged masterpiece scam movie. It is handled deftly, but we are not there for the crime and it's amusing consequences. Art critics are satirized as pompous know it alls, which is always satisfying. Tom Wolfe has already written books about modern art and architecture, which describes the fraud in art's periphery. This film handles that well I think.
The problem with a bad movie: bad acting and a bad script, can harm a film, but not enough for aficionados such as myself, to abandon Paris in 1926.
Movie Review: Call Me Old Fashioned
Summary: 2 Stars
Nick Hart (Keith Carradine) is a pretentious American artist who lives amongst the expatriate community in 1920s Paris. He wastes most of his time boozing and posing in local cafe's and pestering gallery owner Libby Valentin (Geneviève Bujold) to sell his lame paintings. He becomes involved in a plot by wealthy art patroness Nathalie de Ville (Geraldine Chaplin) to forge three paintings, substituting them for the real ones owned by her husband who she is in the process of divorcing. This leads to friction with American rubber magnate Bertram Stone (John Lone), who happens to be married to Hart's ex-wife Rachel (Linda Fiorentino).
I have wanted to see this film for a long time, but what a disappointment. Main problem, is somehow Keith Carradine seems like he thinks he is so edgy and darkly creative, kind of like the character he plays. Smug about his talent, but showing little evidence that it exists. I was very interested in the paintings from that period, and the Paris expatriate community, but what it showed veered in tone from the pedantic to the ridiculous. Hemmingway, Alice B. Toklas, and Gertrude Stein make an appearance, but are utter cartoons. Bertram Stone, Nick Hart's nemesis, is another badly told joke. For no reason that makes any sense whatsoever he has a fixation on Houdini. I wish I could've escaped from seeing this movie. Finally, Wallace Shawn is an obnoxious gossip columnist named Oiseau. At one point, he is even in drag. He is already ugly enough as a man, and as a woman, his ugliness rivals former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. If these are The Moderns, then call me old fashioned.
$$$$$
Alan Rudolph .... Director
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)
Songwriter (1984)
Roadie (1980)
$$$$$
Keith Carradine .... Nick Hart
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) .... Will Rogers
CrissCross (1992) .... John Cross
Nashville (1975) .... Tom Frank
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1991) .... Marvin Macy
Daddy's Dyin'... Who's Got the Will? (1990) .... Clarence
Trouble in Mind (1985) .... Coop
Maria's Lovers (1984) .... Clarence Butts
The Long Riders (1980) .... Jim Younger
An Almost Perfect Affair (1979) .... Hal Raymond
Old Boyfriends (1979) .... Wayne Van Til
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) .... Our Guests at Heartland
Pretty Baby (1978) .... Bellocq
The Duellists (1977) .... D'Hubert
Welcome to L.A. (1976) .... Carroll Barber
Lumière (1976) .... David
$$$$$
Linda Fiorentino .... Rachel Stone
Dogma (1999) .... Bethany Sloane
Body Count (1998) .... Natalie
Men in Black (1997) .... Dr. Laurel Weaver / Agent L (Elle)
Kicked in the Head (1997) .... Megan
Larger Than Life (1996) .... Terry Bonura
Unforgettable (1996) .... Dr. Martha Briggs
Bodily Harm (1995) .... Rita Cates
Jade (1995) .... Trina Gavin
The Desperate Trail (1995) (V) .... Sarah O'Rourke
The Last Seduction (1994) .... Bridget Gregory / Wendy Kroy
Charlie's Ghost Story (1994) .... Marta
Acting on Impulse (1993) (TV) .... Susan Gittes
Chain of Desire (1992) .... Alma D'Angeli
Beyond the Law (1992) .... Renee Jason
Shout (1991) .... Molly
Queens Logic (1991) .... Carla
Strangers (1991) .... Helen
The Neon Empire (1989) (TV) .... Lucy
Wildfire (1988) .... Kay
After Hours (1985) .... Kiki Bridges
$$$$$
John Lone .... Bertram Stone
The Last Emperor - Criterion Collection (1987) .... Emperor Pu Yi / Henry
Echoes of Paradise (1987) .... Raka
Year of the Dragon (1985) .... Joey Tai
Iceman (1984) .... Charlie, the Iceman
$$$$$
Wallace Shawn .... Oiseau
The Incredibles (2004) (voice) .... Gilbert Huph
All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) (voice) .... Labrador MC
Toy Story (1995) (voice) .... Rex
Clueless (1995) .... Mr. Wendell Hall
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994) .... Horatio Byrd
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989) .... Howard
The Princess Bride (1987) .... Vizzini
Prick Up Your Ears (1987) .... John Lahr
Nice Girls Don't Explode (1987) .... Ellen
Radio Days (1987) .... Masked Avenger
My Dinner with Andre (1981) .... Wally Shawn
Cheaper to Keep Her (1981) .... Mugger
Atlantic City (1980) (as Wally Shawn) .... Waiter
Simon (1980) .... Eric Van Dongen
$$$$$
Geneviève Bujold .... Libby Valentin
You Can Thank Me Later (1998) .... Joelle
The House of Yes (1997) (as Genevieve Bujold) .... Mrs. Pascal
The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996) .... Leona
Dead Innocent (1996) .... Suzanne St. Laurent
Mon amie Max (1994) .... Marie-Alexandrine Brabant
An Ambush of Ghosts (1993) .... Irene Betts
The Dance Goes On (1992)
Oh, What a Night (1992) (V) .... Eva
Rue du Bac (1991) .... Marie Aubriac
False Identity (1990) .... Rachel Roux
Trouble in Mind (1985) .... Wanda
Choose Me (1984) .... Nancy
Tightrope (1984) .... Beryl Thibodeaux
Monsignor (1982) .... Clara
$$$$$
Geraldine Chaplin .... Nathalie de Ville
Jane Eyre (1996) .... Miss Scatcherd
Home for the Holidays (1995) .... Aunt Gladys
Para recibir el canto de los pájaros (1995) .... Catherine
Words Upon the Window Pane (1994) .... Miss McKenna
A Foreign Field (1993) .... Beverly
The Age of Innocence (1993) .... Mrs. Welland
Chaplin (1992) .... Hannah Chaplin
Remember My Name (1978) .... Emily
Welcome to L.A. (1976) .... Karen Hood
$$$$$
Oiseau: [while observing his own faked funeral disguised in drag] If it weren't for me, these people would think surreal was a breakfast food!
Movie Review: An awful film by any reasonable standard
Summary: 1 Stars
I don't know where to begin, this film is so ridiculous. How about Gertrube Stein jumping up and down, jeering and cheering at a boxing match between Carradine and Lone, a match to decide an issue of honor, and in the middle of it, Lone starts doing Karate moves to win? How about Wallace Shawn in drag? How about a cut scene where, inexplicably, a group of people in modern clothing stand around the bar, staring directly into the camera, as it stops and sits with them in frame? How about a painter who can mimic Cezanne, Matisse, and Modigliani, but whose own paintings look like bad 1980's music video collages.
The portrayal of Hemingway is offensive, he rants and pontificates morosely, with little life. If Hemingway acted in real life as he did in this film, he wouldn't have had to commit suicide, someone else would have shot him. This film is a travesty, totally self indulgent garbage. Read a book about the period instead, it is doubtful you will find one as bad as this film.