"Love & Mercy" - Board member reviews and discussion

[Junkstar]

Shouldn't they rather take it PM then?

Agreed. It's a mod after all.

Forgot one more thing about the movie experience. One of the elderly couples was there for a second viewing. They had never read any of the books, seen any of the docs, etc. They were converts from the film alone. These are Brian and Melinda's peers now. Maybe they simply nailed it and I'm being too hard.

[Pretty Funky]

Welcome to the board Junk. Long time since Ego folded but some good and bad debate here as well.

[sea of tunes]

BRIAN:  Do you like SMiLE?
Fan:  Uh, yeah, Brian, it was a great album.
BRIAN: How about Pet Sounds?  Did you like that too?
Fan:  Brian, Pet Sounds is really great.  I love Pet Sounds.
BRIAN:  Well which one did you like best?
Fan:  Brian I'd have to say SMiLE.  That one's really your masterpiece!
BRIAN:  Great.  Thank you for your question!

That is kind of perfect example of why wouldn't really want to meet Brian (or really anyone famous I admire).  What could I possibly say to them or ask them that they haven't heard or been asked before?

I honestly think a body should have a darn good question before they stand up and ask something.  Otherwise you risk wasting everyone's time.  If given the opportunity and the mood was right I might ask Bill Pohlad about what scenes did he excise from the film and might we see them in a Blu Ray release?  Also, when should we expect the soundtrack?

 

[Mooger Fooger]

I only ever met Brian once. It was a moment I had imagined and rehearsed a million times in my head. When the moment came to speak with him, I simply said, "Your music has helped me through some very difficult times in my life, and I wanted to thank you for that." to which Brian seemed moved by and then added, "Well I hope it helped you through the good times as well!"

It was perfect.

[sea of tunes]

And who says the man isn't lucid?  That sounds like it was a very nice interaction.

[Paul J B]

8. The movie would have obtained ultimate cinematic perfection if during the climactic scene between Landy and Melinda if when the door opened, Melinda had screamed, "You're out of the band, Buckwheat!!"

Thank you for that. Been kind of a crummy couple of days for me and I just laughed out loud.

I'll try to post my thoughts about the film tomorrow but I need to stress one of the most important things about it before it's too late. You need to HEAR it on the big screen. Its a good movie and will be good on a set at home, but the movie theater sized images with the surround sound will never be beat. The sound and sounds are very important to the film and this will not be in theaters long even if it did end up winning awards. Really.... if you plan to go get out there now and see it in a theater with great sound.

That said I'm having a hard time figuring out what to say about it because the word "disturbing" keeps coming to mind.

[bgas]

Junkstar- Is that really you?

Yep. Thanks for noticing! Came to promote my new single and quickly got sucked into a few threads.

Is there a link for your single somewhere?

[37!ws]

That is kind of perfect example of why wouldn't really want to meet Brian (or really anyone famous I admire).  What could I possibly say to them or ask them that they haven't heard or been asked before?

Which is exactly why at the post-screening Q&A a coupla weeks ago, I asked a question my wife was too mesmerized to ask after seeing the movie:

"What do you usually order when you go to In-N-Out?"

[Jcc]

And who says the man isn't lucid?  That sounds like it was a very nice interaction.

Brian can clearly turn it on or off depending on the situation and how he's feeling.  That's what's so funny about him. 

He also thanked the audience for coming and seeing the movie, and expressed that he was happy that through the film we could understand his life and what he had gone through.  Overall he was very charming, and the crowd gave him a standing ovation when he was introduced.

[Pretty Funky]

Junkstar- Is that really you?

Yep. Thanks for noticing! Came to promote my new single and quickly got sucked into a few threads.

Is there a link for your single somewhere?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/george-faulkner-sings-murry/id1001835151

[WonderfulLittlePad]

Has anybody seen the movie added to more theaters this weekend?  It hasn't been added to any in South Louisiana.

[LostArt]

Has anybody seen the movie added to more theaters this weekend?  It hasn't been added to any in South Louisiana.

I had to drive 95 miles to see it on opening weekend, and I was hoping to see another showing this weekend, closer to where I live.  Nothing.  I'm hoping for next week, otherwise I'll have to wait for the BluRay to see it again.

[rn57]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/06/10/love_mercy_fact_vs_fiction_how_the_new_brian_wilson_biopic_starring_john.html

Practically ever since it started, Slate has run articles about what's fictional and what's not in hit movies based on fact, and this is the one for L&M.  As the threads on the film here attest, the article could've been ten times as long and not covered all the details, but here most of the major points seem to be covered.

[sea of tunes]

Has anybody seen the movie added to more theaters this weekend?  It hasn't been added to any in South Louisiana.

It is definitely going wider this weekend (tomorrow).  I checked Fandango for several smaller cities around my state (Ohio) and it is being added. Dayton, for example, didn't get it last week but will tomorrow.  

I did find two theaters in New Orleans that have it.  

http://www.fandango.com/love26mercy_181116/movietimes?location=New Orleans LA

[Larry Franz]

It was reported that the movie will "expand slowly over the summer". Moviefone added another 50 theaters for tomorrow. Good news for the board member from Greenville, SC -- it's now playing 45 miles away instead of 400.

Regarding the Slate article: The movie doesn't say Melinda was the first to warn Brian's family or even that she persuaded Carl to intervene (although you could draw that conclusion). You don't know from the movie how Carl or Audrey responded to Melinda's phone calls. They may have said, "we know".

[WonderfulLittlePad]

Has anybody seen the movie added to more theaters this weekend?  It hasn't been added to any in South Louisiana.

It is definitely going wider this weekend (tomorrow).  I checked Fandango for several smaller cities around my state (Ohio) and it is being added. Dayton, for example, didn't get it last week but will tomorrow.  

I did find two theaters in New Orleans that have it.  

http://www.fandango.com/love26mercy_181116/movietimes?location=New Orleans LA

yep, drove 150 miles roundtrip to see it last weekend in NOLA, but those are the same two theaters that had it last week.  So none added this week.  Was hoping that Baton Rouge would get it so that I could see it again.  First world problems I know.

[sea of tunes]

Has anybody seen the movie added to more theaters this weekend?  It hasn't been added to any in South Louisiana.

It is definitely going wider this weekend (tomorrow).  I checked Fandango for several smaller cities around my state (Ohio) and it is being added. Dayton, for example, didn't get it last week but will tomorrow.  

I did find two theaters in New Orleans that have it.  

http://www.fandango.com/love26mercy_181116/movietimes?location=New Orleans LA

yep, drove 150 miles roundtrip to see it last weekend in NOLA, but those are the same two theaters that had it last week.  So none added this week.  Was hoping that Baton Rouge would get it so that I could see it again.  First world problems I know.

I am a little surprised Baton Rouge isn't getting it.  It is a college town after all.  Bummer.

[Larry Franz]

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[joe_blow]

I saw it last night and was very impressed. Hearing the music with great theater sounds blew me away. Cal me odd, but i though the actor who played Murry in Summer Dreams was the best and the one who played Mike Love in American Family was the most Love-like. Something neat I noticed in Love and Mercy was the quick reference to Carl and Dennis playing on Pet Sounds.

[Ebb and Flow]

I saw it last night and was very impressed. Hearing the music with great theater sounds blew me away. Cal me odd, but i though the actor who played Murry in Summer Dreams was the best

Summer Dreams may be a piece of ****, but the actor who played Murry in that was like casting from the Gods.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz8WYfIuF9o&t=59m14s

[sea of tunes]

Mercy, me:

http://www.splicetoday.com/moving-pictures/mercy-me-mr-wilson

VDP retweeted the link to this so obviously he agrees with this.  

Here's my biggest beef with this.  LOVE & MERCY is a two hour film.  A two hour film about the life of Brian Wilson; not Van Dyke Parks, Tony Asher, Mike Love or anyone else.  Did VDP inspire the idea of the cello triplets for "Good Vibrations"?  As far I have always heard, yes.  However, did he work directly with the cello players to staccato over and over, take after take?  I don't know.  I do know that Danny Hutton was interviewed a few years ago and said point blank: he witnessed Brian work with the cello players for take after take on the staccato.

I don't know what is creating the burr in VDP's saddle but clearly there is something.  And there is obviously a segment of people whether it's Myke Luhv or the guy "Carl Wilson" who wrote the piece the other day for BBC or this fellow writing some blog; some are just rubbed the wrong way by the adulation shown to Brian Wilson.

BEAUTIFUL DREAMER and IJWMFTT are both great companion pieces to LOVE & MERCY.  Both documentaries flesh out things that just cannot be covered in the confines of 120 minutes.

[Autotune]

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[KDS]

I saw it last night and was very impressed. Hearing the music with great theater sounds blew me away. Cal me odd, but i though the actor who played Murry in Summer Dreams was the best and the one who played Mike Love in American Family was the most Love-like. Something neat I noticed in Love and Mercy was the quick reference to Carl and Dennis playing on Pet Sounds.

Never saw Summer Dreams, but I've always thought the performances in American Family were actually pretty good.  I thought Kevin Dunn played a good Murry.  The Mike character was spot on.  Dennis too.  I thought the guy who did Brian was alright, but it got very cartoony once you got to the Smile era. 

While it doesn't compare to Love and Mercy, I think that American Family isn't at all the piece of garbage it's made out to be. 

[rn57]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2015/06/11/when-a-manic-pixie-dream-girl-is-anything-but/

The term "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" was coined nearly a decade ago by film critic, Nathan Rabin, to describe Kirsten Dunst's character in Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown and has come to be used frequently since then to describe, as Rabin put it (and as repeated in Wikipedia's entry on the topic) "that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures." - ie, kind of a female Peter Pan. (Though of course Peter Pan is always played by a female but that's another topic.)

In the blogpost above, the question is posed as to whether Elizabeth Banks's role does or doesn't resemble the stereotypical MPDG as seen in a lot of movies. (Including, I suspect, one or two the Lovester is judging right now at that festival in NYC.) The blogger argues the role of Melinda shows too much independence and strength to be called that. But the post does illustrate the one flaw of much substance that I saw in L&M: that Bank's part is not that strongly written. Had Oren Moverman (and his co-writer whose name I forget just now) really developed the role the way they could have, the MPDG thing wouldn't be coming to mind at all.

[Larry Franz]

I thought Banks's part was well-written and her performance was subtle and convincing. Granted that the character is helpful, understanding and attractive, but she isn't manic, pixie-like or a girl.

PS -- Maybe if the passage of time had been conveyed more clearly, Melinda wouldn't have seemed so perfect. But the point of the story was to show her role in Brian's recovery, not to analyze her own lack of perfection.