American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

Discussions of specific films and franchises.
Message
Author
User avatar
Drucker
Your Future our Drucker
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 9:37 am

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#51 Post by Drucker » Mon Dec 23, 2013 1:55 pm

Matt wrote:I'm surprised to see everyone expressing disappointment with the first half-hour or so. I think the development of the relationship between Irving and Sydney is probably the best part of the movie.
There were a few reasons I felt the start of the movie wasn't as great as the rest. First off, I think the first scene was absolutely wonderful, and I was already into it...but the sheer length of time, afterwards, spent getting back to that point was a bit long for me. I was a bit disappointed a film with such a strong opening would then hold off on that momentum and spend that much time building up the back story. It certainly helped you get a feel for everyone, don't get me wrong. But I felt it went on a bit too long and I found myself getting impatient waiting to get back to present time.

Beyond that, it just felt like the background-setting part was going to end a few times, and it didn't. There would be stretches of a lack of voice-over narration where I figured that part of the movie was over, but then there was more back story to introduce.

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#52 Post by Matt » Mon Dec 23, 2013 2:00 pm

I guess I could just watch Amy Adams model vintage Diane von Furstenberg and Halston dresses (and watch Adams and Bale listen to Duke Ellington) all day.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#53 Post by domino harvey » Mon Dec 23, 2013 6:50 pm

Matt wrote:I guess I could just watch Amy Adams
Truest words on how to approach life

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#54 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Dec 25, 2013 2:57 am

I guess my major complaint about this (and why I feel like it was merely Pretty Good) is that everyone was so very clearly acting in the most grandiose sense of the term, particularly Bale. It's saying something when Louis CK feels the most genuine of anyone in the cast (not a slam on CK, he just stood out as being very real in a world full of gigantic performances). Also, DeNiro stuck out like a sore thumb in his cameo - the whole film felt very sloppy, and if it wasn't for the excellent lensing and costume/makeup work, it'd be getting as much attention as The Room at midnight goof-a-thons. A lot of fun, but it left me with more of a sugar crash than I'd have liked.
Last edited by mfunk9786 on Fri Dec 27, 2013 11:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

criterion10

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#55 Post by criterion10 » Fri Dec 27, 2013 2:31 am

Saying that American Hustle is David O. Russell's best film would be damning with faint praise, considering how little I have liked his prior films. I don't have any ill will against the man, nor do I even feel he is a terrible director for that matter, though I personally will never understand the excessive praise he receives from critics and audiences alike.

American Hustle is a step in the right direction, though it still is a complete mess. O. Russell starts the film off with retro-style logos for the production companies that submerse the audience into the time and place that the film occurs in. His attention to detail throughout the film is brilliant. The costumes, the sets, the makeup are all done to perfection. The film is worth seeing alone for the nostalgia.

O. Russell continues with his tradition of building a large ensemble cast, and as always, really manages to get the best out of his performances. Everyone from top to bottom is magnificent: Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, even a supporting role by Louis CK. The real standout though is Christian Bale who is absolutely magnificent. I hate to throw out such high praise almost immediately after seeing the film, but this easily ranks among the man's best work. The shots of his bloated belly alone represent the man's unique talent.

Sadly, the actors are only able to embody their characters as much as the screenplay will allow them to, which is ultimately the film's biggest flaw.

O. Russell and his co-writer Eric Singer seem to be more concerned with creating caricatures than actual real, breathing individuals. Sure, it's funny to see Jennifer Lawrence blow up a microwave, or Amy Adams fake an English accent, though these scenes, which become rather repetitive and tiresome for that matter, do not develop their characters in a way that makes us care for them.

Even when the film does try to create a meaningful relationship through Christian Bale and Amy Adams, it's almost all done through voiceover, the characters telling the audience why they should care for them, as opposed to showing them. (I have no ill will against voiceover, many of my favorite films use the technique; but, it did not work here.)

O. Russell allows these comedic scenes with the characters to run on, and on, and on, ultimately bogging down the pacing of the narrative, which, for that matter, is rather weak to begin with. I found the scam itself to be rather confusing, anti-climactic, and ultimately not adding up to very much. The ending is rushed, and the development is lacking in certain character motives that really should have been crucial.

I knew I was in trouble very early on, within the first ten minutes or so. David O. Russell chooses to linger on the shot of Christian Bale fixing his hair for way too long, overstaying its welcome. Then, he follows with a rather silly and comedic sequence with what should be a tense one, where Cooper, Bale, and Adams argue over the arrangements of their upcoming scam. Then, part of the scam itself is shown, being as confusing and perplexing as it will continue to be throughout the rest of the film.

Based on this logic, the first ten minutes of American Hustle are the perfect indicator of the flaws that are only going to be exacerbated in the film's remaining two hours.

In the end, it is a shame though, because there are moments of greatness in American Hustle. I laughed at parts, I was entertained at others. But, for every moment that worked, for every scene that was memorable, there was simply too much wrong with the narrative that ultimately counteracted what could have been a very enjoyable picture. By the time the film ended, I felt rather unfulfilled.

With American Hustle, O. Russell has tried to make his Goodfellas. Sadly, he wasn't even able to make his Casino.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#56 Post by domino harvey » Thu Jan 16, 2014 10:29 pm

Disappointing all around on this one. It's not a bad film and it's filled with entertaining enough actors, but it wasn't nearly enough fun to justify such an extended goof, and the sub-Sting-level con artistry was the only actual laughable element. The best thing here is, as ever, Amy Adams, and since the narrative is moving towards her possibly winning over Blanchett, at least it will be for a halfway decent role. I like Lawrence in most things but her comic relief part wasn't nearly as funny as she seemed to think it was, which could also be CC:ed to the film as a whole-- I knew I was in for trouble when the film opened with that long, ghastly extended bit about Bale's combover and subsequent mussying, which is executed with tone-def comic pitch

User avatar
Black Hat
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:34 pm
Location: NYC

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#57 Post by Black Hat » Wed Jan 22, 2014 5:34 pm

Although entertaining, what a mess of a movie this is. Despite being given archetypes to play instead of fully formed characters I thought the cast, especially Bale, did great work. The characters that failed were Jennifer Lawrence and Louis CK, neither were believable as either the young, from Long Island would be working in a nail salon if she wasn't married woman or the absolutely passive, walked all over FBI boss. I don't fault either of the actors for this as it's clear these were choices Russell made. That said given that I think one of the major problems was Lawrence being miscast, she was too young for this role, I think she did great coming as close as she did to pulling it off. Bradley Cooper has found a place for himself in movies as the dependable star who is never going to blow you away but isn't going to ruin anything either by doing just enough to keep you interested. Jeremy Renner I thought did very well playing what to me was by far the film's most interesting, complex character. A person who truly had the best of intentions and by all indications was someone special but bent the rules at the wrong time. As for Deniro, keep cashing those paychecks Bob.

What really threw me off were some of the musical choices that completely lacked any sense of creativity. 'I Feel Love' in a disco, seriously? Haven't seen or heard that one before. 'Live and Let Die' when someone's letting their hair down, real groundbreaking stuff. It was like a junior high school kid just watched Scorsese then tried to impersonate him the following weekend after spending the week listening to the classic rock station.

What ultimately killed this though was that in a movie about con men not only was their con the least interesting aspect of the film but their grand finale that usually in this kind of film is supposed to leave you in a state of 'oh shit' left me you in a state of 'oh'.

User avatar
hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#58 Post by hearthesilence » Wed Jan 22, 2014 8:36 pm

Yes, especially what you said about Lawrence. It just goes to show you how much everyone's in love with her when she's picking up awards for what's kind of a throwaway performance. I was hoping for more from her but it was so disappointing, especially compared to, say, the Long Island wives you see in The Wolf of Wall Street - her performance seems really broad and empty in comparison. (And I apologize for comparing those two movies, I'm sick of hearing comparisons between the two myself, but in this instance, it seemed to fit my criticism well.)

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#59 Post by domino harvey » Wed Jan 22, 2014 8:43 pm

SpoilerShow
A lot of the problems with Lawrence's character are a function of the screenplay. Too many audience pleasing lines delivered with panache but too transparent to buy into beyond sitcom cleverness-- I'm thinking of her whole "science oven" diatribe and her later claim to have played Bale and the mob boyfriend off each other on purpose to inspire Bale's actions ("You should thank God for me"). The audience seemed to love these moments, so clearly they hit their intended target, but I couldn't help being taken aback at how phony and shoehorned in they felt-- like, intellectually I get that they should be funny to me, but there's a neediness to the showiness of these moments, and it just came off as trying too hard for me instead of the amusing showstoppers they could have been

oh yeah
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:45 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#60 Post by oh yeah » Wed Jan 22, 2014 10:55 pm

Agree with most of the criticisms here. I just thought this was a terribly phony movie that didn't convince me for a moment of the reality or veracity of its own world. It's also an incoherent film, which zooms from overcooked scene to scene with an unnecessary schizophrenic speed (Silver Linings felt this way, too). Some of the film's defenders have held it up as some kind of Kael-ite dream-movie, full of gaudy pleasures and unrestrained actor-lovin'; but while I suppose Russell has nothing if not love (or, rather, lust) for his actors, the pleasures of the movie are all purely second-hand and shallow -- mostly having to do with the camera's sensuous, non-stop ogling of Amy Adams, who has never looked better. As lovely as Adams is, Lawrence is at least five or ten years too young and can't do a NY accent, and Cooper is stranded in an oddball part he seems to not want to play -- he's even less believable than Lawrence. Just as regrettable is the film's depiction of the 70's, which is typically kitschy and TV-derived, as if everybody in that decade lived out of Studio 54. There's no reason for the overblown unreality, just more meaningless surface-styling covering up an artistically conservative film that feigns wild risk-taking but revels in cliche's. Russell thinks his movie is jazz, but it's MOR at best.

User avatar
Murdoch
Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:59 pm
Location: Upstate NY

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#61 Post by Murdoch » Sun Jan 26, 2014 10:47 pm

God I loved this. The weird thing is I don't disagree with any of the criticisms really, but the performances, costumes and music I thought were all so enjoyable and created this fantastic atmosphere throughout that I was too swept up in them to really care about the plot. Whether it was Bale and Lawrence referring to a microwave as a "science oven" or that wonderful transition to Renner lip-syncing Tom Jones' "Delilah," I just bought into it completely. If I go through it again I doubt this will match my current feelings, but this mess of a film was just such a blast I couldn't care less.

User avatar
matrixschmatrix
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#62 Post by matrixschmatrix » Mon Jan 27, 2014 2:51 am

domino harvey wrote:Disappointing all around on this one. It's not a bad film and it's filled with entertaining enough actors, but it wasn't nearly enough fun to justify such an extended goof, and the sub-Sting-level con artistry was the only actual laughable element. The best thing here is, as ever, Amy Adams, and since the narrative is moving towards her possibly winning over Blanchett, at least it will be for a halfway decent role. I like Lawrence in most things but her comic relief part wasn't nearly as funny as she seemed to think it was, which could also be CC:ed to the film as a whole-- I knew I was in for trouble when the film opened with that long, ghastly extended bit about Bale's combover and subsequent mussying, which is executed with tone-def comic pitch
I actually liked this movie- it's entertaining enough moment to moment to make it something I'd be happy enough to rewatch, and I think I found the comedic bits funnier than Dom, but on the whole I think I see the movie through broadly similar eyes. I think Lawrence did a heroic job of making a character who really doesn't make any sense feel even vaguely plausible, and Amy Adams continues to stun with her versatility (I always thought of her as essentially her character in Enchanted before she tore that vision apart in The Master, and she's been good and wildly different in everything since.) The movie seems unwarrantedly sympathetic to Bale's character, and Cooper is only really convincing when his character is coked out (which Cooper always kind of seems to be), and overall it kind of comes to nothing.

But as I said, it's a movie where all the actual parts are fun places to be, even if they don't quite add up to anything, enough so to make my top ten for a year that feels fairly weak for me. It's totally carried by the cast, though- I like Russell, mostly, but the Goodfellas comparisons seem both apt and unfavorable in terms of what he's going for here: there's a distinct almost but not quite Scorsese whizzing about feeling to a lot of the plotting and scheming and relationship yoyoing, and were it not anchored by solid, entertaining actors it would just be a glitzy piece of trash.

I did notice that both Adams and Lawrence did a move I've never understood in this, where "I am being sincere now" is signified by rapidly moving your eyes left and right to make eye contact with the person you're looking at, first in one eye and then the other. Do people actually do that? Is it an acting class thing?

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#63 Post by knives » Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:35 am

How was any of the sympathy to Bale unwarranted? It's easily the most humanistic performance of his career playing a guy who really does love a set of humanity that is too often forgotten and instantly is damned by turning his back on that humanity. I can't think of a role or performance in American film recently that does more in terms of honest expression for that sect of our population. Perhaps the script, which is kind of useless, is aping Goodfellas, but that doesn't seem to be a place where Russell is interested in going to and seems to me to be wildly missing the mark. Someone brought up MASH earlier and I think that that is the most apt comparison point for the magnificent accomplishment, probably the highest of Russell's great career, that is this film. Though I will totally admit a bias here as watching the film was an excessively vicarious business for me dealing with some of the same shit going on in my own life. Mostly I'm just full of glee that someone did a Trouble in Paradise and had the crooks unapologeticly be the heroes while the figure of oppression and authority, Cooper, is the absolute villain.

User avatar
matrixschmatrix
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#64 Post by matrixschmatrix » Mon Jan 27, 2014 3:42 am

Bale's playing someone who literally makes a living, up until the movie begins, by stealing money from desperate people, despite already being fairly wealthy (he is a small business owner several times over, etc.) I enjoyed Bale's performance, but the movie seems to decide about half an hour in that he's really a decent guy who has a soft spot for people etc etc charming rogue type, and that's not really in keeping with what he actually spends his life doing- there's a big difference between Trouble In Paradise, where the crooks steal from the rich and give to themselves, and Bale's character, who preys on the desperate and the already-on-the-ropes.

I'm totally fine with Cooper's character being a villain, but in terms of the movie, I'm not sure that he actually does anything worse than what Bale is established as doing, other than not knowing when to quit- he deceives his fianceé, presents himself as other than what he is, and lies to everyone without concern for who will get hurt. How is that not true of Bale? The paternal authority figure (Louis C.K.) is ultimately vindicated, so it's not as though the movie has an overall All Cops Are Bastards attitude.

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#65 Post by knives » Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:06 am

CK is an outsider though and doesn't have to deal with the morality of the insulated world the other characters occupy. By birth and by choice Cooper does occupy that world and by turning his back on it to actively oppress for just the fame is were he becomes the villain. CK's character is an outsider who recognizes that and also isn't interested in his job in terms of the success it will provide. He almost serves as a complicated counter to Bale given the reservations they both express over the course of the movie. Also Bale is not meant to be some perfect guy. He absolutely deserves what Renner gives to him and the film never denies that the initial arrest is correct, though it makes pointed that Cooper's methods are sickening. Ultimately, and rightly so, the film doesn't judge the characters based on their jobs (or however you want to frame the illegal stuff) but rather their motivations. Bale's from the beginning working under romantic notions in addition to ones of a certain kind of self preservation so while what he does is exploitative it's not under the film's morality wrong (also one could argue that he is taking people who want an easy out and abusing them that way though I don't want to get into an argument on that). Or to phrase another way even the gangsters are viewed by the film as more sympathetic than Cooper though they obviously commit the worst crimes in the film because they have morality.

Honestly the main reason I haven't spoken up about the film before is because it hits too strong a nerve for me for reasons I won't be able to communicate well, but I feel that your comment on the Bale character is such a gross misreading of him I had to speak up. For me he is easily the character this year for whom I had the most sympathy and empathy for.

User avatar
Mr Sausage
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:02 pm
Location: Canada

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#66 Post by Mr Sausage » Mon Jan 27, 2014 6:36 am

matrixschmatrix wrote:I did notice that both Adams and Lawrence did a move I've never understood in this, where "I am being sincere now" is signified by rapidly moving your eyes left and right to make eye contact with the person you're looking at, first in one eye and then the other. Do people actually do that? Is it an acting class thing?
Yep, that's what people actually do--when you're looking at someone, your eyes aren't fixed, they move. When filming, actors are told to pick one of their co-star's eyes and focus only on it so that their own eyes will stay stationary for the camera. I'm guessing Russell asked them not to do that, and it lends the scenes an added intensity I felt.

User avatar
Cronenfly
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:04 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#67 Post by Cronenfly » Tue Jan 28, 2014 3:46 am

I think, as domino suggests, this movie is definitely trying too hard at every level. If it had committed to a particular perspective on the material, as does the vastly superior Wolf of Wall Street (not suggesting that the two films need to be considered in tandem, only that Scorsese does a much better job in Wolf of allowing Belfort to gradually reveal the many cracks in his facade of mastery over his life/the movie's narrative than Russell does in his all too convenient cops/crooks hero/villain reversal), or devised a more complex moral playground for the characters to navigate (see Inside Llewyn Davis for a far better example of a fundamentally flawed individual being forced to reassess his bad decisions in a way which resists the rah-rah populism of Russell's piece), there is no reason this had to be the sitcom it ended up being. As for the actors, everyone seems to have their favourites/least favourites: I thought Bale was too tic-y (the endless glasses-adjustments-as-character-shading irritated me to no end) and over-reliant on hair/costuming to sell the role (Out of the Furnace may be pretty bad overall, but his performance there is much more stripped-down and accomplished); Adams was fine, but I felt like Cooper succeeded the most as a complete loser/nerd (the highlights being his interactions with CK and what little we see of his home life), though my feelings towards his performance/character varied as much scene-to-scene as it did towards the movie as a whole. I thought Lawrence was abysmal, and while she was the best part of Silver Linings Playbook, her decision to amp up the screwball elements in this are let down severely by the script/Russell's direction. In SLP she gave at least the impression of a complex individual; here she's little more than a vacuous, deranged airhead whose ostensibly crowdpleasing outbursts throw the movie even more out of whack than it already is. My opinion might change on this with time (as it did on Huckabees, which has had more replay value for me than any other Russell and whose complexity/comedic accomplishment has been sorely lacking in his subsequent films), but for how long this project seems to have been in the pipeline, the haphazardness of the execution is borderline astonishing. This seat-of-the-pants quality is no doubt intentional, but I could discern no rhythm to grab hold of, and found the movie to be much more of an albatross than expected.

User avatar
djproject
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 3:41 pm
Location: Framingham, MA
Contact:

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#68 Post by djproject » Sat May 30, 2015 8:44 pm

Having revisited Goodfellas, it reminded me of how much I dislike American Hustle. I can see how that film tried very hard to be Goodfellas but it failed in pretty much every way. (Its cinematic peer, The Wolf of Wall Street, does a much better job in that front ... this, of course, affirms one of my tongue-in-cheek comments after seeing it: if anyone is going to remake Goodfellas, it should be Martin Scorsese).

In general, DOR has rubbed me the wrong way ever since I saw I Heart Huckabees, which was something that should have had my name written all over it but in the end failed to deliver for me. It was unfocused, uninteresting and satisfies the true definition of pretension. The only other films of his I've seen were The Fighter (decent but nothing really to write home about) and of course, this.

As a film with a plot, it seems to be stuck on second gear the whole time (Goodfellas never had that problem ... "two-and-a-half hour trailer" and all that). If it is supposed to be a heist film, then it needs to move like clockwork at the very least, even if its pace is more leisurely compared to most heist films (think Melville's).

But this is often talked about as a film that's much more about characters, including and especially from its auteur. But even as a character piece, it also fails. There's either not much of a consistency (Bradley Cooper's character) or it relies on stock types and/or situations (the other three). There really wasn't anything about any of the characters that compelled me to go along with the ride. The closest was from both Christian Bale and Amy Adams's characters but I think it's because both of them are disciplined actors who are always about grounding their performances in something concrete.

I also kept thinking about other films I could have been watching instead like The Sting (both clockwork plot and charismatic characters) or Boogie Nights (another Goodfellas offspring and another one with a 70s soundtrack and look).

While this goes more into DOR in general, the thing that bugs the hell out of me with him - other than his notorious working relationships with his actors (Lily Tomlin, George Clooney ... and apparently more recently, Amy Adams) - is his notion of improvisation. The rationale is that if you let the actors explore their characters freely, you can uncover something interesting or perhaps a great truth. First off, DOR does not strike me as a Cassavetes, who did what he did out of both a love for the craft of acting and a desire to create something truly different (that reminds me of another film that could have seen: The Killing of a Chinese Bookie [1976 version]). And second, improvisation really only works when it is grounded in something, usually it's [either] the characters or the narrative or both. It's hardly ever done for its own sake but rather to "open up a scene" or to "give more dimension" but it is always within the parameters of its original basis. Scorsese and Altman knew this and this is why they have/had used it so well. DOR's complete free form results in muddled storytelling and unclear characters.

Finally, the fact he was nominated Best Director for 2013 is insulting to the profession of a director. DOR does not strike me as a director because his vision seems to be "no vision". And if Fellini taught me anything through 8 1/2, it's that vision is important for a director to have. Furthermore, it is having that vision that allows the "openness" to occur. Yeah, Altman allowed for improvisation, but he was not afraid to put his foot down or to intervene if something wasn't working. I don't think DOR ever put his foot down on something ... well, not in that way.

In the end, it was one of the most mediocre Best Picture nominations I know of recently.

(Yeah I realize I should have written this in late 2013/early 2014. Better late than never I guess. Plus I have some atoning to do ;) =] )
Last edited by djproject on Fri Mar 04, 2016 11:31 am, edited 1 time in total.


jojo
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:47 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#70 Post by jojo » Thu Mar 03, 2016 7:38 pm

If you're a tyrant director, you'd better damn well be a genius.

I sometimes wonder if Russell is even worth making pre-release threads for anymore.

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#71 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Mar 03, 2016 7:58 pm

If you're the kind of guy who wonders about making pre-release threads, you'd better damn well have an avatar

User avatar
Trees
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2015 4:04 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#72 Post by Trees » Thu Mar 03, 2016 8:03 pm

This reminds me of the stories about Abdellatif Kechiche "torturing" his two actresses during filming "Blue is the Warmest Color", especially the big fight scene. At least in the case of "Blue", the world-class performances and the film were worth it.

User avatar
thirtyframesasecond
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2007 1:48 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#73 Post by thirtyframesasecond » Fri Mar 04, 2016 6:55 am

Actors in Russell movies are nailed on for Oscar nominations, regardless of how average the movies actually are, so I guess any actor fancying a bit of industry recognition will put up with any old shit from Russell.

User avatar
mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#74 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Mar 04, 2016 11:18 am

I would buy into this line of bullshit re: being able to treat actresses however you want if it means pure gold, baby! on the screen a little more if it weren't for the fact that in the case of American Hustle, there's absolutely no reason that Amy Adams' character needed to be psychologically shattered on the regular, and even if there was, Adams has proven that she is one of the great actors in the industry and knows what she's doing without some clown screaming at her throughout the process of doing it

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: American Hustle (David O. Russell, 2013)

#75 Post by domino harvey » Fri Mar 04, 2016 11:25 am

Defenses of his behavior inspiring Method performances put me in mind of the anecdote of Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman on the set of Marathon Man. Hoffman ran in place to make himself out of breath before shooting a post-jogging scene, so as to fully embody the weariness of his character. To which Olivier suggested an alternative method to conveying this: "Have you tried acting?" Adams is one of our greatest actresses, I'm certain she could be happy or sad or upset without some blowhard screaming obscenities at her.

Post Reply