Green book

silverharp · 17-11-2018 10:57am #1

saw the trailer for this in the cinema, looks like it should be an interesting movie. release date here feb 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC-_Gon2p9M

Heckler · 30-12-2018 6:25pm

Watched this today. I'm sure there was a lot of artistic licence taken but the whole movie was a treat. And a true story.

An italian-american thug takes on the job of driving a black pianist around the deep south for a concert tour in the early 60's.

Despite their differences a mutual respect and friendship is formed.

A fantastic performance by Viggo Mortensen (always one of my favourite actors) and Mahershala Ali (who I never heard of before but will be watching out for. He was brilliant).

Directed by Peter Farrelly of Dumb and Dumber and Something about Mary fame proving he can do more than just crude (and funny !) movies.

9/10. Loved it.

Edit: Trailer doesn't do it justice at all. Its far more nuanced than a fish out of water/road trip film.

Agent Coulson · 30-12-2018 6:27pm

Screener season is here.

Looking forward to watching this when I get a chance.

Heckler · 30-12-2018 6:38pm

Catch it while you can. Its great. Its going to have a lot of critics because of how its done but look its a heart warming film. If you like movies like the french Intouchables you'll love it.

31-12-2018 2:04am

I just finished watching this and I absolutely loved it! I haven't enjoyed a movie this much in ages. Fantastic performances by both Mahershala and Viggo.

Captain Red Beard · 31-12-2018 4:44am

Very enjoyable film, the two leads are excellent. I could sit my mother down in front of this and she'd love it.

pinksoir · 01-01-2019 5:36pm

I think this was my favourite film of all that I watched this year. Outstanding performances, and a really surprising turn from Peter Farrelly. I'm a huge fan of Viggo, with Eastern Promises being my favourite performance of his. He just inhabits his roles. In this Ali is every bit his equal. Heartwarming, revealing, and at turns moving and funny, this film deserves any accolades it should get.

Captain Red Beard · 01-01-2019 5:43pm

pinksoir wrote: »

I think this was my favourite film of all that I watched this year. Outstanding performances, and a really surprising turn from Peter Farrelly. I'm a huge fan of Viggo, with Eastern Promises being my favourite performance of his. He just inhabits his roles. In this Ali is every bit his equal. Heartwarming, revealing, and at turns moving and funny, this film deserves any accolades it should get.

This year eh? All 16 and a half hours of it.

pinksoir · 01-01-2019 7:10pm

Captain Red Beard wrote: »

This year eh? All 16 and a half hours of it.

Ha. Yeah, I've been busy.

cmac2009 · 01-01-2019 10:11pm

Absolute gem of a movie, best I've seen in quite a while. Hopefully it gets the recognition it deserves.

Amberjack · 01-01-2019 10:14pm

Watched this the other night, I’m very hard to please with movies but really enjoyed it and the two leads are excellent

batgoat · 01-01-2019 10:21pm

Enjoyed it immensely but my main concern is more a question of how accurate it was. Shirley's family have called it out in relation to it so the controversy left me concerned about it from that perspective.

yerwanthere123 · 06-01-2019 12:05am

Just finished this, wow! What a movie. Far and away the best of the Oscar contenders I've seen so far. As already mentioned, Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali were both terrific. A wonderful movie.

dreamers75 · 06-01-2019 1:51am

That looks so good, i just got it to watch.

Deisler · 06-01-2019 7:45pm

Enjoyable harmless flik. Passes the time well. Obviously out in time for Oscar season.

JP Liz V1 · 07-01-2019 11:27pm

Is this a comedy?

_Whimsical_ · 08-01-2019 4:23pm

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Is this a comedy?

Not a comedy per se but a feel good movie with some lovely funny/sweet moments. Not a laugh out loud rolling in the ailes film.

rivegauche · 12-01-2019 10:54pm

I avoided this up until now as it is that time of year when hollow Oscar bait is released, e.g. Hidden Figures from last year but this is actually quite good.

batgoat · 12-01-2019 10:59pm

rivegauche wrote: »

I avoided this up until now as it is that time of year when hollow Oscar bait is released, e.g. Hidden Figures from last year but this is actually quite good.

I preferred Hidden Figures overall to this.

Shred · 14-01-2019 5:10pm

I saw this at a free preview last week and both my friend and I really enjoyed it. I think I might go to see it again with the wife once it's on general release.

Nerdlingr · 20-01-2019 1:18pm

Saw it last night and really enjoyed it. Viggo and Ali were excellent as usual. Liv e viggos accent . He did a good job on it! Feel good movie and typical Oscar bait but one of the better ones I've seen in the last few months.

spurious · 21-01-2019 2:34am

Clearly Oscar bait, but very enjoyable.

Wombatman · 22-01-2019 4:00pm

Despite the schmaltz and predictability it's a lovely movie that should tug at the heartstrings of even the most jaded and cynical among us.

Central performance and script are very good. Race relations are not oversimplified and are explored in a very clever way, nuanced by background, personal choice, class and intolerance in general.

The development of the central relationship, where prejudices are replaced by understanding of imperfections, and friendship, is a tad inauthentic.

7.5/10

Luckycharms_74 · 26-01-2019 9:54pm

Just finished the movie now. It was absolutely fantastic. I would highly recommend it to everyone. I though both Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen were fantastic
9/10

murpho999 · 04-02-2019 1:06am

Saw this today and overall I enjoyed it.

It has many flaws, in being entirely predictable and cheesy but it's the performances of the two leads (or one lead and one support according to The Academy) that really carry the film and take it to a level that this script and direction don't really warrant.

It's a totally enjoyable crowd-pleaser that is good during it's light-hearted moments but for me it hits trouble when it tackles the more serous issues such as racism and discrimination. For me it just seemed to lose its way with in those scenes and just resorted to stereotypes rather than really explore the issue in a serious way.

It's the relationship though between the two lads though that is central to the story and they put so much into their parts that you can't help but enjoy it and it makes the whole film worthwhile.

Last act felt like a remake of Planes Trains and Automobiles though and was too sentimental for me.

cmac2009 · 04-02-2019 1:56pm

murpho999 wrote: »

Saw this today and overall I enjoyed it.

It has many flaws, in being entirely predictable and cheesy but it's the performances of the two leads (or one lead and one support according to The Academy) that really carry the film and take it to a level that this script and direction don't really warrant.

It's a totally enjoyable crowd-pleaser that is good during it's light-hearted moments but for me it hits trouble when it tackles the more serous issues such as racism and discrimination. For me it just seemed to lose its way with in those scenes and just resorted to stereotypes rather than really explore the issue in a serious way.

It's the relationship though between the two lads though that is central to the story and they put so much into their parts that you can't help but enjoy it and it makes the whole film worthwhile.

Last act felt like a remake of Planes Trains and Automobiles though and was too sentimental for me.

In what way would you like the racism and discrimination to be explored in more serious way?

murpho999 · 04-02-2019 2:02pm

cmac2009 wrote: »

In what way would you like the racism and discrimination to be explored in more serious way?

By having better scenes than a black person being hassled in a bar or not being allowed to use a toilet or buy a suit.

Something that has been done in other movies and I found it quite clunky and predictable in this film.
The main character's own racist views at the start of the film are not fully tackled as it just disappeared in the scene when he first meets his new boss.

Also, showing how police harrassed them in the south but were very helpful when back in North US was very cheesy to me.

cmac2009 · 04-02-2019 2:31pm

murpho999 wrote: »

By having better scenes than a black person being hassled in a bar or not being allowed to use a toilet or buy a suit.

Something that has been done in other movies and I found it quite clunky and predictable in this film.
The main character's own racist views at the start of the film are not fully tackled as it just disappeared in the scene when he first meets his new boss.

Also, showing how police harrassed them in the south but were very helpful when back in North US was very cheesy to me.

Predictable maybe, but that's just how it was at the time perhaps

otnomart · 04-02-2019 6:19pm

Saw it yesterday.
It is a feel-good movie and it definitely hits that spot for me.
It also makes you curious in finding out the true story and read up about it, which is a big plus these days when history is being forgotten.
The two leads give great performances.

NIMAN · 04-02-2019 9:21pm

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

Not a comedy per se but a feel good movie with some lovely funny/sweet moments. Not a laugh out loud rolling in the ailes film.

The girl in the radio advert says she was annoying other people she was laughing that much.

branie2 · 04-02-2019 10:24pm

I'm going to see it on Friday

branie2 · 04-02-2019 10:25pm

It looks very interesting

CrankyHaus · 07-02-2019 11:49am

Excellent film. Mortensen and Ali are both on top form and interact very well together. The script is solid. The Director's comedy background in films like Dumb and Dumber gives him an extremely deft touch and keeps the laughs coming.

Sabre0001 · 07-02-2019 2:19pm

Saw it for the second time (was a mystery screening before) and enjoyed it again. Good movie, but perhaps not that accurate: https://shadowandact.com/the-real-donald-shirley-green-book-hollywood-swallowed-whole?fbclid=IwAR13jsAA8hz9wvyBZQtPu4CSut25OlO4jRLMwnBqx0rPuNC-SLoRydJoIXs

Ronanc1 · 07-02-2019 10:54pm

Sabre0001 wrote: »

Saw it for the second time (was a mystery screening before) and enjoyed it again. Good movie, but perhaps not that accurate: https://shadowandact.com/the-real-donald-shirley-green-book-hollywood-swallowed-whole?fbclid=IwAR13jsAA8hz9wvyBZQtPu4CSut25OlO4jRLMwnBqx0rPuNC-SLoRydJoIXs

One wonders do the family of Dr Shirley protest too much? A Vanityfair article has the author saying he has heard an audio clip from an unrelated 3rd parties documentary (Lost Bohemia) which includes some interviews with Dr Shirley.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/01/green-book-director-peter-farrelly-defends-movie-against-criticism

"audio clip from Lost Bohemia in which Shirley says: “I trusted [Vallelonga] implicitly. See, Tony got to be, not only was he my driver, we never had an employer-employee relationship. We didn’t have time for that. My life was in this man’s hands. Do you understand me? So we got to be friendly with one another. I taught him things because he couldn’t talk, he was one of those Lower East Side Italians who had jowls like a bulldog.” "

Undoubtedly there are liberties taken, it IS a Hollywood film after all but the furore the family are kicking up seems suspicious to me.

I enjoyed it quite a bit though so maybe I'm just biased

branie2 · 08-02-2019 10:25pm

I saw it this evening, and I thought it was very good.

Gamb!t · 17-02-2019 10:50pm

Watched this over the weekend,thought it was very good,Viggo was brilliant in it.

w/s/p/c/ · 18-02-2019 10:27am

Seen this on Saturday and really enjoyed it.

Excellent performances by both leads.

What blew my mind afterwards when looking up the history on the characters is that the real life Tony Lip played Carmine Lupertazzi Sr, the New York mob boss in The Sopranos!

joombo · 18-02-2019 9:55pm

I liked this movie! Definitely worth a watch!

Frank O. Pinion · 22-02-2019 9:16am

In one scene, one member of Tony's family called the Doc "tootsoon", an Italian slang word for the "n word" and it really means "burnt chestnut". About 30 secs later, Tony opens the door, sees the Doc and the music goes on "chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."

Dades · 24-02-2019 9:16pm

Watch this last night.

A joy from start to finish. Always a big Viggo fan anyway. This was just a wonderful character piece. Hope it does well at the Oscars tonight.

yerwanthere123 · 24-02-2019 11:46pm

Hoping this wins best picture tonight. The Twitter brigade would be up in arms, but it'd be worth it

JP Liz V1 · 25-02-2019 2:20pm

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Hoping this wins best picture tonight. The Twitter brigade would be up in arms, but it'd be worth it

Well it did win

yerwanthere123 · 25-02-2019 2:27pm

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Well it did win

Delighted! And Twitter responded accordingly :pac::cool:

yourdeadwright · 25-02-2019 3:54pm

Great movie I watched it on Saturday really enjoyed it ,
Some fantastic acting ,

is_that_so · 25-02-2019 3:57pm

Film tells a simple story set in unpleasant recent period, has racial overtones, good acting and likeable characters. Sounds like an Oscar winner to me!

LionelNashe · 01-03-2019 8:46pm

I've a question on the end: Did missing that one last gig in Birmingham mean that they broke the contract and are not going to get paid a significant chunk of the fee for the whole tour, or were they just missing out on the small portion for that particular gig?

CrankyHaus · 05-03-2019 10:16am

I understood it to mean the former: Tony passed up on the second half of his pay for the whole tour by siding with Dr Shirley.

woodchuck · 05-03-2019 11:33am

I think if they sticked to the agreement, technically Tony missed out on half his pay.

The whole point of the arrangement was to make sure Tony got Dr Shirley to the gigs on time though, which he did. If Dr Shirley was the one paying Tony, I can't imagine he withheld half of Tonys pay given the circumstances!

CrankyHaus · 05-03-2019 12:28pm

woodchuck wrote: »

I think if they sticked to the agreement, technically Tony missed out on half his pay.

The whole point of the arrangement was to make sure Tony got Dr Shirley to the gigs on time though, which he did. If Dr Shirley was the one paying Tony, I can't imagine he withheld half of Tonys pay given the circumstances!

Technically the "record company", as they were referred to in the film, was paying Tony and it was implied that they were paying Dr Shirley too.

It was a time when record companies had much more power over their artists and ownership rights of their art. For example there are notorious examples of Blues artists signing over song rights that made millions in exchange for a small flat fee and a cadillac.

woodchuck · 05-03-2019 12:52pm

Fair point.

But given how well off Dr Shirley seemed to be, I can't imagine he let Tony go short. Pure speculation on my part though!

Green book

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