Aaron Amos

How good of a DVD is this movie? Special Features etc? How good of a plot does it have?Worth a purchase?

Jeraden

I rented this a while back and was very disappointed. I always make the mistake of renting movies that were nominated for awards thinking they are good. Ed Harris was nominated for best actor for it as you probably know (can't remember if he won or not). I guess he did a pretty good job of acting, but that doesn't mean the movie is any good. The plot is basically just a biography of his life from being an unknown artist, his rise to fame, his decline, and then his ultimate death (don't know how accurate it is). It's an semi-interesting movie to watch once to get a feel for what Pollocks life was like (if you even care - not that it was that special or anything), but there isn't really anything that would make you come back and want to watch it again.

Personally I wouldn't recommend watching it at all unless you either have an interest in him specifically or are familiar with his art. At the most its a rental unless you are a die-hard Pollock fan and then you might want to own it.

brez

Very well done if you like this kind of movie.

If you have an interest in art, especialy modern art, films that depict manic depressives, or just plain well acted dramas, then you will enjoy Pollock.

Pollock was a personal project for Harris. In addition to playing the staring role, he co-produced and directed the movie as well.


Mike

Jack Straw

Additionally, Harris bears a strong physical resemblance to the movie's subject. As I recall, there was a Charlie Rose interview of Harris talking about the movie as well as a number of deleted scenes. Not knowing that much about painting (from virtually any period), I found the movie's story to be interesting and made me want to learn a little bit more about the man. Also, as an added bonus for the guys, Jennifer Connelly has a cameo near the end of the movie as one of Pollack's girlfriends.

The Antipodean

Very interesting movie, but it is quite a downer and I would have to say rent, not buy unless you're a fanatic about 1950s modern art. The scenes of Pollack at work are quite good and Ed Harris is great as always. The problem though with this kind of movie is he's pretty unsympathetic and hard to like, and it makes him hard to "root" for. I thought Marcia Gay Harden was pretty good but IMHO Almost Famous' Kate Hudson deserved the Oscar over her. But hey. It's worth checking out anyway.

The Bus

To simplify it a bit, this is one of those great-fame-followed-by-alcoholic-downward-spiral biographies that you've seen a million times, so that doesn't particularly make it very interesting. However, there are a few details that bring it beyond the basic melodramatic biography...

1. The story starts with Jackson Pollock as an adult, already with an alcohol problem. He's well-known in art circles in NYC but not really elsewhere.

2. Ed Harris is amazing.

Worth a rent if you're feeling in the mood for a movie with slow pacing.

hardtack

"The Australian Government paid $1.3 million for Blue Poles in 1973, and in New York they’re estimating its value now at about $40 million..." - not bad for a relative unknown

porieux

Unknown?? He's one of the most celebrated painters of the past century! He's only unknown if you've been living under an art rock

The movie was good, but not great. The scenes of him painting are very inspiring, but they never got into what his motivations were and why he had the problems he had. Maybe nobody knows?

It is a great DVD though, with lots of interesting extras. Kinda wish I had bought this one instead of renting it, actually.

I do think they dropped the ball on the soundtrack. A movie about Jackson Pollock that doesn't use the music of Ornette Coleman is just wrong!

hardtack

porieux

That was my point in posting that quote

Along with Rothko and de Kooning, Pollock was abstract expressionism. He was to painting what Charles Bukowski was to writing - and for all who are now thinking "who the hell is Bulowski", check out the film Barfly with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunnaway (unfortunately not available on DVD).

regards, Tim...

hardtack

porieux

That was my point in posting that quote

Along with Rothko and de Kooning, Pollock was abstract expressionism. He was to painting what Charles Bukowski was to writing - and for all who are now thinking "who the hell is Bukowski", check out the film Barfly with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunnaway (unfortunately not available on DVD).

regards, Tim...

porieux

Hardtack, I know, I was responding to The Bus.

Hm, haven't seen Barfly. Any word on it coming out on DVD?

hardtack

Who says I'm paranoid

No word on Barfly coming to DVD anytime soon, but it is definitely a candidate for a Criterion or Anchor Bay release.

regards, Tim...