rustyjaw Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 I don't want to tread on Whooter's Lost in Translation thread with talk about this movie, so I'll just move it over here. I totally loved this movie, Harvey Pekar is something else. What an endearing anti-hero. And the film itself is really nicely put together, I love the weaving in of 'true life' characters and the voiceover by Pekar himself. There were some sequences that were really inventive, like the "Slideshow" transitions in the middle part, very nice. I liked Paul Giamatti a lot, he was great. The only problem I had with his performance is that he's not quite as charismatic as the real Harvey Pekar, but it didn't bother me much. The film has a bedraggled reality to it, you feel like you've been to Cleveland (no offense anyone, I don't remember it, but I was born a few miles from there :-) The love story is eccentric, but believable and fun to watch. The dialog between them is entertaining and genuine. All in all, a fantastic movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 But how was the transfer? Just kidding. How -- if at all-- did they push the comic book connection on the DVD? -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted February 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 How -- if at all-- did they push the comic book connection on the DVD? I'm not sure what you mean. There is a small booklet comic inside the DVD case, called "Our movie year." There aren't too many special features on the disc itself; There's a trailer, a behind the scenes thing that follows Pekar at the various openings of the movie, another is a static shot that plays the theme song from the movie, and I can't remember, but I think there's one more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Monkey Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 There have been some recent comic book adaptations (Ghost World, Road to Perdition and American Splendor) that aren't the usual capes and tights fare. I'm curious whether the DVD of American Splendor is designed in such a way to introduce people to the genre. -j Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Romier S Posted February 4, 2004 Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 A little off tangent to American Splendor but Jay if you're interested in seeing a movie that has both a tight connection to the medium of comic books and is pretty hilarious to boot I'd recommend checking out Comic Book: The Movie. Starring and directed by Mark Hammill, I think you'll like it quite a bit (its a mockumentary ala Spinal Tap). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rustyjaw Posted February 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2004 I'm curious whether the DVD of American Splendor is designed in such a way to introduce people to the genre. I would say not, I think they assume you're already somewhat familiar. There's nothing on the DVD that serves as an intro to the world of comics or anything like that. I have to admit I'd never heard of American Splendor before hearing about the movie, although I did know R. Crumb's work, I didn't know of Pekar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secretvampire Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 I'm bumping this up since I just saw this movie on DVD a few days ago and was absolutely blown away. What a fascinating character Pekar is. It prompted me to track down a couple of the American Splendor compilations at my local library and I was doubly impressed by them. I need to find more, I tore threw the ones I had in like two days...I really relate to certain aspects of Harvey's life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry the Clown Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 It's a film I am particularly fond of as well. Giamatti is great, but you can't praise him without equally giving praise to Judah Friedlander as Toby. Daniel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
secretvampire Posted July 29, 2005 Report Share Posted July 29, 2005 but you can't praise him without equally giving praise to Judah Friedlander as Toby Hahah. no kidding! Talk about nailing a character, when they got to the scene with the real Harvey and Toby it was just amazing to see! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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