"infamous"

[Sony#1]

This is for those of you who like serious dramas.

Check out "Infamous." It is a drama about Truman Capote's writing of "In Cold Blood." It is easy to dismiss the movies as a replay of Philip Seymour Hoffman's "Capote." It covers the same story but in many ways it is a different movie since the focus and details of this movie differs from "Capote."

Daniel Craig stars as one of the killers. He is a revelation. I've seen him in "Layer Cake" and "Munich" but his performance in "Infamous" blew me away. His performance made me feel that he is selling himself short by accepting the James Bond role.

Sandra Bullock is also excellent. She shows that her performance in "Crash" was no fluke. She is wasting her time with roles in "Speed" and "Ms. Congeniality."

[Ron Temple]

I picked this up last night not expecting much. I really liked Capote and wondered how/why this movie got released around the same time. The synopsis said it had a different take...so...what the heck.

The actor playing Capote, Toby Jones, is Truman. He's so close physically, that putting on the mannerisms didn't seem like a stretch at all. I enjoyed Hoffman's characterization and thought he deserved the Oscar until I saw this guy. The story is very similar, just a different writer/directors interpretation. Jones is much more charming and relaxed in the role as are the other actors and there are some quality names, Jeff Daniels, Sigorny Weaver, Sandra Bullock and as mentioned above, Daniel Craig as Perry (maybe slightly old for the role, but) who eats the camera.

I give this one two thumbs up...if you liked Capote, you're going to like this one. I think it's better. Totally surprised me...I wonder if it was in the can when Capote was released or the script was so good that they made it anyway.

Check out Jones, he makes Hoffman's performance look clumsy.

[Tim Wilkins]

In some ways I felt this movie left some gaps in the Capote story about In Cold Blood however it was an very good movie that depicted Capote as he really was and accepted/viewed by others. Visually the movie shows the reaction of the community to Capote when he appears dressed in his clothes in Holcomb Kansas in the late 1950's. Just sitting there and listening to both Capote and Harper Lee talking pulls you into the story.

The ending was rather breath taking far more than the movie Capote ever was. I do believe Capote was as close to Perry as the story portrayed and in fact it is true Capote paid for both Perry and Hickocks grave markers. It was interesting how Capote and Dewey differed on Perry's last word's.

[Ron Temple]

I know that this is a cold subject, but this film deserves some views and discussion. The subject is not even my cup of tea, just another extremely well done interpretation, but even in comparison with Capote, it's American baby boomer arcana...and worthy.

[JohnR_IN_LA]

I think I just saw one of the best play's I've ever seen, and a damn good movie.

3 strong actors just churn out well written dialog for 90 minutes.

[kevinp8192]

Wanted to bump this up, since I saw it over the weekend and think it deserves more play. It's not quite as good or substantial as "Capote," but it's actually slightly more entertaining--more like a gossipy "New York Post" version. I do have to say though that I thought Toby Jones made an even better Truman Capote than Phillip Seymour Hoffman. And support is provided by Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Sigourney Weaver, Hope Davis, Isabella Rossellini, Jeff Daniels, Pete Bognanovich. Even Gwyneth Paltrow shows up to (questionably) sing a tune.

It's too bad this and "Capote" came out so close together. But as we get closer to "Ow, My Balls!" every week, it's better to see two good movies on the same subject then most of the bad movies we get about everything else.

[Tom Brennan]

Jones made Hoffman look like an actor. A good actor but one using his bag of tricks. Jones was just SO much better.

[kevinp8192]

Yes...I remember growing up seeing Truman Capote on "The Tonight Show" occasionally, and Jones almost seems to be him, while Hoffman was just playing him. Maybe it's just because I've seen Hoffman in so many other things, and Jones was before unknown to me. I can say though that even though I like Sandra Bullock ok, she doesn't have the chops that Catherine Keener has. But still, "Infamous" is worth checking out, if only for the scene when Capote first visits the jail and is heckled by the inmates.

[starlite]

Wow... This is why movie talk is fun... I thought Sandra Bullock made Catherine Keener look really bad, more so than what Toby Jones did to Hoffman...

Let's imagine Infamous was released before Capote. My guess is that Capote would not have received the rave reviews it gloriously received. The only part I thought Capote was better was the Dewey character played by Chris Cooper. I don't think it is fair to compare the Perry characters because Daniel Craig had way more screen time and dialog in Infamous than his counterpart (who is that guy?) in Capote. Still, he was really good...

It is sad that we the movie lovers get tricked by Hollywood time to time by watching an inferior movie thinking that it is great without knowing there is a better one out there. In my mind, Infamous should be the movie to remember about the story behind the book In Cold Blood, not Capote... Remember Deep Impact and Armageddon? I almost died when I saw fire on the spaceship after it crashlanded with booming noise... No air, no oxygen... Still fire and noise... It was a sad day for Sci-Fi... Deep Impact was not perfect, but it did have a story to compensate for its flaws. But, Armageddon won hands down in theaters.

Maybe I should wait at least one year before watching a movie just in case something better comes out with the same story...

[inky blacks]

I rented Infamous because of this thread, and my judgement is that it was awful, from start to finish. The first half was played like a bad Saturday Night Live sketch, so much so that the more dramatic second half could not be taken seriously. The script was bad, the acting was bad except for Daniel Craig, and the directing and photography were TV series style,..very bad! The blocking of shots was exceptionally bad.

The difference between the excellent Capote and Infamous is greater than the difference between the very good Dangerous Liaisons and the miserable Valmont.

Infamous should never have been made, and the director should hold his head in shame. Sigourney Weaver should stick to Aliens. She was the worst actor in a bad cast. Jeff Daniels was good in Dumb and Dumber, but he was all wrong for this part and it looked like he knew it on screen.

IB

[JohnR_IN_LA]

Wow did you see the same script and acting "tour de force" that I did?

I will agree that the filming was a bit plain, but the script was dialog heavy and Infamous was more of a theatrical play format: fancy camerawork would have looked silly.

[Tom Brennan]

"and the directing and photography were TV series style,..very bad!"

So much for Frankenheimer pictures. Lumet too.

Well anyway as Frank Lloyd Wright said, "Well there you go."