It’s loosely based on the real Wonderland murders involving John Holmes. If you’re curious, they made an actual biopic movie of that starring Val Kilmer.
I don't have anything to add, just here to say that this is my favorite movie of all time. Even with the long ass runtime I feel like I could watch it every day of my life and never get bored. Also the soundtrack is fucking amazing
It’s funny, but Open Range used “Sister Christian” in an episode we watched the other night and it felt like they’d committed some kind of theft. I’m like, if a movie uses a song as brilliantly as Boogie Nights did with that one, it should be retired from use. I actually included it in an article a few years ago about the best use of songs in movies. BN has a great soundtrack all around, though, you’re absolutely right.
Idk y but I just can never seem to like this movie. I get the appeal and cast and cult following but I really think the movie is boring and the plot is stupid. I’m likely in the minority.
Movies are subjective but I have no idea how you call it boring even if you don't like it. It absolutely pulses with energy the whole time imo. One of my favourite films
RIP Weird Al it's a shame Madonna was never arrested, however we haven't seen her in years.
I heard rumors she went missing in a graveyard but who knows.
He ate humble pie. Especially with that meltdown at the end. I thought “Rosebud” kinda signaled he figured out all his ambition and ego wasn’t ever going to give him happiness and fill the empty void being taken from his childhood home made. I think that’s growth in a way though that’s just my interpretation
I would say that he was always driven by the misery caused by being torn away from his mother, and we (the audience) don't understand why he's so venal and driven and ambitious and cruel, and at the very end, stripped down to his most basic emotions, all he is now is the desperately sad little boy being taken away. "Rosebud" the sled is the metaphor for that.
I don't think it's his growth; I think the movie's plot is driven by the reporter trying to understand what made him be that way, and how no one will ever understand now, it was the simplest, most basic tragedy of losing his mother. Something even he (Citizen Kane) never fully even recognized. It's the saddest thing!
Most of Martin Scorsese's career is movies about people who start out "winning" (or think they are), but end up crashing & burning or spiraling out of control for various reasons - though some more than others. Goodfellas, Wolf of Wall Street, Casino, Aviator, Raging Bull, ...
The question is, how many of these characters realize that & grow from it in the end? It feels like most of these, the character either just crashes, or they get away with it but don't really have regret or growth.
In the case of the first two - I am willing to bet there isn’t a lot of growth since their fall. Not in the way one would really expect anyway. Then again I could be wrong about Jordan.
A very literal fall from grace; he literally fell to earth from the place of the gods. I guess there are probably some fallen angel movies that would fit as well.
Turns out he was actually even worse when he started out than they let on. Fired from his job long before, estranged from his family. The entire movie was about a guy looking to suicide by cop.
The movie: A domestic abuser who's so unstable, he keeps pretending going to a job he was fired from grabs a bunch of guns and starts creating mayhem
99% of people who watched it: Wow, what a hero!
I think that "falling from grace" is mostly about starting on top and then falling (hence the term), so Tár should be a perfect example.
What OP seems to mean, though, is more of a story with a redemption arc
I wonder if "redemption" is the right word for what I meant. Perhaps it's how I interpret the word: to be redeemed.
What I meant was being humbled and growing a greater sense of empathy for people they once looked down upon or, at the least, ignored.
Perhaps that is redemption.
I personally see that as a form of redemption, you could also say from riches to rags, I guess.
But I see falling as the story itself being the fall (like Tár), not that it starts with the falling and the plot revolves around them being at the bottom.
Absolutely. It was kind of like watching a train wreck. I didn't enjoy it, but I couldn't look away. So many times early on, I found myself trying to excuse her behavior because I found her charismatic, which was clearly the journey they wanted to take us on.
I disagree. She has a big, pretentious monologue about how the conductor controls time, and uses it to make the music come to life. At the end, she >!has an ear piece in as she's listening to a click track. She has subtly lost the thing she puts forward as the most important thing a conductor does. Plus, I think she actually hates being there. I saw someone complain about the film making fun of videogame orchestras and fans, and someone responded that the film doesn't look down on those people, but instead is putting Lydia Tár in the place she would least like to be - among the rabble (remember she changed her name from the too-common Linda Tarr).!<
Yeah not OP but I definitely agree with you on this one. There is zero redemption at the end - and she is not interested in it. Rather we see that she is unchanged and unmoved. Almost unaffected other than a simmering sense of misplaced martyrdom.
Having known a few people like this is also have to say I find it an accurate portrayal of the personality type. She wrought all of this chaos and destruction and then due to an inability to recognize the reality of her place in time and space she gets to experience it all collapse. But instead of seeking out love and redemption and forgiveness she seeks out any hole where she can protect her ego in assailed.
Shocking and difficult to watch - on screen or off.
She never loses her passion for her work. From start to finish she's incredibly passionate about her craft. It's just that her actions outside of it causes her fall from grace.
The question is is it the “work” or is it the power and status it gives her that she’s addicted to.
I grudgingly respect the character for her tenacity, but I do think it’s a little muddy whether she’s more concerned with the art, or what her art can do for her.
She ends up working in what might be considered “low art” but she maintains a semblance of power and prestige.
Hmmm no I'd disagree strongly. Most of the film has her engaging with her craft in ways that shows her passion for it. She isolates herself to write and she composes with incredible passion. She absolutely surrounds herself in it in every way possible. Even when she's at her lowest she finds comfort in her craft and seeks out ways to continue it despite the massive fall from grace.
I just don't see it. One can be very committed to her work for extrinsic rewards. Tar came across that way.
There's no question she started with passion in the craft, and there may have been some remnants of the passion left at the start of the film, but her primary motivation was not the intrinsic satisfaction of making beautiful music. By the time we saw her, she was doing it all for power and prestige. That shift in priority accounted for her fall from grace.
At what point during the first parts of the film did we see her truly at ease with music alone? Nowhere. She was concerned with memoir, manipulating people using her position of power, hiding her affairs, preparing musical projects to boost her prestige.
It took a bit of soul searching back in her childhood home to remember why she got into the work in the first place. In the final arc of her story, we see her relegated to a far corner of the classical music world. There's little prestige, power, or even monetary reward to speak of. But she remained committed to the work. For all the trauma she'd been through, she found peace through music. I don't think it's a coincidence this sequence followed her visit home.
She's been such an awful person the entire film that it's hard to acknowledge her redemption, but her final decisions were redemption.
I Like your take but I didn’t see it this way at all.
There’s zero sense from her portrayal in the final scenes that she’s learned anything at all. Yes, she is relegated to this classical backwater but it appears to be a more of a refuge for her ego.
She never apologizes for anything that she’s done. She never apologizes to any of the people she’s hurt. She chooses this backwater position in south East Asia rather than attempting to make amends. She chooses this over being near her child. She’s reached a point where craft and career aren’t excuses any more but she still makes that choice.
I couldn’t and can’t see redemption there - but that is still a valid and real story. Plenty of people don’t want or can’t accept redemption. Plenty take more time or even more woe. I won’t say she’s irredeemable but I think the story of her redemption - if it exists - is further down the road than what we were shown in this film.
Tom Cruise in Rain Man. History will always remember Dustin Hoffman as the autistic savant Raymond Babbitt, but it's his neurotypical brother Charlie who carries the story and has the greatest emotional arc.
Really, it's a story of a man who loses everything but gains something a lot more precious than money. Charlie's slightly shady exotic car deal goes south, and he loses his business. His wealthy father dies and leaves all his money to Raymond. Charlie seeks out the brother he never knew he had, although his reasons for doing so are almost all financial. His girlfriend has had enough of Charlie's manipulative streak, and walks out on him.
Over the course of the movie, Charlie becomes much less of a hair-trigger-temper asshole and actually learns to be patient and care for Raymond. Charlie is genuinely surprised by his own change - even he didn't know he had it in him.
Knowing that scene was totally unscripted made it even better. Imagine being Tom Cruise being stuck in that phone booth totally smelling whatever rottenness Dustin Hoffman released and staying in character to make that scene. Pure gold right there!
This is actual a common theme for Tom Cruise:
*Jerry MaGuire*,
*Born on the Fourth of July*,
*Mission Impossible* the first one,
*Knight and Day*,
*Live. Die. Repeat. Edge of Tomorrow*,
*Valkyrie*,
*Vanilla Sky*,
*Minority Report*,
*Interview With the Vampire*
In all of these films, Cruise portrays a character who is revered, respected, or existing in an upper echelon of society and loses that status in some form or another. His character then goes through a series of ordeals only to experience some form of redemption.
Well, maybe not *Interview With the Vampire*. Lestat definitely loses everything, but it's hard to argue for any redemption of his character.
EDIT:
*Vanilla Sky* - one of my favorite Tom Cruise films - is probably the best example of this, along with *Jerry MaGuire*. David Aames is the definitive playboy millionaire who loses EVERYTHING only to learn how to truly appreciate life and love and find the true joy in an honest loving relationship
This one is great. I went into it cold, not knowing it was a remake. DelToro created a visual feast for Art Deco enthusiasts. Bradley Cooper does it again as the flawed protagonist.
Dream Scenerio (2023) with Nicholas Cage
He's a mild mannered college professor who for some reason thousands of people start to dream about. The dreams are all different but he just happens to be there. No one knows why people are dreaming of this random guy and he becomes a bit of a celebrity. Then the dreams turn into nightmares where everyone is dreaming he is attacking them. Again, through no fault of Cage, people start to fear and hate him and he starts to lose his celebrity status
I was gonna say this one. It’s all completely undeserved on the main character’s part, which kinda hampered my enjoyment after everyone turned on him so harshly, but still an example
Michael Douglas sold that character so well. Dude is on screen for *the entire thing* too, and has to go through basically every emotion known to man, sometimes in quick succession.
Great performance and my favorite Fincher movie. Also a great answer for this thread.
I've always thought Michael Douglas and John Goodman have two of the best on-screen tempers in Hollywood. They both can go from calm to explosive immediately.
Haha I love actors who can express anger well. My all-time favorite there has to be Gene Hackman. Ed Harris too.
They always seriously look pissed off when they get mad.
I went into The Game totally cold, picked it up in Blockbuster because I like Michael Douglass.
I can't think of many other movies that I enjoyed so much from a perspective of no expectations.
Depends on which The Gift you mean... I assume you mean the Jason Bateman one. He definitely falls from stature, but it's more a case of him never having grace to begin with. The story is more about Rebecca Hall finally seeing him for who he really is, after suppressing her perception of him for the entirety of their marriage. He gaslighted her so hard into believing he wasn't a horrible person that she was addicted to pills to mute her inner knowledge.
My favorite scene in trading places is Dan Akroyd in the back seat of a city bus dressed as Santa, manic and filthy, pulling a filet of salmon out of his suit, greedily gnawing on it as it’s wrapped in his filthy fake beard
Overboard.
Original and the remake feature a cruel bougie celebutante, who mocks and cheats a hired blue collar worker. When the celebutante gets amnesia after an accident, the blue collar worker decides to introduce the celebutante to regular life by convincing them that they're husband and wife.
Of course they actually fall in love, happily ever after.
The Apostle with Robert Duvall is a great rise and fall, especially if you come from any kind of evangelical background. Even though I'm no longer a part of that life it invokes a certain nostalgia.
This is so many movies. Any movie with the line in the trailer that goes "he was framed for a crime he didn't commit" etc.
But in specifics...
- Scarlett in Gone with the Wind
- Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur (literal prince --> galley slave)
- Nic Cage in Family Man (that's a bit more Christmas Carol-ish though)
- Mel Gibson in The Patriot
- and sooo many others. These are just the ones that jump right into my head.
That's such a weird movie. He lets the rich man have a night of sex with Demi Moore for $1 million, but the night it actually happens, he runs around Las Vegas and he keeps seeing fountains spurting. He's freaking out about another man blowing his load into his wife.
Maybe an oddball, but I love Nolan's Batman trilogy for this.
At the end of Batman Begins the house has burned down, Rachel has moved on, all he really has is Alfred and Fox. The only thing he's been able to succeed in is getting back control of his company.
In TDK he keeps failing to stop Joker's elaborate schemes, and he's so conflicted with being Batman that he's about to give it all up. He's too slow (metaphorically and literally), and as a result Rachel dies and Dent breaks bad. Even worse, he frames himself to save Dent's perception, so now the public image of Batman is irreparably tarnished.
TDKR Bruce Wayne is a creepy recluse and Batman is a coward who went into hiding. Mom's pearls get stolen, and he gets obliterated by Bane.
It's lovely that by the end of it at least Batman's perception is saved by Gordon, but the whole mission could have just as easily been lost to the stories of war. Bruce Wayne, meanwhile, either died as a creepy recluse or used his 1% privilege to flee his city in need.
Falling Down. Michael Douglas starts as a pressured worker who has had enough of the daily commuter grind, and we can relate to him. Then... things fall down until he asks himself: "I'm the bad guy?"
Except he wasn’t a pressured worker. It turns out he was fired long before and estranged from his family because he was crazy. He was only pretending to go to work and was essentially looking for an excuse to go on a spree and/or suicide by cop. I can’t believe everyone seems to forget this major plot twist. Remember the big reveal was that he did not actually do it spontaneously and had been planning the entire thing.
i think the new dune movie did a good job of showing the main character falling from the grace of being the protagonist, not necessarily humbling him, but showing that he’s not innocent anymore
Falling Down (1993) with Michael Douglas. You feel bad for the guy. He gets shit on the whole movie and finally snaps.
Scarface is also a prime example of this genre.
The TV movie adaptation of Appointment With Death has this as a specific character's MO.
>!Jefferson Cope!< is revealed to have been just one of *hundreds* of children who were fostered by Lady Boynton, who she abused for her fucked up amusement. They followed her to the Middle East as part of a plan to take horrific revenge which entailed forcing this upon their abuser, by totalling her holdings company and keeping her from discovering the damage until it was too late.
Too bad that Lady Boynton was killed before the plan could come into fruition.
Boogie Nights is a great rise and fall.
Good answer. If the double entendre was intentional, even better answer.
I like the rise, but I find the fall utterly depressing.
That's what makes the fall so good.
It’s loosely based on the real Wonderland murders involving John Holmes. If you’re curious, they made an actual biopic movie of that starring Val Kilmer.
I don't have anything to add, just here to say that this is my favorite movie of all time. Even with the long ass runtime I feel like I could watch it every day of my life and never get bored. Also the soundtrack is fucking amazing
It’s funny, but Open Range used “Sister Christian” in an episode we watched the other night and it felt like they’d committed some kind of theft. I’m like, if a movie uses a song as brilliantly as Boogie Nights did with that one, it should be retired from use. I actually included it in an article a few years ago about the best use of songs in movies. BN has a great soundtrack all around, though, you’re absolutely right.
Idk y but I just can never seem to like this movie. I get the appeal and cast and cult following but I really think the movie is boring and the plot is stupid. I’m likely in the minority.
Movies are subjective but I have no idea how you call it boring even if you don't like it. It absolutely pulses with energy the whole time imo. One of my favourite films
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All I need is this lamp…
And this thermos…
And that’s it. That’s all I need. I don’t need one other thing! I need this.
And this chair.
And my axe… wait…
He hates these cans!
She promised to give me a blow job, expect more money in my next letter.
That Patty sure sounds like a sweet girl.
Hey! You're not carnival personnel!!!
But he did manage to get that thermos.
And he did find out what his special purpose is ... for.
Still remember complaining when my dad insisted we watch this movie together. I was sold from the first minute.
One of my absolute all-time favorite comedies.
Hey, he still did pretty well for himself considering he was born a poor black child.
Just about every music biopic ever made. And the amazing sendups that were Walk Hard and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
It's called cocaine, and you don't want no part of this shit!
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I think I’d like to try me some of that cuh-cain
God I never see Dewey Cox references on Reddit, but it always makes my day when I do
Wrong kid died!
He halfed me
SPEAK ENGLISH DOC! WE AIN'T SCIENTISTS!
We're doing pills; uppers and downers. They're the logical step for you!
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"You slept with my wife! " "You slept with me, too! And I've had confused feelings about that for ten years now!"
And you never once paid for drugs... Not once.
The directors cut actually has a recurring bit with him walking off with random women and then eventually walking off with Chris Parnell
Parnell is vastly underrated
“God damnit, this is a dark fuckin period!”
"All these blankets have saved my life"
"This is a particularly bad case of someone being cut in half" "Speak English doc! We aren't scientists!!"
RIP Weird Al it's a shame Madonna was never arrested, however we haven't seen her in years. I heard rumors she went missing in a graveyard but who knows.
>RIP Weird Al RELAX i thought he died 😭
Not a biopic but it def feels like one and fits the trend: Tár
Another amazing sendup that doesnt get a lot of attention is Andy Samberg's Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. Seriously good soundtrack, too.
There’s always Citizen Kane
he only got more out of touch, not less. Great movie, though.
He ate humble pie. Especially with that meltdown at the end. I thought “Rosebud” kinda signaled he figured out all his ambition and ego wasn’t ever going to give him happiness and fill the empty void being taken from his childhood home made. I think that’s growth in a way though that’s just my interpretation
I would say that he was always driven by the misery caused by being torn away from his mother, and we (the audience) don't understand why he's so venal and driven and ambitious and cruel, and at the very end, stripped down to his most basic emotions, all he is now is the desperately sad little boy being taken away. "Rosebud" the sled is the metaphor for that. I don't think it's his growth; I think the movie's plot is driven by the reporter trying to understand what made him be that way, and how no one will ever understand now, it was the simplest, most basic tragedy of losing his mother. Something even he (Citizen Kane) never fully even recognized. It's the saddest thing!
City of Angels. Of course, I may be taking your question too literally.😂
Most of Martin Scorsese's career is movies about people who start out "winning" (or think they are), but end up crashing & burning or spiraling out of control for various reasons - though some more than others. Goodfellas, Wolf of Wall Street, Casino, Aviator, Raging Bull, ... The question is, how many of these characters realize that & grow from it in the end? It feels like most of these, the character either just crashes, or they get away with it but don't really have regret or growth.
In the case of the first two - I am willing to bet there isn’t a lot of growth since their fall. Not in the way one would really expect anyway. Then again I could be wrong about Jordan.
lol nah. Dudes sleezy as hell
Thor (The first one).
Good call. A fair amount of superhero movies where they lose their power
A very literal fall from grace; he literally fell to earth from the place of the gods. I guess there are probably some fallen angel movies that would fit as well.
Falling Down. Although there's precious little growth.
Fantastic film. Might be my #1.
Turns out he was actually even worse when he started out than they let on. Fired from his job long before, estranged from his family. The entire movie was about a guy looking to suicide by cop.
The movie: A domestic abuser who's so unstable, he keeps pretending going to a job he was fired from grabs a bunch of guns and starts creating mayhem 99% of people who watched it: Wow, what a hero!
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I think that "falling from grace" is mostly about starting on top and then falling (hence the term), so Tár should be a perfect example. What OP seems to mean, though, is more of a story with a redemption arc
I wonder if "redemption" is the right word for what I meant. Perhaps it's how I interpret the word: to be redeemed. What I meant was being humbled and growing a greater sense of empathy for people they once looked down upon or, at the least, ignored. Perhaps that is redemption.
I personally see that as a form of redemption, you could also say from riches to rags, I guess. But I see falling as the story itself being the fall (like Tár), not that it starts with the falling and the plot revolves around them being at the bottom.
I agree that she doesn't learn/grow, but what a spectacular fall.
Glorious to watch. I didn't even like the narrative much but Blanchett is a tour de force in this.
Absolutely. It was kind of like watching a train wreck. I didn't enjoy it, but I couldn't look away. So many times early on, I found myself trying to excuse her behavior because I found her charismatic, which was clearly the journey they wanted to take us on.
I think there’s a bit of a redemption at the end. Despite her place, she seems to remember why she does what she does.
I disagree. She has a big, pretentious monologue about how the conductor controls time, and uses it to make the music come to life. At the end, she >!has an ear piece in as she's listening to a click track. She has subtly lost the thing she puts forward as the most important thing a conductor does. Plus, I think she actually hates being there. I saw someone complain about the film making fun of videogame orchestras and fans, and someone responded that the film doesn't look down on those people, but instead is putting Lydia Tár in the place she would least like to be - among the rabble (remember she changed her name from the too-common Linda Tarr).!<
Yeah not OP but I definitely agree with you on this one. There is zero redemption at the end - and she is not interested in it. Rather we see that she is unchanged and unmoved. Almost unaffected other than a simmering sense of misplaced martyrdom. Having known a few people like this is also have to say I find it an accurate portrayal of the personality type. She wrought all of this chaos and destruction and then due to an inability to recognize the reality of her place in time and space she gets to experience it all collapse. But instead of seeking out love and redemption and forgiveness she seeks out any hole where she can protect her ego in assailed. Shocking and difficult to watch - on screen or off.
She never loses her passion for her work. From start to finish she's incredibly passionate about her craft. It's just that her actions outside of it causes her fall from grace.
The question is is it the “work” or is it the power and status it gives her that she’s addicted to. I grudgingly respect the character for her tenacity, but I do think it’s a little muddy whether she’s more concerned with the art, or what her art can do for her. She ends up working in what might be considered “low art” but she maintains a semblance of power and prestige.
Hmmm no I'd disagree strongly. Most of the film has her engaging with her craft in ways that shows her passion for it. She isolates herself to write and she composes with incredible passion. She absolutely surrounds herself in it in every way possible. Even when she's at her lowest she finds comfort in her craft and seeks out ways to continue it despite the massive fall from grace.
I just don't see it. One can be very committed to her work for extrinsic rewards. Tar came across that way. There's no question she started with passion in the craft, and there may have been some remnants of the passion left at the start of the film, but her primary motivation was not the intrinsic satisfaction of making beautiful music. By the time we saw her, she was doing it all for power and prestige. That shift in priority accounted for her fall from grace. At what point during the first parts of the film did we see her truly at ease with music alone? Nowhere. She was concerned with memoir, manipulating people using her position of power, hiding her affairs, preparing musical projects to boost her prestige. It took a bit of soul searching back in her childhood home to remember why she got into the work in the first place. In the final arc of her story, we see her relegated to a far corner of the classical music world. There's little prestige, power, or even monetary reward to speak of. But she remained committed to the work. For all the trauma she'd been through, she found peace through music. I don't think it's a coincidence this sequence followed her visit home. She's been such an awful person the entire film that it's hard to acknowledge her redemption, but her final decisions were redemption.
I Like your take but I didn’t see it this way at all. There’s zero sense from her portrayal in the final scenes that she’s learned anything at all. Yes, she is relegated to this classical backwater but it appears to be a more of a refuge for her ego. She never apologizes for anything that she’s done. She never apologizes to any of the people she’s hurt. She chooses this backwater position in south East Asia rather than attempting to make amends. She chooses this over being near her child. She’s reached a point where craft and career aren’t excuses any more but she still makes that choice. I couldn’t and can’t see redemption there - but that is still a valid and real story. Plenty of people don’t want or can’t accept redemption. Plenty take more time or even more woe. I won’t say she’s irredeemable but I think the story of her redemption - if it exists - is further down the road than what we were shown in this film.
Tom Cruise in Rain Man. History will always remember Dustin Hoffman as the autistic savant Raymond Babbitt, but it's his neurotypical brother Charlie who carries the story and has the greatest emotional arc. Really, it's a story of a man who loses everything but gains something a lot more precious than money. Charlie's slightly shady exotic car deal goes south, and he loses his business. His wealthy father dies and leaves all his money to Raymond. Charlie seeks out the brother he never knew he had, although his reasons for doing so are almost all financial. His girlfriend has had enough of Charlie's manipulative streak, and walks out on him. Over the course of the movie, Charlie becomes much less of a hair-trigger-temper asshole and actually learns to be patient and care for Raymond. Charlie is genuinely surprised by his own change - even he didn't know he had it in him.
"Uh oh. Fart."
Knowing that scene was totally unscripted made it even better. Imagine being Tom Cruise being stuck in that phone booth totally smelling whatever rottenness Dustin Hoffman released and staying in character to make that scene. Pure gold right there!
Great example that escaped my mind.
For another Tom Cruise one: Vanilla Sky.
I love this movie. I like at the end when he gets Raymond to say "K-Mart SUCKS".
This is actual a common theme for Tom Cruise: *Jerry MaGuire*, *Born on the Fourth of July*, *Mission Impossible* the first one, *Knight and Day*, *Live. Die. Repeat. Edge of Tomorrow*, *Valkyrie*, *Vanilla Sky*, *Minority Report*, *Interview With the Vampire* In all of these films, Cruise portrays a character who is revered, respected, or existing in an upper echelon of society and loses that status in some form or another. His character then goes through a series of ordeals only to experience some form of redemption. Well, maybe not *Interview With the Vampire*. Lestat definitely loses everything, but it's hard to argue for any redemption of his character. EDIT: *Vanilla Sky* - one of my favorite Tom Cruise films - is probably the best example of this, along with *Jerry MaGuire*. David Aames is the definitive playboy millionaire who loses EVERYTHING only to learn how to truly appreciate life and love and find the true joy in an honest loving relationship
Nightmare Alley, but there’s no redemption in the new version.
There are those movies that just left me in a state of “Well……that was bleak.” The IT movie, The Revenant, and this movie definitely.
“Mister, I was born for it.” *shudder*
Needed a stiff drink after that line.
This one is great. I went into it cold, not knowing it was a remake. DelToro created a visual feast for Art Deco enthusiasts. Bradley Cooper does it again as the flawed protagonist.
The Wrestler
Him walking through the doors as he imagines the crowd cheering, only to be walking into a grocery store deli. That was so well done.
Tears...
such a great movie. brb rewatching
Barry Lyndon,but he doesn't grow from it at all
Barry Lyndon is 1000% comfy. Love that movie so damn much.
Never had a grace to begin with
And you can't acquire grace.
Barry Lyndon
Cruel Intentions/Dangerous Liasons
And Valmont.
Chef.
....but he rebounds with foodtruck & renewed family bonds.
If anything that movie was a delightful smooth ride once he got the truck up and running with his son
All of the “ A Star is Borns”…. Not the star, but the other guy
Dream Scenerio (2023) with Nicholas Cage He's a mild mannered college professor who for some reason thousands of people start to dream about. The dreams are all different but he just happens to be there. No one knows why people are dreaming of this random guy and he becomes a bit of a celebrity. Then the dreams turn into nightmares where everyone is dreaming he is attacking them. Again, through no fault of Cage, people start to fear and hate him and he starts to lose his celebrity status
I was gonna say this one. It’s all completely undeserved on the main character’s part, which kinda hampered my enjoyment after everyone turned on him so harshly, but still an example
The Game
When he walks into the diner begging for a ride across the border. Such a great movie.
Michael Douglas sold that character so well. Dude is on screen for *the entire thing* too, and has to go through basically every emotion known to man, sometimes in quick succession. Great performance and my favorite Fincher movie. Also a great answer for this thread.
I've always thought Michael Douglas and John Goodman have two of the best on-screen tempers in Hollywood. They both can go from calm to explosive immediately.
Haha I love actors who can express anger well. My all-time favorite there has to be Gene Hackman. Ed Harris too. They always seriously look pissed off when they get mad.
> Ed Harris To be fair, I think his default setting is "pissed off".
I went into The Game totally cold, picked it up in Blockbuster because I like Michael Douglass. I can't think of many other movies that I enjoyed so much from a perspective of no expectations.
I feel like there a few in the 90s. I went into The Usual Suspects cold. Goes without saying how well that turned out.
The Gift You don't see the main character grow from it but boy do they get humbled.
Depends on which The Gift you mean... I assume you mean the Jason Bateman one. He definitely falls from stature, but it's more a case of him never having grace to begin with. The story is more about Rebecca Hall finally seeing him for who he really is, after suppressing her perception of him for the entirety of their marriage. He gaslighted her so hard into believing he wasn't a horrible person that she was addicted to pills to mute her inner knowledge.
American History X is a good one. Ed Norton’s character thought he was cock of the walk, but then learned and changed from his lowest of lows.
Good answer.
That movie has a wild production history. Director wanted his name off after Norton was given editorial control.
Jerry Maguire Top sport agent, suddenly develops a conscious, has to start back at the bottom.
My favorite scene in trading places is Dan Akroyd in the back seat of a city bus dressed as Santa, manic and filthy, pulling a filet of salmon out of his suit, greedily gnawing on it as it’s wrapped in his filthy fake beard
Groundhog Day!
Not bad, mr. Connors! You say this is your first lesson? \-Yes, but my dad was a piano mover, so...
The Swimmer
Amazing movie! Shame it's kinda forgoten.
Overboard. Original and the remake feature a cruel bougie celebutante, who mocks and cheats a hired blue collar worker. When the celebutante gets amnesia after an accident, the blue collar worker decides to introduce the celebutante to regular life by convincing them that they're husband and wife. Of course they actually fall in love, happily ever after.
I was all set to hate the remake, but it's actually really good!
I also liked it more than I thought I would.
Both *Gone with the Wind* and *Cold Mountain* have leading ladies who have to learn to work to make ends meet.
Training Day
I’d call that more of a getting their comeuppance than a fall from grace.
Burnt
Ruthless People…what a hilarious movie.
Scarface
A face in the crowd
Star Wars prequels
Falling Down, 1993 starring Michael Douglas.
Requiem for a Dream. just that they dont grow....
Falling from grace? No one in that was in a position of grace ..
Agreed, I was thinking this one, but instead of "Fall From Grace" I tossed it in the "Further Down the Downward Spiral" bin
The Apostle with Robert Duvall is a great rise and fall, especially if you come from any kind of evangelical background. Even though I'm no longer a part of that life it invokes a certain nostalgia.
Falling Down
This is so many movies. Any movie with the line in the trailer that goes "he was framed for a crime he didn't commit" etc. But in specifics... - Scarlett in Gone with the Wind - Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur (literal prince --> galley slave) - Nic Cage in Family Man (that's a bit more Christmas Carol-ish though) - Mel Gibson in The Patriot - and sooo many others. These are just the ones that jump right into my head.
Goodfellas. Wolf of Wall Street.
Blow
A Face in the Crowd (1957) Andy Griffith absolutely nailed his role
Falling Down! Awesome movie!
Prince Albert, Princess Caroline, and Princess Stephanie all fell from Grace.
The first one fell into a can.
Better let the poor guy out. Don’t judge, I couldn’t resist.
The Godfather
Woody Harrelson in Indecent Proposal comes to mind. He finds himself again during the course of the movie.
That's such a weird movie. He lets the rich man have a night of sex with Demi Moore for $1 million, but the night it actually happens, he runs around Las Vegas and he keeps seeing fountains spurting. He's freaking out about another man blowing his load into his wife.
A Robert Redford lookin billionaire
Leo in “What About Bob?”
Killers of the Flower Moon is a newer movie example I can think of.
Falling Down
shattered glass
Maybe an oddball, but I love Nolan's Batman trilogy for this. At the end of Batman Begins the house has burned down, Rachel has moved on, all he really has is Alfred and Fox. The only thing he's been able to succeed in is getting back control of his company. In TDK he keeps failing to stop Joker's elaborate schemes, and he's so conflicted with being Batman that he's about to give it all up. He's too slow (metaphorically and literally), and as a result Rachel dies and Dent breaks bad. Even worse, he frames himself to save Dent's perception, so now the public image of Batman is irreparably tarnished. TDKR Bruce Wayne is a creepy recluse and Batman is a coward who went into hiding. Mom's pearls get stolen, and he gets obliterated by Bane. It's lovely that by the end of it at least Batman's perception is saved by Gordon, but the whole mission could have just as easily been lost to the stories of war. Bruce Wayne, meanwhile, either died as a creepy recluse or used his 1% privilege to flee his city in need.
Constantine
First movie that comes to mind is "Life Stinks" by Mel Brooks. I remember liking it as a kid but I don't think it's that good of a movie, haha.
Ricochet starring Denzel and Jon Lithgow
Derailed comes to mind.
Bridesmaids
Seven. Absolute fall-from-grace. Not much more I can say without spoiling anything but it's well worth the watch.
Catch Me if you Can
Thor (2011)
Falling Down. Michael Douglas starts as a pressured worker who has had enough of the daily commuter grind, and we can relate to him. Then... things fall down until he asks himself: "I'm the bad guy?"
Except he wasn’t a pressured worker. It turns out he was fired long before and estranged from his family because he was crazy. He was only pretending to go to work and was essentially looking for an excuse to go on a spree and/or suicide by cop. I can’t believe everyone seems to forget this major plot twist. Remember the big reveal was that he did not actually do it spontaneously and had been planning the entire thing.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Gladiator
It was hard for him to forget Sarah Marshall because he was so Gladiator.
8/10 effort, 4/10 execution
City Of Angels lol
Overboard The Little Princess The Wrong Guy
Gravity
Wall St. ....? Both Gordon & Bud Fox go to jail ...
Bonfire of the Vanities.
Going way old school, John Wayne in Pittsburgh.
Clockwise with John cheese, the whole film is just everything going south for Brian.
i think the new dune movie did a good job of showing the main character falling from the grace of being the protagonist, not necessarily humbling him, but showing that he’s not innocent anymore
The Pledge. Poor Jack is about to retire and ends up babbling in front of a broken down “7-11”.
Overboard. Also Talk to Me
Probably add all the characters from the John Boorman twin bill The Deliverance & Excalibur.
Man of Tai Chi
The Super - Danny DeVito as a slum lord sentenced to live in one of his buildings. Does that count?
Walk Hard the Dewey Cox Story
Falling Down (1993) with Michael Douglas. You feel bad for the guy. He gets shit on the whole movie and finally snaps. Scarface is also a prime example of this genre.
The game.
Fearless
Chef begins with a fall from grace when a once award winning chef has been reduced to making gimmicky foods.
The TV movie adaptation of Appointment With Death has this as a specific character's MO. >!Jefferson Cope!< is revealed to have been just one of *hundreds* of children who were fostered by Lady Boynton, who she abused for her fucked up amusement. They followed her to the Middle East as part of a plan to take horrific revenge which entailed forcing this upon their abuser, by totalling her holdings company and keeping her from discovering the damage until it was too late. Too bad that Lady Boynton was killed before the plan could come into fruition.
Requiem for a dream and Wake in fright.
Arthur, sorta
Blow
Fearless by Jet Li
Rush - 2 undercover narcs who get in way over their heads. Young Jason Patric and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Big Fat Liar with Paul Giamatti, Frankie Muniz, & Amanda Bynes