What movie did you watch last night? (14 Viewers)

[nooleen]

tried to watch calvary last night, couldn't stick it.

tommy from love/hate was great, and chris o'dowd and dylan moran were pretty good but the dialogue was just too awful to bear. i was cringing every few minutes at the trite morality clichés shoehorned awkwardly in. the boyfriend suggested the script might have been the result of a writing contest for leaving cert students.

aidan gillen was appalling as always. challenging him for the towelie award for worst character ever was the priest's droopy-dawg daughter with her stupid wrist bandages.

the end.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

tried to watch calvary last night, couldn't stick it.

tommy from love/hate was great, and chris o'dowd and dylan moran were pretty good but the dialogue was just too awful to bear. i was cringing every few minutes at the trite morality clichés shoehorned awkwardly in. the boyfriend suggested the script might have been the result of a writing contest for leaving cert students.

aidan gillen was appalling as always. challenging him for the towelie award for worst character ever was the priest's droopy-dawg daughter with her stupid wrist bandages.

the end.

Fucking godawful film

 

[Jill Hives]

tried to watch calvary last night, couldn't stick it.

tommy from love/hate was great, and chris o'dowd and dylan moran were pretty good but the dialogue was just too awful to bear. i was cringing every few minutes at the trite morality clichés shoehorned awkwardly in. the boyfriend suggested the script might have been the result of a writing contest for leaving cert students.

aidan gillen was appalling as always. challenging him for the towelie award for worst character ever was the priest's droopy-dawg daughter with her stupid wrist bandages.

the end.

I still haven't seen this but after that review, I want to now.

 

[travispickle]

I watched Away We Go - pleasant enough, quite funny in parts.

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[Jim Daniels]

Boyhood by Richard Linklater

Totally overhyped and a dangerous film with the reaction it is generating.
Ethan Hawke is really good, and maybe the only character of the lot with a brain.

The film is getting rave reviews because of the concept and execution, but the plot is conformist and whatever 'messages' there may be are cliched and nothing new.
The whole thing is designed to inspire a particular set of emotions in people, in a fairly manipulative manner in my opinion, but it fails to really ask any meaningful questions, the worst thing being that it comes close to doing so on occasion but then quickly steers away from that territory.

Interesting idea, poor plot, some gammy acting, and basically oblivious to the problems that the film actually does highlight unintentionally.

Fair enough! Though, I wasn't looking for any messages in there, didn't really see any attempts made to make any, and didn't come away thinking that it failed to answer them. It was slightly soap opera-ish but that was fine with me. They could have taken the themes to extremes and made it more hard hitting, but I don't think that was ever the intention.

How is it "dangerous" and "oblivious to the problems that the film actually does highlight unintentionally"?

 

[nooleen]

i finished watching calvary and actually ended up liking it even though all the criticisms still stand

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Calvary was all these McDonagh film elements amped up and whatever bits and pieces were left over from a bunch of other films rammed in.
It was a meta mess rammed up its own hole.

Anyway. Trying to see Snowpiercer tonight.

That should be a laugh.

 

[Anthony]

Happy Gilmore with a bunch of kids. Great laugh.

 

[washingcattle]

Fair enough! Though, I wasn't looking for any messages in there, didn't really see any attempts made to make any, and didn't come away thinking that it failed to answer them. It was slightly soap opera-ish but that was fine with me. They could have taken the themes to extremes and made it more hard hitting, but I don't think that was ever the intention.

How is it "dangerous" and "oblivious to the problems that the film actually does highlight unintentionally"?

A message ? In a Richard Linklater movie ? His only message has ever been "I'm observing" hasn't it ?

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Snowpiercer

Fucking great fun

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

Snowpiercer. Ambitious, original and often very funny post apocalyptic sci fi from the director of Korean films The Host and Mother. His first film in English. Much to enjoy here.
Snowpiercer (2013) - IMDb

ANd tonight I watched Snowpiercer(thanks to this thread)

Absolutely SUPERB!

8/10

Snowpiercer

Fucking great fun

You all need to see this

 

[Cormcolash]

How is it "dangerous" and "oblivious to the problems that the film actually does highlight unintentionally"?

Well because the whole film presents a veneer of "This is all okay."
The whole thing is a depiction of American middle-class privilege. They have no money, yet in order for the film to resonate with people in the right way, the kid still has his own jeep that he can drive anywhere. Even though they have no money. Women are pretty much vilified throughout the whole film. The mother moves from disaster to disaster. Domestic violence is just something that happens. The first thing he does in college is go hiking, because it's all a big laugh.
The sequel to the film should be "Manhood" following the character as he flunks college, goes back to the fastfood job, and ends up as an alcoholic. Except that won't happen, because everything is okay, right?

What 'Boyhood' does is basically say 'this is how a white middle-class American grows up, and it's the right way to do things,' which is total bollocks.

 

[washingcattle]

Well because the whole film presents a veneer of "This is all okay."
The whole thing is a depiction of American middle-class privilege. They have no money, yet in order for the film to resonate with people in the right way, the kid still has his own jeep that he can drive anywhere. Even though they have no money. Women are pretty much vilified throughout the whole film. The mother moves from disaster to disaster. Domestic violence is just something that happens. The first thing he does in college is go hiking, because it's all a big laugh.
The sequel to the film should be "Manhood" following the character as he flunks college, goes back to the fastfood job, and ends up as an alcoholic. Except that won't happen, because everything is okay, right?

What 'Boyhood' does is basically say 'this is how a white middle-class American grows up, and it's the right way to do things,' which is total bollocks.

I haven't seen the film but I did write my thesis about the exact subject you're talking about. I am a massive critic of the normalisation of middle class white families. I.e the definition of the "non-other". However the counter point to this is that because we live in an era of that normalisation any film maker who wants to make a film about one subject for example boyhood is forced in a sense to set the film in the bubble of white middle class suburban america in order to isolate his or her subject matter from the extranious themes associated with filming anything which could be construed as "Other". In simple terms if the charachter had been african american or workign class the film would be viewed as primarily "about" the african american or working class experience rather than a film about boyhood. It's an unfortunate off shoot of fifty years of normalisation. It's also worth noting that film i primarily a middle class art form (as most things are now that music has also slipped from the grasp of most working class folks) and as such film makers work with what they know and so they set their films in familiar territory and thusly reinforce the normalising effect on the white middle class.

So in a way i'm with you it's bullshit but on the other hand since the white middle class is supposed to be read as the cinematic everyman you're unfortunately reading into something which probably isn't supposed to be read into.

It's like when you realise santa isn't real. If you apply what you're feeling to most of the films you've ever seen you'll realise you've been force fed this image of normality since your childhood. To start you off I'll ruin E.T, The Goonies and Gremlins for you. You can go on from there if you want to.

 

[nooleen]

now that music has also slipped from the grasp of most working class folks

wha

 

[washingcattle]

wha

It's true I'm afraid. No industry to exploit the young and poor means less opportunities for said young and poor. Paid gigs could change that trend of course but sure who wants that ?

 

[nooleen]

....wha

 

[washingcattle]

....wha

To put it simply, there is a distinct movement in the upper eschelons of popular music away from people from working class backgrounds and towards the middle classes. So more Lilly Allens and Pharrells and less Dr Dre's and Kurt Cobains. It's not my theory it's well documented.

 

[nooleen]

who gives a fuck about the upper echelons of popular music?

 

[washingcattle]

who gives a fuck about the upper echelons of popular music?

I sure as fuck don't but the trickle down effect is terrifying. No one started playing music as a child because of some underground band no one had heard of they started because of seeing and hearing things on TV and radio and the worry is that the more homogenised that becomes the less people are inspired by it.

Like I said it's not my theory.

 

[nooleen]

sounds like a shite theory