Testing Chat IV: A New Hope

[Agent Bert Macklin]

Imagine if Hollywood funded his Che biopic. It would have suuuuuucked Because they'd want a more mainstream movie. It basically would have been Spielberg's Lincoln for the uninitiated.

[Questor]

A) Your taste in movies and mine differ rather markedly and we've discussed that to death. Actually, for art in general.

B) He makes a number of good points, and I'd certainly agree with his "escapist movies" argument. But I think that the filmmakers themselves bear almost as much burden for the failure of cinema as the studio system. EDIT (Better explanation added): The continued declarations that it's all the fault of "Hollywood" forcing them to make more and more profitable movies have begun to ring as hollow as those of athletes defending college sports. What they want is for the infrastructure of Hollywood to be forced to support their preferred projects. The fact that it would be almost impossible to create indie movies without the infrastructure built by Hollywood is ignored (Actually, it's hinted at in that article, but it should be MUCH MUCH more obvious). The statistics in the very article you cited proved that indie is far from dead. I'd have to run numbers, but I'm not even sure that indies are making less money, except as a proportion. That would normally be something that would be included in the article if it were true.

There's a certain arrogance and hauteur among the indie community, and you're actually displaying it yourself. They remind me of classical music snobs.

BTW, I could do with a few less people coming to Southern California with dreams of striking it rich in the film industry, myself, at least on the surface. But then that would drastically change the character of where I live, and that would make me sad.

[Agent Bert Macklin]

I am a snobby knub, yes, but don't you dare lump me in with the likes of Thanas!

[Questor]

I am a snobby knub, yes, but don't you dare lump me in with the likes of Thanas!

God, no, I would never do that.

Reminds me of only. Here's the difference, and it's the only redeeming feature of indie movie (and music) snobs:

For the most part, indie snobs both know what's good in there snobbery area, and what others will enjoy - and want to share it. Like TV snobs, country music snobs, rock snobs (more overlap between these last two than most would think, btw) and sci-fi snobs, but unlike anime, fantasy, pop (think everyone will love everything), classical music, classic movie, electronica, and literature (you are not good enough to understand why my x is superior) snobs.

It doesn't prevent a rather disturbing hint of hipsterism from edging in, but it does at least make it an inclusive hipsterism.

[Agent Bert Macklin]

Questor, you are not good enough to understand why Tree of Life is the best film in decades.

[Questor]

I've seen that. It was the best part of one of the worst dates I've ever been on.

EDIT: I was going to argue the whole decades thing, but 1993 would be decades.

Fuck, I feel old now.

EDIT Again: Before you argue, this is one you'll never be able to convince me on, because the best movie in the world, to me, has many movies that are better than it, objectively. When I watch Jurassic Park, though, I'm not the 29 year old man I am now, but a 9 year old boy watching those dinosaurs in the movies for the first time, and for the first time understanding what "movie magic" was. And seeing Alan Grant and his obvious love of science and his career was, and not seeing him ridiculed, that was huge for me at the time.

The only feeling even close to that is when I watch Apollo 13 and remember that same 9 year old boy getting a chance - because his grandfather worked at Johnson in some capacity - to stand in a legendary room that will probably - until the eventual disappearance of the human race - only ever need to be called "Mission Control."

EDIT - Part the third - That brings up an interesting thread idea.

[Gands]

Improve film distribution/marketing, and you'll improve cinema.

Problem. Solved.

[evilsoup]

Find a way to make everyone get on with each other, and you'll achieve world peace.

Problem. Solved.

[RogueIce]

Make me undisputed ruler of the world, and we'll have awesome children's cartoons.

Problem. Solved.

[Gands]

If X, then Y.

Noun. Verbed.

[Veef]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=x11NA63gLDM

[adr]

so i was just talking with a peep irl and felt I must transcribe the convo here

me: I don't date. I didn't even date in my dream world and i'm married there

him: how did that work? just do that same contrivance in the real world

me: we were assigned to the same doomed starship so you could sit there for three months waiting for rescue or chat up your crewmates. then the years pass and love grows. I don't think that's gonna happen irl. even if there was a Starfleet job that sounds too much like ~work~ so fuck that shit

him: you don't have the prerequisite skills anyway since you aren't a MATH DOCTOR

me: neither did the dream version, he actually joined the army and got into the space program that way, another thing I wouldn't do irl. but yeah being military police is real work but less ughful than college



And that brings me to an interesting thing I hadn't really thought that much about. That right there is plausible backstory for any number of Star Trek redshirts. Guys who dreamed of hanging out amongst the stars but didn't want the responsibility of command, nor the academic work of the sciences so they went with the security job specifically to get an easier/more fitting 'in' to the wonderful starship world.

Then unceremoniously die to the villain of the week.

[Shroom Man 777]

tree of life was really good and breathtaking but at the later bits it got too linear and the story became too conventional and normal. if they kept the insane incomprehensibility of the first acts and went further, it would've been better, i think

[Big Orangutan]

I am a snobby knub, yes, but don't you dare lump me in with the likes of Thanas!

God, no, I would never do that.

Heh-heh, if Thanas rants about and criticises a TV show to destruction, more often than not it turns out to be reasonably successful and entertaining. Thanas' angry ramblings about TV shows is like the old grey whistle test.

[Agent Bert Macklin]

I think Thanas' problem is that he brings hype into his views on s show. Breaking Bad didn't blow him away, therefore he shouldn't continue. He did the same thing with The Sopranos, but actually finished it. But even there he pulled the critical consensus into his views on it when he made a thread here. It was amusing to see him get upset that Ritchie was horribly treated by Tony even though the guy paralyzed someone mere days after getting out of prison.

[Darksi4190]

I've learned to pretty much ignore what anyone on SDN says about whether or not any given piece of entertainment "sucks" or not.

[Sandman]

I actually feel sorry for many people on TEO. It must be difficult having to go through life while evidently enjoying so very little of it.

[Oxymoron]

Now you know why so many people you encounter in the streets, in the shops, everywhere, look so bitter and aggressively lash at everyone :

They hate everything.

[Jung]

I actually feel sorry for many people on TEO. It must be difficult having to go through life while evidently enjoying so very little of it.

I wonder how much of it is a pose; a way of trying to present as refined, sophisticated, intelligent, knowledgeable, worldly people. "I like X but I'm worried if I don't talk about the problems with it people will think my palette is unrefined or I'm too dumb to see the obvious flaws."

[Phantasee]

I liked 300 so much I saw it in IMAX and twice in regular theatres, and I don't watch many movies more than once. I even skipped an afternoon of classes to see it opening day. And then I bought the special edition DVD and watched that probably a dozen times.

Fuck the flaws, best movie of the decade.

[Infinity Biscuit]

I actually feel sorry for many people on TEO. It must be difficult having to go through life while evidently enjoying so very little of it.

I wonder how much of it is a pose; a way of trying to present as refined, sophisticated, intelligent, knowledgeable, worldly people. "I like X but I'm worried if I don't talk about the problems with it people will think my palette is unrefined or I'm too dumb to see the obvious flaws."

Well I think at least part of it is the inability to have overlap between "something I like" and "something that's flawed". Notice how many people over there are the kind who need to make excuses for everything they like, or who think Stark hates everything because he's open about the flaws in everything.

Edit: And I think being open with flaws in what you like is a good thing and not in the "now I won't look unrefined" way, since it both gives you the ability to be better at giving and taking recommendations and it lets you be honest with what you like and not do things like abandon it if you notice it has problems. Everything has flaws but if you can accept them and take them honestly you can like a show for what it is and not have the switch suddenly flip from "best" to "worst".

[Zod]

300 is one of the few movies I've nearly walked out on because it was so fucking boring.

[Darksi4190]

300 is one of the few movies I've nearly walked out on because it was so fucking boring.

I think they went to heavy on the slow-mo in the action scenes. I'm not opposed to slowing down the camera for an awesome shot or two but that film had entire fight scenes in nothing but slow motion. Overuse of the slow-mo just killed the pacing of the film's action scenes.

[Zod]

300 is one of the few movies I've nearly walked out on because it was so fucking boring.

I think they went to heavy on the slow-mo in the action scenes. I'm not opposed to slowing down the camera for an awesome shot or two but that film had entire fight scenes in nothing but slow motion. Overuse of the slow-mo just killed the pacing of the film's action scenes.

Pretty much why I hated it. Dragon Ball Z is not a good role model for how to show tension in your movies.

[Crazedwraith]

i'm glad we aren't those sad TEO people going on about the flaws in everything


though honestly, i will go on alot more about things in stuff i didn't like, its just more interesting than stuff that did work. I mean you can say xyz isn't work because abc and they should of done mno instead. With stuff you like its just i like xyz... yay! At least that how's I find it when i try to write reveiws of stuff