tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post7297835534357989455..comments2024-03-28T11:58:42.109-07:00Comments on Raconteur Report: The RevenantAesophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07834464741531503378noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post-85189063613942517172016-01-20T06:34:09.585-08:002016-01-20T06:34:09.585-08:00All good comments but the best was by martinla: &q...All good comments but the best was by martinla: "...100 pound girls who can beat up fit 200 pound guys..."<br /><br />Man, this has been a constant pain in my brain for years. I regularly watched "NCIS" but when the character Ziva, who probably weighs 110 lbs. with rocks in her pockets, was whuppin'up on a very fit, very well-built combat marine, I had to quit watching the show. One knows liberalism will be in anything from Hollywood but this particular scene was just too damned much for me.O0000ooooooooooooooohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00430077867818603804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post-6552372469430513832016-01-18T08:51:55.752-08:002016-01-18T08:51:55.752-08:00As my blog quote notes, I am a storyteller.
A mov...As my blog quote notes, I am a storyteller.<br /><br />A movie without a story is just a bunch of producers and such standing in a circle, burning money by the wheelbarrow load, and manually self-pleasuring themselves to the conflagration.<br /><br />Which mental condition, IIRC, deservedly has its own section in the DSM-IV.Aesophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07834464741531503378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post-73416360363100905682016-01-17T19:36:15.604-08:002016-01-17T19:36:15.604-08:00I do like it when reviewers "get it" and...I do like it when reviewers "get it" and point out the actual storytelling flaws, rather than - or as well as - things like continuity mistakes, bad acting, implausibilities, and such. All those other things to me though are secondary, after bad storytelling, because plenty of great movies have flaws like that but still manage to keep you engaged and want to watch them more than once. <br /><br />My main beef with modern filmmaking is two-fold: <br />a) that so many filmmakers just do not know how to tell a story - as if nobody nowadays - least of all film students - watch, or have watched anything made before, say, 2000; <br />and b) the entire cultural aspect - i.e. politically correct, multicultural, left-leaning politics is just assumed as some sort of norm, and thus we have 100 pound girls who can beat up fit 200 pound guys, minorities and gays highly over-represented, and a tiny minority of movies made which don't buy into a ton of leftist tropes. All these things can be forgiven in small doses. After all, plenty of leftist politics made it into movies of the golden age of Hollywood, but the craft of storytelling was strong back then. <br /><br />Mainly it's bad storytelling I cannot stand. The political and cultural fight is one that takes place in a wider arena. A movie discussion can quickly devolve into a political shoutfest if you take that route. I'd like more reviewers to dissect storytelling the way you often do, and for example the guy at RedLetterMedia does on youtube <br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrImartinlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04716752431318819462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post-41689985807415437642016-01-17T16:46:59.584-08:002016-01-17T16:46:59.584-08:00I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt ...I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for about the first half an hour; after that, I was mainly sticking around to see how godawful it would be by the end.<br />And yes it was bad, but calling it merely bad is like calling the Hindenburg's maiden trip "a bit shaky" on execution.<br /><br />This thing was breathtakingly atrocious, in ways that boggle the mind.<br />You have to wonder if they put LSD on the page corners of the review scripts to get it green-lighted in the first place.<br />And unfortunately, IMHO, the only way to truly catalogue the faults of something like this flick is to sit through the entire thing. The only reason for doing that, however, is to share the horror with others, as I've done.<br />If I wasn't bent on reviewing it for a (hopefully) wider audience in the first place, I'd have been out the door and at the mall by maybe thirty minutes in.<br /><br />What's worse is that not only is it one of the most notably horrible pieces of fertilizer on screen that I've seen in some time, but that the horktastic crowd of fanboys is giving this entire mound of dung a tongue bath, daily, in print and other media.<br />I guess after the first few mouthfuls of crap, their taste buds lose sensation or something. I wouldn't know.<br /><br />I only rarely ask for a refund.<br />But I make a point to tell the management in these cases what a pile of crap it is, and that I intend to spread the word far and wide.<br />That gets their attention more than anything, as they only make money when people show up, and they talk to their regional overseers as well.Aesophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07834464741531503378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post-81993957287198987322016-01-17T09:07:02.473-08:002016-01-17T09:07:02.473-08:00I would point out that it was just bad filmmaking....I would point out that it was just bad filmmaking. You don't start a movie with a firefight when you haven't established - or don't very soon after - a sympathetic protagonist or protagonists. Caring neither one way or the other, we are disinterested whether the trappers or the indians win the firefight. 20 or 30 minutes in we still don't care about the DiCrappio character because he's done and said nothing to warrant it. <br /><br />Many filmmakers have erred in the ways you point out - with implausibles, with white men bad/natives good, with little or even incoherent dialog - but have NEVERTHELESS, told a good story. The Revenant is just plain amateurish filmmaking. <br /><br />It has always baffled me why people bother to sit all the way through bad movies, as if somehow staying until the end they "at least get their money's worth" - or something. If you get served awful inedible food at a restaurant, do you eat it all, rather than send it back? If you're given an undrinkably bad coffee at Starbucks, do you drink it down rather than send it back? <br /><br />Of course, we wouldn't have your wonderful reviews if you didn't sit all the way through piles of shite like this. But please tell us that you occasionally, at least, go ask for your money back from the theater management. I saw an academy copy, and stopped watching after about 35-40 minutes. If I'd been in the theater I would have walked out and not wasted any more of my life watching bad storytelling. martinlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04716752431318819462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post-42595109122746237052016-01-16T14:14:13.905-08:002016-01-16T14:14:13.905-08:00Problem is, the birds here are too smart to be sca...Problem is, the birds here are too smart to be scared by DVDs.. which may make them smarter than the screenwriters from what you're saying ;) Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post-32864232954989983672016-01-16T10:49:11.107-08:002016-01-16T10:49:11.107-08:00Don't sugar coat it....Don't sugar coat it....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post-43598109400454953662016-01-16T07:00:30.528-08:002016-01-16T07:00:30.528-08:00IIRC the last movie I saw in a theater was Cloverf...IIRC the last movie I saw in a theater was Cloverfield. 8 years or so ago. <br /><br />I see they have finally got part ii ready<br /><br />http://www.10cloverfieldlane.com<br />Irishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09772405362867585844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post-62304727924934217302016-01-16T04:52:22.681-08:002016-01-16T04:52:22.681-08:00After watching craptastic features like this one, ...After watching craptastic features like this one, I'd just settle for my 10 bucks and 2 1/2 hours of my life back.Aesophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07834464741531503378noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-714028479313834812.post-8704352981559492022016-01-16T02:51:31.348-08:002016-01-16T02:51:31.348-08:00You should get an Oscar for your reviews. You should get an Oscar for your reviews. Irishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09772405362867585844noreply@blogger.com