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At 3/18/14 06:12 PM, Pop-Tart wrote: If you like Beethoven you must also like Hitler because you either like Germans or you don't.

Hitler was Austrian.....just saying.

At 3/18/14 08:39 PM, GIacier wrote:

At 3/18/14 08:19 PM, HeavenDuff wrote:

I don't like Ishtar.
No, you all do not like Dustin Hoffman movies, you wouldn't know what Dustin Hoffman movies meant if it hit you square in the face.

Also stop eating glue.

At 3/18/14 08:45 PM, Pop-Tart wrote:

At 3/18/14 08:43 PM, KillerSkull wrote:

At 3/18/14 06:12 PM, Pop-Tart wrote: If you like Beethoven you must also like Hitler because you either like Germans or you don't.

Hitler was Austrian.....just saying.

Ohhhh like that Hugh Jackman guy. Got ya.

No, Austrian like Steve Irwin. Don't confuse it with Australia where Hitler and Arnold Schwarzenegger are from.

At 3/18/14 08:06 PM, Profanity wrote: Fifth Element is a great film. How dare he criticize movies that were made for a different audience. I don't go around rating Cinderella or The Adventurers Down Under low because I don't enjoy kid's flicks.

I actually like sci-fi/action movies. And I'm judging the Fifth Element with criteria I believe to be fit for this specific analysis. You need to actually discuss the movies instead of trying to come up with a reason as to why I'd be wrong to express myself on these movies.

At 3/18/14 08:36 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: I think you're cool people, Duff, but your opinions on movies are bad. The Expendables and the Fifth Element fucking rock, and Pineapple Express, Harold and Kumar, and Goldmember are pretty damn funny. Dead Snow, the Hills Have Eyes, and 28 Weeks Later are pretty decent, too.

That's definitely not what you said when I named my favorite movies in that other thread. You seem to fall back on this argument whenever I start naming things I don't like and that you do like :P Come on brother, we are better than this!

At 3/18/14 05:57 PM, Cereal wrote: Everything by Christopher Nolan

EEEEDGE!

Memento and Inception were great movies :)

No, it's like saying you like great classic sci-fi movies but don't like their terrible, terrible sequels.

This.

At 3/18/14 08:25 PM, Jester wrote: I thoroughly enjoyed The Fifth Element and Pineapple Express. You're certainly correct about Knowing, at least.

When I give 3 stars, it's still better then 1 and 2. But I'm sorry, I can't enjoy anything Seth Rodgen does. There is good comedy, and there is this guy... And I mean, I know it's cool to write accessible humor, and stuff that will appeal to a large audience, but his stuff is simplistic and moronic sex, poop, drugs stuff. I can't enjoy this stuff. I'm drawing the line there.

At 3/18/14 08:42 PM, Profanity wrote: How could you not? Oh, right, you're a white. Harold and Kumar go to White Castle explores the reality of two Asian Americans living in a bubble of white privilege and coping with the realities of racism in white dominated society. Did you think White Castle was literally a fast food munchies tour?

I was expecting the Sekhem argument to come for Norbit, but not for Harold and Kumar, though. I'm surprised... but still disappointed. You still can't come up with an argument that won't just discriminate me, instead of actually talking about the actual subject. It's actually racist to assume that someone who's white can't be sensible to other ethnic group realities. Fuck you.

I'm not buying this argument, though. This movie is a slapstick crap, and if there is any kind of socially conscious content to this movie, it's drowned under misogynistic crap and crappy 2000's slapstick rehashed crap.

There are quite a few good movies that explore social issues related to ethnicity and racism. I'm thinking American History X, Life Is Beautiful (I think the Holocaust counts...), The Green Mile, Slumdog Millionaire, Hotel Rwanda, The Life Of David Gale, Incendies, Le vieil homme et l'enfant, Intouchables.

The Expendables is an absurd parody of the action genre that uses the exact same actors who launched the genre.

Directed by Sylvester Stallone.... I think you are giving too much credit to the guy. It's just a mish mash of every cliché of the genre, but most likely not in the form of a parody. And if it was indeed a parody, how would it be legitimate to milk it so much by making two sequels?

It doesn't have the tone of a parody, really. The audience to these movies is the same as to those who consume other action movies of the genre.

The Girl Next Door is a coming of age fantasy about privileged whites getting everything they wanted and still managing to fuck it up.

The guy who directed this movie also directed The Animal with Rob Schneider. Can you also come up with some kind of deep analysis of The Animal? The Girl Next Door is pretty much just a boring movie involving bad acting, about kids getting in "soooo freaky" adventures and yes, fucking up their life. But I don't think there is much depth to it.

The Fifth Elenent is just a great movie all around. Maybe you should explain why your childhood abuse caused you to hate good things.

I sometimes wonder how dumb people can get. Thanks for providing me precious info on stupidity and pseudo-intellectual delusions

No, you knew that by peppering your list with summer blockbusters like The Fifth Element you would get a few replies.

Gary Oldman's characters. Nuff said.

At 3/18/14 09:07 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: I'm not buying this argument, though. This movie is a slapstick crap, and if there is any kind of socially conscious content to this movie, it's drowned under misogynistic crap and crappy 2000's slapstick rehashed crap.

Just realized how often I used the word "crap" when talking about Harold & Kumar. Pretty much sums up how I feel about this movie.

At 3/18/14 09:07 PM, GIacier wrote:

At 3/18/14 08:49 PM, Sense-Offender wrote:

At 3/18/14 08:39 PM, GIacier wrote:

At 3/18/14 08:19 PM, HeavenDuff wrote:

I don't like Gigli.
No, you all do not like crime movies, you wouldn't know what crime movies meant if it hit you square in the face.

Also stop eating glue.

Stop pretending.

lol?

laugh out loud, stop sniffing gasoline, mentally challenged person.

At 3/18/14 09:40 PM, GIacier wrote:

At 3/18/14 09:15 PM, Sense-Offender wrote:

At 3/18/14 09:07 PM, GIacier wrote:

At 3/18/14 08:49 PM, Sense-Offender wrote:

At 3/18/14 08:39 PM, GIacier wrote:

laugh out loud, stop sniffing gasoline, mentally challenged person.

You always give me too much attention.

I think I made a friend.

Oooooh! I got trolled hard! How will I cope?!

She owned you!

At 3/18/14 08:04 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: Yeah, it's really that bad!

No you're wrong! It's p bad but not that bad! The whole mood works p well!

3/10
The Fifth Element (Dir.: Luc Besson, 1997) (Big time! And I don't even feel bad about it!)

I will fuck you up.

The plot is a retarded non-sense with your typical oddball main character played by no one else then Bruce fuckin Willis.

What's wrong with Willis? And the wardrobe and story are pretty original and well done, and so are the special effects.
I can't vouch very much for Mila Jovovich, but I guess I like her.

Anyway, some of the worst genuinely awful movies (unlike several of the ones you listed) I've seen are House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Mars of Destruction, and as you said, Batman and Robin.

I remember liking Transformers the first time I watched it, then watching it a few years later and feeling so retarded for ever liking it in the first place

Thankskilling 3 is the worst movie ever made.

At 3/18/14 09:55 PM, Slint wrote: What's wrong with Willis?

Word. 12 Monkeys, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard 1 and 3, Last Man Standing (FUCKING BAD ASS), Sin City aaaand...OH YEAH, THE FIFTH ELEMENT.

At 3/18/14 05:20 PM, HeavenDuff wrote:

Resident Evil

Oh you fucking son of a bitch!

Extinction

Oh okay...

At 3/18/14 08:19 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: What do you mean by ZAZ?

Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. Dudes who made Airplane! and The Naked Gun.

There are quite a few good movies that explore social issues related to ethnicity and racism. American History X, The Green Mile, Slumdog Millionaire, The Life Of David Gale...

...Are not among them. I like Slumdog Millionaire but I don't see how it's at all about ethnicity or racism (or much of anything, really). The Green Mile is one of the more flagrantly racist films of recent memory, to the point where it serves as the most literal textbook example of the "magical black man" trope. The other two are cartoonish melodramas that exploit real social issues as tools of emotional manipulation and as window dressing for conventional dramatic arcs but can't seriously be said to explore any of those issues in any sort of nuanced or meaningful way.

To me those last three I mentioned are exactly the kind of bile-inducing movies I was talking about at the top of my last post.

Also don't you think it might be kinda silly that the films you've listed here as prime examples of "good movies about ethnicity and racism" are almost exclusively about the perspectives of white people?

The first thing I think of when you say "good movies about ethnicity and racism" is Do the Right Thing.

At 3/18/14 09:55 PM, Slint wrote: What's wrong with Willis? And the wardrobe and story are pretty original and well done, and so are the special effects.
I can't vouch very much for Mila Jovovich, but I guess I like her.

He's a good actor, yes. I don't like him in this movie, though. And yes, the wardrobe is pretty original, but not in a good way. I think most of the outfits are grotesque, and the creatures mostly look like cheap copies of Star Wars creatures.

At 3/18/14 09:56 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Anyway, some of the worst genuinely awful movies (unlike several of the ones you listed) I've seen are House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Mars of Destruction, and as you said, Batman and Robin.

It's pretty easy to name movies that everybody hates. Try harder.

At 3/18/14 10:13 PM, HeavenDuff wrote:

At 3/18/14 09:56 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Anyway, some of the worst genuinely awful movies (unlike several of the ones you listed) I've seen are House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Mars of Destruction, and as you said, Batman and Robin.

It's pretty easy to name movies that everybody hates. Try harder.

Um, no. Those are the movies I think are the worst, out of the ones I've actually seen. Sorry my answers weren't edgy.

you know what was always rubbish? rambo

even first blood

why the fuck didn't brian dennehy just wait until sylvester stallone got to the other side of the fork in the road and avoid getting half of the fucking local precincts killed over a manhunt that they started, don't give me that nonsense about them just being psychopaths, i'm still ripping my hair out every time i think about that scene and (*foams at the mouth*)

At 3/18/14 10:10 PM, Dr-Worm wrote: The Green Mile is one of the more flagrantly racist films of recent memory, to the point where it serves as the most literal textbook example of the "magical black man" trope. The other two are cartoonish melodramas that exploit real social issues as tools of emotional manipulation and as window dressing for conventional dramatic arcs but can't seriously be said to explore any of those issues in any sort of nuanced or meaningful way.

The Green Mile exposes the inequalities and racism within the judiciary system and how easy it was (talking historical context, here) to condemn a black man for a crime he did not commit. Maybe it uses cliché story-telling methods to do it, but that's not racism. A stereotype and a cliché might be discriminating, but discrimination is not a word that is interchangeable with racism.

I also can't understand how you'd believe American History X and The Life Of David Gale to be "cartoonish melodramas". American History X managed to portray the social issues linked to tough and poor neighborhoods, gang life, racist organizations, etc. pretty well, and it was done without making it all black and white. What I mean is that the two main white characters were not just racist dipshits without any kind of personality beyond their racist traits. They were actual characters used to explore the political arguments behind racism, but also against it. I found the movie to present quite a few real political and social arguments and different points of views on the issues at hand.

The dialogues were great, and so were the characters. Derek and Danny Vinyard and Dr. Bob Sweeney specifically, were very good.

Also don't you think it might be kinda silly that the films you've listed here as prime examples of "good movies about ethnicity and racism" are almost exclusively about the perspectives of white people?

No, that's because you don't speak french and so you just ignored the three movies with french titles. Also Hotel Rwanda isn't about the perspectives of white people, and when it comes to Life is Beautiful, it's pretty much about Italian Jewish people so... what could I possibly do.

The first thing I think of when you say "good movies about ethnicity and racism" is Do the Right Thing.

Or Harold and Kumar, right? Because you totally just tried to back the motherfucker who said "Someone needs to track this french bastard down and kick his ass." but then accused me of being racist because "I didn't see" the deep social content to Harold and Kumar.

I'm reading feminist post-colonial essays, but let's just assume that I'm ethnocentric because I'm white.

Please, don't back-up fucktards like Profanity.

At 3/18/14 10:18 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: Um, no. Those are the movies I think are the worst, out of the ones I've actually seen. Sorry my answers weren't edgy.

You have the same bad attitude as when I said I didn't like Mr.Bungle.

At 3/18/14 10:02 PM, Darthdenim wrote: Thankskilling 3 is the worst movie ever made.

Omg, I was hoping this would show up.

Seriously, have you people never seen Rubber or watched an episode of MST3K?

At 3/18/14 10:54 PM, Rahmemhotep wrote: Seriously, have you people never seen Rubber or watched an episode of MST3K?

a friend nearly made me watch rubber

why, how bad is it

At 3/18/14 10:10 PM, Dr-Worm wrote:
...Are not among them. I like Slumdog Millionaire but I don't see how it's at all about ethnicity or racism (or much of anything, really). The Green Mile is one of the more flagrantly racist films of recent memory, to the point where it serves as the most literal textbook example of the "magical black man" trope. The other two are cartoonish melodramas that exploit real social issues as tools of emotional manipulation and as window dressing for conventional dramatic arcs but can't seriously be said to explore any of those issues in any sort of nuanced or meaningful way.

Sorry for the double post, but I agree with this one hundred percent.

American History X, besides being a piece of trash from an entertainment standpoint, doesn't even make sense in the end. That little jerk just suddenly stops being a neo nazi because his bro had a talk with him? That's so far fetched it's laughable. Then it tries to say something at the end by having the kid killed by a black kid, which is open to interpretation and some people will seriously look at that and say, "SEE, BLACK PEOPLE ARE THE WORST!"

I mean, I'm sure some people understand what it's trying to say (in a really horrible way), but the whole film is a failure.

At 3/18/14 11:09 PM, Natick wrote:

At 3/18/14 10:54 PM, Rahmemhotep wrote: Seriously, have you people never seen Rubber or watched an episode of MST3K?

a friend nearly made me watch rubber

why, how bad is it

It's great if you hate the fourth wall and directors in general.

At 3/18/14 11:10 PM, Rahmemhotep wrote: American History X, besides being a piece of trash from an entertainment standpoint, doesn't even make sense in the end. That little jerk just suddenly stops being a neo nazi because his bro had a talk with him? That's so far fetched it's laughable. Then it tries to say something at the end by having the kid killed by a black kid, which is open to interpretation and some people will seriously look at that and say, "SEE, BLACK PEOPLE ARE THE WORST!"

The part you are talking about is, to me, the only bad part of the movie. The younger boy just goes 180 on his beliefs after 15 minutes of talk. On the other hand, the kid was the biggest fan of his older brother, and during the whole movie you see him trying to become his older brother. So it kind of makes sense that he would listen to his older brother, even though it really was too much of a drastic change in a short period of time to actually be convincing.

But Derek's story and character development was great. It makes sense that he would change like he did.

And if you really want to see the final scene as some kind of racist story-telling against black people, that's people you are actively looking for it. It's not there. The whole movie shows great black characters and demonstrates through the character Lamont, that the judiciary system works against black people.

It was a very plausible ending. And Seriously, that's what I liked about this movie. Is it so unlikely that a black kid could be racist and violent for real? And if you think that showing this flat-out disqualifies the movie when it comes to it's social content, then... I don't know what to tell you.

At 3/18/14 11:20 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: text

I don't think you read what I was saying correctly, but it doesn't matter much to me as I'm not about to dispute a bunch of opinions, lol.

At 3/19/14 12:05 AM, Rahmemhotep wrote: I don't think you read what I was saying correctly, but it doesn't matter much to me as I'm not about to dispute a bunch of opinions, lol.

Ok.

Highlander: The Source was terrible.

At 3/18/14 05:20 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: Home Alone 3 (Dir.: Raja Gornell, 1997)

dude are these just the movies you own?
I personally watch 2 - 6 movies a week and I disagree with your rates, like seriously how and what are you basing these movie ratings on.

anyways, quick notice, how is Home Alone 3 worst than 2 or 4 which are even worst.

Don't forget the Bring It On movies there's like ten of them.

At 3/18/14 10:43 PM, HeavenDuff wrote: The Green Mile exposes the inequalities and racism within the judiciary system and how easy it was (talking historical context, here) to condemn a black man for a crime he did not commit.

But there are plenty of other works with similar subject matter that accomplish this with black characters who are actual human beings with their own wants and needs and not just victims or symbols or plot devices who exist solely to effect the redemption or condemnation of white people.

And with this film as well as the other two movies I mentioned, it doesn't matter how good the movie's intentions are or what nominally progressive point it's trying to make if it expresses that point in such a ham-fisted, didactic and self-important way. Because in doing so these movies fail to engage with these issues as they actually exist* and therefore fail to effectively comment on those issues. Not to mention it's just bad storytelling.

Maybe it uses cliché story-telling methods to do it, but that's not racism.

The "magical black man" trope isn't just a cliched storytelling method, it's a distinctly racist cliched storytelling method. It removes all agency and humanity from a prominent black character, making it his sole purpose in life to serve the spiritual (never intellectual) needs of the white protagonist and then promptly disappear once that service is no longer required (often, as is the case in this film, by actually dying).

No, that's because you don't speak french and so you just ignored the three movies with french titles.

I'm not unfamiliar with contemporary race-themed French cinema, I wrote a term paper on how Cache and Entre les murs explore racial and ethnic issues in postcolonial France (both are good examples of films that actually explore these sorts of issues in nuanced, complex ways), I just haven't seen the particular films you mentioned so I didn't comment on them.

and when it comes to Life is Beautiful, it's pretty much about Italian Jewish people so... what could I possibly do.

That movie has the same sorts of problems I'm talking about though. It doesn't even come close to approaching the reality* of the Holocaust, so how can it be said to legitimately comment or reflect on it in any serious way?

*By "actually" and "reality," I mean in terms of thematic truth, not necessarily literal realism, though the latter can often be a direct and easy way to get at the former.

Or Harold and Kumar, right? Because you totally just tried to back the motherfucker

How am I "backing" anyone? I'm disagreeing with you about something entirely unrelated to your argument with Profanity and I've never even mentioned his posts or Harold & Kumar.

I'm reading feminist post-colonial essays, but let's just assume that I'm ethnocentric because I'm white.

Whoa there, you're getting way ahead of yourself and putting words in my mouth. I haven't accused you of being ethnocentric and I certainly haven't done so "because you're white." I'm just pointing out that you're rejecting a conventional, simplistic movie with some racial themes and non-white protagonists but providing as counterexamples mostly a bunch of similarly conventional and simplistic movies with white protagonists.

I didn't say it was racist or ethnocentrist, I just said it was silly. Which it is.

At 3/18/14 11:10 PM, Profanity wrote:

At 3/18/14 11:09 PM, Natick wrote:

At 3/18/14 10:54 PM, Rahmemhotep wrote: Seriously, have you people never seen Rubber or watched an episode of MST3K?

a friend nearly made me watch rubber

why, how bad is it

It's great if you hate the fourth wall and directors in general.

overreact more, goddamn