certainly not a work of genius, though i wouldn’t call it bad either. it was so-so, average.
Kelly’s an interesting director. He seems to design his films to self-destruct about halfway to two-thirds through. If you can get comfortable with that, what he’s doing is actually kinda fascinating.
I’ve avoided watching it because of bad reviews. Did you see it, Mario??
Yes, I have seen it a couple of days ago. I gave the movie a three stars rating, and yet I have no idea if I liked it or not..
It was a spectacularly self indulgent failure and I almost mean that as a complement. While the film pretty much implodes under the weight of its own excess (much like the LA it portrays) it was certainly not lacking for ambition. I don’t think it worked on any level (though I did admire its schizophrenic tone and batshit crazy cast) but I can’t really hate a film that is the result of a director completely going for broke.
Second that HELLSCHOCKED!
I’m looking forward to seeing it. I loved both Donnie Darko and The Box (yes, you heard me, I LOVED the The Box).
MATT PARKS makes a good observation, they do tend self-destruct in the last half but still, I can’t seem to look away.
Hey Mario – check out my review here on MUBI. :P
it’s straight garbage but good for a laugh in a trainwreck sort of way.
It is ironic that you misspelled genius. Good job genius!
Southland Tales came out a long time ago bud.
I might also add that you have created a pretty polarizing thread. Can’t this film be somewhere between genius and “bad”? You are being pretty black and white about a film that is clearly muddled yet had some entertaining ideas and stylistic elements.
Three comments in a row, each more useless than the last.
Looks something touched a nerve there, American.
I like Southland Tales. It’s a satire more than anything else. It’s like the Robocop of the 2000’s.
That’s actually one of my problems with it Westley. It thinks it’s a satire but it plays more like farce.
I couldn’t even finish it and that says a lot because I am usually very good at giving most films a chance.
AMERICANWATERGUMMO, calm down boy! Then why bother commenting??
Hellshocked, your comments have no value.
Mario, what do you mean by Why bother commenting? We should only comment if it is positive?
Hellshocked, I saw your comments. Your a fool. You say nothing in an entire paragraph. At least my point is brief. All three of my posts pointed out glaring problems. One, to misspell genius is very ironic. Two, the thread creator implies that the film came out “lately” which is a factually incorrect statement. My third point is completely valid, you should not set up something to be either terrible or amazing, too polarizing! You sensitive nudniks can’t handle a little grit.
You’re* if you are so concerned about grammar and spelling accuracy.
Southland Tales came out five or six years ago. That’s lately for most people’s frame of reference.
I think your tone of voice is more polarizing than the thread title.
Hellshock’s paragraph is in fact the most valid one in this thread from a critical perspective. I share almost every single one of his viewpoints, namely that:
It was a spectacularly self indulgent
failure
that implodes under the weight of its own excess
that doesn’t work on any level
with a schizophrenic tone and batshit crazy cast
that is the result of a director completely going for broke.But whereas I can give Kelly the credit for the other things he mentions (ambition, going for broke) and admit that he had good intentions, still the result is awful and I cannot bring myself to give it much credit.
—PolarisDiB
yeah, go away Gummo you’re acting like an ass and pointing out a bunch of stupid observations that everyone else already saw and disregarded.
Mário Coelho
“Southland Tales” is one of the most love/hate movies to come out lately!
So I decided to start a new topic: Do you think it’s an underrated masterpiece or one of the worst movies ever or simply a bad movie? And also which character do you prefer?
Let me read all of your opinions…