Delancy: would you guess Cecelia might be sensitive to certain language usage?
dp
I don’t know if you’re talking to me John but I don’t think Jonze is at fault for anything. He’s seizing an opportunity to fund more of his own projects at the expense of a greedy system. All of his past work has been well under $20M with a couple being close to that limit.
[waits for John to respond]
haha sorry about that, JOSH
(whoops)
(duplicate)
Nate: “This looks like the most predictable and obnoxious piece of trash that I can even imagine”
Wait….so you haven’t even seen it yet?
WE’RE ALL FUCKING HIPSTERS.
I’m more of a dandy than a hipster.
OK Nate, so you started a thread trashing a movie for which you’ve ONLY seen the trailer…
It might very well be trash, but any opinion you might have of it after seeing it is now suspect.
Of course, I’ve noticed it’s fairly commonplace here and elsewhere for people to rip into films they haven’t seen. It is impossible to have an honest conversation about a movie with somebody’s who’s mind has been made up before watching it.
Point taken. It could be badly marketed, but man am I sick of the trailer.
Johnny, you are exactly right. It’s hard to talk to people who think that way. What baffles me is that people go into movies hoping and thinking that it’s going to be bad! Why would you EVER hope that a film is bad?! It’s ridiculous. Every movie I walk into, whether it’s GI JOE or Antichrist, I ALWAYS hope that it’s a good movie. Even if I think the movie will probably be bad, I still hope that they’ll surprise me with a good film. I think some of it comes down to ego…they see a 2-3 minute trailer (taken from a 90 minutes or longer film) and have a negative view of it, and hold onto that negative view during the film so that even if it IS a good film, they won’t like it because of their preconceived feelings about it. They MUST walk out of the theater still holding on to their original opinion, just so they can feel that they were “right” all along. Ego is a motherfucker.
Just for the record I’d love for this movie to end up being great because I sincerely enjoy having my perspective of something I’m willing to dedicate 3 paragraphs to anonymous people about altered. That said I’m not holding my breath. I might even pay to see this movie just to prove myself wrong.
…yes, but you’ve already set an impossible personal curve for this movie. You’ll pick apart things that you would normally let go in any other film. You’ll find fault in moments/directorial decisions/acting/etc. that might be forced. While this might not happen, I’ve seen/heard/read it way too much elsewhere to not feel this will be the case here.
If you like the movie, all the better for you. If you don’t, even if it is a genuine distaste, it will be hard to convince other people that your opinion is an honest one not based off prior biases. It’s a tough corner from which to remove one’s self.
Well the difference is that I accept that my opinion can be changed after viewing the film in its entirety. If someone comes up with a valid counterpoint to something I object to in the film I’ll just come off ignorant if I dismiss it as unimportant, which I wouldn’t accept.
Ten minutes into any film you’ll make assumptions whether it’s the title, director, trailer, black and white, narrative, etc. I think with something as visible as WTWTA requires a skilled director to realize this and put you in a state of mind that doesn’t necessarily change your perception but diverts your attention from thinking about it.
The best example I can think of is comparing The Holy Mountain to that newer movie The Fall. I read on a forum that they had something in common so naturally I was excited to see it because I loved The Holy Mountain. The thing is that The Fall never entices you to think it just tells you what to think. It’s a beautiful film but the value of that is the same as a good gun fight or car chase in the movie that you fast forward to over the story.
I stand by the fact that the conception of this film IS the fault, not the content itself. Whatever Spike Jonze’s message is going to be, he failed in my eyes by needing Where The Wild Things Are™ to convey it.
so…you created a thread to piss on a movie you haven’t ever seen. That’s cool man
god, i love this website
Some critics are saying it’s not how a kids movie should be. The kid isn’t necesarlly sympathetic, and some think it should have been more than just monsters building forts and running around. Maybe it just wasn’t hip enough, and now we’re faced with a bad product that was supposed to sell the tantrum throwing-asshole-kid-from-a-single-parent-household as something cool. Six years of trying to keep the film from becoming a completely studio run piece of shit down the drain. Oh, well maybe it’s all a ploy to make the consumers think that it’s anti-hollywood.
hi, kj, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that jonze and cassavetes are similar, talent-wise, but in this case, I would say that their points of making the emotional range of a character the main focus is just kind of similar. And yes, I do think that’s what their films are all about. That’s why pialat tends to jump sporadically from one moment to another and rarely has a narrative center (because the people are the narrative center), and also why cassavetes spends 10 minutes in a movie showing people eating spaghetti and singing at a table.
This thread is a psychological experiment. Your responses are being recorded and sent directly to the Pentagon.
Mike: I thought it was the whole site though?
Or so the voices in my head have told me . . . . .
Josh. You have revealed too much. Agents are being dispatched.
Mike: Damn, I fall for that trap every time.
Looks like I’ll have to assume another person’s identity now . . . .
“Or so the voices in my head have told me . . . . .”
Wait, you must be one of the neo-manchurians. Listen carefully “Iammeandyouareyouandweareusandwearealltogether,googoogujoob.” There, now don’t you feel better? Have a good night’s sleep and do not look at this thread again.
Hey Mike! What’s goin’ on?
Hey Josh. Nuthin man. We’re just groovin on the Auteurs and everything is A-OK!!!
Ok on all that, Aoaijea. I still don’t see how you get to WTWTA from that. Granted, I haven’t yet seen WT, but if I find the mark of Pialat and Cassavetes present, I will let you know. Sporadic jumping about alone won’t do.
Well that’s good.
[sniffs]
Hmm, what’s that smell? Government conspiracy?
Josh Daedsiluap, Daedsiluap, Daedsiluap
KJ, I think Jonze said something about Cassavetes being an inlfuence on this film, but then again, every “indie” filmmaker throws the C word around for cred. Remember Trees Lounge.
House of Leaves
That makes no sense to me. The filmmaker in this case wasn’t involved in the marketing past the original trailer, which I would argue sells the film as it truly is. Why hate a film because it’s marketed poorly? And the rest of the stuff about Karen O is particularly offensive and nonsensical.
Also, if you’ve been following the development of this project, it’s pretty clear Jonze never set out to create something mainstream, and didn’t. Of course the studio wants it to be, but is a film a failure if it doesn’t make money? Certainly not an artistic failure. Sorry, man, but those arguments are thin.