Does anyone else lose interest when people do stupid things like waste precious cell minutes over …
Definitely. The more this happens the less I care about the character; and if the stupidity is really excessive, I start hoping they don’t make it! :)
I hear that Jazz
are u interested in this people in peril reality horor genre that has been the rage since Open Water made money?
what are some examples of stupid characters that fit this for you?
I can’t think of stupid characters off the top of my head, but give me a little time and I can think of some. Btw, I think the stupid actions can also ruin a film because it ruins the suspension of disbelief. (I’m trying to think of stupid actions that are plausible from those that are not.)
“are u interested in this people in peril reality horor genre that has been the rage since Open Water made money?”
I want to say yes, but I’ve become less interested as I’ve gotten older. I don’t handle the stress as well I think. The film, Frozen, that you mention sounds interesting though. Who was in it?
Btw, what’s the difference between these films and disaster films?
Frozen has no name stars.
disaster films tend to have a wide selection of characters and constant movement and excitement of a fashion (Earthquake, 2012)
these films tend to be very cheap and documentary in feel. They usually have one bad thing befall the characters, who tend to be small in number and are all together facing the event. They can also be summed up in one sentence.
Couple is stranded in water with sharks.
Friends are stuck on a ski lift over a weekend in freezing weather.
Two men are lost in the desert.
Climbers are trapped in a cave.
In extremely high pressure and horrifying situations don’t you think that it is more realistic for people to act in stupid and illogical ways? I don’t know, but if I woke up in a coffin buried under ground I might just freak out to the point were no decision I make is logical.
So no, I don’t have a problem with the characters doing stupid things—but it has to be done in a realistic way. The worse scene in Buried (a movie I actually liked), was when he tried to light the snake on fire—not only was it ridiculous—it also seemed like it was added in the film to move the plot along at a faster pace. I guess that’s the main problem, when it feels like they are doing stupid things just to move the plot.
Frozen I thought was a better film, people trapped on a ski lift.
I don’t know, I thought that the people in Frozen acted in far more ridiculous ways than the guy in Buried. They’re only up there for a few hours and he’s already jumping off the ski lift?
well, they were up there overnite before he jumped and it seemed like a reasonable fall imo.
spoiler
In buried, he was told to call the searcher back in ten mins and waited hours for no good reason, he kept talking to people long past when he needed to when he knew his battery life was short. Getting fired over the phone (he should have been clued in when the guy asked to record the conversation) when he could have hung up and any moment and not recieved that information was just silly.
Joe and Karen said, So no, I don’t have a problem with the characters doing stupid things—but it has to be done in a realistic way.
Yeah, I think I agree with this. It has to be realistic or understandable (i.e. if I were in a similar situation, I could do something “stupid” like that, too).
I didn’t really like Mother. I understand the kid was mentally challenged, but I still found his antics infuriating.
From Wiki-
After several hours, the friends realize that no one is coming to get them and that they could be stuck up there all week, as the resort is closed on weekdays. Parker then loses her right glove while smoking. Dan realizes he has no choice but to jump from the ski lift chair and get help, as they will not survive up there in the bitter cold until Friday.
Plus, (it seemed to me anyways), that the lift was so high that even in a panicked state you would probably realize that it would be impossible to land a jump without getting killed or seriously injured. Certainly not something you would do as a first response. Kind of like the snake scene in Buried, that part of the film just seemed like an excuse for the director to make something happen (like a lot of things in that movie).
(Spoiler) Also, the way the last person eventually got off the lift was pretty ridiculous.
“In extremely high pressure and horrifying situations don’t you think that it is more realistic for people to act in stupid and illogical ways? I don’t know, but if I woke up in a coffin buried under ground I might just freak out to the point were no decision I make is logical.”
I can understand the above, which is why the saying “there are no atheists in earthquakes” is stupid. In the middle of an earthquake, I’d expect someone to start praying, because to pray to an invisible being is a sign of irrationality. People are often irrational during emergencies.
I believe what Dennis is talking about is “novelty irrationals”, similar to “novelty deaths” in action films. These irrationals seem to exist just to make the audience feel smarter than the characters on screen and give the director more fodder to subject to novelty deaths. Fine if they are extras but having so many irrationals as main characters makes us wonder “why do we care”? Especially when such films do little to build characters we care about.
“I didn’t really like Mother. I understand the kid was mentally challenged, but I still found his antics infuriating.”
I liked the film, but the guy’s performance was a little uneven i thought. at times he was completely effective, while at others i just thought he was taking the piss! I understand there is more than a bit of humour to what he is doing, but it just felt like parody in a few scenes. maybe that was the point though. the whole movie has such an off kilter vibe that it’s hard to say what’s deliberate.
Dennis Brian
I watched Buried and cannot say that I enjoyed it. The acting was fine and the limited space was well handled. But 90 mins of watching a guy in a horrible situation make mistake after mistake got to be too much. Does anyone else lose interest when people do stupid things like waste precious cell minutes over and over again, stay on with calls he should have hung up, not knowing vital numbers or the right people to call when it is obvious on or just be ineffective in general? The film reminded me in some ways of Paranormal Activity, where the leads were such assholes that did not take things seriously enough for too long a time and (tho they did not quite get what they deserved per say) lost all my viewer sympathy.
Frozen I thought was a better film, people trapped on a ski lift. The way the people handled things more or less made sense and the situation was therefore compelling. It had some tone problems and bad acting and effects but just the fact that it made sense made it decent. I am seeing Sactum this weekend but don’t have high hopes from what I have read. This people in peril reality horror thing is becoming a favorite genre these days.