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A good standard for this site would be to discuss IMPORTANT FILMS by IMPORTANT DIRECTORS that matter to PEOPLE WHO KNOW ABOUT FILM.
A good starting point would be the type of films that appear in the Criterion Collection (which has more or less become the default).
Important films like:
L’AVVENTURA
AU HASARD BALTHASAR
ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL
MR. ARKADIN
ROBOCOP
It makes sense that Verhoeven and Michael Bay lovers slipped in. Too bad it is hampering real film discussion. Bye.
I don’t love either one of them, but you’re just missing the point that Verhoeven, unlike Bay, is taken very seriously by many film scholars. It’s kind of like saying no serious student of film would ever want to discuss the movies of Martin Scorcese, you know, with all the guns and boxing and stuff.
I don’t love either one of them, but you’re just missing the point that Verhoeven, unlike Bay, is taken very seriously by many film scholars. It’s kind of like saying no serious student of film would ever want to discuss the movies of Martin Scorcese, you know, with all the guns and boxing and stuff.
I think City Girl just turned this into an imdb discussion.
Rather than having a pretentious discussion about what films are “worthy” enough to be discussed on this site, can we just focus on the topic of the forum: having a pretentious discussion about post-modern dissidence in ROBOCOP?
of course “robocop” should be discussed on this site. any film should be discussed on this site. the thing is, it should be discussed with intelligence and critical insight, perhaps even a little theory for those interested in an academic approach. that’s what we’re all about here. no room for cultural snobbishness. if you dont like “robocop”, then take it apart intelligently, with something illuminating to say. if that’s not the type of conversation you’re interested in, then yeah, you probably need to skeedaddle from this here site.
You put it better than I did, Bobby; it was pretentious of me to imply that it was somehow infra dig to talk about Michael Bay. Although I have heard he makes some pretty crappy flicks! (The only one I’ve seen is Transformers, and I was drunk as a lord, so I can’t actually make any comment on it.)
You put it better than I did, Bobby; it was pretentious of me to imply that it was somehow infra dig to talk about Michael Bay. Although I have heard he makes some pretty crappy flicks! (The only one I’ve seen is Transformers, and I was drunk as a lord, so I can’t actually make any comment on it.)
I was really eager for people to read that comment.
that brings up another subject. i dont really understand why michael bay was honored with a criterion release. i’d rather see james cameron, to mention a similar director. “terminator 2” seems to me to be a brilliant film. i’d nominate it for one of the greatest sequels of all time, that actually might transcend the original. like “empire strikes back”, or “godfather 2”.
Two reasons: Distribution rights and $$$$$$$$$$$$
Sorry, Michael, I didn’t to make it sound like the movie is somehow “unwatchable.” I was just trying to be adamant about how difficult I find it to watch the film in its entirety.
City Girl, you still haven’t explained why this topic is unworthy of this blog. Insisting this discussion belongs on IMDB merely because you find no value in Robocop doesn’t quite cut it.
Why don’t you label the thread name properly next time? Like “WHY ALL THE HATE TOWARDS ROBOCOP?” I hate having to open up threads to find out what the hell they’re about.
getting a Criterion edition is an honor?
Robocop SUX
Transformers PWNS
lewzers!!11
@City Girl: most snobbish and insulting comments I’ve read in the few weeks I’ve been here. If you don’t approve of the discussions, you too have the option of seeking a forum on another site (imdb, for example). Go for it!
We obviously don’t have the right to decide which films are or are not appropriate for discussions on this site outside of deciding which forums to participate in or intentionally avoid. But perhaps you could make some more suggestions about forum quality in one of the forums devoted to improving the site…
I thought City Girl was going to win this thread, but Mustafa won it here towards the end. Well played.
@shotzi
Sad, but true…
I’m curious to know how many Verhoeven films City Girl has actually seen – because it seems to me that he qualifies as an auteur by even the most rigorous yardstick.
What’s fascinating about his career is the way that a highly intelligent, highly educated (PhD in mathematics) European ended up working in the most commercially-driven industry on earth, in genres utterly unlike those he’d explored in Europe (he never made a sci-fi film in Holland, but he made four in the US), without once surrendering his instantly recognisable stylistic and thematic preoccupations.
One of my colleagues on Sight & Sound compared him with Hitchcock, and I know what he meant – few other directors have made such a successful switch from a substantial body of critically-acclaimed European work to the very heart of mainstream Hollywood. Usually, they either go to America as quickly as possible (Ridley Scott, Adrian Lyne, Christopher Nolan) or they go there after achieving heavyweight reputations at home, but find that they can’t function to their full creative potential (George Sluizer, Emir Kusturica, John Woo).
I also challenge City Girl to watch a triple bill of Turkish Delight, Soldier of Orange and The Fourth Man and tell us with a straight face that Verhoeven isn’t a worthy subject of discussion. (Certainly, there’s nothing in Michael Bay’s back catalogue that’s anything like as interesting).
You know what Verhoeven flick truly does pwn? Black Book. Really good movie. Just saying…
From Adam Lee’s first post, it’s like he’s expecting “hate”. Not hate, but lots of distaste. Verhoeven is not my thing and I found Black Book to be one of the most tasteless films ever. I received some disgusting messages from supposed “friends” and am not sure that Auteurs it eh cool place everyone said it should be. If you like Robocop Adam, great, good for you. Find a Robocop forum where people are interested, or like Shotzi said, put the name of the movie in the title of the thread so we won’t have to click on something we’re not interested in. Thank you and good luck with your future endeavors.
Oops Mustafa was the one talking about labeling the posts… sorry.
If TheAuters.com didn’t want Robocop to be discussed on their website they wouldn’t have given it a profile. I titled this “Why all the hate?” not because I was looking for hatred, but because I wanted to be able to give this brilliant and relevant film due process. I was reading in multiple forums that people seemed to consider it to be one of the worst Criterion releases, and I thought that Robocop deserved a chance to be taken seriously again.
City Girl (if that is your real name), if you didn’t want to join this discussion, than you should have went about your business before you started dumbing down the rest of us. You tell me to go find a Robocop forum, I did. Here.
Any and every film is entitled to an orderly, scholarly and academic discussion. If you don’t believe that, than you should go back to imdb.
“Excuse me, I have to go. Somewhere there is a crime happening.”
Ding-ding-DING!!!!
Referee: “The winnah & still champeen… Adam Lee!!”
Fist sweat in the air. Crowd roar applause.
pwndb.
I fucking love Robocop. Social decay with an 80s futuristic drug-addicted society.
City Girl: I found Black Book to be one of the most tasteless films ever.
I really must get round to watching this, especially after that recommendation. (Mind you, I suspect I’m in for a disappointment, because I suspect my definition of “one of the most tasteless films ever” and City Girl’s are somewhat far removed…)
City Girl: so we won’t have to click on something we’re not interested in
Either provide evidence that you’ve canvassed other people’s opinions in advance of posting that or evidence that you’re a member of the British royal family. And if you can’t deliver, I’d be grateful if you stopped referring to yourself in the first person plural in an attempt to make your opinion carry greater weight than it actually does.
(Granted, it might have been handy to have the film’s title in the thread title, but it takes a grand total of two seconds to click in, see that it’s about RoboCop and click out again, so it’s no big deal.)
Rich Uncle Skeleton
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