Polyglot
28May12
lolumad.
branduponthebrain: Filmography
Damn you Netflix instant watch for coaxing me into watching shitty films I never would have watched otherwise.
movie made me cry my own tears.
Seriously? This shit was god awful. Did they really need to end every scene with some cornball one liner? Let's all bend over and accept the schlock Hollywood wants to shit out at us.
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Taylor Kyles
5May12
To add onto Patapon, the movie was obviously cognizant of itself and the medium. Highly evident in the relationship between captain america and societal conservatism (need to see it again, but I am by no means saying that this blockbuster is a critique on american capitalism ha ha)
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Taylor Kyles
6May12
No, I feel like it "being atrocious" is an opinion that you are entitled to, but after reading your comment, I had a feeling that you possibly misunderstood the stylistic campiness of the film. Not a diss just trying to insert a comment
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branduponthebrain
6May12
Fair enough...I guess I just didn't realize relentless bad humor and little to no character development along with a lazy Transformersesque plot was a stylistic choice. Campiness just sounds like an excuse for being terrible to me.
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Joseph Sylvers
7May12
how can anyone named after a Guy Maddin film complain about things like character development, lack of plot,bad jokes and "campiness"?
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branduponthebrain
7May12
You have to think about what elements are essential to the context of the film and backstory and character development are pretty damn important aspects of comic book heroes/villains. As for bringing up Maddin's films I don't recall being bombarded with moronic 2nd grade humor for 2 1/2 hours and I think his plots and characters are vastly more complex than any Marvel film I have ever seen. As for "campiness" Maddin does it right. It makes sense for something low budget to embrace camp as an homage to aesthetics of another era of filmmaking, but it kind of baffles me that a movie with an enormous budget destined to outgross everything ever made would want to employ camp...it just comes across as cornball bullshit to me.
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Joseph Sylvers
8May12
the most important part of superhero comic book villans/heroes is action and movement, context takes a backseat to scenario. These were not characters designed to be three dimensional, much like Guy Maddin's. The Avengers were created in the 1960's, another era, however modernized camp is a large part of their appeal. Whedons set pieces embrace the aesthetic of another medium, super-hero action comics, just as Maddin embraces silent film. As for moronic second grader appeal and cornball bullshit, you must have no memory of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHc3pKsUIas
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branduponthebrain
8May12
According to you action and movement is the most important aspect...seems awful subjective to me. To me the most important aspect of any film is to not be treated like I am a fucking retarded human being. Camp is fine when it is done well...since when did camp mean bending over and being treated like an incompetent piece of shit. Comics have some adult themes and more serious tones as well. Look at the execution of Nolan's Dark Knight. The Avengers and other related films make it look like a masterpiece in comparison. I am by no means a huge Dark Knight fanboy, but at least there is a realm of realism and a sense of respect for the source material as well as the audience as intelligent humans. BTW Sissy Boy Slap Party is amazing and exactly what it should be and really has no relation to anything.
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Joseph Sylvers
8May12
There are all types of comics, some are about superheroes. There are all types of superhero stories some which have "serious" and "adult themes", but if looked at "objectively" super-heroes are not defined by how adult or realistic they are. Whats serious about wearing colorful costumes while using magical abilities against alien space gods? These are fantasies. “Why so serious?” The Dark Knight the film was nothing like the source material so I dont see how respect has anything do with it(and not that it matters), but since you bring it up The Avengers does have respect for its source material be it the Kirby/Lee comics or Millars Ultimates. Why do you require even a Batman story to have to be serious and realistic? The insistence on literary significance (which is fine sometimes in comics and makes more sense if your only analyzing words, like novels, short stories etc) is not the only thing going on in comics, which are a visual medium and the impossible depictions of super powers at play(action and movement/special effects/fight or flight)is just as important as whats going on, in other words the looking only at plot/dialogue in a superhero story is like reading a comic book and ignoring the pictures. Sissy Boy Slap Fight is emblematic of Maddin’s sense of humor and style, which is neither intelligent nor serious, nor truly Camp(its ironic self reflexiveness is the opposite of Camp’s idea of naive tastelessness). I’m not arguing that Avengers is a film that everyone should see or that everyone should love, but embracing Guy Maddin and calling out another film for being artificial and not realistic enough is hypocritical.
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branduponthebrain
8May12
It's funny that you keep bringing it back to Guy Maddin. You seem to be skewing my argument into something that it is not. I never said realism must be a part of every movie to make it good. Obviously Maddin creates his own surreal worlds and they work for me. The Marvel movie universe on the other hand doesn't work for me. I'm glad it does for you. Nolan's Dark Knight had respect for the source in that it didn't water it down for children and the rest of the retarded sheep that eat this garbage up. Obviously it isn't all completely realistic, but it at least has rules for the world created that follow some sort of logic. Being serious and realistic isn't a requirement, although I think it helps, but The Avengers never really felt like anything more than a cash-in lifeless universe borrowing heavily from the Transformers plot and other blockbusters before it. I don't think there was an ounce of originality and you are free to think otherwise, but to this film epitomizes the awfulness of the studio system and how little respect they have for film goers around the world and how little respect audiences demand.
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Joseph Sylvers
11May12
The only similarities between Avengers and any of the Transformers films is that they involve large action set pieces taking place in downtown cityscapes, which is something Bay took from Marvel comics, not the otherway around. You like Maddin's universe, which is often highly illogical and nonsensical, and relies more on dated cinematic aesthetics than any interest in 3d people appealing the complexities of adult intellect, or the ambiguities there in. Avengers does the same thing but goes for a Summer blockbuster and comic book superhero aesthetic. Thats why I keep bringing it up. Look at the free pass you gave to short film, which is much more childish than anything in Avengers. Its fine to have a fetish for silent films, surrealism, and dead pan black humor (I love Guy Maddin, Ive seen all his films and most of the shorts), but why shit on others who like action films, comics, and slapstick, if your not gonna provide any more intelligent commentary than talking about how this film is disrespectful film is dumb and "bends us over". Dark Knight and Avengers are literally night and day when it comes to characters and plot designs, one taking place in a far more realistic universe than the other. Being serious and realistic is the opposite of the Avengers, as it would be the opposite of Wizard of Oz, and the reason Tim Burton's "Alice In Wonderland" was ruined, all in the name of seriousness, and internal logic. Realism works for some stories sometimes but not for all stories all the time, could you imagine a serious or realistic "Saddest Music In The World" or "Sissy Boy Slap Fight", look at the beautiful french short "The Red Balloon" and then the tedious modernized, adult, serious theatrical version. It might be easier to understand your aggression if your criticism of the film was more specific than that it sucks cus its dumb and its dumb cus it sucks.
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branduponthebrain
11May12
I came here to express my dismay at how everyone is so dazzled by a children's film not to give an in depth critique and take up a bunch of room in the comments section. And again you are not confronting my argument correctly and you insist on using other comparisons like The Wizard of Oz and Alice and Wonderland. I did not say fantasy films/all films have to be serious, but they should take their audience seriously. Comedy and light heartedness is great when it is clever. The Pixar films are a fine example of this. The Avengers also largely resembles the Transformers with it's bare bones plot revolving around some vague unexplained powerful object resulting in alien invasion and a massive battle on earth. They also similarly ruin the pacing of the action with an over abundance of bad humor and epitomize the laziness of Hollywood writing. The film is not well edited, it abandons several asides throughout like when Hulk is getting gunned down, it has a bland/cheap look imo, the action sequences are dull and nothing is ever really at stake since the heroes are all more or less portrayed as invincible. Other than that the film doesn't have much to say about anything. For an epic combination of 4 film franchises and the culmination of the Marvel Universe after 80+ years of history this is one gigantic disappointing turd of a film. If that's good enough for you and you got what you want out of Transformers and The Avengers then good for you keep having fun eating your popcorn and getting raped by Michael Bay and his cronies.
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Joseph Sylvers
11May12
"The Avengers also largely resembles the Transformers with it's bare bones plot revolving around some vague unexplained powerful object resulting in alien invasion and a massive battle on earth." Half true. Both films do involve magic cubes, but both are explained as much as the details of anything are explained. Audiences have been capable of understaning a MacGuffin as a pretext for a heroic journey or thriller event since before Hitchcock coined the term. Is this really what you object to, that the cubes are not explained in enough scientific detail? "the action sequences are dull" no the action sequences were not dull "and nothing is ever really at stake since the heroes are all more or less portrayed as invincible" this could be said of every superhero film ever made and most action films. one person died in the Avengers. one person died in Dark Knight. "The film is not well edited, it abandons several asides throughout like when Hulk is getting gunned down" It does not abandon the Hulk as he is getting gunned down, that scene occurs as part of a larger montage of characters facing overwhelming odds, we return to the Hulk a few moments later emerging from a pile of rubble from where he was being gunned down looking toward the sky as Iron Man carries the nuclear bomb through the wormhole. Do you have any other examples? "Other than that the film doesn't have much to say about anything" http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/23824/-avengers-too-unrealistic-for-the-military A difference between Avengers and Bay and Berg, is that in Avengers SHIELD and the powers that be are building "weapons of mass destruction", in Bay and Berg's films almost every member of the military (besides a few straw man "Washington suit types" who just don't know any better) and their every action is unquestioningly and unfailingly heroic. The Avengers is based largely on the Ultimates which was intended (however failed) to be a critique of US Military Superpower post 9/11. Fury's manipulation of the trading cards is like Alfred's burning letter in Dark Knight. If anyone did anything amoral in Transformers it was because a Decepticon made them do it. Even Captain America mentions "Blood on Fury's hands", or how bitterly he says to Fury who apologizes for our current wars as "mistakes", "They wake me up and tell me the wars over." which is a far cry from the days of "Slap Of Jap" which Captain America was also involved in. http://www.primaryignition.com/wp-content/uploads/97_4_0000058.jpg I'm not saying this is the Pentagon Papers, but thats one small thing the fillm IS about. Cue scene of Captain America discovering the Nazi war guns at the heart of the Hellecarrier, to Loki's lines "you are liars and murderers who work for liars and murderers". Not arguing at about the quality, but that does seem to count at least, much of something. "For an epic combination of 4 film franchises and the culmination of the Marvel Universe after 80+ years of history this is one gigantic disappointing turd of a film" Its not the culmination of the Marvel Universe, its the beginnings. And of course its not 80's years of history. What film could possibly be 80 years of history? "If that's good enough for you and you got what you want out of Transformers and The Avengers then good for you keep having fun eating your popcorn and getting raped by Michael Bay and his cronies." I didn't like the Transformers series, which ARE in fact guilty of all the critiques your making of Avengers. This is the third or fourth time you refered to being fucked in the ass("bent over","raped"), by this film or its makers, while insisting just as vocally how much you despise it. There are lots of ways to express displeasure. You keep returning to this one. Was there something overtly homo-erotic you experienced in the film or objected to?
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branduponthebrain
11May12
My suspension of disbelief only goes so far and it's honestly very hard for me to imagine someone watching this film and thinking it is worth their time. As for the homoeroticism; I think every comic or action movie for that matter has an aspect of that when we are talking about the spectator's voyeuristic gaze fixated on predominantly fit men's pulsating muscles and bodies in motion, but I suppose I mostly like using it as an allegory for endurance it takes to survive such a miserable viewing experience. This film isn't for me. You can question my reasoning for days, but I really don't give enough of a shit to want to make some half-assed attempt at trying to justify it as watchable. I am done here. You win.
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this synopsis is not that accurate.
Unbearable...WTF Gus?
Cassandra Niki S likes this
Dull directing, dull script, dull cinematography, dull politics, dull performances, dull score.
Pretty disappointing comedy considering all the funny people involved, but still the best film of the year containing a homemade blowtorch. Suck on it Bellflower.
Much like Animal Kingdom last year, Australia comes through with the biggest surprise of the year again for me.
The film hyper-accentuates all of the most obnoxious elements of documentary filmmaking, but I guess it reflects the ugliness of tacky tabloids pretty well.
Who cares? I'd rather just play Oregon Trail. There are some decent visuals, but anyone could grab some nice shots in that setting.
Dry as a bone.
I enjoyed the interplay between each of the characters as well as their personal struggles, but the film as a whole can't match the charisma of Morentson's Sigmund Freud.
oldfilmsflicker likes this
Not as profound as advertised, but I do appreciate the poetic non traditional nature of the film.
Langston Young likes this
Nicely shot, but it mostly feels flat and shallow.
The film is amusing and entertaining enough with a nice cast paired with a great director, but it's still ultimately a stageplay made into a film that I'd rather see as a stageplay. It's also an obvious Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? knockoff.
Zac Zellers likes this
Miike proves once again he is one of the best genre filmmakers working today and still manages to fit in some sadism.
Ruiz is truly a master of his craft. R.I.P.
ExperimentoFilm and Fatzers like this
It's funny how Woody Allen's film complains about the pseudo-intellectualist character while simultaneously flaunting a generic and poorly stereotyped cavalcade of historical artists that could pass for a college freshman's wet dream. Woody Allen is really out of touch lately, especially when it comes to humor. Corny is probably the most appropriate word I can think of to describe this film.
Vyr and Alessandro like this
Sono's films are entertaining enough and have some interesting things going on narratively and technically, but they are not essential, although he seems content cranking out 2 or 3 melodramatic sexually infused films a year in his quest to become the Asian Fassbinder.
The first half hour would make a great stand alone short film. The longer it goes it begins to wane, but it's still a very well made and entertaining pop film.
cinemaforever and pinacio like this
Bropocalypse! Easily the worst film I saw in 2011...barely watchable.
FailedImitator and Juan Barquin like this
Pacing and tone felt a little off for the first half especially, but the film still managed to win me over with the onslaught of terrific homages throughout.
sami and Andreia Ribeiro like this
A beautifully constructed documentary worthy of it's subjects.
An interesting series of socially awkward and inconvenient conversations no one ever wants to have.
Shelley likes this
I think too many people are overlooking the comedic aspects of this film and taking it too seriously and thus judging it too harshly. The comedy is still very very dark, but that drastically changes the standards on which to critique the film in my opinion.
McQueen is the real deal.
Waste of a good concept.
A nice look at Tarkovsky's motifs and themes along with some moving footage of his final days.
micah van hove likes this
I never could have imagined something so mundane cinematically could be so powerful and inspiring.
Yuki Aditya likes this
I couldn't really connect with this one and don't really get the glowing reviews. I'm not a fan of the photography everyone seems to admire either. I didn't dislike it, but I don't have much good to say about it either.
