Controversial movie/TV opinions

[nate]

American Beauty is just terrible, in a way that it almost sullies the good name of fake-teenager boobs.

[Execproducer]

80's to the present-Al Pacino is way overrated and Scarface is ass.

That is an opinion a lot of people hold. As far as that parody list, I love a lot of them, but Life of Brian is at a different level.

[Spritenaut 32]

Wait.... Magnolia had a compelling part?

[Reed]

80's to the present-Al Pacino is way overrated and Scarface is ass.

 

There did seem to be a point where he decided to stop acting and just start yelling, that's true.

[Reed]

And, yes, Scarface has no real depth and seemingly exists just for mildly rebellious teenage boys to put the movie poster up on their walls.

[RandomAct]

And for rappers to show their copy of on Cribs.

[Jingus]

Scarface has several great scenes, the Bad Guy monologue and the final massacre for two examples, but it's a LONG slog through a movie that did NOT need to be 3 hours to get to those scenes.  It's trying to be this coke-fueled Latino version of The Godfather, except Michael Corleone started off as a nice guy and thus it's a tragedy to watch him be corrupted, while Tony Montana is a total worthless piece of shit from day one and there's neither tragedy nor joy in watching him fuck up his own waste of a life.  

 

I loved Magnolia.  Almost everyone in that movie was exactly like someone I've known in real life.  And that definitely includes Julianne Moore, she NAILED the portrayal of a selfish lying junkie, that pharmacy scene was practically a reenactment of some sad moments that I've personally witnessed in real life.  

 

 

American Beauty is just terrible, in a way that it almost sullies the good name of fake-teenager boobs.

 

That's not really controversial anymore, the consensus has TURNED on that movie in a big bad way.  Most people agree that it's an insufferable celebration of First World Problems and entitled rich-white-male privilege.  Although: fake teenager?!  Those boobs weren't just barely legal, one pair of 'em were technically child pornography.  At the time of filming, Mena Suvari was 18 and Thora Birch was 17.  

[nate]

Ew. I thought they were both at the 20 range. And that Kevin Spacey is all squanching on Mena Suvari's nakedidity ... yeah, I'll never watch that again. Shitty film.

[Reed]

I feel Breaking Bad and The Sopranos kind of showed up Scarface for the blood-thirsty adolescent '80s dream fantasy that it is. They all deal with similar themes, but Breaking Bad and The Sopranos handle the ideas with so much more intelligence and depth it's unbelievable. 

[The Comedian]

You can do topless at 17 with parental consent, which I recall reading from when Jessica Biel did her topless shoot at 17. Which, come to think of it, she did because she felt her wholesome Seventh Heaven reputation was what caused her to lose out on American Beauty to Birch...

[Reed]

RE: American Beauty, I think the issue is that the movie spends two hours telling you the bleeding obvious: People get too wrapped up in material possessions and become emotionally unfulfilled. It's like what I was saying about Sofia Coppola continually hammering home the "rich people get lonely too" point.

 

Um, we know these things. It is really "great art" to point them out?

[Tabe]

American Beauty is just terrible, in a way that it almost sullies the good name of fake-teenager boobs.

Yeah, didn't like that movie at all.

[Ryan]

Both of Thora Birch's parents are old porn stars who are generally bonkers if I recall.

[Skeeball Wizard]

Predators, Clash of the Titans and Percy Jackson:Sea of Monsters are genuinely fun movies and a blast to watch.

Kevin Spacey is excruciating to watch in anything not called American Beauty.

The Avengers is a long, boring chore to watch. Shave off 20-30 minutes and we'll talk. In fact, movies in generally these days are too long and self indulgant.

Popsicles and Oreos are disgusting.

[AxB]

Kevin Spacey is excruciating to watch in anything not called American Beauty.

 

The Usual Suspects?

 

What happened to Thora Birch anyway? American Beauty, Ghost World, then one Dungeons and Dragons movie and every casting director in the World decides she's just awful?

[Brian Fowler]

Allegedly her dad/agent is that much of a pain in the ass it's not worth hiring her.

[AxB]

She's the Buff Bagwell of Hollywood?

[BrianS81177]

Allegedly her dad/agent is that much of a pain in the ass it's not worth hiring her.

http://www.wetpaint.com/news/articles/2013-07-01-what-happened-thora-birch-creepy

 

Here's the article:

 

 

'90s kids remember when Thora Birch was a household name. Now 31, she won our hearts as kids with movies like Monkey Trouble and Alaska, and then moved onto what seemed like an amazing career as an adult! She starred in the Oscar-devastating film American Beauty opposite Kevin Spacey and Mena Suvari as the troubled, brunette daughter of Kevin Spacey's man in the throes of a midlife crisis, and then channeled our angst once again in the comic book adaptation Ghost World.We so expected to see her around more — so what happened?

Her career's slow decline fell under the radar, but thanks to humor site Cracked pointing it out to us, we can see what probably happened: her dad didn't butt out, even when she filmed sex scenes.

Thora's parents, Jack and Carol Connors, were porn stars, both stars of the 1970s classic Deep Throat. We're not sure whether they actually met on the set or not, but in 1982, Thora was born. Her parents served as her managers at first, which seems to have worked out fine for Thora as a child actress. But once she hit adulthood, business hit the fan.

Thora was 17 in American Beauty, so the law dictated that her dad had to stick around when she went topless. But again, while filming 2009's Winter of Frozen Dreams, Thora was doing a sex scene with Dean Winters (Dennis Duffy from 30 Rock, Olivia's boyfriend whose name is irrelevant on Law & Order: SVU), and her dad not only insisted on being present on the closed set, but butted in and started directing the scene... and gave Dean a thumbs-up.

Yes, your mental image is about right. 26-year-old Thora was filming a sex scene, and her dad gave Dennis Duffy a thumbs-up. And to make things more awkward, the scene took 14 takes to film.

A crewmember's description of the scene is pretty terrifying: "all of a sudden, the front door is being kicked in. Her father was threatening to kill the assistant directors. Then he threatens to pull her from the movie with three days of shooting left."

After that, things started to go downhill. She was fired from the Off-Broadway revival of Dracula... not because of her, but because of Jack. The New York Times reports that "Ms. Birch was fired because her father, Jack, had threatened another actor during a rehearsal on Thursday night."

The incident stemmed from a co-star rubbing Thora's back. Thora, the full-grown, 28-year-old adult. "According to [the director], who was told of the incident afterward by the actor, Mr. Birch asked the actor why he was rubbing Ms. Birch’s back during the scene. The actor – whom none of the sides would name – said that he had been directed to do so as part of the scene. Mr. Birch objected, saying that the back rub was unnecessary, and told the actor to stop. When the actor tried to explain further what he was doing, Mr. Birch said, according to Mr. Alexander: 'Listen, man, I’m trying to make this easier on you – don’t touch her.'"

While Jack insists he was "trying to convey Thora's discomfort," all other accounts of the scene seem to contradict that.

One last gasp for Thora having a super-awesome career: she replaced Lindsay Lohan in the indie horror flick Manson Girls. And what does her dad do? If you said "lean back and wish his daughter luck on her new gig," you were, unfortunately, wrong.

Director Susanna Lo told Planet Fury that Thora is "a great actress," but "there have been several problems with her father/manager that make it too difficult to work things out in an ensemble cast situation where everything needs to be balanced and fair to the whole cast. You can quote me on that."

Her last two credits are an upcoming Bratz film, plus the Lifetime movie The Pregnancy Pact.

So there you have it: Thora Birch's dad is a terrible manager. And it's hard to fire your dad even if he's not crazy.

Should Thora have fired her dad? Do you miss seeing her all over the big screen?

 

[Jingus]

Allegedly her dad/agent is that much of a pain in the ass it's not worth hiring her.

Yeah.  Same problem with Lindsay Lohan: you have to deal with her crazy mom.  I know that's not Lindsay's only problem, but it's one which she doesn't seem to even want to overcome or see the situation for what it is.  

 

 

RE: American Beauty, I think the issue is that the movie spends two hours telling you the bleeding obvious: People get too wrapped up in material possessions and become emotionally unfulfilled. It's like what I was saying about Sofia Coppola continually hammering home the "rich people get lonely too" point.

 

Um, we know these things. It is really "great art" to point them out?

 

Don't put too much emphasis on the script; remember that movies are essentially their own multimedia.  American Beauty had GREAT cinematography, and some damn fine music IIRC.  Aesthetically pleasing presentation COUNTS, dammit (which is why so many people didn't seem to  understand the eye-candy point of Avatar).  Audiences never understand the sheer amount of hard work that goes into getting what ends up on the screen.  AND the movie is chock-full of damn fine actors giving damn fine performances, speaking damn fine written dialogue.  Never forget the committee process it takes to put these movies together.  

 

But I wouldn't throw poor Sofia under the same bus as Sam Mendes's rather Mary Sue-ish protagonist in American Beauty, because they're seen in a totally different light.  Mendes celebrated white rich privilege; Sofia SKEWERS it.  Mendes thinks things are hunky-dory as long as cool people are allowed to do whatever the hell they want (hey, didn't this fella make a Bond film? wink) while Sofia Coppola is portraying the rather more realistically grim reality of what living the fab life can do to the human soul.  I know that's me tossing around generalities broader than Goldberg's shoulders, but Sofia's films don't come of as "oh, pity poor me" more than they say "the machine of CELEBRITY will grind any human being into dust."  

 

 

Predators, Clash of the Titans and Percy Jackson:Sea of Monsters are genuinely fun movies and a blast to watch.

Kevin Spacey is excruciating to watch in anything not called American Beauty.

The Avengers is a long, boring chore to watch. Shave off 20-30 minutes and we'll talk. In fact, movies in generally these days are too long and self indulgant.

 

 

I'll spot you on Predators.  Fun flick, didn't retcon anything important, had a killer cast all acting their eyeballs off.  But Clash of the Titans sucked the Kraken's CGI cock.  

 

WHY do you find him excruciating?  I'm seeing too much "              SUCKS!" talk in this thread, without further explanation.  We're all here for a reason.  To learn things we didn't know, and to teach people things they didn't know, right?  Put some thought and effort into your opinions, and ergo your posts.  I'm not trying to flame anyone here, I'm just saying to everyone in general: SHOW YOUR WORK.   

 

(pant, pant, okay rant over) 

 

But yeah Spacey does sometimes just sell out and go with the money.  Is this Superman Returns hatred bleeding off into everything else he ever does?

[BrianS81177]

Hasn't Spacey said before that he does the big budget stuff like Superman Returns specifically so he can then do a couple of low budget independants?

[Spritenaut 32]

Yes. 

 

My favorite Spacey performance is still the season of Wiseguy he did, before he became a name.

[Skeeball Wizard]

Fair point. With Spacey, I often feel like he is taking himself way too seriously while basically playing himself in everything he does. I often imagine him saying to himself "Now this is acting!" during.his scenes. Low key delivery, constantly mean mugging. Maybe its just me, people seem to love the guy.

[Elsalvajeloco]

The Avengers is a long, boring chore to watch. Shave off 20-30 minutes and we'll talk. In fact, movies in generally these days are too long and self indulgant.

 

 

Interstellar is going to be 169 minutes in running time. Good luck.

 

I can't wait until we get back to Doctor Zhivago levels of length.

[Skeeball Wizard]

The Avengers is a long, boring chore to watch. Shave off 20-30 minutes and we'll talk. In fact, movies in generally these days are too long and self indulgant.

Interstellar is going to be 169 minutes in running time. Good luck.

I can't wait until we get back to Doctor Zhivago levels of length.

I blame the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Its like Hollywood saw the boatlods of cash that thing made and were like "People must love it because its length, they feel like they're getting more for their money!" in the typical way Hollywood misunderstands what people like or why.

[Raziel]

If they ever made a movie the length of Doctor Zhivago, or Ben Hur, or Ten Commandments, or Gone With The Wind that are as good as those movies, I wouldn't mind.

 

But directors/editors can't pace a movie over 90 minutes properly to save their lives.