Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

OCT 2015 MOVIE DISCUSSION


RIPPA

Recommended Posts

In all seriousness I loved The Martian but there is one thing that kind of bugged me. It might well be in the book (haven't read it) so feel free to call me crazy -

 

It annoyed me a little that the Chinese come from nowhere with this Hail Mary super secret rocket to save the day. Not an issue personally and certainly nothing against the Chinese at all, just felt like a strange shift in tone to have them basically save the day out of nowhere.

 

If they had mentioned early in the film that the Mars missions were part of a program to keep the US/West ahead of China/East in a new space race that could have covered it. Give some reason for the Chinese to be invested in building a giant super rocket and drop the hint that they are involved in the story, even slightly, rather than them showing up out of nowhere and giving up a super secret rocket program to save a single astronaut.

 

As it was it just felt like someone, in a production meeting somewhere said: "Hey, you know that China is a massive film market right now. Let's make them the heroes and cash in!"

 

Again, I could be way off on this...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well you kinda are cuz that part was in the book.

In the book, the politics of the situation were touched on, with the people in charge of the Chinese space agency making clear that they could sell it to their bosses as gaining a lot of face/prestige, while also noting that their motivation was that they felt a camaraderie with their American counterparts.

Maybe a touch unrealistic, but so was the idea that the director of NASA would be the one making all the decisions he did without input from the White House. The story's not about Realpolitik.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Blotted out the fact that I sat down and watched A Serbian Film all the way through yesterday afternoon just to check the block and say that I honestly paid attention to what was going on. 

 

I've seen bits and pieces but have never gone full retard and watched it from start to finish.  Ugh.  I am no longer a hypocrite, but I am a huge idiot.

 

I was really close to punching myself in the face afterwards, but showing up on shift with a broken nose was a bad idea.

 

I can honestly say that I "got" the message that was being conveyed, but I can also honestly say that I wanted to set my laptop on fire afterwards and crack myself over the head with a tire iron for enduring those images and giving that movie one more viewing than it probably deserved..

 

It is one of the most thought provoking, insightful, and most vile films I have ever forced myself to sit through attentively and I will never ever watch it again for as long as I live.

 

Ever..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Requiem for a Dream fits that bill for me. I may watch it again some day when I revisit all of Aronofsky's catalog, but it definitely was an unsettling film when I saw it 10 years ago or whenever that was.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the only really, really good movie I've seen that I don't want to see again is Passion of the Christ. Some of the others mentioned that I've seen - Irreversible and Requiem For a Dream - I didn't think were good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thought of another one: Jacob's Ladder. I rewatched it again last year and I think you'd have to pay me to watch it again. 

 

Shit like Jacob's Ladder doesn't even bother me. I was frightened when I first saw it years ago, but now stuff like that just weirds me out a little. 

 

I would say maybe something like Elephant because it ends cold. The foreshadowing in that movie is so heavy. Watched it once and that is end of that.

 

Basically, anything based off history that has great execution and can actually convey a sense of dread.

 

Just watched Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and you probably add that as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Schindler's List

 

Speaking of Nazis, saw Downfall a couple weeks ago. Goebbels' wife in Downfall is the coldest bitch in the history of movies. The dread you feel when the guy brings the "medicine" for the kids is some all time soul crushing stuff. 

 

I can watch most of that movie because fuck Hitler. That series of scenes toward the end? No. No. No. Fuck no.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Requiem for a Dream fits that bill for me. I may watch it again some day when I revisit all of Aronofsky's catalog, but it definitely was an unsettling film when I saw it 10 years ago or whenever that was.

Seconding this. When I have kids and they get old enough to have the "dont do drugs" speech, I am locking them in a room and making them watch Requiem For A Dream. It will be a better "dont do drugs" message than anything the Dare program could come up with.

Then I am going to another room in the house cuz I will be damned if I am going to watch that movie again.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That brings up an interesting topic: What are some films that are really really good that you watch once and never feel compelled to see ever again because they're so fucked up? My big one is Monster.

 

The obvious answer to me is Dear Zachary.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That brings up an interesting topic: What are some films that are really really good that you watch once and never feel compelled to see ever again because they're so fucked up? My big one is Monster.

The obvious answer to me is Dear Zachary.

Oh man, good call. All-time gut punch movie.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That brings up an interesting topic: What are some films that are really really good that you watch once and never feel compelled to see ever again because they're so fucked up? My big one is Monster.

Old Boy for me and probably The Natural as well. I will probably never watch Pan's Labyrinth again though that is more because of how depressing it was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That brings up an interesting topic: What are some films that are really really good that you watch once and never feel compelled to see ever again because they're so fucked up? My big one is Monster.

 

The obvious answer to me is Dear Zachary.

Dear god...that movie...

I think that while somebody might toss out arguments for movies like "Cannibal Holocaust," "Salo" or "Serbian Film," my vote goes for "Shoah."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can watch Clockwork, Requiem, or Henry all day long but something about Jacob's Ladder legit frightens me. Aside from Alien, that might be the only film that has that capability. 

 

I'm with Rippa on Schindler's List. Watched that uncut on network TV when I was a kid and yeah, I can do without watching Jewish kids hide in outhouse shitters and drunk Nazis firing into piles of burning corpses again.

 

EDIT: A little anecdote about Cannibal Holocaust, the first time I watched that I paid like $35 for a Dutch bootleg DVD of it from a local gal that had a horror/music/clothing store in town. I got nice and stoned and turned it on later that night. When the turtle scene happened... lets just say that was uncomfortable in the extreme. I've been able to watch it since but that scene is a no-go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...