If you go to the theatre or watch cable with the proper frame of mind, any movie can be depressing. The simple act of wasting ten dollars on a Ben Stiller or Woody Allen movie could drive me to drink.
OTOH, the observation of man's continual inhumanity to man can be reassuring, in the sense of the continuity of human existence. If there is always cruelty, there will always be kindness. It's twoo. MY followed his post on No Country for Old Men with one titled "Nothing Knew Under the Sun". Ok, the typo is a lie.
Until global warming kills us all, of course.
the observation of man's continual inhumanity to man can be reassuring, in the sense of the continuity of human existence
I was almost down with that sentiment, Bob, but then I read this and began to wonder whether a catastrophic meteor strike wouldn't be the best option after all.
Hey, I went to college with that guy Kois. Not that I knew him well, or anything... just randomly stumbling across familiar names from meatspace is a little strange.
The simple act of wasting ten dollars on a Ben Stiller or Woody Allen movie
Come on, Zoolander was a great movie.
What is this? A center for ants?
3: Apo, you just ruined my day.
I have seen one of those movies, and it (Gone Baby Gone) actually left me feeling pretty good, in that it had some intelligent elements to it, contained some real subtle moral dilemmas, and the plot twists were genuinely unexpected, made the story make a little more sense, and may have made one character's past actions inexplicable but made other characters more understandable.
Just like a North Carolinian to link to an orangutan story in a man's inhumanity to man thread.
3- That is indeed depraved behavior, but I have to put that below the mind-numbing instances of wretched behavior towards people. Crap, just got pwned by Ogged. OK, Mine will be the depressing non-joke version.
Ben Stiller is one of many actors who have a couple of great movies early on, then settle in to cash out from thereon. It's a living, after all.
Zoolander and Dodgeball are both pretty good. The former better than the latter. He has made a lot of shit, though.
That is indeed depraved behavior, but I have to put that below the mind-numbing instances of wretched behavior towards people
I don't know why, but cruelty towards animals always makes me madder than cruelty to other people.
I believe that under Catholic doctrine the sanctity of the human dictates that prostitution can be carried out only with orangutans. Or other non-humans, I guess.
12. So it would be OK with some classes of Catholic primates?
I hate "clever" little jokes like this. As if movies that contain, you know, emotional conflict can be dismissed as "depressing" while movies that contain (presumably?) imaginary physical conflict between, say, robots and people! in the future! are what, uplifting? And as if the entire point of narrative or visual art is what, to make us feel good about ourselves?
cruelty towards animals always makes me madder than cruelty to other people.
Because animals are more dependent than adult people, and have no possibility of advocating for themselves.
Hell, even young children can talk back. Animals can't.
So it would be OK with some classes of Catholic primates?
In the Catholic church, primates are bishops and archbishops. Using them as sex slaves requires papal dispensation.
I think orangutans are close enough to us that enslaving an orangutan for sex is just as despicable as enslaving a human for sex. When you add to it being shaved every other day and chained to a wall, the whole thing just become awful.
Plus, who are these fuckers who pay money to have sex with a shaved ape changed to a wall?
as if the entire point of narrative or visual art is what, to make us feel good about ourselves?
No, but I have plenty of emotional conflict in my life already. However, my day-to-day existence is lamentably lacking in awesome robot wars.
And as if the entire point of narrative or visual art is what, to make us feel good about ourselves?
Narrative or visual art, no. Movies, yes, for a lot of people. Movies sometimes for me, and sometimes I want a more art-like movie.
And I don't think the implication is "feel good about ourselves", but just "feel good" in general.
The main pleasing thing about this graphic is "OF COURSE".
22: Yrangutan-Amerikanische Freundschaft?
Threadjack from downer movies to ape-fucking in just three comments. Not bad.
No, but I have plenty of emotional conflict in my life already. However, my day-to-day existence is lamentably lacking in awesome robot wars.
Exactly. The question isn't about what the filmmaker must make, but what the consumer wants. And the consumer wants soulless killing machines.
So is Cloverfield going to be awesome, or crap? (A purely hypothetical question for me, seeing as I have seen probably two non-Pixar films in the past five years.)
My sister and I went to the movies, we decided to pick at the multiplex by the hottest actor. Joaquin Phoenix won. Turns out Reservation Road is not only depressing, but also has JP doing a pretty convincing middle-aged dad, complete with gnarly beard and paunch. Nooooo!
the consumer wants soulless killing machines
Tim likes biographies.
Tim likes biographies.
My people deserve a voice.
Joaquin Phoenix won
Were all the other movies animated? I don't believe this for a second.
31: The rest of the theater was hosting the Jim Varney retrospective.
Were all the other movies animated? I don't believe this for a second.
You underestimate the hotness of the snarl.
I would have read or seen something about the movie first to detect that there was zero chance that any hotness or snarl would exist in any of the characters at any time.
Ernest looks haunted.
He should get some miak, straighten him right out.
36: yeah, that would have been smart. Every time I fail to research a movie, it turns out to be something I didn't want to see at all. Probably the worst instance of this was several Christmases ago, when my parents, sister, b-i-l and I all went to see Bad Santa together.
Bad Santa is the funniest movie of the 00s.
Hhh
G
Ah, the grunt of the mysterious blackberry screen.
But anal sex humor? I'm not quite there with my parents.
1. Joaquin Phoenix won
Inexplicable. He won outright?!
2. And as if the entire point of narrative or visual art is what, to make us feel good about ourselves?
I would argue that depressing movies, particularly depressing "issue" films, although they don't make us feel good, do make us feel good about ourselves. First, because we feel grateful not to be in such a miserable situation as the victims. Second, we feel morally superior to the victimizers. Third, the experience of empathy can gives us the illusion that we are actually in some way helping or "on the side" of the victims against the victimizers when in fact we have done nothing of service whatsoever. Clearly, what we need are movies that makes us feel good, but make us feel bad about ourselves. Maybe the forthcoming "Mountains Beyond Mountains," starring Joaquin Phoenix as Paul Farmer, will be such a case.
But anal sex humor?
You know another kind of anal sex humor?
Clearly, what we need are movies that makes us feel good, but make us feel bad about ourselves.
I thought that was the point of porn.
Inexplicable. He won outright?!
Maybe 'multiplex' gives the idea of a bigger movie theater than it was. Though I also get the idea that dudes are underestimating the attractiveness of JP.
Now you are.
Maybe. That whole movie outing has entered the realm of 'things we pretend didn't happen'.
Feeling bad about ourselves? So pre-Pamela Anderson.
Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin was the best movie of its (last?) year. I was therefore surprised to find that Happy Face, his new underreleased stoner comedy starring Anna Faris, was more devoid of entertainment value than any movie I've ever paid to see.
My only problem with feel good movies is that most are too insipid to make me actually feel good. I would pay hundreds of dollars to see a movie that would actually warm my cold, bitter heart. (Frank Capra has come close a couple times.)
I also saw Gone Baby Gone this weekend. It's very good, and makes up for any number of sins Affleckian. It's based on a Denis Lehane book, and combined with Mystic River, it bugs me something fierce.
Child abuse is central to both stories. The Tim Robbins performanc and subplot was the clunkiest part of Mystic River, I thought.The plot of Gone Baby Gone flows from a child abduction, and there's a sexual abuse subplot as well. The abduction plot takes on much more weight than it ought to hold (cont)...
I would pay hundreds of dollars to see a movie that would actually warm my cold, bitter heart.
Not One Less always works for me.
The abduction plot in GBG indicts the hysterical morality of child welfare at the same time that it falls prey to it. (Spoilers!) The kidnapping flows from a hysterical concern for the child victim that defeats any rational action in the child's interest. The hero grapples with it, but the weightiness it's given suggest that the author/the movie can't really think through child welfare in any way but the most atavistic.
Has anyone read much lehane? Is the kiddie usiness his whole bag of trick ponies?
51- I know that movie. The fascinating thing about that movie is that the director used non-actors, so much so that the characters use the actors' given names.
54: It's not the only movie like that.
I saw Bad Santa with my parents. It was a fine experience.
I would pay hundreds of dollars to see a movie that would actually warm my cold, bitter heart.
Linda Linda Linda
52: Oh, I did see that. It was good.
My ex and I watched Rubin and Ed with our parents one Thanksgiving. We were completely baked when we had first watched it, and accordingly underestimated how incomprehensible and unfunny the movie would be to sober people in their late 50s/early 60s. It didn't go over well and still gets brought up by my mother as "that stupid-ass movie you made everybody watch that Thanksgiving".
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071121/ap_on_sc/biggest_bug_ever
scary.................
depressing movies, particularly depressing "issue" films, although they don't make us feel good, do make us feel good about ourselves. First, because we feel grateful not to be in such a miserable situation as the victims. Second, we feel morally superior to the victimizers. Third, the experience of empathy can gives us the illusion that we are actually in some way helping or "on the side" of the victims against the victimizers when in fact we have done nothing of service whatsoever.
This is an excellent point, and it's true that "issue" films are often godawful. But sometimes movies that people dismiss as depressing are really quite good.
I haven't seen any of the films on the chart, so for all I know they're godawful. I was just griping about the cliched nature of the criticism.
