Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5995962 times)

tjwells

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22590 on: November 16, 2009, 08:37:06 AM »
Our Hospitality (Buster Keaton, 1923)



plot synopsis: A man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.

 

The brilliance of the three silent era comedy greats (Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd) was always their incredible skill for physical comedy. And in Our Hospitality (about a young man who returns to his childhood home only to find out that a long-standing grudge with another family has resulted in three of the remaining four members of that family intent on killing him) shows that and then some. Yes, the story allows for some surprisingly funny moments involving other characters, the vast majority of this film is (not surprisingly) Keaton’s show. Be it the train ride sequence, the fishing sequence, or the brilliantly done waterfall sequence, the man shows no fear when doing some legitimately terrifying stunts. And it pays off in big laughs. I always found (what is considered to be Keaton’s masterpiece) The General to be a film that made me smile at the humor than laugh; here, I found myself laughing out loud several times. Keaton proves in this early work why he really was one of the original kings of physical comedy.

chardy999

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22591 on: November 16, 2009, 09:01:36 AM »
The Time Traveler's Wife - Terrible. Would have been improved if they chose to cast actors in the two lead roles instead of pieces of wood. 4/10.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - Entertaining at times but ultimately had no plot and nothing to say. A mess. 5/10.
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skjerva

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22592 on: November 16, 2009, 09:37:37 AM »
someone deleted my previous post.  my point is that there is something about the way he refers to the woman as a bitch to release his anger, as i wrote before, if the killer had been black and he would have used the slur nigger, i am guessing people would also think the slur was inappropriate and disgusting, but because bitch is a slur demeaning women, it is seemingly acceptable.  and i really can't believe that anyone believes anyone here is equating killing someone with calling someone a slur, that is utterly ridiculous.  the point is that making such slurs is disgusting.

I really hate his use of the word "bitch" in that movie. I just see him going down to her level, even if it's just for a second. He's smarter and more articulate than that for the rest of the film.

Come on you just equated a man calling the woman, who murdered his son and grandson, a bitch with the murder itself. This is ludicrous.
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
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Clovis8

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22593 on: November 16, 2009, 09:51:52 AM »
This whole debate is surreal. It's the equivalent of debating whether a mass murderer should wear white after labour day! I say we just drop it.

As for Carly's comments, obviously I dont think she thinks the two are the same. She is an intelligent women.  However, she is equating them when she says his comments bring him down to her level. I dont know how else to interpret that sentence.

moviephiliac

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22594 on: November 16, 2009, 10:01:38 AM »
The Time Traveler's Wife - Terrible. Would have been improved if they chose to cast actors in the two lead roles instead of pieces of wood. 4/10.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - Entertaining at times but ultimately had no plot and nothing to say. A mess. 5/10.

Rachel MacAdams is not an actor? Ummm...what? I haven't seen the movie yet but I have a hard time believing it's bad because of her performance. Script...maybe.

skjerva

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22595 on: November 16, 2009, 10:03:41 AM »
This whole debate is surreal. It's the equivalent of debating whether a mass murderer should wear white after labour day! I say we just drop it.

As for Carly's comments, obviously I dont think she thinks the two are the same. She is an intelligent women.  However, she is equating them when she says his comments bring him down to her level. I dont know how else to interpret that sentence.

i don't think there is anything surreal about it, it is a vivid component of the film.  a component that clearly has social meaning.  the guy uses the slur multiple times in the film.  again, if he had chosen a different slur and revealed himself to be a raging racist, the audience would likely have a different relationship to him.  that, of course, is not to say we would applaud the murders, or not feel sorry for him for the loss, or angry with the murderer, but our identification with him would likely be different and part of this difference would likely be in calling the guy a creep, racist, or other kind of unsavory character.  instead, it is interesting that because he "only" slurs bitch, he is still a completely sympathetic character whose gender politics cannot be considered as a valid topic of discussion.  that is more than a little weird to me.
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

FroHam X

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22596 on: November 16, 2009, 10:08:06 AM »
someone deleted my previous post.  my point is that there is something about the way he refers to the woman as a bitch to release his anger, as i wrote before, if the killer had been black and he would have used the slur nigger, i am guessing people would also think the slur was inappropriate and disgusting, but because bitch is a slur demeaning women, it is seemingly acceptable.  and i really can't believe that anyone believes anyone here is equating killing someone with calling someone a slur, that is utterly ridiculous.  the point is that making such slurs is disgusting.

I really hate his use of the word "bitch" in that movie. I just see him going down to her level, even if it's just for a second. He's smarter and more articulate than that for the rest of the film.

Come on you just equated a man calling the woman, who murdered his son and grandson, a bitch with the murder itself. This is ludicrous.

Of course slurs are disgusting. But would he call a black person a nigger under the same circumstance? Who knows? I certainly don't, and I wouldn't presume to say he would. In this day and age "bitch" is barely considered a slur. That's probably a bad thing, but it is the way it is. It's unfortunate that there are so many words denigrating women and so few that do the same for men, but that's a societal issue. Here we have a man so absolutely angry that he allows himself to lose control for a moment and call her a bitch. Does he mean it to say that all women are terrible? I doubt it, considering the loving relationship he seems to have with his wife. He calls her a bitch, with such force, because that is the word that jumps to his head and he blurts it out. And I'm sure the director left those scenes in the film just because it is hard to hear him say it. Sometimes it IS hard to hear people get angry and lose control of their emotions, and that makes Dear Zachary all the more powerful.

he is still a completely sympathetic character whose gender politics cannot be considered as a valid topic of discussion.

It doesn't seem to me that he has any "gender politics". He's just a guy with a socially learned vocabulary, just like the rest of us.
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ferris

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22597 on: November 16, 2009, 10:14:18 AM »
The Time Traveler's Wife - Terrible. Would have been improved if they chose to cast actors in the two lead roles instead of pieces of wood. 4/10.


Acting was ok.  But everything else was just ....eh...well....not great.
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skjerva

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22598 on: November 16, 2009, 10:19:57 AM »
someone deleted my previous post.  my point is that there is something about the way he refers to the woman as a bitch to release his anger, as i wrote before, if the killer had been black and he would have used the slur nigger, i am guessing people would also think the slur was inappropriate and disgusting, but because bitch is a slur demeaning women, it is seemingly acceptable.  and i really can't believe that anyone believes anyone here is equating killing someone with calling someone a slur, that is utterly ridiculous.  the point is that making such slurs is disgusting.

I really hate his use of the word "bitch" in that movie. I just see him going down to her level, even if it's just for a second. He's smarter and more articulate than that for the rest of the film.

Come on you just equated a man calling the woman, who murdered his son and grandson, a bitch with the murder itself. This is ludicrous.

Of course slurs are disgusting. But would he call a black person a nigger under the same circumstance? Who knows? I certainly don't, and I wouldn't presume to say he would. In this day and age "bitch" is barely considered a slur. That's probably a bad thing, but it is the way it is. It's unfortunate that there are so many words denigrating women and so few that do the same for men, but that's a societal issue. Here we have a man so absolutely angry that he allows himself to lose control for a moment and call her a bitch. Does he mean it to say that all women are terrible? I doubt it, considering the loving relationship he seems to have with his wife. He calls her a bitch, with such force, because that is the word that jumps to his head and he blurts it out. And I'm sure the director left those scenes in the film just because it is hard to hear him say it. Sometimes it IS hard to hear people get angry and lose control of their emotions, and that makes Dear Zachary all the more powerful.

he is still a completely sympathetic character whose gender politics cannot be considered as a valid topic of discussion.

It doesn't seem to me that he has any "gender politics". He's just a guy with a socially learned vocabulary, just like the rest of us.

of course i agree that "it is probably a bad thing", except i do think it is a bad thing:)  that said, we all have control over the words we use.  and i do think that when we use language like this we perpetuate ways of being and thinking.  had the guy not used the slur bitch, and had just continued to act all tormented, i am sure we would come away with exactly the same sense of his anguish and hatred.  i agree with you that his use and the seeming nonchalance at his use of bitch reflects social attitudes, but i don't think that is a good thing, or excuses it.  again, had the word that jumped to his head been "nigger" there would likely be a different identification with the character.  and to claim that the socially learned vocabulary isn't gender politics is also weird - what are gender politics if not expressions of socially learned actions, whether language or non-language acts?  
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

Melvil

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #22599 on: November 16, 2009, 10:23:07 AM »
Despite what you may think of his word choice, I doubt anyone can blame him for the emotion behind it. It may be unfortunate, but around here at least the word isn't nearly as charged as you're assuming he meant it (or anywhere near the same level as your example of nigger). I never felt like he was revealing anything about himself other than his feelings for the one specific person he was addressing.

 

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