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Author Topic: Unpopular Movie Opinions (2008 - 2010)  (Read 643261 times)

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Unpopular Movie Opinions
« Reply #4350 on: May 15, 2010, 08:18:02 AM »
Adventureland > Zombieland

You should poll on this — because I think you're wrong (about the unpopular part).

pixote

Yeah, I would assume the same. Zombieland is a bad to decent comedy that Eisenberg shoulders well enough. Adventureland is a transcendent experience.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Unpopular Movie Opinions
« Reply #4351 on: May 15, 2010, 09:09:52 AM »
Adventureland > Zombieland

You should poll on this — because I think you're wrong (about the unpopular part).

pixote
Done

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Unpopular Movie Opinions
« Reply #4352 on: May 21, 2010, 11:02:40 PM »
Charlie Kaufman is not that good a writer. He's interesting, but not all that good.

oldkid

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Re: Unpopular Movie Opinions
« Reply #4353 on: May 22, 2010, 09:55:09 PM »
Charlie Kaufman is not that good a writer. He's interesting, but not all that good.

I agree that that opinion is unpopular.  And wrong.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Unpopular Movie Opinions
« Reply #4354 on: May 22, 2010, 10:49:56 PM »
I think I've hit on the crux of my problem with Kaufman. He wants to make intellectual mind puzzles but also emotionally resonant pieces. Now this can be done, but for me it also feels that every moment of his film is vying over these two extremes. He never fines a way to meld the two for me. Either he is trying to make a scene emotional or he's trying to make it a puzzle.

And because of that, I find that neither thread works. His films are neither as smart as they could be or as emotionally impactful as they should be.

For once I'd like to just see him pick one or the other, either make a straight up mind puzzle or a simple emotional drama. But as it stands, I think he over-complicates and undermines his own films.

Melvil

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Re: Unpopular Movie Opinions
« Reply #4355 on: May 22, 2010, 11:23:31 PM »
I don't agree, sam. I think you're putting too much stock in the "mind puzzle" aspect as a goal unto itself. I think his writing is all about emotion, he just uses unconventional storytelling methods to create them.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Unpopular Movie Opinions
« Reply #4356 on: May 22, 2010, 11:38:03 PM »
But they clutter up the emotional points to the degree that the film distances itself from the characters. At least it does for me.

Melvil

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Re: Unpopular Movie Opinions
« Reply #4357 on: May 23, 2010, 01:33:26 AM »
I definitely understand his movies not appealing to everybody, but I don't see it as clutter. The way his screenplays work for me, emotionally, are a result of the whole package. There's not some extra layer of arbitrary weirdness that can be divorced from the characters and drama, it's one cohesive experience. It may create an unusual experience, but if it's effective, and I've found most of his movies to be that, it's something to champion. There's enough "simple emotional dramas" out there already. ;)

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Unpopular Movie Opinions
« Reply #4358 on: May 23, 2010, 07:52:47 AM »
FLY falls on the opposite side of Melvil on this one. Without the meta aspect of Kaufman's films I'd hardly be interested at all because of the impossibility of making a great emotional drama. Conversely if you are meticulous enough you can craft a complex and engaging mind puzzle because everyone can, for the most part, consider and process that in the same way. There may be bits opened up to interpretation, and films may offer evidence to support that, but with an emotional drama there is no common ground outside of the actual knowledge that feelings probably exist. He'd be setting himself up for failure if he did that, and it's little surprise that the heartfelt moments in his films tend to fall flat because of the subjectivity and pointlessness of emotion. Emotion aside, Adaptation, S,NY, and his other films are still interesting because of how they are told and the larger ideas they attempt to explore.

oldkid

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Re: Unpopular Movie Opinions
« Reply #4359 on: May 23, 2010, 09:45:04 AM »
His movies truly are puzzles, which is why rewatching them is so rewarding.

But I can see being bogged down by the complexity.  The line I think he tries to balance is complexity and having the audience follow it.  I think he crossed the line in S, NY-- he lost a lot of the audience there. 

But ESotSM is amazing in its emotional impact, at least for me.  And most of the others?  Emotionally, they hit me at points, but I'm much more focused on the puzzle and the humor and the plain fun of them. 

I can see that some folks wouldn't get Kauffman.  He's truly unique.  Just like some people don't get other writers/directors.  But that doesn't make him a poor writer.  It means that he's pushing the envelope.  And those who push the envelope sometimes miss a note and sometimes lose people.  That doesn't mean it's not brilliant.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky