Author Topic: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon  (Read 75450 times)

sdedalus

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #160 on: September 17, 2010, 01:32:16 AM »
Technical—5/5—Spielberg and Lucas, in general, are at their height of moviemaking at this time.  The writing was excellent, the cinematic quality great and the only thing that lowers the quality of the movie even a little bit is the love interest. 

This was the film that taught the 13 year old me what a continuity error was.  I think this and the 4th Indiana Jones are Spielberg at his sloppiest.  Also, is this the area where you deduct points for the terrible performance by that blonde woman?
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oldkid

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #161 on: September 17, 2010, 11:21:54 AM »
Technical—5/5—Spielberg and Lucas, in general, are at their height of moviemaking at this time.  The writing was excellent, the cinematic quality great and the only thing that lowers the quality of the movie even a little bit is the love interest. 

This was the film that taught the 13 year old me what a continuity error was.  I think this and the 4th Indiana Jones are Spielberg at his sloppiest.  Also, is this the area where you deduct points for the terrible performance by that blonde woman?

I deducted points in the area of character.  I could have here, too, the performance was awful. 

And, I am ashamed to say, I didn't notice a continuity error here.  What was it?
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sdedalus

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #162 on: September 17, 2010, 01:15:12 PM »
imdb has the longest list of errors I've ever seen.

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Bondo

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #163 on: September 17, 2010, 01:32:00 PM »
imdb has the longest list of errors I've ever seen.

I feel like these are the sort of things you only notice if you are looking for them/feeling superior because you are finding them. It seems like finding unnecessary excuses not to like things and I find plenty of reasons not to like things without going to extra lengths. But then I have a splendid capacity not to notice things.

FroHam X

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #164 on: September 17, 2010, 01:40:58 PM »
imdb has the longest list of errors I've ever seen.

I feel like these are the sort of things you only notice if you are looking for them/feeling superior because you are finding them. It seems like finding unnecessary excuses not to like things and I find plenty of reasons not to like things without going to extra lengths. But then I have a splendid capacity not to notice things.

I'm the same way. Plus, the I think great direction obscures continuity errors (I'm looking at Scorcese.) Last Crusade is so well-directed that the only error I ever picked up on was Indy not being wet after coming out of the water in the catacombs. But the that particular error happens in many movies and has always been a pet peeve of mine. To give an example of how good the execution of the film is, until looking at that list it never even occurred to me that there are no catacombs in Venice. OBVIOUSLY there aren't. I should know that. There's no place to have catacombs at all in a city founded on water and mud. But in the moment it doesn't matter. Those scenes simply work. Spielberg is da bomb!
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sdedalus

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #165 on: September 17, 2010, 01:51:30 PM »
At 13 I was not looking for reasons not to like what had been my favorite movie because I wanted to feel superior to Steven Spielberg, who was the only director I knew by name.

But watching the movie several times, as I did, because I loved it, I noticed a lot of these (but by no means most of them).  I didn't say it made the movie bad.  It's sloppy.  

A filmmaker as good as Spielberg should be expected to do better.  I think the sloppiness in this film is indicative of Spielberg's attitude toward his mainstream audiences in the wake of Empire of the Sun.  I think he put a lot of effort into his "grownup" movies (Schindler's List) and tossed off his mainstream films as quickly as possible (War of the Worlds, Indy 4) regardless of their quality.  The exception is Jurassic Park, with its technological challenge keeping his interest.  You can see this not only in the continuity errors and plot holes, but also the laziness and infantilization of the characterizations (is Raiders the last Spielberg action film to not have a child protagonist, if you don't count River Phoenix and the Henry/Indy dynamic in Last Crusade?)
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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #166 on: September 17, 2010, 02:53:02 PM »
At 13 I was not looking for reasons not to like what had been my favorite movie because I wanted to feel superior to Steven Spielberg, who was the only director I knew by name.

But watching the movie several times, as I did, because I loved it, I noticed a lot of these (but by no means most of them).  I didn't say it made the movie bad.  It's sloppy.  

A filmmaker as good as Spielberg should be expected to do better.  I think the sloppiness in this film is indicative of Spielberg's attitude toward his mainstream audiences in the wake of Empire of the Sun.  I think he put a lot of effort into his "grownup" movies (Schindler's List) and tossed off his mainstream films as quickly as possible (War of the Worlds, Indy 4) regardless of their quality.  The exception is Jurassic Park, with its technological challenge keeping his interest.  You can see this not only in the continuity errors and plot holes, but also the laziness and infantilization of the characterizations (is Raiders the last Spielberg action film to not have a child protagonist, if you don't count River Phoenix and the Henry/Indy dynamic in Last Crusade?)

Continuity errors are part of the game, especially with big movies like that. Continuity errors do not equal sloppiness. The mark of good direction is that you don't notice those errors because the film itself is keeping your interest and the errors are well hidden by editing and such. Obviously if you've seen the movie tons of times you start picking up on things, but that doesn't mean much. There are also a lot of errors involving things switching sides, but more often than not these are deliberate choices in the sense that the shot was flipped in editing. Film is like one big magic trick, and part of that is hiding all the little things that could give away the illusion. You look hard enough and you'll start to see them, but otherwise if the direction is good the magic just works.
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sdedalus

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #167 on: September 17, 2010, 03:37:48 PM »
I've never noticed any such things in Jaws or Raiders.
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FroHam X

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #168 on: September 17, 2010, 03:58:39 PM »
I've never noticed any such things in Jaws or Raiders.

Oh boy. Jaws and Raiders have TONS of errors.
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Beavermoose

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #169 on: September 17, 2010, 04:40:40 PM »

 

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