'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

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McCrutchy
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:57 am
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2701 Post by McCrutchy » Wed Dec 05, 2012 10:24 pm

The first review of the new DVD (also on Blu-ray) of The Opening of Misty Beethoven was shared on another forum. the last sentence is gold:

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Drucker
Your Future our Drucker
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 9:37 am

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2702 Post by Drucker » Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:08 pm

Posted on Amazon as a review of the audio cd, mind you, of The Harder they Come:
The thing that I didn't like abut the movie was that how the people talk and the jobs they had selling drugs and also where they live.

The thing that I like about the movie was the music they have and how Jamaica is.-- Christina---

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mfunk9786
Under Chris' Protection
Joined: Fri May 16, 2008 4:43 pm
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2703 Post by mfunk9786 » Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:47 pm

A Blu-ray.com review of Looper:
Movie : At least this movie is quite easy to understand, this is some sort of a sci-fi movie and it's won't happen
in real world (at least at our time). The acting is superb. It is not as complicated as the movie "Inception"
PQ : Very good at least the color is vibrant.
SQ : Very good too.
Overall: At least rent it first and buy it after you watched.

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The Narrator Returns
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:35 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2704 Post by The Narrator Returns » Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:48 pm

At least it was coherent.

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med
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:58 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2705 Post by med » Fri Dec 28, 2012 5:00 pm

Some Tooze-esque disrespect of the English language going on there.

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MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2706 Post by MichaelB » Fri Dec 28, 2012 5:24 pm

My recent viewing of Island of Lost Souls inspired me to dig out H.G. Wells' The Island of Doctor Moreau, which in turn led to me stumbling upon this gem:
It was great fun reading this book. Wells had a real knack for telling compelling stories involving complicated scientific issues of his day. But the real force of this story lies in the underlying theological/philosophical issues he brings up and develops. Wells was definitely a Darwinian evolutionist, but he also seemed to have almost a prophetic vision for where this kind of thinking can lead. If man is the result of millions of years of random evolution, then why not perform vivisection on animals (and men?) in order to bring about a more perfect race of Man-beasts. Basically, Wells has provided us with a story that shows just how bad/wicked the evolutionary "story" is. Good story on a wicked story.

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The Narrator Returns
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:35 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2707 Post by The Narrator Returns » Fri Dec 28, 2012 5:28 pm

I love how he basically admits that he's reading too much into the text by stating that Wells didn't intend that subtext.

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matrixschmatrix
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2708 Post by matrixschmatrix » Fri Dec 28, 2012 5:30 pm

If man is the result of millions of years of random evolution, then why not perform vivisection on animals (and men?) in order to bring about a more perfect race of Man-beasts?
I enjoy when people pose questions that are eminently answerable as though they were rhetorical.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2709 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:28 am

Mind you, The Time Machine is basically about the same thing - humanity evolving, or splitting apart, into two races of the brutal, cannibalistic 'low' Morlocks preying on the beautiful but dumb 'high' Eloi. Though more than a specific comment on evolution, those works could be seen as reflecting more on the class stratifications (and fears of class conflict and uprisings) of the time in which they were written.

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Jeff
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2710 Post by Jeff » Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:17 am

From another forum, a customer upset about the changing aspect ratios on the Dark Knight Blu-ray
I have to agree that having invested in a home theatre with a projector it is annoying when purchasing a blue ray that says it is 2.35:1 but isnt during the complete film.

I only buy 2.35:1 films on blue ray and other formats on normal dvd for the 16.9 tv specifically because my projector screen is set-up for the 2.35 aspect ratio.

Ishmael
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:56 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2711 Post by Ishmael » Wed Jan 02, 2013 10:30 am

This WTF gem is a Netflix customer review of The Wind That Shakes the Barley:
In the end and anti Catholic movie which shows fornication as something normal and romantic. A waste of time.
Could be just a troll, I guess, but it's funny anyway.

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The Narrator Returns
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:35 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2712 Post by The Narrator Returns » Wed Jan 02, 2013 1:38 pm

Philthy Mike wrote:Like all Chris Nolan movies, Following is overlong, dramatically inert, emotionally dead and needlessly complex. Looks great though and the premise is brilliant. But Nolan always, always puts his precious ideas above things like coherent, engaging storytelling.

Seriously, the most overrated director since sliced bread.
Following is 70 minutes long.

Zot!
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 12:09 am

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2713 Post by Zot! » Wed Jan 02, 2013 1:49 pm

The Narrator Returns wrote:
Philthy Mike wrote:Like all Chris Nolan movies, Following is overlong, dramatically inert, emotionally dead and needlessly complex. Looks great though and the premise is brilliant. But Nolan always, always puts his precious ideas above things like coherent, engaging storytelling.

Seriously, the most overrated director since sliced bread.
Following is 70 minutes long.
I'm more concerned about the awkward use of the sliced bread idiom to indicate quality rather than innovation.

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The Narrator Returns
Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:35 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2714 Post by The Narrator Returns » Wed Jan 02, 2013 1:54 pm

Someone else in the comments already used that bizarre turn of phrase (and someone made fun of it).

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MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2715 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jan 02, 2013 2:04 pm

Ishmael wrote:This WTF gem is a Netflix customer review of The Wind That Shakes the Barley:
In the end and anti Catholic movie which shows fornication as something normal and romantic. A waste of time.
Could be just a troll, I guess, but it's funny anyway.
I've seen the film twice, and I honestly don't remember any "fornication" - I daresay there might have been a bit, but it's not exactly pivotal.

Of course, Irish people never fornicated ever, especially not in the early 20th century. That James Joyce was just a rabble-rousing trouble-maker, and anti-Catholic with it.

Ishmael
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:56 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2716 Post by Ishmael » Wed Jan 02, 2013 3:00 pm

MichaelB wrote:
Ishmael wrote:This WTF gem is a Netflix customer review of The Wind That Shakes the Barley:
In the end and anti Catholic movie which shows fornication as something normal and romantic. A waste of time.
Could be just a troll, I guess, but it's funny anyway.
I've seen the film twice, and I honestly don't remember any "fornication" - I daresay there might have been a bit, but it's not exactly pivotal.

Of course, Irish people never fornicated ever, especially not in the early 20th century. That James Joyce was just a rabble-rousing trouble-maker, and anti-Catholic with it.
Yeah, that's part of why I found this "review" so mystifying. I just watched the film last night, and I don't even remember any kissing, much less fornication--but, as you say, maybe it was brief, although if so, it was entirely peripheral to the plot.

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John Cope
Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:40 pm
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2717 Post by John Cope » Fri Jan 04, 2013 9:42 pm

Not exactly a "review" but rather a comment on the IMDB page for sex, lies, and videotape. Still, too bizarre and fascinating to pass up:
The movie made me think of a close friend who I think is impotent. Two of his ex-girlfriends swear that he is. He sure loves to talk about sex. He talks about foreplay like it is intercourse. He brags about playing footsie with women. I get tired of hearing it so I tell him to shut up. I try to explain that he has done nothing to brag about. He got defensive once and whined "you don't understand positioning". I told him he doesn't understand positions.

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domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2718 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jan 07, 2013 9:39 pm

Jesus fucking Christ Pitchfork
All of which means that listening to a song by the peppy piano-pop Brooklyn trio feels a little bit like stumbling unexpectedly into a Broadway musical (let's say Movin' Out; singer Ben Thornewill sings like a man who owns a Billy Joel record or two) at that precise moment when everyone breaks into song. If you're the sort of person who can suspend the necessary cynicism when this happens in the movies, then maybe you'll go for their brand of hyperactively hooky power-pop. But if you have ever wondered such apt questions as, "How do these people know all the words?" or "When did they find the time to practice these dances steps?" and "Why wasn't I invited to the practices?" you are probably the sort of person who should steer clear of their latest record, Safe Travels.
I've never heard of this band and only looked them up because matt pond PA is their opener here but holy shit did a precocious eleven-year-old boy write this?

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2719 Post by zedz » Mon Jan 07, 2013 10:32 pm

I get that he doesn't understand musicals at all (bit of a liability for an alleged music critic), but how on earth does "everybody's singing all at the same time!" count as a criticism for a pop song!?

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matrixschmatrix
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2720 Post by matrixschmatrix » Wed Jan 09, 2013 9:40 pm

The more that I watch of the 1970s New German Cinema (Das Neue Kino) the more manifest it becomes that, despite the usual namedropping of Wim Wenders, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and Werner Herzog as a trio, it truly was only a one man movement, and Herzog is and was so far above and cinematically dominant over his two rivals that to speak of the lesser two in the same breath as Herzog is like mentioning the Gawain poet whilst going on of John Donne's or William Shakespeare's poetic skills.
This is abundantly clear in lightweight films like the 1980 pseudo-documentary Lightning Over Water, directed by Wenders- with a meaningless co-credit to his idol Nicholas Ray, whose death is central to the film, and who, along with Wenders, is credited as a co-writer. In a sense this equivalence is apropos, since Wenders and Ray are both, at best, second tier filmic talents. After Johnny Guitar and Rebel Without A Cause- the James Dean teenaged sudser, are there any real films of note that Ray directed? And, neither of the two films mentioned is anywhere near greatness. The only reason that this misshapen mess of a film was made was because Ray was something of an idol to Wenders, and dying of cancer, not long after the two men met filming The American Friend a few years earlier.
Yet, none of this camaraderie nor artistic affinity comes through in the film for we see only one brief movie clip, from Ray's Lusty Men, we get no background on Ray's life, and all we are subjected to, during the film's VERY LONG ninety minutes, is Ray's wheezing, hacking, spitting, whining, and assorted other bodily noises as he lies about, waiting to die, as Wenders narrates that this or that moment made him feel bad. Add to that conversations that are supposed to be `real' yet are clearly not a part of the `internal documentary,' and some poorly acted and staged scenes that are meant to illuminate the tale of Wenders' trip to Ray's bedside, while also trying and failing to break down narrative conventions, and you have a genuine disaster.... The film was shot both in film and video, but this mixed media adds nothing of consequence to the meaning nor import of what it captures. I guess the video adds a bit of realism to Ray's decline, but the fact is that there really is nothing here besides such a minor addition. Let me sum up the film this way: imagine sitting at a funeral home and listening to strangers ramble on about the neighbors and old friends of a loved one that you know nothing about. And to top it off, the storytellers are dreadful at their craft, and furthermore never complete any of the tales. Worse, there is no connection to the audience for they are telling tales only they know anything about. Thus the viewer feels no empathy for Ray nor Wenders. Even more annoyingly, there are some shots that are so amateurish and badly composed that one has to wonder if Wenders deliberately screwed up his film to try to `show' that he was so upset that he could not do his job properly; in a sense employing faux amateurism to try to cynically manipulate viewers into jerking tears over his dead friend.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2721 Post by zedz » Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:15 pm

The New German Cinema wasn't a one-man movement, and nor was it a three-man movement. It looks like this guy is getting way too carried away about flaunting his meagre film knowledge. Are there any real films of note that Nicholas Ray directed? Why, yes there are. Not that that needs to have any bearing one way or another on the value of Lightning Over Water in a rational argument about its merits.

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matrixschmatrix
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2722 Post by matrixschmatrix » Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:18 pm

Yeah, that was the part I posted it for, but I left the part at the end on for
Even more annoyingly, there are some shots that are so amateurish and badly composed that one has to wonder if Wenders deliberately screwed up his film to try to `show' that he was so upset that he could not do his job properly; in a sense employing faux amateurism to try to cynically manipulate viewers into jerking tears over his dead friend.
because jesus what an asshole

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2723 Post by zedz » Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:23 pm

Oh yeah, and how idiotic is that? So Wenders is pandering to people who won't feel anything for a great man dying before their very eyes, but will break down and cry because of poor filmmaking? What the fuck?

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domino harvey
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2724 Post by domino harvey » Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:43 pm

Wim Wenders is German?! :shock:

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domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
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Re: 'Rediculous' Customer & Critic Reviews

#2725 Post by domino harvey » Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:01 am

It doesn't really fit anywhere else, but this is some CV!

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