Babel

[BluMonkey]

Is it me or is this movie a pile of cr@p...

I've just finished watching it...

Sum young arab doing a five fingered shuffle after watching his sister...
shoots a coach with a woman of no consiquence by accident as he and his goat herding brother are tossing around with a gun their father bought for 500 and a goat, she waits dying in a dump for an ambulance and pees in a pan.

Some Jap girl flashes her bits for no apparent reason, then seduces a dentist and strips naked for a cop, her father origionaly owned the gun that shot the woman in the desert... < this is the only relevence in them being in the movie

OMG what a complete waiste of a disk...

This is going straight onto ebay...

[crunchy]

LOL yeah the director was too ambitious on this one by far. I mean everyoen knows what he is trying to say, he titled the movie BABEL.

Just didn't pull it off very well, and some parts played like an immigration propaganda piece.

I own the disc in my collection but it will probably not be watched again anytime soon.

[WriteSimply]

I liked the movie a lot. It says a lot about human frailties and the life-long cost they entail.


fuad

[juha]

Yes, I also really liked the movie. Its ages better than Crash (following the same multiple-story-line road).

Seems to me people from the US won't like it much. I mean, half of it is NOT in English and the USA is not very well perceived...

Speaking of the Blu-Ray version... is it just me or is it a crap transfer - and no extras? bah


Deserved more awards than that crap Little Biatch Sunshine


J.

[Banjo]

To be frank, I thought the Tokyo storyline was out of place. Not much of a connection there with the rest of the other stories. Oh sure, that "hunting" connection. It wasn't just believable. Plus she's not really deaf which explains her stiffness when it come to the signing. If one was fluent in signing, it would be more animated and natural-looking. I would know because I'm fluent in ASL (American Sign Language), even though I don't know Japanese Sign Language but I can tell when someone is having trouble with it.

This is just another nominated flick that won't be remembered within a few years. Nobody remember 'American Beauty'. Most people almost can't recall last year's winner, 'Crash'. Hey, who remember 'The English Patient' winning the Best Picture award? Have you thought of that movie in years before I mentioned it? Didn't think so. Thankfully, 'Babel' didn't win the Best Picture. Or 'Little Miss Sunshine'.

When you really watch it, you'll discover how simplistic and pretentious the movie is. It's not complex at all.

I guess people who don't experience multi-culturism wouldn't know any difference. The movie was totally predictable, I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen in this movie. Nothing shocking, surprising or anything close to that.

I think the only reason why people are afraid to badmouth this movie is because they may be "culturally lacking" which they are not.

I'm deaf, I come from a hearing family, people in my family use sign language, I have deaf friends, I have friends from all walks of life and more. Heck, I have tons of international friends and all that. Now, this movie... nothing human about it. Just some pseudo-intelligent know-it-all film snobs trying to appear "enlightened" on the subject.

I know what ignorance is all about and this certainly isn't it. I don't believe the US border guards would actually not believe a word of what the maid said about the children being in the desert. In real life, they'll immediately run to look for the kids instead of arresting her and taking her to the station, then wag their fingers at her for "abandoning" the kids. What a way to smear the border guards on that one.

I think people just are being pretentious and say... wow... I totally understand what we are doing wrong! We need to treat each other better and all that blah blah.

I just know when a movie is just being pretentious. They can do better than this. Movies that focus on the subject of ignorance often backfire and this is no exception.

Harsh? Well, it's just how I felt about this particular movie. I just felt it wasn't that great of a movie even though it looked great. The storylines were all loose... really loose when it come to linking the connections between all the characters. I've seen better.

[juha]

Originally Posted by Banjo

To be frank, I thought the Tokyo storyline was out of place. Not much of a connection there with the rest of the other stories. Oh sure, that "hunting" connection. It wasn't just believable. Plus she's not really deaf which explains her stiffness when it come to the signing. If one was fluent in signing, it would be more animated and natural-looking. I would know because I'm fluent in ASL (American Sign Language), even though I don't know Japanese Sign Language but I can tell when someone is having trouble with it.

Well kudos for Rinkou, the japanese actress, for the hard work. She deserved the oscar, though.

As far as the japanese story being out of place... you really missed several of the points of the movie. I suppose the "hunting" is the obvious one.. totally unnecessary, though... its probably there to ease the US general public



J.

[BluMonkey]

As for multi cultural, I'm from the UK and it portrays sum fat pomus git as a typical Brit... Ok there are a few mainly in London, but the rest of us would of helped the Guy who's wife got shot, Americans and Brits always do that for each other... don't they...

As said above this film is very wooly and predictable. luckly I bought it from the U.S. for £12 and theyre selling here for between £15 and £18 ... so a profit I think for a pile of crap.

Momento for me which was a similar type of movie was more reaching.

[nhaase]

I liked the main story line, but there was too much fat in the movie. The director always has a few different stories that are told out of chronological order and are loosely connected, but the japanese girl in this was just too loosely connected, and the story w/ Brad Pitt's kids just didn't matter to the main story of Cate Blanchett getting shot. There's probably about 45 minutes to 1 hour of the movie I liked.

Check out Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Those are two other movies of his, and I especially like 21 Grams. The three stories are tightly connected, and the main characters of each meet.

I was disappointed w/ Babel, and after I watched it I was appalled that it was nominated for so many Oscars. I think they were trying to make up for not nominating 21 Grams for more awards (it only got nominated for Best Actress, Naomi Watts, and Best Supporting Actor, Benicio del Toro).

[Banjo]

Originally Posted by juha

Well kudos for Rinkou, the japanese actress, for the hard work. She deserved the oscar, though.

As far as the japanese story being out of place... you really missed several of the points of the movie. I suppose the "hunting" is the obvious one.. totally unnecessary, though... its probably there to ease the US general public

Ha, I did get what the story was about but it was pretty lame. Nothing original, just a pretentious story. This sort of genre is where the independent filmmakers are the best at, not for the Hollywood directors. Probably because they remember what it's like to be human. Babel was too unrealistic especially with how the situation with the shot wife and the husband having trouble with the tourists. Just unrealistic, like they would really abandon him and his wife. I also mentioned how they smeared the border guards, it was just too unbelievable to believe. The movie went nowhere except smear people from left to right based on stereotypes and some made-up rhetoric.

Rinko did not deserve the nomination. I'm glad she lost and I read that her losing reaction was... well... sour. The Oscar voters are easily duped into voting for actors who play characters with disabilities/disorders. She wasn't believable as a deaf character, I would know because I'm deaf. But you wouldn't know that. That's the real problem with the mainstream audience. They don't know any difference. Her signing skill was weak and I mean WEAK! Yet a lot of people walked around saying how brilliant her performance was. It was not brilliant at all, it was at best mediocre. The truth is, playing a deaf character is one of the most difficult tasks to master because their lives are radically different from the hearing people.

Don't put too much faith in the Academy Awards. It's not what it used to be. Like I said, this movie won't be remembered within a few years.

Greatly overrated.

[Banjo]

Originally Posted by nhaase

I liked the main story line, but there was too much fat in the movie. The director always has a few different stories that are told out of chronological order and are loosely connected, but the japanese girl in this was just too loosely connected, and the story w/ Brad Pitt's kids just didn't matter to the main story of Cate Blanchett getting shot. There's probably about 45 minutes to 1 hour of the movie I liked.

Check out Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Those are two other movies of his, and I especially like 21 Grams. The three stories are tightly connected, and the main characters of each meet.

I was disappointed w/ Babel, and after I watched it I was appalled that it was nominated for so many Oscars. I think they were trying to make up for not nominating 21 Grams for more awards (it only got nominated for Best Actress, Naomi Watts, and Best Supporting Actor, Benicio del Toro).

21 Grams was much, much better.

[nhaase]

Originally Posted by Banjo

Don't put too much faith in the Academy Awards. It's not what it used to be. Like I said, this movie won't be remembered within a few years.

Greatly overrated.

Yea, I don't put much faith in the Oscars. They want to be too political any more, and don't realize they don't know dick about anything, except movies (and sometimes not even that). I think everyone knew there was no way that An Inconvenient Truth would not win. Instead of the best movie, they want the best political message that aligns with what they think. However, there was no way to deny The Departed this year.

[juha]

Lets see.



1. Children growing up and the irrevocable loss of innocence.


2. Women and repressed sexuality / feelings due to loss.


3. Parents and their need to protect their siblings.


4. The kindness of strangers - or lack thereof.


5. The need for a trip, to go away purposely, a journey, as means of move for growth.


6. The proximity of death and the turning-point of desperation


7. The iconography of "Roads" as Loneliness


Now, moving aside the "hunt"/"gun" over-arch, which is quite obvious and is used to please the lesser mind that thrives more on crap like Little Miss Whatever or Crash or Chicago or other sad examples of Academy misfire, all these storylines arch all over all parts of the plot, and they are the meat and bones of the movie


Now, I'm not saying its perfect. In fact, I don't like the Blu-Ray edition AT ALL. I give it (the movie) a 7 / 10 (very good) and the BR edition a 2 / 10, at most - and as far as Rikou's acting and not deserving the nomination, well... Alan Alda didn't deserve is for Little Crap Sunshine and he got away with the oscar, the noob


Now, if only the BR edition didnt' look so crappy :-(



J.

[ProvenFlipper]

I really didn't like Babel either. To me it was just okay. It seemed like it was trying to do too much at once. Had this come out a few years ago, it might have been received better.

As far as the BD version not looking good, I'm 99% sure that's how the movie was intended to look and what we saw is the best its ever going to look. If anyone looked at the video bitrate, I never saw it drop below about 26-27mbps. Even during some almost motionless scenes, the bitrate was in the mid 30's.

[nhaase]

Originally Posted by juha

[Alan Alda didn't deserve is for Little Crap Sunshine and he got away with the oscar, the noob

J.

Alan Arkin is the actor's name who won the Oscar. Alan Alda is from M*A*S*H.

[nhaase]

Originally Posted by ProvenFlipper

I really didn't like Babel either. To me it was just okay. It seemed like it was trying to do too much at once. Had this come out a few years ago, it might have been received better.

As far as the BD version not looking good, I'm 99% sure that's how the movie was intended to look and what we saw is the best its ever going to look. If anyone looked at the video bitrate, I never saw it drop below about 26-27mbps. Even during some almost motionless scenes, the bitrate was in the mid 30's.

Innaratu's (spelling?) other movies, especially 21 Grams, look very grainy, as well. He wants them to look rough. So yes, I think the BD version is what he intended you to see.

[Banjo]

Good to see that I'm not the only one who thought this movie wasn't that great. I understood what they tried to do... I got all the messages but what people don't seem to understand is that quite a good amount of these messages end up being absolutely moronic. For instance, the scene with the border guards. It was pretty obvious they tried to smear the border guards in a bad way. Not only to mention that it's not realistic that they would pull such a stunt.

(scoff)

It ended up being too pretentious and mediocre. Like I said, independent filmmakers are better at this than the Hollywood directors in most cases. At best, 4 out of 10. Maybe 3.

Well, I think I'll rather watch 'The Royal Tenenbaums'. Now that's a movie. Even though it wasn't well-received by the audience, this movie has been building quite a reputation among the movie community over the years. It gets better every time I watch it.

[buckshot]

Originally Posted by Banjo

To be frank, I thought the Tokyo storyline was out of place. Not much of a connection there with the rest of the other stories. Oh sure, that "hunting" connection. It wasn't just believable. Plus she's not really deaf which explains her stiffness when it come to the signing. If one was fluent in signing, it would be more animated and natural-looking. I would know because I'm fluent in ASL (American Sign Language), even though I don't know Japanese Sign Language but I can tell when someone is having trouble with it.

This is just another nominated flick that won't be remembered within a few years. Nobody remember 'American Beauty'. Most people almost can't recall last year's winner, 'Crash'. Hey, who remember 'The English Patient' winning the Best Picture award? Have you thought of that movie in years before I mentioned it? Didn't think so. Thankfully, 'Babel' didn't win the Best Picture. Or 'Little Miss Sunshine'.

When you really watch it, you'll discover how simplistic and pretentious the movie is. It's not complex at all.

I guess people who don't experience multi-culturism wouldn't know any difference. The movie was totally predictable, I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen in this movie. Nothing shocking, surprising or anything close to that.

I think the only reason why people are afraid to badmouth this movie is because they may be "culturally lacking" which they are not.

I'm deaf, I come from a hearing family, people in my family use sign language, I have deaf friends, I have friends from all walks of life and more. Heck, I have tons of international friends and all that. Now, this movie... nothing human about it. Just some pseudo-intelligent know-it-all film snobs trying to appear "enlightened" on the subject.

I know what ignorance is all about and this certainly isn't it. I don't believe the US border guards would actually not believe a word of what the maid said about the children being in the desert. In real life, they'll immediately run to look for the kids instead of arresting her and taking her to the station, then wag their fingers at her for "abandoning" the kids. What a way to smear the border guards on that one.

I think people just are being pretentious and say... wow... I totally understand what we are doing wrong! We need to treat each other better and all that blah blah.

I just know when a movie is just being pretentious. They can do better than this. Movies that focus on the subject of ignorance often backfire and this is no exception.

Harsh? Well, it's just how I felt about this particular movie. I just felt it wasn't that great of a movie even though it looked great. The storylines were all loose... really loose when it come to linking the connections between all the characters. I've seen better.

wow. there's a lot there. I am not deaf so I cannor attest to that aspect of the movie. but I loved this film.

I remember american beauty, and actually just watched it last week.

as for the border patrol....I don't mean to put a political spin on this thread, but I live in san diego, ca about 30 minutes from where that part of babel is set. and I can tell you that most of the border patrol agents are self indulgent egotistical cowboy wannabes. hell I even know a few and they are pretty damn close to that. comes with their job I suppose. can't trust anyone, but a lot of them take it waaaaay to far.

rant finished.

but I do enjoy this movie. I did wonder through most of it what the connection with the japanese girl was, and it may have seemed a little forced at the end, but even her part of the story taken by itself is extremely powerful to show the loneliness and pain of people dealing with a loss. the fact that she's deaf I think was really just to set her apart and drive home the fact that she was alone. being in a club unable to hear the music, that would make me feel pretty alienated.

not intending to be an antagonist.

[crunchy]

Thinking back on it the only parts of this movie I enjoyed were the parts in Japan. Japanese culture is interesting. I especially liked the club scene in tokyo. I've got a "bat cave" home theater with 160" screen,so the club scene with my surround system blasted was really intense.

Anyway, the rest of this movie was pretentious, preachy, concieted, unrealistic, and annoying. Most of the characters seemed contrived to better set up ridiculous scenarios so that the director could force his "message" on everyone.

[buckshot]

having a cowboy in a B.P. uniform pull you over and draw his weapon and question you while you eat a minimart $1.99 rib sandwhich might make you dislike the B.P. as well. last time I ever get gas there.

kind of like the cop in crash. i've met a few of them as well.

[juha]

Originally Posted by nhaase

Alan Arkin is the actor's name who won the Oscar. Alan Alda is from M*A*S*H.

Yes!!! Totally my mistake. How could I even mistake them :-)

Alan Arkin got the oscar. My bad!



J.