Unpopular Movie Opinions: Part III

[Jay H.]

Historically accurate or not, 300 just isn't entertaining to me. I've watched it twice - once in IMAX, once on Blu-ray - and it feels very empty. I wouldn't be interested in an Escape from New York remake anyway, but there was a period of time where Gerard Butler was rumored to star in it. Cottage cheese is more dynamic than Butler.

[Damon1281]

Originally Posted by snipemonkey

[Show spoiler]"Not be a snowflake?" Jesus. The mealy-mouthing gymnastics people will go through to minimize and soft-pedal fascistic inhumanity as mere "toughness" always amaze me. And, yes, if your only familiarity with Spartan society came from this movie one would certainly get the impression that the Spartans were blameless victims of the inhuman (literally, if you believe this movie) invasion. Study a bit about REAL Spartan society and what ACTUALLY went on during the Greco-Persian wars then get back to me. This movie is one lie after another from end-to-end. The ONLY things it gets correct is that there was a place known as Sparta and there was a place known as Thermopylae. Other than that...

And I don't care about the fact that the movie couches the whole story as a hyperbolic campfire tale told to get all the dude-bros into a murderous lather. To me that just makes it even more objectionable because we're being asked to get excited at what is -- even by the film's own admission -- racist, war-mongering lies. It's very effective propaganda. And that's the problem. I stand by what I wrote, absolutely -- Heinrich Himmler would have blown a load in his pants watching this movie.

That's the problem, though: The movie has to lie through it's teeth about REAL Spartan society/ethics in order to portray them as "good guys." It's like making a movie about Nazis where you omit all of the noxious, horrifying things they actually lived and believed and claim they were, in fact, the righteous underdogs who were given a raw deal. It isn't merely lying, it's flat obscene.

I would love to see that Nazi movie you describe.

[KubrickKurasawa]

Why do people care so much about Zakk Snyder or 300 or anything he's done so much?? I just associate him with slow-motion.

[snipemonkey]

Originally Posted by KubrickKurasawa

Why do people care so much about Zakk Snyder or 300 or anything he's done so much?? I just associate him with slow-motion.

I agree that he wouldn't be worth the mental space if his movie wasn't such sick, pernicious bullsh*t. YMMV

Plus: This thread is titled "Unpopular Movie Opinions" sooooooo...

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by KubrickKurasawa

Why do people care so much about Zakk Snyder or 300 or anything he's done so much?? I just associate him with slow-motion.

Show me where on the doll Zack Snyder touched you.

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by snipemonkey

That's the problem, though: The movie has to lie through it's teeth about REAL Spartan society/ethics in order to portray them as "good guys." It's like making a movie about Nazis where you omit all of the noxious, horrifying things they actually lived and believed and claim they were, in fact, the righteous underdogs who were given a raw deal. It isn't merely lying, it's flat obscene.

The Nazis are still just within living memory. The Spartans were thousands of years ago and more primitive in their human social evolution. Not even comparable IMO.

[BudBaxter]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

Historically accurate or not, 300 just isn't entertaining to me. I've watched it twice - once in IMAX, once on Blu-ray - and it feels very empty.

I like 300, but it is pretty much the dictionary definition of 'Style over Substance'. & that's fine with me.

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by snipemonkey

That's the problem, though: The movie has to lie through it's teeth about REAL Spartan society/ethics in order to portray them as "good guys." It's like making a movie about Nazis where you omit all of the noxious, horrifying things they actually lived and believed and claim they were, in fact, the righteous underdogs who were given a raw deal. It isn't merely lying, it's flat obscene.

lol

The movie isn't portraying them as good guys. It literally opens with them throwing newborn babies into a pit. And the look on Leonidas face as he's about to die is "oh shit, this hyper masculine chest thumping is bullshit." And that's basically what the movie is saying. Sorry you don't get it.

[snipemonkey]

Originally Posted by drush9999

The Nazis are still just within living memory. The Spartans were thousands of years ago and more primitive in their human social evolution. Not even comparable IMO.

Dear god... this forum...

[Mikezilla3k]

Originally Posted by Damon1281

I would love to see that Nazi movie you describe.

Black Book is probably the closest you'll get:




SPEAKING OF PAUL VERHOEVEN, Hollow Man is better than The Invisible Man 2020. Least Kevin Bacon is more menacing than Great Value Billy Loomis.

[moreorless]

Originally Posted by snipemonkey

"Not be a snowflake?" Jesus. The mealy-mouthing gymnastics people will go through to minimize and soft-pedal fascistic inhumanity as mere "toughness" always amaze me. And, yes, if your only familiarity with Spartan society came from this movie one would certainly get the impression that the Spartans were blameless victims of the inhuman (literally, if you believe this movie) invasion. Study a bit about REAL Spartan society and what ACTUALLY went on during the Greco-Persian wars then get back to me. This movie is one lie after another from end-to-end. The ONLY things it gets correct is that there was a place known as Sparta and there was a place known as Thermopylae. Other than that...

And I don't care about the fact that the movie couches the whole story as a hyperbolic campfire tale told to get all the dude-bros into a murderous lather. To me that just makes it even more objectionable because we're being asked to get excited at what is -- even by the film's own admission -- racist, war-mongering lies. It's very effective propaganda. And that's the problem. I stand by what I wrote, absolutely -- Heinrich Himmler would have blown a load in his pants watching this movie.

To be fair I think Synder really was more interested in bare chested men fighting monsters for an hour and I'm sure a lot of people viewing it really only care about that but the original work is I think reflective of Millers rather questionable politics.

At the time it was made you could argue I spose it slipped under the radar as such dodgy readings of history were really more confined to a small minority of the far right but in the years since they have very much come back into fashion, see 100,001 alt right net posters with an avatar and/or name of a Greek philosopher/statesman.

[snipemonkey]

Originally Posted by moreorless

To be fair I think Synder really was more interested in bare chested men fighting monsters for an hour and I'm sure a lot of people viewing it really only care about that but the original work is I think reflective of Millers rather questionable politics.

At the time it was made you could argue I spose it slipped under the radar as such dodgy readings of history were really more confined to a small minority of the far right but in the years since they have very much come back into fashion, see 100,001 alt right net posters with an avatar and/or name of a Greek philosopher/statesman.

I agree and, just to be clear, if someone likes this movie (or any other) that's their business and I don't (and shouldn't, period) have anything to say about that. I've seen no indication in any of his films that Snyder has any particular coherent political thoughts period, so I wouldn't be surprised if his only thinking when making the movie was "Dude, this will look so f**kin' kewl!!!!" More's the pity given what he's (possibly unconsciously) wrought. Miller's another situation altogether. That guy's a straight nutter, top to bottom. But who specifically is responsible is beside the point. The finished product has to speak by and for itself. And what it has to say is very ugly and disturbing indeed.

My only point to begin with was that there's bending the truth and then there's snapping it over your knee and then taking a giant sh*t on it. 300, IMO, is an unambiguous case of the latter. And I wouldn't even care except that its propagandistic agenda (consciously intended or not) is so noxious and the untruths so bald-faced that it deserves mention. Truth matters and shouldn't have some sort of "sell by" date. And, to your point, the fact that the Alt-Right has adopted this movie and its fascist, testosterone-drunk, macho death-worship WWE vision of morality and history is not only not surprising but completely predictable given its unambiguous approval of the movie-Spartans' contempt for everything Other -- the freakish, monstrous Persians, those supposedly 'boy-loving' Athenians (oh, god, don't even get me started on THAT hypocrisy) and anyone else who doesn't agree with their dick-waving bluster. The ONLY reason they're the heroes is because everyone else who stands against them is, by default, slandered as an inhuman monster. That's pretty much the definition of fascist propaganda.

This would all be irrelevant if it was a mere fantasy taking place in an imagined world with fictional characters but 300 wants to have its "Just a Movie" cake and eat it, too.

Anyway... I've said my piece and I'm done with this subject here.

[HipsterTrash]

Originally Posted by scarletlion

I seem to be in a minority when it comes to my opinion of the film 'Everything Everywhere all at once'. It was relentless. Superfast paced with just so much in your face craziness, short edits, screen movement that I zoned out for pretty much the middle hour of the film. The good bits were really good, they were just drowned in so many stop start images that took me out of the film. There's no jeopardy. There's no drama. Anything can happen and anything does happen. I couldn't wait for it to end.

After finally seeing the film and hearing so much damn praise for it I found myself loving the film. I was ready to be on the hate train for it yet somehow the movie won me over and had me crying multiple times.

[Brutalizer79]

Originally Posted by snipemonkey

I agree and, just to be clear, if someone likes this movie (or any other) that's their business and I don't (and shouldn't, period) have anything to say about that. I've seen no indication in any of his films that Snyder has any particular coherent political thoughts period, so I wouldn't be surprised if his only thinking when making the movie was "Dude, this will look so f**kin' kewl!!!!" More's the pity given what he's (possibly unconsciously) wrought. Miller's another situation altogether. That guy's a straight nutter, top to bottom. But who specifically is responsible is beside the point. The finished product has to speak by and for itself. And what it has to say is very ugly and disturbing indeed.

My only point to begin with was that there's bending the truth and then there's snapping it over your knee and then taking a giant sh*t on it. 300, IMO, is an unambiguous case of the latter. And I wouldn't even care except that its propagandistic agenda (consciously intended or not) is so noxious and the untruths so bald-faced that it deserves mention. Truth matters and shouldn't have some sort of "sell by" date. And, to your point, the fact that the Alt-Right has adopted this movie and its fascist, testosterone-drunk, macho death-worship WWE vision of morality and history is not only not surprising but completely predictable given its unambiguous approval of the movie-Spartans' contempt for everything Other -- the freakish, monstrous Persians, those supposedly 'boy-loving' Athenians (oh, god, don't even get me started on THAT hypocrisy) and anyone else who doesn't agree with their dick-waving bluster. The ONLY reason they're the heroes is because everyone else who stands against them is, by default, slandered as an inhuman monster. That's pretty much the definition of fascist propaganda.

This would all be irrelevant if it was a mere fantasy taking place in an imagined world with fictional characters but 300 wants to have its "Just a Movie" cake and eat it, too.

Anyway... I've said my piece and I'm done with this subject here.

Holy F*** dude, it's just a movie. That much ranting and raving about how bad it is just makes me want to go watch it again. The first time I watched this movie was when it came out and I was in UAE at the time and all those people in the theater seemed to like it and didn't find it racist. O'well, what isn't considered racist here in the West nowadays.

[snipemonkey]

Moff's Law: As comments continue in a discussion of pop culture, the probability of someone saying "why do you have to analyze it? it's just a movie/cartoon/book!" approaches 1.

[Scottie]

The 2017 version of The Mummy is not nearly as bad as the critics made it out to be. It was not perfect by any means, but it was very entertaining.

It's a shame the film performed poorly at the box office, resulting in the scrapping of the planned "Dark Universe" of films.

[BluBonnet]

In its own way it had more artistic integrity than the Brendan Fraser series... would have liked to see where the series went if they hadn't cancelled.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by Scottie

The 2017 version of The Mummy is not nearly as bad as the critics made it out to be. It was not perfect by any means, but it was very entertaining.

Totally watchable film.

Everything now has to be the best or worst.

[T26S]

People tend to forget the 300 movie is an adaptation of Frank Miller's comic (also known as 300) published in Dark House Comics. It was never touted to be an accurate account of the Spratans. All the unnecessary hate should be directed to actual true historcial movies particularly biographcial movies which omit facts and tell half-truths to order to sell a partciualrly narrative.

[jess1581]

Originally Posted by BluBonnet

In its own way it had more artistic integrity than the Brendan Fraser series...