The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

I agree, because he didn't fall for it --

[Show spoiler]ultimately. So glad you're permanently on board Squid! Now stop flip-flopping damnit!

Not sure what the point about the bullets facking him up is? That he'd be more likely to believe Daddy is dead?

dude, this is why I'm SOOOOO glad Bearcat reviewed this -- the endless Squid commentary on the

[Show spoiler]perv/pedophile aspects

. I may engage in artificial debate on this and advocate some innocent artistic use here, just to laugh out loud at your posts!

The bullets issue.

[Show spoiler]I am agreeing with Bear here that the kids are low on emotion. Now, lets say your theory (which you claim as fact a couple posts up ) is correct and Dad was an abuser. Smacks the kids with regularity for no reason etc. Even if Dad was a regular abuser in the past, when the gunshots started happening, the kids would have shown emotion because this was more dangerous than anything they had previously experienced. Thay would have demonstrated an elevated state of fear and panick. They didnt. They were walking audioanimatronics.

Indulge me. The Perv issue.

[Show spoiler]When the camera was acting as the eyes of the native boy, it was perfectly acceptable (and appropriate) to be scanning the girls thighs, buttocks and breasts. We are seeing what HE is looking at. However, when the native boy is a mile away, hunting, why was the camera focused incessantly on her body parts? It wasnt the native scanning her, it was the director. Those shots added nothing to the story of the curiosity and tension between the two because the boy WASNT EVEN THERE. It was a cheap effort to raise the eroticism of the film, just like the weather lady scenes that added nothing to the story.

Look, I recommended the DC of Troy because it has some excellent erotic nudity. You know I loved ROME. But the girl in Walkabout was 14 and there was way too much attention being paid to her body from the directors POV and not the native boys POV.

/

[iam1bearcat]

Breathless (netflix instant)

what a complete and total waste of my time

i'm going to hopefully keep this short because i am in no mood to think back on this film. this is certainly one i will never revisit, and have absolutely no need or urge to. safe to say, i found this film incredibly boring.

at 90 minutes you think scenes wouldn't drag and you wouldn't think the movie gives you one of those "is it ever going to end?!" feelings, but Breathless does. because it doesn't even get remotely interesting until 60 minutes in. and even then, it doesn't get much better.

there's so much talking. so much dialogue. so much... useless, annoying dialogue. there are a few bright spots where there is a smart, intelligent line of dialogue, but for the most part i was completely bored and had a hard time watching such a drawn out, realistic yes, but drawn out and exhausting scene.

and as much as i hated Michel, i started to hate Patricia even more! so then i just hated both of them. Patricia's character is genuine and realistic, i know a lot of girls who act the same way she does, so i'll give the film that as a plus, but it still doesn't make me enjoy the characters. at all.

and because the film is from the 60's (1960 i believe?) some scenes are laughably bad. especially ones that contain guns. i understand back then they didn't have much to work with, but come on. this was all "use your imagination" but the absolutely terrible acting by the guy who played Michel made this more difficult than it should have been.

very limited bright spots in a very "bleh" film for me. i was really tempted to stop watching at the 30 minute mark, but i sat, "no, i'm gonna finish this. it could always get better" but i never felt it did. ugh.

2/5

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

really?

[Show spoiler]cover his eyes?? wow, I'm glad I'm not your little brother!! You forgot to cover his nose too! Seriously though, IMO its perfectly realistic what happened -- the kid is super young and his daddy is a'cookin on the grill. Case closed for me In case its still fighting you -- try this: Ebert pointed out how the Dad is obviously a drunk and most importantly, there is an uncomfortable eerie vibe between him and the kids. LIkely history of abuse. Remember the initial apartment scene? Kids in pool and daddy drinking up in the apartment staring down at kids with psycho stare? Very eerie. It all sums up to likely abuse, IMO. THis not only solidifies why she wouldn't take her brother back to car but why there isn't much emotion throughout film -- her mind pattern (and perhaps the brothers) is "thank god that dirty old man is gone and can't hurt us anymore". Another very plausible scenario. Bottom line -- those 2 explanations (emotionally protect her brother and/or relief at death of abusing scum bag) are more likely than the alternative (go back to car, cry at dad dying -- when facts suggest otherwise)

Under "emotionally protect brother" theory:

The boy isn't sad throughout film because he thinks Dad is alive - he doesn't put it together till near end.
The girl isn't sad throughout film because she can't give off a hint that Dad is dead to brother.

Under "abusing dad " theory, they wouldn't be emotional, even after they both know he's dead.

hmm, good point about the

[Show spoiler]abuse possibility. i remember that first scene and then when the girl leaves the car, they kind of look at each other coldly, or awkwardly... or both.

so that does make sense. although i agree with what Squid said about the

[Show spoiler]bullets flying all over the place.

unless the kid thought

[Show spoiler]it was a toy gun that made sounds?

but what you wrote does make sense

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

IMO the boy is too old to fall for the

[Show spoiler]"Dad is still alive gig". Plus, the bullets-o-flying would fack him up a little, even if dad was an abuser.He'd be like "Whoa...this is the next level.

Plus the

[Show spoiler]director was a perv.

yep. agreed with the

[Show spoiler]bullets theory. although like i wrote above, maybe the kid thought the gun was just a toy that made sounds? who knows.

haha oh Squid, you

[Show spoiler]hating on the director

although i do agree.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

Breathless (netflix instant)

what a complete and total waste of my time

i'm going to hopefully keep this short because i am in no mood to think back on this film. this is certainly one i will never revisit, and have absolutely no need or urge to. safe to say, i found this film incredibly boring.

at 90 minutes you think scenes wouldn't drag and you wouldn't think the movie gives you one of those "is it ever going to end?!" feelings, but Breathless does. because it doesn't even get remotely interesting until 60 minutes in. and even then, it doesn't get much better.

there's so much talking. so much dialogue. so much... useless, annoying dialogue. there are a few bright spots where there is a smart, intelligent line of dialogue, but for the most part i was completely bored and had a hard time watching such a drawn out, realistic yes, but drawn out and exhausting scene.

and as much as i hated Michel, i started to hate Patricia even more! so then i just hated both of them. Patricia's character is genuine and realistic, i know a lot of girls who act the same way she does, so i'll give the film that as a plus, but it still doesn't make me enjoy the characters. at all.

and because the film is from the 60's (1960 i believe?) some scenes are laughably bad. especially ones that contain guns. i understand back then they didn't have much to work with, but come on. this was all "use your imagination" but the absolutely terrible acting by the guy who played Michel made this more difficult than it should have been.

very limited bright spots in a very "bleh" film for me. i was really tempted to stop watching at the 30 minute mark, but i sat, "no, i'm gonna finish this. it could always get better" but i never felt it did. ugh.

2/5

Gimmie a hug my NSE brother.

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Gimmie a hug my NSE brother.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

The bullets issue.

[Show spoiler]I am agreeing with Bear here that the kids are low on emotion. Now, lets say your theory (which you claim as fact a couple posts up ) is correct and Dad was an abuser. Smacks the kids with regularity for no reason etc. Even if Dad was a regular abuser in the past, when the gunshots started happening, the kids would have shown emotion because this was more dangerous than anything they had previously experienced. Thay would have demonstrated an elevated state of fear and panick. They didnt. They were walking audioanimatronics.

As much as this pains me to the core to say: you got me

However, big picture -- looking at the forest and not just the trees -- it still passes the basic "cred test"
On the bullets thing -- it still comes down to us using a reasonble-7-year-old-test -- we're adults simulating the thoughts of a 7 year old...disaster in the making

Indulge me. The Perv issue.

[Show spoiler]When the camera was acting as the eyes of the native boy, it was perfectly acceptable (and appropriate) to be scanning the girls thighs, buttocks and breasts. We are seeing what HE is looking at. However, when the native boy is a mile away, hunting, why was the camera focused incessantly on her body parts? It wasnt the native scanning her, it was the director. Those shots added nothing to the story of the curiosity and tension between the two because the boy WASNT EVEN THERE. It was a cheap effort to raise the eroticism of the film, just like the weather lady scenes that added nothing to the story.

Look, I recommended the DC of Troy because it has some excellent erotic nudity. You know I loved ROME. But the girl in Walkabout was 14 and there was way too much attention being paid to her body from the directors POV and not the native boys POV.

/

wow dude, I've seen this film three times and can't remember POV that well! Someone is an 8.5/10 on the "Jhiggy-Polanski perv sensitive scale"
No but seriously - great points. For some reason, I'm not bothered by it. I guess I'm too caught up and engaged to be bothered by it, or more accurately -- my perspective of the film and director is too solidified to be easily changed to

[Show spoiler]creepy and pervy

in seconds. My bias is locked in.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

Breathless (netflix instant)

2/5

Haven't seen it yet -- but have very low expectations

[Batman1980]

Avatar 5/5 all across the board, watching it one last time before I go to Minnesota tomorrow, still not sure which TV show to stick in my carry-on, leaning towards OTH.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

As much as this pains me to the core to say: you got me

However, big picture -- looking at the forest and not just the trees -- it still passes the basic "cred test"
On the bullets thing -- it still comes down to us using a reasonble-7-year-old-test -- we're adults simulating the thoughts of a 7 year old...disaster in the making

True, yet we have something to draw from. EXPERIENCE. You and I both have the luxury of having once been 7 years old, and therefore remember what was scary and what wasnt. Crazy dad shootin at me and Sis is facking scary.

I had a recent discussion with a friend about nudity in films in the USA vs the rest of the world and we ended up doing some research to answer our questions. Obviously we in the USA are more hung up about it. We wanted to know how the more liberal attitudes of other countries would affect young peoples attitudes about their bodies and sex. WELL....we had it all backwards. Its their cultures attitudes about their bodies and sex that are reflected in their cinema. I was very surprised to learn that the age of consent is only 14 in many European countries. 13 in Spain. 14 in Japan and 13 is OK if your partner isnt over 16.

So really, the director isnt a perv. I am an overly uptight Yankee.

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

Haven't seen it yet -- but have very low expectations

Keep lowering them.

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Ratatouille 1/5????????? Holy smokes.

You should see UP ASAP.

I may have been a bit harse, but yeah I didn't like it all.

Up is one I should have seen by now, I've had the bluray since its release.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by Deads3t

I may have been a bit harse, but yeah I didn't like it all.

Up is one I should have seen by now, I've had the bluray since its release.

See it now! Such an excellent movie that pretty much sets the bar for all other animated movies to aim for. Ratatouille is also a 5/5 movie for me, surprised so many people hated it.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by Deads3t

I may have been a bit harse, but yeah I didn't like it all.

Up is one I should have seen by now, I've had the bluray since its release.

Ratatouille is my least fave Pixar film as well, it fails on almost all cylinders

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Ratatouille is my least fave Pixar film as well, it fails on almost all cylinders

you should watch it again. The movie is original! Way beyond Pixar and i LOVED every minute of it!

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by tbizzle

By flexible, do you mean he's got a great range? If so, I'd agree but I wouldn't say he's the best. I'm a big Brad Pitt fan and he's definitely one of the better actors around, but take a look at the roles of actors like Sean Penn, Tom Hanks, Ralph Fiennes, Daniel Day Lewis, etc.

Thats exactly what i meant, Daniel Day has NO range, he's great but look at the roles he picks come on!!!!! Brad can play anything! so can Tom Hanks but i just like Brad Pitt more (He's cooler lol)

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

He's a very good actor and better than people give him credit for (just like Jolie), but he's nowhere near the most flexible actor. Not even top 20 for active actors.

Well the best actor's off the top of my head stay in there comfort zone, Pitt is everywhere, and i mean everywhere. I've never seen an actor do the different roles he's done except Tom Hanks, but Tom has never been a "Bad Ass" or "Alpha Male".

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by Deads3t

I may have been a bit harse, but yeah I didn't like it all.

Up is one I should have seen by now, I've had the bluray since its release.

My opinion wont matter much here I suspect, as I rank Rat highly, but I consider UP their best by FAR. I hope you enjoy it.

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Stormcrow

See it now! Such an excellent movie that pretty much sets the bar for all other animated movies to aim for. Ratatouille is also a 5/5 movie for me, surprised so many people hated it.

He preaches the TRUTH!

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by lDlisturb3d

Thats exactly what i meant, Daniel Day has NO range, he's great but look at the roles he picks come on!!!!! Brad can play anything! so can Tom Hanks but i just like Brad Pitt more (He's cooler lol)



Well the best actor's off the top of my head stay in there comfort zone, Pitt is everywhere, and i mean everywhere. I've never seen an actor do the different roles he's done except Tom Hanks, but Tom has never been a "Bad Ass" or "Alpha Male".

I thought Tom was tough enough in both Road to Perdition and in Saving Private Ryan.

[Deadset]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

My opinion wont matter much here I suspect, as I rank Rat highly, but I consider UP their best by FAR. I hope you enjoy it.

It seems that when the 1.5 and 2.5 yr olds go to sleep, we just watch adult movies b/c all day we see Nick Jr and the like

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Stormcrow

I thought Tom was tough enough in both Road to Perdition and in Saving Private Ryan.

I see where you're coming from but he wasnt an Alpha Male. Tom Seizmore was the Alpha!