I'm with Mom. I can't remember any of the fakokta details of these endless films either. And it is torture to sit through a 2 plus hour film. What's so hard about limiting films to 90 minutes, tops?
I was so sure I wrote a rant about why Inception sucked but I can't find it.
I suppose that any particular *part* was fine. But it was a cheat the way that, oh, Pan's Labyrinth was a cheat. (DiCaprio was the one stuck inside his own head, the little girl was dreaming and is now dead... cheats.)
"None of it was real" was fresh and good when it was Ahnold in Total Recall... all the reviews gushing about how *intelligent* Inception was made me want to throw dishes. How is "it was all a dream" intelligent? That's the sort of thing a Dungeon Master does when he accidentally kills you all... oops... and then you wake up! Um... at the Inn in that town you were in four weeks ago... So, um, you're ALL alive but Elrick there, sorry but you didn't really loot that good armor so it's back to the rusty studded leather for you.
I saw the movie. The special effects were good. I forget the plot, but it seemed plausible while it lasted. Scifi movies should be judged on their special effects not on such extraneous events as plot, character development, and emotional truth. Special effects and a hot girl in tight clothes are the essential selling points......The Transformer movies have the dumbest imaginable plots. It works to the movies' favor. Plot, witty dialogue, or whatnot would just distract the viewer from the really cool special effects.
William's pretty right on about special effects. I liked the 'hook' that the sense of falling backward in a dream wakes you up.
You jogged my memory, though. I was bothered by an inconsistency in the plotting, but I can't remember what it was, but it occurred to me while the two agents were in the room talking after they'd arrested(?) someone. Ooops, never mind, that was Minority Report lol.
As far as Total Recall, I didn't get the memo till years later it was all a dream. I thought they did start life on Mars :( So there was no wiggle room for an alternate interpretation?
I think that Total Recall left it open to not be a dream, that he really was on Mars. But it was meant to be either way so I decided that he was on Mars.
I don't think that Inception could have been either way. It was meant to be open to interpretation and had that little teaser at the end the *maybe* it was a dream... but I think it's like Pan's Labyrinth that way. So much of his actions make no sense, make him a monster, if they were done in the real world and you actually think about how many lives he threw away on his little obsession.
Another movie that did it... Transcendence. Are they dead? Or did they transcend?
I like William's take on it. I don't quite agree though that SciFi doesn't need plot or character development or emotional truth. What I think happens, though, is that so often what seems to happen is that the directors and who-all get distracted from the essential question and become enamored of their own cleverness.
Take Inception as "this really happens"... that would have been great. There really were "dens" where one could jack-in to this other level of reality, and all of it was real. Inception as an exploration of the main character trapped within his own mind could have been an interesting exploration of the Id, the darkness and selfishness of this person... that would have been good. Transcendence would have been better had the writers not shied away and been willing to keep at that essential question of the location of our soul. Or that silly running through portal doors like Scooby-doo one that was supposed to be about the limits of free will but somehow lost its way. (Likely between doors someplace.)
I think it was okay Inception ended in waking up from a dream/addiction. Gratifying he gets to see his wife again. Very sensible of her to jump. But at the end I was pulling for the top to not stop spinning.
Do I have all this right, it's been a while since I've seen it. Now I feel like watching it again.
Last night I think I might have watched most of The Darjeeling Limited (2007). I'm not sure because at some point I told my wife I've had enough and I'm off to bed. She stayed up to watch the rest of it, I'm fairly certain.
I think that might have been the third or fourth movie by Wes Anderson I've seen. I'm really not sure.
You know how you remember little scraps of stuff from when you were a little kid? I remember my Aunt Jean came over to visit, once, which was a pretty rare event even though she lived only a mile or so away. She and my mother were comparing notes on cigarettes and my aunt gave her opinion on Kool brand cigarettes, as follows: "You could smoke one of those and not even know it."
That's pretty much the way I feel about Wes Anderson movies.
Total Recall had the perfect Möbius strip of a plot......Some scifi movies are enhanced by clever plots. The first one and a half Matrix movies were more involving because of the underlying conceit of the plot. But it got old when the film makers took themselves too seriously. They weren't presenting a profound religious truth. They were making a scifi movie. Still, those few scifi movies like the first Matrix, Star Wars, 2001, Total Recall, Blade Runner where the writing upstages the special effects are some of the most memorable and haunting movie going experiences.......I just saw Transformers. It took me three tries to get through it. It's remarkably stupid. Still, the special effects hold your attention. When one of the robots gets stabbed, he bleeds green icky matter. That's kind of imaginative and attention grabbing. How stupid can a movie be and still be entertaining. Transformers delicately balances on that fine line.
What's that sci-fi with Bruce Willis where his wife stays in bed and plugs in? Everybody does. That's a very stupid plot because everyone would be like a bunch of stoners never getting showers, eating too much, not getting exercise.
16 comments:
Oooooo... Inception so *derserved* that! Ugh, I hated that movie so bad.
I'm with Mom. I can't remember any of the fakokta details of these endless films either. And it is torture to sit through a 2 plus hour film. What's so hard about limiting films to 90 minutes, tops?
My attention span is now down to somewhere between 8 and 12 seconds.
Maybe I should tell the doctor about that.
First, Synova and ricpic are so square.
Second, I HAVE MY MOTHER'S EYES.
Third, it's okay to say firstly, secondly, and thirdly.
Fourth, I did not like the very, very, very end.
I was so sure I wrote a rant about why Inception sucked but I can't find it.
I suppose that any particular *part* was fine. But it was a cheat the way that, oh, Pan's Labyrinth was a cheat.
(DiCaprio was the one stuck inside his own head, the little girl was dreaming and is now dead... cheats.)
"None of it was real" was fresh and good when it was Ahnold in Total Recall... all the reviews gushing about how *intelligent* Inception was made me want to throw dishes. How is "it was all a dream" intelligent? That's the sort of thing a Dungeon Master does when he accidentally kills you all... oops... and then you wake up! Um... at the Inn in that town you were in four weeks ago... So, um, you're ALL alive but Elrick there, sorry but you didn't really loot that good armor so it's back to the rusty studded leather for you.
I saw the movie. The special effects were good. I forget the plot, but it seemed plausible while it lasted. Scifi movies should be judged on their special effects not on such extraneous events as plot, character development, and emotional truth. Special effects and a hot girl in tight clothes are the essential selling points......The Transformer movies have the dumbest imaginable plots. It works to the movies' favor. Plot, witty dialogue, or whatnot would just distract the viewer from the really cool special effects.
Yes Synova, you did write a post about Inception.
William's pretty right on about special effects. I liked the 'hook' that the sense of falling backward in a dream wakes you up.
You jogged my memory, though. I was bothered by an inconsistency in the plotting, but I can't remember what it was, but it occurred to me while the two agents were in the room talking after they'd arrested(?) someone. Ooops, never mind, that was Minority Report lol.
As far as Total Recall, I didn't get the memo till years later it was all a dream. I thought they did start life on Mars :( So there was no wiggle room for an alternate interpretation?
I think that Total Recall left it open to not be a dream, that he really was on Mars. But it was meant to be either way so I decided that he was on Mars.
I don't think that Inception could have been either way. It was meant to be open to interpretation and had that little teaser at the end the *maybe* it was a dream... but I think it's like Pan's Labyrinth that way. So much of his actions make no sense, make him a monster, if they were done in the real world and you actually think about how many lives he threw away on his little obsession.
Another movie that did it... Transcendence. Are they dead? Or did they transcend?
I like William's take on it. I don't quite agree though that SciFi doesn't need plot or character development or emotional truth. What I think happens, though, is that so often what seems to happen is that the directors and who-all get distracted from the essential question and become enamored of their own cleverness.
Take Inception as "this really happens"... that would have been great. There really were "dens" where one could jack-in to this other level of reality, and all of it was real. Inception as an exploration of the main character trapped within his own mind could have been an interesting exploration of the Id, the darkness and selfishness of this person... that would have been good. Transcendence would have been better had the writers not shied away and been willing to keep at that essential question of the location of our soul. Or that silly running through portal doors like Scooby-doo one that was supposed to be about the limits of free will but somehow lost its way. (Likely between doors someplace.)
I think it was okay Inception ended in waking up from a dream/addiction. Gratifying he gets to see his wife again. Very sensible of her to jump. But at the end I was pulling for the top to not stop spinning.
Do I have all this right, it's been a while since I've seen it. Now I feel like watching it again.
Last night I think I might have watched most of The Darjeeling Limited (2007). I'm not sure because at some point I told my wife I've had enough and I'm off to bed. She stayed up to watch the rest of it, I'm fairly certain.
I think that might have been the third or fourth movie by Wes Anderson I've seen. I'm really not sure.
You know how you remember little scraps of stuff from when you were a little kid? I remember my Aunt Jean came over to visit, once, which was a pretty rare event even though she lived only a mile or so away. She and my mother were comparing notes on cigarettes and my aunt gave her opinion on Kool brand cigarettes, as follows: "You could smoke one of those and not even know it."
That's pretty much the way I feel about Wes Anderson movies.
Owen Wilson has really grown on me.
Hey, chick, I can see Wilson in the new True Detective series.
It now occurs to me that the brand was Salem, not Kool.
We weren't black, after all.
Glad I corrected that.
These things are important.
Total Recall had the perfect Möbius strip of a plot......Some scifi movies are enhanced by clever plots. The first one and a half Matrix movies were more involving because of the underlying conceit of the plot. But it got old when the film makers took themselves too seriously. They weren't presenting a profound religious truth. They were making a scifi movie. Still, those few scifi movies like the first Matrix, Star Wars, 2001, Total Recall, Blade Runner where the writing upstages the special effects are some of the most memorable and haunting movie going experiences.......I just saw Transformers. It took me three tries to get through it. It's remarkably stupid. Still, the special effects hold your attention. When one of the robots gets stabbed, he bleeds green icky matter. That's kind of imaginative and attention grabbing. How stupid can a movie be and still be entertaining. Transformers delicately balances on that fine line.
Darjeeling Limited is a pretty good movie. I'm assuming Anderson directed I Heart Huckabees, and maybe The Royal Tannenbaums.
I'm partial to road trip movies (Darjeeling).
What's that sci-fi with Bruce Willis where his wife stays in bed and plugs in? Everybody does. That's a very stupid plot because everyone would be like a bunch of stoners never getting showers, eating too much, not getting exercise.
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