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henrygandorf

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25 minutes ago, TrashMaster G said:

I recently watched DLU and was underwhelmed.

Mars Attacks played for 100% comedy and Dr. Strangelove played it 100% straight.  This could have been a good movie if it had gone either direction, but it was too busy being condescending to those it mocked to be truly funny (there were funny bits, for sure) and as a result could not be completely straight and as good as Dr. Strangelove.

Hollywood loves to condescend to "flyover country" bumpkins and then pat itself on its back for being so clever.  That's why this got nominated for Best Picture.  If it wins, I'll puke.

It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't all that.

I agree with most of your posit.  However, I think the nudges towards absurdist were used as filmmaking techniques.  Not necessarily commentary on "flyover country."  Shouldn't get best picture, we agree.  

But if you hang back, sometimes Hollywood's thinking actually presents itself more cleanly in "the opposite."  They thought when they made "Syriana", it was gonna be too complex for us to figure out, and that was their point.  That the geopolitical dominos of a waning O&G landscape was so complex with so many players trying to prolong the inevitable, that we couldn't possibly understand it and therefore would assume that this beautiful cinematic experience was a lesson to us in some form or fashion.  I didn't find it condescending at all.  It was incredibly easy to figure out if you just follow the right character (kinda like "The Usual Suspects, but this time with Oil & Arabs).  They fuck up when they try to get to clever, I think we agree on that.  What's curious to me though is when they try to dumb it down for us, that's when I get confused...at least me personally.  Like big summer popcorn flick "Avatar."  Yes, there's an environmental message in there, like "Syriana."  But there are two huge question marks at the start of "Avatar" that confused the fuck out of me.  Unlike Syriana, which I got as both a script and as a climate message instantly, Avatar's climate message stumped me because I was too busy with the major plot holes (not the science or the space travel or any of that fictional shit) to absorb the proper message.  

When Hollywood tries to be clever with indoctrination, they fail.  As you pointed out.  But they also have another gaping flaw.  

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18 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I agree with most of your posit.  However, I think the nudges towards absurdist were used as filmmaking techniques.  Not necessarily commentary on "flyover country."  Shouldn't get best picture, we agree.  

But if you hang back, sometimes Hollywood's thinking actually presents itself more cleanly in "the opposite."  They thought when they made "Syriana", it was gonna be too complex for us to figure out, and that was their point.  That the geopolitical dominos of a waning O&G landscape was so complex with so many players trying to prolong the inevitable, that we couldn't possibly understand it and therefore would assume that this beautiful cinematic experience was a lesson to us in some form or fashion.  I didn't find it condescending at all.  It was incredibly easy to figure out if you just follow the right character (kinda like "The Usual Suspects, but this time with Oil & Arabs).  They fuck up when they try to get to clever, I think we agree on that.  What's curious to me though is when they try to dumb it down for us, that's when I get confused...at least me personally.  Like big summer popcorn flick "Avatar."  Yes, there's an environmental message in there, like "Syriana."  But there are two huge question marks at the start of "Avatar" that confused the fuck out of me.  Unlike Syriana, which I got as both a script and as a climate message instantly, Avatar's climate message stumped me because I was too busy with the major plot holes (not the science or the space travel or any of that fictional shit) to absorb the proper message.  

When Hollywood tries to be clever with indoctrination, they fail.  As you pointed out.  But they also have another gaping flaw.  

Solid post.  I like your take.

Another point that occurs to me... I wonder if anyone in the Hollywood bubble really gets the irony of their roasting the social media obsession.  Is there a segment of society that is more hyper-focused on and plays to the social media world more consistently than celebrities?  Yeah, I understand that Hollywood celebrities are only a portion of that population, but still... If they are pretending they are all that different from other celebrities they are fooling themselves.

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On 3/1/2022 at 9:38 AM, Lobo said:

Like big summer popcorn flick "Avatar."  Yes, there's an environmental message in there, like "Syriana."  But there are two huge question marks at the start of "Avatar" that confused the fuck out of me.  Unlike Syriana, which I got as both a script and as a climate message instantly, Avatar's climate message stumped me because I was too busy with the major plot holes (not the science or the space travel or any of that fictional shit) to absorb the proper message.  

Go watch Ferngully.

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On 3/1/2022 at 9:07 AM, TrashMaster G said:

I recently watched DLU and was underwhelmed.

Mars Attacks played for 100% comedy and Dr. Strangelove played it 100% straight.  This could have been a good movie if it had gone either direction, but it was too busy being condescending to those it mocked to be truly funny (there were funny bits, for sure) and as a result could not be completely straight and as good as Dr. Strangelove.

Hollywood loves to condescend to "flyover country" bumpkins and then pat itself on its back for being so clever.  That's why this got nominated for Best Picture.  If it wins, I'll puke.

It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't all that.

It's not mocking "flyover country" it's mocking idiots who eschew scientific evidence and blow off what we're facing. Whether they're in middle America or not. Plenty of those people on the coasts and in Florida for sure. 

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On 3/1/2022 at 9:07 AM, TrashMaster G said:

I recently watched DLU and was underwhelmed.

Mars Attacks played for 100% comedy and Dr. Strangelove played it 100% straight.  This could have been a good movie if it had gone either direction, but it was too busy being condescending to those it mocked to be truly funny (there were funny bits, for sure) and as a result could not be completely straight and as good as Dr. Strangelove.

Hollywood loves to condescend to "flyover country" bumpkins and then pat itself on its back for being so clever.  That's why this got nominated for Best Picture.  If it wins, I'll puke.

It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't all that.

If you think this movie was being condescending to you, you're probably a moron

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