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Oscars 2006


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Y'know, arch, liberal-hating doesn't have to be the only thing you use to define yourself. Branch out a little.

it isn't liberal hating.

 

My problem is when an actor, any actory, tries to shove their ideology down my throat. I don't care if it's left or right. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to be preached to.

 

Also, I find it annoying that when I go pay money to be entertain, I have to sit through a 3 hour infomercial on the latest left-leaning or right-leaning political agenda. Sadly, there are very few movies being made that don't have this political bullshit littered all over it.

 

It's not about Liberalism vs. Conservatism. I don't give a fuck about that while I'm trying to ENJOY A MOVIE, which tends to be a bit difficult when ideology is being force fed down my throat.

 

here's a thought: make a movie that entertains and leave your god damned ideology out of it. Nobody wants to hear it.

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alright...so, which ones were shoving an agenda down your throat? im guessing syrianna, good night and good luck, not sure about capote....crash? If youre saying there's just too much politics in recent movies, and you did highlight a few you enjoyed that didnt have that angle (except Munich, im guessin), i guess i can see your point, just dont see how it makes those movies horrible.

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Are you saing a MAJORITY of movie made know a days are politcal? If I look at my local listings...

 

16 Blocks (PG-13, 105 min.)

Aquamarine (PG, 109 min.)

Date Movie (PG-13, 80 min.)

Eight Below (PG, 112 min.)

Failure to Launch (PG-13, 97 min.)

Find Me Guilty (R, 125 min.)

Firewall (PG-13, 100 min.)

The Hills Have Eyes (2006) (R, 105 min.)

The Libertine (R, 114 min.)

The Pink Panther (2006) (PG, 92 min.)

The Shaggy Dog (PG, 98 min.)

She's the Man (PG-13, 105 min.)

Ultraviolet (PG-13, 85 min.)

V for Vendetta (R, 131 min.)

 

...most of those are political?

 

Secondly, are you saying most of these politcal messages are well hidden in the marketing strategies, so that when you want to avoid politics, you usually get blindsided? Like, were you surprised Crash and Good Luck had political messages? If you're sick of movie that challenge you have politcal messages, why are you watching these movies?

 

I really can't talk to someone about this when it appears that, to him, having a social or political message disqualifies something from being good art.

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Jax, you're taking what I'm saying and running with it blindly.

 

Allow me to be more direct so as to not have words put in my mouth.

 

1. My problem with this is the same problem a majority of people have. No one likes being preached to.

 

Let me give you an example: Lord of War. I enjoyed that movie. It was entertaining...until the last ten minutes of it. The last ten minutes were unnecessary, and turn off many, many people.

 

And of your local listings, it's nothing that's going to make 'best picture', unless Tim Allen has somehow become an acting God.

 

Look at the Best Picture category for this year, and name me one movie that didn't have a political message.

 

My point, again, is simple: no one wants to be brainwashed. No one wants to be preached to. That's not why people watch movies. If they want political agenda, they'll watch political commentary. I don't go to the movies to get political commentary, I go to be entertained.

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Brokeback Mounain did not have a political message. The media circus over the subject matter made it something it was not. It's an art house film made out of a short story. If you've read any of Proulx's work, you'd know that "uncomfortable" sexual themes come up in her books often. They made a movie out of her book The Shipping News, and despite the stellar cast, it did nothing to show what the book was really about, nor did it delve deeply in to the troubling sexual themes. For example: Rampant sexual abuse, incest, adultery, and yes, homosexuality.

 

As far as the other films go, here it is: Art doesn't always have to have a message, but to many, myself included, it is richer when it does. Film is a medium that is largely reflective of the time period in which it was made. We are in a time of deep political turmoil. People create art based on what is on their mind and in their heart, and in Hollywood, based on what sells. I am not surprised, nor annoyed to see so much political agenda in films this year. People are thinking about these things. But for the record: Brokeback Mountain has no political agenda. It's just a story.

 

If you simply want to be entertained, then go see King Kong.

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You bring up something I should have covered:

 

I cannot speak for Brokeback because I haven't seen it. So to be fair, I'll give it the benifit of the doubt, and do what I usually do with the MSM: ignore it.

 

But a movie can have meaning, be good, and not bash you over the head with political ideology. See, Comrade, I disagree about our time being one of 'political turmoil.' I would just call the past few years 'politically polarized' or 'charged'.

 

But then it comes down to this: nobody liked the film showed. It did horribly in the box office. The people who you make the art for reject it.

 

Yet a few people in some ivory tower decide it's a 'masterpiece', or Oscar Worthy.

 

Why?

 

If the answer were one of pure artistic critique, I would accept it. But it isn't.

 

Again, I think movies should move away from trying to push a point of view. They may actually make something that isn't, well, mediocre.

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I think our giving to much credit to grosses as a measure of artistic merit. Did alot fo people see Good Luck? No, but did the majority o the people that did see it not like it? I don't think so. Most people don't watch every movie that comes out, that doesn't mean the ones they don't watch aren't good.

 

The people that make a movie that grosses the most don't need a statue to reward them just for the success of teh movie. They already have a mountain of money for their reward. The oscar is a different measure of success.

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HA! :humping: Once again I am uncertain about you arch. You present facts like a realist, but all your views tend toward the idealist. You overestimate the overall intelligence of the public at large. Also, you have to take in to account the average age and sex of the average movie-goer. I'm not sure what the statistics are, but it seems that the majority of people who go to the movies are 13-20. Excepting of course children's movies. Most people in that age range are more likely to go see the latest Farrely Brothers' or Will Ferrel comedy, or a romantic comedy. Therefore, those films gross the highest. Maybe I sound like an old lady, but frankly, I don't want a bunch of teenagers who think fart jokes are the height of hilarity judging art. I'm not saying I don't like some of those comedies, but frankly I wouldn't consider them to be art. I've worked in films like that, and they are a lot of fun, but no one is trying to win an Oscar when they make those movies.

 

And everyone I know who's seen all the movied DID like them. Albeit they thought some were over rated (i.e Crash, Brokeback) but good none the less. Personally I thought art wise, Brokeback was the best of the bunch. However the media blew it up so much people are sick of it without even seeing it.

 

Out of curiosity, what did you think about Walk the Line? Perhaps we can find some common ground in a bi-opic. Or Capote?

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I thought Capote was, well, Capote. The film was pretty much like him: loud and eccentric. I think it captured his essence well enough.

 

To be honest, Walk the Line didn't 'wow' me much, either. It had some good acting in it, and the saving grace that the people singing Cash's songs sing it better than he does, but that's about it.

 

There was just something missing this year in the movie industry.

 

Again, I keep returning to 'mediocre'.

----------------------------------------------------

BTW, Comrade....even though you are currently winning in the 'Playboy Myspace' thread, you have yet to submit a set of pictures like the other gals.

 

When should we be expecting yours, hmm?

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the people singing Cash's songs sing it better than he does,

 

i let the "memoires of a geisha" thing slide, but between this comment and your claiming gladiator as better than braveheart? youre off my secular-end-of-the-year-holiday card list. Joel.

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I was not aware there was a play boy contest arch. But you are talking to the girl who managed to beat top rated actresses out for the role of Tulip O'Hare in the imagined Preacher film without having submitted any pictures what-so-ever.

 

Anyway, I guess when I figure out how to properly use all these computer related thing-a-majigs I'll get some pictures up. You have no idea how technologically retarded I am. I am constantly outsmarted by even the most basic machines. A calculator met a grisly end at my hands once. Christ, I always have to humble myself and post stuff like this. People never believe me...it's always "well surely you can follow instructions?" or "Well, common sense kind of has to win out in this situation." But the answer is alas, no. When it comes to anything mechanical, electrical, or digital, I simply do not get it.

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