Topic: Evan Has Bad Taste In Movies: A Radio Production

[Karl Castaneda #2]

"Batman Begins is a terrible Movie," he says!

There was a lot of discussion in the last thread about Evan's taste in movies - Stan and I took him to task. And yeesh - it lasted way too long.

[ShyGuy]

Holy Crap.

Thank you Evan, for telling me how to be entertained by a movie. Until you came down from your gilded throne, I did not realize I was watching movies completely wrong for all these years! Please, lecture us some more! Tell us how wrong we are.


Holy Crap.

[Svevan]

I'm not actually a pretentious movie snob - I just play one online.

[Arbok]

The man loves Kurosawa films, that's like a +10 on the "movie taste scale" right there...

[Deguello]

Just because you like a movie doesn't mean it's good!

Kurosawa sucks!  ICE BURN.  LEARN ENGLISH, NOOB.

[Pryopizm]

Feel free to comment on this podcast at God's Favorite Blog, home of God's Favorite Podcast.

[Kairon]

Edit: Now cross-commented at the link!

I'm a Christian bale fan, and I'll admit that I didn't see anything special at all about Batman Begins. *shrug* I guess you're expectations would've had to have been lowered by one...two... horrible batman movies to see this as the second coming of Bruce Wayne.

When it comes to Batman, Tim Burton and Michael Keaton > All

Listening now...

Bourne Supremacy was AWESOME!!! It WAS a modern male action masterpiece, you're so awesome!

OMG... this is so cool... omg...I need to buy this movie now...

You tell 'em Evan! Who are these guys? Haven't they gone to Film Lit class?

Taxi Driver was cool... hmmm. haven't seen Raging Bull... should I put it on my Netflix?

...LOL...

urgh, I would also call Gangs of New York a Mess, but I wouldn't call it a beautiful one at all.

hmmm.... I saw Gosford Park but...what did I miss?

Oh, Evan! Yay! Just because a movie doesn't appeal to us personally doesn't mean it isn't good, it just means we can't love it! And vice versa!

Ooh! Diss Fight Club! It was an okay movie, but... yeah!

... bah, getting bored...

WHAT?!?! You're a Star Trek fan? ARRRRGHHH DIE DIE DIE! STOP JUSTIFYING IT! SAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!! ARRRRGGGHHH!!! The movies are BAD, not THIS SIDE of bad! ARARGDHBKJQ NSbKFMWn jkDNwhnNkjjIKFAMhfmDa...

I can watch the Star Trek movies and they don't suck... but they're NOWHERE near anything "this side of good."

Hmm...Elephant added to Netflix now.

mmmm... wax poetic Evan! You're awesome! We are always analyzing movies and their grammar and context and content and meaning as we watch them.... ah, but that's right. You can't expect everyone to be able to drink bitter medicine and then take the time to break down its flavor structure. For something to first be of worth to a human being, it must first convince that human being of its usefulness. We can't discount the value of entertainment: we're engineered to be fascinated with things that are important to our lives, especially with movies.

Being entertained is nature's way of telling us to pay attention when our lives aren't in danger.

OOH! Alfondo Cuaron! Added...

Bah, saw Fearless... eh... it was ok. I get the whole "let's make a constructive martial arts movie" thing, but it didn't really catch me.

HAHAHAHA! BATMAN BEGINS! TEAR IT DOWN EVAN! OMG...you're so right! There really was something off about that movie... I enjoyed it being a Christian Bale fan, but aside from that it was...eh...

WHAT? EVAN! You're not looking forward to Nightmare Before Christmas? I am CRY!

Eh, War of the World WAS sort of good, sort of eh, but it wasn't as bad as a normal action movie would've been... and yeah, that son should've been dead. AND Dakota Fanning WAS the most amazing thing in that movie that she's been in a long time.

*gasp* Cate Blanchett! Instant watch! Cate Blanchett is like... wow.

Hmm.. Sin City... yeah, Sin City was really laudable for its presentation, but the content there? Hmmm...nihilistic about its nihilism? Hmm....

Ah... M. Night Shyamalan... hehehe...what does Evan have to say? Hmm...haven't seen that many Hitchcock films really... I think I may see what you're saying in that Shyamalan takes formula and executes it, has decent twists, but hasn't shown anything really eternal...

Tim Burton.../cry He was so great... we need a new era of good Tim Burton.... And no Planet of the Apes! ARGH!

HUH? Explain to me how Match Point is a masterpiece??!?!?!

OOH! OOH! I have a request for the "Opinion on a Director!" TWO!

Strictly Ballroom's Baz Lurhmann... by the way you guys ROCK for playing the Credits theme "Bolero" from his Moulin Rouge. ROCK!

Aaaaaaand... Broadcast News' and As Good As It Gets' James L. Brooks?

Bah, I just want to suck your mind like the pustulent little blighter I am. You don't have to answer if you don't want to.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com  

[Pryopizm]

I'm actually impressed you were able to point out Bolero, Kairon.

[Pryopizm]

Also, I'm a big fan of Baz Lurhmann's Strictly Ballroom and Moulin Rouge.  However, I refuse to watch Romeo and Juliet on principle.

[TrueNerd]

Both the Bourne movies are the best action movies to come out in quite some time.

Bringing Out the Dead is okay. I haven't seen it in a while, but I remember the whole "Nicholas Cage leaving a wake of death behind him" point was made a few too many times. I did really love the scene in the ambulance with Janie Jones blaring though.

Fight Club is overrated. I don't think it's awful, but it's not nearly as good as everyone says. Seven is much better.

I've never seen a Roger Altman movie. I should probably get on that. Any reccommendations for a first one to watch, Evan?  

American Dad = Teh Suck.

I... liked Batman Begins. It was mindlessly entertaining. I didn't like how the movie felt it needed to explain three whole times what would happen if the train reached city hall at the end or Katie Holmes, but for popcorn flicks, it did what it did well. I'm assuming you're referring to Memento as Nolan's one hit?

War of the Worlds was decent. I loved how the movie eschewed the usual trappings and conventions of crappy disaster flicks (see Day After Tomorrow). And yeah, it was surprisingly gory. Munich was the better Spielberg flick of 2005 though.

Sin City is absolutely beautiful. I love that style.

Yay! You like Kill Bill!

Hitchcock > Shyamalan. Accept no substitues.

Godfather? Apocalypse Now? C'mon Karl!

I've never seen the big deal with Burton.

Annie Hall, Manhattan, Sleeper FTW. And yeah Melinda and Melinda was alright, if only because it proved that Will Ferrel can do a great Woody Allen impersonation.

Everyone scores millions of bonus points for agreeing that they love Wes Anderson, which I believe is the only thing you agreed on? And Stan is right, City of God is PHENOMENAL.

Scrubs is funny, everything else he does sucks. Garden State was complete trash. I thought we were past the cliche of figuring your life out at the airport, but apparently not.


I really freaking liked that podcast. Evan, if you have some general movie suggestions I would love to hear them and learn your ways. Do you have a newsletter?  

[Kairon]

Yes, American Dad = TEH SUCK, I need to watch more Woody Allen movies, all I've seen are Melinda & Melinda, Match Point, Everything you wanted to know about sex but were too afraid to ask, and my favorite so far, Mighty Aphrodite.

And oh yes, City of God is sorta mind-blowing. The Director of that did an amazing job, absolutely amazing, which is why I HAD to watch "The Constant Gardener" when they chose him to direct that movie (also I'm a Ralph Fiennes fan..."Sonnenshine!").

Oh, and I own BOTH Moulin Rogue soundtracks Pryopizm! Hehehe... Romeo & Juliet is okay but... it IS more or less exact shakespeare language after all... Bahz Lurhmann just has tons of fun with the idea. Maybe too much fun, lol.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[UltimatePartyBear]

I fail to see how believing in the absolute truth that Batman Begins is terrible has anything to do with one's taste in movies.  That's just one of the universe's fundamental laws, like gravity or the speed of light.  That's not to say it's impossible to like it.  Liking a movie doesn't always have anything to do with whether or not it's good.

[Caliban]

I like Tim Burton's touch on the 1st and 2nd Batman, and Edward Scissor-Hands.
I didn't like Kill Bill that much, the first volume was ok, but the last movie was...I don't know how to explain it, it just didn't impress me.
There are alot of movies you guys/gals mention that I have no idea they exist, that's in part because I don't go to the movies these days.
I find it funny that alot of movies that I like are movies either from early 90's and older, just as an example I mention Arachnophobia to my younger working colleagues and they are like "Ara-kne-fobi-a? What is that?".
I love Star Trek, the movies aren't that great, specially the ones with the next generation crew, and even the ones with the old crew. People are better off just to watch the TV series.
Mad Max? Ronin? First Blood (Rambo)? Alien/Aliens? Anyway, I could keep on listing what I think are good movies, but are they really good movies? Does it really matter? I'm the one that is experiencing it, so why should I ever care what other people think of it.
There is no absolute truth.

[mantidor]

I never could like the godfather movies, they were so boring (I admit my first contact with them was when I was very, very little, and they just seemed like one of those "grownup" movies, a feeling I haven't been able to shake off).

[Deguello]

Moulin Rouge is god awful.  Could the Cameraman PLEASE just focus on ONE actor/actress for more than a split second?  Is that too much to ask?  I swear they banned that movie from Japan because it gave people seizures.  By the way, it also sucks and is a bad movie.  All musicals basically are.  Like Rent.  Rent sucks.  In fact any movie where the characters unplausibly burst out into a musical number sucks.  CHEERS  

[Kairon]

Yeah, I'm a Bahz Lurhmann fan and even I would agree that Moulin Rogue is...eh...over the top. Lurhmann really goes all out for that sort of stuff, and its more of a theatrical production than a movie.

However, if you think all musicals are bad, please, please tell me you've watched Strictly Ballroom or Lars von trier's Dancer in the Dark before making that sweeping assessment. I hold neither Moulin Rouge, Chicago, nor other modern hollywood musicals in high esteem... but GOD.

Strictly Ballroom seems to me a good example of how to do a musical in a modern day setting (no one actually sings in it, incidentally, but there are wonderful sequences that use music almost as if it were a musical, beyond even the power a regular soundtrack possesses).

And OH MY GOD LARS VON TRIER BJORK AND DANCER IN THE DARK OH MY GOD THAT MOVIE WRENCHES AT THE HEART WATCH IT OH MY GOD. Also a musical, though the movie is so powerful that you're likely not to remember it as one.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Bill Aurion]

Hitchcock > Shyamalan. Accept no substitues.

Um, these two are so different in their filming (Classical Cinema versus more Modernist approach) and their overall themes that they aren't comparable at all...

[Spak-Spang]

Hmmm,  I didn't read all of this.  I will simply say Batman Begins is not a horrible movie...but it is not perfect.

The writing and the direction were very good.  But the action scenes were horrible, and felt confusing.  Luckly it didn't rely on fighting to be good.  Hopefully, the sequel will continue in the tradition of focusing on the story and characters...but also provide better directoring in the action sequences.


EDIT:

Fight Club is not overrated.  And Seven is NOT better than Fight Club.  Seven has an overly preachy message at the end.  There is no debate of the meaning of the film...and it all leads to a moment that although incredibly powerful is completely predictable.

Fight Club on the other hand has many levels of discussion and debate.  It does not leave you with just one meaning...but several topic points to discuss and ponder life.  For instance, Fight Club can be a highly religious film for others.  I look at Tyler Durden as a Christ Figure in the movie...but in an "anti-Christ" way.  Meaning...that he brings salvation to all, and opposses living in the world like Christianity does.  Except, he doesn't bring salvation through redemption, but through twisted understanding of damnation.

And a plus for Fight Club actually beign funny throughout the movie, and not just intense.

[Deguello]

"However, if you think all musicals are bad, please, please tell me you've watched Strictly Ballroom or Lars von trier's Dancer in the Dark before making that sweeping assessment."

Sucks.  Sucks.

[KnowsNothing]

I liked Music Man

[wandering]

When I first saw Batman Begins, I said I liked the original better. The camera made my physically ill during the fight scenes. Katie Holmes sucked. I didn't like the fact that the supposedly self-made Batman had everything from his training to his batmobile handed to him on a silver platter. Also, I thought it was too realistic in comparison to Burton's, who, I thought struck the perfect balance between gritty and comic book-y. In so doing, Burton created some really iconic, evocative magery.

...But then, I watched Batmen Begins on DVD, and I think it's become my favorite of the two. For one thing, the fight scenes don't make me sick on the small screen, and I can appreciate what he was trying to do with them now. But more importantly, Nolan's film excels where a Burton film never can: the characters. Everyone in the film feels like a real person. It's enough to make it hard to go back to Jack "I don't really understand this character so I'll just chew up the scenery and bask in the praise that'll be heaped upon me afterwards" Nicholson.

But anyway. Arguing over whether Batman or Batman Begins is better is pointless when they both pale in comparison to this.

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
Hitchcock > Shyamalan. Accept no substitues.

Um, these two are so different in their filming (Classical Cinema versus more Modernist approach) and their overall themes that they aren't comparable at all...

Sure they are. One sucks and the other doesn't.  

[Pryopizm]

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
Hitchcock > Shyamalan. Accept no substitues.

Um, these two are so different in their filming (Classical Cinema versus more Modernist approach) and their overall themes that they aren't comparable at all...

Part of understanding the conversation requires listening to the source.  In the podcast, Evan mentions that Shamalamadingdong made the comparison himself.  That he's essentially the new Hitchcock.

[Bill Aurion]

I'd love to see the context of him saying that, because his style is different from Hitchcock's...Unless he meant he was like Hitchcock in the way they both dislike the studio system and carved out their own little niches...

"Sure they are. One sucks and the other doesn't."

More like YOU suck...Both rock!

[Kairon]

Quote
Originally posted by: Deguello
"However, if you think all musicals are bad, please, please tell me you've watched Strictly Ballroom or Lars von trier's Dancer in the Dark before making that sweeping assessment."

Sucks.  Sucks.

You...YOU... PHILISTINE WITH INTERNALLY CONSISTENT BELIEFS!

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Hostile Creation]

I've seen so many movies recently.  About thirty or so movies (new movies, not including re-watches) in a month and a half, maybe less.

I may comment on this later.  Perhaps I should do my own movie podcast.