The Official Review Thread of 2015

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anonymous1980
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by anonymous1980 »

Big Magilla wrote:I can understand the video-game mentality that leads the younger generation that grew up on them to appreciate the style of the film, but I don't get why seasoned critics who know better would consider this to be one of the best films of the year unless they are pandering to the younger set or want to stay relevant to the pack and not see their contracts terminated by their ever younger on-line employers.
I'm no gamer but I loved the film. I saw it twice in the theater and will be purchasing the Blu-ray. You say "video game mentality" that appeals to a younger generation but personally as I saw it, I found the film is quite old-fashioned and the way George Miller staged and edited his scenes has actually more in common with Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd than with today's modern action film or video game. It expertly infuses that type of old-fashioned style with modern sensibility which makes it a cut above and beyond most other action flicks. This film is in essence pure cinema in that it tells its story VISUALLY. It built its world from the ground up and allows its viewers to piece together the plot and what's at stake instead of stopping the film to tell you. This is in addition to overt themes and subtext of feminism, sex slavery, child soldiers, oppressive patriarchy and environmental awareness.

Yes, it is essentially still an action movie. But personally, I'd nominate an excellent action movie over a mediocre Oscar-bait film anytime.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by Big Magilla »

I can understand the video-game mentality that leads the younger generation that grew up on them to appreciate the style of the film, but I don't get why seasoned critics who know better would consider this to be one of the best films of the year unless they are pandering to the younger set or want to stay relevant to the pack and not see their contracts terminated by their ever younger on-line employers.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by Uri »

anonymous1980 wrote:This is crazy because A LOT of critics and film people who all have film credentials and their wits about them have rated this highly including Annette Insdorf and John Waters who both placed it in their year-end "best-of" lists. Not to mention ALL the critics in Sight & Sound, Cahiers du Cinema, and Film Comment where they collectively ranked Mad Max: Fury Road highly in their respective year-end lists.
Seems like a perfect example of herd mentality to me. It's the cool thing to do so one unconsciously (or so I hope) feels obliged to join the masses. And the fun thing is that smart enough people can make an intellectual (or intellectual like) arguments to back up their stand - and then one sees the actual film, one gets the rational or the thought mechanism of the universal raves, and still one sees that said film and whatever limited merit it has and one must wonder. I don't say this is the case here - I haven't seen this new Mad Max - but I do remember Gravity.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by Precious Doll »

ITALIANO wrote:
anonymous1980 wrote:[ad hominem

If ever, it would be "ad homines"- if we want to speak Latin, let's speak it right (I'm afraid, by the way, that most who write about films today don't know anything about Latin, and I'm not sure that it's a good thing). But then I didn't really attack people - I attacked ideas, and a view of cinema which is I think very wrong. Also, anonymous, it's not like writing for Film Comment or Sight and Sound - especially today - makes one holy, unquestionable. I have a brain - good or bad - and I use it. Maybe you should do the same..?
As a long time reader (since the 1970s) of Sight and Sound and Film Comment I can confirm that standards have been dropping steadily over the last few years. So much so with Sight and Sound that I no longer read the reviews.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by ITALIANO »

anonymous1980 wrote:[ad hominem

If ever, it would be "ad homines"- if we want to speak Latin, let's speak it right (I'm afraid, by the way, that most who write about films today don't know anything about Latin, and I'm not sure that it's a good thing). But then I didn't really attack people - I attacked ideas, and a view of cinema which is I think very wrong. Also, anonymous, it's not like writing for Film Comment or Sight and Sound - especially today - makes one holy, unquestionable. I have a brain - good or bad - and I use it. Maybe you should do the same..?
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by anonymous1980 »

ITALIANO wrote:
I feel almost embarassed writing about this movie, because it is so ostentatiously lacking in content that I don't know what I should write about. Had I been younger, I would have taken time to read (and comment on) the reviews which call it a masterpiece. I don't have that energy anymore - but, clearly, only so-called critics with no knowledge of not only art history but also film history can really consider it a meaningful, award-worthy effort, rather than an expertly made - though ultimately exhausting - video-game of a movie. But then maybe it's video-ganes which these critics grew up with - not necessarily the actual video-games, but a video-game mentality, a view of life which is emotional on the surface and safe deep-inside (this, of course, prevents them from the risks of true, profound emotions). Enjoying this movie I can even understand - one CAN enjoy summer blockbusters, it's not a crime and after all emotions ARE subjective. But mistaking one's enjoyment for something objective - or, as some do, for Art - is so wrong, and from so many points of view. Children can do that; adults should have a different distance from this kind of things.
This is crazy because A LOT of critics and film people who all have film credentials and their wits about them have rated this highly including Annette Insdorf and John Waters who both placed it in their year-end "best-of" lists. Not to mention ALL the critics in Sight & Sound, Cahiers du Cinema, and Film Comment where they collectively ranked Mad Max: Fury Road highly in their respective year-end lists.

It's fine if you didn't like it. It's fine if you don't think it's Best Picture Oscar-worthy. But I think borderline ad hominem attacks on people who disagree will just make you look silly.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by mlrg »

CalWilliam wrote:
ITALIANO wrote:
I feel almost embarassed writing about this movie, because it is so ostentatiously lacking in content that I don't know what I should write about. Had I been younger, I would have taken time to read (and comment on) the reviews which call it a masterpiece. I don't have that energy anymore - but, clearly, only so-called critics with no knowledge of not only art history but also film history can really consider it a meaningful, award-worthy effort, rather than an expertly made - though ultimately exhausting - video-game of a movie. But then maybe it's video-ganes which these critics grew up with - not necessarily the actual video-games, but a video-game mentality, a view of life which is emotional on the surface and safe deep-inside (this, of course, prevents them from the risks of true, profound emotions). Enjoying this movie I can even understand - one CAN enjoy summer blockbusters, it's not a crime and after all emotions ARE subjective. But mistaking one's enjoyment for something objective - or, as some do, for Art - is so wrong, and from so many points of view. Children can do that; adults should have a different distance from this kind of things.
THIS is what I was longing to read since I saw Mad Max: Fury Road. Thank you, Marco. I feel relieved.
x2
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by taki15 »

ITALIANO wrote: Now I just pity you.
I assume that's a pretty common sentiment in the life of a haughty blowhard.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by CalWilliam »

ITALIANO wrote:
I feel almost embarassed writing about this movie, because it is so ostentatiously lacking in content that I don't know what I should write about. Had I been younger, I would have taken time to read (and comment on) the reviews which call it a masterpiece. I don't have that energy anymore - but, clearly, only so-called critics with no knowledge of not only art history but also film history can really consider it a meaningful, award-worthy effort, rather than an expertly made - though ultimately exhausting - video-game of a movie. But then maybe it's video-ganes which these critics grew up with - not necessarily the actual video-games, but a video-game mentality, a view of life which is emotional on the surface and safe deep-inside (this, of course, prevents them from the risks of true, profound emotions). Enjoying this movie I can even understand - one CAN enjoy summer blockbusters, it's not a crime and after all emotions ARE subjective. But mistaking one's enjoyment for something objective - or, as some do, for Art - is so wrong, and from so many points of view. Children can do that; adults should have a different distance from this kind of things.
THIS is what I was longing to read since I saw Mad Max: Fury Road. Thank you, Marco. I feel relieved.
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light". - Dylan Thomas
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by ITALIANO »

taki15 wrote:
Well, I don't know about the others but that would be a first for you.
You are SO right. It took time to see through you. And I am really sorry. If only I had understood you before... Now I just pity you.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by taki15 »

ITALIANO wrote:
taki15 wrote:
I don't know man. I mean it's your life after all.
Yes taki15, yes, don't worry, we all understand...
Well, I don't know about the others but that would be a first for you.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by ITALIANO »

taki15 wrote:
I don't know man. I mean it's your life after all.
Yes taki15, yes, don't worry, we all understand... You can come here whenever you feel frustrated and desperate. We know. Life is tough for you, but we are always here for you.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by taki15 »

ITALIANO wrote:
taki15 wrote:
...said the haughty blowhard.
Sad, isn't it? That someone's life can be so miserable I mean...
I don't know man. I mean it's your life after all.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by ITALIANO »

taki15 wrote:
...said the haughty blowhard.
Sad, isn't it? That someone's life can be so miserable I mean... But I am glad that I can give yours a meaning, taki15. Must be a relief for you.
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Re: The Official Review Thread of 2015

Post by taki15 »

ITALIANO wrote:
taki15 wrote:
ITALIANO wrote:I think I've heard a mosquito...
And I think I've heard a blowhard spewing some pretentious malarkey.
But let's not make a fuss about that.
What one can't understand always seems pretentious...
...said the haughty blowhard.
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