ysbreker

Movie/TV recommendations

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That sounds pretty fucking dark. I'm not sure I want that much hurt to be put in my brain. It's enough to know that it happens in real life without having it forced into me.

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Dark is OK, if it has a point. I routinely cite the Vengeance Trilogy as a testament to this. Everything could use a little humor, I think, but dark is OK when handled in a mature and interesting manner.

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I am avoiding Precious like the Bubonic plague. I'm with Scrobbs here: seeing that sort of thing, I don't know, I wouldn't want those images, those themes in my head. I'm too sensitive for that I guess.

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So what is the point behind Precious?

To clarify a little, I know of people things like this have happened to in real life (lot of friends who work in mental health in Leeds), with no happy ending etc. - life just carries on, leaving them a mental ruin. I have very little desire to see a film in which it happens.

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So what is the point behind Precious?

To clarify a little, I know of people things like this have happened to in real life (lot of friends who work in mental health in Leeds), with no happy ending etc. - life just carries on, leaving them a mental ruin. I have very little desire to see a film in which it happens.

I get the feeling, from Ebert's review, that it's not going to happen. I don't know. I'll tell you when the movie finally arrives at this side of paradise.

Edited by Kroms

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So what is the point behind Precious?

To clarify a little, I know of people things like this have happened to in real life (lot of friends who work in mental health in Leeds), with no happy ending etc. - life just carries on, leaving them a mental ruin. I have very little desire to see a film in which it happens.

Last week Fresh Air had an interview with the director of Precious in which he said

that Precious ends up leaving her abusive mother and taking back her baby.

So it's not entirely bleak.

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The fact that this movie is being championed by Oprah and Tyler Perry makes me think that a) it can't have anything but an uplifting ending, B) there will be a lot of gratuitous, torturous pathos on the way there, and finally, c) it will be the kind of actor-driven, actor-glorifying movie with little to say besides. Something like, for example, This Is England or Monster.

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The fact that this movie is being championed by Oprah and Tyler Perry makes me think that a) it can't have anything but an uplifting ending, B) there will be a lot of gratuitous, torturous pathos on the way there, and finally, c) it will be the kind of actor-driven, actor-glorifying movie with little to say besides. Something like, for example, This Is England or Monster.

I've not seen Monster, but I'm interested that you characterize This is England as actor-driven in the same sense as a Tyler Perry film. I didn't get that from it, really.

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I've not seen Monster, but I'm interested that you characterize This is England as actor-driven in the same sense as a Tyler Perry film. I didn't get that from it, really.

This is England is not like a Tyler Perry film, nor do I expect Precious to be like a Tyler Perry film.

Because it is a Oprah & Tyler Perry present film with a happy ending, I suspect it will not be a disturbing mindfuck like something by Todd Solondz (which is what I thought it would be when I saw the first trailers), but a sappy—if extreme—drama.

Because I don't have high hopes for the story, and the acting is getting a lot of good press, I suspect it will be like Monster and This Is England, two movies that had pretty solid, emotional acting and relatively meh stories.

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This is England is not like a Tyler Perry film, nor do I expect Precious to be like a Tyler Perry film.

Because it is a Oprah & Tyler Perry present film with a happy ending, I suspect it will not be a disturbing mindfuck like something by Todd Solondz (which is what I thought it would be when I saw the first trailers), but a sappy—if extreme—drama.

Because I don't have high hopes for the story, and the acting is getting a lot of good press, I suspect it will be like Monster and This Is England, two movies that had pretty solid, emotional acting and relatively meh stories.

Ah ok, I think I both misread your comparison and misunderstood your implication of "actor-driven."

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From what I've heard Precious is actually a confidence booster? Sort of? It's about someone who's been crapped on by life but is an amazing person. A select few people notice this and try to get her to be... victorious? I cant think of the right word.

So, dark and 'mature' in a lot of ways, but also courageous and uplifting?

I haven't seen it so I guess I cant say, thats just what I picked up from a couple reviews. The critics are kind of beside themselves about it.

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From what I've heard Precious is actually a confidence booster? Sort of? It's about someone who's been crapped on by life but is an amazing person. A select few people notice this and try to get her to be... victorious? I cant think of the right word.

So, dark and 'mature' in a lot of ways, but also courageous and uplifting?

I haven't seen it so I guess I cant say, thats just what I picked up from a couple reviews. The critics are kind of beside themselves about it.

On last week's Filmspotting podcast, the guys said that the emotional impact and devastation was nearly equal to that of Antichrist. Take that as you will, but my reading was that the uplifting element of it was certainly existent though not nearly consistent.

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Antichrist is where we see Willem Dafoe in his bare ass, don't we?

On an unrelated note, Lars von Trier is a hack.

Carry on.

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On an unrelated note, Lars von Trier is a hack.

Carry on.

How is that unrelated? He made that movie, so it's quite related.

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I just came from the movies by the way. It was a twofer, by which I mean that I paid for a single ticket, but just snuck into another movie when the first one was done. That was the first time I ever did something like that.

The movie I paid for was This Is It, which I was suckered into believing would be halfway decent. But it was tremendously boring and failboat. Even through an ironic Michael Jackson-is-crazy lens, it doesn't offer anything spicy. At the end it gets downright creepy when Michael becomes all religious, like it's a big sect.

The movie I snuck into afterwards was Astroboy. I had no expectations, and it was just a fun kid's movie. Had some pretty amusing scenes. Obviously no Pixar.

I might go to Pirate Radio too, soon. That was The Boat That Rocked in Europe, half a year back. They've rebranded it with an emphasis on the AMERICAYN aspects of the film. So now it's no longer 'British DJ's go onto a boat to fuck the British government', it's 'An American DJ comes to the rescue of his British colleagues to fuck the British government'. See what they did there?

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I might go to Pirate Radio too, soon. That was The Boat That Rocked in Europe, half a year back.

Has the film been redited too? If it hasn't then avoid it and if it has then probably avoid it anyway. That movie looked amazing but actually sucked balls.

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Has the film been redited too? If it hasn't then avoid it and if it has then probably avoid it anyway. That movie looked amazing but actually sucked balls.

Yeah, they took their time (apparently, quite some time!) to re-edit it completely. The reviews from the US are now saying it's pretty good. I'm kind of interested in watching the two versions to see how they changed it.

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Dark is OK, if it has a point. I routinely cite the Vengeance Trilogy as a testament to this. Everything could use a little humor, I think, but dark is OK when handled in a mature and interesting manner.

Vengeance Trilogy as in Old Boy and the rest? Mature?

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Vengeance Trilogy as in Old Boy and the rest? Mature?

Mature as in picturing corridor hammer slaughtering maybe ?

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How is that unrelated? He made that movie, so it's quite related.

Tru, but his hackiness has nothing to do with Willem Dafoe's bare ass.

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Sad to hear The Boat That Rocked sucked. I really liked the premise and trailer. I might give Pirate Radio a chance anyway. They gave me a free T yesterday, so it'd be rude not to ;)

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