Sparta
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This thread is pretty much for everyone out there whose ever watched an enormously popular film and thought "What the **** was all that hype about?".
For films, Donnie Darko and Into The Wild are two films that perpetually shit me. I dont think they're bad films, but they sure as hell aren't worth their hype and praise in my eyes.
For a start, Donnie Darko's plot is so convoluted and non-sensical that its amazing this film was even green-lighted in the first place. Its got more plot-holes than swiss cheese, some pretty bad acting from otherwise decent actors and its paced awkwardly as well. Its saving grace is Richard Kelly's direction, and Frank the Bunny. A lot of people will argue that its charm comes from its plot based around time-travel, sure i'll grant that. But think about it. It doesn't make any ****ing sense at all, and if it weren't for the world ending on a certain date in the film, no one would have any ****ing idea were the film was heading, not even Richard Kelly. I don't think Richard Kelly even knew what the **** he was writing either and apparently Southland Tales echoes that sentiment, although i haven't seen that.
Its higher on Imdb's Top 250 then Scarface, Mystic River, Letters From Iwo Jima and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Its nowhere near as good as any of those films, yet its cult fanbase propels it higher. Lousy cult films.
As for Into The Wild. Most of my beef from this comes from Sean Penn's direction, which is pretty bad. Count how many times he uses zooms in the film. He uses zooms more than any other director out there and he doesn't seem to know why they stopped using them and everyone has moved onto dolly shots in the first place. Not to mention the pacing is really off. The first half drags like anything, where as the second half moves along at 3 times the speed of the first. He keeps breaking the fourth wall and it ruins all the atmosphere he's spent time building up and maintaining during dramatic scenes. If he wasn't the high profile star he is and this were an indie film by a newcomer, it would've been extremely lucky to have seen the distribution it got and even more lucky considering Sean Penn's amateur (by comparison to the rest of the industry) directorial skills.
As for TV shows... well my only beef is that Boston Legal and Desperate Housewives win awards after awards, and The Wire has only gotten a single nomination for an emmy when its so much better than everything else on tv that it should be a criminal. No pun intended.
For films, Donnie Darko and Into The Wild are two films that perpetually shit me. I dont think they're bad films, but they sure as hell aren't worth their hype and praise in my eyes.
For a start, Donnie Darko's plot is so convoluted and non-sensical that its amazing this film was even green-lighted in the first place. Its got more plot-holes than swiss cheese, some pretty bad acting from otherwise decent actors and its paced awkwardly as well. Its saving grace is Richard Kelly's direction, and Frank the Bunny. A lot of people will argue that its charm comes from its plot based around time-travel, sure i'll grant that. But think about it. It doesn't make any ****ing sense at all, and if it weren't for the world ending on a certain date in the film, no one would have any ****ing idea were the film was heading, not even Richard Kelly. I don't think Richard Kelly even knew what the **** he was writing either and apparently Southland Tales echoes that sentiment, although i haven't seen that.
Its higher on Imdb's Top 250 then Scarface, Mystic River, Letters From Iwo Jima and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Its nowhere near as good as any of those films, yet its cult fanbase propels it higher. Lousy cult films.
As for Into The Wild. Most of my beef from this comes from Sean Penn's direction, which is pretty bad. Count how many times he uses zooms in the film. He uses zooms more than any other director out there and he doesn't seem to know why they stopped using them and everyone has moved onto dolly shots in the first place. Not to mention the pacing is really off. The first half drags like anything, where as the second half moves along at 3 times the speed of the first. He keeps breaking the fourth wall and it ruins all the atmosphere he's spent time building up and maintaining during dramatic scenes. If he wasn't the high profile star he is and this were an indie film by a newcomer, it would've been extremely lucky to have seen the distribution it got and even more lucky considering Sean Penn's amateur (by comparison to the rest of the industry) directorial skills.
As for TV shows... well my only beef is that Boston Legal and Desperate Housewives win awards after awards, and The Wire has only gotten a single nomination for an emmy when its so much better than everything else on tv that it should be a criminal. No pun intended.
