Controversial film opinions

[Loik V credern]

De Niro as a career criminal is my favourite De Niro, find him convincing at it. Ronin, The Score too. He's most convincing to me as an ex cop bounty hunter in Midnight Run though. I don't find De Niro scary or unsettling when he plays bad guys. He has that worn detachment needed to have a look of a criminal who will walk away when any job becomes too dangerous, always an intelligence or thinking about things in his pauses.

 

I watched A Perfect Murder last night, a film I wouldn't be sure anyone has seen, Michael Douglas again as a wealthy stockbroker type businesman, somehow even more satan like. Interesting how some actors just become perfect for certain roles. You have Viggo Mortenson playing the painter and he now could play the stockbroker, but Douglas would never fit the painter really. 

[Gabe]

33 minutes ago, Loik V credern said:

 

I think it turns into a tv movie the more it continues. Compare the ending to the direction and tone of the beginning, like two different films. I think it transitions so seamlessly and was how it always intended to end so no one is disappointed when watching it. I think it's a great late night film but not something that cinematic for large parts of it. I love Douglas' performance though and most of his interactions and I can't think of any other film with this office worker having a breakdown taking it out on society story? It's relatable yet there's so few films about it? 

I started responding to pk's post by saying the film transitions into something else, like From Dusk Till Dawn, but not quite so stark as that switchup.

 

The initial bit is about building sympathy for Douglas and his situation - and who didn't enjoy the breakfast scene? It was the downtrodden fighting back and you wanted to root for him.

 

But then you discover he's actually a pretty awful person and it becomes a flip of wanting Duval to stop him and the film loses a lot of its heart.

[ZOK]

It’s just a trashy movie with a decent budget, and really nothing more than that.

[PK]

Yeah I think it's just that I remembered it as a tense, violent psychological thriller about a man losing his own sanity in a city gone mad but it's actually just a B-movie with a decent concept and a couple of good scenes

[SeanR]

17 minutes ago, PK said:

Yeah I think it's just that I remembered it as a tense, violent psychological thriller about a man losing his own sanity in a city gone mad but it's actually just a B-movie with a decent concept and a couple of good scenes

some people think it’s a right-wing revenge-wank-fantasy…

[hungry joe]

Manhunter is the only Lecter film worth watching.

The Rock is too jingoistic and serious to be an awesome classic like Con Air.
 

[Sabreman]

I like the idea of a Heat that isn't two and a half hours long, and maybe I should watch LA Takedown... but those trailers only reinforce the idea that it's the school play version. Tics or no, I'll take Pacino and De Niro on screen any day over Scott Plank and uh... the other guy, who come across like your mates quoting the later film.

[ZOK]

I think they’re both better than De Niro and Pacino. That’s part of the reason it’s a better film.

[squirtle]

20 hours ago, Loik V credern said:

 

I think it turns into a tv movie the more it continues. Compare the ending to the direction and tone of the beginning, like two different films. I think it transitions so seamlessly and was how it always intended to end so no one is disappointed when watching it. I think it's a great late night film but not something that cinematic for large parts of it. I love Douglas' performance though and most of his interactions and I can't think of any other film with this office worker having a breakdown taking it out on society story? It's relatable yet there's so few films about it? 

It's not as violent, but Office Space has similar themes, only it's a much better film than Falling Down.

[Festoon]

1 hour ago, squirtle said:

It's not as violent, but Office Space has similar themes, only it's a much better film than Falling Down.

 

Loses it's way in a similar fashion, though.

[Gabe]

I always thought Office Space was massively overrated. As a comedy, it's not very funny, as a drama it lacks any depth and as a slice of corporate American life, well, I don't know, perhaps that is a bit more on the nose.

[Nick R]

14 minutes ago, Gabe said:

I always thought Office Space was massively overrated. As a comedy, it's not very funny, as a drama it lacks any depth and as a slice of corporate American life, well, I don't know, perhaps that is a bit more on the nose.

 

No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.

[Gabe]

1 hour ago, Nick R said:

 

No. No, man. Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked sayin' something like that, man.

 

To be honest, I barely remember it, having only seen it once many, many years ago. I assume that is a quote from the film?

[Nick R]

8 minutes ago, Gabe said:

To be honest, I barely remember it, having only seen it once many, many years ago. I assume that is a quote from the film?

 

Yeah, from this bit:

 

 

 

[Gabe]

On 31/08/2022 at 10:35, Gabe said:

I always thought Office Space was massively overrated. As a comedy, it's not very funny, as a drama it lacks any depth and as a slice of corporate American life, well, I don't know, perhaps that is a bit more on the nose.

I wasn't intending to, but I have re-watched this tonight (as I was looking through Prime, saw it was leaving soon and thought of this thread.)

It really isn't good. I didn't laugh at all, the cast has no chemistry and it takes more than half the film before the main plot starts. At least it was quite short, I suppose.

[mushashi]

That's why it's a cult classic, and not an actual classic. It's only revered by a small amount of people, while most people say IDGI.

 

But I think that applies to every single one of Mike Judge's films, though I haven't seen Extract, which is supposedly a companion piece to Office Space.

 

The only thing I remember vividly about it is Jennifer Aniston and her stupid workplace rules.

[SeanR]

1 hour ago, mushashi said:

That's why it's a cult classic, and not an actual classic. It's only revered by a small amount of people, while most people say IDGI.

 

But I think that applies to every single one of Mike Judge's films, though I haven't seen Extract, which is supposedly a companion piece to Office Space.

 

The only thing I remember vividly about it is Jennifer Aniston and her stupid workplace rules.

“it’s a minimum of 7 pieces of flair”

[Gabe]

8 hours ago, SeanR said:

“it’s a minimum of 7 pieces of flair”

It's 15, not 7.

[SeanR]

2 minutes ago, Gabe said:

It's 15, not 7.

and she had 7?

[Gabe]

No, she had 15 which was the minimum, but Stan, the manager, wanted her to want to express herself more fully by not just doing the bare-minimum and be more like Brian, who had 37, without directly telling her to add more.

[SeanR]

Knew there was a 7 in there somewhere.

 

it’s been awhile

[JamesC]

I don't really like Bill Murray.

 

I'm sure he's a perfectly nice bloke, I just don't find him funny or likeable in films.

I watched Ghostbusters recently and, to me, Ray played by Dan Ackroyd is the real heart of the film and also the funniest character.

I hate Groundhog Day. I like the premise but I find the execution simultaneously boring and irritating (I don't like Andy MacDowall very much either - she's like a block of wood).

Scrooged is one of the least fun Christmas Carol stories. I'll take The Muppets or Blackadder any day.

 

I just don't like his films.

 

[Uncle Mike]

Dan Ackroyd's the heart of the film even if you do like Murray, I think.

[Art Vandelay]

I don't think Scrooged is a very good Christmas film at all to be honest, but I'm not sure how controversial that is. It's so cold and mean-spirited which is maybe what some people want I guess. If it didn't get wheeled out every year it would have been completely forgotten about.

[Jammy]

On 30/08/2022 at 21:03, hungry joe said:

Manhunter is the only Lecter film worth watching.

I wouldn’t go quite that far, as SoTL is great, but Brian Cox is the superior Lecter by a long way.

[Nick R]

35 minutes ago, JamesC said:

I don't really like Bill Murray.

 

I'm sure he's a perfectly nice bloke,

 

Well...

[SaintAnselm]

On 31/08/2022 at 10:35, Gabe said:

I always thought Office Space was massively overrated. As a comedy, it's not very funny, as a drama it lacks any depth and as a slice of corporate American life, well, I don't know, perhaps that is a bit more on the nose.

Office Space has ‘Get dis Money’ by Slum Village on the Soundtrack, just that already makes it a classic.

 

The Soundtrack overall is pretty awesome actually.

[Timmo]

The whole “Damn it feels good to be a gangster” sequence is top tier. 

[Art Vandelay]

I think Office Space might be a perfect film. 

[Loik V credern]

The Shawshank Redemption genuinely is one of the best films ever made. The 'i watch it 5 times a year because it gives me hope' thing can be discarded, that's not what I mean, it having special healing powers or anything. Just in terms of it being an obviously very solid film with actual characters and many good scenes, because that's its strength and it can't have those things if it tried to transcend cinema in some way, it gives itself over to a scene by scene solidness. I don't know, maybe I misunderstand the myriad ways it could have scaled further heights while being very much what it set out to be. There's plenty of more, i dunno, cerebral films that are powerful in their realness, like Sound of Metal or something, to pick one that isn't comparable in any way, but it lacks the enjoyability of lots of characters and lots of memorable scenes, which i think is rarer. That scene by scene building with all the twists and turns. probably why i love season 1 of prison break so much, and why a lot of tv is so engrossing when you get into it.