baumer Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 That's an incredibly reductive stance to take. Did you see Beloved? That movie sucks. It's easy to make a movie that could seem too sappy or false in it's emotions, or maybe a movie that plays up the violence the slaves had to endure to an almost exploitive level, which would have been easy to do given some scenes in the film. Don't act like any asshole coulda wandered onto the set and made that movie. I think any competent director could have made that film. Anyone from Bill Duke to Spike Lee to Brett Ratner to Amy Heckerling could have made 12YAS and made it just as good as it is now. The material is powerful enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecstasy Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I liked a place beyond the pines. And I did forget about it somewhat. It was odd in it's structure though. I thought Bradley Cooper did a great job in it. Ryan Gosling was good too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJohn Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 He has Man of Steel > Gravity? Armond White is my man! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MovieMan89 Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 The thing about 12YAS is that it is a good film but it is not the most powerful film since Schindler's List and all that crap. Unless you are truly a hack, there is no way you could screw up a film about slavery. How could it not illicit a strong reaction from you? 42 had just as strong a performance from Ford as any performance in 12YAS and the subject matter is just as powerful. Glad I'm not the only one who felt this way about 12YAS. Don't get me wrong it was good, but I felt like it was so focused on revealing the evils of American slavery when most of us already know how evil it was. Or at least we should. I wished it would have focused on a little more character development and maybe then it would have felt more powerful to me. Anyways, MOS>Gravity gave me a good chuckle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJohn Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Btw I am not being sarcastic or anything, Man of Steel > Gravity everyday of the week, month, year, whatever. Fuck Gravity. Beautiful visuals on an empty movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Old Tele Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 Slavery is easy to show the horrors of though. Whip some black people, call them the N word, hang them, scare them, dehumanize them, southern accents, rape the women, beat them and so on. How can you screw this up? Roots is the blue print and that has been out for 30 years. I think 12YAS is a very good film, I just don't know how it couldn't be. But you missed my point. What 12 YEARS did well is show how the experience of being a slave also makes slaves act inhuman towards each other. You're so concerned with saving your own skin that you avoid the simple decency and humanity that we all would have in another situation. (Witness the kids playing and other slaves going about their business while Soloman hangs, Solomon whipping Patsy, etc). It also unflinchingly how hideously wretched being a slave was -- how terrible it is to be whipped and so forth, although I agree that's more of a straightforward issue. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plain Old Tele Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 Btw I am not being sarcastic or anything, Man of Steel > Gravity everyday of the week, month, year, whatever. Fuck Gravity. Beautiful visuals on an empty movie. What in the.... What? Wha.....?? 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJohn Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 (edited) What in the.... What? Wha.....?? Okok, maybe the last two things are not totally true But I still prefer Man of Steel over Gravity. Edited January 8, 2014 by CJohn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoolioD1 Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Btw I am not being sarcastic or anything, Man of Steel > Gravity everyday of the week, month, year, whatever. Fuck Gravity. Beautiful visuals on an empty movie. I guess it's because of the higher standard that people have held Gravity to that it can be criticized for being an "empty movie" (which it totally isn't btw) while Man Of Steel gets away with it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJohn Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I guess it's because of the higher standard that people have held Gravity to that it can be criticized for being an "empty movie" (which it totally isn't btw) while Man Of Steel gets away with it. I would say it is a simple movie with a simple story and I will never understand why people worship it so much. Yes, it does have some amazing visuals, but c'mon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukaio101 Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I would say it is a simple movie with a simple story and I will never understand why people worship it so much. Yes, it does have some amazing visuals, but c'mon... Simple doesn't mean bad. Although I'll admit I do think it's pretty overrated. And this is coming from someone who put it in their Top 5 of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baumer Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 But you missed my point. What 12 YEARS did well is show how the experience of being a slave also makes slaves act inhuman towards each other. You're so concerned with saving your own skin that you avoid the simple decency and humanity that we all would have in another situation. (Witness the kids playing and other slaves going about their business while Soloman hangs, Solomon whipping Patsy, etc). It also unflinchingly how hideously wretched being a slave was -- how terrible it is to be whipped and so forth, although I agree that's more of a straightforward issue. I wasn't responding to you. I was responding to Gangsta's Paradise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinHood26 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Slavery is easy to show the horrors of though. Whip some black people, call them the N word, hang them, scare them, dehumanize them, southern accents, rape the women, beat them and so on. How can you screw this up? Roots is the blue print and that has been out for 30 years. I think 12YAS is a very good film, I just don't know how it couldn't be. It can be bad thats how. I think your statement has no warrant. Has there been bad WWII movies? Yes? Bad holocaust movies? Yes? Any movie can have bad filmmaking. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baumer Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 It can be bad thats how. I think your statement has no warrant. Has there been bad WWII movies? Yes? Bad holocaust movies? Yes? Any movie can have bad filmmaking. But the book about his plight would be hard to screw up. And WWII is vast, you can go in so many different directions. Slavery is galvanizing all by itself. I just don't see how a competent film maker could have screwed it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmandeep Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Agreed! PBTP is one of the forgotten films of the year. Because it is forgettable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I actually am close to agreeing that Pain and Gain > Wolf of Wall Street Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AniNate Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) Glad I'm not the only one who felt this way about 12YAS. Don't get me wrong it was good, but I felt like it was so focused on revealing the evils of American slavery when most of us already know how evil it was. Or at least we should. I wished it would have focused on a little more character development and maybe then it would have felt more powerful to me. I think it has plenty of character development. Solomon goes from being resistant and trying to hold on to his identity to eventually giving in to the slave protocol to save his skin. I found it pretty devastating when he ends up in the position of whipping Patsy after he refused to assist her suicide. Edited January 9, 2014 by tribefan695 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Panda Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Every year, Armond White doesn't do a Top Ten, he does a "Better Than" list. ("Movie X" is better than "Movie Y", with Movie X being his choice over the more popular/critically acclaimed Movie Y). Here's this year's version. http://cityarts.info/2014/01/08/the-better-than-list-for-2013/ (Is it scary that I agree with one and almost agree with another?) I agree with his American Hustle > Place Beyond the Pines one...But how is American Hustle less critically acclaimed than that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AniNate Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Man of Steel > Gravity - NO Pain & Gain > The Wolf of Wall Street - NO Bullet to the Head > Mud - Haven't seen Bullet to the Head, but I was pretty underwhelmed by Mud, so he may be onto something American Hustle > August: Osage Country, The Place Beyond the Pines - Is this really controversial? 42 > 12 Years a Slave, Lee Daniels’ The Butler - I fell asleep trying to watch it on a plane, but it was a night flight, to be fair. I seriously doubt I'll like it more than 12 Years a Slave, though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squaremaster316 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 (edited) He's stupid, but I've seen far more asinine, attention-seeking lists. Edited January 10, 2014 by Squaremaster316 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
