Blankments Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 BTW, Rukaio, I would like to say without giving a formal review that I absolutely loved MST3K. Freaking hilarious 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blankments Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 One last thing before I head to bed Alpha has Kansas listed in FYC for Best Use of Action 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukaio101 Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 ^ It's not much more odd than Resonance being listed for Best Use of Action. And somehow getting the nom. Also, glad to hear you loved MST3K. Had a lot of fun writing that one. And I shall naturally take this as assuration that you're okay with me riffing Expedecade for next time. (Partial joke. It's on the shortlist.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorschach Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 ^ It's not much more odd than Resonance being listed for Best Use of Action. And somehow getting the nom. Also, glad to hear you loved MST3K. Had a lot of fun writing that one. And I shall naturally take this as assuration that you're okay with me riffing Expedecade for next time. (Partial joke. It's on the shortlist.)A+ from me and a glowing review from Blankments! MST3K is on a roll! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Ok, first off, no.I never made it clear in my plot in Kansas that all Christians are bad. So you've got that wrong. Also, your personal experiences at a church camp, do not cancel out the Jesus freak camps that I've seen. Such camps shown in Kansas are actually very much true.In fact, the documentary Jesus Camp was the main inspiration for a lot of the scenes in Kansas. Jacob is partially based on Levi, except agnostic, Mary is based on Becky Fischer, and Rachel is based on the younger girl at the bowling alley scene in JC. So if you took in the other things going on outside your personal experiences, I would take your review seriously.I don't want Kansas to make you feel bad for being a Christian. Christians are very good-hearted people. Kansas is a semi-neutral depiction of extreme Pentacostal Christian camps, and about people who take religion into politics. At the same time you're taking your personal experiences into account, I'm taking my experiences with organized religion into account while writing Kansas. it's not nearly as extreme, but I was feeling very pushed to be put into a certain political ideology, with the teachings of Christ used to back there opinions up. So I decided to show my experiences in an objective position, and for you guys to delve deeper into the film.I respect your heritage, but I heavily fucking disagree with you and Rukaio's opinion on the film. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blankments Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 Alpha, I could argue with your post tomorrow, but I'm gonna give you an out if you don't want a reply of more details on why the movie suckedI really don't think an argument would be a good idea on this; I never argued with Numbers on Expedecade for a reason. I suggest you do the sameNow seriously I'm sleeping 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukaio101 Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) There's a difference between a documentary and a normal film. With a documentary, you're recording real people doing this sort of thing (although you'd be very naive to think there wasn't a bit of selective editing going on there.) With a normal film, you're deliberately writing them this way. Which makes your claims of being 'semi-neutral' and 'objective' dubious at best. If you really wanted to be neutral, you'd show these people as real 3-dimensional people with aspects that reach beyond their religion. Instead, you just made them all into stereotypes and strawmen. And yes, as I mentioned in my earlier review, I'm aware that that camps like that may exist and just because me and Blank have been to some good ones doesn't make them all good. The problem is that you don't point out the difference either. You don't explore the positive camps as a contrast, or even point out that the camp represented in your film is an outlier. You just imply that all Christian camps are like that. There's not nearly enough balance in this film. The only good Christian in the film is the radio announcer and, as I've mentioned, a) he's not in the film much and b ) he's still used as a shill to support the separation of politics and religion (although I admit that is a viewpoint I support). You don't make it clear that these nutjobs are in the minority and, as a result, it comes off as you claiming most Christians are like that. That may not have been your intention, but just because you don't outright say it doesn't mean it's not implied. Also, to get away from the idealogical stuff for a second, the film doesn't really have any kind of structure, any major overlying story conflict or any kind of climax or resolution. Events just happen, many of which don't have any impact in later scenes. So that's a negative as well. EDIT: Or, you know, we could stop arguing as Blank said. Edited July 28, 2014 by Rukaio Alter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorschach Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Also, it felt WAY too much like Jesus camp but that was your intention so I digress. The characters are one-dimensional stereotypes of real life groups that I actually found a bit insulting. It's also a bit underwhelming to see such a poor follow-up to Aronofsky's film from last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorschach Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Also...Please remember to pray to Shrek for forgiveness every night with an onion for sacrificial purposes. Because Shrek is Love, Shrek is Life, right? XDAs if... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Awesome Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I'm actually really exited to read Kansas now. I've been to a few church camps myself and well youth conferences as well. Although, I'm not an evangelical Christian, Mormonism is still Christianity. It'd be interesting to see my opinion of the film given that I grew up in my religion and given that as I grow older I see the flaws and I don't agree with my parents on certain issues. I'll post a review once I read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezen Baklattan Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Hmm....I was kind of hoping for a higher M&MS score from you. Maybe I will end up making my Sadako film this year to compensate. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4815162342 Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Thanks for the Copley Approval. Sounds like a high 8/10 so I intend to make the next one a 9 for sure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) Also, definitely updating that FYC for Kansas. Why the fuck did I do that? I do agree that the characters can be weak at times in Kansas. If the final cut I have now was finished 2 weeks ago, I probably would've changed quite a few things. But seeing how the film was finished 30 minutes before the deadline, I didn't have time to really look it over. But honestly, I just want to see Holly Hunter get nominated for Best Supporting Actress. I have a good feeling if Kansas was made in real life that it would be a pretty charismatic role. I'll probably try a similar (albeit not the same) concept in a few CAYOM years, except more character-driven and not making people pissed off. Maybe some people will be happy. I will say that Heaven will be much better than Kansas. I won't call it my magnum opus, because I don't want to be an asshole, but it will be really, really good. I'll stop arguing about this film, continue the circlejerk. Edited July 28, 2014 by Alpha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorschach Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Also, definitely updating that FYC for Kansas. Why the fuck did I do that? I do agree that the characters can be weak at times in Kansas. If the final cut I have now was finished 2 weeks ago, I probably would've changed quite a few things. But seeing how the film was finished 30 minutes before the deadline, I didn't have time to really look it over. But honestly, I just want to see Holly Hunter get nominated for Best Supporting Actress. I have a good feeling if Kansas was made in real life that it would be a pretty charismatic role. I'll probably try a similar (albeit not the same) concept in a few CAYOM years, except more character-driven and not making people pissed off. Maybe some people will be happy. I will say that Heaven will be much better than Kansas. I won't call it my magnum opus, because I don't want to be an asshole, but it will be really, really good. I'll stop arguing about this film, continue the circlejerk. Director's Cut! Directors Cut! Directors Cut! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Director's Cut! Directors Cut! Directors Cut! It would be a completely different plot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChD Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 It would be a completely different plot. Just wondering... You seem to postpone your movies all the time. Why not postpone Kansas if the product you had in mind was so different from what it turned out. Maybe you could've actually avoided all this by delaying it until the next quarter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorschach Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 How about we blame the fault on the "studio executives" instead of Alpha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Just wondering... You seem to postpone your movies all the time. Why not postpone Kansas if the product you had in mind was so different from what it turned out. Maybe you could've actually avoided all this by delaying it until the next quarter. Because I was very, very conflicted this quarter. I had so many things going on in my life, that I couldn't focus on writing. Eventually, I had to release a few movies this quarter, but they all turned out crappy, soooo. Yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ezen Baklattan Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Also, for Oliver, there was a mistake in my writing the film, as he was a character in an earlier draft. Guess I forgot to change it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blankments Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 Thanks for the Copley Approval. Sounds like a high 8/10 so I intend to make the next one a 9 for sure. Yeah, this quarter I didn't do half points 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
