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R. Dittmar
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
420 Posts |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
 Posted - 02/15/2008 : 09:02:04 AM
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Even The Onion, who presumably would be a sympathetic audience, is having none of it:
http://www.avclub.com/content/cinema/diary_of_the_dead
Less successful than the awful Land Of The Dead?? Oh dear.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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Ken HPoJ
Supreme Potentate
USA
1530 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2008 : 2:51:14 PM
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Ebert likes the fact that, daringly, a filmmaker has finally crafted a film critical of the Bush administration:
"Bloodthirsty corpses have run amok in the streets, and the Homeland Security Alert system has been temporarily raised to orange. It’s up to citizen-journalist bloggers and amateur videographers to capture and disseminate the raw, unfiltered story of what’s really going on, to show you the horrific truth they won’t put on TV.
Does this scenario remind you of anything? “Diary” presents a world of post-9/11, post-Iraq-invasion paranoia and distrust of the “official story.” (We used to call this a “post-Watergate” skepticism, but we’re post- that now.)"
Yawn. Whatever, Roger. Ebert is such a frustrating figure. He can be a great thinker and writer about film, possibly the best out there. Yet when his politics get in the way, and they often do, all that talent and intellect goes straight out the window. Romero's films have, it is almost universally conceded, gotten worse the more explicitly they pushed a politica agenda. Ebert isn't doing him any favors by playing into the very thing that has effectively killed Romero's career.
Land of the Dead did indeed suck, and it's a rare film you really can review in one sentence: "Subtext good, George; text bad."
PEGGY: I don't see how having a girl on the team would ruin it. Did a woman judge ruin the Supreme Court?
HANK: Yes, and that woman's name was Earl Warren.
--King of the Hill |
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TheFoywonder
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
833 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2008 : 5:51:15 PM
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I'd say these days Ebert's judgment is clouded more by the pain and drugs associated with his unfortunate cancer battle than politics. His views, sadly, have been less than sound for months now. Just look how often he hands out four star ratings. You'd think the past year was one of the greatest in cinematic history going by his scores.
As for Romero, I enjoyed Land of the Dead as a zombie flick. The stabs at social commentary didn't even register with me as I was watching because it was so simple-minded in its rich vs. poor allegory. I found any message easily ignorable.
I just wish Romero would move away from zombies. I know he has a script he was trying to get made called CRYPTID about the chupacabra which at least would be different. From what I gather from what I've heard, no attempts at ham-fisted political subtext - just a straightforward creature feature.
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Citizen Carrier
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
322 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2008 : 6:37:52 PM
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Okay, I've had enough of it. I'm going to offer Romero and other would-be zombie movie makers a little advice.
First, any good movie needs a hero. A suggestion.
[img]http://www.survivalarts.com/images/burtgummer.jpg[/img]
This guy works for me. Sure, he was in Tremors, but I think he'd be great in a zombie movie. And I would like to see what a .50 caliber BMG round would do to the undead. I don't think you'd even have to bother with headshots.
Okay, it doesn't have to be Michael Gross...but Charleton Heston and Charles Bronson are just too old. Actually, he might be dead. Not sure. But you get where I'm coming from.
Political subtexts? What for? This is disaster/survival movie. What were the political subtexts of Towering Inferno or The Poseidon Adventure? Who was the evil rich capitalist fat cat exploiter in Twister?
There weren't any. It was about NOT dying.
Supporting characters. Kill off the useless or anti-social non-team players in about the first 20 minutes of the movie. Have some fun with this. Heck, you can even have Burt kill off the useless non-team players.
The remaining characters can be fairly kick-ass. Let's face it. In a worldwide zombie epidemic only the most kick-ass people would last more than about 20 minutes anyway. Soooo, police officers, judo instructors, soldiers, ex-cons sent up for armed bank robbery, street gangs, mafia enforcers, hitmen, redneck gun nuts, and so on and so forth.
And you could have them doing something fairly audacious. Like fighting their way across the state of California in order to take over Alcatraz Island and set up a zombie free zone.
I'd watch this movie. |
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TheFoywonder
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
833 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2008 : 7:00:38 PM
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quote:
Who was the evil rich capitalist fat cat exploiter in Twister?
Have to correct you on that one. You've obviously forgotten about the conniving, backstabbing, arrogant, "corporate" stormchaser played by Cary Elwes, the one who led a fleet of sleek SUVs containting all the latest state-of-the-art stormchasing equipment. His character is even described as one point by Bill Paxton's characters as "only being in it for the money, not the science."
Though to be fair, the inclusion of this character was clearly less a political statement and more a dubious example of lazy screenwriting when producers insist there be a human villain in a movie that doesn't require one.
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2008 : 7:03:45 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Ken HPoJ
It’s up to citizen-journalist bloggers and amateur videographers to capture and disseminate the raw, unfiltered story of what’s really going on, to show you the horrific truth they won’t put on TV.
But wait, I thought untrained, unregulated bloggers spewing their views and observations were a threat to the very fabric of society!
Or is that only if it's Matt Drudge??
I thought LotD was an uninspired mess even taken just as a zombie flick, and I really liked Day of the Dead. Land brought nothing new to the table, the Dead Reckoning truck was a ludicrous plot device and the characters sucked. And he's (Romero) really writing himself into a corner with the whole "zombies get more sentient every movie" thing.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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Citizen Carrier
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
322 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2008 : 7:36:07 PM
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Yes. I do not want to be manipulated into seeing the undead as sympathetic creatures on the verge of humanity anymore than I want to see a spin-off of The Motorcycle Diaries featuring Adolf Hitler as a young art student.
They're cannon fodder.
Use one of these suckers on them...
[img]http://www.huris.com/web/def/fot/spooky.jpg[/img]
Spectre gunship, AC-130U. That would be worth the price of a ticket.
Yeah, I forgot about the Elwes character in Twister and yes, it was some seriously lazy "make the guy with the British accent the antagonist" writing.
I didn't exactly dislike the Elwes character and I didn't think it was "just desserts" when he got killed.
Ah yes, the underfunded, shoestring budget team of ragtag hippies in secondhand vehicles and makeshift equipment would naturally be the heroes. Anyone with enough funding to have proper vehicles and state of the art equipment must obviously be the ones you want to see lose.
Would the movie have suffered if "the good guys" had new, proper equipment and the competitors had comparable stuff or [gasp] they were the ragtag, misfit hippies? |
Edited by - Citizen Carrier on 02/15/2008 7:38:44 PM |
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niccolom
Preeminent Apostolic Prelate of the Discipleship of Jabootu
Canada
118 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 08:43:22 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Citizen Carrier
Okay, I've had enough of it. I'm going to offer Romero and other would-be zombie movie makers a little advice.
.......
Political subtexts? What for? This is disaster/survival movie. What were the political subtexts of Towering Inferno or The Poseidon Adventure? Who was the evil rich capitalist fat cat exploiter in Twister?
There weren't any. It was about NOT dying.
I think you have a good point. Most people when they watch a movie/TV show just want to be entertained. They want to see explosions, shootings, naked bodies, sex (not necessary in that order); they don't want to be lectured to. If they want politics they will watch CNN, Fox News or the parliamentary channel or whatever. Start inserting a political/social commentary and people just get turned off and go watch something else.
As an example, MASH and Cagney and Lacey (I'm dating myself here)were good shows until someone (hello Alan Alda!!) started inserting their political views and that for me was the kiss of death. I'm sure that we can all come up with other examples.
Also agree with you about who's would survive a real disaster; its the rednecks with the guns and who are ready to use them! Its the Burt's and Heather's of the world who will survive, not the know-it-all do-gooder.
"When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk."
Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, aka "Tuco," aka "the Rat," aka "Ugly," aka "il Cattivo" |
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Flangepart
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
2329 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 09:09:45 AM
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[font=Arial] I like Burt!
Everyone laughs at him, but who do they call when the grabboids hit the fan, hummmm?...
Be a good side busness.
BURTS BARGAIN BASEMENT BRAIN BLASTERS!
One shot, one kill, saveing galore![ /font=ariel][
Marvin the Paranoid Android to Buzz Lightyear "Too infinity and beyond-i've been there, its rubbish!"
"Hoody Hoo, i waste 'em with my cross bow!" Bob Herzog- KODT
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Edited by - Flangepart on 02/16/2008 09:11:12 AM |
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R. Dittmar
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
420 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 10:39:17 AM
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After reading that Ebert quote above, I realized what makes Romero's labored attempts at social commentary even sillier. He doesn't even try to think through his ham-fisted political metaphors anymore. Political commentary is one thing if it makes sense in context, but this doesn't even do that.
I don't want to caricature the liberal critique of the Bush administration, so correct me if I'm wrong. But what I always hear from the left are things like there were no WMD's so Saddam was never a threat. Bush is using the threat of another 9/11 to gin up jingoism for political reasons. None of these "enemy combatants" is dangerous enough to justify water-boarding or even wiretaps. This is not my view, so forgive me should I sound disrespectful because that's not my intent. It just seems to me that the generic liberal critique of the Bush administration involves the claim that terrorism is not a big enough threat to justify invading Iraq or putting the country on more of a war footing or even doing anything that smells of an infringement on civil liberties.
Now correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t a plague of millions of undead flesh-eating zombies an actual threat! It’s not a stretch to read Night of the Living Dead as a literally world-ending apocalypse. How in the hell is the government’s dishonest reaction to the end of the human race a metaphor for the Bush administration’s hyping a minor threat for political gain? It doesn’t even make any sense. I’m a fully paid-up member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, and I could come up with more incisive left-wing commentary than this. |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 11:51:18 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Citizen CarrierUse one of these suckers on them...
[img]http://www.huris.com/web/def/fot/spooky.jpg[/img]
Spectre gunship, AC-130U. That would be worth the price of a ticket.
Ohhhhh YEAAAAHHHHH!
quote:
Ah yes, the underfunded, shoestring budget team of ragtag hippies in secondhand vehicles and makeshift equipment would naturally be the heroes. Anyone with enough funding to have proper vehicles and state of the art equipment must obviously be the ones you want to see lose.
Would the movie have suffered if "the good guys" had new, proper equipment and the competitors had comparable stuff or [gasp] they were the ragtag, misfit hippies?
Good point, but the "under-equiped and outnumbered group winning the day when they should quit" plot is an American tradition (But not restricted to the US, of course). HOWEVER, since the sixties it has become a cliche` for movie-makers with a CERTAIN political leaning to illistrate the "triumph of the prolitariat" or for the "social rebels sticking it to THE MAN".
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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TimLehnerer
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
USA
95 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 2:29:59 PM
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Man, I was really looking forward to this one. And I'm apparently much in the minority here, in that I like Romero's unabashedly left-wing political views in his films. It's so rare to find someone making movies with an actual point of view and actual political content that I treasure people who take lower budgets in order to do it (see also: BAMBOOZLED, by Spike Lee. It's not very good but I'm glad he shot on DV to be able to make the movie rather than not make it at all).
Also, and I'm *really* trying not to be snotty here, George Romero's been making left-wing horror movies since 1968. Can anyone really be surprised that he made one in 2008? |
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Citizen Carrier
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
322 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 7:22:09 PM
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No, not suprised. Just disappointed that it lacks any finesse. That it is so heavy-handed. And as Dittmar intelligently observed, so disconnected and irrelevent to current events as to be unfathomable.
It's as if he knows he's not going to live forever and he's afraid the audience just didn't "get it" in his previous films so he's going to RAM it down our throats this time to make sure.
And I disagree with you that it is rare to find movies made with a political point of view and content. They're as common as milkweed pollen and often just as irritating.
I mean, you can see it in Harry Potter movies. "Mugbloods" and pure bloods? Ah, an analogy for Nazism and racism! How clever! How subtle! And just in case we didn't "get it", they make Malfoy some aryan race guy with blond hair and blue eyes. And then the writer announces to the world that Dumbledore is gay!
It is by no means rare to find a bias and political content in a movie. Just about every single one of them have it.
What is rare is finding movies with a different point of view and political content at variance with the mainstream political ideology of the writers, actors, directors, and producers working in the movie industry. |
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TheFoywonder
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
833 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 9:15:59 PM
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quote:
I mean, you can see it in Harry Potter movies. "Mugbloods" and pure bloods? Ah, an analogy for Nazism and racism! How clever! How subtle! And just in case we didn't "get it", they make Malfoy some aryan race guy with blond hair and blue eyes. And then the writer announces to the world that Dumbledore is gay!
I cleary missed out on Nazi/racism analogy of the Potter films. Probably because the subtext of the Potter stories has always assumed to be a parable about the class struggles in England.
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 02/16/2008 : 9:46:02 PM
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That's a lot of it but the whole notion of Mudbloods, Purebloods and racial purity always seemed clearly a Nazi reference to me.
"Meeting you makes me want to be a real noodle cook"
--Tampopo |
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