controversial movie/book/non-metal music opinions thread

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The worse movie in the series.



I liked the first two though.
 
Funny because I thought that movie was pretty terrible and it's a shame that steaming pile of shit was Kubrick's last film.

it's my fave kubrick and my fave of the '90s. also fits really snugly into his filmography from a thematic standpoint and it's beautiful to look at, i don't really understand the hate it gets from certain kubrick fans. but then i love deconstruction, psychosexual thrillers, hypnotic dreamscapes, tragic truths, dark humour etcetc, it's basically tailor-made for me. the flashbacky scenes are annoyingly redundant, that's the only bad thing i'll say about it.
 
I remember thinking it was pretty average. And that it could've been a much better film with better leads. Nicole Kidman is terrible.
 
If they can't act like the person they're supposed to be portraying, they shouldn't be in the movie at all tbh.

Unless of course this is the artistic intent of the film. Many directors, recent and past, have purposely 'miscast' to get a desired effect, especially if that effect is Brechtian in nature (i.e. distanciated acting). If you have seen the film Marat / Sade you should know what I am talking about.
 
DA: of course, but...this is a Hollywood film with Tom fucking Cruise. I bet it was more akin to "I refuse to speak in a generic German or British accent."
 
I remember thinking it was pretty average. And that it could've been a much better film with better leads. Nicole Kidman is terrible.

what you need to understand about 'eyes wide shut' is that it's full of intentional artifice (again, we're talking about kubrick here), cruise and kidman are supposed to look like they're roleplaying at marriage, i honestly think they both do exactly what kubrick wanted them to do. she was married to cruise at the time, there's this blurring of the lines between actor and character - i think kidman admitted that the film doomed their marriage which is disturbing and brilliant from where i'm standing.

the other reason i like kidman in this is that totally ambiguous smile of hers, depending on context it can look affectionate or totally full of fire, which is again perfect for a film which juxtaposes images of her being a horny bitch against her helping her little girl with maths homework. tom cruise is actually just about the best guy for the role, his image has always been quite feminised (rep as closet homo etc) and the film feminises him at every turn after initially presenting him as happy husband-meets-smug womaniser. kubrick basically tears the guy and his marriage to shreds, i love that 'cause i hate tom cruise. it made me realise how much kubrick shares with people like lynch and cronenberg too, sometimes people underestimate just how much of a genius he was.

anyone here seen 'dogville'? that's kidman's best performance for me, astounding really.
 
I don't think Tom Cruise is that deep.

Oh I agree in the case of Valkyrie (haven't seen it though), but when I saw that statement I only saw cc quote it, which seemed to be a very broad statement. So I'd figure I would point it out that it is not the case all of the time. Obviously though in this case, you guys are right.
 
what you need to understand about 'eyes wide shut' is that it's full of intentional artifice (again, we're talking about kubrick here), cruise and kidman are supposed to look like they're roleplaying at marriage, i honestly think they both do exactly what kubrick wanted them to do. she was married to cruise at the time, there's this blurring of the lines between actor and character - i think kidman admitted that the film doomed their marriage which is disturbing and brilliant from where i'm standing.

the other reason i like kidman in this is that totally ambiguous smile of hers, depending on context it can look affectionate or totally full of fire, which is again perfect for a film which juxtaposes images of her being a horny bitch against her helping her little girl with maths homework. tom cruise is actually just about the best guy for the role, his image has always been quite feminised (rep as closet homo etc) and the film feminises him at every turn after initially presenting him as happy husband-meets-smug womaniser. kubrick basically tears the guy and his marriage to shreds, i love that 'cause i hate tom cruise. it made me realise how much kubrick shares with people like lynch and cronenberg too, sometimes people underestimate just how much of a genius he was.

anyone here seen 'dogville'? that's kidman's best performance for me, astounding really.

Yeah Dogville is a great movie and it's definitely her best performance.

Your interpretation of Eyes Wide Shut is certainly interesting and you've obviously analyzed the hell out of it. I only saw it when it came out the once but I remember it feeling forced and not 'clicking' the way other Kubrick films did.

On an unrelated note, I saw Dark Knight last night and found it confusing, unnecessarily long, overblown and messy. Heath Ledger was about the only entertaining part of the whole thing, but hardly Oscar-worthy. I don't think I can watch these sorts of movies anymore.
 
On an unrelated note, I saw Dark Knight last night and found it confusing, unnecessarily long, overblown and messy. Heath Ledger was about the only entertaining part of the whole thing, but hardly Oscar-worthy. I don't think I can watch these sorts of movies anymore.

I love Batman and all but it is overrated. Dont get me wrong I think its good but very much overrated. It is indeed to long and to overblown.

I just have a hard time when things get to out of hand. The thing about Batman is that hes a human being. When he slides under trucks with his mc and when he gets those x-ray things in the end its just way to much.

I loved Batman Begins. Particulary the first hour was awesome and I dont think The Dark Knight was close to that awesomeness.

I went into the movie with the mindset that Ledgers performance was overrated because of his death. I am glad to say I was wrong. He was fantastic and I do think he would be worthy of an Oscar nomination for his charachter portrayal. He should get beat by the masterful performance of Rourke as the Ram in "the wrestler" though. He was pure gold in that one. Maybe my favorite movie of 2008 right there.
 
I love Batman and all but it is overrated. Dont get me wrong I think its good but very much overrated. It is indeed to long and to overblown.

I just have a hard time when things get to out of hand. The thing about Batman is that hes a human being. When he slides under trucks with his mc and when he gets those x-ray things in the end its just way to much.

I loved Batman Begins. Particulary the first hour was awesome and I dont think The Dark Knight was close to that awesomeness.

I went into the movie with the mindset that Ledgers performance was overrated because of his death. I am glad to say I was wrong. He was fantastic and I do think he would be worthy of an Oscar nomination for his charachter portrayal. He should get beat by the masterful performance of Rourke as the Ram in "the wrestler" though. He was pure gold in that one. Maybe my favorite movie of 2008 right there.


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