Last movie you've watched

[speed]

Originally Posted by derek

It's certainly under appreciated for the intelligence contained within it, but surely you exaggerate?

I'm quite fond of it because the apparent vulgarity reminds me of the classical satirists. I've wrote often on the idea of social commentary being all the more powerful through absurdity, and I consider Borat as one of the best modern examples of that.

In playing someone so dumb, Cohen really got people to open up and say how they really feel, in a world where almost nobody is honest, that's one hell of a power.

These are all the reasons why I think it genius. Even if Borat is but a minor artist in this field--from Aristophanes to Lucian, Erasmus to Rabelais--I love the fact the grotesque satire and humor of old is vaguely embodied in Borat. He mocks everyone, and his satire has real purpose as you say--he exposes the folly of man and prejudice. But I agree, his satire is a bit too pointed at ethnic groups, and foolish to stand up to the classicists and the renaissance humanists.

Furthmore, this is the problem with modern comedy: satire and humor is either nihilistic, interior, or pointless, instead of being revolutionary. As you know Derek, laughter and grotesque humor used to be used to combat fear, to turn the world on end (from classic to up to the industrial age, carnivals and feasts generally mocked the whole world, to the point of even electing a fool king for a day--turning the world upside down), to celebrate man in all of his idiocy and faults. This is a philosopher thread Im too tired to write.

[derek]

Satire always has to caustically make fun of someone. The childish side of me couldn't help but laugh when the Jew-Devil laid an egg!

[speed]

Originally Posted by derek

Satire always has to caustically make fun of someone. The childish side of me couldn't help but laugh when the Jew-Devil laid an egg!

The bit where he threw dollar bills at the jews who shapeshifted into cockroaches, had me laughing for weeks.

[derek]

Something I just read, Curt:

(About American Beauty):

# The last name of Mena Suvari's character, Angela Hayes, is probably a reference to the last name of Lolita Haze, from the Vladimir Nabokov novel "Lolita."

# Lester Burnham, a middle-aged man who develops an infatuation with an adolescent girl, is an update of Humbert Humbert from the classic novel Lolita. "Lester Burnham" is an anagram for "Humbert learns."

Cool, huh?

[angelofdeath9308]

Pan's Labyrinth, excellent movie. I recommend it!

[Perpetual Catatonia]

I'll have two in here, because I was going to post a few days ago, but my browser fucked up.

Blood Diamond - A man taken as a slave worker (Solomon Vandy) by the RUF finds a valuable diamond, but instead of turning it in to the RUF soldiers, he plans to keep it. This decision ends up putting his and his family members' lives on the line. A diamond smuggler hears about the diamond from the man who saw Solomon take the diamond and decides to help him find his family in exchange for the diamond.

I really enjoyed this one. 9/10


Kids - Pretty weird movie. It's hard to write much about it because there's basically only two things in this movie. Sex and drugs. It's about how this 15 year-old kid is always tricking virgins into fucking him, but he doesn't know he has AIDS. Some weird shit, goes a bit far.

8/10

[speed]

Originally Posted by derek

Something I just read, Curt:

(About American Beauty):

# The last name of Mena Suvari's character, Angela Hayes, is probably a reference to the last name of Lolita Haze, from the Vladimir Nabokov novel "Lolita."

# Lester Burnham, a middle-aged man who develops an infatuation with an adolescent girl, is an update of Humbert Humbert from the classic novel Lolita. "Lester Burnham" is an anagram for "Humbert learns."

Cool, huh?

Shame it wasnt much good.

[13th Nightmare]

A week or two ago I watched The Descent. Even though I have seen it quite a few times. There are still certain areas I jump when it happens.

Then a few nights ago I decided to watch See No Evil out of curiosity. Not exactly a scary movie. I found myself laughing a few times, not from being scared, just what was going on

[derek]

Originally Posted by speed

Shame it wasnt much good.

You think? I hated elements of it, but I enjoyed it quite alot.

[speed]

Originally Posted by derek

You think? I hated elements of it, but I enjoyed it quite alot.

It won the academy award, so my taste might not be that great. I just thought it overrated.

[derek]

People tend to read too much into it, but Spacey put in a great performance, and I think (for the most part) it was a good exploration of such a character. Parts of it were convoluted and contrived, and Mendes has a really disjointed direction style, but surely the overall impact, message and nuanced performances make it all worthwhile?