Perhaps actually see it before making up your mind, Paki.
_________________
Magic Mike wrote:
zwackerm wrote:
If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes.
Same.
Algren wrote:
I don't think. I predict.
Tue Jan 08, 2013 6:20 pm
Darth Indiana Bond
007
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:43 pm Posts: 11075 Location: Wouldn't you like to know
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Magnus wrote:
thats silly.
Agreed
_________________
Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:34 pm
Shack
Devil's Advocate
Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2005 2:30 am Posts: 38315
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Quote:
January may be cold and without notable holidays (Martin Luther King day weekend is irrelevant to Canadians), but one thing I like doing this month is running through 2012 films I haven’t seen yet. Screeners from late 2012 films released to try and get Oscar nominations also usually begin to pop up online. Thus it’s a good time to go on a run of them.
I saw Zero Dark Thirty on one of these screeners. And I was surprised at how little I liked it. In fact it may be my least favorite film of 2012.
Zero Dark Thirty’s ambition is to feel real. It wants to sit in on the manhunt for Osama Bin Laden with no heroes or villains or political message, instead just stating here’s what happened. Case in point, its aesthetic is a cold “naturalistic” docu-drama look. It goes out of its way to avoid the storytelling highs and lows and dramatization of most political thrillers.
A problem I have with this is that the film in fact fails to feel like reality. The script and supporting characters are often stagey. The CIA members play like they do in most TV shows, barking in raised voices about following orders and the impossibility of the task we know Jessica Chastain’s character will eventually accomplish. The terrorists are played in a similarly one-noted way. Compounding this is the surprisingly high amount of actors in the film known to most people for their TV roles – such as Kyle Chandler of Friday Night Lights, James Gandolfini of the Sopranos, Chris Pratt of Parks and Rec, Harold Perrineau of Lost. Putting these stagey, TV like performances in a film otherwise attempting to document reality, undermined much of that attempt to me. But most damaging to the film’s attempt to create a real look at the manhunt, is the treatment of Chastain’s character Maya. A decision is clearly made to play Maya as a character numb to emotion or normal human enjoyment, as a singularly focused Bin Laden hunter. The obsession with this hunt is supposed to have zapped her humanity. But the inability for Chastain to feel like real human being, goes directly against the film’s attempt to feel like a real and natural document of this manhunt. It was nearly impossible for me to believe I was watching a real person during Chastain’s performance. Making a character less than real to push a thematic message (in this case, the numbing effect of obsession) is something I don’t have a problem with, the issue is that it’s directly juxtaposed against a film that otherwise seems to want to be real and a naturalistic document.
To its credit, Zero Dark Thirty does start with an superbly executed torture scene, for which it’s drawing controversy. The heart of this scene is Jason Clarke who in my opinion has the best character and role in the film, as a torturer on the verge of losing his soul after the acts he’s committed. Unfortunately Clarke is sparsely used after the first act and the film suffers for it.
A fascinating contrast to Zero Dark Thirty is the film Argo. Argo is the anti-Zero Dark Thirty. It relishes dramatizing its story and plot, making larger than life leads and side characters, making its characters likeable enough that the audience cheers for their success. Stagey side characters such as Bryan Cranston or John Goodman’s roles in the film, fit perfectly because Argo knows it is a film. It attempts to entertain its audience and not pretend to be a real document. Zero Dark Thirty is a much less entertaining and engrossing film because of its specific decision to avoid dramatizing its plot and characters. It basically says “This is art, fuck entertaining casual audiences”. This would be fine if it achieved its goal of being a terrifically natural and real document of the events, but to me it doesn’t succeed at that either. Thus Zero Dark Thirty ends up being a film that neither has its cake or eats it. It neither feels real nor is it engrossing a film. I found it then to be an overlong bore that lay dead with no pulse the vast majority of its running time. Argo is not a perfect film, but I’d prefer it over Zero Dark Thirty every day. If Argo is a well produced, catchy pop song, Zero Dark Thirty is an angsty song on acoustic guitar by an open mic songwriter who believes they are more artistically significant than the “shallow” pop artists. The problem with this angsty song is that it lacks any hook or life making it enjoyable to listen to. Compounding this is that not only is it no fun to listen to, it contains no more depth or creativity than the pop song anyways, if not less than it.
The only time ZDT perhaps slants to one side is when you hear a Hurrah from a Seal team member and you see the main character looking at Bin Laden's body in silent joy and sad reflection at the end.
To be honest I would have loved Bin Laden's death to been done more of in a Hollywood style. At least play some background music!!! Does not matter what your politics was, a terribile person was killed!
Sure in reality the Seals saw a dude looking out from his room and shot him and he was dead right away. One thing we always forget is the Seals team guys shoot in a very accurate manner, so that is why there was no gunfight... They don't go all Expendables...
Shack needs to quit it with the metaphors and just start judging films on their own terms.
_________________
Magic Mike wrote:
zwackerm wrote:
If John Wick 2 even makes 30 million I will eat 1,000 shoes.
Same.
Algren wrote:
I don't think. I predict.
Wed Jan 09, 2013 2:45 pm
Dr. Lecter
You must have big rats
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:28 pm Posts: 92093 Location: Bonn, Germany
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
I can appreciate the work behind this film, but it just wasn't thrilling. The Hurt Locker, while a good character study and so on and so on, is also thrilling and has some intense sequences. This one was just so....dry. Very well-shot, Chastain is great and yes, there are one or two moments of genuine suspense. I didn't even think it really dragged. It was just too cold and too distant for me to really get into the story at any point.
Therefore, I certainly prefer Argo by a lot.
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Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:44 pm
David
Pure Phase
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:33 am Posts: 34865 Location: Maryland
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Dr. Lecter wrote:
I just wasn't thriller.
I have always seen you much more as "Ben."
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Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:36 pm
Dr. Lecter
You must have big rats
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:28 pm Posts: 92093 Location: Bonn, Germany
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Affleck?
_________________ The greatest thing on earth is to love and to be loved in return!
Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:44 pm
Argos
Z
Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 2:20 pm Posts: 7952 Location: Wherever he went, including here, it was against his better judgment.
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
The rat song.
_________________ "Der Lebenslauf des Menschen besteht darin, dass er, von der Hoffnung genarrt, dem Tod in die Arme tanzt." - Arthur Schopenhauer
_________________ "Acting is the only thing I'm good at." - Freddie Prinze jr.
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Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:44 pm
thompsoncory
Rachel McAdams Fan
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:13 am Posts: 14544 Location: LA / NYC
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
It's really disheartening that this movie isn't getting more love here. It's a masterpiece.
Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:46 pm
Argos
Z
Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 2:20 pm Posts: 7952 Location: Wherever he went, including here, it was against his better judgment.
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
No, it's not. It's pretty bland.
_________________ "Der Lebenslauf des Menschen besteht darin, dass er, von der Hoffnung genarrt, dem Tod in die Arme tanzt." - Arthur Schopenhauer
Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:47 pm
David
Pure Phase
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:33 am Posts: 34865 Location: Maryland
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
On a scale from Dr. Lecter's first sex tape to Andrei Rublev.
_________________
1. The Lost City of Z - 2. A Cure for Wellness - 3. Phantom Thread - 4. T2 Trainspotting - 5. Detroit - 6. Good Time - 7. The Beguiled - 8. The Florida Project - 9. Logan and 10. Molly's Game
Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:52 pm
Darth Indiana Bond
007
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:43 pm Posts: 11075 Location: Wouldn't you like to know
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Germany? Songs? This just reminds me of this little priceless gem one of the Germans posted not too long ago:
Enjoyed this alot. Like Argo in that we of course know what happens but the setup to getting to that moment and the final shot are all worth the time. I can see why Chastain has been favorited for the Oscar this season. She is this film. Her presence dominates the film. Two moments stand out for me. When she layed the hammer down on her boss and the final shot. The torture moments are uncomfortable because it really was a low point in our recent history and we did much much worse things than the waterboarding and noise attacks and sleep deprivation shown in the film. After that, the film gets into more than a few tense moments and it was almost riveting to watch. I was glued like it was a documentary. Overall, I found this to be a very good film.
Grade - A
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Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:15 am
Argos
Z
Joined: Sat May 13, 2006 2:20 pm Posts: 7952 Location: Wherever he went, including here, it was against his better judgment.
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
Magnus wrote:
How many points do you give it?
Seven weak ones.
_________________ "Der Lebenslauf des Menschen besteht darin, dass er, von der Hoffnung genarrt, dem Tod in die Arme tanzt." - Arthur Schopenhauer
He was clearly doing it in an attempt to draw him out thinking its one of his house guards.
_________________ 2009 World of KJ Fantasy Football World Champion Team MVP : Peyton Manning : Record 11-5 : Points 2669.00 [b]FREE KORRGAN 45TH PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A. DONALD J. TRUMP #MAGA #KAG! 10,000 post achieved on - Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 7:49 pm
Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:46 pm
thompsoncory
Rachel McAdams Fan
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 11:13 am Posts: 14544 Location: LA / NYC
Re: Zero Dark Thirty
nghtvsn wrote:
Mannyisthebest wrote:
It was funny but is that realistic?
He was clearly doing it in an attempt to draw him out thinking its one of his house guards.
This. I didn't take it as a comedic moment at all.
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