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Posted: Oct 07 2005 12:08 am

Has anyone else seen this? I thought it was amazing, but my brother fucking hated it.

Posted: Oct 07 2005 02:03 am

I'm confused of what it's even based on. Is it a book or a graphic novel? Cause I've seen both each claiming to be the movie. Which came first?

Posted: Oct 07 2005 08:39 am

According to IMDB, it's based off of a graphic novel.

Posted: Oct 07 2005 01:58 pm

All I can say is if you haven't seen it, don't go see it. Indeed, I did hate it, with the exception of one line.

Posted: Oct 07 2005 02:59 pm

Jeebus, seeing as your preferred movie and tv watching is primarily anime, I'm going to reserve judgement and see it for myself. However, if it does indeed suck, I will spare no expense to make sure everyone knows it.

Posted: Oct 08 2005 04:55 am

I think it's pretty disingenuous to say that my movie and tv watching is primarily anime, especially since that's a more recent thing. It's never been a secret that I'm really easily entertained and like some things that most people wouldn't, so when I actually dislike a movie I like to think that says something.

Posted: Oct 08 2005 06:09 am

While you like almost everything, you weren't particularly impressed with Taxi Driver and that's one of the greatest movies ever made by humans.

Joined: Aug 25 2005 Posts: 287

I'm going to vote with Syd on this one. I thought it was one of Cronenberg's best. It's muted for him. There wasn't anything really as explicit as the gore shots in "The Fly" or "Scanners" (well, one guy does head his face blown open by a gun, but that's about it), but Viggo gives a hell of a performance and the film stays with you. For days afterwards I was pondering different angles of what the story's intent was.

Posted: Oct 12 2005 09:54 am

I will admit that Viggo gave a very good performance. As for Taxi Driver, I liked it, I just didn't think it lived up to the hype of "best movie ever".

Posted: Oct 12 2005 10:43 am

Dr. Jeebus wrote:

As for Taxi Driver, I liked it, I just didn't think it lived up to the hype of "best movie ever".

You definitely aren't quoting me there, because Terminator 2 is the best movie ever.

Posted: Oct 12 2005 03:23 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

Terminator 2 is the best movie ever.

Posted: Jan 17 2006 07:16 am

I know this is setting a bad example, bumping an old topic and all, but apparently A History of Violence was nominated for Best Drama at the Golden Globes. It didn't win, but it's really cool that it got the hat tip.

Posted: Feb 02 2006 07:04 pm

I saw it. It was awesome, I laughed at a lot. At the violence. And its history.

Posted: Jul 24 2006 11:53 pm

*Sorry for the thread revive*

I've owned it for about a month now and I finally got around to watching it. I enjoyed it. Kinda slow paced as it probably should be and I saw more of Bello than I ever wanted to...

I was impressed by the squibs used for those gunshots. No real gross outs, but some very good gore (hey, I'm a horror fan, I like make up like that).

Dramatically, it was a few notches lower than "The Long Kiss Goodnight", but an interesting take of a classic plotline (hero with a mysterious past that confronts him).

By the end I felt like the film was a giant metaphor for Superman, but that could be the obscene amount of "Smallville" I've been watching talking.

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

Almost rented it the other day. I guess I should next time.

Posted: Jul 26 2006 01:09 am

There were a lot of things bothering me about the film when I watched it yesterday. Little filmmaker things like Sam the cop never giving back a driver's registration because of poor editing.

Today I rewatched bits and pieces of the film and realized the whole movie is pretty poorly edited.

MAJOR SPOILERS

During the front yard action scene - one bodyguard is shot and killed standing behind the car (or at least looks like it), but when they cut to a wide shot later on he's laying on the ground rather close to where Tom was originally standing.

The whole rifle situation during the front yard scene is IMPOSSIBLE. This bugged me yesterday, but I played this scene frame by frame. The son is in the house. The rifle is maybe less than a yard away from Harris. Somehow, the son left the house, grabbed the rifle, and ended up several feet behind Harris in a very short amount of time WITHOUT him hearing or seeing him do it. The film implies there's only one rifle in the house, so the second gun theory doesn't work. Look, I'm not saying I wouldn't forgive a movie like "Knock Off" for something like this, but this was some sloppy ass blocking/editing. Even for an Ed Wood film.

Also note, the film keeps cutting back to the wife and daughter watching from the upstairs window during this sequence. Look for the window when we're on Tom's level. Who's missing? The wife and the daughter. Oops.

Also some logic bugging me is how Tom handled the car situation in Philly. The mob doesn't trash his car, but I think I can overlook that... but then that means Tom has to find his way back to his car and then get rid of the car of the mobster... This whole problem is ignored by the film, but it's a valid point.

There's also the whole logic and sequence of Tom's past. We're given clues... but when you try to add them all up (how old was Joey when he left, the fuck he do in the desert, three years!?, etc) you don't really have a clue what the hell happened. There must be magic involved to get where Tom is from where Joey was, because what the heck. Nor are we given valid reasons for this Arnold type "erasing". I realize David Cronenberg wants us to come up with our own answers, but there's very little he gave us to form possible logical solutions.

Oh well, it's a short movie and its over now. Time to ignore it for awhile and move on like we do with "The Cave".

Posted: Jul 26 2006 02:53 pm

Let's not forget that Joey must just be plain dumb -- "IMMA KILL YOU EVEN THOUGH YOU'VE BEEN GONE FOREVER AND YOUR DEATH WOULD BE FAIRLY MEANINGLESS!!!"