Understanding Movies: Who Has This (Specific) Problem?
Understanding Movies: Who Has This (Specific) Problem?
#1Understanding Movies: Who Has This (Specific) Problem?
Posted: 11/21/07 at 4:44pm
Does anyone have a problem in which, if you don't know anything about a movie before going to see it, you don't understand the plot? I do, and I need some company.
(I went to see AMERICAN GANGSTER last weekend only knowing that Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington were in it. It was a bad experience.)
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#2re: Understanding Movies: Who Has This (Specific) Problem?
Posted: 11/21/07 at 4:55pmIt depends on the film. If it is so ridiculously easy to follow (ie: "The Lion King"), then I don't have a problem. But if "Cats" was put on film and I had never seen "Cats" before, chances are high that I wouldn't have the foggiest idea what was going on.
#2re: Understanding Movies: Who Has This (Specific) Problem?
Posted: 11/21/07 at 5:07pmIf "Cats" was put on film, I wouldn't worry about understanding it, I'd just jump out of a very high window.
"Why, I make more money than... than... than Calvin Coolidge! PUT TOGETHER!"
~Lina Lamont
My name wasn't, isn't, and will never be Scott.
~Lina Lamont
My name wasn't, isn't, and will never be Scott.
#3re: Understanding Movies: Who Has This (Specific) Problem?
Posted: 11/21/07 at 5:20pm
I can't do Shakespeare without knowing the plot in advance. But easy films are no problem. ^_^
#4re: Understanding Movies: Who Has This (Specific) Problem?
Posted: 11/22/07 at 4:57pmI have that same problem with Shakespeare. When "The Merchant of Venice" came out, I read up on it before hand, watched the movie, and could barely understand what was going on. Jeremy Irons was fantastic in that movie, though.
FindingNamo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#5re: Understanding Movies: Who Has This (Specific) Problem?
Posted: 11/22/07 at 10:24pm
I remember seeing Derek Jarman's "Blue" and I couldn't even tell who was whom.
The plot of Andy Warhol's "Empire" was just incomprehensible to me. And it seemed long.
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#6re: Understanding Movies: Who Has This (Specific) Problem?
Posted: 11/22/07 at 10:29pm
That tends to happen to me with Terry Gilliam movies a lot - like Brazil or The Adventures of Baron Munchaussen. I enjoy them a lot more when I know what I'll be seeing.
Of course, there are many many movies that are simply bad...
Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.
#7understanding movies: who has this (specific) problem?
Posted: 11/22/07 at 10:34pmi totally wouldn't have been able to follow ghost rider had i not read one of the comic books first. same with 300. i mean some movies like that just make no cents, right?
r.i.p. marco, my guardian angel.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
#8understanding movies: who has this (specific) problem?
Posted: 11/22/07 at 10:35pmI found American Gangster to be extremely easy to follow to the point of being predictable and dull, actually.
"I can't figure out what kind of life this is, comedy or tragedy, I just know it's showbiz. And what if I don't agree with the lines I have to read? They don't pay me enough, the way I see it."
#9understanding movies: who has this (specific) problem?
Posted: 11/22/07 at 10:41pmi would find that statement very difficult to follow had i not read it before about other subjects.
r.i.p. marco, my guardian angel.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
#10understanding movies: who has this (specific) problem?
Posted: 11/22/07 at 10:45pmWhat's that, papa? I'm not following what you're trying to convey, I don't think.
"I can't figure out what kind of life this is, comedy or tragedy, I just know it's showbiz. And what if I don't agree with the lines I have to read? They don't pay me enough, the way I see it."
#11understanding movies: who has this (specific) problem?
Posted: 11/22/07 at 10:47pm
last. three. words.
r.i.p. marco, my guardian angel.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#12understanding movies: who has this (specific) problem?
Posted: 11/22/07 at 11:35pm
Thanks, Namo, for bringing up BLUE. A very moving film. Is it on video anymore?
As for the thread itself, well, yeah, sometimes a movie can be a little hard to follow sometimes on a first viewing. Some movies need to be seen more than once to get to the bottom of them. Of course, most movies can be dispensed with after a single viewing.
So Bustopher, care to share any movies that confused you on a first viewing?
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick
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