Zero Dark Thirty

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 10:29am

I don't know what's wrong here. After seeing that this film is on every critic's 10 best list, and that it's nominated for best pic, and Jessica Chastain for best actor, I couldn' t wait to see it.

Huh? Neither my friend nor I could believe this film is considered very good. And where in the film did Miss Chastain do any heavy acting? The whole thing passed me by.

We were talking about taking the dvd out of the machine but we watch to the end, not feeling a thing.

Sometimes it's the mood you're in, that could change the way you see a film, but is there anyone else here that agrees with me? I really wonder if there's anyone.

BTW, I love Bigalow as a director, usually.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 10:44am

I like the movie, have defended the movie, and think along with The Master it was one of the best American releases of 2012. That said, I get why people are not enraptured by it with a script that is full of post-9/11 CIA jargon, minimal characterization, and that it is a chilly film experience where you are watching a procedural of some morally, ethically challenging if flat-out illegal actions.

As for Chastain's character, I get the criticism too but I think it is important to look at what the character entailed than to try to talk about the performance in terms having scenes that were very show-y for the character. She is sort of the vessel of the film where you have to believe she is carrying a sense of burden, obsession, and vengeance through the picture but in a very closed manner way because being a closed person was how she was trained to be.

I also want to say that seeing it on the small screen versus the big screen is something of a diminished viewing experience as somebody who watched it on both the big screen and small screen.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 10:47am

I found it propagandistic, subtly anti-feminist, and a shallow metaphorical statement by Kathryn Bigelow about how tough she has to be to make movies in Hollywood.

[Luscious]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 10:49am

I thought it was one big gigantic yawn.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 10:52am

It was That Girl with waterboarding.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 10:54am

I admired some of it but share your incredulity about the raves.

It's called hype, OP. More and more, a great many people either "love!!!" or "hate!!!!" something, rarely giving a balanced response.

People love going on dramatically about movies (pro or con) and finding something merely "good" or "well done but..." doesn't allow them that fervor.

Last night I watched Chris Matthews waxing, speaking in SUPERLATIVES about "Silver Linings Playbook" - a movie I would call very enjoyable but hardly brilliant - He called it the best movie he'd seen in many years. I couldn't help thinking, "really, Chris, really?"

Even the movies I thought were the best of this past year - Argo, Amour - I don't feel compelled to shout from the rooftops about as if they were The Apartment, The Conformist, Don't Look Now, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Lady Eve and Rear Window all rolled into one.




Updated On: 2/9/13 at 10:54 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 11:00am

Who's that girl? It's Jess (ica Chastain)!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 11:05am

I know what you mean, henrik. I remember an episode of Oprah where she had on Ron Howard and the cast of "Backdraft," which she called the best movie she'd ever seen in her life.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 11:08am

And then 4 years later she called BELOVED the best film ever made, to which she lost any and all credibility when it comes to matters of taste from that moment on.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 11:09am

Thanks so much for those replies! I feel much better now, lol.

Strummergirl,

" As for Chastain's character, I get the criticism too but I think it is important to look at what the character entailed than to try to talk about the performance in terms having scenes that were very show-y for the character. She is sort of the vessel of the film where you have to believe she is carrying a sense of burden, obsession, and vengeance through the picture but in a very closed manner way because being a closed person was how she was trained to be."

Very well stated, but I just didn't even get that message. It had to be my mood, because I didn't know much about her character, hence I felt nothing for her. Or anyone else.

As for being uncomfortable with some of the (waterboarding) scenes, nope. They were child's play compared with the total discomfort of watching the entire movie of "The Impossible." I loved that film, but there wasn't one moment when you weren't having a hard time watching. In the sold out house I saw it with, you could hear a pin drop in the theater. No one talked, no one got up to go to the bathroom, no one even turned on their cellphones. And I'm sure Naomi Watts won't win. But she should.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 11:22am

I honestly did not find Maya a relatable character and I really do not see that as a problem. I've read a lot on the CIA in this era, mostly for academics and some of it for interest. If the CIA agents and targeters were made as these completely relatable, sympathetic, very populist 'just like us' types of people I would have felt like something was amiss.

Henrik, let's also remember Chris Matthews is from Philly so he probably has some biases about a film where the city of Philadelphia and its people, mostly of a specific race and socio-economic class that Matthews romanticizes on his show like a Frank Capra movie, is such a driving force.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 11:24am

Well I agree with Chris Matthews on that film.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 11:36am

Definitely, Strummergirl, he was very clear that his drive to champion SLP has a great deal to do with it being a movie about where he comes from and people he can recognize as "middle, middle" (his words).

Updated On: 2/9/13 at 11:36 AM

[strummergirl]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 11:39am

He also liked Russell's The Fighter for the same reason. I really hope Matthews tries to expand his horizons on Russell's filmography. But I really just want him to discover Spanking the Monkey.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 11:40am

Strummergirl, it sounds like one must do research, or already have enough knowledge on the topic to really appreciate the film.

I'm not one of those people and wanted to be more entertained, so perhaps that's why I didn't get anything from it.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 11:50am

I hate when people say a film they just saw is the "best movie I've seen in YEARS!" Really? You remember the films you saw in the past few years? Because I'm sure last year you made that remark about ________."

Especially in social media, people feel the need to compete with all the attention that a Facebook news feed or the Twitterverse has. To make sure their opinions are noticed and responded to, they hype everything up. I've never seen so many exclamation points in my LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Not since TITANIC has there been a film where I left the theatre thinking "Wow, this one is going down in the history books!" (Others since TITANIC have made it into the "history books," but not since that film had I had that immediate, legitimate reaction to a film.)

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 12:00pm

Interesting, because I can honestly say that I hated Titanic.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 12:02pm

My favorite is when mainstream reviewers make grand statements but they're actually wishy-washy. "This just might be one of the best horror movies I've seen in years!"

[strummergirl]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 12:03pm

Jane, I can see that definitely. I actually only considered that after I saw it with my parents, my father brought a lot of zeitgeist-y post-9/11 books on UBL so he understood a lot of the jargon, but my mother on the other hand was a little in the dark.

And the best film I've seen in years was The Battle of Algiers in 2010, decades after it was released.

I feel like people get sucked into Oscar fever a lot and if anything the expansive Best Picture nominees spread the symptoms further. Just listen to some of the podcasts or read the pieces by Oscar experts/industry types and it feels like a different world breaking down every little gesture by the nominees and producers working the campaigns for the awards.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 1:33pm

You might be able to answer a question from me, Stummergirl. When the actual event occurred, I distinctly remember it being reported that there was a gunfight between UBL and our men. In the film, there was no such resistance.

Also, why did they not show a direct shot of UBL's face ever?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 1:36pm

Because the was only one woman who could ever know for sure. Her nod was all the world needed.

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 1:56pm

Namo, I meant in the film.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 2:04pm

The first accounts were that UBL was armed. There was also the idea that the woman shot was also armed, I believe initially reported as UBL's spouse. The accounts changed, but I am sure the initial words of the report stuck even if the White House in a short amount of time (May 3rd was when the report was changed to unarmed) corrected the initial report and neither was armed except the other two men in the compound.

And the Maya in the film does exist. She was called 'Jen' in the book that SEAL Team 6 member wrote that got him in a lot of hot water about the raid. The other characters are composites though Jennifer Ehle's character did share aspects of Jennifer Matthews who did die in the suicide bombing at Camp Chapman (and yes, there was a cake actually made).

[Jane2]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 2:12pm

thanks!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/9/13 at 2:13pm

I meant in the film too, Jane. This whole thing is a fantasy. This magical 28 year old obsessed woman who was Javert to bin Laden's Valjean.