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Doctor Butts posted:The same could be said for just about any protagonist in a B level action movie. I don't see how the movie does anything to critique it.
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Jan 3, 2014 19:25
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The psychotic wacko is not the guy who is able to kill reams of people so casually that he makes quips about each death.
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Jan 3, 2014 19:32
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The protagonist in a B level action movie is generally, if he were to be taken seriously, someone you would believe to be a psychotic wacko. The distinction is that the Driver character is revealed by the movie in which he appears to be a psychotic wacko.
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Jan 3, 2014 19:46
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Sir Kodiak posted:The protagonist in a B level action movie is generally, if he were to be taken seriously, someone you would believe to be a psychotic wacko. The Driver character is different in that he is revealed by the movie in which he appears to be a psychotic wacko. Right. It's a comment on this type of character that we just take for granted.
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Jan 3, 2014 19:47
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Doctor Butts posted:The same could be said for just about any protagonist in a B level action movie. I don't see how the movie does anything to critique it. The hero chooses to wear a mask without any emotion or humanity, and the scorpion thing is explicitly about irrational, suicidal violence. That's a little different than John Matrix.
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Jan 3, 2014 20:01
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Well, fine. I guess. I'll just stick with the opinion that the movie did a lovely job as a deconstruction of that character.
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Jan 3, 2014 20:24
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Doctor Butts posted:Well, fine. I guess. I'll just stick with the opinion that the movie did a lovely job as a deconstruction of that character. Cool!
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Jan 3, 2014 20:30
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Any other links of information that can support this theory more in depth, then? I don't get how its a great movie just because the guy is actually just a goon. These sort of one line descriptions aren't really doing it for me. The line between "This dude is so quiet and badass" and "Haha, how clever, the guy who is quiet and kicks rear end is actually just a thug" Isn't obvious enough for me to make it a distinction. I don't think the film made that point. I can see it as a pretty, solidly shot sort of modern noir film, but I don't see what everyone else here is describing. Doctor Butts fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Jan 3, 2014 |
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Jan 3, 2014 20:46
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Frankly, I loved Drive and I don't really see it either. Action heroes as psychotic wacks - explicitly in the text - goes back to First Blood and Lethal Weapon, it's sort of in the DNA of the genre.
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Jan 3, 2014 21:12
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I thought the movie was making its point with the repeated use of that song with the lyric, "He's a real hero, a real human being" -- that, actually, you can be one or the other, but not both.
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Jan 3, 2014 21:31
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If I had to reduce Drive to other movies, I'd say it's a mix of Shane and Bullitt, rather than deconstructing the driver as a loser that we're supposed to laugh at. Like those two movies' eponymous characters, he has a past that we aren't privy to, except in how it has affected him such that his actions only make the current situation worse. He puts up an emotional barrier between himself and others to prevent this, but it breaks down in various ways during the story (for me, most obviously when he and Blanche make their getaway, and more subtly in his early interactions with Irene & son). Someone here once described a Takeshi Kitano performance as "ungiving" and I think the word applies to Gosling in this movie. The Driver isn't an emotionless robot, but he wants to be like one to feel safe. However, he also cares about Irene and her son, and this is the core conflict of the movie; the gangster stuff puts a magnifying glass on it. Once things go to poo poo, he puts on an emotionless rubber mask because he can't do it with his real face at that point.
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Jan 3, 2014 21:35
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penismightier posted:Frankly, I loved Drive and I don't really see it either. Action heroes as psychotic wacks - explicitly in the text - goes back to First Blood and Lethal Weapon, it's sort of in the DNA of the genre. John Rambo is spit on from the beginning of First Blood and we're introduced to Riggs with a gun in his mouth. One of the things that makes Drive interesting (and I'm not claiming its the first film to do so) is the transition of him from loner to romantic figure to psychopath.
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Jan 3, 2014 21:40
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Even at a face reading there are some pretty heavy indicators that Driver isn't our supposed to be our hero/human being. - When he interrogates/slaps the poo poo out of Blanche - After he kisses his neighbor goodbye & kills of the henchman, his face as the elevator closes - the whole mask thing - etc
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Jan 4, 2014 12:27
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For a few years, I used to maintain a Google Docs spreadsheet where I would copy and paste all the releases on a week by week basis and friends in my little group would all put their ratings down. Maintaining it got to be a bit of a headache, I'm wondering if there's any site that does this automatically? I know RT/iMDB etc let you rate films, but it's more the 'within a little group' option I liked. Ability to have it display the films by the UK release date would be nice, but could always work around that I guess.
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Jan 4, 2014 12:43
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Hey so this is just something I was considering: Does anyone else think the scene in Tarkovsky's Nostalghia where Domenico lights himself on fire could be a reference to the final shot of Stalker? There's a lot of similar elements, particularly in the soundtrack (Beethoven's Ninth being the obvious one but also birds chirping and the dog) Would love to hear people's thoughts on this.
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Jan 5, 2014 18:54
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Rabbit Hill posted:I thought the movie was making its point with the repeated use of that song with the lyric, "He's a real hero, a real human being" -- that, actually, you can be one or the other, but not both. The lyric is "A real human being, and a real hero."
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Jan 6, 2014 12:26
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The film is pretty sympathetic towards the driver, though -- it's not just, like, "heh look at this psycho crazy guy what a weirdo". It's a lament that his idea of himself being a "real hero" is preventing him from being a "real human being", and kind of extends outwards into how our relationship with masculine violence in media are damaging. The song is "a real human being, and a real hero" because it's expressing a wish and a longing that are unattainable, like the scorpion who wants to be carried across the river by the frog. He'll kill the frog and then drown, because he's a scorpion.
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Jan 6, 2014 15:43
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wrong thread
Timby fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 16:09
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Something I've noticed in heavy-CGI movies for a while now, but I haven't seen anyone else talking about: In big fantasy epics like The Hobbit or the Harry Potter films, where the majority of what you see on film isn't really there, has anyone noticed the complete absence of black? Any time there's something dark or ominous or foreboding, it's always deep shades of grey or earthtone, maybe really dark purple, but never solid black. Even the darkest shadows are dimly lit. You can see this in the first two Hobbit films in particular. I haven't gone back to look at the LOTR films but they used more practical effects and miniatures, so I'd wager they probably have less of this. But is it because they can't render solid black in CGI? Or is it something to do with contrast in digital projection?
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Jan 6, 2014 22:20
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Are there other films from the 80s and early 90s in the same vein as Black Rain and Rising Sun about America's fear of Japan taking over the world? Those are the only 2 I've seen and it seems like there must have been more, they're interesting to watch nowadays.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:11
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BitcoinRockefeller posted:Are there other films from the 80s and early 90s in the same vein as Black Rain and Rising Sun about America's fear of Japan taking over the world? Those are the only 2 I've seen and it seems like there must have been more, they're interesting to watch nowadays. Gung Ho
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Jan 6, 2014 23:16
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Bonk posted:Something I've noticed in heavy-CGI movies for a while now, but I haven't seen anyone else talking about : Might be combination of modern film prints and/or digital projection. The only times I recall seeing remarkable black levels in a theater were a 35mm dye-transfer print of The Wizard of Oz and the 4K screening of Lawrence of Arabia. I was surprised by the lack of true black levels on archival 35mm prints of Casablanca and Citizen Kane. Dye-transfer and B&W nitrate tend to have incredible black levels.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:17
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BitcoinRockefeller posted:Are there other films from the 80s and early 90s in the same vein as Black Rain and Rising Sun about America's fear of Japan taking over the world? Those are the only 2 I've seen and it seems like there must have been more, they're interesting to watch nowadays. Not a movie, but you might also enjoy Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:17
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Bonk posted:But is it because they can't render solid black in CGI?
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Jan 6, 2014 23:18
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Do "high-end" TV shows like Breaking Bad have greater volume dynamic range than other shows? It seems I have to ride the remote a bit more than something like the X-Files. Maybe it's just modern drama shows having a more cinematic presentation? With home theaters nowadays I imagine the sound can be mixed more similar to movies than it could in the 90s.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:25
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david_a posted:Do "high-end" TV shows like Breaking Bad have greater volume dynamic range than other shows? It seems I have to ride the remote a bit more than something like the X-Files. Maybe it's just modern drama shows having a more cinematic presentation? With home theaters nowadays I imagine the sound can be mixed more similar to movies than it could in the 90s. I've wondered this myself, and thought maybe it had to do with modern shows being mixed for 7.1, and when your TV or whatever downsamples to two channels the balance gets all thrown off. Which if it's the case, it's odd that they mix for 7.1. As much as widescreen TV's have invaded every home out there, I still know very few people who own a discreet audio system to back up their TV. People seemed to care way more about a big picture and higher res, and still don't really give a poo poo about better audio.
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Jan 7, 2014 01:55
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In Sound of My Voice, what's the significance of the father (?) of the young girl taking her blood and plugging it into a laptop? Or the backpack with "Terrorist" on it? Or that she really likes black Legos? I can't tell if I'm supposed to draw conclusions from that or if it's background color like the flashbacks for the two main characters were. Those were a bit different since that narration was telling us truth about the characters so we'd know it for future scenes. Wait... who was the narrator? Was it Maggie?
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Jan 7, 2014 05:26
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BitcoinRockefeller posted:Are there other films from the 80s and early 90s in the same vein as Black Rain and Rising Sun about America's fear of Japan taking over the world? Those are the only 2 I've seen and it seems like there must have been more, they're interesting to watch nowadays. It's a very minor piece of it, but it plays a role in Die Hard, Blade Runner also has an undercurrent of Asiaphobia. They aren't major plot points in either films, but they inform the aesthetics and tone.
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Jan 7, 2014 05:59
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Pretty much any sci-fi film of that era that features Japanese text all over the place would qualify- Blade Runner's probably the most famous, obviously.
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Jan 7, 2014 06:02
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I read that the Samurai dream sequences in Brazil also (satirically) play on the fear of an Asian economic takeover. Although of course there's also the SAMurai aspect.
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Jan 7, 2014 11:46
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:I've wondered this myself, and thought maybe it had to do with modern shows being mixed for 7.1, and when your TV or whatever downsamples to two channels the balance gets all thrown off. I'm guessing this is it. My father recently got a set of external speakers for his TV and he went from having to crank the volume up during dialog scenes (specifically including for Breaking Bad) to being able to listen to the show at a consistent volume setting. There's some movies and TV shows that only sound right if you have a center channel speaker because it's where most of the sound of people talking comes from.
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Jan 7, 2014 16:54
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e: I'm an idiot.
Shanty fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 7, 2014 17:04
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Shanty posted:e: I'm an idiot. Good job picking the most bland Birthday Buddy possible there. Watch Bad Lieutenant! EDIT: FUUUUUCKKK! Hahaha.
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Jan 7, 2014 17:11
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Sir Kodiak posted:I'm guessing this is it. My father recently got a set of external speakers for his TV and he went from having to crank the volume up during dialog scenes (specifically including for Breaking Bad) to being able to listen to the show at a consistent volume setting. There's some movies and TV shows that only sound right if you have a center channel speaker because it's where most of the sound of people talking comes from. This just isn't true. I think it got more to do with some weird virtual surround setting on the tv, because downmixed 5.1 tracks can be played perfectly fine in stereo.
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Jan 8, 2014 06:23
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Schweinhund posted:Film & Video cameras are what have limitations, not cgi. Technically all black is bad. When you see black in a traditional movie it means the dynamic range of the camera or film stock/format was too low to pick up all the shades of grey. When they use CGI, those limitations aren't there and no information in the image is lost so you still see everything. It might look *off* though because you're not used to seeing it, but Peter '48 fps' Jackson probably doesn't care about that. Eh, cinematographers often go to lengths to get nice blacks into their image. It was most of the point of the various silver retention processes like ENR and bleach bypasses that grew in popularity during the 90s. Now digital cameras handle the low end of the latitude so well that you can light virtually every shot in a way that retains rich detail in the shadows, so you could argue that it's now even more an explicit aesthetic choice when the image drops to black at a certain point. If digital shots aren't matching the curve of the stock or grade on the low end, then I'd say it's a failure of the vfx to match the film's chosen aesthetic.
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Jan 8, 2014 07:59
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If I needed to enlist the help of someone who speaks French + English to translate a short 12-minute movie for me from French to English, where would be the best place to look for help?
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Jan 8, 2014 16:24
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caiman posted:If I needed to enlist the help of someone who speaks French + English to translate a short 12-minute movie for me from French to English, where would be the best place to look for help? There's the science, academics and languages sub-thread right here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=162
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Jan 8, 2014 20:01
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Trump posted:This just isn't true. I think it got more to do with some weird virtual surround setting on the tv, because downmixed 5.1 tracks can be played perfectly fine in stereo. I'm not claiming that it's impossible to downmix 5.1 or 7.1 to stereo in way that produces legible dialog, but that's not inconsistent with my claim that it being done badly can result in TV shows sounding weird. It's not clear to me why you think we're in disagreement here.
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Jan 8, 2014 20:39
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Sir Kodiak posted:I'm not claiming that it's impossible to downmix 5.1 or 7.1 to stereo in way that produces legible dialog, but that's not inconsistent with my claim that it being done badly can result in TV shows sounding weird. It's not clear to me why you think we're in disagreement here. If the downmixing is done straight up, with no weird processing like virtual surround or presets like the "movie" or "music" option some TVs have, you won't be able to tell the difference. Downmixing doesn't remove channels, but simply throws the available sound out 2 speakers. The center channel will come out of both speakers.
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Jan 8, 2014 21:49
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Trump posted:If the downmixing is done straight up, with no weird processing like virtual surround or presets like the "movie" or "music" option some TVs have, you won't be able to tell the difference. Downmixing doesn't remove channels, but simply throws the available sound out 2 speakers. The center channel will come out of both speakers. Yeah, but in a 7.1 setup, you can tune the volume on each speaker, not to mention that there's an expectation that certain channels are going to be coming from different angles, and will sound different just based on physics. A 7.1 downmix to 2 channels can sound just fine, but to say they sound the same is patently false. Patently, I say!
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Jan 9, 2014 03:16
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