films you've seen recently and would NOT recommend

[baboon2004]

Everytime I talk shit on Tarantino someone always says this. It's virtually the only movie of his I haven't seen. I should get on that.

I'm not sure you'd like it, as it's not a massive departure from Pulp Fiction. Though it is mainly played less at the level of irony, and is more heartfelt. Which I appreciate.

Plus Pam Grier looking radiant...can't go wrong.

 

[3 Body No Problem]

Violence isn't shocking if it's been the wallpaper to your life, tho. I mean, I think Antichrist sound intriguing enough, and visually I like the trailer, but violence is hardly enough to shock anyone anymore is it? People get circumsized for reals everyday.

I lead a sheltered life, so even though I know it's going on, I don't see violence very much at all. Seeing violence still shocks me a lot.

An acquaintance of mine has written a review of Antichrist which is interesting (and contains various spoilers), although I don't agree with much of her reading.

 

[nomadthethird]

Yes, I read that...the writing is nice, but I don't think the movie is probably as good as it it sounds in this review.

I really have no patience for the idea that because women menstruate, they are more "biological" "natural" or "irrational" or "weird" or what have you than men are, and although this review is full of pretty sentences and erudite references, I have no idea what point is actually being made in sentences like this: "it is so transcendentally misogynist that it fails to be applicable to any empirical woman that could ever exist." Is misogyny ever about an empirical woman?

I also don't care what we fail to discuss "collectively" about female bodily functions (even though I think pregnancy and menstruation get quite a lot of frank discussion where I come from)--men have their own sticky excretions that fail to get discussed except as playground potty punchlines. Neither disgust me or disturb me in the least, I'm afraid. I have no problem "squaring" menstruation with my experiences of anything, I like vaginas before AND after babies come out, the men I've been with don't seem to have a huge problem with blood, and if they do, I don't think it's because we don't have a Politburo laying down the decree about what's appropriate to feel.

It's a testament to Ms. Power's intelligence that she got so much out of that film, but hers is just an exceptionally neurotic reading of a film that I think is about anything but neurosis and is more about psychosis. Major depression with psychotic features.

 

[swears]

Violence isn't shocking if it's been the wallpaper to your life, tho. I mean, I think Antichrist sound intriguing enough, and visually I like the trailer, but violence is hardly enough to shock anyone anymore is it? People get circumsized for reals everyday.

Actually, I've had my arse kicked a fair few times, and that's part of the reason I find movie violence pretty dumb for the most part. It's like sex, they never quite get it right. It's not the instant you get punched/kicked/grabbed hold of that's the worse part, it's the little moments inbetween when you catch your breath, absolutely shit it and fear for your physical well-being... I'd like to see a film that really captures that. The messiness and scrappiness of fighting.

 

[nomadthethird]

Like this is a pretty sentence, but it makes no sense.

The simian faces of Dafoe and Gainsbourg are fortuitous here, reminding us of the maladaptive, neotenous anatural status of the human (a long way from Leth’s ‘The Perfect Human’, von Trier’s obsession in The Five Obstructions).

We all have simian features--we're all primates--and we're far from "anatural", whatever that means. I'm not sure what neoteny has to do with any of this, either.

 

[nomadthethird]

Actually, I've had my arse kicked a fair few times, and that's part of the reason I find movie violence pretty dumb for the most part. It's like sex, they never quite get it right. It's not the instant you get punched/kicked/grabbed hold of that's the worse part, it's the little moments inbetween when you catch your breath, absolutely shit it and fear for your physical well-being... I'd like to see a film that really captures that. The messiness and scrappiness of fighting.

Yes, and the feeling of autonomic rush, the adrenaline, the total black out, and then the intensity of the comedown is something too. They never quite get what's erotic about violence right, do they? In the media, what's presented as erotic in violence is always the element of one's asserting of their power over others. But that's not quite right either. Violence is a sort of erotic release mechanism that has nothing (or at least, not everything) to do with power as we always define it--males over females, cops over robbers, FBI agents over terrorists. I'm so sick of the fucking top-down phallic reading of everything. So. boring. so. bored...

 

[Mr. Tea]

In the two or three fights I've been in ever - I say 'fights', just playground scraps lasting a few seconds really - I've come away shaking all over with this sensation that you could pretty much call euphoria, a total adrenaline/dopamine (I guess) buzz that was distinct from but comparable to the afterglow from an orgasm, and in retrospect a bit like a massive amphetamine rush. I can certainly see how someone who's not very well adjusted or socially conditioned could get 'addicted' to it. Fucking weird, I mean I'm the last person to ever start a fight or even step up to someone else's overtures, no matter how badly they're asking for it...

 

[nomadthethird]

In the two or three fights I've been in ever - I say 'fights', just playground scraps lasting a few seconds really - I've come away shaking all over with this sensation that you could pretty much call euphoria, a total adrenaline/dopamine (I guess) buzz that was distinct from but comparable to the afterglow from an orgasm, and in retrospect a bit like a massive amphetamine rush. I can certainly see how someone who's not very well adjusted or socially conditioned could get 'addicted' to it. Fucking weird, I mean I'm the last person to ever start a fight or even step up to someone else's overtures, no matter how badly they're asking for it...

Right, I've noticed that people who've been victims of violence tend to be the ones who are the most vocal opponents of it, across the board, even "military" or politically-sanctioned types.

I know enough about being on the receiving end of several types of violence to know that there's obviously a difference between starting a fight with a stranger for kicks (in a bid for non-consensual violence) and having a little bit of experimental fun in a controlled setting (consensual violence). Although, yes, I think these impulses probably originate in part from the same place other addictive ones do--and that this can be, overall, a costly process. More common than most people think it is though. Much more so...

 

[swears]

Yes, and the feeling of autonomic rush, the adrenaline, the total black out, and then the intensity of the comedown is something too. They never quite get what's erotic about violence right, do they? In the media, what's presented as erotic in violence is always the element of one's asserting of their power over others. But that's not quite right either. Violence is a sort of erotic release mechanism that has nothing (or at least, not everything) to do with power as we always define it--males over females, cops over robbers, FBI agents over terrorists. I'm so sick of the fucking top-down phallic reading of everything. So. boring. so. bored...

Well, re:violence, I just hated the feeling of being powerlessness, sort of like how I feel everyday x1000. It's not so much fun on the receiving end and the idea of hurting someone makes me sick, too. No matter how much I despised someone, I've never wanted to physically hurt them, so vulgar.

 

[nomadthethird]

Well, re:violence, I just hated the feeling of being powerlessness, sort of like how I feel everyday x1000. It's not so much fun on the receiving end and the idea of hurting someone makes me sick, too. No matter how much I despised someone, I've never wanted to physically hurt them, so vulgar.

Good points...I don't want to hurt anyone or damage anyone, that thought is just unbearable, but I like playing around the limnal areas where the boundaries between what is pleasureable and what is painful blur slightly for myself.

And I've always had a blurring there. I even remember going to the dentist for the first time at 4 or so and just loving it, having my gums bleed from the cleaning and the sore feeling and everything. I also enjoyed the whole weird way you have to go to a different place in your head at times like that, it's almost like meditating when you're in acute physical pain, how it comes and goes based on your own awareness level...

 

[empty mirror]

 

[Mr. Tea]

Right, I've noticed that people who've been victims of violence tend to be the ones who are the most vocal opponents of it, across the board, even "military" or politically-sanctioned types.

You talkin' ta me? *squares up* Er, I've not in any meaningful way been a 'victim of violence', I was talking about encounters where I gave at least as good as I got, under fair provocation. I'm fortunate enough not to have been a situation like swears has of being curled up on the floor wondering which jolly fellow is going to deliver the next kick...can't say I'd expect to get much 'euphoria' from something like that. Though I've been in a situation where these four lads could very easily have done that, and were obviously thinking about it, but in the end couldn't be arsed to give me more than a couple of slaps. Thank god for lazy thugs.

On the political side of violence, I'm certainly no pacifist. Violence can sometimes be the least bad option to stop someone else committing worse, and more unjust, violence. Goes without saying it's not usually as cut-and-dried as that in practice, of course.

 

[empty mirror]

on one occasion when i was jumped, i thought vividly of baseball---had no interest in baseball then. really weird.

 

[nochexxx]

something to do with needing a baseball bat perhaps!

 

[mistersloane]

Right, I've noticed that people who've been victims of violence tend to be the ones who are the most vocal opponents of it, across the board, even "military" or politically-sanctioned types.

Being a repeated 'victim' of violence has subsequently, I think, made me a much more violent person though; abused becoming abuser and all that.

Example : I was in Newcastle, north of England last week, out on the town. I've always been a mouthy bastard, but at the end of a good night a guy took a swing at me - not for any reason other than I wouldn't give him a drink of my drink - and I stand there and scream in his face "Oh, is that the best you can do? You wanna know how we do it in London? We. Fuck. Your. Mother. (repeated three times). The bloke promptly burst into tears and tried to attack me again, but the situation had been diffused by his tears somewhat. And the police turning up.

I wouldn't have dreamt of doing that until after maybe the 10th time I was attacked (without provocation) and somewhere down the line I snapped and thought, you know, pacifism doesn't work. It makes me sad.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Someone on here wrote a great post a while ago about how casual violence like that is much worse in towns and cities outside London because the 'entry bar' for hassle is set so much lower. Like in London you've got actual gangs of actual criminals, as opposed to pissed insecure losers like your Geordie would-be nemesis. I hear much the same kind of thing from mates of mine who come from Portsmouth and go back there now and then for family do's.

As you say, just sad all round.

 

[nomadthethird]

Though I've been in a situation where these four lads could very easily have done that, and were obviously thinking about it, but in the end couldn't be arsed to give me more than a couple of slaps. That God for lazy thugs.

The absolute worst fights, displays of violence, whatever you want to call them, that I have ever witnessed were girl-on-girl. I would never fight a girl. We used to have a fight or two everyday outside my school at this certain spot, and it was always the girl-on-girl fights that sent someone to the ICU. Once I saw a girl smash another girls face in with a huge ring over and over and over until she needed probably a hundred stitches. Girls are much more likely to go for a weapon in a school fight. I also saw one girl vomit blood after someone punched her in the stomach and shoved some kind of icey snowball in her mouth.

Being a repeated 'victim' of violence has subsequently, I think, made me a much more violent person though; abused becoming abuser and all that.

Example : I was in Newcastle, north of England last week, out on the town. I've always been a mouthy bastard, but at the end of a good night a guy took a swing at me - not for any reason other than I wouldn't give him a drink of my drink - and I stand there and scream in his face "Oh, is that the best you can do? You wanna know how we do it in London? We. Fuck. Your. Mother. (repeated three times). The bloke promptly burst into tears and tried to attack me again, but the situation had been diffused by his tears somewhat. And the police turning up.

Lol...Yeah...I know what you mean.

 

[empty mirror]

yeah seconded.
worst fight i ever saw was between these two women in this pool hall in los angeles. they were throwing billiard balls at each other and breaking pool cues and spilling out into the street, setting off "viper" car alarms that intoned "please step away from the vehicle".

 

[Corpsey]

Actually, I've had my arse kicked a fair few times, and that's part of the reason I find movie violence pretty dumb for the most part. It's like sex, they never quite get it right. It's not the instant you get punched/kicked/grabbed hold of that's the worse part, it's the little moments inbetween when you catch your breath, absolutely shit it and fear for your physical well-being... I'd like to see a film that really captures that. The messiness and scrappiness of fighting.

'Funny Games' was derided by many critics for its condescending/contemptuous po-mo winks towards the audience, and somewhat deservedly, but I thought what was really great about it (one of the things that I like about all the Haneke films I've seen) was the way it seems to capture the nauseating/stimulating (i.e. shocking) nature of extreme violence, especially when it encroaches upon a settled/secure situation. The steely, serene glare of his camera seems to capture something of the boost to sensory awareness (adrenaline) that even the threat of violence provokes... of course the irony is that in 'Funny Games' you never actually see any of the violent acts.

Presumably this is Haneke denying the cathartic/pornographic 'money shot' that most violent films concentrate on (again, a self-conscious post-modern device which works on another level to heighten tension), but perhaps you could link what you say about the confusion and breaks in clarity, and also the fear of imminent violence sometimes overriding the pain of the actual attack, to these moments of concealment?

If you're interested in the depiction of violence in cinema I think Haneke's an interesting Director to look at, there's quite a lot of essays online about his approach to it (vs. the approach typical to Hollywood thrillers/horror films... would be interesting to compare to films like 'Saw' and 'Hostel' too).

Back on topic, was glad to see someone putting the shoe into 'Vicky Cristiana Barcelona' in this thread. I saw it and thought it was the phoniest, most self-satisfied piece of poop in da whole wide world

 

[Mr. Tea]

...setting off "viper" car alarms that intoned "please step away from the vehicle".

I'm always disappointed when those alarms fail to say "YOU HAVE TWENTY SECONDS TO COMPLY!!" in this incredibly butch deep voice, and then open hatches for machine guns that massacre anyone failing to comply. Or even those who have complied.

But then, perhaps I just love RoboCop a bit too much.