Hatrack River Forum: 2046, or "ElJay's not picking our next movie"

This is topic 2046, or "ElJay's not picking our next movie" in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :

We saw 2046 this afternoon. The cinematography was very pretty and the music was good. (ElJay seems to have liked the music a lot more than I did.) There's a few clever lines and some potentially intriguing character relationships. Ziyi Zhang is very pretty.

Ok, that's about everything nice that I can think of to say about this movie. None of the intriguing relationships are explored in any meaningful way. The main character is a womanizing jerk, and the nice girl who should be too good for him completely falls for him anyway. It's full of the kind of drawn-out pretentious gibberish that you really hope is some sort of symbolism for something deeper because it sure doesn't seem to have a point on the surface. I sat through most of it either wishing they'd pick one storyarc and actually stick with it for a while, or just wondering how soon it would end. It might have been a very sad and tragic tale if the POV character hadn't been such a cretin.

This is the kind of art-house foreign film that gives both art-house and foreign films a bad name. The movie that people claim is brilliant because it doesn't make any sense but they don't want to admit that. 2 hours and 9 minutes have rarely felt as long as that pile of suckiness.
</rant>

I didn't like it.

--Enigmatic

Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :

I thought of seeing it, but then I started to watch the prequel.
It was a bit decadent, mostly they had cool music, then the two characters were walking up and down stairs, some long conversations...
I stopped watching it because it was a bit dull.

Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :

I didn't dislike it as much as he did.

But I did think it was over at least three times before it actually ended, and each time it was a disappointment when I realized I was wrong.

Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :

Also, you know you never said that you didn't want to see it. If you'd've told me in advance that you thought it was gonna be pretentious crap I would have trusted your opinion and we could've gone to Sky High. [Razz]

Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :

Sky High was wonderful. I also really enjoyed Brothers Grimm, which I believe you were also considering, although our host and several other posters disagree with me on that.

And Something Like Heaven was pretty good too.

Sorry you picked a loser. [Razz]

Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :

From the trailer I feared it was going to be pretentious crap, but I didn't have a firm opinion on how likely that was. I still kinda wanted to see it, to see what it was really about and because I hoped that it would be a really thought-provoking movie. You sounded like you really wanted to go to this one after I suggested other possibilities, so I did not express my fears.

Yes, I take responsibility for that negligence.

--Enigmatic

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :

Sky High, or....

What a gap between those two films, huh? [Big Grin]

Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :

I thought Something Like Heaven was really cute.

I'm one of those who'd disagree with dkw about The Brothers Grimm. <insert barfy smiley here> Not Terry Gilliam's finest work, that's for sure.

Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :

I didn't say I thought it was great filmmaking, I said I enjoyed it. Those two categories, while overlapping, are not always the same.

Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :

I highly recommend "Everything is Illuminated", when it comes out as a splendid film [Smile]

Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :

quote:
The main character is a womanizing jerk, and the nice girl who should be too good for him completely falls for him anyway.

So this was an arthouse version of "Two weeks notice"?

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :

quote:
Originally posted by dkw:
I didn't say I thought it was great filmmaking, I said I enjoyed it. Those two categories, while overlapping, are not always the same.

I was thinking the same thing when I posted my first reply, but all I was really saying is that one was tryign too hard to be serious while the other is very light-hearted.

Completely different genres, that's all. [Big Grin]

Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :

quote:
Originally posted by dkw:
I didn't say I thought it was great filmmaking, I said I enjoyed it. Those two categories, while overlapping, are not always the same.

Dana, I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth, of course. I probably should have separated the two sentences with a paragraph break or something. I didn't enjoy The Brothers Grimm and that's all I meant in comparison. The follow up sentence was meant to express surprise that I didn't enjoy it when I normally like Terry Gilliam's work.

Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :

That post sounded a lot more snotty than I meant it. Picture it with a disarming smile or something.

Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :

A disarming smile is very useful in fencing.

--Enigmatic

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :

But in writing a disarming simile is more useful.

Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :

SMILEY.

Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :

Um, twink, I think he meant this definition:

quote:
simile

n : a figure of speech that expresses a resemblance between things of different kinds (usually formed with `like' or `as')

Unless I'm being too literal and you're teasing?

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :

What, it isn't possible for both of those to be true at the same time? [Wink]

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :

ElJay, please get out of my head.

It's crowded enough in there already.

Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :

*sigh*

I let my mind wander and it didn't come back.

Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :

But rivka, I'm having so much fun in here!