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shadowkatI've been collecting negative reviews posted on my flist about Twilight, because I can.
http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/16/twilight-sucks-and-not-in-a-good-way/
This one is refreshingly enough written by a nineteen year old girl who states that she is trying to figure out where she fits in the world one book at a time.
Reading Monsterous Regiment by Terry Prachett at the moment. Quite humorous in places.
This is how satire should be, subtle, with likable characters, and a sort of irreverent wit.
Not over-the-top and in your face like Sex Lies Murder Fame and Tropic Thunder were. Granted both were funny in places. I laughed very hard during Tropic Thunder and snorfled a bit during Sex, Lies...but, I had troubles caring all that much about the people. Instead of laughing with them, I was laughing at them, and that always tends to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Satire when done well - has you laughing at human behavior, the stupidity of it, yourself, and a situation. Not at the person themselves. It's hard to do satire well. A lot of American Satire has a tendency to fall into "Broad" Comedy or go too far.
At any rate, I'm enjoying Monsterous Regiment.
If you want - there are two reviews of Tropic Thunder on my flist. One by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dlgood who to my knowledge has no association with Hollywood and has never worked in the Entertainment Industry, and one by kevinlevine - who you have to find on blogger, since he's not lj. Or go here Kevin Levine's Review of TRopic Thunder. Levine is a comedy writer - best known for writing the situation comedies - MASH, FRAISER, and CHEERS. He also wrote the Tom Hanks/John Candy comedy Volunteers. What's interesting about the two reviews is the non-Hollywood guy loved TROPIC THUNDER, while the Hollywood Writer despised it. Levine states the problem with Tropic Thunder is it is too insider for most audiences and clearly a comedy for actors and agents.
While dlgood found it hilariously funny and is as about removed from Hollywood as one can get.
I've seen it and I have to say, with all due respect to Mr. Levine, while Bowfinger is certainly a slyer and far subtler picture, Tropic Thunder does a great job of lampooning Hollywood's War films, including Volunteers (which may be why he didn't like it) and especially Apocalypse Now, the Making of Apocalypse Now, and Oliver Stone's Platoon. It even lampoons some of the music used. The funniest bits are actually in regards to those films and how Hollywood views war and terrorism. There's a really funny phone conversation between a Hollywood Producer, a Drug Exporter/Guerilla and a Hollywood Agent that had me, Wales, and half the movie theater dying with laughter.
The other bit Tropic Thunder lampoons is how Hollywood handles ethnic roles. Instead of actually casting a black actor in a lead black role or an asian actor in a lead asian role - Hollywood has notoriously found white actors and dressed them up as these characters, justifying it as "color-blind" casting. Or they will just make the character white. Notable examples include Mickey Rooney in the Teahouse of August Moon. The rampant racism in Hollywood is made fun of here in much the same way it is made fun of in Borat.
At any rate, got to go to bed now. Long work day tomorrow. Next week is apparently National Stay AT Home week according to the media. I don't know about anyone else? But for me, it's National Go to Work Week...with the hopes of getting time off later.
http://psa.blastmagazine.com/2008/08/16/twilight-sucks-and-not-in-a-good-way/
This one is refreshingly enough written by a nineteen year old girl who states that she is trying to figure out where she fits in the world one book at a time.
Reading Monsterous Regiment by Terry Prachett at the moment. Quite humorous in places.
This is how satire should be, subtle, with likable characters, and a sort of irreverent wit.
Not over-the-top and in your face like Sex Lies Murder Fame and Tropic Thunder were. Granted both were funny in places. I laughed very hard during Tropic Thunder and snorfled a bit during Sex, Lies...but, I had troubles caring all that much about the people. Instead of laughing with them, I was laughing at them, and that always tends to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Satire when done well - has you laughing at human behavior, the stupidity of it, yourself, and a situation. Not at the person themselves. It's hard to do satire well. A lot of American Satire has a tendency to fall into "Broad" Comedy or go too far.
At any rate, I'm enjoying Monsterous Regiment.
If you want - there are two reviews of Tropic Thunder on my flist. One by
dlgood who to my knowledge has no association with Hollywood and has never worked in the Entertainment Industry, and one by kevinlevine - who you have to find on blogger, since he's not lj. Or go here Kevin Levine's Review of TRopic Thunder. Levine is a comedy writer - best known for writing the situation comedies - MASH, FRAISER, and CHEERS. He also wrote the Tom Hanks/John Candy comedy Volunteers. What's interesting about the two reviews is the non-Hollywood guy loved TROPIC THUNDER, while the Hollywood Writer despised it. Levine states the problem with Tropic Thunder is it is too insider for most audiences and clearly a comedy for actors and agents.While dlgood found it hilariously funny and is as about removed from Hollywood as one can get.
I've seen it and I have to say, with all due respect to Mr. Levine, while Bowfinger is certainly a slyer and far subtler picture, Tropic Thunder does a great job of lampooning Hollywood's War films, including Volunteers (which may be why he didn't like it) and especially Apocalypse Now, the Making of Apocalypse Now, and Oliver Stone's Platoon. It even lampoons some of the music used. The funniest bits are actually in regards to those films and how Hollywood views war and terrorism. There's a really funny phone conversation between a Hollywood Producer, a Drug Exporter/Guerilla and a Hollywood Agent that had me, Wales, and half the movie theater dying with laughter.
The other bit Tropic Thunder lampoons is how Hollywood handles ethnic roles. Instead of actually casting a black actor in a lead black role or an asian actor in a lead asian role - Hollywood has notoriously found white actors and dressed them up as these characters, justifying it as "color-blind" casting. Or they will just make the character white. Notable examples include Mickey Rooney in the Teahouse of August Moon. The rampant racism in Hollywood is made fun of here in much the same way it is made fun of in Borat.
At any rate, got to go to bed now. Long work day tomorrow. Next week is apparently National Stay AT Home week according to the media. I don't know about anyone else? But for me, it's National Go to Work Week...with the hopes of getting time off later.
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-22 03:32 am (UTC)I loved Bowfinger, Getting Shorty, and the Player (there are probably other insider movies I've loved too, but I'm not thinking of them at the moment). In fact I would guess that it is easier to get a random audience interested in a movie about hollywood than in almost any other business.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-23 02:03 am (UTC)Same deal with any movie really, it's hard to tell what people will like. Taste really is an individual thing. Which is what makes marketing such an inexact science. When they make a movie they never know whether it will be a hit or a flop.
The Dark Knight is a great example - when Heath Leadger died this winter, there was talk about pulling the movie. They weren't sure how people would reacte to it. And the studio considered changing it's marketing campaign - they sort of did, pulling some of the Joker ads. They revealed less as opposed to more and as a result made people really curious.
Tropic Thunder was much the same way - it got great reviews. Levine is the only negative one I've read - Levine's an interesting critic, who I don't take too seriously. He likes things I hate and vice versa. (EX: He apparently loves Judd Apatow films and I can't stand them.)
Tropic is a bit over the top and I admit there were moments I found myself thinking, okay, move on, but that happens with most Ben Stiller flicks.
And whether or not I'm amused by them depends largely on my mood. Hee.
Not sure intelligence has much to do with it...
Date: 2008-08-23 02:15 am (UTC)Now...if you hate a book, why would you read let alone buy all four of them in a series? I think Elizabeth Hand may have been paid to read them for The Washington Post, which at least makes sense. But why did the above reviewer waste her time doing it? I flipped through the thing in a book store and realized it wasn't worth my time or money. Too many books, too little time. So why are these people wasting so much time on these novels?
As to why they are loved? Ah. People like weird things. I still can't figure out the appeal of Judd Apatow films for example. And...why anyone in their right mind would vote for George W. Bush or John McCain or Ronald Regan or George Bush Sr for that matter is beyond me. But...I'm certain people wonder much the same things about me - ie, why I would vote for Obama, Mondale, Clinton, Dukakis, Kerry, and love watching the abusive anti-romance of Spike and Buffy.
I think it has very little to do with intelligence and everything to do with emotion. So much of what we do is because it feels good or feels right. I think we listen to our hearts more than our heads, at least most of the time.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-23 02:07 am (UTC)