I want to see this so very badly [link]
Get up...get up, you stupid piece of... What did you do that for? What's wrong with you? Didn't you hear a word he said? All of you! You think there's someone just going to drop money on you?! Money they could use?! Well, there ain't people like that. There's just people like me.
Jayne ,'Jaynestown'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Daisy Jane - Sep 01, 2010 9:16:13 am PDT #11064 of 30000
"This bar smells like kerosene and stripper tears."
Polter-Cow - Sep 01, 2010 9:38:05 am PDT #11065 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
My main thing is--if it's a surprise, why take that away from a potential viewer? Is what you had to say that important?
Exactly. I try to be as non-spoilery as I can in my reviews, especially when I went into a movie or TV show or book knowing very little and appreciated the little surprises that could have been ruined by reading other reviews. Sometimes it's almost unavoidable. With my little mini-reviews of the Discworld Watch books, for instance, I went into pretty much every single one of those books not even knowing what the basic premise was, so discovering what the book was about was part of the reading experience. But as Jessica mentioned earlier, it's kind of hard to talk about something without mentioning the basic premise, especially if you're trying to recommend it to a potential audience. Although I think I've come close to managing it once or twice. Normally, I only try to "spoil" as much as the blurb would give away.
Jesse - Sep 01, 2010 9:52:36 am PDT #11066 of 30000
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
I read another review of this movie that doesn't discuss the opening scene in as much detail -- you can definitely describe the premise without it. Just for the record.
Sometimes I love not knowing anything, but can almost never pull that off. The best was seeing a screening of Far From Heaven -- all I knew was Julianne Moore, 50s pastiche.
DavidS - Sep 01, 2010 9:57:32 am PDT #11067 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
The best was seeing a screening of Far From Heaven -- all I knew was Julianne Moore, 50s pastiche.
You should've heard the gasp from the audience at the kissing scene in My Beautiful Launderette.
quester - Sep 01, 2010 10:42:13 am PDT #11068 of 30000
Danger is my middle name, only I spell it R. u. t. h. - Tina Belcher.
I admit I was glad I saw The Crying Game before the buzz started and was glad I had no idea what was coming. But, the friend I went with was surprised that I was surprised. She was all, I knew from the get go, couldn't you tell?
DavidS - Sep 01, 2010 10:43:50 am PDT #11069 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
She was all, I knew from the get go, couldn't you tell?
Some people are really attuned to wrist diameter, adam's apples and hip to waist ratios. I was not.
bon bon - Sep 01, 2010 10:47:48 am PDT #11070 of 30000
It's five thousand for kissing, ten thousand for snuggling... End of list.
I knew there was a twist to be discovered, and early in the movie they focused on Jaye's fake nails. For some reason that tipped me off.
Strega - Sep 01, 2010 11:17:49 am PDT #11071 of 30000
But "anything at all" certainly includes saying he's a ghost.
I'm not following. "I don't want to know anything at all about it" equals "I want to know nothing about it." That person should not read reviews.
That's a quite different standard from "I want to know more about this movie, so I am choosing to read this review. I expect to learn some things about the plot, but I still would be annoyed if a shocking 3rd-act twist was revealed here."
§ ita § - Sep 01, 2010 11:20:08 am PDT #11072 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Strega, when you said "if you don't want to know anything at all" I thought you were overstating it. Obviously people want to know something. The division is merely on how much. In for a penny, in for a pound? I don't agree. If it's a surprise (and as a reviewer, you can damned well tell), let the filmmaker pull it off. If you're good at your job, you should be able to discuss the movie without revealing stuff in most cases.
And it seems this movie can be discussed without that reveal, so why blow it?
Strega - Sep 01, 2010 12:50:50 pm PDT #11073 of 30000
And I agreed that I was, and talked about how, if you're on the phobic end of the spectrum, you'll probably have to filter your sources.
In for a penny, in for a pound? I don't agree.I don't know what I've said that reads this way. Thus my confusion.
I refer to the "Bruce Willis gets shot at the start of the movie" example. You can certainly discuss the movie without mentioning that. I don't think that means it is a spoiler, or that a critic is obliged to avoid mentioning it.