Well, sure, even in a mountain of mediocre there are moments of brightness.

I prefer the SCTV Parodies sketches of these films. Joe Flaherty slapping the back of his neck and declaring “DAMN! WHy do they have to build these things so high!” for the Towering Inferno takedown.

I’m not a CG hater or an Allen defender for that matter, but if it’s a quiet Sunday afternoon and say it was Poseidon adventure against the Day After Tomorrow on TV I think I’d have more fun going old school, and isn’t that the point within this genre. CG is a great tool when used correctly but it’s rare to see it as a tool among others rather than the primary tool.

Kurt you have a cold heart dude, no tension what about the Shelley Winters swimming scene in Poseidon that tore me up back in the day (Oscar nom as well for that role, not that it means much, but means more than it does today)

Anyway I’m off to see Transformers 2 (not really going to catch ‘Looking for Eric’ for the second time, which I can’t recommend enough)

There is a charm and visceral action that is at the heart of these movies that Emmerich cant even come close to, a broader canvas of this type distances the relation of the charcters to the the actual goal set by the the event, and as a consequence it’s really hard to care. There is also the fact that these movies are spectacle as with Allen’s movies to be fair but CG actually kills any tension and watching these actors get a big fat pay check and not having fire and falling rumble all round is pretty lame.

I

Oh please. If he had the tools back in the day this would be exactly what he wanted to pull off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr_iNfxZl0I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCSgWPZeNjc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BddVfcQX-v4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8SPeR60lRI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P93cI_u1mng

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P6bmfhLO1E

His films are still interesting though.

Are you saying that Kubrick does not fetichize the beauty of soldiers in uniform marching in Barry Lyndon? He may use music and voice-over contrapunctually (I have no translation for this danish word, let me know if you do/do not know what it means), but there is no question that Emmerich stole images from Lyndon, just like SS stole from Strangelove. The difference, for me at least, is that Emmerich does so with love and affection for the childish fascination of the beauty, and SS tries to replicate the harshness reality, but does so with computer effects, sound effects, music and whatnot, completely missing the point, more than negating the effect.

Kubrick was a visualist, he saw the fucking potential beauty in the uniforms, just like in the spaceships, and created iconic images on screen. You are too caught up in trying to decipher the meaning, solving the riddle of the story and sensations, to see the obvious exploitation on display in Barry Lyndon. Exploitation used ironically, in The Patriot used unironically, but exploitation none-the-less. And, in the end – to quote Leni Riefenstahl (another unironic filmmaker, one of the best ever) – “You see only beauty.”

Are you seriously telling me that the lion-bit on the iPhone was ‘adult’ or even ‘effective’?

The Happening works on the plane that it is a somewhat earnest, somewhat jokey film in the spirit of B-pictures (from The Sentinal to They Live)

I’m not going to defend Saving Private Ryan, it is maudlin and overbearing in the drama dept as The Patriot. I happen to think the opening scene is quite effective and brutal, but the rest of the film not so much. The framing device in SPR is about as clumsy as much of the connective tissue in The Patriot.

However, I think Emmerich’s jerk-off fetization is no better then Spielbergs ‘sanitization’ – I cry foul to both of ‘em as history lessons or an education of ‘real’ violence. Both are movies first. Everything else second.

Eisenstein on Montage/Context/etc: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_montage_theory

It’s not the individual images per say, it is how they are arranged and what context they are presented. Black in one movie can be White in another depending on how it is done (here is a halfway-decent analogy for what I mean: http://www.designmatrix.com/pl/cyberpl/cic.html)

The images, Kurt, the images. Please, be reasoned when you read what I write. I am not your child.

They both have uniforms in them.

They a closer than The Squid and the Whale and The Patriot.

Consider your statement disproven.

America is ultimately formed by the french, who do have to endure their share of typical pathetic american jokes in the film, but it is mentioned that without france, there would be no America. This is more credit than I would give Michael Bay, were he to make a film about the revolution. Then it would have been about two young recruits, fighting the war not as a cause, but as a means to get the heart of a young girl, desperately in love with the uniform, maybe she would even be a nurse, in order to gain a strong female perspective.

Puh-lease Kurt.

“Now it’s been a while since i’ve seen the film, but that statement is 10x ludicrous in terms of the maudlin and overbearing drama in this picture, not to mention the lack of history.”

I don’t really understand this sentence. I don’t know the word “maudlin” for one. Also, the lack of history? Even if the war was made up, the sentiment of the film still stands. How is overbearing drama worth considering when I am talking about the portrayal of war? Please explain.

Either way, Kubrick’s picture is so far different in tone and theme from Emmerich’s film that comparing a single scene and gauging intent is (IMO) not appropriate. If anything, Kubrick is rather acerbic in his presentation compared to Emmerich’s practical lip-smack-salivating.

Night. And. Day.

You sir made the comparison initially, I’m waiting for you to justify it or move along…

The ball is in your court, for your off-the-wall statements.

Indulge me with your insight, Henrik.

Now it’s been a while since i’ve seen the film, but that statement is 10x ludicrous in terms of the maudlin and overbearing drama in this picture, not to mention the lack of history. I’ll take my ‘having fun with it’ and apply it to Verhoeven, who does have something to say in blockbuster-y format (heck, perhaps even with Showgirls, well maybe not) over the oversimplified –masturbatory– visuals of Emmerich. His fetisization of the uniform and the american-ness of the story is no different than a blunderheaded “Fuck Yea” michael bay picture. Well, if Bay makes movies for 8 year olds, Emmerich may make them for 10 year olds. Splitting hairs.

Are you really standing behind this? Otherwise, please be more substansive.

It find it way superior to Spielbergs copying Dr. Strangelove in his beach scene – the difference is taste. Some things you can stylize, and some things you can not. Something you definitely can not do, is stylize the documentary format, it will always feel fake and staged.

“Hahhahahahaha.”

I incorrectly thought higher of you. This the 2nd most retarted retord on the internet, beaten only by “Wow.”

Now we are on the same page