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Richard 77
Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 4142
Location: Lake Mills, Wisconsin
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 Posted: 06/04/05 10:03 pm ::: CRASH...what an awesome movie. |
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| I missed the games this evening because I wanted to see this film. I enjoyed it so much more than Star Wars. It's about the interaction of several individuals who come together in a series of events in a 36 hour period. The story flowed brillantly from content to content, and it really makes one look inside oneself during the story to see if you are part of any of these characters. The acting was terrific and the characters were totally believable. There was some great twists to the story as well. I highly recommend it.
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PUmatty
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 16359
Location: Chicago
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| Posted: 06/04/05 11:25 pm ::: Re: CRASH...what an awesome movie. |
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| shyguy1701 wrote: |
| I missed the games this evening because I wanted to see this film. I enjoyed it so much more than Star Wars. It's about the interaction of several individuals who come together in a series of events in a 36 hour period. The story flowed brillantly from content to content, and it really makes one look inside oneself during the story to see if you are part of any of these characters. The acting was terrific and the characters were totally believable. There was some great twists to the story as well. I highly recommend it. |
I keep hearing people who had this response to the movie, but I thought it was just terrible. One of the worst I have seen in a LONG time. I found it self-important, cliched, predictable and contrived. There were some good performances (Ludacris, Thandie Newton, and Matt Dillion in particular) but they were given such ridiculous material to work with the performances are wasted. Had I not been with a group, I would probably have walked out and asked for my money back.
But apparently, I am in a small minority.
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Richard 77
Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 4142
Location: Lake Mills, Wisconsin
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| Posted: 06/04/05 11:43 pm ::: Re: CRASH...what an awesome movie. |
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| Want to see a bad movie? Rent Solarbabies. You'll think CRASH should win a pullitzer after that...
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PUmatty
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
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Location: Chicago
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| Posted: 06/05/05 12:48 am ::: Re: CRASH...what an awesome movie. |
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| shyguy1701 wrote: |
| Want to see a bad movie? Rent Solarbabies. You'll think CRASH should win a pullitzer after that... |
I don't know Solarbabies, but Crash falls victim to my pet peeve, a movie that wants you to think it is really deep and profoudn but is actually trite and shallow IMO. I would rather watch a plain old bad movie any day.
But, again, most people I know loved it.
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Sass
Joined: 22 Mar 2005
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Location: where it's sunny and warm
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jammerbirdi
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 06/05/05 11:14 pm ::: |
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This person 'blackdildo' from the Rotten Tomatoes website forums had this to say about Crash. No question in my mind that these points are dead on.
THIS MOVIE IS AN INDICTMENT AGAINST BLACKS
Now, I guarantee you that wasn't the intention of the Director/writers, etc. They wanted to make a film in which all races are shown as complex individuals, each capable of both prejudice and compassion as various events in their lives unfold.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.
Black Americans, absolutely and without question, were indicted when it comes to portraying all the negative stereotypes that afflict this particular group. Let's run through the list:
- Two young black males: carjackers, thieves, absolutely devoid of morality and ethics - and worse, one of them even screams about racism without realizing his own hypocrisy.
- Affluent black couple: the women fits the classic black female with a Diva/Omarosa complex as she mouths off to the police, then she makes matters infinitely worse by castigating her poor husband who was doing the right thing by biting his tongue - both with the police and with Tony Danza at his work. Oh by wait, he's not acting "black enough", so his character is portrayed negatively. So how does his character finally reach an epiphany and do the "black thing"? He confronts the two carjackers at gunpoint, runs from the police, then confronts the police and barely escapes with his life - the exact opposite of what he should have done. Then, magically, his character is at peace with his ridiculously misplaced black courage.
- Don Cheadle: Sells out his ethics and morality (and possibly sends an innocent white cop to jail) all so he can get a promotion and clear his brother's long criminal record.
- Black cop shot in Mercedes: As it turns out, he has $300K in his trunk, like all the other black characters, he his morally flawed, he was not an innocent victim, etc.
- Don Cheadle's Mother: A drug addict, unappreciative of Cheadle's efforts to comfort him, a horrible mother to both sons. Predicably, the father is not mentioned anywhere.
- The D.A: Both the D.A. and his staff bend over backwards to promote Cheadle, avoid the issue of race, carefully and meticulously being politically correct to the point of nausea. Their special handling of incidents involving blacks was an insult to them and everyone else.
- The pretty black D.A's assistant: hints that she's having an affair with Brandon Fraser.
- The black LAPD captain: 17 years on the force, refused to discipline Matt Dillion when he was his supervisor, refuses to take Ryan Phillippe’s complaint seriously. Again, incompetent, flawed, etc.
- The black lady at the HMO: admits that she's going to deny Matt Dillon's request specifically because of the racist comments he made, knowing that it will be his father who suffers because of it, all part of her petty game of revenge at the son. What Dillion said was clearly wrong, but she took it to another level by denying medical treatment.
But what about the white prejudice?
- Sandra Bullock is the victim of a carjacking, she's shaking up, scared. In my opinion, her harsh comments were somewhat justified and, either way, she has no power to inflict any suffering/injury anyway.
- Matt Dillion does have power being in the LAPD, but what happened with the traffic stop would largely due to the lack of cooperation by the woman. If she kept her mouth shut and sat in the car, they would have been on their way in 5 minutes. No, it doesn't justify what Dillion did, but at the same time, it doesn't compare to carjackings, shootings, etc. Also, his comments about "... wait until you've been on the force awhile" also have some degree of merit considering the situations an LAPD cop has to put himself in everyday.
- Ryan Phillippe was also justified in shooting the young guy at the end. He refused to get out of his car, he was becoming combative, he was reaching in his pockets, he ignored his commands to keep his hands out, etc. This shooting was based out of fear and had nothing to do with racism. Look carefully at who escalated the situation.
Whether it was intentional or not, this film clearly portrays blacks in a negative, almost embarrassing light. An interesting question, which I didn’t address here, is whether or not the negative portrayal was an accurate account of what is happening in L.A. or simply an unfair stereotype. - blackdildo
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/showthread.php?t=415012_________________ Every woman who has ever been presented with a career/sex quid pro quo in the entertainment industry should come forward and simply say, “Me, too.” - jammer The New York Times 10/10/17 |
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jammerbirdi
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 06/05/05 11:21 pm ::: |
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| jammerbirdi wrote: |
- Matt Dillion does have power being in the LAPD, but what happened with the traffic stop would largely due to the lack of cooperation by the woman. If she kept her mouth shut and sat in the car, they would have been on their way in 5 minutes. |
And let's not forget that Dillon's white cop character gets the ultimate rehabilitation to true white hero status when he risks his life to pull the black beauty he's already "taken" sexually by force from a BURNING CAR and into his big strong white hero arms.
Stupid stupid Hollywood._________________ Every woman who has ever been presented with a career/sex quid pro quo in the entertainment industry should come forward and simply say, “Me, too.” - jammer The New York Times 10/10/17 |
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PUmatty
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
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Location: Chicago
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| Posted: 06/06/05 12:26 am ::: |
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"- Matt Dillion does have power being in the LAPD, but what happened with the traffic stop would largely due to the lack of cooperation by the woman. If she kept her mouth shut and sat in the car, they would have been on their way in 5 minutes. No, it doesn't justify what Dillion did, but at the same time, it doesn't compare to carjackings, shootings, etc. Also, his comments about "... wait until you've been on the force awhile" also have some degree of merit considering the situations an LAPD cop has to put himself in everyday. "
You had me until suggesting that what Dillon did wasn't all that bad and that the woman was asking for it. Nothing that someone does ever justifies sexual assualt -- EVER -- and that was exactly what Dillon's character did. IMO it absolutely compares to the carjacking and her reaction was very similar to Bullock's. Both were left feeling humiliated, violated and vulnerable. What happened to Newton's character was not because she ran her mouth, but because Dillon's character made a conscious choice to assault her.
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jammerbirdi
Joined: 23 Sep 2004
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| Posted: 06/06/05 3:07 am ::: |
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| PUmatty wrote: |
"- Matt Dillion does have power being in the LAPD, but what happened with the traffic stop would largely due to the lack of cooperation by the woman. If she kept her mouth shut and sat in the car, they would have been on their way in 5 minutes. No, it doesn't justify what Dillion did, but at the same time, it doesn't compare to carjackings, shootings, etc. Also, his comments about "... wait until you've been on the force awhile" also have some degree of merit considering the situations an LAPD cop has to put himself in everyday. "
You had me until suggesting that what Dillon did wasn't all that bad and that the woman was asking for it. Nothing that someone does ever justifies sexual assualt -- EVER -- and that was exactly what Dillon's character did. IMO it absolutely compares to the carjacking and her reaction was very similar to Bullock's. Both were left feeling humiliated, violated and vulnerable. What happened to Newton's character was not because she ran her mouth, but because Dillon's character made a conscious choice to assault her. |
blackdildo didn't say that, pumatty. he doesn't even imply that what the woman does 'justifies' the cop's sexual assault of her. (he does offer some poorly thought out statements however. he should do a rewrite of this paragraph.) but his basic point is that the portrayal of the 'black woman' here is of a a sassy defiant Omorosa-type who can't control herself and ends up triggering a bunch of shit that would have never happened had she just followed the instructions of the police officer who everyone in this culture should know IS the person in control in those situations. So a nation of people watching this scene, who certainly DO understand how important it is to follow the instructions of cops in these circumstances, are seeing a HIGH CLASS black woman acting out behavior that is unacceptable to them because of its disorderly defiance of authority and yet it is completely in keeping with one of most basic stereotypes of LOW CLASS black women and thus serves to reinforce that stereotype of ALL black women.
But this scene graphically implies that no matter what economic level or class a black woman is either born into or attains, all you have to do is push the right buttons, and she reverts back to form. High class. Low class. Class aside altogether. It does't matter. They're all the same. The writer does the same thing with her husband, who must ultimately realize his character's stereotypical development by violently breaking the law himself, taking up a handgun (do I remember correctly?), and himself becoming criminally defiant in the face of police authority.
This movie is so fucked up it makes me crazy.
Shyguy, no offense to you. The movie was entertaining, I'll grant you that. But it cheaply exploited everything in its path to hold the interest of the viewer. Every scene is a down and dirty conflict with race hanging over everything.
It seems to me that minorities are championing this film. That's sad. This film is confused and despite everything that blackdildo said about it being true, the filmmakers intentions are sort of covered by all that confusion and maybe just a little by a naive assumption that liberal Hollywood couldn't possibly be saying something so counterrproductive.
Maybe as a reaction to all those out there who trust, say, the government, we're developing a mass of people who trust Hollywood and the entertaiment industry. That's scary. Their intentions are not honorable, let me tell you. They will expoit anything they can even if that means making a 2 hour 'race' movie that offers nothing of value but simply exercises people's deepest suspicions of each other by acting them out on screen.
Wake up, folks. Hollywood is not your friend. Look at the character arcs. White cop starts out as molester ends up a hero who risks his life to save a black woman. Upscale black couple gets rubbed the wrong way by white people and THEN go COMPLETELY outside of the reasonable expectations one would have for their characters given what is presented on the screen and become these cartoon characters that confirm and reinforce the most basic stereotypes of both black females: that they're dangerously sassy and emotional, and of black males: that they're emotional and just plain dangerous._________________ Every woman who has ever been presented with a career/sex quid pro quo in the entertainment industry should come forward and simply say, “Me, too.” - jammer The New York Times 10/10/17 |
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