Geek Confessions & Blasphemies

Ok, here goes:

I think the confession and blasphemy threads are the equivalent of closed circle Facebook Statuses and tweets.

In order for it to be a blasphemy, I have to be condemning the threads. Actually I'm fascinated by the parallel, and what it means to modern communication and socialization.

LarryC wrote:

Uh, just now, huh? I thought the movie was either cleverly ironic or completely silly when I first watched it. Having the melee gun extensions come out was a special laugh moment.

I've seen it before, but never really watched it; it was always on while I was doing something else. When I actually sat down and gave it my undivided attention, I realized withing the first 5 minutes how ridiculous it is. That's not to say I hated it; I was sorta entertained, just not quite in the way I thought I was before.

Cross Thread Blasphemy

So for a Geeky Confession, I hated the Kill Bill movies. I think wire fighting done right, Crouching Tiger, can convey a feeling of a theatrical display, but most often it comes off as corny and cartoonish at the hands of hacks. The people who like them want to have the air of superiority in seeing a foreign film but without the burden of plot, thought, or talent on the screen. I understand Tarantino loves sh*tty movies, and likes to make his own sh*tty movies sometimes. Not everything can be Pulp Fiction of Inglorious Basterds, sometimes you get deathproof.

thejustinbot wrote:

Mine at this point isn't so much things I hate, just things I'm freaking tired of:

4) Batman

IMAGE(http://www.profilebrand.com/funny-pictures/category/celebrity/639_tommy-lee-jones-serious.gif)

I didn't care for Kill Bill either.

Couldn't get through the first Kill Bill. Didn't understand why it was so popular.

I'm not actually sure whether or not I enjoyed Kill Bill properly. At the time I watched, I enjoyed it as a hilariously (and intentionally) badly done spoof of everything that's cliche and awful about wire-fu movies from Hong Kong. However, since I've gotten to know Tarantino better, I'm no longer sure that's what it is.

Bloo Driver wrote:

I tend to hate people who like what I like. I cannot stand people who actually enjoy steampunk art and style (actual steampunk fashioned things, not "hey yo lookit my cogs and goggles, yo!" people, though I find them insufferable, too). Fighting game enthusiasts are generally terrible human beings until proven otherwise. People who study mythology and various religious stuff are pretty flighty and a little loopy. The list does go on, but yeah. I am not a self-hating geek because I think I am in fact pretty neato. But I find it weird that every time I get into some new hobby or fandom, all I can do is wonder if there is something wrong with me or the people around me.

I'm all over this. It stretches out of nerdy interests too. I can't stand 99% of the people who like the same music as me either. Thankfully that other 1% has resulted in lifelong friendships across the country and has improved my life ten times over, but I still hide my interests as much as I can.

Christopher Nolan is the most overrated living director and his films have been getting progressively worse. He makes big, bloated action movies on the level of stupidity akin to Michael Bay's recent works, but then he drowns it in massive amounts of needless exposition and cheap attempts at emotional weight, leaving you feeling both unsatisfied over how unentertaining the whole thing is while also feeling like you've been condescended to. It seems specifically designed so that the general audience can watch their dumb, bloated action movies while insisting it's an intellectual endeavour, which I find even more insulting than the film. I found The Dark Knight barely watchable. I thought Inception was the movie that would finally ruin his reputation because clearly he's not even trying anymore. I remain completely baffled.

On that same note, while I like more formal comic book adaptations (Ghost Town, for example), I usually get turned off by the superhero films. Some of them take things so seriously in a vain attempt to be dark and gritty and include bad nu-metal soundtracks that actually point out how childish the whole thing is. Some have everyone constantly self-aware about the ridiculouslessness and winking at the camera, complete with the lazy writing that amounts to "this narrative/dialogue is bad, but we know it's bad, and that makes it clever". (Looking at you Joss Whedon). But there is one film that teeters closely in the middle. It captures the look and feel of a comic book story in the way it would if you were reading through the pages. It intersperses internal conflicts and external setpiece action moments. It starts slow and builds up through a slow ramp. All the characters are your typical comic book characters, but none of them realize it and talk as if they were in this living, breathing comic book world and didn't know there was anything different. And that is why Ang Lee's The Hulk is the best superhero film ever made.

Did you like Memento?

And have you seen The Prestige?

Bloo Driver wrote:

I tend to hate people who like what I like. I cannot stand people who actually enjoy steampunk art and style (actual steampunk fashioned things, not "hey yo lookit my cogs and goggles, yo!" people\

Ah yes, authentic Steampunk fashion, historically accurate from the Steampunk era

KingGorilla wrote:

Did you like Memento?

Maq wrote:

And have you seen The Prestige?

Considering those came before The Dark Knight I'd say the argument that Nolan is steadily getting worse would still hold merit.

Tanglebones wrote:
Bloo Driver wrote:

I tend to hate people who like what I like. I cannot stand people who actually enjoy steampunk art and style (actual steampunk fashioned things, not "hey yo lookit my cogs and goggles, yo!" people

Ah yes, authentic Steampunk fashion, historically accurate from the Steampunk era

Only I, in my secret heart, am allowed to approve what is "real" steampunk!

Or I may have just meant the stuff that people put some actual effort into, rather than stitching a cog or a rivet into a corset.

kuddles wrote:

On that same note, while I like more formal comic book adaptations (Ghost Town, for example), I usually get turned off by the superhero films. Some of them take things so seriously in a vain attempt to be dark and gritty and include bad nu-metal soundtracks that actually point out how childish the whole thing is. Some have everyone constantly self-aware about the ridiculouslessness and winking at the camera, complete with the lazy writing that amounts to "this narrative/dialogue is bad, but we know it's bad, and that makes it clever". (Looking at you Joss Whedon). But there is one film that teeters closely in the middle. It captures the look and feel of a comic book story in the way it would if you were reading through the pages. It intersperses internal conflicts and external setpiece action moments. It starts slow and builds up through a slow ramp. All the characters are your typical comic book characters, but none of them realize it and talk as if they were in this living, breathing comic book world and didn't know there was anything different. And that is why Ang Lee's The Hulk is the best superhero film ever made.

Do you not think Avengers qualified under these terms? I know exactly what you mean about the whole "oh well we have acknowledged how dumb/silly this is, thus we are cleverly using it, /wink/wink!" thing being irritating. And Whedon is really guilty of it a lot of the time. But I didn't really get that at any point in Avengers - it felt very comic book-y without hitting that vibe.

Maq wrote:

And have you seen The Prestige?

Yes, it's the prime example of my problem with him. The film even starts with a voiceover that practically says "Hey, stupid person, pay attention to this scenery full of painfully obvious foreshadowing because I'm really proud of myself for filming it".

Christopher Nolan's last good film was Memento. Insomnia...boring. Batman...at least the Joker was good. Inception....I've seen this story better before (something City whose title I can't recall, Existenz, etc.) but the gun parts were fun.

Keithustus wrote:

Christopher Nolan's last good film was Memento. Insomnia...boring. Batman...at least the Joker was good. Inception....I've seen this story better before (something City whose title I can't recall, Existenz, etc.) but the gun parts were fun.

True. Nolan cribbed entire sections of Inception from New Jack City.

I was thinking something much older, maybe black and white, maybe not even American. I tried googling for a bit but couldn't identify it. Something I watched in college.

Keithustus wrote:

I was thinking something much older, maybe black and white, maybe not even American. I tried googling for a bit but couldn't identify it. Something I watched in college.

Dark City?

Keithustus wrote:

I was thinking something much older, maybe black and white, maybe not even American. I tried googling for a bit but couldn't identify it. Something I watched in college.

Dark City. Starred Rufus Sewell. Was the inspiration for Don't Rest Your Head.

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:

Dark City?

That was my first guess but my imdb-fu only comes up with a 1998 version that seems familiar but whose trailer I don't recognize. Is it a remake of something by another title?

I was definitely thinking of something much older. Oh well.

Police Academy 6: City Under Siege? That's older than Dark City.

Gravey wrote:

Police Academy 6: City Under Siege? That's older than Dark City.

dejanzie wrote:
Gravey wrote:

Police Academy 6: City Under Siege? That's older than Dark City.

:lol:

I think it was based on City Slickers 2: The Legend of Curly's Gold.

Keithustus wrote:

Christopher Nolan's last good film was Memento. Insomnia...boring. Batman...at least the Joker was good. Inception....I've seen this story better before (something City whose title I can't recall, Existenz, etc.) but the gun parts were fun.

I liked all those movies. My favorite is Batman Begins... least favorite is Dark Night.

Haven't seen Dark Night Rises yet.

Oh, here's one that came up recently - I have never rooted any of my mobile devices. I think that counts as unacceptable/unsanctioned behavior these days. When people talk about all the crud they do with their rooted Android stuff, I quietly slink down in my chair and suddenly have really interesting work emails to read on my phone.

I got through 3 books of Scott Pilgrim and decided "nope."

In The Thing it really annoyed me that Kurt Russell's character killed the chess machine with a drink to the innards. I imagined the other guys saying, "Gee thanks [Kurt's character] another six months in this icy hell hole and you just killed our only form of computerised entertainment."

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:

I got through 3 books of Scott Pilgrim and decided "nope."

I coincidentally got the first three at the library last night, and they're vaguely charming, but I'm not seeing the big deal.

Bonus_Eruptus wrote:

I got through 3 books of Scott Pilgrim and decided "nope."

To me, those definitely fell deep into the trying-too-hard category of "clever" dorkiness described earlier. The movie was good fun, though. Maybe it just comes off bad on paper.

Bloo Driver wrote:
Bonus_Eruptus wrote:

I got through 3 books of Scott Pilgrim and decided "nope."

To me, those definitely fell deep into the trying-too-hard category of "clever" dorkiness described earlier. The movie was good fun, though. Maybe it just comes off bad on paper.

Interesting. I watched the movie, read book one, and thought "wow, the movie did a great job of being exactly like the book."

In other words, I don't see the difference.