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Quint reviews AMERICAN HISTORY X
Both Joad and I have been ripped a bit for discussing the issues raised by a film, instead of the plot of the film. The film in particular is AMERICAN HISTORY X. There is a reason for this. To summarize in brief what occurs in this film is to trivalize it. It reduces what is an otherwise powerful experience to it's bare essentials. After seeing the film, talking about performances, cinematography, score, writing, etc... Well it all seems rather useless. Why? Because the film makes you introspective, at least it did for me. I wasn't interested in writing about what happens to John Connor or Benjamin Sisko or Mike Hammer. No. I was interested in discussing the issues it raised in me. My reviews are not written with you in mind. I'm sorry, they aren't. My reviews are written for me, the person that saw the film, and wanted to document his thoughts. Here's Quint's review.. it carries a bit of a summary.. so gosh... it must be a review..
Hey Harry. I just read Tom Joad's review and thought I'd share mine as well.
What inspired me to write this? Not just reading Joad's review, but ready
the
talk back. He poured his heart out for you, the reader so you could
understand
why the movie affected him and there was not one positive talk back.
Harry, why do so many heartless assholes read your site? I guess these
idiots
are drawn to AICN like flies to shit. Well, I guess I'm talking only about
those who commented on Joad's review. Yes, it is a review. He told us
whether
or not he liked the film, right? Yes he did. What you guys are asking for is
a
summery. Well, since you are too lazy to pick up an Entertainment Weekly or
visit the IMDB, I'll give you one.
Ed Norton and Edward Furlong are brothers. Norton's a huge skinhead. He has
posters of Hitler up. He constantly goads the African-Americans in his
neighborhood. The Big "N" word is uttered multiple times. I won't give
anything away, but Norton ends up in jail and comes out a different man only
to find his brother doing exactly what he was before entering jail.
I'm not a big Spike Lee fan, so this really isn't my kind of movie, but it
affected me. Deep down inside. It didn't make me feel guilty for being
white,
like most of these types of movies do. This movie showed just how stupid
these
neo-Nazi, skinhead, racist shits are. I know a few of these kind of people.
They are stupid. Almost as stupid as the idiots who do nothing but bitch
about
putting real news up on the site, then commenting on how fake the prequel
stuff is. Get a life, people!
My best friend growing up was a kid named Omar. Yes, he was black. It's
almost
a cliche now to say that a friend you had growing up was black as a basis
for
establishing that you are not racist, but it's true. How could I be racist
if
one of the best friends that I've ever had in my life was black? How could I
be racist if my favorite actor is Sam "The Man" Jackson? There are so many
blue-eyed, blonde-haired, white actors out there to choose from, but I
choose
Jackson. Then you have the other cool people that I idolize: John Woo
(Oriental, duh), Chow Yun Fat (there's a hyphen in there somewhere), James
Earl Jones, Robert Rodriguez, and on, and on, and on, and on.
Again, my point: this movie is disturbing as hell, but it should be seen by
everybody; white, black, Hispanic, Oriental, everybody. It has a purpose
that
is succeeds in without being preachy.
To the many, many hate posts that are sure to follow: I don't care what you
say. I can legitamitly have an opinion on this film because I have seen it.
I
don't want to hear, "It'll suck." or "Quint doesn't know shit." You don't
know. You haven't seen it, you don't know me, so shut the fuck up.
I believe I have made my point. This is Quint, signing off.
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+ Expand All
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..that Ben Sisko is Avery Brooks, just as I know that John Connor is Edward Furlong and that Mike Hammer is ... well you get it. The point is, I believe my audience is smart enough to 'get' a reference. Plus it challenges the brain a bit.
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just for future reference to prevent a faux pas, A rug is oriental. a person (like our Mr. Woo or the juggernaut of action Mr. Fat) is Asian
Nit-Picking S.D.M. -
Isn't it amazing how *guilty* some people are because they're born pale?
Anyway - good flick. VERY thought provoking without beating you over the head with the "CLUE" stick (which is something Spike has done on a few occasions).
And, um, I'd better tell my wife to stop calling herself "oriental"...
J. -
1) Tony Kaye is an interesting guy to work with. Real perfectionist. Dedicated.
2) Edward Norton is a genius, and believe me, he would make a great director as well. It was an honor to have the opportunity to watch him in action and to work next to him.
3) Now for my view, - I was in the skinhead party scene when Ed Norton's character is released from prison (which may or may not be in the final cut - I heard the movie got pretty severely edited). Mind you, I was ACTING - you know pretending I was one of these people. A weird experience since I am of German Jewish stock. Got a paycheck, and the experience of being in a thought provoking movie. But it was really eerie, - made you want to take a good shower after you went home because of the sick thought process of the Neo Nazis characters portrayed in the movie. Sick, demented,druken idiots - that is what we had to act like. And violent, let's not forget violent.
But the truly scary thing is word got out to the REAL Skinheads and they showed up on the set. From Orange County & Antelope Valley California mostly. They were there for only one day of a 3 day shoot, and it was NOT a good thing. The way I found out was I turned to talk to this 19 year old kid in suspenders and cherry red doc martins about how lame this entire Neo Nazi thing was, and he started going off about "the cause" - ie white supremacy.
Unbelievably scary. The kid was brainwashed AND drunk. They were hideous kids, really vile and pathetic. They were not asked back, and sent home early off the set. Guess they were found out.
I am very interested to see what the censors allowed to be shown, and what ended up on the cutting room floor.
American History X will definitely alert many people to the terrorists (aka Neo Nazis) living in out midst. I worry more about these guys more than anyone in Afghanastan. Why do you think I listed myself as anonymous.......
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I think this movie is realy Star Trek , It has 2 ST actors a coincidence , NO WAY its a part of the conspiacy , this movie is missing link in ST Timeline , This is LOW BUDGET Trek Movie with no SFX
NeoNatzi = Borg , Klingons
Good Guys = Bes Sisko , Kes , ...
( Ben Sisko with Kes is back in the 1990th earth - This is more like epsiode aggigment earth that a real movie ) . But still the movie isnt so bad , It makes you aware of the Bad Guys . -
You call that a summary of the movie? I have no more idea of the plot now than I did before the review. All I got was that it affected you profoundly. So it must be good But no summary.
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good review, thank you for not bombarding this talkback with "little cack" postings like you have on the Prequel talkback... anywayz... I want to see this movie now, doesn't everyone else? and am i the only one that finds it strange that Hudson Hawke or Alien 3 haven't been mentioned today??? i happened to love Alien 3
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No, I never said that. I said that I'm not a Spike Lee fan. I said that to show that American History X really doesn't seem to be my kind of movie. I can see how my sentence might have been misleading, but nowhere did I say, "Spike Lee was involved with this movie." He wasn't. I know that, you know that. If he was, I have a feeling that it would have been way too preachy for it's own good.
Oh, and I don't think that I'm special because I get to see a movie in advance. The only thing I meant by saying that I can have a legitimate opinion on this film by having already seen it is to defend myself from all those people who always post shit like: "It sucks," etc. They don't know, they haven't seen it. I have. I don't think I'm any better for having seen it in advance. Never said I was. -
Harry,
other people have complained about this too....
When are you going to fix the message board ?
when there are over 20 posts your site crashes my machine.
I have 2 megs video ram and 65 megs of ram, there is no way this should happen.
I can tell that this whole site and the "new look" was badly (inefficiently) written.
I never have any problems on any other site.
Why don't you make an optional text only version of your site ????
Or make the message area not have all those pointless, ram expensive borders around them ?????
It's just badly written code.
I'm a professional programmer and I know.
The old version was far far better than this.... just because it was efficient and simple.
Does anyone else have problems with this ?????
Please post if you do....
thanks,
bill
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...directed by a hype merchant who knows nothing about the US racial situation but is willing to milk it for all the money he can get.
yawn.Sounds like the movie version of the Jerry Springer show. -
Okay, it's me Cheryl (the Goonie) and just because I happen to be president of the Quint fan club, doesn't mean that I'm "just saying" this shit
I love Quint's reviews - especially this one. He doesn't go into too much depth when describing the film (ex...After Edward Norton picked his nose, he turned to his left and said...) but after you read his reviews you either say "Yeah, I want to see that movie - it sounds great" Or even "That little fuck has no clue what he's talking about - I'm going to see that just to shove it up his ass" Either way - he gets to the point and let's you decide if, in fact, you want to spend your hard earned cash on the movie . (Hard earned, no matter how shitty your job is...right, Quint?) I didn't plan on it, but this movie is on my "HAVE to see" list.
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My Girlfriend is Asian....actually if you wanna get more specific she's ABC.
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Whenever, and I mean whenever, we discuss associates or friends and point out the color of their skin {or ethnic origin} to bolster our arguments or establish our "street cred" we are guilty of racism.
Plus, in regards to previous sentiments expressed, I believe it is utterly impossible to be raised "color blind" in this country.
To assert that, you are insunuating that you are/were completely unaware of the existence of other cultures. And that is a sad and woefully naive point of view to possess.
It also assumes that one has somehow managed to avoid any contact with the media. Good Lord, wasn't taught about slavery in school?
Or are people actually painting portraits of themselves as junior Jesus's--all love and compassion?
I think, perhaps, it might be the idealistic passion of youth-- people to young to remember how this country was and STILL IS.
Young people who are still optimistic and don't realize how deeply our country is mired in hatred--and how it is EVERYONE'S PROBLEM.
Remember, just because your circle of friends resembles a "rainbow coalition" that does not excuse you from any responsibility-- irregardless of your ethnicity.
From day one of our existence {in the US at least} we are taught consciously and subconciously how to categorize and compartmentalize each other--and, tragically, the easiest way to do that is by ethnic differences, our sex and sexuality, and the color of our skin.
When we cease to do that--which probably won't happen anytime soon. It is then, and only then, that we might produce a generation who could be considered "color blind."
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