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Massawyrm calls BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS the best bad movie of the year!
Hola all. Massawyrm here.
The first thing you need to know about BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS is that it is NOT a good movie. It’s not meant to be. It’s a bad movie, a movie so WTF awful at times that you can only cock your head and shake it baffled at what you are seeing. So why are people going gaga for it? Because it is an AWESOME movie; a funny as fuck and meant to be bad every step of the way. This BAD LIEUTENANT is a comedy, a hilarious and very deliberate send up of drug addled cop dramas and a full frontal parody of everything Nicolas Cage has become. Directed by lunatic fringe genius Werner Herzog, this is a rare attempt to make an amusing film through the tropes of bad filmmaking.
This movie, simply put, is fucked up. Intentionally terrible at every point, there is very little to actually critique here. I mean, how do you judge a film meant to entertain with how awful it means to be? Cage isn’t playing a character; he’s a Saturday Night Live sketch ABOUT Nicolas Cage. Every terrible thing Cage has done in the last decade rears its ugly head here. Scenes with him go longer than they should; he utters nonsensical random exclamations for no apparent reason, flails like a bobble-head and goes all googly-eyed in what would be known as one of the worst performances he’s ever set to film if he weren’t busy trying to make one of the worst performances ever set to film.
This isn’t a film for the average cinema-goer. It is the cinematic equivalent of drinking PBR at a good bar and growing an ironic mustache. Meant for the type of audience who revels in terrible filmmaking, Herzog decided inexplicably to try to make one himself and just goes twelve different kinds of bug-fuck nuts. Most people aren’t going to get what the fuck any of this is supposed to mean. Of course, Herzog is no stranger to making films for 1% of his audience. Already half insane himself, this seems to be the culmination of everything he does best done wrong for laughs.
And the effect is tremendous. Seen under the right circumstances with the right audience, this movie is a balls out, laugh a minute comedy that will have you rolling in the aisles and quoting it as you walk out into the lobby. I’ve heard no end of renditions of “TILL THE BREAK OF DAWN!” and “You don’t have a lucky crack pipe,” for the last week from my friends who witnessed it with buckets of beer at the Alamo Drafthouse. I was fortunate to see this in the perfect environment, surrounded by people ready to be wowed by the elegant badness of it. But I can’t imagine seeing this with anything resembling a casual audience.
The closest film that even compares to this is Chris Sivertson’s I KNOW WHO KILLED ME, a film only about a dozen people realized was meant to be a comedy in the same vein as this. Unfortunately, star Lindsey Lohan didn’t quite get it the same way Cage does and tried to be serious. But by the time Eddie “Crabman” Steeples shows up to give her a bionic hand with which she can hunt down her twin-sister’s killer, if you don’t realize you’re watching a comedy then you never will. Arguably, Sivertson is no Herzog and was mostly giggling to himself about being able to make this kind of batshit insanity on the studio’s dime. This is an indie and rightfully so.
Cage is delightfully incredible here. He is making fun of himself so hard here that there are moments you wonder just how aware he is of his performance. You believe that he is actually high the whole fucking movie, almost incapable of giving a real performance at all. And that’s the beauty of the subtlety it. He’s riffing on everything he does badly in other, more mainstream films. Like a phoenix he seems to be flaming out, burning everything that’s come before to ash so he can reinvent himself, moving into the next phase of his career. He’s become a joke and he gets that as much as we do. This seems to be his apology, his great thrashing, teeth gnashing gesture of humiliation meant to win back the people who no longer have any faith in his ability. And if you’re paying attention, you will gain a whole new respect for the man.
Extreme caution should be exercised when considering seeing this film and whom to see it with. It is not for everyone, hell it’s not really for much of anyone. You have to know exactly what you’re watching or else you will hate every moment of it. But if you do know what you’re looking at, it is a thing a beauty, a monument to bad filmmaking that will bring a smile to your face and renew your faith in an actor who seemingly left us long ago. Easily the best bad movie of the year, this comes highly recommended to those of you who understand everything I’m fumbling to get at here. BL:POCNO lives up to everything you’ve heard about it. And it must be seen to be believed.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
Got something for the Wyrm? Mail it here.
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might be the one.
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Nov 23, 2009 3:49:19 PM CST
"Killing me won't bring back your fucking iguanas! My eyes! My e
by zombieheathledger
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...I'mma wait a while.A good looong while.
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If Herzog is succeeding in what he's setting out to do (I saw the movie yesterday and agree that he does), how could that be BAD? I don't think he's trying to make a BAD movie. He made a movie with a very specific and deliberate tone. There's nothing BAD about it. It would be BAD if he hit that tone accidentally. This is actually quite a GOOD movie, but it doesn't have the markers of "prestige" or "quality" that we normally associate with the designation GOOD.
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because I can't bother to go out to the theater anymore.
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Well, he's right that it's a very entertaining movie, and that is worth seeing. But the whole premise of this review -- This is a BAD film that's so BAD it's intentionally GOOD and Cage is trying to be BAD -- is just dead wrong. Have you ever seen a Herzog movie? They all look like this, and they're all pretty great.
Then again, what can you expect from a reviewer who doesn't like the Coens. -
Certainly Dario Argento's complete failure to bring back the Italian giallo genre ranks as the worst / yet most entertaining film of 2010. Adrien Brody deserves the Golden Raspberry like none other.
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... of this film. It is not a bad film at all, nor is it meant to be. Yes, it's in the vein of a B-Movie, but it also displays some deeper truths than you'd find in that kind of film. Cage gives his most focused and masterful performance in years - the way he moves in that shuffling, hunched over walk due to his bad back, and the way his performance escalates in intensity through the movie, growing more paranoid and crazy with each frame; to keep track of that development while shooting a movie out of chronological order is a real triumph.
And Cage is only the sidekick to the true hero that is Herzog making a balls-to-the-wall cop film that isn't just a funny take on the DTV action film purported here. I totally identified with Herzog's story of Cage losing himself in a spiral of bad choices and behavior and then being ironically rewarded for it all in the end, but still feeling lost. Man, that's my life in the US job market for sure. And I also identify with Cage's shitty pharmaceutical coping mechanisms and how that brings him closer to the edge, perfectly captured by Herzog's wild, free-flowing style. I feel like Cage was the American soul buried in a pile of shit he can't wade out of and I loved this movie to death.
Thought it was much more than an ironic take on a B-movie. That's "Deep Blue Sea." This is much much more. -
Nov 23, 2009 4:15:03 PM CST
"Bringing Out the Dead" is the good version of this film
by larry of arabia
That's the good version of this. In it Nic Cage does all his Nic Cageisms before they became parody. He's a sleep deprived burnt out paramedic that has frequent hallucinations, falls in with a drug dealer, and accidentally stumbles on redemption. It also stars John Goodman, Ving Rhames, and Tom Sizemore. It's very worth it, and I would consider it a minor classic.
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My buddy and I won the contest for the Thurs. night screening, and drove up from San Antonio. This was actually my first visit to the Drafthouse, even though I've been a loyal AICN reader since the beginning. It was cool seeing Harry in the flesh for the first time, and who I assume was Father Geek pushing him in the wheelchair. There was also a long-haired gent who looked exactly like your avatar, hanging with Harry's group. I wanted to personally congratulate you (if that was you) for the brilliant New Moon review, but I didn't want to intrude. I'm kinda torn on the movie; Nic Cage was brilliant, it was nice seeing (a bloated) Val Kilmer, Eva looked good, but I can't pin down my thoughts of the movie. It was definitely bizarro.
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...needs to sit quietly and meditate on several key scenes in the film, especially the "magical wrap up" in which every loose plot thread gets solved in an almost Scooby Doo like fashion. Telling people that this film is GOOD is only going to get you stern looks from friends who walk out completely baffled by you somehow thinking random POV shifts to lizards is in any way artistic.
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Gage meaning to be bad may just play to his strengths better than anything he's done in the last 10 years. Now near the top of my must see list.
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Massawyrm, the movie was intentionally a comedy. Like Bondurant said, one of the main points was that no good deed goes unpunished (help a Katrina victim, get a broken back) and no bad deed goes unrewarded. (Cue the Scooby Doo scene you mentioned.)
Just because it's unrealistic doesn't mean it's necessarily bad. Heightened reality to comment on reality. Gee, literal much? No wonder you don't like the Coens. -
It was fucking hilarious. I've linked it to a couple of smart female friends of mine, who inexplicably like Twilight. Neither have as yet managed to pick apart your review. I think one of them is having a crisis of confidence about their love for Twilight after reading it. Result!!!
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Was that you at the screening (with the black "Attack of *the something*" t-shirt), and who was the cute girl in your group with the long black and white coat? My apologies in advance if that was one of your girlfriends...;and man, does Val Kilmer look bad.
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so he is rewarded in the end? great. thanks for the spoiler. i wasn't gonna see this turd anyway. "..shooting a movie out of chronological order is a real triumph." really? just shoot it in regular order and then use the "magic" of editing. sorry for the sarcasam but I'm just not buying this one. Netflix, when it accidently makes it to the top of my que.
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We saw the same movie and you're arguing semantics. And stop fixating on the Coens.
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Sorry about the spoiler, man, but I only meant rewarded in his job, there's about 4 other plotlines I did not ruin for you so relax. And in terms of shooting out of order, no shit every movie is shot that way, I'm just saying Cage did a great job of keeping track of where he wanted his character at from beginning to end, playing shit in the middle way different beginning and end. I love watching performances that ramp and have real arcs and you can't fix that in editing, that's smart acting. There's a reason this guy won an oscar back in the nineties and it's nice to see him reaching for that caliber again. Watch the movie on DVD, who cares, just watch it. Or not, your loss.
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consider me interested lol
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Unless you mean that semantics -- arguing over the meaning of words -- is always what critics are doing.
Your review suggests BAD LIEUTENANT is intended to be an intentionally bad film, an ironic moustache of a film for the movie equivalent of trucker-hat bearing hipsters. My point, along with a few others, is that it isn't -- there's more to the movie, that seems to have gone over your head. And Cage clearly isn't trying to riff on his own oeuvre -- he's trying to play the part.
So be it, you whiffed one. No need to get belligerent about it...jackass.
Also, the Coens are important because it bears on the case here -- It's an egregious lapse in critical judgment that makes everything else you have to say suspect. -
CHUD.com is the most annoying and terrible site in terms of actual design. Those bing.com shits that pop-up and I have registered three times in an attempt to join their forum with no success. The content is good, but I pray Devin Faraci and Alex whoever jump ship one day so I never have to go back there.
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And, to be fair, even though it's going to look like a long and afflicted wall-of-text in this godforsaken nineties-era talkback, here's my recent review of the same movie -- feel free to indulge in similar semantic arguments, if so desired.
"I was right in the middle of a f**king reptile zoo, and somebody was giving booze to these godd**n things!" For reasons that will be apparent if you see the movie, the memorable lizard sequence from both versions of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas came to mind a few times while watching Werner Herzog's highly entertaining Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans last Friday. And for good reason -- with both imaginary iguana and melancholy crocodile POV shots herein, not to mention sharks, dogs, fish, and sundry other of God's creatures well-represented, the animals are basically running the compound in Herzog's Big Easy. And the king of the animal kingdom here is a primal, animalistic, and drugged-out-of-his-gourd anti-hero, Nicholas Cage. Yes, folks, he's been given a whole lot more than booze...Let the wild rumpus start!
Partly a Chandleresque crime movie in the key of Southern Gothic (it made for a great counterpoint to my weekend immersion into L4D2, which also takes place in the Quarter), and theoretically a remake of Abel Ferrara's tortured Harvey Keitel vehicle of 1992, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is a dark acidhead comedy that's much more freewheeling and enjoyable than I expected going in. And, rather than get bogged down and belabored by the arch-Catholic, sin-and-redemption motifs of the Ferrara version, Herzog and Cage mostly just groove along here to a trippy gonzo beat. The good Doctor's soul is still dancing.
After a swimming snake sets the stage for the proceedings, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans begins with, and mostly centers around, the shady escapades of one Lt. Terence McDonagh (Cage, more on him in a bit.) Ostensibly some of the Big Easy's, uh, finest, then-Sgt. McDonagh and his partner (Val Kilmer, not given much to do) are surveying the Katrina-wrought wreckage of their precinct when McDonagh figures out that someone has probably been left behind in the flooding underground jail. They go downstairs, find this poor, trapped, prisoner, and proceed to heckle him and make sidebets on his unlikely survival. But, eventually -- and for reasons that seem unclear even to himself -- McDonagh jumps into the murky, fetid waters to save the guy. And since no good deed goes unpunished, he is repaid with a excruciatingly painful back injury that puts him on Vicodin for the rest of his life. Well, that and a promotion.
Cut to six months later, and now-Lieutenant McDonagh finds himself with a new lurch in his step, several high-maintenance addictions to feed, and a big case brewing -- the execution-style murder of five Senegali immigrants, including two small children. The cops have a pretty good sense of who the prime suspect probably should be: the local drug kingpin, Big Fate (Xzibit). But they have nothing to pin on him, and neither his two lieutenants nor anybody else seem to be talking. And in fact, McDonagh doesn't particularly seem to care about the case -- he's too busy with his extracurriculars, which include but are not limited to: garnering choice illegal drugs by means foul or fouler, getting in way too deep with his long-suffering bookie (Brad Dourif), and/or keeping his hooker girlfriend Frankie (Eva Mendes) in the style to which she's accustomed. Still, amidst all the lines of coke and the freebasing, something's nagging at him lately -- is that a pang of conscience struggling to break free, or is he just fiending for another massive hit?
Y'know, it's easy to playa-hate on Nicholas Cage, and I've been known to indulge in it myself. And it's true that, on account of his well-publicized money problems, the guy will appear in just about anything, from PG-ish family-fare (National Treasure, which I actually enjoyed) to slapdash genre pics (Knowing, Ghost Rider, Bangkok Dangerous) to out-and-out crap (LaBute's Wicker Man travesty.) Still, his wild, weirdly hypnotic performance here in Bad Lieutenant reminds us that he's also an exceedingly rare bird, and he's given us more than his fair share of quality turns in the past, from Raising Arizona and Wild at Heart to Adaptation and Lord of War. (Not to mention his tour de force in Werewolf Women of the S.S.) Say what you will about the man, but from Vampire's Kiss to Leaving Las Vegas to this flick, he's not afraid to let it all hang out.
Of course, it helps to be aided and abetted in your crazy-man schtick by none other than Werner Herzog, who knows thing or two about certifiably nutso leading men. (See also: Grizzly Man.) A lot of reviews seem to argue that this movie has absolutely nothing to do with Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant, but that's only half true -- A lot of the plot points remain the same: the carnal appetites, the grotesque abuse of power for sexual ends, the losing gambling streak, the conscience-tugging case despite it all. Where the difference lies, and why the films seem completely distinct, is in the valence of the tale. Ferrara's movie (and Keitel's performance) is grim, haunted with Catholic remorse and self-loathing, and, frankly, not much fun at all. But Herzog's film, even in the most decadent parts, abstains from judgment, or even seems vaguely bemused by all the sordidness. (Also, fwiw, Herzog has replaced all the Biblical allusions of Ferrara's movie with Cajun voodoo and animal/nativist spirits.)
Simply put, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is clearly a film made by a man who's comfortable with teh crazy. And, rather than condemn all the druggy depravities on display here, Herzog keeps a light touch, and usually just lets them unfold without much editorial comment. As our dear late Hunter Thompson so well put it on his own drug-inspired binge, "Buy the ticket, take the ride." -
Nov 23, 2009 5:08:45 PM CST
So it's also the WORST GOOD movie of the year then?
by isleptwithkathybatesandallthatigotwasthi
Okay.....
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You have to translate these Massawyrm reviews.
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Like current nicholas I will do anything for a paycheck quailty be damned cage? Yeah I call bullshit. This movie must have lots of 'splosions and guns and tits for this hick to have loved it.
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Like current nicholas I will do anything for a paycheck quailty be damned cage? Yeah I call bullshit. This movie must have. Had lots of 'splosions and guns and tits for this hick to have loved it.
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...caught me off guard to have the movie suddenly grow a pair of balls in the last five minutes.The effects weren't the best, but the ending gets a B for B-alls
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Nevermind then.
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I haven't been this keen to watch a movie in a long time. I cannot wait to enjoy this crazy ride. Hopefully, Nicage will be oscar nominated for this. After what I've seen and read, it seems like a blistering performance. Who can possibly be better this year? Clooney in Up in the Air? Can't imagine..
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I was yawning that whole film until the end. I wish 2012 had stolen that ending.
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"There are going to be people who mistake this for a bad movie, a “so bad it’s good” type film. I’m preemptively saying those guys are full of shit. For a movie to be a so bad it’s good type it has to be unintentionally funny, the filmmaker utterly failing at trying to make the movie he or she set out to. There is no doubt in my mind, coming from Millennium Films and Werner Herzog, that this movie isn’t exactly what they set out to make."
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Hi
Long time lurker, second time poster from all the way here in London town.
I know this whole film criticism lark is all subjective, but think you've got this wrong completely wrong buddy. POTN is easily one of the best films of this year and one of the best b-movies of the past few years. It's on a league with Pulp Fiction and From Dusk Till Dawn - that vein of batshit bonkers cinema where you've got no idea what's going to happen next. It's currently running at about 89% over at RT and with good reason - it's that great. It's not unintentionally good, it's not intentionally shit - admittedly it's played with it's tongue firmly in it's cheek - but it's Cage's best performance since Leaving Las Vegas and easily the best film he's ever done. I'm not saying it's good - I'm saying it's brilliant. Genuinely exciting filmmaking from a nutty auteur and a smacked-up/coked-up cage running riot with a massive pistol and a bad hairpiece.
See it, proper late night cinema. -
...especially given that Massa's taste rivals that of Hercules on this site, and that is in no way a compliment.
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When the guy whose job it is to watch all the populist trash ventures out of his own little niche into something a little different. I like the fact that Massa always puts some kinda angle on his reviews, it makes them more entertaining than most reviews round here, but I do reckon he often goes home and sits on his computer after seeing a movie and completely projects some random spools of nonsense onto the movie that has nothing to do with the film itself. I think what happened here is that he confused the words "bad" and "idiosyncratic." Watch too many of those formula filler films that make up the numbers every week and you'll end up getting Stockholm Syndrome, and anything outside of that formula will come across as just plain odd to you.
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Basically, Herzog directed a Roger Corman film. It's intentionally over the top, riddled with b-movie dialogue, and has the opposite of a moral center. In it's way, it's more effective than Ferrera's film because it centers on a functional drug addict who somehow, in a whacked out way, keeps his shit together enough to be effective. To me, that's a more chilling character and there's any number of real police out there who have spotty records. True story: the same cop in Detroit who cut off a bit of a woman's finger and shot an elderly woman this year saved like three people who were in a boating accident while off duty. You only hear about the criminals and crooked cops who get caught.
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Nov 23, 2009 8:57:19 PM CST
This is the worst "bad" review I have read regarding this movie.
by duluoztripping
You're really not doing it justice and it seems like you just plain didn't get it. Did you think Pulp Fiction was the best bad movie of 1994, the gimp and the pocketwatch story must've really turned you off, who could take that shit seriously, and the plotlines all came together perfectly, what a joke...? I have no doubt Herzog made the movie that was intended, which is great because it was exactly what I was hoping for when I heard Herzog and Cage were teaming up to do it. What else did you think it was going to be? The movie was pure entertainment, with enough turns to keep things interesting and the first time in a long time I haven't wanted to punch Nicolas Cage in the face. It was a good movie.
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That raised the bar for bugfucknuts exploitation and is my favorite movie of the year!
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We saw the same movie and you wrote a whole review discussing the semantics of the word "bad". And ended up being wrong. Your entire reading of the film seems designed for you to carve out some quasi-original niche for yourself. And if that weren't true you still presume way too much about the intentions of Cage and Herzog.
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... who was willing to come out and say what this film is, without trying to hype it up as being 'THE' fanboy cool kid wagon to jump on. Either you're going to appreciate it for what it is.. an intentionally shitty film with an actor who has become such a protracted caricature of himself that its difficult to enjoy his work when he's trying to be anything else, Or you're going to be wondering what happened to the fresh faced actor who did such great work as 'Cotton Club', and 'Raising Arizona'.
Personally, I don't like Cage... I think he's a terrible actor who's been in a few really great films. (shrug). But going with your review here, I'll probably get it on blu-ray when it comes out after christmas now... which is a far cry more then any of the other guching orgazmic ZOMGITSSOFUCKINGKEWLYOUHAZTOLUVITORYOUSUXOR posts your fellow AICNers have convinced me to do. -
And I usually find Cage to be the definition of "meh."
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Massa - this is NOT intentional. This is an attempt to make an interesting, bizarre flick. FAIL. Nothing more than that. And Nic Cage is trying to act.
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And most of the other sites on the interweb...
Great stuff. Can't wait to see this! -
Meaning it isn't supposed to be a "serious" drama, but a funny, "bad", film... While being exactly what it was intended to be: a great fucking time.
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You're about as mainstream a film fan as they come (you think the Coens are "experimental" filmmakers). You wouldn't know a good film if it took a shit on your face.
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And Quint's post means nothing; depends on one's definition of "bad". It's called semantics...
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Is this movie a sequel, or a remake?
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They claim it's a "reimagining"...
Which makes it closer to a remake than a sequel, I'd think... -
His soul's still dancing.
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That transformers 2 is the worst movie ever made,down to the very paper it was written on. And where is this review of new moon? Does he rip it to sherds? Is it just me that still doesnt get if this B.L movie is good or bad?:)Shit which is it maaaaaaaan,cause i want to see it. Great review just on word play and humor sucks to hear its not a good movie sure its old nic cage same dude who was in,knowing,ghostrider,next,im just wondering when he's going to make a good flick again, im sure after season of the witch he'll gear up for leaving vegas 2 rise of the drunk?"he needs the bloodly money"oh well theres still a soft spot for the old bald nut job in me i guess.TILL THE BREAK OF DAWN ...transformers rise of te fallen should never be watched!!!!....... that is all.
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That a movie is so bizarre, and "crazy" that the average-film goer won't understand what they are seeing. 'Cause then every ass has to proclaim how brilliant the movie is so they seem "cool". Also, I don't remember any interview where Herzog claimed to make the best worst movie he could make. And has anyone seen the interview with Nic Cage is talking about deconstructing the Judeo-Christian value system. Yeah, sounds like he really is making fun of himself.
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Don't speak of something you know nothing about. There is nothing even remotely experimental about any of the Coen brother's films. Studios don't fund experimental films. Now if we're talking Maya Deren, Alain Resnais, and Jean Cocteau then I could see where he's coming from. Cinema did exist before Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino you fucking twats.
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you fucking moron. What the fuck do you call shit like Hudsucker Proxy or even NCfOM? They happen to make "mainstream" films, but Lebowski is in no fucking way a "mainstream" film.
They experiment; they just happen to have people buy tickets. -
as we completely agree. I don't believe this is "so bad it is good." Those words, nor their intention, are to be found anywhere in this review. On the contrary, I think I am quite clear that I believe this to be intentional every step of the way. But the words "successful" and "good" are not necessarily interchangeable. If I were to sing a song off key with a drummer repeatedly going offbeat, it doesn't matter that it is intentional. It is still offkey and offbeat. That's all I'm saying here. I'm also saying that I love this, not for kitsch value, but because I think it is a hilarious work of deranged comedy. This isn't THE CORE, nor have I intimated that it is.
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Your ironic mustache and Porkpie hat are showing, hipster. Relax, watch some Fassbinder and come back and talk to me when you can chill the douchevibe a few degrees.
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Hipster? I think the term you're searching for is "elitist" (although I consider myself neither). That's funny though, I never thought I'd ever get called a hipster. This is the typical response from the modern day "film buff." Bergman? BORING! Tarantino, Edgar Wright, Wes Anderson? GENIUSES! Don't get me wrong, I love Hollywood films as much as the next guy, but let's not put a master like Herzog (which he most certainly is) on par with the Lindsay Lohan guy. Your reading of the film was wrong, and Quint must've thought so as well (why else would he post that blurb)? Criticalbliss, the terms "experimental" and "original" are not synonymous. Having a distinct voice doesn't make you an experimental filmmaker; that's why the Coen's aren't experimental filmmakers.
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And that I find awesome, given the context of this film.
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Has a penchant for misinterpreting films, it's Massa. In defense of Mostholy (for repeatedly bringing up the Coens), Massa's review of 'NCFOM' was so shockingly misguided that it's almost pitiable. May God have mercy on his soul.
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Yep, he missed the mark there.
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I know, right? Way, way off. I just can't wrap my head around it. He needs to apologize for that one.
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What the Hell? This review is beyond insulting!! The only thing bugnuts about this is not Herzog, and certainly not the movie, but Massa himself. It's his review which is insane. Bugnuts!
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See also his review of BURN AFTER READING (http://www.aintitcool.com/?q=node/38306), which he opens by [a] complaining about Coen fans for telling him he doesn't understand their flicks and [b] dismissing the endings of FARGO and THE BIG LEBOWSKI in a way which suggests that, frankly, he didn't understand them. (How does LEBOWSKI not tie together, for example?)
Takes all kinds, I guess. -
generally speaking, a 'bad' movie is once in which everyone loses money. The studio, the producer, everyone.
So tell me exactly how it is that a director, a producer, and a leading man all got together and said, "hey lets make a movie that loses all kinds of money for ALL of us? Wouldn't that be fantastic?"
Tho upon further consideration, if one were indeed actually trying to make a movie that lost millions of dollars, signing Nic Cage to the lead role is an excellent first move. -
How fucked up is that?
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The problem with douchenozzles like yourself is that they feel that they are somehow special for dropping names like Bergman, Daren and Cocteau like you are the only one who has watched them. You're a fucking movie hipster. I would have used the term elitist, but it often denotes an authority you don't project. You strike me more as someone trying to look cool rather than someone with refined tastes. Herzog and Sivertson attempted the same style of comedy. One succeeeded. Hence the comparison. If I remember correctly I mentioned that they weren't playing in the same league.
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While I've got you all together in one circle jerk, let me draw your attention to Time Out New Yorks Coen-free top 50 of the decade list. Even I don't have the balls for that (I would have put O Brother, Where Art Thou?) Enjoy: http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/film/80947/the-tony-top-50-movies-of-the-decade
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sand. you are not like sand. you are everything sand is not. sand is coarse and it gets everywhere. you are soft and you do not get everywhere.<cue shot of me and girl rolling through the sally fiellds giggling)
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That's when I stopped reading it. Massa, I don't have time for people I disagree with outside of AICN!!!!
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"You strike me more as someone trying to look cool rather than someone with refined tastes.".... Projection much, Massa?
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I think I established LONG ago that I have no intention of looking cool. My reviews should more than prove that.
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I mean there are times I disagree with you (You gave STICK IT a pretty glowing review, but NCFOM gets the shaft) but you're a pretty okay guy beyond that. Your wife is also pretty cool too- loved her writing that review a couple of months ago. Do you feel like people hate you for no reason?
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One of the first things you learn about doing this for a living is that people will take your OPINION to be your PERSONALITY. I don't think they hate me for no reason as much as the usual complaint that someone with my opinion has a voice while their voice is relegated to the pits of talkback. Take for example this very thread in which I'm jumped on for loving a film, but not loving it in exactly the right way. But standard internet rules are in effect: normal person + anonymity + audience = total fuckwad. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/
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Nov 24, 2009 2:56:58 PM CST
what is ncfom? and where can you find your old reviews already?
by nomotivation
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And you got all that from the two paragraphs I posted?! What are you doing working in on the net?!! You should be in psychiatry! You'd make a fortune!!! Call me naive, but when someone says they like something (whether it be a film, an author, or musician) I tend to take their word for it, because how much does a person really have to gain by "name dropping" (especially on the net, where we are all anonymous). Watching a film takes no effort whatsoever- how could I possibly think I'm "special" for doing so? (regardless of who the filmmaker is). The fact that your suggesting this says more about your personality than it does mine. But don't listen to me guys, because I'm a hipster! (whatever the hell that means)
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Exactly!
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I don't mean to spoil the pity party, Massawyrm, but you're the guy who started douching it up around here. Go back and read my posts -- I didn't say anything negative about your PERSONALITY (until after your head-from-ass whining, that is), just that your OPINIONS were wrong-headed and inane.
I'll stand by that assessment. -
Like I said, I don't agree with you that often, but you definitely bring the goods every time out. Your review of HAPPY FEET might be one of the most awesome events at this site in recent years. I direct anyone to the search bar at the upper right-hand part of this website and type in "Massawyrm Happy Feet" and read it. I'm gonna check it out again myself...
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Did Mori scrub AICN of my posts at some point? Those were the TRANSFORMERS days, so I wouldn't be surprised...
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Mostholy: if you think going back and rereading those posts don't make you look douchetastic, perhaps you need to re-examine your tone. You came off pretty obnoxious with the repeated references to unrelated opinions. And you hit me on a cranky day, so you got snark. Seriously, Coen fans getting in my face is about my least favorite thing in the world before genital mutilation. Not a way to make friends with me or punctuate a reasoned debate for that matter.
Yackbacker, dude, that review will never, ever leave me. Serves me right for quitting smoking that weekend. -
Massa buddy, calling people 'douchenozzle' and such in what you call "the pits of talkback" says a great deal more about your personality than you seem to be aware. I understand that trolling your own 'reviews' drives up Harry's hit count and all, but throwing around bitchy flames while simultaneously claiming to have kept your personality out of the equation is the kind of logic even a reviewer of your limited skill should know better than to attempt. So please, spare us your weak-ass bullshit about a 'voice' like you're fuckin Cormac McCarthy or something. Your're a troll on the payroll, nothin less nothin more.
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Which is 'better', Bad Lieutenant or Street Kings? I think Street Kings is funnier because it's very obviously meant to be 100% serious. Saying truly awful lines with utter conviction is comedy gold. On the other hand, doing intentional comedy allows you to do an ingenious scene like the 'magical wrap-up'. When the Chief comes in with the crack pipe and exclaims "GOOD NEWS!", that's flawless comedy timing. Also, there's no equivalent to Nic Cage's ridiculous performance in Street Kings (Forest Whitiker almost gets there, but not quite).
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Is that I've been reading talkbacks for 8 years and have no qualms calling someone out who says I "wouldn't know a good film if it shit on my face." Let's not pretend I was picking fights with innocent talkbackers, huh.
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STRRET KINGS was goofy fun, but by no means the well crafted film that Herzog presents here. I agree with your assessment to the letter. Although I'm not denying that a STREET KINGS-esque "Stay with me!" scene wouldn't have been unwelcome here.
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Re: The Coens. You write movie reviews, you should expect to be judged on them. Like I already said, the opinion wasn't unrelated -- it beared directly on the question of your judgment.
But, speaking of unrelated opinions, trust me, I have no desire to "make friends" with you. You're a Reagan-adoring Republican. Life's too short, y'know? -
Nov 24, 2009 8:23:22 PM CST
"about my least favorite thing in the world before genital mutil
by abe_vigoda
didn't care for Antichrist, then?
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Great film for the first two acts, an absolute clusterfuck in the final act (in no small part due to Cormac McCarthy's usual lazy "literary" hackery). Yeah, I said it. I'm with Massa on this one.
You hipster dickheads can keep defending a film with glaring flaws all you want. I don't mind if you enjoy the film, but don't fucking call it a "masterpiece". It ain't. If you like it, you like it in spite of its vapid "climax". And yet you same idiots constantly harp on the same issues on The Departed (which was a better film, but still horribly mangled in the third act). -
doesn't mean you shouldn't fucking plot, assholes.
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I rarely post here because frankly I don't want to be associated with you cretins plus it's a waste of my (highly) valuable time but this warrants a post. This is the greatest exercise in stupidity I have witnessed here in a long time. So in a nutshell, you all agree this was a good film yet you argue about WHY this was a good film? Never mind that these are opinions and therefore subjective - if someone does not use the exact same path of reasoning to reach the same conclusion as you, they are an idiot, a douche, an asshole? No sir YOU are the idiot, the douche and the asshole. Fuck it, you're all a bunch of morons.
P.S. I hope you all were able to understand that, I tried not to use any long or operose words. I hope I kept it short enough to get by during one of the 30-second intervals in your concentration (or lapse thereof), and penetrated through to that pithy excuse of a mind you have. Regards. -
I love it! I loved NCFOM, but I think I love your anger more. Right on!
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I gotta bring something to the table; it's all I had...
But I really do despise the laziness of NCfOM and much of McCarthy's "writing". Too many "literary" writers pull these "random" event/death endings to underscore the "terrible pointlessness of it all" (and to avoid the fact that they don't know shit about plotting and about having character dictate events). It's the new copout, cliche and I'm sick of it. -
Cage has the Jimmy Stewart ipression going in and out, but it seemed to me like the only scenes he did with that voice were onces he did without his pants ("A man without a gun is no man at all," the spoon scene, etc.). Also, I'm wondering if calling it Bad Lieutenant was part of the joke.. using the name of a beloved "bad cop" movie in a movie that essentially parodies the entire genre.
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Should have read "but it seemed to me like the only scenes he did with that voice were onces he did without the gun in his pants ("A man without a gun is no man at all," the spoon scene, etc.)" It's 2009.. get an edit button for christsakes
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And Harry says LOVELY BONES is lovely. Okay, you guys are going to have to be a little less simplistic. I finally saw this yesterday, and it's a great film. One that I would purchase on DVD, and I don't purchase many, because there aren't too many films I can watch repeatedly, but this is one. The dialogue is original and alive, the scenery of New Orleans is gorgeous and seedy, the story is intriguing, and the actors and characters are great. Just because a film portrays something which is considered bad, the underbelly of society, and does so in a somewhat over-the-top fashion, doesn't mean the film is BAD. You can have great films about subject matter that is typically considered fodder for bad or B films. I think the Pulp Fiction analogy someone made above is apt. Pulp Fiction is not called a great bad movie just because of the subject matter.
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The Lovely Bones is an asinine car crash of a novel and I can't imagine any amount of nu-Jackson fuckery is going to fix that. Until he stops losing weight and remembers just what made his films great then we're going to be stuck with yet another loss to the film making world (I'm looking straight at you, Raimi). For those who think McCarthy is somehow poor at the plot and therefore can't write for shit, I'm afraid you're a literary theory degree away from having a valid point. I hear Twilight's quite popular at the moment; why not get onboard that shit-train?
This whole debate has been douche vs. hipster vs. the uneducated - ultimately it comes down to a misunderstanding of the source, coupled with unbridled reactionary commentary. Have a cup of tea, a sit back and a think. Then respond. -
The magical wrap up ending was hilarious and unexpected, because you're totally expecting the main character in a movie like this to get pumped full of lead in the end. There was also a funny message about karma in the end (which is why Cage chuckles in the final scene, I think). Just because a movie is whacky doesn't mean it's bad, unless you're going to call Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas a bad movie too?
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