Cool News
Why my friend, Roger Ebert is dead wrong about KICK ASS by Harry Knowles
This is not a review of KICK ASS, I can't do that right now as I still haven't seen the final version of the film - just the print that played Butt-Numb-A-Thon 11 with the greatest temp track I've seen on a film since Brian Helgeland's PAYBACK director's cut- back in the day.
No - Instead I'm going to address the review that just went up over at the Chicago Sun-Times complements of a man I once shared an aisle with, a few times. I'm talking, of course, about Roger Ebert.
He summarily dismisses the film for moral reasons. Fearing the possible damage that kids will suffer if they are allowed to see the film.
The first retort that will come to mind is that the film isn't meant for children. This is a very hard R-rated film, but that's a hollow argument, as we all know that the supervision level that goes on in this country is a joke. Parents can keep them out of the theaters, but can they guard their computers? They probably can, but will they? No, not really. Going to theaters, it seems that films rated R tend to have LARGER families rather than smaller ones - and what will these kids think?
There is an inherent difference between Hit Girl and say... Bobby Driscoll's Jim Hawkins - which Roger Ebert could have seen as early as the age of 8 in Disney's TREASURE ISLAND. The scene where young Jim Hawkins levels a musket at that pirate that is out to kill him, it was dramatically chilling. It had a weight to it. Jim even gets stabbed. That film is filled with peril and crazy chances that young Jim makes, but it isn't the same as Hit Girl.
And kids today are not like Roger Ebert was way back in 1950. Children back then were huge fans of Westerns. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy were the kings. No - back when Roger Ebert was a kid - every boy in this country played with cap-guns at the very least. My father has stories about the kids strapping on guns of all type. Like the cowboy hat that when you lifted it up, a derringer popped out and fired a blast straight ahead. There were up your sleeve, mechanical guns that would pop out.
Never in history were guns more played with than in Roger's youth. And oddly - their guns in films simply knocked the enemy over with a single bullet dead. No matter where you hit the enemy. It was grand times to be sure.
At the same time, kids had free access to actual explosives in the form of fireworks. They would go have Roman Candle battles at the train tracks - Sometimes jumping onto moving trains and jumping back off. (again - that's what my Dad says) They had the most violent comic books complements of EC, although they were better written generally than most of what we have today...
And there was a shitload of self-righteous pricks in CONGRESS that felt those Comic Books would Ruin their youth. It is true - Roger's generation became a generation of Free Thinkers, possibly partly due to first realizing the government could be so wrong as to outlaw all sorts of Comics at the time. Probably more so once the draft kicked in for VIETNAM...
But enough of Roger's time as a kid. The fact that they were able to watch early matinees of the classic Errol Flynn films, Gangster movies and the Disney films... well, it kinda shows the classier times - but morally... these films espoused sexist and some not so subtle forms of racism.
Roger Ebert says he's not so much worried about the teens seeing KICK ASS - as much as the kids under 10.
Well, Rog... Kids today don't play with cap-guns - the morality police have pretty much wiped them out of the toy stores. Too many incidents of police shooting a kid playing with something they thought was a real weapon. No, beginning when I was a kid - the cap-pistol became the Han Solo blaster. Ray guns came in. Then very cartoonish Nerf guns and water blasters. Kids have always been shooting at each other. Whether it was with a Star Wars ray gun or a pair of pearl handled 6 shooters that you loaded bullets in, and it fired out the soft plastic shells while shooting a real rubber bullet at a kid. Back in his day.
Sure, kids today still have the rapid fire nerve guns and insanely powerful water guns. But no - where the kids today really have it is in their video games. Kids have been going to pizza places and handed quarters... and playing with the family... incredibly violent and FUN video games. Most kids have some form of violent video game that involves them chopping up, beating or shooting some enemy... and their onscreen avatar is usually some manner of badass... even if they're a cute little Lego version of them.
The sort of kids that will see KICK ASS this weekend are well prepared for it. Talk to a teacher at our public schools and you'll hear fouler language than even Hit Girl dishes in the classrooms. Not of a private school, but I have dear friends that teach - their kids know the language and how to use it. They’ll see it as just a really cool movie that really let kids KICK ASS. And hopefully it’ll make a few kids want to get into acting so they could do stuff like that. Hopefully. More likely will be sales of Purple wigs and plastic samurai swords this Halloween… as little girls across the country with the cool parents will have a real badass little girl to call their own. Not dressing as Barbie or some Princess. But a girl that is shown to train really really hard. A smart parent would sign their girl up in a Kung Fu class or a Gymnastics class. And that would be a good thing to help keep future kids from being fatasses like the two of us.
All that aside, KICK ASS is an uncompromised comic book classic. Roger says it is a satire, but that he's unsure what exactly it is satirizing.
KICK ASS is, essentially a satire of the world of comics. KICK ASS specifically is playing in the same sort of universe as Stan Lee's MARVEL... just modernized and made as a point about how unrealistic the very notion of Superheroes are. But make no bones about it - it is made for Adults. Adults raised on an entire lifetime of comics that's specific dream was of bringing Superheroes into a realistic world.
That was the pretense of the Marvel Universe... that you could be a superhero. Then they started selling the costumes and "hero supplies". You walk into a Target or a Wal-Mart and you'll find aisle after aisle of superhero role-play gear.
Is it really much to imagine a slightly heightened dream of kids as superheroes in a violent modern world?
No - it really isn't. It is perfectly realized in KICK-ASS.
KICK ASS is a violent dark film meant to be seen with a full audience to cheer it on. Read some interviews with Matthew Vaughn and he pretty much says that that was his implicit purpose in creating the movie. To Entertain.
Roger states at the beginning of his review that he feels he's going to hopeless square for his feelings about the morality of KICK ASS.
At a base level it is a film about taking a stand, to protect the innocent and uphold justice... in a pretty fascist as kicking manner. I am not upset at Roger for his point of view... I understand, it is a lot to take.
But I remind you that there was a time, when Martin Scorsese was under fire for having a 13 year old Jodie Foster play a whore in TAXI DRIVER - which is more or less about a man that in the end is a hero for taking violent action to protect that girl.
At that time there were critics that wanted to hang Marty. You were not one of them. I remember that time because as a 6 year old I can remember watching you and Gene defend Scorsese and you were my heroes.
I have to say it is a little sad to see you go the route you did in your KICK ASS review. And don't worry, while I suppose you'll never really just get KICK-ASS... You're no square in my book. But you may be in danger of being a 'grown up'.
-
+ Expand All
-
His taste differs.
-
KICK-ASS really was amazing and awesome. Seeing it from the front row at BNAT was one of the coolest cinematic experiences of my life. I cannot wait to see it again (even if I can't clap along to "November Rain" this time... *weep*)!
-
That Roger didn't like or love this movie. Having not seen it yet... I can't comment. However, if I do Love this movie, which I surely hope too, then Roger can be forgiven. Remember, he didn't like Blade Runner. Then, later, put Blade Runner into his Great Movies category. :)
-
iPod nano... November Rain need never cease.
-
Damn, Roger! -
But I do agree with Harry on the morality debate.
The film itself is rather overrated, though.
Nice to see the Brits get a film first for once, though. -
Harry, this was not your finest hour. If you're going to write essays such as this, you really should learn how to present and support a simple argument. You're rambling all over the place, and you never come close to making a cogent point. I really, really, really agree with you that Ebert's review is off-base. Unfortunately I can't agree with your reasons why -- since I have no idea what they are. Ebert: "This film is immoral." Harry: "Kids today are not like they were in the '50's." How is that even on-point? (By the way it's false.) Love ya Harry.
-
Harry, Ebert took a judgement on this. He went ahead and allowed himself to write a 'subjective' review, objectivity be damned.
You of all people should respect this... as perhaps the single most 'subjective' professional reviewer out there today.
Also, it's pretty damn clear to your readership that AICN has some vested financial incentive to promote KICK ASS. You've gone WAY above and beyond on this movie.
I basically agree with the points you make but I still don't think it's appropriate of you to make them. -
on what replacements were made on the soundtrack? "November Rain" fit SO well... I just wonder if they just had to throw in some original track whether than license an equally badass song in GnR's place... and so on and so on for the rest of the film.
-
ever read his fight club review?? the movie soared right over his head!
-
vested interest? It does not matter one iota to me whether KICK ASS makes a dime. Matthew Vaughn's investment was secured and he began profiting after he sold the film, and he's currently well on his way financing his next independent vision.
So I take it you would then need to be inferring that we're invested in LIONS GATE. Well, given I know not a single person over at Lions Gate right now, I'd have to call you a liar.
Our advertising is handled via a 3rd Party. FYI - and they can tell us nothing. -
over Harry's any day of the week. Ebert is a serious film critic. Harry is a fanboy.
-
His review comes off more as a girl/boy thing which he tries to cover with a age thing. He says he like to think he would have written the same review if it was "Hit Boy", but you know, I really don't believe it.
Maybe he should have watched some Buffy as a primer... -
I did not know that.
-
that's the dumbest thing I've ever read. So you never enjoy movies on a fanboy level? Kick-Ass is great, it opened last week in New Zealand, both me and my wife loved it, my parents just when and saw it and they loved it too. Don't be too quick to follow Ebert blindly off a cliff, he has very much missed the mark with his summary of the film.
-
Anyone is free to disagree with Ebert's review, but it is his opinion. As such, it is not "wrong" and is every bit as valid as your own opinion. People will read into it what they will and can agree or disagree based on their life experience, beliefs, and whatever rings true. If it helps someone determine whether or not KICK-ASS is appropriate for them or suits their taste then Ebert's review did its job. It is simply one man's reaction to what he saw.
Harry is always entitled to his opinion, so I find it incredibly arrogant for him to say Ebert is dead wrong for stating what he felt and believed after seeing the movie. That is his TRUE and accurate reaction. At least he actually watched the fucking thing and wasn;t bagging on something without being informed.
I disagree with 90% of Harry's reviews. I think he has horrible taste in films, but I respect his right to say what he thinks even though I find much of it ridiculous and hyberbolic. But hey, that's the fun: reading people's different reactions! The world would be pretty God-damned boring and bland if we all agreed on everything.
Harry, God bless ya man. But you are not the Culture Police. Let his review be what it is and leave it at that. Leave your opinion for your own review and let Ebert have his. And to defend KICK-ASS as being for adults only and not meant for kids when you constantly mention taking your young nephew to see R-rated movies all the time seems a bit hypocritical. But hey, fuck it. That's just like, my opinion man.
Looking forward to checking this out and forming my own opinion this weekend. -
It was an asshole move by Ebert to basically give away a huge spoiler in his review. Might have been unintentional but he should know better.
-
Harry, might want to make sure to test headlines like that with different resolutions... the first line read "Why my friend, Roger Ebert is dead" on my monitor... kind of a shock to come to AICN and see that.
-
to Kick-Ass is a real letdown, it uses far too much music from other films, sounds like they just kept the temp track. It's not Tarantino style obscure tracks either, it's overused stuff, modern stuff like 28 Days Later, really pulled me out of the movie, they use long cuts from them. Really makes the otherwise awesome films seem unfinished and without a theme of it's own. Stops it from being any sort of classic.
-
... there's a good point in there. My girlfriend is a public school teacher and I have heard things from her that I don't want to believe. Things I can't even fathom as being true in terms of complete stupidity and disgusting parenting. Kids will see this film. There is no doubt about that. The difference between us (30-somethings) is that we knew the films we grew up with were fake. I don't think the generation that is 12 does. I think that's what Mr. Ebert is reacting to-- the times.
-
...having the words "Roger Ebert is dead" in the headline is pretty poor judgment.
-
He's really lost the ability to connect with younger audiences. It's a shame and to be honest comepletely understandable. As he says himself she just doesn't understand and isn't interested in this sort of modern Graphic Novel type of story. He's not a comic fan and will never get the subtlties or the blatant OTT moments and realise what the message is.
Still at least he's kinder in this regard than he is in his continual asshole attitude to anything even vaguely related to videogames. At least with comics he's probably read one and enjoyed it in his youth.
It's sad, we all get old, it'll happen to us all eventually, no matter what we do. Fuck me I'm depressed now. -
...we don't have Ebert as a movie critic. Who we do have is Jonathan Ross (god help us)who's wife Jane Goldman wrote the script for...KICK ASS. Now, try and get an unbiast review out of that!!!
-
Using this: "Read some interviews with Matthew Vaughn and he pretty much says that that was his implicit purpose in creating the movie. To Entertain."... is not an argument. The film needs to speak for itself. The final product does not come with an interview.
-
Um, the government never outlawed or cracked down on comic books. They held investigative hearings but it was the comic book industry itself that imposed the Comics Code Authority and basically emasculated the art form for over fifteen years. The early '50s horror and crime comics were violent. The EC titles, being of the highest quality, were often less gory, grizzly and gratuitously bloody than some of their cheap sensationalistic competitors. to say the '50s crime and horror comics were the most violent comics ever reveals an unfamiliarity with the underground comix of the late '60s/early '70s and the non-code approved Warren magazines, the direct market horror comics of the '80s and the imported manga of the '90s. I'm out of touch with what's currently being published but I feel sure a really well stocked comics shop has material that would make the Crypt Keeper and the Old Witch and Uncle Creepy blanch.
This would be going back a decade or more, but one of the early issues of Gaiman's Sandman had detailed instructions on the correct way to slash your wrists. That beats the heck out of Dr. Wertham finding some crime comic with a diagram on how to jimmy a window.
I'm a fan of the myth that the EC Comics were the best comics ever produced. It was certainly true in 1952 that they were the best books produced up to that point and the best work currently available. But that was nearly 60 years ago now. '60s Marvel, Neal Adams at DC, the Underground Comix of Crumb, Shelton, Griffith, Corben, etc. Heavy Metal. The B&W boom and the smut glut of the '80s. Miller, Moore, Gaiman. Tank Girl and Judge Dredd. Eisner's Spirit (technically a comic STRIP but reprinted repeatedly in comics form). Eisner's graphic novels. Manga.
Even if 95% of all of that was crap, the 5% that rose to the top? Sorry, the myth that EC produced the greatest comics of all time is just that, a myth. And that coming from a 57 year old devoted Wally Wood fanatic.
- - - - - - - - -
Born 1953, and growing up my arsenal included the Fanner 50 (revolver with spring loaded metal cartridges that fired plastic slugs), Davy Crockett's musket, the Rifleman rifle, the U.N.C.L.E. gun, a Luger, a snub-nosed .38 police special, a couple smaller than life-sized "kids" cowboy six-shooters, a mortar and a couple of hand grenades. Probably some rubber knives and suction-cup arrows, too, but actually my best pal and I used to use the missile launchers from the Cape Canaveral play-set to launch 5" long hard rubber Nike missiles (with soft rubber tips) into each others faces.
I also had a BB rifle and a Bowie knife, but those weren't toys. I have no idea what my dad was thinking giving me that stuff. -
H, take it easy big fella i'm not suggesting you're a shareholder.
What i'm suggesting is that this is a 'Paid Promotion'. A bit like the kind you see in magazines... it's in the same typeface as the rest of the articles but it's actually a disguised advert and in the corner of the page you see the covert disclaimer.
HOSTEL 2, STAR TREK, GHOST WRITER, and KICK ASS. What do those four films have in common? Nothing. Except they were all covered in extroadinary detail by aicn with article after article after article. Paid to promote.
I'm not slamming it, we're all capitalists and most would likely do the same... -
VikkiMarsdale, talkbackers and their childhood arsenals could make for a nice topic...
Man, I grew up in a house with two brothers and we were tooled up like Arnie in COMMANDO. -
Fuck me, people like Ebert and Christopher Tookey (douche) seem to think this film represents a danger to children. Sure it does, if a crazy little bastard sees it, but then Toy Story could also freak out a deranged maniac. This movie is harmless FUN!!!
-
Travis isn't a hero, regardless of whether he took out the pimp or not. He was a sociopath who was going to take out a congressman (?) as a means to direct his rage, but after geting busted instead funnels it in Sports direction. I know he's hailed as a hero, but if you meant he actually was...well, I don't really know what to say.
-
Haven't enjoyed a film so much since Kill Bill.
-
I've no idea if they are different things.
-
Ghost Rider and Kick Ass have...nic cage. I've always thought he was the man behind the curtain. Finally it all becomes clear. Harry Knowles is really Nic Cage in a fat suit for 11 years. You can come out now Nic...we know the truth
-
Kick-Ass IS immensely entertaining. Even if I enjoyed How to Train Your Dragon more.
-
...so Harry has some kind of obligation towardsthe producers of Kick Ass?
-
And yet Jonathan Ross hasn't reviewed kick-ass because... wait for it... He isn't a fucking film reviewer anymore. When film 2010 returns it'll be Claudia Winkleman "shudder". Not that it's matter much because kick-ass is an amazing film - most entertaining film of the year. But you don't have to take my word for it, not happy with Jonathan Ross, well how about Mark Kermode generally regarded as the best critic in the country and the modern day british Roger Ebert. Guess what he loved it, thought it was a fantastic film and addressed head on all the moral objections that this film would received, and pretty much called them out as bullshit.
-
Didn't see that coming...
-
she can be at least as funny as Wossy.I for one will give her a chance at reviewing the movies.
-
Guess what, not everyone is going to like everything, or agree with you. This is something that shouldn't have been posted to begin with. So Ebert has a problem with Kick Ass. Well big deal. Who are you to stand on a soap box for this or any other film? Cobra--Kai is right, you're on the take and you'll defend anything that pays the bills. But I'm pretty sure it's so you'll have a quote from you on the cover of the DvD package. I bet when you wrote this you thought it was genius, but it's very clear you have issues. There's things we think that we should keep to ourselves, and this is definitively one of those things. You either have a mental problem or you're a shill. Because nothing can justify this.
-
ndally, that was funny! But I did say GHOST WRITER not RIDER!
I guess GHOST WRITER and KICK ASS might have something in common but let's not go there... -
...pretty much proof that he has lost his marbles. A retarded shit fest like Knowing, a movie that a 10 year old would find stupid and he delivers his brain fart of a 1 star review to Kick Ass. WOW.
-
and have absolutely no idea about her abilities as a film critic. I of course will give her a chance just like I gave Ross a chance, and I happen to think Ross was a damn good film critic. Fact is though that the film 2010 job should have gone to Kermode.
-
What a douche. Commiting a school boy error by giving the ending away, sheeeeet.
-
I thought this was an obit for Roger Ebert at first, might want to "Roger Ebert is dead" from the title
-
...but always respected his opinions, however, that review was absolutely dreadfully written. Talk about stream of consciousness stuff...
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7nSr4iZaO8
And btw, Mark Kermode will tell you to your face if he thinks your film is shit. -
I'm a projectionist at our local theatre. We just received our print of Kick-Ass this afternoon. I built the movie and previewed it. I loved it! It was funny and action packed and violent as hell.
I thought watching an 11 year old girl dispatch a gazillion gangsters was pretty awesome.
Am I worried about this movie's impact on children? Mmm, no. I couldn't care less. I was watching the movie to be entertained and it's psychological impact on underage viewers couldn't be further from my mind.
I read Roger Ebert's review. I like to read his opinions. I think he's a great critic but if he happens to differ in opinion or perspective, then so what? I don't feel any more justified about liking a movie whether he agrees or disagrees with my views. Everyone has opinions and boy don't we love to express them?
I don't think Roger is WRONG for his opinion any more than I think you or anyone else is RIGHT for his/her opinion. -
http://tinyurl.com/y2eylzm I mean, for fuck's sake, since it's the subject of Harry's article, why not give us a look at it?
-
and not just becauase of this review, but because he's a shrill windbag who's been wrong about so many movies in the past (he summarily dismissed Raising Arizona, Raising Arizona, Blue velvet etc.). This is the guy who wrote Beyond/Beneath the Valley of the Dolls for Russ Meyer, for Christ's sake! Why he's America's darling, I have no idea.
If you're going to rip into Kick Ass, there are a few things there to criticise, like how the dialogue isn't all that hot. But if you want to launch a moral crusade, this isn't the movie to do it against. It's fun. End of story. Can't wait to read Ebert's review of Serbian Film, though. -
He's saying it as a GOOD thing, but you have to watch out for the "bored critic effect" where film critics see piles of shit every year and are happy with a film that jolts them out of their boredom just by being "odd" as he describes it. But "oddness" might simply mean that the film JUST DOESN'T WORK. I've seen the trailers, and it just doesn't seem to be working.
-
will be pretty damn similar to the temp one which showed at BNAT. That Godspeed You Black Emperor bit should probably have been replaced, though, considering it's used on every trailer ever made already.
And Mark Kermode's definitely better than Ebert, but even he is often a haircut disguised as a critic. What film criticism needs is its own Lester Bangs! -
It's really important for films to be allowed to be morally and ethically wrong. They have to be allowed that. Movies are a reflection of society, and if they reflects a thought or an idea that's morally or ethically wrong, they establish where that line is drawn.
As opposed to doing that in real life.
There's nothing wrong with KICK-ASS. It's my favorite film I saw 2009. Absolutely, without a doubt.
But there is ONE genre when it comes to fiction and drama, and that's FANTASY. Judging a film based on morals is insane. If we do that, we might as well dismiss all horror and thriller movies right off the bat. -
that when my first impression when i read the title.
-
they want their fucking stupid hairstyle back pronto.
-
Did not know about Claudia Winkleman- she has a much business reviewing movies as she has hosting the Oscars.....my questions on that are "Who will be watching the movies for her, and who will be writing her reviews?" Pray to god it IS someone like Mark Kermode, or we can expect more saccharine bullshit with no fucking informtion a la "Strictly- it takes two..." (I am forced to sit through this by the way....No, really I am.......). By the way, I have seen the movie and it fucking rocks!!!!!! It is amazing the kind of flack you can cause by giving a pre-pubescent girl firearms and weapons and having her swear like a navvy...... to me that nis just an average evening in Newcastle upon Tyne.
-
And it's going to be difficult to find a movie this year that is as insanely entertaining as Kick-Ass is. And don't worry about about any 'moral' consderations because anything that offends the so called 'moral majority' is to applauded. Great film.
-
You didn't make your argument, and it comes off as self-serving. Everyone knows Ebert is in no ones pocket, and speaks his mind. Who cares what you think about his opinion regardless of what it is.
-
Harry you wrote why you think Ebert is missing the boat about KickAss. He could not have done a better job of defending his review than what you wrote.
Ebert's review questions the boat one has to be to be in to enjoy KickAss.
Based on what you wrote, Ebert was right about the boat.
-
Just a quick question- if you have not read any of Eberts reviews then how can you respect his views???? Or did you just mean on this one point?
-
so clearly she knows what she's talking about. Apparently the format of the show will be changing with her bringing in other critics to discuss films, for example she knows nothing about horror. The idea of the show being more of a discussion program i could go with, but why not just have Kermode host it - fuck all this mainstream sensibility bollocks the shows on a 1130 at night.
-
Did you not hear? He watched the exorcist 150,000,000 times and became permanently frightened....saying that he is a quality movie critic though....
-
Funnily enough though, despite all this 'hard R'(whatever the fuck that is) talk, in the UK it's only a 15.Don't remember too much about the soundtrack - pretty sure there's no November Rain on there though, as I don't recall throwing up in my mouth.
-
haven't read Eberts review so he may have mentioned it.
The movie where those teenagers skateboarded on their backs down roads?
Some kids duplicated that, got hurt or killed
Then there was teenwolf and the van surfing
That's been duplicated with injuries and I believe deaths
Then there's the countless jackass copycats and their injuries and deaths
I have no problem believing dome dumbass will make themselves a supersuit and go challenge someone with disastrous results -
I live in New Zealand and saw the film 2 weeks ago. We usually don't get films until a few weeks after they've been released in the states (although the gap is always closing). This is a film that's bound to cause controversy but as with any movie, IT"S JUST A FRIGGIN MOVIE!!! and an awesome movie at that!!!
-
... publicly stated that he wasn't interested in the Film 2010 job before any presenter announcements were made. Seems to have got past a lot of people, that one.
-
So...... it's a discussion show... with Claudias usual brand of hyperbole...... and she's not reviewing any movies herself.... oh for the love of christ....where are my Diazapam????? You can just imagine her bringing in a movie critic like Angie Eriggo and talking about fucking shoes!!!!!
-
makes my pants get a little tight. I mean, I'm not talking full on bone, because that would obviously be wrong, but I'm just saying the potential is there.
-
I for one would pay to see that...Oh wait! I DID!!!!! As they are talking about a sequel, how about splicing some "Reality TV" heroes getting the bastard kicked out of them on a Friday night when the pubs kick out???? (Or just watch an episode of "Street crime UK".......)
-
Was it a fun, entertaining ride ? Sure it was. Was it so important you had to come and write a piece about another critic's review being wrong ? NO FUCKING WAY.
-
most of it passed the spellchecker, it's just there were wrong words in there :p
And my eyes are still fuzzy... -
Porco, you ae wrong there my friend.... she presents "Strictly come dancing- it take's two...." and it doesn't get more fucking horrific than that.
-
if only for the fact that his glowing blurb on the Thorn Emi Dawn of the Dead videocassette made my mom think it ok for aten year old to rent it. He is entitled to his opinion. It seems that alot of his reviews lately point out political or social points that dont seem needed in a film review. I have also noticed that he seemes to give away salient plot points pretty often.
-
She'll review some movies herself, but movies that she doesn't know much about such as horror she'll get in other reviewers who know more about that genre. Seems pretty idiotic to me, why the fuck hire a presenter who has significant gaps in their knowledge of film.
-
Harry is trying to draw attention away from the fact he got multi-fucked across the boards for receiving a free I Pad by putting up a thread where he will get multi-fucked for reviewing another review..... poor fat bastard can't win at all......
-
I will no doubt look forward to her own reviews of such fare as "Valentines day 2" and "Mamma Mia 2" or anything with Jennifer fucking Aniston in it....
-
But I always take his opinion with a pinch of salt as he is on the record as saying that The Exorcist is the greatest movie ever made. Which it is not. The greatest over-rated movie of all time? It would win that hands down. While it was banned in UK, me and some mates got hold of a working Betamax player and a copy of the film from before the ban. It came out the year I was born. We were prepared to be terrified by a film that we'd been told by all was the filmic boogy man. What we did was PISS ourselves laughing at it. The head 360 scene? I honestly thought I'd die laughing at that point. People were supposed to have died of fright/heart attacks watching this movie? Good!!! We could do with less crappy DNA in the gene pool.
-
Harry, you should check out www.bbc.co.uk/markkermode for his blog...you think Ebert's good? Dr K is the man!
-
then you're in for a pleasant surprise if you see her in anything else.She's fucking funny, and crude as fuck when she wants to be. You should find the clip on youtube where she talks about how Jon Snow reading the news is like porn to her, and she fantasises about dressing up like a hobo and doing him outside next to the bins.It's fucking hilarious and completely ad-libbed.
-
and preferred genres. The thing is if you listen to enough of their reviews you get to know what those biases are and can filter their opinion accordingly. I have a pretty good idea about marks likes and dislikes and so I know when to listen to him and when not. I tend not to pay to much attention to his negative reviews of big blockbuster type stuff, though I'll always listen to his opinions. I find he is most useful when he talks about the movies that he likes especially the more obscure, foreign titles as well as his opinion on horror films. I actually found jonathan ross to be the most useful critic to listen to for me personally because my tastes and his tended to correspond almost exactly. Of course I knew to pretty much ignore anything he said about Kevin Smith, but other than that we were pretty much in sync.
-
You know, seriously, if some kids or young adults don't get thats its JUST a movie and go out and try the stuff in this movie-GOOD- its called natural selection or thinning the heard- instead of blaming the media,maybe we should be looking at the parents
GOOD parenting try it...
Personal Responsibility Live it.... -
I know what you mean, because I went through the same experience with Texas Chain Saw Massacre. A movie I found to be as boring as shit, and as frightening as a bowl of custard.But horror is deeply subjective. Mental horror like the Exorcist, is very different to shock-horror like Saw, and will appeal to two very different audiences.Since I was raised a strict roman catholic and still believed all that malarky, when I saw the Exorcist on my 18th birthday, it scared the crap out of me.Similarly, I managed to convince my sister that the Blair Witch was real before we went to see the premiere. When the lights came up at the end, she was in tears with the fright and I had to tell her immediately that it was a fake. Because I knew the movie was a fake, it looked like shit to me. But it was clearly damn effective if you believed it was real.I don't know Kermode's background, but if he says he thinks the Exorcist is the greatest movie ever, for him it is.
-
but that doesn't mean she knows fuck all about movies. That's what I want from the host of a MOVIE REVIEW show is someone who knows a lot about a wide range of movie genres, and can express that opinion intelligently. If she can make me laugh that's great, if she looks hot hey that's a plus, but all I give a shit about is whether she knows her movies beyond a pretty surperficial level and can actually discuss exactly why a film is worth seeing or not. Christ I'd rather they got someone like Edith Bowman, I actually know her film credentials. Of course I could be entirely wrong and She may surprise me, I hope she does.
-
when she hosted the Sky coverage of the Oscars this year. She even knew all about the movies in the foreign film category, which I certainly didn't. Jonathan Ross was no Barry Norman, either. Far too sycophantic for that.
Again, film criticism needs its own Lester Bangs! Get on it, young AICN readers. -
Ebert lost it a few years back. I don't know if it was his illness, maybe some bitterness, or if he's just burned out. His reviews have become sounding boards for political rants for a good 7 - 8 years now, and they are not better for it. Somehow, I think a young Ebert would have laughed his ass ff at this movie and urged us all to do the same. NOW......Harry....two points. I have often said to anyone that'll listen while lamenting the complete disappearance of anything resembling a real gun at a toy store; give a boy a cap gun and let him play in the back yard for a few hours and you open up a world of imagination that no tv show or video game could ever touch. That said, (see Harry, I slipped in a "That said!!!" brother, you missed the point of Taxi Driver entirely. Perhaps it's because you watched it as a six year old and loved it so much that you applauded Siskel & Ebert fighting on its behalf on television before it was even released. Unless, that is, they talked about it after its release, which they rarely did. In that case, your 6 year old self would have surely already seen it and then you could applaud at Siskel & Ebert's political stance involving the adult content of this movie, which, of course, your 6 year-old brain would have processed and understood completely. No wonder you think Scorcese intended that Travis was a hero!
-
The badguy dies? Seriously, that's a spoiler?
I laugh that the PR group is out in full on all this. How many endless TBs have been wasted on Kick Ass? I think Ebert's sentiment might be a little dismissive, ( I confess I haven't seen the film yet ) but his comments seem to generally line up with the dissenting opinion of most everyone here when Kick Ass trailers started coming out...
Too young. No emotion on the kid The hero "kick ass" himself seems much more interesting than hit girletc etc.. The only thing he didn't mention was Pedo bear creeping around the corner.
Harry, I'm sorry someone didn't like your pet movie.
I dare say, though, that if it wasn't Ebert, you wouldn't have bothered writing this article. -
Is this not out in th u.s yet? it came out in the u.k about 3 weeks ago! loved this movie. My fave movie of the yr so far..brilliant all round !
-
And he's right about people inhabiting a certain world who have read the comic book and are geeked out about this film...and not wanting to inhabit that world. The old "it's just a movie" argument that gets thrown around a lot in Kick Ass talkbacks and it doesn't fly...movies should have a moral compass. If a movie showed people raping women for fun with no consequence and making it look cool....should we laugh and cheer? There are lines to be drawn...and geeks seem not to know where those lines exist. I learned that last year when watching Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl...a pretty morally reprehensible film...but geeks cheered at some very questionable material. There's a geek culture where...there seems to be this desire to be cool...and liking certain films and things seems to give them that feeling that they are part of something cool...so they geek out with one another and mock those who don't take part. I think it stems from that high school desire to fit in with the cool kids that was never quite quenched.
-
But I can't find it again on YouTube. I'm looking forward to seeing her on Film 2010. I seem to remember her being a film reviewer early in her career. Am I wrong? I'm not dissing Kermode by the way for thinking that The Exorcist is the bomb. He did do what I consider a great documentry about Blade Runner in the same series of retrospectives he did about classic films, The Exorcist being one of the other ones. He knows his film history too. Like I said, a good reviewer.
-
--interesting than hit girl."
Wrong! I've not read anyone say that once. The exact opposite is true- the movie would probably be even more entertaining if more time was spent with Hitgirl and her Pops. Moretz and Cage definitely put in the film's best performances. -
would look too scary on a big widescreen tv, especially if film 20xx went high def. Imagine those enourmous meaty protuberances flapping about in 1080p, enough to give you nightmares. Now wonder he fears 3D his TV career would be over.
-
is all I saw, I thought this was going to be a RIP.
-
Taxi Driver was a film rooted in reality, and 13 year old prostitutes exist. Robert De Niro didn't fly around doing flips while wearing a cape, and kung fu kicks, with Jodie Foster doing the same.
-
Ebert isn't merely stating that the movie is morally dubious and therefore potentially reprehensible on, i dunno, some kind of utilitarian grounds - it's also a valid criticism of the movie itself to talk about how ridiculous it is that Hit Girl kills without remorse, or being affected at all.
On one hand, we're supposed to take this world very seriously, to believe that's it's very 'real' - and in the beginning it manages that and it's awesome. But then it utterly undermines that reality by doing what Watchmen did before it - turn idiosyncratic weirdos donning costumes into actual super-heroes. But Kick-Ass goes one further and makes it nearly impossible to a) believe in the reality of an 11 year old who could dish out such violence and be unaffected, and b) CHEER for such a thing. I mean Big Daddy's treatment of his daughter would be one of the most reprehensible instances of child abuse EVER, were it real..
so which is it, is this the real world with 'kick-ass' HEROES, or is it a fantasy world with superheroes who might just as easily be victims and villains?
That's a criticism of story-telling and character and tone, not a complain about the possible harm that could arise from a movie of this nature -
for three miliseconds until I read the next word. Very distasteful, Harry! Go die in a fire."
Lol, the schadenfreude in these talkbacks is ridiculous. Harry got there first- deal with it! -
harrys credibility ZING! oh wait that died years ago with his armageddon review, the final nail being his superman returns review. nah i'm just kidding fatty you're alright. Don't trust your reviews as far as I could throw ya but I don't think you're actually a corporate stooge.
-
I can't help but feel a bit cynical about some of the Hit Girl-focused criticisms.
There would not be the same outcry if the role was a buxom 21 year old, meaning people have a problem with who is doing it, not what is done.
Or maybe the who makes the what seem less acceptable.
Compare the anime section in Kill Bill. That's "OK" beacuse it's a cartoon of a little girl.
There does seem to be a lot of "Think of the children!" hysteria and second guessing of what kiddyfiddlers would find arousing
Frankly, they're probably too busy whacking themselves off to Hannah Montana or whatever sassy tweenie toss the Disney Channel is showing today. -
My kids have some automatic Nerf guns that fire 35 shots in a few seconds, but Nerve Guns? Where do we get some? Can I pick those up in District 9 or do I have to go all the way to the weapons testing lab?
Just wondering. And it should not be a good thing that parents have no idea or care about the adult stuff their kids are exposed to. -
How does that qualify her to review movies? Sure, she is a good "genial" conversationalist and most blokes who see her agree that they would like to fuck her five ways from Sunday, but unless she is fucked by a guy the size of John Holmes live on TV whilst presenting the show, the above is really a moot point. Most people who watch programmes about reviewing movies expect to see movies reviewed competently, despite obvious biases of the reviewers. She was fucking awful presenting te oscars; her knowledge of what she was talking about was fifth rate- David Badiel knew more than she did and he is as useful as a pile of used condoms. I have nothing personal against her, but she is fucking everywhere these days, unqualified to review movies competently and will soon wear out her welcome just like others before her. Bring back Barry Norman.....
-
at an all-time low, and getting lower, don't forget that it takes a village to raise a child. No matter how protective a mother and/or father are, a child is still exposed to the world. And the world is daily becoming a more violent place, and more accepting of that violence - leading to movies like this and Serbian Film.
Let's be adults and recognize that the products we demand have an effect on the environment. Just as there is an environmental cost to buying plastic bottles there is a social cost to consuming fare like this.
And make no mistake - this movie in no way is marketed solely to mature adults. The ads, the PG-cut trailers and commercials, all are targeting children. I didn't even know about the severe Moretz beating scene until Ebert's article.
As a villager, we must all ask ourselves, are we willing to make small sacrifices for the greater good? Are we willing to forego (and condemn) 90 minutes of cheap, extreme violence to save this and future generations of children? Or is our personal satisfaction more important?
I for one know my answer. -
Ebert pronounced Fight Club as “fascist”, and believed the film was dangerous because the American public isn’t smart enough to understand the films intention… Now, I’m not saying that most of the American public doesn’t need to be spoon-fed, I just found it interesting that an old hippy like Roger Ebert would speak out against a film for such reasons, or at least with such a level of disdain…
I also remember him hating War of the Worlds because the alien ships were on tripod legs, and for Roger, that simply wasn’t believable. Four legs and the film would have gotten a thumbs-up, but three legs destroyed his suspension of disbelief. It was that simple.
It’s never surprised me that Harry was Ebert’s biggest fan, because no two movie critics have ever reviewed movies on a more person level than these guys. I’m not saying that’s an altogether bad thing, but as a result, their opinions need to be taken not with a grain of salt, but a heaping spoonful. -
Sorry to interrupt, but I figure there's gotta be some fans here.
-
"Mom! Dad! Bart's dead!" "GASP!" "Dead serious about going to Itchy and Scratchy Land!"
-
the movie looks creepy, and unnerving....and it looks like it completely ignores the morality question of having a 13 year old suffer childabuse....which is in itself kind of funny if you can have a sense of humour that dark. Its black humour, ....that feeds into most geeks who are in a fight to preserve the innocence of their childhood. I guess its also a riff on batman and robin
-
You could walk into a nunnery and somehow inspire the whole convent to start a riot with your rabble-rousing ways.
I hope some of the people on these talkbacks get so drunk on their own rhetoric that they slip into a coma and never wake up. Perspective, gain some. -
and so I actually cared for a brief second. Then I realised it was just some nobody rock star and I could get on with my day.
-
I don't live in a village.
-
KICK-ASS is "morally reprehensible" but you praised SEVEN POUNDS despite the fact that it is a two hour glorification of one mentally disturbed man's suicide?Normally, I like Ebert's stuff, but I think he may be off base here...
-
Ditto regarding the Peter O Toole faux death.. although my shitty eyesight has pretty much everything to do with masturbating over BringSexyBack's moralistic post.
-
A new movie for Roger and Harry to collaborate their top notch reviewing skills on... it is called "Seven Pounds of Kick Ass in a Serbian Film turning everyone Red White and Blue..." BRING ON THE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!
-
Apr 15, 2010 7:29:43 AM CDT
YES (a lot of) CRITICS are self absorbed ASSHOLES who really thi
by piltorp75
The same fuckin thing happened in Sweden last week where some of these "professional critics" who only praises (more or less) movies like "the Piano", "Gone with the Wind" and "the Remains of the day" (movies I do like as well), but then for some unexplainable fuckin reason they feel that they have to review a movie like Kick-Ass as well, even if they work with 3-6 colleagues who would be much more suited for the task.
I mean sure go and see the movie but do you have to write a review ( that goes nation wide) thrashing the movie when you fuckin knew your opinion about the genre before you went???
-
He can't be "wrong," Harry, it's his opinion.
We'll see how you feel if you ever have kids. Parents have to try to shield their kids from an inordinate amount of invasive media these days, and the assault they face is heavy and sustained. Thanks for making a the idea of a "grown-up" an asshole to everyone yet again. It so un-aintitcool to think and consider how things affect people and their lives.
Though I was into seeing this movie before, I can definitely live without it. Doesn't seem that "classic" to me anyway.
-
At least in its promos. That's probably not Vaughn's fault, sure, but I think Ebert's heart is in the right place here. Now we've all read Ebert at one time or another. I'm sure many of us follow his terrific blog. He's a generally liberal, progressive guy. Sure, he can be a bit of a curmudgeon, but he goes into every movie with an open heart and open mind. I just got done reading his review of KICK-ASS, and I have to say it sounds like he has a very valid issue with the movie. Even though it is clearly trying to be satire, it's ultimately getting its kicks by putting a little girl in insanely violent situations. This may work for a lot of us (I still have yet to see the movie, but I plan to), but can we at least understand that such things won't appeal to all people? And it's not like he's calling for censorship or anything! And the TAXI DRIVER comparison is way, way, way off, Harry. TAXI DRIVER wasn't pitched with humorous MTV-cut commercials. TAXI DRIVER didn't glorify the violence done against or on behalf of the little girl in question in that movie. KICK-ASS seems to be doing that (still, I'll see it for myself), and I don't think there's any problem with a person with as informed an opinion as Ebert's taking exception with it.
-
Apr 15, 2010 7:33:10 AM CDT
Ebert is not WRONG he just has a different opinion
by greigy just wanted to say
Only an arrogant deluded child would rant that he was wrong... OH SEE WHAT I DID THERE... I ANSWERED MY OWN QUESTION BEFORE I'D EVEN ASKED IT. HK.. take a step back, take a deep breath and fucking grow up.
-
Whoever said Ebert would have liked this movie when he was younger - I think you´re wrong. He has always discussed the relationship between violence and morals in his reviews. For instance: Read his review for "A Clockwork Orange". He explains in detail why he didn´t liked it.
When I was 20 years young, I thought of "Clockwork Orange" as a masterpiece of coolness. Now I´m 18 years older, and I can understand Ebert´s review better than in 1991. I believe when your reach a certain age, you usually leave the concept of coolness vs. uncoolness behind, and you look for human stories in movies. But that´s just my opinion.
I, for myself, by now find "A clockwork orange" a bit hollow and pretentious. As for "Kick-Ass": I will see it on opening weekend here in germany and form my own opinion. Maybe I will like it, maybe not. I´ll see. -
WRONG
-
..... just give them a roll of barbed wire to play with and they're set for hours!!!! Violent Movies told me to say that!!! Honest!!!
-
has been very wrong on some movies. I think he was wrong about FIGHT CLUB, but then again, look at how many other folks took its characters' ideas at face value and spouted the Tyler Durden B.S. and started fight clubs.
-
liked Clash of the Titans (I did too) :)
-
At some point people find themselves getting to old, physically, mentally, morally to understand/identify with the same themes they once did. Nice parallel between Taxi Driver and Kick-Ass.
-
Ba Dum Bum DSSSHHHH !
-
Apr 15, 2010 7:42:58 AM CDT
"the supervision level that goes on in this country is a joke"
by p0llk4t
This from a guy that used to show Troma films to his 3 year old nephew?Are you fucking kidding me?Why the fuck are you reviewing other reviewers reviews? That's just stupid. Save it for your twatting.
-
Dude, I agree with you and have done since the early KickAss 'pedobacks' at Christmas time. I just find it so fucking depressing the way everyone is gushing over this horrible piece of shit film. I mean Christ, the way Harry accuses Roger Ebert of being a 'grown up' as if having some sort of moral view on the exploitation of children makes you some kind of fucking square.
-
Is that this film gives uber-wiener critic "Hollywood vs America" Michael Medved a thousand brain tumours. I hope after seeing this film, he goes home and hammers nails into his skull.
-
There's something hollow and empty about this film and its refelexive, predictable envelope-pushing. A little kid says the c-word? Yawn. Whatever. No, it's neither ground-breaking nor cool.
-
Roger makes a very valid point about a key flaw in the movie, about how the movie is about people trying to be superheroes, when in fact they DO become them (the girl jumping around the hallway, etc.)
-
No, not everyone is interested in laughing at a little girl killing people and getting the shit kicked out of her, even if it's meant to be funny. I can respect that. It just seems that there's a strong and loud contingent among geeks that seem willing to defend this movie at any hint of criticism or controversy, to the point where they're sounding like preachers themselves. Guys, look, I know we should root for good geek movies to do well, but there's a point when you have to realize that having a little girl say "cunt" just before slaughtering people, and doing it for laughs, just ain't for everybody.
-
You're speaking a lot of sense. The Taxi Driver comparison is a pretty desperate arguement for all the reasons you give.
This is my main problem with KickAss, it's the glamourisation and 'isn't this cool' approach to the violence that is the problem, not the violence itself. A film like City of God shows kids shooting guns but it's not trying to imply that there is anything 'hip' or 'cool' about it. -
"...Roger Ebert is DEAD wrong..."
Think about your post heading next time!! -
Apr 15, 2010 7:50:35 AM CDT
"we all know that the supervision level that goes on in this cou
by akiraclass
Harry-I love ya too, but, aren't you exhibit A? It seems like every time I turn around I'm reading a review from you saying how much gore/horror/sex a film has and how awesome it is and then you say how your 'nephew watched the film through his fingers'. WTF?
-
explains a lot actually...
-
You said it first, and better...
-
...the christer, board-up-their-@$$ busybodies are getting out their pitchforks and lighting their torches... (sigh)... again over a frikken movie. All that remains is for one of their mouthpieces (probably certifiable schizophrenic Glenn Beck, since he's the one with all the cache right now) to start railing (complete with incomprehensible chalkboard scribblings) and they'll be on the march at a theatre near you. (But notice that this crowd thinks it's perfectly okay to waterboard Arab pre-teens, bash gays, shoot Mexicans, lynch African Americans and "boil liberals".)
-
...becomes a superhero, it will all be worthwhile.
-
Unlike most of the rabble here, you're asking an important question rather than just spouting off. And that question probably makes people here more uncomfortable than any statement.Because it undoes the typical shouting match of, "is this film right or wrong?" Once we accept that everything has a price--everything does have an effect on us and our culture and conscience--then we can't just wave off *anything*. It *all* exacts a price on us.There's no sin in being "grown up" enough to recognize that and make value judgments accordingly.
-
CITY OF GOD is a very stylized picture, but the violence feels real and scary in it. Heck, even the cartoon violence involving O-Ren Ishii in KILL BILL VOL. 1, while obviously stylized with the fountains of blood and whatnot, has a feeling of seriousness about it.
-
When I read the 1st half of the sentence I thought you were saying Roger Ebert was dead!
Anyways - glad he isn't. Kick Ass is AWESOME by the way -
Ebert was right about that much. It pretends to be a satire, but it isn't. It's just about mindless violence and crassness. Idiot comic book fans will whoop it up in the theatre because their lives are empty and they have nothing better to do.
-
who doesn't really believe anything he says unless he's making anti-semitic comments.
Kick Ass was a 15 in the UK. It doesn't push any boundaries. You people know not of what you speak. -
when, say, A.O. Scott or Kenneth Turan or some other prominent critic takes exception with KICK-ASS' treatment of Hit Girl? Or did you write this because you're trading on your friendship with Ebert to generate controversy? I'm serious. I'm not snarking. This is a legitimate question.
-
...a lot of the people who have presented valid and reasoned criticism of this film so far in this talkback (and counting Ebert) have been liberals. Political background isn't the issue here. Also, if you look at the people for and against this film...just in this talkback...there seems to be a difference in terms of expression as well...with those against seeming to be more measured...and those for the film saying things like "C*nty c*nty c*nt", "asshole", and hoping that people drive nails into their heads, etc. Right there...you can see a difference in terms of audience.
-
Hit Girl is the only reason anyone is paying attention to it. It's not successful as a satire. It's not very funny. There is only one well staged action sequence. The story isn't exactly compelling. Cage is the best thing about it. Everything about Hit Girl came across as desperate to shock, which only made it seem pathetic.
And if you can't question the morality of showing an 11 year old child stabbing, shooting and slashing limbs off people then you should probably take a long hard look at yourself. -
....is love....sweet love.
-
Ebert was your hero when you were 6 for defending Taxi Driver? Even if you did see it when you were 6 there is no way you understood it.
Plus didn't Sneak Previews debut 2 years AFTER Taxi Driver was released? If I'm not mistaken there is no way you watched Gene and Roger discuss Taxi Driver when you were 6. A few continuity issues in this article... -
... only the sweary preview. But having read both Ebert's and Harry's reviews, I must say Ebert's seems deeply felt, personal, thoughtful and sincere. Harry's just seems fatuous, thoughtless and glib -- ie. "if it's profane & violent, it's got to be good."
-
... author of the screenplay for "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls," right? Just checking. As for Kick-Ass, it SHOULD be a movie that I'd be in line to see, but I'm just not feeling it for some reason.
-
1 star!!!!
Check it out
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-1262948/Kick-Ass-Dont-fooled-hype--This-crime-cinema-twisted-cynical-revels-abuse-childhood.html -
I can tell you that it explicitly addresses the morality of Hit Girl, and Big Daddy's parenting. It's made clear that Big Daddy has brainwashed and mistreated his daughter, and, spoiler alert, the movie ends on the positive note of Hit Girl/Mindy with a more responsible and appropriate parental figure, all issues that Ebert, along with most reviewers, seems to have missed, or willingly ignored in favour of conservative moralising on the apparently sorry state of the modern world.
-
I have to admit I saw a red band trailer of this movie, and though I'm (relatively) young and am not any kind of prude, I cringed a bit while watching the little girl say "cunt" and bash the hell outta people. Am I lame or out of touch or something when my brain says I don't like seeing that.But in any case, we don't have to insult Ebert for this. I'm aggravated by people's negative, angry reaction to anyone who says they have a moral objection to something. Morals aren't a bad thing, ya know? Ebert is supposed to give his opinion. He didn't just advocate creating a law to prevent a movie like this being made. I very often disagree with Ebert, but from what I can see, he just writes his reaction to the film he's seen. If it's overly-emotional, he still posts it. If he sees a movie he knows he should think is "bad", but is still entertained, he says so. Out of touch? I don't know.And Harry. Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver? Really? Maybe if that film suggested that her being a child prostitute was fun. Let me add my name to the list of people who are surprised by your apparent lack of understanding of Taxi Driver.
-
You're right, too. I forgot all the parts in Roy Rogers western movies where Bullet humps Gabby and screams "SUCK MY CUNT!" over and over again. Those movies are JUST like KICK ASS. Reviewing other peoples reviews, Harry? Come on.
-
Actually, I do have a moral qualm with that -- I'm offended by stupidity.
-
It was fantastic fun, and I actually thought Hit Girl was more of a posetive thing than negative, specifically her relationship with Big Daddy, it was very touching.
Did this come out in the UK before US? -
Harry's "reviews" are mostly like that to be true "hey tits and killins!"
-
God I hate having to reread the same sentence five times just to try and understand what you're trying to say, Harry.
-
"It does not matter one iota to me whether KICK ASS makes a dime." - this is patently false. You have a vested interest in ALL films making money. You depend on the industry to make your living.
-
Apr 15, 2010 8:23:32 AM CDT
Roger Ebert is the type of guy who'll fight for a movie
by colonelfatheart
to be seen even if he hates it. He's not some shrill moralist popping up on Fox News calling for the movie to be banned. Save your indignation for the censors, folks.
-
you are SOOOOOOOO right. Proof is how people forget the origin of the word geek, how it originally referenced going to a circus type show and watching a guy do stuff like bite the heads off chickens and dance under the blood of a goat with the throat cut, hence "geek show." This is the same thing, a geek show.
-
Anyhow, film critics will always have diffrent opinions. Thats what makes them pointless. Its a matter of personal taste i guess. A child could also see Alice in Wonderland and become a drug addict because of it. U never know how a person reacts. I think when talking about kids, and what they see, very few parents actually do their job as parents. The G in PG is often left by the wayside.
-
That would be a fair point if the movie didn't make it a priority to sensationalise the image of a little girl murdering grown men in glorified slow mo action scenes set to the beat of pop music. Very little time is spent looking at the morality. Those scenes do not "explicitly address the morality", but are merely slotted in towards the end as a shallow attempt to justify the bloodshed.
-
...how he felt. Here's a man who has waded through every kind of film. This one...it bothered him. He could have buried his feelings and dismissed the film for other reasons. But he didn't. And that, I believe, takes a certain amount of guts, particularly in a world dominated--and driven by--a youth culture.
One thing: unless I missed it, AICN should have a direct link to Ebert's Sun Times article. -
mr everything is a 4 star classic is finally breaking out of that lame mold.
-
Apr 15, 2010 8:32:30 AM CDT
Yeah Harry, can you tell us what the point of this article is?
by d.vader
At all? Can you articulate that? Can you tell us what your intention was when you wrote this, and what is the reaction and consequence you hope comes out of it? Can you? Because I agree with everyone else that this article is pointless and dare I say it offensive. I wonder what would happen were Devin at CHUD to post something about why you are dead wrong regarding your *opinion* of a film...
-
Love the guy, but even if you think US is over-rated, EBERT has it listed on its all time MOST HATED, alongside stuff like Deuce Bigaow and The Hot Chick
-
Does anyone really want the opinion of a guy collecting social security on a movie like Kick Ass? To be fair its really a no win situation for him. Either he says he liked it and comes off as a guy trying too hard to be "in touch", or take a moral stance and face the wrath of anonymous fanboys. In the end the film just isn't meant for him and the right thing to do would have been to not review it. Your time has passed Ebert, stick to reviewing period pieces that remind you of a "simpler time".
-
But there's stuff that sucks way worse, I agree.
-
I am 40 myself and Im constantly stunned at teh waves of profanity and filth that come out of the mouths of kids. Course I dont know their exact ages, but they are kids. I tend to have a pretty foul mouth myself and they make me blush. Kids these days
-
Otherwise, why would he be so upset?
-
I haven't seen the movie yet, so I don't know if/to what degree I agree with Ebert, but he wrote an honest opinion and I don't think it's a totally unreasonable one. As an aside, I think it's kinda funny there are people here calling Ebert *conservative* because of this review. Shows how little they know about him.
-
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=106296119406621&ref=ts
Lets Kick Oscars Ass! -
Because he's being honest and he makes many very important points. I also don't see it as moralizing; he's not calling for it to be banned, he just called it as he saw it -- he found it profoundly ungood, more than a little stupid, and sad given the reality of a world where kids actually DO kill people. More and more I have absolutely no interest in seeing this piece of sh*t.
-
Its very conflicting for Harry to basically dismiss Ebert's review as coming from a "grownup" (which is used as a pejorative), but then also argue that this movie is not for kids. Sooooooo... what's your point again, Harry? That this movie isn't for kids, but you've got to have a kid mentality to enjoy this? You do realize that actually strengthens Ebert's stance, right? You can't have it both ways, Harry.
-
...who seem to have such a raging hard on for Hit Girl. I can see getting a childish, anarchic kick out of it, but there's something underlying Harry's and other people's fetishizing of her that goes beyond that and it bothers me. Ebert didn't have an issue with Taxi Driver because unless you are a sociopath it is very clear Travis Bickle is not a mentally stable individual, and the tone of the film is not celebratory. Kick Ass seems like it IS a celebration of violence, packaged in a slick "cool" veneer, and that I believe is what got under Ebert's skin.
-
And "Roger Ebert is Dead-"pause"-Wrong!" is comedy gold this morning. ;-) Don't have an opinion on Kick Ass, since I haven't seen it.
-
Why suddenly draw the line at Kick Ass, a movie which I reiterate you haven't even seen? It has problems, but those are more to do with its execution- like Stardust I think it's lacking a little something- but you guys are railing against some movie that's playing out in your head rather than the finished product.
-
As someone pointed out earlier, how can you accuse Roger Ebert of being 'wrong' for having an opinion?
I find myself disagreeing with your reviews more and more frequently nowadays but I'd never say you were 'wrong'. Everyone is entitled to their point of view, surely? -
Nobody was after Scorsese's head when he made TAXI DRIVER. What are you talking about? It was 1976, a very different time. I was 13 and that bloody climax just about took me out...but I don't remember any fuss about Jodie Foster, not really. It was provocative, shocking stuff, but nobody made that big a deal of it that I remember. People were used to dark, downbeat, even "depraved" material in those days - Hell, MIDNIGHT COWBOY won Best Picture seven years before this. The ending was controversial because it seemed so ridiculous that he "got away with it" (irony was not big then either), but there was much more controversy over Linda Blair having to say and do the things she did in THE EXORCIST than Jodie Foster's role, for which she was nominated for an Oscar. I think you're getting it mixed up with what happened later when the guy shot Reagan and said he did it for Foster. Unless you have some articles proving otherwise, I'm goin' with my own memory. The real point though is that TAXI DRIVER would not get made today because of JF's character or she'd be 18. I think the pendulum has swung too far into politically correct paranoia. Hit Girl was turned down by every studio in town - only when they saw audience reaction did they want the movie.
-
to say Ebert's emotional reaction is dead wrong by implying there is a 'right' way to look at the film. It made him sad. That's a valid reaction, and he makes a good case for why. I think it's petty and pointless to attack his character instead of engaging with his argument - essentially, you've said "He just doesn't get it because he's from a different generation."I haven't seen KICK-ASS but there's nothing in any of the previews that makes me want to. It seems like cynical fanboy pandering dressed up to seem like subversion. But I don't think it's wrong for people to love the film as "awesome!", just as I don't think it's wrong for someone to hate the film as intellectually and emotionally bankrupt. I just don't see the point in this article. KICK-ASS exists, and should be it's own defense against detractors. Having to dismantle another review to 'prove' it's a good film kind of has the opposite effect.
-
I agree with you about Hit Girl. The way that Harry and other people on this site can't stop gushing over her is creepy, but I think that's to do with the deliberate sexualising of the character on the part of the filmakers by putting her in short skirts, purple hooker wigs and using the word 'cunt', implying that she has the sexual awareness of an adult, even though she is ELEVEN.
-
Because it features an 11 year old girl gleefully killing people without consequence, and then she gets nearly beaten to death by an adult male? Maybe that's it?This isn't Lilya-4-Ever, which was friggin' brilliant and depressing. And it's not Clockwork Orange, which had a strong socio-political satire to back it up. It's just dumb ass Mark Millar getting jollies from watching a sexually fetishized 11 year old girl brutalizing and being brutalized with no consequence and no real satire. It's exploitation of the lowest kind. I don't think it should be banned, but I have NO interest in seeing it.
-
I would NOT take my kids to see this movie, and Harry trying to imply thats its okay to do so is morally irresponsible. And in the end, thats the problem I have with Kick-Ass. It seems like its marketed towards kids, and I'm sure most parents weren't even aware that it's rated R. "R" people! i.e. not for kids. My parents let me watch R movies when I was a kid, and I can tell you, I didn't become a better person for it. Scarface shouldn't be someone that kids look up to. IMHO.
-
Makes you wonder why Harry is so desperate to defend this film.
-
Harry either didnt understand what Ebert wrote in his review or he is being paid for damage control since the movie premieres now.Because Ebert has not written or implied the things that Harry talks about in his review.Harry says about Ebert's review:"He summarily dismisses the film for moral reasons. Fearing the possible damage that kids will suffer if they are allowed to see the film."WRONG.Ebert dismisses the film for the LACK of morality inside the context of the movie.He is not worried that such violent movies will damage the young people and he never said that such films should be banned.He is worried that in a world where kids cuss and kill each other for real,films like K-A which are devoid of a content,a morality thus their purpose is not to make a statement about this serious matter bur solely to entertain using this serious matter,such films are welcomed,cheered and praised by the audience,both adult and the younger one.And for Ebert this thing is wrong,for him does not sit well with himself,he can not see such film purely as entertainment when things in real life are much worse than that,so he separates himself from the rest of the audience who loves the film: the violence of the film has nothing to tell to him as a viewer because it is devoid of morality,and even if it is only to be seen as pure entertainment he can not view it as this because the film exploits a very serious and very real problem of our days.simple as that.
-
How Hit Girl is "sexualized"??? Cuz I don't see it. She is very much a kid, and that's exactly where the black humor comes from. I must not be a very good pedo.
-
"I find it VERY ODD that HARRY would say something so odd...." I meant to say "something so conflicting", but I think as I was typing I thought "conflicting" was too long and would get cut off, so I wrote "odd" instead, completely forgetting I had already used it in th sentence. D'oh.
-
I have to say it's really nice to see that there are other people out there who see the deeply cynical and exploitative nature of this film. In previous talkbacks the opinion swayed the other way and if you dared voice your concern about the sexual exploitation of an 11 year old child (for example) you yourself were instantly attacked and labelled a pedo.
-
Apr 15, 2010 9:06:27 AM CDT
How the fuck can Harry say Ebert's opinion is wrong?
by sierratangofoxtrotuniform
First of all, you fat fuck, opinions aren't right or wrong. Second of all, you haven't even seen the final version, in your own words! Third, Ebert, most of the time, isn't a highly subjective, biased, and paid off reviewer like yourself.
-
He'll defend himself on the talkbacks with a few posts then tuck tail and run because he either has ran out of whatever sad excuse for a proper defense he had or even he realizes that he is in the wrong.
-
I am explaining Ebert's reaction from his own words. Yes, I have not seen the movie...But it's pretty obvious from the clips I have seen what the tone of the film is. I wouldn't agree that every action film "celebrates" violence, unless you think just showing it is a celebration. It's the way it's filmed, and the context is is in, that takes something from a visceral thrill to celebratory reveling for its own sake...It's the difference between passionate kissing...and full on pornography...and would hope that you would find moral objection to pornography involving 11 year olds.
-
And thus Harry comes off badly yet again here.
Kick-Ass is a hugely entertaining film. I've seen it twice, it's a laugh and it has a rating that allows that only appropriately-aged persons should be seeing it. That parents may ignore this is bad parenting, but interestingly very much leads into the whole violent video games thing Harry uses in his defence. Part of what seems to be behind Ebert's review to me is not "have kids never seent he likes of this before" but "should they have". Harry defends the film saying kids have always played with guns but in Kick-Ass they aren't toy guns, they are real guns and Big Daddy clearly states to the cop he trained Hit Girl treating it all as a game! I have no moral objection to this, because frankly, i don't really give a damn but it is a shakey message. But then it's not meant to be seen by little kids so in my opinion that doesn't matter. Still Ebert has a point. Mainly though Ebert has a right to his opinion, because that is what it is: opinion. He doesn't call for the director to be murdered (as the ever enlightened UK paper The Daily Mail did!) he just states his case and he does so in a well thought out, coherent way. There are wrong actions and misinformed opinions, but no properly informed opinion can be wrong because it is opinion, personal opinion. It can however be poorly argued. This tends to be tied to being misinformed or is a symptom of selective arguing. Using points that clearly have very obvious contradictory factors which the writer ignores completely. Hello, Harry Knowles! This is one of the most poorly thought out rebuttals i have ever seen. With almost every point you manage to reinforce the Ebert issue. You say "Talk to a teacher at our public schools and you'll hear fouler language than even Hit Girl dishes in the classrooms." This is true. Undeniable. But this is hardly a justification surely. We should be encouraging young children not to use that language. Having a young actress played a cool character they'll all want to be only encourages it. That cannot be a good thing. Again, this is easily dismissed with the "little kids shouldn't be seeing the film" argument, but then you say "More likely will be sales of Purple wigs and plastic samurai swords this Halloween… as little girls across the country with the cool parents will have a real badass little girl to call their own." So then you're actively encouraging parents to tell their 10-year-olds to dress up as the character, to emulate her. These are the "cool parents" who want their kids to scream obscenities and see no problem with playing with knives and shooting people. Because that's cool. So presumably the "cool parents" in your opinion would show their kids the movie too Harry? Your arguments make absolutely no sense. I agree with where you're coming from on this but Ebert is the one who comes out of this unscathed. Well done Harry, you've failed again. -
I haven't seen Kick-Ass yet, but I know that Ebert (who I love) has always had a problem with children using weapons in movies. Siskel & Ebert's review of Robocop 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opX9RZPKpI4 -
Kick-Ass is actually far more like a highschool movie- think Superbad, Mean Girls a al- than this X-rated chimera conjured up from your id that you guys are seeing in your heads. And Hit Girl's relationship with her dad is actually kind of sweet, even if the movie clearly emphasises that he's a little cracked in the head.
-
All of a sudden has this moral problem, when, like so many sheep-like critics, he's been kissing Tarantino's ass for making the most vacuously violent, amoral, empty, gratuitous, pointless, VENAL films for the last decade - holding him up as the height of coolness. He's such a fucking hypocrite. Where was his outrage when a cop was tied down to a chair and having his ear cut off by a guy dancing to a great song from the 70's?? Back then he was wetting himself to call this sick fuck the future of film. I like my share of black humor, I just don't subscribe to Tarantino's reality. Kick Ass could go either way with me, I may love it or I may hate it, I don't know. But I can't wait to see it.
-
That being said, it's sometimes seems to have hypocritical views on films. He champions some violent films that have no message behind them, and he villifies others. I haven't really cared for much of his new film reviews since around the time he championed the fake Crash (the real one was done by Cronenberg!), but I still like reading his new great movie reviews that he puts out, and some of his non-film review film articles (like his recent one about his involvement in the aborted Sex Pistols film back in the 70's) are top notch.
-
A very intelligent and hilarious arguement. I love the last sentence. I think the problem is that Harry just isn't very bright.
-
satire,just a well-dressed guilty pleasure for the perverts out there.
-
...doesn't understand the concept of getting excited about a movie. if i had a movie website i'd be promoting the shit outta this thing as well. whats the point if you don't promote what you like??
-
The only purpose of this "non-review" is for Harry to generate traffic and promote the movie of his "friend." He claims he has no interest in this movie making money and that's probably true but Harry's true motivation the last few years has been to promote and defend the work of his friends. And as usual, Harry lives in a fantasy world where he feels he doesn't have to worry about morality because that has no place in art. He can go on promoting the work of pederasts and not lose any sleep because it's just movies.
The thing is, Ebert is right. I haven't seen the movie yet but I hope to this weekend and I hope to enjoy it. But my enjoyment doesn't mean the movie has succeeded. I am part of the very small and narrow target audience for this movie. I've read the comic and I am familiar with the world the comic is deconstructing (it's not pardoy folks) but a movie can't deconstruct a comic book world and find a large audience and it's too soon for superhero movies to be deconstructed themselves. The vast majority of people who will enjoy this movie will enjoy it for the over the top violence and the swearing little girl. They won't get the references or the absurdity of the plot.
There's a big difference between Hit Girl and Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver. Jodie Fosters character was based in reality. Hit Girl is based in absurdity. People were uncomfortable with Taxi Driver but 13 year old prostitutes did and do continue to exist. There are no ninja trained cursing 12 year old crimefighting girls as far as I know.
-
Then they won't continue to make the remake of Let The Right One In with Hitgirl and the retard from The Road!
-
His made up "A" rating or an NC-17.
-
Millions are being spent to persuade you that Kick-Ass is harmless, comic-book entertainment suitable for 15-year-olds.
Don't let them fool you. Kick-Ass has been so hyped that it is certain to be a hit. It is also bound be among the most influential movies of 2010. And that should disturb us all.
It deliberately sells a perniciously sexualised view of children and glorifies violence, especially knife and gun crime, in a way that makes it one of the most deeply cynical, shamelessly irresponsible films ever.
Although it runs nearly two hours, there's even less character development than there is social comment. Our hero learns nothing, except that extreme violence against criminals is cool, which is something he thought in the first place.
The reason the movie is sick, as well as thick, is that it breaks one of the last cinematic taboos by making the most violent, foul-mouthed and sexually aggressive character, Hit-Girl, an 11-year-old.
Played with enormous confidence by Chloe Moretz, she's the most charismatic character in the movie. She may not realise it, but she has been systematically abused by her father, brainwashed and turned into a pint-sized
She believes that her vigilante dad (played, simplistically, for laughs by Nicolas Cage) is a hero just as much at the end as she did at the beginning.
Her attitude towards him doesn't mature, which makes her pathetic, rather than cool. The fact that many people who see the film are going to think she is cool is one of its most depressing aspects.
The movie's writers want us to see Hit-Girl not only as cool, but also sexy, like an even younger version of the baby- faced Oriental assassin in Tarantino's Kill Bill 1. Paedophiles are going to adore her.
One of the film's creepiest aspects is that she's made to look as seductive as possible - much more so than in the Mark Millar and John Romita Jr comic book on which this is based. She's fetishised in precisely the same way as Angelina Jolie in the Lara Croft movies, and Halle Berry in Catwoman.
As if that isn't exploitative enough, she's also shown in a classic schoolgirl pose, in a short plaid-skirt with her hair in bunches, but carrying a big gun.
And she makes comments unprintable in a family newspaper, that reveal a sexual knowledge hugely inappropriate to her years.
Oh, and one of the male teenage characters acknowledges that he's attracted to her.
Now, children committing violent and sexual acts should be a matter for concern. Children carrying knives are not cool, but a real and present danger.
Underage sex isn't a laugh. Recent government figures revealed that in this country more than 8,000 children under the age of 16 conceive every year.
Worldwide child pornography is a multi-billion dollar industry. In Africa and South America, brutalised youngsters who kill and rape are rightly feared as members of feral gangs or child soldiers.
Movies such as City Of God, Innocent Voices and Johnny Mad Dog have treated the issue with sensitivity.
But in Kick-Ass, childish violence of the most extreme kind - hacking off limbs, shootings in the mouth, impalings and fatal stabbings - is presented with calculated flippancy, as funny, admirable and (most perversely of all) sexually arousing.
The film-makers are sure to argue that there's nothing wrong with breaking down taboos of taste - but there are often good reasons for taboos.
Do we really want to live, for instance, in a culture when the torture and killing of a James Bulger or Damilola Taylor is re-enacted by child actors for laughs?
The people behind this grotesque glorification of prematurely sexualised, callously violent children know full well that they are going to make a lot of money, and they'll get an easy ride from the vast majority of reviewers, who either don't care about the social effects of movies or are frightened to appear ' moralistic' or 'judgmental'.
The truth is, of course, that all critics moralise and make judgments, whether they realise they are doing so or not. So please don't be misled. Kick-Ass is not the harmless fun it pretends to be.
Yes, it's lightweight and silly, but it's also cynical, premeditated and mindbogglingly irresponsible.
And in Hit-Girl, the film-makers have created one of the most disturbing icons and damaging role-models in the history of cinema.
-
That sounds even worse!!! Sorry, I would rather if you're going to dwell into these issues of children committing brutal acts of violence to do so with a serious tone. Turning it into a consequence free cartoon makes it even more offensive.
-
I didn't see that Hit Girl was sexualized in the movie. She's 11. It's like thinking that the Gremlin in Gremlins 2 that dresses up like a hooker is sexualized. In other words, it never occured to me. Now that people pointed it out, I guess I can understand it to a degree. But to me I was just uncomfortable with the depiction of an 11 year old girl murdering people without thought or recompense for the sake of crass entertainment.
-
british roger ebert.
-
Harry, I spent a great portion of my morning in terrible fear upon discovering that children today are packing rapid firing nerve guns. I am calmer now that I have wrapped my body in an aluminum foil coat of armor to prevent any brats from sapping my neural data. Thanks for the heads up.
-
Guess it just went over your head. Or you were too busy licking the bottom of your KFC bucket to pay attention.
-
Harry will throw out a few defenses at first, but as the day goes on and more and more people make better points, he will disappear. And I don't think Harry has ever in the history of his site admitted he was wrong about anything.
-
Harry will throw out a few defenses at first, but as the day goes on and more and more people make better points, he will disappear. And I don't think Harry has ever in the history of his site admitted he was wrong about anything.
-
You are very wrong. Ebert didn´t like "Reservoir dogs" that much. From his review: "Having created the characters and fashioned the outline, Tarantino doesn't do much with his characters except to let them talk too much, especially when they should be unconscious from shock and loss of blood." Next time read before you post.
-
Apr 15, 2010 9:21:47 AM CDT
did anyone see hitgirl on leno last night?
by beyondthunderdome2girls1cupbillcosby
i'd be more worried about the child predators than the kids with guns.
-
Mark Kermode, philip french and derek malcolm.
-
Apr 15, 2010 9:22:28 AM CDT
Little Girl In Tight Leather Fetish Outfit = Sexualized / Pedo F
by laserpants
Rebeck 2, I don't know if you're a pedo or not, but her look in this movie reads as pedophile fantasy. Sorry!
-
He was a fucking sociopath, Harry. He was going to murder a senator before his plan failed. He got lucky. And it was implied at the end that he would snap again, and would NOT be hailed as a hero next time.
-
Thanks for recommending I take her to see this though, Harry, you fucking creep pedophile with a fetish for little girls in leather.
-
For the benefit of the doubt. I was worried about you, but I'll just chalk it up to the current paranoia I was talking about earlier. I see nothing sexual about a girl in a Halloween costume killing people.
-
Which is what makes the coda of the film so powerful, the irony of all the newspapers hailing him as a hero would only be lost on only the most dense of film viewers. Much like the ending of Straw Dogs, the ending of Taxi Driver is actually a condemnation of violence, not a celebration of it.
-
And ALMOST gave it 4....he is not to be trusted.
-
It's not paranoia, it's revulsion.
-
DON'T FUCKING WATCH LENO DIPSHIT!
-
Okay, then you tell me. Did he go on to wet himself over "Pulp Fiction", "Kill Bill", "Inglourious Basterds", etc? Because that's how I remember it? But if I'm wrong, I may be attributing to him what has been almost unanimous among critics to my complete exasperation. QT's best film BY FAR is "Jackie Brown", because it has actual human characters created by Elmore Leonard and takes place in a world that is at least NEXT DOOR to the real world.
-
so tired of cage
just, so tired -
Ohhh kids aren't THAT bad these days...ummm I guess you don't remember being a kid. Kids do fucked up shit ALL the fucking time. I blame all the fast food.
-
A normal UNSEXUALIZED girl walking down the street? Not a junior Catwoman in a purple wig??
-
CAGE NEEDS TO PAY FOR HIS FUCKING CRAZY ASS PURCHASES! You should thank the man for helping out the economy! I mean what fucking outlandish thing has Fillion every bought? Fucking thrifty penny pintching douche he is.
-
I think the same about "Jackie Brown". It´s his best movie. But even "Kill Bill 1 & 2" did deal with the consequences of violence. It´s not as if these were films made for the sake of coolness and nothing else.
I haven´t seen "Kick-Ass" yet, that´s why I can´t argue now about this movie. But I will tonight and form my own opinion. -
I agree. And as someone who has no attachment to the comic property and, therefore, doesn't give a flying fuck whether the film is any good, I can comfortably say that you would have to be a damn fool to not realize how "off the mark" the marketing (red-band trailers aside) has been for this movie.I'm all for a good cinematic romp but come on. Let's not get too delusional here for the sake of entertainment.
-
One more elaborate than the last. Also, btw, she's also dressed as a schoolgirl when she kills a roomful of guys without consequence, so, there you go. It please all pedo proclivities.
-
Since you guys seem like you are already on a list. Here rent the movie Water Lilles and fuck off, jesus.
-
What are you doing here?!?! This isn't a Peter Jackson thread...
-
She wore a low-cut dress and acted like she was 30 yrs old. She said it was her first talk show appearance but had stories memorized like a pro. I know this doesn't have anything to do with the movie, but it was interesting/sad to watch.
-
Its a schoolgirl skirt and skintight black leather, the same outfits fetsishists wear and look for. The black leather is reminiscent of Catwoman or a dominatrix. You can't be surprised that pple would see that intending to be sexual, and you definitely can't say there's something wrong with pple who recognize that it CAN be sexual for others.
-
Don't be such a hypocrite man. Ebert's opinion is just that. He's a dick for giving away important parts of the movie but just because he objects to the content doesn't make him wrong. His opinion isn't going to derail the films chances of being seen, it'll probably have the opposite effect. Maybe Ebert should read your "review" of Serbian Movie and put your shit on blast. I know it pisses you off when we do it so I can't imagine how bad it'd hurt your feelings if he called you a pedo in a major newspaper.
-
So its a rip off of Marky Mark's star making scene from Basketball Diaries?
-
What the fuck Roger! FUCK YOU!
-
WHATDONTYOUFUCKINGUNDERSTAND! Don't fucking watch Leno! That show is tailor made for pedo's!
-
What planet am I on?
-
Actually, I barely remember that movie at all. But isn't Marky Mark an adult male? That would remove it from consideration as pedo fantasy.
-
I love how the guy who knows this "Water Lillies", WHICH I'VE NEVER HEARD OF IN MY LIFE, is telling me I should be on a list. Shut the fuck up, motherfucker.
-
Hey don't hate on my IMDBepedic knowledge of film.
-
has Millar explained about this character, is she there for shock value only.
"Ohhh lets have a teenage girl, act tough and swear, that is cool" , "hold on lets go more extreme and make her only 11", "hell we should make her a shemale.... err... ok maybe not" -
Apr 15, 2010 9:47:30 AM CDT
tracy morgan was on leno so i had too
by beyondthunderdome2girls1cupbillcosby
-
Where the population idolizes and hero worships the most reprehensible characters doing shitty things, even though they're supposed to be a satirical take on what NOT to do. That's what I think Ebert is getting at.
-
Well he's in a boys school girl outfit or black trench coat? shooting up his classmates in high school. It got a lot of hoopla back in the day.
-
NO EXCUSES! Well Morgan is SLIGHTLY acceptable just to see Leno's face of not knowing what to do and how to handle him.
-
She still has no idea that either Miley Cyrus OR Hannah Montana even exist. But she does know to "kick the bad guys and call the police."
Not sure what to make of this movie yet. Not sure teens today can be any more desensitized from sex and violence, and yeah, it's R-rated but I'm sure somehow the family of 8 with daddy-call-me-big-dog on his cell and mommy towing her six kids (one 6 months old, of course)will be nestled snug in their cozy little AMC seats come opening night. Then 13 to 15 years from now their son will try to carjack me or just out and out kill me. Damn my world view is bleak before coffee. -
There are ads for The Collector/Micheal Jackson/The Square running. A movie where a dude tortures people/a pedo/a movie about cheating on and killing your spouse................
-
Apr 15, 2010 9:58:48 AM CDT
The Only List People Who Want To See KICK ASS Should Be On
by laserpants
is a list of people who want to see really stupid movies.In other words, I don't think that it makes you a pedophile for wanting to see this movie. BUT, it CLEARLY does have elements of pedophile fetishism which is gross, ugly, dumb, and something I want no part of. This is in addition to the mindless, gleeful violence that it promotes in a culture which has all but forsaken parental responsibility in favor of the tv screen handling the parenting (aka, this movie will encourage kids, who WILL see it, that this kind of violence is okay). Then again, I loved Leon: The Professional which also features pedo elements. But The Professional also has the added benefit of being a smart, funny, sad, clever, touching movie that presents clear consequences for engaging in ultraviolence.
-
While I share Harry's opinions of what we saw as kids growing up, both on tv, in books, comics, etc. were outrageous in violence and such, when we took it outside to play, there was no feeling that we were violent kids- we were pretending to be violent adults.
In Kick-Ass (comic and movie) we've made teens and pre-teens in to sociopaths (not that Robin doesn't have his issues). Let's face it, Millar did a great job in portraying Hi-Girl into a brainwashed victim of her father's insanity. Is this how it would be in the real world? Probably?
So, since a lot of parents are morons and let their kids watch anything at all in theatres and at home, they're going to see this.
So who are they going to pattern themselves off of?
Sociopaths.
They will act like, talk like, pretend like, and do stupid things that are violent to each other. Did we need to empower the dream? Not really. The comic was enough- it was for parents anyways. But the movie will be the issue.
Kids who watch the latest Star Wars movies all want to be the clones, the murderous copies of Fett. Or they want to be Anakin. They don't aspire to be Luke as in my time- they want to be the bad-ass.
So what are we teaching them? -
Actually they do, they arejust bright red instead of black or grey.
-
Pause as Harry slowly slides his fat paws down his food stained sweat pants.
-
He was wrong that he didn't like the movie and his feelings towards it? Interesting. While I frequently disagree with Ebert, it's nice to read something that offers a counter to the fanboy circle-jerk this movie has been getting.
-
So a movie where an 11 year old butchers people is basically like a family movie for him.
-
Roger Ebert and Drew McWeeny are the best movie critics alive right now. IMHO.
-
Apr 15, 2010 10:36:07 AM CDT
There may be a Conservitive/Liberal split on this film.
by the reluctant austinite
I loved it. I laughed my ass off at the funny bits, and actually cared about the characters throughout. This film was the biggest shot of cinema adrenaline I had all year. However, our good friend SCOREKEEPER, who falls more on the Conservative side of the fence, felt this film "crossed the line" and he didn't like it nearly as much as I did. I think Conservatives in general may loath this film.
-
The universal love for this movie is baffling to me.
-
I've only seen the Red Band trailer, but in that trailer I was treated to an 11 year old kid talking about a Bat-signal shaped like a "giant cock". From this talkback she likes to say "cunt" a lot. And it's quite clear from all anecdotes that she engages in shockingly Adult-level violence, violence we tend to associated with more adult films. What's the point of placing an 11 year old in proximity to adult situations, and puttin adult sexual language in her mouth? Why, it's to excite people with the idea that maybe 11 year olds actually ARE adults. It's playing with the idea of Paedo proclivities being ... not so bad. If the little girl is a foul mouthed little bloodletter, what's a little paedo sex? Even if the film doesn't play out this way, the film looks quite stupid and ugly... it has the "Superbad" vibe all over it (the main vibe of that film was a quest for sex by horny teenagers anyway ... a vibe you really don't want to see 11 year old girls associated with in any way).Is Ebert a fuddy duddy for not wanting to see this? Well, he's a grown up. I wish more of the idiots in this talkback were grownups.
-
ok, i get it now.
-
So you're a conservative if you don't want to watch an 11 year-old girl murder people and get savagley beaten? I guess that says more about liberals.
-
...that this is the stupidest fucking thing we'll see today and move along.Put a chalk outline and police tape around this article and go about your business.
-
Isn't Massa a self-professed Conservative?More to the point, isn't trying to create a political schism in how the film plays to viewers who vote differently kind of desperate? Like, essentially, you are moralizing the film as something only Liberals can appreciate, thereby creating another parameter to dismiss negative opinions of the film, and make liking it a statement of political identity?Are you being paid?
-
1 ) you are debating the review of a movie which, you, yourself, have not even seen yet ??? AND 2 ) you don't even post said review for us to read ???
-
"There may be a Conservitive/Liberal split on this film." Yeah, because Ebert is clearly a conservative. errrr......
-
...and I worry about a lot of things, but Hit Girl chopping up stylized comic book bad guys isn't one of them.
-
Boy its been awhile! How goes it?!
-
We should vote with our clicks.
-
That he is. He is also saying it is wrong to have a different opinion from his regarding a movie he hasn't seen a final cut of.
-
I really think you might be little off about having to sacrifice to save the future generation of children. Do you honestly believe that Kick-Ass does more damage to future generations of children than things like poverty, lack of education, parents who are never home because they work 2 jobs to pay the bills. Movies and video games don't make kids violent, children who are inherently drawn to violence and violent tendencies are drawn to violent movies and images. We don't help these kids buy limiting violence in movies and games, who help them by addressing the real issues. I do think it takes a village, but the problem is that when the village tries to help or give parents advice, parents become "don't tell me how to raise my child". Parents always bitch to teachers and the government when they think the interests of their children are not being taken care of, but as soon as anyone tries to tell them they are not doing a good job they go on the defense. One more thing, saying the world is becoming more violent is completely ignorant. There are so many factors that come into play when calculating violence. And from what I read violence in America has been decreasing since the 70's. Some people think this is in direct correlation to Roe v. Wade.
-
I'm sure we could say pretty much all conservatives would be against this movie, but there are a lot of liberals against it too. No need to make it political.
-
I wasn't trying to, I was commenting on what The Reluctant Austinite said, which I should have pointed out but I'm dumb so I didn't.
-
"This is not a review of KICK ASS, I can't do that right now as I still haven't seen the final version of the film - just the print that played Butt-Numb-A-Thon 11" ... "KICK ASS is a violent dark film meant to be seen with a full audience to cheer it on."
So, basically Harry says he can't really review it because he ONLY saw it at BNAT, but that the film was meant to be seen at BNAT, surrounded by delirious, sleep deprived Geeky Adults. Anyone else see the struggle in Harry to be honest about it, while also stretching to be kind to it?
-
Apr 15, 2010 10:58:43 AM CDT
Some people think this is in direct correlation to Roe v. Wade.
by come_on
Lol, leave it to talkbackers to turn discussing a comic-book movie into arguing that abortions lead to less violence. Fantastic.
-
And I think this movie looks profoundly stupid and promotes dangerous behavior. Where I would differ from, say, a Right Wing guy is that I don't want it banned, I just think it *should* be shunned for being really, REALLY dumb.
-
I think I misread one of your earlier posts.
-
Apr 15, 2010 11:03:29 AM CDT
When stupidity rears it's ugly head, I come out of the woodwork
by hawaiian organ donor
And now I must return to my dungeon and stick my need in the noose again.
-
IS THAT EBERT WILL WRITE ABOUT KICK ASS ONLY ONCE
-
Me too mate, me too.
This talkback is like a breath of fresh air. Finally some people talking sense. -
This is way too ideological. You sound like Goebbels.
-
If your daughter was 13, would you let her dress like this???
http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/chloe-moretz/1218881/ -
Ebert hates videogames, of course he hates this.
-
Didn't like hearing a pre-teen say "cunt" and engage in some "ultra-violence" (in a MOVIE, no less, a COMIC BOOK movie), then its BBAAADD. Ebert also famously hated Blue Velvet, because he felt it debased Isabella Rossellini. Not just her character, but Ms. Rossellini as a human being. He also hated Videodrome, saying it was the most uncomfortable time he had in a cinema in a long time. I think the general consensus is that he is wildly off base on those films as well. I never read his review of The Exorcist, but I wonder if that "bothered" him to the point of negatively reviewing the film.
-
Why on earth would you dress your kid like that unless you wanted her to been as an adult instead of the kid she is? And even then, what's the point? Really, it does give pedos more ammunition when we dress our kids up like hot teenagers. WHAT THE HELL.
-
She doesn't have any cleavage, so why have that hole open like that? The whole point of a gap like that in a dress is to remind the male of the breasts, but when the person wearing the dress is an 11 year old girl without breasts.... again, what's the point?
-
Wait.
-
He used to say the same stuff about 80's horror movies, btw. Although he's a good reviewer, he's seriously oooolld and out of touch.
-
Still not an excuse.
-
kids and teens living in north innercity dublin would cut you up. whatdebleedingfuckulookingat? keeplookingatmeatandillkickingfuckingyoufuckingheadin. hit girl wouldnt last a day in north innercity dublin.
-
I am saying that I have read violence in America has decreased since the 70's and I am giving you one of the THEORIES as to why it has gone down. What I am actually doing is supporting my opinion with facts and ideas. That is all, no more, no less. So don't put any words into my mouth or talkback.
-
Actually his writing is better than ever now, just read his blog posts. Him having a differing opinion from yours doesn't mean he can't right.
-
Apr 15, 2010 11:21:46 AM CDT
Whether or not Kick Ass is a great movie, Chloe Moretz's
by poseidonsrage
appearance on Leno was alarming. 13 years old?? I'm a die hard liberal, but wow!! I would never raise my daughter that way. If Chloe's not snorting coke and sucking cock already, she'll be doing it within a year. She's like a mini Lindsay Lohan waiting to happen. Enjoy your time in the limelight, your career will be over by the time your 20, if you continue to be this way.
-
But of course the theory you put forth is the most controversial and button-pushing one.
-
Most people are adults so most entertainment should be geared toward adults. You want a world where all movies are sterilized crap like Hanna Montana. Fuck that! Give me R-rated movies that have imagination like Robocop and Predator. It's the best of both worlds.
-
Who wants a world like that? No one has said that.
-
who let's his 6 or 7 or so year-old nephew watch splatter/horror films... I think Harry may not be an objective voice in this.
-
really odd choice of words. he's old and sick. the jabs in poor form. it would make him sad.
-
fucking movie will end,what it will remain is this:i dont know if there will be kids who will start shooting people after they watched the movie,but one this is sure:judging by what i saw in the above video,with a 10yo wearing that revealing skirt in Jay Leno,i am very sure that her fate will be either to commit suicide or die by overdose at the age of 25+.Thats not a satire,thats real tragedy.
-
Tracey Morgan, on the other hand, I bet is enjoying himself a lot.
-
But it's part of growing up. You slowly realize the dangers and ugliness of the world. But dissing a movie that is meant for adults for being too dark is retarded. It's intended for adults many of whom enjoy the movie. Boo fucking hoo.
-
Do me a fucking favor and stop imagining terrible things happening to a 13 year-old girl. Could you do that for me? The shit you're saying is much sicker than the movie.
-
Apr 15, 2010 11:33:01 AM CDT
AS a liberal I can sit and enjoy a movie where a child shoots pe
by nerd rage
why? Because I can seperate fantasy and reality. You see the girl shooting people isn't really killing people. It's all pretend. Get it?
-
Apr 15, 2010 11:34:00 AM CDT
I love how you say he's dead wrong, but you havent seen the film
by eddiemurphyslaugh
-
Apr 15, 2010 11:34:11 AM CDT
Actually, the REAL difference between Ebert and Harry
by hawaiian organ donor
One is jawless, one has a lap-band.Weight loss results? Advantage jawless.
-
I wonder how much DNA Devin over at CHUD has spilled watching that Leno interview.
-
NO FUCKING WAY. Leno probably LOVED sitting next to the girl. Because he's probably a pedo and she had fucking scripted notes and stories as what to say so he just had to feed her the questions. Leno fucking LOVES easy shit like that. Probably hated Morgan because he realized how fucking useless he is. How he can't handle Tracey's style.
-
I think you're missing the point of why people think this stupid, ugly movie is so stupid and ugly. It's not the violence in and of itself that's so distressing, it's how it's presented and who is presenting it. Also, the fact that it presents itself as a satire when really it's just a stroke flick for violent pedophiles. Robocop is hard-R, meant for adults, starring adults, with some awesome subversive satire. Clockwork Orange the same. Kick Ass *pretends* to be a satire, but it's really not; it's just braindead exploitation. And, hey, sure, there's a place for that too, but this is CLEARLY being targeted at kids and stars kids. Again, I'm not offended, I don't think it should be banned, I just think it looks profoundly stupid and, for some kids, potentially dangerous.
-
I want to see all the "kid safe world" critics shit a brick when they see cyborg little girls lay waste to criminals with uzis and sniper rifles. If you can seperate fantasy from reality you can be entertained by this when put in the proper context.
-
on Leno. Way too skimpy dress and blown out, Jersey-style hair that nearly engulfed her face. Not the best wardrobe choice. Sometimes it's not a bad thing to look your age.
-
I like how if you don't want to watch a movie with a little girl being violently beatn you're a 'kid safe world critic', whatever that is.
-
Apr 15, 2010 11:41:02 AM CDT
I mean really...why would Harry write this article
by eddiemurphyslaugh
over a film HE HASNT EVEN SEEN. Harry can deny a vested interest and studio kick backs all he wants but why else would he go into "damage control" if he didnt. I wonder if He would have written this article if say..the film critic from like Omaha's newspaper wrote this...Harry this just stinks..serioulsy man. Did you write that response on your Ipad btw?
-
It is in today's society were self-centered adults force kids to become adults well before they are able to handle it. Hooray society.
-
That was insanely easy for Leno. And Tracey is on a completely different wavelength.
-
Seriously, he called it the best superhero movie ever made.
He was right, until Dark Knight came out. Oh and Iron Man.
Fuck Kick-Ass. McLovin's involvement is going to get asses in seats on that principle alone, but what is this "he doesn't get how life works because he doesn't fawn over this movie" shit lots of you are preaching on this thread.
What the fuck? I'm not saying the movie can't be good, and I've never been big on siskel and ebert (or Roeper for that matter), but get it together. -
Apr 15, 2010 11:45:15 AM CDT
Its funny..right on this page is a Flash ad for Kick Ass...lol..
by eddiemurphyslaugh
-
Apr 15, 2010 11:45:35 AM CDT
Of course Harry can't see it cause he has an Ipad now
by eddiemurphyslaugh
-
Apr 15, 2010 11:52:40 AM CDT
Kick-Ass will do sub-200 mil, domestically
by kateobviouslydidntgoblack
It'll be a minor box-office hit, barely lucrative enough to facilitate a sequel becoming reality.
-
It will do sub 100 mil I'm guessing.
-
I may be mistaken but didn't Ebert dismiss/poorly review the Kubrick classic for similar reasons?
-
http://tinyurl.com/y5kjtkp
-
This article is an example of how this site sometimes gets lost in its own coolness. Ebert is being honest - he saw something he didn't like and he called it out. Has Harry become so lost in own hype-mongering to the point that he takes a flameout over someone not sharing his opinion? This site is great for the joy of reveling in cool, but if it's going to become a temple of geek doctrine casting out those who dare have an opinion of their own, then count me out. I respect ya Harry, but I respect Ebert more - and this type of article is an example of why.
-
Apr 15, 2010 12:00:54 PM CDT
Raging Left Wing Progessives and Right Wing Reactionaries
by homer sexual
Both groups behave exactly the same. The only difference is what they deem "acceptable."
As a liberal, it has always disappointed me that the left is at least as represssive as the right. I think the left is actually MORE repressive, but they don't hate me cause i'm homo.
SOOOO excited to see this movie, btw. Someone posted it's the best since Kill Bill Vol. 1, and that is exactly what I was hoping for. -
I'm sure Kick Ass kicks ass. And a lot of passion in your article, Harry. Sadly, if Ebert reads it he won't understand a word because it wasn't written in English. I'm not quite sure what that was, but english it wasn't. Jesus.
-
I haven't seen the movie yet, but it's going to have to walk a REALLY fine line to pull off being anything but exploitation for exploitation's sake. The fact that it's based on a comic from Mark Millar does not give me any hope that there is any depth or meaning to the ultra-violence. And Harry's incoherent rambling about the 50's doesn't do this movie any favors. Ebert might not always be right, but I don't think anyone can dispute that his opinion (rightfully, and ironically) carries a lot more weight than Harry's. -
I forgot that when someone doesn't like a movie, they have a tendency to SPOIL EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS INCLUDING THE ENDING, probably out of spite. I'm usually a fan, Ebert, but that's a shitty thing to do.
-
Even in the 70's we kids took cap guns to school and played, never a problem. The world has moved on, and there are things today that kids and teens do that take me aback sometimes, at 44 no less, and certainly no prude. I am sure that sometime soon some film will come out that will make me want to scream and rant as well. Getting older can suck...
-
It's nothing more than a bunch of stupid one liners and dumb poses. It's a complete oxymoron to begin with. It's supposed to be a "what if real people wanted to be super heroes" yet none of the action is remotely realistic. The stupid token girl with purple hair with her stupid one liners and foul mouth is just stupid. A 12 year old could have written this shlock. Of course this is aicn, though, and nerds love any movie with a cape in it.
-
And when Ebert is right, he's very right. But in this case, he's very wrong. Kick-Ass kick ass. (Sorry, couldn't resist!)
-
WTF was everyone on about?? Every 13 year old WANTS to be older than she is, so yeah, she's wearing a dress and her hair's all poofed out, but she's still very much a normal kid. I thought she came off absolutely fine. And grounded, stable, no Lindsay Lohan. If nothing else, her four older brothers will keep her in line. I swear to god, people are overreacting...
-
Suck on that, Roger. You're getting old.
-
You guys are all acting as if this movie is about her. Kick Ass isn't a description of the contents therein, it's the name of the main character, and the movie's mostly focused on him. Hit Girl maybe appears for 5 or 6 scenes, but the movie isn't about her. And considering how awesome Cage and Moretz were in their roles (especially Cage), that's a shame. There's a primo bit of Cage "hyper-acting" in this when he's tied to a chair being set on fire. It's almost up to "Not the bees!" standards.
I think the fact that Harry's last several reviews were all for fucked up, nasty exploitation films has given some of you a bit of a skewed perspective. Or maybe America is just more mixed up about its feelings towards seeing young girls onscreen than I figured? This is an action movie the same way The Expendables is an action movie. It's just a little slice of escapism. No one is being exploited- again, Hit Girl and her dad are only side-characters who exist to give the world a more colourful, comic book feel.
I don't even know why I'm defending this so vehemently as I thought it was a good, but not great movie. You guys ARE all arguing getting your nipples all tweaked over some imaginary movie that doesn't exist, though. -
And fuck you for making me watch even a snippet of Leno.
-
I saw this movie last night, and at no time do they ever sexualize hit girl. She is not dressed in a skimpy outfit, she is dressed like a comic book superhero. Whoever wrote that review could not stop putting sex into the movie. Worst review ever!
The movie lives up to it's name and Kicks Ass.
And EddyMurphysLaugh, Harry has seen the movie. He saw it at Buttnumbathon in December. It just had the temporary soundtrack, so he hasn't seen the completed version. So get over it all ready. -
I saw it 3 weeks ago in the UK, and everyone I know pretty much loves it here!!
-
Harry - Roger main point wasn't the effect that the movie would HAVE on childen, but the film's PORTRAYAL of childen. That's why he called it "morally reprehensible".
-
when society revered its older citizens for the experience and knowledge they've acquired over the years? Yeah, I've kinda forgotten those days myself.
Just because Ebert's "old" it doesn't mean he's less knowledgable about the way the world works, or how films should present their ideas and themes.
And since when did being a mature adult become a four-letter word; a condition to be lamented? -
He was it at his Butt Numb A Thon 11 film festival. He says so in his review. Reading Comprehension.
-
Any chance of getting the temp songlist for Vaughn or anyone else?
-
Ebert wins every fucking time.
-
Why do you care if Ebert likes this or not. It's his opinion.
-
Apr 15, 2010 12:39:14 PM CDT
WINDU - IN CHINA THE ELDERLY ARE RESPECTED FOR THEIR WISDOM
by bringingsexyback
I totally agree with ya.
Here, you have Ebert having to defend himself for his age, over an important opinion piece that should be read by every parent who is even thinking of letting their children watch this dangerous dreck. Cool is as cool does, and Ebert in this instance exemplies cool.
-
and his books (The Great Movies books) are great to read. But if he lets his emotion (not liking the way a film makes him FEEL) get in the way of his critical eye (strength of direction, writing, acting, cinematography, etc.), then his review is as valid as a critic that lets their political viewpoint affect their review, because it's viewpoint differs from theirs (Michael Medved perhaps?).
-
Meaning you're thrown under the bus, or worse, if you disagree with his own assessment on things. That's what I get from this thread. Oh, that and people overanalyzing a little girl being in a superheromovie. -
Ebert should worry about the adults in this world not the children, I call BS too.
You are right Harry! -
Apr 15, 2010 12:47:13 PM CDT
Seriously Harry, There's no need to put Ebert's name out there.
by stalkeye
as honest as you were regarding your digress for his review, at the end of the day it's just his opinion. "Dead wrong" is a poor choice of words considering what he's going through.I'm curious about seeing this film because it looks satirical.(almost like some of the uber nerdy TBers who would try to fulfill their dreams by attempting to fight crime like thier comic idols, only difference, they have no real abilities henceforth may get their asses handed to them.)This concept is a bit refreshing for a comic IP.
-
It's Tax Day. Don't you have a tea party to attend?
seriously though, Roger Ebert gave even some of the most shit movies 2 movies 2 stars (The Last Song), but this is a 1? i want a review of the "movie", not soap boxing. -
It's Harry's way of writing a second review closer to release date, delivered in the form of a criticism of Ebert's review.
And for the record, critics have always written treatises on other critics' critiques. That whole French New Wave thing was coined in a review by a French critic in which he was slamming a fellow journalist. -
Is a different critic since his health has gone south, I don't blame him one bit for having been yanked out of the cozy confines of the dark theaters into the darker realities of mortality and not coming back the same critic, or much of a critic at all--seems he's pretty easy to get a thumbs up from anymore, as if he's just glad to be here watching anything, and when he dislikes something such as Kick Ass he can't help but make it a very personal review. Ebert's show and Home Video guides got me interested in movies outside of Star Wars as a kid, will always love and respect him for that, but his reviews mean little if anything anymore.
-
..Roman Pedoski.So what if Roger is taking some "high Ground", god bless him, that's his stance. Just agree to diasgree more repectfully..who am I kidding? For a moment I had forgotten that this is AICN, I nwhich most geeks go at it.
-
If Ebert's review denied any quality within the film at all- then perhaps you'd be correct... But Ebert's not saying the action sucks, the acting sucks (in fact he says Chloe is good), etc.- he's letting you know exactly what he doesn't like about it- you should be able to make your mind up from there. I find this whole thing incredibly amusing- because this is honestly the WORST movie reviewer calling into question the opinion and feelings of the BEST movie reviewer. Anyone who tries to shit on Ebert is a fucking hideous troll- end of story. The guy's been doling out thoughtful reviews since before Christ was a pup- there's a reason he's so respected. Harry- on the other hand- spends half of his "reviews" talking about the toys he had as a kid and the other half talking about how he's cumming in his pants- and with the poorest of grammar. Revolting- not to mention that Harry fawns over 95% of the movies he sees anyway- all he needs to do is get a free viewing, free swag, a high five from teh director, or for the movie to have perv elements for his pimplish dick to get excited over and voila Harry's all over that shit. This site is a fucking joke. Any of you cats slamming Ebert and defending this pathetic excuse of a movie reviewer- the mentally challenged Harry Knowles- are jokes. Why the fuck am I here then? Just gawking at the train-wreck kids- just gawking at the train-wreck.
-
Apr 15, 2010 12:55:23 PM CDT
So, It's ok to watch a fetishized girl, because it's a fantasy?
by dirk_the_amoeba
Just whose fantasy is it to want to see a little girl dressed the way she is spouting the words 'cunt' and whatever else she says? Do you really think little girls dream about doing that? Or is it perhaps little or big 'boy's' who dream about little girls who behave that way?
-
that talking about if kids can get their hands on guns is irrelevant- last I checked Hit-Girl alo dispatches foes with a sword- it's not like kids can't get their hands on knives and sherp objects- just saying. You sound like the grand fool that you are Harry...
-
of this inaccurate idea that Ebert "gives everything four stars." It's a complete bullshit argument, pulled out of thin air to give dubious credence to detractors who just want to discredit his opinion when they disagree with him. Ebert has given out PLENTY of bad reviews for recent movies (several of them movies I actually liked). So, find a better argument, assholes, because this shit ain't flyin'.
-
Harry trying to start a dialogue with Ebert just to drive in more traffic- Harry knows as we all do that occasionally Ebert responds to those calling him out- hopefully Ebert doesn't bother with Harry's prepubescent bullshit
-
Apr 15, 2010 1:02:39 PM CDT
In Briatin they had to ban padded bras for little girls
by dirk_the_amoeba
Why would anyone make a padded bra for a child in the first place that required a ban? let alone some parent buying it? And people here are defending the fetishsizing of little girls by saying it is not a movie for kids or by saying 'well they see and do much worse'? That is self justifying BS of the highest order. Parents have every right to be abhorred by this type of movie, not that it will bring the Armageddon - chipmunk 3 will do that, but because there are certain things we should keep our kids from being exposed to, regardless who says otherwise.
-
110% accuracy to the talkbackers who mentioned that Harry will run away when he's getting slammed and will never admit when he's wrong. Even when his DVD column is five weeks late he'll come back on with the lamest of excuses- but you sad Knowles fans have such numb mouths from sucking on his nub for so long that you don't know when he's pissing down your throats. You's probably like the taste of it. Saddest of clowns- all of you. OOOOH maybe Harry will pick me for Butt-Fuck-a-Thon 28! Maybe he will- and maybe you'll get to sit next to him and smell the greasy sweat oozing out of his third chin
-
Apr 15, 2010 1:05:07 PM CDT
Overt images don't distort kids. Covert ones do
by yoyodynepropulsionsystems
Overt examples of violence and craziness are easy teaching moments for kids.
Its the insidious, covert messages that we have in media, language, etc that cause the real damage. Only putting brown people in villain roles, putting women as the victim or as the 'downfall of man', etc.
And for the record, it TV does hurt kids, reality TV is exponentially more damaging than sci fi violence. Look at the deaths surrounding bullying recently, the misguided rage around gay couples bringing partners to prom, reality is worse than fiction right now. -
The fact that things have changed a lot since the 50s doesn't mean that is perfectly fine that nowadays kids are more violent or less sensitive towards violence. Your comparison of KICK ASS --a movie that is thoroughly appealing to kids-- to TAXY DRIVER is absurd at best.
The problem, as you fail to see, is not the violence itself, it's that kids perceive that you can kill a human being as easy as you kill a fly, and that is fucking wrong.
-
Kinda, but not really. For instance, only one side plots the assassination of law enforcement officials because of made up stuff they read on the internets (The Hutaree; look them up). The worst the left does, at least in the US, is protest injustice and vote accordingly. Both sides may preach, both sides may complain, but sides may protest, but only one side crosses the line into terrorist violence (both threatened and actual).
-
There are films out there like Rob Zombie's Halloween. Which is the most disturbing movie i've seen and then there is Kick ASS. Kick Ass is so much fun and is meant to be.
When Fanboys see Hitgirl they are going to wonder what the fuss is about. Hitgirl is the best sidekick committed to film in the comics genre. -
strolled through the video store and noticed all the boxes with AintItCool blurbs on 'em? They're usually the only blurbs on the box- "Greatest Shit Since Sliced Toast" - Harry Knowles... it's because Harry's the current go to moe when every other reviewer shits on a film. 5% on the tomatoe reader? Let's just send fat Harry Knowles a signed poster, an action figure, some dvd boxed sets and a blow up sex doll of a 11 year old girl and he'll rave it up all year long- or let's throw him in a second long scene in our third tier tentpole flick- maybe a quick scene of the sad Harry looking out of his window like the ginger haired pedo that he is
-
Apr 15, 2010 1:18:15 PM CDT
In The Absence Of Sound Parenting, These Images DO Harm Kids
by laserpants
A kid growing up in a sane household where the parents take time to discuss these images and the difference between right and wrong, these movies won't do any damage. In totally insane and unstable homes where the "parents" don't do a goddamn thing (we're talking about roughly 90-95% of American households), think their kids are peers, and see the tv as a nanny, these images DO cause damage to kids. I'm not saying it's going to turn them all into gun toting maniacs, but it certainly presents them with a potentially dangerous and distorted worldview that makes acting out in sociopathic and violent ways more likely.
-
This article is the equivalent of some douchebagger whining & reacting to a critic's review on Rotten Tomatoes.
-
Don't tell us what we'll be wondering- you speak for no one. Zombie's Halloween the most disturbing flick you've seen? Good luck finding even one fanboy here to agree with that opinion
-
my local newspaper gave this 4 starts, they always hate these sorta movies so i was pretty darn shocked to see that. oh and i just saw the Leno appearance and wow, THATS what people are freakin over? i had this image of cleavage and a skirt so short she shouldnt bend over but yeah..thats nothing and it was actually pretty cute. nothing bad or even sexual about it, just a typical nice dress. i mean she was covered and if you think thats too short well i welcome you to 2010.
-
Apr 15, 2010 1:23:20 PM CDT
Hit-Girl Responds To The Outrage Against Her Teenage Ultra-Viol
by ominus
well here is her position on this matter:http://tinyurl.com/y27b6jy
-
at first glace it looked like...you know..
-
really?
-
And you're gonna tell me it isn't marketed towards kids? Come on.
-
What a bunch of hypocritical fartknockers. Are you honestly telling me you never saw an R movie as a child? Not Conan the Barbarian, The Terminator or anything like that? Kick Ass is in the same vein as those movies, albeit not as good (although Terminator doesn't hold up as well it used to). And it's not the filmmakers' responsibility if underrage viewers go to see this. What this is, is a bunch of redneck puritans who habituate AICN by osmosis because it's a Texan site, whipping everyone up into a frenzy. They did it with the Ghost Writer talkbacks and now they're doing the same thing here. While "Don't judge it until you see it" might have been a bit rich when applied to Serbian Film, here it makes a whole lot of sense. Massawyrm and Ebert's reviews, and a few shrill talkbackers, have completely escalated just another fun action movie into some evil grindhouse pic. Relax, watch the movie and realise the error of your ways. Ye Gods!
-
Waaaay too short a dress for a 13 year old- you don't have to be a pedo to have your eyes directed to her flesh up high on her legs- the dress itself directs you- "look here"- then you realize you're looking at a 13 year old and you feel disgusted. It's inappropriate- unless you're into studying and fawning over the intimate regions of 13 year old girls. It's all beside the point anyway- However her parents let her dress for Leno has little to do with Kick-Ass itself or with Harry Knowles being a shmuck yet again
-
Kickass is sensationalism. That's it. No satire, nothing deeper than what you see. Take it or leave it. Ebert chose to leave it. So what.
-
When I read: "Why my friend, Roger Ebert is dead..."
As for Kick Ass, I have not seen it yet so I can't comment. But I would say Matthew Vaughn is 1 and 0. Win for Layer Cake. Loss of Stardust (although I know many people who liked it. He gets a tie for producing Guy Richie's 2 decent gangster films... Lock Stock and Snatch.
To sum up, I will reserve judgment until I see it. Kick Ass may be a great send up of the superhero genera or trash like so many other parodies... Leonard Part 6, Mystery Men, Blankman, My Super Ex-Girlfriend etc etc etc. -
I hope my mini-critique of Mr. Ebert didn't tilt a favorable light on Harry "chocolate covered pussy juice" Knowles' reviewing skills. Between the two we're not talking apples and oranges, we're talking apples and zebras.But in regards to Ebert's review of Kick Ass, as you mentioned, he does compliment the actors. One sentence each. After eight paragraphs. He starts the review asking "Shall I have feelings, or should I pretend to be cool?". Later he states "This isn't comic violence. These men, and many others in the film, are really stone-cold dead. And the 11-year-old apparently experiences no emotions about this." and "Big Daddy and Mindy never have a chat about, you know, stuff like how when you kill people, they are really dead." Its a common critic error of criticizing a movie for missing what the critic thinks or feels should be on the screen, instead of what is actually on the screen.
-
Harry you're editorializing about things you know nothing about.
-
When he saw this article. Oh wait.
Also... "I can't review this movie yet" followed by an attack on a negative review? Not like anyone thought Harry was gonna dislike a highly anticpated fanboy movie that's given his site tons of access, but still.. not exactly keeping your review under wraps. -
Apr 15, 2010 1:53:28 PM CDT
When you're a kid you love being challenged
by rene_belloq_12inch_figure
My favorite films were the stupid kid films, I could care less about those. I loved It and I loved cloak and dagger when that lady takes the glove of and has a deformed hand scared the shit out of me most violent kids movie ever. But 'till this day, I love it.
-
Well... as you said- eight paragraphs- eight paragraphs of him explaining why he rated the movie the way he did- which- as I said- shows you exactly where he's coming from and leaves you with more than enough to draw up your own opinion. Don't get me wrong- I'm not saying Ebert's never at fault- everyone's at fault here and then- we're human. I questioned Ebert's lauding Irreversible- which was coming from the same guy who slammed Blue Velvet because he thought that a nude scene was degrading to women- but I don't fault Ebert here- and his track record is practically flawless compared to this sub-moronic ginger bozo's.
-
creates an acct with *Hit_Girls_Chocolate_Covered_Pussy_Juice*?
-
Ebert is spot on is his review. KICK ASS and anything that comes from Mark Millar is juvenile shit. He obviously hates superheroes, and most likely like his 'hero' in KICK ASS probably got beat up a lot. I love comics, love comic book movies... There was nothing in KICK ASS that hasn't been seen or heard before. I feel sad for this generation, all they want is to kill their heroes. And Millar would love to lead that charge. Oh yeah, and say FUCK a lot. Because it's a curse word and it's cool!
-
being able to feel pain, so it's not really about "normal" superheroes, per se. I'm guessing the spots they're showing out in the US are just doing a really shitty job of getting this film across.
-
Harry, I've been a reader of yours since the very early days of this site, but this article is appalling.
Using the word "friend" in the headline doesn't counter the fact that you're saying Ebert is "wrong". How can he be "wrong"? How can a reaction to anything be "wrong"? He saw a film, he reacted. You could argue that the job of a critic is to take notes, think about the film, then write a review, but when someone has such a visceral REACTION they're not going to go home and re-think what they saw, they're going to go with their gut. And it's not "wrong".
You could say that his opinion isn't relevant to your demographic. You could say that you disagree with him. But "wrong"?
The only thing "wrong" here is my choice to keep returning to this site thinking that I might actually get anything useful out of it. -
...this point may have been made already but i can't be bothered to read everything but Roger Ebert can't object to anything on a MORAL BASIS being that he was Russ Meyer's bitch for 10 years or so!
-
It really looks like a joke how Harry's hypersensitive over any negative reaction to this flick while the site's ludicrously plastered with ads for it. Aren't there supposed to be rotating ads here? All I'm seeing is Kick-ass over and over. Vaughn probably made sure that Harry wound up with Chloe's panties from her hit-girl costumes for his 2 AM sniff and pull sessions- Harry you're repulsive man - you know it, I know it.
-
The PC-Police didn't start taking away our plastic guns until the early 1980's. I had a (close to) 1:1 scale Thompson M1A1 with machine gun sound. We would go out into the woods and play war for HOURS. And unlike the 10 year olds of today, none of us were fat. Battling imaginary Nazis with toy guns and rock grenades burns off more calories than a 4 hour X Box Call Of Duty session. Imagine that. I let my 8 year son play with realistic toy guns if he wants to. Just not in public. Don't want to scare the liberal parents and their "sensitive/fragile" boys.
-
If Ebert responds, I'm pretty sure his logic will eviscerate any of the arguments made here. That is one sharp man. I just don't think the doddering-old-man-from-another-generation argument will cut it.
-
He posted some snippets of his Sex Pistols movie, which "satirized" heroin use. While it can be said that that movie was for ADULTS as a RUSS MEYER movie, who was the audience? Punk kids, most of whom are in early adolescence. I love Ebert, but if he's gonna toss around "Morally reprehensible" to a movie, he should have picked a different week to do it.
-
you were already a film afficianado? I find it hard to believe you were able to one, watch Taxi Driver at six, and two, even understand any of the complexities of that film to be able to even understand what Gene and Robert were even talking about. At six?
-
is one thing. Running up to any clown on the street you think is a criminal and beating him over the head is another. I was watching some youtube footage the other day of these clowns- these "real-life superheroes", and they were running around New York trying to "clean up the streets"- they waltzed into Central Park dressed like bozos and started racially profiling black dudes standing around thinking they were drug dealers- maybe they were- but how the fuck would they know? Where's the proof? This dude almost beat the piss out of this "real-life superhero" and damn it would've made my week- to see this jackass in a costume get his jaw cracked into three pieces.
-
On the basis of it haveing a kid be a stone cold killer. I had a problem with it because it sucked. Frank Miller should never write movies.
-
The TV commercials are selling this like it's Sky High Pt.2.
-
She shows how inept the main character is at being a superhero. She's a far more effective crime fighter and she's a little girl. The protagonist's fantasies of super-heroics are so childish that even a child is more effective when put to the test.
-
and boy, was that a wretched excess. I saw WATCHMEN with children (kids and teens) in the screening room. I remember him telling me in a brief email reply, "my credo is not what it's about, it's HOW it is about." I guess when you get really old, you might become less liberal and more concerned about children's welfare in moral guidance. Mr. Ebert should check out ENTER THE VOID, that have child actors in it for flashback scenes...and some parts are pretty explicit. Europe is much less prudent when it comes to explicit content in movies with a pretty lax rating system, like France.
-
The friends I talk to, who are also parents, have no clue...
I was saying the other day how this almost feels like a Project Mayhem assignment, one bent on mind-fucking as many people as possible. I look forward to seeing the numbfucks flee the theaters in horror with their 10-year olds in tow.
"Daddy, what's a cunt?"
-
I thought it was supposed to be a satire? Now it's a serious movie with non-satirical life lessons and valid purposes? Regardless- none of what you said has anything to do with the way the hit-girl character was or wasn't handled. I myself will be seeing it this weekend to judge for myself- but the main point in this talkback isn't if hit-girl serves a valid purpose or not- it's what right does a talentless gushing clown have to say that a well-respected reviewer is "wrong" on his opinions and feelings. No one here is looking for the Disneyfication of Hollywood- settle the fuck down.
-
Sorry, but it just isn't.
-
that 99 percent of the TBers agreeing with Ebert and ragging on this flick haven't even seen it!! Didn't realize that AICN had such a large contingent of braindead fucks who let others tell them what to think. Now THAT'S sad.
-
I like Robocop 2.
-
when he says "don't worry, while I suppose you'll never really just get KICK-ASS... You're no square in my book." - As if Roger Ebert is WORRIED about what a mindless blob of shit like you thinks of him. You may think you're friends with Ebert Harry, and perhaps Ebert is nice enough towards you to have you believe so, but there's no way that someone with Ebert's intelligence would think of you as anything more than a fucking idiot. Yeah- I'm pretty sure he's not worrying.
-
to see what all the fuss was about. um, that dress was disturbingly short. could almost see her goodies and thats not good. as far as Ebert goes. its his opinion, how could it be wrong? im sure he wont be the only person that doesnt like the movie. big deal.
-
An 18 year old knocking up a 43 year old director and two time cancer patient doesn't bode well for his adulthood.
-
Harry "Ain't It Shit" Knowles still finds you "cool". Man, the fucking ego on this dolt. Authority on film by the age of six, never feels the need to apologize or admit he's wrong, Starts off every review with a story about himself and how he watched every episode of this, how he had every toy possibly made for that, how he's "friends" with the directors and how he regularly talks to so and so on the phone- you'd think that's what reviewing a movie was- name dropping and talking about your swag collection and how you didn't pay for any of it. Someone please remind me- WHAT about Harry Knowles isn't nauseating?
-
Sorry, Laser, the left does a lot more than that. They loove to pass laws to protect us from ourselves. The right also agrees that we, the people, are too stupid to make our own decisions. The right wing is definitely more violent, but I still think the left is more represssive. But I bet both sides agree on Hit Girl...they both hate her, although not for exactly the same reasons.
BringingSexyBack...you are one of, if not the, most hilarious posters I see on this site. These comments seem very unlike you. Are you being sincere? -
In the context you used it, that's how you spell it , you Public-educated twit.
-
"a man I once shared an aisle with, a few times"
-
is entertaining because it's ironic. It's like watching a tiny wolverine fight off a pack a wolves. It's far more impressive than watching a bear preform the same feat. The fact that a child is an efficient assassin is both taboo and ironic. This only adds to the entertainment and shock value.
-
and while I see every point you made Harry, the guy came across as a tool. Worse still he came across as some one who was embarrassed that if he actually owned up to enjoying the film he would sound like a child molester.
-
In fact it seems kind of wrongheaded in definition... Am I wrong or aren't fetishes usually objects (non-persons) that are given sexual desire, etc? Specifically speaking to that Daily Mail review that compared Catwoman to Hit Girl; it's bullshit. I dug the hell out of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman but I found Halle Berrie's totally uninteresting despite her wearing "fetish" type clothing. The difference, besides quality of movie, I simply do not dig Halle Berrie; I do dig Michelle, outfit or no outfit. The whatever percent of Pedos of the world will not be swayed by one dumb fucking movie either way, but idiots looking to ban, burn and censor will rally as if doing so will cure AIDS or Cancer, and it never has, nor will it ever. If you want to watch real disturbing child exploitation, watch The Soup when they show clips from those toddler pageant shows! *shudder* Why the hell aren't those banned yet? Personally, I'm only lukewarm about Kick-Ass, but I know various people who are excited to see it. Honestly, after watching the trailers, I was neither appalled nor enthralled, more skeptical.
I don't care if this movie gets lambasted or glorified, just do it honestly, and without tangent bullshit oogie boogie scare tactics.
That said, do go about your business, as I know you will anyway. ;-P
-
No...... he indulged you mate....
-
Go back and read his review of JC's The Thing as a "barf-bag movie", or his diatribes about misogynistic F13 series. He's got dainty sensibilities, and masks them with concern for "the children" and "society." I love Roger, but he should just admit this isn't his sort of thing and leave the preaching for Sundays.
-
Mainly, the fact that it's completely and utterly derivative of every other piece of superhero deconstruction we've seen over the last 20 years.
-
I know someone who was.
-
I have seen it one hour ago. Where to start? It´s made with incredible intelligence and style. But, and this makes the whole experience even more sad, I found the story flatout boring; in fact, it became depressing after a while because there was nothing left but pseudo-coolness. No believable characters, no real consequences of all the ultra-violence - even the death of an important person left me cold. And the biggest mistake is to establish a world where superheroes don´t exist - and to throw this rule out of the window when the story has written itself into a corner. When everything is possible, nothing matters anymore. I´m sorry, but in my opinion Ebert is right, spot-on, with his view of "Kick-Ass".
-
If it's that good ( and it is ) then there is no need for you to go on the offensive against anyone who happens to disagree with you.You've let yourself down there lad.
-
Could it be because of the lower crime rate across the pond that they recognize cartoon-violence for what it is, and not concerned about warping our precious youngsters little minds. The problem I had with Eberts review is that he felt the film missed out on commenting and editorializing on the violence portrayed onscreen, even comparing it to a videogame. So? Maybe that was the filmmakers intent. To make it flashy and cartoony like a videogame, yes, even with a preteen character dishing out the violence. If I want to watch a film contemplating the consequence of violence I'll watch something like Cronenberg's History Of Violence. Better yet, I'll watch this this weekend and form my own opinion.
-
You're right; I don't think anyone has seen Harry admit that he's wrong. He purports to be like us, the little people, yet he likes to get up on his throne and tower over us and "tell" us why things are this way or that, why Ebert's opinion is wrong. Let's not forget the studios who provide Harry with his lavish lifestyle that only allows him to grow fatter physically and egotistically.
-
...for a movie to attempt a portrayal of "realistic" super-heroes. I'm SO SICK of "super-heroes" that are just people in costumes who can inexplicably do Matrix stunts. I guess Nolan's Batman movies are the closest thing we've yet gotten to realism in superhero movies. -
Apr 15, 2010 4:05:26 PM CDT
I haven't seen "K-A", and I revere Ebert...
by half-baked-goggle-box-do-gooder
...But I'm afraid that he may have broken one of his own cardinal rules - That of confusing a "Bad" movie with a "Good" movie that is about bad things....
I'm going to see this, and I'm going to see it in the mindframe of remembering what it was like to first read underground comics, "American Flagg", "The Dark Knight" or "Watchmen" back in the day - To see the formula tweaked, played with and occasionally smashed to fucking smithereens. -
..."FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH" because the teenagers demonstrated guilt and confusion after engaging in underage sex. Ebert then stated that the teenagers should have experienced the "joys of sex". An underage girl should experience the "Joys of Sex" when she has just been the victim of statutory rape? (BTW-"FAST TIMES" was based on actual events). Ebert was lucky to keep his job after that statement condoning adult males sleeping with minor girls.
But now he says a young girl should show emotion and guilt after killing murderers in a fantasy comic book film, when he had once said a young girl should not show emotion after being used abused sexually? Ebert does not make sense. -
Starts with a D. You figure it out.
-
Defenders of the work always blame the viewer, "Oh, he missed the point." When you'd think the objective point of view would be that of, "Oh, the filmmaker wasn't CLEAR enough."
-
Mike K - in 2010 do you still have exactly the same views on everything as you had in 1982?
C'mon buddy. That's almost as ridiculous as 6 year old Harry having the depth of understanding to 'respect Ebert for defending Martin Scorcese over the controversial but delicate handling of child prostituion in TAXI DRIVER.'
-
he's giving Kick Ass the Good Son treatment.
-
so I don't care which dumb ass is correct about their worthless opinions. I didn't even read Harry's rant since it would most likely be pointless.
-
which i felt was torture rape porn and not artistically defensible.
-
"Kick-Ass" isn´t a good movie about bad things. It´s a bad movie about bad things. I´m still puzzled about the fact that James Berardinelli compared it to "The Dark Knight". "Kick-Ass" doesn´t even come close to deconstruct the Superhero-genre in the skilled way Nolan´s masterpiece or "Watchmen" did. No, it bathes in bad superheroism. And I was looking forward to it. Now that I´ve seen it I have to say: Two hours of my life are gone for nothing.
-
smudge, Ebert may have praised IRREVERSIBLE but he didn't name it his 'favourite movie of the decade' like Beaks did.
Beaks took so much flak for that little brain fart that I think he's fled from aicn altogether and entered into a witness protection programme somewhere in Bratislava. -
...A) had a film classification code worth the paper it's written on (see the BBFC) and B) didn't have 200 million dumb fucks living between your coasts.
-
You seem like a snotty little fuck don't you?
-
This is a pitch-black comedy, with the character of Hit Girl actually being a wicked social commentary on the effects of bad parenting. It stands or falls on whether or not it functions on that level, because the first thing any effective black comedy jettisons are moral and sentimental restraints.
Pondering on whether Big Daddy would discuss the ramifications of violence with HG are therefore pointless, and completely contrary to the writer's satirical intent. Sad to say, but Ebert has almost completely missed the point of this movie by getting caught up in superficial pontificating.
The joke's on him. -
Are you going to start writing rebuttals to every review that's different than yours? Very boring. Roger hated it, you love it, who cares?
-
A) Comparing Taxi Driver to Kick-Ass makes you a clown beyond all comprehension. B) You did have the comprehension to understand what Siskel and Ebert were talking about when you were 6 fucking years old you psychopath. Perhaps some advanced kids that age could grasp it but I would submit into evidence every article you've ever written proving the only thing advanced about you is the size of your waistband.
-
Can we be friends?
-
...use of A) and B) :-) and although the 200 dumb fucks comment may have been a bit of a generalisation the comment about your film classification is bang on. we have the same ratio of dumb fucks over here but they can't take their kids in to Kick Ass even if they want to.
-
I respect Roger Ebert because he always gives his honest opinion; I’ve never yet seen him shit on a movie just because it’s the popular thing to do. I also respect – for the most part – his ability to support his opinion so that, even if I happen to disagree, I can always understand exactly where he’s coming from. Also, he can be funny as hell; some of his reviews are more entertaining than the movies he’s reviewing.
For some reason, I like Harry’s reviews too, but it’s not because they’re always coherent, or because they make a reasonable argument. They’re fanboy! reviews, and that’s their strength. Still, if you put Harry’s article into word processor, you know that shit’s gonna light up like a Christmas tree. My point is this: there are kids reading those articles, and judging from their Talkback comments, they seem to be learning English from Harry. I don’t think Roger Ebert would approve.
I haven’t seen “Kick Ass” but if it really is supposed to be a satire, then it’s not unreasonable to expect more from it than indulgence in the things it aims to satirize.
-
In the 50's, there was a pretty slim chance that the kids playing with toy guns might have a real gun. That isn't the case anymore.
-
Yeah, I've hear you guys have a much better system than here. And upon reflection 200 million might be an underestimation.
-
...come in to their own in the last 10 years. they used to be draconian censors but now are a very rational and intelligent classification board. i would recommend that every one here read their decision on Kick-Ass. it is spot on! http://tinyurl.com/ylxqsed
-
It just happens. Would Ebert have said the same thing 10 years ago? 20? 30? Debatable. But I seriously doubt it. I'm sure there are some great comments and arguments in this talkback. But for me, issues like this always come down to the same thing; the parents. Teach your kid(s) the difference between right and wrong, entertainment and real life, fantasy and reality. If you can't do that, it's your failure and your problem if they do some stupid shit after seeing a MOVIE. Not mine, not societies' and it's certainly not the fault of the movie and/or comic book creators (because, ya know, the comic book exists, sitting on shelves right now, for kids to be "influenced" by).
-
...and not the sexual fetishization of an 11-year-old girl.
-
..sexual fetishization of hit girl in this film what so ever.
-
...that thinks Harry needs to stop criticizing other critics and let them have their say. Frankly, I can't make it through 90% of Harry's reviews because it's like trying to talk to a child who's distracted by every thought that pops into their head. Ebert, on the other hand, is incredibly coherent and thoughtful with his reviews, and he does his level best to see the film as the audience member and not the professional critic.
Others here have used ageism as an excuse, but I've seen films that I'd NEVER have expected men of Ebert's age to love, but he did. He sees films as a pure lover of film. What you get is his unvarnished opinion as a human being. Would that we all could remain as open-minded as Ebert usually is. That Ebert can give Antichrist 3 1/2 stars and rip into this film for one means something. -
...on the number of toddlers and young children (ages 3-10) I've seen at my friends houses laughing maniacally as they fight to keep the PS3 or Xbox controller in their hands long enough to shoot somebody in the head.
-
Do you even read Ebert or do you just bandwagon with the other ignorant people here who think old guys can't write reviews for "kids these days?" Ebert remains incredibly relevant because he's innately curious. Stop parroting your peers and actually read his columns (and his social commentary) and you'll see an incredibly active mind. Would he have said the same 30 years ago? It depends upon if he'd thought the moral decay in society was as bad as it's become, wouldn't it?
-
I agree with you. I have nothing against Ebert and my comment was meant to be more broad in it's intent. Over the course of my entertainment press reading life (over 25 years) I've seen more than one writer move towards views that I don't think they would have ever expressed in their younger days. Ebert wrote Beyond The Vally Of The Dolls; would he rather people watch that movie instead of Kick-Ass? Because I find that movie to be a completely twisted mind-fuck. Is it's rampant drug use and nudity "better" for kids than the violence of Kick-Ass? I'm not judging, just asking. And again, I have nothing against Ebert, per se (and I do occasionally read his blog). I was just commenting on how it seems that age seems to put some peoples minds in a different place regarding certain issues. In the case of someone who has been writing about said issues most of (if not all of) their lives, it does occasionally paint them as a hypocrite.
-
Winkelman doing Film 2010? WTF???
-
...as anybody (although I do it without calling him names). But we live in a strange age where the internet and what people say on it actually matters (even if it's only to the small group of people who are reading each writer). I think Harry has as much right to post a rebuttal as Ebert does to make comments on moral decay in society.
-
...the danger that this movie might corrupt little kids and turn them into sociopathic monsters. A movie is the least of their problems. I just want a movie that is more than just senseless reveling in scenes of a little kid committing ultra-violence. I haven't read a review yet that makes me think KA offers anything beyond that. -
This is what many blogs, sites, and mainstream publications lack - a voice with passion informed by personal history with a strong take on something! It's why I've always been a fan of you (whatever your views) and this site. Keep it up!
-
That's unfortunate, because it does. I also think it's unfortunate that so much sensationalism is being tossed about regarding Hit Girl in the movie as it's probably going to leave a lot of people disappointed.
-
When I first heard of this movie, I thought cool concept. Regular people playing the part of superheroes. Then the story became more about Hit Girl and how morally reprehensible the movie is. That locked me into it more, of course. But now it seems like the original reason I wanted to see this movie was never really there to begin with, given how unrealistic the fight scenes are sounding. I just wish they would stop calling it morally reprehensible so that I can skip it.
-
...and since it looks like I'll be seeing it this weekend, I'll find out for myself. But I've been let down by the reviews on this site because nothing I've read about it has convinced me that it's got any depth. I hope I'm proven wrong, though, just so I don't waste 2 hours for nothing. And honestly, it doesn't help that Millar wrote the comic, IMO he's the comic book industry's poster boy for mindless violence pretending to be satire.
-
Apr 15, 2010 5:45:51 PM CDT
Didn't Ebert hate Fight Club for many of the same reasons?
by sifodyasjr.
At least he's consistent in being wrong.
-
Well, if you read the Millar/Romita Jr interview just below this one (not saying you haven't already) you'll see that Jr goes on at great length about the Kick-Ass character and how much of the art he used was based on his real life in NYC. A lot of that is in the movie as well. There's the relationship between Kick-Ass and Red Mist, the relationship between Hit Girl and Big Daddy, amongst others. It's not just about Hit Girl saying cunt and killing people. That's in there, but it's not the entire premise or point of the movie.
-
Yeah, he thought Fight Club was “Fascist” and dangerous to society... But then loved Kill Bill. Ya never know with Ebert.
-
Apr 15, 2010 6:01:24 PM CDT
I can't believe I'm defending Harry over Ebert (I'm old, btw)
by homer sexual
I am so old I clearly, clearly remember watching Siskel and Ebert trash every awesome 80's horror movie. They even did a whole show dedicated to just that.
And they went on and on about how degrading to women, dehumanizing and sadistic those movies were. It always bothered me... I mean, most of those movies had female leads, fwiw.
I still read Ebert's reviews online sometimes, but he's always been very prissy like that. I doubt he even reviews Saw, et al, because those movies would give him a heart attack (I also hate torture porn).
Love Ebert, but he sounds like Helen Lovejoy crying "won't somebody think of the children." what-ever.
I normally dislike Harry's writing, but this column was unusually coherent. -
what!?!?!?! That is the first line under Top Talk backs.. and might heart dropped to the floor. Thanks for the heart attack Harry.
-
one of my all-time faves...
-
Thanks to everyone at AICN for spreading the words. Kick-Ass kicked so many boners into my ass. You kicked them into my heart http://j.mp/9GnhPJ
-
I have nothing but love for J.R. Jr. and his work (Millar, not so much), so the more they used his input/influence on the movie, the happier I'll be. Aside from the art, I wasn't really taken with the comic, so maybe this is just one of those things that isn't for me. And if that's the case, I don't want to be one of these guys that shits with glee over something that isn't my taste, just to troll its fans. But I wish I was as fired up as everyone else by the pre-release hype. I'm just not feeling it so far. Oh well, they'll make more movies. -
How many errors can we fit into half a sentence?
-
Then I ask your pardon, Jaka. I'm glad you read Ebert, so you DO, in fact, have a leg to stand on. I don't have an issue with those that honestly disagree with Ebert ( I sure as heck don't always agree ) but I don't like those that simply repeat whatever the most trendy response is. I'm also not anti-Harry, but for the life of me I can't read his reviews. They're so scattershot it's almost impossible to figure out what he's trying to say.
-
ebert isn't worried so much about what the film might do to children if they see it. He doesn't like the idea of and eleven an 11 year old kid murdering people and getting the shit beaten out of her for laughs.
people are missing his point. harrys response doesn't actually address anything ebert had problems with.
I find all this belly aching about ebert not liking this film to be fucking ridiculous.
people are really missing the point -
Ebert just responded on twitter:
"OMG. Harry Knowles warns I am in danger of being a grown-up, 'cause I didn't "get" Kick-Ass."
http://twitter.com/ebertchicago -
I have no opinion on the morals of the movie. I've seen plenty of violent films that made me laugh, and plenty of "family" films that disgusted me. I'm only upset when one "reviewer," who is as far from literate as I am from running a successful website criticizes another whom I greatly respect. Leave this site for your opinions of other movies, Harry, not other reviewers.
-
but when the C-word is used it does feel a bit forced. the character who says it gives a great performance but that one line comes across as anything but natural.
-
OMG. Harry Knowles warns I am in danger of being a grown-up, 'cause I didn't "get" Kick-Ass.
-
"WTF Knowles? First Serbian Film, now this? I like watching violence as much as anybody but first baby fucking and now child beating? Fuck's sake. And by the way, my lower face does NOT look like a Donkey's cunt. Love, as always, Roger Ebert."
Sent from iPhone. -
Harry enjoyed the baby-raping movie, too. I'm with Ebert.
-
Apr 15, 2010 6:44:29 PM CDT
"we all know that the supervision level that goes on in this cou
by classicgamenerd
Didn't you show your very young nephew dawn of the dead??
-
I guess he was relevant like 15+ years ago though.
-
You are too kind, sir. Too kind! Yes, I am sincere about this, not playing around. When it comes to politics and social issues about children I get all Mr. Serious-like ...
-
So Roger Ebert hasn't been relevant for 15+ years. What was the turning point?
-
awesome tweet
-
Not until I read the rating on this site. I too thought the movie was targeted at a younger audience. But then again I think Hitgirl looks like an annoying little brat who needs a clip round the ear and her Justin Bieber album confiscated, so I might be turning into an old fart.
-
At what point does any one person have the right to draw the line and question the morality of any art? I'm 100% certain there are far more offensive films than Kick-Ass released every year. This one, for whatever reason, has garnered a good bit of attention. As such, many people are going to loudly comment about it. Some of them are going to make really good points. Some of them are going to talking nonsense just to get attention. I don't believe any one point of view is right or wrong. Nor do I believe any of the people commenting should be censored in any way. But I do STRONGLY believe that if people who have a public forum and an audience are going to stand up their and preach, they'd better be prepared for people to have their own opinions about what they're saying.
-
...if the comic book wasn't your thing I'm not sure the movie has TOO much hope of winning you over. I loved the comic book - quite a lot actually. And I agree with some other posters who have said that the movie and comic book compliment each other. So there's that. I do hope you enjoy the movie, though. I thought the performances by the actors were great all around.
-
Apr 15, 2010 7:06:53 PM CDT
Harry's reviews are inpenetrable fortresses of incoherence
by juansanchez
-
I really should do a better job of using my @'s. Hey, no worries. I didn't find your first post directed at me insulting at all, just passionate about your point of view. In some cases I would probably agree with you wholeheartedly as an awful lot of parroting does go down in these here talkbacks. But in this case I truly believe Ebert and Harry both have a right to say what's on their mind. In fact, I think it's good that so much discussion is taking place, so long as it stays marginally civil.
-
If I recall correctly, Quint was the first out of the gate with a Serbian Film review and he not only made the right call to advise avoiding it, he found the baby rape so despicable he had the good sense not to say it by name.
A lot of people are bashing Knowles here with good reason. As disappointed as I am with him for supporting Serbian Film and Kick-Ass, I at least recognize him for being an overly devout film lover. Kinda like the radical Muslim who is made to think blowing himself up along with several hundred people is good for the cause - Knowles gets all the more excited the more subversive a movie is.
And that's a bad thing. Because I wish he would step back and realize that movies have an emotional impact on people, and society at large. One can't say that violent fare - be it movies, music or video games - doesn't effect violent behavior. Just like Star Trek inspired a generation to pursue science, violent media has its adherents who act out on those impulses too. If only Harry could see that and say, as exciting subversive movies can be, the cost is just not worth it.
I wish he could do that. -
If I did a search of "Harry Knowles" and "Roger Ebert" on Twitter right now.... @therealebert: Sorry Harry! Just shitting on you because you trashed Titans!
-
Apr 15, 2010 7:16:20 PM CDT
I just don't understand why this website and all its editors
by iliketodancesomtimes
are so personally invested in this movie. It kind of makes me want to see this movie fail at the box office big time.
-
..because of the incredibly good film watching experience they had with it at BNAT. They mention it in every single piece that's posted about Kick-Ass.
-
If the USA had a decent ratings system, that might help. This should probably be an NC-17, which would still hit its target audience (seriously, how many of you talkbackers are under 17?)
-
I almost hate to bring it up but if Ebert's going to start getting judgmental on the idea of Hollywood exploiting kids in fiction maybe he shouldn't be so quick to praise a guy who raped a kid in real life.
-
he hated robocop for the exact same reasons he hates kickass much of this has to do with the fact that he has never had kids....kids curse...big fucking deal
-
Apr 15, 2010 7:29:45 PM CDT
I don't agree with Ebert on plenty, but he's a National Treasure
by juansanchez
-
And our ratings board is notorious for being pig-headed about these kind of films. If they didn't think it fit the R rating, it wouldn't be rated R. I found this movie far, FAR less disturbing than any Saw movie. And it's not even CLOSE to the levels of ick I felt watching Antichrist (although that one might have been unrated - think it was, actually).
-
Apr 15, 2010 7:31:17 PM CDT
Sorry - I shouldn't be to caustic. Bad day and this pissed me of
by juansanchez
-
how offended Ebert was by being referred to as Knowles' friend in an article attached to such an insensitive title.
-
I think there is a big misunderstanding about the film, when people who don't know the comics, assume that it is only about some kids playacting superheros. That is half the film, but then you have the little Ninja girl who actually slices up the baddies very effectively. This contradiction is jarring, and unexpected, and where the objections to the film come from. Not that I give a shit. I'll be there and loving it.
-
..and they live in a society filled with violence. Violent tv shows, violent music, violent movies and ultra-violent video games. I'll say it again, it's the parenting that matters. Not whether or not a kid sees a violent movie. I mean come on already! How many of us grew up with violent action and/or horror movies?
-
...Ebert's analysis is invalid on its face.
Mark Strong always wins. -
Speak for yourself Harry!!
-
Grammar lesson: Imply vs Infer - one implies when one is saying something, one infers when one is listening to someone else saying something. Now you know, so don't fuck it up again, writer.
-
its just life, ya know, 11 year old girls slicing and dicing. ya we all are eachothers biggest influencers...., so if media was nothing but, monks and shit on tv, doing monk stuff, with zero regard for the camera around them, then maybe all us humans would be less likely to teach our daughters to slize and diZE baddies. COMEON, their are bad people and good people, and in the conflicts between the two, blood will always come to be spelt. Their is no hiding blood from children, or to the snapping of twigs, the cutting of grass, the hurlings of wind, the cracking of earth, and the demise of the body. A healthy child well no be deemed a child who can filter through our media frenzy progressed world.!
-
You conveniently ignored the main aspect of CobraKai's question, so I'll repeat it now: How can you pour scorn on a subjective review when that appears to be your M.O? I plan to see the film, and will undoubtedly be entertained, but have to agree that the story (from reading the comic) is neither 'realistic' or 'satirical'. Going after Ebert on this Harry? Dick move.
-
and not want to go chop off peoples heads
-
Apr 15, 2010 8:03:59 PM CDT
Why my friend, Gullerimo Del Toro is dead wrong about cheeseburg
by dougmckenzie
He says to put the cheese under the meat! Can you believe that shit!
-
Apr 15, 2010 8:06:25 PM CDT
May not always like Ebert but HARRY you are a FUCKING SHIT
by proman1984
Not just compared to him but just in general.
-
The more I read back over your 'review' the more distasteful I find it. I don't know what upsets me more - the shallow, self-serving 'beef' marketing with "your friend", the unrealistic comparisons betwen Taxi Driver and Kick Ass, the cheap shots of 'being an adult' when that is who you say the film is (really?) marketed at.
I've been coming to this site for over 6 years now. After this 'review' I won't be back. -
Apr 15, 2010 8:29:40 PM CDT
Harry literally just became the Bill of Reily of movie news site
by eddiemurphyslaugh
Notice whenever 90% of the people who post on here turn on Harry..he just goes away and doesnt answer for his opinions. Again, I'd really like to see if Harry writes about every other critic in this country that gives Kick Ass a bad review...All Harry did here was cherry pick someone with a film opionon, that he KNEW would get his site and name in the news..nother more than that...Do you honestly believe Harry just sat there and said "I Have a moral objection with my friend and I just have to write a 12 paragraph retort ot it..just because.oh my friend just made me so mad!" ..Jesus man, does Harry really have ANY credibility left, other than just some fat silly man behind a keyboard we all sit around to see what in the ever loving hell he is going to type next? From Episode I - HD DVD, to X MEN bootlegging to this. It's a never ending storm of bullshit. All this was, was an attempted hitjob by Knowles..man you have zero fucking class buddy.
-
Apr 15, 2010 8:31:38 PM CDT
Ebert's mind has been damaged by chemo and impending death.
by bob cryptonight
He cannot be trusted. He's a short-timer preparing a place for himself with the Great Coiled Spring.
-
First: How can an "opinion" of a movie be wrong? Why do so many posters here think that for someone to be a "good critic" they need to agree with their tastes? That's not a good critic. A good one states what they think about a film, and then tell you why they think that. Ebert did so. He found that to have the child not affected or the particular relationship between Hit-girl and Big Daddy that caused her to be that way greatly lessens the movie. I happen to believe that about the comic as well.
If this is a black comedy about bad parenting and the media obsessed/superhero obsessed society, I think the comics did a better job than the film did, and the comics missed a very very good vein to mine.. -
...he's not afraid to be righteous. True, in our culture there has always been violence in film but it always shifts in terms of imagery and context through time. Today's kids will be in another place, psychologically, to bear witness to it than the kids of fifty years ago. But having said that, Roger has earned enough cred to be listened to seriously. I haven't seen the film but I'm sure that when I do he'll have a valid point of view and I may possibly agree with it. I trust him — unlike other so called 'critics' whom these days are so full of shit trying to out snark each other in their 'scholarly analysis' of cinema. Film criticism can has lost it's soul and now these vacuous non-entities are feasting on it's carcass.
-
When he basically stated that he wouldn't be "in touch" unless he liked the movie. Its violent, and vulgar, and like it or not, its being marketed towards kids! Kudos to Ebert for telling it like it is!
-
I understand why you see Travis as a hero, in the anti-hero vein. It just appears you missed the point of the film entirely because, oh hey, badass mirror scene or something. Foster, in the film, was playing something real. Hit Girl is just meant to be "cool super hero." Seriously, the two films have entirely different meanings and are in different genres and therefore you have made an invalid comparison.
-
this article is bullshit. you need to delete it and then give just type sorry where this article used to be located,,,, and then leave that sorry up there for the rest of this sites life.
-
Kick-ass looks awesome, everyone needs to quit crying about the content... if it's not your thing, don't watch it. If some kids dress up like superheroes and go out and get themselves killed, then good, we don't need someone that stupid in the gene pool anyway. It's just a fucking movie.
-
I was really loving your commentary--and thought it was pretty much brilliant--until I read this: "...as a 6 year old I can remember watching you and Gene defend Scorsese and you were my heroes." They were your heroes at 6 years old? Bullshit. You may have thought it was cool they were on TV, and you may have thought they had a cool job reviewing movies, or maybe you just loved seeing clips of movies you were waiting to see. But I seriously doubt you understood the implications of what was going on in Taxi Driver and their defense of Marty's "art." You are so full of it sometimes.
But I've got to hand it to you, I don't think there was a reference to "jizz," orgasms, geekgasms, mangasms, boners, hard-ons, come, cum, man-love, boy-love, etc., in this entire review. Thank you for your restraint. -
Considering how many pieces of utter cinematic garbage you tell people to see on a monthly basis I will take Ebert's fuddy duddy opinion over your's any day. You proclaimed Kick-Ass to be a cinematic masterpiece from the moment the project was conceived. From the previews I have seen and from what I have read about the film it looks like another cynical attempt by a studio to make money from fanboy culture by selling "edgy" as a brand. An 11 year old girl shooting people in the face at point blank range and swearing like a sailor is not funny, cool or hip. It's pathetic. I am also astounded that you would bring up Taxi Driver in your defense of this pop culture backwash! Do you know anything at all about film sir?
-
"Could it be because of the lower crime rate across the pond that they recognize cartoon-violence for what it is..." ... dunno about that. I believe that statistically the UK is way worse for violent crime (per capita) than the US. Got to be good at something ... although we're disappointingly lagging behind on actual murders.The film has been made with a very British sensibility though, and that might not be sitting too well with some US audiences (or rather potential audiences) ...?
-
No, Harry. No.
-
Apr 15, 2010 9:41:23 PM CDT
We've just entered a world where movie reviews get-- reviewed?
by codename
It's definitely the future. That's for sure.
-
In creating Hit Girl/Mindy Millar has changed female superheroes forever. He's done what Tarantino couldn't do in Kill Bill. Remember how that scene where the little girl kills everyone is animated? They'd said they'd had to animate it because people couldn't handle a little girl committing so much violence.
Well, in this movie it WORKED. She was brilliant.
She was sassy, she was smart, she was strong.
She was not sexualized in any way.
She was never anything but a TOUGH, STRONG, GRRRL! -
Again, if they didn't want to sexualize her, they need to take her out of outfits and costumes that are sexualized already.
-
...I swear to the Lord Alanis Morrissette herself, I have NEVER seen a movie receive this much advertising in the history of my short life. The KICK-ASS advertisements are EVERYWHERE! You cannot escape them. Every single major website on the internet has that same streaming ad where Kick-Ass is ripping his shirt open like Superman, Hit Girl is twirling that Butterfly knife, Big Daddy is thrusting a shotgun somewhere, and so on. Seriously, the amount of money the studio spent on advertisement must have been $1 BILLION dollars! Not even Avatar could touch the amount of advertisements here. I shall now bow down to the Kick-Ass advertisements, for they are the newest masters of the world.
-
(But the movie IS a hard R and I wouldn't let my 8 year old go see it. At all. It's a movie for grownups who want to enjoy the ultimate comic book movie: Spiderman meets Sin City)
-
What are you talking about? She's totally covered up and wears a wig so no one can see who she is. She's not dressed like some kind of slutty bimbo booby version that MOST comic book guys think a female superhero should be. She's dressed like a little girl who's gonna kick some serious ass and make Trinity from the Matrix look lame.
They are advertising like crazy because it's a new franchise and doesn't have the Spiderman fan base. They're scared but willing to back up their investment with advertizing. Anyway. Go check it out before you criticize it.
I had high expectations-- thought it would be good. It was the most fun superhero movie I've seen since the very first Spiderman came out. Remember that? That very first opening night? I remember thinking "oh yeah-- I forgot this is what a superhero movie could or should be." This movie does the same thing-- it changes things.
And it's that great. -
Skintight black leather and a schoolgirl short skirt ARE sexualized outfits already. I don't see how you can argue against that when there's such a strong prevalence of those costumes being sexualized in the media already. I'm not knocking the movie or criticizing it, so no need to go into the whys and wherefores for why the movie is good; I'm speaking strictly about her costume.
-
..it's a fucking ridiculous concept to begin with. We've seen idiots like this one news and laughed at it's idiocy and pointlessness - now some tool wants to make a fucking movie about it? Go fuck yourselves Hollywood, your brains are incapable of coming up with good ideas, so you resort to complete stupidity that only a moron could get anything out of.
-
When I heard he liked "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor", my thoughts immediately turned to a quote from Brian Griffin: "Can I buy some pot from you?"
-
While I was reading through all this, a commercial for KICK ASS came on TV. It featured Hit Girl exclusively, said GIRLS KICK ASS, had a positive review from a female reviewer and featured The Banana Splits "Tralalalalalala" music in the background. It looks EXACTLY like a fun Kids movie until the Rated R warning at the end.I think Ebert went with this movie as far as he could, but ultimately had moral objections to its depiction of a young girl. He has a right to that opinion.
-
LOL. Don't tell him. He'd rather lose another body part to cancer then be labeled a right winger.
-
case closed.
-
Also known as one. One aisle with, like, an Iron Man costume and some Spidey Web-shooters.
Not to say we don't all dream of glorious vigilantism, but lets not overstate the marketing of said fact. -
I can't speak for everyone but I want to see this because I've read that Nic Cage delivers a great, quirky performance and the film is a great send up of comic books.
-
yes, because kick ass would still be in it, and kick ass, is well, yeah kick ass.
-
to this article, and thought it said "my friend Rodger Ebert is dead." Don't scare us like that, Harry."
-
If the young super hero was a little 11 year old boy? I only ask because we seem to have no problem with our boys doing things, but we are all still sexists that want to protect the strong-willed independant girl from kicking ass.
-
Minutes of my time, minutes of my precious life, here on earth. To say an insignificant message that probably won't get read by its attended, only probably by fellow dorks of mine scratching their head at this "editorial". I come to this site, not for you, Harry. You are its worst contributor, the people you have in your network are bright ...for the most part, and can at least string together cohesive thoughts. You, on the other hand, write with the tenacity of a self-destructive manic with a helmet strapped on. Ebert is not your friend, and I assure you any courtesy he extended to you was due to the changing cinematic scene. You insinuate he is out of touch, yet this man has REVIEWED DECADES OF MOVIES, SOME BEFORE YOU WERE BORN! He has gone through Godfather, Taxi Driver, Star Wars, Cuckoos Nest, Badlands, Earth Girls Are Easy, Soap Dish, Schindlers List, Harold and Maud, Encino Man, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner...etc. He's been on the front lines before you were preparing to cry at Indiana Jones 4. You are a fucking blimp on the massive radar that is Eberts extensive cinema knowledge and expertise. You lambaste this man for his gods honest opinion because it does not coincide with yours. Shame on you. How shallow and insecure must you feel to fucking WRITE A WHOLE GODDAMN ARTICLE on your page because someone, thousands of miles away, suffering from a severely debilitation disease (that doesn't really matter folks, I know...but ain't it just the fucking CHERRY ON TOP!?), has a differing opinion on a movie other then yours. Either your a shill for money, or your just plain fucking ignorant. Get your ass out of that chair, and at the same time, your head out of your ass. Then maybe, just maybe, you might realize how much of a fucking idiotic dick you make yourself out to be, time, after time...after time. I have wasted minutes of my time lambasting someone I don't know, I don't regret it, and I'd do it again. You are the worst part of this site, Harry.
-
You absolutely can not make any valid argument on Kick-Ass when you're advertising Kick-Ass on your site.
Get real.
And you claim not to know it's advertised on your site? Do you even read you site?
-
Good show BSB ...I read your posts and I couldn't agree with you more.
There is a saying that some things are better left to the imagination.
I have seen some pretty sick and twisted shit but I really can't find an excuse to justify filmaking like Serbian Film or Red,White ,and Blue..Yeah I guess there is an audience for that kind of tripe but you won't find me there..I may very well enjoy Kick Ass though but from the ads that have been generated it doesn't look like they are looking for an older crowd..The reason these torture porn and rape fetish movies have become so prolific is simple..If there wasn't a demand for shit it wouldn't be served..
People are gulping this poor excuse for filmaking down and asking for seconds...It says a lot about how desensitized we have become to the violence in our world that is being foreced upon the young and not so young..
If people don't believe in the power of cinema and how much it really influences society all one needs to do is open their fucking eyes and wake up..This world is pretty much controled by the media these days and film is just one aspect of media's influene on our everyday lives..
Read my post in the Red. White and Blue talkback regarding the woman who lost her mind at the showing of it..I think it is pretty disturbing that the filmakers don't get it but if you read the talkback the majority of replys come down on the side of the woman.
I hope this doesn't sound like a rant against violence in film but any film that implies or shows the
unspeakable violence of infant rape is something that there is no defense for.. -
is pure garbage. Like reality shows. Like remakes of dumb old TV shows. It shows the complete lack of imagination our film industry has these days. How can watching someone's fingers get slowly cut off spurting blood be so entertaining for people? If you are making a so-called horror movie, add something that scares us. Something that is disturbing because we can't explain it or understand it. Something right at the edge of our imagination that terrifies us. There is nothing terrifying about seeing the same story of people captured and tortured over and over. I'm all for gore as part of the realism in scary movies, like The Thing in the 1980s, but you can take torture porn and shove it up your ass. While you are at it, take reality shows that bring out the worst traits of humanity and then raise them up like they are great (Survivor anyone?). Last but not least - go read a fucking book and realize you don't need a remake because there so so much fucking fiction now that totally rocks if you would just read a book and stop making sequels and remakes. Rant complete.
-
Who cares what he says, this is your site, just say what you think about the movie....this just shows me you ARE a puppet for the industry....good luck in life, im not coming here anymore, besides you are behind these days. Google news is on top of things now.
-
And she was dressed looking a little older than maybe she should have been. But as soon as she opens her mouth you can tell she's young. But she's not a kid. She's 13. Next year she'll be a freshman in high school, if she isn't already.Some of you are confusing the foul mouthed 11 year old she plays with the gawky 13 year old whose parents want her in bed by 9:30 that she is. I'm way more creeped out by what I've seen of Dakota Fanning in the ads for THE RUNAWAYS than I am by Hit Girl. If I feel differently after seeing KICK-ASS I'll say so.
-
Yes, I would. Because I love the premise of the comic book and the people involved. Even if Hit Girl had been removed from the comic book, still would have been interested. Strangely, nobody seems to be trippin' on the fact that the title character is a High School student. The whole thing is just getting pre-Avatar weird for me. Where it seems like everybody has a holier-than-thou opinion about the thing before most of them have even seen it. Like I said above, everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I have a lot of respect for that belief. But at this point I'm going to say I REALLY think more people need to see it before the get all indignant and self-righteous.
-
Everybody keep in mind how much Harry loves Asian cinema. Where ultra-violent extremism has been popular in cinema for quite a while now.
-
Apr 15, 2010 11:22:24 PM CDT
Let's establish this -It's not easy for a 10 year old to get a g
by orionsangels
Unless they happen to live in hicksville. Yeah the Midwest. Where parents own guns for hunting and then some. Where kids grow up with guns being the norm around the house. Yeah, the reason why most school shootings take place in these midwest towns. You have children who grew up around guns and feel rejected by society + easy access to guns. That's a time bomb. That's why you get your Columbines. Notice that you rarely ever hear about a black or hispanic kid shooting his entire school up. The blacks and hispanics that live in the city already have access to guns and are selling drugs. No movie is gonna influence them to shoot anyone, especially when shootings are a common thing in your neighborhood. (Before anyone calls me racist. I don't mean all whites, blacks and hispanics do this) So what type of kid is left? The kids that grow up in nice neighborhoods with responsible parents and no access to guns. They'll see Kick-ass and wanna shoot people? Where will they even get a gun, not to mention they never fired gun in their entire life. There's a great episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit about kids, violence and guns. That lets an average kid shoot a real gun and it scares the crap out of him. That's the reality. There's a big difference between seeing a gun shot in a movie and actually holding a gun and shooting it. There's a perfect "Penn Says" for this occasion. Ebert should watch it - http://tinyurl.com/m6d4v8
-
I like Asian cinema too. I don't think that means I'm predisposed to enjoying violence for the sake of violence in cinema. It's all about context. I'm going to have see Kick-Ass for myself in order to judge it but there seems to be enough talented people involved in the production (more Matthew Vaughn than Mark Millar) that I feel like it isn't going to be exploitative. Millar does tend to go for shock value just for sales' sake, but from what I've read in Ambush Bug's review on AICN, Vaughn added a crucial element to the film that was missing in the comic book: hart.
-
I say no to that -ism.
But hey, that's just my personal choice. -
Seriously Harry, I thought he passed away. Shame on you. Also, this movie is for stupid people. That is all.
-
I don't buy soiled panties from a vending machine like I have seen in Japan..There are cultural differences there that are due to a repressed socity..I love Japanese samurai chambra fims like Lone Wolf series and Zatoichi which are very stylized violence but there is a huge difference between fantasy violence and torture porn..I hope if Harry was really serious about wanting to have a kid someday he should re-evaluate his stance on this type of filmaking (I'm not talking about Kick ass here). I speak as a parent of a now grown daughter and I can vouch for the influence that media has on the young and impressionable..Just look at the Mcdonalds happy meal ads and what has happened with childhood obesity.
Look at Hanna Montana and the billion dollar industry it created.
Still don't believe in the power of the media...Look anywhere it's there.. -
...wearing their sunglasses at night would make it even more difficult to fight crime. A couple things....I'm not a huge lover of Asian cinema, which is really a conversation for another time. But the few examples I've seen that were meant to relate to my above comment often seemed violent simply for the shock value of showing how violent they could be. Kick-Ass is no different in that regard, and it's less violent. I've seen the movie and I mentioned to somebody else up above that if you've read the comic and it didn't do anything for you I'm not sure how much the movie will change that. There's not a lot of difference, and not a lot of heart, either. I think I know what that could refer to, and maybe it just pulls at the heartstrings more than it did in the comic. I don't want to spoil anything though so I'll leave that alone. I should say somewhere along here that I don't hate Millar, either. I think he's an easy target right now. Many other writers have done the same kind of books to far lesser affect, in a far less interesting way. But I'm also a Warren Ellis GEEK! And I love Garth Ennis. So maybe it's just a personal preference kinda thing. Regardless of all that - I still think more people need to see the movie before they decide how it's some disgusting abomination.
-
I respect what you're saying, and I don't have kids (nor will I ever, I wouldn't be good at it). But if I was a parent and I had a problem with childhood obesity and Hannah Montana, I wouldn't take my kid to McDonald's or let them listen/watch that crap. I mentioned a few times in this talkback that I think a lot of the points people are making are the a parents responsibility, not that of a movie maker or any other kind of entertainer. I also find it interesting that nobody commented on my statement about small children holding game controllers while violently shooting people. Something much more real, that they are actually in control of, than watching a movie. But hey, like I said, no kids here. In my defense, I guess, I think I should mention that I haven't read the Serbian Film... Movie.. whatever it was called, column. I actually thought it was a feature about movies from Serbia and wasn't interested in that in the slightest. Now I'm really unsure whether I want to read the column or not as I do, believe it or not, have a threshold myself. Sounds as if that one might cross it.
-
If it doesn't feel right to investigate Serbian Film, then don't. Trust me, it seems like something designed from the ground up to test and satisfy the "hardest of the hardcore." Back to the topic at hand: when I say violence in film is all about "context," I also mean the author's content. I don't mind extreme violence in films as long as I sense that there's a general empathy coming from the filmmaker. It's the difference between David Cronenberg and someone like Marcus Nispel, it's the difference between "Kill Bill" and some of the cheap-o Japanese productions that are all about rape and bloodletting for the sake of rape and bloodletting. Filmmakers can assault me with the most violent imagery imaginable as long as I know that there's intellect and heart behind it. And that's usually not something that's hard to discern right away. That's why the current rash of Japanese shock cinema like Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police pales in comparison to the films that Shinya Tsukamoto did twenty years ago. They're braindead in comparison.
-
I lolled at that one
-
someone else beat me to the sicko punch
-
That makes a lot of sense and I agree with it (even though I hate the Kill Bill's with such a passion). Judging by what you're saying I actually think you may really enjoy Kick-Ass.I just went to see if the Serbian Film column was still up, but I never got past the Red, White & Blue piece. I think I'll leave the Serbian Film column alone now. lol
-
Looks cool.
-
While Ebert might not necessarily "get" what Kick Ass is playing at ultimately his concerns are perfectly valid considering the abysmal job many people do with their kids' access to media. This is not a movie for children so a debate about kids seeing this movie is about as insightful as one about them seeing this Serbian film that everyone is apoplectic about at the moment. Trying to rationalize that this film is probably going to be ok for certain kids is dumb. It's made for adults, and probably adults of a particular sensibility in their love of movies and pop culture. Why can't that niche be carved out for the movie absent some completely idiotic defense of the movie as being ok for SOME kids. It just isn't. It's rated R and this isn't some dipshit 80's R movie with snowbunny boobs for a split second. Heaping helpings of ultraviolence don't need to be on a kids menu when it can be avoided and there are more appropriate options. Defend the movie from criticism legitimately but don't prop it up as something that it's not. People contemplating taking their pre-teens or younger kids to this are dumb as rocks. That doesn't mean I don't want to see it yesterday.
-
First, I haven't seen the movie. I'm going to, but I know exactly what I'm getting into. This talkback has become about something else entirely.
A. Roger's review-He can get off his damn soapbox. You don't have to agree with a films content to write a non-bias review. He has valid points-but poor execution.
B. All this bs about Hit-girl being sexualized. You know what the creepiest part is? The thought didn't enter most people's minds unless you're looking for it.
C. Oh the youth of America...whatever will they do when they see this movie? Really? Last time I checked a two-hour movie is not responsible for the way kids react in real life. Parents are responsible. Don't like it? Don't take your kids and/or be involved in their lives. It's not hollywoods job to raise your kids!
-
Comparing Kick Ass to Treasure Island... talking about Ebert's childhood... Christ.
-
http://www.fanboyweb.com/?p=4
-
I think you get where I was going with this and yes ...You should probably stay away from the Serbian Film talkback.. I didn't even post there... Oh the Humanity!!
-
This movie.
-
is "sexual"? Really?
-
...only that "Watchmen" has a much better stoty to tell.
-
Like you two have a beer, chat on aim or facebook? Give each other a ring on regular basis or is it really just a relationship of necessity because of the line of work you are both in and you've had a few encounters and mutual admiration? Or is there bad blood where words of dislike for each other have traded via hear say? Sorry I am just curious but the context of what you write I agree with in that the movie is awesome and it's just a silly reason to dislike a movie because of the moral implications but on the other hand I am wondering what the true relations are between the two of you. Since you did open that can of worms and it's hard to know how you really feel about the guy.
-
I'm surprised Harry would even watch Kick Ass unless Hit Girl gets raped until she dies from it. Doing that would, I don't know, have some deep meaning about Serbia, or Austin, Texas. Who knows, both are the same place.
-
Can parents be charged for taking their children to underage movies, in the same way adults can be charged for providing alcohol to minors ?
-
How will those within it react when the movie bombs? Will they spin the figures to make a case for relative profitability while downplaying the connection that box office has with quality by bringing up helpful examples like Transformers 2?
-
That made me laugh. Anyway, box office totals really have nothing to do with the quality of a movie, only it's level of financial success. There are great movies these days that never even make it to theaters. They have exactly zero box office. Doesn't mean they aren't good movies. If you're judging a movie solely based on it's box office, it is of course possible that Kick-Ass might have a small take... which I guess would actually make you right! Congratulations! No, but seriously. This movie isn't going to bomb, so your question to how those within "the Kick-Ass community" will react doesn't need to be addressed.
-
...so lets all come back here on Monday and discuss. Shall we?
-
...of a young girl need to take a look at yourselves very closely! EVERYTHING has been sexualised by someone somewhere at some point in time. i feel normal superhero costumes have been used enough, and in an infinite number of situations to be considered 'normal'. and if you sick fucks relate that to sexual use then you are the ones CREATING that impression. in YOUR heads. i see a superhero. and so do most normal people. YOUR the problem.
-
Yes, Watchmen was a better film than this and also critics hated it.
-
just saw it at the Arclight here in Hollywood. Great crowd, great film, and I can guess the temp score easily by the new one...
-
need to go to a shrink. need to really, really fucking look at themselves in a mirror. just like many public homophobes are homosexuals, you might be a pedo, you sick, sick individual.
-
if you saw wanted, you've seen this film.
same writer, same tone, same over-the-top michael bay-like feel. a shame, i would have liked to see a story like this but ya know, in a world that felt real. what's the point of making a film like this if the city you're "normal joe" lives in feels fake.
i disagree with ebert on hit girl critique since she and cage seemed the only ones that knew how to play the material but everyone else is so boring. mark strong plays a mob boss like every other mob boss you've ever seen. mclovin has nothing to do. and so on and so on.
there's no controversy with this film because the script can't root the action into anything relatable.
i'm sure fanboys will love it but i was pretty bored. just felt really obvious. and the jokes are too HA HA! instead of the type that go in under the radar. -
And let's be honest. This should be pg13. Yes it is consistently violent, but the comic wink and cartoonesk execution is only half as brutal, half as bloody and half as gory as in the comics. But still manages to make the violent sudden and intense. The audience I saw it with loved the movie. Cheering and roaring with laughter at all the right moments and cringing in all the right places. I think it's a perfect satire.
-
What the fuck is wrong with you people? Damn, I really felt like lying down with a good book, but this TB has actually pissed me off. Hit Girl sexualized? Really?? It's in the eye of the beholder buddy. What she does is steal the show with an outrageously entertaining performance. Does she show skin? Does she flirt? Does she even acknowledge sex besides some four letter words that are never used in a sexual context? Oh my god, she wore a schoolgirl outfit. Guess who else wears schoolgirl outfits? FUCKING SCHOOLGIRLS! Clearly you enjoy porn with schoolgirl outfits, and now associate that with apparently every girl who wears a schoolgirl outfit. God help you if you happen to walk by a Catholic elementary school around 2 pm when the kiddies are getting out. Wait until you see how many of those 5-12 year-olds are dressing like porn stars. It's a serious crisis. Hit Girl does not show skin. She is not flirted with. She is not sexualized. She is a badass. If you like watching badass killing machines, you are going to think she's cool. Which is what the kid who mentions that he's going to save himself for her is expressing. That line is him saying, wow, she is the most badass little girl I've ever seen. I want to see how she turns out. And he is immediately dissed by his friends for it. The bottom line is yes the movie is gleefully violent. But perverse???? You are honestly fucking nuts to think that. Hit Girl will be talked about because she is an instantly iconic character. The only people concerned about her sex appeal are the ones who are finding her sexy, which I'm quite sure is difficult to detect if you are a well-adjusted human being.
As for Ebert's review, I can see Harry's frustration because he does not address the quality of the movie. At the very least, it is often funny, well-paced with many innovative action sequences, and features a slew of tricky self-aware performances. This should not warrant a one-star review.
oh, and just one more time, it's YOUR problem if you're finding anything sexy in Hit Girl.
Re: Marketing. Some decent points have been made in this department, but I'm not sure what could have been done to show how violent the movie was going to be, short of showing onscreen violence, which obviously is not an option. So take that shit up with the MPAA. Remember, there were red-band trailers too. Not to mention the movie is rated R.
-
I repeat, NOTHING! And why would I want my jokes "under the Radar"? Siiiigh... never mind. Time for a book and some sleep.
-
Apr 16, 2010 2:49:17 AM CDT
OK..blue moon and balancing destroying pills
by flying spaghetti monster
have got the best of me...but isn't it funny how in every Harry post he replies to the first couple of Talk backers then vanishes? I mean i know this is his attempt to "appear connected" but it seems so forced. I'm sure this has been mentioned before bt I'm too fucked up to care. Is harry now a caricature of what he once started out as? Is breakfast the best tasting meal of the day? Fuck you for reading this.
-
You mean you don't want to see your over-the-top Mark Millar comic adaptations made into mumblecore flicks? You suck at watching movies. haha. Too lazy to scroll up to see who complained about no "under the radar" jokes. What a douche.
-
What are you babbling about? Please make your attempted insults coherent so I can respond with as much ease as possible. Thanks buddy. "haha"
-
hope it's not a spoiler for people who've not yet seen the film, but where was november rain used in the workprint?
-
I'm on your side. I was making fun of the guy who wanted the jokes to be "under the radar." There were no attempted insults toward you, which is probably why they were incoherent.
-
My sleep deprived brain is no longer hitting on all cylinders at the moment (see several of my other recent posts here at AICN). I completely missed the internet sarcasm (which I love). Apologies. Makes perfect sense now that I re-read it.
-
...told Ebert the scene where Hit Girl gets her ass kicked was supposed to be played for laughs? Did he lose his sanity along with most of his jaw?
-
I'm not a fan. I saw it about a week ago, and feel that it runs too long, its marketing doesn't sell it accurately enough, and while I don't mind the uber-violence, the balance is a bit off between whether its ironic, Tarantino-esque violence or emotionally affecting violence.
But the performances were good, the absolute highlight being Hit-Girl. Should make a superhero movie about her and Big Daddy alone. -
And Roger Ebert is right.. kick ass? More like lames ass! I'm tired of movies that are trying to be cool for the purpose of just being cool. No substance and horrid dialogue
-
Oh, wait, that isn't humanly possible. Never mind then. Oh well, at least it's blatantly obvious to anyone with eyes in their head whenever AICN has been bought out and the word has come down that a given film must be hyped and praised ad nauseum on the site by all concerned. You know, except for that one 'lukewarm' review, to give the appearance of balance. So, no breaking news anymore, reviews that you can't trust, or which most of the time aren't even well written or interesting, an abundance of news postings that are little more than an excuse for laying out Amazon links en masse, and a staff that largely consists of those who have sold their souls for "internet fame", and those who are so laughably inept that no other semi-professional site would touch them, let alone have them on staff. I swear, if it wasn't for the talkbacks this site would have gone under long ago now. I've been around since the site wasn't even a proper website, but was just harry randomly posting about 'cool news and rumours', but even so about the only entertainment value I get from this place is from the talkbacks, which is pretty sad when you think about what this site used to be. Anyway whiny rant over, carry on.
-
than seeing it for a sexualized little girl. They should monitor anyone who buys a ticket for this movie since there is no real acceptable motivation.
-
is not sexualizing her at all. What were we thinking.
-
for the likes of Osama bin Laden, Adolf Hitler, Liz & Dick Cheney, Il Dong Kim, and a host of tyrants too numerous to mention.
-
It was Harry's guest stint on At the Movies that made me check out the website. I wasn't particularly impressed by Harry's reviews on At the Movies...but I was just curious. Ebert extended Harry a great honor by letting him sit in Siskel's coveted seat. And Harry has now repaid him with this horribly insulting and condescending article where he rips on this man for simply having an opinion on a movie that Harry doesn't like. Having opinions about movies is something Ebert has done for years, and I'm sure he's met nutcases throughout the years who have objected to his opinions...so he might be used to it to some degree. But it's pretty disgraceful for a guy whom he gave national attention to and helped advertise his website to piss all over him because he disagrees with one of his reviews.
-
Let me throw in something I found interesting. A while ago, a politician called Saxby Chamblis released an advert featuring his family. At the end of it, his granddaughter sits on his lap, and his hand is in front of her.A political website I read went into nuclear meltdown. Approximately half the readership claimed he was a pedophile, and the girls lack of reaction meant she had been "groomed" for years.The other half (the saner half, imo) said "WTF are you talking about? That's just how you'd hold a kid if they sat on your lap."The insane half promptly accused the sane half of being blind, gullible, or pedo's themselves.What was interesting, was that this sane/insane division didn't split the audience along political lines. It wasn't like Republicans thought one thing, and Democrats thought another. It was just a 50% split. Each group couldn't understand the point of view of the other. Each group was convinced the other group had something seriously wrong with them.The Hit-Girl sexualisation thing reminds me very much of that.Some people think she's sexualised. Some think she's not. Each thinks there's something wrong with the other. It's a waste of time trying to convince the others of your inherent "rightness".From a sociological point of view, I think there's something deeper going on here.
-
...for his review of Kick-Ass but you openly supported the raoe and murder of an infant by promoting A Serbian Film?
Fuck you, you hypocritical cunt. Kill yourself. -
but I think you know what I'm referring to. Hypocrisy, my man.
-
pretty much says it all. Sometimes the guy just COMPLETELY misses the point. Oh yeah, he's also basically a communist, so fuck him...
-
I saw that video you mention on failblog. The kid isn't just sitting on his lap...he grabs her chest in the end. It looks like an honest mistake, however...the fail is moreso with the directors of the video who didn't catch it and do another take. Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqFyFeNDkI0
-
Idiot.
-
Sure it made a salient point, one that crusty ol' Ebert should take to heart, but that was pretty mean.
-
So know Harry isn't writing reviews he taken to blasting reviewers for not agreeing with him... shame Harry!
At least Roger at put in the time. He's spent the better part of his life in film reviews so I think he's earned the right to take the moral high ground on this one.
Hey Harry! Fuck You! -
Yeah, he does grab his Granddaughter’s chest at the end, though it has to have been inadvertent…. But the BEST is that he has her announce “Vote for my Big Daddy!” just before he cops the feel. Lovely.
-
"I sure do approve of THIS message" WONK WONK!
-
He's chellenging the logic of everyone who feels the same way. It makes sense that Harry uses Ebert's review as a debate point since it has the biggest complaint for the movie. And the debate is relevant because it can effect upcomming movies with the same theme. Harry was right to make a counter-point, even though his argument is lacking.
-
Since Harry has reduced himself to endorsing torture porn, I don't believe he has the credentials to question Robert Ebert. While I disagree with Eberts opinion on the film, I will go into the movie with his review in mind instead of Harrys.
-
www.sonofkermode. blogspot. com my film blog, if you want to take a look at my two cents on kick ass. Just remove the spaces.
-
At the idea of 6 year old Harry, nodding solemnly in agreement with Siskel and Ebert talking Scorsese. And 4 year old Harry, jotting down notes on non-linear story-telling as he sat patiently through The Godfather Part 2. What cinematic gems did you hear while you were in utero, Harry?
And I think at today's prices, I'll skip Kick Ass and go watch Leon again with the original and vastly superior Hit Girl, Natalie Portman. -
Take a look at this article:
http://www.manolith.com/2009/08/05/15-movie-and-tv-imitations-that-went-terribly-wrong/ -
It was a action movie satire and suffered from the same thing, which Ebert mentions. Not the violence, but after Arnold and the kid step out in the real world and Arnolds character stumbles on a couple cliches not working in reality, they end the movie with pretty cliched movie action, that wouldn't work in reality.
-
Opening this weekend:Death At A Funeral:3 and a 1/2 starsKick Ass:1 starHey everyone's entitled to an opinion, but I think Ebert's lost it.
-
So you think Ebert's lost his opinion....but you consider Harry Knowles a rock of solid movie criticism? Do you think Ebert should start writing articles about other reviewers whom he disagrees with, discussing their childhoods, their history of movie reviewing in some grand egotistical movie review sniping? This seems right to you?
-
He really did not get this at all. And I consider him a giant (no pun intended) in the field of film criticism. This was brutal, wicked fun. A must-see to those who lurk in these talkbacks.
-
LAH failed on every level, where Kick-Ass succeeds. After the buildup (in my mind) of how grotesque the violence was in KA based on reviews around here, the reality was a bit if a let down, in a good way.
-
Apr 16, 2010 10:25:38 AM CDT
And if you see anything sexual about HitGirl, you are looking fo
by vic twenty
She is a child trained to be a killing machine. That's it. Dad treats her like a grownup when it comes to killing/training but very mucha little girl the rest of the time.
-
...the "morality police" are not the ones responsible for all of the toy guns being taken out of stores. You have your libtard friends at the Brady Center and other bastions of political correctness to thank for that.
-
Britain has 200 people between its coasts, and among them they have 13 clean teeth.
-
He loved Fatso.
-
No, no, no. The difference between the reviewing skills of Mr. Ebert and Mr. Knowles are not just night and day, but night and Pluto. (An earlier post I made reference to Harry "chocolate covered pussy juice" Knowles) And Harry's column defending Kick Ass against Ebert's review is odd at the least.Just saying though, given the choice of the two major releases (KickAss & Death At Funeral) this weekend, I couldn't be more diametrically opposed to Mr. Ebert's opinion if I tried.
-
Here's my breakdown of it all, not that you care - I applaud Ebert for going with his gut and saying how he felt. We're brainwashed these days to just, 'go with it', no matter how fucked up and uncomfortable something makes us feel. It's part of a long-term conditioning, I think, to make you accept basically any idea the media, politicians, and corporations want to put into our heads (and no, I'm not wearing aluminum foil on my head). They all want to sell you on something, shit is generally agreed on by powerful people behind closed doors, and they really do not give a shit who gets hurt in the process. In my opinion, Ebert was reacting to a kind of demoralizing baseness that we're starting to see come to fruition from the tail-end of my generation (born in 77) and then the incoming generation, which I think suffered a great deal at the hands of their overbearing parents and often seem to not have the tools to comprehend the world in a way that makes moral sense (and I'm talking purely - yeah, don't depict baby-fucking because someone might KILL YOU for even showing it). Sure a lot of fucked up barbaric shit has happened well before our time, but this is something else... a kind of obliviousness to any kind of morality. Harry is CLEARLY a perfect example of this... so I guess it's maybe a late 60's up to the present kind of a phenomenon? Just this sniveling, fucking shithead, lack of morality, integrity, work ethic, and any kind of sensitivity to the hurt of others. That Red, White, and Blue screening is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Like, "hey man, you're square for not 'getting' this."
-
I don't think this film will contribute to the coarsening of the culture. C-SPAN will, but this won't.
-
kiefer is one of his guests tonight. after hitting london to talk about the final season of 24. He went into a strip club at 10.30 pm and was asked to leave 4.30 am after getting paraltyically drunk.
-
I love that movie. It's one of the most fun, quotable flicks of the 90's. The Hamlet parody ranks as one of the best comedic bits I've seen since then. Sure, the movie has its flaws (mostly the kid) but it's still highly underrated.
-
Even if the movie is meant for adults...I don't think "anything goes" should be okay for adults, either. Being opposed to films that cross certain boundaries doesn't mean you're a right/left extremist who supports censorship, or a wuss who just can't take it, or someone who "just doesn't get it". Society should have standards. It's not just about what we watch....but what we applaud and cheer, and revel in. To me...having attended previous films which were largely attended by geeks...the greater offense was not JUST the morally questionable material I watched in a certain instance...it was the fact that it was cheered on by the audience. Some people think it's cool in movies to push the boundaries in terms of just how low the bar can be set. Fill a theater full of geeks, show something that is about as low as you can possibly imagine...but add in fast music, and cool quips to let them know it's supposed to be cool...and geeks will whoop it up and cheer, and those in the audience who are disgusted and offended will likely keep it to themselves out of fear of being viewed as "lame" by other geeks....which in itself is ironic.
-
Have you realised what a bunch of nincompoops you were being stressing out over this movie? It's not the most amazingly deep or entertaining movie in the world, but it's hardly an exploitation/Grindhouse flick.
-
"Why my friend, Robert Ebert is dead" and got a little bit freaked out! It just seemed rather tasteless...but not as tasteless and useless as this movie!!!
-
Harry, are you so tired of people dogging your reviews that you will now tell someone else that their opinion is wrong?
I took Ebert's review quite differently. Rather than object that children ought not see the pic, that the creators are indifferent to the suffering of children. As people mature and suffer tragedy, they become less tolerant of callous disregard of innocence.
For me it's like the end of Blade Runner, when Roy develops a respect for life, any life. He saves Deckerd. When you've suffered, you don't want to see a child suffer, even fictional children harmed their fictional fathers, or by callous disregard of the film-creators.
Go back and reread Ebert's review after you have children of your own. -
Roger Ebert is a great humanist and a great writer. I don't always agree with what he says, but it's always worth reading.
-
...666th post. Now I'll go back and catch up on whats been said.
-
I'd hate to see what would've happened if John Waters released Pink Flamingos during now, instead of 40 years ago. He would have been strung up, drawn and quartered...
-
Harry is pretty much right. Movie critics shouldn't be the moral police, the film is a lot of fun. Much better then the comic too boot.
-
Ebert has a long history of disowning films for vague moral reasons. See his Blue Velvet review for a great example of this. He then generally gets quite defensive/dismissive when someone questions him on it, once again see the Siskel and Ebert Review of Blue Velvet. I enjoy him as a critic but I really hate when he writes super shallow reviews like these.
-
Apr 16, 2010 1:11:39 PM CDT
i remember being as shocked as anyone by the brutal murder of Ja
by emeraldboy
I know I get kicked around here for my long posts and bad spelling. But just wanted you all to know that when james bulger died, I saw through the hysterical reaction of the right wing middle-englander press, who wanted to ban and burn every copy of the first chucky movie they could get thier hands on. I damn well knew, things were not as simple as the british press were making things out to be. a lot of people were proven that the killers of jamie bulger came from broken homes, that was something the press did not want to investigate at the time, instead the right wing press picked up on the fact that one of the two killers were watching childsplay at the time. The mail lauched its ban this sick flick campaign and child play was banned from both cinemas and tv for a decade as was any over violent film. natural born killers was also banned as was crash. chris tookeys response was hysterical and he called for all for sony products to be banned. idiot. finally re harrys article about roger ebert. this is the same harry knowles who allowed his nephew to watch the original texas chainsaw massacre. one of the most violent films ever made. he shouldnt be lecturing a sick old man about his taste in movies. especially when harry likes movie like robo-giesha.
-
I've used that same argument! People always go, well Pink Flamingos was suppose to be funny and not taken seriously. I totally agree with you though.
-
where she hunts an ex-cia agent and his preteen daughter,because the father trained the girl to be a killer.check the news:
http://tinyurl.com/y7xgjem -
Not only did Ebert go to university and get a degree, he also has long a distinguished career in Chicago sun times. Where he learned to craft what he wrote. ebert doesnt strike as someone comes out with any old rubbish. Any writer worth their salt will tell you draft what you write.
-
is the editorial process.
-
You're comparing "Kick-Ass" to more serious films like "Taxi Driver?" There's a difference between a guilt-free bloodbath and something that more accurately depicts the complexity of the real world. Not a fair comparison to make Harry. I haven't seen "Kick-Ass" but if it's anything like "Wanted" I can most certainly sympathize with Ebert's review. And since when did you start reviewing other reviewers' reviews? I could call you out on a hundred reviews I don't agree with, but what's the point, THEY'RE YOUR OPINIONS. Let Ebert have his.
-
"At the movies, we are gradually being conditioned to accept violence as a sensual pleasure. The directors used to say they were showing us its real face and how ugly it was in order to sensitize us to its horrors. You don't have to be very keen to see that they are now in fact de-sensitizing us. They are saying that everyone is brutal, and the heroes must be as brutal as the villains or they turn into fools. There seems to be an assumption that if you're offended by movie brutality, you are somehow playing into the hands of the people who want censorship. But this would deny those of us who don't believe in censorship the use of the only counterbalance: the freedom of the press to say that there's anything conceivably damaging in these films -- the freedom to analyze their implications. If we don't use this critical freedom, we are implicitly saying that no brutality is too much for us -- that only squares and people who believe in censorship are concerned with brutality. Actually, those who believe in censorship are primarily concerned with sex, and they generally worry about violence only when it's eroticized. This means that practically no one raises the issue of the possible cumulative effects of movie brutality. Yet surely, when night after night atrocities are served up to us as entertainment, it's worth some anxiety. We become clockwork oranges if we accept all this pop culture without asking what's in it. How can people go on talking about the dazzling brilliance of movies and not notice that the directors are sucking up to the thugs in the audience?"
-
Best Supporting Actor - Nick Cage for Kick Ass?
-
WS, actually it's usually far more effective NOT to show the violence. Of course, the ear-cutting scene in RESERVOIR DOGS is a famous example but how about that moment in OUT OF SIGHT when Steve Zahn's character accompanies a bunch of true sickos on a home invasion and the whole sequence plays out just looking at his horrified eyes.
Contrast that with the stupid close-up kill shots in films like HOSTEL and SAW, where the audience cheers in grossed out appreciation. It's kinda lame isnt it?
It doesnt sound like KICK ASS warrants being categorized amongst the torture porn genre though (admittedly I havent seen it)... but it does seem a little sad to involve an 11 year old child in an ultra violent flick. -
Which I'll support. But the best part was Harry assertion that Dr. Werheim's anti-comics crusade led directly to the rise of the flower power movement. Right ON! Man.
-
Dark is in these days.
-
If this wasn't aimed at kids, why are virtually all the lead players adolescent? Why do all the ads make it look like Spy Kids? And etc. I can see having kids be the leads in a comic book satire of comic books. Comics these days are almost wholly aimed at emotionally stunted adults, so you can get away with the mix of immature characters and ultra-violence. That's because the audience is limited. Most kids aren't really interested in comics these days (what kid wants to push through the grown geeks at the comics shops to get to what they want anyway?). But movies with colorful characters in costumes have a much wider audience. Kids who would have never even heard (or had interest in) the comic are going to be willing to kill to see the movie. THAT's the problem--two different audences.
-
And there's nothing wrong with being "a grown up." You can be a grown up and still appreciate shallow, immature po culture stuff--the difference is that as a true adult you KNOW it's shallow, immature stuff. Emotionally stunted adults and children just suck in whatever comes as long as it goes technicolor boom.
-
comic books. they are graphic novels. one recent example is a graphic novel about the 1916 rising.
-
teenage kids. rent lance dalys kisses.
-
that he never read comic books as a child he read books and lots of them. he was after all an only child.
-
Apr 16, 2010 3:24:23 PM CDT
"but it does seem a little sad to involve an 11 year old child i
by axelfoley
Ironically enough, Robocop 2 had a foul mouthed little bastard named "Hobb" and though it was 20 years and much political correctness ago, the majority of Ebert's problem with the second robocop was the movie that kid in the first place! And Roger Ebert could've worn Kimonos and toured with Gwen Stefani for all I care, let's not judge the guy just because he doesn't cream over Kick-Ass. Again, he called Spider-Man 2 the greatest superhero movie ever made. So he doesn't hate comic book movies, he has a taste for the ones done right! Or at least one of them.......
-
I'm not saying Kick-Ass is not good because Ebert wasn't big on it. As much clout as the man has in movie critic-iticity, it all boils down to an opinion. Last I checked we do the same thing here every day. -
Mr. Ebert would call Harry his friend. How can such an eloquent writer like Ebert be friends with such a hack????
-
jesus! they're attacking Roger Ebert for giving it a negative review, how dare he do the job in the manner he as for the past 30? 40 years?
-
this is not the first time harry attacked ebert. ebert must have done or said something to offend harry when he's co-reviewing on ebert's show. that's the only conclusion i could come to.
-
Cmon man you cant post on a geek site like this and make that kind of blunder! Cage won the Best Actor Oscar for his epic, PROFOUND performance in Leaving Las Vegas. Of course after that his career was never quite the same again (The Rock, Con Air, Cptn Corelli's Mandolin and on and on).
-
I must have forgot about that one.
-
Listen, I totally agree that people are allowed to have their own opinions of movies, but why are people bashing Harry for writing his opinion of Ebert’s review. Isn’t it a bit hypocritical to knock Harry for disagreeing with Ebert’s opinion just because it is Ebert’s own “opinion”? If Ebert’s’ allowed to have an opinion about Kick-Ass, then why isn’t Harry allowed to have an opinion on Ebert’s review. Just because it’s a review doesn’t mean it’s above criticism. I for one saw an advanced screening of Kick-Ass earlier this week and really enjoyed it. Is it on of the greatest comic book films ever made no, but is it a really good comic book film, hell yeah it is! I personally had no issue with Hit Girl being so young and so violent, because in the end it is a film made from a fucking comic book. We have to suspend some kind of disbelief. Plus, lets not act like we haven’t seen worse in films before. Ebert couldn’t get past the fact that this young girl was able to commit these violent acts and he’s entitled to feel that way, but I’m also entitled to disagree, and say I had no problem with it. My issues with the film were minor, I felt like some of the characters could have used a little more development, and there were a few stiff line deliveries that bothered me here and there. I could go into more detail but I’m not reviewing the film. In the end I thought Kick-Ass was an awesome and fun film. It’s easily one of the better comic book films to come in a long time, but it did have the potential to be an even better comic book film.
p.s. Let’s stop ripping Harry for being a Fanboy, so what if he is. I have screenings with press all the time and most of these old cronies that people respect are mean old bastard that go into the film wanting to hate it. Most of the time I can tell you what their reviews will be before they write them just because their so fucking irritated before they even watch the movie. Harry may be a Fanboy, but at least he loves what he does. He loves to watch movies and doesn’t complain about having to do so, and lets face it he has a job that most of us would kill for, I know I would. You can read Harry’s reviews and take them with a grain of salt if you want, but don’t tell me they’re not fun reads, and if you want to keep bashing him for being a Fanboy then just stop reading his reviews.
p.s. Let’s stop ripping Harry for being a Fanboy, so what if he is. I have screenings with press all the time and most of these old cronies that people respect are mean old bastard that go into the film wanting to hate it. Most of the time I can tell you what their reviews will be before they write them just because their so fucking irritated before they even watch the movie. Harry may be a Fanboy, but at least he loves what he does. He loves to watch movies and doesn’t complain about it, and lets face it he has a job that most of us would kill for, I know I would. You can read Harry’s reviews and take them with a grain of salt if you want to, but don’t tell me they’re not fun reads, and if you want to keep bashing him for being a Fanboy then just stop reading the reviews.
Listen, I totally agree that people are allowed to have their own opinions of movies, but why are people bashing Harry for writing his opinion of Ebert’s review. Isn’t it a bit hypocritical to knock Harry for disagreeing with Ebert’s opinion just because it is Ebert’s own “opinion”? If Ebert’s’ allowed to have an opinion about Kick-Ass, then why isn’t Harry allowed to have an opinion on Ebert’s review. Just because it’s a review doesn’t mean it’s above criticism. I for one saw an advanced screening of Kick-Ass earlier this week and really enjoyed it. Is it on of the greatest comic book films ever made no, but is it a really good comic book film, hell yeah it is! I personally had no issue with Hit Girl being so young and so violent, because in the end it is a film made from a fucking comic book. We have to suspend some kind of disbelief. Plus, lets not act like we haven’t seen worse in films before. Ebert couldn’t get past the fact that this young girl was able to do these violent acts and he’s entitled to feel that way, but I’m also entitled to disagree, and say I had no problem with it. My issues with the film were minor, I felt like some of the characters could have used a little more development, and there were a few stiff line deliveries that bothered me here and there. In the end I thought Kick-Ass was awesome. It’s easily one of the better comic book films to come in a long time, but it did have the potential to be one of the greatest comic book films.
Listen, I totally agree that people are allowed to have their own opinions of movies, but why are people bashing Harry for writing his opinion of Ebert’s review. Isn’t it a bit hypocritical to knock Harry for disagreeing with Ebert’s opinion just because it is Ebert’s own “opinion”? If Ebert’s’ allowed to have an opinion about Kick-Ass, then why isn’t Harry allowed to have an opinion on Ebert’s review. Just because it’s a review doesn’t mean it’s above criticism. I for one saw an advanced screening of Kick-Ass earlier this week and really enjoyed it. Is it on of the greatest comic book films ever made no, but is it a really good comic book film, hell yeah it is! I personally had no issue with Hit Girl being so young and so violent, because in the end it is a film made from a fucking comic book. We have to suspend some kind of disbelief. Plus, lets not act like we haven’t seen worse in films before. Ebert couldn’t get past the fact that this young girl was able to commit these violent acts and he’s entitled to feel that way, but I’m also entitled to disagree, and say I had no problem with it. My issues with the film were minor, I felt like some of the characters could have used a little more development, and there were a few stiff line deliveries that bothered me here and there. I could go into more detail but I’m not reviewing the film. In the end I thought Kick-Ass was an awesome and fun film. It’s easily one of the better comic book films to come in a long time, but it did have the potential to be an even better comic book film.
p.s. Let’s stop ripping Harry for being a Fanboy, so what if he is. I have screenings with press all the time and most of these old cronies that people respect are mean old bastard that go into the film wanting to hate it. Most of the time I can tell you what their reviews will be before they write them just because their so fucking irritated before they even watch the movie. Harry may be a Fanboy, but at least he loves what he does. He loves to watch movies and doesn’t complain about having to do so, and lets face it he has a job that most of us would kill for, I know I would. You can read Harry’s reviews and take them with a grain of salt if you want, but don’t tell me they’re not fun reads, and if you want to keep bashing him for being a Fanboy then just stop reading his reviews.
-
I used to share Harry's views but now that I've seen western civilization completely collapse into a pathetic herd of moronic, narcissistic monkeys totally devoid of any morals or respect for other humans, I gotta side with Ebert.
-
that got pasted a few times lol sorry guys.
-
The first time I have ever agreed with Harry about anything! Well maybe the overall judgement of a movie here or there. I just never thought it would happen. I hope this stream of thought (what else can you call Harry's writing) opens people's eyes to the fact that Roger is becoming increasingly unreliable as a reviewer. He's all over the place. It's like a friend who liked The Dark Knight telling you that The Garbage Pail Kids is also awesome. I used to read Roger, James Berardinelli and Masawyrm. I dropped Roger when nearly every review was in opposition to the other tried and true reviewers. A reviewer is entitled to his opinion, that's the whole damn point, but when their opinion becomes schizophrenic, it's time to say goodbye.
-
and I thought, "Wow, it's been a while since I've seen one those." I loved those things when I was little. I used to have one that looked like a pistol grip shotgun and I sawed a few inches off the barrel (having seen it done so may movies). I guess I'm lucky to be alive.
-
Listen, I totally agree that people are allowed to have their own opinions of movies, but why are people bashing Harry for writing his opinion of Ebert’s review. Isn’t it a bit hypocritical to knock Harry for disagreeing with Ebert’s opinion just because it is Ebert’s own “opinion”? If Ebert’s’ allowed to have an opinion about Kick-Ass, then why isn’t Harry allowed to have an opinion on Ebert’s review. Just because it’s a review doesn’t mean it’s above criticism. I for one saw an advanced screening of Kick-Ass earlier this week and really enjoyed it. Is it on of the greatest comic book films ever made no, but is it a really good comic book film, hell yeah it is! I personally had no issue with Hit Girl being so young and so violent, because in the end it is a film made from a fucking comic book. We have to suspend some kind of disbelief. Plus, lets not act like we haven’t seen worse in films before. Ebert couldn’t get past the fact that this young girl was able to commit these violent acts and he’s entitled to feel that way, but I’m also entitled to disagree, and say I had no problem with it. My issues with the film were minor, I felt like some of the characters could have used a little more development, and there were a few stiff line deliveries that bothered me here and there. I could go into more detail but I’m not reviewing the film. In the end I thought Kick-Ass was an awesome and fun film. It’s easily one of the better comic book films to come in a long time, but it did have the potential to be an even better comic book film.
p.s. Let’s stop ripping Harry for being a Fanboy, so what if he is. I have screenings with press all the time and most of these old cronies that people respect are mean old bastard that go into the film wanting to hate it. Most of the time I can tell you what their reviews will be before they write them just because their so fucking irritated before they even watch the movie. Harry may be a Fanboy, but at least he loves what he does. He loves to watch movies and doesn’t complain about having to do so, and lets face it he has a job that most of us would kill for, I know I would. You can read Harry’s reviews and take them with a grain of salt if you want, but don’t tell me they’re not fun reads, and if you want to keep bashing him for being a Fanboy then just stop reading his reviews.
-
I hope Ebert writes an opinion about Harry's opinion of his opinion. And gets an unnecessary criticism of Bush 2.0 in there too.
-
I haven't seen Kick-Ass, but Ebert really lost even more credibility as a film critic with me. One of his comments was "When kids in the age range of this movie's home video audience are shooting one another every day in America, that kind of stops being funny." Yet he gave The Hurt Locker four stars, and slobberred all over the actors and director. Are people not dying every day in the middle east from IED's? He just didn't like the movie, but won't just come out and say it. He is like most other movie critics...out of touch with what the general public thinks. He mostly only likes movies that are not hugely commercial and a little off-beat, so that he can feel like he found a diamond-in-the-rough, that the regular folk weren't refined enough to notice.
-
I’m morally bankrupt, don't give two shits Ebert, and care very little about how this film will affect people.
I’m-a seeing it in about 4 hours.
-
I’m morally bankrupt, don't give two shits about Ebert, and care very little about how this film will affect people.
I’m-a seeing it in about 4 hours.
-
....A Rebuttal to Roger Ebert's critique of a film from Harry is like a deaf person's critique of a symphony. At least Ebert writes like he has good command of the English language. This site now consists of Harry telling you of whats he's read on other sites.
-
Learn it, live it, love it.
-
...and obviously marketed to children. Morally reprehensible? I don't know if it is any different than 90% of the other crap that Hollywood slyly markets to children. A good parent wouldn't bring/allow their children to watch something like this.
-
Ebert has lost his damn mind. Time to retire!
-
If you take kids under 10 to this, you are making a huge mistake - in my opinion. I have kids under 10, and they won't see this (I loved it) for a looooong time.
My in-laws also have kids under 10 who have unfettered access to the internet, every cable channel in their rooms, and any PS3 game they want (MA are the best, says them). Their favorite show is Bones. They have already seen a bunch of porn (thanks interwebs). These will be fucked up people and I have to explain this to my kids every goddamn day that their Mom and Dad aren't doing them any favors by shoving them in a room and filling thier minds with shit.
My point is, parents are ultimately responsible for what their kids see and do at this age. Absentee or soft parenting is fucking up the world for everybody. -
nothing in the film was so unnerving...it was all done in a humorous way...and perhaps seeing hit girl get punched in the face will give impressionable kids a visceral pain and fear that would have been missed if she was invulnerable. this movie was fun
-
Before we saw "The Green Zone" in my local theater, my Dad and I were treated to our first preview of "Kick Ass."
I'd read some things on this site about it, so I was fired up to see things in motion. I really liked what I saw and am still eager to see it. A bloody, violent superhero movie that actually takes the laws of physics into consideration -- who knew?
My Dad's reaction, however, was like Ebert's. He made a face, munched some more popcorn, and shelled out derogatory comments like, "That's stupid! Why would anyone parent take their kid to see that?"
To which I replied, "They're not going to, Dad. It's not for kids. It's R-rated."
He didn't believe me. Probably still doesn't.
But whatever. I still don't agree with moral arguments pretending to be film critiques.
I read your columns every week, Roger, and have huge respect for you. But not this time.
Give us an actual critique, please, not a moral judgment. -
Is Kick-Ass just a socially acceptable vehicle for middle aged men to lust after an 11 year old girl?
-
You are a fucking idiot and possibly a pervert.
-
She wears a school uniform to appear harmless so that she can infiltrate the bad guy's lair.
If someone finds that lustful, that is THEIR problem. I didn't find myself lusting after her at all. Do you think you might? -
Chocolate covered pussy juice.
-
Apr 16, 2010 5:12:08 PM CDT
Robin- The Boy Wonder was pretty violent in the comics!
by bob cryptonight
You people worry too much.
-
The Dark Knight Returns version of Batman and Robin.
-
. . . a comic book-style heroine that hasn't been fetishized in a sexual manner? Is Hit Girl the first?
-
I suppose some random 11-yr-old boys who sneak into this can mark her down as a dream date. Anybody else who does should seek help immediately.
-
http://i.imgur.com/4JyGk.jpg
Take it what you see. LOL. -
I have never found school girls nor their outfits the slightest bit attractive. Not when I was in my teens, and certainly not now. I know this has been said already, but I think it bares repeating. Whatever perversions you get out of Hit-Girl's wardrobe, they were taken into the movie with you, pre-existing. That's your problem, not the filmmaker's.
-
all republicans I bet LOL
-
It's much easier for me to be offended by a movie's stupidity than by its morals, and, quite frankly, all this stems from Mark Millar's penchant for constantly trying to be "irreverent" in the most puerile way, which I do find annoying. I couldn't care less about so-called profanity in a film, be it uttered by a grown-up or a little girl, and I want to think it only bothers the narrow-minded puritan within most USA citizens. So all this KICK-ASS controversy is no big deal for me, and I can't help but wonder what's all the fuss about, but just part of the marketing campaign. Having said all that... ... I have to agree with Mr. Ebert about the movie being essentially a glamourization of violence and its "coolness" factor, no matter the unrealistic, comic-book world context. The difference is that I am not as bothered by that as he is, but, to me, he certainly has a point that you can hardly argue with.
-
Her first movie in about a billion years.
-
Obviously Ebert missed the point because he's at least thirty years older than the target audience. It's like Quentin Tarantino writing a TWILIGHT review.
-
But he's still an idiot.
-
It exceeded my expectations.
I am not a comic book reader, but Kick-Ass felt like the perfect comic book film - what I wish Spiderman could have been.
Most of the attention has been given to Hit Girl and Nic Cage, but I thought Aaron Johnson carried the film with a great performance that was equal parts dorky & charismatic. Tobey Maguire's similarly-styled Peter Parker is a shit performance in comparison.
Mark Strong, one of my favorite character actors, made a great, multi-dimensional, Tony-Soprano-like villain (loving family man and bad-ass crime lord).
I thought direction by Matt Vaughn was fantastic - propulsively shot and edited with a great soundtrack. I was never once bored or disinterested - the film was always engaging, entertaining and often very funny.
So I am sorry that Ebert, who I respect, didn't 'get' that this is a comic book film.
Question for anyone who saw it at BNAT... when did November Rain play?
-
vaughn keeps it fun, frolicking and suprising.... he breaks the rules of the universe and undermines any thematic throughline to do so. his choice, not my taste..... put it this way, its no die hard
-
They'll get my money when Millar writes a movie starring an established character. He does better on that front (I would have gone to see his Superman). His own characters tend to be unsympathetic. Example: he lost me during Wanted (the comic book) with the whole "You can rape whoever you want," thing. Maybe Matthew Vaughn makes Dave Lizewski easier to relate to, less of a dick than he is in the comic. Either way, I'll wait.
-
Mr. Beaks' mantra.
-
...along with everything else these days.
-
You know I have never been one to scan over this website. Certainly have no interest in being fanatical about anything. And some of the writing is downright horrid, but certainly nothing to bitch about. And there are hundreds of other ways to get the information on the things that I am interested in. But since I just got back from watching the movie Kick Ass, and one of my news sources pulled up the Roger Ebert Kick Ass review, as well as this rebuttal by Knowles, I figured I would read what both men had to say. Mainly because from the beginning I understood that both men would have very different views.
First Ebert: He thought that the violence went much further then it should have. This surprised me a little because the movie was made by a man who is not only a good buddy to ulra--violent director Guy Ritchie, but also a person that started in the film industry working with Ritchie. Ultra-violence has been very good for this guy and put a lot of money in his pocket. Did Ebert really think that Kick Ass wouldn't follow suit in extreme violence? No that just doesn't make sense, but then later Ebert clarifies that the 12 year old girl (Hit Girl) killing with wild abandon with no visible signs of remorse was the thing that he did not agree with. And especially at the final scene the violence seems to be of the very gratuitous type. (For the slow people out there, and we know there are a lot of them. Gratuitous: being without apparent reason, cause, or justification.) The ending was filled with over the top ludicrous violence that fits far better in a Looney Tunes cartoon then a supposedly super-realistic movie about the implication of real superheroes in a real world. Ebert may have been worried about the implications of a young female character being an unemotional killing machine with little signs of true humanity, dispatching other humans as if they were worth double body score in a video game. But to try to state that Ebert is against any depiction of violence in movies is an incredibly broad exaggeration, and has little basis in reality. Ebert isn't against violence in movies, he's against pointless violence in movies, and say what you will, some of the violence in Kick Ass was pointless.
Here's an example:
Years and years ago, way back in Ebert's career he was sent to cover Sam Peckinpah's new movie "The Wild Bunch" that had been directed by Sam Peckinpah. Now Sam was the king daddy of ultra-violence back in the day. And if he had anywhere near the budgets that Tarantino and Ritchie get to make those movies, it is pretty obvious that Peckinpah would have made the type of movie that would have bitch-slapped both of those directors and show them what making a violent movie was all about. Wild Bunch was so violent that at one time it was given an X rating for the intense violence in it. Peckipah's epic ultra violent Western "The Wild Bunch" was so revolutionary with its realistic depiction of old West violence that cowboy legend John Wayne was quoted as saying that Peckinpah had destroyed the image of the cowboy.
Now when they screened "The Wild Bunch" for the press, including various film critics, a young Roger Ebert was there. And since this was way back in 1969 the extreme ultra-violent violence shocked and disgusted a large portion of the movie reviewers that were there, with one very notable exception...Roger Ebert. Roger liked the movie, defended the movie, and even made the comment that he thought that it was one of the greatest movies ever made.
Again. Read my example I just wrote. Roger Ebert is not against violence in movies, he's against pointless violence.
Harry Knowles rebuttal:
He admits that he hasn't seen the theatrical release, but assures everyone that he will naturally love it, although some changes could have possibly been made that could lower his "love" for the movie. Harry then compares the violence of an old Disney version of "Treasure Island" to the violence in Kick Ass, telling us that the violence is comparable. Harry you are obviously riding the short bus on your field trips. I'd suggest you take two televisions side by side and look at the violence depicted on film in these two movies. Only a blind man would try to relate one film's depiction of implied violence, to an over the top movie filled with bloody carnage. (I hope this Knowles guy isn't really blind. That would suck.) We are talking about Disney back in the day. The same Disney that depicted the massacre at the Alamo with less blood than most women lose in one day during that time of the month. This is an incredibly stupid argument and makes a certain responder look like an emotional knee-jerking crybaby. Here's a clue Knowles, when you make a point in an counter argument, don't say stuff that reveals that you don't have a clue. Knowles next argument is that children back in Ebert's day were heavily exposed to violence because they had toy guns that looked like real guns, roman candles, and magic guns that always killed with one shot. But Harry Knowles needs to remember that it was a different time, and violence had a mythical quality to it back then. A hero could use violence to save the day type of world. But this American concept of violence was ripped to shreds when the average American tuned in their televisions and watched live footage from the Vietnam war. And Harry you need to read that last sentence. Having a draft for the Vietnam had much less affect on the way American's thought about violence then that footage. The Korean War draft didn't cause a major change in perceptions, and most would agree that the Vietnam war draft played a much less part then the live footage from the Vietnam war zone. My suggestion would be for Harry Knowles to turn of his computer and try reading a book that doesn't have pictures in it. Again uses the ludicrous old Disney films were just as violent argument, but this time including Errol Flynn and Gangster movies as an example. Once again Harry, try watching these movies side by side with Kick Ass and see if you can tell the difference, because most of humanity can see the difference. Here's another clue Harry, films made back then have an element of racism and sexism in them because that's the way the world was back then. You're saying those movies have bad qualities, but without the understanding that those movies had those elements because that was the way of the world back then. And than once again Harry spits venom at Roger because Roger had the luck to be born in an age where the toy guns he had were much cooler then the toy guns that Harry had. Someone order Harry one of those toy guns from way back when, he's obviously pretty bitter about not having one of those as a kid. And you know Harry you may live in a world where you think all kids are fanatical lovers of violent video games, but you are wrong. Other things in the world than ultra-violent video games that kids enjoy doing. Like being out in the sunlight... You do remember sunlight don't you Harry?
You know I liked Kick Ass overall, but it certainly wasn't the greatest movie ever made, and I personally think that the fatal flaw was that you could tell which parts were written by the Guy Ritchie buddy, and which ones were not. Here's a clue, the super ultra-violent parts by the buddy, and the Not Another Teen Movie part by the other writer...
But I certainly won't be getting my twelve year old daughter a Hit Girl outfit, nor will she be watching this movie for quite a while.
Sorry Harry, I understand that it's important that you push the comic book industry, and the comic books made into movies industry, but frankly I am determined that my daughter doesn't fall into line with the rest of the mediocre idiots over any useless fad based on a truly two dimensional character just because the character has your personal approval.
-
Wow - you remember Ebert defending Scorsese when you were 6...that's exceptional.
-
I really thought this thing was for kids. I wondered why they showed the trailer prior to Shutter Island. But now I read words like 'ultra-violence' being tossed around in this TB and I'm curious as to what the hell this is actually portraying that's so bad besides the hijinks and pratfalls of McLovin.
-
Harry - you hit the nail on the head. Thank you for your respectful disagreement with Roger. I love you both.
-
Holy shit...this all makes so much more sense now. And if we don't know what gratuitous means...then what makes you think we'll get ludicrous? Anyway, that's a really long post just to point out that you're not going to bring a six year old to an R-rated bloodbath. Would you like your Father of the Year award now, or down the road when you keep her from going to the prom with a guy in hockey mask holding a machete? Mediocre idiots in-fucking-deed!
-
I would agree with Harry that kids of yester-year and even my own childhood were exposed to much more violence in tv, cartoons, and films. The difference between those kids and kids today is accountability and parenting. Sure I sneaked a view of R-rated films before my parents would allow me, but because of my parents being strict about following the rating guidelines I knew right from wrong and by the time I had the guts to sneak these views I was pretty much ready to see it even if I was still under the age of 17. Kids see these violent films today and act out not because of the movie, but because they were never taught right from wrong and reality from fiction. Also, if a kid goes out and does something stupid after watching a violent film, no one blames the kid. There is no accountability. Maybe Roger understands that subconsciously.
-
Mediocre implies being average, while idiot implies a below average intelligence. You either be average, or below average, not both. Just like you can't be, "extremely average." If you're going to insult us, put some more thought into it, please.
-
I'll still see the movie being the fanboy I am!
-
Freudian slip. I was looking at Albaturkey's post. That was "extemely average," of me.
-
note to self: don't type angry.
-
Does anyone know a way to contact Roger Ebert to ask him how good friends he is with Harry Knowles? My bet - "Harry who?" is the answer.
-
Does anyone know a way to contact Roger Ebert to ask him how good friends he is with Harry Knowles? My bet - "Harry who?" is the answer.
-
This is what KICK-ASS is like: http://www.slashfilm.com/wp/wp-content/images/300px-kick-ass_vol_1_2.jpg
-
in that this film has moments where it suggests that it's going to treat violence as something serious and having ramifications in the real world, but by the end ultimately abandons that premise and devolves into the very same ultra-stylizied comic book fluff it seems to be satirizing. The first 20-30 minutes of "Kick Ass" had me thinking I was in for a dark, edgy ride into the world of an anti-social geek's power fantasy but the movie ultimately reconfirms the audience's safe and happy worldview while delivering a deadly preteen for kicks.
-
You were 6 years old and Siskel and Ebert were your heroes for defending Taxi Driver? You saw that movie when you were 6? Wow, just....wow.
-
Well said.
-
Will you take over writing for this site?
PLEASE! -
Johnzee, I've got to apologize. I just read your whole post, and, if anything, I agree with most of it. I had scanned it, and I overreacted to a couple things that I, admittedly, misconstrued. I thought you were lumping all comic readers into the 'idiots' you mentioned (I could blame it on low blood sugar I guess). So Sorry again, and while I might not agree with everything you said, I'll be reading more carefully in the future. Hope no harm was done.
-
make that into a movie!
-
Who should I believe? A veteran critic or a hack who--without constraint--aborts his own credibility as an educated journalist (flashback to the time that Harry pretended to have read "Pride and Prejudice"; whoa, painful).
-
Just came back from the movie. realized some crazy shits on this TBs. Had to express some of my opinions.
a) the "sexualization" of an 11-year old girl.
This reminded me of a CNN news a couple of years back when a Texas school board wanted to ban its local high school cheerleaders from performing certain routines, because they were considered "overly sexual". The repoarter asked "how do you define overly sexual?" And the guy (an old man wearing a suit) said "well, we know it when we see it".
I wanted to punch that dirty old man in the face through the tv screen.
That is also my initial reaction to those who said the hit girl is "sexualized" in this movie. -
b) about parenting.
This actually pertains to two different levels: the parenting in the movie, and the parening in reality.
/p
for the parenting in the movie, first of all, it is a fucking movie! Based on a comic book! But even that, in the movie Big Daddy had been warned by one person he still could trust "you owe that kid a childhood!" And in the end (SPOILER!), hit girl does get to be in an environment of as close to a normal childhood as possible. What else do you want, from a fantasy movie? Jeez.
Now the parenting in reality. Hey, it is called "parenting", wouldn't it be the parents' responsibility to teach their kids what is right and what is wrong, what is fantasy and what is reality, how you can indulged in fantasies but what you must maintain in real world? Blaming the media, it seems to me, is a sorry excuse for lazy parenting. -
c) about Chloe Moretz's personal growth.
I find it incredibly crazy that so many people had determined Chloe's future (not as an actress, mind you, but as a human being) based on, what, a 5-minute scripted Leno interview? And most incredibly, in your guys' mind, what the fuck is wrong with that interview, anyway?
I got a strong feeling that Chloe would turn out much better than would the kids of those people who decided that she's exploited / victimized in the movie / on the Leno show. -
I warned you months ago to ease up on it. Because this site in particular was so doggedly insistent on applying pedal to floor, the film is now going to be deemed a bomb. It fell about ten mil short of projections. Let the spin doctoring and history revisionism begin.
-
It's BARELY Saturday. And the film has a SMALL ASS BUDGET! It's already made back more than a third of it's budget from overseas. I guess I will just never understand people trying to make doom and gloom prediction about the QUALITY of a movie based on it's ticket sales. Beyond that, though, this movie will in no way be a "bomb" at the box office. Quote me on that. Seriously, I'll take a screen cap and post it in my photobucket. This movie will be a box office success. More than twice it's budget will be made world-wide by the time it's theatrical run is over.
-
is Dead and almost lost it. Don't do that. Whether you agree or disagree with the Ebert, the man is due respect. Fuck it, if you read him regularly - not just his reviews but blog - Ebert is one of our best critical thinkers - period.
-
I think it would have been a gooder movie if the little girl did anal sex.
-
I used to agree with Ebert a lot so I always used to look to his reviews for the straight stuff on a film. However in the last 10 or so years he's taken a different path. His reviews don't seem to make sense anymore. I'd read a review and then see the film and totally disagree. I don't know what's happened to Ebert ( alot yes I know ) but since those days with Siskle he's changed. He doesn't like films for really silly reasons. I no longer rely on his reviews as I once did. Ah, the good old days.
-
norman" voight doesnt just have an expression on his face, he has a leer and what a leer it is, it is a leer among, a king leer."
-
Surprised no one's mentioned the other superhero satire of late. I loved DEFENDOR though it's obviously in a different class than KICK-ASS simply on budget alone. But it doesn't stray far from the premise even at the ending.DEFENDOR's kick-ass soundtrack should be given credit as well for really elevating that film.
-
So his "taste" in popular movies can fuck off.
-
where I can get a rapid fire nerve gun!
-
Apr 17, 2010 9:06:29 AM CDT
THE NUMBERS ARE IN..AND THE MOVIE IS A SUCCESS!
by isleptwithkathybatesandallthatigotwasthi
Good to hear.
-
Loved it- but as far as Ebert's position goes- it's his position and I wouldn't question his feelings on it. My father- who loves Tarantino's movies would himself probably feel that the movie goes too far- who am I to say that his feelings would be wrong? I must say though- that though the movie didn't offend my sensibilities- that I CAN agree with one of Ebert's main concerns- and that is the impact it will have on some children. Notice that I say SOME children- because really it all depends on how you raise your child. I was at the bus stop the other day- and a woman waiting on the line had her two children nearby- youngsters that were jumping around pretending they were doing kung fu and that they were superheroes- thing is- they came dangerously close to actually HITTING passersby- and the mother had little to no control over these hyper-energetic youngsters. I can only shudder to think how a movie like Kick-Ass would raise their already over-exuberant fantasies into the stratosphere- because this really rests on HOW THE CHILDREN ARE RAISED. More often than not- I see parents who have no control over their children. A parent who controls his/her children well and is able to sternly have them identify right from wrong and fantasy from reality CAN if he/she so deems it okay, take a child to this and come out okay- with the viewing as a special treat for the kid and as a preview of the kind of movies they will be able to watch regularly when they grow up- but the WRONG parent- and there's TONS of them- can take a child to this with a shitstorm of negative consequences. A major part of Harry's Ebert bitching is his argument on the availability of guns- but anyone who has seen the movie knows that hit-girls murders just as many villains with blades, knives and swords as she does guns- and blades are readily available in all households- including households where parents have little to no control over their children. Well then- how does this differ from any other hyper-violent film? Easy. By pandering to the superhero audience (kids make up a huge part of that audience), by being infused with bright playful colors- by being advertised everywhere- including this site- as a movie that everyone should see, by co-starring an 11 year old girl who just happens to play the film's most murderous character, etc. etc. Again- I loved it- will buy it on blu-ray as well- but I think that this should have been rated NC-17 for the reasons stated above- and I think that the advertising should have been more limited and direct. There are kids that can handle this material- sure- but there are plenty who can't- due to bad or nonexistent parenting. Also to question Ebert's feelings and opinions- as I've said many times above- is the action of an imbecile. That said, adults who love comic-book movies and at least partly stylized hyper-violence (the violence here is a slight touch more realistic and less stylized than in a Tarantino film in which you can actually see the hose pumping the fake blood) should love the hell out of this. One final note- having seen this- Hit Girl really isn't that sexualized- she's simply dressed like a superhero in a thankfully non-revealing costume, and as a schoolgirl in one scene- and all girls dress as schoolgirls at times, don't they? Sure- pervs may have a field day with her- but no more so then they'd have a field day driving by the nearest schoolyard. Of greater concern is the dress Chloe wore on Leno- which I still say was way too short. Nuff said. Go see it. Leave the kids home unless they're well raised and deserving of a special treat. And Harry- you suck.
-
that KA isn't worth seeing, though I disagree with some of his rationale. Ultimately, it becomes the kind of movie it tries to parody. Pacing is a mess, tone is all over the place, and the attempts at being shocking are ill-placed.
Overall, Defendor is worthier of your time. -
and it's not it this board's context- but so be it. Cage is finally starting to redeem himself in my eyes- I always hated him save for three performances- Raising Arizona, Wild at Heart and The Weatherman (I actually hated him in Adaptation)- but in the last few weeks I've seen Port of Call New Orleans and Kick-Ass and I loved him in both. Here's hoping he stays away from the shit scripts from now on and only works with directors who utilize his bizarre appearance in a quirky manner.
-
I wouldn't ever say someone was "wrong" in their opinion of a film, but my wife and I went to see KICK ASS last night and neither of us could fathom where Ebert was coming from. This movie is as much of a fantasy as any other comic book movie, and Hitgirl's "assault" was no more "real" than her flying around, killing villains left and right. Honestly after reading Ebert's comments I expected Hitgirl to be brutally attacked and molested -- instead she takes a few punches. Maybe I'm so desensitized to violence now that it didn't bother me, but as an adult movie viewer, I was keenly aware this movie is a MOVIE and a FANTASY and that Hitgirl didn't resemble a normal 11 year old being attacked as would happen in the real world.
Ebert's reaction to the movie is just utterly bizarre. And this notion that she was "sexed up" for this film? What the hell was he talking about? My wife sat there, loved the movie (and she's not even a geek like me, lol) and said "what was he talking about??" when the film was over.
Anyway, I loved the film. Vaughn brought an energy to this film that was vibrant. I thought this film was more ALIVE than most all other comic book films we've watched over the last decade. Great fun for ADULTS -- I wouldn't take young kids to see it, obviously -- but this whole "morality" clause Ebert is talking about frankly didn't wash with me on this film. Even if Harry was wrong to "attack" Ebert's opinion, I think Ebert got it completely wrong this time. -
Ouch.
-
Where have you been getting your information from? The movie is estimated to pull in $19 mill this weekend while it was hoped to pull in $30 mil. Hollywood Reporter reports that production budget was $50 mil. So that seems like a pretty mediocre start to me. When all is said and done, will it make a profit? No doubt, but it's hardly the smash success Fanboys are dying for it to be, which kind of sucks because all the passionate effort that they've put into promoting it. I'm not troll, I saw the film and want for it to do well. I'm ticked off actually at the marketing which was pretty awful and because it's not getting the return it rightfully deserves.
More like the movie is -
http://www.altfg.com/blog/movie/kick-ass-disappointing-box-office/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3id0cdc0bf3ab9d77a0d0da10c8c08d37c
-
its all true. shallow violence as pure entertainment is not healthy.
-
This movie was empty, meaningless violence, without a decent story to justify it. I'm all for gore and ridiculousness, but this movie was uninspired, shallow, and just plain cruel at times. I can only assume that the temp audio track at BNAT was amazing. The music in the final cut was distracting and horribly edited. This movie was a pile. The shallow, uninteresting Hangover crowd will love it. The thoughtful, intelligent nerd crowd will hate it. This is not what comics are about.
-
Apr 17, 2010 11:56:50 AM CDT
Harry has chosen Character Assassination.. and here's why...
by tailhook
Seriously? You're that hung up on a movie that you have to go off on someone for having a different opinion? So much so that you go to great lengths to rail against their chilhood? Seriously?
-
That's not bad at all. I'll Netflix it at the very least.
-
There's never a vaild reason to show someone get their head blown off other than shock value. and intelligent, thoughtful nerds will love this movie because they can seperate fantasy and reality.
-
he has a post on why video games are not art...um,ok...he seems to be railing against the geek subculture, telling everyone to be more responsible for good taste...
-
war and gangster movies.You know like Platoon,Private Ryan,Godfather,Scarface etc where the violence in those movies had purpose,a meaning.
and as K-A is concerned,the fact that 3 AICN reviewers gave each one a different description of the content of the movie,its a pretty good indication that either the movie does not have content at all or it does have content but it failed to communicate it to the audience.
besides we are talking about a movie with a script which is based on a comic by Mark Millar,the Michael Bay of comics as so perfectly was characterized by Ambush Bug.He is not Alan Moore or Grant Morrisson or Frank Miller.And even though K-A is indeed his best work (meaning it has a content),the creators of the film managed to alter the basic meaning of the story,to make it more Hollywood,more mainstream,diminishing all the qualities of the original work.
So yeah,K-A is pure entertainment,nothing more.Its Die Hard with superheroes,Commando with kids,nothing more nothing less. -
about games not being art.I agree that videogames are not art (a lot of VG developers share the same opinion) BUT frankly Ebert's arguments in his article are at least laughable.The vgames are not art but not for the reasons that Ebert talks about.
-
Not going to analyze it or anything, but my gut reaction is that it was a fun movie I had a good time watching. I can dig people complaining about the tonal shifts, but they worked for me. I like a movie that can flip from comedy, to drama, to balls out action on a dime. Didn't think Hit-Girl was sexualized at all either. The audience seemed to dig the audacity.
-
the movie despite Cage outstandig performance is a massive disappointment. the story is all over the place. it is very funny in places. But I found the film to be weak in certain places. the on screen narration bothered me as did the on screen narration of Wanted. Cage's character backstory was botched so severly. Millar is writer who is obviously not interested in illiciting any sympathy from the audience. the movie felt rushed to me. the characters were all ugly and ugly written. they had no redeeming features what so ever. this film will be forgotten. in a couple of months time. and it ought to be because despite Cage, this was an ugly little film. North innercity dublin kids will and do say alot worse than hitgirl. its an ugly stupid, and pointless film.
-
dressed up in a uniform. middle america went mad. a load of bs. made her look sexy as hell. it was of course a very clever move by her marketing people. the video was a smash. and shifted massive copies of her album.
-
It's a long weekend for Kick Ass.
-
$30 million was the production budget and was financed independently.
$45 million is how much Lions Gate paid for the distribution rights, so technically.. its allready made a profit for the makers.
$20 million and #1 is what projections are looking like for the weekend. Apologists like any reviewer on this site will spin that as successful. Dissenters will spin it as being a lackluster performance that will require Video for it to turn a profit for Lions Gate, considering they put in $45 to buy/and prob $50 mil to market.
My take? This only validates the studio concerns. It'll probably spawn a sequel now that it has the name recognition, but studios aren't going to run out and greenlight every ultra-edgy new project because they were suddenly wrong about this type of thing having wide box office appeal. Because they weren't and it doesn't. -
But PA sucked, too.
-
war movies. "Crime doesn't pay" and "war is hell". It aint no deeper than that. The shoot em up violence in The Matrix, Die Hard, and Kick Ass have the same one-note messages to a lesser extent but they serve a different purporse. It's to tantalize rather than send a social message. That means the violence does have a purpose. Why would you expect anything else from an action movie? It's not meant to be a message film like a war or gangster movie.
-
I already posted this in the review but it has to be said again since it's so annoying. I don't know where all this sexualisation of Hit Girl is coming from.
I have to admit I love the character of Hit Girl - I thought she was the most awesome chatacter in the film. The thing is I didn't want to have sex with her - I'm pretty sure most others watching didn't even think that either.
She's just a cool character that had some funny lines and great action sequences. I enjoy similar stuff from Bruce Willis but I don't want to have sex with him either. -
Apr 17, 2010 3:01:06 PM CDT
That's just silly. Everyone wants to have sex with Bruce Willis.
by juansanchez
-
Apr 17, 2010 3:05:03 PM CDT
Ebert's history of paternalistic (& patronizing) attitude toward
by jim jam bongs
... in movies. He comes across as a male-feminist, but winds up sounding righteous and condescending since it's like he's protecting "the honor" of women. (He hated Blue Velvet for how Isabella Rosselini was "exploited" in it. He is very vocal and angry at David Lynch's treatment of women in his ovies.) Which is ironic considering he wrote an exploitation flick in his early writing career.
-
Hit Girl does indeed steal the movie.(Number one costume for females this Halloween.) The movie played more fantasy than reality to me.Kick Ass won't be a blockbuster but it's going to make a ton of money when the DVD is released.SONY should hire the two actors who played Kick Ass and his girlfriend for the Spiderman Reboot.
-
that a director got a 12 year old to say cunt or gets her beaten to a pulp. Grow up Harry, get some morals. Show some much needed respect to Ebert. Your entire article was just your way of slapping Roger in the face while smiling. The question should be Harry if you had a 12 year old daughter ( I don't know if you have any kids) how stoked would you be to see her saying cunt on the big screen.
-
... Women have a voice and can speak up for themselves in regards to these (very real) issues as to how women are depicted in movies, and don't need Ebert to speak for them. Basically, if you have a movie were a woman is attacked, or features an underage girl in some unconventional (and, yes, "inappropriate" manner, even if that is obviously the artistic/dramatic point), Ebert will always hate the movie and get all high-and-mighty and righteous about it. He has always had some incredibly deep-rooted issues about this.
-
Apr 17, 2010 3:11:02 PM CDT
Harry is a schill for Kick-ass, Ebert isn't simple as that
by awepittance
-
...not $45 million, according to Nikki Finke.
She might be wrong though! -
Cause he hates the movie? If anything the fans of this movie are trying desperately to convince themselves they liked it.
-
umm..... because he doesn't like the movie... hello, he's a FILM CRITIC!!! and if you actually have read his review he is more gutted about the innocence lost with Chloe Moretz. He's more concerned with the way we applaud these films that depict children in horrific ADULT situations. Yes, its just a movie and Yes, Hit Girl is just a character... but in the real world that scummy director still got her to cuss and exploit herself on screen all for your entertainment. When did it become so bad to hold high morals?? how is that self righteous??
-
Remember a few months ago when every person with a computer said that Avatar was going to be a huge disaster? Yeah, that sure played out.
-
It made over a gazillion dollars, and it had an 80 percent rating on RT. You want disaster, look at Wolfman.
-
I was very bummed for a moment. Now, I'm just a little bummed that he's such a grumpy old bastard.
-
Apr 17, 2010 4:25:26 PM CDT
Having a little girl curse and shoot blanks is not exploitation.
by nerd rage
Kids curse and play with toy guns all the time. They just filmed it this time. The kid actor wasn't being exploited at all. She's now an action movie icon right up there with John McClane or Neo. Yeah, poor victim.
-
My 8 year old Daughter has been waiting for Kick-Ass for months. It is the movie she was most excited about because it portrays a strong girl kicking butt. Then the Red Trailer came out. I told it wasn't likely she could see the movie. I saw it yesterday and it a fun movie, but any parent who take their kid under the ages of 16 is an idiot. The fanboys knocking Ebert obviously don't have kids or are idiots.
-
Apr 17, 2010 4:29:39 PM CDT
Nothing is wrong with high moral unless they're misdirected
by nerd rage
For example you scream bloody murder because a little girl is an action hero who gains the respect and admiration of the audience. It's cause for celebration not remorse.
-
First of all these are not simple messages,they are very important messages.
Secondly these movies dont only provide a preachy message about violence but they also explore the violence in all its levels: why someone acts violently,what are the consequences to the one who witness or receives violence,how violence affect society and so on.In other words the movies have content,they are not made to entertain with their violence.
Moreover violence is not used only as a subject of exploration but it has an artistic purpose inside the context of the film.For example in Private Ryan,the ultra violence in Normandy invasion has the purpose to show us that the soldiers went literary through hell but regardless they kept fighting,thus becoming immortal heroes in the human history.
And ofc then there are movies like Die Hard or Commando where violence is only there to entertain: When Gruber falls out of the window or Arnie shoves the pipe inside Bennets' chest we cheer,we laugh,we get entertained.
Exactly that is KA.An entertaining movie based on violence.Its not about satire,or social messages or deconstructing superhero comics or whatever the nerds wrongly attribute to the movie.Its about seeing some ass kicking,that all. -
In other news, Old man yells at cloud. Incoherent fanboy disagrees.
-
anybody who knocks an absurdist R-rated action film for having too much absurd R-rated action either doesn't accept their responsibilities as parental gaurdians or are clueless idiots.
-
The main point is that Harry has lost ALL street cred on this site...does anyone actually give a shit what he thinks anymore. He's a fat fucking sellout and Id wager that his approval rating is below 20%. Christ BUSH had a higher rating than that..I sometimes wonder if Harry's profits from banner ads on this site are based on the number of hits or talk back posts. That would explain his moronic and controversial ramblings. He posts about two rebutals and then disappears, his job done and his filthy pockets greased. I mean shit 800 posts here....how much money is that in your hippy purse? Look I understand this is his site and he's achieved his 15 minutes of fame and fortune, Mazel Tov, but seriously, at this point, the majority of the people here post to your insane rantings, just to bust your balls, make fun of you, call you an idiot, or just plain tell you how stupid you are. you should be fucking embarrased considering this is your fucking site man. Oh, and PLEASE for the love of god dont ever spawn....
-
Although I think Harry came off as a bit of a douche for dissing Ebert, I have to agree that despite the "controversy" there was a very good blend of satirical action dark comedy that was kick ass.Any comic ner..i mean affciando would know that most of it is tongue and cheek from kick ass' naration througout the film (as in Raimi's Spiderman franchise) to Cage's spoof of Batman;Big Daddy (Even got the Adam West persona to a tee.) As for Hit Girl, she was the one doing most of the ass kicking and I rather see a lil' miss sociopath whacking bad guys than some kid being molested by pedos, pervs and priests.Fuck Superhero the Movie, K A is the best spoof of comics and nerds alike.Stalkeye gives Kick Ass two thumbs up.
-
Lets not ignore this little but significant detail.
-
I love all kinds of crazy shit but a 10 yr old girl saying cunt is just wrong.
Honestly I can't even see how anyone can stick up for this unless they are getting paid to do so. -
Winner!
-
Apr 17, 2010 6:19:13 PM CDT
And the Friday numbers are only $2 mil ahead of Mystery Men!
by juansanchez
When adjusting for inflation.
-
Ebert did not have a nationally syndicated show until 1978, which was when you were neither 6 nor when Taxi Driver came out you lying sack of shit.
-
And I don't even remember reading any reviews on it.
-
they are a type of architecture, or installation.....there shouldn't even be a question about this.
-
Kick Ass does explore violence in society. How violence is promoted on the internet, how people react to violence (sadism and sympathy), the danger of living a violent lifestyle, a civilians reasons for avoiding or confronting violent situations. It's all there in the movie, you just need to observe. In fact Kick Ass comprehensively explores violence far more than most gangster and war movies which typically use violence to advance the story and to drive home the simple "crime doesn't pay/war is hell" message. Look at how civilians constantly abndon victims of violence. The reaction by the masses to the youtube video and the live torture. Or how the gangsters either laugh or are oblivious to people being microwaved or tortured. Or how and why Kick Ass welcomes violent before and after he becomes numb or finds a relationship. Look how gangsters use violence to send messages to the public. But of course some people just see Hit Girl twirling guns around. If you are too distracted by shiny objects to appreciate the social commentary that's your problem.
-
over this movie also shitting themselves over South Park? I mean, that's a fuckin' cartoon! And available on television! Ohs-nos!!!
I just got back from seeing the movie... It's hyper-violent absurdist fun. Simple as that. A mixture of Spiderman and Kill Bill with a South Park sensibility. Now, if that's not your thing, I completely understand, but this is not the downfall of Western civilization we're talking about.
If you're concerned about the actress who plays Hit Girl as an "adult", well, I guess time will tell... But otherwise, who gives a fuck? People here are making WAY too big a deal out of it. So much, that I'm guessing most of those who are, haven't seen it yet. -
You think Hit Girl is an "action movie icon" like John McClane and Neo? Kick Ass might end up being a modest success, but that's really the best case scenario for this movie. McClane was probably the no.1 action movie hero of the 80's and Neo was arguably the no.1 action hero of the 90's. I don't think Hit Girl is going to be the something people remember even a year from now.
-
She's a child star. How often does that go well? Having her pretend to kill people in a violent movie probably won't make a big difference. The problem with Hit Girl is that it's a stupid idea. I guess it's supposed to be "violent, absurdist fun" or something, but is it really that hilarious to see a little girl swear and shoot people? Is that really that clever? Sounds like humor that's about as subtle as a sledgehammer.
-
Sexual exploitation. It just doesn’t exist. The school girl outfit which some of you are making such a big deal out of --and this is no spoiler-- is nothing more than a disguise. She can’t sneak into a building as an 11 year old exterminator, right? Or an 11 year old pizza delivery guy, right? She’s a trained assassin, so the movie is trying for irony by dressing her up as an innocent school girl. Really, the only disguise that makes any sense.
True Fact: The porn industry didn’t create the school girl outfit, they only sexualized it. If you’re looking at Hit-Girl the same way you look at that School Girl porn you’ve got on your computer… Well that’s on your shoulders. Same for the superhero outfit. The girl is covered from head-to-toe! You’re letting your own kinks get in the way here folks. If she disguised herself in a chicken costume, some chicken fucker out there would have surely thought to himself: “Jeeze, that girl’s too young to be dressed up as a chicken like that.”
And on the subject of her cursing… Again with the South Park analogy. Is Cartman being sexualized when he drops the F-bomb on South Park? She was raised to be a remorseless killing machine who had her childhood denied… It’s a fucking riff on Batman and Robin (obviously), nothing more. -
...but how can they make a 12 year old swear like that? The movie is immoral! It's the exorcist! It's Linda Blair! They beat kick ass to the concept of children swearing by 40 years.
-
Back in 2005, Ebert addressed a fanboy's abrupt inquiry with "Ain't It Cool What?" Harry, your amateur "journalism" eclipses any opportunity for you to be the next Pauline Kael...the next Paul Reubens, maybe...
-
No, Too soon?
-
She can rot in hell. He bullshit opinions lambasted movies everyone else on the planet liked except her. I give her previous existance two thumbs down.
-
I mean it's rated R. I'm sick of stupid parents. They have a job to do, and if they can't do it they shouldn't expect filmmakers to do it for them. That being said, I personally thought it should be for kids 14 and up. BUT if I had a little kid, and they saw KICK ASS somehow, I wouldn't have a problem with them looking up to Hit Girl. She was great. And the whole movie is about getting the bad guys. Instead of looking up to skanks on TMZ or rappers who do nothing but talk over other people's records while selling their gangstah lifestyle, it'd be good for them to look up to crimefighters. The characters in this film are great role models imo. Roger misses the point sometime. I live in a world where a kid gets tortured to death for wetting his pants. http://tinyurl.com/y7398lu Something like that wouldn't have happened to Hit Girl. Maybe that's why I like this movie.
-
Scared me for a second when I first saw it fast.
-
We all know if any other critic wrote that you wouldn't bother writing a retort. Leave it alone, he is certainly entitled to his opinion.
-
And this is proof, he's so outraged over this movie he has to write this crap. I can't take Harry seriously. he's simply too much of a fanboy geek. Also, he's not in Ebert's league.
-
Apr 17, 2010 9:25:20 PM CDT
Let's not pretend like Ebert is the only guy who feels this way
by bigtuna
Kick-Ass" is indeed controversial, and quite a few critics have an issue with it's content like Ebert did.
-
If he was too old or missed the point. Both are true.
-
Apr 17, 2010 9:49:35 PM CDT
More people care about Rachel Wiez on this site than Harry's Op
by eddiemurphyslaugh
-
And that's on the first line! Did you even think before you put that on this site?
-
In this day where everyone likes to point to films, comics and video games as leading to violent behavior, only one person has both dressed as a comic character and done violence, Phil Spector. Mr. Spector did dress as Batman and later while not dressed as Batman shot a young woman. So despite dozens of Batman features, cartoons, Fan Films, comic titles and a TV series; despite basically a similar number of Superman titles; despite all the X-Men, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Green Hornet, and more, the world cannot name as many crazy people in real life as the five characters who don costumes in Kick Ass. No one have ever tried to increase their power to over 9,000, no one claiming to have seen an alien has ever claimed they were given a ring and this sector of space to protect and I have unfortunately never seen a woman attempt to change her clothes while spinning in place.
Video games, movies and comics clearly have not corrupted the youth of any age. Perhaps we should look to other causes for the damaged people who so terrify those who lack imagination and fear it in others. -
Ebert raves about this asinine scat comedy after dumping on Kickass
-
This weekend.
-
Really.
-
KICK ASS NO SUPERHERO! Leading the box office on Friday, Kick-Ass wasn't exactly the next Zombieland, despite the hype machine pushing it as something even bigger. Nevertheless, it posted a relatively solid estimated $7.6 million on approximately 4,300 screens at 3,065 locations. That figure, though, still includes preview grosses from Thursday night. Death at a Funeral also delivered a relatively solid opening day, grossing an estimated $5.6 million on around 3,000 screens at 2,459 venues. That was smack dab in the middle of First Sunday and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins among similar comedies.
-
ith just $7.5 million on Friday, Kick-Ass is a certified bust. Was it the marketing? Roger Ebert? The c-word? Spurred by these questions, senior editor S.T. VanAirsdale and I got into a feverish IM conversation about Kick-Ass. Basically: What happened?
Christopher: How about Kick-Ass, huh? What a huge disaster.
STV: How did that even happen? The R-rating aside, how could NO ONE see that?
Christopher: I don’t even know. That’s a horrendous opening. Especially since geek movies are totally front-loaded. That sh*t might not cross $15 million for the weekend. I mean no one saw it. It had to be the marketing. It was all consuming, but mostly it was just bad. I don’t know one person over 30 who wanted to see it. And forget girls.
STV: It needed stars. It should have exploited Nicolas Cage more than it did. He sells tickets! People go see his terrible films.
"Aaron Johnson and his voice cracking was a huge turn-off. Get worse. You’re not McLovin’. Also: more McLovin’."
Christopher: I think Aaron Johnson and his voice cracking was a huge turn-off. Get worse. You’re not McLovin’. Also: more McLovin’.
STV: Well there is a perception problem. Like, New York profiled Christopher Mintz-Plasse and there was lots of attention in the Times. Prestige and sh*t. It got a ton of press. But! Did it really? When the principal web piece about Kick-Ass turns out to be Harry Knowles reacting to Roger Ebert’s pan, that’s a web FAIL. The audience for this film was online and they were totally overlooked in favor of the high-culture home run. Also, maybe there’s something to people not really wanting to see average folks pretending to be second-rate superheroes. They want STARS with ACTUAL POWERS.
Christopher: They probably don’t want little girls either. They focused the marketing on an 11-year-old girl and that’s just weird. Her saying the c-word aside.
STV: Also: THE MOVIE WASN’T GOOD. That’s a problem.
Christopher: I’m seeing it later. I don’t think it’s the movie, though, on opening weekend. People don’t even know how good or bad it is.
STV: No, but word of mouth is important, especially when you can argue that the film peaked all the way back at Comic-Con last year. It had pretty short-lived momentum out of South by Southwest.
Christopher: I think the no stars is important. I mean Watchmen didn’t have any stars, but that felt like an EVENT. This just felt like some sh*tty B-rate comic book movie based on a comic book that no one ever heard of. At least Watchmen is iconic, even if the movie was bad.
STV: I guess this means that Lionsgate will stick to Tyler Perry and Saw films from here on out, thank you very much. They probably see Killers next on the calendar and are cowering under the desk.
Christopher: Seriously. This opening is flat-out embarrassing. It will open lower than The Bounty Hunter.
STV: So no franchise, I guess. You’ll see at the end of the movie why this might be a problem. It’s kind of embarrassingly presumptuous
Christopher: It can join Terminator Salvation in that category. I think this proves that the pure geek audience is not as big as people assumed.
STV: Good! May the future belong to original ideas and flesh-and-blood characters who don’t have to tie on a cape or strap on some rocket pack or milk anemic genre tropes in the desperate hopes of reaching audiences. Good riddance, Kick-Ass.
Christopher: Well, until the next comic book movie. -
How can Harry's opinion that Ebert is wrong be wrong? If Ebert can't be wrong professing his opinion, then Harry can't be wrong professing his own opinion that Ebert is wrong.
Also, it is my opinion that I am right. So don't even try to challenge my statement. -
People laughed most in the most violent scenes, even the old men. I think this is going to be a momentum film. Heck, I didn't see it on Friday. The theater was packed and it was one of those gigantic AMC ones in conservative ass Dallas.
-
I've been following this site for about ten years now, and this has got to be one of the most insane write-ups at AICN. C'mon Harry, I love your site... but did you have to sucker-punch a comrade?
-
I still have the review where he talks about how FAST TIMES abused JENNIFER JASON LEIGH in the role of STACY HAMILTON. MR. EBERT chickened-out in putting that review in his book called I HATED, HATED, HATED THESE MOVIES. He was wrong about FAST TIMES (a great movie) and he is wrong again about KICK-ASS. I wonder how many other times he has been wrong? Probably several hundred times.
-
Harry's being a douchebag here - that's the point.
-
You don't review another movie review.
-
Someone Needs To Dig Up (He's long dead) Gene Siskel And Get... His Opinion. I remeber that Siskel and Ebert often disagreed about movies. By the way was Siskel buried in John Travolta's white suit from SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER? I remember Siskel paid $100,000 for it at an auction. True story.
-
What's next? Is he going to lecture President Obama on how to deal with Iran?
-
Your buddy Roger Ebert also said games will never be art. Do you share in this view? Games are art in my opinion,one needs only to look at Mario or Okami.
-
The movie made $20 million worldwide on Friday. It will do that or more on Saturday. It will make another 15 or more on Sunday. Anything after that will be all profit so RefutetheHype's postings are pointing out what? that by Monday the filmmakers are in profit. Sure if the movie cost $200 million then they would be in trouble. When your in profit opening weekend that is not trouble. I've seen the movie twice and enjoyed it both times. I think this will have good word of mouth and legs next week.
-
Apr 18, 2010 2:06:00 AM CDT
FIRST IMAGE OF THOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by james4543
http://www.fanboyweb.com/?p=271
-
Apr 18, 2010 2:06:04 AM CDT
FIRST IMAGE OF THOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by james4543
http://www.fanboyweb.com/?p=271
-
So what if Ebert didn't like this movie? That's his critique. You just make yourself look weak by disagreeing with him so publically. I've been coming to this site for a good 10 years, maybe more, and I think this post is in bad taste.
I think Kick-Ass looks great, and can't wait to see it. Doesn't mean Roger Ebert doesn't have a few interesting thoughts for me to consider after watching it. -
I'm officially withdrawing from it. I've become hopelessly out of touch with it if raw sewage like this is what passes for an untouchable geek landmark nowadays. I assure you, I would've despised the end result even without those pesky 9 months of pre-release hype that blew expectations on all fronts out of proportion. I get what they were trying to do, and in my opinion they screwed the pooch badly. Hit Girl was such a flimsily characterized vessel for sensationalistic gimmickry and contrived outrageousness. None of the characters registered, actually. The tone was schizophrenic. Its message was contradictory. It was a mess. I'm stunned that advance audiences were won over by it to such a devout degree just because it was a fun communal experience to be inside a packed theatre watching a little girl cursing and killing for the sake of cursing and killing.
-
I could give two shits about Eberts critique. This movie is entertaining, and a solid "B". It is FAR superior absurdist viuolence than the overrated and cheesy Kill Bill.
-
I mean, the latest Jackass movie makes 50 mil in two days here in the states with zero budget.
-
I just finished watching Kick-Ass and I have to agree with Harry on this one. As I watched I was offended that a little 11 year old girl was killing people. And not only killing people but brutally killing people. She made it an art form. Also she had the foulest mouth out of all of the actors. Now as I sat thee being offended I was WAY entertained. And then it dawned on me. I thought- this is what my imagination was like when I was 10-11 years of the type of superhero I would be if I could imagine it and it were real! I would be effing Bad-Ass take no crap from no one, kill the bad guys. As the credits rolled I thought to myself, “I should be offended, but the bad guys lost and the good guys won.” So the little actress in the movie was asked to do some CRAZY stuff. But to her it was work and none of it was real. To the audience I can understand why Ebert was offended. YOU SHOULD BE OFFENDED…if it were real. I mean can you imagine a guy teaching his 11 year old daughter to kill people in real life—that would be insane. (I’m looking at you terrorists) But thankfully this was a movie that was entertaining as hell. So far it is my #1 on my 2010 top 10 list. I must see this movie AGAIN… hopefully I can take the wife and warm her up to the idea that she will be offended with the language, all of the killing, but man is it a great story and movie.
-
Have any of you guys that are freaking out over this film seen the cheerleaders at a pop warner or junior high football game?
How about all those little kids ho'd up and pushed into beauty pageants while still in pampers. Have you fucking seen these people?
Is anyone really saying that this R rated film might do more to fetishsize little girls than these little slices of our culture?
And for those of you who are spazzing over what this girl looked liked on Leno... Jeez, that's what affluent young teens dress like when they get gussied up. Go to a fucking mall on a Friday night if you can stand it, you will see a lot worse. But I'm sure its not your kids out there, right?
-
Goes to an "R" movie, even bringing children of innapropriate age and expects *something* won't be offensive? Kickass was a cartoon with over the top violence. All the synopsis and previews spell it out. DUHHH....lemme go to an "R" movie, rated "R" for language and violence and hope my gentle sensibilities aren't briused. Get a fucking life already.
-
Everyone on this site is a virgin.
-
the whole thing makes me think of tofu- nutritious but tasteless.
-
But it's not that hard to get laid.
-
the original texas chainsaw Massacre.
-
Ebert just focused on the little girl doing violent things. He disregarded almost everything else in the movie. It's one of the strangest Ebert reviews I've read in a while. It felt more like a rant than a review.
-
There's purpose behind it. She's killing bad people and what she does at the end is not only about revenge, but fulfilling her duty. I thought it was all quite moving. She wasn't just any little girl either. She was Hit Girl. A girl who in terms of fighting skills was on equal terms with the adults, well actually surpassing them in skill. So the odds were fair. It wasn't like the bad guys were beating up a defenseless little girl. She was almost like a little midget. In the end it's just a movie. It's all fantasy and meant to be entertainment. If your child doesn't know that. You raised them wrong.
-
I've been following AICN since 1997 and I've never seen Harry Knowles do anything like this before, It just may be that he was a little stunned by Roger Ebert's negative review of Kick-Ass, so much so, that he couldn't just let it slide. He had to dissect his friends review to try and make himself understand, how a smart and intellectual man like Roger Ebert, couldn't like Kick-Ass.
-
if you think that by posting this people will flock to Kiss Ass. Until you are able to type a cohesive counter-argument, there is no way anyone will take your opinion, in a hole-in-the-wall sort of place in the inter-web over an the well written and well crafted critique of an accomplished icon.
-
A phrase soon to be included in the upcoming confessional, "The 100 Stupidest Things I Typed to the Internet" by Orionsangels, from OMFG Publishing.
-
not in the professional sense. He doesnt write for other news papers. an editor who gets his work, is likely to look for the nearest window. I read the article and just screams my wittle fwiend roger. this movie has a anti-liberal vibe. its saying that it doesnt matter if you intervene in a fight and get your ass kicked. you did the right thing and you took a stand. the movie is saying that liberals dont do this type of thing. studios are conservative anyhow and we all know how much conservatives love liberal. which is not really.
-
i agree that kids under 11 or 13 or so should not see it.
-
they fucked up..they should have toned down the violence and language and made it more of a sweet funny action movie...it had enough enough heart that they could have gone that way and not made it lame.
-
No way a movie were an 11 year old packs heat is going to be PG-13.
-
Best Dark Comedy of the Year! Not to mention that it's the Perfect love letter to all the Geeks out there. I bet 45% of the Tbers look like the four eyed pudgy actor Clark Duke if not Aaron Johnson. (Just sayin.)
-
Ebert's critique doesn't even qualify as a review. He simply dismisses the movie completely on the notion that Hit Girl is an amoral concept. Harry is attacking that semi-popular notion by using Ebert's public sentiment. And there's no law about challenging a movie critics PUBLIC sentiment.
-
perhaps..but then they should have made it clear that THIS IS A MOVIE FOR GROWN UPS...instead they were totally misleading in the advertising...all trailers made this look like a kid-teen film. And now, neither kids, nor grown ups are going...kids, because they cant, and adults because they assume (like i did, before reading a bit about it) that its a kids film. my theater here in toronto has like 8 people in it...on opening day!
-
I enjoyed it...but it's a pretty disposable movie. SUPERBAD had more heart.
-
Posting a critique of someone else's review is perfectly legal...but it's childish and in poor taste. But the worst part is the condescending tone of the article with Harry preaching about what things were like when Ebert was a child. It's really some tasteless egotistical stuff...when you think about the fact that Ebert was being kind by letting Harry sit in Siskel's seat...and now Harry writes a critique of Ebert's review in a patronizing manner when Ebert could just as easily do that to Harry for 99% of his reviews...but he won't. He has too much class....and he could give a rat's ass about what Harry thinks.
-
if you take "your child" to this film..THEN you're raising them wrong. Kids should not being seeing this in the first place.
-
Harry challenges it. Where's the problem?
-
Apr 18, 2010 7:59:15 AM CDT
You shouldn't have to convince the public of mature content
by nerd rage
That's what the rating system is for.
-
I know Hit girl is 11 years old. The other teens are high school age. Mintz plasse's character says that he will be eighteen. Kick ass is 16. The studios fell for a huge trick played on them by the makers of the movie. they saw on paper an 11 year girl and thought unwisely we will market this a young peoples film. I went to Ridley scott's Hannibal and before the film started, a young kid came up to me aand said if somebody asks questions could you say I am with you. what that kid was doing at a hannibal screening was beyond me. the managers who run these cinemas dont care who sees these films really.
-
is how they attack Ebert - who's Harry's friend, let's not forget - by cruelly and sadistically mocking his cancer.
God knows my love for (500) Days of Summer has no limit, no bounds. It is a true fortress of the heart.
Even so, I wouldn't have thought to defend it by attacking someone's potentially terminal illness. This has really opened my eyes and made me question the strength of my loyalty. Thank you, Kick-Ass fans. You inspire me to be stronger. -
to the degree that I consider it fair to say Ebert is at least inconsistent in making moral judgment about movies.
Ebert considered Kiss Ass "morally reprehensible" because in the movie "a child kills and is bloodied, hahahaha".
Well, let's look at another fantasy movie with a 12-year old girl mutilating people and could bleed from her eyes and nose: Let the right one in.
(SPOILER!)(SPOILER!)
Kick Ass is a superhero movie that is not exactly superhero movie, and Let the right one in is a vampire movie that is not exactly vampire movie. While Hit Girl makes her killing in over the top, cartoonish fashion in Kick Ass, Eli (the 12-year girl vampire in Let the right one in) mutilates people and sucks their blood dry realistically as hell in the movie.
While one can argue that all people killed by Hit Girl are gansters who deserve what is coming to them, Eli kills randomly and indiscriminantly to quench her blood thirst, except only for the shockinly violent last killing of the movie in which she mutilates several school boys simply because they are bullying her boyfriend, a 12-year old boy Oskar.
While Hit Girl is beaten, her nose bled,and she moans in pain, in Let the right one in, when Eli enters Oskar's room "uninvited" (you'll know what it means if you watch the movie)"her head starts to shake and her features become sallow... A blood spot forms on her back...Blood begins to ooze out of Eli's scalp, her ears and her tear ducts...a close-up of Eli's bleeding eyes".
While Hit Girl deliver lines like "Ok, you cunts, let's see what you can do" and "I am just fucking with you", Eli slept on the same bed with Oskar, "moves closer until she's alomst on top of Oskar" and delivers the line "Be me for a little while, plese, be me for a little while"
If Ebert considers Kick Ass "morally reprehensible", what would he think about Let the right one in?
Well, in his own words: "It takes vampire...very seriously indeed", "It is also a painful portrayal of an urgent relationship between two 12-year-olds on the brink of adolescence. It is not intended for 12-year-olds"," the fact is, there are some funny moments. Vampire-funny, you know", "this is the story of two lonely and desperate kids capable of performing dark deeds without apparent emotion"
And of course, he gave Let the right one in three and a half stars. -
And while I find Ebert the textbook definition of milquetoast, someone in this talkback above quoted a line of his to the effect of "it's not the what that interests me, it's the how." So to compare these two movies with totally different tones as a means of showing Ebert up doesn't quite wash.
-
According to Ebert Let the right one in has CONTENT.thats why he likes it.K-A does not have any content thats why he does not like it,he does not want to see an action movie where a 10yo kills and swears only to entertain the audience.see the difference?
-
Thank goodness good taste prevailed this weekend. Look for next week's grosses to drop by 50% at least. No sequel. Whew
-
Apr 18, 2010 9:15:32 AM CDT
Taking on the critics who didn't appreciate the awesomeness of K
by bonsomme
RottenTomatoBot goes after critics who didn't love Kick-Ass!:
http://whenfallsthecoliseum.com/2010/04/16/rtb-rottentomatobot-takes-on-the-scourge-of-film-critics-who-wrote-negative-reviews-of-kick-ass/ -
Scott Pilgrim....you are next!!!!!
-
So that Hollywood can carry on making cookie-cutter free from the creative challenge of competition? THAT, to me, is infinitely more offensive than anything addressed in this talkback.
-
So that Hollywood can carry on making cookie-cutter crap free from the creative challenge of competition? THAT, to me, is infinitely more offensive than anything addressed in this talkback.
-
is parenting dead in the states?
-
indie films and blockbuster films. in the cinematic world.
-
http://tinyurl.com/y6mlgl8 Now shut up.
-
and its fcking kickass true john romita style! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2-5WmAHbOk
-
Just saying. it really, really was.
-
you aint seen nothing yet.
-
This isn't Watchmen. This cost 30 million dollars. It's gonna make 20-24 million this weekend. How is that a failure? A movie called Kick-Ass was never, ever going to make a few hundred million dollars. It's gonna make a really solid profit though. ANd word of mouth is going to keep it going next weekend too. You're all so stupid.
-
I didn't know Ebert had cancer (though I should have at least guessed). Let me tell you, after cancer "senseless" killing and the whole "world going to hell in a handbasket" thing gets old real fast. Kick-Ass is a great movie. Not a masterpiece like some believe and certainly not what Ebert thinks if he thought at all. He might have been thinking "I survived for THIS?... And everyone else in the cinema is enjoying it too... I'll put a stop to that..." And the rest you know. Well, I'm sorry Mr Ebert but you just gave a three to four star movie one star for personal reasons. A critic must criticize what is actually on the screen not their own baggage (sideways look at Harry). So if you are going to continue doing your job badly I for one think it is time for you to go.
-
She's basically a 10 year old tranny vampire that eats people and uses her older mind to mentally enslave a child. Hit Girl is a cartoon by comparison. She twirls guns around and shoots dozens of gangsters like an arcade videogame. The only dark aspect is that she sacrificed her childhood and was brainwashed to some extent to avenge her mother's death. But that CONTENT is mild compared to watching a child cannibalize and learn of their primitive sex change. Hit Girl is obviously done tounge in cheek. It's a far, distant fantasy where a child can shoot dozens of trained killers with Navy SEAL precision and Bugs Bunny physics. It is absurd, subversive and surreal which is why people enjoy and defend it. It is also optimistic in that a little girl is able to defeat gangsters and sociopaths at their own game and outmatch them in impossible ways. Hit Girl is a child empowerment fantasy intended to disarm motherly insticts for an alternate view at a child overcoming an ugly world. Despite the gunplay it is optimistic where as Let the Right On In takes children to a far darker place. A children don't shoot gangsters they're transvestites who feed on innocent people for survival. If Eli disturbs you less because people are cheering Hit Girl then you probably don't realize the Hit Girl is a child victory over an ugly world and Eli is the opposite.
-
http://bit.ly/tE149 you shut up...
-
it's important because it sends a message to people like harry and quint and every who had some mysterious reason (see ads on site) to defend this movie and say nothing bad about it that the public are too smart for the tricks. We know better when we see a bad looking movie not to go no matter what harry says because he's getting advertising money. if it had made a fourth of what it has made it would have been a stronger message so that's too bad but it is still a good message and it tells movie making people to make better kinds of movies.
-
they ran ads all day everyday and everywhere they spent MILLIONS on advertisements and promotion and hooking up talk shows and stuff and as a result YES IT IS A BOX OFFICE FAILURE!
-
Apr 18, 2010 11:33:14 AM CDT
Kick-Ass has realllly brought out the weirdness in all of you
by t 1000 xp professional
I'm just reading the talkback here. i've read things like "Hit -Girl is just doing her duty", " there's a sweet tenderness in this movie", " it was the funniest movie all year"..... this is probably the most interesting effect i've seen a movie have on an audience for a long time.
-
Don't care how it'll do but a sequel NOT going to happen.
-
"Recruiter" are you? How's about you stay on your own website and let the adults talk. Oh, and shut up.
-
that's what is bothering Roger Ebert and me too. Who wants to watch violence for the sake of violence? Not me.
-
Which is why Twilight 2 and Bayformers 2 both cracked 700 million? You're telling me both those movies are better than Kick Ass. Kick Ass is one the best movies of the last 2 years. It deserved to make a billion dollars.
-
that's right
-
How about violence for the sake of power-shifting, irony, surrealism, and social commentary. Because Kick Ass has all of that.
-
Apr 18, 2010 11:47:58 AM CDT
Studio estimates have Kick-Ass ending up #2 this weekend
by scimitarjustice
behind How to Train Your Dragon. Not a bomb, not a success, just kind of middle of the road average.
-
#2 opening is about right, because that's also true of ASS.
-
what you don't seem to know is that for studios not getting to #1 MEANS its a failure and it hopefully means an end to movies like this or WANTED where the only point and social commentary is KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL.
-
the bottom line even if you like or don't like transformers or twilight (and make no mistake i don't like either of them, twilight sets women back 500 years) then the thing is you have to know that those are movies meant for certain people to have fun and those people go. the public however is too smart to be tricked by ads saying hey this movie is for kids bring your family to kickass. that's how they tried to sell it and that's why it failed. if they tried to sell it like rambo then it mgiht have done better.
-
The movie will make a profit eventually.
-
The movie is filled with responses and motivations for violence in the media and in society in general. But yeah the action is great too.
-
we are likely to see more of Mark Millar comic books or graphic novels being made into films. after kick ass and wanted, I dont think I want to see anymore of his stuff being made.
-
I never said I was taking my child to see this movie, but I like to think that if my child saw this film. They wouldn't try to copy what they see in the film. They know better.
-
advertising they say was around 30-40 million more. HAHAHAHAHA HYPE REFUTED AGAIN NERD RAGE!
-
Seriously? Are people stupid? People don't know what they're missing. Kick-Ass has more heart than any other movie I've seen this year!
-
It doesn't matter how much you are paid to hype utter shit, it is still utter shit. This deserves to BOMB.
-
Source box office mojo: http://tinyurl.com/y35swbf
Kick-Ass Production Budget: $30 million
Domestic:$19,750,000 + Foreign:$17,400,000
= (wait for it...)
$37,150,000 Worldwide.
Now admittedly that's the production budget but it has only just started so that total will grow to make a profit. Factor in home video and paid download and yes there will be a sequel. -
When I went to go see Pan's Labyrinth (for the second time), there was a father in line in front of us, with two little girls. Probably about five and six. When the ticket-taker read out the film, indifferent, I stopped the father and said, "This movie is not for children. It's incredibly violent and mature." He said, "Oh, I thought it was about fairies and stuff."To his credit, he took his kids to see something else. At no point did anyone who worked in the theatre look at him and his very little children and say, "Sir, this would be a mistake."Which is to say I'm sure people who 'shouldn't' have seen this did this weekend, but the important point to remember about the 'questionable' content of KICK-ASS is not that it is 'morally reprehensible' or will contribute to the downfall of society, but that it's cynical and pandering to a very specific market, who have responded very well to it, and really, Harry just wanted some clicks. For those who have gone to see it, clearly the film is its own defense. And the numbers don't mean anything more than it played to the people it was meant to - for defenders of the film, if anything, the B.O. should be a sign that they did something right.To conclude, I feel ways about stuff.
-
Waaaaaay better than I expected. Definitely not generic.
-
Apr 18, 2010 12:44:28 PM CDT
Train Your Dragon is my favorite movie so far this year
by mattmanreturns
Nothing generic about it (unless you're talking out of your ass and haven't seen it). Kick-Ass was pretty good, although a little over-hyped. I found a few parts a little dull, but Hit Girl and Cage were amazing.
-
You want some poor kid making minimum wage to try and tell a parent that they're being irresponsible or making a poor judgment in their movie choice? My guess is that 9 out of 10 parents these days would freak the fuck out on a teenage ticket-taker who had the audacity to suggest they were making an error in parental guidance. No matter how delicately it was handled.
Not. Fucking. Worth. It.
If the parent is too goddamn dumb to know better, their child will just have to work it out in counseling later in life… The same way I did. -
You delivered an insanely entertaining and hilarious escape from reality! Loved every moment of this movie!
-
though I liked Mints plasse's red mist more than other heroes. the scene where he introduces himself to kick ass is funny as is the scene in the car. cage was the best thing about the movie no question.
-
And theres a reason for that. I went to see it with a couple of geeks, they loved it. Some guys from work went said it was pointless drivel. I fell in the middle, obviously i cosider myself to be right.
-
& Analysis. Fanboys are desperate to see their movie succeed so they'll seek out and spin any positive information congruent with their movie being a success, pointing to the lowest budgets they can find, completely disregarding any other major costs like marketing. They'll claim that the movie has legs, that it has amazing word of mouth, multiple viewings from fans and that it will make back its production budget in a few weeks with it's world wide gross, therefore it's a smash success. And because they've proclaimed it to be a sure to be cult hit so that it will make money in the long run on DVD and TV sales. In addition to support their movie, they will attempt to discredit any critical review, going so far as to insult and personally attack a professional reviewer, in the attempts to convince the general public that the reviewer is mistaken and go to see the movie anyway.
Trolls on the other hand, will deem the movie to be an incredible flop. They'll point to unsubstantiated personal anecdotes of witnessing empty theatres, with only 12 people, 3 of whom walked out before the end. They'll say how the movie underperformed it's first weekend, will drop by 75% the 2nd weekend, and will be removed from theatres after 2 weeks. Trolls will mention how the movie is a financial failure by making non sequitor comparisons to unpredictable, very rare successes like Paranormal Activity and Avatar. Once satisfied with their conclusions that their hated movie was the biggest flop of the year, they turn to non stop gloating about what went wrong, picking apart the marketing strategy, that it was aimed a teens that couldn't get into the movie and about why Hit Girl is a moral abomination that society does not want to watch.
Anyway you cut, where ever the pieces end up falling, I'm having a hell of a time watching the Fanboys and Trolls go to war. Bwahahahahahaha! -
It's not exactly set the UK box office alight either, though it has had stiff opposition.
-
Fair point - and I don't think people should require service industry folk to help them parent, at all. Just that parents are either lazy, ignorant or indifferent... until it comes to complaining about the world corrupting their children.
-
I felt he wasn't in it enough and he looked like he was holding back somewhat, not to mention the fact his character arc was obvious from scene one. Alas he's back in the favour of geeks everywhere.
-
when the first guts start flying towards the screen,a father took his 2 kids and left the theater.Probably he thought that the film was like Star Wars and i dont blame him since the fact that the film was ultra violent was never hinted in the advertisements or by most of the film critics,well at least here in Greece.I dont know how it was marketed in USA but my impression has always been that the studios try hard to hide the true target group of big-budget films.Frequently i see in the imdb forums a lot of parents who ask specific details concerning the rating of the film and if it wise to take their children with them.Kudos to them for protecting their children.
-
me and a school friend. decided to go and see a very controversial film. Resevoir dogs. It was like a breath of fresh air. I turned on the tv a while ago and watched a nicholas cage film. the weather, what a dire film. in fact there have been quite a few.
-
Dogs for the first time.and i was a teenager then.but i appreciated it when i grew up and watched a lot more movies since then.
-
Apr 18, 2010 2:20:31 PM CDT
Matt, we've seen the story of Train Your Dragon a million times!
by orionsangels
It's that tired old formula of having a social outcast as the unlikely hero is a bit cliched and predictable. Even the viking girl that Hiccup loves, who happens to be the most popular one by the way, is another tired story telling cliche as well. Since this is a children story, I doubt seriously most people will care about these details. However, it's a bit redundant sometimes to say the least. Yeah the story isn't that great to be honest, as it's entirely too predictable. As I was watching this film, I felt it would've made a much better video game story than a movie one. As the story elements seemed like they were primarily used to move the action sequences along. Filling in the gap between each action and fight sequences, which is essentially what a video game story arc does. Unfortunately, most video game stories have deeper and less predictable story lines than "How To Train Your Dragon."
-
...took their kids to see Kick-Ass, then realized it was Rated R when they got there and took them to Dragon instead. When I worked in a ticket booth I was amazed by how many people just showed up at the theater not really knowing what they were going to see and asked what the different movies were about.
-
The fact that Kick Ass is just a bad movie. Tone problems, pacing issues, script problems. Removing any moral compass, let's focus on the idea that this is just a badly executed movie. Harry will never admit it because he's a sell out who loves everything but I think others will see it.
-
Maybe one or two heartfelt scenes in the entire movie; plenty of absurd and unnecessary brutal ones however. You want truly heartfelt, then watch "Mirageman" or "Special." Those films have loads of heart.
-
People, when you write a Superhero move. Try to have a plot.
-
younger people paid for Dragon so they could sneak into it. of course considering how the tv ads made it seem like a fun time for the family and kiddies, i am surprised it didnt do better then just drop next week.
-
It's solid, warm, far less anachronistic than any CG film outside Pixar, beautifully composed, and the main dragon acts very much like a cat, and my cat died recently so it made me remember him fondly.But if anyone is sort of interested in how a videogame 'story' will probably make HTTYD seem very juvenile, good "The Last Guardian."
-
was #1 its first weekend.
-
it just didnt reach the expectations of the studio.
-
kick ass sucks
-
it just didnt reach the expectations of the studio.
-
People forget that even the great Batman Begins struggled to make money.
-
I did, it isn't and no amount of bleating from you will change that.
-
The filmakers did exactly what they set out to do. The problem is if you enjoyed it or not. I was engaged the whole time yet felt uncomfortable watching these characters carry on in their twisted quest and having the audience root for them.... It was the character's sense of reality that was warped into a superhero's.... Again, i believe the guys behind the movie did what they set out to do, but like a intense drama with non clear cut protagonists this for me might only have been suitable for a 1st time viewing.
-
But Superman Returns cost 120 million more to produce than Batman Begins which is why Batman got a sequel and Superman got put back on the shelf.
-
to be profitable. It didn't even make 400 million. That's a shortfall of 200 million. From the studio's perspective, it flopped.
-
questioning what I thought about it's subject matter, which definitely a success in itself... However this movie CANNOT be accepted as it has been marketed... Not intended for the immature which would be decided by a parent.
-
the costs of the previous failed Superman pre-production projects? Without these extra costs which have nothing to do with the production costs of SR afterall,Singer's movie is not a flop.Its not a mega-hit either but it is not the flop that some believe that it is.
-
Apr 18, 2010 3:49:50 PM CDT
It's very interesting that i'm noticing a parallel
by t 1000 xp professional
with the self-proclaimed super-heros in the film and the moviewatchers that thought the action and violence was "badass".
-
fun fact.
-
It's not the film I have a problem with. It's the marketing. None of the television commercials indicate this has the kind of content it does. AND it keeps potentially interested adults away because it looks like a kids' flick.
-
Nothing is wrong with the tone, script, or pacing. All were brilliantly executed. Kick Ass never drags or sets the wrong mood or shows weakness in the script. It has funny moments, touching moments, and thrilling action. It's a great fucking movie. Haters are just throwing shit at wall to see what sticks.
-
Apr 18, 2010 3:57:18 PM CDT
I also feel a little bit of that arrogant spirit
by t 1000 xp professional
similar to that of the movie "Funny Games" that condemns the audience for watching and enjoying the film.
-
more acting range than Brandon Routh. Comparing Superman to Kick Ass is ridiculous. Kick Ass won't make alot of money for it's theatrical run but it will when the DVD comes out. A sequel will be made.
-
It was meant to restart the franchise and it killed ti stone dead. There is no way to spin it. a complete flop.
But comparing it to Kick Ass is ridiculous. Kick Ass is a disappointment BO wise. It might have legs or might have a massive drop wither way a sequel is no way near a sure thing. They marketed the shit out of this thing. Must have spent a pretty penny to sell it. They ads needed to make it look more like Sin City and less like Spy Kids. The marketing blew it.
and as for word of mouth - it is not across the board love so it can;t count on that. to come in second to a film that has been out for what a month or so is not good. the funniest spin I have heard is its the biggest superhero comedy opening of al time! oh that wonderful genre with so many smash hits to its name. -
but when people spin superman returns as anything other than a failure I get agitated.
It was the reboot of a massive property. The fact that it killed it dead means no matter how much money it made the film failed completely. And obviously the studio didn't anything on it or you really think we wouldn't have seen a sequel by now?? its was called Superman Returns.....RETURNS. not Superman Returns and Fucks Off Again. -
was a great sequel to superman II. those expecting a complete reboot though would be disappointed. its too bad they wont continue with that storyline. and we will have to deal with another origin movie whenever they decide to make it.
the3184blog.blogspot.com -
SR had ONE action scene. One. That's it. Very very boring.
-
"Yeah, but they were all bad." There's a reason why that line from True Lies is funny....because the world isn't black and white. That's why it's unintentionally comical when some people defend this movie by stating that the people the 11 year old girl murders in this movie are all "bad".
-
in one film, the "tone" is cartoonish and over the top, aiming to just entertain, while the other depict the violence and blood realistically as hell.
in one movie, the "content" is about teenage boy's struggle and a fantasy of killing bad guys, while the other "is the story of two lonely and desperate kids capable of performing dark deeds without apparent emotion".
Ebert can certainly, like anyone else, prefer one over the other. But once he makes moral judgment on the movies, it is fair to ask what his moral criteria are, and as I illustrated above, I think it is fair to say Ebert's moral judgment is inconsistent in this instance.
Just to clarify to those less observant, I have so far not talked anything regarding what I think about these two movies in terms of just movies themselves; nor anything general about Ebert as a film critic or a writer. -
When asked the children this weekend said How to train your Dragon kicked ass! I remember this same thing happening when Team America came out the BO did terriable but the PG movie out at that time had a big jump in it's BO take that weekend. The How to train your dragon movie made an extra $5 million or more just from Kick-Ass underage viewers. Kick-Ass has made $37 Million worldwide in 3 days and has good word of mouth so it should do fine even with $$$ going to other films ticket sales.
-
That is is eaxtly why Kick ass is a comic book fantasy movie, not a documentary.
What exactly are those moralist objecting this movies about? -
Only good thing in that movie is the space shuttle rescue. The rest of the story sucks.
-
and SR like Godzilla were not commercial failures from the perspective that they earned their expenses back and left a bit of profit.
Were they failed projects because their profits were not high enough to establish new franchises? yes they were.
So SR=failed investement but not a flop in the BO. -
The effing hype for SR started year before at comic con, but they released so many web vids and pics by the time the movie came out, you fucking knew everything about it.
-
was 500 million. I saw a program about the superman creators Siegle and shuster.
-
I think Superman Returns is completely underrated - it was maybe a tad too somber at the end, but otherwise it was a fantastic, entertaining film. I have no idea what people wanted but the fact is Bryan Singer is the real deal. They should have kept him on X-Men and they should have kept him on Superman. These constant reboots are studio executives thinking that writers and directors (or actors) don't really matter that much and they can make money with any shit. So the movies will suck and they will wonder why the numbers aren't good. And at some point even THEY will be embarrassed to have to reboot it yet again.
-
Sorry, didn't mean to name my post after myself!
-
Apr 18, 2010 5:35:46 PM CDT
But back on topic - Harry Knowles is a real piece of shit.
by juansanchez
-
Sucked Marlon Brando's asshole.
-
than Kick-Ass in terms of average theatre sales, $6,913 to $6,444, according to Box Office Mojo. It's also closer to breaking even than Kick Ass, due to it's smaller budget.
-
I don't give a shit about the morality debate, it is just fucking horrible as a movie.
-
Apr 18, 2010 5:55:18 PM CDT
Not remotely as good as the comic book...
by the_floating_skull_of_robert_loggia
Rubbish twists, silly gadget-inspired ending, poorly edited, and the humor fell flat for much of the film. This is the anti-Watchmen, in which the gritty, "realistic" ending was replaced by a ridiculous one (flight pack? C'mon...what the fuck, really??). Had the comic book never existed, I'd say this was okay escapist fun, but, otherwise...shite. Harry, Beaks, etc...you're all fucking high.
-
Apr 18, 2010 5:57:44 PM CDT
Oh, and I could give a rat's ass about the morality...
by the_floating_skull_of_robert_loggia
In fact, I didn't think it was violent enough! Hit Girl guts guys and cuts heads in half in the comic. I expected Ichi levels of violence, here. A shame.
-
That's an absurd distortion. I think what you're trying to do is pile the cost of the many failed Superman films onto Returns. Returns by itself cost around $200 million. It made $200 million in the United States, breaking even, and made $200 million overseas for a total of $400 million, which is more than Batman Begins, which was considered a success, made.
Although I consider Superman Returns to be a different, but worthy Superman film, I concede that it failed in a few respects: Not enough larger-than-life action moments, Lex once again a land swindler, putting Superman in the awkward role of absentee father, and the worst Lois Lane EVER.
However, Routh was an excellent Clark Kent and stellar Superman, the John Williams score was present and respectfully provided by John Ottman, and there were some majestic and magical moments.
The film could have and should have been more, but I still consider it a good Superman film. -
The return of Kal El to Smallville, the return of Superman, the return of Clark to the Daily Planet. The Jimmy Olsen in this one was perfect.
-
The fact we never saw another one proves its failure. Does anyone in their right mind seriously believe if the film was successful even in the slightest that we wouldn't get a sequel?
The fact that it began and ended with SR is all you need to know to know that it was a complete BOMB. -
was how unshocking it was. Nowhere near as violent as I was led to believe and anyone who gets excited about a kid saying the C word obviously grew up on different playgrounds to me because everyone swore like that when I was a kid. It is juts not as offensive as I was led to believe. Don't get me wrong I loved the film - my favorite of the year but from what I had heard I really was waiting for it to cross a line that it never did. If anything by films end it just becomes the type of film it set out to break down. I sound like I don;t like it but I do think some of the praise is a bit over the top. I also believe that the BNAT screening sounds like it was such an amazing experience that everyone who was there has a special attachment to the film that the average friday night film fan is missing out on. Plus guns n fucking roses.
-
first there are marketing costs, then there are production costs. I saw something about this on the film show with Jonathan Ross. you would not believe the amount of money the studios plunge into the marketing a movie. you are talking about hundreds of millions of dollar. plus there is the budget for the film itself which can be in some cases 200 million. when studios say that a budget for a film is 200 million. they dont tell you about the marketing costs which are astronomical
-
If a movie cost $200 Million and it makes $200 Million you forgot the fact that the theater owners take half so that only leaves $100 Million. The studio still has to pay back the Bank loan plus interest on the $200 Million to make the movie so the rule of thumb after all the taxes and fees and shares that a film needs to make 3X it budget so SR would have to make $810 Million to break even. KICK ASS would need a world wide total of $90 Million to be considered a hit. Its at $37 Million in 3 days. BO Mojo has the budget of SR at $270 Million and it's worldwide take at $391 Million. Take away half for the theater owners and SR made $195.5 Million not counting taxes and interest on the $270 cost so SR would have to make another $75 million just to break even on the $270. Than is called a LOSS.
-
Apr 18, 2010 6:30:15 PM CDT
Rebek2 - you wouldn't? You too good for Brando's asshole?
by juansanchez
-
Why does his daughter use "Cunt"? At best, she presumably picked it up from the people she's killing. Although kinda unlikely. And if BD was such a great dad, wouldn't that be something he'd stop?
I just found it kinda grated/contradicted. He's a great dad, buys her ice cream, shoots down her ambushers, buys his balisong knives, and basically acts like a 50s TV dad... but hten lets it swear. It would have been funnier if he kept telling her not to, but lovingly forgiving her. -
Apr 18, 2010 7:22:48 PM CDT
Buy tickets to the Dragon movie but go see Kick-Ass
by hitgirl_equals_wetdream
That's what kids are doing. The same thing happened with 300 and Wild hogs.
-
it should be trey parker and matt stone. I had not heard this piece of music in a very long time and forgot how brilliant it was....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12dddhX2O68&feature=related -
Without 9 months of deafening hype and a bloated marketing onslaught. Probably would've spawned a sequel too. Now the only place to go is rebootsville.
-
Production Budget: $270 million--Worldwide gross: $391,081,192
It was overall a disappointment and the wrong way to redo superman. But it was not a flop. -
Then there's advertising. So yes - it was a flop.
-
It had none. Stop defending it on the grounds of it being a profound meditation on violence in society. The impetus behind the film's creation was giving nerds a cheap thrill as they watched a little girl saying and doing sensationalistic things. The action choreography was pedestrian at best, and it breathed no new life into the tired superhero formula. There's no conspiracy here to unfairly discredit a work of staggering greatness. It's just not as good as it was advertised to be months in advance, plain and simple. This is merely a matter of a movie playing well at an advance screening among an audience that cottons to outrageous stuff, and then its worth and chances of financial success were subsequently blown out of proportion. Case closed. You can't even label it the Blair Witch of comic cinema, even though the pre-release hyperbole about it being a landmark event was just as immense, because Blair Witch at least capitalized on its bogus hype to the tune of extraordinary opening business.
-
the heroin scene was too much for her to bear with her 12 year old children
-
You forgot that cable tv, PPV and dvd sales revenue streams are not included in that figure. There was no way it didn't profit.
-
Drag me to Hell all over again? Sorry, but this really shows that films made specifically for the comic book fanboy crowd have a limited appeal to everyone else. Also, I think some people are happy for its lack of significant success, because Kick-ass like the aforementioned films have been jizzed over by all the fanboy sites and hyped and proclaimed the second coming for so long now, that when its fails to appeal to anyone else, its kind of funny. I take pleasure in it becuase I find it hilarious that every film Devin fuckhead farci loves (watchmen, drag me to hell, etc..) fails to find mass success. And I have found all of said films to be a waste of my time. That chimp is the definition of the bitter, insular, internet fanboy that truly believes his tastes are so much more superior than the great unwashed masses......
-
Kick-ass to judge for myself, but given how I ve been burned by internet fanboy films like Watchmen, Drag me to Hell, Moon etc...I m not expecting much...
-
Apr 18, 2010 8:49:23 PM CDT
Finally got around to watching that Leno clip of Chloe Moretz
by bumlove
She's dressed like a hooker and she says her Dad is a plastic surgeon. Yeah, she's gonna be a regular train wreck on TMZ in a few years. Bet money on it.
-
His level of conversation doesn't change a bit from when he's interviewing adults.
-
Apr 18, 2010 9:39:19 PM CDT
rabidfnark Jumps forward to also show his ass, and the fact that
by johnzee
Rabidfnark,
Nothing like a moron trying to correct me on a definition and usage of a word, when he is completely wrong about the usage of another word that he is using to imply that I used the wrong word or words:
Oxymoron:
1. a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in “cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.”
Key word is self-contradictory.
Word origin of oxymoron:
Rhetorical figure by which contradictory terms are conjoined so as to give point to the statement or expression; the word itself is an illustration of the thing. Now often used loosely to mean "contradiction in terms."
If your going to try to criticize my use of words, try not to use the wrong word to describe my mistake. Because that is you making yourself look like a dumbass.
With no help needed on my part.
Another thing is that even as you pointed out "mediocre" and "idiot" don't really mean the same thing. And they certainly don't mean exactly the same thing.
Score two for you. You made yourself look like a dumbass twice.
And word and grammar usage on internet commit threads are usually considered informal online communication. Not really required to be perfect. And I am sure that a thorough read of other posters comments would reveal many more mistakes on average.
Making yourself look like a dumbass # 3.
And no my daughter won't be watching Kick Ass, but that certainly was not the point of my entire post. And honestly it really isn't her type of movie. Spiderman 3 and the retconning of Spiderman's and Mary Jane's relationship out of existence pretty much killed the majority of the super hero fan in her. So truthfully, Kick Ass was a moot point with her.
And take it from me, the costumes that she wears for Halloween are a quantum leap better then a crappy Hit-Girl costume.
Last year it was Renaissance vampires.
But you already knew that, just trying to insult me because you didn't agree with my comments. -
murdered the hooker in cold blood??
-
instead of being blown out of the building by an rpg by Kick Ass into another building. And the way Kick Ass flew her away in the jet pack was pure cheese, and how Red Mist took up the samurai sword with the intent of revenge for the killing of his father, as a setup for a sequel. I cried though when Big Daddy died during the internet web cam scene.
-
I love how you take your time to explain what 'gratuitous' means but can't tell the difference between 'then' and 'than'.
-
Still considered a flop.
-
I liked "Kick Ass." Absolutely fucking hated "Superman Lifts Things."
Singer's cinematic vomit is on my top five Worst Films of All Time. That's right -- of All Time. It's right up there with "Battlefield Earth" and "Alone in the Dark II."
If you liked that film, or maybe presented reasons why you didn't completely hate it, then I question your integrity. Seriously, I question it.
I don't think I could be friends with you if we met. -
Apr 18, 2010 10:08:15 PM CDT
Johnzee, I guess you missed it (easy to in a talkback this size)
by rabidfnark
but I apologized for my hasty words. I had not read your post thoroughly. It actually turns out we agree on several things. Suffice it to say that I was wrong. And as for grammar, and looking like a dumb-ass, well looking without leaping will do that to a guy. Anyway, hope you see this, and sorry again.
-
Apr 18, 2010 10:23:18 PM CDT
I'm not trying to bash the film, but Hit Girl is not a hero
by beericecream
at all, because a true hero does not relish and take pleasure in taking a life. Yet Hit Girl enjoyed the cold blooded murder that she dished out. Ebert's got a point.
-
She picked up and waved a broken bottle. Police shoot people down for less.
-
I read the comic, that was enough. Blu-ray. Netflix. Not before. See, we can all get along just fine (even after showing my ass to everyone (hope you all enjoyed it)). And I promise not to show the movie to any twelve year olds as well. (I won't show them my ass either) ;)
-
Hit girl didn't actually kill anyone. All this absurd outrage bile over something make-believe. There are far more morally depraved movies out there. This one is cartoon-like---not a documentary. Bottom line: so what? it's a violent R movie. Expect violence and language, it wasn't designed to appeal to Disney sensibilities. Not a fan? just vote with your dollar by not seeing it.
-
How are you any more right than Ebert? More to the point he is a legend and you are not.
-
we would have seen a sequel. the only reason we didn't get one is because it fucking bombed.
we got 2 fantastic four movies for fuckssake!A studio doesn't make money on a new franchise and think awww fuck it lets shelve this money making bitch. the only reason they don't make another is if it lost them a lot of money. -
Apr 18, 2010 10:36:05 PM CDT
No one said Kick Ass was a deep/complex meditation on violence
by nerd rage
But it works as subversive, surreal pop art with a touch of social commentary. It has at least two scenes that brings some to tears, several well staged action scenes, and plenty of laughs. What else can you ask for from a action/comedy. It's not meant to be life changing but it's a great summer flick.
-
Apr 18, 2010 10:47:25 PM CDT
Yet another dumb as rocks movie gets overrated on AICN
by industrykiller!
If yout hink this was anything approaching insightful in its social commentary you live in a fucking fantasy world of black and white. Not to mention that one dimensional lead performance. Fuck the editors here are amateur.
-
I didn't read the comic. I decided to see it on a slow night, especially because of mixed reviews. It had some popcorn entertainment value, but it wasn't THAT good, but it wasn't horrible. It was not something I'd have seen if I had anything to do that night. It is nothing that I'd go to see a sequel of, it's not deserving. If this was direct-to-dvd it would get a cult following. But it has become a whipping post. Again...it's only a movie...good and great movies start in a few weeks.
-
these AICN geeks wearing wolverine undies will jizz all over for
-
I'm certainly not gonna take you tot ask for liking it on that level, I could get down with that. it's better than any Michael Bay film after all. But It was still pretty god damn fucking stupid, and eschews exploration of any of it's themes at every possible moment. I was also disappointed with the action scenes, with the exception of Big Daddy's fight in the warehouse. While I never had too much of a problem understanding what the intention of the action was, I thought it could have been much more clear, and Vaughn plays fast and loose with keeping things close on hit girl while never giving you a good idea of what any offscreen goon is doing (standing around doing nothing would be my guess since they all seem to attack one at a time, even when they have a gun) And for all the talk of Aaron Johnsons performance his lack of character growth was staggering and his line delivery evocative of Tobey Macguire with even LESS gravitas and inner life. It would have been a far superior film if it was actually about Big Daddy and Hit Girl. I was very disappointed.
-
One of the worst things to ever happen to geek properties is someone started listening to fanboys. Fanboys ability to dedicate their lives to loving something while simultaneously having nothing but a cursory understanding of said thing has never ceased to amaze me.
-
made an enjoyable film here, but the problem for me is that it's based on Mark Millar's (who I like about 50% of the time...mainly when he works on stuff that he didn't think up all by himself) idea that we'll relate to a character who is a dishonest prick who can barely defend himself, as long as he constantly references items in popular culture. The character of Kick-Ass is an insult to anyone who calls themselves nerds in a proud fashion. POSSIBLESPOILERPOSSIBLESPOILER!!!! The fact that he get's his ass handed to him by a fellow high schooler at the end of issue #8 (for his dishonesty) proves that the character has not grown in any significant way nor has he learned any life lessons. He hadn't learned anything except to obey his own adrenaline addiction and his (apparent) masochistic needs.ENDSPOILERS!!!!! Yeah he's up there with Spider-Man and Batman alright. The only reason I say I'll rent this at all is because over the course of 8 issues, I thought to myself, "Gee, this would be a lot better as a 90 minute move."
-
How much more animated did you want him to be? And saying he had less life than Tobey Maguire, now that is low. Maguire is far more lethargic and boring in the Spider-man movies. When Kick Ass said he would rather die than allow the thugs to beat the victim it was more emotionally charged than anything you'll find in the Spider-man movies. I thought all the actors did excellent in Kick Ass.
-
THe way you just described the main character is pretty much what you get in the movie. In fact I wish even was even more of a prick, because then he would have at least been....something. As it stand in the film Dave is almost a total nonentity who doesn't seem to have any true motivation other than being a comic book fan or any real desire to actually be a superhero, nor does he really seem any closer to coming to that realization at the end of the film. I still get the feeling he'd be like "Well shit that was crazy, fuck this I'm goin home!" I mean whats the sequel gonna be? He still can't fight and he's a complete fucking moron? Is he going to be magically tougher in the sequel? THat was THIS films job to show. Fucking Millar, worst comic book writer int he world, no hperbole.
-
When the film give Kick Ass something to fight for, which is exactly ONE moment, it seems like we actually might get some motivation and forward movement from an otherwise bland protagonist. Too bad he seems to drop that immediately after that diner fight. So as the film drags on I was thinking "Well maybe he'll come to some kind of realization that he really does wanna be a hero. Nope. He just get's dragged from scene to scene bitching in that whiny geek affectation about this or that. He's an incredibly passive protagonist from the halfway point on. I also thought most of the acting in the film was good, with a downright incredible performance from Nic Cage, who the film would have been total shit without, but Johnson, and I wont blame him cause maybe it was the weak script and Vaughn who pointed him in this direction, was every bit as unspecific and vanilla in his choices and lack of growth as Macguire ever was, and keep in mind I think Macguire sucks as Peter Parker. The only reason Im not really outraged is because I don't care about some shitty Millar property to the same degree I do about Spider Man.
-
Apr 18, 2010 11:19:25 PM CDT
Ahem, "Movie." The last word was supposed to be, "Movie."
by rabidfnark
I'm sure you all could have figured that out, but I'm a bit OCD this evening. Johnzee, was right: calling anyone on their grammar(or spelling) in here is dirty pool.
-
Look at Spider-Man 3. Fans begged for, no, demanded Venom. And based on fan-demand, the Spider-Man producers forced Sam Raimi to include Venom, when it was obvious the character did not jibe with Raimi's vision for the third film.
So when the AICN faithful groan about how terrible Spider-Man 3 is, I can't help but feel a little sick, because it was most of them who demanded Venom be included, thus ruining the conclusion of the Spidey trilogy. -
Still, the action scenes could be a saving grace if enough attention was paid (and I trust Vaughn much more than I do Millar). So as I say: "Rental."
-
Apr 18, 2010 11:25:54 PM CDT
"It's not the film I have a problem with. It's the marketing"
by alientoast
Well, there is a little something where they can't show any violent stuff in commercials. Obviously this is something new that has never happened in the history of films. Because clearly it is being rated R for no good reason.
-
The best part in Kick-Ass was KA fighting the three thugs outside the diner. If the film had more effective scenes like that, I would consider it a quality superhero flick. And what the heck did KA do after the diner scene? Hardly anything until the final act, which was an absurd scene. A truly lackluster film.
-
I'm sorry but it really did suck. From begining to end it just didn't work as a live action film. The concept worked in a comic but on a big screen it was no longer funny, it just looked dumb. It's very hard to spoof comics because lets face it they are kinda ludicrous in the first place. You really cant spoof something that is already a over the top on film. In the comic itself it worked but on screen it was terrible. also Harry comes out with this just after his over the top scathing attack on Clash of the Titans where he seemingly couldn't accept that it wasn't camp flufflike the original I'm starting to wonder where Harry's head is at nowadays.
-
I bought Wanted in Trade Paperback form. I went to see THAT movie (fuck me, that was bad (no one to blame but myself though)). This time I shelled out 25$ for The Hard Cover edition of Kick-Ass (it's the first 8 issues). I read that and drew the line there. Fool me once, etc... (well three if you're counting, but that's it!)
-
Apr 18, 2010 11:42:45 PM CDT
Did Harry help or hurt with this rant? Probably no impact.
by juansanchez
-
Apr 18, 2010 11:44:01 PM CDT
One of the reasons I typically hate superhero deconstructionism
by industrykiller!
Is because its so god damn easy and obvious. WHy don't superheroes exist int he real world? Well because they fucking can't. For the same reason John McClane doesn't exist int he real world. Whats interesting about exploring the obvious. And, as both Batman Begins and Kick Ass proves, when you try to make a "realistic" superhero story, it gets so boring and constricting that you will inevitably have to turn it back into pulp to make it fun and cool again. This makes for a muddy uneven tone and a hodgepodge of undercooked ideas. Hell even Alan Moore plays fast and loose with the characters not having superpowers in Watchmen. What writers have to understand is that it's the WORLD these characters exist in that are SUPPOSED to be over the top, a place where superheroes can exist without constant apologizing or questioning of authenticity, and then you make the characters themselves very human. FANTASY WORLD. REAL CHARACTERS. should be on the wall of every superhero writer on the planet.
-
Apr 18, 2010 11:48:45 PM CDT
I HATE that Lionsgate pushed back Season of the Witch for this.
by juansanchez
-
Apr 18, 2010 11:49:29 PM CDT
And The Expendables. I have to wait til August cause of Kick Ass
by juansanchez
-
while I may not agree about Batman Begins (a conversation for another day) you seem to have hit the bullseye with the rest. Unfortunately, the way Millar writes does not help the situation. Practically every thing he's ever done is about turning heroes back on themselves. If he writes an established character it's, "What if he went over the edge and abandoned the code he's held dear for so long." and when he makes up characters they're obvious caricatures of other better characters with the same spin. If he ever wrote for Batman, then he'd have him murdering people by the end of the first issue, maybe because of mind control or something. Sometimes this approach works: I liked his earlier year long run on Wolverine (not Old Man Logan...that was 'meh' ripoff of Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood), also with JRJr. The problem is that it's the ONLY approach he seems to have.
-
What he did to TOny Stark was fucking unforgivable. If someone said to me "I wanna make Tony Stark a bad guy." I'd say "Ok let's explore how to do that organically and over a period of time." No, Millar had one event, ONE event in which a school gets attacked in a Marvel Universe in which I'm pretty sure Kang once made Washington DC disappear,and all of the sudden Stark cracks and becomes a fascist, along with half the rest of the Marvel U. It's absurd, lazy, and downright mean to fans, and Marvel still hasn't recovered from it.
-
if Kick-Ass can't post a profit. The film really deserves a sequel. I am going to see it again. Anyone else?
-
sexy! Huh?
Okay, I've seen the film, but I haven't read Roger's review.
Simply put, I didn't hate it. I didn't think it was pedo-bait. I just didn't dig it. Dig. Big Daddy & Hit-Girl were far more interesting to me than Kick-Ass, but when it came time for the endgame, I found her magical skills just too far out there... Specifically, her Yoda-like traipse down the hallway was what burned what was left of my incredible suspension of disbelief... Her crassness fell flat, her cold as ice killer instinct rang false, and I ended up resenting what little pathos she was able to stir(for her Daddy) because I felt her character had been compromised for coolness sake. In the end, I just shrugged it off, much like Natural Born Killers, which has some bad-ass action and photography but brings little to the table otherwise. Heck, I'd still rather see that again. My friend, not Roger, liked it, and I'm pretty sure most of my friends will.
Man, I do miss those Ninja weapons of youth, but as illustrated on SouthPark(!), they do little but get you into trouble. ;-) -
turning practically EVERY hero/protagonist in the Marvel Universe into an antihero in one fell swoop. I could almost be impressed if didn't piss me off so badly. Nobody came out of Civil War clean.
-
issues #144 - 171 of the original Alan Moore run, he wrapped up the story perfectly imo and as soon as Marvel hired him he seemed to channel a little too fiercely an adolescent 'im an edgey bad ass look at me' vibe. I wish he stayed with DC, i think Marvel kind of turned most of his work into forgettable throwaway 'adult' versions of classic Marvel heroes. And don't get me wrong, i actually don't read any Marvel titles regularly, i just think his work for the imprint has been average at best. Too bad nobody remembers the awesome final confrontation of Alec Holland and Constantine from the original Swamp run.
-
SPOILERS
Um, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN doesn't treat death as a joke, nor does it say that murder/killing is justified. Death in LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is serious and fitting the tone of the film - a horror movie.
KICK-ASS has no moral equilibrium and treats death and murder as ONLY fun. Hit Girl isn't Eli, a damaged monster who only looks like a little girl, she is A LITTLE GIRL who kills people without any concern of the moral implications of what she is doing, and neither do the filmmakers. Hit Girl dispatches people with the greatest of ease, even a hooker who posed no real threat to her, and the filmmakers never once think that should be treated as anything other than "cool."
And need i remind you Oskar was also in danger of being one of Eli's victims throughout the movie. The killings by Eli were dark and dangerous and never treated as frivolous.
Some of us go by Raymond Chandler's belief "...that murder is an act of infinite cruelty, even if the perpetrators sometimes look like playboys or college professors or nice motherly women with softly graying hair." -
'Returns was a pathetic attempt to eeve/Donner film. At least Batmn Begins got it right but SR, Awww hell naw...!Kick Ass took me by suprise despite a bit of skepticism.But the concept is more refreshing than some lame ass reboot.(Fuck you Singer!)My Wife hated it however, she thought Hit Girl was prolly the best thing throughout the Movie.There were touching moments found admist the blood and stylized violence.One in particular, is the scene in which Hit Girl stares at the cup of her father's/big daddy's unfinished Cocoa after escaping D'iamaco's goons.This film is sadly underrated, just like Ang Lee's Hulk.
-
BOX. OFFICE. BOMB.Guess this means there's not much of a market for braindead, substanceless, ultraviolent pedophile fantasies. A faint glimmer of hope for humanity emerges...
-
had to be a good explanation for why Devin farce-i loves this film. Thank you laserpants for pointing out what is so damn obvious.....Oh my god...I just realized that that scumbag probably whacks off to this film *shudder* I have to go throw up now.....
-
Oh, shit I guess I'll have to change my glowing review of Kick Ass. and while I'm at it, I'll shread my Kill Bill BD (Hey, can't be seeing lil' GoGo killing people.) and those Gunsliner Girl Animes.Yikes!! Grasping at straws much?
-
Next.
-
Admit it, you touched yourself at least once watching Kick Ass: The Pedophilia Wars.
-
Apr 19, 2010 6:26:56 AM CDT
that is the part about the moral outrage that confuses me...
by superheadcat
(Spoiler)
But let me take care of a trivial point first: the "murder" in Kick ass and Let the right one in.
Eli does indeed murders innocent people, but one can at least make some argument that all the people Hit Girl killed are not innocent, including that hooker (btw, why is everyone sure that she's a hooker, not another ganster?) who holds a broken bottle and tried to kill Hit Girl.
"Murder" is a technical term with precise definition. and the related legal and moral consequences. If that is that the moral outrage is about, wouldn't the word "murder" be used more judiciously?
Now with that out of the way, here is my main confusion regarding the the moral outrage: do they really think people who (legally) watch Kick Ass will come out of the theater going boy that is cool, let me get some guns, knives, and jet suits and find some people to kill? What is exactly the moral hazard here?
Similarly, do you really think Tomas Alfredson shot those realistic violence in Let the right one in in order to show how awfaul murder is, therefore obtain "a moral equilibrium"? Hey, after Oskar watched Eli mutilated those guys bullying him, he smiles and hugged Eli, and reflected the episode fondly afterwards!
Simply put, watching Hit Girl dispatches dozens of gansters with ease and no emotions is "morally reprehensible", but watching Eli kills random people without remorse is not, because that is just a way to illustrate "two lonely and desperate kids"? -
I guess LaserPants certainly knows it when he/she see it.
-
HTTYD KICKed its ASS.mouahaha.
-
HTTYD KICKed its ASS.mouahaha.
-
if you were interested in this movie that makes you a minority in your country of origin. bottom line. You can't deny it. The numbers are on the wall. You have no choice but to accept it. Sorry, but that's how it is. Enjoy how that feels. Oh sure you can come back later and say but it makes me a better person, but think what you like you know you want to fit in and you'll rail you don't but you know you do. End of story. Enjoy being part of the social outcast group, nerdrage. hhahahahahahahaha!
-
and no one gives a shit.
-
I'm proud to have better taste than those morons. Enjoy being a member of Team Edward you cliff-jumping lemming.
-
...and go out in public, usually to comic-con conventions. How long until we see a story in the news of one of these geeks trying to actually fight crime? Or shooting up their place of work? Should we place bets?
-
You know because he's popular.
-
You know because he's popular.
-
Your summation of KA being pedo is unfounded. there were none of that lolitaesque or pretty baby crap. just some 11-12 year old taking out bad guys. if anything, Hit Girl is somewhat remisicent of those issues of daredevil during frank miller's run in which kids were pretty much socialpathec. if anything Leon the professional was very questionable and that was one film i easily dismissed.The only disturbing element of Hit Girl, would be the idea of her dear old dad selfishly using her as a tool to aid in his grudge against D'iamarco. Like I said before, this movie is more of a satirical dark comedy with tragic elements. however not to be taken so seriously.Oh, BTW save the insult for those who support Roman Polanski, OK?thanks for playing
-
Apr 19, 2010 9:07:52 AM CDT
on behalf of the people Ireland I would like to apologise..
by emeraldboy
firstly to all people in UK for jedward. and to the americans crystal swing. I have already thought of a movie idea called crystal swing axe in which the proud of ireland grab all the axes they can and head down to Co. Cork and use thier crystal swing axes on Crystal swing. in another idea i had was horror movie called slaying jedward.
-
the audience doesnt give a shit for this movie,as the BO proved it.fuck this this.
-
on rottentomatoes and metacritic. Those are extremely high. Most people who saw Kick Ass loved the movie.
-
A Clockwork Orange
By Roger Ebert / February 11, 1972
Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" is an ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading As an Orwellian warning. It pretends to oppose the police state and forced mind control, but all it really does is celebrate the nastiness of its hero, Alex.
I don't know quite how to explain my disgust at Alex (whom Kubrick likes very much, as his visual style reveals and as we shall see in a moment). Alex is the sort of fearsomely strange person we've all run across a few times in our lives -- usually when he and we were children, and he was less inclined to conceal his hobbies. He must have been the kind of kid who tore off the wings of flies and ate ants just because that was so disgusting. He was the kid who always seemed to know more about sex than anyone else, too -- and especially about how dirty it was.
Alex has grown up in "A Clockwork Orange," and now he's a sadistic rapist. I realize that calling him a sadistic rapist -- just like that -- is to stereotype poor Alex a little. But Kubrick doesn't give us much more to go on, except that Alex likes Beethoven a lot. Why he likes Beethoven is never explained, but my notion is that Alex likes Beethoven in the same way that Kubrick likes to load his sound track with familiar classical music -- to add a cute, cheap, dead-end dimension.
Now Alex isn't the kind of sat-upon, working-class anti-hero we got in the angry British movies of the early 1960s. No effort is made to explain his inner workings or take apart his society. Indeed, there's not much to take apart; both Alex and his society are smart-nose pop-art abstractions. Kubrick hasn't created a future world in his imagination -- he's created a trendy decor. If we fall for the Kubrick line and say Alex is violent because "society offers him no alternative," weep, sob, we're just making excuses.
Alex is violent because it is necessary for him to be violent in order for this movie to entertain in the way Kubrick intends. Alex has been made into a sadistic rapist not by society, not by his parents, not by the police state, not by centralization and not by creeping fascism -- but by the producer, director and writer of this film, Stanley Kubrick. Directors sometimes get sanctimonious and talk about their creations in the third person, as if society had really created Alex. But this makes their direction into a sort of cinematic automatic writing. No, I think Kubrick is being too modest: Alex is all his.
I say that in full awareness that "A Clockwork Orange" is based, somewhat faithfully, on a novel by Anthony Burgess. Yet I don't pin the rap on Burgess. Kubrick has used visuals to alter the book's point of view and to nudge us toward a kind of grudging pal-ship with Alex.
Kubrick's most obvious photographic device this time is the wide-angle lens. Used on objects that are fairly close to the camera, this lens tends to distort the sides of the image. The objects in the center of the screen look normal, but those on the edges tend to slant upward and outward, becoming bizarrely elongated. Kubrick uses the wide-angle lens almost all the time when he is showing events from Alex's point of view; this encourages us to see the world as Alex does, as a crazy-house of weird people out to get him.
When Kubrick shows us Alex, however, he either places him in the center of a wide-angle shot (so Alex alone has normal human dimensions,) or uses a standard lens that does not distort. So a visual impression is built up during the movie that Alex, and only Alex, is normal.
Kubrick has another couple of neat gimmicks to build Alex into a hero instead of a wretch. He likes to shoot Alex from above, letting Alex look up at us from under a lowered brow. This was also a favorite Kubrick angle in the close-ups in "2001: A Space Odyssey," and in both pictures, Kubrick puts the lighting emphasis on the eyes. This gives his characters a slightly scary, messianic look.
And then Kubrick makes all sorts of references at the end of "A Clockwork Orange" to the famous bedroom (and bathroom) scenes at the end of "2001." The echoing water-drips while Alex takes his bath remind us indirectly of the sound effects in the "2001" bedroom, and then Alex sits down to a table and a glass of wine. He is photographed from the same angle Kubrick used in "2001" to show us Keir Dullea at dinner. And then there's even a shot from behind, showing Alex turning around as he swallows a mouthful of wine.
This isn't just simple visual quotation, I think. Kubrick used the final shots of "2001" to ease his space voyager into the Space Child who ends the movie. The child, you'll remember, turns large and fearsomely wise eyes upon us, and is our savior. In somewhat the same way, Alex turns into a wide eyed child at the end of "A Clockwork Orange," and smiles mischievously as he has a fantasy of rape. We're now supposed to cheer because he's been cured of the anti-rape, anti-violence programming forced upon him by society during a prison "rehabilitation" process.
What in hell is Kubrick up to here? Does he really want us to identify with the antisocial tilt of Alex's psychopathic little life? In a world where society is criminal, of course, a good man must live outside the law. But that isn't what Kubrick is saying, He actually seems to be implying something simpler and more frightening: that in a world where society is criminal, the citizen might as well be a criminal, too.
Well, enough philosophy. We'll probably be debating "A Clockwork Orange" for a long time -- a long, weary and pointless time. The New York critical establishment has guaranteed that for us. They missed the boat on "2001," so maybe they were trying to catch up with Kubrick on this one. Or maybe the news weeklies just needed a good movie cover story for Christmas.
I don't know. But they've really hyped "A Clockwork Orange" for more than it's worth, and a lot of people will go if only out of curiosity. Too bad. In addition to the things I've mentioned above -- things I really got mad about -- "A Clockwork Orange" commits another, perhaps even more unforgivable, artistic sin. It is just plain talky and boring. You know there's something wrong with a movie when the last third feels like the last half. -
people who like it love it. people who dont, dont. I found the movie to be mixed, I thought Cage and Mints plasse where the best things in the movie. Damon McCready was unconvincing but I loved all the ah shucks that came from Cage. Hit girl was revolting a character as I have seen in many ugly, nasty, and obnoxious. I thouhgt the stuff with the boozka was hilarious. But other things like Dthe attitude to dave from his friends to his attitude towards girls was homophobic. there is an il-liberal attitude in mark millars writing and while I quite in enjoyed jolies getting out of steam bath naked the highlight of the movie. story wise the movie was ugly. and it was one of worst films I have had to sit through. though certain action scenes were good. Finally back to kick ass. Hollywood likes Mark Millar because, they feel that he is the voice of those people who dont like big budget superhero films and there is alot of people who dont. thanks to them we are all now stuck with mark millar and his il-liberal attitudes. those people who hate comicbook movies are the same people who hate bay movies. More avatar for them, less originality for the rest of us....
-
not because of any controversies, but simply because the main guy was just boring. Oh and every single good bit of action in the film had already been shown in the trailers.
-
I completely agree with the last point. whole heartedly. dave was an idiot was an utter idiot. I was left utterly unconvinced by a lot of the film. but in certain places it was funny. story was all over the place. the stuff with the d'micos didnt work. I would have thought that chad would have been the one to take down his old man who was a criminal. but the writers kind of copped out there.
-
based on a comic that almost no one has heard of and having only one name actor of any note (Nicholas Cage), doesn't set the box office on fire! Wow, I'm shocked! I would say 20 million is a preaty amazing opening for such a film.
-
WORLD-WIDE it's already made $37 million. Will it get to $90 million worldwide? Not sure on that, but it's certainly possible. Especially with the mostly great word of mouth it seems to be getting. I only mention that because I wasn't aware Lion's Gate paid $45 mil for it. At the $30 budget figure it would easily have been profitable at the box office prior to DVD/Blu-Ray rentals and sales. Still, quite sure they wouldn't have take the risk with that price if they didn't think they had a good chance to turn a profit.
-
or universal and plan b were sold a pup. pitt possibly came on board because he had heard of this edgy film for kids. He possibly never read the entire screenplay. they needed a big name to sell the film to the us. which is what happened with lock stock. trudy styler made that film happen in the uk. but in the us, styler called up tom cruise. he flew privately to london and what saw knocked him out. Lock stock would never have happened if trudy had not made the call to tom cruise. how do I know all this. the making of lock stock was told in the cracking bbc show film connections. a spin off from the fab comedy connections.
-
was trashing Avatar or i have mixed you up with someone else?
-
truly.
-
is for shit. There has been so much truly vile entertainment cranked out in the last 40 years, and still, people talk as if this one film is going to bring this perfect society we live in crashing down. Kick-Ass is brilliant, and its lack of tiresome post-911 hippie-dippy pacifism is collossally refreshing. Its marketing, btw, appears to be aimed at 16/17-ish teenagers and young adults with fanboy tendencies, not preteen children. So really, what is the beef?
-
number 1 of the weekend, and what is the common factor? Craig Ferguson! Proof that if you put Craig Ferguson in your movie it'll be a hit. (Except for all the little indies he's made over the years)
-
Admittedly, I've never read the comic. As far as film's go, I thought it was really cool. Maybe, it's just because most of the action sequences in the household-name superhero movies seem so inconsequential to me. While watching those, you know that Iron Man, or Wolverine, or The Green Lantern aren't going to die. But, in this one, I didn't know the character's fates. This movie was edgy to kill off any of it's characters. Even Hit Girl. For me, that added a little juice to the action.
-
http://www.toaaa.com
We need your support and trust!!!
free shipping
High-Quality. Low Prices. First-class Service
Dear customers, thank you for your support of our company.
Here, there's good news to tell you: The company recently
launched a number of new fashion items! ! Fashionable
and welcome everyone to come buy. If necessary, please
input: http://www.toaaa.com
--------------------
Tshirts (Polo ,ed hardy,lacoste) $16
New era cap $15
Air jordan(1-24)shoes $33
Handbags(Coach,ed hardy,lv,d&g) $33
Jean(True Religion,ed hardy,coogi) $30
Sunglasses(Oakey,coach,gucci,Armaini)$16
Bikini (Ed hardy,polo) $25
Additionally, we also free shipping、Only charge a small Insurance.
Thanks to the support!
http://www.toaaa.com -
suck it
-
Her shitty movie came in third.
-
and it doesnt seem that word of mouth will save this piece of shit for a movie.
-
ominus is fucking wrong!
-
Yea, looks like KA got by with about 200,000 dollars more than Dragon. Tight race either way.
-
and it says that the movie is no2.so there i am right.where were we? ah yes: fuck this shit.
-
So even if Kick Ass did finally edge it out in the end...it's not much of a victory. Also, there will be no sequel...because HitGirl is already 13...and if they write a script now, by the time they start filming, she'll likely be 14...and will the core fans for this film be as impressed with a 14 year old killing people as they were with an 11 year old...? Or will it be an older version of a tired gimmick with no more legs? No sequel for you!
-
..."'Kick-Ass' Opens Up a Can of Weak Sauce".
-
100000usd under HTTYD.tough.
-
We want a non-mainstream genre film to fail, regardless of whether we like or approve of it?
-
that he is wrong,DEAD WRONG.
-
Kick-Ass is the #1 movie beating How to Train Your Dragon, which is available to a wider audience because it is PG and Kick-Ass is R, it also costs more to see Dragon since it is in 3D. But children and higher priced tickets couldn't stop Kick-Ass from grossing 195367 more than Dragon. It has also grossed 37,228,687 worldwide which is enough to cover it's 30 mil budget, and as far as the est 30-40 mil lionsgate spent on advertising, that will be made back in the weeks to come since this film has legs, is getting good ratings from critics and better ratings from movie-goers and will sell nicely on blu-ray and dvd. And since it was an independant film Lionsgate has no say in a sequel anyway.
-
Mo'nique got molested by her brother. He's sorry.
-
because the box office "weekend" take that Lionsgate says puts it ahead of HTTYD includes 10 pm thursday evening previews. Normally weekend box office totals only include thursday midnight screenings and nothing earlier. Subtract that and KA drops to #2 against HTTYD. Alternatively if you include the thursday evening showings of both KA and HTTYD then the latter comes out ahead.
-
Apr 19, 2010 4:53:21 PM CDT
What Will Be The Biggest Superhero Flop Ever? 1) Kick-Ass 2) Sco
by eddie_norton
My money's on "Suck-Ass". Batman & Robin was actualy a decent film, in keeping with the '60's whow. It just didn't have half of the marketing hype that "Suck-Ass" did.
-
Maybe if it had opened at $30 mil. But, it just doesn't seem like the public is that interested in it. It will find it's audience, it'll just take a few years. Hopefully, I'm wrong, and it's word of mouth will give it legs. But, I don't see that happening.
-
the film has legs? how? where? its tuesday.
The only real indication of "legs" is in england where apparently it dropped 70% second weekend. -
and will get a lot of repeat business
-
It's only Monday in your meds-ravaged brain.
-
We're not talking about Serenity here, people actually like this movie
-
And yet there is no obituary or mention of Dede Allen's death here? Seems like everyone has their priorities out of whack here.
-
If his latest project nemises is any good, within two years it's sure to be another live action movie just like it's predecessors wanted and kick ass.Swallow that.
-
Let's see one is about substance albiet, broader concepts while the other is all about style and lame ass dialogue.hmmmm...
-
But expect the creators to tone this one down to a PG-13 rating to bring in a larger audience. You'll know pretty quick which way its headed once Millar starts putting out the new comics. I would also expect that it will probably deal with both Kickass and HitGirl coming to terms with their previous actions and realizing they can't simply leave what they did behind. The whole, actions have conequences stuff, with Red Mist lighting the match.
The other thing they have to deal with is that this will not happen without Chloe Moretz, and as such they'll have to adjust whatever storyline they have to factor in her growth changes and older age. This can actually be a plus in that with maturity she begins to understand what exactly Big Daddy truly took from her, and the moral problems with what she did. -
I love it how Harry and the Massawyrms of the world refuse to let anyone have a fucking opinion about the movie. Haven't seen it, and don't plan to... looks retarded. Eventually, maybe I'll Netflix it. Potty-mouthed 11 year-olds "kicking ass" just doesn't get me going... like say Watchmen did.
Bring on the real summer movies. Enough of this Mystery Men reboot, Kick Ass bullshit.
-
Will it be just as big of "much ado about nothing" as these last two? Seriously, besides the buzz generated amongst geeks, who really cares about these projects or Millar's work? If anything, they show that Millar does not have his pulse on what the masses want and that he only appeals to a smaller number of fans than even Nicholas Sparks or the Twilight chick (I'm way to lazy to look up her name).
And Millar isn't the Michael Bay of comics. Michael Bay and his work is known by a lot more people. -
I pity those poor folks who went to the advance screenings and had a "fun communal experience"... oh, wait... isn't that one of the things you go to the cinema to experience?
-
Apr 19, 2010 5:42:59 PM CDT
Can We Just Stop This Debate, Please? "SUCK-ASS" Bombed!
by eddie_norton
plain and simple as that, you fucking faggot fanboys!
-
Why the f*ck do you keep going on about "Potty-mouthed 11 year-olds"? Is that the only element of a movie you can focus on?
-
How come everyone is so concerned by the box office of a movie now? Are you guys all movie production company shareholders? Have you something to lose personally if these movies don't do well? If I like a movie, should it bother me if it doesn't go down well with other people (other than the fact that if it does badly there won't be a sequel)? Blade Runner, Pinnochio, Shawshank Redemption, etc, all did lousy at the cinema but I like 'em. And I really like Kick-Ass, so who cares if others don't like it so much? (And let's not forget foreign language films like Rec, Let The Right One In, etc, that will always do badly in America at the box office 'cause it's not in English.
-
jeez, is that the least gay name they could find for this cocksucker? why not just call him "PINK FOG"? wow, what a lame and pathetic excuse for a film. i'm just glad i saw it for free on the web. i pity you fools who paid money for this piece of horseshit.
-
I'm just wondering why you didn't get the fact that the dweeby movie character who was dressing up as Red Mist was never going to actually be a macho character? He was MEANT to be a bit of a lame-ass character in costume. Didn't you understand that when you watched this film "for free"?
-
you pervert lovers of the flick hold your energy for the inevitable sequel.although hit-girl would become too old for your sick tastes until then.
-
a) Red Mist refers to the cloud of blood that appears when someone gets shot
b) you're obviously 14 years old so fuck you -
that's not a bomb.
-
Check out his Canadian game show host. This is all kinds of what-the-fuck: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80967503/
-
I haven't watched the movies, but I've seen the trailers and read the fanboy reviews... I did that in an honest effort to try and like this seemingly quite stupid movie. The only thing anybody seems to be talking about is the Hit Girl character... and if that character is the best part of the movie, then my assessment of the material is spot-on... Kick Ass most likely sucks balls. AND SO... I'll wait, and go see Iron Man 2 or something. :)
-
..masturbate with a crucifix...that kind of thing would open up a whole new debate. Oh wait....that was part of the exorcist. Good thing people are smart enough not to bring kids to R movies or complain about shocking content that was obvious by the previews. And it's a good thing people that haven't actually seen the movie or are non fan haters haven't commented.
-
The whole jetpack thing was a huge "you gotta be shitting me moment" that pulled me out of the movie
-
Sidekicks have been in comic books for how long?
-
Her costume isnt sexy in anyway. I think the people who think its sexy should check themselves instead of judgements on everyone else. I wonder how many people who object to Hitgirl are fans of the International cut of Leon.
-
As for Hitgirl using words that are beyond her understanding,society has changed (not saying its for the better, just saying its changed).Statistics show that most teen girls dont teen view oral sex as sex. Half the words Hit Girl uses can be heard on FX channel. Hell even the "family friendly" pg13 Julie & Julia had the word "cock" in it.
-
dude, are you defending this horse crap for real>? okay, cool, can i get back to you when i've finished eating out my hot Russian blonde and her delicious pussy? Okay, so, why don't you go suck mcloving's cock while i actually have some hetero fun? Cheers! Fuckhead!
-
I'm just wondering why you're such a fucking loser that no russian girl will touch you! fucky you, cocksucky! and don't you ever ask me for help with these beautiful blonde babies again, you fuckwad!
-
You'll hit puberty soon, hopefully by age seventeen, then you'll be able to take a real girl on a date to Kick-Ass 2 and won't have to download it illegally because you had no parent or guardian to take you to see it.
-
Read the comic, thought it was incredibly stupid. The ads look stupid. My friends who saw it said it was stupid. So I believe it is most likely stupid.
Having said all that, I think eddie_norton is an asshole. Calling people faggot for liking something and then bragging about eating some girls pussy is a sure sign you feel insecure about you manliness.
Tell you what kid, when you grow up and actual become a man and act polite you can then join a debate. Until then, remember to use plenty of hand lotion while you jack off. -
yeah, it was pretty good. not the best orgasm i've ever had (that was a cynthia rothrock hk movie). but, seriously, i just wanted this litle white girl to SUCK MY BIG BLACK COCK.
-
And, good lord have mercy, as Jehovah be my witness, I LOVE LITTLE WHITE GIRLS SUCKING ON MY BIG BLACK COCK!
-
3 inches isn't big. They are just being polite.
-
don't count as Russian girlfriends
-
Apr 19, 2010 8:28:37 PM CDT
and if you're black maybe your familiar with the term clownin'
by jackslater4
as in "Now everyone is clownin' on your bitch ass"
-
Speaking as a black woman, I'd like to speak on behalf of ALL women and let you know that we're not scared when you use that big 'n' word. oh, and as a lesbian, your big black cock just sends me further and further out the door. That's not me sucking on it. I think it's your sister, though.
-
doesn't make you black
-
at least i get to FUCK hot russian blondes. meanwhile, you make do with the nigger crack whores (with teeth missing) on the street. wow, you guys are so beyond "pathetic", there's no hope for you!
-
Sure you are. I believe you. And maybe if you keep typing it, you'll start to believe it too.
-
that the same people who are groaning jerking off in the tub about Hit Girl and needing a sequel to this movie are the same people who groan jerking off about star trek and being mad at there are too many sequels.
-
You fuckin crazy?
And why is pathetic in quotes? Do you think it's a new slang word you and your WoW buddies made up or something? -
you see, white boys, i'm a nigger. what i really want is to have harry wrap his juicy pink lips around my big black cock? can you make that happen? come on, my white homies, your nigger president has made it compulsory for all white men to obey his command! so, i command you, deliver me harry's rosy, luscious lips!
-
you see, white boys, i'm a nigger. what i really want is to have harry wrap his juicy pink lips around my big black cock? can you make that happen? come on, my white homies, your nigger president has made it compulsory for all white men to obey his command! so, i command you, deliver me harry's rosy, luscious lips!
-
it's okay, dude. i get it. your mom's a crack nigger, and i feel exactly the same way, afeni shakur!
-
...that fight club douche bag.I knew this asshole would resurface.Best comeback: "and having a black avatar on Playstation Home
doesn't make you black". I sense a Banhammer, "Eduardo". -
I'm sure he'll remember this day for the rest of his life - for once people payed attention to him.
-
shoots up his school tomorrow, then commits suicide, the police will find a pirated copy of Kick-Ass in his room and the film will get the blame
-
see, this is where you FAIL, white boy! i'm a black man given a free pass by this asshole communist in chief to make you rednecks feel guilty! trust me, as a black man, i would love nothing better than to choke my cum into one of your underage white girls. but... let's wait and see........ maybe obama makes that legal too. in the meantime, do you have ANY idea how many 11 - 14 year old JUICY white girls i've roofied and raped? may the lord bless obama and ball cancer on the part of all white men who feel cheated. trust me, billy bob, i have fucked and raped so many underage white girls. all of obama, praise him, white boy, get down on your knees!
-
Is it too late to join the TB with anything other than red meat? 'Cause I'd really like to get into how this film was a reconstruction, not a deconstruction ala Watchmen. You know, not unlike how Airplane! reconstructed comedy.I could also get into the debate about how Hitgirl is nothing new and is, in fact, a logical progression of sorts if anyone can refrain from taking the tired Chris Hansen approach.
-
Just wondering.
-
really, sister? really> i'm just about to come in the mouth of an underage white girl, and you're spoiling the cause? you fucking cunt! fuck you, you fucking turd-like black bitch!
-
I agree in a way. That certainly wasn't in the source material.I also didn't like how that scene made Dave into a killer, which the source material didn't do (as far as it went by comparison).On the other hand, it was a necessary 2x4 to audience sensibilities, along the lines of the "SEE, IF YOU DIDN'T NOTICE, I'M A COMEDY MOVIE, STUPID!!" brand of transparency.
-
Ha ha! Fuck you, you fucking redneck gomer pyle asshole! You can't touch me because I'm black:) Fuck you , white boy! Yeah, you see, we us dem niggers finally got a nigger as president and he is gonna spank you, lord have mercy!
-
stop typing with one hand, and you won't have so many typos. Youtube upskirts or AICN, pick one, you are not successful trying to do both at the same time.
-
Chris Evans was a lame choice for Captain America.
-
Son, you're a fucking joke. You wish you were giving tongue to a commi instead of trolling websites looking for attention. stop making blacks look bad with your fronting.
-
get your fucking grubby non-white thumbs off her, you dimwit. fuck you! thanks.
-
that Eddie Norton isn't black but a Hitler Youth reject trying to lampoon blacks.
-
Do all crack babies grow up to be anti-social, maladjusted, ADHD, fuckstains like you? Or are you special?
-
Why haven't you banned this asshole yet. He called the president the N-word several times.
-
American History X or I'm sure there is a pro neo nazi edit floating around that he thinks is the greatest shit of all time.
-
no, seriously, boys, i am a blacxk boy! But, you know, because this jigaboo is now your president, you cant say shit about yourself without incriminating yourself. So, here we go: I just fucked your white pink daughter's wet cum in my mouth while i was fingering your white pink wife's pussy between my forefingers and, hey!, both your bitches came at the same time. now, if you have nay complaints, i suggest you take it up with the nigger you elected. in the meantime, i shall just seduce and rape underage white girls (because i just love the way their pink lips circle my bib black cock), until you turn harry to jail!
-
In the 80's it was the skinheads getting curbed by punks
-
Goddamn, darling! I hate those nasty skinheads! They came to my compton hood and threatened to kill my mama!
Man! That is some fucked up shit! -
Maybe you should go raid her pill cabinet again, steal some xanax and pass out/O.D.
-
the onion has got you covered
http://tinyurl.com/y7h3slz -
Ebert raised legitimate points, but Harry has basically hand-waved them away with a variant of the "But-it's-so-cool!!" argument. I, personally, felt similar to Ebert, although I still loved the film. The violence was *meant* to be unsettling, IMHO, and you're meant to ask yourself "then why the hell am I enjoying it?".
I wrote more about it here:
http://philosophicalzombie.net/post/525839542/kick-ass-violence -
No, It's more like your absentee black father, yo. Kinda like how he conceived you on your crack mama's stomach and then ran away! Trust me, nigger, seriously, I'm black, and I know all the tricks that these "playas" like your asshole dad play!
-
Hey Asshole, I am black! You dig, whitey? If you attack me, I go straight to your whitey-approved nigger president, you get me, aaaaaaight?
-
First you claim you banging hot blonde russians, then you claim your black with a big dick. There is only one thing we need to know about you which you have confirmed over and over:
You're a loser.
Don't bother to reply. I won't read it. And I'm sure it will be you sprouting the same old routine. Wasn't witty or even interesting the first time, but keep beating that horse... -
'Kick-Ass' Deleted Scenes... Revealed!
Posted 4/15/10
If there's one problem with director Matthew Vaughn's action-packed adaptation of "Kick-Ass," it's that there's just too much ass to kick. The filmmaker found this out the hard way when he had to cut nearly 20 minutes of footage from the final version of the film.
"There is about 18 minutes of [deleted] footage, which is really good stuff," the director told MTV News. "If the film is a hit, I'll do an extended cut."
According to Vaughn, the deleted 18 minutes weren't necessarily problematic, but he worried about over-stuffing the "Kick-Ass" experience.
"The problem about this movie is that I was trying to make it snappy and short, because I think a lot of movies have become way too long," he explained. "I had a cut that was 20 minutes longer and I went, 'You know, this is just indulgent. Let's do a film that's fresh and energetic, and if people want to have more, then I'll put more in.'"
As for what was left on the cutting room floor, Vaughn revealed that "three Hit-Girl and Big Daddy scenes" didn't make it into the final version of the film.
"It was really tough to get rid of them because they're so popular," Vaughn confessed, adding that another deleted scene involved "the funniest groupie sex scene with Red Mist and Kick-Ass basically behaving like Mötley Crüe with two girls — it was really funny to film and to watch but, again, it wasn't right for the pacing of the film."
-
so far all anyone has talked about is whether or not its is a bomb. hardly great press. don't get me wrong i fucking loved the film. Loved it but I the word of mouth is hardly universal praise. regards to the box office I am in the camp of it being not a bomb as its clearly not but that opening is a definite disappointment. The film was fucking everywhere marketing wise. it opened on over 4000 screens. It should not have struggled to be number one over a 4 week old film. those are facts. not opinion just facts. the studio was projecting 25-30 milllion dollar opening. they fell short.I know the film was cheap to make but 37 million worldwide doesn;t cover it and unless it has great legs the film is not going to be considered a massive success. it already has the stigma of being perceived as a "bomb" ....and I think it is a shame as I would love to see a sequel but at this rate it is unlikely.
-
yeah, well, in case assholes like you think i'm a foolin' around, listen to me very carefully, you black mofo's. i love that nigger obama because his presence lets me rape sexy underage white chicks. now, let ,e do my thing and fuck my big black cock down the throat of a hot white girl like hit-girl and leave me the fuck alone!
-
As much as I always respected the critical eye of Mr. Ebert, he missed the boat with his review of Kick-Ass. I wonder if he actually bothered to watch the movie or did he peep through splayed fingers. He missed critical plot lines in his review and took a jab at content instead.
-
And about Ebert, usually I agree with him but the whole video game/kick-ass review has me wondering. also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_PKJTWZcHk
-
Into racist banter and interracial homosexual fantasies. Who'd have thought the great debate would go down that path?
-
Hooboy. Kinda suspected this would be the result...
http://tinyurl.com/y3v6g8u
Nothing to see here, folks...he'll go back to yiffing a Sonic plushie in a little while... -
Ugh, her situation has all the makings of a trainwreck. Her mom is her "manager" and has already become a notorious "stage mom" and her brother (a struggling actor) is her "acting coach" and is a real dick and hanger-on, if the gossip is to be believed. This comes from a friend, whose father owns a catering company who worked on one of her recent movies. It won't be easy for her when she has her mom and brother living their lives vicariously through her. Good luck to her.
-
stage Mom manager)to be the next Jodie Foster...hey, could be worse.
-
she IS the next Jodie Foster!
-
... with the different music in there - I'd be interested to know what songs they had originally and where in the film they were.
-
his career was destroyed by his psycho bully father. in fact everyone was afraid of him. his wife, his kids, studios execs. he would arrive on set of the home alone movies with a baseball bat and threatened the script writers if he felt his son wasnt in the movie enough.
-
like "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"
-
http://www.toaaa.com
We need your support and trust!!!
free shipping
accept paypal credit card
lower price fast shippment with higher quality
our website: http://www.toaaa.com
best quality guarantee!!
Safty & honesty guarantee!!
Fast & prompt delivery guarantee!!
Packing: All the products are packed with original boxes and tags also retro cards/ code
numder
Features: AAA QUALITY, COMPETITIVE PRICE AND SERVICE
1) The goods are shipping by air express, such as EMS,the shipping time is in 5-7 business days
2) They are in stock now;
3) Various styles and color for clients' choice
4) The Products are fit for most people, because of our wholesale price
Tshirts (Polo ,ed hardy,lacoste) $16
New era cap $15
Air jordan(1-24)shoes $33
Handbags(Coach,ed hardy,lv,d&g) $31
Jean(True Religion,ed hardy,coogi) $30
Sunglasses(Oakey,coach,gucci,Armaini)$12
Bikini (Ed hardy,polo) $23
http://www.toaaa.com -
I have read this elsewhere, but I think it's true. We (the online geek community) are very opinionated, but still very likely to just illegaly download the movie rather than pay to see it in the theater. So our opinions really don't count for much.
It makes me sad, but it's totally apparent. Successful movies are bland and have mass appeal (much like McDonalds). "The Public" wants nice, safe, unchallenging in all ways fare.
Wait till the clearly terrible remake of Nightmare on Elm Street makes way more money than Kick-Ass. Or the latest rom-com or whatever.
Bummer to realize one is part of a useless demographic. -
that is the point that is being missed here. people keep going about that as if ebert was worried kids will see the film. he wasn;t being a moral watchdog.He just didn't like seeing an eleven year old curse and have the shit beaten out of her by a grown man for laughs. people are really missing the point of his review.
-
The film is trying to get people to respond to it the way Ebert did. They are being provocative..they are pushing the edge...the are out and out trying to shock people. They wanted to make a film in which morals are out the window. there is an anarchic spirit to the film that wants to offend. I find it fucking hilarious that people are defending the film against exactly what it set out to do. Ebert isn't wrong at all. He just didn't enjoy it but he nailed what the film makers were going for. To say he is wrong to have been offended by it is ridiculous.
I am not a harry basher....never have been never will be but this article is completely fucked. -
and I'm sure this talkback is close to deceased, but I have to say this somewhere. I'm extremely disappointed in this film. Goldman's script changed the story so much that the original intent is entirely absent. The actors all did fine work, the direction was decent, the soundtrack very nice. But why do we have to abide by this lack of respect for a story?
It's unfortunate that Ebert got his hole inflamed by Hit Girl. In fact, she's really not that shocking in our modern age. Roger should have just said the movie wasn't very friggin' good.
-
Apr 20, 2010 6:02:03 PM CDT
but... it did not kick ass. its a rude comedy about passing for
by jrkerr
I want $8 and 2 hours of my life back along with the fresh dripping scalps of at least three emo teen boys who think that was a good movie. that kid in the green condom got his ass kicked every time - I can't believe I w3atched the whole thing. fuck.
-
rude comedy about passing for gay to get laid. its bizarrely unkickass and very emo.
-
YOU SHOULD BE! HAHAHAHAHAHA! HYPE REFUTED!
-
Overall, I did enjoy the film. I thought the choice to use the score from Sunshine was great, especially the scene where Hit-Girl is on her rescue mission.
Still, the jetpack, as others have said, was rather awful, and it did take me out of the film. Bad thing to throw in there. Could have done without it. -
Apr 20, 2010 10:08:30 PM CDT
Should've had more HITGIRL/BIG DADDY and less KICK ASS
by ghostoflesterbangs
-
was forgettable and pathetic compared to hitgirl and big daddy, who did all the heavy lifting. Mclovin as red mist was a joke that writes itself. The red mist mobile was kind of cool.
-
Well, another reviewer I don't need to take seriously anymore.
-
I have a terrible reaction to movies I think are mean spirited, and I don't think this one qualifies. Hard to say exactly why, but I think it is because they took time to show the emotional vulnerabilities of all the characters, even hit girl. It compares favorably to many festivals of soulless hollywood sadism, such as "Wanted". To this viewer, Kick-Ass the movie was extreme, but had a caring soul.
-
I feel like there is a big difference between when hard edged vulgarity is truthfully used as satire, and when it used merely to pander.
A good example is to compare the original "Death Race 2000" with the recent remake. The original used violence for a satirical purpose. Consequently, the movie really ABOUT something.
Its remake used satire as a barely present excuse for vacuous action sequences, which is the standard role of satire in today's cinema.
Because of this important difference, the original movie had a soul, while the remake merely sucks yours away. -
I actually think there is a weird sadness/sweetness in the big daddy and hit girl storyline. I didn't find it mean spirited at all but it is definitely wanting to shock people so all this fuss because it succeeded seems silly to me.
-
You're right: the Kick-Ass character hgimself 'was forgettable and pathetic compared to hitgirl and big daddy, who did all the heavy lifting'. Kick-Ass was just some dweeby kid thinking he could be a super hero without any training or plan, which was what Millar MEANT him to be, to contrast him with Big Daddy and Hit Girl.
-
Gotta say, Harry this was fucking awesome! I love Ebert but couldn't agree with you more on this. Very well said. Er.. written.
-
Welcome to our website http://www.shoes2.us/
We need your support and trust!!!
Dear friends, please temporarily stop your footsteps
To our website Walk around A look at
Maybe you'll find happiness in your sight shopping heaven and earth
You'll find our price is more suitable for you.
===== http://www.shoes2.us/ ========
Next we come to talk about a topic:
Why are now prices are very expensive%uFF1F
yes Many people now have to earn more money
to Pushing up prices
But they didn't find customers buy after won't come back
But friends %uFF0CDo you ever found
Our website is more cost-effective price than others
Want to know why?
The answer is:
We are not the point to earn money
We are long-term trade marketing
We are for the benefit of customers%u3001
Why our customers will be so much?
Are the prices we meet their needs.
COACH Bag (Market Price:$69 Our Price:$31.00 )
Ed Hardy hoody (Market Price: $89 Our Price: $41.00)
AF t-shirt long (Market Price: $48 Our Price: $25.00
POLO t-shirt Short huge (Market Price: $48 Our Price: $14.00)
AF1 low (Market Price: $79Our Price: $45.00)
Jordan 11 Special (Market Price: $79 Our Price: $46.00)
Our price is more suitable for you?
If is the word.
Then what you waiting for?
Hurry movement of your mouse
Enjoy shopping pleasure,
Additionally, we also free shipping%u3001Only charge a small Insurance.
Thanks to the support!
====== http://www.shoes2.us/ =====
-
Guess WOM wasn't as strong as indicated.
-
part of the fanboys who want Kick Ass to succeed. Now they'll move on to talking about how it'll be a smash hit in DVD/Blu-Ray sales.
-
I actually regret my comments about potentiol "paedo" elements that I posted previously. I think Devin Faraci's review(s) on CHUD are right on point. However, there were a few spots where Roger Ebert had good cause to feel squeamish ... when hit-girl slaughters all those workers in the drug den, including that girl ... it was a bit excessive to just laugh off. Even if that one girl smashed a beer bottle to menace hit-girl with.
-
I couldn't wait to show the trailer for Kick-Ass to this girl I'm dating. When I finally showed it to her, I got the R-Rated version.
She wasn't quite as receptive as I'd hoped.
I'll paraphrase the dialogue:
HIT GIRL: "Oh, fuck!"
CRIMSON MIST: "We'd better unfuck the fuck, or we're gonna be fucked!"
BIG DADDY: "If fuck happens, then we'd all better fuck with the fuck, and then fuck!"
KICK ASS: "FUCK!"
So....still wanting to get laid, I quickly abandoned my idea of getting her to relate to comic book goodness.
Ebert's got a point! Not completely necessary to take the language quite to Glengarry Glenn Ross level! -
I was one of the few that found the film entertaining, but I find characters like that pretty sad in a Charlie Brown kind of way. He's not the worst example, the perpetual loser "Paul Blart" was. That character was relentlessly pathetic, and ruined the movie. At least kickass ended up getting laid.
-
Harold--don't try this 'he said/youse said' crap again w/ Ebert, okay? If you wanna pick a fight-go over to Noted_Sage Vern's site and take a gander at what he has to say about yourself, Drew's and Feraci's little preconceived notions about this here little SuperFriends knockoff. Cuz thats all this is--save that Marvin and his galpal are killing people instead of reading the Troublator. That's it, really. You're better off watching 88 Minutes again and watching your IQ drop another 14 points in the process. This DOES get 3 goat hooves up on the Almada scale, however.
-
Kick Ass is a lot of fun but I do think it suffers from focus. It tries to parody comic book films with the character of Kick Ass but embraces the genere with the character of Hit Girl. I think a film needs to be more focused and not so allover the place.
-
How to Train Your Dragon, released Mar.23, remains in 1st place, 5 weeks later. This film is now dropping off the map in less than 14 days.
-
and they're running straight to the dvd bargain bin. HYPE REFUTED AGAIN!
-
Kickass dropped 52% in sales...the biggest drop out of all the movies in the top ten this weekend. I guess word of mouth had the opposite of the desired effect.
-
He thinks his opinion is better than everyone else's. He always has.
This is the same guy who gave "Benji: The Hunted" 3.5 stars.
He, along with Leonard (I'll give 3 stars to Tim ALlen's "Jungle 2 Jungle") Maltin, know nothing about film. Rather, they know nothing about films I like.
I get it, he critiques film for a living. But he's no filmmaker (failed one if I remmber correctly)and he's out of touch. I'll take an acclaimed filmmaker's opinion over Ebert's any day.
Do people really take this fucker's advice anymore? -
I know this is a long shot (since this thread is kind of dead) BUT
what are the differences - in terms of score) between But A Numb Thon Kick Ass and Theatrical One?
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 339 total posts 339 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 141 total posts 141 posts
- Quint travels to Barsoom and visits the John Carter set!!! -- 116 total posts 116 posts
- Crom! Grant The Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day revenge! And if you do not listen, den to Hell witchu! -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- The Sensorties Revisit The Friday Docback (And Still Smell)!! DOCTOR WHO Story #7 Again, The Coming Of Season/Series 7, And More!! -- 51 total posts 51 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 65 total posts 50 posts
- Rest In Peace Bethesda’s Adam Adamowicz -- 45 total posts 45 posts
- SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD is something I'm very anxious to see! -- 43 total posts 43 posts
- Capone found nothing mysterious or good about JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND!!! -- 40 total posts 40 posts
- OK. So Harrison Ford Isn't In Talks For The New BLADE RUNNER. But... -- 145 total posts 39 posts