does anyone think fight club is a little pretentious?

[Alexandro]

I never thought Norton's character or Pitt's character were supposed to be considered "cool" at the end of this film.

Norton ends up being an asshole. A big mouth. Like many people in our generation, he complains about everything while also being a part of all the things he hates. That in the end he develops a second persona in the shape and form of a hot, cool, smart, "brave-i-dont-give-a-fuck" guy like Brad Bitt, poster boy for hotness in the last 20 years, pretty much defines his own character.

I do think the film gets weak at the end...but the "coolness" of it is part of the argument.

[picolas]

project mayhem? is that you?

[Sleepless]

Very funny

[MacGuffin]

Police Say 'Fight Club' Inspired a Bomber

When a homemade bomb constructed from fireworks explosives, a plastic bottle and electrical tape was set off outside a Starbucks coffee shop on the Upper East Side early on May 25, the police initially thought the explosion might be linked to three others with similar profiles.

But on Wednesday, after the arrest of a Chelsea teenager in the Starbucks attack, the police said there was no connection between that attack and the three others. Instead, the Starbucks bomber had his own agenda, the police said: to emulate the assaults on corporate America planned by a character in the movie "Fight Club."

The teenager, Kyle Shaw, 17, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with first-degree arson and first-degree criminal possession of a weapon, the authorities said.

"His statements indicated he was launching his own 'Project Mayhem,' " Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said at a news conference on Wednesday, referring to a plan hatched by the protagonist of "Fight Club," played by Brad Pitt, to sabotage corporations by destroying property. Mr. Shaw had told a friend to "watch the news on Memorial Day," May 25, Mr. Kelly said.

Mr. Shaw pleaded not guilty on Wednesday night at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court. Judge Abraham Clott ordered him held in $300,000 bond or $100,000 cash bail.

A prosecutor, Christopher Ryan, said people who knew Mr. Shaw had approached the police after he told them that he had planted the Starbucks bomb and was planning a similar attack elsewhere. The police placed Mr. Shaw under surveillance, Mr. Ryan said, before arresting him. He said a search of Mr. Shaw's home on West 27th Street yielded a news clipping detailing the aftermath of the explosion, a box of sparklers and a DVD of the 1999 David Fincher film, based on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk.

Mr. Fincher and Mr. Palahniuk, through their agents, declined to comment.

Mr. Kelly said investigators had ruled out a link between the Starbucks bombing and the three earlier explosions — at an office building on Third Avenue housing the British Consulate in 2005, at the Mexican Consulate on 39th Street in 2007, and at the Times Square military recruiting station in 2008. All of the attacks occurred in the early morning hours, inflicted little damage and caused no injuries.

Investigators said it was too early to say if Mr. Shaw had intended to harm people, but the police commissioner said the bomb was powerful enough to have caused serious injuries if anyone had been close by. It damaged a bench and shattered the coffee shop's windows.

Mr. Shaw had started an underground fight club modeled on the one in the film, Mr. Kelly said, and had bragged to friends that he was behind the bombing.

Neighbors of Mr. Shaw, who recently graduated from high school, said they believed he was planning to take a year off before college to work and save money. One said he was considering trying to become a city firefighter.

"We watched him grow up," said a neighbor, Jon Glick, 44, who is a graphic designer. "He's absolutely a nice kid."

Brandon Lewis, a former schoolmate of Mr. Shaw's, said the arrest came as a surprise. The two were classmates at the School of the Future near Gramercy Park before Mr. Shaw transferred to the City-as-School High School in the West Village last year, Mr. Lewis said.

"I would never paint him in that way, as a domestic terrorist or anything," Mr. Lewis said. "He never gave an inkling that he was into that. He is very funny. Very outgoing. Friendly with mostly everybody."

Mr. Shaw's affinity for "Fight Club" was well known.

"He saw the movie and he read the book," Mr. Lewis said. "He wanted to watch the movie in our English class in the 11th grade. We were discussing existentialism in class, and he suggested we watch the movie as an example. We ended up watching 'I Heart Huckabees.' "

[MacGuffin]

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will release Fight Club on Blu-ray on 11/17. Extras will include commentary with director David Fincher, commentary with Fincher, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, commentary with Chuck Palahniuk and Jim Uhls, and commentary by Alex McDowell, Jeff Cronenweth, Michael Kaplan and Kevin Haug, 7 deleted and alternate scenes, multiple featurettes (A Hit in the Ear: Ren Klyce and the Sound Design of Fight Club, Welcome to Fight Club, Angel Faces Beating, The Crash, Tyler's Goodbye, Work: Production, Visual Effects, On Location and more), an Insomniac Mode viewing option, Guys Choice Award, an Edward Norton interview, a music video, 12 TV spots, trailers (including the 8 Rules of Fight Club), promotional and art galleries, Internet spots and more.

[MacGuffin]

Unfortunately I read about this elsewhere before I received my copy and missed out on the shock, so if you want to not have any spoilers before you pop in your Blu-Ray copy of Fight Club, I suggest you turn away now:





New 'Fight Club' Blu-rays Come with a Prank by the Director

Don't be shocked when you load up your new Blu-ray version of director David Fincher's 1999 cult classic "Fight Club" this holiday season and the menu screen appears to be from the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy "Never Been Kissed." It turns out it's all a prank by Fincher.

After noticing the gag with a preview copy, The Onion's AV Club contacted Fox Home Entertainment and had its suspicions confirmed: while the original "Fight Club" menu replaces the "Never Been Kissed" one after a few seconds, the "snafu" was no accident.

Turns out that Fincher thought it would be funny to use the menu from a sweet bubble-gum romance -- the farthest possible thing from the very dark "Fight Club" -- that was a much bigger box office success when both films were released in 1999. Barrymore's inexpensive comedy grossed $55 million in the U.S., while the big-budget "Fight Club" only brought in $37 million. Of course, "Fight Club" has developed a loyal and vocal fan following over the past decade, and it is listed in the top 10 of Total Film's and Empire magazine's Greatest Films of All Time lists.

Don't worry about the practical joke hurting Drew Barrymore's feelings, though. "Fight Club" actor Edward Norton is friends with the "Never Been Kissed" star and producer, so she gave the OK for the gag. Sharp-eyed viewers can also spot Barrymore in the movie itself. There is one shot of a discarded Movieline magazine with her on the cover.

Critics that were sent a review copy of the new Blu-ray were specifically asked not to disclose the joke before it went on sale this past Tuesday. Apparently, the first rule of "Fight Club" still stands: you do not talk about "Fight Club."

[socketlevel]

"I think a movie like Fight Club is an incredibly irresponsible film." - Paul Thomas Anderson

[polkablues]

I think he's walked that statement back a bit since then.

[socketlevel]

I just wish i had the quote a few years ago.

[Stefen]

Fight Club is one of those movies where if you label yourself a film buff but don't really care for Fight Club, people give you the, "Bro, how can you be a film buff but not like Fight Club?!" talk. The world is littered with people who fancy themselves movie fans but really aren't. Fight Club is like the best movie ever to them. They pat themselves on the back because "they got it" "

"Made sense to me, bro!"

Years ago I was at a house party and people knew I was into movies so they started asking me for recommendations. I'm sure all of us have been in the spot where a family member or acquaintances put you on the spot and asks, "so and so likes movies! What's good now?" and you kind of struggle to recommend something because everything that you've liked recently isn't something they would enjoy, so you just agree with them when they say they heard The Wolfman was REALLY good. I think I recommended Good Night, and Good Luck and as I did, some meathead ass dickhead was like, "Don't listen to him. He hated Fight Club!" then the next 12 minutes was me defending my position on what movies I liked and didn't like. It was pretty much me against everyone and I kept trying to dig myself out, but just kept digging myself deeper, Lots of Ron Howard fans there. It was awful! Worst experience of my life! Even now when I run into people from that era they refer to me as, "Hey, it's didn't like Fight Club guy! Seen anything good lately?! HAHA"

[The Perineum Falcon]

That's when you say, "i'm not supposed to talk about Fight Club."

[Pas]

What did PTA mean with the irresponsible quote?

[Reel]

that it makes violence look 'cool' and young males will see it and want to start fight club's and terrorist organizations of their own. My cousin was in one for awhile, got a couple black eyes. Plus 9/11 happened.

[socketlevel]

i went on and on about this near the beginning of the thread a few years ago. but it's basically the idea that the depiction of violence and making everything cool counterminds the "message" it proposes.

same argument could be made for wallstreet. he made Michael Douglas' character too sexy, so cut forward two decades and all the Enron douchebag crowd gets is the coolness and they want to be him. it's a flawed film if the point is lost in the depiction. I understand the counter argument that the film is showing the temptation of greed, but if all the film ends up doing is further perpetuating the greed in the audience, then it's done something wrong.

best example i could ever give was when my mother (who is a teacher) once asked me what I thought the best film to show a group of late teens about drug abuse. she said "I heard transpoting is good." and i said "Nope that will just make them want to do it because the characters are cool. show them Requiem for a dream instead, they'll honestly think twice after seeing it."  and that's it in a nutshell, trainspotting is a well made film but it does a disservice when educating youth about heroin.

[jerome]

i think he was mostly referring to how it makes light of cancer