CRASH

Started by Finn, April 20, 2005, 05:02:29 PM

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hedwig

Quote from: pyramid machine on February 26, 2006, 10:05:38 PM
Quote from: xerxes on February 25, 2006, 02:59:01 PM
Quote from: pyramid machine on February 24, 2006, 08:45:23 PM
i understand what you are saying, again...but everything in bold is true but has nothing to do w/ my arguement for crash. again, i am talkign about my generation....thats how i can compare to what i've seen vs. crash...

ignoring and discounting the films, and the history, that came before the 1970s seems to be the basis for many of the problems with your stance. how can you reply to that by just saying that that's not the time period you're looking at. i think that was the whole problem.

b/c its not relevant to my point...i am basing my arguement on what [films] i've seen dealing w/ race relations...   

Then you are disqualified from discussing the ways "Crash" does or doesn't subvert the conventions of films dealing with race relations, because you're only talking about the select few that you've seen and consider all others to be "irrelevant."

Dead argument.

ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ

"As a matter of fact I only work with the feeling of something magical, something seemingly significant. And to keep it magical I don't want to know the story involved, I just want the hypnotic effect of it somehow seeming significant without knowing why." - Len Lye

The Red Vine

Quote from: Ravi on February 25, 2006, 12:40:21 PM
It just keeps coming.  Did Ebert forget about Do the Right Thing?  His essay on it is even on the Criterion DVD.

Ebert of course is a strong supporter of movies about racism - Do the Right Thing - best movie of the year. Monster's Ball - best movie of the year. Crash - best movie of the year. It gets a little ridiculous cuz every time a racially charged movie comes out, I know he'll give it 3 1/2 or 4 stars.

But the weird thing is that he seemed to be kinda silent about Crash until now. He gave it 4 stars when it first came out, but I didn't hear him say much about it until 7 months later. I was a little more than surprised when he put it at #1.
"No, really. Just do it. You have some kind of weird reasons that are okay.">

pete

I don't remember the specifics--but I think he's been talking about Crash since it came out.  I mean, he stopped for a few months but when Crash first came out he did mention it quite a few times in his columns and his interviews and maybe even in other reviews.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

The Red Vine

actually, I do remember a couple of articles about it later. my mistake.

at any rate, I figured he'd go for Syriana or maybe even The New World (which didn't even make his top ten) for best of the year. I liked Crash better than most on here, but it's not the best movie of the year. I'll be rooting for Brokeback Mountain at the Oscars.
"No, really. Just do it. You have some kind of weird reasons that are okay.">

meatwad

Quote from: pyramid machine on February 24, 2006, 08:45:23 PM
in my opinion alot of those films that i mentioned as examples do have a common theme of race relations in their subject matter.....american history x, in the heat of the night, seperate but equal, men of honor, glory, a tiem to kill, etc....all of those films have a theme of racial relations.....can you argue aginst that?

common themes and a genre are two seperate things.

NEON MERCURY

Quote from: Hedwig on February 26, 2006, 10:09:04 PM
Quote from: pyramid machine on February 26, 2006, 10:05:38 PM
Quote from: xerxes on February 25, 2006, 02:59:01 PM
Quote from: pyramid machine on February 24, 2006, 08:45:23 PM
i understand what you are saying, again...but everything in bold is true but has nothing to do w/ my arguement for crash. again, i am talkign about my generation....thats how i can compare to what i've seen vs. crash...

ignoring and discounting the films, and the history, that came before the 1970s seems to be the basis for many of the problems with your stance. how can you reply to that by just saying that that's not the time period you're looking at. i think that was the whole problem.

b/c its not relevant to my point...i am basing my arguement on what [films] i've seen dealing w/ race relations...   

Then you are disqualified from discussing the ways "Crash" does or doesn't subvert the conventions of films dealing with race relations, because you're only talking about the select few that you've seen and consider all others to be "irrelevant."

Dead argument.

whats "dead" is the point of view of those older films...its stupid, ignorant white people propaganda...the "birth of a nation" views on race is....um....so stupid you cant even compare it to the newer "social awarenes" type films that flood the industry now...the idiots who buy into and think that those "birth of a nation" type films where the philosophy is that of "black folk are the devil" are the same people who still think that the world is flat......

irrelevant.....to my point about crash...

Quote from: meatwad on February 28, 2006, 01:24:03 AM
Quote from: pyramid machine on February 24, 2006, 08:45:23 PM
in my opinion alot of those films that i mentioned as examples do have a common theme of race relations in their subject matter.....american history x, in the heat of the night, seperate but equal, men of honor, glory, a tiem to kill, etc....all of those films have a theme of racial relations.....can you argue aginst that?

common themes and a genre are two seperate things.


i apologize..you are right..i should have said these films encompass:

genre: drama
common themes:  race relations

...well, i didnt want to come to this but you guys are forcing me to make me quote ebert of all people to hammer down my point...maybe you guys will listen to a "respected" film critic rather than a hick from the south who thinks david lynch is a genius...

QuoteAll true enough, but the brilliance of the movie's method is that victims and victimizers change places, and "Crash" demonstrates how in a complex multiracial society there is enough guilt to go around

QuoteMany of the racist assumptions are incorrectly aimed; a man of Iranian (i.e., Persian) descent is infuriated that anyone would think he is an Arab, but he leaps to immediate suspicions about the ethnic identity of the young man changing his lock. And then the locksmith ...

Quotemade them realize that society has shuffled the packs of good and evil and made it more difficult for the good to always be Us and the evil to always be Them. The movie invited them to see that everyone has a story -- a story that does not excuse or justify their actions but places them in a context.

QuoteI heard from a black woman who was surprised to find herself sympathizing with the Sandra Bullock character. Well, why shouldn't she? You don't have to be white to be paranoid after a carjacking (to think you do is racist).



JG

the formula for this movie:  show the character do something bad/racist, show the character do something good/be a victim.   wow, so people can be good and bad? that's complex. 

hedwig

Quote from: JimmyGator on March 01, 2006, 02:11:02 PM
the formula for this movie:  show the character do something bad/racist, show the character do something good/be a victim.   wow, so people can be good and bad? that's complex. 

Exactly.

pyramid machine, the argument that the film subverts American cinema's historically conventional depictions of race relations is a dead one not only because you're dismissing plenty of other films but 'cause you're also WRONG about some of them..  Seriously, you listed DO THE RIGHT THING? Were you paying ANY attention when you watched that movie, assuming you've actually even seen it? And Ebert's column was already posted in this thread, not particularly convincing: his arguments are more coherent than yours, true, but equally baseless. The Dickens comparison is pretty weak. I love Ebert but he's wrong on this one, the same way he was wrong on Blue Velvet and Lost Highway

This was a movie about personal racism, not institutional racism, and that distinction has to be made whenever people discuss the "statement" being made about how there's enough "guilt" to go around, how whites and blacks can 'share the blame' or some other hogwash. Do The Right Thing, on the other hand, was rare and important because it explored personal AND institutional racism in a way that resulted in a rich and empathetic portrait of a truly "complex multiracial society," and Ebert's essay included in the Criterion DVD is actually pretty fucking great, so it's weird to see him saying these things..

grand theft sparrow

According to this coming weekend's release schedule on boxofficemojo.com, Crash appears to be getting a 150 theatre "victory lap" re-release.  Now, I'm not just mentioning this because I'm annoyed that it won but what's the logic here?  Is this release to make it easier for all those poor bastards in major cities who haven't been able to get it from Blockbuster or netflix in the seven months it's been out on DVD? 

matt35mm

Quote from: hacksparrow on March 08, 2006, 08:17:35 AM
According to this coming weekend's release schedule on boxofficemojo.com, Crash appears to be getting a 150 theatre "victory lap" re-release.  Now, I'm not just mentioning this because I'm annoyed that it won but what's the logic here?  Is this release to make it easier for all those poor bastards in major cities who haven't been able to get it from Blockbuster or netflix in the seven months it's been out on DVD? 
No.  It's just to make more money, as well as to promote the upcoming director's cut DVD.  Actually... it might possibly BE the director's cut being played in theaters?

grand theft sparrow

Quote from: matt35mm on March 08, 2006, 08:38:25 AM
Quote from: hacksparrow on March 08, 2006, 08:17:35 AM
According to this coming weekend's release schedule on boxofficemojo.com, Crash appears to be getting a 150 theatre "victory lap" re-release.  Now, I'm not just mentioning this because I'm annoyed that it won but what's the logic here?  Is this release to make it easier for all those poor bastards in major cities who haven't been able to get it from Blockbuster or netflix in the seven months it's been out on DVD? 
No. It's just to make more money, as well as to promote the upcoming director's cut DVD. Actually... it might possibly BE the director's cut being played in theaters?



MacGuffin

Quote from: hacksparrow on March 08, 2006, 08:17:35 AM
According to this coming weekend's release schedule on boxofficemojo.com, Crash appears to be getting a 150 theatre "victory lap" re-release.  Now, I'm not just mentioning this because I'm annoyed that it won but what's the logic here?  Is this release to make it easier for all those poor bastards in major cities who haven't been able to get it from Blockbuster or netflix in the seven months it's been out on DVD? 

"Crash" Hits Theaters Again

Audiences are getting another chance to see a big-screen Crash.

Fresh off its Best Picture Oscar, the film is heading to more than 150 theaters Friday for an encore run. The length of the engagement is "open-ended" pending its performance, says Steve Rothenberg, president of theatrical distribution at Lionsgate.

Crash, set over the course of 36 hours in a Los Angeles teeming with tension and deep-rooted prejudices, originally opened in May 2005 and grossed $53.4 million domestically. The film was released on DVD in September and sold 3.8 million copies by Feb. 1, according to Lionsgate.

Some 17,500 copies of the DVD were sold Monday, more than half of last week's tally of 33,000 copies, and it currently ranks number two on Amazon.com's top sellers list in the wake of its three Academy Award wins, including Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing, and earlier accolades, such as the Screen Actors Guild Award for its ensemble cast.

Whether the film's awards will translate into ticket sales is iffy. Large theater chains such as Regal, AMC and Century have a policy against playing films that are available on video.

And even hugely popular films do not necessarily attract repeat theatergoers, especially when people can be at home watching the same thing from their living rooms. Gladiator, which grossed $187 million in theaters and then went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars, was rereleased afterward but only scraped up $1 million on 577 screens, according to Variety.

Crash does have shock value in its favor. The racially charged drama scored the evening's biggest upset Sunday when it beat out frontrunner Brokeback Mountain for the top award. The film has also made headlines for the behind-the-scenes legal wranglings of its producers.

For the homebodies out there, a special edition DVD of Crash is scheduled to hit stores in April. Lionsgate has also said that there are talks for an FX series based on the film that will reprise the roles of its major characters.

Now that's quite a pileup.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Ravi

Please kill this film already.