Napoleon Dynamite

Started by picolas, April 15, 2004, 12:52:45 AM

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picolas


Fishbulb

Yeah! That trailer is hilarious.I love the bike scene, and when he's playing tetherball like a spaz...this looks like my kind of movie. It looks like the director was definitely influenced by Wes Anderson and Todd Solondz. I hope "limited release" doesn't mean just NY and LA.

pete

looks great...but I wish it wasn't PG!
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

cine

If this guy becomes the next Ernest, I'm sold.

Slick Shoes

I read a review somewhere that said there were undertones of Wes Anderson, but it wasn't quite as geek chic as, say, Rushmore.

RegularKarate

http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=781&highlight=sxsw

/\ Here, I wrote:

Napoleon Dynamite:

Get used to this title because this one's blowing up.  A lot of people are calling it this year's Bottle Rocket.  I enjoyed it, but it doesn't deserve that label.  There's not enough meat to this movie to make it as good as the films it's being compared to.

It's very quirky and in parts very hilarious.  Also racist in parts (though it's hard to tell if the film was trying to laugh at it's stereotypes or with them).  It's a clean movie.  According to one of the filmmakers I was standing in line with (not a maker of this film, a maker of another film at the festival), it was made by a bunch of mormons.

Overall, the film was good and I enjoyed it, but the buzz makes me afraid that this is going to end up being overrated.

Chest Rockwell

Saw this today. It was REALLY funny. And there was this REALLY hot girl sitting not too far from me, too, so my day was just made. The only thing that got on my nerves was that the theatre didn't crop off enough so the mikes were visible at parts, and even that was funny.

Ravi


grand theft sparrow

Oh, my God! The guy who directed this is younger than I am! Time to either buy a camera or a gun.

I have to say that it's tremendous to see Fox Searchlight put so much faith in something like this that they're doing free screenings of it to drum up word of mouth.  I'm really impressed.  Have they (or anyone else) done this before? Because I imagine it will work out well.  If only they had acquired Shaolin Soccer for US distribution and done this with it; it would have been huge.

Fishbulb

What do you mean? Studios do preview screenings of movies all the time. Next week I'm seeing "The Notebook", and that doesn't come out until June. I'm just pissed that Orlando is the closest that "Napoledon Dynamite" appears to be playing near me according to that website. If I'm not doing anything that day, maybe I'll make the drive to see it.

picolas

Quote from: FishbulbWhat do you mean? Studios do preview screenings of movies all the time.
Quote from: hacksparrowfree screenings

pete

that's what he meant.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Ghostboy

It's pretty good, and possibly the kind of movie I call great in a couple years when I go to see it a midnight screening with a bunch of friends. I went in knowing nothing about it, other than what was on the poster and what was given away in this thread, and for the first half hour I kinda resisted it  -- this was possibly because I was sitting in the very front row (and alas, unlike Chest's experience, all the hot chicks were in the back). I was afraid the movie was just going to be quirky for quirky's sake, which it was, but they kept that quirkiness going so well that I fell for it pretty quickly. There's not much depth to it, but on the other hand, there is no plot for the movie to get hung up on, and so it just sorta coasts along on its own cloud nine of oddball geek humor. By the end, I really was enjoying it and laughing quite a bit. Also, I freakin' loved Pedro -- he ruled!

I don't think it was racist (I assume you're referring to LaFawnduh, RK?), but I do think the gag with Kip's fashion changeover stuck out like a sore thumb. Overall -- I recommend it, but try to see it before the hype gets too overwhelming.

Chest Rockwell

ADMIN WARNING: MILD SPOILERS

I liked Napoleon himself the most, which is unusual in these little comedies (y'know...usually its the semi-likable straight man surrounded by quirky characters, but in this it seemed everything was quirky). But yea, you're right, there were some jokes that were a little cliched, etc, such as the white man-loves-black girl thing. I thought the dance part was hilarious for a while, but it dragged on a tad too long. But anyhow, I think if anything in it is racist, it's be the rather stereotypical portrait of Latinos (the obvious associations with ghetto-violence, the hydrolicized cadillacs/whatever). I suppose LaFawnduh is a bit of a racial comment, partly in her name and her bling-bling. Either way, I really enjoyed it. My balls were aching the entire time from the laughter and the hot chick sitting near me.

RegularKarate

Quote from: GhostboyIt's pretty good, and possibly the kind of movie I call great in a couple years when I go to see it a midnight screening with a bunch of friends. I went in knowing nothing about it, other than what was on the poster and what was given away in this thread, and for the first half hour I kinda resisted it  -- this was possibly because I was sitting in the very front row (and alas, unlike Chest's experience, all the hot chicks were in the back). I was afraid the movie was just going to be quirky for quirky's sake, which it was, but they kept that quirkiness going so well that I fell for it pretty quickly. There's not much depth to it, but on the other hand, there is no plot for the movie to get hung up on, and so it just sorta coasts along on its own cloud nine of oddball geek humor. By the end, I really was enjoying it and laughing quite a bit. Also, I freakin' loved Pedro -- he ruled!

I'm glad to hear that you basically felt the same way I did.  I'm worried that people are going to mistake constant quirkiness for originality and think this is "The next BottleRocket" (which is what everyone at SXSW was calling it).

Quote from: GhostboyI don't think it was racist (I assume you're referring to LaFawnduh, RK?)

Actually, I was referring to Pedro.  He's like a cartoon character version of a Mexican.

I think I'm over the racist thing... the more I think about it, everyone was really a stereotype in that movie.