CRASH

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

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Finn

You can't compare this movie to Magnolia. It's totally different. Now Magnolia is a more brilliant film (particularly in terms of the directing, etc...) but this is a terrific movie on it's own terms. It's not really brilliant but it emotionally absorbed me in. This movie has even more urgency than Magnolia does with some many of the characters held at gun point. To me it's a study on the dangerous urban streets and how they affect the people who live in them. It's also about how people have good and bad in them. Just as Ebert & Roeper said, a bad person could do something really good and a good person could do something really bad. It does have too many coincidences but they have big emotional payoffs. The story about human nature is universal. I might be the only one on this site who felt that way but many other people did too. It's gotten great reviews from the critics and high ratings from the audience (if you look on IMDB). Go see it and stop comparing it to Magnolia and these previous ensemble dramas.
Typical US Mother: "Remember what the MPAA says; Horrific, Deplorable violence is okay, as long as people don't say any naughty words."

Pozer

Why couldn't they even come with an original title? That bugs me, right off.

Rudie Obias

there's one shot in CRASH that lasts for only 3 seconds (maybe) that the editor should have taken out.  if they did take this shot out then CRASH would have been a much much better movie (imo).  can anyone guess which shot i'm talking about?  (probably not)

but all in all, i did like the movie enough to see it again and when it comes out on dvd i'll buy it.  but by no means is a great movie but its a good movie.  during the movie, i could not stop thinking about MAGNOLIA (structurally).  more power to you paul haggis...

Quote from: POZERWhy couldn't they even come with an original title? That bugs me, right off.

i think the title is apt.
\"a pair of eyes staring at you, projected on a large screen is what cinema is truly about.\" -volker schlöndorff

meatball

A lot of the flak is coming from people who haven't seen the movie.

Pozer

Actually no, around here it seems to be coming from most who have seen it. I was looking forward to it, the reviews made me even more excited and even some friends who have seen it said it was really good.
Then I come to ol' xixax where I go for reviews that I can count on and then BLAM! My expectations are shot right the F down.
I shoudn't of said the title thing bugs me. after all, the other Crash movie was shite.

MacGuffin

Quote from: POZERI shoudn't of said the title thing bugs me. after all, the other Crash movie was shite.

Which one?
http://www.imdb.com/find?q=crash;tt=on;mx=20
"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

Pozer

oh you know which one.

pete

I just saw it tonight without knowing anything about it, except that Ebert gave it 4 stars.  In the beginning I wasn't really into it because it took place in LA and though had a lot of double backs and twists on you regarding racism, I felt like it wasn't saying anything, like a Spike Lee movie would.  And then you know, a lot of like screenwriting 101-type character arcs (or setups of those) for me.  that being said, I was quite moved by the film.  I dunno how to defend it yet, since "intellectually" it didn't have that much going on that wasn't already done somewhere else before.  but I do appreciate the interaction between the characters and the acting and I dunno, maybe just how I liked most of the characters and I was affected by the tension and their choices.  I understand that on paper (or in the trailer), the film just sounds like Any Ensemble Film Ever, but I dunno, I think Paul Haggis is so familiar with what's cheesy and what's not (obviously not enough, reading the last three pages) to allow the plot to unravel in a way that still holds great tension.

When I saw this thread staying on top of the page I thought it was gonna be at least a 50/50 debate, and I was ready to jump in and be all snotty on how I considered this to be the best "hack movie" I've seen--"hack movie" meaning that a movie that employs all the familiar tricks that you can associate with Hollywood, but I guess everyone kinda already knows that, but I thought it was the best hack movie because like a handful other hack movies, it actually moved me.

it moved me because though certain events seem contrived, I thought all of the characters' epiphanies were truthful enough.  I also liked how nice the people were to each other when we all stepped out of the movie theater.

though it certainly ain't Do the Right Thing.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Gamblour.

Spoilers maybe:


It seems like Ryan Phillipe got unnecessarily fucked over. He was cool until the end, which I thought was overdone. A lot of it was kinda overwritten. The scene where Matt Dillon argues for his father's HMO coverage was really really good. The car crash was great too, but then, where'd Dillon or Newton go to the rest of the movie?
WWPTAD?

Ultrahip

this was certainly well intentioned and often very good but way too manipulative, and by no means can it ever be compared to magnolia. when the snow started falling at the end of crash, and the camera went from character to character with that fucking push-in on thandie newton on the bed smiling like melora walters, it was just so devoid of impact that frogs would have provided.

also, the 'almost deaths' made me stop caring. when phillipe busts a cap it was just not painful in the least, not after haggis rips your heart out with the locksmiths daughter and then force feeds it back to you. that scene did not feel divine or anything of the sort, it felt twisted and clever in the worst ways possible.

and that song at the end was just, well...not aimee mann. but since this can't be compared to magnolia, it was a better than average flick that was, at least, trying to say something.

Pozer

Well, he's exec producing PTA's next flick so looks like your S.O.L.

just kidds.

Hodgemeyer

Quote from: rudiecorexxxthere's one shot in CRASH that lasts for only 3 seconds (maybe) that the editor should have taken out.  if they did take this shot out then CRASH would have been a much much better movie (imo).  can anyone guess which shot i'm talking about?  (probably not)

So which shot are you talking about?

MacGuffin

Cultural 'Crash' at the water cooler
Despite mixed reviews, the controversial depiction of a tinderbox Los Angeles has become the movie to see and discuss.
Source: Los Angeles Times
 
With its depiction of multicultural Los Angeles as a city riven by racial strife, urban ennui and class warfare, "Crash" has sharply divided film critics. But it has pulled together a critical mass of filmgoers to remain among the top-grossing movies at the box office for four weeks running.

The ensemble drama has turned into must-see viewing for those who want to stay inside the cultural loop, much the same as last year's "The Passion of the Christ" — another controversial movie that became unavoidable small-talk fodder — albeit on a smaller scale.

"The movie is becoming water-cooler conversation," said John Hegeman, president of worldwide marketing for the movie's distributor, Lions Gate Films. "There's a cultural relevance to it."

The Los Angeles Times called "Crash" "a grim, histrionic experiment in vehicular metaphor slaughter"; it also received a scathing review in the New York Times. The New Yorker, however, hailed it as "the strongest American film since Clint Eastwood's 'Mystic River.' " Despite those mixed reviews, the $7.5-million film — which stars Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon and Sandra Bullock — has played strongly throughout the country. In Manhattan, "Crash" was the most highly attended movie on its opening weekend, and it remains among the three most attended films in Southern California.

"Everyone in my office has been talking about it," said Jun Rhee, 37, an Internet technology supervisor from Los Angeles. "I felt like I had to see for myself or else I wouldn't be part of the conversations."

For his part, writer-director Paul Haggis, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of "Million Dollar Baby," feels gratified that "Crash" has gotten people talking. "I think it's fabulous that people are coming out of any film and debating it," he says.

"When you're making a film like this, you want strong opinions. You want people to argue about things. When [executive producer and co-star] Don Cheadle and [co-writer and producer] Bobby Moresco and I were setting out, we knew we'd stir up a lot of feelings — some of them negative."

However, to combat perceptions that the filmmakers had set out to sensationalize racial conflict, the movie's marketers pre-screened "Crash" for influential activists and pop icons, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, music producer L.A. Reid and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

"We got community leaders from a diverse makeup of nationalities who we wanted to give a feeling of why this was important," said Hegeman of Lions Gate. "All were supportive of the movie. We just had to screen it and they said, 'Do you need help getting the word out? We would love to spread it.' "

Further, "Crash" has benefited from the kind of "you gotta check out this movie" buzz that is hard to manufacture.

"The proverbial fourth act — when you're walking out of the theater — is the most important act," observed Vicangelo Bulluck, executive director of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People's Hollywood bureau, who enjoyed the film. "It's about what it makes you think about and discuss with friends and colleagues."

The breakdown of ticket sales illustrates Bulluck's point. "Crash" was the fourth-highest-grossing film on its opening weekend, May 6-8, and attendance dropped only 23% in its second week in nationwide release. (By comparison, "House of Wax," which was released the same weekend as "Crash," dropped 46% in the same period.) More significantly, on "Crash's" third weekend, the drop-off rate fell slightly, to 21%.

By the fourth weekend, the drop-off rate was only 13% — an indicator that interest in the film is holding relatively steady. Its cumulative gross, meanwhile, stood at just below $35 million.

"I not only recommend this film to friends, family and colleagues," said Beth Sacks, 36, an actress in New York, "but to strangers I may happen to talk to on the street."

"Crash," which is playing on 1,800 screens across the country, appeals to moviegoers from every demographic stripe, its marketers say.

"So often, a movie will click with a specific target audience," said Hegeman. "What's interesting about 'Crash' is that it's working across the board in upscale theaters, blue-collar areas and racially diverse areas across the country. This is a movie that's hitting a chord with a diverse group in terms of age and racial composition."

"I think the movie has very strong word of mouth," said the NAACP's Bulluck. "In the African American community, those that I know are encouraging everyone they know to go and see it."

Not everyone shares the same warm feeling for the film, however. Angela Clemons, for one, walked out of the theater about an hour before the film's ending.

"I couldn't stand the anger and frustration everyone exhibited toward each other," said Clemons, who lives in Tyler, Texas, where she also saw the movie. " 'Crash' seemed to pit every race against the other races. It overwhelmed me."

At work, she cautioned an African American colleague to avoid the film, citing the way it would push her emotional buttons. The advice, however, backfired. "That's made her more curious," said Clemons, 48. "Now, she wants to see it."

While she doesn't second-guess her decision to leave the film before it was over, Clemons remains curious enough to give "Crash" a second chance.

"I can't get the dang movie out of my head," she said. "I will have to rent the video when it comes out. The anger that made me walk out of the movie has stuck with me and I want to see if there's a happy ending."
"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

Gamblour.

Geez, I'm not seeing what the big deal is. People act like "Do the Right Thing" never came out.
WWPTAD?

socketlevel

Quote from: Gamblor Posts DrunkGeez, I'm not seeing what the big deal is. People act like "Do the Right Thing" never came out.

agreed.  It's too clever for it's own good.

-sl-
the one last hit that spent you...