EPISODE 346: SHOULD I BE ENJOYING THIS?

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8 Responses

  1. Hudsucker says:

    David, I’m curious why you never reviewed your most anticipated film, Gravity? Otherwise, good episodes as always.

    • Battleship Pretension says:

      I didn’t see it before it came out. Now that I’ve seen it, here’s a very brief review:

      It’s a remarkable achievement and a hell of a ride but, absent the thrills, it’s kind of thin. Which is okay for a movie to be but I was hoping for a bit more nuanced pathos from Cuaron.

      – David

      • Hudsucker says:

        I feel the exact same way about it. Also, when talking about smart movies revolving around action chaos, what was the movie where it was basically a live action, I heard Shoot ‘Em Up could be considered a good example.

  2. Jonathon says:

    I think Funny Games is the definition of ‘should I be enjoying this?’ Funny Games is one of my favourite movies of all time, and I find it somewhat rewatchable unlike most people – I don’t find it rewatchable because I think it’s fun or enjoyable in any way, but it’s such an enigmatic puzzle that I often return to it to see whether I can come closer to ‘solving’ it (even though it can probably never be solved in its entirety).

    • Battleship Pretension says:

      I’m not sure it fits, though, because Haneke so clearly knows exactly what he’s doing to you.

      – David

      • Jonathon says:

        He definitely does, though I think his predominant purpose is to ontologically make the viewer question whether they should be enjoying this movie, and the types of films it castigates. I know people who unequivocally enjoy Funny Games without regard of Haneke’s purpose, and I know people who say ‘I was enjoyed that but I really shouldn’t have’. I just don’t fall into either camp.

  3. Eric Maala says:

    Huh, this episode comes at the perfect moment: all week I couldn’t help but consider Blue is the Warmest Color in a similar light. The question behind, as a Christian should I watch this.

    I’m all for movies depicting viewpoints I don’t agree with if the story being told is honest and the viewpoint isn’t outright unethical– so to be clear the actual premise of the film isn’t the issue. And I can’t exactly talk about Blue itself without seeing it and don’t claim to know exactly what went on behind the scenes. Even so, this is less about Blue and more about film in general…

    Here are couple of questions racing through my mind…

    1. So, filmmaker *tries* to positively utilize sex, violence, bad taste and *despite good intent* fails to depict anything beyond the sex, violence and bad taste– does the trying and failing make the film’s problems more excusable.

    2. Can one scene, viewpoint, line of dialogue– can a single *part* of a movie be so inexcusable as to make an entire film unwatchable for you.

    3. Can behind the scenes reports, artists views, etc. keep you from embracing a work of art.

    See, this doesn’t *just* apply to Blue is the Warmest Color, it’s also a common question in horror films, think Roman Polanski, even to some extent Enders Game has raised these questions– I’m sure everyone’s ran into these problems at some point.

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