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Well there's a shocker. Mark S. doesn't like a movie.
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And it doesn't really end. You could outline the movie like this:
PROLOGUE: First 70 minutes
Act 2: 71-90 minutes
Act 1: 91 minutes to end
Act 3: Doesn't exist.
The movie was exactly right as it was. Dude, you spend WAAAAYYYY too much time trying to figure out exactly how YOU would plot the movie, instead of simply enjoying somebody else's vision.
Given as how you like clear linear progression in movies (Act1 , then Act 2, then Act 3), Memento must have driven you crazy....
The movie was exactly right as it was. Dude, you spend WAAAAYYYY too much time trying to figure out exactly how YOU would plot the movie, instead of simply enjoying somebody else's vision.
No. When I dislike a movie, I ask, "Why?" I try to give it a little more thought than, "This sucks. Change it."
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Originally Posted by Bill790
Given as how you like clear linear progression in movies (Act1 , then Act 2, then Act 3), Memento must have driven you crazy....
I have never seen Memento, but I love it when movies play with formula and succeed. NOMADLAND seemed to toss out even the most basic recipe for story in favor of "mood." A mood piece is fine for 15-20 minutes. But two hours? If the only mood present is misery, then that's two hours of misery.
NOMADLAND is trying to be deep. But it's only broad. It's like a lake that is nine miles across but only half an inch deep.
No. When I dislike a movie, I ask, "Why?" I try to give it a little more thought than, "This sucks. Change it."
I have never seen Memento, but I love it when movies play with formula and succeed. NOMADLAND seemed to toss out even the most basic recipe for story in favor of "mood." A mood piece is fine for 15-20 minutes. But two hours? If the only mood present is misery, then that's two hours of misery.
NOMADLAND is trying to be deep. But it's only broad. It's like a lake that is nine miles across but only half an inch deep.
I agree. McDormand is a wonderful actress. She was so convincing that the real life people playing themselves couldn’t believe that acting is her job. But on the other hand, some of those real life people seemed so flat that I am not sure it added anything to have them. Professional actors may have actually played them better or made us care more.
And the movie got confusing, with some people having to live like that and others choosing to.
It fell into the trap of all the common folk being good people. C mon, no group of people are saints. No fights?
No sexual assaults?
I don’t necessarily watch a movie wanting the lead character or secondary characters to be my best friend. Sometimes they are people I wouldn’t want to spend face to face time interacting, but I find them interesting enough that I want to eavesdrop on them for a little while, as in a movie, or listen to their conversation at Starbucks if they were there in real life. These people, not so much. I guess it’s a little interesting that some could survive under those conditions at their ages...horrifying that those who have no choice have to endure it...and a little inspiring that they made the best of it, to some extent.
How many of these folks lost everything in the recession - and had no choice. Fern and her husband worked for a Nevada mining company and lived in a home the company provided. Until the company went bust. So they had nothing to fall back on. Their wages were low to begin with and they could not save. Fern was lucky she and her husband did not have children - it would have been much harder to scrape together a life.
It’s a story that’s duplicated across the country.
Low wages. And the book deals more harshly with Amazon - a company that can afford to pay more than $11 an hour - and the work is grueling. Yet seasonal. No health benefits, no sick leave - nothing. Work until you die. YES, some people thrive in that life - but some would not have chosen it.
Given this context, where it the line of personal responsibility? Who spends there whole life in a house owned by someone else? They accepted a lifetime of low wages? No plan for income growth?
I enjoyed the movie but they didn't address somethings. Everyone isn't a victim of the system and life on the road isn't always rosy an d fun.
Privilege? Or is it ambition and/or taking control of ones life. Living in a house you don't own or rent means you have no control over the roof over your head. Who wants that?
Every now and then a movie comes along that is widely praised and lauded and worshiped by the critics on the industry because things going in the culture, corporate politics, or just because no one can admit the Emperor hath no clothes. But later on, people start to come to their senses and realize that that movie everyone loved actually was kinda bad.
Remember American Beauty? Ugh. It won all the awards. Critics gushed over it. The stars all gave interviews where they looked wistfully into the distance and opined how Important this movie is and how it changed their life just being in it. It does indeed have some great acting and great cinematography (sound familiar?), but the movie itself is bad, and even the industry critics have come around to that conclusion.
Much the same thing happened with The Usual Suspects. And Shakespeare in Love. And Scarface. Consensus on Birdman is turning. I suspect much the same thing is going to happen with NOMADLAND over time. Because the movie just isn't very good.
Every now and then a movie comes along that is widely praised and lauded and worshiped by the critics on the industry because things going in the culture, corporate politics, or just because no one can admit the Emperor hath no clothes. But later on, people start to come to their senses and realize that that movie everyone loved actually was kinda bad.
Remember American Beauty? Ugh. It won all the awards. Critics gushed over it. The stars all gave interviews where they looked wistfully into the distance and opined how Important this movie is and how it changed their life just being in it. It does indeed have some great acting and great cinematography (sound familiar?), but the movie itself is bad, and even the industry critics have come around to that conclusion.
Much the same thing happened with The Usual Suspects. And Shakespeare in Love. And Scarface. Consensus on Birdman is turning. I suspect much the same thing is going to happen with NOMADLAND over time. Because the movie just isn't very good.
What you're discussing is HYPE. Yep, American Beauty (which I never really got) and Shakespeare in Love (which, while stupid and fun, shouldn't have been a Best Picture Oscar contender) were overly hyped. Absolutely no doubt about it. I think a lot of that was maneuvering for Oscar contention.
(Speaking of overly hyped movies, I feel the same way about The Purple Rose of Cairo and Hannah and Her Sisters. Both movies were absolutely beloved by critics. I saw them both at the theater and remember walking away thinking "What's the big deal?". Not funny. Not anything. I couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. Now Broadway Danny Rose was FUNNY, and not overly hyped.)
I don't see Nomadland, the little independent movie on Hulu, as being overly hyped. I see a lot of regular people saying that it really spoke to them. I have no idea what critics are saying about it, and I couldn't care less. It spoke to me. How will history view it? I couldn't care less. It spoke to me NOW.
You're simply wrong about Nomadland. As you are about so many movies, primarily, I suspect, because they aren't the way YOU would have plotted or filmed them. You keep getting in your own way. Other people might have visions for films that won't necessarily align with yours. Keep in mind Mark S, movies aren't always filmed as complete, easy to follow stories. Sometimes movies invite YOU to fill in some of the blanks. That was the case in Nomadland.
Was Nomadland grim and moody? Yep. It was a grim and moody story. If you don't want grim and moody, stick with Disney movies. If you can't live without a lot of context, stick with mini-series like The Civil War.
(BTW, you would HATE Memento. It started off on Act 3, at the end (horrors!) and the critics really liked it. My advice to you--don't ever watch it.)
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