I've always given John Hughes the benefit of the doubt that he hated every single one of his characters and felt nothing but contempt for the audience his movies found
A reasonable theory - he did get his start at National Lampoon after all.
― grawlix (unperson), Sunday, 31 December 2017 15:19 (six years ago) link
Bilbo Baggins is a fat comfortable home counties middle englander who made his money as a hired mercenary in a war of conquest and if his wet nephew felt vaguely guilty about any of it I hardly think a token faux-native jewel sacrifice ceremony covers it
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Sunday, 31 December 2017 15:21 (six years ago) link
xps I don't really but Bueller seems so extreme that I have to think somebody somewhere used it an experiment in how far they could push things
I don't understand the thread premise. Is it that Scrooge isn't the protagonist of acc (he is, that's just a fact) or that you disagree with the film about "who Scrooge is" ie what sort of person he is (he's a Scrooge)― Bitcoin Baja (wins)
thread title s/b movies where you disagree with the moral of the story maybe― Bitcoin Baja (wins)
Yeah, this also confused me. I thought it meant "the protagonist is another character" not "the protagonist is meant to be great but is actually a dick".
― emil.y, Sunday, 31 December 2017 15:27 (six years ago) link
Both decent thread ideas
But I think that we probably already do the latter in individual threads for most movies ever tbf
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Sunday, 31 December 2017 15:32 (six years ago) link
I just rewatched Fight Club for the first time in ages. Ugh, no wonder this movie is huge in Russia and with the alt-right.
― Yerac, Sunday, 31 December 2017 15:50 (six years ago) link
I'm trying to work out this Scrooge thing. (I'm most of the way through the original Dickens atm.) If you can accept the premise that ghosts and spirits exist in the way that they do in this book/film, I'm not sure it's fair to say that what they do to Scrooge is bullying. All that the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present really do is i) remind him of his own memories and ii) expose him to other people's experiences. There might be a point about the Christmas Future ghost idk? (And if Scrooge is an allegory for the Victorian upper class, pleading to his conscience is probably nicer than a lot of other approaches to social change, which the Ghost of Christmas Present reminds him of.)
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Sunday, 31 December 2017 15:59 (six years ago) link
A golden retriever can't be allowed in a basketball league, that's absurd.
― jmm, Sunday, 31 December 2017 15:59 (six years ago) link
It's definitely bullying in the scrooged version of acc
― Bitcoin Baja (wins), Sunday, 31 December 2017 16:04 (six years ago) link
The hero of Goodfellas is Henry’s father, who beats the shit out of him for dealing with the Mafia. If only Henry had just listened to his dad he would’ve turned out fine.
― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 31 December 2017 16:05 (six years ago) link
yeah I'm not going to call someone a hero for beating their kid
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Sunday, 31 December 2017 16:06 (six years ago) link
and he reacted by getting deeper into it, BIG SHOCKAH
Jerry Maguire one of the most awful inexplicably popular films I ever saw tbh. Boring as shit and hated everyone in it
― Colonel Poo, Sunday, 31 December 2017 16:09 (six years ago) link
still never seen it and something tells me I'm better off.
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Sunday, 31 December 2017 16:10 (six years ago) link
It's a real slog tbh, you think at first it's gonna be dumb fun (show me the money!) but it's really tedious & like 6hr long
― Bitcoin Baja (wins), Sunday, 31 December 2017 16:13 (six years ago) link
The bit where he beats zellwegers kid is pretty good tbf
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Sunday, 31 December 2017 16:16 (six years ago) link
Carol Kane kicking him in the balls would count, I agree.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Sunday, 31 December 2017 16:19 (six years ago) link
This took a bit of thinking bc main characters (excluding minor/side/supporting characters here) tend to be more complex than purely good or badBut maybe conrad from ordinary people. We’re to assume he is the good guy and mary tyler moore’s character is purely evil, which she is, but conrad comes off as very self centred? Still sounds a bit off though Not a movie but maybe timothy treadwell in grizzly bear only bc herzog seems dumb enough to think he is actually a good guy?I guess I’m not ready to assume the screenwriters’ and/or directors’ intention of creating one-sided main characters
― infinity (∞), Sunday, 31 December 2017 16:20 (six years ago) link
Sixth sense is about a cursed kid whose house is invaded by a dumb white man needing redemption.
― rb (soda), Sunday, 31 December 2017 16:21 (six years ago) link
How did we get this far without anyone bringing up Reality Bites?
― Never Learn To Mike Love (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 31 December 2017 17:22 (six years ago) link
never seent it, though I remember the soundtrack well
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Sunday, 31 December 2017 17:29 (six years ago) link
The lead in the Trolls movie is a major asshole
― Chuck_Tatum, Sunday, 31 December 2017 18:21 (six years ago) link
was it Momus
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Sunday, 31 December 2017 18:23 (six years ago) link
CHRISTMAS CAROL WAS A BOOK.
― pplains, Sunday, 31 December 2017 18:24 (six years ago) link
I mean, I know most movies were books first, but some movies are STILL BOOKS FIRST.
― pplains, Sunday, 31 December 2017 18:25 (six years ago) link
Reminds me that one of my terrible thread ideas was a poll of tv shows adapting A Christmas Carol and It's a Wonderful Life for their own purposes.
I feel like the Simon & Simon episode where one Simon imagines what would have happened if he'd never been born and the other Simon drowns in a river because he wasn't there to save him is still peak pre-golden era TV, vv dramatic.
― omar little, Sunday, 31 December 2017 18:29 (six years ago) link
Always liked the Married...With Children where Al learns that his family would have been much happier if he'd never been born, so he comes back out of spite
― Screamin' Jay Gould (The Yellow Kid), Sunday, 31 December 2017 18:37 (six years ago) link
in the disney continuity, scrooge mcduck is still a stingy guy -- i thought he was supposed to be reformed?
― Philip Nunez, Sunday, 31 December 2017 18:39 (six years ago) link
HIGH FIDELITY
― Joan Digimon (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 31 December 2017 20:15 (six years ago) link
Ah cmon he's totally an asshole
― remember the lmao (darraghmac), Sunday, 31 December 2017 20:19 (six years ago) link
Pretty much after this year, most past movies have terrible good guy protagonists. Every 80s movie ever.
― Yerac, Sunday, 31 December 2017 20:21 (six years ago) link
xxp
file under americans dabble in british humour
― infinity (∞), Sunday, 31 December 2017 20:22 (six years ago) link
not sure Nick Hornby is intentionally humorous
― a Rambo in curved air (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 31 December 2017 20:24 (six years ago) link
Indiana Jones is basically everything the bad guys describe him as, and a cantankerous git to boot
― a Rambo in curved air (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 31 December 2017 20:25 (six years ago) link
Not a movie but maybe timothy treadwell in grizzly bear only bc herzog seems dumb enough to think he is actually a good guy?
― circa1916, Sunday, 31 December 2017 20:48 (six years ago) link
High Fidelity the movie is very aware that the protagonist is a cock. The book far less so.
― shackling the masses with plastic-wrapped snack picks (sic), Sunday, 31 December 2017 20:53 (six years ago) link
The movie takes its time during moments where he's brushing women off or treating them callously to linger on their reaction for an extra beat. Key shot is probably when he says goodbye to Lili Taylor and merrily monologues away while she stands by the door clearly breaking down a bit but he completely ignores it.
― omar little, Sunday, 31 December 2017 20:56 (six years ago) link
Mrs. Robinson is the hero of The Graduate
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 31 December 2017 21:08 (six years ago) link
^^Reminds me of this bit from Barcelona:
Fred: You think wedding vows are going to change everything? God, your naivete is astounding! Didn't you see "The Graduate"?Ted: You can remember "The Graduate"?Fred: Yeah, I can remember a few things. Apparently you don't. The end? Katharine Ross has just married this really cool guy - tall, blond, incredibly popular, the make-out king of his fraternity in Berkeley - when this obnoxious Dustin Hoffman character shows up at the back of the church, acting like a total asshole. "Elaine! Elaine!" Does Katharine Ross tell Dustin Hoffman, "Get lost, creep. I'm a married woman"? No. She runs off with him - on a bus. That is the reality.
Ted: You can remember "The Graduate"?
Fred: Yeah, I can remember a few things. Apparently you don't. The end? Katharine Ross has just married this really cool guy - tall, blond, incredibly popular, the make-out king of his fraternity in Berkeley - when this obnoxious Dustin Hoffman character shows up at the back of the church, acting like a total asshole. "Elaine! Elaine!" Does Katharine Ross tell Dustin Hoffman, "Get lost, creep. I'm a married woman"? No. She runs off with him - on a bus. That is the reality.
― Never Learn To Mike Love (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 31 December 2017 21:12 (six years ago) link
I think it's a rite of passage when you're rescreening Fast Times At Ridgemont High, and you go from identifying with one of the kids to identifying with Mr. Hand.
― Never Learn To Mike Love (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 31 December 2017 21:16 (six years ago) link
Lots of 80s movies want you to root for someone who totally doesn't deserve rooting for, obv. Ferris only one of a thousand.
I've always felt this way about Reality Bites - not so much that it needed to be told from a different (Stillerian) perspective, just that it worked hard to lionize bad people.
True challops is: I felt the exact same way about Frances Ha.
Also about Harold and Maude. Gah.
Some terrible movie people are not terrible in the ostensibly-cute-terrible-people way like Rushmore or N. Dynamite or whatever.
― sympathy for the tasmanian devil (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 31 December 2017 21:21 (six years ago) link
Colossus is the hero of The Forbin Project
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 31 December 2017 21:26 (six years ago) link
OK, Paddington Bear's turn...
― Mark G, Sunday, 31 December 2017 21:30 (six years ago) link
Revenge of the Nerds, Zapped!, Farmer Ted in 16 Candles, Blaine in Pretty in Pink, Can't Buy Me Love...
― Yerac, Sunday, 31 December 2017 22:00 (six years ago) link
The whole point of the book seemed to be his realization of his dickishness, I thought? How else could you read the meeting with Penny?
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Sunday, 31 December 2017 22:34 (six years ago) link
Revenge of the Nerds
Yeah rape and spycams are HILARE
― sympathy for the tasmanian devil (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 31 December 2017 22:46 (six years ago) link
Are horror and especially giant monster movies too obvious for this?
― Never changed username before (cardamon), Monday, 1 January 2018 22:47 (six years ago) link
Cliff Curtis' character from Live Free Or Die Hard needs his own franchise.
― Wes Brodicus, Monday, 1 January 2018 23:16 (six years ago) link
― Philip Nunez, Sunday, December 31, 2017 6:39 PM (yesterday)
scrooge mcduck isn't supposed to be the same character as ebenezer scrooge, he's got a whole epic backstory about earning his money from striking gold in the klondike, etc etc, plus he seems to know the origin story of every coin in his money bin so that's why he's so attached to it all
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 1 January 2018 23:22 (six years ago) link
also the junior woodchuck patrol v frequently show him the bounds of his narcissism and venality, he just resets every time(nb I have no idea about "Disney continuity," only stories by his creator)The whole point of the book seemed to be his realization of his dickishness, I thought? How else could you read the meeting with Penny?I said less so, not "not at all"! It's been decades but Hornby seemed to find his protagonist far more adorable than Cusack, Pink and DeVincentis (though it could be argued that theirs was more charming)
― Haribo Hancock (sic), Tuesday, 2 January 2018 00:12 (six years ago) link
Dan Fielding was obviously the hero on Night Court
― F'kin Magnetometers, how do they work? (President Keyes), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 19:27 (one year ago) link
seems like a good thread to drop this conversation starter
These are mostly all good movies, c'mon pic.twitter.com/5JmlACsVhr— Shoegaze Dad 🇵🇭 (@yeoldedad) July 20, 2022
― Sudden Birdnet Thus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 19:28 (one year ago) link
― F'kin Magnetometers, how do they work? (President Keyes), Wednesday, July 20, 2022 2:27 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
otm
― mh, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 19:33 (one year ago) link
xp huh, I've seen people make graphics like that for years and that's a new variation
― mh, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 19:37 (one year ago) link
Thinking back to breaking bad even in the first couple of seasons for every moment of “Heisenberg” being ~badass~ there were a dozen moments of Walt and Jesse being incompetent, ppl who actually were competent berating/clowning them for being fools The moral case against them was made p comprehensibly as well but the things they do are “filmed” to appear “cool” or “dramatically compelling” which can disconcert those who have never encountered fiction before
― Wiggum Dorma (wins), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 19:41 (one year ago) link
xp there is maybe a good point in there somewhere, but 0/10 on the execution. it is making people furious on twitter and maybe that was the point.
― Sudden Birdnet Thus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 19:42 (one year ago) link
Needs more John Ford tbh
― Bait Kush (Eric H.), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 19:53 (one year ago) link
A+ trolling effort by whoever put that "aggressively bland" infographic together.
A recent movie that struck me as firmly belonging in this thread is The Northman.
― beard papa, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 22:16 (one year ago) link
I shouldn't bother but
1. The Eastwood characters in the spaghetti westerns are not trying to "bring order to communities," they are trying to enrich themselves personally
2. Those characters with "well-paying office jobs" are not "upper class"
― Josefa, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 22:19 (one year ago) link
‘Aggressively bland” immediately refuted by pic of Rowdy Roddy Piper in shades. Try better.
― F'kin Magnetometers, how do they work? (President Keyes), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 22:31 (one year ago) link
If not already mentioned, Dustin Hoffman's character in Straw Dogs
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 23:17 (one year ago) link
otm, the house is the villain
― We were clothed, except for Caan, who was naked. Don't know why. (Neanderthal), Thursday, 21 July 2022 01:31 (one year ago) link
If we're doing TV shows, I always thought Philip & Elizabeth in The Americans were the bad guys and spent six seasons waiting for them to get their comeuppance.
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Thursday, 21 July 2022 07:50 (one year ago) link
― beard papa, Wednesday, July 20, 2022 6:16 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink
lol what? this movie went out of its way to make it REALLY obvious that the main character's motives were overly simplistic and did not map to reality
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Friday, 22 July 2022 13:24 (one year ago) link