|
|
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
|
|
Author
|
Topic: UK cinemas to show two different cuts of Bruno
|
Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
|
posted 07-18-2009 01:12 PM
I'm sorry, but I just don't find Sacha Baron Cohen funny. I've seen bits of Borat, and things he's done for TV, and I just can't see anything in it.
I don't object to his material, but it's just not my thing. One part of Borat that I have seen was the "In my country there is problem (throw the Jew down the well)" thing. Was the audience in that real? They look like a load of total morons, but surely they must have realised that Borat wasn't genuine. The words of even the first verse before there was any mention of the Jew were so ridiculous that the audience must have realised that they were being set up, surely? It didn't sound like an anti-semitic song; it sounded like what it was, a ridiculous parody of one. If He'd sung what sounded like a genuine anti-semitic song, and got a positve reaction from the audience, then that would have said something, and something worrying, about the audience, but this said nothing. What was it supposed to be anyway? Was it supposed to be comedy, or documentary about the fact that there are some really stupid people in this World, or what?
What's this new film about? I've seen posters for it on the sides of buses, but that's all. I don't think I'll be going to see it.
quote: Mark J. Marshall
Hopefully they all got refunds.
Why should they? I've never heard of any cinema giving refunds to people who decide they don't like the film, and choose to leave. I don't think I've ever left a film before the end, other than a couple of times when things have been running very late, and I wouldn't have been able to get home. If somebody is likely to be offended by the film, then they probably wouldn't go. If they do go, and decide to leave, then that's up to them, but they shouldn't get refunds.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
|
posted 07-18-2009 02:28 PM
My opinion is this: buyer beware.
I think customers are entitled to refunds if the theater seriously botches the presentation quality of the show or the movie stops playing and cannot continue. I don't think customers should get a refund if they merely didn't like the movie itself.
This is a big reason why we have movie critics and why word of mouth is so important in helping a movie succeed or fail. Customers just need to do a little research, like check the Rotten Tomatoes "tomato meter" score. If they blindly walk into a movie that turns out to be a piece of crap it is 100% that customer's fault.
Movie trailers usually provide a very good idea on what sort of material the show contains. Really a lot movie trailers give away too much of a movie. The ad campaigns for both Borat and Bruno give enough of a hint that anyone would have to be pretty stupid to not realize what kind of movie they're buying a ticket to see. If they get offended, again it's they're own fault.
Finally, the more complex and detailed MPAA ratings of recent years remove any remaining justification for a movie customer to demand refunds because he/she got offended. The rating is right there on the poster, often in the TV ads and also included in many critics reviews. Rotten Tomatoes also lists the detailed ratings too.
Some of this gets back to the broader problem of many Americans not owning up to their own responsibility for making stupid choices. They always have to blame someone else for it. Instead of just shrugging it off and saying, "yep, I wasted $9 on a shitty movie," some just have to say, "I'm demanding a refund from the manager!" Assholes.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
|
posted 07-19-2009 07:12 PM
quote: Chris Slycord
While I knew what to expect for the most part, the trailers and ads I've seen on TV didn't exactly imply the amount of extremely explicit material.
The R-rating on its own spells it out pretty well: "for pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language." The main character in the movie is an over the top caricature of the flaming gay stereotype. That pretty much tells me the kind of "graphic nudity" in Bruno is not going to be of the more visually pleasing female variety.
Also, the term "explicit" is very much a moving target. When I use the term "explicit" to describe on-screen sex I'm only going to use it when the stuff happening is real and not merely acted.
I see very little in regular movies that truly fits the definition of "explicit." Tongue kissing between two actors is often real, because that sort of thing just can't be faked. But it doesn't get a bunch of viewers' panties in a twist unless it is two men tongue kissing each other. Once in awhile a movie will have a love scene where a man is sucking on the nipples of a woman's bare breasts. What else is there? Groping of breasts and ass? Pretty minor stuff really.
quote: Chris Slycord
Do you really think the people walking out mostly are because they dislike dirty and/or gay humor? There's a big difference between dirty humor and having a dildo attached to the end of an exercise bike or having someone's scrotum sucked into a hand-vac, don't you think?
That doesn't sound much different than what one would see in a Jackass movie, a bunch of over the top gross-out humor. Burn After Reading featured a character building a sex chair that featured a dildo rising upward as the chair rocked back and forth. In the movie Bruno does the camera actually show someone mounting the exercise bike with a clear view of the dildo going into the guy's butt?
I think the people are walking out because they're lazy. They didn't look into the product before they made their purchase. Again, buyer beware.
I used the term "dirty, gay" humor to be a little more "nice" and general about the material. Sacha Baron Cohen has been crossing boundaries far into the area of bad taste for more than a decade. He already has a reputation for making viewers uncomfortable. Some people have a lot of fun being challenged by that sort of thing. Obviously Sacha Baron Cohen's brand of comedy is not for everyone.
The moviegoer has to exercise at least some responsibility in choosing movies to see that won't get them outraged or offended. I think the offended customers would have a more legitimate gripe if Sacha Baron Cohen had no previous work or reputation, if the marketing campaign was too vague and if the R-rating was generic. Even still, there are dozens of critics reviews that clearly warned Bruno will offend a lot of viewers.
Of course there's lot of people who smugly say, "I don't read critics reviews." Often that statement is made to justify their choice of seeing an obviously shitty movie. It's still a statement of ignorance. If someone wants to spend upwards of $20 for a movie ticket and refreshments to see a movie he knows nothing about then the blame is largely on him if the show turns out to be crap or downright offensive.
Some of this reminds me how people blindly purchase lots of other things, computers and electronics in particular. They don't feel like burdening themselves with any technical mumbo jumbo research and the reading of product reviews. So they just blind buy and then get bent out of shape when their new gadget turns out to be a lemon.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|
Home
Printer-friendly view of this topic