April 26, 2024
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Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
| Friday | Screens | % Chg | Cume | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Gross | Thtr | % Chgn | Cume |
| Venom | 33 | 4250 | NEW | 33 |
| A Star is Born | 15.7 | 3686 | NEW | 15.7 |
| Smallfoot | 3.5 | 4131 | -46% | 31.3 |
| Night School | 3.5 | 3019 | -63% | 37.9 |
| The House Wirh a Clock in its Walls | 1.8 | 3463 | -43% | 49.5 |
| A Simple Favor | 1 | 2408 | -50% | 46.6 |
| The Nun | 0.75 | 2264 | -52% | 111.5 |
| Hell Fest | 0.6 | 2297 | -70% | 7.4 |
| Crazy Rich Asians | 0.6 | 1466 | -51% | 167.6 |
| The Predator | 0.25 | 1643 | -77% | 49.3 |
| Also Debuting | ||||
| The Hate U Give | 0.17 | 36 | ||
| Shine | 85,600 | 609 | ||
| Exes Baggage | 75,900 | 62 | ||
| NOTA | 71,300 | 138 | ||
| 96 | 61,600 | 62 | ||
| Andhadhun | 55,000 | 54 | ||
| Afsar | 45,400 | 33 | ||
| Project Gutenberg | 36,000 | 17 | ||
| Love Yatri | 22,300 | 41 | ||
| Hello, Mrs. Money | 22,200 | 37 | ||
| Studio 54 | 5,300 | 1 | ||
| Loving Pablo | 4,200 | 15 |
| 3-Day Estimates | Weekend | % Chg | Cume |
|---|---|---|---|
| No Good Dead | 24.4 (11,230) | NEW | 24.4 |
| Dolphin Tale 2 | 16.6 (4,540) | NEW | 16.6 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | 7.9 (2,550) | -23% | 305.8 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | 4.8 (1,630) | -26% | 181.1 |
| The Drop | 4.4 (5,480) | NEW | 4.4 |
| Let's Be Cops | 4.3 (1,570) | -22% | 73 |
| If I Stay | 4.0 (1,320) | -28% | 44.9 |
| The November Man | 2.8 (1,030) | -36% | 22.5 |
| The Giver | 2.5 (1,120) | -26% | 41.2 |
| The Hundred-Foot Journey | 2.5 (1,270) | -21% | 49.4 |
Review: Little Women (no spoilers) - The Hot Blog
Box Office First Look - The Hot Blog
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree - The Hot Blog
I saw the trailer for the upcoming Mr. Rogers doc and couldn’t make it halfway through without needing a kleenex. What is going on with that?! Can this just be released directly to ppv and dvd so we can sit in the solitude of our own homes and cry with dignity? We don’t need to hear a buncha people sobbing, then start hugging total strangers and telling them “I’m sorry!” when this film kung fu’s the hell out of our feels.
I saw there was a fire on the set of Motherless Brooklyn that killed a firefighter. I didn’t even realize Edward Norton was finally getting to make the movie, after trying for years.
Ditto on the Mr. Rogers movie. If the movie can sustain that trailer, it’ll be my favorite thing ever.
@Mike– I heard he finally got to make it, and all I can think about is how old he is now. Ed Norton is a chipper ~50, but I remember the character in the book being a bit younger (especially considering the presence of a father figure), I feel this is an instance where Norton should have gotten out of his own way.
and RIP to that firefighter, this really shouldn’t be happening unless it is a truly freak accident.
Agreed on the age, but I still think Norton could be great in the role.
The ISLE OF DOGS thing. Ugh. I haven’t seen it yet. And I’m not Asian. So I don’t know. And I am a liberal and consider myself a bit of a SJW “snowflake.” But….I’m tired. Really tired. And I’m old. I just want to enjoy what looks like an innocent, affectionate nod to Japanese culture, films and to cute dogs. I’m walking on eggshells here because I respect these writers. But I feel like I want to see the movie 30 times now. And it’s not like Eastern cultures never appropriate Western cultures. Right?
I should shut up until I see the film. I’m just tired of the fun being fucking sucked out of everything.
On behalf of my wonderful anthropology degree, cultural appropriation drives me freaking nuts. It sort of negates the entire point of culture, but there are things like Pat Boone singing soul songs, then that’s some BS.
Nevertheless, Isle of Dogs features a Japanese boy, and it’s not like he’s speaking English.
The way I understand it, appropriation isn’t the real problem with Isle of Dogs.
Justin Chang lays it out pretty nicely in his LA Times review, which isn’t all negative. He says the problem is more about how the Japanese characters in the movie are pretty marginalized within it. I’m not going to repeat what he says, but it’s worth reading if you want to know what’s actually being said.
My take on appropriation is that it all depends on authenticity. I feel that Tarantino took great pains to make Kill Bill authentic, even if I could quibble with things here or there. There’s a level of cultural specificity that, while still Tarantino’s own, gives the culture its due.
But if instead it’s just a collection of easy cliches and stereotypes, then yeah, you’re just appropriating even if you claim it’s an “homage” or whatever.
And you could point to other cultures appropriating American culture and say why isn’t that a problem. It’s because American culture is the dominant culture in the world, and so that means people are already steeped in the culture enough to get its nuances and to borrow from it authentically without it becoming a mockery or worse.
Great points palmtree. I have not seen the film nor have I read Chang’s review. I did follow some of the discussion re: his review on social media. Many people quickly dismissed his criticisms (and like palmtree says he does state that he admires many things about the film) because Anderson apparently worked closely with a Japanese artist so therefore cultural appropriation isn’t possible, and Chang says he acknowledges that in his review but it doesn’t negate his criticism or make cultural appropriation impossible. And of course many played the SJW or snowflake card because that’s what happens so often now. But like Bill alluded to I haven’t seen it and therefore can’t fairly judge it.
Yes. And I respect Chang and Jen Yamato (especially Jen) to dismiss or minimalize their thoughts and criticisms, especially until I see it. It might be something that i just will never truly “get” because I’m a pandered-too middle-aged white guy. Also, I’ve been dying to see this film so I don’t want it spoiled.
It’s complicated. Most things worth the time are.
Yeah. We all need to see the movie, but here’s the thing about culture. The US is predominant English speaking culture, but not THE culture on the planet. We aren’t exactly the bee’s knees, because China and others know how to get their culture around the world better than ever.
All of that being stated: this movie has been in production for years. It features things, that definitely wouldn’t have been in there today like the heroic white girl. The dogs may have spoken japanese as well, but I am sure the dogs are going to get regionalized, so there’s no real answer.
This culture has changed. Again, Robert Downey Jr was in Tropic Thunder ten years ago, and he was in black face. Black face in 2008. Isle of Dogs would have been revered ten years ago, but now? It’s just a different country.
A primary form of attack on this issue is now, “you brought it up and you didn’t put it front and center.”
If you want to make every film a problem, you can.
Isle of Dogs opens against Pacific Rim 2, which is far less respectful and loving about other cultures but doesn’t get attacked because it is crap.
Ready Player One is, at its premise, a movie about a white guy who is the hero because he appropriates all kinds of culture… none of which he earns a place in.
Corporations need to be watched and called out for every infraction. Artists do not.
JSP – I can promise you… Wes Anderson didn’t spend a second thinking about cultural appropriation.
He wanted to make a movie about dogs on an island of garbage. Then, the painting started.
David, and that’s where you have just lost everyone 25 and under. Artist get called out on it now, and Anderson got some of it when the trailer came out. Here’s a game we can play: how many characters of color are in Wes Anderson’s movies? He’s had this coming for a long time, because the world’s he shows are almost always white, waspy, and have a lot of tokenism.
The Chinese made Pacific Rim 2 in their style, so they like what they like. Hard to hate a film that makes what it’s destined home culture is supposed to like.
All the humans save one in ISLE are people of color. I felt that setting it in Japan was a sign of respect and appreciation of their culture (right down to music cues from Kurosawa films), not appropriation.
just to be clear, we’re no longer welcome to call out artist’s ‘infractions’ here, only corporations?
“I can promise you… Wes Anderson didn’t spend a second thinking about cultural appropriation.”
derp yeah i think that’s the point, or part of it at least, why the movie is so tone-deaf in many respects and has issues. maybe more thinking would be a wise move
(i guess pointing out the overwhelming blokeyness of ‘isle OD’ would send a certain demographic to the fainting couch)
“If you want to make every film a problem, you can.”
Not very charitable, is it?
“Isle of Dogs opens against Pacific Rim 2, which is far less respectful and loving about other cultures but doesn’t get attacked because it is crap.”
So…being “respectful and loving” isn’t what the issue is. Like I said before, a lot can be done under the guise of “homage” but that positive intention alone is just blowing smoke up our asses if it’s not followed up with authenticity, i.e. knowing how the use of that culture will affect people from that culture.
“Ready Player One is, at its premise, a movie about a white guy who is the hero because he appropriates all kinds of culture… none of which he earns a place in. ”
Appropriation exists within a power dynamic, which is why I said the US being a dominant culture is an important factor. If in the future other cultures become dominant, then appropriating those cultures will be equally fair game. That’s why although some people consider the original Blade Runner to be cultural appropriation, I do not.
“Corporations need to be watched and called out for every infraction. Artists do not.”
Um, no. Film criticism exists to critique films and filmmakers, not studios or corporations. And like it or not, issues of representation in film are relevant to criticism. That doesn’t mean it needs to be examined at length in every film, but if a critic sees an issue, they get to mention it.
“JSP – I can promise you… Wes Anderson didn’t spend a second thinking about cultural appropriation. ”
Perhaps that’s the problem. People of color don’t have the luxury of not thinking about cultural appropriation. It’s an inescapable part of their lives. So when a director of Wes Anderson’s stature can’t be bothered to care, that’s a source of frustration. You can see that, right?
“So…being “respectful and loving” isn’t what the issue is.”
just my two cents but personally i take exception to the notion that IOD is only ‘respectful and loving’ to japanese culture – just because DP says something doesn’t make it a truism.
there is an undercurrent of derision and making light of the ‘home’ culture and the way language and identity is used that just comes off as tone deaf and from a very western perspective.
(for one small example so as not to give away too much of the story/plot: —– spoilers ——— the demonization of cats/cat people in the depiction of japanese culture, one that’s notable IRL for reverence of cats, oh how original! there’s quite a bit of ‘poking fun’ that just comes off as trite and cliché)
Fair enough, leah. Haven’t seen the movie yet, so I was a bit more reserved in making that point.
I just think lots of people assume a positive appropriation or a complimentary loving respectful homage (or whatever they want to call it) forgives marginalization and stereotyping and being tone deaf. And it doesn’t.
i get ya, i agree
How many voices of name talent do you need for a film like Isle of Dogs to sell it? 3-4-5-7? Would one, like Clooney in Fantastic Mr Fox and and a film by Wes Anderson do it? Not a Shrek or Ice Age installment but stop motion Dogs? I wonder if it would’ve made it more palatable if more of the Dogs were voiced by Japanese talent? Yes, they had prominent characters voiced by Japanese people but they were nearly rendered anonymous by the lack of translation or subtitles provided.
Wes has been around the block more than a few times. It’s easy for him to call his buddies and they come out. Which is great to get to that position. Where I think things can improve or feel more equitable is when Wes finishes his draft, which I saw there was at least one Japanese person in on the process, is to look over the list of characters he needs to cast and say or someone in the room say, “You know, you’ve got quite a number of Dogs in here, shouldn’t some be of Japanese descent?”
I don’t know how many or suggesting there’s a magic ratio. To be honest, when I tried to think of Japanese talent off the top of my head, sadly, I could only think of Ken Watanabe and Beat Takaeshi. Which is why I ask how many names do you need? Only one of those names could potentially ring a bell with the gen pub and he’s not gonna put any butts in seats. I’m not saying that Wes or anyone needs to create spaces. I don’t know if Wes is playing pool at a party and people are asking him what he’s working on and he says, “this dystopian society where all dogs are banished to live on a trash heap until some kid commanders a jet to come look for his lost dog,” and they say “Oh, that’s great! Write me a part in that, wouldja?” and that’s how they become a part. Maybe he had other Japanese peeps in mind who couldn’t do it. But, I get why people would feel marginalized.
I don’t know if you put this on the studio, prod co’s, writers, prods, directors, talent or who. If you say all of the above then it’s likely none of the above will chime in or follow through. I think the thing, in general, with cultural appropriation is saying essentially, “We’ll take the look, feel, tradition, art, dance, song, taste, dress, sayings and customs of your people, we just don’t want — you people.”
I’m not saying that happened with Isle of Dogs but these are the elements that need to be recognized so there won’t continue to be the litany of criticism each time a film like this comes out.
Triple, brilliant.
this is gonna come off as a lecture but I don’t mean it that way.
NONE of us are 100% idealistically sound. Not me. Not Wes Anderson, Dave Poland, JSP, leah, Justin Chang….nobody is. I got this from an interview with Billy Bragg from a long time ago. If you don’t know who Bragg is he’s British folk rock singer who has a socialist streak and romantic streak. He always seems to be to the left, but he admitted even he has his problems. He ate at McDonalds (at the time, don’t know if that’s changed). Eating McDonalds is, to a lot of people, a highly political thing to do. I remember Bono saying he would stop off for Big Macs (and I know there are lot of reasons to challenge Bono on his idealism other than hamburgers, but he’s still Bono). we all have lust, hate, greed, jealousy,misconceptions, bad information and, maybe most importantly, blindspots.
That why I think Dave’s remark about Anderson’s intentions IS important and worthwhile. All you can do is take a guess at what is in somebody’s heart when they do something whether it’s make a film or shoot up a church.I don’t think Wes had anything but pure intentions. Does he have a bid of a blindspot? Maybe. But this movie doesn’t come from a place of hate or fear. some parts might be miscalculated, sure, but again I don’t see this guy as a hateful man. It doesn’t mean the content shouldn’t be criticized and examined but we’re also not talking about –and I’m just spit-balling names here– Uwe Bol or Michael Winner or August Underground guys. I’m sure others can come up with better examples than I did.
I tend to give most artists the benefit of the doubt. That may be one of my blindspots. I love and support the NFL but hate college basketball. Another idealisticaly unsound position. I got tons of them. So do you. So does Wes Anderson. Doesn’t mean we have bad intentions and should be roasted over the fire for every single seemingly tone-deaf move.
I’ve given this issue more thought than it deserves, just like I think a lot of others have. Yes, it’s worth writing about these things. I know. But I agree with David on this one.
Peace, dudes. Good discussion.
Bill you don’t agree with this do you?
“Corporations need to be watched and called out for every infraction. Artists do not.”
I mean isn’t that why criticism exists? And someone having good intentions doesn’t exempt them from criticism or mean that the end result shouldn’t be scrutinized. I think David takes it too far.
I think part of the problem is with social media and web based writing, as we talked about with the Forbes article last week, the bar for what constitutes an “infraction” has been drastically lowered.
I agree with everything TO said above about we’ll take everything except the people, but my question is that since this is an animated film, when it is released in Japan, wouldn’t it have Japanese voices dubbed in? And French voices dubbed in for the French release? Is it appropriation when we dub American voices into Hayao Miyazaki films? I haven’t seen the film or even read the article that prompted the debate yet so I admit I am coming from a place of ignorance and see how this would be a problem for a live action film to take place in a country and not have the people in the country well represented (or say star Matt Damon or Tom Cruise), but as an animated film is this as much of a problem? Was it a problem with Kubo and the Magic Strings?
http://www.vulture.com/2016/08/kubo-director-addresses-whitewashing-controversy.html
Stella, I failed specify what part of Dave’s comments I agree with. This part does give me pause. It’s fair and useful to discuss and “call out” these things. What I do agree with is that Anderson had absolutely no malice in his heart, and the vitriol being sent back his way is disproportionate.
Thank you for pointing that out though. I should have been clearer.
“NONE of us are 100% idealistically sound. Not me. Not Wes Anderson, Dave Poland, JSP, leah…”
WHAT? haha
this is one of the things i often find weird about american political discussion and the seeming obsession with the left/right, liberal/conservative labels is, in my experience people are rarely ALL one thing or another, beliefs and ideology – like sexuality – tend to live on a spectrum, and life is often a precarious balancing act of idealism and pragmatism.
i’ve now forgotten why i thought this so necessary to first qualify, but just to clarify that i don’t believe the issues with IOD come from a hateful place within wes anderson, the film-maker, and did not mean to imply that (i don’t think i did imply that but just in case) and i also do not believe this absolves him of criticism of the bizarre tone-deafness of his film.
perhaps the oddest film-making choice in IOD is not to subtitle the japanese dialog of the native-speaking characters, which are already anaemic as hell, which then as a device serves to further emphasise the ‘other’-ness of the japanese characters in japan, in juxtaposition to the glaring american dude-ness of the dogs of japan, why of course! (with scarlett’s thankless token female bit, christ don’t bother, just have dudes, dudes, and all dudes all the time).
and gerwig’s ‘tracey walker’ character, yikes, i mean for the love of god who didn’t see this during production and think, wait a sec this is fucked up.
i was talking to a friend about this after, who said it will be interesting to see how the movie plays in japan, because the irony is it will play as a completely opposite movie, with the Japanese-speaking characters the ‘norm’ in terms of language and identity and the ameriican-ness of the dogs then subtitled or dubbed, whatever, whereas for non-Japanese speaking auds the ‘otherness’ of the native-speaking characters is one of the weirdest, most troubling aspects.
I’m sure Disney had no malice when they made Song of the South. Didn’t prevent it from being horrible.
I like Anderson’s work but it’s not as if this is a minor blindspot. Even the recent Honest Trailer points out his relative myopia when it comes to race and gender.
So JSP, you are saying you are idealistically sound? You are on the proper side of everything? You have no blind spots or flaws in your interactions with art and society and other cultures?
If you are, then god bless you.
This conversation is the sort of thing that makes me a liberal who hates other liberals. Nothing is ever going to be good enough for some. It’s just a constant battle of oneupmanship.
Fuck that. I’m going eat a Big Mac, hate on Trump and the NRA, watch Isle of Dogs and vote blue in November. And I will enjoy life, and not feel bad because everything isn’t “idealistically sound.”
If made my point, whatever it is, as articulately as I could which is to say probably not very well. But I don’t know how to say it any better. I know what I feel in my gut and my gut thinks this is mostly made-up outrage for outrage addicts. So enjoy it. I’m now moving on because I can’t think of anything to add.
Thank you for the detailed response JSP.
Who is making up the outrage? Chang’s review seems thoughtful and he doesn’t hate the film. There’s a discussion going on but I haven’t come across any unhinged vitriol being heaved at Anderson. The film has received mostly glowing reviews. I just don’t see any faux outrage here. Not sayimg it doesn’t exist and social media is a toxic place, but the adults seem to be having an adult discussion.
with a bit of time to look around for this supposed savaging of W anderson and ‘made up’ outrage for ‘isle OD’, i don’t really see anything of the sort (with 81 on metacritic, and most of the negative critique i’ve skimmed doesn’t even seriously touch on the weird racial/cultural tone-deafness, it’s like a couple reviews out of loads)
so where is all this ‘manufactured outrage’ for outrage addicts?
kinda seems like the people who are, in fact, outraged are the ones claiming there’s manufactured outrage in response to perfectly reasonable critique of wes anderson, who the last time i checked isn’t some divine being so glorious in his artistic prowess that no critique of his work can be abided on this earthly plane.
so who is the one really getting their knickers in a twist and manufacturing outrage in this scenario?
ETA my long version of pretty much what stella’s said at the same time
Bill, you brought this whole thing up on this thread. Why aren’t you the outrage addict for wanting to make other people engage you on this topic?
The fact is this is an issue many people, not just liberals, have had for decades. Only now is it getting traction publicly. More and more people are getting it. That’s the only difference.
And ugh…”no malice in his heart”…it’s a great defense except it has nothing to do with anything in this discussion. Ignorance and inauthenticity doesn’t have to be malicious in order to exist.
I haven’t seen Isle of Dogs, so I can’t speak to it specifically. From the sound of it, Anderson’s decisions re the Japanese characters do indeed sound ill-advised at best.
On the larger point of representation in art, it’s always going to be a problem in movies until there’s more equal representation among the ranks of writers and directors, and the resulting films are seen as economically viable by the money people. Think about it — for centuries, storytellers just followed the dictum “write what you know.” Obviously, this favored white creators in predominantly white cultures, and males in patriarchal cultures. Even if working in fantasy or sci-fi, a white male author would just tell the story he wanted to tell, creating characters whose minds he understood, knowing that there was enough potential audience to increase his chances of success. Modern creators are now expected to deal with cultural diversity, which means they may struggle to shoehorn issues of race and gender into a story that may not be well suited to dealing with them. As a white male creator myself, I often come up with a story idea and then find it challenging to make it believably diverse. By that I mean does it come off as realistic, or just like some white dude desperately trying to appear as ‘woke’ as possible to head off any possible outrage? There’s a bit of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I’m not crying for white male writers; it’s just a fact of life in a changing culture (some might say it’s the chickens coming home to roost for the patriarchy). Obviously, this doesn’t apply to the issues raised by Isle of Dogs, in which a white American tries to depict Japanese culture, but I just find it interesting as an indicator of how creative culture is evolving as other races and genders demand more representation and find sympathetic allies in the ‘dominant’ culture.
Bill, I wrote like two paragraphs up above. I am not sure if you responding to me with that reply, because again two paragraphs. Nevertheless, I can only speak for me and here it goes: I loved Soul Man as a kid. I have no idea why, but I loved Soul Man. Watched it dozens of times. It did not dawn on me til the late 90s, when I saw it on the Comedy Channel, that jesus christ! That movie is racist as shit, and it exists. It was made in the 80s with James Earl Jones no less. How the hell did that happen?
There are just films and shows that are tainted for me, and I get this feeling now that I didn’t as a kid. Obviously. Which gets a little squirrely around these things. The Isle of Dog trailer set that off for me immediately. Right now, thinking about that movie… it just feels off. If it doesn’t feel off for other people, that’s fine. For me? Off.
What would have been exceptional, is Wes Anderson making a movie with just Japanese speaking actors. If he went the whole nine, but he didn’t. He did what he does and that’s fine, but let us once again play the game, “How many minorities are in Wes Anderson movies?” He just has bad habits. I am sure they aren’t intentional, but his bad habits seem glaring in 2018.
Again, this is just me and my feelings, and I am not claiming to be woke or anything. I just know that things have changed for me, and racist and sexist bullshit really sets the alarms are ringing, so I probably will wait to see Isle of Dogs on Disney Streaming or something. Paying for it, is just skievy.
What’s really frustrating about the Isle of Dogs thing, is the multiple Asian communities in this country are some of the most under represented in all of American Entertainment. You couldn’t just hire Japanese American voice actors to voice the dogs? It’s just so…gross. That’s just the best way to describe it.
JS, he was definitely responding to someone else.
DP and Bill, maybe a positive example will help. I can think of a good example of a white male director who had an Asian character in his movie that wasn’t stereotypical or demeaning or appropriating.
I loved loved loved Hong Chau’s performance in DOWNSIZING. I know a lot of people assumed it was racist, but they are wrong. First of all, her accent was totally authentic, and she’s Vietnamese so she knew what she was doing. Second of all, her character has an incredible amount of screen time and a real arc, not just some kind of token best friend/sidekick role. Third, she carried that damn movie emotionally, not Matt Damon. The only thing that would have made that movie better at this would be putting her in the lead role.
So, DP and Bill, is everything horrible and outrageous to the people who understand these issues? No, I’m sorry…that’s just lazy thinking on your part.
I don’t think anyone is saying Wes Anderson is a deplorable racist (social media doesn’t count as that place is often just awful). There’s this tendency now for some to act as if there are these SJW mobs out there unfairly targeting artists over petty issues that aren’t actually problematic; these folks just want to stir the pot and get outraged for its own sake. Maybe that exists on Twitter and Facebook, but I just don’t see any evidence of it in this case (or really in any case). It’s like the old white dudes screaming “lynch mob” and “witch hunt” re: #MeToo. Where’s the evidence? Whose career has been permanently and unjustly ended because of a false accusation? If all you’ve got is people criticizing the likes of Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, well, your case is pretty damn flimsy at best. It seems more like certain people (straight white men) are having a tough time dealing with hard truths and a changing world, so they lash out and cry “witch hunt” or “snowflakes” because it’s easier to do that than reconcile with the hard truths and a changing world. Anderson doesn’t seem to be the victim of any irrational vitriol here. But hey I could be wrong and maybe someone has evidence to the contrary.
Stella, it might have to do with this argument as if people who complain are asking for too much and “who are they to cast the first stone.” That might also explain DP’s whole “corporations, not artists” weirdness.
The truth is if you’re an artist, you are putting a thing out there into culture and the greatest compliment to your work is that it is relevant enough for people to talk about. If Wes Anderson were making these movies in his basement for a group of friends, that’d be one thing. But there’s this sudden protection of the artist when it happens to be an opinion of his (or her) work they don’t like. If Wes is truly such a great person at heart, then he can take this criticism and hopefully listen to and learn from the points he agrees with and discard the rest. And if he hasn’t learned anything, then he’ll get called out again. Nothing in this is off-limits or excessive.
Agreed palmtree. And you’ve been killing it here. Your posts have been dead-on.
Holy shit…an entire page of comments about Isle of Dogs from people who haven’t seen Isle of Dogs? That’s the biggest issue here….if you’ve seen the film, please step up and give your opinion, if you haven’t, then shut the fuck up. I’ve seen Isle of Dogs. The largest problem is that it is painfully dull.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/5/55/Ice_t_elmo.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/300?cb=20110707204823
i’ve seen isle of dogs
At least this way you don’t have to worry about spoilers. 🙂
also, this is not an ‘isle of dogs’ review thread or anything, much of the commentary is related to DP’s bizarre (and unaddressed) decree that artists should not face criticism for ‘infractions’, so maybe telling people to shut the fuck up is obnoxious
Exactly leah. Very dumb comment Glamourboy.
“I’ve seen Isle of Dogs. The largest problem is that it is painfully dull.”
So a typical Wes Anderson movie then?
And JSP, C. Thomas Howell would appreciate it if you wouldn’t crap on one of his few starring roles. Now that he’s reduced to playing bit characters on ABC Family/Freeform shows, I’m sure he looks back at Soul Man fondly.
Plus that dinner scene is on point in regards to people’s inner racism.
I’ve tried to forget I ever saw it, but Howell was a villain in The Punisher on Netflix right? So that’s possibly semi-respectable.
Pete, if you take the entire racist stuff out of the movie. Soul Man works better than something like Just One of the Guys. It’s just so absolutely tone deaf. So so tone deaf, because changing race is like dressing as a guy!
I can’t imagine the last time I thought about Soul Man. I am sure it would be embarrassing to see today, but from what I can recall it does make fun of the idea that racism no longer existed just because people tuned into the Cosby Show, and Howell was the butt of all the jokes in how he acted like a fool trying to imitate stereotypes instead of interacting like a real person. Again, have not seen that since the eighties but from what I remember (and I cant actually believe I am about to type these words) aside from the blackface was the movie that offensive?
Stella, wasn’t aware he did The Punisher. That is infinitely more respectable than being the crazy scientist father on Stitchers.
One of these years I must get Netflix.
Pete, they are spending 8 billion dollars on original content, and you can watch awesome shows from Spain about… TIME TRAVEL! Join us in… THE FUTURE!
“I am sure it would be embarrassing to see today.” That applies to so many movies from the 80s.
My biggest surprise in the whole IOD discussion was reading a lot of social media before actually reading Chang’s review. I expected something far more excoriating and instead found this thoughtful review that brought up a very valid point. Then social media did its thing which is generally “how can we turn this into a raging flame war using the most extreme examples?”
I was probably predisposed to like the movie and I did. But I can see the problem at the heart of it even as I understand what he was trying to accomplish with the languages. The Tracy character (an so many levels) is the big problem and it is a problem that could have been easily avoided. Blindspots and tone-deafness aren’t necessarily capital offenses, but it’s good for these things to get called out. There’s lots to learn in this life. Overall, I like it when it’s well-written and thoughtful, but we have the media world we have.