Escape to the Movies: 12 Years a Slave

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

*Snip*

I heard someone needed a pun?
Hey man if that's how they chose to live in that time period, who are we to judge?
To each his owned.

...
I think what I have in store for you for your grave pun violation can't actually be posted without violating the CoC. Needless to say, "owning" is the minor part of it...

All those actors and NO advertising what-so-ever....WHY????

Holy shit this. I saw the casting and went

"I love his work."
"I love his work."
"I love his work."
"I love his work."
"I love her work."
"Nice to see him in a massive budget production."

I mean hot damn, there is so much talent in this movie. It's like the Oscars hunger games.

How about this: Everyone in this movie gets a nomination for best actor, but the winner is determined by a fight to the death? *Chucks out a hammer on the floor* Have at it!

OT: It's like Passion of the Christ if it wasn't made by an anti-Semite?

 

[daxterx2005]

I'd never even heard of this movie till this review...
Talk about no advertisements.

 

[BrownGaijin]

Not to step away from the movie, but I would pay for a DLC featuring more heists in general. Or if we could have a date end with Michael banging his wife. Make it a "Booty Call" option.

 

[lacktheknack]

Soooo Oscar-bation movie is Oscar-bation? Yeah, pretty much saw this coming from all the trailers I've seen of the movie.

Here's the thing about Oscar bait... it's all really damn good.

 

[JenSeven]

I'd never even heard of this movie till this review...
Talk about no advertisements.

I think that's the strategy with most oscar-bait. I don't remember seeing much advertisement for The King's Speech, The English Patient and that tree of life or something movie either.

 

[Abomination]

All those actors and NO advertising what-so-ever....WHY????

Holy shit this. I saw the casting and went

"I love his work."
"I love his work."
"I love his work."
"I love his work."
"I love her work."
"Nice to see him in a massive budget production."

I mean hot damn, there is so much talent in this movie. It's like the Oscars hunger games.

How about this: Everyone in this movie gets a nomination for best actor, but the winner is determined by a fight to the death? *Chucks out a hammer on the floor* Have at it!

Why even bother with a hammer? Just toss the Oscar statue on the floor. Those things look quite hefty. You can also potentially walk away with parts of your adversaries' crushed skull mashed into the face of your Oscar. Put that on your mantle-piece, comes with some of Brad Pitt's hair and scalp.

 

[MB202]

It's funny, I had never seen Gone with the Wind, and thus, I had no idea that there was even slavery involved, let alone that there was a controversy surrounding it. I only knew that it was a love story... and about the infamous final (or next to final) line.

 

[RJ 17]

Soooo Oscar-bation movie is Oscar-bation? Yeah, pretty much saw this coming from all the trailers I've seen of the movie.

Here's the thing about Oscar bait... it's all really damn good.

That's a matter of opinion and subjective towards personal tastes. Call me a hipster but this type of movie just doesn't appeal to me specifically because it's designed to make you feel bad if you don't like it. "IT'S A MOVIE ABOUT THE STRUGGLES AND HARDSHIPS OF AMERICAN SLAVERY! YOU CAN'T SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT IT OR YOU'RE A HORRIBLE PERSON!"

It's the exact same thing as The Passion. Only instead of watching a man get crucified by Romans we're now watching a man get beaten by slave owners. Bob said it himself: the main character is completely stuck, unable to fight back like some kind of slave hero, unable to be saved, unable to escape. It's just going to be a movie about watching a good person in a horrible situation.

Do we REALLY need a movie to remind us that slavery was a horrible institution run by horrible, racist people? Did we REALLY need a movie to remind us that crucifixion is a horrific processes? What's the point of this movie other than "We made a movie about slavery, therefore: Oscar." Thanks, but I'll pass.

As a disclaimer, I should point out that I have a VERY cynical outlook towards 99% of the crap the Hollywood vomits up. So don't take my personal views on movies such as this too seriously if you actually enjoy movies. Suffice to say that movies that just come out screaming "GIVE US OSCARS, DAMNIT!!!" the way this one does piss me off the most...because they're so frickin' blatant.

 

[Mr_Terrific]

Seriously though why can't they produce a film - about Afro-american character - that does not involve slavery or discrimination? I'm no American but after looking at your film culture I'm having an impression there were no black personalities that excelled in the field of law, medicine, philosophy, physics, politics or diplomacy who are worthy of having a motion picture about them.

There are plenty but most are from an era of oppression so what you are describing is not really possible.

 

[AntiChrist]

How come, of all the people, you MovieBob did not like GTA V? You have been very public about games qestioning status quo, being more engaged in politics and being fun. Well GTA V did all that. In one huge game. IF GTA V was a movie it would be the movie of the decade (well that is one apologist - I, me, myself about that statement). I know I should talk about 12 years, what is the movie again? However after that last statement I'm hoping you talk about it in one of your shows.

Maybe he thought the game to be the opposite: An embodiment of the status quo? Some [http://thiscageisworms.com/2013/09/20/why-is-grand-theft-auto-v-so-conservative/] people [http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/200648/Opinion_The_tragedy_of_Grand_Theft_Auto_V.php] did.

 

[aba1]

Man does that look like a hard movie to watch.

 

[Vale]

... 5 Days a Stranger, 6 Days a Skeptic, 7 Days a Sacrifice?
(and Trilby's notes which is actually the best)

Nevermind.

 

[Sanunes]

Also, quick question to no one in particular, why does the poster say 2012? Was this an independent movie that just took quite a while to get a theatrical release?

My guess could be that it was doing the "Festival Tour" in 2012 and now its going to the nation-wide release in 2013.

 

[james.sponge]

Seriously though why can't they produce a film - about Afro-american character - that does not involve slavery or discrimination? I'm no American but after looking at your film culture I'm having an impression there were no black personalities that excelled in the field of law, medicine, philosophy, physics, politics or diplomacy who are worthy of having a motion picture about them.

There are plenty but most are from an era of oppression so what you are describing is not really possible.

Even a fictitious story would do. Black female lawyer winning a big case against big and prestigious male dominated law firm? No? Not possible? No studio would do such a thing? OK! Back to slavery then!

Seriously though why can't they produce a film - about Afro-american character - that does not involve slavery or discrimination? I'm no American but after looking at your film culture I'm having an impression there were no black personalities that excelled in the field of law, medicine, philosophy, physics, politics or diplomacy who are worthy of having a motion picture about them.

Because this is award bait plain and simple. there have been a few movies about black characters that have nothing to do with slavery or discrimination. They just generally fly under the radar because they arent massive productions or award bait.

This mentality needs to go away. There is no creativity involved, making a film according to template just to win awards is just sad. This also imposes this stupid little barrier that prevents any other films from becoming recognized as works of art because they do not meet some artificial standard.

 

[jecht35]

slavery is to movies what zombies are to games, overdone. I really just want something else that's not as heavy as this movie is, please Hollywood can you at least try for the general audience.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Glad you liked the Cap trailer too

Are we going to get a "Comics Are Weird" episode about Bucky and/or Falcon? The Winter Soldier arc had some pretty trippy shit going on.

OT: I haven't even heard of this movie. Looks good. Is Brad Pitt in it just put his name on the poster because he doesn't appear to play an important role.

I second a "Comics are Weird" about the Winter Soldier.

And I don't know why they put Pitt on the poster. They've got Cumberbatch and Giamatti if they were just looking to drop names.

Thirded. Bob could expand on that and go over the similarities between Bucky and Jason Todd, or do a couple of Big Pictures about who lives and who dies (then comes back) in superhero comic books

As for the casting in "12 Years a Slave", the only people I knew who were in it were Fassbender and that guy who's name I can't spell, because they plugged the movie on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. And Fassbender's interview with Jon Stewart was hilarious!