Escape to the Movies: Life of Pi

heaton101

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Oct 13, 2009
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MovieBob, I've been following you since you started putting out stuff on the site, but you really need to get out of your own ass. Silver Linings Playbook is a "piece of sh*t" because it isn't original enough? Seriously? You're being that petty about a film that otherwise is incredibly well acted and directed? Your personal tastes and beliefs are really getting in the way of your judgment of the quality of films. You don't like the Scream movies because it made geek culture more mainstream (something you just argued in favour of in your latest Big Picture, so you can add hypocrite to the list), you don't like Amazing Spider-Man because it's not the Spider-Man YOU grew up with, and now you're critizing Life of Pi for presenting a character with a lifestyle you find preachy purely because you don't believe in it? I'm an atheist myself, but have a little tolerance man. I seriously considered stopping watching your shows after your utterly trollish fanboy b*tching you call your review of Amazing Spider-Man, but your comments about Silver Linings Playbook have sealed the deal. Congratulations sir! You've just lost one of your oldest followers. I know you probably don't care (and you probably won't even bother to read this), but I can't stand anymore to waste time with a critic whose so up his own ass that he can't smell anything else anymore.
 
Dec 3, 2011
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Hmm... I adored Silver Lining's Playbook. The screenplay was so damn good. It's in my Top 3 films of the year. I'm shocked that Bob would call it a piece of s*%t.
 

Darth_Payn

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Aug 5, 2009
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Bob's invoking of the QUIRCKY got me thinking of how Yahtzee described Suda51 and his various works. I'm also reminded of what a Doctor Who enemy, the self-proclaimed Dream Lord, said of The Doctor, "If you had any more tawdry quirks, you could open up a tawdry quirk shop!" And it sounds like Pi could start a franchise of those.
 

Hammartroll

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Mar 10, 2011
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I'll have to see this for myself to see what the twist is exactly saying since I'm getting the feeling that atheists are getting butthurt over the mere mention of god in what they perceive to be a positive light when it seems like the movie is trying to covey a much deeper meaning than "god is good so believe!"

Saying to believe in god simply because it's nicer doesn't sound too much like an endorsement, if anything it seems like the movie is trying to explain to people that this is why they choose to believe in god and they don't realize it.

But then I assume atheists are giving the perceived "pro god" aspect of the movie flack because of how wondrous and positive the animal story is. To me this is more of a statement of "life is what we make it", which again is a much deeper concept than what Bob is making it out to be.

Although if the whole movie really does sound like it's narrated by Judy then I may end up wanting to pour hot tar down my ear canal as well.
 

BlindTom

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Aug 8, 2008
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Interesting that Bob didn't take such a hostile stance when discussing the very similar ideas explored by CS Lewis. Bob continues to be good at dredging up and presenting information but a weird emotional wreck once he strays too far into personal opinion. It's starting to really fascinate me.
 

RA92

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Jan 1, 2011
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Silk_Sk said:
The other half of that argument is that if God did not exist then it wouldn't be necessary for us to be uplifted in the first place.
... what does that even mean?
 

RA92

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Jan 1, 2011
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Hammartroll said:
I'll have to see this for myself to see what the twist is exactly saying since I'm getting the feeling that atheists are getting butthurt over the mere mention of god in what they perceive to be a positive light when it seems like the movie is trying to covey a much deeper meaning than "god is good so believe!"

Saying to believe in god simply because it's nicer doesn't sound too much like an endorsement, if anything it seems like the movie is trying to explain to people that this is why they choose to believe in god and they don't realize it.

But then I assume atheists are giving the perceived "pro god" aspect of the movie flack because of how wondrous and positive the animal story is. To me this is more of a statement of "life is what we make it", which again is a much deeper concept than what Bob is making it out to be.

Although if the whole movie really does sound like it's narrated by Judy then I may end up wanting to pour hot tar down my ear canal as well.
If you read through the comment section, you'll find plenty of atheists (like me) who call bullshit on his conclusions. I'm putting this away in that container where I put his 'PC Gaming is Dead' episode.

Yeah... he can get annoyingly preachy at times, and irrationally so.
 

Frankfurter4444

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Aug 11, 2009
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Remember back in the day when audiences decided if characters were interesting and quirky rather than the movie deciding for us who the interesting and quirky ones were? I miss those days.
 

snd_dsgnr

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Feb 14, 2009
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I'm an atheist and really didn't have a problem with the twist or the message. If people want to believe in a deity because the notion is more comforting to them then that's fine with me, I don't begrudge them that.
 

Furrama

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Jul 24, 2008
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I always thought this story was more of a "Lady and the Tiger" thing more than an argument for a god. Because really, when you boil it all down that's really the only message of value you could get out of such a thing.
 

dubious_wolf

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Jun 4, 2009
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hentropy said:
dubious_wolf said:
soooo...
Isn't this based on a book?
Is the book this bad? why is this on high school reading lists and why are we making school kids read that?
Because pushing religion on youngsters is okay so long as you do it in a covert, non-denominational manner. Still better than Catcher in the Rye, though.
Yeeeees. God that book was boring.
I tried to read it just for fun. made it through 3 pages.
 

triggrhappy94

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Apr 24, 2010
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In the second story Pi admits to eating the other survivors? Like Bob said that the Tiger ate the other animals, and in Pi's second story he admits that the animales were alagories for people and he was the tiger.

I think I might be a Pie. I love telling stories about myself, and I feel like I focus a lot on tailoring my image and my surrounds (not so much to beg questions about stories though).
 

Gordon_4_v1legacy

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Aug 22, 2010
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Mezmer said:
A shitty allegory for why people should believe in God? Yup, gonna pass on that one, thanks.
Sounds more like its arguing why you would as opposed to why you should.

Makes my choice to go and see Skyfall instead that much easier though.
 

RN7

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Oct 27, 2009
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I had worried that this movie would have suffered in a similar fashion to the film adaptation of The Road, as the road was entirely about mood and atmosphere, which was difficult to convey in the movie in an appropriate fashion. And I was correct. The book itself is interesting (well, sort of) because of the amount of time Yann Martel spends on developing Pi's character in the respect to his situation. This is all well and good for the book since the book can be allowed to linger upon things like setting and imagery in order to the develop the story. The same can't be said for the movie. I mean, sure, it has a narrative structure that could fill screen-time, but when you really look at it, not that much is happening between the ship sinking and Pi's rescue near the end of the novel. Sure, stuff "happens", like the flying fish, and totally-not-a-reference-to-Dagon-meerkat island, but its all governed by Pi's reflection on the events, meaning a great deal of the space would have had to have been filled by the character's dialogue.
 

scotth266

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Jan 10, 2009
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I typically enjoy Bob's reviews, but sometimes he lets his personal views blind him to the realities of a given work, and in this case I have to question if he even knows that this movie was based off of a book - especially given his critiques of "quirkiness", which all sound like critiques of poorly-adapted sections of the book (at least from the outside looking in).

I can't speak for the movie, as I haven't seen it yet, but the Life Of Pi (as a book) isn't any more anti-atheist than it is anti-religious. Pi believing in three religions for instance is a very sound critique of the ways religious organizations fight one another - his three religious teachers initially almost come to blows, and they never quite accept Pi's religious beliefs (a criticism about how new beliefs aren't typically accepted by religions and have to fight to gain acceptance).

To me, the book is less a lecture about beliefs than it is a series of questions about beliefs hidden in an interesting survival story. I don't know how well the movie translates all that, I suppose I'll have to see it at some point, but if it winds up being a pretty decent translation I'll be annoyed that Bob threw it under the bus under the assumption that his religious opinion/his intelligence was being insulted in some fashion.
 

ZexionSephiroth

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Apr 7, 2011
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Guy on a raft learns to deal with Tiger...

"GOD!"

What... THE...F-

---

Okay religions... you've had your fun, but the buck stops here.

I do NOT! What to be part of any religion that has to bend logic that far.

And I certainly don't want one as Dogmatic as the ones currently in existence!

I am the complete Antithesis of Dogma, and I personally believe that the only way to have truly good people is to reject Dogma and find your own way.

The Abrahamic religions act all freaking Lawful good, but really, they're more concerned for their dogma than for the good of the people. They aren't Good, they are Neutral at best, and are beings of pure dogmatic interference... and not even smart dogma.

I would only worship a god that believed that freedom and kindness are more important than dogma. And so far, no such being has even been mentioned... and even if it had been, there would have to be some serious proof in their existance before I would believe in them.

---

P.S. I somehow do not think its inconceivable to worship something and yet not believe it exists. I do it all the time actually; but I know its ultimately pointless. Fun, but pointless.

All hail Rainbow Dash!
 

Azure Knight-Zeo

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Jun 7, 2010
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I feel like some satire was missed with the regular masses prefering a more up-lifting feel good story than a darker more introspective piece, like how RE's zombie kill fest was more popular than Silent Hill's journey to find the truth.
 

otakon17

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Jun 21, 2010
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And in the middle of the review I'm reminded of THIS:


Nice rundown as always Bob.
 

leviadragon99

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Jun 17, 2010
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AxelxGabriel said:
leviadragon99 said:
It's not the religious message, it's that the religious message was dumb.
And how exactly was it dumb?
In that it promoted religion on the grounds of "well it's more comforting that way" as opposed to any sort of justification based on the validity of the values emphasized by this or that religion(s) or usefullness to society or anything close to being literally correct in its assesment of how the universe came to be and works.

Living in blissfull, willfull ignorance because it's easier that way isn't something to endorse, indeed it's more of an indictment of the intellectual and spiritual cowardliness of so many people, wanting/needing to believe in a higher power to make the world seem less scary and unfair, to try and give it all meaning, which would have unfortunate implications if you really think about it, that people who have bad things happen to them somehow invariably deserve it, either due to some nebulous wrongdoing on their part or as some assinine "test"

If you must believe in religion, do so because you truly believe the values it promotes, or heck, even if you truly believe it to be literally true, don't take it as the spiritual easy way out and security blanket.