Escape to the Movies: The Expendables

[Dr Snakeman]

Well... I guess I'm not seeing this one. I had my suspicions, but I had thought that it would just be a good bit of mindless fun. Now I see that it isn't even good for that.
I do, however, need to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

 

[Jinjiro]

What's wrong with Bob ranting a bit? You know, give the guy some credit, he did one of the best deconstructions of the Twilight series, ripped those films apart, but just because everyone here shares his contempt of those films, no-one gave a shit. What I'm seeing are a load of biased 'someone on the internet doesn't like a film I like' arguments, to be honest, mostly based on how much of a rant it is.

What I love about MovieBob is his obvious passion for the medium, and this review made me like him all the more. People who are truly passionate about something get angry when the thing they love is tainted. This isn't film school, Bob doesn't owe it to us to sit down and delve into cinematic or narrative reasons that The Expendables was terrible, he gives us his honest opinion. If you don't like it, suck it up. Taste is subjective, and in my opinion the film was a brainless piece of trash that coldly exploited it's target audience's nostalgia at the expense of good filmmaking.

 

[Hatchet90]

Don't worry MovieBob, I saw Scott Pilgrim this week and skipped out on what I knew was going to be terrible. I had really high hopes for this movie, but from what I've heard from many different sources, this movie sucks. Thanks for looking out MB. Oh by the way, I was expecting a Vampires Suck review this week , but hey I wanted a laugh and I got it. Keep on keeping on MB.

 

[Break]

I don't know if it's how the zeitgeist has actually progressed, or if it's just how I happen to have seen the debate develop, but I can't help but laugh at how the common view of simple action films seems to have shifted. I've seen the conversation go from "these movies suck" to "these movies are ironically funny" to "these movies are a guilty pleasure", and now there's this attitude of "so what if it's artless, that's not a criticism, your expectations were wrong."

I'm also kind of surprised how much anger Chipman has incited for saying that the majority of people have no standards. I thought that was almost like saying "the sky is blue" these days? I watched the video three times specifically to check, and I can't actually find the part where he says "everyone who likes this movie is stupid and only stupid people can like it". I can find the part where he says "this movie is only popular because most people are attracted to big names and big explosions", and the part where he says "if you think the spread of choreography and finesse has actually made action movies worse, then you're dumb, and this movie is for you", but I can't find as much as a sidelong glance towards people who happen to feel like watching something simple, other than saying that there are plenty of other movies that're much better at scratching that particular itch. Can someone help me out here? I seem to be missing something...

Either way, not all that much of a review. There was a brief twenty seconds or so where he actually talks about the movie's shortcomings, but the rest was just lots of anger. Not great.

 

[patronscorn_v1legacy]

Look, Bob. I've defended you more than I need have, you're probably one of my favourite movie critics but please, for the love of God, accept that not every movie has to be this artistic piece, with amazing acting, original set pieces and have an important message behind them. Some movies are just meant to be enjoyable to sit through. Salt was this and you appeared to like that even if there were two reasons attached to Jolie that probably helped your opinion along the way.

And please, stop stating that everyone who likes a movie you don't is worthless. Transformers, Book of Eli, and now Expendables - some people just like to sit through a movie that's brainless. Whilst they're not that good, stating that everyone who likes them is pretty much wrong is just arrogant and pretentious.

Not everyone who likes bad action movies is this douchebag frat boy, who can't tell the difference between an etch-a-sketch and a Da Vinci. Just accept that occasionally people don't see things the way you do, because you're starting to become insufferable.

Well said. Couldn't do it better myself.
Dear MovieBob.
I've watched your reviews for a while now and never left any kind of comment to tell you how I feel.(1 single person in a far away country that you probably don't care about), but still I want to take a crack at this... I VERY rarely agree with you... And even if this comment will make me hated by many: I DIDN'T THINK AVATAR WAS ALL THAT GREAT. It didn't have any unseen plot twist, no special memorable characters and no self-irony. It was a pretty movie. That's all. And thats fine by my standards.(It kills me a little inside that with so many years in production all they really did was make sure no blue nipples evers showed up, istead improving or really change the story at ALL...

But I digress. YOUR opinion is YOUR opinion, and I allways make sure to remember that.
We have very different views of what makes a good movie. And I, for one, is thankful for that.

Dahle.

 

[HyenaThePirate]

How do you miss my point that greatly?

I'm talking about his criticism against the people who like the film, not his criticism against the film itself. He can shit on the film all he wants, but once he starts insulting me for enjoying films like that, I'm standing up for myself.

And your definition of a sheep is moronic. So because I think a film premise sounds interesting I'm a blind slave of Hollywood? If that's what you consider a sheep, then every person who has every watched a movie because he thought it sounded interesting is a sheep.

Looks like this guy gets it. This conversation is over, this is all that ever needed to be said for either side.
Consider this thread closed.
/thread
Seriously, it's over, go home.

 

[Cherry Cola]

snip

I'm still upset over the video, but the powerful flame I wielded hours ago (mostly with carelessness, I admit that) has been reduced to nothing, so tear you apart I will not. I wouldn't really want to anyway, you're too polite to inspire hatred. Damn you polite people!

As for your reasoning, I'm afraid I do not agree with you, though I will take what you said into consideration. I should at least be a little more open minded after all.

THIS is what my first post was talking about.

Heeeeeeeeeeey. Vanity Girl stole my comment.

 

[Brainst0rm]

Unimpressive. Personal opinion should not get in the way of legitimate criticism, or - ESPECIALLY - how well it did in comparison to a movie you like.

Geeeeeeeez, get over yourself.

 

[Jinjiro]

What's wrong with Bob ranting a bit? You know, give the guy some credit, he did one of the best deconstructions of the Twilight series, ripped those films apart, but just because everyone here shares his contempt of those films, no-one gave a shit. What I'm seeing are a load of biased 'someone on the internet doesn't like a film I like' arguments, to be honest, mostly based on how much of a rant it is.

What I love about MovieBob is his obvious passion for the medium, and this review made me like him all the more. People who are truly passionate about something get angry when the thing they love is tainted. This isn't film school, Bob doesn't owe it to us to sit down and delve into cinematic or narrative reasons that The Expendables was terrible, he gives us his honest opinion. If you don't like it, suck it up. Taste is subjective, and in my opinion the film was a brainless piece of trash that coldly exploited it's target audience's nostalgia at the expense of good filmmaking.

I don't have a problem with Bob being passionate or angry, I have a problem with with the fact that he continuously insults the people who watch these movies rather than the movies themselves, and I have a problem with the fact that a reviewer is ranting rather than doing any actual reviewing. And while I'm not a fan of either movies, this includes Transformers and Twilight.

Define reviewing, though. I heard the words 'boring' 'worthless' etc in the video, I'd classify those as words that could fit under the 'review' category. This felt more like a critique of the people who make these kinds of movies than the movie itself, a jab at the Hollywood execs who greenlight horrendous movies like this, and the people who support such an attitude towards the modern audience.

"Include guns, explosions, machismo and fights. They'll love it."

I agree with a lot of earlier posts, not all movies should be arthouse movies with deep emotional or spiritual messages or what have you, as that's not always entertaining when you just want to switch off and have fun. However, expecting people to lap this up simply because it exists as a clusterfuck of stuff that people are fond of, they neglected to make it good.

They put all the ingredients for a delicious chocolate cake into a giant bowl, stirred and cooked it without care, and it came out as a floury, tasteless mess. That carelessness is what aggravates me, the lack of effort because the ingredients were good, and I think that's what Bob tries to get at. They just got lazy because it was obviously going to be a success.

 

[Leftnt Sharpe]

Jason Statham is like the action star version of Hugh Grant in that he only ever plays himself in movies, but thats OK because 'himself' is more awesome than most American actors actually acting.

 

[GuerrillaClock]

I could barely finish watching this review. Took a lot of strength.

I can't believe Bob this week. We are obedient sheep because we go see one of the biggest collaboration films this decade instead of watching a film that was barely advertised in many places? We are the worst kind of people on earth because we like the premise that a movie will be an homage to 80s action films?

He dropped the ball on this review. Insulting a film is one thing, insulting someone for liking it is another, but insulting people for thinking the premise sounds like a fun idea?. That's a new low. I won't even go into how much I disagree with you on the quality of the film.

For someone who tries to hinder people from being elitist nerds, you are one of the biggest elitist nerds I've seen in quite a while.

You took the words right out of my mouth and I want them back.

Seriously Bob, did Stallone run over your cat or something? You're starting off a review by nerdraging that a totally different film with a niche market didn't do as well as a braindead popcorn film? Why would you expect Scott Pilgrim to be a smash hit, exactly? And what were you expecting from The Expendables?

I don't care that you didn't like it, I've disagreed with you countless times before and not cared, because I know not everyone likes the same stuff I do. That's cool. But was there any need to insult everyone who happened to see it without a coat stand in their posterior and just wanted to have fun? I resent being called a sheep and an idiot just because I wanted to see a dumb film and have a laugh with my mates. Check your brain at the door, and you'll have a riot at the Expendables. If I posted a rant like that 'review' on this forum, I'd expect to be at least probation'd. Very little reasoning given behind any of your criticisms, just "it's boring", "they've all made better films before", repeated ad nauseum. I have no idea what happened to you this week, but you came across as beyond pretentious and elitist, with a very flimsy flamerant masquerading as a review.

 

[kickyourass]

Holy hell, I don't think I've ever heard him so angry at a movie before, I mean even with the Twilight movies he restrained himself a little.

 

[pretzil]

Sorry, where the hell was this review before I saw this movie A WEEK AGO!

 

[Rayansaki]

I'm probably still going to see it, but not on the cinema. Only movie on the list to watch is Scott Pilgrim which has inexplicably not even shown up yet on the "Coming Soon" lists of cinemas in my country

 

[Branches]

I went with some friends and saw it. I didn't mind it all that much. The acting blew, the story sucked, the characters were boring. Though, the crowd we saw it with was the midnight showing when it opened. So everyone was drunk, high, and etc. Made it a lot more fun. We had most of the theater riffing it while it was going on.

So in the end, yes, it's merits as a movie were crap, but as with the majority of B-movies, with the right circumstances, it's enjoyable.

 

[Jonathan Duenas]

wait... there's a DOA movie? And you haven't reviewed it yet? What the hell Bob?

 

[Jinjiro]

I wouldn't call "boring, worthless" a review, I would call that a rant. A professional review to me is something that mentions specific parts of the film (e.g. directing, acting, story) and telling us what makes them bad/good. Bob neglected to do that, instead choosing to moan and complain about the movie sweeping up at the box office, while talking as little as possible about the actual film.

We can let reviewers pussyfoot around the real issue for as long as we want, but the source of the major problem is not within an individual film. It's the audiences, and what we pay to see. It's the studios that think so little of us because we pay to see these films, who let shitty films get released instead of putting the extra effort in. Don't get hung up on the fact his video was called 'The Expendables' - what he points out about the studios and the audiences is still pertinent. Insert any terrible movie into this review and half of it will still make sense.