atlantamoi

Agreed. Very disappointed with this pup.

slop101

I was mostly bored with this. It was like a connect-the-dots puzzle, with most of the dots missing. And I also couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters - which was this movie's biggest flaw: lame characters - even Donnie Darko had some interesting or fun characters. So when I'm not connected to either the narrative or the characters, I end up tuning out.

I mean, Lynch has some weird narrative in his films, but his characters are always interesting. And Scorsese movies are usually filled with character stereotypes, but his narratives are always tight and have definite through-lines. I just couldn't bring myself to care about anything in Southland Tales, so I was just bored.

bunkaroo

Rented this from Netflix and shut it off after an hour.

Didn't loathe it, but there was just nothing there that interested me. When I saw there was over 90 minutes left, I was done.

Plus I can't stand Cheri Oteri.

bunkaroo

Very good points. I think this is likely why I didn't care to watch more than I did.

discostu1337

I made it through about a half-hour last week on this movie...very boring and confusing. Also, it looked like it was put together by some 1st year college students.

Phod

Wait, this cost 60mil ???

chris_sc77

^No. It had a production budget of $17 million and possibly a few million more for effects. Also it had an extremely small marketing budget. They pretty much just buried it in less than 100 screens which is the widest it ever got in the US.

Robert

I kept expecting Cheri Oteri to start yelling: SIMMA DOWN NOW! SIMMA DOWN NOW!

TheMovieman

That sums it up 100% for me. I didn't care about any of these characters and coupled that with a story that turned from confusing to boring, the entire film was just a waste of time.

BTW, to call this pretentious or self-indulgent would be too much of a compliment...

The Antipodean

Finally saw this. For about an hour I hated it and then by the end I had a kind of grudging respect for its deformed, sprawling madness. It's one hell of a weird movie (and I *don't* say that about many movies unlike Joe Public does about "27 Dresses," I think) and really ungainly and inarticulate, but still, parts of it stuck with me (I was rather stricken by how much I enjoyed the Rock in it - a sentence I *never* thought I'd type!!!!)

lotsofdvds

I watched this last night. I'd be tempted to give Kelly the benefit of the doubt and that the longer version might actually make sense.

But two cars FUCK in this movie. And there's a five minute lip-sync musical number set to The Killers. Worthless, pretentious crap all around.

And you don't make a black comedy and cast comedians in the dramatic roles. That's retarded.

sevenarts

Best two scenes in the movie. This was THE misunderstood film of last year. Granted, it's a sprawling and complicated film, so some misunderstanding is to be expected, but it was also a ton of fun to just sit back and watch the insanity. And as I opined in my review back when I first saw it, I actually think it makes a lot more sense as a narrative than people were giving it credit for.

And who would've thought that THE ROCK could actually ACT? He was hilarious in this, especially that little nervous finger-tenting thing he kept doing. His mannerisms and his expressions were just perfect.

GenPion

I saw it and thought it was terrible. At least it stayed with me though. It's not a movie I will easily forget.

DeanoBKN

I had very high hopes for this and was terribly let down. I simply can't believe so much work went into such a nonsense tale.

Dan

double Richard Kelly bump!
Saw this in 35mm Friday night. This was the first time I had seen it since trying to watch the DVD way back when it first came out. I'm pretty sure I hated it back then.

Richard Kelly was there to answer some questions.

Anyway... I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. Ten years later, I think it's a lot better than it got credit for. Yes, the pacing and tone is off-kilter, but it's definitely something special to watch. Also, seeing Richard talk about it, it's pretty clear that although he appreciates the love for Donnie Darko, this movie is his baby. In fact, he hinted that he was doing this road tour with Donnie Darko and Southland Tales specifically so he could get more people to see the latter, not the former. They asked the audience how many had ever seen ST, and most had not. RK seemed really happy that so many people were coming out to see this, even if DD sold more tickets.

Anyway, give the movie another shot if you haven't already. You might like it.

Why So Blu?

I may have to revisit it again. Only saw it once back in the day. and didn't care for it. I like that everyone including B-actors were in it. I know Amazon is constantly selling it for less than $5 on BD.

slop101

I don't remember a single goddamn thing about this movie.

Mabuse

I saw it once when it was new. I didn't love it, but several things still stand out. A scene played into a mirror to fabulous effect. The use of a Pixies song that was great. Everything involving Justin Timberlake was memorably off kilter. I look forward to revisiting it. At the very least it's gorgeously photographed.

Troy Stiffler

Richard Kelly can capture a feeling that not many directors can. He's one of the directors who can build something underneath, that we never see. We're never quite shown, and never quite told. And there's an energy to that. Michael Mann does it. Other directors do it. But Mann's movies are the best example.

It's like they write a full script. Everything is explained and everyone talks aloud about their feelings. And then they strip a big chunk away from it. And the audience is left to subconsciously construct the rest in their head.

Dan

^ well said. I think David Mamet is in that same category.

Josh-da-man

I liked Southland Tales because it was Grant Morrisony. Probably as close as we'll ever get to a Filth or Invisibles movie.

dex14

Dan

Damn. I'm down for that.
I hope it works out for him.

RichC2

With all the streaming funds out there, nows as good a time as any.

Troy Stiffler

Sure. And I was recently wondering if he has anything new coming out. The Box was on Netflix or Prime. A really good twilight zone esque feature film.