Movies or scenes that you just don't get
06-23-05, 12:47 PM
#26
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Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt
That's because it's not a real joke. Gibson and Russo decided to come up with some non-sensical phrase just to see if anyone in the theater would laugh...even though it makes no sense. Know what? A lot of people laughed when I saw the movie...goes to show how many people just "turn off their brains" in the theater.
The "lingerie shop" was a front for the bad guys' operations. One of their victims had made a phone call there before he was killed. Russo investigated the location, and knew something was amiss when the sign out front identified it as a lingerie shop, but there was no front window for displays.
06-23-05, 02:28 PM
#27
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by sundog
Re: Total Recall
That's all fine and dandy. But just because the filmmakers' comments remove any doubt, the film itself still contains those ambiguities and should not be discounted.
That's all fine and dandy. But just because the filmmakers' comments remove any doubt, the film itself still contains those ambiguities and should not be discounted.
I've always thought that everything went ok (in the end) and he just went back to his normal life (ie: the one we saw at the very begining of the movie).
At first this seems like a "happy" ending...but actually it's not really all that happy because he returns back to his mundane life.
06-23-05, 02:37 PM
#28
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Originally Posted by UAIOE
At first this seems like a "happy" ending...but actually it's not really all that happy because he returns back to his mundane life.
06-23-05, 06:22 PM
#29
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The infamous end to the first Superman movie, where he can reverse time by flying around the Earth backwards... which almost compares to him rebuilding the Great Wall in the fourth movie with his rebuild-wall-vision. Of course, the sci-fi/superhero genres of movies complain sooo many plotholes... I mean, people debate just the Star Wars films for years.
06-23-05, 06:40 PM
#30
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Originally Posted by Dark_Sithlord
A couple of movies that have left me pondering:
Total Recall: This is one of my favourite Schwarzenegger movies. I've seen it a couple of dozen times, and to this day, I still have no idea whether everything in the movie actually happened, or a memory implant that he bought at Recall.
...
Maybe the answers are obvious to some people, but the answers still escape me.
Total Recall: This is one of my favourite Schwarzenegger movies. I've seen it a couple of dozen times, and to this day, I still have no idea whether everything in the movie actually happened, or a memory implant that he bought at Recall.
...
Maybe the answers are obvious to some people, but the answers still escape me.
Last edited by movielib; 06-23-05 at 06:43 PM.
06-23-05, 10:28 PM
#33
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Originally Posted by movielib
To me the key to whether or not it's real comes when the female technician at Rekall tosses the program they are going to run Arnie through to the male technician. He looks at it and says matter of factly: "That's a new one; blue sky on Mars."
06-23-05, 10:33 PM
#34
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Originally Posted by sundog
Re: Total Recall
That's all fine and dandy. But just because the filmmakers' comments remove any doubt, the film itself still contains those ambiguities and should not be discounted.
That's all fine and dandy. But just because the filmmakers' comments remove any doubt, the film itself still contains those ambiguities and should not be discounted.
Nonetheless, both those films work on either level...there's definately room for either viewpoint.
06-23-05, 11:09 PM
#35
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
I don't get Hell Comes To Frogtown, the whole movie. 
In all seriousness, I could never grasp whether Quaid dreamed the entire story in Total Recall, or did he actually live and experience it.
In all seriousness, I could never grasp whether Quaid dreamed the entire story in Total Recall, or did he actually live and experience it.
06-23-05, 11:48 PM
#36
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Another thing about "Total Recall" is that the entire plot and ending of the movie is revealed right there in the Rekall memory implant room.
They show the woman he "gets" at the end and they also (i think) show the alien device on the screen in the background.
On a related note..
I still love the exploding head scene.
"Get ready for a suprise!" BOOM
They show the woman he "gets" at the end and they also (i think) show the alien device on the screen in the background.
On a related note..
I still love the exploding head scene.
"Get ready for a suprise!" BOOM
06-24-05, 08:54 AM
#37
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Originally Posted by Ruderic
I don't get:
Being John Makovich
And to just mention a crappy movie just for the hell of it: A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Being John Makovich
And to just mention a crappy movie just for the hell of it: A.I. Artificial Intelligence
But (IMO) A.I. is a brilliant movie. It's only the ending that throws a wrench in the gears. Some like it, many hate it, but I don't know many who really *love* that ending.
I recently watched Dark City for the first time. I didn't get what the alien guys were trying to accomplish at the end. They wanted to inject their memories (or collective consciousness or whatever) into the human. For what reason? Did they want to repopulate their race through him or what?
Last edited by taa455; 06-24-05 at 08:59 AM.
06-24-05, 11:14 AM
#39
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malkovich, malkovitch malkovitch malkovitch. Malkovitch?
Napolean Dynamite, that's one movie I don't get. Not so much that I don't understand the movie, I don't understand how it became so popular. Does the mainstream movie audience enjoy this sort of thin on plot, character study type of movie? I don't know, I thought it was ok, but I just don't understand how it has received so much love from the mtv set.
Napolean Dynamite, that's one movie I don't get. Not so much that I don't understand the movie, I don't understand how it became so popular. Does the mainstream movie audience enjoy this sort of thin on plot, character study type of movie? I don't know, I thought it was ok, but I just don't understand how it has received so much love from the mtv set.
06-24-05, 11:22 AM
#40
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The scene in GODFATHER where Kay visits the Corleone mansion to inquire on Michael's whereabouts, and is greeted by Tom Hagen. She sees a smashed up car nearby, and he explains "that was an accident, but nobody got hurt." Was that in reference to something that happened earlier? Those lines of dialogue seem to come out of nowhere in relation to the main topic.
06-24-05, 11:23 AM
#41
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Originally Posted by NatrlBornThrllr
Maybe I need to watch it again, but I don't recall BJM being that difficult to understand. I thought most of it was pretty straight forward...
-JP
-JP
06-24-05, 11:26 AM
#42
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Immortal I tried watching this last night and had to turn it off after 1/2 and hour or so. The bouncing back and forth between live action and CG characters w/o rhyme/reason/explaination was really distracting and made the plot hard to follow. I never did figure out if it was supposed to be some sort of virtual world or earth in the future w/ mutants/aliens/holograms/
(to exaplin the obviously CG creatures) and it created no desire within me to watch the whole thing to find out
(to exaplin the obviously CG creatures) and it created no desire within me to watch the whole thing to find out
06-24-05, 07:10 PM
#43
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Originally Posted by neilo13
Napolean Dynamite, that's one movie I don't get. Not so much that I don't understand the movie, I don't understand how it became so popular. Does the mainstream movie audience enjoy this sort of thin on plot, character study type of movie? I don't know, I thought it was ok, but I just don't understand how it has received so much love from the mtv set.
I wonder if the MTV generation even gets half of what made that movie funny to begin with: the whole throwback to the 80's vibe it gives. My wife also hates that movie, but teens seem to love it. I'd say it's almost similar to how popular Austin Powers became with the younger crowd.
06-24-05, 08:03 PM
#44
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I just did not get Starship Troopers. Or, I should say, the only message I got out of the movie is how cool it would be to be a nazi, which I assume was not the director's intention. I gathered that it was supposed to be a satire or a parody of fascism, but in good satire or parody the underlying theme is to ultimately expose the subject/target as something that's deserving of scorn or ridicule.
In Spinal Tap, it's funny that the band takes the Stonehenge set so seriously, while we, the viewers, can laugh at the ridiculousness of the big picture---WE see that the guys in the band are really (loveable) idiots, because we see the non-intended results of their dim-witted choices. In something more serious like George Orwell's 1984, we see how strict the society is, and how the citizens often willingly embrace it and believe the promises of the state, but we're also shown lots of subtle examples as to how those citizens are lied to, exploited, manipulated and ultimately dehumanized.
But in Starship Troopers, the young recruits are told that they're going to have to protect earth from evil bugs, that the war will be exciting and heroic, that they'll be proud and earn their citizenship, and they'll end up as heroes----and that's pretty much exactly what happens. If I didn't know the downside of fascism from other sources, I wouldn't have gotten it from this movie---so I really didn't get the point of this film at all, unless the director really is a neo-fascist.
In Spinal Tap, it's funny that the band takes the Stonehenge set so seriously, while we, the viewers, can laugh at the ridiculousness of the big picture---WE see that the guys in the band are really (loveable) idiots, because we see the non-intended results of their dim-witted choices. In something more serious like George Orwell's 1984, we see how strict the society is, and how the citizens often willingly embrace it and believe the promises of the state, but we're also shown lots of subtle examples as to how those citizens are lied to, exploited, manipulated and ultimately dehumanized.
But in Starship Troopers, the young recruits are told that they're going to have to protect earth from evil bugs, that the war will be exciting and heroic, that they'll be proud and earn their citizenship, and they'll end up as heroes----and that's pretty much exactly what happens. If I didn't know the downside of fascism from other sources, I wouldn't have gotten it from this movie---so I really didn't get the point of this film at all, unless the director really is a neo-fascist.
06-24-05, 09:38 PM
#45
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by BigDaddy
That makes sense. Where did you hear that?
06-25-05, 12:08 AM
#46
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Originally Posted by taa455
You miss the point. It's not that I didn't understand it. I didn't "get it" in the sense that I find the whole premise to be too weird/ridiculous.
-JP
06-25-05, 12:42 AM
#47
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by fujishig
This one puzzles me too.
I wonder if the MTV generation even gets half of what made that movie funny to begin with: the whole throwback to the 80's vibe it gives. My wife also hates that movie, but teens seem to love it. I'd say it's almost similar to how popular Austin Powers became with the younger crowd.
I wonder if the MTV generation even gets half of what made that movie funny to begin with: the whole throwback to the 80's vibe it gives. My wife also hates that movie, but teens seem to love it. I'd say it's almost similar to how popular Austin Powers became with the younger crowd.
I liked Austin Powers because i realized it was a really great James Bond spoof/homage. I also remember seeing the first movie and then going to school and quoting lines with my friends...everyone looked at us puzzled as to what the hell we were saying. About 8 months later all i could hear from people was "Yeah baby!" this and "Shagadelic!" that.
06-25-05, 01:35 AM
#48
I remember seeing Ghostbusters at the theater when I was 5 years old, and I was totally baffled by the scene where the female ghost hovers over Dan Akroyd, undoes his bealt, and then they cut to Dan making some goofy face. I knew something was going on but I had no idea what.
Sadly, 20 years later, I still don't.
Sadly, 20 years later, I still don't.
06-25-05, 10:45 AM
#49
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Originally Posted by fujishig
This one puzzles me too.
I wonder if the MTV generation even gets half of what made that movie funny to begin with: the whole throwback to the 80's vibe it gives. My wife also hates that movie, but teens seem to love it. I'd say it's almost similar to how popular Austin Powers became with the younger crowd.
I wonder if the MTV generation even gets half of what made that movie funny to begin with: the whole throwback to the 80's vibe it gives. My wife also hates that movie, but teens seem to love it. I'd say it's almost similar to how popular Austin Powers became with the younger crowd.
I agree, but I completely understand Austin Powers, slapstick/pardody/comedy is very poplar, so I'm not sure your analogy applies, but its better than any explanation I can come up with.
06-25-05, 10:47 AM
#50
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"I'm your huckleberry."
always wondered what exactly it meant and where it was coming from.
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~knuth...errysource.htm
always wondered what exactly it meant and where it was coming from.
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~knuth...errysource.htm