The Bus

My friend and I were talking about this recently. There are a lot of movies which "the Internet" loves but you don't really see them being praised in forums, message boards, IMDB, etc. And I think some of the praise is because it the movie is somewhat unknown but I think there's also a certain level of groupthink involved. See for example, what happened with the "revival" of Coppola's The Conversation.

In one of the Horror Talk threads, someone said, "Event Horizon is quite over-hyped on the internet" and that got me thinking again.

Now, there's plenty of movies which are big on "the Internet" but also well-regarded by people you might see day to day. An example would be Office Space. On the other hand, stuff like Freaked (or more recently) D.E.B.S., Dog Soldiers, and Ginger Snaps all had high praise if I looked the movie up but I never heard of anyone flesh-and-blood talk about them positively. I saw Dead Birds and later Freaked and was so terribly disappointed that I am having a hard time wanting to see Dog Soldiers. (I know the movies share nothing substantial).

I also tend to see this happen a lot with Argento movies. They're pretty cool, and they're good (for the most part), but when I read some discussions or reviews it seems like we've seen a completely different movie. Everyone whom I've shown Suspiria too has fallen asleep (myself included) --- that movie I saw again several times later on and now I like it. But it doesn't cause me to exude praise in its favor.

I see the opposite happen too: Movies become whipping boys as some unknown mass of people all decide to hate someone... Yet, when I'm not online, I don't find anyone that hates or dislikes those movies with so much fervor.

Example: Adam Sandler. While he's made some bad movies, his first two movies, Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison are hilarious. But when you ("you" as in, you, the internet) lump in those movies with his bad stuff, someone will see one of them and say, "Well, they hated all of them, surely Mr. Deeds is good too." But too often, I see him derided on the level of Uwe Boll.

Does anyone agree?

nodeerforamonth

Yes.

clemente

Um...yes. "The Internet"
Is that like "The Media" or "The Man"

GoldenJCJ

I think "the Internet" that we're refering to, is that of young teenage - early twentys geeks (for lack of a better word). Most of them have the same minset when it comes to movies.

You'd be hard pressed to find an average person in the real world who makes as big of a deal about the changes to the Star Wars films; or who would praise Fight Club as the greatest film of all time as you would online.

The opposite is true as well, if one perosn jumps on the haters bandwagon more will sure to follow. In fact isn't that what a troll is - the first to try to start the hate? (I however, will vocalize my hate for Adam Sandler both online and in the real world )

I think it's just easier to differentiate groups of people you come across in the real world. On college campuses you'd get very different opinions on films than you would at a country club. The internet is just everybody sort of globbed together.

DeanoBKN

How can one join this...Internet?

RichC2

I have never heard anyone praise D.E.B.S., Freaked has always been praised for it's Mr. T in a skirt and little else. Dog Soldiers for it's gleeful cheese. And Ginger Snaps, since it was actually a fairly good movie (Carrie with werewolves). Dead Birds, I haven't seen, but I always figured it was liked because it was a straight-to-video flick, another reason to bitch out hollywood, but even then i've heard more negative than positive about it.

I've always thought the 'net overhyped a lot of movies (Serenity, Equilibrium, etc; ). So yes, I agree.... but if it weren't for the 'net I would have missed out on a lot of fantastic movies.

gryffinmaster

"Damn the man!"

Plain and simple. the Internet draws attention to lesser known films, whether positive or negative. That's a major plus. It gives the film exposure and lets others soak in the film as they see fit.

Granted, that's a broad explanation. But it fits. I'm thankful for the exposure to new elements of cinema.

DoubleDownAgain

I haven't trusted the "Internet" since it suckered me into watching "The Boondock Saints"......

eiker_ir

What The Fuck Is The Internet?

DeanoBKN

Make that the two of us!

Dash

awh come on now, Thats probably one of my all time top 5 favorite movies. I started showing it to all my friends years ago, and now they are all hooked.

Smithers

Oh no, everyone run, the internet is coming!

Inverse

You mean ... different groups of people like different things?

Whoah, I think I need to sit down.