OldBoy

no, this was definitely an actor's movie. screenplay and writing it deserves as well (which i believe McDonagh co-wrote)...

inri222

Three Billboards is a lazy, problematic film which didn't deserve an Oscar nomination in any way

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/...-a8174431.html

TheHive08

Jesus that's terrible.

johnnysd

It's not really wrong though.

RichC2

It also just wants the movie to be a different movie and claims it's being celebrated for different reasons than it is. But then I also didn't get the gushing love for Florida Project, though it was good.

But yeah there's no great depth to this movie and it has some issues, but it kept me thoroughly entertained.

Troy Stiffler

I thought this movie was great.

The film itself, and its responses remind me a lot of Killing Them Softly. It pushes through an unconventional plot. There's nothing traditional about it. No ultimate resolution. And a lot of people won't connect with it. I find this kind of filmmaking exhilarating.

For me, the story was about harboring hate and its inescapably toxic effects.

inri222

Killing Them Softly was excellent, can't say the same about this film.

d2cheer

I can't wait for this to win best picture.

Trevor

It’s got a good chance to join the ranks of Crash and Argo.

Why So Blu?

Loved Killing Them Softly

inri222

Andrew Dominik is 4 for 4. I look forward to his next project called War Party with Tom Hardy as a Navy SEAL.

One More Time with Feeling
Killing Them Softly
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Chopper

candyrocket786

The article didn't say anything about that little fat Mexican delivery boy.

It felt like I was the only person laughing in the theater, but enjoyed the hell out of this film.

As a Mexican, I wanted more Mexican jokes.

OldBoy

Solid Snake...that you??

Abob Teff

I miss Solid Snake.

nando820

we all miss his "fucking" around. He joined the twikoff and Danols, legends only the oldest will remember

inri222

Can Three Billboards Hold Off the Critical Backlash Until Oscar Night?
Is the film on its way to Oscar glory, or bracing itself for a Hollywood takedown? Academy members weigh in.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood...acklash-racism

inri222

Three Billboards is bad but Sam Rockwell's dad, Pete Rockwell, is good pic.twitter.com/IVujey4hl3

— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) January 24, 2018

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

bluetoast

But he’d never miss an opportunity to tell you how young he was- at 30.

candyrocket786

The article fails to mention that the man Rockwell threw from the second-story window was a young, successful white man, which means Rockwell's character was an equal-opportunity racist. I mean hell, Norton's character did much worst in American History X and he still found some redemption towards the end.

This article also doesn't say shit about that little, fat Mexican delivery boy.

Abob Teff

I think this quote best sums up my thoughts ...

While I disagree that Dixon was sympathetic, I will agree there was a significant amount of fine craftsmanship put into this film. There is a lot to like, however fatal flaws occur in pivotal moments of the script and storytelling mechanisms. I can’t say McDormand and Rockwell don’t deserve Oscars (I have not seen all the other candidates), but I can say that their performances don’t deserve to be penalized by the creator’s shortcomings.

As for Best Picture, I hope not. Again, I haven’t seen the other nominees, but the fatal flaws are deep enough (IMO) that this likely is not the BEST movie made this year.

Decker

Looks like the backlash has gotten bad enough to prompt some damage control :

http://ew.com/movies/2018/02/08/mart...s-controversy/

Martin McDonagh addresses the Three Billboards controversy and backlash
<iframe src='//players.brightcove.net/219646971/default_default/index.html?videoId=5729180783001' allowfullscreen frameborder=0></iframe>


Martin McDonagh is aware of the backlash surrounding his awards darling picture Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and he’s speaking out about it for the first time.

In an exclusive interview with EW, he responded to the recent controversy surrounding the film in the wake of its Golden Globe and SAG victories. “It mostly comes from the idea of Sam Rockwell’s character, who’s a racist, bigoted a—hole, that his character is seemingly being redeemed, maybe,” he says. “I don’t think his character is redeemed at all – he starts off as a racist jerk. He’s the same pretty much at the end, but, by the end, he’s seen that he has to change. There is room for it, and he has, to a degree, seen the error of his ways, but in no way is he supposed to become some sort of redeemed hero of the piece.”

Still, McDonagh admits that, while he writes films and plays deliberately designed to provoke, he’s not immune to the negative responses. “I kind of get hurt and wonder, why doesn’t everyone love it?” he confesses. “But I don’t like films that everyone loves. And we’re not making films for six year olds, we’re not making The Avengers. We’re trying to do something that’s a bit little more difficult and more thoughtful.”

“It’s supposed to be a deliberately messy and difficult film. Because it’s a messy and difficult world,” McDonagh concludes. “You have to kind of hold up a mirror to that a little bit and say we don’t have any kind of solution. But I think there’s a lot of hope and humanity in the film and if you look at all those issues with those things in your heart, we might move on to a more interesting place.”

So what, then, would McDonagh say to the film’s detractors if he was erecting three billboards of his own? “I’d say something like, our hearts are totally in the right place,” he says, “something like that.”

Abob Teff

I get it. I understand what you were trying to do McD. Just admit you failed and this does not deserve a Best Picture award of any type.

A “complicated and messy” story is hard to pull off. It can make for an amazing movie if done properly. Yes, life is complicated and messy and there is nothing wrong with trying to capture that on film. Yes, this had the makings of a fascinating messy story ... but it failed technically. It may have been lazy storytelling in the scripting phase or something that got lost in translation, but it didn’t hit its mark.

You don’t tease a thoughtful piece on racism and socio-economic injustice and then delivery a film where all the minorities are happy to just suck it up as stepping stones to the real story. You don’t get to protect the tormentor through the whole film (although I didn’t have as big of an issue with that because I have seen that misguided institutional protection first hand) and then give him a rousing hero moment where he gets to cry and have a change of heart because his father figure wrote him a note. That is not earned, it is lazy. Redeeming the Dixon character would have been bearable if it had been earned.

He wouldn’t have been likable, but it would have been bearable. We all want to see the good in people. We all want to believe people can change. People can change, that doesn’t mean they do. They certainly don’t just change a lifetime of ignorance and prejudice with the flip of a light switch.

It was a lofty goal. It landed on many technical levels. It also failed on many more. I don’t hate this movie. I hate that Hollywood has, for decades, lauded paper tigers that claim to take on pressing social issues when they don’t.

Decker

Well said, Abob.

Lipid

Good, enjoyable and entertaining movie. But a bit way too "Crash"-y for me. Characters too stereotypical and the sudden reversal in morality was cliche. Still a fun watch tho. Overhyped.

Decker

Three Billboards cleaned up at the BAFTAs, winning for Picture, Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay and Best British Picture (yeah, director is Irish, but still ). Only missed out on Director to Del Toro's "Fish Sex". Maybe the backlash is too late? Might be the BP Oscar for Crash 2.0.

edit : Then again, maybe there's still hope : Jordan Peele just won the WGA award for "Get Out".
edit 2 : Actually, "Billboards" wasn't eligible for a WAG award since it was not done under guild jurisdiction.