Movie Moan: I Spit on This Podcast
Sun, August 22, 2010 
The Movie Moan crew (Phil, Ed, Lou, Queen Kristina and Jamie) didn't see anything new this weekend. Save for Lou who checked out the I Spit on Your Grave remake early and gives us his thoughts.
In the week of news, the gang talks up the latest on X-Men: First Class and ask if the general public cares about that franchise anymore. Hugh Jackman appears to have resigned himself to the fact that he'll forever be Wolverine in the eyes of most. So, of course, he's dropped out of the comedy Avon Man and doing another solo Logan movie. Phil and her Majesty mourn the death of a third Hellboy movie.
All of that, plus the Ninja Turtles getting rebooted yet again, Rooney Mara is confirmed to headline The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with Daniel Craig, Jamie does his James Lipton impression and this week's debate: do people truly listen to critics in any capacity anymore?
Reader Comments (6)
Just imo:
I think you can trace most of today's torture porn back to Ingmar Bergman's THE VIRGIN SPRING. The thing that people forget about that film is that it's not about the rape sequence per se, but the more metaphysical questions of, how could God let an innocent girl get raped by a bunch of lowlifes, how could God let such evil exist in the world, and how would God react when faced with the girl's father avenging her death by brutally murdering her murderers? Is the father as heinous as the girl's rapists/murderers? How does God look upon revenge, considering scripture says one is supposed to turn the other cheek.
These are deep questions that the film asks but that similar films such as I Spit on Your Grave, at least judging from Lou's reaction, does not address. He mentions that the film only glosses over the woman's loss of humanity as she takes revenge upon her rapists, which is unfortunate, as well. If a film is not going to take advantage of a rape plot to examine underlying moral quandaries that result, then what's the point -- other than to create a misogynist exploitation film for guys who get off on female torture?
As for Hugh Jackman, to me, it's refreshing that we have at least one star who isn't ashamed of being typecast. Too often, actors get mad at the fans for identifying them in the roles that made them stars. Jackman seems content to milk this cow until it's dry. We might not like his choice to keep starring in crappy movies as Wolverine, but at least he doesn't seem ashamed by it. I find that attitude kind of unique and cool.
Finally, I've learned how Chewie got his nickname!
The reason people say the film critic is dead is because so many of the films people would consider seeing these days are those that don't require a critic to spark audience interest in the film. That's because many contemporary films have built-in intellectual property upon which the viewer decides whether or not to see the film. For example, you guys were already deciding whether TMNT and X-Men: First Class are worth seeing simply based on the property itself and/or the pedigree behind the camera. For these films, the critic is irrelevant, because people consider other factors when deciding whether to see the movie. People will look to friends or even the online press to find out if the film sucks or not, but they've pretty much already decided by that point if they're going to see it or wait for DVD or skip it altogether.
In contrast, the film critic is still relevant for movies that don't have some sort of built-in audience awareness, as you guys mentioned. For example, I read a print review of WENDY AND LUCY a couple of years ago that piqued my interest about the tone and style of the movie -- so I went to see it and loved the movie. It's a concrete example of a review that got me to see a movie I wouldn't have otherwise known about or at least bothered to go out and see. In these instances, the critic still matters. I agree with you guys :)
Great job as always, you guys.
Lou's "Porture Torn" should enter the English lexicon. :thumbs up:
To defend Phil's homeland, British TV makes our TV shows look like brainless, soulless, cliched shite.
Oddly enough, I saw "I Spit on Your Grave" (the original) for the first time about two weeks ago...
I agree with the general consensus that it's a bad film, but not for the reasons Ebert sights in his review. It's pretty boring and has largely terrible acting (I'd probably give it 3 out of 10, so I definately wouldn't recomend it), but I'm not entirely sold on the idea that Meir Zarchi made the film for typical exploitativie titillation. If there's anything thing I do sort of admire about the film, its the lack of score during the rape scenes. Those scenes (though way too long) aren't really dramatised in the way your typical piece of exploit-shlock would be. A friend of mine actually defends the film to a certain extent (he's a big fan of B Movies), because he thinks its groundbreaking in terms of the genre and detests Ebert's review, because he "reviewed the audience, rather than the film!" (TBH, part of me agrees with this statement). Apparently, the film was inspired by a time Zarchi tried to help a rape victim, only to be brushed off by the police ; I do honestly think there is an interesting film there somewhere, but it wasn't pulled off due to Zarchi's incompetence. It doesn't surprise me to hear Lou say that the remake only skims the surface of the victim's shattered psyche, because I felt the same about the original. The female character doesn't have much depth at all, even from the start ; we are told that she is "a novelist from the city", but thats it. We never find out if she is successful at her job or has any friends or family... and that is the biggest problem the film has in my eyes... you don't really care that this poor girl is getting raped multiple times, because she was barely there as a character to being with.
Must say that the idea of a retro-style X Men film does intrigue me, but like you guy's, I feel burnt out by the last two films.
Oh and Phil, the film I was talking about that Ebert hated was David Lynch's "Blue Velvet"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfTF26SgE90
Interesting to see Siskel disagree with him on that one.
And I never said "I had passionate feelings towards Ebert". Get your facts straight! :-r
It really warms my heart that you guys put such effort into your comments and it is a blast reading them on a Monday morning before work so thank you.
I will defend, to a certain degree depending on its actual quality, any film with substance, that actually tries to say something. Reprehensible though a lot of its sequences are, I will defend 'Cannibal Holocaust' for that very reason. The way the original 'I Spit On Your Grave' ends (literally cutting to end credits as soon as the last rapist is dead) only re-enforces the feeling that the film was about nothing. There is no resolution for the main character because there is nothing to resolve. The entire 90 minutes has simply been a set up so a woman can kill a guy with a boat. You feel as empty and depressed as the film itself. Anything would be a step up from that.
Tom, honestly there are a few established franchise films out there that I will wait to hear a critical concensus on before making my descision to see or not. Wolverine 2 is certainly one of those movies. But as we discussed, I will be looking for a group concensus as opposed to the unique voice of a favourite critic because they are in extremely short supply these days.
Welshfilmbuff, you will feel to Roger the way I tell you to feel towards Roger :)
I only listen to internet critics. Like spill.com and confused matthew on youtube but I do still listen to Ebert.
Personally I think the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is a good idea. Maybe finally I will enjoy a TMNT movie.
I don't care for Hellboy 3 we didn't really need it anyway.
I would want to hear you guys debate about why these spoof movies are still being made even though they suck. If there is no movie news this week, of course.
I have a more passionate feeling towards Kermode, if anything ; his hairstyle is so lovely!
Here's his quite frankly, awesome Da Vinci Code review [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMavBCvc0sw[/url]