comment #1

MiraJeffAICN says ...

Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, this is not the way to go. Trust me. I know from personal experience. There's nothing we can do to change the minds of the world's Haggis haters. We simply have to accept them as people with no hearts or souls. I love how passionate you are about Elah. Dying to see it. Script was great. I felt the same way about Crash. I'd fight to the death for that movie, unless it was someone hating on Sandra Bullock, because she was unquestionably the weakest link in that movie. I like you, but I'd fight you just so I could get my amateur record at .500.

comment #2

malibugigolo says ...

Lame.

comment #3

Pinko Punko says ...

Funny post, Jeff Wells.

Crash was ass, but I would consider Elah.

comment #4

PanTheFaun says ...

Every single thing I've heard about "Elah" from anyone besides Wells makes it sound awful. Even specific elements Wells points out as things he likes sound trite and simplified-beyond-belief.

I'll try my best to give this movie a fair shake, but Anti-Iraq-War sentiments alone do not a good movie make.

I don't think anyone is OPPOSED the idea that racism is bad, but that didn't make "Crash" a decent picture.

comment #5

gatsby1040 says ...

'Crash' was a travesty, and I see no reason to expect anything better from 'Elah.' Jeff's stamp of approval seals my lack-of-interest. He's been wrong before, but a couple weeks ago when he defended High Noon as being far better than Rio Bravo I decided his taste was crap.

comment #6

gruver1 says ...

Wells to malibugigolo: Don't believe in God's law, eh? Putting yourself on the line, standing up for what you believe, etc.?

comment #7

malibugigolo says ...

on the line for a movie?
no.

comment #8

PanTheFaun says ...

I've liked a few of Haggis's screenplays, but I find it odd that he only chooses to direct them himself when they're especially preachy and overbearing.

comment #9

PaulKolas says ...

MiraJeff, you truly crack me up..."anyone who hates Paul Haggis has no heart and soul"...well, fella, I think I have a heart and soul, and I even cry at the occasional film that moves me HONESTLY, but there is no denying that CRASH is the sort of heavy-handed, specious "message" film that people with "no heart and souls" like myself love to hate. I will say this, though, heartless and souless though I am, I will go and see IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH hoping for some kind of cinematic redemption from the sledgehammer pen of Mr. Haggis.

comment #10

Mcflyboy says ...

I believe this is lame as well and I will stand up for that belief. God's law? Paul Haggis? Are you kidding?

comment #11

Kristopher Tapley says ...

"I haven't been in a fight since the seventh grade."

Not that I'm the Eagle Rock Brawler, but that explains SO much.

Otherwise...NOW WE'RE TALKIN'!

comment #12

BurmaShave says ...

Wells, boma ye!

comment #13

kammy says ...

From MiraJeffAICN: "...Haggis haters. We simply have to accept them as people with no hearts or souls..."

That's right! We also have to accept those people who are opposed to the Iraqi war as unpatriotic weenies!

comment #14

cjKennedy says ...

I think it's great Wells is passionate about a movie in a positive way whether I end up agreeing with him or not. Rather than a physical fight, why not challenge this Rodriguez character to a verbal sparring on these pages? 15 rounds back and forth and the readers decide who wins.

comment #15

MilkMan says ...

For the last time: Paul Hack-is sucks. Crash is a bad movie, on par with Kasdan's Grand Canyon for the sheer magnitude of its upper-class condescension.

Hey Jeff: Why don't you pimp PTA's new movie? Champion someone who deserves it, a filmmaker that no one in Hollywood wants to honor but have no problem ripping off, viz. Crash, with it's poor-man's take on Magnolia.

comment #16

DavidF says ...

1) I liked Crash. Sue me.

2) It is nice to see Wells liking a film (not to mention seeing it before reviewing it).

3) He seems to go a bit overboard but I think these boards have shown that physical duke outs with Jeff Wells (refereed by God, I guess) might actually have their place.
And it shouldn't be restricted to other critics and bloggers. I'd like to see the newly svelte Peter Jackson come at Wells with the (presumably 5-inch think) King Kong script.

comment #17

MiraJeffAICN says ...

If you didn't cry at some point during Crash, whether it was when Dillon saved Thandie Newton, or when Toub shoots at Pena's daughter, then you are not alive inside. Everyone bitches about a message being shoved down their throat. I didn't see it as a message film at all. Movies aren't about messages, they're about stories, and Crash was a bunch of great stories rolled into one great movie. All you Crash haters, please tell me, what should've won Best Picture that year. There are only two answers I'd even consider as acceptable. So post away. What got robbed?

comment #18

kammy says ...

(continued...) And Wells -- with his guaranteed BLUE STATE sensibility -- is perhaps being guilty of being one unpatriotic weeny?!

comment #19

jeffmcm says ...

I think that I was rolling my eyes hard enough at those two scenes that liquid might have come out of them. Seriously, the 'invisible blanket' scene with the gun was one of the most insultingly obvious attempts I've ever seen in a mainstream movie by a filmmaker demanding his audience to feel upset. I'd call it emotional pornography.

comment #20

kammy says ...

"Crash" is one staggering exercise in craptrap and cheap bathos!

comment #21

Jesse Perry says ...

"If you didn't cry at some point during Crash, whether it was when Dillon saved Thandie Newton, or when Toub shoots at Pena's daughter, then you are not alive inside."

So, the fire in my soul is tied to shitty plot devices? I occasionally enjoy your reviews at AICN, MiraJeff, but your posts on here are consistently awful and embarrassing. You're like the lost Medved.

"All you Crash haters, please tell me, what should've won Best Picture that year. There are only two answers I'd even consider as acceptable."

Only problem with that is, what the fuck do I care what you find "acceptable"? I know what I like, and I don't like Crash. Amazingly, my soul is still intact.

comment #22

christian says ...

"...then you are not alive inside."

lemme try this on fer size:

if you like the HOSTEL movies, then you are dead inside. We simply have to accept them as people with no hearts or souls.

comment #23

Stephe96 says ...

I can't wait for "Elah" to tank. "Crash" was nauseatingly bad, and Haggis sucks. And what is with that title? "The Valley of Elah?" Am I the only one is always misreading that as "Blah?" I know you can't predict a film's financial success by its title ("Forrest Gump," anyone?), any flick with a word like "Elah" in its title is in serious trouble at the box office. Just my 2 cents...

comment #24

Rich S. says ...

This is kind of like the time Jeff had that throw down with those troglodytes in Park City, but not really. I really enjoy his metaphoric fisticuffs (unless they're directed at women or the infirm).

The problem is that Gonzalez's review effectively picks apart Elah on a cinematic level. He also makes it clear that he's not impressed with Haggis' theme, but the review is as technical as it is savage. Jeffrey's argument appears to be more emotional.

comment #25

ROTC says ...

I just re-watched Crash on cable this past weekend. It was just as I remembered it: a pretty good movie. It's not a great film. IMO it did not deserve to win Best Picture. But it is a solid, mature, at times gutsy piece of work.

Imagine what it would have been like if tunnel-visioned torture-porn enthusiasts like jeffmcm had been enabled to post reviews for lyrical social dramas during the heyday of O'Neill, Odets and Miller.

And remember: All the relentless Haggis haters were utterly silent when Casino Royale came out.

comment #26

malibugigolo says ...

MilkMan:

Grand Canyon? That movie is unintentionally hilarious. Instead of the stupid and serious canyon metaphor it should have been called LL Bean Revolutionaries, and then it would be just as lame and in tune with Wells call to arms.

Jesse Perry:
"You're like the lost Medved."

Sting.

comment #27

kammy says ...

Henceforth, "The Valley of Elah" will be officially known as "The Valley of Blah!"

comment #28

jeffmcm says ...

I'm sorry, ROTC, who are you? It's incorrect to label me a 'torture porn enthusiast' since I dislike more of those movies (Saw II, Saw III, Hills Have Eyes II) than I like (Hostel) and since I admire Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller (not particularly familiar with Odets except via Barton Fink) I think you're just tossing shit around in order to toss shit around.

comment #29

Bocephus says ...

I wouldn't get into a fight with someone over a movie. Better to hide somewhere, jump out, and stab them in the face.

You'll never win any movie arguments if you aren't willing to give yourself the upper hand.

comment #30

Geoff says ...

MiraJeffAICN

Thank you for saying that it's not a message film. I didn't come out of that movie thinking "whoa, I get it" or "wow, what an eye-opener", or even "oh, so that's what he's trying to convey to us."

It was a bunch of vignettes threaded together by race and human perception. I sometimes feel like the people who feel it's contrived are the same type of people who freak out when Tom Cruise just happens to walk into Jamie Foxx's car in Collateral.

comment #31

Joe Leydon says ...

Years ago, Jack Garner (of Gannett News Service) and I decided that if the film reviewing racket didn't work out for us, we'd become a pro wrestling team: Critical Mass. We'd taunt our opponents with lines like: "We're going to give those guys -- THUMBS DOWN!" Or: "We're gonna colorize 'em -- BLACK AND BLUE!" It never did work out, but if Jeff ever decides to have that long-awaited cage match with David Poland, we'd be glad to appear on the undercard.

comment #32

Rich S. says ...

LEMME TELL YA SOMETHIN' LEYDON!

comment #33

Joe Leydon says ...

WHAPPPP! [Hits Rich S. with steel chair] What do you want?

comment #34

Joe Leydon says ...

But seriously: Am I the only person on this blog who will admit to attending more than one Wrestlemania event (as an observer, not a participant)?

comment #35

Nate West says ...

Of course, if you go after Jonathan Rosenbaum with a fist, he'll come back at you with a knife. That's the Chicago Reader way.

comment #36

Jesse Perry says ...

"WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN THE MISE EN SCENE DOESN'T WORK FOR YOU?!"

Sorry. I blame Joe!

comment #37

jimjonesiii says ...

MiraJeffAICN, please go away.
Your taste it`s right down on your ass.

comment #38

Ian Sinclair says ...

Are people STILL whining about Crash beating Brokeback Mountain to the Best Picture Oscar? That's so gay.

comment #39

cjKennedy says ...

I love being lectured to about the glory of Haggis. It's just so appropriate to the subject.

comment #40

MiraJeffAICN says ...

You're all a lost cause. There's nothing else I can say. Feel free to hate on me because I loved Crash, but at the end of the day, there's right and there's wrong and you're all in the latter category. Who were all those Academy members who agreed with me, and not you? Wells can I get some help fending off these meathead attacks? Hey Jim Jones, go drink your own Kool-Aid.

comment #41

MilkMan says ...

I am dead inside. But I didn't use to be. As a teenager I cried during Born on the 4th of July. Indeed, who is going to love me, dad? It wasn't soon before I figured out that no one was going to love me until I made enough money to afford a Ferrari, or at least enough money to be able to lease a Ferrari, which I still can't, even though there is a guy in my apartment building who does, and when I ask him how much it costs to lease a Ferrari he tells me that he doesn't really know. I believe him, in what he says, he seems to have something figured out, even if he's still living in a one-bedroom apartment. However, I don't believe in Tom Cruise anymore. I'm not seventeen years old anymore. It takes a lot to make me cry. John Williams is not enough. So yes, I am dead inside. The last time I cried at a movie was Fearless. And that's because the girl I went to see the movie with told me in advance that there was no way we were going back to her dorm afterwards so that I could get a blowjob. Since she was real fat, kind of ugly, I knew that I had entered a new chapter in my life, one in which having sex was going to be real difficult unless I had all the right accoutrements, which I do not, and won't, not unless one you out there wants to send me a check for a million dollars. That would put me in a good mood. I might even be able to enjoy Crash, which ought to be subtitled, A Tragedy for Rich People.

comment #42

Derby says ...

All I know is that Paul Haggis is credited as a screenwriter on "The Last Kiss," which has to be one of the worst films I have seen in years. I mean aside from "Rumor Has It" this is the most awful movie I have had to sit through in a long time.

** I'd also mention "Click," but I walked out.

comment #43

Jack Price says ...

"Like Crash, In the Valley of Elah is so obviously plotted it could have been scripted by the inflatable autopilot from Airplane! Haggis hawks fake seriousness, sees people as archetypes, distills real-life crisis to trite melodrama, inhumanely reduces racial strife to red herrings, and wastes the talents of actors like Susan Sarandon in bit parts that might have made more sense within the context of a Law and Order episode. But his success is not surprising: Because Haggis telegraphs all his punches, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination, his films are easily appreciated as tidy screenwriting exercises, giving hope to aspiring filmmakers who chase after the same bogus Hollywood dream Altman put into alarming context with The Player."

Seeing as his review could easily apply for my sentiments towards "Crash," I'll take a wait-and-see approach when it comes time for this to come out.

comment #44

transmogrifier says ...

1. That Gonzalez review is very good, judging the film on its merits both cinematically and thematically, with a pleasing mix of the general points tied to specific examples from the film. Funnily enough, the people trashing Gonzalez are reviewing him, rather than the actual words on the page - pretty much what they (falsely) accuse Gonzalez of doing to Haggis. Oh, the irony.

2. Crash sucks, and sucks hard. If you cried at the Newton rescue or the kid with the gun, you are a complete sap, an unthinking automaton who is programmed to leak when music swells and slow-motion kicks in, and kids are put in random danger.

3. Ergo, MiraJeff has the worst taste in films ever.

comment #45

cjKennedy says ...

"There's nothing we can do to change the minds of the world's Haggis haters. We simply have to accept them as people with no hearts or souls."

"If you didn't cry at some point during Crash, whether it was when Dillon saved Thandie Newton, or when Toub shoots at Pena's daughter, then you are not alive inside."

Talk about meathead attacks.

comment #46

goodvibe61 says ...

What got robbed for Best Picture that year?

Sheesh...

A History of Violence
Match Point
The Constant Gardener
Munich
Good Night and Good Luck
The New World

I could go on...

comment #47

Mgmax says ...

"Who were all those Academy members who agreed with me, and not you?"

Lameass middlebrows who liked A Beautiful Mind and Chicago, too.

comment #48

MiraJeffAICN says ...

Top 5 of that year: 1. Crash 2. Brokeback Mountain 3. Munich 4. Match Point 5. A History of Violence-- Good Night and Good Luck was Top 10 but certainly not Best Picture material. Constant Gardener was Top 15. And The New World was good, but way too long and not Top 20. And Mgmax, Beautiful Mind and Chicago were both very good films and Crowe was great and very deserving of his second Best Actor statue, although I contend he should've won his first Oscar for The Insider, not Gladiator.

comment #49

breadlymoore says ...

"1. That Gonzalez review is very good,"

Mr. Gonzalez, please stop posting here.

comment #50

MiraJeffAICN says ...

Derby, The Last Kiss was better than Garden State, one of the most overrated movies of the decade along with Napoleon Dynamite.

comment #51

Derby says ...

That's interesting MiraJeff because the few times I have watched 'Garden State' I found it passably likable. It had its moments. Not too many, but a few. Now 'The Last Kiss' was just dreadful; I could accept the overriding themes and whatnot, but listening to Braff and the lead actress and whoever else screaming at each other for what seemed like an eternity was annoying. I get it, you['re on a porch for three weeks, you're sad... she takes you back.

The whole experience felt weightless - like an excuse to have a soundtrack, which was similar to 'Garden State' but worse.

comment #52

transmogrifier says ...

breadlymoore, were you able to actually read the review, or were you put off by the font size and polysyllabic words, and so decided to review the number of stars he gave the movie and then devote the rest of your time desperately trying to create witticisms for this thread? Because, you know, they could use a little more work...

comment #53

Josh Massey says ...

"All you Crash haters, please tell me, what should've won Best Picture that year."

I just checked the files, and have Crash as the 49th best movie of 2005. Included among those films I felt deserved Best Picture more: Hitch, A Lot Like Love, Waiting and Saw 2.

comment #54

BurmaShave says ...

1) CRASH was okay, neither great nor terrible. It was awfully contrived. Also Ludacris and Terrence Howard were really the best things about it. I wish Haggis had the balls to make a film about the dichotomy in black life. It gets bonus points for featuring Tony Danza in the least fun cameo ever.

2) Haggis wrote CASINO ROYALE. Clearly sometimes he really knows what he's doing. Pervis & Wade can take no credit for it, as is obvious if you've seen their work on DIE ANOTHER DAY.

3) THE LAST KISS is truly one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. I finally watched it the other night with a girl and the only relief was after about 90 minutes she said "Wait, this isn't THE EX!" and got upset.

4) Tommy Lee Jones looks seriously great in ELAH. Also, it has Jason Patric. 'Nuff said, as they say.

comment #55

DarthCorleone says ...

I don't have the time or energy to defend against these ad hominem attacks and to parse the exact reasons why Crash sucks and any number of films that year (far more than two) were more worthy of the meaningless Best Picture award.

I'm soulless. I'm dead inside. Whatever, MiraJeff. Plenty of great films make me feel and prove otherwise.

And I'm not a blanket Haggis-hater. Crash blows, but I'll give him props for some of his other efforts.

comment #56

frankbooth says ...

This is too big to be settled one-on-one. I say we have an Anchorman-style rumble between the Crash haters and fans. No firearms, no knives or axes...just fists, bricks and bats. I'd be honored to fight alongside the likes of MilkMan and jimjones iii (and even Mgmax if he doesn't talk about politics).

Next Tuesday is good for me. Mirajeff, please wear a bright pink tutu so I can identify you.

comment #57

AJW says ...

Was it George Lucas whose wife wondered, "Why don't you make your movies more emotional?" and he responded by declaring, "If that's all I wanted to do I would just point a gun a kitten"? (Poorly paraphrased and recalled, though hopefully the point still stands.)

Insert '8-year-old girl' for 'kitten' and that's Haggis at work.

comment #58

MiraJeffAICN says ...

I like the idea of an Anchorman-style Royal Rumble, but did you haters take away nothing from Crash? Haggis just wants us all to get along. And besides Frank, my tutu is black cuz it's slimming.

comment #59

christian says ...

well, that evil black torture ball floating towards princess leia is kinda the equivalent of a gun at a kitty...but i digress.

i love GRAND CANYON. it has moments of tv style overdramatics, but there are great performances and lovely moments. if you live in so cal it's very cathartic. i guess like CRASH is to some.

now that we settled -- oof!

comment #60

Rothchild says ...

MiraJeffAICN, you're on a level of retarded that few people dare tread. I understand why people like Crash. Even if I don't. I understand why people will fall head over heels for In The Valley of Elah. Even if I won't. But The Last Kiss is the Battlefield Earth of romantic comedies. It defines the term catastrophic misfire.

It's such a misguided piece of shit I don't even know where to start. Every male character is a prick that made me feel bad about being a dude. Every girl is an idiot, or a butcher knife wielding psycho. Zach Braff, a guy who I sort of dig on Scrubs, and loved for everything he had to do with Garden State (before it was co-opted by Emos R Us) is unwatchable in this film. From his hipster improv lines shoehorned into Haggis' abominable script, to his fingernails-on-a-chalkboard impression of his fiance when they're messing around in bed, to every word he says in the film...

And this:

"You're making me lose my mind."
"I've already lost mine."

...is the stupidest fucking exchange in the history of stupid fucking exchanges. There is literally no good reason on Allah's green earth that anyone could ever have a good reason for liking this film, outside of a serious mental disorder, or the fact that they are Paul Haggis' mom. Or drunk.

"Hi, I made you a mix tape. It has cool songs on it. Why did you leave when I said I didn't care if you left after we had sex? Was it because I hid your keys in my pocket, mistaking psycho for cute?"

And finally, even though I already mentioned it before, YOU DO NOT GO BACK TO A WOMAN THAT TRIED TO STAB YOU WITH A BUTCHER KNIFE. EVEN IF SHE'S PREGNANT. ESPECIALLY IF SHE'S PREGNANT.

comment #61

Rothchild says ...

And re: Napoleon Dynamite

Calling a comedy overrated makes no sense. Either people find a movie funny or they don't. A lot of people found that movie funny. You didn't. That doesn't mean anything about "a lot of people" or about you.

comment #62

Joe Leydon says ...

You know, I bet Vince McMahon would love to add a Crash Cage Match to the bill for the next Wrestlemania. But just remember this, Haggis haters: I think Terence Howard could kick all your asses.

comment #63

MiraJeffAICN says ...

"MiraJeffAICN, you're on a level of retarded that few people dare tread." - I like that one. Maybe I'll use it in a script one day. I guess those "few" people includes the trades reviewers.

"Nicely thesped and adequately involving narrative tackles issues well worth examining in a manner accessible to everyone... All-American adaptation by Paul Haggis of Gabriele Muccino's 2001 Italian hit "L'Ultimo bacio" is chummy, consensual and always watchable in Tony Goldwyn's polished rendition of emotional messiness." -- Variety

"Proving that with solid direction, tight writing and strong performances an American remake can actually be as good as the foreign-language original, The Last Kiss, an unusually perceptive dramedy about contemporary relationships also manages to stand quite capably on its own two feet." -- Hollywood Reporter

That's not to say it didn't get some stinky reviews, but I'm pretty sure I'm not retarded but I liked The Last Kiss better than the amazingly pretentious Garden State.

comment #64

MiraJeffAICN says ...

And seriously, is that the best you guys can do? Shit on Crash and The Last Kiss, as if those are the worst two movies in the history of cinema? How many movies are you guys seeing a year? Do you HAVE ANY IDEA how much real shit I have to sit through a year? Go watch An American Haunting, directed by After Dark Films' CEO Courtney Solomon. Perfectly good cast with Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek. Even an intriguing story about the famed Bell Witch. Email me if you haven't gouged your own eyes out afterwards, that is, if you can make it to the end without throwing your remote through your plasma screen. Movies like that are deserving of the wrath you just unleashed. The Last Kiss and Crash (which Ebert gave 4 stars) are most definitely not. It's depressing how many haters there are lurking on talkbacks these days. You wouldn't know a really bad movie if its director punched you in the face in a lame-attempt to win himself credibility and publicity.

comment #65

Rothchild says ...

Re: the line. That's what they pay me for, MiraJeff.

comment #66

Rothchild says ...

And An American Haunting is much better than The Last Kiss.

comment #67

p.Vice says ...

See you in Toronto, Wells. You name the time and place and I'll see you there.

comment #68

DarthCorleone says ...

MiraJeff, I've seen plenty of godawful movies, and I acknowledge there are some solid performances in Crash. What is the point of discussing the merits of Daddy Day Camp or pointing out that at least Crash is not Frogtown II? It's far more interesting to discuss and debate films that some see as great and others see as not great. Crash is just nowhere near Best Picture material for me, and I found it far too cloying.

comment #69

Wrecktum says ...

MiraJeff's obnoxious rants have made me despise Crash, a film I was previously indifferent towards.

comment #70

jeffmcm says ...

I'll be fair and agree that Howard and Cheadle and Ryan Phillippe give good performances in the movie and Mark Isham's score is pretty good. These are outweight by all the bad stuff in the movie, so that I'd give a rating of 4/10 - the low end of mediocre.

comment #71

gruver1 says ...

It's heartening to see all you "Crash" haters having so much fun. Of course, this whole thing started with my strong feelings in support of "In The Valley of Elah," and my emotional willingness to fight Ed Gonzalez as a way of determining the rightness or wrongness of his or my views on the film. You don't want to talk about that, though. Go back to "Crash," which is not as bad as many of you have made it out to be. No way. It's got problems, its got issues, but it's never been as Godawful as all the Haggis haters have claimed. I preferred "Brokeback Mountain" last year, and I was just as pissed about "Crash" winning the Oscar as any of you. When you see "In Teh Valley of Elah," however, you will see what I'm talking about. It is a much better film than "Crash.

comment #72

Rothchild says ...

I have complete proof of why Haggis sucks. After you watch this clip, you'll never take a frame of his films seriously. It's like taking the red pill. If this reminds you of Crash, or his insufferable pilot to The Black Donnelies, then you get my point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TsSKecLC_A

This is how Haggis shoots every emotional scene. I know it's a take off of a famous scene from another show, but it's flat out the last scene in the pilot of his show, and every shitty scene in Crash.

comment #73

kammy says ...

Mr. Wells, when can we see your full review of "Elah"? Gonzalez had alreadly gone online with his review on 8/3. We don't have to wait until 9/14 to see yours, do we?

Thank you, sir!

comment #74

Edward Havens says ...

"I would like to challenge any film critic or blogger who strongly disagrees with me about the excellence of In the Valley of Elah (particularly in the snobby-ass, Paul Haggis-hating, nyah-nyah manner in which Slant's Ed Gonzalez has recently expressed himself) to a bare-knuckles, John L. Sullivan-styled fist fight."

I believe beating up a senior is considered a hate crime in some areas.

comment #75

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Edward Havens: Another charming ageist remark. You're on a roll and can't be stopped, is that it? Beware of faceless hooligans on dark streets.

Wells to Kammy: You're a confirmed hater so what's the point? I ran my whole-hog "Elah" review on July 11th.

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2007/07/in_the_valley_o.php

The first graph reads as follows...

Paul Haggis's In The Valley of Elah (Warner Independent, 9.14 and 9.l21) is more than just a respectable true-life drama, and a helluva lot more than the sum of its parts. I think it's close to an epic-level achievement because it's four well-integrated things at once -- a first-rate murder-mystery, a broken-heart movie about parents and children and mistakes, a delivery device for an Oscar-level performance by Tommy Lee Jones, and a tough political statement about how the Iraq War furies are swirling high and blowing west and seeping into our souls.

comment #76

Edward Havens says ...

Havens to Wells: It's called "snarky sarcasm," sir. And I don't travel dark streets. I live in the heart of Hollywood, where dark streets are as rare as hookers with hearts of gold. But if anyone wants to scrap with me, I wish them the best of luck, cause they're going to need it.

comment #77

kammy says ...

Correction: I am a confirmed hater of "Crash," but not of Haggis.

Also, I am a confirmed and certified lover of Jones, Theron, and Saradon. I am motivated to see "Elah" because of them.

comment #78

richmvaughan says ...

i think you have a good idea, jeff -- i, for one, would personally pay plenty to see ed beat the shit out of you in a bare-knuckled, john l. sullivan-styled fist fight -- it certainly would be more entertaining than sitting through a paul haggis film, that's for sure

comment #79

cheaplog says ...

I believe Mr. Wells is doing the right thing standing up for the movie like that after it got trashed like that in an unusually long and resentful review for Mr. Gonzalez.

Crash was a de-facto Oscar-worthy picture as a nominee (since, if I'm not mistaken, the Academy picks its nominees, not everyone else) and to hate it with such passion for winning implies an immense appreciation of Brokeback Mountain (which was the other strong contender). Any other reasoning should target the awards and not the winners.

As for myself, I thought the picture had Oscar written all over it the first time I saw it, which means exactly that (and not that it's the first true great masterpiece of the 21st century or something). And, as too many people mentioned before, it's not Haggis' only worthwhile work.