comment #1

p.Vice says ...

So is this little jaunt one of the reasons why you anually request donations from the readership? Remind me to scoff the next time you plead poverty.

comment #2

christian says ...

A trip to SF on Southwest costs betwixt 44-88 bucks if you get a few days advance. That's gas money for a week.

comment #3

D.Z. says ...

So I finally saw 4 Months last night at AFI, and I'm sort of willing to agree with Jeff on how it can be construed as an anti-abortion film, even though it's clearly more of an anti-totalitarian film. No matter what your views are on the issue, the picture will definitely make you feel uncomfortable with how the subject's approached. Anyway, props to the director for actually giving me the claustrophobic feeling which was missing from the overrated Blair Witch Project.

comment #4

Craig Kennedy says ...

Damnit DZ, your comment started strong and then you had to go and shit the bed. Seriously pal. Drop your assorted agendas and just enjoy life for a little while. You won't regret it.

4 Months definitely holds up to the hype, but it's really too bad people insist on putting it in the politically loaded "Romanian Abortion Drama" box. Obviously, that's what the story is about, but it's about so much more.

My guess is that people on both sides of the abortion issue are going to find things to like and hate about it, but that kind of tunnel vision will keep them from truly appreciating a great movie.

This is what happens when you see the world through only a couple of different lenses. Words to live by DZ, all I'm saying.

comment #5

christian says ...

"Anyway, props to the director for actually giving me the claustrophobic feeling which was missing from the overrated Blair Witch Project."

And the abortion issue was presented far too oblique in BLAIR WITCH.

comment #6

D.Z. says ...

christian: The Blair Witch Project was already an abortion of a college student film posing as horror.

comment #7

Devin Faraci says ...

Does anyone have a legitimate theory as to what's wrong with DZ?

comment #8

arch451 says ...

He is a failed abortion. He might have suffered some brain damage from it.

comment #9

Craptastic says ...

I used to think D.Z. was just putting us on... trying to be the stick in the spokes to grab some attention...

I've since lost that suspicion and have moved on to mild retardation.

There has to be SOMETHING wrong with him... How else do you make such a random connection between "4 Months..." and "The Blair Witch Project"?

comment #10

jeffmcm says ...

Maybe he's Armond White.

comment #11

D.Z. says ...

arch: Don't confuse me for your significant other.

Craptastic: I made the connection, because both films use similar night shots?

comment #12

Craig Kennedy says ...

My theory Devin continues to be that DZ is a computerized hit generator that parses each comment, pulls out a quote then replies with a stock response about a handful of different topics including Angelina Jolie, Quentin Tarantino or any movie that was every remotely related to another movie made in Asia at some time in the history of cinema.

The goal of the machine is to dupe people into getting sucked into an endless argument that drives HE's hit count through the roof.

comment #13

frankbooth says ...

Some have theorized that it's Asperger's syndrome. I like Jeff's answer, myself.

comment #14

jeffmcm says ...

In reality, though, Armond is a lot angrier and passionate while DZ never displays any human emotion except - is smug an emotion?

comment #15

T. S. Idiot says ...

I'd be angry, too, if my name was Armond.

comment #16

TheJeff says ...

"I'd be angry, too, if my name was Armond."

It could be worse. His surname could be Hammer.

comment #17

PastePotPete says ...

The no-emotion thing is why DZ is relatively interesting. Regular idiots would get really angry when people attacked them constantly as we do DZ.

I used to think DZ was someone JeffMCM cooked up to have a straw man to argue against but even he seemed to give up.

I'd suggest it's one of Ian Sinclair's ridiculous characters but DZ's personality isn't cliched enough.

DZ's probably someone with extreme Asperger's. I've run across a couple of people with Asperger's(or claimed to have it) online who would have bizarre theories and wouldn't get angry when you punctured holes in it, nor were they ever convinced otherwise.

Like this one guy thought Kubrick was a neo nazi and kept insisting Kubrick put swastikas in all his films, and as proof he would draw Swastikas over windows in stills from Eyes Wide Shut. Also that Spielberg and Lucas were pedophiles and their films were all meant to brainwash children. He was always quite calm when expounding upon these theories.

God I love the internet.

comment #18

jeffmcm says ...

You're right, the lack of emotional reaction is key to his uniqueness. It takes a LOT to get even something that sounds like annoyance out of him, usually after a long period of intense and persistent hammering away at him, his methods, and his intentions. The best I've ever gotten is that he doesn't want to be a 'doormat' which is apparently very important to his sense of self. If I was a psychologist like Ian Sinclair pretended to be I'm sure I could have dug deeper and found more gems but even I have limits.

comment #19

D.Z. says ...

Actually, I can get pissed off pretty easily, but I'm trying to be more constructive in venting. It's just that name-calling is not the worst I've had to endure over the years, so it comes off lame.

comment #20

Drew says ...

OMG, PastePotPete... that dude used to come in our AICN chat room as "DrBill." He was CRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY! Barking crazy. His EYES WIDE SHUT theories alone could power all of North America for a decade if we could just harness the voices in his head and convert them to electricity.