comment #1

Colin says ...

Ba-zing!

comment #2

LexG says ...

Kind of a dick movie, no? Pretty sure Bay and Cameron are friends, or at least jovial competitors in the overkill game. On the last TF commentary Bay mentions hanging out with Cameron showing each other cool stuff, so there's likely no malice between the two, and Horner probably picked a name of thin air. Bagging on Bay has become a shortcut to thinking, as you hear people falling back on it lazily when many of them aren't even familiar with his work.

I don't know about the mecha end, and I'm a big Cameron fan, but just to do TALE OF THE TAPE on two of their biggest:

I'll take the warm, cornball, broadly-stroked character stuff in ARMAGEDDON over watching Arnie *humiliate, emotionally abuse, and torture* his wife in TRUE LIES because she flirted with a car salesman, even though Arnie was globe-hopping and pulling chicks like James Bond.

TRUE LIES is a mean, cold, evil-tempered movie -- I have no problems with those things per se, but you know something's amiss when LexG thinks your movie is sexist and hostile. Whoa hoa, whoop it up while the sleazy spy emotionally tortures his idiot wife!

And face the facts, Bay has better taste in EYE CANDY than Cameron; Both in terms of his film's eye-popping, multicolored, oversaturated aesthetic versus Cameron's grinding unicolor ice blue, AND in terms of leading ladies.

Cameron is one of the least "sexy" filmmakers ever.

comment #3

Colin says ...

You didn't watch True Lies did you?

The scene which you are referring to was to find out how far his wife would go, not to tortute her. If anything Curtis kicked Arnold's ass in that scene.

comment #4

Drew McW says ...

I'm with Colin. I've heard that rap against "True Lies" for years, and I'm still not buying that read on the scene. Harry hasn't been "pulling chicks like James Bond" at all. He doesn't cheat. He loves his wife, and when he thinks she may be having an affair, he is in a position to find out if she's capable of cheating. It's an elaborate, absurd externalization of something I'm sure all cuckolded spouses wish they could do.

And watch Curtis in that scene again and tell me she's being abused. If so, then it's Susan George in "Straw Dogs," because by the end of that scene, it might as well be "I Am Woman" on the soundtrack. She loves it.

comment #5

Eloi Manning says ...

A bit weird for a composer to be attacking Bay, too. Several of his films have had absolutely stonktacular action scores - he cranks the volume up and lets the composer loose with a bombastic theme to get you hard. He's not like some of the action filmmakers that just stick some techno beat behind the destruction.

Michael Bay: friend to the composers.

comment #6

Colin says ...

Sorry
*torture not tortute

comment #7

googs says ...

I don't think this criticism would come as a shock to him. What is he going to argue? That Skids and Mudflap were a Precious like commentary on black ghetto culture? I know he tries to peddle that "a boy and his car" bullshit but we pay for the big tits, big explosion, big robot aspect as well as the "support our troops, bow before America's big phallic greatness" part.

comment #8

Eloi Manning says ...

Armageddon
The Rock
Bad Boys
Bad Boys II
Transformers 1

= a better filmography than most action hacks. Why don't they round on Rob Cohen?

comment #9

LexG says ...

I don't know, Drew, you don't think Jamie Lee would have some misgivings about her husband concealing an entire career from her and doing the tango with Tia Carrere? Arnold's not coming from any place of moral high ground from the jump... and Jamie Lee's rousted and dragged into "interrogation" in such a way that if it weren't a goofy movie played for yuks, she'd possibly have an aneurysm from sheer fear or be scarred for life.

It's also all part of some weird Cameron fetish for adrenalized "action women" that just isn't as appealing to me as Bay's leading ladies looking hot off to the corner in Asian print dresses and black high heels with red nail polish. I don't find the idea of some GUNG-HO ass-kicking woman to be "sexy"; I don't want women to be "one of the guys." And I don't like Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio's hair.

TL plays up some weird Cameronian idea that if your marriage is becoming stale and the wife's a bookish wallflower, why nothing's sexier than turning her into Vasquez from ALIENS and turning her loose with an Uzi. Then the sex life'll be all back to normal.

Just never buy that as a premise, these movies where being in danger reignites a couple's passion. Arnie should've ditched her for Tia, JL should've shacked with Paxton, and Dushku shoud've shot EVERYBODY then dynamited the globe with a cigarette dangling from her lips while the screen had a superimposed title that said Fuck You.

BETTER ENDING.

comment #10

Gogocrank says ...

I can't believe anyone would defend that scene in "True Lies" (well, I can, but anyway). It's a totally over the top response to Curtis flirting, as is Arnie's tormenting Bill Paxton, of course, but that's comical and silly, not cruel. The notion that Curtis gets off or feels empowered feeling humiliated (by the man that has more or less made her homebound as he's off adventuring) may be valid, but it's no less mean-spirited a method of eliciting such a response (heightened by a general tone of misogyny throughout - "Women, can't live with them, can't kill them" - ha ha). And sure, a similar thing may be going on in "Straw Dogs," but that movie operates on such a much higher emotional and psychological plane than a cartoon like "True Lies" that there's really no point comparing them.

comment #11

Colin says ...

Arnie should've ditched her for Tia, JL should've shacked with Paxton, and Dushku shoud've shot EVERYBODY then dynamited the globe with a cigarette dangling from her lips while the screen had a superimposed title that said Fuck You.

And this is why Michael Bay makes films that gross shit loads of money. Thanks Lex!

comment #12

LexG says ...

And for the record, with everyone taking the usual sides and breaking out the tired anti-Bay tropes -- shaky-cam! can't see the action! Mudflap! Bad comedy! Objectifying women!

Let me remind you that we're all sitting around taking Cameron oh-so-seriously by compare for inventing a goofy-looking species called the NA'VI. Everyone referring to them as "Na'vi" like IT'S REAL OR SOMETHING, instead of just "those blue people."

Na'Vi. Like it's REAL. It'd be like if he unveiled something called the ZOONKY BONKIES and we all had to take it seriously, like, "Yep, those are the Zoonky Boonkies." See how EMBARRASING that is and that sounds?

But everyone's like "Have you seen the design for the Na'Vi?"

Christ, dude, just bring in Jessica Biel in a bikini instead.

comment #13

markj says ...

True Lies was the last great action movie, from a director who understands how to craft and edit an expertly stages set of action sequences and successfully integrate them into his story.

The limo going off the end of the bridge as Jamie Lee is plucked from the roof was probably the last time I opened my mouth in awe at a summer movie.

comment #14

markj says ...

LexG, you're making an ass of yourself. The opening title sequence of The Terminator is a better example of filmmaking than Bay's entire filmography lumped together. And Cameron isn't Bay's friend, he is his idol. Bay cast Ed Harris and Michael Biehn in The Rock so he could hound them both about tales of shooting The Abyss.

comment #15

LYT says ...

Horner might just be mad at Michael Bay for letting Linkin Park co-score Transformers 2.

I like a lot of LP's stuff...but to a composer, it's gotta feel like letting the interns do professional paid work, or hiring scabs.

And while I'm optimistic about Avatar, all this talk about how it actually has a plot and stuff remind me of when Emmerich's Godzilla was out, and Star Wars fans awaiting The Phantom Menace made shirts that said "Plot Does Matter: May 26, 1999."

Those now look like the most embarrassing shirts ever.

comment #16

LexG says ...

Linkin Park RULES. One of the best bands ever. YEP YEP.

Markj, calm down, I love Cameron too, even though I think some of his movies are a little misshapen, TL being the biggest offender. It really rallies at the end, but gets so bogged down in that midsection that even after dozens of rewatches, it's never really changed my mind from opening night in the theater.

And just from a purely visual standpoint, Bay is all beautiful bold colors... Cameron's icy blue monochrome is the kind of thing that can make me a little drowsy.

comment #17

LexG says ...

And if Cameron is truly Bay's idol, I think the student has surpassed even the teacher.

Bay movies have EVERYTHING, whereas Cameron doesn't bring the hotness.

comment #18

Gabriel Anderson says ...

Lex, Linkin Park sucks. The rest of what you're saying is at least debatable, but that band is fucking terrible.

comment #19

LexG says ...

Bay's best scene ever, maybe the best use of montage, music, emotion, cinematography and hot chick in Asian print dress in the history of cinema. Gets me sobbing like a little girl every time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCJeR0UebR8

"Mom, that salesman's on TV."

"That's not a salesman. That's your daddy."

Bay is my favorite filmmaker of all time.

comment #20

Eloi Manning says ...

Maybe Horner is still pissed that Armageddon beat Deep Impact.

comment #21

Eloi Manning says ...

"True Lies was the last great action movie"

Don't be daft.

comment #22

markj says ...

Eloi, whats better? What digital action sequence has topped the limo going off the end of the bridge?

My main worry about Avatar is that the CG will kill the action. But hopefully Cameron has taken this into consideration. He talked about how impossible camera placements remove the viewer from the action so seems to be aware of the problems.

comment #23

J. Ho says ...

Michael Bay is certainly a much more interesting filmmaker than James Cameron

comment #24

markj says ...

@ J. Ho - haha.

@ LexG - that clip just reminds me of how unwatchable Bay's movies are. Like a 145 minute commercial. Sickening. Horner is dead on in his criticism. Hilarious.

comment #25

Eloi Manning says ...

"Eloi, whats better? What digital action sequence has topped the limo going off the end of the bridge?"

How about the entire of The Matrix?

I can't even remember the scene you're talking about so it can't be that good.

comment #26

mtgilchrist says ...

True Lies really contradicts the rest of Cameron's output because it is so actively misogynist. The scene where Arnold abducts her, throws her into an interrogation chamber and threatens to send her off to jail forever unless she admits she loves her husband is bad enough, but the striptease scene is the most b.s kind of reverse empowerment i'd seen in a movie in a long time. if these scene were even slightly altered so that she had to figure out a way to plant the bug, and she embraced the exoticism of her circumstances and stripped to distract the guy, then that would be one thing. but she does it literally at his behest, which means that she doesn't earn or develop her own sense of identity. especially since (1) he has never told her what he does, and (2) when eh finds out she might be cheating, he doesn't try to talk to her directly. i'm not saying these things would make true lies a better movie, but they would make it a less misogynistic one for sure.

comment #27

DeeZee says ...

I dunno. Avatar looks as soulless as a Bay film, but with Spielberg's sappiness sprinkled on it in a desperate attempt to cover up its niche appeal. In other words, it's like an intellectual Transformers movie that's trying to be a toy commercial at the same time, but not actually as entertaining as that '86 one.

Lex: What's-her-face from Titanic wan't bad-looking. But yeah, other than Alba in Dark Angel, Jimmy's bad at scoring hot female leads.

"I don't find the idea of some GUNG-HO ass-kicking woman to be "sexy"; I don't want women to be "one of the guys."

So you're also in the "Jolie's overrated" camp?

"Christ, dude, just bring in Jessica Biel in a bikini instead."

Or Zoe Saldana without the blue make-up/outfit.

Eloi: Nah, Harry Gregson-Williams has better scores than Bay.

mark: The last great action movie is a toss-up between Boondock Saints, Danny the Dog, or Rambo IV. If you're talking about Arnie's last great action movie, that would be Predator, since he didn't need to play a baby-sitter in that one.

LYT: I don't think anyone expected the Emmerich Godzilla to be good, considering ID4's success was mostly due to Will Smith, which is why Emmerich hasn't been able to ever catch that lightning again.

Eloi: The entire Matrix movie is Hardboiled.

comment #28

LexG says ...

"So you're also in the "Jolie's overrated" camp?"

Um, no. Angelina is awesome, maybe my favorite actress. She and Milla and a couple others are believable and sexy at action roles.

But usually "women doing action" can go wrong and end up either in catty gay camp land (Charlie's Angels, DOA) or asexual ball-buster land (T2, Aliens.)

Cameron's like Clint Eastwood and Spielberg in that their idea of "appealing women" does not mesh with mine. Michael Bay's does.

comment #29

dangovich says ...

Good points, mtg.

comment #30

Eloi Manning says ...

I love Spielberg, but he has dreadful taste in women. They're always shrewy with next to no sex appeal. Look at his filmography and it's really hard to find a truly hot women in a substantial role in anything for years.

comment #31

LexG says ...

Eloi... yep. And Clint is pretty much my all-time idol, but... Sondra Locke? Frances Fisher? Even in the 70s flicks, always some wishy-washy, freckly blonde with no sex appeal.

comment #32

Eloi Manning says ...

I suppose Spielberg cast Catherine Zeta-Jones in The Terminal. But even then he gave her a housewife bob.

But look at this list:

Cate Blanchett
Miranda Otto
Kathryn Morris
Ellen Pompeo
Amy Adams
Frances O'Connor
Julianne Moore
Julia Roberts
Holly Hunter

Shit, the hottest was probably that Alison Doody from Last Crusade.

comment #33

orler says ...

And Kate Capshaw brought some hotness to Temple of Doom as well. I get what LexG is saying about the females in Cameron's movies - they're always sort of tomboyish and sweaty. If Avatar could've been just a straight action movie set on Earth and they go into some jungle with Sam Worthington running around with a native Alba or Portman.........

comment #34

bents75 says ...

"LYT: I don't think anyone expected the Emmerich Godzilla to be good, considering ID4's success was mostly due to Will Smith, which is why Emmerich hasn't been able to ever catch that lightning again."

DZ : You're going to argue Independence Day made 800 million worldwide...not because of the trailer showing aliens blowing up the white house, but because that many people, in 1996, wanted to go see The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on the big screen?

Sure...that makes sense. If your concept of time and perception move backwards.

I for one think the movie made a billion dollars when all was said and done because of Randy Quaid. I guess we're both fucked in the head.

QUAID POWER!

comment #35

Bilge says ...

It's worth noting that James Horner is famously a dickhead. Did you ever hear the interview he gave totally dissing Malick on THE NEW WORLD? Horner is renowned for trashing many of the directors he's worked with, often for no reason other than the fact that he thinks he knows better. (He claimed that THE NEW WORLD could have been "the next Titanic" if Malick had just stuck to the script and to Horner's music cues.)

comment #36

DarthCorleone says ...

DrewMcW is dead-on correct.

I really find it hard to believe that TRUE LIES is worthy of this much serious scrutiny. It's a comedy, and a good one at that. Are you really taking it to task because you honestly think viewers will take the story as an endorsement of Harry's behavior in the second act? Give me a break. Harry deserves to be smacked by that telephone, and he learns his lesson by the end of the film. It's not as if the film is some sort of high-minded morality play, though, so I don't even know why it's an issue.

Bagging on Bay is a "shortcut to thinking"? Um. No. Watching Bay is a shortcut to never thinking in the first place. Or feeling. Or caring. He's simply a horrible storyteller.

I also find it extremely humorous that we're criticizing TRUE LIES for sexism on one hand and on the other hand arguing the merits of Bay because he puts hotter women in his movies. I know that's your shtick, LexG, but c'mon. James Cameron promoted two of the best, strongest female characters in movie history. Who cares if Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley don't meet your standards of hotness? The mere fact that Michael Bay can cast Megan Fox doesn't mean shit in terms of the quality of his "film."

comment #37

Glenn Whipp says ...

Wow. Never seen that interview Bilge. I do know that my nightmares always seem to have Horner's score from "Radio" playing somewhere in the background.

comment #38

arturobandini2 says ...

For the record, True Lies was faithfully based on a French farce called La Totale!, and the interrogation scene was translated almost word-for-word. The crucial difference was that debonair Thierry Lhermitte and daffy Miou-Miou had a light, screwball touch. Cameron's decision to play the scene for bathos -- with macho pig Arnold reducing gawky Jamie Lee to tears -- was a tonal blunder.

comment #39

DeeZee says ...

Lex: I can take Jolie a little more seriously than Milla, probably because Jolie has yet to do an Ultraviolet kind of thing. What about Kate Beckinsale? And I've never seen a hot actress in a Clint movie. As for Spielberg, that blonde in Last Crusade wasn't bad.

orler: Um, no, Kate Capshaw was annoying as fuck to the point that I can stand Lea Thompson in Howard the Duck more than her.

bents: "DZ : You're going to argue Independence Day made 800 million worldwide...not because of the trailer showing aliens blowing up the white house, but because that many people, in 1996, wanted to go see The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on the big screen?"

Did the rest of the world know about 48 Hours or those Gumby/Mr. Rogers sketches when Beverly Hills Cop became a hit?

comment #40

Gordon27 says ...

"considering ID4's success was mostly due to Will Smith, which is why Emmerich hasn't been able to ever catch that lightning again."

Um, DZ, your facts called, they need updating. '2012' has outgrossed every Will Smith movie except for 'Hancock' (well, and 'Independence Day'). Doing the math, it should surpass it sometime around the weekend of the 12/12.

comment #41

Fortunesfool says ...

Bay casts 'Pussy' - Cameron casts 'actors'.

Oh, and you might want to watch The Matrix and True Lies back to back, I think you'll find that The Wachowski's borrowed heavily from it.

comment #42

DeeZee says ...

Gordon: Um, no, because 2012 cost more than most Will Smith movies. For example, it's $200 million, minus PTA, and grossed $400 million, while MIB is $90 million, minus PTA, and grossed $490 million, not counting inflation. Thus, ID4 was clearly helped by Smith.

Fortune: They borrowed from John Woo and John McTiernan, actually.

comment #43

markj says ...

@ Eloi: The Matrix action sequences do not flow organically, they are just a series of 'cool' shots stitched back to back. The Wachowskis do not have Cameron's skill in constructing action. Nowhere near.

@DeeZee: You have the worst taste in film of anyone I have ever come across. Boondock Saints? I'll stick with True Lies thanks.

If I try and discuss cinema with DeeZee and Eloi again please will someone on here remind me life is too short? Thank you.

comment #44

markj says ...

Fortunesfool is correct.

comment #45

Gordon27 says ...

That's especially stupid when you consider that Will Smith gets considerably more gross points that Roland Emmerich, but citing P&A as a measure of attendance is a new low in stupidity, DZ.

For that matter, comparing 'Men In Black' to '2012' to show how cheap Will Smith movies are is ridiculously disengenuous, even for you. Wow, a special effects movie that's 13 years old cost less than one from last year? Amazing.

comment #46

LexG says ...

"Bay casts 'Pussy' - Cameron casts 'actors'."

In the case of *actresses*, I'd rather have a pretty/hot chick than one who can "act."

So would most of America, who by and large consider the leading lady an afterthought.

comment #47

DeeZee says ...

mark: True Lies=that Raiders of the Lost Ark car scene with a harrier jet and Arnie slinking around for most of the movie while desperately trying to be the Tim Dalton Bond. At least Boondock Saints has actual gunplay. As for the Wachowskis, at least their mechs don't waste time fighting smurfs. Fuck, even Speed was more entertaining than TL; and it has a more a low-rent premise.

Gordon: And you actually think John Cusack was willing to do a career-killer like that without significant gross points, either? Maybe not at a Will Smith level, but I don't doubt that he got a significant chunk of the 2012 take, too. As for costs, 2012 is still over-priced, considering we've come a long way from Titanic, Armageddon, and Emmerich's Godzilla.

comment #48

LexG says ...

Heh, who had the brilliantly simplistic DZ observation that simply asked:

"DeeZee, why do you always have to compare something to something else?"

comment #49

plastiqueelephant says ...

Lex: In the case of *actresses*, I'd rather have a pretty/hot chick than one who can "act."

Dude, you need to get out more. Feel like every bar/party one would ever step into has a plethora of women as hot or hotter as your cream fantasies even by your loser criteria. If you have a modicum of charm, looks, style or success it's really not particularly hard to woo a beautiful woman into your bed. I appreciate hot women as much as anyone, but don't get why you're so bloody desperate to see them on the silver screen. For christsakes mate, if you're so starved do yourself (and us) a favour and just dial into some European porn instead of getting hot and bothered and taking it out here.

comment #50

LexG says ...

"If you have a modicum of charm, looks, style or success..."

HA! Who ever said I had that? I am a terrible looking, out of shape guy with weird baldness, I drive an American car from 1990, and I make about 50K, which in L.A. means I qualify for MAYBE one coffee date with a particularly desperate Asian chick who speaks no English and needs a place to stay." Trust me, I have *nothing* going for me.

And actresses are better than porn because they are classy. I have dreamed of actresses and models my entire life. Even at AGE EIGHT, I would fantasize about living in a castle where I had 10 slave women who looked like the women from alcohol ads. It is the only thing I have ever wanted since childhood, to be famous and to date models and actresses.

comment #51

Jonathan Spuij says ...

How did this come down to complaining about one scene in a film nearly 20 years ago?

comment #52

plastiqueelephant says ...

Crap, your self-deprecating response was perhaps the most appealing comment I've read by you on this site. Not wanting to get too self-helpy but you could probably do something about a bunch of those things with a pair of clippers, a gym membership, a subscription to Esquire and by toning down the misogyny and self-loathing.

comment #53

DeeZee says ...

Lex: 50k?! I can't even make 10k right now. And your car might be old, but at least it's not a relic from the 70s.

comment #54

LexG says ...

SOMEONE GIVE ME ONE REASON NOW:

http://twitter.com/LexG_Rules

I am so alone, everyone hates me, I am ugly and sexless. I cannot go on like this.

comment #55

TheGK says ...

The misogyny and self-loathing is LexG's schtick. It's occasionally amusing - especially yesterday's line 'I hate myself with the fury of 1000 suns'. He's like the George Costanza of LA.

Anyway, Bay has a very simplistic world view - the good guys will always win, get the super hot girl and wander of into the sunset in slow motion, while the bad guys are obviously bad and will be killled in a massive explosion or hale of slow motion bullets.
This in itself isn't a bad things. The man can do action that's pleasing to the eye. It just isn't very smart - kind of like the video for Alice Cooper's Poison.

Cameron, however, better understands the relationship between people, hence the more complex relationships between characters in his films and the characters themselves often seem more grounded. It gives his films an emotional core that Bay films do not have.

FYI Linkin Park sucks balls.

comment #56

moorish says ...

True Lies is totally cool. The scene where Arnie makes Jamie Lie strip was one of my favourtie movie scenes when I was a young teenager. Ahem.

comment #57

LexG says ...

I am not misogynistic at all, though I couldn't be blamed for it if I were, since I've never had a single positive, functional experience with a woman in my entire life. Trust me, women have never shown me any respect or decency.

Compared to how cruel, shallow, and evil EVERY woman I've EVER met is, I'd say my disposition toward the fairer sex is positively sunny and awed.

comment #58

LexG says ...

That said, any chicks wanna prove me wrong, I'm all about going down.

comment #59

LexG says ...

On topic (before JW gets pissy)...

Do you guys think THE ABYSS' reputation has improved somewhat over the years, or is it still regarded as maybe JC's most imperfect big-ticket movie?

I remember waiting ALL SUMMER in 1989 for THE ABYSS, imagining it in my head as some super-fast, awesome, lightning-paced combination of DIE HARD and ALIENS. Didn't Fox even use some Die Hard sound cues in the trailer?

I was expecting the most kinetic, electrifying, over the top upscale action movie ever, like DIE HARD on the sea but with aliens... One of those movies where you're watching it that first time feeling that occasional sinking feeling but trying desperately not to give up hope, wanting every scene to be more intense or exciting than it is.

Now, Biehn going nuts WAS awesome, but it seemed, again, misshapen, weird, and not exactly what anyone wanted. I liked it better on second viewing and think it's a good movie overall...

but on first viewing, I remember that being a real heartbreaker based on expectations.

comment #60

LexG says ...

HEY anyone awake and sober enough (FUCK KNOWS I AM NOT) to DRIVE ME TO THE BUNNY RANCH?

If I don't have sex in the NEXT 24 HOURS, I WILL COMMIT SUICIDE.

I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF.

Someone help me get laid.

COME ON help a brother out. I am crying, drunk, lonesome, depressed and self-destructive.

My life is SO MUCH MORE DEPRESSING than any of you could ever imagine. Have a heart.

Most of you claim to be liberals. Help a man in true psychic pain and misery achieve but five, ten minutes of happiness before he hangs himself.

I am so alone.

comment #61

Eloi Manning says ...

"If I try and discuss cinema with DeeZee and Eloi again please will someone on here remind me life is too short? Thank you."

What a condescending douche you are. Acting as if True Lies is universally acknowledged as one of the finest event pictures of all time. It really fucking isn't, Mark, and to make it sound like some universal truth is pompous as can be.

You're either a Cameron employee or dyed-in-the-wool Cameron fanboy if you really believe True Lies is better than The Matrix. Shit, I could do a top ten of action adventures from the '90s and True Lies probably wouldn't even be on it.

What a bizarre line of argument you have. It's like trying to prove Scorsese is the greatest director ever by lauding The Aviator as his finest work. True Lies was minor Cameron - a fun summer movie, but that was it.

comment #62

CameronIsHMFIC says ...

" `Bay casts 'Pussy' - Cameron casts 'actors`.

In the case of *actresses*, I'd rather have a pretty/hot chick than one who can "act."

So would most of America, who by and large consider the leading lady an afterthought."

Except that Cameron showed more skin of the actress who can act than Bay did of his "pussies". Of course, I`m talking about Titanic and Winslet. All myth about only teenage girls being responsible for Titanic`s boxoffice aside , I know quite a few men who saw it again thanks to action and Winslet T&A. Unlike Transformers 2 which they dismissed as pure garbage despite Megan Fox`s slo-mo tits.

And, if leading lady is an afterthought, how do you explain Sandra Bullock?

comment #63

LexG says ...

"And, if leading lady is an afterthought, how do you explain Sandra Bullock?"

Gay men and fat chicks.

comment #64

TheGK says ...

I think the Abyss has improved with age. Cameron films tend to age well. The underwater stuff has held up well.
That scene where Ed Harris is reviving his ex-wife is still pretty powerful.

Lex, chill out. There's no fairness in life. Bad things happen to good people, good things happens to assholes and vice versa. End of story.

comment #65

LexG says ...

No, I am going to kill myself if I don't get a SAG card or have sex with a famous woman by Monday morning. Time to put up or shut up.

I've been talking about suicide for years, and I think of it every second of my life.

I have nothing that makes me happy.

My life is pure failure. And spare me the tales of "I know a guy with no limbs who deep sea dives."

I don't care about him. I only compare myself to people I wish I was like -- Cruise, Clooney, Affleck, Damon, Wahlberg. There's a word for people who AREN'T famous Hollywood stars who command pussy:

Losers.

comment #66

LexG says ...

FUCK I really might do it.

OMG I AM SO DEPRESSED AND ALONE.

I HAVE NOTHING TO LIVE FOR.

I AM SO DEPRESSED AND HATE MYSELF.

comment #67

Jonathan Spuij says ...

Uhm, could you please stop being emo and go see Twilight again?

comment #68

kamichojin says ...

Lol, truly. Don't do it, Lex. K-STEW(!!!!!!) may fart in public on Monday and you won't be around to hear it.

comment #69

BRob says ...

LexG, pull your head out of your arse. You get out of life what you put into it. Go out for a run or something. Even if you're taking the piss, find something else to do. Your whinging about things you don't seem to realise are vaccuous would have earned a hard slap from a friend of mine who passed away from Motor Neuron Disease at 35 this year. Think on that when you're wanking over whomever...

Anyway, Cameron & Bay. Bay makes pretty pictures with pretty people doing forgettable things that serve to distract and confuse. Cameron tells more resonating stories in a more reasonable way - regardl;ess of one's opinions of him, at least he tries to do something better than brainless explosions. Sometimes brainless explosions are fun. Sometimes we'd rather read Dan Brown over that deeper author we like. Point it, they're different filmmakers with different styles for different situations. Take 'em or leave 'em according to your mood. Vive la difference.

comment #70

BRob says ...

Oh, yeah, LexG. If you are indeed kidding and are Dave Poland or somesuch, taking the piss out of suicidal thoughts and depression is ***king low.

comment #71

Glenn Kenny says ...

"If you are indeed kidding and are Dave Poland..."

Where'd the idea that Lex is actually Poland originate? I don't buy it. Lex has lots of problems, but he's generally SUCCINCT and brisk. Poland has never in his life had a thought that he's wanted to express in fewer than a thousand logy words.

comment #72

Eloi Manning says ...

LexG's YouTube videos are all the proof you need that he's not Poland.

Don't kill yourself, LexG. Why not set up a blog and write about movies every day? Pimp it around enough and it could get big. If the furious manchild Nick Nunziata can create a successful movie website, anyone can.

comment #73

George Prager says ...

LExG was one of those guys in high school who could've had a girlfriend, but said girlfriend needed to be Playboy material, or he would've felt embarrassed.

comment #74

BRob says ...

Ok, he's not Poland. My mistake/poorly educated guess.

comment #75

LYT says ...

The Abyss has gained respect ever since the director's cut became available, and audiences could finally understand what it was the aliens were doing, and why they brought their ship up to surface at the end.

comment #76

Gogocrank says ...

Frustratingly, there has never been a anamorphic release of "The Abyss." I tried to watch it again a few weeks ago, but that movie needs a remaster badly.

The director's cut is better, but it still doesn't seem totally realized. It's as if budget/FX were just short of what he needed to it off (the conclusion, at least).

comment #77

plastiqueelephant says ...

Lex: just read your twitter stream and unless your whole schtick is some Andy Kaufmanesque performance art thing I really hope you get some professional help. Or at least find away to channel your angst in some Paul Shrader style creative outlet so it takes you closer to the things you seem to crave.

comment #78

DeeZee says ...

Lex: The problem with the Abyss is that it's trying to be a cinema verite 2001 in the water, which works for no one. As for Bullock, I thought gay men like actresses who know how have fashion sense. As for your situation, I feel for you, buddy. I blew the best years of my youth believing the lie that education is the key to success, up until Bush and Mike Brown came along. But shit, man, if you got the dough, just get the fuck out, and go to places where girls actually hang out. Fuck the acting gig.

BRob: "You get out of life what you put into it."

That's bullshit, and you know it, or we'd all be as rich as those bankers by now. I hate when people lie with this self-help crap, when it has no bearing on the reality of the people they're trying to help. Either give them something they can use now, or get out of the way.

George: And Lex would have a point. The homely girls just give you grief about how they don't feel attractive, how their last boyfriend was better than you, and that they're still "getting over" their last break-up, which is why they want to "take it slow" on the intimate stuff. You do not aim low in these situations, unless you have a fucking fetish for that thing, or you will pay down the road, guaranteed.

comment #79

DeeZee says ...

Lex; Well, actually, use your acting experience to score with the ladies. That will improve your confidence.

comment #80

LexG says ...

Comment #78 = DeeZee's greatest post ever.

Especially in that education is a giant waste of time. Among all the stupid things I've wasted time on and squandered energy over, attending college was the dumbest ever.

Had I moved to LA at 18, or had I grown up with loony stage parents, I'd be a happy, successful actor or film person today. Instead I wasted years at some stupid college getting THREE DEGREES, all in journalism- and film-related fields, none of which ever helped me get anything but a shitty postproduction career tweaking frames and cleaning up mosquito noise in the transfer of PPV pornography. Going through porno frame by frame is maybe the most depressing gig you could EVER imagine.

comment #81

Mr. F. says ...

Lex: is THIS what happens to you when Entourage goes on hiatus? It's a long wait for next season!

And you're right -- frame-by-frame porno review must suck. Hang in there.

comment #82

Ryansi51 says ...

don't tell a suicidal guy to hang in there.

comment #83

DeeZee says ...

Lex: I got one degree, passed two tests which allow me to work for the LAUSD and the L.A. community colleges, and wasted a semester of school jumping through hoops to qualify for a paid internship program which did not get me shit; and I'm still only getting random work. I remember when Barry said he won last year, because he went to Harvard, and I was thinking, "No, you won, because the economy crapped out enough that the American public would have to be completely retarded to shoot itself in the foot a third time." Hell, Kerry went to the same fucking alma mater as Dumbya, and *had* actual military experience. But Rove twisted the situation to make it look like Bush was the "expert" in these things; and people actually bought it, hook line and sinker. So the moral is, "Always have a good wing-man."

comment #84

Gordon27 says ...

"As for Bullock, I thought gay men like actresses who know how have fashion sense."

Brilliance right there.

comment #85

George Prager says ...

DeeZee...I'm not talking about "homely girls". I see that you suffer from the same sickness.
It is also true that guys who think that they are "ugly" want to date women that everyone thinks are "pretty".

comment #86

DeeZee says ...

George: It's called bitterness at being screwed over, because I settled for less. And it has nothing to do with how I view myself. I don't feel like a relationship where the only thing I do is listen to a girl's life-story all day, while she's spending more quality time with her "friends". [I.E. guy she's probably sleeping around with on the side.]

comment #87

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