The Hurt Locker

[Skykid]

And to think I told every punk I spoke to last year to go and watch this film, and no-one wanted to give it any time.

Cameron's Titanic movie sunk by ex-wife. Bravo.

[jonny5]

hurt locker was way over hyped...

i finally broke down and watched it, and when the credits rolled i was like 'WTF!!??! thats it?'

at least avatar was entertaining....

the hurt locker felt like watching a docu-drama on TLC or A&E

[DJ Incompetent]

Cameron's Titanic movie sunk by ex-wife. Bravo.

So did she receive a revenue sack with a dollar sign on it for ONE BILLION DOLLARS?!

[Skykid]

hurt locker was way over hyped...

i finally broke down and watched it, and when the credits rolled i was like 'WTF!!??! thats it?'

at least avatar was entertaining....

the hurt locker felt like watching a docu-drama on TLC or A&E

Ha ha, we really do have different taste in movies. Mine's good, yours stinks.

[Klatrymadon]

I haven't seen this yet, but a friend was telling me he thought it had some dodgy political tendencies (that it ignored the illegality and the war crimes entirely and basically portrayed the US Army as paragons of virtue, etc). Should I ignore this and see it anyway? Er, bearing in mind stuff like that would piss on my chips a bit.

[Skykid]

I haven't seen this yet, but a friend was telling me he thought it had some dodgy political tendencies (that it ignored the illegality and the war crimes entirely and basically portrayed the US Army as paragons of virtue, etc). Should I ignore this and see it anyway? Er, bearing in mind stuff like that would piss on my chips a bit.

I didn't see anything obvious in that respect, and I would have noticed. In fairness, there is no hint at war crimes or illegality - the soldiers in the film are honorable characters. But then not all soldiers act like savages, just some of them.

[mesh control]

Awesome Sniper Scene

[jonny5]

hurt locker was way over hyped...

i finally broke down and watched it, and when the credits rolled i was like 'WTF!!??! thats it?'

at least avatar was entertaining....

the hurt locker felt like watching a docu-drama on TLC or A&E

Ha ha, we really do have different taste in movies. Mine's good, yours stinks.

oh no you di'int.../snaps

i disliked the whole movie...the way it was all portrayed....meh....aggravated me

[KindGrind]

Yeah, Hurt Locker is excellent. Best movie I've seen since...

There Will Be Blood, one of the best movie of the decade.

[brentsg]

I kind of live with my head in the sand to some degree. I don't really watch TV that isn't DVR'd... and I never watch commercials. I don't keep up with Hollywood at all.

So I had NO clue what Hurt Locker was. But some friends kept going on about it so I ordered the Blu-ray from Amazon last week and it should arrive tomorrow. So last night the wife has the Oscars on in the other room and I keep hearing Hurt Locker this and Hurt Locker that.. I had to go look at my Amazon order to see if that was what I ordered.

Anyways I'm looking forward to checking it out later this week. Wife chewed at me because I bought a war movie. Obviously I should only spend money on things she likes.

[Acid King]

The Hurt Locker was a good action movie but all the characters were cookie cutter action movie clichés. The premise is good and the action scenes are well done but I don't think it deserves all the fawning praise that people are dumping on it.

[Skykid]

oh no you di'int.../snaps

Ha ha, our movie battle wages on!

The Hurt Locker was a good action movie but all the characters were cookie cutter action movie clichés. The premise is good and the action scenes are well done but I don't think it deserves all the fawning praise that people are dumping on it.

I agree with that criticism to some degree, the characters were movie stereotypes - but the focus of the film was pretty fresh and I liked the nuttiness of the idea. It was directed really well too. Easily her best film since Point Break.

So I had NO clue what Hurt Locker was.

Don't worry man, neither did anyone else. I think it's the lowest earning movie ever to win best picture - nobody went to see it.

[adversity1]

Don't worry man, neither did anyone else. I think it's the lowest earning movie ever to win best picture - nobody went to see it.

Downloaded it, but that's because there were are virtually no theaters (afaik) in Japan showing it.

It's getting pretty beat up online since it conflicts with Japan's extremist pacifism(passivism).

[Acid King]

I agree with that criticism to some degree, the characters were movie stereotypes - but the focus of the film was pretty fresh and I liked the nuttiness of the idea. It was directed really well too. Easily her best film since Point Break.

I agree, the concept behind it was what made me want to see it and it didn't let me down in the action department but the characters and their lack of development and the unreality of some of their actions I think hurts it overall. When I read critics say that it's a "penetrating study of heroism" or that people 20 years from now will watch it to learn about what happened to soldiers during the Iraq War I think "These people are fucking insane". It's as though because it's the first good movie about Iraq they have to blow their loads all over it. I enjoyed it for the direction and the action, but I don't think it's in the same league as stuff like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now as far as movies go.



****MINOR SPOILER****











I was also disappointed that they killed Guy Pearce like 5 minutes into the movie.

[DEL]

I saw it quite a while ago and I liked it. I'm glad that it trounced Avatar and I'd like to say "I told you so" when I was cussing off Avatar for having bland characters and a noble but otherwise bland story. Pretty graphics fool me not.

I think it was Kathryn Bigelow's turn anyway. She directed 3 previous films that I like a lot:- Near Dark, Point Break and Strange Days.In fact I got my Strange Days tape out a few weeks ago and watched it again.

I too was disappointed to see Guy Pearce get OFF'd so rapidly and I would have liked to see David Morse do more than a walk-on.

[RGC]

.

[Skykid]

Ooh Near Dark, I like that. Might have to check this one out.

Thirded, Near Dark was cool. She's got some grit for a chick, that's for sure - I can't see her directing a rom-com.

[jonny5]

she did strange days? that flick was bad ass

near dark sounds familiar but i might have to track it down to refresh my memory

how did she go from strange days to the hurt locker?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Not to mention that James Cameron was listed as producer on the Strange Days sci-fi/virtual reality flick as well. Go figure. Only minor oversight was it should have been Y2K1 instead of Y2K to ring in the 21st century.

Near Dark which made it's debut on the big screen back in 1987, was cool in that it features some actors and actresses from the Terminator/Aliens films in Bigelow's vampire flick.

Yeah, I watched the Red Carpet pre-Academy show along with the 82nd Academy Awards show in it's entirety. Glad to see Bigelow win for best director over her ex-husband. Serves him right. ^_~

The modern-day breaking dancing numbers portrayed during the 2010 nominated films for best score category was crazy...nothing like how it was back in the early 1980s old school breakin' with all that fancy popping 'n' locking. Those crazy-ass flips and spins all performed in real time were the real highlights. Let's crank up the bass and get movin'. Bust out some fancy moves, man. Let's see what you got.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Dale]

^How do you instantly make any thread a hundred times better?

[JoshF]

Year after year Academy voters have proven themselves unable to pass up an opportunity for some self-righteous affirmative action Hollywood utopia myth making. Either Tarentino or Cameron should have had sex with a dude if they really wanted to sway voters.

[jonny5]

considering the bad press about one of the producers emailing academy people begging for votes and the military dude coming forward saying they basically ripped off his story and the whole movie was about him.....and they wont give him shit

and it still won....

its reasons like that i tend to ignore what the media considers good

i still dont get what everybody sees in this film....there was nothing particularly great about it....how the hell it beat out avatar for ANY tech awards is beyond me....

[Skykid]

i still dont get what everybody sees in this film....there was nothing particularly great about it....how the hell it beat out avatar for ANY tech awards is beyond me....

You don't recognise 'good' when you see it dude. Avatar was fun but no great contribution to cinema.

THL is a much better movie than pretty much everything that came out last year, bar Inglorious Basterds, which gets better and better each time I see it.

[KindGrind]

True about TIB, it sort of grows on you...

[ROBOTRON]

hurt locker was way over hyped...

i finally broke down and watched it, and when the credits rolled i was like 'WTF!!??! thats it?'

at least avatar was entertaining....

the hurt locker felt like watching a docu-drama on TLC or A&E

I thought so...each time a movie is hyped like that, I always get burned. Thanx for the warning.

[null1024]

Just saw it, thought it was a really damn good movie. Not remotely in the league of Inglorious Basterds good, but it definitely glowed with quality. If this movie was properly advertised when it came out, it could have made loads of money.

Well shot, good acting, nice story, and kept my interest [read: on edge]. Felt a little too damn long though, the pacing threw me off a bit.
Characters might have seemed a bit flat [read: predictable], but if the context is right, and they're done well [they were], that is a nonissue.

If you said it's bad, you were probably tainted by the hype [which this thread was the only amount of it I had, just grabbed the movie from On Demand].


Also, what awards did this win exactly? This was the first time I turned on my TV in ages. My parents and other people use that thing, I don't.

[jonny5]

i still dont get what everybody sees in this film....there was nothing particularly great about it....how the hell it beat out avatar for ANY tech awards is beyond me....

You don't recognise 'good' when you see it dude. Avatar was fun but no great contribution to cinema.

THL is a much better movie than pretty much everything that came out last year, bar Inglorious Basterds, which gets better and better each time I see it.

i didnt say avatar was 'good'...i said it was 'entertaining'....theres a difference

i didnt find the hurt locker particularly 'good' or 'entertaining'....without getting into politics, it actually bothered me

i wish you wouldnt always jump to the old 'your opinion differs from mine so you are wrong' thing in these threads....its counterproductive

or did you just make this thread for people to agree with you?

[Ed Oscuro]

You know what else is a good movie? "Richard III" from 1995 starring Sir Ian McKellen, and also not Brendan Fraser but Robert Downey Jr., who was coincidentally brilliant in the movie with one of the year's best scores (Sherlock Holmes).

Also, somebody pointed out on the radio that the Academy Awards are the only time you hear the word "actress" anymore. Not that it's likely to change soon, but the consensus seems to be that if they get rid of the term "actress," they'll end up going with a Golden Globes-style "Best Whoever in a Whatever" style awards to keep the awards even amongst the genders. BATTLE

[Joe T.]

I find both Avatar and The Hurt Locker to be utter vomit.

[chempop]

All I really care about it that it is about damn time that Jeff Bridges won one of those damn statues! Also, I think that most people who liked Avatar can agree that it was an entertaining experience, but not necessarily movie of the year material.

Near Dark, Point Break and Strange Days

Damn, Near Dark is one of my all time faves but I had no idea she also directed those other two! Now I definitely have to check out The Hurt Locker, even though I tend to avoid anything that has anything to do with the middle east.