h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Fight Club" is an excellent movie. It isn't my favorite movie of all time (Terry Gilliam's "Brazil" gets that honor), but I love it all the same. The book is excellent, as well. Reading the book, you wonder how anyone could have possibly thought that it would possible to translate to the screen, but director David Fincher and screenwriter Jim Uhls somehow managed to deliver an amazing piece of cinema. People complaining about the violence is interesting, considering that *1* person dies in the movie. I think what really turns them off is the anti-consumeristic stuff. The violence is just an excuse to complain about a movie which belittles their way of life. After all, no one can really say, "You know that part where Brad Pitt says that buying a new sofa won't make your life any better? Yeah...I don't think he should have said that..."

I'm less enthralled with "American Beauty," however. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie by any means, but it pales in comparison to David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," which tackles a similar theme.

BTW "Titanic" is crap. Utter, horrible crap. To think that this movie came from the same mind that brought us "Terminator 2" and "Aliens" feels me with grief. Unfortunately, though, I must admit (with some amount of shame) that I did like it the first time I saw it. After repeated viewings, I've come to question my state of mind that first time.

Fight club is an excellent movie indeed (I can't say I have ever seen "Brazil"). I guess I should really read the book some time.

I do think fight club is kind of violent, not extremely though. For example, there's the occasional splatter or puddle of blood during the fights. Also, pointing a gun(even if it's not loaded) at people is a pretty bad example, as is throwing chemicals over somebody's hand. It's not exactly a horor film, but probably not appropriate for little children. It could very well be though, that a lot of the criticism did come from the fact that people don't like having their way of life mocked.

I felt American Beauty had a really good storyline and was funny too. I also liked the way in which it mocked American society. Probably because I'm not an American. I can't say I've even seen "Blue Velvet". I'll give it a try if I stumble accross it some time.

What?! You enjoyed Titanix the first time you saw it?! Death to the heretic!

Well, "Fight Club" certainly does have some amount of violence in it. I just don't think that is really the sole reason that people disliked it. Certainly, there are plenty of violent movies that have failed to stir up any sort of controversy. Surely, "The Matrix," while it might not have featured as much actual blood, was far more violent, with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss gunning down people like they were little wooden ducks on a target range. Yet no one complained about it (At least not until after the Columbine murders. And I have my doubts that it would have been talked about so much then, had it not featured characters in trenchcoats).

Even though I am American, I also thoroughly enjoy mocking the American way of life. If you do get a chance to see "Blue Velvet," I definately reccomend that you take it. Be prepared for a fairly disturbing movie, however. It lacks the humor of "American Beauty," and takes a much darker look at what lies beneath the surface of normal, everday life in a small, peaceful town. If it leaves you wanting to see more films by this director, I would recommend "Lost Highway." If you manage to make any sense out that one, I'd really like to know. It's not a movie for everyone, but it certainly left me dazzled and confused.

And, yes, I did like "Titanic" the first time I saw it. I'm not proud. In fact, I'm quite ashamed. I'm past that, now, though. Repeated viewings of "Army of Darkness" have managed to cleanse me of that sinking boat movie.

The Matrix is also pretty violent, yeah. I think part of the reason people were less offended by it, was because Keanu and Carrie were fighting for a good cause, thus making violence OK (even if it's in slow-motion). In fightclub on the other hand they are mostly fighting for fun and certainly not to save humanity. The fact that Fightclub mocks the western way of life is probably a big part of the equation too.

I'll have a look around for Blue Velvet. I can't find it on KaZaA, so maybe they've got it at the,.. what do you call those places where you can rent videos?

If you want to see a really good movie BTW, try Memento (if you have not already seen it). It's got one of the best (or at least hardest to follow) story lines of any movie I've ever seen.

Well, I suppose the world-saving thing may have played a part in the equation. The fact that it was released after Columbine probably didn't help much, either. In fact, I've heard that there are parts of the movie that always got big laughs in test screenings before the Columbine incident, but afterwards were met only with silence.

Here in America, at least, we generally refer to the places where one goes to rent a video as a video store. If you want to get fancy, you can refer to it as a video rental outlet. Of course, considering American consumerism, these outlets are more and more often being referred to as "Blockbuster."

Unfortunately, I haven't managed to see "Memento," yet, but I've heard very good things about it. College sort of cuts in on your free time to some extent, but I'll have to check it out whenever I get the chance.