# Equipoise, how is that NOT a spoiler? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 9, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/equipoise-how-is-that-not-a-spoiler/206509 "2003-10-09T17:38:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/equipoise-how-is-that-not-a-spoiler/206509/21 "2003-10-10T15:33:02Z")
Well I, for one, will agree that anyone who refuses to see a movie just because Jennifer Lopez is in it is an idiot, but they’re only hurting themselves, so who cares? _Out of Sight_ is one of the BEST movies of any genre of the last DECADE. It resurrected Soderbergh’s career and was his stylistic starting point for such films as _Erin Brokovich_ and _Traffic._ It’s about the best adaptation of an Elmore Leonard movie EVER, and leaves _Get Shorty_ writhing in the dust. It made George Clooney viable as a movie star, and introduced most of us to one of my favorite character actors, Steve Zahn, and included some of the best performances ever by such actors as Albert Brooks and Don Cheadle. But MOST of this four star movie rides squarely, and firmly, on Jennifer Lopez’s shoulders. She carries this film without faltering a step. So if skip it because she later tarnished her credibility by launching a HUGELY successful SECOND career as a cheesy pop singer, you are an idiot, and you’re missing a great moviegoing experience. How many people hate _Moonstruck_ because Cher’s music is such godawful cheesy pop? Why is it COOL for a pop singer to become a respected actor, but LAME for a respected actor to become a pop singer? Get over it, rent _Out of Sight,_ and shut up. Oh, and the FIRST thing I heard about _Jersey Girl_, MONTHS ago, was that Jennifer Lopez dies at the beginning. It’s been in the first paragraph of any story I’ve read referring to it. It’s as much a spoiler as (avert your eyes, Smack)– the twister in _The Wizard of Oz_ –or– the alien in _E.T._. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/equipoise-how-is-that-not-a-spoiler/206509/22 "2003-10-10T16:44:59Z")
Spolier for CastAway Is the fact that he got off the island considered a spoiler? After all, it was prominently displayed in the advertisements, which is an argument used in this thread for what ISN’T considered a spoiler. Nevertheless, those that hadn’t seen the advertisements, or made a purposeful choice to NOT see the advertisements, would have had the movie spoiled if someone mentioned what could be considered common knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/equipoise-how-is-that-not-a-spoiler/206509/23 "2003-10-10T17:31:43Z")
I don’t think it’s a spoiler. I think it’s something people who consider seeing the movie need to know. Nerdy example, but anyway: When Konami was hyping Metal Gear Solid 2, they kept announcing big plot twists and spoilers. The gaming media played along. They even released the game in the US before in Japan so that the US market would get the surprises first. Well, the big “spoiler” was that you play the vast majority of the game as some wuss who is NOT Solid Snake, the protagonist of the series. I feel that this was far from a spoiler–it was a con. Konami knew full well that if gamers knew that ahead of time, they wouldn’t have bought the game. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/equipoise-how-is-that-not-a-spoiler/206509/24 "2003-10-10T19:48:31Z")
Damn. Every time I mention _Almost Famous_, Cervaise leaves the thread forever. Maybe I should stop begging him to review it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/equipoise-how-is-that-not-a-spoiler/206509/25 "2003-10-11T10:35:37Z")
I’m glad I’m getting some backing here. Thanks lissener, Cervaise, Larry, Elwood. I really was beginning to feel like a jerk. I’m very sensitive about spoilers myself. I hate them. I will never ever forgive the person on Usenet who gave away the spoiler to **The Others** in the Subject Line of their post. I still loved the movie (saw it twice in the theater) but it would have been an entirely different experience if I hadn’t known. I refuse to read ANYTHING about **Big Fish** until I see it. For me, the words “Tim Burton fantasy Ewan McGregor” were enough to make me know I wanted to see it. I didn’t watch the preview on the Internet, and wouldn’t have seen it at all except that it played before **Mystic River** the other night. I was going to shut my eyes (something I’ve done often for other films) but I couldn’t. I felt like Alex in A Clockwork Orange. My eyes were being forced open and I couldn’t look away. Before I saw it, I was looking forward to it with anticipation. Now I think that it might possibly become one of my favorite movies ever! But I won’t watch the preview again, and will hopefully “forget” most of what I saw in the trailer. I hope the movie is as good as I hope it will be. I sympathize too because I wish that I hadn’t known the plot of **The Truman Show** before seeing the film. I’ll never know what the experience would have been like had I gone into the theater not knowing that… (Ok, I will) Truman was part of a TV show That wasn’t considered a spoiler, and it was in every single ad and review. I wish I hadn’t known though. But see, I just _knew_ that what I posted regarding **Jersey Girl** was not a spoiler, and as a premise it’s nothing on the level of knowing the premise to **The Truman Show**. I thought it was better to try and nip this anti-Lopez crap in the bud (I agree with lissener about **Out of Sight** and I think she’s been very good in some other films too), so I can’t and don’t feel guilty about it. I’ve refrained from posting in my other thread because people wanted it to fall off the front page, but I’ll revive it when the ads start coming out. The way Miramax has put back the release date of this film because of the Gigli/Lopez/Bennifer backlash, I’d think they’d want to shout it from the mountains that her character dies right away. We’ll see. They could start by trying to change the very misleading synopsis on Rotten Tomatoes, and the somewhat misleading cast listing on IMDB, but I don’t know how that works. If more people like Larry will see the film because of my posts, then that’s a good thing. Well, assuming it’s a good movie WORTH seeing, which of course is most important. I wouldn’t go telling people they should see it if it’s a bad movie. > [@](#): > > SpoilerVirgin: However, the cast is one of the most common reasons why people choose to see or not to see a movie. There was recently a lengthy thread in Cafe Society in which people listed those actors whose presence would guarantee that they would have no interest in seeing a particular movie. I don’t think that anyone should be called an idiot because she is discerning enough to know which actors are likely to prevent her from enjoying a movie. It’s not an absolute system, of course, but when movies can cost over $9.00 a pop, having some way of weeding out the ones that are likely to be a waste of your time and money only makes sense. Yes, maybe idiot was a bit strong, but to me, at the very least, it’s the mark of lazy people who aren’t interested in movies that are interesting. They probably just want to see stuff blow up or mindlessly laugh. There’s nothing wrong with leaving your brain at home, sometimes, but people who ONLY want to do that are, well, missing out. When people spout off like they’re proud of it, I tend to seethe, which is a good reason why I stayed out of that thread, which I did read. I’m not intelligent, articulate and diplomatic like Cervaise, so my very rude and soul-sapping thoughts were best left untyped. I just can’t believe that people would bypass an excellent film JUST because of an actor. That’s beyond my frame of understanding. I can’t even try to understand, it’s so alien to my love of movies. Why shut yourself off from a good movie (like **Out of Sight** )? There are several ways of determining if a movie is considered worth watching, and for me, who’s in it would be down near the bottom, along with caterers. I’m an eternal optimist, always looking for the good movie and nice surprises, such as actors playing against “type” like George Clooney in **O Brother, Where Art Thou?** , Robin Williams in **One-Hour Photo** and Jennifer Aniston in **The Good Girl**. I’m not much interested in seeing Adam Sandler films (ok, that’s an understatement), but if I had said “I’ll NEVER go see an Adam Sandler film!” then I would have missed out on my favorite film from last year, **Punch-Drunk Love**. The fact that Paul Thomas Anderson directed it was what got me into the theater. I’ve liked every movie he’s done so far. He didn’t disappoint, and I loved Adam Sander’s character. It works both ways. There are actors I love, but won’t see every movie they do. Billy Bob Thornton, I love him, and he can elevate bad movies, but I have little desire to see **Waking Up In Reno** \*. I’m looking forward to **Bad Santa** , but then again, BS is being directed by Terry Zwigoff, who hasn’t made a bad movie yet, so I’d see it even if I’d never heard of any of the actors. I guess I believe in being flexible, and willing to let my mind be open about actors I don’t think I’m interested in or don’t like. > [@](#): > > jackelope: Clearly I am out of the loop, but the first I heard about J.Lo dying in the movie was when I saw your thread title. I understand, but that’s only because the movie won’t be out for a few months. I repeat myself, but it’s no different than if I’d said, months before **Chicago** came out, that Renée Zellweger’s character kills her husband at the beginning of the movie. A pile on of people screaming “She **kills** somebody? How could you spoil it like that??” would see that I wouldn’t have spoiled anything, because it’s in the ads and part of the premise leading to her going to jail. > [@](#): > > You do know that there are in fact people in this world who don’t watch TV, don’t read movie reviews, etc.? Even people who actively avoid such things because they like to be surprised by a film’s plot? I do, and I sympathize, but in today’s society, it’s nearly impossible to avoid knowing _something_ about a movie, and in this particular case, I’d rather “reassure” those J-lo haters who are part of the bad buzz, than worry about revealing something that’s going to be revealed to the general public long before the movie opens anyway. \*unless Cervaise liked it. That would get me to rent it. If people want to know what’s good, they should listen to Cervaise! He’s always right, \*\* and I agree with what Libertarian says about him. What’d you think of it Cervaise? \*\* unless he didn’t like **Almost Famous** , which I thought was a wonderful movie. Cervaise, why don’t you want to say anything about AF? Hey, as long as we’re in the Pit…! FUCK YOU MPAA AND STUDIO HEADS WHO ARE TRYING TO TAKE THE INDIE DIVISIONS OF THE STUDIOS OUT OF THE AWARDS MIX BY BANNING SCREENERS! FUCK YOU MPAA AND STUDIO HEADS WHO ARE DELIBERATELY RUINING PRINTS BY PUTTING IN COLORED DOTS (not the reel-change marks)! THOSE DOTS TOOK ME RIGHT OUT OF THE MOODY, ABSORBING **Mystic River**. TWICE I WAS THINKING OF THE FUCKING DOTS INSTEAD OF THE MOVIE! Cites: [Roger Ebert’s Answer Man](http://www.suntimes.com/output/answ-man/sho-sunday-ebert05.html) A Home Theater Forum thread, with photo examples of the dots. [Hollywood ruining film prints on purpose](http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=162471) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/equipoise-how-is-that-not-a-spoiler/206509/26 "2003-10-11T11:54:37Z")
Ok, I’m a dirty bird. It suddenly pops into my brain that Renée Zellweger’s character kills her BOYFRIEND, not her husband (played by John C. Reilly). I loved **Chicago** , saw it 5 times in the theater. What a silly brain fart! Damn, I can’t correct the stupid mistake in the other thread without bringing it to the top again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/equipoise-how-is-that-not-a-spoiler/206509.md?page=1)