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)–
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
