The (Now-Overrated) ILX Top 100 Films of the 2000s Poll Results

I loved this movie and voted for it. I was a little confused about whether or not it was taking a stand on this guy's character. I know he was portrayed as a thrill-junkie, but his pathology seemed to go much deeper than that, and I found him very disturbing. Really putting others lives at risk to, what, be heroic? What was other peoples' take on this?

The hurt locker was that cardboard box full of defused bomb parts

that i think he's really hot?

Wanted to make sure we were on the same page.

the list is improving. still sad that some good genre films like red eye and cellular prob won't make it when lousy hollywood arthouse/auteur films like sideways do

REALLY wish I had seen HL in the theater. I have the DVD, sitting around & waiting for me to watch it, but I might just hold out, pending its likely theatrical re-release closer to Oscar time. Is this typical of films containing lots o war spectacle, in that a big-screen viewing would be ideal/imperative?

Saw this over the weekend and was unimpressed. Thought it was incredibly well done - the set pieces are outstandingly composed and directed, but thought the "plot" those sequences hung on was a joke. Totally don't get why everyone is praising Renner's performance - thought he was far and away the worst part of the movie. Not that he had much to work with, but he didn't sell me on his character at all. Solid 2.5 out of 5, so probably will win Best Picture and join a long list of mediocre inoffensive fare.

o i c (re: the meaning of "hurt locker")

really amazing film. love it love it love it, hated sitting thru it. i really wanted to see it, but was dreading doing so, and i got exactly that upon viewing: dread. i'm sure all of you m-fers can think of countless similar examples, but i've never seen a movie like this, that deliver that same sustained complete terribleness and constant impending shitty death at all times feeling. w/o being, like, SAW or some garbage

xp i'd recommend seeing HL in theater for the sound more than the visuals

ditto -- I didn't see it in the theater, which maybe contributed to its not blowing me away.

xpost
I wouldn't say that there's a lot of war spectacle in this. It's a tense, tightly constructed movie with relatively small set pieces

I missed Hurt Locker in its original run, but a theater here brought it back for a few weeks in late December/early January, so I saw it then. Was very glad I did -- there's not a lot of conventional "spectacle," but it's a movie that very much rewards the kind of immersiveness that theatrical viewings provide.

Saw this over the weekend and was unimpressed. Thought it was incredibly well done - the set pieces are outstandingly composed and directed, but thought the "plot" those sequences hung on was a joke. Totally don't get why everyone is praising Renner's performance - thought he was far and away the worst part of the movie. Not that he had much to work with, but he didn't sell me on his character at all. Solid 2.5 out of 5, so probably will win Best Picture and join a long list of mediocre inoffensive fare.

― EZ Snappin, Monday, February 8, 2010 6:06 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

can people just stop using the word "inoffensive" to mean "i dont like it"

the hurt locker is not literal, it's actually meant to mean "the worst place you can be in", mentally and physically speaking

there wasn't actually a line of dialogue in the film in which renner says, "i just put all of my HURT into this LOCKER" *pulls box out from under cot*

a plastic bag blowing around in an alleyway, that has just been ied'd

xxxp Yeah and stop using the word mediocre to describe movies which are really excerable.

execrable? this? please to explain

I was actually thinking more of Crash and A Beautiful Mind.

And stop using the word fare unless you mean food.

And use a four-star scale.

xp i'd recommend seeing HL in theater for the sound more than the visuals

The reason i asked is that the handheld-DV, shakey-cam method of capturing combat-related imagery & putting one "in the zone," as it were, can actually translate better to home viewing imo. On a smaller scale, I find that the style can still be disorienting enough to achieve the intended effect, but not to the degree of equilibrium-torture a theater viewing can induce. TBH, I don't even have any idea if this film is done in that style, but comparisons to Black Hawk Down & such lead me to believe it might be.

can't stress how much I love the still omar used for HL

it doesn't have the kind of confusing/obfuscating camera-work of Black Hawk Down

I thought the hurt locker was some military slang for their spaceman bomberman suits?

re: home viewing -- I saw it at home and wasn't zoned. I didn't remember it being particularly shaky-cammy but you might be right about home viewing mitigating that.

There's a lot of handheld work, but I don't recall much shakey-cam.

there was some shakey mo cam iirc, lots of dudes standing around watching the action, arms folded, cross expression on their face

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/darkknight.jpg

this movie is way too long but it has some pretty awesome stuff, i really liked heath ledger as the joker--definitely brings something new to the role, this sort of oopsy little-boy-ness that is deeply creepy. some pretty good set pieces though if it does get way too self-serious by the end.

― s1ocki

I love Nolan's action sequences, thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. In the first film I grant you they were super dark and fast and confusing but no one knew who Batman was then (in terms of the characters / goons he was pasting) and hence it was all about their confusion and terror at this nameless, shapeless thing ninja-ing fuck out of them from the shadows. The fight in his Penthouse in this seemed fine; excellent - it's like it was the POV of a guest there, confused and turning around and not quite seeing exactly who is hitting who clearly but being aware that yes, there's Batman, and yes, there's some goons, and Batman is battering the goons.

― Scik Mouthy

basically a remake of heat if heat was a movie that guzzled balls and was really ugly and boring

xtian bale sux at acting, needed to be a lot shorter and also have more eric roberts and batmanuel, fichtner cameo was pimp

jackie the jokeman martling's stunning performance as the joker was of course mesmerizing~

― cankles

the film is geared to get the audience off on the joker's evil deeds - it's part of the frisson, the sinful deliciousness of bad behavior that we are allowed to witness/condone/participate in as an audience. we can tut-tut and disapprove all of the bad behavior in the film but then you're missing a rather prominent layer of the film, which is entertainment via sadism... something ned touched on above with his (astute) comparison to funny games.

― Edward III

i think i underrated this movie at the time; on reflection, the set-pieces, at least early on, were simply better done than the cut-to-shred crap you get from most blockbusters. it is too long, though, and the final thing where batters taps into the matrix or whatever sucked.

― history mayne

Batman carries on beginning in ... The Dark Knight

#41

The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan
2008
United States
(385.5 points, 21 votes, 1 first place)

there wasn't actually a line of dialogue in the film in which renner says, "i just put all of my HURT into this LOCKER" *pulls box out from under cot*

― ('_') (omar little), Monday, February 8, 2010 6:13 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

Reminded me of this.

Ah well, that was inevitable.

(xpost)

for me, this is where the poll jumps the shark

did you think it wasn't inevitable, or were you waiting a week to say that?

• hurt locker: its no point break but in terms of 'movies that stress me the fukk out' this is right up there. a+ cameo from ralph fiennes--i said somewhere else but enterprising theater owner should have shown this and in the loop as an iraq war double bill

• dark knight: nolan is not as smart as he thinks he is but he can art direct the fukk out of anything, ledger is great, would have maybe preferred this if batman had never even been in it

I'd kind of forgotten about it, tbh.

i was asking Dan, just because h's either surprised to see it here (which would be weird) or you've been refreshing the thread for days waiting to declare the poll devoid of credibility for including it

I guess this means Zatoichi won't rank. :(

no more dark knight talk. no more. please just consider your reactions thoughtfully, to yourself. do not post them.

please, i am begging you all.

Can we talk about the lack of abortion discussion in the Dark Knight?

hopefully the prestige will place higher. Nolan IS as smart as he thinks he is (imo) but perhaps on reflection the last 20 mins are a little didactic.

would have maybe preferred this if batman had never even been in it - lol, I had never thought of it from that perspective, but otfm.

can people just stop using the word "inoffensive" to mean "i dont like it"

I used inoffensive because that's what I meant. The Hurt Locker isn't going to offend many politically (hard to do with Iraq war movies), it isn't stupid, it isn't gratuitous (graphic, yes, but not gratuitous). I would say that also holds true for Slumdog, Gladiator, Braveheart, etc. I liked it - didn't love it, wouldn't watch it again.

There are plenty of movies I'd call "execrable" like the two Alex named, and The Dark Knight.

xposts

oh sorry xposts. no more DK talk.

Hurt Locker made me hella sick AT HOME. I was sitting too close.

I am kind of surprised to see DK it here. Maybe because I don't like it, I guess I underestimate how much other people DO like it. I realize, looking at it, my statement implies a judgement about other peoples' tastes. Sorry if I offended

i think prestige is nolans best movie by a long shot

I hope some intrepid phantom editor releases a cut of "Dark Knight minus Batman" along with "Julie and Julia minus Julie"

"hopefully the prestige will place higher"

Hah if this happens I will watch it again.

Knocked Up made me laugh, but mostly because of that one scene where they're explaining how babies are made to the kids. because in my heart, i still think babies are like vaginal poops.

i think dark knight is a hella smart movie, definitely moreso than batman begins, just not quite as cutting or intelligent as it wants to be

Would totally watch a whole movie of Julia and Stanley Tucci.

would totally watch batman and julie

The Hurt Locker isn't going to offend many politically

depends on how you define "many" but this is basically false. it has!

Julia and the Joker