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Cabin in the Woods SPOILERS ahead.
Unfortunately I didn't love Cabin in the Woods. I wanted to. If it had been a miniseries they could have explained how everything they didn't explain worked. Like why an athlete, a scholar, a whore, a fool and a virgin would ever all hang out in the same place like that - with all the agents in place and given the stakes, they could orchestrate such a thing, but I don't believe groups like that actually exist outside of movies. That stoner guy doesn't have a group of friends who aren't stoners. He's friends with Jake Busey in PCU.
If they're going to be clever enough to imply that only being a victim of a neuro-gas attack would make someone say "let's split up, we'll cover more ground that way" then you should explain why a stoner would hang out with people who thinks everything he says is stupid and annoying.
I also thought that having "choice" be a part of it was unnecessary. Why did they have to choose their own adventure, as it were? (How could the death-worshipping redneck zombies be so ready to pop out? They'd have to first move the cube to the elevator, then go up, then pop out. Come on guys!) I love the gambling aspect to it, that's fun, and I get that they have to "please the audience" with something full of suffering and whatever, but why not just pick one yourself? Is it all about making it "believable" to the victims, so they think they themselves caused it? I like the idea but I don't think it makes a lot of sense. It's hard to justify how they know what to do given that failure is not an option. Do they get notes? Are the great old ones on message boards that they read?
I could go on. If anything else, it's worth watching just to spark thought and discussion, and it's not as if it's worthless. It's just, I don't know, not as great as it needed to be. It had a lot of great parts. It makes me think that they just had to say "look, it's a good idea, let's just finish it and make it already." There may be no way to make it seamless and I would never expect that anyway.
The Mer-man thing was one of the best jokes in movie history though.
It's been a while since I saw the movie (I'm looking forward to seeing it again on DVD), but as far as I remember, yeah, this is why they did it this way. Wasn't there a book that one of the kids picks up when they are in the cabin? They know they're not supposed to be rummaging around in this old place and going through stuff that doesn't concern them, but they do it anyway, read the story of the redneck zombies that used to live there, and thus bring the curse on themselves (like in "Evil Dead"). This way when everything happens and the zombies come to life, it seems more like a supernatural event that has happened because of something they did, rather than just something incomprehensible happening to them for no reason. It's the same as the rationale for why the whore dies first; in most of these movies the teenagers are being "punished" for their bad behavior, it's that way in Friday the 13th and everything else.Originally Posted by aenemaTron
Of course, you could sit and pick this movie apart forever, but I don't see why you'd want to do that. It's just supposed to be a fun deconstruction of typical horror movie tropes. I loved the idea that while this was going on in the US, there were competitions going on in other countries as well (the scene of the chaos happening in Japan with the typical "Ring"-like ghostly little girl was hilarious).
It's not that I want to, it's just that when they imply so much history and infrastructure behind something, it's thought-provoking and I wonder about it and things didn't add up exactly.
I think the target of the satire isn't horror movies as much as what audiences want from them or what movie makers think they do. That would explain needing things to seem organic: the gods, however they manage to communicate it, want it that way. I didn't think anyone did anything that could be defined as "transgressing," though. I guess I think the ancient gods have bad taste in movies, but I think I was supposed to.
John FavreauHe's friends with Jake Busey in PCU.
I just watched Cabin in the Woofs (bow wow) SPOILERS:
I liked it! Sorry Tron, but I think your complaints are boring and weird. Pointing out that stoner guy wouldn't be their friends while not pointing out HE IS CONSTANTLY SMOKING JOINTS. if you wanna get into reality a stoner in college would never waste that much pot making joints. :P I for sure wanted more of an explanation of the beehive barriers, but I liked the ending. Also: "the virgin." "me?"
Elevators and Mer-man thing were great.
Also saw ParaNorman. What a gorgeous looking movie full of potential. So many jokes fell flat. Was enthralled by the artwork but the writing didn't live up.
I'm with Brasky on Cabin. Fun movie, not supposed to be more (even if you want to look into), just wasn't built for that. Can't wait to see it as again on DVD too, def worth a second viewing. (I couldn't possibly be bothered with typing the entire word "definitely")
Speaking of second viewing, nobody showed me the flyer that said The Raid came out on DVD last week. I bought and watched yesterday. Hoo-ray for Thai violence. Sometimes over the top but damn is it brutal and original (different fights). Minor quibble that doesn't fair well for showing this to friends who can't stand "readin' movies", the awful dubbing. English language has always been kind of a joke (even on some high profile foreign movies), but that's not the worst part. This movie is low on plot and big on its obvious selling point, so when the bad dubbing gets translated into the fight scenes, they lose their impact. Basically its a guy in a recording booth going "ooomph" "grraa" and other associated grunts and growls. It is ridiculous. The panting and breathing is so non-congruent, it just becomes cartoonish. And if that wasn't stupid enough, the music and sound effects (hits etc) are re-edited too and its weaker than the original sound editing. So bothersome that they couldn't make a better re-dub or at least better actors (the same four people do every movie translation right, sounds like it sometimes).
But I digress... Wanderlust was awesome. I could talk alot about that one but I'm sure there's a thread for it. Paul Rudd's "Oh no, I was, yeah I forgfired.. drink" killed me. Not a perfect movie, but a blast to watch.
To borrow a phrase that the students at my school use that infuriates me to no end:
U mad bro?
Wasn't there a Godzilla-esque scenario as well? Loved that one
Probably because you never get tired of being wrong.
Last edited by Natalie Portmanteau; August 19, 2012 at 10:05 PM.
I liked Cabin in the Woods. I tried not to, because of my bias against Joss Whedon, but I could not help myself.
And sometimes being fun and being worth looking into can be the same thing. This is my view of Cabin in the Woods. I found it fun precisely because it was a film where I could not guess exactly what was going to happen next, due to its meta, cliche-breaking fun-ness.
well said
Seeing a special screening of "The Master" tomorrow! Hella excited!
Wow. The Hunger Games was fucking awful.
I liked it! I also didn't try to take it the least bit seriously. But I enjoyed myself watching it. Lenny Kravitz's finest work.
I guess I took it way too seriously because I didn't like it either. It was just flat. Having read the book, the adaptation was robotic and made developments feel unearned and arbitrary.
"I have a knife against your throat, now I will gloat for 30 seconds and then pull out a different knife to k- oh no! Somehow this didn't work out for me!"
I agree about Kravitz though. I liked it when he said "I know how you feel. You wish you could fly into the sky, so very high, like a dragonfly. You'd fly above the trees, over the seas in all degrees to anywhere you please. You want to get away. You want to fly away, yeah. Yeah. Yeah...."
I liked it too, though I admit I haven't read the books and my expectations couldn't have been lower. As silly as a lot of it was (I hated the weird aesthetic of the world), it was way more enjoyable than the Twilight movie, which was the yardstick I measured it by.
And you'd have to be made of stone not to tear up at Kravitz's line after Katniss emerges victorious: "You you truly are.....an American Woman."
Hot tub foot?
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