"I did not like ‘The Hurt Locker.’ It’s a lazy way to make a movie, frankly. I could put you on the edge of your seat quite easily, and have you feel the tension for 2 hours, if every other scene practically is, ‘Should we cut the red wire or the green wire?’ And if he cuts the wrong wire, he gets blown to smithereens, and you never know who’s going to get blown up in any given second. That doesn’t take a whole lot of skill to get big emotion out of this if you’re in the audience. And there’s a pornographic element to it that’s a little disturbing because you can’t take your eyes off it. But what’s it saying? What’s the substance of this? I think ‘Avatar’ was really trying to say something about the planet, about indigenous people, and about how we construct war now, how we privatize it. And I think these are really powerful things to say in this time, and I give James Cameron a lot of credit.”

http://www.annarbor.com/e...ore-story/

Harlepolis said:

while i love michael, what the hell does he know about good filmmaking? he made one non-documentary, and it was not very funny.

I like MM but I don't get his issue, really. One is character driven, the other is plot driven.

Harlepolis said:

I totally 100% agree with him regarding the Hurt Locker. But I also didn't care for Dances with Smurfs either, so I'm probably not the best barometer for what makes a movie good.

Truthfully, I didn't get the hype behind Hurt Locker. The "deep" scene at the end with his baby and the grocery shopping just felt completed over-done to me. It had the depth of being in a club with pumping loud music for two hours and then going outside at 2AM to a deserted parking lot. "Man I miss that music"....

I've said this before, I have to care about the character before I care about whether or not they are in danger. This movie did none of that for me.

JackieBlue said:

It wasn't an issue untill BOTH films went against each other in the Oscars.

But honestly, I agree with him,,,,despite the racial subliminal messages and all that mess.

Hurt Locker: crap, and the worst Oscar for Best Picture since Crash, and one of the worst overall; one of the most unrealistic and cliché-ridden war movies ever...

Avatar: over-the-top action/sci-fi, heavily (and painfully) borrowing from Dances with wolves and Pocahontas; cool, but if this movie deserves the Oscar for Best Picture, then Terminator 2, Aliens, Close Encounters, The Matrix or Blade Runner should have won in the first place...

Anyway, the Oscars are a glorified Hollywood symbol, so who cares...

JoeTyler said:

A - Bleeping - Men.

Fenwick said:

Fenwho?

I saw Avatar with a bunch of really great, fun teens ... we enjoyed it


I just rented the Hurt Locker blue-ray this eve and will be watching it in a while

Disagree big time.

What made The Hurt Locker so great wasn't the bomb scenes, but the way it showed how the men were affected by their environment. And how they were real people with depth, not like the two dimensional cutouts in Avatar (ironic).

Moore probably didn't like the movie because it didn't lean left.

I like Michael Moore (and I liked Canadian Bacon cborgman ), but how the hell can he call Hurt Locker lazy and not say the same damn thing about Dances with Smurfs, er... Avatar?

What a lazy, contrived, predictable to the last second piece of pulp. Technically brilliant and realized, absolutely, no question. But Michael's wrong about this one, I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with him.

And on the topic of the Hurt Locker, it's amazing to me that I absorbed every second of that movie and not once did I even remotely think of some sort of underlying political message or war/anti-war message. A phenomenal character study, gripping, powerful, chaotic and moving.

My pic for movie of the year, however, would have probably gone to Inglourious Basterds.

Harlepolis said:

I don't always need a message. I want a story told well. I enjoyed Avatar but I wish the story could have had more depth, a little more meat, especially for the subject. If the story was as strong as the visuals then it'd really be something.

Mike's movies are about as realistic and true as Avatar so maybe he thinks it was a documentary?

sextonseven said:

Don't make me mad at you!!!

I usually always agree with your posts on movies, but I thought the Hurt Locker was a VERY uninspired combination retread of Black Hawk Down and Jarhead. Nothing special at all.

I thought both sucked.

sextonseven said:

Bingo!

The Hurt Locker was for the center-right.

Avatar was for the left.

Without the 3d I don't think i would have enjoyed Avatar that much, its not really a good movie, is it?

But I think the Hurt Locker really showed how useless a war is. For me it felt like some kind of documentery, so the actors were pretty good. Its stupid to say it was all about the bombscenes, it wasn't for me anyway. Much better movie all the way.

sextonseven said:

Vendetta1 said:

Bingo!!

An Education was was the best picture I saw last year, but I liked Hurt Locker and Avatar, but for different reasons.
[Edited 3/20/10 0:47am]

Whatever Michael Moore. I liked Hurt Locker and hated Avatar.

The oscar should have gone to either An Education or Inglorious Basterds, though.

cborgman said:

He doesn't even know how to make a documentary. He takes random clips, exploits them with a lie to serve his purpose, and creates a fictional story to further his cause of anything anti-Republican. He's a good story teller, it's just that they're all fiction.

And he knows no more or less than any of the rest of us. He's just an observer giving an opinion. The only difference is he's famous enough to have his opinion published.


.
[Edited 3/20/10 7:04am]

I liked Avatar a LOT more than Hurt Locker. But I disagree with him too.

Avatar was very entertaining. Hurt Locker was difficult to watch. But both were well done, just for different reasons. (I wouldn't have given either an oscar, but I do feel hurt Locker was more deserving.)

My problem with the Hurt Locker was that I couldn't find one identifiable character. There weren't enough redeeming qualities within the main character to make him likable. And it ends with you pitying him. Perhaps it's an important story about how horribly war affects people, but if that's the intent, that wasn't quite driven home enough.

Meh. I just really didn't like it.

Harlepolis said:

OK I've just lost all respect for Michael Moore. Avatar was shit.

i've not seen the 'Hurt Locker', but i do want to.

however, how can you compare these two films?

I haven't seen Avatar.

I saw the Hurt Locker. While I was entertained by it (it didn't bore me), I felt like it was lacking a story. I've never been accused of being a deep person but I didn't care about the characters. The lead guy was pissing me off and I felt bad for his men but other than that, I didn't care all that much if they were blown up. As far as awards go, I felt like there was much ado about...nothing. To me it was simply a movie about disarming bombs and the crazy men that do it. And while I appreciate the lack of politics in this movie, I still would have liked the movie to have more meat.

Disagree...Hurt Locker was ok, not earth shattering but some beautiful shots.

Avatar was a thinly veiled pile of shit that has been done to death a hundred times over. It's clearly the story of either USA invasion of Iraq for Oil(which is prob only reason Moore likes it) or the White v Native Indian battles in old America. Nothing but special effects (which incidently were shit in 3d) and way too long.

Harlepolis said:

I'd question if this guy actually saw the film as there's very lite bomb action in it. I'm suprised he thought Avatar had any tension...you knew from the start that Sully would fuck that blue cat and join them...aka Last Samurai, Last if the Mohicans, Brave New World etc etc etc

CHIC0 said:

Yeah, it makes no sense

Anyway, if you have seen Platton and Black Hawk Down, you don't need to see Hurt Locker

Fenwick said:

I haven't see either of those films. I normally avoid war movies because on the average I just don't like them at all. It's entirely possible I'm giving The Hurt Locker too much credit because it didn't totally bore me. But it has gotten way more positive reviews than either Black Hawk Down or Jarhead. If it's really those movies rehashed then why all the extra praise?