No, I'm not comparing the decade...i'm comparing a good movie that represents a generation pretty accurately (so i've read, i'm only 21 years old)--Dazed and Confused--to a terribly directed movie like this one that uses every 1960 cliche found in every other 1960 movie...
What's your take on this?
And seriously, if you were the guy who basically got Woodstock to happen, I think you'd be backstage chillin with EVERYBODY famous...
Dazed and Confused was much better i think. Taking Woodstock is...i dont know..misdirected maybe..but something is missig thats sure. its not a bad movie, i was just hoping for something else
Dazed and Confused: 8 - when compared to other Linklater movies, it was still good, but not the best. Taking Woodstock: 6
I believe this movie would have been better if they had cut out some 30 minutes of it. I was really into it up to the 1h30 mark, even being able to look past the mellowness which seems to be Lee's way of doing cinema.
At that point, I knew there wouldn't be any "life-changing" plot twists, and that neutral perspective in which hippies were portrayed started to get tired. When Elliot's mother finally gave up and started dancing in the rain, I knew I would have only another half hour of tired clichés... Nothing would get better from that point on.
Still, an enjoyable movie. At least 3/4 of it.
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I thought this was an overcooked cliche-fest as well. I think I had my expectations set too high in Ang Lee. I wouldn't have been so surprised if this were directed by some under 40 upstart. Ang Lee did Jane Austen so well. What the hell!
I have always had a special place in my heart for Dazed and Confused. I'm 41 and was a child in the summer of 77, but when I graduated 10 years later, my little hometown may as well have been a time warp. We were driving similar cars, listening to the same music...with a few exceptions; and we were doing the same inane and crazy things. I swear I knew every character depicted in that movie. It was really the first time a movie had been made about that period of the 70's. So it was refreshing see. Unfortunately, the 60's has been run into the ground, and become a cliche of itself. I really don't think a movie has been made that could really capture the late 60's. They try hard, but no cigar.
Why's there a hundred posts of people comparing this film to every other film that took place in the 60's or 70's. I mean, "Taking Woodstock", while sometimes humorous, isn't really much of a comedy, while "Dazed & Confused" is. It's merely about a guy who's dumped his savings into his parent's failing catskills motel. He sees the opportunity to give a permit to the Woodstock concert which is without a home at the moment. More then anything it's a film about Demtri Martin "finding himself" and other such things, merely set to the backdrop of the Woodstock concert, a concert where he never gets within a mile of the stage. It's more about the themes of the end of the era and how Woodstock was a big life changing event that marked the real end of the free loving, hippie era which transcended into the politically crazed 70's and what our culture has turned into know where you can't smoke anywhere, weed is considered as dangerous as putting a loaded shotgun to your head, non-healthy food is pretty much banned, pretty much fascist communism. I think the Russians may have actually won the war and no one told us.
I'm with ya! I was a child in the 70's too and a lot of Dazed and Confused is reminiscent of that time. The music, the clothes, hair styles, cars, everything.
I can't relate at all to Woodstock so I have to say I liked Dazed and Confused MUCH BETTER!!!
Going head to head, I liked "Taking Woodstock" more. For one thing, "TW" had a more clear story arc, about a real historical event. "D&C" was accurate in how teens actually looked and dressed in 1976, but some of it didnt ring true. For example, that whole 'hazing' plot was pretty far-fetched - isn't that something mainly done by college frat boys?