MovieChat Forums > American Hustle (2013) Discussion > This movie went over peoples heads

This movie went over peoples heads

posted 10 years ago by bmiluszusky
27 replies | jump to latest

A 7.3?? C'mon....and a 90/100 meta score, the critics got it right.

[–] OnlyGodForgives 10 years ago

Too quirky and offbeat for what most people expected. O. Russell's plan was to make a film about all the indifferent character moments in between a conventional crime drama plot. It's about the reinvention of identity in an American way that is connected to the same notion in The Fighter and Silver Linings. It's a very romantic film as well, not a cynical satire about some crooks robbing off society. One of my favorites of recent years and a brilliant counter piece to Scorsese's stylistically similar, but still very different Wolf. Having seen American Hustle, I want to see O. Russell tackle Legacy of Secrecy with DiCaprio!

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

I love the movie Only God Forgives. The mother and the detective were the best parts.

[–] danavenell 10 years ago

Well you know, most people are pretty stupid. When it comes to movies, the majority like a familiar narrative, a hero, a villain, and then the hero kills the villain at the end. Or a man dressed up as a woman who sets her tits on fire.

[–] OnlyGodForgives 10 years ago

Their loss. If cinema didn't have guys like Andrew Dominik, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Bennett Miller, David O. Russell, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Richard Linklater, Alexander Payne, James Gray, Martin Scorsese, Jacques Audiard, Johnnie To, Park Chan-wook, Terrence Malick, John Hillcoat, William Friedkin, Kathryn Bigelow, Paul Greengrass, Dan Gilroy, David Michôd, Nicolas Winding Refn, Derek Cianfrance, Scott Cooper, Jeremy Saulnier, Ben Wheatley, Werner Herzog, David Lynch, David Gordon Green, Christopher Nolan, Edgar Wright, Jim Mickle, Cary Fukunaga, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Terry Gilliam, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes, Ben Affleck, J.C. Chandor, Darren Aronofsky, Gus Van Sant, Steve McQueen, David Fincher, etc., (and SO many more!), then we'd be left with rehashed and fabricated Hollywood junk.

[–] RazzberryBeret 10 years ago

OnlyGodForgives, thanks for mentioning Jim Mickle and J.C. Chandor.

[–] fackinshat 10 years ago

This movie sucked and you guys know it!

[–] OnlyGodForgives 10 years ago

Great filmmakers.

[–] JayHova12 9 years ago

Ben Affleck? Really?

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Your mama was a snowblower!

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

I agree....BEN AFFLECK...REALLY!!!!

[–] BobLoblawLawBlog437 9 years ago

Say what you will about his acting; judging by Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo, he is a great director.

[–] JayHova12 9 years ago

Respectable credits on any resume obviously, but not enough to include him on a list of great directors.

And though he wasn't the director, he was a part of Gigli - and I'm not sure if anything he will do will ever make up for that.

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Your mama was a snowblower!

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

I agree with a lot of your list,
Some I'm not aware of,
Terrence Malick though... I must disagree.
I know he's SO far out that it seems genius, but he's totally sacrificed the structure that story telling needs. He's just TOO FAR OUT.
I suspect he might be crazy.
You know what his movies remind me of?
Remember the horror movie The Ring? Where when the victim watches the video, it's just a sequence of unrelated scenes like a horse jumping off a cliff, a lady brushing her hair, a lighthouse, a fly, etc.
That's what Terrence Malick reminds me of. I get his message but I find his movies like living in the head of a troubled person. That's not the best analogy but it's the best I could come up with an a second.

[–] patrick_bateman_90029 9 years ago

No, Malick's structure is airtight. He just doesn't use standard plot structure because he's mirroring life in his stories. Life is sporadic, brief, unpredictable.

Also, that list needs Lars von Trier on it.

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

On the positive, you mentioned Nicholas Winding Refn.

[–] denise1234 10 years ago

danavenell^

LOL!



"Shake your hair girl with your ponytail"

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

LOL agreed!
"....sets her tits on fire."
ROFL

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 10 years ago

No, most people are of AVERAGE intelligence, hence the word average. Stupid people and highly intelligent people are the minorities, not the majority, quoting your "MOST people are stupid" theory. But if you personally count average intelligence as stupid, than you must be a genius. Then I have to wonder why you are watching average intelligence Hollywood movies and not reading a Stephen Hawking book on physics.

[–] drnossal 9 years ago

If you are even barely above-average intelligence, then you are smarter than most people, assuming a normally distributed population.

"You didn't come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya?"

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

Stop depressing me! You're horrible! ;-)

[–] drnossal 9 years ago

Es tut mir Leid, Brigitte.

"You didn't come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya?"

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

Keine Notwendigkeit für Mitleid mein Freund. Ich war nicht ernst haupt. ;-)

[–] drnossal 9 years ago

I just wanted to resurrect my high school German and that was the first thing I thought of that I was pretty sure I wouldn't mangle ;). Danke!

"You didn't come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya?"

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

No problem.
I am always happy when someone is interrested in learning/practicing German.
A lot of Germans are rude to people who don't get it quite right because the German mentality is 'do it right or don't do it at all', which I hate about my culture.
Even if it's not perfect, Germans can understand it, no need to be an *beep* about it. I ask Germans like that - "would you rather that NO ONE was interrested in our language?" People who speak high German are the worst. I speak low German which is akin to Mississippi English.
You could relate this way... When immigrants come to America and they speak broken English, you can usually get the jist of what they're saying yet some English still get on their case, same idea.
If a German tries to tell you they don't understand you, tell them to get off their Xenophobic high horse...they understand what your trying to say.
Sorry to rant on this! My apologies. I just hate the snobby proper ness of my culture. It's just....well I can't call it racist but it's Xenophobic.

[–] BridgitteVonHammersmark 9 years ago

^agreed.

[–] SeemsSensible 8 years ago

...most people are pretty stupid

Sadly, I think you are right.

[–] mussobrennon 10 years ago

It's better than 7.3 for sure. A lot of people don't seem to really understand it, and it's stylistically a lot different from other movies, it's too different for most people.

[–] JayHova12 9 years ago

The exact same, word for word, could be said of Pacific Rim. I didn't get that movie, but once I appreciated it for what it was and what it was trying to be, it became a lot more entertaining.

Basically, I was trying to think too much while watching it.

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Your mama was a snowblower!