Thursday, September 13, 2012
Everyone loves lists, but they usually suck (PART 1!!)
I've spent a lot of time reading lists online. You know the ones I'm talking about. (Crap like this)At some point, after getting tired of reading so many terrible lists, I sat back and thought about it and I realized a frightening truth:
Using the form of a list is an easy psychological trick to fool people into not realizing you're just feeding them your opinion.
Anyway, to further illustrate the point, I've started making some dumb lists that are just me shoving some of my stupid opinions about things out into your faces. Enjoy!
Here is my list of the remaining films of 2012 I am looking forward to. They might not all turn out to be good movies, but they deserve a spot there more than any other movies I know about (Unexpected Journey, Django, Breaking Dawn 2. [See how annoying my opinions are?]).
2012'S MOVIES THAT HAVEN'T COME OUT YET THAT I AM GETTING PRETTY INTO
10. SILENT HILL: REVELATION
Overall, I liked the first movie when it was free on demand from Fearnet. The concept of Silent Hill itself is so good that I wish it would just become a genre. Romantic Comedy, Spaghetti Western, Silent Hill. Also, then, if this movie turns out to be a poopoostinker, I'd have a bunch of other options to choose from. Which, in the world of video game movies, is always a concern.
9. BUTTER
Something about this movie makes it feel like it's got more for me than just another "laugh-at-this-quirky-niche" type of film. I can't quite put a finger on what is though. (I'm kind of worried it's Olivia Wilde).
8. V/H/S
Horror is all towards the bottom of this list, which I think is understandable as it's a real hit-or-miss genre. I'll admit, I've only seen like a trailer for this and hardly know anything about it. It is maybe multiple short films? Anyway, if the style (aside from the currently overused found-footage aspect) is to my liking, then I will probably enjoy it way too much.
7. HANASAKU IROHA: HOME SWEET HOME
I have been lead to believe that this is not one of those movies they make that just recaps the anime on a big screen, or else it would not be on this list. (If it turns out to be, just put Anna Karenina here, switch this with number ten, and mentally put in some point about Tom Stoppard being super great.) But Hanasaku Iroha was a ridiculously lovable story/universe I would very much love to hear more from.
2. WRECK IT RALPH
Someone was able to make video games' Who Framed Roger Rabbit / Toy Story and I really get the feeling from everything I've seen about this movie that they weren't just satisfied with coasting on that premise (which is already a fishhook in my mouth). Don't tell Dark Knight Rises or The Avengers I said this, but I will almost definitely see this one while it's in theaters.
1. EVANGELION: 3.0 YOU CAN (NOT) REDO
Sure, I probably won't be seeing this until it comes out on DVD as Evangelion 3.1.6 or whatever from Funimation at least a year from now, but when that time comes if 3.0 is as good as 2.0, all that wait will definitely be worth it. And if 3.0 is even better, I will probably go berserk and eject all my dummy plugs.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's list, which will have even more of my wretched opinions, and is even more likely to be on a topic you could care less about! Am I having my cake and eating it too????
PS: Like many dumb lists on the internet, I'm not going to go back and proofread this before I post it (not that I usually catch much anyway). I am!!!
Using the form of a list is an easy psychological trick to fool people into not realizing you're just feeding them your opinion.
Anyway, to further illustrate the point, I've started making some dumb lists that are just me shoving some of my stupid opinions about things out into your faces. Enjoy!
Here is my list of the remaining films of 2012 I am looking forward to. They might not all turn out to be good movies, but they deserve a spot there more than any other movies I know about (Unexpected Journey, Django, Breaking Dawn 2. [See how annoying my opinions are?]).
2012'S MOVIES THAT HAVEN'T COME OUT YET THAT I AM GETTING PRETTY INTO
10. SILENT HILL: REVELATION
Overall, I liked the first movie when it was free on demand from Fearnet. The concept of Silent Hill itself is so good that I wish it would just become a genre. Romantic Comedy, Spaghetti Western, Silent Hill. Also, then, if this movie turns out to be a poopoostinker, I'd have a bunch of other options to choose from. Which, in the world of video game movies, is always a concern.
9. BUTTER
Something about this movie makes it feel like it's got more for me than just another "laugh-at-this-quirky-niche" type of film. I can't quite put a finger on what is though. (I'm kind of worried it's Olivia Wilde).
8. V/H/S
Horror is all towards the bottom of this list, which I think is understandable as it's a real hit-or-miss genre. I'll admit, I've only seen like a trailer for this and hardly know anything about it. It is maybe multiple short films? Anyway, if the style (aside from the currently overused found-footage aspect) is to my liking, then I will probably enjoy it way too much.
7. HANASAKU IROHA: HOME SWEET HOME
I have been lead to believe that this is not one of those movies they make that just recaps the anime on a big screen, or else it would not be on this list. (If it turns out to be, just put Anna Karenina here, switch this with number ten, and mentally put in some point about Tom Stoppard being super great.) But Hanasaku Iroha was a ridiculously lovable story/universe I would very much love to hear more from.
6. LOOPER
I'm worried my experience with Looper will be a lot like Inception, where it's a good movie, but by the time I get around to seeing it, everyone's talked to death about how complex and confusing and original it is and then I watch it and wonder if they all were eating some kind of really distracting popcorn. Also, while I am watching it I am sick and have been sitting in the same movie theater for over eight hours already. I am worried about that. But it's got a good, fun concept, and the same type of actors.
I'm worried my experience with Looper will be a lot like Inception, where it's a good movie, but by the time I get around to seeing it, everyone's talked to death about how complex and confusing and original it is and then I watch it and wonder if they all were eating some kind of really distracting popcorn. Also, while I am watching it I am sick and have been sitting in the same movie theater for over eight hours already. I am worried about that. But it's got a good, fun concept, and the same type of actors.
[By this point, many dumb lists would have a stock image with a funny caption that is often surprisingly enjoyable. Not tonight, toots. Not here.]
5. SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
To me, having Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson in this kind of film is probably akin to how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and sciences would feel about having Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and the ghost of Katherine Hepburn in a film about 17th century British aristocrats.
To me, having Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson in this kind of film is probably akin to how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and sciences would feel about having Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and the ghost of Katherine Hepburn in a film about 17th century British aristocrats.
4. HYDE PARK ON HUDSON
Speaking of Academy fodder, this film makes me think of The King's Speech if it was a little more fun and had Bill Murray. And if that's not something worth seeing, then, well, I'll probably still see it.
Speaking of Academy fodder, this film makes me think of The King's Speech if it was a little more fun and had Bill Murray. And if that's not something worth seeing, then, well, I'll probably still see it.
3. THE MASTER
This movie not only has ridiculous potential in every area, it also marks Jaoquin Phoenix's return to movies after some kind of weird, inexplicable netherforce comprised of the feelings of petty people who took some kind of bizarre personal offense from the clever and ambitious "I'm Still Here" shunned him from the movie world for two years.
This movie not only has ridiculous potential in every area, it also marks Jaoquin Phoenix's return to movies after some kind of weird, inexplicable netherforce comprised of the feelings of petty people who took some kind of bizarre personal offense from the clever and ambitious "I'm Still Here" shunned him from the movie world for two years.
Someone was able to make video games' Who Framed Roger Rabbit / Toy Story and I really get the feeling from everything I've seen about this movie that they weren't just satisfied with coasting on that premise (which is already a fishhook in my mouth). Don't tell Dark Knight Rises or The Avengers I said this, but I will almost definitely see this one while it's in theaters.
1. EVANGELION: 3.0 YOU CAN (NOT) REDO
Sure, I probably won't be seeing this until it comes out on DVD as Evangelion 3.1.6 or whatever from Funimation at least a year from now, but when that time comes if 3.0 is as good as 2.0, all that wait will definitely be worth it. And if 3.0 is even better, I will probably go berserk and eject all my dummy plugs.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's list, which will have even more of my wretched opinions, and is even more likely to be on a topic you could care less about! Am I having my cake and eating it too????
PS: Like many dumb lists on the internet, I'm not going to go back and proofread this before I post it (not that I usually catch much anyway). I am!!!
Labels: 2012, academy awards, MORE LISTS, movies
# posted by Gug Lurge @ 12:30 AM 
