146 replies to this topic

[DJ Vu]

BigDMcGee, on Monday, March 7th, 2011, 5:54 PM, said:

Yeah, I meant for me. I can see how others might not like it, but for me, it's like they made the perfect movie for me. It might be rash, but I think it might have cracked my top five of all time, is how much I like it.

Banksy + Tom Hanks = Hanksy

[mk]

brvheart, on Monday, January 16th, 2012, 1:22 PM, said:

I'm guessing that they actually did commit the crime, however, they shouldn't have been convicted.At least they had a few years in the pen before being let out to murder some more people.

surely you can't be serious

[timwakefield]

Don't call him Shirley!That terrible joke works better out loud than it does written down. But yeah, they were innocent, and "guessing that they actually did commit the crime" is silly.

[iZuma]

yes brv, I too would like to know of which pieces of evidence you're basing your opinion of guilt on.

[speedz99]

YEAH

[timwakefield]

speedz99, on Wednesday, February 15th, 2012, 2:34 PM, said:

YEAH

I enjoyed this.

[Swift_Psycho]

Finally saw "Waiting for Superman." Really good.

[Iphonenkinder]

Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood RebelA newish doc about the career and influence of Roger Corman. It's very, very good, and has lots of interviews from big names (Nicholson, Scorcese, Demme) who got their start in the Corman universe. I have a special fascination with people who have long, creative, productive careers. You want to know how to make it as a producer? This movie gives a good outline: work harder than anyone else, count every penny, and get it done. I loved this doc.

[Sick Boy]

Kony 2012

[LongLiveYorke]

JubilantLankyLad, on Monday, March 7th, 2011, 7:17 PM, said:

Restrepo was very very good.

Really want to see this one.

JubilantLankyLad, on Monday, March 7th, 2011, 7:17 PM, said:

I saw Exit Through the Gift Shop and Inside Job recently, too. Inside Job was good, but all very familiar. ETtGS was incredible, just a great story that's too bizarre to not be true and gripping from start to finish. I don't know how it didn't win. Probably political.

I just saw this a few days ago. It was excellent. I missed a bit of the beginning (I saw it on TV) and was quite skeptical at first. I thought it would be a documentary glorifying graffiti. But, yeah, it's quite brilliant. It raises so many intelligent questions and addresses them in fascinating ways. I don't really care if it's "fake" or not (though, I don't think it is). It was just an excellent way to make a point and raise a conversation.

[brvheart]

LongLiveYorke, on Sunday, March 18th, 2012, 3:59 PM, said:

Really want to see this one.

It really is very very good.

[timwakefield]

LongLiveYorke, on Sunday, March 18th, 2012, 4:59 PM, said:

I just saw this a few days ago. It was excellent. I missed a bit of the beginning (I saw it on TV) and was quite skeptical at first. I thought it would be a documentary glorifying graffiti. But, yeah, it's quite brilliant. It raises so many intelligent questions and addresses them in fascinating ways. I don't really care if it's "fake" or not (though, I don't think it is). It was just an excellent way to make a point and raise a conversation.

I think a very large part of what makes it so fascinating and borderline brilliant is the ambiguity of whether or not Banksy created Mr. Brainwash, and whether or not Mr. Brainwash is sincere. His art is so bad -- so painfully, blatantly, and overtly dull and practically plagiarized that it's hard to believe it's not an act. I mean, his name is Mr. Brainwash, and he (and Banksy??) basically brainwashed people into paying him ludicrous sums for his art, by simply pretending that the art is legit by playing up the fact that Banksy is ostensibly attached to it, or is his mentor or whatever. One of my favorite parts is when they ask Banksy (and some art critics I believe) what they think of Brainwash's art, and they all struggle not to be too insulting. A lot of his art is just so...stupid! And he sold so fucking much of it! The whole thing seems like exactly the type of joke Banksy would pull, and then make a movie out of. COME ON! It's like some shit a first-year design student would do in photoshop for a class assignment. Mr. Brainwash has to know, and it has to have been planned. It's just too perfectly ridiculous to be real. And yet, stranger things have happened. I just love the lingering ambiguity. It's impossible to be 100% certain one way or the other.

[brvheart]

If someone free-hand drew either of those pictures, I would be impressed at the quality.

[timwakefield]

brvheart, on Monday, March 19th, 2012, 4:18 AM, said:

If someone free-hand drew either of those pictures, I would be impressed at the quality.

I think I would too. Mr. Brainwash didn't draw them though - they were silkscreened and he didn't even do that, his assistants did it. That alone isn't a slam at him - conceptualizing a piece and overseeing the production of it is a perfectly legitimate way for an artist to create work. But he then literally rolled by in a rolling chair and splattered a few drops of paint on them (he may have taken a couple minutes on the Ali, but the Elvis-type-ones we literally see him spending 5 seconds per print adding droplets of paint to the lower portions while rolling by in a chair). That alone doesn't make him illegitimate, but it was ridiculous.

[brvheart]

I've seen the movie, and I understand what you're saying. What I'm saying is that I don't think it's ridiculous that someone would buy either of those. There is certainly a market for it. The point in the movie, and from you, is that Mr. Brainwash is possibly a fraud, and more importantly, rich people are idiots. Furthermore, the prices they were paying were big enough that everyone can walk right up to them and point in their faces while laughing.I'm fine with that conclusion, but I would still be happy with that Ali on my wall. In fact, I should just try to recreate it, because I think it's cool. Not $30,000 cool, but $50 cool.

[timwakefield]

brvheart, on Monday, March 19th, 2012, 5:53 AM, said:

Not $30,000 cool, but $50 cool.

Exactly, and that's the coup that Mr. Brainwash (and Banksy?) conducted. Getting people to pay tens of thousands of dollars for something worth about $50 or $100. It's not that his work is inherently ugly, it's just that it's not "deep." It's great craft, but it's terrible art. Of course the prices people were paying for actual Banksys is also pretty hilarious, considering that he usually paints them in alleys for free, and that taking his paintings out of the alley and slapping them on a canvas in a gallery completely changes their meaning for, in my opinion, the worse. Of course I'm not blaming Banksy for that.

[BigDMcGee]

Hey LLL, you elitist pigdog.. what the **** is wrong with glorifying graffiti, hmm? I think street art is by far the most significant visual art movement in the last 30 years.I think the Mr Brainwash stuff is worth 30K even moreso because it's so ridiculous. If it's some neo-Dadist practical joke, that's where it's value will come from in the future. Frankly, it could be underpriced.

[brvheart]

timwakefield, on Monday, March 19th, 2012, 7:03 AM, said:

It's not that his work is inherently ugly, it's just that it's not "deep." It's great craft, but it's terrible art.

Art is so subjective that I think this is a really poor argument. If I just started showing you art, some stuff from ebay for $19.99 and some from Picasso or any number of other famous artists, there is no doubt in my mind that you would be 50/50 on the value of every single painting.

BigDMcGee, on Monday, March 19th, 2012, 12:11 PM, said:

I think the Mr Brainwash stuff is worth 30K even moreso because it's so ridiculous. If it's some neo-Dadist practical joke, that's where it's value will come from in the future. Frankly, it could be underpriced.

This is a super solid point, and I totally agree with it. The value will definitely come from the movie/joke in the future. On antiques Road Show 100 years from now, Mr. Brainwash stuff will get everyone in the room excited.

[DJ Vu]

Have you guys heard of Bully?It's "a documentary on peer-to-peer bullying in schools across America."It got an R rating for profanity. I guess because the MPAA doesn't want a movie that is actually important for teenagers to see to be seen by teenagers? Not that an R rating actually stops teenagers from seeing the movie, so it's probably a controversy that is much ado about nothing, but it still seems pretty clueless.

[frautotenkinder]

The toothless dog that is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have narrowed their doc list. The only one I want to see is This is Not a Film. The rest I'll take a pass. My favorite of the year (Beauty is Embarrassing) isn't on this list, and from this point on, the Best Doc category is dead to me.

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 85th Academy Awards®. One hundred twenty-six pictures had originally qualified in the category.
The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:
“Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,” Never Sorry LLC
“Bully,” The Bully Project LLC
“Chasing Ice,” Exposure
“Detropia,” Loki Films
“Ethel,” Moxie Firecracker Films
“5 Broken Cameras,” Guy DVD Films
“The Gatekeepers,” Les Films du Poisson, Dror Moreh Productions, Cinephil
“The House I Live In,” Charlotte Street Films, LLC
“How to Survive a Plague,” How to Survive a Plague LLC
“The Imposter,” Imposter Pictures Ltd.
“The Invisible War,” Chain Camera Pictures
“Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” Jigsaw Productions in association with
Wider Film Projects and Below the Radar Films
“Searching for Sugar Man,” Red Box Films
“This Is Not a Film,” Wide Management
“The Waiting Room,” Open’hood, Inc.
The Documentary Branch viewed the eligible documentaries for the preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles on the shortlist. The 85th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 10, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.