Babel

[Nbadan]

Movie is da bomb. International terra, immigration and migrant workers, how wrong we can be about people from impressions most people draw from the TV and other sterotypes, deception, and even a trippy 10-15 minute sequence straight out of requim of a dream. You have to think about, but you don't have to guess what happens at the end and best of all, few holes...


Fuk that Children of Men bullsheet...Babel's da bomb.


View da trailer (http://imdb.com/title/tt0449467/trailers)

[turambar85]

Babel sucked.

As far as making interesting connections between characters that required imagination and foresight by the audience to understand, it bombed.

in regards to gratuitous nudity and sexuality, it sucked. I have absolutely no problem with sexual content and/or nudity, take it or leave it. However, having a 11 year old masturbate to mental images of his sister, and to have a deaf Asian chick show her bush is just pointless. It was supposed to be an intellectual movie, yet used flat-out abrasive signs as if the audience were too ignorant to understand to implications of their actions. Again, the 11 year old masturbation was disgusting and completely irrelevant to the continuation of the plot of the movie.

In regards to keeping the audience on its toes, it failed. The acting was decent, but the movie moved incredibly slow. You knew before it happened what would happen, and the things that did happen were not only few and far between, but they took ages to set each other up.

The movie makes a fine statement regarding interaction, but does not do it as well as Crash, and doesn't even keep you as intertained in the process.

Had there been no hype, had this been an art theater movie without big name stars like Pitt, I would rate it a 7-8. However, with the hype and cast, it is a 5.5-6.

Weak.

[johngateswhiteley]

It was supposed to be an intellectual movie, yet used flat-out abrasive signs as if the audience were too ignorant to understand to implications of their actions.

...i haven't seen it, but i plan to at some point. as for the audience being too ignorant....do you pay much attention to those around you?

[turambar85]

...i haven't seen it, but i plan to at some point. as for the audience being too ignorant....do you pay much attention to those around you?

Well, maybe so...but this movie was supposed to reach out to a target audience. It wasn't meant to appeal to the same people as Jackass 2 (which was funny as hell, btw).

I don't think a movie should be getting Oscars and Academy Awards or whatever if it is relegated to being as open-handed and blatant in its progressions as Babel. There was not one time I was shocked by what happened. There was not one time a character turned out to be something other that what the initial camera shot showed them to be, and there was not one time that they slyly said something rather than shouting it out on a neon placard.

[johngateswhiteley]

Well, maybe so...but this movie was supposed to reach out to a target audience. It wasn't meant to appeal to the same people as Jackass 2 (which was funny as hell, btw).

I don't think a movie should be getting Oscars and Academy Awards or whatever if it is relegated to being as open-handed and blatant in its progressions as Babel. There was not one time I was shocked by what happened. There was not one time a character turned out to be something other that what the initial camera shot showed them to be, and there was not one time that they slyly said something rather than shouting it out on a neon placard.


:lol ...well, maybe i don't look forward to seeing it then. but for the obviousness of the movie...i get your point about target audience, it just seems the movie was made to appear for a certain target...yet, the underlying goal was mainstream. but, i only gathered that from the previews and others' thoughts. who knows what they were thinking...?

[Nbadan]

in regards to gratuitous nudity and sexuality, it sucked. I have absolutely no problem with sexual content and/or nudity, take it or leave it. However, having a 11 year old masturbate to mental images of his sister, and to have a deaf Asian chick show her bush is just pointless. It was supposed to be an intellectual movie, yet used flat-out abrasive signs as if the audience were too ignorant to understand to implications of their actions. Again, the 11 year old masturbation was disgusting and completely irrelevant to the continuation of the plot of the movie.

I don't think you get to know the interacttion between the brothers, and their childish weaknesses despite there being such different culture, without the peeping and masterbation scene. It's not graphic. Just showing that boys are the same everywhere.

[Nbadan]

This movie certainly won't appeal to the Jackass audience, but I can certainly see it becoming a cult classic like Requim.

[turambar85]

I don't think you get to know the interacttion between the brothers, and their childish weaknesses despite there being such different culture, without the peeping and masterbation scene. It's not graphic. Just showing that boys are the same everywhere.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!




Him peeping alone showed that problem. Him sneaking off with the gun and shooting it at busses showed that problem. Them hiding the guns and the subsequent scenes showed that problem. 1/3 the movie showed their weakness and the subsequent results.

However, showing a kid, someone who barely looked old enough to know he had a dick, masturbating under his shirt, complete with moaning and eyes rolling back into his head, was way over the top, and in poor taste.

If it had been Jackass the movie, and had facked, very well I add, a sex scene between two 11 year olds, people would pitch a fit. If something is indecent and off-limits, it doesn't matter what movie it is in, it is still wrong.

[Nbadan]

I think the whole premise of the movie: It was a childish accident that blew up, none of that would have worked without character development. It showed that these were boys weren't fanatics or any different than any other boy when it comes to curiosity about sex and the opposite sex.

[turambar85]

I think the whole premise of the movie: It was a childish accident that blew up, none of that would have worked without character development. It showed that these were boys weren't fanatics or any different than any other boy when it comes to curiosity about sex and the opposite sex.

Sure, it most assuredly showed that they were interested in sex...but it was clear that it was an accident due to the setup to the shooting, and their reaction afterwards. Also, it is clear they are interested in sex in that he watched her while she changed.

I just think that a smart movie should be as such. It should have had the proof that they aren't fanatics simply have been that final scene while they are fleeing. It is emotional, powerful, and simple. It doesn't require any pre-teen masturbation to get the job done, either.

[01Snake]

I'd like to see it. If it sucks, will you refund my money Dan? :lol

[slayermin]

Good film. I enjoyed the scenes in Japan the most.

[MannyIsGod]

Wow, this was the worst abortion of a movie that I've ever seen. I want those 2 1/2 hours back right now. If we hadn't seen it for free, I would be even more pissed.

I didn't think Crash was an oscar worth movie, but I thought this attempted the same thing and failed so damn miserably. Crash > Babel by a long shot, and I'm not a huge fan of crash at all.

I honestly got the impression that the director watched CNN one night, and decided to make a movie based on every single story on the nightly newscast. Nevermind the total absence of any form of a plot and the ridiculous linking of the stories (Really, WTF was the point of the Japanese storyline?).

Babel gets a negative 2 stars.

[MannyIsGod]

Babel sucked.

As far as making interesting connections between characters that required imagination and foresight by the audience to understand, it bombed.

in regards to gratuitous nudity and sexuality, it sucked. I have absolutely no problem with sexual content and/or nudity, take it or leave it. However, having a 11 year old masturbate to mental images of his sister, and to have a deaf Asian chick show her bush is just pointless. It was supposed to be an intellectual movie, yet used flat-out abrasive signs as if the audience were too ignorant to understand to implications of their actions. Again, the 11 year old masturbation was disgusting and completely irrelevant to the continuation of the plot of the movie.

In regards to keeping the audience on its toes, it failed. The acting was decent, but the movie moved incredibly slow. You knew before it happened what would happen, and the things that did happen were not only few and far between, but they took ages to set each other up.

The movie makes a fine statement regarding interaction, but does not do it as well as Crash, and doesn't even keep you as intertained in the process.

Had there been no hype, had this been an art theater movie without big name stars like Pitt, I would rate it a 7-8. However, with the hype and cast, it is a 5.5-6.

Weak.That about sums it up.

[gameFACE]

The difference between Crash and Babel is that Crash is tied together structurally much easier than Babel. Crash is a Hollywood movie with a Hollywood type ending. The pieces are put together so people will be sure to understand. It's for American audiences only. Babel is much more challenging and ties even more globally what Crash wants to do. Babel is superior in that sense.

5 out of 5 chiles from me. And I predict the Oscar win for Best Picture which it deserves by a long shot. Inarritu is one bad ass directing puto!
:smokin

[ponky]

The difference between Crash and Babel is that Crash is tied together structurally much easier than Babel. Crash is a Hollywood movie with a Hollywood type ending. The pieces are put together so people will be sure to understand. It's for American audiences only. Babel is much more challenging and ties even more globally what Crash wants to do. Babel is superior in that sense.

5 out of 5 chiles from me. And I predict the Oscar win for Best Picture which it deserves by a long shot. Inarritu is one bad ass directing puto!
:smokin

I was just about to write something similar but you just about covered it. It's funny that the poster above is getting all hyped up about the masturbation scene with the young boy when for me, the cop feeling up the black chick was more uncomfortable...one scene is natural, the other definitely is not. I hope Babel wins the Oscar, much better movie than Crash.

[MannyIsGod]

The difference between Crash and Babel is that Crash is tied together structurally much easier than Babel. Crash is a Hollywood movie with a Hollywood type ending. The pieces are put together so people will be sure to understand. It's for American audiences only. Babel is much more challenging and ties even more globally what Crash wants to do. Babel is superior in that sense.

5 out of 5 chiles from me. And I predict the Oscar win for Best Picture which it deserves by a long shot. Inarritu is one bad ass directing puto!
:smokin:lol

Give me a break. I feel I understand the global climate pretty damn well, but using a hunting rifle given away as a link to a sub story about a teenager having problems communcating and with sexuality is fucking WEAK. If you want to say that Crash was less ambitous then thats fine - I never thought Crash was an Best Picture worthy movie - but Babel fails miserably at making links. The link between that story and the rest of the movie is incredibly weak and seems like nothing more than a ridiculous tie in.

Seriously, Babel is just the nightly news in a 2 and a half hour fictionalized version.

As for the masterbation scene, I think the point that Tur was making was that it was unnessecary, not that he was freaked out by the scene. There was a lot of gratioutous sexuality in this movie that really had very little place within the rest of the film's context.

The film tries to do too much. Shooting for the stars is a good thing, but only if you get there. Babel does a miserable job of making any one point. At least Crash picked a central theme and portrated it well. Babel picks 33043984903840398 themes and does a pretty poor job of portraying most.

[MannyIsGod]

Jess came up with a better title than the directors:

"Shit Happens: The Movie"

[MannyIsGod]

Oh, BTW, I really enjoyed Alejandro González Iñárritu's other work. Amorres Peros is one of my all time favorite movies.

[MannyIsGod]

One of the mods should probably put a spoiler warning on the thread title.

[gameFACE]

For me there was no gratuitous sex in the movie at all. I don't really get caught up in the whole masturbation thing as offensive. As was mentioned above it was no more the portrayal of curiosity at that age. I thought the nude scene with the Japanese girl was powerful. Here she is a deaf girl who relies more on imagery than any of us. Imagery that is fed to us in the type of television your describing as being the structure of the movie. Things like CNN with its ticker and multi-image screens. ESPN, too. Imagery that feeds us things like a beautiful woman = sex or love. Scantily clad women. So here is this girl starving for love trying to get attention. But even her flashing of the holiest of holies doesn't get her love or a good lay because she's defective in the eyes of "normies". Even her exposing her nude body to the detedtive doesn't get her love. It showed instead how raw and vulnerable she was. How is that gratuitous?

Sometimes a link can be a very simple thing. It doesn't have to be complicated in order to make a point. Sometimes it's just a fluke. But it becomes large because we don't know how to communicate.

Basically I just thought it kicked ass.

I'll give you this though - I do think it wasn't as good as Amores Perros or 21 Grams. Babel is, dare I say, a bit more Hollywood than the other ones.

[Spurfect]

I liked it.

[Fabbs]

Very nicely done movie.
It's about missed communication chances in the search for love and the consequences -director.

Easy to see how the stories tied together.
Not enough closure on some of them, but that appears to be the way director wanted it.** Spoilers below.

Manny and turambar85 and anyone else I aggree the masterbation scene was overdone and unnecessary.

Manny does this mean you found Children of Men riveting?

**Spoilers
Japanese girl Cheiko. Did she kill Mom? Did Dad kill Mom? Did Mom really kill herself. Why changing the story from off of balcony to shot herself? All perhaps answered by the note the detective read at the end. However audience is not shown contents of note.

Cheap Gringo Brad Pitt character cutting mex nanny a big break and not filing charges. Kiss my ass you self righteous cheapskate. You DO hire her as an illegal to save money yet you are too cheap to give her the day of her sons wedding off. The end of that one really upset me. However it is a spot on portrayal of hypocritical upper middle and well of US of A today. Very realistic. turambar you claim to know exactly what would come down in the desert and in Japan? I'm calling bull.

[MannyIsGod]

i haven't seen Children of Men