MovieChat Forums > Slipstream (2008) Discussion > Just so we are clear...

Just so we are clear...

posted 16 years ago by bdwolin
25 replies | jump to latest

if you like this movie, if you have incredibly transcindental things to say about every moment of this movie, if you believe this movie is a masterpiece than you are amoung the greatest fools to roam out great interweb. This movie is a jumbled mess, meaningless and mind hurting. I saw it, I saw the Great Anthony Hopkins talk about it and answer questions about his film. And I can tell you he nor anyone involved meant for you to GET it. Its just pure insanity to hurt the brain, in may infact be a practical joke on all of us. Its not really clear what this movie is but fanatasic it is most certaintly NOT. If you think you can tell me why Slipstream is good or worthy of watching please do but I take any non-response as a silent omission.

Forgive spelling and grammar mistake I am too lazy to check. Thank you and be well

[–] lastknown 16 years ago

His movie is your review (and your review).

[–] brananedgens 16 years ago

too lazy to check spelling and grammar. Too lazy to bother. too lazy to think. If a movie can hurt your brain then maybe you should see a doctor. Some people are upset when a circle is incomplete. Your over-use of emotional hyperbole and emphatic platitudes tells me you are one of those people. Nothing wrong with that, it's a psychological trait shared by many. But why so angry about it? You didn't get it, so what? Others might, so what? I Just don't understand the profound intolerance and anger in your post. Not being able to understand something is no reason to become emotional.

[–] bart_tyszka 16 years ago

Just so we get clear who this bdwolin is here is a previous post of his:

"Loved your work in Get Rich or Die Trying."

Someone to respect? I think not.

[–] froggiestyle34000 16 years ago

Well obviously I'm not gonna reply to that numbnuts. Granted you have to be in the mood for a "dream within a dream, within a …" but if you are - whoooooie! What a treat. I took my gf who started to pout during it and I quietly but firmly said, "I love you, now shut up or go to sleep" (translation, you're not gonna spoil this for me). Reminded me of last year at Marienbad, you know wayyyy out there.

BTW see it in a theatre and stay until the final credits are done, you will see an odd treat NEVER done before in a film - I wont give it away *wink* *wink*

[–] MissMaryGoodnight 16 years ago

i think everyone who responded to this user "got it" didn't we kids? just because it is not linear doesn't mean it doesn't make sense. and bdwolin must not have been paying attention to the great anthony hopkins if he thought sir anthony didn't mean for the viewers to understand.
also, how genius is the editing? all that subliminal flickering, beautiful transition, inspired cuts... honestly, i think michael miller deserves oscar recognition.

[–] bdwolin 16 years ago

OKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY Dumbies let me makes this simple. Sir Hop didnt do anything you think he did on purpose. You're all *beep* sheep. You'd see the meaning of life in a McDonalds hamburger if a film critic told you it was there. You ARE mindless and i care for you very little but wish you well.

Bye dumbos.

[–] shwacka2000 16 years ago

There you go again being so emotional.

don't blame Sir Tony if your brain is so small that you can't form your own meaning for the film .I agree with the 2nd poster .You REALLY should see a doctor.Its for your own good.

[–] funnylookingmonkey 16 years ago

ahh... poor little fella.
you don't like it when other people understand things you don't, huh?

life must get pretty hard for you what with all the banging-your-head-against-a-wall you must occupy your time with.

Would you like to smell the bottle cap?
-The Muppet Movie-

[–] mykul48332 16 years ago

You know, on every single board I visit there is one guy who gets angry about something, gives his opinion, and then gets jumped on by everyone.
If he says he didn't get the movie, then do you think that telling him he's an idiot is going to open up his mind.
I see a few people said that 'everyone slse get's it", but haven't seen even one person a) try to explain it for him, or B) show him anything but contempt and ridicule.
Granted, he wasn't very nice to begin with, but nobody was very nice back to him either. Doesn't that put you on the same level?
Try not to strain your necks looking down at those of us who don't always 'get it'.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] funnylookingmonkey 16 years ago

mykul48332, your points are valid and noted.
though i will also say that the OP was not simply posting to offer his opinion -- he was attempting to personally insult those that did enjoy the film. still, i do try to be as civil as i can be on these boards, but will confess i do give in to snarkiness and derision on occasion. this was obviously one of those times.

and you're absolutely correct when you say you "haven't seen even one person a) try to explain it for him, or B) show him anything but contempt and ridicule. "

so, in that spirit, here's my take on Slipstream:

“They’re making a movie around here... somewhere.”
Anthony Hopkins’ psychedelic, enigmatic, comic, meta-cinematic headtrip is an engagingly personal vision of filmmaking from the inside out. its relentless visual and aural audacity and experimentation will no doubt leave some viewers bothered and bewildered, but, unlike say Tony Scott’s Domino or Joe Carnahan’s Smokin’ Aces, here all the technical gimmickry and razzle dazzle is thematically justified by the strange, self-reflective story. here the hyperbolic stylizations constantly reveal sub-textual nuances and narrative asides (like Oliver Stone when he’s on his game... in fact, i can imagine some crass marketeer coming up with a tagline of: “If Oliver Stone and David Lynch teamed up to remake Fellini’s 8 ½, it might look something like this...”). written, directed, scored by, and starring Hopkins, this is an uncompromised auteur’s statement, and he’s enlisted a strong group of supporting players to aid in the effort. (the cast includes John Turturro, Jeffrey Tambor, Christian Slater, S. Epatha Merkerson, and a cleverly hilarious bit part by Kevin McCarthy [alongside an abundance of Invasion of the Body Snatchers nods]; the crew includes DP Dante Spinotti and editor Michael R. Miller.) it’s filmmaking that never holds you by the hand, that tempers its darker and more uncomfortable moments with humor, wit, and bits of the absurd, and that’s the type of filmmaking that suits me just fine.

Would you like to smell the bottle cap?
-The Muppet Movie-

[–] thecore01 16 years ago

bdwolin, I can not agree more with you my friend. I am so sick of people who understand every single "great" crap critics pronounce for ultimate art! Pure "emperor new suite" syndrome...

[–] no1ninja 16 years ago

I found it interesting. The character was obviously bi-polar and slipping into his own world of creativity... the line between premonition, dream and reality was blurred.

I found it entertaining. Some people do not understand abstract art, does this mean abstract art is useless... no, its just another perspective foreign to your ordered mind.

This movie was very well done, I have seen others try something like this only to mess it up.

Have a nice day.

[–] beth-melinda 16 years ago

wow, Bdwolin you seem...... angry? or maybe you are just....passionate?

Either way, I saw Slipstream recently & while I didn't hate it, I didn't love it either; in fact I guess i was left a bit disappointed being a Sir Anthony Hopkins movie and all, I suppose I expected something different!

[–] ClintJCL 11 years ago

lol butthurt

-ClintJCL
http://clintjcl.wordpress.com/category/reviews/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl

[–] equazcion 16 years ago

I agree with the original poster... usually. But not for this particular movie. The Coen Brothers and Wes Anderson have a nice following of those who bdwolen here berates, you know the ones I'm talking about, who as someone else stated nicely, would see the meaning of life in a cheeseburger, as long as a Hollywood director grilled it and perhaps added a few inexplicable ingredients like a clown nose and crushed ecstasy pills, then branded it No Country for Old Men.

This one however I did see substance in, not similar artsy-fartsy meaning but just a plain old insight into the brain of someone who's been in film for a really long time. It's all there -- what he likes, dislikes, finds funny and ridiculous, and so forth, about Hollywood and film making. And for those who need it, there's a logical explanation too -- that a writer simply went mad and started feeling guilty for the way he "treats" his characters. "We're real people too! How can you do this to us??" they seem to cry out.

I found this very entertaining. There's two types of movies that are meant to make the audience not know what the hell is going on. In one type, almost nothing happens. You sit there and watch people do almost nothing, you wait and you wait, and some people choose to find meaning in all the nothing while others just see nothing. Then there's the other type, where there's so much going on that it all contradicts itself, but at least there is a lot going on, and all that stuff took effort, imagination, and creativity to produce, and in the end, at least things are happening, at least they're showing you what's going on in their head, at least you've got something to watch and engage your senses. Even if you don't know what the hell is going on, you're being fed the information; someone is letting you see what they're thinking, they're giving you the information, you have something to dissect.

Someone has bore an honest hole in their head so you can see their mind completely, something that can only ever look like a jumble of disjointed scenes, synaptic misfires and all.

Good movie.

http://www.bitzearch.com -- Find the good ones. Fast.

[–] SBinilosaP 16 years ago

I thought it tried too hard. It could have been good but it was a mess. I am a fan of films like these but this was just sorta boring. I actually fell asleep. Too much MTV editing. Some of the dialogue was good. It wanted to be like lynch but ended up being something similar to a child's exploration in a sandbox of psychosis and nifty tricks. Mulholland was better and you know it.

[–] CoffeeGoddess 16 years ago

"I thought it tried too hard." EXACTLY! I've been killing myself trying to sum up this movie and 'it tried too hard' is it in a nutshell.

I didn't hate it but neither does it belong in the top 250 great films. It was an interesting concept and I really didn't like it at first. Frankly, had it not been for Camryn Manheim I would have stopped watching it after about 5 minutes. I'm glad I didn't. I do think it is a bit pretentious but then I'm not sure it wasn't supposed to be. That's the trouble with in jokes. Those of us on the outside are left to guess about their meaning.

My best advice? Smoke a bowl and give it a watch. Drugs do force us to be more creative than we really are.

The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma -- Patrick Star

[–] kc1177 16 years ago

I watched this,the Nines,and Stay all in the same week. My head almost exploded. I love the indies. I love interwoven stories (Crash,10 Things You Can Tell About Her...) I can do odd and non-linear (Donnie Darko, even)but I had a really hard time with this one. I love Anthony Hopkins and he had a great cast! Fionulla!!! She always rocks. I love Christian Slater. I got some of the inside jokes. I got that the writer had confusion/guilt over the way he wrote his characters and messed with their "lives". I just can't say I liked it all that much and I really wanted to. It made me want to go back and rewatch Coffee and Cigarettes and Masked and Anonymous and enjoy the experimental work of someone again.

[–] yossarian100 16 years ago

Well, "It's just a movie."

"I left everything, and everyone. But no one, no one has ever left me."

[–] hrrrshw-O3 16 years ago

I agree with you bdwolin. Hopkins didn't mean for it to make sense and it is a joke on the viewer. In some scenes the film crew even says things like "who writes this crap?', and "I can't believe that I'm even working on this piece of crap.", etc., etc.

I like Hopkins but I didn't like or even "get" the movie (because I'm not a pompous poser) until I read this post. I get it now and I even like it a little.

Some people could and would (with an audience of course) admire a steaming dog turd.