MovieChat Forums > Chatroom (2010) Discussion > Outdated already

Outdated already

posted 13 years ago by mboj
22 replies | jump to latest

Whoa. What a stinker. Just watched Chatroom.

Actually clunker is a better description. For a start does anybody actually use 'chatrooms' anymore? I remember they were quite popular back in the 90s. *clunk* Chelsea Teens?!? I mean, 'Chelsea' hasn't been fashionable since punk and that's even further back. *clunk* Supposedly cool kids running around Camden Lock. Sane Londoners avoid the market there after it was touristed a few years back and all the 'cool' shop ousted. *clunk* Add to this that one poor actor was deprived of lines and made to cry through pretty much the whole length of the film... I could go on but I just wanted to vent really.

What puzzles me most is why did none of the cast set the director straight? I mean, it's just cruel that no-one warned him just how far off the mark he'd gone. Embarrassing for all involved. Avoid.

—
<i>"I think I have a case of mood poisoning. Must be something I hate."</i> — Wild Palms

[–] andyviana162 13 years ago

actually i go to a chatroom a lot. but its not just random chatroom. everyone that goes to the one i go to likes the same thing. kpop. so no its not outdated.

Is this your homework Larry?

[–] stepchange 13 years ago

Agreed pretentious, cringeworthy and frustrating film to watch.

[–] emidot 13 years ago

i kinda agreewtwih you, but i think you have to bear in mind that the play this is based on was written 6 or 7 yrs ago. plus all the characters seemed unable to connect with the outside world, so it seemed natural in the computer age for them to look up chatrooms.

'I'm not interested in money, I just want to be wonderful.'
-Marilyn Monroe

[–] pattamus-1 13 years ago

Not trying to argue with you about the movie; you do have a point there. I'm sure it depicts chatting in a cliche and cheesy way.

But just for everyone's information, lots of people still chat online. It's called IRC(internet relay chat); there are tons of different networks with hundreds or thousands of channels on each. It's still popular, but it's not very mainstream (which is good). It's been around since the early days of the internet and will not fade away any time soon.

There are also Yahoo chat rooms that are fairly popular, and there are many other GUI-based chats aimed at certain demographics, such as teens.

[–] jack_face 13 years ago

yahoo chat rooms are nothing but bots. popular with spammers, sure, but not real people who really wanna connect with others.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] kut_u_up-1 13 years ago

You mean Aaron Johnson? He's English, he's from the same town as me, don't think he lives here any more though, I've never met him and I haven't seen him around anywhere.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] denise1234 13 years ago

Chancery_Stone^

So agree with your post!

This movie was not supposed to be a 'how to' on chatrooms, or about what supposedly is the coolest or most fashionable 'this or that' (either online or in the 'real' world).

It was a character study about strangers who find themselves in an alter world with one among them having his own, twisted agenda and how the world of the internet assists him in trying to realize that agenda.

The character themes in this movie are timeless.

What is specifically 'current' is how our alter egos established online can at once transcend our offline personas, but we can never truly escape who we really are, and that will sooner or later seep into our online interactions.

I also thought the visual and various depictions of the 'internet' world were very creative (the various 'rooms', the 'traffic', the password intercom, the internet 'police', crashing someone's computer, etc.)

I liked this movie :)

"I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than..a rude remark or a vulgar action" Blanche DuBois

[–] smeg-4-brains 13 years ago

Hmm... 'chatrooms" may be the thing of the late nineties-naughties but the film itself has the feel of those 1980s-early-90s cyberpunk-wannabe movies that weren't successful; Lawnmower Man, Hackers, Circuitry Man, Johnny Mnemonic, New Rose Hotel, just to name a few. Maybe Mr Nakaya should stick to Japanese-style horror flicks... not that I blame the director since the film was based on a few year old play as someone else had already mentioned.

[–] Pook_Pook_Pook 13 years ago

I have to agree with pretty much everything you said, he could have got round most of the problems by setting it in the recent past.

As to weter that would have made it a better film of not...well.

[–] Nearvana 13 years ago

if you view the chatroom as a metaphor for all things 'social networking', such as facebook, twitter, and a plethora of other variant layouts & it is the same. people are losing their social kills in thanks to these tools. it's sad really. & who cares what is deemed cool or uncool, how very cliche'. i detest these forms of exclusions. it is sad. when the world can learn to be tolerant of others, it will be a much happier, safer, better, & dare i say it, but 'cool' place to be.
you were so preoccupied noticing all of the uncool irrelevant bits of this film, you missed the overall message. walk outside & be kind. notice the unfortunate things that happened to the main character, was like a shot of negavtive electricity that affected many others, thanks to technical advancement, & peoples evergrowing addictions to it.