MovieChat Forums > Atlas (2024) Discussion > J-Lo really can't act...

J-Lo really can't act...

posted 25 days ago by cyguration (3941)
22 replies | jump to latest

This was a dumb movie through and through, and basically a vanity project for J-Lo, but even if it were going to be a vanity project you would think she would bring her A-game to this project. Instead, she came across as self-aware and incredulous toward the concept of the film; it felt like she was using it as a conceit to stay relevant while using something that would appeal to the "younger demographic", which is probably how it was pitched to her.

I can probably imagine before she came on as a writer/producer the film was probably a lot more team-focused and less stupid. There was definitely a seed of something cool here, but it was like she just couldn't get out of her own way to allow the film to stand on its own.

I feel like if someone like Noomi Rapace was given the role (she always seems to make everything better) and they grounded the combat a lot more and made it feel less stupid, it could have been worthwhile.

I cannot believe Sterling Brown was basically in this film as little more than a sacrificial male cheerleader; how emasculating is that? It also seems to follow every single modern feminist film where a character who doubts the female lead in any way has to stick around to tell her that she's right. They did the EXACT same thing in the film Prey, where just before her brother dies he tells her she was right. It's such BS.

But yeah, if this film wasn't a J-Lo vanity project it could have been a cult classic like Spectral.

[–] Tina (550) 24 days ago

I'm beginning to think that Jennifer Lopez slept her way into celebrity. The only talent that she has is as a dancer. Her singing is weak and so is her acting. Most of her songs have other vocalists singing for her on the track.

[–] parkerbot (6350) 17 days ago

The Machine props up what it wants to prop up.

Exhibit A - Taylor Swift.

[–] pastover (136) 22 days ago

bruh

what are you even talking about. rather than direct specifically at you, i'll say: anyone who thinks this movie was feminist is an idiot. they literally describe atlas as rigid hostile emotionally unstable anti social. she failed exams. she's challenged and mocked by female soldiers. if anything lopez was 'femasculated' by Smith AI the entire movie and Smith was the one proven correct all along about needing to open up and sync..... whereas lopez was stubborn neurotic and unlikeable until Smith set her straight. by 'stupid people' internet rules that should make the movie AI-inist or something

the brilliant screwup (person) "proven to be right" is a also movie trope, probably formerly applied mainly to male protagonists in action/adventure (maybe sandra bullock made a few in her time..?). the theory is, despite all of this, the mere act of the doubter telling her she was right along (something that, by itself, happens a lot in movies) would make it feminist? how about.......... 👉💩 no; the hypersensitivity level is too high here.. need to tone it down

more importantly though you lost me at Noomi Rapace. but thats a preference i suppose. no big deal. i've liked a few of her action movies. she'd be too serious

to me JLO is like megan fox or sydney sweeney in that... some people hate their unique acting skills... but their great visual skills make a lot of other people simply not care, and i think that's hilarious 😂.. these women are all true national treasures. i'm sure there are other similar women out there too; i dont think the movie needs substitutions but if we were to substitute..i would only allow it among this group of fine women 🤚. that controversial hilarity, to me, contributes to what makes this one so good 🤤

by the way if you think she can't act, i know you can't have seen her older stuff.. U-Turn and The Cell come to mind.. oh and let's not forget Anaconda.. CLASSIC 😁

[–] cyguration (3941) 22 days ago

she's challenged and mocked by female soldiers.

Who all die because they didn't listen to her.

if anything lopez was 'femasculated' by Smith AI the entire movie and Smith was the one proven correct all along about needing to open up and sync..... whereas lopez was stubborn neurotic and unlikeable until Smith set her straight.

This is true -- Smith was the only likable character in the film, and "died" trying to save J-Lo so she could pull a 4D chess move and kill Harlan.

the brilliant screwup (person) "proven to be right" is a also movie trope, probably formerly applied mainly to male protagonists in action/adventure (maybe sandra bullock made a few in her time..?).

This is a trope typically used in disaster films for a character who is oftentimes off-kilter but turns out to be correct; they may or may not be the main character or may or may not live, sort of like John Doe in Freddy's Dead or Herbert West in Re-Animator.

[–] pastover (136) 21 days ago

Who all die because they didn't listen to her.

and yet it's never even intimated that gender has anything to do with anything. moreover, she also insists strongly in the final ship briefing "warning speech" that "you can't trust any AI and as long as you're synced up with one of these arcș i'm not even sure you that can even trust yourselves" 👈 obviously, on that point, she is explicitly proven wrong -and as a major plot point of the movie- by the end. i argue that in that case the fallibility is much more explicitly made clear than any one liner dialog "omg atlas you were right all along 😭 it's obviously because i'm just a stinky smelly man with one eye and you're a perfect queenslaying woman with magnificent hair and makeup even in your final hours " 👈 .. oh wait no that never happened either

This is a trope typically used in disaster film ..etc

absolutely. i haven't seen independence day (1996) in a long time .. i vaguely remember something like this... i think jeff goldblum's scientist character could have been entirely interchanged with atlas at many points, and the entire (lack of) gender dynamics could have played out the exact same

(but i'm thinking..couldn't replace atlas completely with a man and remain the same movie because then the male Smith AI/female atlas dynamic changes from the girl and her robot trope like Bumblebee (2018) to more of a Her (2013) in a mech.. much different action and emotional dynamic that's specifically focuses on for the movie)

nah me i liked all the characters, especially the ones not alive on screen long enough to care 🤭👍

[–] cyguration (3941) 21 days ago

oh wait no that never happened either

He didn't prattle on about her being right, but they made it pretty clear and evident to give him lines to explicitly say she was right just before he met his demise. They did the exact same thing in Prey with the brother, and all I could do was roll my eyes.

absolutely. i haven't seen independence day (1996) in a long time .. i vaguely remember something like this... i think jeff goldblum's scientist character could have been entirely interchanged with atlas at many points, and the entire (lack of) gender dynamics could have played out the exact same

It's funny because I was LITERALLY going to reference Jeff Goldblum's character in Independence Day in my previous comment, but couldn't remember if I had that right or not, so I avoided using that reference but I'm guessing he was that character since you referenced it as well.

The difference, however, was that Goldblum was a deuterogonist and shared hero responsibilities with Will Smith, along with Bill Pullman and Randy Quaid. So it wasn't like he was Gary Stu'ing his way to the end credits.

[–] pastover (136) 20 days ago

...
and neither was prey feminist, so i see why it's confusing

yeah they gave him the line because it's a movie and that's the the 'good' character says to the other in that situation regardless of gender. perhaps it's possible you only explicitly remember it happening when it's male said to female

if i could rewatch all the 80s and 90s action movies i've ever seen i'm sure i could find situations similar to this (to me atlas screenplay is much like 90s-00s movie).. on tip of my tongue is a movie from that era with a kid spending the whole movie trying to warn cops about criminals in a mall or something. the dont believe him so he stops them himself (maybe?) and at the end of the movie after much terror and destruction the lead female black cop tells him "we chould have listened to you".. something like that

of course thats not the same since i dont think anyone was on their death bed. that's whats so hard about these arbitrary rules.. i guess it the man has to also be on his death bed to qualify. regardless.. it's an innocuous line. trying to read into it like a rorschach test is as crazy/delusional as a feminist reading secret oppressive patriarchy into everything

theres not even any mary/gary sue/stu comparison.. so it doesnt make sense here; the ony similarity is atlas eventually succeeded unbelievably, like every other action protagonist since dawn of action movies

so speaking of which, to someone who finds feminism everywhere, are all these movies supposed to be likewise considered meninist i sincerely wonder? mission impossibles, john wicks, indiana joneses, all the 80s action heroes
(meninism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masculism)

the answer if you have one would help me understand the point of view

[–] cyguration (3941) 18 days ago

and neither was prey feminist, so i see why it's confusing

It absolutely was, since women in Apache tribes weren't hunters. Making her more capable than her male hunters was complete over-the-top feminist agitprop.

perhaps it's possible you only explicitly remember it happening when it's male said to female

Nah, I remember it because it's completely unrealistic, especially since these are happening in action films where these women are the least capable. So it's to over-emphasise something that not only doesn't happen in real life nor makes a lot of sense in the context of the structures of the film.

the lead female black cop tells him "we chould have listened to you".. something like that

Hmm, that movie doesn't sound familiar but the premise reminds me a little bit of Toy Soldiers with Sean Astin or Chopping Mall. Maybe you can use ChatGPT to help you find the movie? I'm curious what the film is.

trying to read into it like a rorschach test is as crazy/delusional as a feminist reading secret oppressive patriarchy into everything

Nah, it's just pattern recognition.

so speaking of which, to someone who finds feminism everywhere, are all these movies supposed to be likewise considered meninist i sincerely wonder? mission impossibles, john wicks, indiana joneses, all the 80s action heroes

Ha, there is no such thing as "meininist" since most action movies are exaggerations on natural male tendencies. For instance, there are real life boxing matches similar to the first two Rocky movies -- I believe the first film was based on a Muhammad Ali fight. For instance, there are no real life female Navy Seals, SAS operators, or Tier 1 operators. So whenever they put women in these roles it's not an exaggeration of real-life, it's just straight-up fantasy.

[–] pastover (136) 17 days ago

Nah, it's just pattern recognition.

sure, as corrupted by all the myriad of perceptive faults by humans when judging pattern recognition: frequency illusion, selective perception, illusory correlation, conformation bias etc

there is no such thing as "meininist"

and this is clearly where you're wrong. here you want to set the terms of the debate where you cant't lose, by design. the same logic that creates concept of "feminism"/bechdel tests/etc creates concept of meninism etc. otherwise so it just happens to be the case that when the fantasy involves a woman, it's due to feminism but if it's a man, it's "just fantasy", because of ? i'm not buying it. now i'm no expert in 150 years of feminism but i'm certain somewhere along the line there's a group of them along the timeline in there somewhere they themselves have argued the archetypal characteristics of "macho" so-called just-fantasies of men as portrayed in media whether 80s action heroes (lots of established tropes to choose from) or wherever.. is all also attributable some male psyche/desire, and i wouldn't even doubt it's argued to be at the behest of some directed collective social force... let's call it... presumably... 'patriarchy'. so existing in the patriarchal-normative space, to we mere mortals, our john wicks seems merely "just straight-up fantasy", but to the red-pilled and informed, it's actually more clear examples of meninism/whatever and patriarchy🤔.. oh and i'm absolutely certain that they have their 's as well -by the book load

[–] pastover (136) 17 days ago

feminism/meninism/many other things exist. these things all just don't exist everywhere in everything. i argue prey is just a fantasy involving a woman. that's it. as is atlas. just because 2nd wave(?) feminism claimed to find structural inequality in gender roles (probably using pattern recognition) doesn't mean either prey or atlas are feminist. neither does finding masculinist orthodoxy in various masculine tropes mean the john wicks are meninist or whatever

oh and in prey, women also were neither hunters; only the lead protagonist, was by the end, after having hunted with her brother. as i remember the male hunters were also competent, particularly her brother. she surived by running her ass away repeatedly after seeing mr predator kill everyone else easily, then later learning and using wit (hopefully you agree that exists in women), action and luck etc. all clearly in the fantasy realm. specifically, having so many arbitrary rules, particularly one forcing the female to always be equal or less in competence in these scenarios -or otherwise be feminist- is too limiting and somewhat sad. the only problem for the movie seems to instead have the gaul to have a woman play the fantasy role instead of the standard john wick

anyway clearly you disagree

chatgpt told me in one of the kindergarten cops, the kid is told that they should have believed him that he witnessed a murder. 🤷‍♂️ not it. i checked the chopping mall etc and it wasn't those ok attempts. i can remember it like kind of a die hard type of movie but a kid 🤔 ah well maybe some day imdb will get their own ai and hopefully good enough i'll get to type in "black policewoman" and get a good answer 😅 i hate having movies on the tip of my tongue

[–] cyguration (3941) 17 days ago

red-pilled and informed, it's actually more clear examples of meninism/whatever and patriarchy

Nope, because well before media was even a thing there was Antilla The Hun, Mishmannah, Genghis Khan, Guan Yu, Ezer, King Richard III, Blackbeard, and Mikhail Ivanovich Budenkov, just to name a few. They all have greater feats than what's depicted in most action films. So no, it's not even based on some fantasy, just -- as a I mentioned -- depictions of mighty men of valor from the past brought into modern depictions of media for a new generation of men. There have never been women of equal calibre in any regard to war as the men named above. So no, the feminist propaganda is not the same as male entertainment.

doesn't mean either prey or atlas are feminist.

They are, because they are based on pushing an agenda that has no basis in reality, history, biology, or sociophysiology.

using wit (hopefully you agree that exists in women), action and luck etc

I would have agreed if she didn't physically manhandle the Predator, including tying it up and even physically ripping a mandible out of its jaw. Even the average man cannot pull a tooth out of an animal's jaw with his bare hands. She did more physical damage to the Predator than Arnold did in his fist fight; Arnold was unable to pull out a Mandible or even get close enough to do so. How do you reconcile that?

i can remember it like kind of a die hard type of movie but a kid 🤔

Holy snaps, I think you're thinking about the movie Masterminds from 1997 with Patrick Stewart? Here is the trailer, let me know if this is it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ7sjitftNg

[–] MoviesStillSuck (366) 22 days ago

She’s never been able to act, and she isn’t actually sexy. She has a symmetrical face, a bitchy attitude, and a DEI-friendly ethnicity which has caused weak Hollywood insiders to cower before her for decades.

[–] cyguration (3941) 22 days ago

She has a symmetrical face, a bitchy attitude, and a DEI-friendly ethnicity which has caused weak Hollywood insiders to cower before her for decades.

Perfect summation of her. In this movie she was especially bitchy to the point of coming across as insufferable. Her character was extremely unlikable, but not in an unlikable-but-cool-way like Don Johnson in Dead Bang, Ely Pouget in Death Machine, or Brian Bosworth in Stone Cold.

[–] pastover (136) 21 days ago

[deleted]

[–] pastover (136) 21 days ago

😂🤣😂 👆 see these reactions are exactly why i dont want to change out JLO. it's hilarious 🤣😂🤣😂

[–] kwestmo (4275) 21 days ago

What's wrong with 'a symmetrical face"? Or do you mean an asymmetrical face?

[–] MoviesStillSuck (366) 21 days ago

Nothing is wrong with a symmetrical face, and that’s my point. She has used it to her advantage, much to the detriment of entertainment seekers everywhere.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12865) 21 days ago

I've been hearing a lot of stuff behind the scenes about J-Lo that isn't very flattering. Evidently her music tour has gone very poorly, she has tried really hard to fake the number of people going to the concerts on her tour as well as following her on social media, she apparently has very poor taste in men, and the reason Ben Affleck has dumped her twice is because she's a control-freak. It seems, he'd forgotten about why he dumped her the first time, and went back to her after Jennifer Garner divorced him over the affair he had with their kids' nanny. It appears, based on eyewitnesses who knew J-Lo, that she's not a very nice person.

I remember in the early 2000s she was in several movies, and yet people hardly comment on them at all. She's not a bad actress, but she's not a memorable one either.

[–] cyguration (3941) 18 days ago

So basically, in real life she's like the character in the film? Ha. That's kind of hilarious, art imitating life.

[–] Anotherday (8508) 17 days ago

That's spot on. Aside from Serena, her movies blip rather than spike.

Out of sight and Serena may be the best she has. Enough got some buzz, but everything else is not great.

She's been popular primarily because of her early career and her rear.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12865) 17 days ago

I always liked "The Wedding Planner" and "Maid in Manhattan," but they're not the top best chick flicks I've ever seen. The only reason I ever took an interest in "The Cell" was because of the weird costumes, not the film itself. If you listen to her songs, such as "First Love," she sounds okay, but kinda bland compared to bigger, more talented pop stars of the Millennium era.

[–] BlackChristmas (953) 21 days ago

J-Lo is famous because she's got a big fat ass. She can't act but she can sit on my face.