MovieChat Forums > 21 Years: Richard Linklater (2014) Discussion > This isn't an ass-kissing documentary, i...

This isn't an ass-kissing documentary, is it?

posted 9 years ago by TopperHarley29
4 replies | jump to latest

Is this a documentary where it's just 78 minutes of everyone is kissing Richard Linklater's ass like he's a god or something? If so, then I'm not watching it. I do like him as a director, but he has made some lackluster movies. Me and Orson Welles was easily forgettable. Dazed and Confused was overrated and it wasn't really funny, but the soundtrack saves the movie from being terrible. The Newton Boys was a well-made movie, but it was mostly dull and it didn't give me a reason to care about these characters. Suburbia is the worst movie I've ever seen from him. It was two hours of pretentious, unlikable characters that I wanted to punch in the face. The only characters that I felt sorry for were the convenience store owner and his wife. Now he has contributed many great films to cinema like Boyhood, Before Sunrise, Before Midnight, A Scanner Darkly, Tape, School of Rock and Bernie, but I'm not going to watch this movie if it's just 78 minutes of praising someone and not going any further than that.

[–] TheBeardedWonder 9 years ago

It kind of is, yeah. I mean the people doing the praising give reasons for why they liked working with him. It's interesting to hear different angles of his work people enjoy, since everyone seems to notice different things about his work.

If your looking for an informative doc about him, this probably isn't it. However if your a fan of his, its an interesting 'tip of the iceberg' type of doc about some of his bigger movies.

They focus mainly on slacker, dazed, school of rock, etc. Not a lot about suburbia, waking life, etc, which was kind of a shame since I like his more indie stuff...

[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 9 years ago

Here to report, the doc is precisely that...an 80 minute love-fest of Linklater.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] tonganprince 9 years ago

Yep.

[–] periwinkle_yaaay 7 years ago

It is, but it's still enjoyable if you're a fan. My main objection was that (aside from Ethan Hawke mentioning the title a couple times) they never touched on Tape, one of Linklater's best films. Also glossed over Waking Life, which pioneered the rotoscoping animation he went on to use in A Scanner Darkly. Some potentially interesting stuff got sacrificed in favor of Zac Efron anecdotes.