Late to the flamewar party, but I finally saw 'Crash.' (spoilers, sorta)

[WilliamPitt]

And I found it to be an utterly incoherent nest of crap and poop.

So let's recap: A detective's brother is friends with a guy who jacks a car belonging to the DA after complaining about race relations, and these two eventually jack the car of a TV producer whose wife got fondled by a cop whose partner ends up shooting the detective's brother after the cop who fondled the TV producer's wife saves her from a car fire, but not before the DAs wife flips out on the guy fixing her door locks, and then the door lock guy gets into it with a Persian store owner whose daughter works in the morgue where the detective's brother's body winds up, the Persian store owner shoots the door lock guy's kid with blanks while the TV producer gets carjacked by the kid who is friends with the dead brother of the detective and saves the kid from going to jail, and meanwhile the cop who fondled the TV producer's wife has a go-round with a woman from an HMO who winds up rear-ending someone right next to a van filled with Asian immigrants driven by the friend of the dead brother of the detective whose mother is on heroin and doesn't like him very much.

Oh, and Sandra Bullock fell down the stairs. Somehow, this was an event of signal importance.

I make NO STATEMENT WHATSOEVER on whether or not is important to discuss race relations in America in regards to this film. Of course that is important. But this movie was a total ball of gibberish, disconnected and flailing towards some half-assed "Six Degrees of Separation" zeitgeist that fell by the wayside somewhere between the Chinese immigrant dealer geting stuck under the car of the kid who jacks the TV producer and his friend who winds up being the dead brother of the detective, Bullock's tumble down the stairs, and the fact that it somehow started snowing in southern California as the movie finished staggering towards its conclusion.

Last time I checked, there are approximately seven hundred and twelve billion people living in the greater Los Angeles area. The idea that, somehow, these ten people could get so mixed up with each other despite having nothing whatsoever to do with each other in a city that vast puts the idea of suspension of disbelief into a blender and hits 'puree.'

I have not seen Brokeback Mountain yet, so I can't say whether or not it deserved the award over Crash. But I did see Capote, and as far as I am concerned, Capote is far superior in every way possible to Crash.

Oh, and Good Night and Good Luck was better than either of them.

*donning flame suit*

[rockymountaindem]

1. I have seen Crash, Munich, GNGL and Walk the LIne

Walk the Line, though not nominated (as I recall) was much better than Crash. Munich was as good as WTL but for different reasons. GNGL was good, but kind of slow moving for me, and I feel like they really only scratched the surface of the topic they were trying to explore. If they had sped up the storyline I think they could have gotten more history in, which would have made for a better film.

I think you have Crash figured out as well as anybody, Will.

[WilliamPitt]

2. See Capote

Amazingly good.

[rockymountaindem]

3. If you recommend, I'll give it a try

I don't know that much about Capote, however. Should I read up on him beforehand?

[WilliamPitt]

5. Google up 'In Cold Blood'

The movie tells the story of the writing of the book.

[bridgit]

15. we just seen capote today, great writer good movie, but what a little...

stinker he was x( the things you gotta do to maintain yourself sometimes up in them ivory towers

"he went out the back door, i went out the front door"

leaves a whole lot of domesticity in between imo

[Zomby Woof]

4. Did you see Syriana?

I rank it just behind 'Good Night and Good Luck' for 2005.

As for Crash, I haven't seen it, but as far as coincidental slices of life in L.A. goes, my money is on the Robert Altman treatment of Raymond Carver's short stories, 'Short Cuts', from more than a decade ago.

As for the most pretentious treatment of race in film, that would go to 'Pleasantville'. Black and white vs. color - I get it, I get it! Worked better in The Wizard of Oz. And you can't groove to Pink Floyd while watching 'Pleasantville' either.

[WilliamPitt]

6. Not yet

[Kat45]

13. I thought Syriana should have been best picture, or at least nominated

I didn't see "Good Night and Good Luck," so I can't make the comparison with that. But though I considered Syriana the best picture, I wasn't surprised that it wasn't nominated because 90% of the American public would not have been able to follow it.

[hobo_baggins]

7. Not to mention that every single one of these people...

are blatant racists...not only do they come together in some weird twist of pretzel logic, but they all feel the need to announce their racism as loud as possible in every single scene.

I agree that films tackling racism is important, but damn, we get the point after about 5 minutes of watching the movie, thats when the film should have ended.

[HillDem]

8. Syriana>Capote>Wedding Crashers>Big Momma's House>Crash

Crash was soooo overated complete with poorly written characters and a ho-hum ending. Go see Syriana.

[hobo_baggins]

9. I felt crash was a poor attempt at recreating a Alejandro Inarittu film

but with racial overtones...it just didn't work for me, but i guess it did for some people

[no name no slogan]

10. Why do you hate America?

[RoyGBiv]

11. Agreed ...

I said as much at the time, only not quite in as entertaining a way. I'm not exactly a fan of either of the films that brought on so much controversy. I was, mildly, irritated that either Capote or Good Night and Good Luck didn't get the award. Mildly. IOW, it really didn't affect my day much except that I had to avoid this place for a couple days.

[Shine]

12. Well, I thought it was very powerful, but I won't flame you. Not my style.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, as different as it may be from mine.

[applegrove]

14. And the daughter who worked at the hospital and could see all

the gun violence made sure her father had blanks in his gun. So one bad thing didn't happen. One bullet got taken back. Look at how lost so many of those people were in the system of violence. And the idealistic naive cop was the worst one in the end. Many people suffered loss. One guy redeemed himself (the kid who refused to sell the immigrants). But lost his best friend anyway (that he would find out the next day).

I liked it.

[bridgit]

16. i liked it, those sort of pretzel-esque story lines are explored quite...

often to lesser levels of success, as are 'flash forward/back/sideways time line' stories; it had it's quirky little flaws...but it was alright. a greater comment on the lack of film fare for the entire year is my thought.

[GalleryGod]

25. I Enjoyed it immensely. I suppose "Crash" is to '06

what "Sideways" was to '05, here, in DUerville.

[elshiva]

17. Do not want to see Crash. I saw that damn awful song at the

Oscars. SEE Brokeback Mountain, it's great!

[Atman]

18. What a miserable failure of a flame war you started, Will!

Maybe that should tell you something!

After all the hype about this film, did you still honestly go into it expecting to see a cookie-cutter production? Why the sudden desire for absolute reality? Did anyone claim this was a "slice of life" film? I find your sub-rant about the inter-connected characters in a large city to be a totally failed critique, logically. You speak as if you know the characters, and therefore, the odds of all these people having lives intertwine would strain credulity. But that misses the base element entirely. You are critiquing from a privileged vantage point, as a viewer of the film, not one of its characters. The characters don't know about each others' existence the way we viewers' do, because we've been given the inside track. Therefore, what appears to be a way too contrived "coincidence" to one viewer is non-existent to many of the characters, who are just struggling to maintain their grip on sanity. Will, are you telling me you've never met a person, be it at a public appearance or a book signing, whatever, who never realized that my plumber did your new jacuzzi! Maybe you know his sister, Peach Pitt!" ??

The six degrees of separation may have seemed a stretch to you. To me, giant apes and flying wookies killed it for me. Relax, dude!

BTW, I loved Crash. You appear to be taking it WAY to literally, Will. Lighten up and enjoy the good yarn. That's all it was. A good yarn with a message. Is that such a bad thing?

[sandnsea]

19. It's not six degrees

It's every man, every day. It's picking any person at any point in time and exposing their particular prejudices, everybody has them in some degree or other. If you thought the point was one big coinkydink of the only 10 racists in LA being connected, then yeah, that would be dumb.

[KT2000]

20. I don't think it was

ABOUT race. I think Crash was about knowing yourself, or rather not really knowing yourself. When the cop said to the younger cop who got reassigned, "You think you know yourself, but you don't. You'll find out." That was what the movie was about - some for better and some for worse.

[LSdemocrat]

21. The point was to explore stereotypes that all too many people have

I thought the film did a fine job of exploring the all too real, but too little discussed problems of stereotyping in today's society. True the events are highly improbable, but nearly every great movie has some remarkeably improbable moments.

That being said, Good Night and Good Luck, and Syriana for that matter, were both better movies in my opinion.

[donheld]

22. This gay man really liked Crash

Of course I wanted Brokeback Mountain to win Best Picture, but I also thought Crash was a very good film. It's not a happy film, but it is a good film.

[enigmatic]

23. I loved Crash

It really affected me; I would have been happy if that, Brokeback Mountain, or Good Night And Good Luck had won.

[HughBeaumont]

24. I thought "Crash" was overbearing and convoluted myself.

I'm one of like, six people who thought that movie was merely average, filled with stereotypes of all kinds, equipped with a ham-fisted "message" which it beats you to death with, and dialogue that was as improbable as it's story. And the ending was silly, but that's only because the film had no end.

[LynneSin]

26. I loved Crash and it was worthy of the award

I've posted too many times already about why this was a great movie so search if you want the details.

But if it makes you happier:

WillPitt---> <---LynneSin

[Puglover]

27. OMG ROFL

Lynne I love those smilies...

[Puglover]

28. I think people are afraid to flame you Will,

well except for Lynnesinn. One of my favorite comments about "Capote" came from Gore Vidal. Something like "I spent 30 years trying to avoid Capote and now that he's dead I can't get away from him."

Here's a thread where I'm being flamed for daring to even suggest that "Crash" wasn't utterly brilliant.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=4940645&mesg_id=4942113

[jonnyblitz]

29. the other movies nominated ALL were much much better, IMHO.

I saw every one. Crash wasn't even in the same league as the others.

Syriana was my favorite and it wasn't even considered for best picture! :shrug:

I loved Capote and Brokeback was good, too and Munich even...but Crash? eh....

[GalleryGod]

30. Abra Kadabra!

:nuke: Poof!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

31. The Squid and the Whale

was better and more interesting than any of the films mentioned, IMHO.

A really great, realistic depiction of a family splintering in the fallout of the parents' separation.

[RubyDuby in GA]

32. I saw all of them and Munich deserved the award

Hands down.

I can't add anything better to what you just said, so I'll just say Crash sucked out loud.