Waking Life - Page 2

It was a dig at anyone and everyone who doesn't get stuff banged out in a timely manner.

Captions gets no love.

Expect it. Look at the thread for my X-Files review for any reassurance.

I know some people love 'em, and they just take a while sometimes to chime in.

No matter. As long as one person is laughing, it's worth the effort.

Oh you caught me, Mikah, you did mention Dramamine. I seriously had to run away from the film I was getting so sick. I hope though in calling me a lad, you meant a Fancy lad.

And yes your captions are hi-stinking-larious.

My favorite caption:

After G.I. Joe was cancelled and his sitcom pilot with Roadblock failed to take off, Shipwreck was forced to console himself by trolling the streets for crack whores who recognized him.

You guys get plenty of love for the captions, I think we just don't tend to post about them as often as the reviews themselves. Now stop fishing for compliments, you know how much we love you! Just look at the restraining orders...

Propaganda seems like a strong word. Small little film hardly has Third Reich-like intentions or cash behind it.

Well, as Chud becomes bigger and bigger, it would make sense that Nick will be able to do less and less of a percentage of the output. Just simple math. And that attitude of Chud, that take on film that we so love, will become a bit diluted as different people become responsible for content. And that's already happening to some degree with various people doing work for the site, which is why I just thought Waking Life was a target. And that's fine, I mean, if I did a review of A.I., I'd include a picture of me impaling the DVD box with a pitchfork.

I guess I don't see where the "dilution" of the "CHUD attitude" is happening here.

My review smacks of "CHUD"-ness.

The pop culture references, the irreverent yet informative tone, and most of all, the greatness.

Didn't say there was dilution in this review. You said that you got put on WL in order to represent the Chud view of it. Just contemplating the difference b/een this film and one that doesn't get reviewed in a way that reveals how Nick felt about it.

Actually, it'd be a pic of your feet and a microphone stand.

I agree that propaganda is a strong word. Normally I don't mind if someone has a differing view on a film in a review for the site (hence Devin's positive Dude, Where's My Car review on IGN DVD), I just didn't have the time to review this and wanted a like mind to handle it.

Very true Nick.

All I had to see were the various clips on the film's website.

SHITE

Oh, by the way guys, 'Yeats' rhymes with 'gates.'

Well, in Steve's defense... he HAD been drinking Das Comet so pronounciation's secondary.

I gotta take the bullet for the Yeats thing (my bad), but since it set up the "Yeats Invasion" joke, I'm proud of it.

Holy Shit!

First of all, i've never seen the film but I read the review anyway and it was great, Micah. The Carnosaur caption was great.

And the Waking Life 2 MP3's are HILARIOUS!!!

You guys rule!

You mean Yeat's Infection, don't you?

Thanks Verbal. Hopefully more folks are stymied and baffled by our MP3's at the end of the review.

So I've been thinking about this. It seems that the people who hate this movie don't like being told they don't "get it," that there is an intimation that they aren't that smart.

Yet the response they seem to have to people who like the movie is that these folks must be pretentious or coffee house dwelling assholes, or stoners. Fighting grotesque generalizations with grotesque generalizations sucks.

Au contraire, Dev.

I asserted no such thing. In my review I said that SOME people may like the film simply because it purports to be "smart" and they wish to be smart as well. I also said that SOME people "like having the shit thrown at them," which was a reference to my earlier metaphor of Linklater throwing many regurgitated ideas at the wall.

In short, I acknowledged that some people simply like the film for what it is, or at least what I perceived it as being.

I didn't say or imply you had to be on drugs to like it.

I never mentioned rectums, sphincters or coffee houses, and I only used the word "pretentious" in regards to the film.

As for not liking being told that I don't "get" the movie.....it matters not to me. Implicit in any disagreement of opinion is that one side is not "getting" what the other side is "getting."

No, I don't "get" anything from this film that would allow me to like it. Others do. Good for them.

I simply closed my review by re-stating my preference for emphasis on actively living life rathing than overcontemplating it, as I feel this movie did.

My barbs were aimed at Linklater and the film. Not its fans.

Re-read my review and you'll see that for yourself.

Oh, and listen to those insane audio files.

Though I totally disagree with Micah's opinion about the film, I must say that he gave a thoroughly objective criticism. Great job! And as far as captions are concerned: Top notch! I don't know where you guys get such ideas, but dammit, they're freaking awesome!

Micah & Steve, this should please you. From the P.S. on a letter from a Chewer:

"P.S. Me and some friends dug your Waking Life Spoof(espicially Part 2 and 3) and laughed our asses off. Unlike the movie(which was like fingernails on a chalkboard) we enjoyed your version better. I hope you do more audio spoofs in the future."

Whoever wrote that is a friend of mine forever.

The rest of you ignorers can bugger off.

Tried watching the first time..

turned it off half-way thru

watched it all the way the other day.

I would of liked this when I was 16 and into that kinda bullshit, when I'd sit around and half conversations in coffee shops and stores downtown.. then I realized that we just talked about this crap that meant nothing.. it was like lets see whose more "intellectual".. what book did I read last week.. blah blah blah

I bought this movie with only reading little bits about it, and hearing LOTS about the great visuals.. and they were great.. but if the movie was worth a damn they would of been bearable

having the garbage they were talking about and the twitchy visuals was like a 1-2 punch in the gut..

mark me in the "HATE" dept..

and don't say I just didn't "get it".. because I did.. and it was still crap

Uh. Oh. Okay...I really anticipated seeing this but I came away disappointed. I loved the visuals, but I just could not get into the dialogue. Yadda..yadda...yadda....and so forth. I love deep philosophical exchanges, but this went a little overboard. I didn't even finish it. Sorry.

HATE.

However, the film did serve one purpose for good: The audio spoof by Nick, Steve, and Micah is fucking hilarious.

Like, but not love. But then, I'm a stoner, so it's kinda up my alley anyway. I had really high expectations for it, and even though it turned out to be very much what I was expecting, I was left not liking it quite as much as I thought I would. I liked Slacker a whole lot more.

I loved it.

Resurrecting because the Beauty & Beast discussion is tired.

Now that this thread has been "resurrected" I would just like to say how much pain this film caused me. If I hadn't had my watch and known the runtime of this film, it would have been unbearable.

Linklater explores some truly interesting in the movie, but this is not a story. It's just random conversations and monologues with no structure. It all comes off like every pretentious, meaning-of-life, college conversation ever recorded.

I would say this film is only slightly better than Slacker because of the interesting animation and somewhat interesting concepts.

Attaboy.

What's weird is that I posted my opinion before I actually read your review, Mikah. When I actually went and read it, the amount of agreement I found was frightening. Seriously, can I quote you when I try and tell my Film 101 teacher than I don't want to see this monstrosity again (it's part of the cirriculum when we study animation. She also thinks it's an amazing film)?

Hey, ya know, maybe these films (Waking Life and Slacker) aren't SUPPOSED to have a story. It's just little slices of life. I mean, does every movie have to be about some guy's quest for...whatever he's questing for? And besides, Waking Life DOES have a story. The story is Mitch Kramer trying to figure out if he's dreaming, or dead, or what? And for that matter, Slacker, although it doesn't really have a story, leaves you with a strong feeling of a journey completed from beginning to end. Obviously, this stuff's not for everyone, but to criticize it for not having a story is like complaining about Sonic Youth being out of tune.

Here's hoping Mitch Kramer is dead.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Z-Man:
[QB]Hey, ya know, maybe these films (Waking Life and Slacker) aren't SUPPOSED to have a story. It's just little slices of life. I mean, does every movie have to be about some guy's quest for...whatever he's questing for? And besides, Waking Life DOES have a story. The story is Mitch Kramer trying to figure out if he's dreaming, or dead, or what? And for that matter, Slacker, although it doesn't really have a story, leaves you with a strong feeling of a journey completed from beginning to end. Obviously, this stuff's not for everyone, but to criticize it for not having a story is like complaining about

As I said in my review, I've seen films I liked with no "story." In fact, I named a few.

What irks me about this film is that it's so transparent in the way it tries to be didactic and "different." It isn't just people talking...it's one-way academic posturing. There's very little discussion and mostly just "odd" characters rambling on and on as they quote various philosophers and such.

What they never actually do is ADD something new to the equation. It's, quite frankly, masturbatory.

That's the problem I have with it. What made things worse is that I realized this about 5 minutes in, and then the othe 95 minutes did nothing to alter that perception. Lots of pain was had that day.