Althouse: "Pure violence and stupidity."

August 28, 2008

"Pure violence and stupidity."

A description of the movie "Babylon A.D.," provided by its director, Mathieu Kassovitz.

ADDED: Don't give him too much credit. He didn't say this until after the utterly abysmal reviews.

8 comments:

Simon said...: I think the Democratic National Convention has already captured that market.; 8/28/08, 9:46 AM
vbspurs said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/28/08, 11:53 AM
vbspurs said...: Mr. Kassovitz said in the interview that parts of the movie resembled “a bad episode of ‘24.

Let's do this to all his films!

"Amelie was like a bad episode of Bewitched."

"The Fifth Element was like a bad episode of Taxi."

"Gothika was like a bad episode of Twin Peaks."

...I liked Amélie, but subsequent French films have used the rapid cutting editting to their detriment. Even the likeable "L'Auberge Espagnole" overused it.

So for that, he needs to be chemically castrated, at least.; 8/28/08, 11:54 AM
al said...: Depending on my mood there is absolutely nothing wrong with a movie that is "Pure violence and stupidity". It's not like it wouldn't be the first one.; 8/28/08, 12:26 PM
vbspurs said...: Yes, but Al, Matthieu Kassovitz is taking the meme that Americans are violent and stupid, and laughing at Americans by giving us what we want, whilst making $$$ at it.

Dystopic films are awesome; even the really bad ones hold a grain of interest for me, as I'm sure they do to others.

The really good ones, like Bladerunner, 1984, Children of Men, all of these had a level of stupidity and violence, but I suspect that Kassovitz is just making fun of Americans, their obsession with such themes, and the whole Hollywood rigomarole of doing the interviews, premieres, etc.

Either that, or he's just embarrassed at how it turned out and honest about its merits.

I'm going with the arrogant French guy routine, though.; 8/28/08, 12:49 PM
blake said...: Dooon't get me started on post-apocalyptic movies. They're all stupid. Dystopic ones not much better, on the whole.

And I say this as a fan. Heh.

Children of Men was phenomenally poorly thought out for what was essentially an "A" movie.

Babylon A.D. looks to be just plain bad as well as bad post-apocalypso.; 8/28/08, 3:38 PM
Revenant said...: The Fifth Element was like a bad episode of Taxi

Hey now, that was a great movie. You leave it alone. :); 8/28/08, 5:20 PM
blake said...: Yeah, 5th Element was great.

Evil corporation sets out to destroy the universe because it's good business.

Nah, it's a fine film. Fun. (How much Jovovich is in that movie? A mile o' Jovovich!)

But it's a toss-up as to whether it's stoopider than Children of Men, which takes itself way too seriously.; 8/28/08, 5:35 PM