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Message
Why doesn't the Thin Red Line get more respect?
Posted on 2/10/18 at 7:24 am
Posted on 2/10/18 at 7:24 am
I thought it was a great movie and watch it every time it comes on. Is it because it came out around the same time as Saving Private Ryan and people were expecting something similar?
Posted on 2/10/18 at 7:42 am to Brazos
I was someone that preferred it to SPR, which I also loved, when it came out.
But time has exposed it as a pretty conflated jumble of characters and messages that don't all fully develop or make a lot of sense as a whole.
That's ok and each piece has a lot of merit in places and obviously it is a great visual experience with even plenty of good old fashioned battle scenes.
But the poetic voice overs can become a little tiresome and again don't always do the best job of reflecting what we are supposed to take from the scene it is narrating imo.
Still, I own it and still watch and enjoy it from time to time but not nearly as much as SPR which I watch once a year.
All of this is a very long winded Malick-ian way of saying it just hasn't aged as well as SPR.
But time has exposed it as a pretty conflated jumble of characters and messages that don't all fully develop or make a lot of sense as a whole.
That's ok and each piece has a lot of merit in places and obviously it is a great visual experience with even plenty of good old fashioned battle scenes.
But the poetic voice overs can become a little tiresome and again don't always do the best job of reflecting what we are supposed to take from the scene it is narrating imo.
Still, I own it and still watch and enjoy it from time to time but not nearly as much as SPR which I watch once a year.
All of this is a very long winded Malick-ian way of saying it just hasn't aged as well as SPR.
This post was edited on 2/10/18 at 7:44 am
Posted on 2/10/18 at 8:30 am to Brazos
The Thin Red Line gets plenty of respect from directors and film critics. Martin Scorsese ranked it as the best film from the '90s. Christopher Nolan has The Thin Red Line ranked in his personal top 10 saying that he came up with the nonlinear plot from Memento after watching that film. You can clearly see of the work on Dunkirk as well. Fernando Meirelles (City of God) and Jean-Marc Vallee (Dallas Buyers Club, Big Little Lies) also have ranked in their personal top 10. There's a website called "They Shoot Pictures Don't They" that ranks the top 1000 films of all-time based on nearly 10000 lists from critics and filmmakers. The Thin Red Line ranks 196th all-time and is the third highest ranked English language film from the '90s only behind Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction. OTOH, Saving Private Ryan is ranked at #723 and was actually out of the top 1000 until their most recent update this year.
Posted on 2/10/18 at 12:17 pm to Brazos
The soundtrack definitely doesn’t get the props it deserves. It in of itself is a meditative piece of art.
Posted on 2/10/18 at 12:35 pm to Brazos
Because it isn't that great of a movie.
Honestly, I think it's one of the most overhyped films to be released in the last 25 years. I really don't get the intense love this film's fans have for it. But to each their own I guess.
Honestly, I think it's one of the most overhyped films to be released in the last 25 years. I really don't get the intense love this film's fans have for it. But to each their own I guess.
Posted on 2/10/18 at 12:53 pm to Brazos
Malik makes fundamentally different kinds of movies that most audiences simply aren't prepared for.
Audiences, by and large, want to be engaged. I don't mean that in a critical or derisive way; I mean, they like movies where the writer/director/actor is expressing themselves, where they are having a conversation with the audience. We are accustomed to films projecting their ideas out to us.
Malik's films simply don't do that. I always describe them as him having a conversation with himself. You enjoy them when your attention and internal thoughts are aligned with his. If you aren't asking yourself the same questions he is at the same moment of the movie that he is, then you will get pissed off or bored to tears.
I was blown away by The Thin Red Line, then doubly so by The Tree of Life.
Audiences, by and large, want to be engaged. I don't mean that in a critical or derisive way; I mean, they like movies where the writer/director/actor is expressing themselves, where they are having a conversation with the audience. We are accustomed to films projecting their ideas out to us.
Malik's films simply don't do that. I always describe them as him having a conversation with himself. You enjoy them when your attention and internal thoughts are aligned with his. If you aren't asking yourself the same questions he is at the same moment of the movie that he is, then you will get pissed off or bored to tears.
I was blown away by The Thin Red Line, then doubly so by The Tree of Life.
Posted on 2/10/18 at 4:15 pm to Brazos
quote:Because it's terrible and pretentious and Malick is horribly overrated.
Why doesn't the Thin Red Line get more respect?
The poetry/narration that was read over some of the flashback scenes of the guy's wife on the swing were just embarrassing. It was as if some lovesick middle-schooler had written them.
Posted on 2/10/18 at 4:55 pm to Brazos
quote:
because it came out around the same time as Saving Private Ryan and people were expecting something similar?
This was my experience as a dumb movie-going teenager. Took some growing up for me to realize that it’s an equally good film, just meditative, introspective and not so formulaic. Both great films.
This post was edited on 2/10/18 at 4:59 pm
Posted on 2/10/18 at 5:58 pm to Brazos
It’s a classic case of disconnect between critics and the American public. I don’t give a frick if the critics rank it higher than SPR, Thin Red Line is shite compared to it in my mind. I always thought the characters were miscast and the narration is gay. Malick’s arrogant holier than thou filming style can get fricked.
Posted on 2/10/18 at 8:10 pm to Brazos
I love The Thin Red Line. I think it's a great film. I have friends who have told me they hated it, but I have the impression they just didn't get it. It's a rather deep movie, but I found the realism and the non-glorification of war appealing. I love the scene when Nick Nolte's character, Lt. Col. Tall interacts with John Cusack's after they've driven the Japanese from the hilltop positions. It was very well-acted and directed. Great film.
Posted on 2/10/18 at 11:22 pm to Brazos
BEcause we all fell asleep during it
Posted on 2/10/18 at 11:24 pm to Brazos
It is probably a top 50 film of all time. There isn’t much it doesn’t do really well, and many things flawlessly.
This! The pacing in TRL is absolutely amazing.
quote:
It’s more of a meditation on war, man,and nature than a traditional plot .
This! The pacing in TRL is absolutely amazing.
This post was edited on 2/10/18 at 11:28 pm
Posted on 2/11/18 at 1:15 am to Brazos
Half the movie is a monologue to God.
Posted on 2/11/18 at 7:50 am to Brazos
Hated it
Beautifully shot but overall boring without a coherent plot.
Beautifully shot but overall boring without a coherent plot.
Posted on 2/11/18 at 10:49 am to Brazos
This was the worst movie I have ever seen in a movie theater. Maybe you need to be stoned to appreciate it, but it was so slow and dragged on and on. It was beautifully shot, I'll give it that. But just an awful experience. Only other movie that comes close to it was the Fountain. My parents actually walked out, went shopping and came back to get me, cause I fell asleep during the movie..
Posted on 2/12/18 at 6:00 am to Brazos
Its Malick's best film with Badlands a close second. His films aren't for the masses.
Posted on 2/12/18 at 9:34 am to Brazos
It's an existential, contemplative, poetic/artsy style film with a very non-traditional story structure. Dialogue is generally minimal while the film relies on inner musings and somber music (Hans Zimmer's best work imo) to carry most of the film's mood. It's 3 hours long, generally slow paced, and isn't the war movie most people expect when going into it. It's not a "fun" movie to watch.
That being said, if I had to pick a single favorite movie, The Thin Red Line is probably it. In an age where they make 10 Fast and the Furious and Transformers movies and every one of them is a commercial success, I wouldn't expect The Thin Red Line to be anything other than shitted on by general audiences, but I do understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea.
That being said, if I had to pick a single favorite movie, The Thin Red Line is probably it. In an age where they make 10 Fast and the Furious and Transformers movies and every one of them is a commercial success, I wouldn't expect The Thin Red Line to be anything other than shitted on by general audiences, but I do understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea.
Posted on 2/12/18 at 9:37 am to Brazos
This might have already been stated, but for me, it came out too close to Saving Private Ryan and I wasn't prepared for what that was.
Also, I saw a late showing, wasn't feeling well, and had to catch a flight early the next morning. I wasn't set up to enjoy that movie at all.
Also, I saw a late showing, wasn't feeling well, and had to catch a flight early the next morning. I wasn't set up to enjoy that movie at all.
Posted on 2/12/18 at 9:52 am to Brazos
I thought it was a fine movie, although maybe not for every taste.
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