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Author Topic: Crash (2005) Stephen LaPadula Film Handler Posts: 50 From: New York, Ny Registered: Mar 2005 posted 05-06-2005 10:42 AM                     Unbelievably great film....no words can describe the emotions you feel watching these characters. Hands down best film so far this year. Each character nailed their part and fit perfectly in their roles. I had the pleasure of seeing the screening on Wednesday with a panel for Q&A with writer Paul Haggis Don Cheadle and Larenz Tate with a few others not associated with the film. I bet most of you have seen the trailer and said WTF is this movie about? I saw it many times and could not figure it out, but don't be mislead, GO SEE IT!! [ 05-25-2005, 03:48 PM: Message edited by: Aaron Sisemore ]  |  IP: Logged Don Anderson Master Film Handler Posts: 312 From: West Bend, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-23-2005 07:26 PM                     I saw this gem over the weekend. Its a piece of art. I enjoyed every minute of it, right up to the end. Reminded me of MAGNOLIA, and REQUIEM for a DREAM. Way too kewl. Two thumbs way up!  |  IP: Logged Jennifer Pan THE JEN! Posts: 1219 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: Nov 2003 posted 05-25-2005 03:16 AM                        Oh man... where do I start. I knew this movie was going to be good, but dang it exceeded my expectations. I was moved in so many ways I felt this rush like I wanted to see more. Not because it lacked anything but because its so freakin' awesome. I walked out of the theater wanting to talk about how great it was, but didn't even know where to begin... there were so many cool parts to it. I became inspired in a way to make my own little movies again... that's how good this movie is.... The whole cast is amazing at playing their roles.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-25-2005 09:45 AM                        quote: Jennifer Pan I became inspired in a way to make my own little movies again... I hope this doesn't mean that you're going to start smashing up cars and then, err... well, the less said about what happens next, the better. Rather Holly Hunter than me!  |  IP: Logged Jennifer Pan THE JEN! Posts: 1219 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: Nov 2003 posted 05-25-2005 10:33 AM                        Leo, I was speaking in the sense of style of this particular movie. It has this dark kind of humor and form of editing that I've always wanted to try. The whole multiple cast/story line has been something I've wanted to do for a long time. And seeing it on screen in this way brought back alot of the feelings of why I want to make movies.  |  IP: Logged Christian Volpi Master Film Handler Posts: 349 From: Arlington, NE Registered: Apr 2004 posted 05-25-2005 10:47 AM                        quote: Don Anderson kewl Oh Dear God!  |  IP: Logged Aaron Sisemore Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day! Posts: 3061 From: Rockwall TX USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 05-25-2005 03:48 PM                     quote: I hope this doesn't mean that you're going to start smashing up cars and then, err... well, the less said about what happens next, the better. Rather Holly Hunter than me! Wrong 'Crash'. Leo. I believe this discussion is about the 2005 movie, not the 1996 one. -Aaron  |  IP: Logged Kelly Skaggs Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Springdale UT Registered: Jul 2003 posted 05-25-2005 06:14 PM                        Seeing a movie this great gives hope for Hollywood. When they subject us to so much crap. Example Jar Jar Lucas' latest piece of dung.  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 05-26-2005 01:43 AM                        quote: Aaron Sisemore Wrong 'Crash'. Leo. Oops! I've just looked on IMDB and seen the entry on the new one. I wonder if that film will also be released under the title Crash in Britain and Europe. The Cronenberg film caused a huge controversy when it came out here: conservative and religious lobby groups called for it to be banned, in response to which highbrow critics and civil libertarians defended it. In the end some towns did ban the film, including one a few miles up the road from the theatre I was working in at the time. We had packed houses night after night, though quite a few people walked out when they discovered that the film wasn't quite as titilating as they'd hoped. The fuss resurfaced when the video release came along. I remember a friend in the US telling me that the 1997 Crash was only ever shown in a few arthouse venues and attracted hardly any attention. Presumably that's why another feature film with the same title is being released so quickly. I'll be interested to see if they rename it when it comes out here, given the massive shamozzle caused by the last one. Jennifer - FYI, the Cronenberg film is based on a weird short story by J.G. Ballard, about a cult of people who are sexually aroused by the injuries caused in car crashes. Some of the scenes of these, err, 'encounters' (both the crashes and what happens after them!) don't leave much to the imagination, hence all the fuss when the film came out. It's a relief to know that you haven't graduated from BB guns to something more sinister!  |  IP: Logged Pravin Ratnam Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 844 From: Atlanta, GA,USA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 05-29-2005 02:27 PM                     I actually went into this movie with high expectations and came away a little disappointed. It had a lot of good scenes, but i fault the writer-director for not knowing when to ease up on hammering home his point. I usually am easy to please when it comes to racial dramas but this movie after having nearly won me over at different points, ended up turning me off a little with trying to find balancing bad outcomes where almost every character has to go through a high and a low. Also I hated the lazy use of music with people chanting or moaning in some foreign language (to add atmosphere, I guess). Who directed this - one of the Scott brothers? OK, I was just kidding. Some of the things I disliked(just pointing out random examples - not necessarily the best ones). THe hispanic guy playing with his daughter in a scene that stretches way too long- I wish the dialogue was a little more subtle instead of like an afternoon school special. The twists were so frequent, I honestly predicted almost every single twist midway through the movie. I did like the way the movie hinted at an affair between Brendan Fraser and Nona Gaye. That was about the only subtle thing in the movie. Also I thought Ludacris did a pretty decent job. And despite my overall negative review, I do think the movie is very watchable and will not bore you thanks to many good scenes in the movie. I liked the tv director story arc even if Thandie Newton has too much of a spoiled brat vibe in every movie she appears in. The movie had a very grainy feel. Filmed in super 35. I would have thought super 16MM. [ 05-29-2005, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: Pravin Ratnam ]  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 03-31-2006 03:33 AM                        I am surprised there are not more reviews on this movie. Did it only play on 16 screens nationwide? Anyway I just finished watching it on the popular DVD format which allows you to view movies stored on a CD-sized disc via space-age technology. Having seen no trailers, commercials or the like, the only thing I really expected from this movie was a whole bunch of people of different ethnicities yelling at each other. I got a lot of that. Yelling is considered "good acting" in the eyes of Hollywood. As soon as the movie started I became very angry due to the massive influx of different studio logos I had to sit through. Like I care which studios were involved. Am I supposed to keep them in mind as I watch the movie? The story(s) finally begin and I am moderately entertained. I hate it when a movie has a bunch of thin stories and jumps back and forth between them (the last 4 Star Wars movies loved to do this). Some of the stories were good, others not so much. However the second hour got much better. If you can suffer through the first hour, the movie is quite worth the trip. The second hour justifies the existence of the first. I would watch it again and enjoy it. However all is not perfect in Crashland. My gripes: --Don Chandelier or whatever his name is looks completely unnatural with a cigarette. I don't understand why his character even smoked. It added nothing to the movie. In fact it detracted from it because it looked so odd. Hollywood is just obsessed with cigarettes. Losers. I hope that whoever decides that cigarettes need to be in movies gets lung cancer. In both lungs. One right after the other, not simultaneously. SPOILERS --It seemed completely out of character for the young cop to shoot the black guy. Also the car he set on fire was his own, and surely it can be traced back to him, charred or not. Dumbass. I hope he gets bird flu. --I liked the soundtrack, but I feel that perhaps it was overused. Did we need to hear the same dramatic and emotional music when Sandra Bullock sprains her ankle as when we think a 5 year-old girl tragically gets shot? I think not. END SPOILERS --Many scenes were quite grainy. When two people in the same car were talking, the passenger would be grainy, but the driver would not be. I swear if I was able to read I'd look at the credits, find out who the DP was and write him a strongly worded letter! Also, the DVD itself pissed me off. There were many scenes that looked like they were shot on video. Quite a few scenes had interlacing artifacts (as noticed when watching in state-of-the-art progressive scan). Either 1/6th of this movie was shot on video, or this DVD was poorly authored. I'm betting the latter. I do not understand this. It is NOT HARD to author a 24fps DVD. It is NOT HARD to make it so there are no interlacing artifacts ever. I do it all of the time. But then again, I know far more about DVD authoring than Hollywood. It is quite obvious that they know very little. Bunch o' amateurs, that's for sure. I hope they all are forced to pass a kidney stone the size of an apple with the texture of Edward James Olmos' face. Also the DVD box said and I quote: quote: Crash's DVD box The movie is clearly scope. It is obvious that only blind people were allowed to work on the DVD. So in conclusion: Good movie, crappy DVD.  |  IP: Logged Jim Bedford Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 597 From: Telluride, CO, USA (733 mi. WNW of Rockwall, TX but it seems much, much longer) Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-31-2006 08:38 AM                        Joe sed: quote: SPOILERS --It seemed completely out of character for the young cop to shoot the black guy. Didn't something very much like this happen just two months ago on an LA street? What I saw on the tube seemed a bit "out of character" as well, but it was certainly real to the bullet catcher. Life imitating art or just a jerk imitating life? Cop pleads not guilty in shooting  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-31-2006 08:58 AM                     I don't think the Dashboard Jesus incident in Crash resembles that recent, real life incident. The character played by Ryan Phillipe was struggling with being able to do the right thing as a cop, but in the end not being able to live up to that. The real life incident where the cop shot a passenger (who was an Iraq War veteran and military policeman), seemed pretty much like an example of police rage following a high speed chase. You clearly hear the passenger pleading with the cop, the cop telling him "get up" and when the passenger tries to get up the cop fires several shots into the guy. The cop's gun shots were basically saying, "now sit back down again, bitch!" I'm glad that cop pleaded "not guilty." When he gets convicted he'll get a longer prison sentence. I also think it is a stinking crock of shit that he is only up on charges of attempted voluntary manslaughter. If any of us had done the same thing the charge would be attempted murder.  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-31-2006 10:15 AM                     I enjoyed the film, but I did not think it was all that great of a film coming from Los Angeles. It was the weakest Best Picture winner in years. (I liked the second hand smoking movie "Good Night and Good Luck"). quote: Joe Redifer So in conclusion: Good movie, crappy DVD. The new double dipping Directors Cut edition from Lion's Gate is coming out on April 4th. From the people that brought you the many editions of: First Blood Rambo: First Blood II Rambo T2 Running Man Basic Instinct Red Heat Dirty Dancing Just to name a few.  |  IP: Logged Jennifer Pan THE JEN! Posts: 1219 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: Nov 2003 posted 03-31-2006 12:10 PM                        Wow Joe, I'd never believe that you would ever have watched this movie. For me... it was such a wonderful experience to watch it in a theatre rather than DVD. I tried recommending it to friends when it was still in the theatres but no one listened... they would say "I'll wait until it comes out on DVD." ..... HAHA HA HA It is not often that I would really recommend people to catch it before its gone for good to DVD. People should really listen...  |  IP: Logged

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