Escape to the Movies: Devil

[willgreg123]

Wow, just one minute and four seconds in and you already have me laughing with you, in nothing but sheer agreement with what is truly the stance that should be taken with viewing a film such as this, a view that makes me envy and wish I was wise enough to see right off the bat. Nerd rage on, Movie Bob, nerd rage on...

So, the only question that I'm bringing to the table, is that, is M. Night Shyamalan to modern movie goer, is to that of the "Platinum Dunes" (sorry for the fanboy reference) is to that of the sign of the wasting your money?

 

[AvsJoe]

I was told by an unreliable source that this film was right shite. Now I have confirmation. Am I still going to see it? You bet your ass!

 

[Tormuse]

Long time viewer, first time poster here.

I never booed this because of Shiamalan, I booed it because the premise seemed somewhat interesting, but the TITLE threw away any sense of suspense and mystery. The trailer leads you to think "gee, what strange malevolent force is tormenting these people?" then the title comes up and you thing "oh, the devil, thanks you just saved me 2 hours."

My thoughts exactly. Nevertheless, I figured I'd give it a try...

Funny how I wanted you to review this movie and yet I don't agree with you FULLY.

What I mean is I liked it. It's a cheesy Horror Film with weak plot... yes. I guessed every detail from just the trailer... yes. Was it fun to watch still and funny in parts (like the toast) scene... Hell yes XD I was just glad the people I hated died and the people I liked lived.

Agreed. I've long believed that one can enjoy any movie as long as you go in with the right expectations. I wasn't expecting a stellar movie here, so I was fine with how it turned out. (Even the plentiful narmy [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Narm] moments)

I have a lot of respect for Bob and I agree with a vast majority of his reviews, but I feel he misrepresents the movie on a couple of points: Firstly, describing the religious latino guy as the "grounded, moral, rational centre of the entire story" is giving him *way* too much credit. I interpreted his character as kind of loony and really, no one in the movie takes him seriously either.

Also, I don't get why Bob would criticize the fact that a character overtly states that the devil is responsible. Considering that that's what the movie is about, someone has to mention the devil at some point, right?

I don't care. Spoil this for me: What is the point of the toast in the movie? Since I know squat about it, all I can assume is that the toast idea was the work of a mastermind of idiocy.

The above-mentioned loony latino drops his breakfast on the floor and cites the fact that it landed butter-side down as evidence that the devil is about, because "when the devil is near, everything goes wrong." Personally, I thought it was completely consistent with his established (albeit stereotypical) character, and everyone around him in that scene reacts with appropriate skepticism.

 

[Sylocat]

I'm glad someone pointed out that Satan is actually not the Ultimate Source Of All Evil in the Bible.

I'm a little disappointed that no one's pointed out that God's "omnipotence" was largely a RetCon on the part of the New Testament authors. If you assume that Yahweh is LESS powerful than most of the other Elohim (and you keep track of when, in the original book, he was referred to as "Yahweh" and when he was referred to as "Elohim," which is the plural for "god"), then He comes out of the Torah looking resourceful and well-intentioned, and the narrative makes sense. If you assume He's omnipotent, then you run into theodicy problems from day one, and he looks like a petty, hypocritical tyrant.

-Sigh- The argument that God is a tyrant is tiresome an ridiculous. Think about it for a minute. If God is a tyrant that means He raise himself over people which implies that He was once equal to people. What sense does that make? God does what ever He wants when ever He wants to and doesn't wait for anyone's opinion when it comes to rule everything that exists, especially since nothing would exist without Him.

Ah, so he's not a tyrant, he's just a sadist.

Hey, maybe Yahtzee's idea that God is a kid playing a giant version of The Sims and torturing us for shits and giggles (like most people do when they play The Sims) is true. That would make about as much sense as your version.

 

[Sylocat]

Oh yes, and if you want a GOOD story about the devil, check out the following:

Part One [http://www.doctorwho-episodes.com/doctor-who-series-2-episode-8-the-impossible-planet/61.html]
Part Two [http://www.doctorwho-episodes.com/doctor-who-series-2-episode-9-the-satan-pit/63.html]

 

[Warachia]

why would the devil kill people before they could repent? Oh gee Bob, I WONDER WHY! Now let's all get together and think about this for a second, and maybe we can find an answer.

Also in the actual book Bob, the devil doesn't consider it so much a management position, he does it for fun, along with many other demons who kill/drive crazy people just to get kicks out out of it.

 

[Ftaghn To You Too]

Toast: Forget fucking fire and death, we determine our demonic presences with breakfast.

 

[tamerman]

i was going to watch this... now i wont.

 

[Oskamunda]

Backwater Hyperspace Chicken...Not "Country," Backwater.

GET IT RITE.

 

[Warachia]

Interesting that everyone in the comments is repeating things over and over like a cage full of parrots. I guess everyone els is still too busy arguing about other M, Yahtzee and Bob back in Yahtzee's video.

Also, do you people seriously only get one opinion when looking at what movies to go and ignore all others? There are so many above that say: "I was going to watch this, but Bob showed me the errors of my ways." It just seems depressing that people who think this might be good just give up the moment someone says that it's bad.

 

[Gunnyboy]

I have a lot of respect for Bob and I agree with a vast majority of his reviews, but I feel he misrepresents the movie on a couple of points: Firstly, describing the religious latino guy as the "grounded, moral, rational centre of the entire story" is giving him *way* too much credit. I interpreted his character as kind of loony and really, no one in the movie takes him seriously either.


The above-mentioned loony latino drops his breakfast on the floor and cites the fact that it landed butter-side down as evidence that the devil is about, because "when the devil is near, everything goes wrong." Personally, I thought it was completely consistent with his established (albeit stereotypical) character, and everyone around him in that scene reacts with appropriate skepticism.

Exactly. The latino guy is mostly comic relief.

And it's jelly.

 

[RTR]

WOw the writer of Hard Candy wrote this screenplay? What a shame?

Movies I would've liked to get reviewed this week:
The Town
Legend of the Guardians
Wall Street 2
The Social Network (next week)

 

[Necrofudge]

The toast thing was a good idea. It ALWAYS lands butter side down. If it doesn't, you know something is up.

 

[Squigie]

Physics and logic dictaes that toast will always land butter side down, so if I drop a piece and it lands butter side up, I am the Devil?

My head hurts, is this the typical logic in a Shamylilian movie? Are his movies Black Holes that cause logic-defying headaches by proxie? Have I been caught in the mindbending trap of the a terrible movie maker?

In The Happening we are given a science teacher who states, emphatically, several times, that there are many things that we will never understand, who also provides a perfectly reasonable (in the context of the movie (it's still really dumb)) and complete explanation for the titular event (sans all of the technical details that would be far too boring to sit through).

He tells us that there are things that can't be explained, including the "happening" itself, and then explains the whole damn thing. [Appropriate response] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA06Z5e1ZFc&NR=1]

 

[ironlordthemad]

I saw the trailer for this when I saw the Expendables and most people (myself included) watched through the trailer and were probably considering seeing this movie, then the old "M Night" name pops up and the air in the cinema physically changed. I don't know how, why or what happened but it just changed. It was like all the expectation for the movie just dropped.
It was totally awesome.
I kind of wanted to see a movie this week (I feel like being lazy for some reason) and it was never going to be this one but it's good to know that I'm not going to be suckered into seeing it in the hopes of seeing something interesting happening.

Fecking toast.

Anyway.
So Mister MovieBob, are you going to watch Eat, Pray, Love and review it for the escapist? Even ironically?

 

[SextusMaximus]

To think I had a glint of hope. Real shame, I watched one of his early films a few weeks ago actually.

And... really? Toast.

That made me sad.

 

[Playbahnosh]

That walrus was the best!

 

[atomicmrpelly]

eh? toast?!

 

[the trooper]

now i have a craving for toast hehe... but seriously thanks for the warning

 

[brunothepig]

Wow. Just... Wow. Toast?
I don't get it.
Anyway, I gues I won't be seeing this. Didn't know anything about it, don't care about directors and stuff. But it sounds really stupid. Which is sad, cause the premise sounds kind of intriguing. If they got rid of the devil thing (replace him with a demon, or spirit or something) and added some subtlety. Ah well.
Also, the portrayal of the devil in Constantine is easily one of the greatest. He's so awesome.