Escape to the Movies: Splice

[PopperThingi]

Oh great, yet another time that I hear about a good movie that won't be screened in Israel, so It's either not see or download and feeling guilty.
Bob, can you make sure that good movies you review come to Israel and if not, notify me not to see the review? Thanks.

 

[Elesar]

I've watched all of the movies you mentioned, and I might have even been one of the "Oh no ohmagawd you're a censor" people at one point, although I might have been talking to someone other then you.

The Human Centipede has already become a meme, and I think it's a good thing. If you don't look at it simply like a gross-out movie, but more of an accidental satire on a lot of movies employing science and scientists as major plot elements, it becomes hilarious. The whole "human centipede" thing was absolutely ridiculous from any scientific stand point, and pointless at that, too.

I spent most of the movie laughing at the sheer absurdity >_<

No that was me. I wish my film reviews on this site got half as much traffic as my incidental commentaries on odd things (most of them related to moviebob...anywho).

My complaints about the movie have less to do with the movie itself and more to do with the whole...thing built up around it. I'd understand if it was a well made film or vaguely interesting but...well Bob put it best. There is absolutely nothing going on underneath the movie itself. There's no exceptionally compelling explanation for why it's happening, it just is. The best film to compare it to is Savage Vengence (look it up).

And that's fine, it is what it is and it can be what it is farrrrrrr away from me. Gross out movies have been part of our collective cultural background going back to the 70's. But the culture seems obsessed with it and keeps shoving it out of the background and into the foreground, which is giving it this lurching unlife. We're already staring down a sequel and if that does well, we'll probably have some imitators and then we get a subgenre, and that's really not an eventuality I want to materialize.

As to your specific comments, if a movie is an intentional satire, fine. Satire is generally awesome. If people are claiming that a movie is an accidental satire, it generally means you're poorly made. I'm sorry, but that's how it is.

Alright, I'm done.

 

[Marowit]

Sounds awesome!

One question though: Is there a sex scene?

For whatever reason sex in movies immediately turns my girlfriend off of movies. Like we went to go see Watchman and she seemed to be enjoying it until the sex scene, and she checked out. Needless to say it was awkward.

Anyway, I'd really like to see this movie, and I wanted to ask to see if I can bring her along or if it's a movie I should see by my lonesome.

 

[Axolotl]

Since when was putting actual science in Sci-Fi a good thing?

It almost always dates the whole project.

Dated science will at no point be worse than the techno-babble gibberish movies usually use. At the least by trying to use actual science movies have a shot at relevance, even if temporary.

Not really techno-babble and vagueness people can accept whereas dated science is just laughable. Take Neuromancer, it struggles to be taken seriously when at the beginning a character boasts about having 3 megs of hot RAM. Or an older example, compare Jules Verne with HG Wells, both wrote similar science fiction at around the same time. Jules Verne tried to be scientifically acurate whereas HG Wells never bothered, in modern times Verne's work are far less plausible because of the science used. Look at any golden age Sci-Fi and how they viewed computers.

Scientific accuracy is a stupid idea in science fiction.

 

[ccesarano]

RODNEY MCKAY!

Anyway.

My first reaction to the trailer was "oh God, they're remaking Species...". Honestly, I still have minor interest in this film, but it takes a LOT for a horror flick to gain my interest. However, I'll be sure to Netflix it. That way if I disagree with you I can just pull out the disc and send it back rather than sit through an entire film to get my money's worth. Maybe I'll be surprised, maybe not. Usually I agree with you, buuuuut considering we disagreed on Book of Eli, there's a chance we may disagree on this as well.

Also: Michael Bay producing a Turtles film? I thought they were already working on a sequel to the 3-D animated one from a few years back? What the Hell?

 

[RTR]

This year's D9?! God, they better bring this to Mexico. I haven't seen a single poster or trailer at the movies in my town.
It's official. D9 has to be Bob's most quoted movie ever. He'll probably quote again next week when we hear his thoughts on Sharlto Copley on the A-Team.

I guess Neytiri is off the hook.

 

[snowman6251]

Thank you Bob I think I will see this. I honestly couldn't tell beforehand if this was going to be good or like Quarantine.

 

[Endocrom]

Was that Dr. McKay?

Good? huh, the trailers make it look like a generic monster movie.

"We shouldn't be doing this"
"Oh noes! it's it's got my arm"
"Oh noes! it's escaped from the lab"
"Oh noes! it's swooping out of the trees batmanning people"

plus it has master-god-rockstar of the multiverse Adrian Brody

 

[tehbeard]

This film has completely gone under the radar here in england i have not seen even a poster on a phonebox of this film. Never heared of it, but i might check it out.

Ditto, looks alot better then current cinema offerings.

 

[300lb. Samoan]

I never had a good feeling about this, maybe because of the timing I assumed it was a Hollywood-friendly retread of Human Centipede. I've been watching your reviews for a year and you've never steered me wrong. If you say it's this year's District 9, then here's hoping the damn thing delivers because I saw D9 on your recommendation and fucking LOVED IT.

 

[Enkidu88]

Wow, I'm surprised. The previews for it made it look like a standard B monster movie, but now I'm actually intrigued, I'll probably check it out.

 

[Billion Backs]

I've watched all of the movies you mentioned, and I might have even been one of the "Oh no ohmagawd you're a censor" people at one point, although I might have been talking to someone other then you.

The Human Centipede has already become a meme, and I think it's a good thing. If you don't look at it simply like a gross-out movie, but more of an accidental satire on a lot of movies employing science and scientists as major plot elements, it becomes hilarious. The whole "human centipede" thing was absolutely ridiculous from any scientific stand point, and pointless at that, too.

I spent most of the movie laughing at the sheer absurdity >_<

No that was me. I wish my film reviews on this site got half as much traffic as my incidental commentaries on odd things (most of them related to moviebob...anywho).

My complaints about the movie have less to do with the movie itself and more to do with the whole...thing built up around it. I'd understand if it was a well made film or vaguely interesting but...well Bob put it best. There is absolutely nothing going on underneath the movie itself. There's no exceptionally compelling explanation for why it's happening, it just is. The best film to compare it to is Savage Vengence (look it up).

And that's fine, it is what it is and it can be what it is farrrrrrr away from me. Gross out movies have been part of our collective cultural background going back to the 70's. But the culture seems obsessed with it and keeps shoving it out of the background and into the foreground, which is giving it this lurching unlife. We're already staring down a sequel and if that does well, we'll probably have some imitators and then we get a subgenre, and that's really not an eventuality I want to materialize.

As to your specific comments, if a movie is an intentional satire, fine. Satire is generally awesome. If people are claiming that a movie is an accidental satire, it generally means you're poorly made. I'm sorry, but that's how it is.

Alright, I'm done.

Eh can't blame you for having opinions.

I'm pretty sure the couple that's behind the Human Centipede were intending to make it at least a trilogy before receiving any response. So you can't really stop that =p

I prefer to see "accidental satire" kind of movies as a part of the "so bad it's good" pile. It's funny to watch movies and enjoy all the "wrong" things the makers didn't intend you to. Kind of like enjoying the absolute hypocrisy in glorifying a superhero defeating a villain and destroying a few blocks of buildings full of people while at it. Sure, "the good wins again" and all the crushed people and property damage is swept under the rug.

Things like that simply amuse me.

Edit: So you're doing film reviews, too, eh? I always wanted to try... Can you throw me a link to one of yours?

 

[Seatownstriker]

I wasn't going to see this at first glance. But I will now thanks to you Bob. I hope you are right.

 

[jamesworkshop]

A few quick points:



Again, I understand why people are watching it, and I'm no stranger to the "OH GOD MY EYES" film viewing (I've seen both Cannibal Holocaust and Teeth and if you're a guy and you haven't heard of Teeth, count yourself lucky) but let's try and keep this from becoming a long lasting cultural thing or (god forbid) a meme. You want a gross out movie that's 100 times better than Centipede? Go track down Slither.

Teeth wasn't a gross out movie it was a black comedy

 

[Sephiwind]

Much like with Kick Ass the advertising made this movie look like just another dumb *Insert over used genre film here*. This review makes me actually want to so see it now that I know it isn't just a Species knock off.

 

[Xocrates]

Not really techno-babble and vagueness people can accept whereas dated science is just laughable. Take Neuromancer, it struggles to be taken seriously when at the beginning a character boasts about having 3 megs of hot RAM. Or an older example, compare Jules Verne with HG Wells, both wrote similar science fiction at around the same time. Jules Verne tried to be scientifically acurate whereas HG Wells never bothered, in modern times Verne's work are far less plausible because of the science used. Look at any golden age Sci-Fi and how they viewed computers.

Scientific accuracy is a stupid idea in science fiction.

Scientific accuracy is the point of science fiction. The fact that people started calling science fiction to fantasy works is a different matter altogether.

Anyway...

Your point stands as long as the work doesn't try to any sort of social relevance at the time of its creation beyond general terms, since it means it would work with vague metaphors at best and a space whale aesop at worst (granted, many of the best works fall in that category).

But if you want to discuss a specific point like, say, the ethics of cloning, either you have a clear understanding of what you're talking about or you just come across as an uninformed douchebag.

However, my initial point was that a lot of the usual technobabble is as laughable, if not more so, than outdated science to the knowledgeable ear. If you're going to commit to technobabble (instead of non-descript vagueness) what's the problem of doing so with some that at least for a while was correct?

 

[Moriarty70]

Hot damn!
Director/Writer - Canadian
Leading Lady - Canadian of Avonlea
Majority of Funding - Canadian Coloured Currency.

Proud moment to be a Canucklehead.

 

[jackanderson]

This film has completely gone under the radar here in england i have not seen even a poster on a phonebox of this film. Never heared of it, but i might check it out.

I can't actually find any cinema listings for it in Birmingham, bit of a shit really ¬¬

Ditto me. Only in Scunthorpe. Or anywhere for that matter. Motherfucking VUE! How is Sex & The City 2 and StreetDance 3D better than actual quality cinema?

Between this, Ponyo and MacGruber, I think I'm going to have to stop going to the cinema. And start (gulps down pride and conscience)... streaming online. I'm sorry cinema and stupid annoying Matthew Horne who comes on before every single fucking film to discourage illegal downloading, but you should have thought of that before you stopped importing quality films!

As for Splice, I absolutely cannot abide horror movies (because I'm a gigantic pussy). But I'm willing to check this one out. It's got a great looking premise, a very good cast (hey, I'm a sucker for The Pianist) and seems exceptionally worth my time.

Plus, it's this year's District 9. And since that was not just my (Non-Pixar) Favourite Film of 2009 but also my (Non-Pixar) Favourite Film of All Time, I'm pretty much duty bound to see it.

 

[Maxi-005]

Splice... huh, ok I'm going to watch this one

BTW. Michael Bay and TMNT? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo... WHY?! Where did we go so wrong...