A History of Violence

Status
Not open for further replies.
MagicJackBauer said:
This movies was unbearable. About a half hour of the movie could have been cut out. Some scenes were so pointless, it seemed like a rookie director was behind the wheel. Why the hell would I want to watch Joey order a drink at a bar, pay for it, get change, and then tip the bartender.
Click to expand...
Unbelievable.
 
MagicJackBauer said:
I am glad that I saw it though, becasue now when someone asks me; "What is the worst movie you have ever scene?", I can say it was A History of Violence
Click to expand...

:lol

That'd be the day someone starts taking your movie opinions entirely less seriously.
 
MagicJackBauer said:
This movies was unbearable. About a half hour of the movie could have been cut out. Some scenes were so pointless, it seemed like a rookie director was behind the wheel. Why the hell would I want to watch Joey order a drink at a bar, pay for it, get change, and then tip the bartender.

Also, how William Hurt was nominated for an Oscar blows my mind. He was in the movie for about five minutes. I am glad that I saw it though, becasue now when someone asks me; "What is the worst movie you have ever scene?", I can say it was A History of Violence
Click to expand...

Anyone who says this is the "worst movie they've every "scene"" is just saying that to get a reaction out of people.
 
I came away with thinking the movie is about showing the true consequences of living a violent lifestyle. So many movies show violence as just a physical act, but ignore the aftershocks that occur latter on down the road.


It's been a while since I've watch this movie though.
 
metdroid said:
So should I watch this or not?
Click to expand...
this movie was awesome and anyone who can't appreciate it on some level should probably go back to watching their uwe boll 'masterpieces'.
 
Gosh some people didn't like it, get over it :lol

I thought it was fantastic, especially some of the death scenes. Gruesome!
 
MagicJackBauer said:
This movies was unbearable. About a half hour of the movie could have been cut out. Some scenes were so pointless, it seemed like a rookie director was behind the wheel. Why the hell would I want to watch Joey order a drink at a bar, pay for it, get change, and then tip the bartender.

Also, how William Hurt was nominated for an Oscar blows my mind. He was in the movie for about five minutes. I am glad that I saw it though, becasue now when someone asks me; "What is the worst movie you have ever seen?", I can say it was A History of Violence
Click to expand...

Well my days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.
 
MagicJackBauer said:
This movies was unbearable. About a half hour of the movie could have been cut out. Some scenes were so pointless, it seemed like a rookie director was behind the wheel. Why the hell would I want to watch Joey order a drink at a bar, pay for it, get change, and then tip the bartender.

Also, how William Hurt was nominated for an Oscar blows my mind. He was in the movie for about five minutes. I am glad that I saw it though, becasue now when someone asks me; "What is the worst movie you have ever seen?", I can say it was A History of Violence
Click to expand...


You are an idiot. Yes, a half hour of a 96 minute moviecould have been cut out! It was the best movie of 2005 and one of the best-paced films I've ever seen. There isn't a shot or scene in the entire damned movie that wasn't necessary.
 
i think it was definatly overhyped (like many other movies/games) around here. The last half hour or so was downright goofy at times. It was still entertaining though.
 
I wasn't as impressed with this movie as I thought I'd be. I mean, the sex scenes...Maria Bello...were absolutely hot! But everything else sucked monkey-balls...even the scenes with William Hurt.
 
I thought it was a very deliberate "take" on Seagal/Last Boy Scout violent genre movies. And I thought it was a great romp. I didn't get where the "academy consideration" came from though.

But here's the most important lesson. Women, if you love your husband, you should dress like a Cheerleader.
 
metdroid said:
So should I watch this or not?
Click to expand...
Don't do it, you'll hate yourselve, until you eventually commit suicide as a result of seeing this monstrosity. This is a horrible movie and you all are horrible people with horrible opinions.
 
Ok I rented it. I don't get it, I thought it was gonna be a drama about the effects of violence or something, but it was just like a normal action movie but with a low body count. Lame.
 
Boring acting? Poor pacing?

I don't know where some of these complaints come from. I appreciated all the realism that was put in. Sure, there were a couple of scenes with wonky delivery (like William Hurt acting like a stereotypical Jewish guy and the Steven Seagal neck twist), but overall it's a nice contrast to the every-line-is-dramatic approach to most movies. It's kind of like how the everyday dialog of Prison Break and The Wire was a nice break from Lost and other serial dramas.
 
I agree this film SUCKED bigtime.


you guys talk and look to much in to " the message" of the film, who gives a shit?

I want to watch and be entertained and if the film has a message that is not to obvious its good but history of violence was to obvious!

A history of violence is a to obvoius and flat film and I do not like Obvious and flat films.


give me a film with twists and turns that are unexpected, those films are very rare but the most entertaining of all films.


I probably have seen to many films to ever be taken by suprise as most films now adays never come up with something new
 
What killed this movie for me was the actress who played the daughter. She really brought the movie down with her terrible acting. I'm guessing her parents pulled some strings because I don't know how she got the part.
 
robertsan21 said:
I agree this film SUCKED bigtime.


you guys talk and look to much in to " the message" of the film, who gives a shit?

I want to watch and be entertained and if the film has a message that is not to obvious its good but history of violence was to obvious!

A history of violence is a to obvoius and flat film and I do not like Obvious and flat films.


give me a film with twists and turns that are unexpected, those films are very rare but the most entertaining of all films.


I probably have seen to many films to ever be taken by suprise as most films now adays never come up with something new
Click to expand...
You also hated The Prestige, Little Miss Sunshine and Children of Men.
 
Prime crotch said:
You also hated The Prestige, Little Miss Sunshine and Children of Men.
Click to expand...


I did not hate The prestige!!

infact it was good but unfortunatly did I not get suprised when they revlealed how he did his trick.

I knew he had a
twin
and that the guy who wanted his tricks where infact jackson.

little miss sunshine was not even funny, I dont think I laughed once during the entire film.

children of men :lol so bad.


just to name a few that I can think of

My kind of movies:
the illusionist
anything with Toshiro mifune.
gladiator
lord of the rings
blood diamond
departed
tarantino films
southpark
lost in translation
dum and dummer
any thing with will farell!!! his god!
old school
spagetti western films!
oceans eleven
the usual suspects
smoking aces was fun
a beutiful mind

well I like all the comedy with ben,will,owen wilson,vince vaughn etc I love those guys.

I like smart films but they hardly do any these days, last one I saw was the usual suspects and I have not hade a wow moment like that since its release. as most of todays films are to obvious.

school of scoundrals was awesome as I sort of like movies when they have mission to pick up girls hahaha
 
wow robertsan21, the movies you list really comes up with innovative stuff and surprises! :lol

A History of Violence is good.

So is Children of Men.
 
ItsInMyVeins said:
wow robertsan21, the movies you list really comes up with innovative stuff and surprises! :lol

A History of Violence is good.

So is Children of Men.
Click to expand...

I am editing my as it is not complete yet
 
Eh. It was okay. The stair sex seemed pointless. I liked seeing the douche bully get his ass beat. The end was fun. I don't know. GRR PEOPLE ARE VIOLENT!
 
A History of Violence is the worst Cronenberg movie I have ever seen. That makes it "average", since most Cronenberg movies are ****in' AWESOME.

I thought the script was the movie's weakest point. The actors just didn't have all that much to work with. The guy who plays Viggo Mortensen's kid also does a really shitty job.

:/
 
robertsan21 said:
I agree this film SUCKED bigtime.


you guys talk and look to much in to " the message" of the film, who gives a shit?

I want to watch and be entertained and if the film has a message that is not to obvious its good but history of violence was to obvious!

A history of violence is a to obvoius and flat film and I do not like Obvious and flat films.


give me a film with twists and turns that are unexpected, those films are very rare but the most entertaining of all films.


I probably have seen to many films to ever be taken by suprise as most films now adays never come up with something new
Click to expand...

Surprise surprise, the pretty boy is dumb as shit. "But there's no twist!!!".
 
I thought it was worth seeing, though I didn't really understand the HUGE reaction it got.

Unrelated gush: I loved the part where Viggo destroys the mobsters in front of his house-- reminded me of the scene in Collateral where those two guys steal Tom Cruise's suitcase. Insanely basass.
 
i liked it, but it kinda gave me a ''was that it?'' feeling when i finished watching it, even though it's a somewhat short movie by today's standards. i'm gonna watch eastern promises next.
 
polyh3dron said:
Teh Hamburglar
Allergic to awesome
(07-07-2006, 11:25 PM)
Reply | Quote
Click to expand...
Timely!

Anyway, I thought it was a fairly unremarkable script that was extremely well made into film, I can't help but wonder why so much talent was put into such story.
Easter Promises is superior to it in every way, but unfortunately since it's somehow stylistically similar to A History of Violence, in the grand scheme of Cronenberg career it's somehow disappointing.
 
Okay GAF, help me out here. I watched this on the strength of the Rotten Tomatoes rating, and was utterly blown away but just how terrible this movie is.

I'm not saying this just to be contrarian, and I'm certainly not some pretentious film fan who can pick holes in everything (hell, I've watched, and kinda enjoyed Sky High and Richie Rich lately!) but this was just plain unwatchable.

Now, I only got 30 minutes or so in, but just what the hell is the appeal of this movie? The acting is atrocious, to the point I found it unbearable to watch. The story line is just underwhelming, the characters utterly dull, the story with the son and the bully... what the hell was that about. And don't get me started on what is without doubt the most cringeworthy sex scene ever to exist in a film.

I genuinely feel like we were watching a different film to everyone else. We try and watch a few movies every week, but this is only the second film ever (after Paul, the alien) that we've had to switch off.

Does it ramp up? Somehow get less mundane? Maybe all of the characters are switched out for interesting ones, played by actors who can actually act? Christ. I'm probably being overly dramatic but usually I'm good at seeing past the flaws of a film and just enjoying it for what it is, but this film made that impossible for the both of us.
 
bud said:
i liked it, but it kinda gave me a ''was that it?'' feeling when i finished watching it, even though it's a somewhat short movie by today's standards. i'm gonna watch eastern promises next.
Click to expand...

after rewatching it a bunch of times, i've grown to like it a whole lot more. i'm now in the "this movie is awesome" crowd.

so yeah, this movie is awesome.
 
Movie was terrible and very fantasy-like. Like not a single scene in the movie was believable. GAF just loves dat Viggo.
 
Royale with Cheese said:
I wasn't as impressed with this movie as I thought I'd be. I mean, the sex scenes...Maria Bello...were absolutely hot! But everything else sucked monkey-balls...even the scenes with William Hurt.
Click to expand...

Especially the scenes with William Hurt.

The movie was good though. Pretty dark and depressing from the opening scene on.
 
zoukka said:
GAF just loves dat Viggo.
Click to expand...
Not sure that'd be the reason. My girlfriend is a massive LotR fan and was happy to see his name in the opening credits, but found it just as unbearable to watch as I did. I genuinely think of the hundreds (maybe even thousands?) of films I've watched in my life, this would easily be in the top 5 worst.
 
What a thread revival.

This movie is pretty good. Not the best David Cronenberg movie and has some flaws, but still pretty damn good.
 
zoukka said:
Movie was terrible and very fantasy-like. Like not a single scene in the movie was believable. GAF just loves dat Viggo.
Click to expand...


That's not it. I thought I was done with Viggo after the LOTR films, but A history of Violence and Eastern Promises made me reconsider that. As for the odd delivery of lines and dream like atmosphere, they probably have something to do with this being a Cronenberg film. And it is an awesome film indeed. I just love the intensely small scale of it, pretty fucking unique for this genre.
 
Fallout-NL said:
That's not it. I thought I was done with Viggo after the LOTR films, but A history of Violence and Eastern Promises made me reconsider that. As for the odd delivery of lines and dream like atmosphere, they probably have something to do with this being a Cronenberg film. And it is an awesome film indeed. I just love the intensely small scale of it, pretty fucking unique for this genre.
Click to expand...

TBH, I didn't find the experience painful. I just felt it collapsed when Viggo went to see his brother or something, can't remember it correctly.

Dreamlike it is, but something in the direction confused me in a bad way. It's not like the movie was shot like Naked Lunch, where you clearly went into an acid trip with the characters. In this movie the level of "realism" seemed to jump up and down from beginning to end. Maybe I need to watch it again. I liked Eastern Promises seeing it being mentioned in this thread.

you're wrong. it's awesome.
Click to expand...

Awesome is the most dull word to describe anything, so you might be right.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Antartica Research Station: send help (violence, threats, and sexual assult)
2
56
3K
poodaddy replied
Own a piece of cinema history with Aliens auctions
21
1K
Mr1999 replied
Alexander Ovechkin Breaks Wayne Gretzky's All-Time Record For Most Goals In NHL History
25
769
StreetsofBeige replied
Groundbreaking Findings on the Giza Pyramid Complex Could Re-Write Human History
2 3 4 5 6
263
13K
RJMacready73 replied
The Worst Job Interview in History
2
84
5K
dave_d replied
Top Bottom