Southland Tales (2006)

[njs85 7]

Southland Tales is like a book. A really bad book...

[njs85 7]

Southland Tales is like a book. A really bad book...

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Foxtrot's video is an example why I adore (not "like," per se, but have affection for) this movie. I don't like Timberlake and I don't like The Killers and I don't indulge in any sort of drug, but that musical number is so fucking ridiculous in its very conception, that I can't help but love whatever whacked-out, hallucinogen-induced logic that contributed to its existence. Southland Tales is like the Crank 2 of arthouse movies. Yes please.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Foxtrot's video is an example why I adore (not "like," per se, but have affection for) this movie. I don't like Timberlake and I don't like The Killers and I don't indulge in any sort of drug, but that musical number is so fucking ridiculous in its very conception, that I can't help but love whatever whacked-out, hallucinogen-induced logic that contributed to its existence. Southland Tales is like the Crank 2 of arthouse movies. Yes please.

[bloodyknows 0]

yea its definitely a what the fuck sort of movie. you have to read the comic book prequels to have any idea what is going on and even then there are some pretty big leaps of logic.

[bloodyknows 0]

yea its definitely a what the fuck sort of movie. you have to read the comic book prequels to have any idea what is going on and even then there are some pretty big leaps of logic.

[LukeHENDERSON 3]

James-Any movie that 'you have to read the comic book prequels to have any idea what is going on' has my vote right away. I had no idea there were even prequels in comic book form. Yikes.

[LukeHENDERSON 3]

James-Any movie that 'you have to read the comic book prequels to have any idea what is going on' has my vote right away. I had no idea there were even prequels in comic book form. Yikes.

[sillstaw 414]

It's kind of astonishing that anybody thought putting all the backstory into a series of comic book prequels would be a good idea. As a poster on another forum put it, nobody wants to have to do homework before seeing a movie.
There was a news story a while back that Richard Kelly wanted to make the prequel comic books into a direct-to-DVD animated movie ( http://www.avclub.com/articles/richard-kelly-thinks-you-need-an-animated-southlan,48356/ ). It's like he fails to realize that he's made a hopelessly confusing movie, and that no amount of explanation will help.

[sillstaw 414]

It's kind of astonishing that anybody thought putting all the backstory into a series of comic book prequels would be a good idea. As a poster on another forum put it, nobody wants to have to do homework before seeing a movie.
There was a news story a while back that Richard Kelly wanted to make the prequel comic books into a direct-to-DVD animated movie ( http://www.avclub.com/articles/richard-kelly-thinks-you-need-an-animated-southlan,48356/ ). It's like he fails to realize that he's made a hopelessly confusing movie, and that no amount of explanation will help.

[EarBear 460]

I strongly feel that even if someone enjoyed this film, they must still wonder how the fuck it got made. Unless they are entirely detached from reality. Which may actually be a prerequisite for liking this film, so perhaps I have answered my own pondering...

[EarBear 460]

I strongly feel that even if someone enjoyed this film, they must still wonder how the fuck it got made. Unless they are entirely detached from reality. Which may actually be a prerequisite for liking this film, so perhaps I have answered my own pondering...

[Foxtrot1 67]

Can you still get the comics on like eBay or something? I would buy them just for the novelty factor

[Foxtrot1 67]

Can you still get the comics on like eBay or something? I would buy them just for the novelty factor

[EarBear 460]

Foxtrot1, i quickly scanned through eBay and Amazon - looks like you can score those graphic novels for a couple bucks a piece.

Also, the more I reflect on this pile of shit, the more I want the HDTGM crew to rip into it. I want to note that I saw this movie twice - once in the theater, then again on DVD about a year and a half later, because I needed to reconnect with it to understand just how bad it is. There are so many 'what the fuck am I watching' moments in this movie. This may be the best one:

[EarBear 460]

I should clarify, that car commercial makes even less sense when it is played within the context of the entire feature film...

[Gowaduv 1]

Not to defend it too much, but IIRC it's supposed to be the middle of a graphic novel/movie/interactive website trilogy which is why it makes little to no sense on its own. The Killers song was what was on his iPod when his friend got killed in a helicopter attack in Iraq. He blames himself and is addicted to some vaporized drug thing, and this scene takes place just after he bumps some of the hardest stuff that's available.
I liked the movie, but then I tend to genuinely enjoy bizarre even when it's bad, just because it's not the same cookie cutter bullshit that Hollywood usually produces. I would like to hear it on the podcast though

I'm interested to hear how Foxtrot1's encounter with Richard Kelly turned out.

[jesle 13]

lol, oh man, after seeing that car commercial I have to see this movie.

[Foxtrot1 67]

I just want to bump this because this movie is so awesome. Someone cut together a 10-minute version for Youtube, people love the shit out of this movie:
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Check out 4:10 to 4:50 and tell me that's not completely bizarre. Those scenes are in the same movie! It makes no sense, gloriously no sense

[Foxtrot1 67]

Also here is Mark Kermode's amazing review of the film:

[RyanPower 3]

Bumping...

[DartanganMcgee 30]

It brings me comfort that I'm not the only one that suffered through this abortion of a movie. We definitely need to bring awareness so this film never hurts anyone, ever again.

[Nasher 29]

Kelly is so cerebral story-wise its hard to get on film what he is going for..and Darko worked for that very reason. I like many were enamored of his vision and restraint in what was left off the screen.

 

Then i saw the Directors cut.. dear god.. he has no idea why that movie worked.. and misunderstood peoples connection to it. Everything he added in just deaden the already slow pace and reduced Frank's impact with confused shots of clouds and water. I know what he was getting at after listening to his explanation.. and its still needless fluff. He needs a co-director and editor to interpret and craft his material for the masses.

 

With Southland he actually rallied against his detractors and said to understand the movie you need to buy and read my 3 part comic-book series first (available after the films release) and I did read them.. and the film is still a gibbering donkey with a leaden cast playing roles they don't understand. Most baffling to me was the padding of Timberlake miming to a Killers track for no reason obvious to anyone but Kelly.

 

Oh and don't get me started on The Box and Diaz's amazing Virginia accent.

[sillstaw 414]

I participated in an in-depth recap of this movie on another site where everybody got 15 minutes of the film to talk about. The guy who got the Killers' song put it best: It's just a tired rehash of the old "I'm on drugs, let's have a musical number!" trope.

 

The person who co-ordinated the recap also agreed that reading the comics does nothing to explain it.

[Nasher 29]

We need to keep this topic hot so it gets a fair chance at being reviewed on the show.. more people need to feel our pain and lose 2hours+ to the movie so they can share in that pain.

 

PS I highly recommend buying the movie second hand so as not to fuel Kelly into thinking he made a cult film on DVD.