Zero Dark Thirty

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  • #61
    Re: Zero Dark Thirty

    Seriously though you guys. No politics.
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    • #62
      Re: Zero Dark Thirty

      Originally posted by Chief View Post
      Yeah because the US government is spending trillions so that girls can go to school.
      ZDT does a great job giving credit to the U.S. intelligence community and other operatives for finally tracking down and killing OBL. These people labor and put themselves at risk without ever being acknowledged, I'm glad their story was told, as imperfectly as it may have been done, and regardless of your politics.

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      • #63
        Re: Zero Dark Thirty

        Originally posted by Richmond Weems View Post
        There's a great anecdote told in Woodward's book about the 'war' in Afghanistan, right after 9/11.

        The initial response was a bunch of CIA guys with briefcases full of money; offering the money to the local tribal leaders in exchange for cooperation with the US government in the fight against the Taliban.

        Apparently one tribal leader was offered $50k to be with the Americans and he said, "Fvck you." The CIA operative said okey dokey, if that's how you feel about it...you see that mud hut over there?

        Everyone looked at the mud hut, the CIA guy made a quick call, and a minute later, while they're all watching this stupid mud hut, it gets blown to bits by a surgical strike.

        The CIA guy turns back to the tribal leader, who considers for a second, says, "You know, maybe it's not such a bad idea I take your money and help you."

        The CIA guy says, "Good. Except now it's $25k."

        I always liked that story. No idea if it's actually true or not, but it should be.
        I went to AF shortly after 9-11 and heard a similar story. I don't doubt it's true.
        "Ray, next time someone asks you if you're a god, you say YES!- - Ghostbusters

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        • #64
          Re: Zero Dark Thirty

          Originally posted by emily blake View Post
          I don't care if it's true or not. It's a cool story.
          I felt the same way. I liked the film quite a bit actually. I read an article, which I can't find now, where Jessica Chastain discusses her prep work for the role and the handicap of not having contact with the real "Maya".

          In the story we never learn what drives Maya, but I think it's a testament to Jessica's acting ability that we can surmise it's because she's a female in a male-driven occupation. She's the new kid on the block, just recruited, and she has a solid lead. And when she says in the boardroom: "I'm the mutherfvcker that found this place" it's like Maya has come full circle from naive and uncomfortable to standing in front of a room of heavy hitters (males) and saying shut the hell up and listen.
          life happens
          despite a few cracked pots-
          and random sunlight

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          • #65
            Re: Zero Dark Thirty

            Originally posted by Richmond Weems View Post
            There's a great anecdote told in Woodward's book about the 'war' in Afghanistan, right after 9/11.

            The initial response was a bunch of CIA guys with briefcases full of money; offering the money to the local tribal leaders in exchange for cooperation with the US government in the fight against the Taliban.

            Apparently one tribal leader was offered $50k to be with the Americans and he said, "Fvck you." The CIA operative said okey dokey, if that's how you feel about it...you see that mud hut over there?

            Everyone looked at the mud hut, the CIA guy made a quick call, and a minute later, while they're all watching this stupid mud hut, it gets blown to bits by a surgical strike.

            The CIA guy turns back to the tribal leader, who considers for a second, says, "You know, maybe it's not such a bad idea I take your money and help you."

            The CIA guy says, "Good. Except now it's $25k."

            I always liked that story. No idea if it's actually true or not, but it should be.
            It's a very effective tactic. USN Commodore Perry used it with the opening of Japan back in the mid 19th century.
            "Write every day. Don't quit. The rest is all bullshit." - Brian Koppelman

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            • #66
              Re: Zero Dark Thirty

              I just saw this a couple days ago, and I liked it a lot. Certainly liked it much better than THE HURT LOCKER, which I thought was just dumb.

              I'm honestly interested in GI Jeep's 90% horsesh!t comment 'cause I didn't find 90% of it horsesh!t. Given that I was a grunt during peacetime, maybe I'm just clueless (or maybe I'm just clueless anyway), but I am somewhat familiar with CIA ops 'cause I read a lot--and we really did push mules out of airplanes to see if we could parachute them into territory, though it wasn't the OSS/CIA that did that.

              There were some moments that were 'off' to me, most notably in the beginning, but I rolled with it and got caught up in the movie. And the lack of weapons discipline in the last 40 minutes or so bothered me a little, but, again, I'm kinda used to seeing this in movies so it didn't kick me out of the story.

              Anyway, if GI Jeep reads this, I'd be interested in anything he/she can tell us about the horsesh!t aspects of the flick.

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              • #67
                Re: Zero Dark Thirty

                I liked it.

                I don't really care that much for accuracy. It's movie. Seems it's accurate enough, for a movie. It gives at least a convincing *illusion* of seeing how things really operate behind closed doors. It's well directed, with a semi-documentary feel.

                Jessica Chastain is great, and ah so beautiful to look at. We don't get to know her beyond her work - Which obviously is her entire life - But the actress is so expressive, you feel like you know her.

                The film has one great advantage over Hurt Locker: A Clearly defined goal and a character with means to achieve it. That gives it better structural coherence.

                If you don't enjoy procedurals, you probably won't enjoy this. But the extended raid sequence is exciting, and a more crowd-pleasing climax after the relatively dry procedural story.

                I would kind of compare it to Zodiac, which felt like a boring procedural to a lot of people, and the characters were defined largely by their obsession with the serial-killer. Zodiac was a great film.

                Dark Zero Thirty is not great, but it's good.

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                • #68
                  Re: Zero Dark Thirty

                  I've liked (or really, really liked) everything that Kathryn Bigelow has done, including this. It's interesting, though, is that her style is a lot more subtle in this movie - almost like another director made it. Maybe she got tired of worrying if her audience would lose attention a minute into every scene.

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                  • #69
                    Re: Zero Dark Thirty

                    I thought it was slow, but good. And I was glad to see a low key, realistic depiction of the final raid, rather than the usual Hollywood shoot-em-up.
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                    • #70
                      Re: Zero Dark Thirty

                      this was quite possibly the most evil film i have ever watched.

                      even more criminal then the torture porn, it was plain boring.

                      i want my 2 hours back.


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                      • #71
                        Re: Zero Dark Thirty

                        As a story written for the screen, this sucks.

                        They didn't build up the threat of the villain. At all. Unless you count some recorded phone calls over black screen at the beginning, but otherwise, the threat of the villain doesn't come from the movie. It comes from reality. None of the emotion of the viewing experience comes from the movie.

                        This movie contains zero scenes that show us why it was critical for everyone to drop what they're doing and literally dedicate their lives to finding this one dude. And because of that, the whole thing feels silly and forced, and ultimately...pointless.

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                        • #72
                          Re: Zero Dark Thirty

                          Originally posted by Biohazard View Post
                          This movie contains zero scenes that show us why it was critical for everyone to drop what they're doing and literally dedicate their lives to finding this one dude. And because of that, the whole thing feels silly and forced, and ultimately...pointless.
                          This is literally the first thing we see (or hear). It's the film's opening.

                          Hundreds of overlapping phonecalls from the Twin Towers. It's heartbreaking and terrifying and enraging.

                          And then we begin the hunt for the man responsible...

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                          • #73
                            Re: Zero Dark Thirty

                            Originally posted by ATB View Post
                            This is literally the first thing we see (or hear). It's the film's opening.

                            Hundreds of overlapping phonecalls from the Twin Towers. It's heartbreaking and terrifying and enraging.

                            And then we begin the hunt for the man responsible...
                            How do we know it was him? The film doesn't show that. It literally shows nothing.

                            That's my point. The script is not doing the work...we are.

                            Not one single frame of this movie shows the villain threatening anybody.

                            No other movie could get away with not developing the villain in any way whatsoever, or not establishing why he's a threat in the first place, let alone the most important threat in the world. No other movie could do that because other films must rely on that which comes from within the story. This one does not. It's just cheap, lazy writing. The movie cannot stand on its own storytelling merit. It's simply using emotions from real-life situations as a crutch instead of a foundation.

                            50 years from now when nobody knows one thing about Osama Bin Laden, people are going to watch this movie, and you know what they'll learn about Bin Laden? That he died in a house.
                            Last edited by Biohazard; 05-08-2013, 11:45 AM.

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                            • #74
                              Re: Zero Dark Thirty

                              I don't think we saw the same movie, Biohazard.

                              Maybe you've got this one confused with IRON MAN 3.

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                              • #75
                                Re: Zero Dark Thirty

                                Originally posted by Richmond Weems View Post
                                I don't think we saw the same movie, Biohazard.

                                Maybe you've got this one confused with IRON MAN 3.
                                Perhaps I'm remembering it wrong.

                                Please point out the scenes that show why the villain is such a terrible threat that needs to be stopped immediately.

                                Because I saw none, just like in the title. Zero.

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