Netflix Alfonso Cuarón's Roma (2018) (1 Viewer)

[Tino]

Do you think my opinion of it would change if I sat through another hour or hour and a half of watching dull people do dull things?

Yes

 

[Edwin-S]

Yes

I doubt it. It took me two days to watch Paul Thomas Anderson's shitty movie "Magnolia". I thought his movie was terrible then and I still think it is terrible now. I don't think watching more of Cuaron's "effort" would make me think better of it. In fact, it might make me think even worse of it. However, you never know. If all that is on one day is NFL Football or his movie then I may try watching it again someday.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

It took me two days to watch Paul Thomas Anderson's shitty movie "Magnolia". I thought his movie was terrible then and I still think it is terrible now.

Wow, that's another film I love and I think it is a great picture but maybe that just sort of helps people decide if they want to watch Roma. It seems like the films you are listing as "terrible" seem to be films that are adult dramas and films that have slower pacing and more contemplative themes.

Which is fine, if you don't like that kind of stuff certainly don't watch it.

I do think if you are going to spend your time on a movie it should be something you enjoy.

 

[Tino]

I also loved Magnolia.

 

[Edwin-S]

"Lawrence of Arabia" and "Doctor Zhivago" don't exactly move at the speed of light and I like those films fine. "Night on The Galactic Railroad, ostensibly a "childrens" film, moves at a glacial pace and it is a favorite of mine.

I don't have an issue with pacing as long as the film has enough in it to maintain my interest in the characters or the situation.

 

[JohnRice]

You like the film so it is okay to take oblique shots at people who do not think they have to sit through an excruciating experience before being having an opinion on what they think of a film.

That perfectly illustrates my point. I have actually not said a word about liking or disliking Roma. My point is that it's fundamentally necessary to make the effort to understand a movie before assessing it, if the assessment can have any value. Instead, what I find so often is that the film is assessed very quickly, before there is any chance to understand it, and the rest of the viewing tends to be only to support that premature assessment. In that same spirit, to answer your question regarding if you would have liked the movie if you saw more of it? My guess is no, for the same reason. Your mind was already made up and the rest of the time you would spend watching it, or finishing Magnolia for example, was only to find more reasons to hate it, based in the first impulse reaction.

I don't have any illusions of changing your fundamental movie watching philosophy, and my "oblique shots" were just a way of using actual comments as an example, without literally calling anyone out, which tends to make people defensive. I probably could have done it better. I said this before, and I don't want to start repeating myself, but I just don't understand the inclination to refuse to go where the movie intends to take you. Just a kind suggestion on possibly gaining more enjoyment. Go for the ride and see what you think once its over. It seems like a much better use of your time than shutting off early in the story. Like I also said earlier, some movies need to be watched at the right time or in the right state of mind.

Magnolia is an excellent example where the willingness to go where it takes you is paramount. You have to let go of expectations and just take the ride. I can't exactly say I "like" it, but I find it to be a worthwhile journey. It also forces me to take a look at myself. Maybe that's the problem for some.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

That's the thing as you list films you like or don't like it may become more apparent where your tastes run.

I mean I would not compare Roma and Magnolia really other than they are adult dramas that center around relationships. Magnolia seems to have a lot more going on and uses a different approach than Roma. Roma is much more about examining memory and so is a very contemplative film. Solaris is a philosophical science fiction film that actually also delves into memory and relationships. So, again involves being more in a state of mind where you ponder what is being presented more deeply than a film that just tells you a story. I would say the pacing in Roma and Solaris is slow but I don't think Magnolia is slow but it is a long film.

Some films tell you a straightforward story and I think some people prefer that over being presented with complex ideas that are not forwarding a narrative but rather just try to make a person consider the ideas and how they relate to them. That can seem tedious to many people. Particularly if what they want is to be "entertained" rather than being asked to "think" deeply about something.

Some films manage to mix these together and do both.

It's interesting, I think, how we form our preferences and how some things strike us while others don't.

Lawrence and Zhivago are older films where the pacing is representative of films of that period...which I would not call slow but slower than today's pacing is obviously. They both are telling complex stories though and expend time on getting a lot of information in front of their audiences.

I have not seen the railroad film so don't know what that is like.

 

[Edwin-S]

Somehow I feel like I just got called simple-minded.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Somehow I feel like I just got called simple-minded.

No, not at all. At least that's not where I was going. My point was there are different kinds of films and different approaches toward making them. That has nothing to do with how intelligent someone is. Obviously the approach to making Roma is not the same approach to making a super hero film. Each filmmaker is trying to do something completely different. It is not really your level of intelligence either one is appealing to though...it is more of an emotional aspect they are trying to get at.

This is why we tend to react to these films and describe our reactions in emotional terms...love it, hate it.

I don't think you are simple minded because you don't like Roma. That would be a ridiculous thing to say. I don't even think Roma is a highly intellectual film...it's definitely reaching out on an emotional level. It did not connect with you that way and so that has nothing to do with your intelligence.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

It also forces me to take a look at myself. Maybe that's the problem for some.

I do think there are a lot of things that can cause a person to shutdown and not go on the ride that a film is trying to take you on. I think there are a lot of things that come into play there. It can be the subject matter or how it is presented, it can be just not liking one of the actors. It can be how poorly made the film is.

While I liked Roma, for what it is, I could also see and understand a lot of people would not like it. It would not have been my choice for Best Picture either but I just judged it on what I felt it set out to do and if I felt it did that.

The pacing and the first hour of the film I think will be a big challenge for a lot of people. When I watched it with a group of people and they wanted to turn it off...I totally understood their complaints.

 

[MartinP.]

Where I have a problem is when you only watch a fraction of a movie, then go and critique it, rate it, whatever, claiming to know what it is.

AMPAS does something like that with the documentary feature nominations. They sit in a theatre and start watching one of the documentaries and after 20 or 30 minutes they raise their signs whether to continue watching it or not. If more than half hold up their signs they move onto the next one.

At least they used to do it in that manner.

 

[JohnRice]

AMPAS does something like that with the documentary feature nominations. They sit in a theatre and start watching one of the documentaries and after 20 or 30 minutes they raise their signs whether to continue watching it or not. If more than half hold up their signs they move onto the next one.

At least they used to do it in that manner.

Is that for determining the nominations, or voting on the winners?

 

[MartinP.]

Nominations. I don't know the full details, but I've read about it. This was a decade or two ago that I read about it, though. Whether they still do it that way or not, I don't know.

 

[usrunnr]

Anyone have any news about a blu-ray release?

 

[Jake Lipson]

Anyone have any news about a blu-ray release?

Historically, Netflix does not put their original movies that they own on Blu-ray. They would rather keep it as an exclusive to lure subscribers. The Netflix content that has been released on disc before was licensed to them by other studios. Therefore, I wouldn't expect a Blu-ray release of Roma. I'd love to be wrong. But I really doubt that's on Netflix's agenda.