Broadsheet Trailer Park: Joy

13 thoughts on “Broadsheet Trailer Park: Joy”

1. jeremy kyle July 21, 2015 at 4:32 pm

   I thought American Hustle was a repugnant pile of slurry, but then again I can’t be trusted.
   1. Caroline July 21, 2015 at 4:42 pm

      It was terrible.
   2. Mikeyfex July 21, 2015 at 4:43 pm

      One of the few I’ve switched off
   3. meadowlark July 21, 2015 at 4:46 pm

      No I have to say I agree with you on that. Aptly put.
   4. Clampers Outside! July 21, 2015 at 4:54 pm

      I still haven’t watched it… now I probably won’t. It looks like an all flashy ‘Ocean’s 11’ mixed with a Casino type vibe and falling between the two… or something… I guess I’ll never know now… :)
      1. postmanpat July 21, 2015 at 5:18 pm

         American Hustle made Oceans 12 look like the Citizen Kane of zany capers. Its that bad!!!
         1. Clampers Outside! July 21, 2015 at 6:39 pm

            jaysus, that’s not good :)
   5. Domestos July 21, 2015 at 5:38 pm

      Also in agreement.
   6. Seriously July 22, 2015 at 8:56 am

      I felt it had good ‘parts’, the pacing was awful though and it could have easily had 45 minutes shaved off and nobody would have cared.
2. Grouse July 21, 2015 at 4:41 pm

   Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle were both really strange films. Bad films? They certainly made me feel bad. I think maybe he’s taking the mick out of the audience.

   The closest I’ve read to an articulation of my gut revulsion for Russell’s recent films is this absurdly long essay:

   Consider this crucial aspect of Silver Linings Playbook’s cathartic dishonesty as proof that he’s 100% aware of it: earlier in the film Bradley Cooper freaks out while reading Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” and goes up screaming to his parents saying that they should have ended the book earlier. He says that there should have been a happy ending where we see the two leads together, before all that bad life stuff happens in the very end. What seems like a nice sentiment actually has a real point in that scene: this character is a man who keeps constructing false, movie-like answers to his problems and he can only solve them by embracing the sobering reality of his disease and the bad things he does. The film repeats this point time and time again. Really, it’s a film about the immense need for honesty. The characters lie and lie and yet they only make strides when honest. And so, when it comes time for the movie itself to end and make this point clear, Russell reinforces all that by… letting it devolve into the happy times third dance sequence (complete with forced third act stakes), and the two characters get their happy ending with absolutely no hint of sobriety underneath. Fade to black… huh. What feels like such “a betrayal” to the point of the movie is turned into something more obvious (and devious) by that earlier scene. It’s David O. Russell throwing up his arms and clearly saying “Okay, this is what you want out of entertainment? Fine. Forget your needs. Here’s what you want even though it’s bad for you. Here.”

   … 62 wins and 77 nominations later… it’s safe to say we fell for it.
   1. meadowlark July 21, 2015 at 5:20 pm

      I actually agree with this. I saw the movie first and was a bit… disappointed. Then I read the book. It makes a whole lot more sense when you read the book. And the ending is messy. Romantic but messy.
      1. meadowlark July 21, 2015 at 5:21 pm

         Also I can’t hack Bradley Cooper.
3. Mani July 21, 2015 at 4:47 pm

   Agreed.

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