Chronicle

You have me beat by a couple degrees. I'm working on my Bachelor's. But i personally think that the characters were far from stereotypical. What makes you think they are? I'm just asking for your opinion.

Originally posted by Esau Cairn
I didn't think the overall movie was trying to be too deep in philosophy, after all it only one of the characters that kept spouting quotes from philosophers & it was more like a gimmick to irritate his friends & try & pick-up chicks.

As far as most of the characters being one-dimensional, I think this was necessary to the story & the fact that it was filmed by hand-held camera. I mean for us, the audience, to see both the good & bad sides to every character in the movie, you'd literally have to have Andrew "stalking" everyone to witness their entire range of personalities. And as the movie established from the start, Andrew was only interested in filming his life & the abuse he copped at home & not be a voyeur with his camera.

Originally posted by The Big O
You have me beat by a couple degrees. I'm working on my Bachelor's. But i personally think that the characters were far from stereotypical. What makes you think they are? I'm just asking for your opinion.

I kind of mentioned this in my first post, but I will elaborate. My biggest issue was with the abusive/drunk father. I worked with domestically violent men for over a year, and like most people, they have good sides to them and bad. The father in this movie was 100% bad, which is a stereotype that is usually wrong. They had an opportunity to give more depth to his character, particularly during

Spoiler:
the hospital scene. That was a moment where they could have shown that he cares at least a tiny bit about his son. But instead, they wanted to stay true to the stereotype and had him yelling at his unconscious son.

It's a stereotype that may usually be wrong, but it's not entirely wrong. Plenty of abusive parents out there are 100% bad. You can't say that their aren't, and the fact that he was one doesn't take away from the movie.

@ Myth:

so, you disliked the movie because of your personal involvement with one particular aspect of the film?

that is certainly one way to watch movies.

While I'm not trying to debate, I personally think that part worked out because it allow the character to stay true to itself. All movie long

Spoiler:
Dad was showing how he didn't care for his son by abusing him verbally, physically and emotionally. If that was because of the alcohol, then sobeit. And Andrew did make reference to his dad's drinking at the beginning of the movie. He also said that he began recording because his dad was beating him. That would lead me to believe that it was an all the time thing or happened enough times that he decided to set a camera up to catch his dad in the act.

While it's true that the director had a chance to redeem the father, he chose not to so he could stay true to the character. There wasn't one moment in the movie where the dad showed that he cared about his son. If there was, please refresh my memory because I only saw the movie once. But if all of the sudden, Dad decided that he did care, the character would lose its merit because of inconsistencies.

And while stereotypes are definitely not nice, some actually do have a ring of truth to them. If they didn't, they wouldn't exist. Andrew may very well have been the stereotypical character, but that's what made him a good character. He was a tortured kid and when he got the chance to do something about it, he took it. Everyone feels that way at some point in their life.

Everyone's saying how cliched & stereotyped Chronicle was...

Christ, name me one movie that wasn't.

Originally posted by marwash22
@ Myth:

so, you disliked the movie because of your personal involvement with one particular aspect of the film?

that is certainly one way to watch movies.

I never said that I disliked the movie, but I do think it is getting overrated. I gave it a 6/10. Also, that was just one particular part of the movie I disliked and think had room for much improvement. My biggest disappointment (which is not the directors/actors fault, rather those who marketed the film) was that the commercials spoiled most of the movie. The entire story was pretty much revealed in the commercials, as were 90% of the impressive visuals.

Originally posted by Myth
The entire story was pretty much revealed in the commercials, as were 90% of the impressive visuals.

Originally posted by Myth
I never said that I disliked the movie, but I do think it is getting overrated. I gave it a 6/10. Also, that was just one particular part of the movie I disliked and think had room for much improvement. My biggest disappointment (which is not the directors/actors fault, rather those who marketed the film) was that the commercials spoiled most of the movie. The entire story was pretty much revealed in the commercials, as were 90% of the impressive visuals.

Overrated?
But we're the audience & our criticisms is what a movie strives for to make it popular or not.
I mean we're up to 4 pages of giving our opinions on Chronicle...like it or hate it...does this really mean the movie's overrated?

I don't think the father character had much room for improvement, I mean we're first introduced to him, drunk in the morning, looking to pick on his son for no apparent reason at all.
How can you find room for redemption from that 1st introduction?

And yes, unfortunately, marketing gave too much away for this movie & that's something totally out of the hands of those that created the movie...

gonna see this tonight. kinda excited.

You won't be disappointed, Marwash. Well, hopefully, you won't.

And you said it better than I could, Esau.

Originally posted by Esau Cairn
Overrated?
But we're the audience & our criticisms is what a movie strives for to make it popular or not.
I mean we're up to 4 pages of giving our opinions on Chronicle...like it or hate it...does this really mean the movie's overrated?

I don't think the father character had much room for improvement, I mean we're first introduced to him, drunk in the morning, looking to pick on his son for no apparent reason at all.
How can you find room for redemption from that 1st introduction?

And yes, unfortunately, marketing gave too much away for this movie & that's something totally out of the hands of those that created the movie...

Overrated is a subjective term. Others rate the movie higher than I do, so obviously I think it is overrated. My statement about it being overrated (and anytime somebody says something is overrated) is as simple as that.

I think there is a difference between redeeming him and making him a more realistic abusive father. It is still really easy to dislike a character who is abusive in one scene and then relate-able in another. I never (or at least usually never) think it is a bad thing to add depth to a character.

Let's just say we agree to disagree. There's nothing wrong with the way you view the movie, Myth. And there's nothing wrong with the way we view it.

Originally posted by The Big O
Let's just say we agree to disagree. There's nothing wrong with the way you view the movie, Myth. And there's nothing wrong with the way we view it.

I completely agree. I never thought there was anything wrong about how others viewed the movie. I simply stated my opinion, others questioned it, and I explained my perspective, but that was never to say that I thought anybody else's opinions were invalid.

✅

Since you both agree to disagree, seal the agreement with mutual oral.

Hmm....that's an interesting way to seal a deal...

Originally posted by Myth

I think there is a difference between redeeming him and making him a more realistic abusive father. It is still really easy to dislike a character who is abusive in one scene and then relate-able in another. I never (or at least usually never) think it is a bad thing to add depth to a character.

I'm not trying to pick a fight or debate for the sake of debating....
I just enjoyed the movie for what it was.

But as I stated earlier on,it's impossible to give characters "depth" when you're using a "Blair Witch-Style" perspective of filming a movie.
We're seeing the movie from Andrew's point of view & if he's the one that's grown up in an abusive house-hold & clearly is the victim, then it's difficult to see the father in any other sense.
The father clearly blames everyone else but himself for the hardships in his life.

Originally posted by Esau Cairn

But as I stated earlier on,it's impossible to give characters "depth" when you're using a "Blair Witch-Style" perspective of filming a movie.

I completely disagree with this. I've even stated a specific scene in which they easily could have.

It would have made no sense. Everyone can't be redeemed, especially if there's no reason for it. His dad showed nothing redeemable, and to redeem him just because at the end would have proved nothing.