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"The Bling Ring"

Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2013 1:25 am
by Stewball
This movie is a hoot, but I gotta say, in the audience I was with, I was the only one getting it. At the first (and ultimately best) humorous part, the first time (of 8) they went into Paris Hilton's house, I bust out laughing at the temple she'd built to herself (I assume that's a true part of the true story), but then had to stifle myself when it turned out I was the only one laughing. W T F ??? The humor throughout this docu-re-creation was at the expense of these shallow, celebrity worshiping, bulletproof twits who had a mega-surplus of brass and stupidity. You can't make this stuff up.

I can't help but wonder if the portrayal of the parents wasn't slanted though, they being ultimately the villains in this little story. The only parent they really focused on was the mother of Emma Watson's character (the shallowest of the shallow) who was a holy roller. The rest didn't get much coverage, including the ringleader's mother who was Asian. ?:roll:? And if the story is presented accurately, there's plenty of stupidity to go around. They apparently never had to break into any of the houses.

There was definitely style to be had, thanks to Sofia Coppola's touch, mashing cool up against corruption to see what would happen. And I couldn't help but wonder if she wasn't drawing on firsthand experience in this area. 8-) I assume the guy is gay. There was never any sexual tension, and he was the most cautious one, but it was never made clear. (More ambiguity for PC considerations?) I came close to giving it a nine but, 8/10.


That slip-top Carrera demo was magnificent and I'm sure it could tempt Jesus hissef--but only, of course, if it tempted Emma Stone into the right seat as well. (Where's a knuckle chewing emoticon when you need one.)

I just read this representative summation of the critical consensus of the movie on R/T: "failure to delve beneath the surface of its shallow protagonists' real-life crimes". WTF does he think "shallow" means? AGGGGGH?!?!

Re: "The Bling Ring"

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 1:05 am
by Stewball
C'mon now, somebody had to've seen this.

Re: "The Bling Ring"

Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 7:26 pm
by cagedwisdom
Saw it today. I liked it, but I have two problems. Firstly, Marc. The rest were fine, but I really don't feel like his character made a lot of sense. His motivations were hazy at best, which I don't think is true for any of the others.

Secondly, the dialog was all incredibly hard to sit through. It was all "oh my god"s and "shut the fuck up"s. Every line was annoying and stupid. I realize that's the point, but it still made me want to leave the theater whenever anyone opened their mouth. For comparison, Spring Breakers (a film with similar characters) did this a lot better, and the only thing annoying about that was the repetitive voice-overs.

Anyway, good film, every part that didn't have dialog was gold and every part that did was an unpleasant experience for me. I'd go for Spring Breakers over this any day though.

Re: "The Bling Ring"

Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 10:26 pm
by Stewball
Good comparison with it and Spring Breakers, reality vs. fantasy, brats viewed externally vs. how they see themselves. (That said, SB is still hard to categorize.) And as you say, the shallowness a la the language and all is the whole point. Will the message, the mirror it holds up, get through to it's target? Probably not, but it might get through to some potential idolators and their preoccupied parents. We can only hope.

Marc was a shill, he knew better, but the desire to belong and be cool is a powerful emotion, particularly for nascent adults.

Re: "The Bling Ring"

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2013 11:58 am
by Tony Irwin
Hey Stewball - like you I thought it was hilarious, but there was only one other guy in the cinema laughing out loud at it and I was sitting there thinking "What? Seriously, no one else is getting this?" Interestingly the cinema was full of people aged in between the age of the characters and the actors playing them - maybe the audience was just too close to it all to see how wry it all was. If Coppola made a film about how empty the lives of my age group are, maybe I wouldn't be laughing either...!

That changed further on though. Emma Watson dials it up much much louder than the rest of the gang and as she became more outrageous towards the end she was stealing laughs in every scene she was in. It kind of shifted in tone towards "Mean Girls" and that seemed to be when everyone else in the cinema caught on that it was funny.

Re: "The Bling Ring"

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 12:37 am
by Jman666
This movie sucked and what twists my nipples so hard is that I think Sophia Coppola is going backwards in her film career. I mean Virgin Suicides was an amazing film, couldn't really get into Lost in Translation too much but I can see where she was going with it, then Marie Antoinette I thought gave her her image, that was her mainstream film, then she made an indie called Somewhere with Steven Dorff. Now I don't have anything against indie films but she was doing so good at filling those director shoes (her fathers shoes) and I know it's so cleshe to even mention her following her fathers footsteps, but why go into directing films if you didn't have a hint of fascination with your father and his filmography. If you want to make the indies, go ahead, but don't move backwards in the film making chain. So you make The Bling Ring. I had high hopes for this film. I mean Emma Watson taking on a bad girl roll? Awesome, we wanted to see that, we needed to see that, she was ready, we where ready, why ruin it with this story that wasn't really all that interesting to care about. NOBODY DIES! Gets shot, have sex, there's drugs, but big whoop, there's drugs in every movie now a days. I know its a true story but really not one to talk about on 8 million dollar budget. Sorry Ms. Coppola, it just wasn't all that good. Slow, boring watching kids break into houses and try on non important celebrity clothes and jewelry. I thought that one chick was going to pull the trigger on the slip and choot somebody. Wtf!

Re: "The Bling Ring"

Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 10:32 am
by Stewball
Jman666 wrote:.... I know it's so cleshe to even mention her following her fathers footsteps, but why go into directing films if you didn't have a hint of fascination with your father and his filmography....why ruin it with this story that wasn't really all that interesting to care about. NOBODY DIES! Gets shot, have sex, there's drugs, but big whoop, there's drugs in every movie now a days...


And people follow in their parents footsteps, die, get shot and have sex in every movie now a days, big whoop. You're talking about filling squares rather than substance. Shallow. :roll: For me, this is her best film. Lost in Translation was boringly droll.

The only thing wrong with this movie is that it didn't telegraph the superficial nature of it's characters well enough so that maybe it might shake some of the similarly afflicted out of their stupor.

Re: "The Bling Ring"

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 11:10 pm
by Suture Self
Jman666 wrote:This movie sucked and what twists my nipples so hard is that I think Sophia Coppola is going backwards in her film career. I mean Virgin Suicides was an amazing film, couldn't really get into Lost in Translation too much but I can see where she was going with it, then Marie Antoinette I thought gave her her image, that was her mainstream film, then she made an indie called Somewhere with Steven Dorff. Now I don't have anything against indie films but she was doing so good at filling those director shoes (her fathers shoes) and I know it's so cleshe to even mention her following her fathers footsteps, but why go into directing films if you didn't have a hint of fascination with your father and his filmography. If you want to make the indies, go ahead, but don't move backwards in the film making chain. So you make The Bling Ring. I had high hopes for this film. I mean Emma Watson taking on a bad girl roll? Awesome, we wanted to see that, we needed to see that, she was ready, we where ready, why ruin it with this story that wasn't really all that interesting to care about. NOBODY DIES! Gets shot, have sex, there's drugs, but big whoop, there's drugs in every movie now a days. I know its a true story but really not one to talk about on 8 million dollar budget. Sorry Ms. Coppola, it just wasn't all that good. Slow, boring watching kids break into houses and try on non important celebrity clothes and jewelry. I thought that one chick was going to pull the trigger on the slip and choot somebody. Wtf!

I find your commentary about FFC odd. Sofia Coppola is a much better director than her father, at the moment. This is almost undeniable.