Red Mosquito

Malloy wrote:

LoathedVermin72 wrote:Malloy, are you asserting that because war is fundamentally political and dehumanizing, a war film can only be valuable if it depicts war in a political and dehumanized manner?

Also, do you think there is any value in a film that depicts a soldier's experience if that experience is treated humanely and apolitically?

my first reaction is to wonder what an "apolitical" warm film would look like

You don't think Fury is apolitical?

LoathedVermin72 wrote:

Malloy wrote:

LoathedVermin72 wrote:Malloy, are you asserting that because war is fundamentally political and dehumanizing, a war film can only be valuable if it depicts war in a political and dehumanized manner?

Also, do you think there is any value in a film that depicts a soldier's experience if that experience is treated humanely and apolitically?

my first reaction is to wonder what an "apolitical" warm film would look like

You don't think Fury is apolitical?

i don't

damn that was laconic as all get out

good talk

Yeah he's really not giving me much to work with here

He did answer your question.

Kaius wrote:He did answer your question.

He answered one of three.

Yeah, it's probably tough to deliver an apolitical war film.

Do you guys think David Ayer was interested in the politics of war when he made Fury?

I liked the tanks.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:Do you guys think David Ayer was interested in the politics of war when he made Fury?

he's still entangled in politics by nature of the content (there's an answer to one of your Qs, sort of), whether or not his intention was to make a political film

LoathedVermin72 wrote:Malloy, are you asserting that because war is fundamentally political and dehumanizing, a war film can only be valuable if it depicts war in a political and dehumanized manner?

Also, do you think there is any value in a film that depicts a soldier's experience if that experience is treated humanely and apolitically?

i'm now feeling bad for responding with a q--it's cagey, but i also found it satisfied your qs, however obliquely.

i'm advocating for the right politics, rather than for a film to be broadly "political." my assertion, as implied elsewhere, is i don't think you can make an apolitical war movie.

your second graph seems to envision a satisfactory alternative to the political: the individual. but the insistence on the individual, particularly in our historical moment--i believe the favored expression is unfettered capitalism--is unmistakably neoliberal.

Man you would hate Act of Valor.

Malloy wrote:

LoathedVermin72 wrote:Malloy, are you asserting that because war is fundamentally political and dehumanizing, a war film can only be valuable if it depicts war in a political and dehumanized manner?

Also, do you think there is any value in a film that depicts a soldier's experience if that experience is treated humanely and apolitically?

i'm now feeling bad for responding with a q--it's cagey, but i also found it satisfied your qs, however obliquely.

i'm advocating for the right politics, rather than for a film to be broadly "political." my assertion, as implied elsewhere, is i don't think you can make an apolitical war movie.

your second graph seems to envision a satisfactory alternative to the political: the individual. but the insistence on the individual, particularly in our historical moment--i believe the favored expression is unfettered capitalism--is unmistakably neoliberal.

You're not wrong here. But I think our politics differ. Being a capitalist, I don't have a problem with what you're describing. Plus, I think it can be interesting and worth exploring to focus on a micro apolitical experience within a macro political event, which I think Fury does to some degree (though its probably not the purest example). To me, Fury explores how we reclaim our humanity in the face of an overwhelmingly dehumanizing situation. It challenges the righteousness of that dehumanization on a micro (individual) level.

Frank. Boring.

Did anyone else see a most violent year?

I liked it.

Malloy wrote:

! I love that one.

Blackhat is fucking beautiful. Cinematic poetry. Mann in top form. I'm recording a podcast episode about it tomorrow and I'm super excited to talk about it.

LoathedVermin72 wrote:Blackhat is fucking beautiful. Cinematic poetry. Mann in top form. I'm recording a podcast episode about it tomorrow and I'm super excited to talk about it.

Damn, I really wanted this to be good.