supertrav77
Ex-Bluelighter
Have you ever sat down to watch a movie thinking it was of one genre only to find out it was something totally different only after you started watching it? Expect a comedy but find out that it was a serious drama?
Here are some examples of when I have been ambushed.
Gay Movie Ambush:
OK, I have to start off with the obligatory "I don't have anything against gay people and a lot of my good friends are gay and blah blah blah". Not that I have anything against gay themed movies, but for me I have to be in a particular "expanding my horizons" mood.
If I'm going to watch a movie with heavy gay themes, I would kind of like to be prepared for it. Like if I see Stephen Fry in the cast or if John Waters or whatshisname who did the Doom Generation directed, I consider myself warned.
History Boys: This movie totally ambushed me. Just look at the cover of the American DVD.
You got a big fucking Union Jack in the background. Some young kids, some of which are looking pretty menacing. Just going by the cover, is there anything there to make you think that this a movie with heavy gay themes? No, you're thinking it's gonna be some kind Trainspotting meets Lock Stock with street gangs, drugs, and whatnot.
So I start watching it. Oh there's a gay teacher. Oh and one of the students is gay. OK, I'm still cool at this point. It's kind of like a British Dead Poets Society. But wait, turns out another character is gay. Oh and then ANOTHER one. And then one of the character's sexuality becomes a major plot point.
AMBUSHED!!!
This is another Gay Movie Ambush:
L.I.E.
OK, unlike History Boys, I could have told this was a gay themed movie after about 10 minutes and I might have just stopped it right there if I wasn't in the mood (and on this occasion, I wasn't). But in this case, I couldn't. Let me explain.
OK, so I'm at Blockbuster video with this girl I just started dating. They're having one of those "2 for 1" rental deals, right? So the girl I'm dating she picks out some movie. I'm going through the new releases trying to make my own selection. Nothing arouses my interest. Either I've already seen it or its some Hollywood shlock or something I would not want to watch with a girl I just started dating.
Well, my date's getting kind of impatient when I come across this:
See that on the cover? "Strong fearless film!" "Best Film of The Year!" "One of the Ten Best Films of the Year!" That's pretty high praise. Don't see stuff like that on the front of Chronicals of Riddick!
So I say fuck it, pick it up and we head to the counter. The cashier is a pretty flamboyant gay dude (not that there's anything wrong with that) and he says "Oooooh, L.I.E.!!! That's a good movie! It's a gay movie."
Now at this point, I just HAD to proceed and rent it. Because if I took it back at that point the cashier might have taken my rejection of a gay themed movie really personally and got offended. And the girl I was dating would think I was a huge homophobe.
If I wasn't on a date and if the cashier were straight, yeah, I probably would have taken it back and got something else. But on this occasion, I had to go ahead get it.
It's not a bad movie. Like the cover said, it is pretty intense and makes you think. It's about a kid who meets a peadophile and they have a strange relationship that gets deeper and deeper. It's very disturbing because they portray the peado as a sympathetic character.
Horror Movie Ambush:
High Tension
I had a friend who worked at a movie theater. I asked him one day "Are there any good movies worth seeing?" He said "Yeah, there's this movie called 'High Tension'. It's a French movie. It's really good".
That's all I knew about it. It's good and it's French. I'm thinking that it must be some fancy art-house shit.
Now some of you might be saying "You know, Trav, you could save yourself a lot of trouble by just doing a little research beforehand. You know, maybe read a review or something." Yeah, I get your point. But I find some of my best cinema experiences are when I see a movie with no pre-conceived notions whatsoever. No previews. No reviews. No word of mouth. Just the movie's name, maybe the cast, and it rottentomatoes freshnes rating.
So anyway. I'm thinking "Hey. I like good French movies. I wonder what this one is going to be about. A married woman having an affair with her art instructor? A young man coming to terms with his homosexuality during the era of Nazi occuspation?"
(see? I was in one of my "exapnd my horizons" mood. I do have them occasionally)
Well, the movie starts and it's two girls driving through the country. So I'm thinking "OK, this is an art film. So I imagine if they aren't lesbians now, they will be by the end of the movie. And I'm sure at one is a smackhead."
So they get to the house and there are some of the most gruesome killing scene I can recall.
So I suffer through them and think, "OK, after this the girl is going to spend the rest of the movie having a spiritual awakening as she comes to terms with this tragedy, right?"
No. The killings just go on and on and on and on. AMBUSH. I didn't know the French made these kinds of movies. I might have expected this from the Italians but the Fre3nch?
I fucking hated ever minute of it. I was so horrified by it, I forgot to walk out of the movie before it was done.
Here are some examples of when I have been ambushed.
Gay Movie Ambush:
OK, I have to start off with the obligatory "I don't have anything against gay people and a lot of my good friends are gay and blah blah blah". Not that I have anything against gay themed movies, but for me I have to be in a particular "expanding my horizons" mood.
If I'm going to watch a movie with heavy gay themes, I would kind of like to be prepared for it. Like if I see Stephen Fry in the cast or if John Waters or whatshisname who did the Doom Generation directed, I consider myself warned.
History Boys: This movie totally ambushed me. Just look at the cover of the American DVD.
You got a big fucking Union Jack in the background. Some young kids, some of which are looking pretty menacing. Just going by the cover, is there anything there to make you think that this a movie with heavy gay themes? No, you're thinking it's gonna be some kind Trainspotting meets Lock Stock with street gangs, drugs, and whatnot.
So I start watching it. Oh there's a gay teacher. Oh and one of the students is gay. OK, I'm still cool at this point. It's kind of like a British Dead Poets Society. But wait, turns out another character is gay. Oh and then ANOTHER one. And then one of the character's sexuality becomes a major plot point.
AMBUSHED!!!
This is another Gay Movie Ambush:
L.I.E.
OK, unlike History Boys, I could have told this was a gay themed movie after about 10 minutes and I might have just stopped it right there if I wasn't in the mood (and on this occasion, I wasn't). But in this case, I couldn't. Let me explain.
OK, so I'm at Blockbuster video with this girl I just started dating. They're having one of those "2 for 1" rental deals, right? So the girl I'm dating she picks out some movie. I'm going through the new releases trying to make my own selection. Nothing arouses my interest. Either I've already seen it or its some Hollywood shlock or something I would not want to watch with a girl I just started dating.
Well, my date's getting kind of impatient when I come across this:
See that on the cover? "Strong fearless film!" "Best Film of The Year!" "One of the Ten Best Films of the Year!" That's pretty high praise. Don't see stuff like that on the front of Chronicals of Riddick!
So I say fuck it, pick it up and we head to the counter. The cashier is a pretty flamboyant gay dude (not that there's anything wrong with that) and he says "Oooooh, L.I.E.!!! That's a good movie! It's a gay movie."
Now at this point, I just HAD to proceed and rent it. Because if I took it back at that point the cashier might have taken my rejection of a gay themed movie really personally and got offended. And the girl I was dating would think I was a huge homophobe.
If I wasn't on a date and if the cashier were straight, yeah, I probably would have taken it back and got something else. But on this occasion, I had to go ahead get it.
It's not a bad movie. Like the cover said, it is pretty intense and makes you think. It's about a kid who meets a peadophile and they have a strange relationship that gets deeper and deeper. It's very disturbing because they portray the peado as a sympathetic character.
Horror Movie Ambush:
High Tension
I had a friend who worked at a movie theater. I asked him one day "Are there any good movies worth seeing?" He said "Yeah, there's this movie called 'High Tension'. It's a French movie. It's really good".
That's all I knew about it. It's good and it's French. I'm thinking that it must be some fancy art-house shit.
Now some of you might be saying "You know, Trav, you could save yourself a lot of trouble by just doing a little research beforehand. You know, maybe read a review or something." Yeah, I get your point. But I find some of my best cinema experiences are when I see a movie with no pre-conceived notions whatsoever. No previews. No reviews. No word of mouth. Just the movie's name, maybe the cast, and it rottentomatoes freshnes rating.
So anyway. I'm thinking "Hey. I like good French movies. I wonder what this one is going to be about. A married woman having an affair with her art instructor? A young man coming to terms with his homosexuality during the era of Nazi occuspation?"
(see? I was in one of my "exapnd my horizons" mood. I do have them occasionally)
Well, the movie starts and it's two girls driving through the country. So I'm thinking "OK, this is an art film. So I imagine if they aren't lesbians now, they will be by the end of the movie. And I'm sure at one is a smackhead."
So they get to the house and there are some of the most gruesome killing scene I can recall.
So I suffer through them and think, "OK, after this the girl is going to spend the rest of the movie having a spiritual awakening as she comes to terms with this tragedy, right?"
No. The killings just go on and on and on and on. AMBUSH. I didn't know the French made these kinds of movies. I might have expected this from the Italians but the Fre3nch?
I fucking hated ever minute of it. I was so horrified by it, I forgot to walk out of the movie before it was done.
