The Off Topic Topic

[Eddie Teach]

I'm biased against crappy yet somehow beloved teenybopper movies from the 80s.

[garbon]

first, i would have to look at the polls to see whether a great majority (whichever % you feel is necessary) deemed it to have failed to entertain

Well one easy thing we can do is look at Rotten Tomatoes as on some level that's what such a site hopes to accomplish. Critic side we have somewhere between 40-80 reviews aggregated and then for audience, we have apparently 300,000-400,000 ratings.

Alien - Critics (97%) / Audience (90%)
Aliens - Critics (98%) / Audience (90%)
Alien3 - Critics (42%) / Audience (55%)

second, we would have to consider whether the general public is the best decider of a film's quality. i ... tend to think that is not the case

I guess you could cling to this though I wonder if that makes sense given that we aren't exactly talking high art - and the so called arbiters of deciding quality (film critics) seem to hold this film in much less esteem.

[Admiral Yi]

well, unless i've misunderstood your argument, your complaint toward the film is that you did not like an aspect of the story. so, if you told others the movie sucked because you may have disliked that certain part, it would be unfair given your bias

For the record, I think it sucks because everything about it sucks, not just because Newt and Hicks get offed.

That being said, your argument about unfairness and bias is just plain bizarre.  You seem to be suggesting that the only legitimate criticism of the movie is that which views it as a stand alone.  Sez who?  People are absolutely free to make the argument that it works better as a stand alone than as a part of a series.  As I said before, it still sucks as a stand alone, but to say one type of criticism is "fair and unbiased" and the other "unfair and biased" is just wacky talk.

[LaCroix]

I guess you could cling to this though I wonder if that makes sense given that we aren't exactly talking high art - and the so called arbiters of deciding quality (film critics) seem to hold this film in much less esteem.

great.. languish ate my reply. here's for a second attempt:

as i would hope you know, which i tried to point out earlier, the value of film, literature, and so forth should never be subjected to popular opinion. it does not matter whether, say, a film is not "high art" - whether it is a quality film cannot be decided by the general public. if that were the case, transformers would be one of the best movies in ages. isn't this obvious?

it's not "clinging" at all. it's just.. a well known truth. you don't rely on popularity to decide the quality of something

[garbon]

I guess you could cling to this though I wonder if that makes sense given that we aren't exactly talking high art - and the so called arbiters of deciding quality (film critics) seem to hold this film in much less esteem.

great.. languish ate my reply. here's for a second attempt:

as i would hope you know, which i tried to point out earlier, the value of film, literature, and so forth should never be subjected to popular opinion. it does not matter whether, say, a film is not "high art" - whether it is a quality film cannot be decided by the general public. if that were the case, transformers would be one of the best movies in ages. isn't this obvious?

it's not "clinging" at all. it's just.. a well known truth. you don't rely on popularity to decide the quality of something

Can you tell me what metric you would use then? I've shown you both popular opinion (which I think is fine to use when discussing a piece of pop culture) and also critical opinion (if we want to pretend we are talking about great art). On the flipside, I haven't seen anything from you other than assertions that I'm using the wrong metrics.

Btw, let's explore this Transformers claim:

Transformers - 57%, 89%
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - 20%, 76%
Transformers: Dark of the Moon - 36%, 67%

I'll agree that if you stuck just to popular opinion you might get confused and think the first one is as good as Alien/Aliens but then you've also got that critic metric that helps temper things. Pretty clear with those last two films that you're probably straying into some bad territory.

[derspiess]

Remember that voter fraud thing that never happens? 

http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/news/region_central_cincinnati/downtown/Poll-worker-accused-of-voter-fraud-in-Hamilton-County-speaks-out

[Admiral Yi]

Have you guys all seen/read the story about the Riverside CA ex-cop who's gone totally rogue for being fired and is shooting up every cop he sees?

[Eddie Teach]

yeah, Tim made a thread

[Barrister]

The latest self-help craze sweeping the nation - the moose cleanse.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/the-moose-cleanse/272788/

[garbon]

The latest self-help craze sweeping the nation - the moose cleanse.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/02/the-moose-cleanse/272788/

If you truly commit to the moose cleanse and listen to what your body is telling you, your system will find a way to get the air it needs.

[derspiess]

A moose once bit my sister.

[Maladict]

I thought these people didn't have passports?

The story doesn't mention her nationality. Do all "truthers" have to be American? 

Bit of an assumption there, yes. But wouldn't she have written 119 instead of 911 if she wasn't? 

[Josephus]

HOw does Alien 4 fit into the thematic arc? What does Languish think of it? Better than 3 or worse? I might watch Alien 3 again tonight. I have the DVD and I know that there's a documentary or a director's commentary or something where he talks about the original plan for Alien 3 which was different than what what eventually transpired. I think it was originally set in a monastery or something. I think there were so many different people involved in its embryonic stage, which is why it eventually failed.

[DGuller]

yeah, Tim made a thread

He did? 

[derspiess]

yeah, Tim made a thread

He did? 

I haven't seen it, but I'd be willing to bet that he did given that he starts threads on everything.  It's probably buried below several other Tim threads, though.