My first flame

When I post my own movie reviews on this blogs, I am fully aware of the possibility to be flamed by some anonymous poster. It goes with the territory. The internet is supposed to be for the free exchange of ideas and opinions. One thing I've found in my own internet adventures, is that two subjects one can blog about will guarantee you a verbal lashing by a total stranger: Politics and movies. Seeing as I post a lot about politics and of movies, I guess I've been lucky to avoid this treatment...until now.

On my review of the movie Sunshine, there was this comment by Anonymous:

What exactly is so classic about this mess? The characters making idiotic mistakes that get them killed? The captain who has no idea how to lead? The writer who delights in preposterous death-traps? Beyond the pretty cast and the even prettier score, "Sunshine" is an exercise in stupidity. Getting truly sick of the post-MTV generation tagging this pug as a classic.

Now, I know I'm begging to be flamed back for responding to this, but I feel every blogger has to do it at least once, so here we go...

What exactly is so classic about this mess? Calm down. It's one person's opinion. All I said it was easily in my personal top five. I didn't say it should unseat Citizen Kane on the AFI 100 list. Just for some frame of reference, here are a few examples of some of my other favorite sci-fi movies: Strange Days, Dark City, Brazil, Blade Runner, 2001, Children of Men, 12 Monkeys, Dune...you know, real blockbusters that everyone appreciated.

The characters making idiotic mistakes that get them killed? Personally, I thought it was much more believable for the characters in this movie to at least acknowledge that everything they're doing is based solely on theory. At every corner, when forced to make a decision, they don't know if it'll work or not. At no point did any of the characters say the words "Trust me. This will work." It was always an educated guess! Besides, only one was an actual mistake (a miscalculation), and the guy who made that mistake was so distraught by its consequences that he had to be doped up and put on suicide watch.

The captain who has no idea how to lead? All of the crew members had their specific purpose on the mission. You had someone in charge of communications, one for life support, a physicist in charge of the payload, a crew psychologist, etc. Sure, if this had been a bigger Hollywood production, Bruce Willis would've been Captain Hardass with a Troubled Past Trying to Save the World in Order to Get His Kids Back, which I'm sure would've made you happier. However, this isn't Star Trek, or Babylon 5, or even Armageddon or The Core. The captain didn't assert his power because he realized he was just like everyone else on the ship...he was just trying to do his job. And he died doing his job: protecting the ship and its crew. The crew knew this, that's why no one listened to the Communications guy when he tried to claim himself as the Captain. It was a last-ditch effort to be considered useful again after the communications systems failed.

The writer who delights in preposterous death-traps? As opposed to the countless other fully believable, plausible and enjoyable sci-fi movies where the whole mission goes swimmingly and nothing ever goes wrong?

Beyond the pretty cast and the even prettier score, "Sunshine" is an exercise in stupidity. You know, most theaters will give you your money back during the first 45 minutes. Unless you just like to torture yourself for the full two hours just for the sake of bitching about it later...oh...nevermind.

Getting truly sick of the post-MTV generation tagging this pug as a classic. If it weren't for this statement, I wouldn't have ever responded like this. First of all, motherfucker (oh, may I call you motherfucker?), I've never considered myself part of any generation because I never fit in with any body of my own age group growing up. Instead, I've found companionship with a wide range of people with both similar and differing opinions than my own. The big difference between them and someone like you is they have the courtesy to either agree to disagree or not say anything if they've got nothing nice to say. But most importantly, I actually know who the hell they are!

But if I must split hairs, agewise, I'm the MTV generation (not post-), the ones that stopped watching after they stopped showing music videos. I can't stand the post-MTV crowd, and I hate being lumped in with them just because someone like you overheard the clerk at Pac-Sun say that the movie kicks ass. By all accounts, that is the only thing I have in common with them. Don't generalize.

Do the movies you hate really piss you off so much that you must rag on people who liked it? Do you do this in person as well? Are you hanging around Circuit City waiting to scream at anyone buying a Failure to Launch DVD? Do you throw rotten eggs at people leaving the theater after I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry lets out?

It's just a movie, it's just my opinion, and if you have further problems with it, please have the common courtesy to give your fucking name.