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TheConciseStatement

Listed below are comments made by TheConciseStatement between Sunday, 15th November 2009 and Thursday, 10th December 2009 (17 Hours Ago) .

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Christmas Movie Magic 3:45pm on 10 Dec 2009 Still don't know how Mark felt about 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'. I thought it was a little masterpiece and Nick Park's best yet. Loved the darker tone.
I Mark... your homework 9:20pm on 08 Dec 2009 I worry you're getting back into your old habit of prescribing language as opposed to allowing language its natural function of being DEscriptive. Your objection to the term 'feel good' is similar to your objection to the term 'torture porn'. Who cares what it was? Or what it used to be? And how that may have been misapplied in the past?

We have a trend of adolescent film makers thinking it's entertainment to imprison and terrorise models for the best part of 90 minutes, therefore it lends itself to the name torture porn - and when a film truly makes you feel good, you should be able to call it a feel good film. Why try to preserve a more dishonest definition simply because it came first?

Matthew McConaughey leaning against the latest version of Photoshop is symptomatic of a film likely to make me feel *the opposite of good* - and that's just the poster! Perhaps the accidental offshoot of the benevolent if similarly cynical Slumdog Milionaire campaign is us now finding permission to enforce a more literal and truthful definition of 'feel good'. It's such a weird position you're taking because this is one of the rare examples of an advertising expression delivering on its promise (i.e.; you leave the cinema feeling good) and you're railing against it. So why not rejoice and sing 'Jai Ho!, Mark? A couple of words have meaning again!

PS - Glad to see our worst fears weren't realised and that Kate Hudson didn't end your career.
The Serious Coens 03:11am on 26 Nov 2009 Even Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers, Mark? They both felt like hugely sanitised versions of Coen films.
Screening Room: Animation & Aardman 11:28pm on 21 Nov 2009 Jesus, those hands are massive. (Sorry.)
Farewell Edward Woodward 11:26pm on 21 Nov 2009 dragliner78, I share a certain level of ambivalence about the film, though it's due a reassessment as it's been a while since I've watched it. I think a lot of the climax's impact hinges on how much of a revolutionary idea you think a male [mm-hm, still don't want to spoil, stop reading now] is. And in a time when the out-of-his-depth geek is commonplace, and a champion of cinema, it's not exactly an earth shattering idea today. But I imagine then it was, and that somehow compounds the horror for its original audience, as Woodward's policeman is either seen as unusually innocent, or perhaps even a Christian saintly figure, which fits in with its theme of a holy war.
Farewell Edward Woodward 00:13am on 21 Nov 2009 You know, the one (minor) positive out of this is that maybe now they'll have a reason for finally releasing the remaining seasons of The Equalizer on DVD. AFAIK, they've only ever made the first one available.
5 live review: 2012 06:24am on 19 Nov 2009 LOL. Thank you for working out the logistics for me. I'm appointing you as Transport Minister - which given that everyone is stuck on a big ark now, is an infinitely more vital department.
5 live review: 2012 9:04pm on 18 Nov 2009 Hang on, we've got a decent president now. He dies but The Queen and Silvio Berlusconi live? Can I at least choose one more?
Call of Civic Duty 2 9:19pm on 17 Nov 2009 Well done Mark for coming down on this side of the debate.

Brooker is right in the bad taste criticism though. As someone whose gut reaction is to minimise censorship as far as possible, I still wouldn't call for any parts of the game to be cut and I certainly don't want the game banned. In fact if your read the BBFC, it actually highlights the airport action as the main category defining issue for why the game is an 18, so parents have been sternly cautioned. The BBFC's own description clearly states that,

"Whilst undoubtedly strong and bloody in terms of specific detail and cumulative effect, the violence in the majority of the game would have fallen within the allowance of the Guidelines at '15' which state that 'Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.

The '18' category was, however, deemed more appropriate for a particular mission in which the characteristics of the violence differ from the rest of the game... The violence is bloody and intense, and aggravated by the fact that, unlike other combat sequences in the game, the civilians cannot fight back and are massacred... The evident brutality in this mission does carry a focus on the 'infliction of pain or injury' which, along with the disturbing nature of the scenario it sets up, was felt to be more appropriately placed at the adult category"

My point about that infamous airport level is that it's clearly there as an unsophisticated, publicity seeking shock tactic moment - and if the developers were genuinely interested in exploring the delicate thematic issue of real warfare, I don't think they would have been quite so fetishistic with the gore a la Mel Gibson. But okay, it's exploitation gaming, fine.

My question is this : why save the most horrific violence for Russian civilians? In a plot where you play Americans and the threat is supposed to be to the western world by Russian terrorists, this seems more narratively awkward than have them commit such a massacre on American soil (or on close allies like Brits or Canadians for that matter) That arouses my suspicions that it was a calculated decision on the part of the game's producers to choose civilians that were deemed 'more expendable' - as if they felt they could maximise the publicity whilst containing it to a level where they wouldn't suffer an outright ban in the critical domestic marketplace, so long as they killed the terrorists' fellow citizens.

I'm not for a minute suggesting that I'd feel so much better, had that gameplay taken place at LAX or Heathrow. Indeed, I've seen the clip of the intense bloodletting in the level where you are faced with the choice of participating in the violence or blowing your cover, and it not so much stands out, as uncomfortably sticks out, from the rest of the game as the BBFC describe and Charlie Brooker's article confirms.

But it does point to a cynicism that does trouble me because it reflects the overall political sensibilities of the mass media, where the consumer is encouraged to grieve over the deaths of fellow citizens whilst significantly less attention is paid to - one could say flat out ignores and obscures - more politically and ethically inconvenient body counts, of say, Iraqis or Afgahns (and in the game's case Russians). Call me a naive, bleeding heart liberal, but I thought 'non-combatants' was a universal label and that all civilian deaths mattered equally. That does not appear to be the logic at the heart of Modern Warfare's big showstopping number.

It gives me no pleasure to make those accusations. I consider myself a liberal, I love violent, mindless exploitation films (I'm useless at gaming but I can appreciate the infinitely more sophisticated social commentary Rockstar's GTA franchise), and I have no time for Daily Mail readers and media effects arguments. To reiterate, it's the thinking behind the placement of a sporadic tonal shift of the game, that gives me cause for concern. I am however, very encouraged that anti-censorship gaming pundits like Charlie Brooker or those on CNET, and other advanced gamers have come out saying they felt just as queasy about this particular level as I did. If my induction is right, then it means, the game developers weren't quite as sly as they thought.
The Best Christmas Movie Ever 04:40am on 15 Nov 2009 Anyone seen 'Christmas with the Kranks' starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Tim Allen? Je-sus Christ. And I don't mean, 'Let's celebrate his birthday'. I mean, 'Let's show those responsible, the meaning of true comedy, by getting a large automatic weapon, and killing as many of them as possible'. It's everything you hate about Hollywood and Christmas and unfunny physical comedy and scripts that actually transcend the concept of emptiness, into becoming the antimatter bomb from Angels and Demons. A true contender for The Floccinaucinihilipilification List.

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