Nik Zbikowski (Zibbs)

"In my review of Where the Wild Things Are (a movie I pretty much hated), I talked about how perplexed I was that anyone could love such a muddled mess of a movie. "Appreciate" it for the visuals and for being "different"? Sure. But "love" it? That's hard for me to wrap my head around.

And yet some critics are rhapsodizing. It's currently at 67% on RottenTomatoes.com (which I think is actually pretty bad given that this is the kind of film critics love to love: an edgy, esoteric film adaptation of a beloved children's book by a wildly acclaimed "auteur" director).

Then I remind myself how subjective art always is. If, as a writer, I'm ever discouraged by a bad review of something I've personally written, I console myself by going to Amazon.com and reading the user reviews - and seeing that every book ever written, no matter how beloved, has someone who thinks it's a piece of s***. Don't believe me? Go look. Someone calls The Hobbit, for example, "the worst book ever written."


People are different, that's all.


Some writers approach the craft of writing from a love of words and language. Some filmmakers, meanwhile, see making movies as being about the manipulation of images and visuals.

My approach, on the other hand, has always been that words (in books) and visuals (in movies) are merely tools that artists use to tell a story. For me, story (and character, which should be an expression of story, and vice-versa) is everything. If there's no story, there's no point, at least in a full-length work.

But for many writers and filmmakers, "story" is an afterthought, at best. That's how Where the Wild Things Are seemed to me. It was almost solely about the visuals, and the director's esoteric "point."

Worse, some people confuse "structure" and "dramatic conflict" with "formula" and "cliche," but they're very different things. I hate formula, but I love structure. In fact, I think a well-crafted dramatic structure - where the ending is inevitable, yet completely unexpected - is one of the most beautiful things a human being can ever create."


(http://thetorchonline.com/tag/evony/)

You either Love this movie or you Hate it.


"I see you're drinking 1%. Is that because you think you're fat? Because you're not. You could be drinking whole if you wanted to."


Ok, before going on my tirade about the polarity of this film, I really just wanna say how much I love the cinematography in this movie. All the colors, lighting, set design, outfits, and scenery all complement each other so wonderfully. Say what you will about the story structure or character development, but this is a beautiful picture. (Which may also be another aesthetic of this film that some people don't like.)


"After one week with me in my dojo, you'll be prepared to defend yourself with the STRENGTH of a GRIZZLY, the REFLEXES of a PUMA, and the Wisdom of a Man."


It was hard for me trying to find a critique online that I could sympathize with in regards to this film because many of the critics out there put so much aggression in their words against this film that it didn't seem like they were writing a review about the movie as much as they were describing their inability to relate to this film; and that's a shame.

Roger Ebert writes in his review on this film: "We can laugh at comedies like this for two reasons: Because we feel superior to the characters, or because we pity or like them." - This statement reminds me of exercises I took in both Critical Thinking and Philosophy classes when I first started college. The exercises usually consisted of Yes or No/True or False questions that were supposed to determine your personality or character traits; when, in reality, they were meant to demonstrate that the truth, or correct answer, is not always found in the choices you are provided. - Since when are emotions (in this case, comedy) so egotistical that they're limited to such few elicited responses? (Furthermore, there are plenty of other sources of actual Schadenfreude, such as FailBlog.org or peopleofWalMart.com, that people aren't so sensitive about.)

In the end, I think what aggravates most critics about this film is the same thing that most fans find really intriguing about it: It is a blatantly unformulated and queer movie. - For example, there are plenty of skits on MAD TV that use similar characters in their repetitive skits (Steward, The UBS Guy, Miss Bunny Swan, etc.), but all the skits have the same structure in relation to the character. With Napoleon Dynamite, it's a series of dragging an action figure with fishing line from behind a bus, feeding and yelling at a llama, throwing ham at someone riding a bike, eating tater tots out of your pants, childishly lying about everything, etc. - Concurrently, very dry, subtle humor revolves around the characters trying to be "cool" (which almost everyone seems to fail miserably at) by saying or doing weird, random things; and that's what makes this movie funny to some people.


"Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills."


Amy Biancolli (Houston Chronicle) writes: "Napoleon Dynamite may wear its eccentricity like a fright wig, but in the end it doesn't want to scare us. It wants us feeling warm and fuzzy. As Napoleon tells Pedro, 'Just listen to your heart -- that's what I do'."

"People are gonna hate this movie... but they're also going to love it." - Martin Scorsese Epic Gangster film depicting excessive bloodshed, drugs, and swearing. Filled with Action and Suspense, this film shows the Rise and Fall of the infamous Tony Montana in his vengeful quest for the American Dream. "The Capitalist Dream gone bizarre." - Brian DePalma First time viewers may be bored for the first half of the film, but the second half makes up for it. This is a film that grows on you, filled with many layers of plot and character. "All he said was, John, I want you to give me the most beautiful pictures, and I'm gonna put violence inside." - John A. Alonzo Toni Montana is a very 2-Dimensional character (as the cover suggests); he is a very dark, insensitive, angry, little "badguy," but at the same time, he has a hidden good side that only comes out when he's near those he loves most (whom, sadly, seem to be the ones who hurt him the most, inevitably fueling his darker side). "The fuse is always lit, it's just a question of when it goes off." - Andre Sogliuzzo I've noticed that the Rise and Fall of Scarface stems from two key-points in his life. Amazingly, both events consist of him just having a really, really shitty day. "We needed to find those odd things - those twists, those ironies - to give the character some intelligence." - Al Pacino "You don't have to conform to Society in order to 'make it'." - Mekhi Phifer "Scarface pressed a very specific button that, I don't think, any movie had ever fully captured, and it was that: "The little guy with Huge Ambitions would not be contained." - Andre Sogliuzzo

"Get outta the street ya fuckin' bum! Ya gave up on life, didn't ya!?" This film SHOULD be my favorite movie of all time; it's fucking flawless! Words simply cannot describe my sublime admiration for this work of art. A truly collaborative piece of ardor.