Taxi Driver

Ardsgaine

Ardsgaine

Active Member
I'm 39 yrs old, and I had never seen this movie until last night. I rented it from Blockbuster just to fill that gap in my life. I had heard quotes from the movie on the old Clash song, Red Angel Dragnet, but that's about all I knew about it.

Well, I watched it, and now I want to know what the hell all the fuss was about. It was about this ignorant, uninformed ex-marine who slowly goes mad and decides to kill a presidential candidate. Through sheer coincidence he ends up gunning down a bunch of pimps instead, and becomes a freaking hero. Somehow, by going out and doing something about all the moral decay he's been bitching about, he becomes sane again at the end of the movie. EH??? He's part of the freakin' problem....

Someone explain this to me.
 
i haven't watched the movie yet.....
(and by your review i guess i never will)
 
Could be worse - it could have been "Cape Fear" - talk about a movie with ZERO redeeming qualities. Not the old one - that one was actually a decent movie. But the newer one (which by no coincidence I'm sure, teamed up DeNiro and Scorsleazy again). *puke2*
 
geez, i bet you two saw the movie together, talking about it on the board.....

LONG LIVE THE DIGITAL ERA!!! :D :headbang:
 
Gawd that movie was almost painful to watch, it was on late night tv a couple months ago :retard:
 
Luis G said:
geez, i bet you two saw the movie together, talking about it on the board.....

LONG LIVE THE DIGITAL ERA!!! :D :headbang:
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Edit: (grrr... darn kid.)

Yeah, it's a little pathetic really, to be sitting six feet from each other and carrying on a conversation via a bulletin board. It's not like we didn't talk about the movie during and directly afterwards, though. The conversation afterwards went something like:

Her: "There, are you happy now? You've seen it!"

Me: <shrug> Sooorry.
 
Ardsgaine said:
Edit: (grrr... darn kid.)

Yeah, it's a little pathetic really, to be sitting six feet from each other and carrying on a conversation via a bulletin board. It's not like we didn't talk about the movie during and directly afterwards, though. The conversation afterwards went something like:

Her: "There, are you happy now? You've seen it!"

Me: <shrug> Sooorry.
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:D :D
Don't get me wrong, it is better for the board that you two make the conversation thru here. (i just found that funny)

:headbang:
 
flavio said:
Taxi Driver

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1996/02/16/DD10934.DTL

Cape Fear

http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1991/11/680423.html

Both good movies, you guys are just weird.
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Quote from the 2nd review by Roger Ebert...
In the original film, Sam Bowden was a good man trying to defend his family from a madman. In the Scorsese version, Bowden is flawed and guilty, and indeed everyone in this film is weak in one way or another, and there are no heroes. That's the Scorsese touch.
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Precisely. I could not have said it better myself. And it's exactly why the original is 1000 times better than Scorsese's ever hoped to be.

Sorry, I just don't find much entertainment value in representations of the sick, psycho and macabre. I'm afraid I like my heros. Generally speaking, if I want the sick, mean, mad, pathetic or horrid, I'll turn on the evening news.
 
flavio said:
So you're pretty close minded then huh?

Do you like all your movies to have happy endings too?
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Closed minded? So I'm closed minded and wierd because I'm not entertained by sicko movies. I rather view it this way. There's an awful lot of ugliness in the world. I don't really see the value in paying to watch more ugliness. So yes, I quite like "happy endings" on the whole - although that doesn't mean I insist on everyone living. So yes, I want to see people on the screen that I can look up to - people that I see acting in the best way possible - not in the worst way possible.
 
I've had my fill of "feel good movies of the summer". You're just perpetuating the whole Hollywood stigma that has to make every goddam movie have to end on a good note. Screw that, some of the greatest flicks end badly. Reservior Dogs wouldn't have been the same piece of brilliance if some hero had "saved the day". Everyone died...everyone (except I still give Mr. Pink a .03% chance) and it's good that way.

As for Cape fear

In the original film, Sam Bowden was a good man trying to defend his family from a madman. In the Scorsese version, Bowden is flawed and guilty, and indeed everyone in this film is weak in one way or another, and there are no heroes. That's the Scorsese touch.
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That sounds 1000x better than a cookie cutter Bad vs. Good pile of crap. It's more intricate, thought provoking, and real. I got enough fairy-tales when I was a kid to last me.
 
That sounds 1000x better than a cookie cutter Bad vs. Good pile of crap. It's more intricate, thought provoking, and real. I got enough fairy-tales when I was a kid to last me.
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First, I didn't get enough fairy-tales as a kid, so I'm still catching up thank-you-very-much.

Second, you're equating "heorism" and "happy-endings" with "fluff" and they are not the same. There are many movies that are intricate, thought provoking and real and yet manage to convey a positive sense of life. Schindler's List and Dead Poet's Society are two that come to mind quickly.

BTW - I enjoy the occasional pure fluff movie as well - there's nothing wrong with going to the movies to have FUN.
 
You can't really expect to be taken seriously when your opinion of a film is based on such silly notions as whether it has a happy ending or not.

But whatever works for you.
 
flavio said:
You can't really expect to be taken seriously when your opinion of a film is based on such silly notions as whether it has a happy ending or not.

But whatever works for you.
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You can't really expect to be taken seriously when your opinion of a film is based on such silly notions as the body count at the end.
 
Ardsgaine said:
flavio said:
You can't really expect to be taken seriously when your opinion of a film is based on such silly notions as whether it has a happy ending or not.

But whatever works for you.
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You can't really expect to be taken seriously when your opinion of a film is based on such silly notions as the body count at the end.
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Body count doesn't make a movie. It was obvious that I am merely saying that a movie doesn't have to have a happy ending to be a good film.

Try again.
 
flavio said:
Body count doesn't make a movie. It was obvious that I am merely saying that a movie doesn't have to have a happy ending to be a good film.

Try again.
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No, that isn't what you said. You said that...
You can't really expect to be taken seriously when your opinion of a film is based on such silly notions as whether it has a happy ending or not.
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So now I'm weird, silly and closed-minded because my movie tastes don't match yours?? :hmm:

I never insisted that a movie have a "happy-ending". With the exception of pure fluff, I do insist that they not depict the nihilistic.
 
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