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Puzzled
Member
08-27-2001
| Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 8:58 pm
I couldn't believe that the judges didn't get Mateen's film. He was showing the kind of horror that might cross someone's mind for being stopped DWB. What planet do they live on?
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Nickovtyme
Member
07-29-2004
| Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 9:22 pm
I actually liked Malibu Myth, Eternal Waters and the Baby/Ghost movie...can't remember it's name.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 8:13 am
I liked the idea behind Mateen's film, and I think they did too, but I think the guest judge had it right, in that it switched perspectives too much. There was just too much going on. I think it would have been good had he done it COMPLETELY in the car with the black guy. Have him seeing the cruiser across the road circle (kind of like seeing the fin in Jaws (impending doom), then have maybe the peace and quiet of the inside of the guy's car and then BANG BANG BANG of that cop baton (scary/startling). And so on, and so on... I think Mateen had the most original and forward thinking horror idea. But he cluttered it up with too many different elements, to truly have the viewer feel the horror of the guy who was arrested. I hated all of the other films. None of them were really scary (except Mateen's), and I think the people who had to do films this week had a tough job ahead of them.
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 9:33 am
It's challenging enough to sit through the inferior efforts of the contestants -- what makes the entire hour a torture test is that imitation of a host. The pain she inflicts on the audience cannot be adequately described.
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Ketchuplover
Member
08-30-2000
| Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 12:07 pm
and what's with her hugging everybody? can you say awkward?
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 3:28 pm
Not only does she hug everyone, it's funny because NOBODY wants to hug her, and then she COMMENTS on how they never want to get close to her. LOL She's said a few times, "Why doesn't anyone want to hug me?"
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Wednesday, July 04, 2007 - 5:24 pm
Mateen's film was horrifying and uncomfortable viewing, for me anyways. It made you think that this is what people do go thru with racial profiling and that to me was his aim more than making a typical horror short which is what they wanted. Again I saw thank goodness for ff, I got thru the whole hour in under 30 minutes cutting out the filler and Adrianna. Next week I think I'll ff thru Carrie and Garry as well they don't seem to have anything constructive to say.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 1:51 am
Yes! My bf and I are LOVING the fast forward button!! Makes the show enjoyable again! Gary needs to stop quoting people. Everything is "A wise man once said..."
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Jasper
Member
09-14-2000
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 8:47 am
Garry must have a portion of his brain that is strictly "quotes for all occassions".
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Trini
Member
07-06-2004
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 9:35 am
Was Mateen trying to shock us back into reality and not want us to enjoy ourselves? Reminding us where and the times we live in? I was uncomfortable and I do not know why, I had a whole agenda going on in my own head that spoiled the entire show for me. It's like enjoying a baseball game and out of the blue some one throws a football on the field and the lines man comes out with a whistle and stops play. Marteen may go home next week; the thought was not complete. Yet he wonders why the judges did not get it. interview: "What's more important talent or ego?" answer from Marteen: "Talent, because ego can be manufactured on falsities, whereas talent you either have or you don't...its tangible. Talent can produce ego, but ego cannot produce talent!" Gary is just enjoying himself..
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Cdbga
Member
10-04-2004
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 9:35 am
ITA about the fast forward, this was the first show I watched using my new DVR and I FF'd through everything except the shorts & judges. Didn't care for the guest judge, didn't like that it seemed the only way he could critique was to say which director their's was like. Why didn't they save Wes Craven for horror week? I didn't really get Mateen's film, either. I do get what he was aiming for, just thought he did a poor job with it. I agreed with the judges that there were too many points of view AND it was unclear whether this was something that had happened or something he was imagining. And I think he could have used that story idea AND made the typical horror short they were looking for (I liked Eeyore's suggestions). But, as made, it did not fit the assignment. Some of the others had truly chilling moments for me. I liked Malibu Myth...it was definitely Kenny's best so far. My aunt was watching with me - her 1st time watching - and I had just finished telling her how awful I thought all his stuff was. I think it really helped that HE didn't shoot this one! Also liked Eternal Waters. I liked parts of the baby one, but it seemed a little off the mark to me. But, loved the end where the husband says he has a name for the baby. Also liked Midnight Snack, but didn't find it the least bit scary. Would have fit much better for comedy week, I think.
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Madelane
Member
08-20-2001
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 10:38 am
Was no one else offended by Mateen's film? I work in law enforcement and I was aghast at the stereotypes of white police officers. I was so uncomfortable I couldn't even watch the whole thing. I have never met a police officer capable of doing what they did to him in that bathroom. I am not in denial that they exist, but what's the point of his film, that every white cop is going to take a black man into the bathroom and brutalize him? Worse, Mateen said "it happens every day." Well I'm sorry to disagree but I have heard of this happening about five times over my lifetime. If all he meant was that being pulled over for DWB happens every day, well, he has a point, but the point is not that every traffic stop turns into a capital crime and violation of human decency and civil rights. I was disgusted with the way the officer was portrayed, starting with tapping the window with his nightstick. Mateen clearly has a huge chip on his shoulder.
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Brenda1966
Member
07-03-2002
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 11:57 am
Madelane, I was offended too. I was offended by the "it happens every day remark" as well, implying not that people are held as suspicious just because of their color, but that they are assaulted and brutalized by cops because of it _every day_. That's how I took his statement. I do think his film was horrifying and the middle section was very effective, but I also didn't "get it". Was this a flash back or a premonition? Why did he seem releived to see a black cop at the end, the same cop who didn't help him? Was it a white cop or a black cop who pulled him over? An effective short film wouldn't have these many questions. I think he tried to put too much into the film. If he's going to be so aggressive about beating people upside the head with his message, i'm afraid most will just tune out. He also did not accept the criticism graciously and that doesn't win you any fans. I thought Malibu Myth and Anklebiters were both scary. The midnight snack one missed the mark for me. I liked the drowned boy one, but didn't like the ghost/baby one.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 2:50 pm
It's the Black man's daily horror, to be pulled over because he is black. I think that is what Mateen was getting at, and the extreme violence is what happens when our fears combine with our imagination. Much the same way we think there is an intruder when a branch hits our window and we hear the noise. And we think that intruder will break in, rape us, harm our children, etc. I think black people are pulled over because they are black, on a daily basis. I think Mateen was just trying to take a more "real" daily scenario, and show a horror film based on what could happen in the person's imagination, when their fear gets the best of them. And much like the branch tapping on the window during a dark storm, after we've pictured THE WORST, we then find out the situation wasn't as bad ad we had pictured. I don't think Mateen was trying to say "it isn't as bad as it seems" overall, but I think that's where he was coming from with the direction. JMHO
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Brenda1966
Member
07-03-2002
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 8:05 pm
Eeyore, I like your interpretation of the film. So the extreme violence the man experienced, was not a flashback, but his imagination. It makes more sense that way. I still think his film was a mess.
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 9:25 pm
Frankly, I think Mateen alienated a large section of the population and I'm not just talking about white people but police officers as well. I just think its rude to say all white cops are racist thugs and black men are only safe if its a black cop. At least that was the impression I got from his film and to me it wasn't a horror film.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 9:25 pm
Yeah, I think the whole "horror films prey on people's fears" thing is there, but he probably just tried to use a more *real life* situation, that was lost in his poor directing skills. Sometimes good intentions are lost in poor delivery, and we end up offending. God knows I'm always getting in trouble for offending someone when it wasn't my intent.
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Trini
Member
07-06-2004
| Thursday, July 05, 2007 - 11:42 pm
Yet if Mateen wanted to show an extreme imagination through fear then why use the word profile as the name of the film, the word Profile has one meaning to a black American male. Mateen hit us over the head with it. I think he knew the effect it would have on the public; He used this medium to state his message and was surprised when the Judges found it confusing. One can almost hear Mateen say 'how more straight forward can I be?' I hope one day he forgives the whole King incident, then again Spike Lee he admires.
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Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Friday, July 06, 2007 - 1:02 am
Yes, Trini, that's my point. Profile has only one meaning to a black American male. Leaves the rest of us wondering.
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Friday, July 06, 2007 - 2:04 am
LOL - someone in another forum I belong to wrote this about Mateen: "Mateen's film certainly showed more artistic vision than his last films, it was kind of like Fear of a Black Planet, the movie. I don't buy it though, his message was about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. Oooo, look at the evil white cops beating down the poor innocent black guy. It happens, obviously, but I doubt it's ever this one dimensional. Schindler's List needed the Schindler character. The world isn't so black and white (excuse the pun) that you can disguise reactionary racism as an anti-racist message. He's like Spike Lee without any tact."
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Prisonerno6
Member
08-31-2002
| Friday, July 06, 2007 - 3:41 am
I don't think Mateen was trying to say all white cops are thugs. I think he was trying to say that when black man gets pulled over, thoughts of what has happened, black men getting beaten and shot simply for being black and in the "wrong" place, naturally put fear in the minds of the black man. There is no getting around the fact that that sort of thing has and still does happen. As Eeyore said, and the one guest director tried to point out, that got lost in Mateen's poor directing skills. If he had stuck to the black man's POV, rather than jumping around, then I think more people would have understood that it was in the man's imagination. After all, our wild thoughts of what might happen are always much more scary than what actually does happen.
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Stormie
Member
03-01-2007
| Saturday, July 07, 2007 - 10:27 pm
This has become one of my favorite reality shows. I like the whole premise of finding an up and coming director, but I also like Garry and Carrie and they are the reason I stopped to watch. Right now I'm in the midst of playing catch up, but it's a very good show. This week's films have been very hard to decide from. I think for the most part they were all good in their own way. I did like the guest director though, and thought he gave some very good constructive criticism to the new directors. My favorite films though were Malibu Myth and Open House. I know that Open House was not a favorite of the judges, but I like spell binding ghost stories. I liked Eternal Waters and Ankle biters, and thought both were well done and did seem scary to me, I got Profile, but even though it was horrific, it was not a horror film, so I think that the director went outside of the box with it, but to me it still was a good short film. To go this week I think it may be Andrew Hunt for Midnight Snack, bc it wasn't necessarily funny or scary to me, so for me it fell short of what the intent was. I love that viewers get to vote, so we'll see what the consensus is next week.
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Ketchuplover
Member
08-30-2000
| Monday, July 09, 2007 - 2:49 pm
It's on tonight!
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Uncle_ricky
Member
07-02-2007
| Monday, July 09, 2007 - 3:42 pm
And for us Hell's Kitchen fans, Ketchup, which follows OTL at 9:00, it'll make for a great double-header (to use the MLB term and in honor of the all-star game tomorrow that triggered the move of OTL to tonight!).
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Stormie
Member
03-01-2007
| Monday, July 09, 2007 - 3:51 pm
Thanks for the heads up Ketchup and Uncle Ricky. It should be fun.
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