By Sam: Hello, and welcome back to Sean and Sam vs. the Interwebs. For our second installment, we have a Halloween-themed post, courtesy of the appropriately-named Youwillhateme. Is he some sort of psychic?
Sean: I sure hope not, because when we’re through with him he’ll be trying to explode our heads double-time. Why not introduce to our readers the movie Mr. hateme saw fit to besmirch, Sam?
Sam: The Silence Of The Lambs seemed like an appropriate title to cover, and there is a lot written about it, so it seemed logical that some idiot thought it was awful, for all the wrong reasons.
Sean: On the bright side, today’s misinformed miscreant has basic spelling and grammatical ability, unlike rhal,last week’s elementary school drop-out. Check it out after the jump!
Sam: Hello, and welcome back to Sean and Sam vs. the Interwebs. For our second installment, we have a Halloween-themed post, courtesy of the appropriately-named Youwillhateme. Is he some sort of psychic?
Sean: I sure hope not, because when we’re through with him he’ll be trying to explode our heads double-time. Why not introduce to our readers the movie Mr. hateme saw fit to besmirch, Sam?
Sam: The Silence Of The Lambs seemed like an appropriate title to cover, and there is a lot written about it, so it seemed logical that some idiot thought it was awful, for all the wrong reasons.
Sean: On the bright side, today’s misinformed miscreant has basic spelling and grammatical ability, unlike rhal, last week’s elementary school drop-out. Check it out after the jump!{{page_break}}
POST: Seriously, this won the Oscars?? First, the story is so-so. Been done a million times. Not Oscar worthy. Second, the acting is atrocious. Both Jodie and Anthony were completely over the top, over rated, wooden, forced and contrived. Not an ounce of realness in there. It was like two wooden puppets playing into the camera.
The guy who played the serial killer and the girl captured were the best and most interesting.
I know people are gonna be on my case, but this was all hype. The direction was just not very good.
Hopkins played it like a robot. And Foster played it like a student just out of acting class.
Sean: …Wow. Let’s just dive right into this bad boy.
Seriously, this won the Oscars??
Sam: You can’t win the Oscars. You can win an Oscar, but it's not like The World Series. And yes, we are serious, it did win them. A few, actually.
Sean: No, Youwillhateme, you are the Oscars. And then Youwillhateme was a Tony.
First, the story is so-so. Been done a million times. Not Oscar worthy.
Sam: I’m gonna have to disagree here. First, as I hope you know, the script is adapted from a book by Thomas Harris. Second, I challenge Youwillhateme to name another film that features such a dynamic and intricate cat-and-mouse triangle as the one featured in Silence. In fact, the AFI voted Clarice Starling the number six hero in American film history, and Hannibal Lecter as the number one villain. Ever. So no, it hasn’t been done a million times.
Sean: He claims it has been done a million times, so a list of, oh, five shouldn’t be too hard.
Second, the acting is atrocious.
Sam: If I wasn’t already lost, this is the nail in the coffin. This film was one of three all-time to win all of the Big Five Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and either Best Adapted Screenplay or Best Original Screenplay). Only two others have ever done it: It Happened One Night and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Sean: Seriously, what movies is he comparing the acting to?
Both Jodie and Anthony were completely over the top, over rated, wooden, forced and contrived. Not an ounce of realness in there.
Sean: Here, Youwillhateme is bizarrely familiar with the actors. Perhaps he knows them in real life? Regardless, Hopkins and Foster’s performances in this film are none of those things. Hannibal Lecter is scary. He does get inside your mind. And ‘Over the top’ is the most ludicrous accusation in the above sentence. At no point did I think, “I wish he’d tone it down a little.”
Sam: Isn’t calling it “wooden” and “over the top” a contradiction?
It was like two wooden puppets playing into the camera.
Sam: Yeah, two puppets that won Academy Awards.
Sean: Maybe he does know them. Maybe they stuck him with the bill at a fancy restaurant or ran over his dog, because he really seems to have a vendetta.
The guy who played the serial killer and the girl captured were the best and most interesting.
Sam: Best and most interesting what? Characters? Actors? You can’t end a sentence like this. It’s not allowed. Also, technically, he implies that the “guy” played the serial killer and the “girl captured”. That would be quite a performance.
Sean: While ‘the girl’ wasn’t bad, she didn’t outshine any of the other performances. I DO have to give the guy a point for Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill though. Next to him and Hannibal Lecter, you don’t get much more iconic, and they’re in the same movie! It’s two awesome serial killers for the price of one. You won’t find savings like that anywhere else ‘til you get to the House of 1000 Corpses! They’ve got’m in surplus!
I know people are going to be on my case…
Sean: He is psychic! Put on your tinfoil cap, Sam.
Sam: *puts on his tinfoil cap, promptly covered by a larger, more sturdy stainless steel pot*
…but this was all hype.
Sean: 118 minutes of award-winning cinema boiled down to ‘this was all hype.’
The direction was just not very good.
Sean: Nope. Wrong. The Academy is known to make mistakes, but this is not one of them. Jonathan Demme followed up Silence with Philadelphia, man!
Sam: If he is referring to the directing Demme gave his “awful” actors, I might get where Mr. Hateme is coming from. Which, upon close inspection, is Idiotville.
Hopkins played it like a robot.
Sam: You can’t win Best Actor by dialing it in, especially with less than 17 minutes of on-screen time.
Sean: Man-eating robots. Hmm. Sam, get SyFy on the phone, we’ve got a pitch to sell!
And Foster played it like a student just out of acting class.
Sam: Now he refers to them by their last names. I’m confused, did they have a falling out during this awful post?
Sean: Rather than sound like a broken record, I’m just going to close with this: everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but there are some opinions that are just wrong. This film is one of three movies ever to win the Big Five at the Oscars. Hannibal Lecter is on dozens of Best Villain lists. This many people can’t be wrong! You knew people were going to be on your case for this, Youwillhateme. Well, you were right. I’m Sean Walsh and he’s Sam Membrino. We’ll see you back here next week, and remember, we’ll be watching.
Sam: I’m going to get this pot off my head, its uncomfortable and I can’t see anything…