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Movies Forum Index » General Movies Forum » spielberg's terminal
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| Author |
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| nut |
 Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 7:35 pm |
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this is maybe spielberg's worst. mostly fluff. but, still enjoyable
if you turn half your braincells off and that's no problem with me.
so i guess i enjoyed it. the problem is it's both too light and too
ambitious. there's enough material here for a nice lowbudget 1 hr tv
movie. but, spielberg has stretched it for over 2 hrs with elaborate
sets and lots of characters. it's too much. it kinda reminded me of
scorsese's afterhours, another movie stretched too thin. still,
afterhours had some gritty hijinks and snarling perversity. terminal
is gerber baby goo.
i guess hollywood works this way: they make movies by taking
'successful formulas' and packing them altogether. terminal is like a
melting pot of moonlighting, bean, playtime, shawshank redemption,
woman in the dunes, moscow on the hudson, old hollywood romantic
comedies, capra movies, forrest gump, and of course spielberg
movies... and many more. these days when you watch a movie, you're
probably more busy referencing 'homages' or thefts from other movies
than paying attention to what's going on. throughout the movie, i
kept thinking... this reminds me of this, that of that, blit of blit
and blat of blat. enough is enough but the rule is enough of enough
which is enough but of what? enough which is never enough?
emotionally, it's highly unsatisfactory cuz spielberg tries to give us
conventional emotions with an insanely absurd scenario. this should
have been a biting satire. but spielberg tries to give us
heartwarming goo. it's like kafka served up as chillun's book,
mindbending drugs served as candy.
what's the movie about? well, alot of things. that our society is
overbureaucratized and we need the human element in our lives.
personally, i disagree. i've been to airports and they need more, not
less, order and supervision. but, populist messages sells better than
discipline schtick because work in real life isn't much fun and we all
hate taking orders from bosses. it's also about americans are for the
underdog, that US is a nation of immigrants, and there is a bridge
between liberating jazz of the new world and the deep filial piety of
the old world. the main character, it turns out, came all the way to
US, to get an autograph from a jazz dude for his pappy back in some
impoverished slavic nation. well, how generous of spielberg but what
kind of whackass fantasy is this? do people in desperate slavic
nations on the verge of civil war have the resources to fly to US just
to obtain an autograph for sentimental reasons? the great thing
about AI was spielberg exposed the lie surrounding the fantasy all the
while asking why is it human nature MUST cling to falsity? is hope
impossible without falsity? in terminal, he's back to passing out
goo with a straight face.
there's something about jewishness in the movie. tom hanks in straned
in the airport for 9 months. as the fate of his nation is uncertain,
he becomes a man with nation, no identity, nowhere to go, etc. he
becomes like the wandering jew within the ghetto of the airport. it's
a kafkaesque scenario. he's tossed about by bureaucracy, strangers,
mishaps, language barriers, and other complications. but franz kafka
meets frank capra in spielberg's hands, and it soon becomes resolved
in some brotherhood of man schtick.
is it just an accident that spielberg is drawn to these stories of a
man without a place? or, is there a core jewish anxiety in all his
works? think of the projects he has worked on.
jaws. few men become stranded in the middle of a vast ocean hunted by
great nazi shark. metaphor of the homeless jews lost among the
nations of the world?
when roy scheider kills the shark, is it the jew--sinking nearly into
extinction--surviving by inventing the atomic bomb?
close encounters. the main character feels alienated from and rejected
by rest of mankind after being CHOSEN and he must find the way back to
his tribe, the jews from space. he and other chosen jews go to devil's
mt which is like mt sinai to see moses with his commandments and
follow him into the promised planet far far away.
ET. et is lost on earth and pursued by human nazis. he's given shelter
like anne frank's family but is caught anyway and nearly dies except
spaceship israel comes and rescues his arse.
jurassic park. mad scientist unleashes dinos who wanna devour humans
like nazis killed the jews. men, women, and children become hunted
down by ruthless killers. notice the fright mechanics of jurassic is
almost identical to that in schindler.
schindler's list. in fact, schindler is like an aryan jew. though a
german, he becomes close to the jews. he saves jews but he himself
cannot be a jew. he becomes an existential 'jew', even more rootless
than jews. schindler, like hanks in the terminal, has to rely on his
wits to survive and help his workers.
AI. robot jew kid.
minority report. the main character lost his kid and wife. he's like a
jew who lost his family in the holocaust. he is framed and chased and
becomes like a hunted jew by a law and order nazi fanatic. also,
future-seers are held captive and exploited. jewish scientists
exploited by thuggish goyim?
catch me if you can. haven't seen it but it's about a guy playing
with his identity and being chased by authorities. very jewishy kind
of experience. the jew, since he was persecuted and oppressed, had to
use his wits and outsmart the goyim. so in spielberg's movies, there
is a fascination with the smarty who tries to remain one step ahead of
the teutonic bureacratized mob.
and now the terminal. though hanks character isn't jewish, he embodies
what's known as the jewish anxiety. he has no national identity. he
becomes unacceptable. he can't get a job like the rest. he has to
scramble like the peddling jewish salesman.
the baddy of terminal is a jewishy looking guy and perhaps it's
spielberg's commentary on how jews in america has become like the
goyim. jewish execs who run hollywood are just as hardassed and
exclusive as goyim that once kept them down. and spielberg had to
hustle his way into hollywood like schindler had to hustle his way
into nazi stalwarts.
so spielberg is saying jewish people must understand how they had once
been excluded and persecuted. and, hanks in the movie is a very
'progressive' and 'compassionate' guy. he becomes the hero of all the
working folks. black folk done grow to respeck his arse. dang, dat
must mean he good. if a bro say so. and there are asiatic, hindus,
etc. but strangely no ragheads. i guess arabs need not apply.
funny thing about spielberg is while he's jewishy in many ways, he's
very apple-piely goyimish about american values. he's been a family
man. he disdains irreverence and cynicism that we identify with jews
like jerry seinkafeld, woody allen, marx brothers, lenny bruce. when
we think of the jew, we think of some rootless guy who's ready to
cheat with your wife. he's the cosmopolitan modernist with no need
for family values. he's for liberalism not so much because he's
compassionate but because it best serves his hedonistic needs.
but there is spielberg, the gentle and compassionate and family values
jew. though politically liberal, he's culturally a conservative
family man. and that's the kind of jew we need more of. god bless
spielberg. |
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| Steve Terry |
| Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2004 5:46 pm |
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Spielberg's terminal? Oh my god! What's he got? Cancer probably. Damn
election cycle, real news like this slides right under the radar. Let the
trademark Spielberg clouds roll in for it is a dark day indeed. |
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