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Movies from comedy to drama to your favorite Hollyweird Star.

The masses are too dumb, not smart enough to know what is good and not good.

You're brimming with good points today!

Here's the problems with Mystic River:

1. Every single aspect of it is strenuously overwrought.

2. Every single aspect of it is strenuously overwrought to achieve a cheap set of emotions.

You missed the point of the post, but whatever, why argue, you've tipped your hand as someone who has gleefully embraced the terms of the Mediocre Revolution which is sweeping America. Hey, you folks won, why bitch?

Populism is the dullest kind of elitism, not least for its obvliousness to its own prejudice. 'Mystic River' isn't middlebrow "becaue" the masses like it, it's middlebrow because it strives so hard to appear highbrow--it hits you over the head at pretty much every single edit with how SERIOUS it is. It's sooooooo serious. Have you not noticed how serious what's going on is? Here, let me BLUDGEON YOU TO DEATH with history's most egregious film score. Still not convinced of how Transformatively Serious what is going on is? Will a Sweeping Crane Shot convince you? Can't you see how grim everyone is? What is your problem, man, this is like WAY serious...maybe a few overlong monologues will do the trick? You did get that, like, child sexual abuse is behind all of this, right? That's some serious stuff. Except, WHOAH!, it isn't behind it, because check out this totally-unforeseen set of plot twists! Isn't that seriously tragic, what just happened?

No, it's a great film, you're right. How can anything so incredibly--and I do mean incredibly--serious not be high art?

Me, I would prefer to pay $5.00, sips some suds, and watch some Bunuel, rather than have some mutli-multi-millionaire shake his well-endowed finger at me for 2 1/2 hours. You can go see Clint Eastwood's latest harangue. I'll have more fun.


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