A History of Violence (2005)

[Quorthon]

iamthesmitty said:

quorthon said:

I just think Smitty must've attended the one High School in all of America that isn't awash with mind-numbing, pointless asshole teenagers.

I think there may have been something in the milk they were served at lunch... A pointless-teenage-asshole suppressant or something.

Actually, I was surrounded by intellectual drama students, so I was constantly around social equals. The rest of the school... the real assholes found out about home schooling, so they transferred out. The rest of the students either had better things to do or were so brainwashed by MTV that discussing how much of an asshole Simon Cowell is was more important than beating someone up because they beat them at baseball. ;D

Soooo whattaya sayin' there!? Sayin' that drama students are smarter than us shop class monkeys who spend our hours in shop crafting weapons out of wood and throwing things at each other while the teacher wanders around oblivious? That what yer sayin!? It sounds that way!!!

I'm a unique one, I am. I spent my High School days in Shop, Biology, and boring-ass Computer classes. Then went to college for art & design. And once, in High School, my friends and I were charged with harrassment. True story.

[Termination]

The dvd street date is now March 14th 2006. 2 more months of hearing how bad a film it is from Smitty & how good a film it is by.....................

[Pulpmariachi]

I just saw it. It's really good. Intelligent. Intense.

I agree with Quorthon on a lot of stuff. I don't think, however, that the screenwriter missed teenage junk in the high school scenes. Yes, those could've been a more violent Boston Public or OC, but they were still good. The only really major problem I had with the film was the little girl.

[Termination]

Watched it last night.

I'm scratching my head as to why you didn't think the "teen" scenes were not done accurately, Smitty?

The population of the town is just over 3000 people. I grew up in a small community just like that. Actually the setting of the town was a trip down memory lane. People are friendly, there are the occasional bully's who are popular amongst other teens, which is shown quite well in A History of Violence. Myself, as a teen, I was never bullied by others in my grade, but I was by older teens because I never stuck up for myself & 1 day I remember blowing up at one teen in school. All talk & no Show, just like the film.

[ZapRowsdower]

Perhaps my not having grown up in a small town like that, you can see why I thought this was inaccurate. I grew up in L.A. (the good part of L.A.), where bullying stops at middle school.

[Termination]

I understand what you mean Smitty, when I left that little area known as "Ladner" & moved closer towards the city as a teen, I noticed immediately how negative teens react to one another there. It was a move into A-Hole land & I didn't like it one bit, but got used to that area over time.

[Phoenix]

I finally got around to seeing this over the weekend so I reread everyone's comments. I agree with most of what was said.

I thought the premise was AMAZING. I agree with Smitty though that the screenplay dialog was a bit stunted here and there. It seemed like the lines were straight out of a graphic novel, which doesn't necessarily transfer well on the big screen.

Example: Viggo's characters says he "went into the desert for 3 years to kill Joey."

While that works great in a comic book, it just doesn't really make sense in a real-life feeling movie. I kind of giggled at that part (and many others) which I don't think I should have been doing.

I guess I should have approached it more as a comic book film because that is what it felt like. The graphic sex and violence did sit right though, which is to be applauded by the director.

5/10 for me.