Chick Flicks

[eweiss]

http://www.reallifecomics.com/comics/2006/20060630_1685.png

(What's funny/ironic about this cartoon is that, IMO, SUPERMAN RETURNS is a "chick flick.")

[FredProgGH]

Oh dude, SR was a bigtime chick flick. They should have called it "Lois Lane And Her Yuppie Husband Return To Save Superman's Pathetic Ass". But that would have been sort of long on a marquee I guess.

[hawkeye3.1]

Since I couldn't find a thread on "Prada", hope you don't mind me jacking yours.

Got roped into watching this estrogen fest last night. Outside of a couple one liners to tickle the funny bone, I highly recommend getting a headache as soon as someone suggests watching this DVD. But my biggest complaint was the way it looks. I have VHS tapes that are sharper. Fox is really dropping the ball on recent SD DVDs, Ice Age 2 also comes to mind. Just another release to suggest all their talent/attention has been redirected to another format.

Sorry, just had to get that of my chest.

[rezzy]

Men are no longer allowed to see SR; either theatrically or on home video......*Man Law*

[Karyk]

Since I couldn't find a thread on "Prada", hope you don't mind me jacking yours. .

I don't think it's a hijack. When I saw the title of the thread, I assume that movie would be discussed here! ;)

I agree with your assessment, but for one thing. Meryl Streep was really very good in this otherwise very predictable film. Perhaps one of her best performances (although I'll admit I don't remember that many). Casting Streep was as brilliant as casting Anne Hathaway was predictable and uninspired.

Oh, also, I'd disagree with you on there being a couple of one liners that were funny. There was only one, and it was in the deleted scenes (my wife watched 20 minutes of deleted scenes for this film, so apparently she liked it--which I guess is what makes it a chick flick).

[JohnR_IN_LA]

Yep
"Superman Returns" is to Lois Lane,
as "Walk The Line" is to June Carter.


I still enjoyed it :)

[davdev]

Prade came from Netflix the other day :( Fortunatly I have kept distracting the wife enough that we haven't found time to watch it. That one may stay out for a long time before going back to netfilx. It wouldn't surprise me if it were in June and I was still pushing it off.

Looks like I am down to the 2 movies at a time plan :(

[kevinp8192]

I'm one of those guys who actually can sit through a decent chick flick, and even defended them in a back and forth recent thread a few months ago.

But "The Devil Wears Prada" was not a decent chick flick. It was terrible. Trust me, davdev, you want to put it off for as long as you can.

[cjsm250]

Yeah, hard core chick flicks are really boring. Women have a different worldview then men. They don't mind watching people emote about relationships for two hours, while men find it boring. For me, a soft core chick flick I like is Romancing the Stone. Any less action then that and I'm bored to death. Or would that even be considered a chick flick?

[davdev]

I was debating the other day if "The Breakup" is a chick flick.

I guess on the surface it is, but I can watch anything Vince Vaughn is in, that boy cracks me up.

[Wytchone]

Men are no longer allowed to see SR; either theatrically or on home video......*Man Law*

ROFLMAO

[Dean Roddey]

Actually, I watched Devil Wears Prada last week and I kind of liked it. It wasn't the best movie of all time by any means but it was cute and I liked looking at Anne Hathaway.

[Beeswax]

i liked that reese witherspoon movie i watched the other day, "just like heaven"

[spyder696969]

Best chick flick movie of all time is The Descent. "Six Chicks with Picks" and no guys in this movie whatsoever, save for a very brief appearance by Sarah's husband. After that, well...ummmm...I guess it would have to be anything with HLA in the title. ;)

[oink]

Best chick flick movie of all time is The Descent. "Six Chicks with Picks"

Oooohhhh...."with PICKS"
You had me worried there for a minute, Spyder... :D

[Taperwood]

I enjoyed Prada with my wife, but we won't own it. I've said it before, if I have to watch a chick flick, give me a Jane Austin story (Pride and Prejudice, Emma, etc.). In fact we just watched another version of Pride and Prejudice two weeks ago. It was based in modern-day Utah, so I guess they were Mormons or something, but as I watched it I kept thinking this is weird. It was a Butterfly Effect-kind of universe, just slightly off.

Doug

[HTCrazy]

(What's funny/ironic about this cartoon is that, IMO, SUPERMAN RETURNS is a "chick flick.")

Too true. It looks like all the iconic male stereotypes in film are being remade to to become feminized and irrelevant. The trail blazing self reliant he-men role models of yore are being intentionally recast as mere appendages who live to serve women yet fail in every comparison to their superior female counterpart.

The new James Bond was also not so subtley remade from a love em an leave em man of the world into a supportive monogamist who was duped by a love em and leave em bond girl side kick - whom he nonetheless risked his life to save and serve.

The sad thing is that the young men who grow up in this era will accept this artificial social re-engineering attempt by Hollywood (and the rest of the media) and new gender slavery imposed on them as somehow the natural order of things. With only the older and wiser knowing it's anything but.

[Dean Roddey]

Gender slavery was what existed in in your supposed natural order of things. Both sides had their strictly defined roles and faced massive social sanctions if they tried to deviate from it. Women were practicallly actually slaves, and men had no more leeway though they had more advantages.

Personally, I'll take the new order myself.

[archiguy]

The sad thing is that the young men who grow up in this era will accept this artificial social re-engineering attempt by Hollywood (and the rest of the media) and new gender slavery imposed on them as somehow the natural order of things. With only the older and wiser knowing it's anything but.

There was a time until quite recently when literal slavery was considered the "natural order", and righteously defended by the ruling order - men, of course. Thankfully, we're continuing to evolve and improve the human condition. Well, some of us, anyway; guess the "older and wiser" among us can continue to use their stone tools to scratch their objections to humanitarian evolution on their cave walls (or AM radio). Until they all just die out from irrelevance, that is.

[HTCrazy]

There was a time until quite recently when literal slavery was considered the "natural order", and righteously defended by the ruling order - men, of course. Thankfully, we're continuing to evolve and improve the human condition. Well, some of us, anyway; guess the "older and wiser" among us can continue to use their stone tools to scratch their objections to humanitarian evolution on their cave walls (or AM radio). Until they all just die out from irrelevance, that is.

So you think that disempowering men to be meek servants, defined by their women as women once were by their men will "improve the human condition"? Smells like the New World Odor to me, where the first step to our collective assimilation is giving up our religious, nationalist, gender, racial and familial identities. It might sound good at first but believe me, the NWO objective is about as much about improving the human condition as the Iraq war is about peace, freedom and democracy.

[spyder696969]

Oh, oh. Looks like this thread just took a dangerous turn from funny to downright serious.

[archiguy]

Oh, I don't think I'd go that far. This whole "New World Order" thing is kind of nebulous anyway and used by certain groups as a scare tactic. There's been lots of 'em, after all. There was a New World Order when real slavery was officially abolished. There was one when women got the right to vote in most industrialized countries. There was one when communism collapsed (except for a few holdouts who will get around to it in the next few generations). There are always New World Orders being established and the general trend is usually toward more liberalization and personal freedom, which has historically been a good thing.

But men ain't being disempowered, at least not in my house, by golly! Now, Eric, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go darn some socks before my wife gets home and forces me to watch Desperate Housewives. (Oh, the horror!) ;)

[Dean Roddey]

I also fail to see any disempowering of men. I think that any privileged group will think that other people empowering themselves is equiv to that privileged group's boat being sunk, when in fact it's just other people raising themselves up to the same level. Personally, I'd prefer that we let every person rise to their own level of competency and to insert themselves into whatever niches of life that they operate best in, because we'll all benefit.

Anyway, movies are a business. To make money they need to appeal to a broader audience now. If there was enough of an audience for the kinds of male role models you seem to think are best, then there'd be more of them, because I don't think that Hollywood would hesitate for a minute to cash in on it. But personally I think that even most men today don't really much see that kind of man as the ideal anymore. Personally, when I see men acting all macho, my first thought is 'overcompensation for a small one'.

[HTCrazy]

Amazing..

[nomad139]

Just so I have this correctly... On one side, we have the "enlightened men" who see their own history being written for them in front of their eyes as bumbling idiots & think it is okay. On the other hand, we have Neandrethals who want to club "their women" and take them home as love slaves. Perfect, just perfect.

And we men wonder why the ladies have taken over the remote! Get it right gentlemen... we are right all of the time, we want electronics above all else, and if we could eat pizza, drink beer, and still look like male models to get the hot chicks, we'd call it heaven.

C'mon guys. Any thread called "Chick Flicks" has to be taken lightly (I feared it would be a bunch of guys talking up or bashing the genre). Okay, so I almost didn't even look at this thread because of its title, but the 1st cartoon post got me.

[Dean Roddey]

Just so I have this correctly... On one side, we have the "enlightened men" who see their own history being written for them in front of their eyes as bumbling idiots & think it is okay.

No, we have the enlightened men who don't get their self-image from movies and therefore are not affected one way or the other by the fact that movies have to appeal to women now, nor are they threatened by women stepping up the plate and reaching their potential because they are self-confident in their own abilities.

[spyder696969]

You guys have reminded me of one of my actual favorite chick flciks, Down with Love. There, we have a balance of all things discussed here, from Catcher Block (McGregor) shown as a "ladies' man, mans' man, man-about-town" playboy to a groveling, love-starved puppy. Meanwhile, Barbara Novak (Zellweger) is depicted as a marriage-crazy, "dinner-on-the-table" homebody to an overbearing feminist, drunk with the power to crush men.

In reality, we're all probably somewhere within the two ends of the spectrum, ala the beginning and the end of Pleasantville. If you still want to go to work and come home and say, "Honey, I'm home, where's my dinner?" more power to you, given that your wife wants to accept that role as well. If she wants a career and you want to stay home, that's OK too. Both work? Fine. Share housework? That's OK too. Want to breastfeed ala Meet the Fockers? Have at it.

Personally, I think it's just peachy if women want or get equality, so long as they don't pull: "I want an equal salary with equal opportunities and treatment" but then say, "I want paid maternity leave, men to open doors for me, and to never have to pay for a drink/date/condo." It's also inapporopriate if men pull: "I'm a real classic example of a man, and only I should bring home the bacon" but then say, "I never get to see my kids because of work" or not walk closest to the road when escorting a lady or lay down his coat in a puddle on the sidewalk for her. Fair's fair, after all.

The gf and I both; bring home the bacon, cook it up, open doors and watch out for puddles for each other, split costs on everything, rotate chores, share the wealth/responsibilty of our son, make about the same salary, have the same status, etc, etc, etc. An equal partnership works for us. Whatever works for you, great...just so long as you're true to it and both agree upon it.

[Dean Roddey]

Agreed...

[SbWillie]

how do you `darn some socks'??

[archiguy]

how do you `darn some socks'??

Beats me. I think it refers back to a simpler time when the womenfolk sewed up holes in their men's socks rather than pitching them and buying new ones. What barbarism; we're so beyond that now. ;)

[Taperwood]

Disempowerment of men? I don't think so. My wife runs things around the house because I let her. You don't think I would allow her to do anything detrimental to our lives do you? No way. She couldn't screw up our lives if she tried. It takes a man to do that. Yep, I keep an eye on things, don't much sweat the details though. I've trained her well.