New forum announcement! (trial)

[JoBlo]

Hey all...

A number of you showcased interest in a new FOREIGN FILMS forum here (http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=55038) and here (http://www.joblo.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=56821), so after some thought, I figured that a "trial" period/forum was the best way to go, which is what this is all about.

I will keep this forum up and running for the next few weeks and see if there truly is enough ONGOING interest in this subject, enough for it to have its own forum, that is.

If I see that there is enough conistent interest among schmoes, we will turn this forum into a permanent one and if not, we will close it and move all of its open threads to the GENERAL MOVIE TALK forum.

For now, I will remain the "moderator" on the forum, but if we keep it long-term, I will offer it to someone else. DO NOT email me about this yet...we will see what happens and THEN discuss that matter.

Enjoy! Goce! Apprecier! Genießen Sie! Piacere! Geniet van!

[Psychocandy]

Thank you. This is brilliant. :D

[Slim]

Thanks JoBlo!!! This is fuckin' amazing.

[James Logan]

Out-fuckin'-standing!

Now let's get this baby started, people...or rather, mettons ce p'tit bébé en marche, les gens!

[ilovemovies]

Question, would Exotica be considered a foreign film? It is afterall, from Canada.

[notchreturns]

Nice.

[BadCoverVersion]

This is quite brilliant.

Many thanks JoBlo!!!

[bowieee]

Thanks!

I really think we can make use of this.

[Paterfamilias]

Wow, thanks Jo, or rather, Gracias!!!!

This is so cool. :D

[Fisting Ackbar]

Now let's get started on many threads and discussions!

Edit: Question, what falls under the category of a foreign film? Any production that isn't from the USA, or that wasn't recorded in the English language, or what?

[ANavissi500]

Thanks for the new forum. My knowlege of world cinema is sadly limited - maybe this will help me find some great films abroad

[Toby]

Woohoo! Gaan met die banaan!
bedankt, jongen!

[Ren Hoek]

This is soooooo cool. Domo arigato, JoBlo-san!

:)

[DaveyJoeG]

Is it acceptable to just post foreign movie reviews here or should we leave those for the Video Reviews Forum?

[The Delfonics]

Originally posted by DaveyJoeG
Is it acceptable to just post foreign movie reviews here or should we leave those for the Video Reviews Forum?

If its a review in review format then I would probably put it in the video reviews. However if its a discussion about a movie you should post it here. There are easy ways to diguise a review as a discussion though. :)

[Shakamaker]

(claps excitedly) Thanks JoBlo!

[Indiana Sev]

Originally posted by ilovemovies
Question, would Exotica be considered a foreign film? It is afterall, from Canada.

To you it is, to me it's not.

Besides the United States and the U.K. all remaining movies from other countries are considered foreign.

[FeverDog420]

Originally posted by Indiana Sev
Besides the United States and the U.K. all remaining movies from other countries are considered foreign.

Well, that's a little arrogant, ya think? I'm supposed to talk about David Cronenberg here because he's from neither America nor England?

This will be my only post in this forum, since I object to its existence. Schmoes are all over the world, so I feel it's separatistic to have a special place for non-English movies. How can we have a foreign room if we cannot properly define "foreign"? Are they simply movies whose characters speak languages other than English? What about French-Canadian movies, like Being at Home with Claude? Are they considered foreign but The Sweet Hereafter isn't?

Then there are some foreign movies whose characters speak English. Take The Wedding Banquet, a Taiwanese movie by Ang Lee that was filmed entirely in New York. Foreign or domestic?

Do we use subtitles to designate a foreign movie? If that's the case, Riff-Raff fits but all the old Godzilla movies don't, since aren't they always dubbed?

French movies may be foreign to most of us, but what about James Logan? From his point of view, From Justin to Kelly is, technically, a foreign film. FeydRautha could talk about Dumb and Dumberer here. See what I mean?

A Foreign Movie Thread creates all sorts of problems. I feel all movies should be treated equal here. The Horror boards have their own cult of misfits (that's not an insult) which I feel warrants separate space (do y'all see some of the movies discussed there? I haven't heard of half of them.) "Foreign" movies, however, do not have the same kind of rabid following that deserves their own space.

When I have a "foreign" movie I'd like to discuss, I'll post it in the General forum. (I recently rented Day for Night; when I get around to watching it we'll see if I have anything special to say about it.)

I will not be returning to this thread, so if you wish to respond to this post, please PM me. Now, back to the movies.

[jlovborg]

I must say I agree with much of what you say, FeverDog420. The division between "movies" and "foreign movies" is absurd and exists only in English-speaking countries. I'd much rather have "foreign films" discussed in General Movie Talk, because there is no inherent difference between movies made in different countries, and "foreign" is a completely subjective term, and means different things for different people.

So I'm rather pessimistic about this new forum. Potentially, it could spark people's interest in non-Hollywood and subtitled movies, and the range of movies that are talked about on these forums could increase. However, in reality the effect might be the opposite: Now that all talk about "foreign" films takes place in a separate forum, only people who are already interested in these films will visit the forum, while "mainstream" film buffs will steer clear of it. Consequently "foreign" films may be discussed less than before.

In any case, we must define what a "foreign film" is. I think Indiana Sev's definition that only US and UK films are non-foreign is insufficient, because it leaves out the films from other English-speaking countries, such as (most of) Canada, Australia, and Ireland. Moreover, there are lots of films that are multinational co-productions, and their nationality is very unclear. I think we should agree that a "foreign film" is one that is in some other language than English. (Maybe this forum should be called "non-English speaking movies forum", although that would further emphasize the xenophobia apparent here.)

Anyway, if this forum nevertheless turns out to be popular, I'll be glad to post here.

[Tuukka]

Like it has been stated before in other threads, "foreign movies" don't gather enough attention to keep the threads on the front page of the VERY crowded GMT forum. It takes only a three days for a thread to disappear from the front page if nobody answers it.

This is the reason why this forum was created. I think's it's pretty much trivial and useless to start discussion what defines a movie as foreign.

Some "foreign" movies obviously can be discussed in other forums as well, but this forum allows us to keep things more organized.

[Paterfamilias]

I love having a Foreign Movie Forum. While i see FeverDog's point, I don't view this as being separatist, I view it as a resource for those of us who like foreign films.

Since this forum started two days ago, I have already added 7 movies to my rental queue that I would not have heard of if this forum didn't exist. Annie Hall's Cinema Paradiso post may have fallen off the from page of the general forum faster than *insert clever quip about something that falls fast here* .

I have only recently started to get "into" foreign films and it has been incredible. It's as if I have been exposed to a whole new world of wonderful films that I never knew existed.

i look forward to discussing these films with those who have seen them and love them as much as I do.

[Indiana Sev]

Originally posted by Paterfamilias
I don't view this as being separatist, I view it as a resource for those of us who like foreign films.

That's exactly what it is Paterfamilias. You get it, at least.

Xenophobia? Sheesh! I was just using the rational the Academy awards use when nominating foreign films, (as far as I know, non-English speaking films) you know, trying to make it easier for everyone around here to talk about their favorite foreign films. You know.... HAVE FUN!!!!! Jesus...

It's not my job here to define things, non-English-speaking films IMO, I think is a very good starting point to determine what is a "foreign film" for our purposes. That doesn't mean somebody will get tar and feathered should they bring up Muriel's Wedding or Exotica.

I'm not surprised a few people decided to turn this into a federal case though, whatever! :rolleyes:

Off-topic...

P.S. As far as Canadian films go, I'm not really sure actually. I know a film from Quebec was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Jesus De Montreal) it was a French-speaking film though. I'm not sure if (as far as the Oscars go anyway) English-speaking films from Canada are considered foreign.

[Damned Martian]

Originally posted by FeverDog420
When I have a "foreign" movie I'd like to discuss, I'll post it in the General forum. (I recently rented Day for Night; when I get around to watching it we'll see if I have anything special to say about it.)

I will not be returning to this thread, so if you wish to respond to this post, please PM me. Now, back to the movies. You're free. But actually, as this forum is already created, your thread will be moved here, so there's no sense in that.

Anyway, if this forum nevertheless turns out to be popular, I'll be glad to post here If you and some like you post here, then it's when it will become popular!:rolleyes:

And what's all that discussion about what's foreign and not? I think we all understand that the "foreign" adjective is used from the point of view of the origin of this site: USA. From that p.o.v., spanish films that aren't usually foreign for me are considered foreign. And i'm not mad about it.

And there's no "separatism" or "xenophoby" or whatever. It's like if you say that to put the tournaments in other forum is saying that they're not games. That has no sense. This is just a forum to allow us to discuss about foreign movies that are not so popular than mainstream and can't beat them in number of posts, getting the threads dedicated to them covered by the huge amount of the others. It also allows us to interest other schmoes that don't use to see this kind of movies in what may be for them a great discovering of cinematic masterpieces.

Even more: God saw this forum. And He thought it was good.;)

[quoth_the_raven]

well its got off to a good start, for sure ;) i am pretty glad to see it, it might expose me to some foreign movies i might not have given a second look normally...


hmmm....you know, America is a foreign country for me. interesting point that....;)

[James Logan]

Originally posted by FeverDog420

French movies may be foreign to most of us, but what about James Logan? From his point of view, From Justin to Kelly is, technically, a foreign film. FeydRautha could talk about Dumb and Dumberer here. See what I mean?


I see your point and appreciate the concern, Fever. :) Personally, I think this place is a great place, because even if we're from all over the world, a) most Schmoes are from North America, b) the site is "based" in North America (JoBlo, Sev and Arrow operate from Canada, Mike Sampson from New Jersey), c) by spending loads of time here, we tend to think of U.S. films as domestic and other films as foreign anyways.

I think this is a great place not only for me, but for other Schmoes, to learn and discuss about less-known flicks, who have less publicity and marketing because they're not mainstream major U.S. releases. And that's what's most important to me.

[JCPhoenix]

Originally posted by James Logan
I think this is a great place not only for me, but for other Schmoes, to learn and discuss about less-known flicks, who have less publicity and marketing because they're not mainstream major U.S. releases. And that's what's most important to me.

First of all, THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU JO!!!

Anyway, I agree with what James here said, I'm Canadian but I'm also going to discuss Canadian flicks in this forum because the whole point is to talk about lesser known movies really. Generally foreign films are not as talked about and less people know about them so a forum like this really helps for all of us to learn more about different flicks. Hell, I'm Canadian, and I have probably seen all of the four Canadian flicks in my entire life. (Cube, uhhh, existenZ [sorta], uhhh...shit can't think of anymore!) And anyway, I'm sure Atanarjuat would count as a foreign movie, and it's Canadian rite...

oh, and if this forum does get a permanent place (please pleaseplease) i nominate Ren Hoek to be the moderator.

[bob]

What a superbly delectable idea!! I, for one, am really digging the new forum. Here's to hoping it sticks around.

[FeverDog420]

Ok, I've returned with my tail between my legs. (FeverDog! Tail! Get it?!?) Sorry if my previous post came off a little bitchy; another abortive attempt at quitting smoking left me with a short fuse (as I write while lighting up a Marlboro Menthol Light). I wasn't thinking boycott, just refusal of support.

But if the point of this forum is to discuss lesser-known films, why designate it "foreign"? Most of the threads I've started about obscure movies got little response (Stone Reader, The Hellstrom Chronicle, What Do You Say To a Naked Lady, The Wrong Guy, Orca, The Good Thief and on and on). Should we then create a forum for movies that Blockbuster carries no more than one copy of (if carry at all)? While we're at it's let's also create a Documentary forum, for which I nominate myself as Moderator. Whaddaya say, JoBlo?

Anyway, I dunno, I'm still on the fence about this forum. Let's see how it goes.

[Oh, and Day for Night was bloody fantastic. I'll be able to discuss it when I get around to buying the DVD and watching it a few more times.]

[JCPhoenix]

Originally posted by FeverDog420
But if the point of this forum is to discuss lesser-known films, why designate it "foreign"? Most of the threads I've started about obscure movies got little response (Stone Reader, The Hellstrom Chronicle, What Do You Say To a Naked Lady, The Wrong Guy, Orca, The Good Thief and on and on). Should we then create a forum for movies that Blockbuster carries no more than one copy of (if carry at all)? While we're at it's let's also create a Documentary forum, for which I nominate myself as Moderator. Whaddaya say, JoBlo?

Anyway, I dunno, I'm still on the fence about this forum. Let's see how it goes.

Well the reason it's discussing foreign films is mainly because it is foreign films that get the least responses in the General Movie Talk section, and this will hopefully alleviate that problem. Also, foreign films cover a much broader range than for example: a documentary, and having this forum allows topics about foreign films to not get bumped down as fast in the General Movie Talk (one of my main problems). Topics come and go really fast in the General Movie Talk, and if a topic doesn't have enough people responding to begin with, it's already on the second page after a short time. This forum allows these topics that would normally fall through without anyone seeing them to actually be seen and read.

That's my schtick and take on this anyway. I hope that might help explain why a little better?...

[Paterfamilias]

Originally posted by FeverDog420
Should we then create a forum for movies that Blockbuster carries no more than one copy of (if carry at all)? While we're at it's let's also create a Documentary forum, for which I nominate myself as Moderator. Whaddaya say, JoBlo?


Go for it! This forum started because in the Site Suggestion forum some of us were talking about starting a foreign movie thread. Jo suggested we atart a thread in General and see if it got interest. It did and now he's trying this. (Thanks again, Jo)

So if you want a documentary forum, go to site suggestions and suggest it, maybe others would be interested too.

I personally would like to see a documentary thread rather than some of the non-movie threads or the games thread.

I don't quite understand the antagonism. I don't like TV that much and I never go in that forum. I don't oppose it or whatever, i just don't participate.

[Moviefreek]

So i guess this means....Anime is welcomed?? :D

[Romero&Juliet]

Wonderful ideea, Chief~!

[Paterfamilias]

So Jo,

Just curious, how do you think this forum is going? I know it was started as a trial. Do you think there is enough interest in it to become a permanent addition to Jack's Movie House?

[The Delfonics]

Originally posted by Paterfamilias
So Jo,

Just curious, how do you think this forum is going? I know it was started as a trial. Do you think there is enough interest in it to become a permanent addition to Jack's Movie House?

IMO its not doing tooo bad but could use some more activity, Ive been trying to pump a lot of life into this forum with some topics.

[quoth_the_raven]

Originally posted by The Delfonics
IMO its not doing tooo bad but could use some more activity, Ive been trying to pump a lot of life into this forum with some topics.



Thank you for your input Jo

;):D

[Neesh]

This forum MUST stay. I for one, will be checking it out regularly. I dont think anyone is gonna get all bent outta shape if someone talks about a Canadian, Australian, or UK movie in the general movie forum. They can go in either place, its not a big deal.

My 2 cents.