The Cracked Thread

Taking the Cinema Sins mentality seriously is a completely silly thing to do. I'd actually go as far as to argue that the entire point of the series is to illustrate precisely how silly that mentality is; when dozens of nit-picky flaws can be found in literally any movie, it doesn't make much sense to hold them against a specific movie.

I am the type of person who even finds prop discrepancies immensely amusing, so I don't see it as nitpicking. More like...amused prodding.

This. "Amused prodding."

When one of the most popular recurring sins is "Scene does not contain a lap dance," it's pretty obvious to me that the nitpicking is deliberate satire.

Another of my favorites is

• X bitches about the plot. "X would be good at Cinema Sins."

edited 27th Jan '15 3:25:59 PM by TobiasDrake

Eh, to each his own.

I actually really like Cinema Sins, but I can understand why some people wouldn't like it. I do have a complaint against some videos where they take just way too long to explain a single sin. Nitpick all you want, but the longer you spend on a single instance, the less funny it is.

I watched one, it was pretty cute, although I realized that both videos I've seen (I saw one before and didn't know it was that) had something they got wrong that I could explain.

They have explicitly stated that they ignore external context when sinning films: in fact, relying on external context to explain a scene is in itself a sin.

If it's in response to what I said, both times were movie content. One was from frozen, which I forget, the other was Guardians of the Galaxy, where they mistook Drax's misunderstanding of metaphors for being the one thing that didn't translate from earth (a better scene use would have been the comparison of no one knowing what a raccoon was...but knowing what a hamster/gerbil was)

Yes, I frowned at that one in Guardians. The sin is more along the lines of how a sapient, language-using species evolves without ever developing the concept of metaphor. Also, Drax seems to learn as he goes, either that or the Running Gag is played only when it's funny and not when it would actually break the plot.

A better way to sin it would be to have a bonus reel for every time a metaphor is used in Drax' presence and he does not act confused.

edited 28th Jan '15 8:47:05 AM by Fighteer

Well, that's incredibly stupid. A movie can't be expected to clarify every little nitpicky detail - it'd grind things to a halt. So in this case, the "sin" is generally a result of trying to keep the storytelling fast-paced, which movies, by nature, are kind of forced to do. These aren't novels. They can't include footnotes at the bottom of the screen. The Avengers can't just pause in the middle of fighting off aliens to go, "Wait, where's War Machine?" "Oh, well, you see, he's off dealing with some terrorists overseas-" *hit by Chitauri laser*

That doesn't make it any less of a plot hole or omission, whether it's relevant to the story or not. It's also important to remember that Cinema Sins is predicated on nitpicking for the sake of humor. It is not implied or stated anywhere that all sins are equal or that the fact that a movie contains sins means that it's a bad movie.

edited 28th Jan '15 8:56:00 AM by Fighteer

I've noticed that in Cinema Sins from time to time, and I think it's because they're so busy jotting down sins and making jokes that they actually miss certain plot points or explanations.

That Drax's species is literal-minded wasn't explained until later in the film, so they could easily have written that one down under the assumption that it was supposed to be an Earth thing he didn't get, then never caught the connection when putting the video together.

edited 28th Jan '15 9:00:32 AM by TobiasDrake

Alright, but like I said, their "sins" don't elicit a laugh from me. They just make me angry at the Cinema Sins people for being snide and smug. I like How It Should Have Ended a lot better because they go for a goofier tone and focus more on alternate actions the characters could've taken.

Also, the word "sin" usually carries kind of a negative connotation...

edited 28th Jan '15 9:01:41 AM by spashthebandragon

Not just negative, also grave in nature.

Drax's literal-mindedness is explained the very same scene when Quill uses his "throat cutting" gesture and is met with incomprehension. Isn't it? I rewatched the film only a few days ago. Anyway, there's no excuse for the sinners to have missed it.

edited 28th Jan '15 9:05:11 AM by Fighteer

"They just make me angry at the Cinema Sins people for being snide and smug"

I really don't see any snideness and smugness from them, if anything they are pretty matter-of-fact.

Well, I think they sound snide and smug. Heck, even the usage of the word "sins" implies a level of superiority to what they've poking fun at.

It's hinted at when Quill asks another alien if he understands the gesture and he does, but it's Rocket doesn't actually explain it until they're in the control room shutting down the gravity.

Why? Sin is a purely Christian concept, and in the Christian context, everyone sins; that's the entire point of the phrase, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," because everyone's a sinner. Sin is the most equalizing word you could possibly use in this context; flaws, failures, lapses of logic, etc. all implies a level of superiority that sin does not.

And on that note, Cinema Sins once did a video on the sins of Cinema Sins.

edited 28th Jan '15 10:13:20 AM by TobiasDrake

Sin is still a bad thing. The point is that you don't want to be doing a lot of sinning because then you'll go to hell. Anyways, a "connotation" is just the emotions a word invokes. It's not like people are going to hear the word "sin" and immediately go, "Oh, yes, that's a complex theological concept from Christianity." Their first impulse will be, "The Hobbit has SINS? They're saying it's a bad movie! I'm going to click the crap out of this clickbait!"

TBH when I hear sins I think that Panic At the Disco song.

The term "sin" has long since lost those connotations except among the seriously religious, whom I would not expect to be devoted fans of Cinema Sins.

If that were actually true, it would beg the question why Cinema Sins chose that name in the first place.

Also, I wasn't aware being devoutly religious excluded you from enjoying internet videos.

edited 28th Jan '15 10:37:54 AM by spashthebandragon

Probably the same reason you used the term "beg the question" inaccurately.

It sounded good.

I used the informal, colloquial meaning of the phrase. The old version of "beg the question" has generally fallen out of use because language evolves. But "sin" still has a negative connotation. I you say something is sinful, you're not saying it's a good thing or a neutral thing, it's a bad thing.

edited 28th Jan '15 10:49:24 AM by spashthebandragon