[Virgil Tracy]

Originally Posted by RebelScum

Your point was clear enough the fist time.

yes , I thought so .

[Johnbee]

To be fair to the dialogue haters, they have a point. The fact is that one person talking to another in real life is fine, but to just have to listen? It really does need a good writer.

But also they perhaps need to be asked to watch a film with an open mind, and only engage their critical faculties after sitting through the whole thing. If they agree to that, pop along to the DVD shop and get a copy of Night Of The Iguana.

My guess is that they will say that although nothing happens, they did kind of like it.

If they don't like it, tell them about their life at the farm and they can look after the rabbits and shoot them.

[David Waine]

I expect that the same people who criticise a film for having dialogue never read a book because to do so is 'boring'. They are empty-headed and do not know what they are missing, poor souls.

[galaxy99]

I recently watched Hope Springs with Meryl Streep and Tommy-Lee Jones, which had plenty of dialogue and brilliant performances from both, i lent it to my friend and she said it was boring, not much action

Killing Them Softly is not a typical action/gangster movie but has good dialogue

[Sue_Aitch]

Originally Posted by rionia

Its worse when someone complains, when watching Les Miserables, thats there's too much singing

Or that The Artist was (mostly) a silent movie, in 4:3 and not in colour.

[Pob-Bundy]

Anyone here ever seen 'The Hide'? Just 2 blokes talking in a bird hut but it does have an ok twist at the end.

[Takae]

Originally Posted by galaxy99

Killing Them Softly is not a typical action/gangster movie but has good dialogue

I like character-driven and 'talky' films, but Killing Them Softly doesn't work. It does have good dialogue, but the filmmaker doesn't seem to know when to stop or how to pace well. Especially the car scene before the robbery. It went far too long. The film has other problems as well. I was gutted as I had looked forward to seeing it for a long time. Actually, I'm still seething because KTS could have been so good. It's better off as a stage play, tbh.

[Takae]

Originally Posted by Andy L Mitchell

I think what's the point if you are not going to listen to the talk-talk stuff. For me, good dialogue is as important as action, and if there's a lot of action it's boring.

Well, there are some great films that still work well with no or little dialogue and action. The Duellists, Days of Heaven, Badlands, Gerry, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, any Terence Davies film (e.g. The Long Day Closes), Never Cry Wolf (a great man vs. nature film), Walkabout, etc.

[galaxy99]

Originally Posted by Takae

Well, there are some great films that still work well with no or little dialogue and action. The Duellists, Days of Heaven, Badlands, Gerry, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, any Terence Davies film (e.g. The Long Day Closes), Never Cry Wolf (a great man vs. nature film), Walkabout, etc.

The Good the Bad and the ugly has briliant dialogue

[David Waine]

I think we need to draw a distinction between the quality of the dialogue and its quantity. 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' is a case in point. Not a lot of dialogue for what is actually quite a long film, but what is there is essential.

[logansdad]

Originally Posted by Pob-Bundy

Anyone here ever seen 'The Hide'? Just 2 blokes talking in a bird hut but it does have an ok twist at the end.

The Hide is an awesome film, totally unexpected twist!!

[theonlyweeman]

Originally Posted by David Waine

I think we need to draw a distinction between the quality of the dialogue and its quantity. 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' is a case in point. Not a lot of dialogue for what is actually quite a long film, but what is there is essential.

Not necessarily, length/amount can impede quality. You sit there and talk for 20 minutes, no matter how good the dialogue is. I'll still probably be bored...

[Trsvis_Bickle]

Originally Posted by Takae

I like character-driven and 'talky' films, but Killing Them Softly doesn't work. It does have good dialogue, but the filmmaker doesn't seem to know when to stop or how to pace well. Especially the car scene before the robbery. It went far too long. The film has other problems as well. I was gutted as I had looked forward to seeing it for a long time. Actually, I'm still seething because KTS could have been so good. It's better off as a stage play, tbh.

I'm inclined to agree. Parts of it were brilliant - Brad Pitt is doing some of his finest work at the moment - but it just didn't hang together. I read somewhere that the director's cut was severely shortened by the studio and I wonder if that accounts for some of the problems. The central theme of financial corruption is too heavy-handed, for example, but it might not appear so in a longer running time.

Like you, I was disappointed by it. Even the decision to rename it Killing Them Softly instead of the original title Cogan's Trade was a mistake.