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The Bling Ring - Reviews and opinions


  

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While I was watching this I was reminded of how I felt watching Spring Breakers. 

 

It doesn't feature the same surrealist art or sexual exploitation, but they both seem to lack a narrative structure and tell the story in a non-linear fashion.

 

There are no setups or payoffs. There are no character arcs. Scenes begin and end abruptly and are pieced together with musical interstitials.

 

This can be confusing to the audience and gives the whole movie a dream-like quality.

 

 

The story seems divided in two, with half the time spent with Katie and Israel, and the other half spent with Emma and Taissa. 

 

The dialogue is surprisingly light, with entire scenes taking place without much being said. Taissa and Claire are barely given adequate screen time and are mostly ignored by the story.

 

Most of the heavy lifting is done by Israel and Emma.

 

The pacing is deliberately slow and tries to create a sense of unease as the crimes progress.

 

 

Movies like this and Spring Breakers are mainly atmospheric films. These types of movies exist to establish a mood.

 

The visuals and music are the focus, while the story is used as a backdrop.

 

 

As for Emma's performance, she absolutely nailed the attitude and the accent.

 

The feeling I got watching Pretty Wild was recreated perfectly in her character.

 

I doubt she'll win any awards for it, but the talent she displayed will do nothing but help her in the future.

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Oh great analysis Roberto !

I couldn't find words to describe exactly how I felt about it, I believe you just said it all. I totally agree with you from A to Z, and unfortunately (as I said before) it didn't work for me...

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Ok FINALLY saw it ;) Yes it did just open yesterday LOL...anyway let's start with the movie itself...

 

Beautifully directed....very strong acting performances-Katie Chang., Israel Broussard were the leads-very scary watching this relationship unfold. Rebecca (Katie) and Marc (Israel) were effed up even before the stealing started happening. To me Rebecca did it for the high and got Marc involved to fit in. Claire (Julie forgot last name!) was already friends with them and Nicki (Emma) and Sam (Taissa) as well. Rebecca was definitely the ring leader-heavily into drugs and the whole celebrity lifestyle. Marc it seems was the dupe who was looking to fit in at his new school. Prior to his new school his biggest crime was truancy.

 

Plot: UNFREAKIN REAL...I cant believe these KIDS were SO bold and brazen to sneak into the homes, Paris' multiple times. The thing I hated about this whole thing is that they truly didnt care it seemed-that they were excited to steal regardless of how much money the celebrities had. The partying scenes were hard core-drinking, drugs, and even a gun. You really couldnt help but hate these kids and they more than deserved what they got in the end. I will say this I was surprised how some of the court decisions turned out.

 

Emma and Taissa: They were the best as sisters (adopted). The way they played off each other was actually enjoyable to watch (in the sense of sister sibling rivalry). But as horrid as the 2 girls were in their behaviors, you can tell they always had each others' backs.

 

Emma and her family: Leslie Mann, Taissa, and Emma were hysterical to watch-"the Secret" and homeschooling...OMG...this was why they were so screwed up (well one of many reasons). Emma and Leslie at the end-all I can say-too funny.

 

Emma: NAILS HER PERFORMANCE....it was actually quite scary to see Emma turn herself off-no sign of Emma and no sign of Hermione, which of course we want to see. As Nicki, she was the other manipulative one of this ring (Rebecca was definitely the most manipulative). But you can tell with Nicki, she would sell anyone out (except for her sister, Sam). She clearly has a lot in life but like the others was a spoiled, hard core party girl into drugs and drinking and smoking. Side note: EMMA CAN DANCE!!!!!!! When she is in the club, you can really see her moves. When she does other movies, I would totally love to see a musical where she can show her dancing skills. Back to Nicki-you get the sense that Nicki is watching and waiting...you feel like she is the one who will take over or will somehow benefit from this crime spree (other than material goods). Her accent-DEAD ON. The thing I was expecting with Nicki is that she would be this stupid Valley girl-wrong wrong wrong...this girl KNOWS what she is doing. After watching Nicki, I do agree with Emma-the character was a cartoon yet brings this weird scary realness to it. It's hard to believe there are Nicki's out there-but I say one word: Khardashian. So the Nicki's do exist.

 

On a scale of 1-10 I give it 8.5. It was totally worth seeing. Way to go Emma on her first "bad girl" role!!!!

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Going to see it tonight! Can't wait. I'll be back to postu thoughts then. I'm just so amused by the idea of seeing Emma as this vapid California valley girl. I've watched the trailer quite a few times and I love hearing her with this accent, it's pretty spot on.

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Ok, sorry about the double post, but I did see it late last night.

 

First of all I want to say that I loved Emma in it. I found it quite amusing to see her play someone so different from the characters we've seen her play to date and so different from who she is in real life. Her character didn't have many redeeming qualities, she was pretty ridiculous, actually. And I can see how Emma said it was a challenge to play to her because it would be so easy for this character to become a caricature since she was so absurd at times. But there are times when Emma shows us a litte of her character's vulnerablity and she becomes more interesting and more layered. But these moments, unfortunately, ar few and far between. Nikki isn't in the movie nearly as much as Marc and Rebecca, they're the focus here. Still, it was a treat to watch Emma play this character. I liked the little moments we saw of her at home and with her sister.

 

The problem I had with the movie was that we didn't really get to see these characters fleshed out well. We don't really know who they are. So we don't really come to care about them very much. We just see them stealing and posing and partying, so that by the time they get caught, you can't help but feel that they had it coming and you don't feel very conflicted about it. At least I didn't. Maybe we weren't supposed to care about them and she (Sofia Coppola) was just trying to show us the story of what they did and the detrimental aspect of celebrity worship and social media. And in that she succeeded. You leave the theater shaking your head.

 

Again, though, Emma was great. Loved her California accent. There were only a few times here and there that I noticed she'd say something and it would sound strange, but overall she did a great job! :)

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Maybe we weren't supposed to care about them and she (Sofia Coppola) was just trying to show us the story of what they did and the detrimental aspect of celebrity worship and social media. And in that she succeeded. You leave the theater shaking your head.

 

THIS....that's the feeling I get too....like why were the kids like this? What made them into this? But yes Sofia Coppola totally succeeds in showing this!!!! I know I didnt care about them and was waiting for them to get nailed by the police. As for Nicki, again I felt like we saw her "caring" was when it came to her sister, Sam. Everyone else she would have sold out for a dime! LOL

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 As for Nicki, again I felt like we saw her "caring" was when it came to her sister, Sam. Everyone else she would have sold out for a dime! LOL

 

 

Yeah, but they surely would've done the same to her. Lol! I did find it odd that her sister, Sam, didn't get arrested too, since she was part of it all as well. But I guess she wasn't caught on camera.

 

On a completely shallow note, Emma looked incredible throughout the movie. Very sexy. I loved seeing her dance. :)

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I love her dancing too :) she has really good moves.

Sam was not on video which is why she wasnt caught-cant believe that...

Agree, they would have sold each other out-out for #1.

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saw the movie and hated it. everyones acting was just so bad. i'm sorry i love emma and everything but her acting was just horrible/too fake and not convincing. the whole movie was too cliche of how everyone views teens.

i knew this wasnt going to be like an oscar movie but it was still bad.

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Wow, really? I mean that is cool because that is your opinion which I respect! But my feelings were....

I felt that Emma nailed the superficial, spoiled, nasty, sociopathic teenager...Nicki was along with Rebecca the instigator...Rebecca was the ring leader but Nicki I feel was the second one in charge (quietly in charge). "I want to rob"....that's sick that Nicki got that much pleasure from stealing. If anything, I felt that this was Emma's role that said "I can be VERY different from Hermione/myself" which she was. Hate to say it but that is how the Cali girls in that area do act-"fake"-she was very reminscent of those lousy Khardashians. LOL

Anyway, we are seeing it tomorrow ( I am seeing it again but with a different set of friends :)).

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yeah, and I mean emma is a great actress but in this movie she just seemed to be overacting/ trying too hard in my opinion.

I haven't seen it yet, but judging from the trailers and also Perks, the problem could be that Emma enjoys playing the role too much. That seemed obvious for me with Sam.

 

People don't enjoy being themselves so much.

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I think it may be hard for some to accept that she is playing the bad ass in a movie. I was shocked to see the performance-this was not Emma, Sam or Hermione. She played the spoiled selfish brat well-the teen who didnt care about getting caught or doing the behaviors she was doing. She was manipulative and too ecstatic to be stealing. Like I said for myself, she nails the role scarily.

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I think it may be hard for some to accept that she is playing the bad ass in a movie.

Yes, I'm not sure if I should trust my own judgement in this matter. It would be interesting to hear the opinions of people who had never seen Emma before.
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I haven't seen it yet, but judging from the trailers and also Perks, the problem could be that Emma enjoys playing the role too much. That seemed obvious for me with Sam.

 

People don't enjoy being themselves so much.

 

yes, and I notice that when she was playing Hermione, she sometimes over does the acting a bit.

 

Yes, I'm not sure if I should trust my own judgement in this matter. It would be interesting to hear the opinions of people who had never seen Emma before.

 

that would be interesting to hear as well.

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I am going to give this film 3 stars out of 5. Any fan of Sofia Coppola knows her work is hit-or-miss. And yet, The Bling Ring left me with a puzzling sense of mixed thoughts. The cast was gorgeous and the directing was artistically modern and stylish--unsurprising for Coppola. Still, the film lacked any real character development or depth. It was an hour and a half of cocaine, Chanel, vanity, and not much else. Emma Watson excels in her role as the vain "victim" of our self-obsessed culture, courtesy of Hollywood and drug-addled celebrities. And in reality, the film is quite witty and enjoyable to watch. However, it ends so abruptly that you can't help but think, "That's it?" The Bling Ring exists purely for lovers of pop culture or any "fans" of the real robberies. That aside, the film feels devoid of any real meaning. It lacks the nihilistic depth that Spring Breakers carried, despite its jarring similarities. Ultimately, it's enjoyable but unfortunately entirely forgettable.

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Great review. Unfortuanetly, I was left feeling exactly the same way. The characters had no depth, and ultimately, I was kinda meh about them all. Though I thought Emma was fabulous with the little that she was given.

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Not having seen the movie, I guess the characters are supposed to be templates. They're not supposed to be fully fleshed-out individuals. Hearing the story behind the Bling Ring may leave some wanting for a full psychological profiling of its members, but that's a different movie. And in the end, even a deeper inspection of their motives might just reveal what the movie is hinting at: this is not at all surprising behavior for spoiled first world teens with too much time on their hands.

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie. It seems it doesn't preach and doesn't overanalyze.

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I was a bit disappointed with the movie actually, I loved the trailer and the idea, so my expectations were pretty high. I didn't feel any depth in either the characters or the realtionships between them, it wasn't dynamic, there were no strong turning points, and many scenes just felt so slow. It was like - party, stealing, party, stealing again, party again, blablabla.. Well, Sofia probably wanted to stay true to the story I guess. I think Emma did very well though, playing a character so far from herself was a great thing for her, I feel like it really improved her as an actress.

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Alright, sorry for the double post but.. yeah gonna say some words before I forget them.

1-st of all didn't like the movie but liked Emma. Simply because it was super interesting to see her in a role of a "bad" girl", won't leave comments about how she managed that role, cause I'm not sure.
 

While I was watching this I was reminded of how I felt watching Spring Breakers. 

 

It doesn't feature the same surrealist art or sexual exploitation, but they both seem to lack a narrative structure and tell the story in a non-linear fashion.

 

There are no setups or payoffs. There are no character arcs. Scenes begin and end abruptly and are pieced together with musical interstitials.

 

This can be confusing to the audience and gives the whole movie a dream-like quality.


2-nd: you're absolutelly right! The movie was so boring that I kept wondering the entire time how come that Emma's hair grew so fast lol and how hot she looks as a brunette. And it has practically the same story-line as Spring Breakers. Spring Breakers is one of them most senseless movies I've ever watched. Who directed it btw?

3-d. A totally senseless thing is that how could they think they'd get into the houses lol. Celebrities for sure have plenty of security and anti-burglar system and the cars, how come they didn't start to honk when they even touched them. "Paris has left keys under the mat" yeah right. The movie founders could have made it more interesting by adding some action in those scenes. Btw, scenes. They are so messed up and confusing. Just like in Spring Breakers.

I guess that's all I can say. And yeah the trailer looked much better and my expectations were higher. When Rebecca was getting

testified, I thought she'd lie and betray all of them and thought they'd find nothing in her house, thought that she'd find the way to get rid of everything robbed before the police arrives, but no.
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