Official THE LITTLE THINGS Thread

[taker597]

They could've layed the point out better than this

The only halfway clever thing the film did was the misdirection suspect suicide. Even then... It was pretty half ass.

The only reason that was part of the film was the silence the narrative of "If he's the killer... The murder stop" logic." The more I think about it... Leto character only make sense as a potential killer or soon to be serial killer, because the intricate staging of the finale was another scene framing murder set up with a very consistent patterns of the killer. Leto's character does a lot cat and mouse stalking throughout the film. If wasn't for a shovel to the face. He'd probably kill Rami's character.

Granted... The film was never about solving the murder. It was really all an illusion for paranoia, obsession, PTSD, denial, coping, and acceptance.

This reminds me of Henry Lee Lucas where cops are looking for a boogeyman to pin multiple murders that never really existed.

 

[Jefferson Jackson]

def. checkin' this out....

 

[THE MACHINE]

7.5/10

Saw this at Hoffman 22 in Virginia last night. I think the title and trailer lead the viewer in the wrong direction. This movie isn’t about “the little things” or “catching a killer”. I feel....

Spoiler

This is a movie about guilt, obsession and clearing a conscience. Other than the bullet found, there really was no “little thing” to remember. Denzel committed manslaughter and 4 people knew about it. He never hid anything himself. It was covered up by him and a team of crooked cops/coroner.

His obsession with clearing his conscience is what gave him his “angel wings”. He needed to catch a killer for himself, not for the victims (in the trailer). He and Leto are both obsessed - Denzel, with the case - Leto, with killers (and possibly killing). Leto is on his way to becoming a serial killer, if he isn’t already. Denzel is masterful at making sure Rami goes into the deep end but also rescues him by sending him the barrette and not letting him chase “the little things” that may never amount to a conviction.

There was never enough to convict Leto, although the denture scene still has me scratching my head a bit.

 

[R.E.N. Spells Ren]

Yeah, I lean towards he wasn’t the killer.

That’s why I am bothered so much by them showing Denzel burn the barrettes at the end...it robbed us of being able to have a debate over whether or not Leto did it. With that scene, I don’t see how anyone could argue Leto did it (note that’s not the same as saying he definitively didn’t do it).



Someone said earlier in the thread that they couldn’t tell the point of the movie (or they felt like the movie had no point), but I think one of the points was captured in the scene where Mr Robot is leaning on the lab tech to “make” Leto’s fingerprints match. The tech tells him he got 11 pings but LA requires 12. Robot rashes on him for not just making it a match and the tech says this other guy got 8 pings so it could possibly be him...but the other guy is the tech himself. Honestly, I rolled my eyes at that scene, but in retrospect it really serves as a good illustration/metaphor for the problem with circumstantial evidence in criminal cases. Cops/prosecutors could present 11 exhibits of circumstantial evidence and sway many jurors pretty convincingly. But what they don’t tell you is that they could probably present a shockingly high number of exhibits of circumstantial evidence implicating someone who obviously didn’t do it! At least with fingerprints there are clearly defined legal thresholds (# of pings) that must be satisfied in order for it to become acceptable. With circumstantial evidence there’s no bar. It’s just a matter of how convincing the prosecutors are and how dumb or biased the jurors are. And to make matters even worse, prosecutors/cops aren’t even obliged to to go after the guy with largest amount of circumstantial evidence against him! Another guy could have 12 pieces of circumstantial evidence against him, and cops are more likely to ignore it because they have their eyes set on the bird they have in the hand rather than the one in the tree.


And that leads to another point of the movie: how cops can go down a rabbit hole chasing a subject they *think* did it and how the inertial effects of that hole will lead them to dismiss facts (and other circumstantial evidence) that suggests their subject is innocent. We saw this play out in Netflix’s “How to Make A Murderer”. In this movie, Denzel only started sniffing around Leto because of that EXTREMELY weak A/C repair angle. Nothing actually tied Leto to the scene of the crime. He was just a weirdo, and the more weird shyt they uncovered the more Denzel/Robot convinced themselves that they had the right guy without actually proving that they had the right guy. And that’s a very dangerous place to be because then the rules that are in place to help prevent innocent people being jammed up start to just become inconvenient “technicalities”. Like, I respect those rules, but since I know I got the right guy, let’s just ignore them so we don’t let an evil person stay free and potentially hurt more people...but of course, this is based on a fallacy because you don’t actually know you got the right guy!


Sorry for the long post/semi-rant, it’s just one of my bigger fears is finding myself in a defendant’s chair for a crime I didn’t commit while a jury of my “peers” being easily swayed by a bunch of circumstantial evidence simply cuz of the officers tunnel vision or worse, biases. On the flip side, if y’all ever find yourself accused of a crime better hope a breh like me is on the jury...cuz I’m putting the absolute smallest of weight on any circumstantial evidence they present.

 

[R.E.N. Spells Ren]

7.5/10

Saw this at Hoffman 22 in Virginia last night. I think the title and trailer lead the viewer in the wrong direction. This movie isn’t about “the little things” or “catching a killer”. I feel....

Spoiler

This is a movie about guilt, obsession and clearing a conscience. Other than the bullet found, there really was no “little thing” to remember. Denzel committed manslaughter and 4 people knew about it. He never hid anything himself. It was covered up by him and a team of crooked cops/coroner.

His obsession with clearing his conscience is what gave him his “angel wings”. He needed to catch a killer for himself, not for the victims (in the trailer). He and Leto are both obsessed - Denzel, with the case - Leto, with killers (and possibly killing). Leto is on his way to becoming a serial killer, if he isn’t already. Denzel is masterful at making sure Rami goes into the deep end but also rescues him by sending him the barrette and not letting him chase “the little things” that may never amount to a conviction.

There was never enough to convict Leto, although the denture scene still has me scratching my head a bit.

It’s a leap to even proclaim Leto was on the way to becoming a serial killer.

Some people are just weird and into that shyt. If this was modern times, he’d be the type of guy to look at gore and true crime subreddits. It’s probably fair to say many serial killers would be into those kinds of subreddits, but far far far more non-serial killers are also into those subreddits as well.

 

[taker597]

That’s why I am bothered so much by them showing Denzel burn the barrettes at the end...it robbed us of being able to have a debate over whether or not Leto did it. With that scene, I don’t see how anyone could argue Leto did it (note that’s not the same as saying he definitively didn’t do it).



Someone said earlier in the thread that they couldn’t tell the point of the movie (or they felt like the movie had no point), but I think one of the points was captured in the scene where Mr Robot is leaning on the lab tech to “make” Leto’s fingerprints match. The tech tells him he got 11 pings but LA requires 12. Robot rashes on him for not just making it a match and the tech says this other guy got 8 pings so it could possibly be him...but the other guy is the tech himself. Honestly, I rolled my eyes at that scene, but in retrospect it really serves as a good illustration/metaphor for the problem with circumstantial evidence in criminal cases. Cops/prosecutors could present 11 exhibits of circumstantial evidence and sway many jurors pretty convincingly. But what they don’t tell you is that they could probably present a shockingly high number of exhibits of circumstantial evidence implicating someone who obviously didn’t do it! At least with fingerprints there are clearly defined legal thresholds (# of pings) that must be satisfied in order for it to become acceptable. With circumstantial evidence there’s no bar. It’s just a matter of how convincing the prosecutors are and how dumb or biased the jurors are. And to make matters even worse, prosecutors/cops aren’t even obliged to to go after the guy with largest amount of circumstantial evidence against him! Another guy could have 12 pieces of circumstantial evidence against him, and cops are more likely to ignore it because they have their eyes set on the bird they have in the hand rather than the one in the tree.


And that leads to another point of the movie: how cops can go down a rabbit hole chasing a subject they *think* did it and how the inertial effects of that hole will lead them to dismiss facts (and other circumstantial evidence) that suggests their subject is innocent. We saw this play out in Netflix’s “How to Make A Murderer”. In this movie, Denzel only started sniffing around Leto because of that EXTREMELY weak A/C repair angle. Nothing actually tied Leto to the scene of the crime. He was just a weirdo, and the more weird shyt they uncovered the more Denzel/Robot convinced themselves that they had the right guy without actually proving that they had the right guy. And that’s a very dangerous place to be because then the rules that are in place to help prevent innocent people being jammed up start to just become inconvenient “technicalities”. Like, I respect those rules, but since I know I got the right guy, let’s just ignore them so we don’t let an evil person stay free and potentially hurt more people...but of course, this is based on a fallacy because you don’t actually know you got the right guy!


Sorry for the long post/semi-rant, it’s just one of my bigger fears is finding myself in a defendant’s chair for a crime I didn’t commit while a jury of my “peers” being easily swayed by a bunch of circumstantial evidence simply cuz of the officers tunnel vision or worse, biases. On the flip side, if y’all ever find yourself accused of a crime better hope a breh like me is on the jury...cuz I’m putting the absolute smallest of weight on any circumstantial evidence they present.

Yep, they where mad bird dogging Leto's characters and the handling of his character was pretty cliché. "Let's just make him CREEPY."

But you can tell they written this in the 90s, because they made Leto like some sort of A1 mind game chess player for dude with a beer belly and blue collar job.

His character was by far the most unrealistic innocent person I've ever seen.

I seen where if this film was actually made like it was supposed to be in the 90s. It be better received back when Silence of the Lambs was such a big hit with Serial Killer cculture was such a big draw if this film didn't wait 30 years to come out. It be pretty original.

The whole shovel scene would of been great subervison of expectations. Now it's really just a rehashed Seven ending.

I feel the biggest issue with this film was Hancock screenplay not getting it rewritten and modernized. The film easily could of added more nuances, and psychological horror in its bag.

This film mostly got hurt in preproduction and post-production.

Also, the film really should of been done in chronological order going back to the 1st murder. Emphasis a better, faster pace for Denzel's back story. Then, jumped into the main murder. Flesh out its themes more prominently and let the actors get some big scenes. It just would set the tone better and bring better symmetry to the beginning and end.

The film really didn't have any real memorable dialogue or characters moments. Leto was interesting, but incredibly over the top and unrealistic.

I think Rami accent was a bit too modern for the 90s.

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

Actually thought Leto was good with the interrogation scene and all.

However, the issue is the directing. You can tell it was the guy who did The Blind Side. Just so damn bland. Better direction and this would have been a solid movie.

I dont care if they followed the season 1 of True Detective blueprint.

I give it a 6.5/10 maybe 7 after a 2nd viewing.

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

I was extremely excited based on the cast but.....the NPR review today was especially mediocre. It wasn't that they said it was bad, but basically that it was written in the 1990s and would have been better if it had came out then. Now it just sort of feels stale and cliche-ish and already done.





Throws me off that he's repeatedly cast as explicitly White guys whose characters don't actually "need" to be white. I wonder what that's about.

This.

Its a 90s flick. In fact for people saying it tries rip off seven...it was actually written before that movie. Unfortunately we've seen since Seven how a good noir can be. If it was visually intriguing I think it would have turned out better.

 

[R.E.N. Spells Ren]

...they made Leto like some sort of A1 mind game chess player for dude with a beer belly and blue collar job.

This is a fair criticism. They had him od with the trolling. Although, if he was innocent he didn’t really need A1 chess skills to fukk with these cops who were fukking with him, it’s not like he was making moves to mask his guilt. And the only real A1 move he made was calling in the officer down to his own apartment. I accepted that cuz he was clearly a crime buff, so it struck me as believable that he’d think to make such a move. He had been studying how officers work, presumably for years.


This is the same guy who falsely confessed to a murder years ago to troll the police department. That’s wild to me, but people do give fake confessions

His character was by far the most unrealistic innocent person I've ever seen.

To be clear, are you saying you think they made him look too guilty to believe he was really innocent?

 

[taker597]

This is a fair criticism. They had him od with the trolling. Although, if he was innocent he didn’t really need A1 chess skills to fukk with these cops who were fukking with him, it’s not like he was making moves to mask his guilt. And the only real A1 move he made was calling in the officer down to his own apartment. I accepted that cuz he was clearly a crime buff, so it struck me as believable that he’d think to make such a move. He had been studying how officers work, presumably for years.


This is the same guy who falsely confessed to a murder years ago to troll the police department. That’s wild to me, but people do give fake confessions






To be clear, are you saying you think they made him look too guilty to believe he was really innocent?

It's kind of both that and film trying to overcompensate for its lack of excitement and tension. The mile marker scene was just too bullish, but it was more about superficial excitement and tension. The disappearing/reappearing gag was also a bit silly. The dig scene was just too elaborate. Yet, I think it was mostly the film overcompensating itself for being pretty dry outside of those few key moments.

 

[Regular_P]

Mr. Robot was embarrassingly bad in this. A homeless man's, homeless man version of Pitt in Se7en. What an awful casting choice. Leto's performance was wasted in this; Denzel was Denzel.

The directing was terrible. A lot of jarring cuts between scenes; just came off very amateurish. Music selection did not fit for what the theme of the movie was supposed to be, especially given the ending, which I actually liked. With better writers, better directing and a completely different actor for Rami Malek's character, there could have been a good movie in here.

 

[taker597]

Mr. Robot was embarrassingly bad in this. A homeless man's, homeless man version of Pitt in Se7en. What an awful casting choice. Leto's performance was wasted in this; Denzel was Denzel.

The directing was terrible. A lot of jarring cuts between scenes; just came off very amateurish. Music selection did not fit for what the theme of the movie was supposed to be, especially given the ending, which I actually liked. With better writers, better directing and a completely different actor for Rami Malek's character, there could have been a good movie in here.

It's like they had a decent 1st draft and went straight to filming the movie. Rami and Leto should of switched roles. Leto range would of been better as a protagonist, but everyone gotta typecast Leto as a crazy megalomania.

 

[curz]

It’s a leap to even proclaim Leto was on the way to becoming a serial killer.

Some people are just weird and into that shyt. If this was modern times, he’d be the type of guy to look at gore and true crime subreddits. It’s probably fair to say many serial killers would be into those kinds of subreddits, but far far far more non-serial killers are also into those subreddits as well.

Not as sold on Letos innocence as you.

2. things

1. the car that was stalking the girl in the very beginning of the movie was a muscle car similar to Letos right?

2. why would a guy like that randomly have some property in the middle of nowhere, he had the key to the gate lock and everything

I’m not saying these are hard evidence that can’t be explained away but It’s enough to have me unsure

 

[THE MACHINE]

It’s a leap to even proclaim Leto was on the way to becoming a serial killer.

Some people are just weird and into that shyt. If this was modern times, he’d be the type of guy to look at gore and true crime subreddits. It’s probably fair to say many serial killers would be into those kinds of subreddits, but far far far more non-serial killers are also into those subreddits as well.

Yeah, a reach for sure. I’m playing on him moving in on Rami’s gun. He may have been setting the stage to have Rami dig his own grave. Although it may have been a “fight or flight” “kill or be killed” situation though so he may have felt Rami was gonna kill him eventually so he might as well kill him first.

 

[HARLEM AL]

Slow but I liked it.