Supposedly terrific movies that just didn't do it for you... and why. (1 Viewer)

[MatthewLouwrens]

I think making comments about how disturbing it is that lots of women find adultery romantic are not exactly helpful. It's unfair to criticise a large portion of one gender in that way. Don't forget, in the case of both English Patient and Bridges of Madison County, the writers of the original novels, and the film directors were all male.

My comment would be that it is not so much that people find these films romantic, more that the films are presented in such a way as to present adultery as being romantic, and people can get so swept up in that that they fail to remember that the film is about something that I think many would find objectionable in real life.

There is also an interesting effort in a lot of these films to disguise the adultery by ignoring the husband, making him irrelevant, invisible. I haven't seen English Patient since the cinema, and can remember little, but in Bridges, the husband is in the first five minutes, and then leaves for almost the rest of the film. People could almost forget she was married.

Colin made a good comment about gender imbalance in the movies - if you're a female having an affair, you've probably got a nice but boring husband; if you're a guy having an affair, you're a slimebag who should have his balls cut off. (One of the few exceptions to this rule is probably Doctor Zhivago, a film that is so good that I can ignore my natural dislike of the adultery plot.)

Personally, I remember little of The English Patient. I remember thinking that the film was incredible visually, but was wrapped around a story that I simply found offensive (when it wasn't being plain dull).

 

[Michael Reuben]

It's a little distrubing how many women consider adultry to be "romantic."

But only in the movies. And that's no more disturbing than how many men consider violence to be exhilarating -- again, in the movies.

M.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Since when was rational behaviour a part of love? When did this happen? No explanation for the attraction between Katherine Clifton and Almasy is required.

I think SOME explanation would be nice. We have to see some reason why there was a connection in the first place. I didn't discern any, and I definitely couldn't figure why so many of the males were so nuts about her. I don't ask for a lot of logic, but a little would be nice...

 

[Jonathan Dagmar]

But only in the movies. And that's no more disturbing than how many men consider violence to be exhilarating -- again, in the movies.

Is that really an accurate comparison though? Action movies with violence and/or gore are rarely presetned with a storyline that is by any means realstic, and as a result have no paralell to real life. The exception is war movies, such as Saving Private Ryan, in which case the violence is portrayed very clearly as a BAD things.

Adultry, on the other hand, is almost alwasy presetned in the movies with a farrly realistic storyline, one that COULD happen. To make matters worse, so long as the aldulterer is a woman, it is almost universally portrayed as a "good" thing.

 

[Michael Reuben]

To make matters worse, so long as the aldulterer is a woman, it is almost universally portrayed as a "good" thing.

We must be seeing different movies.

M.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Re: the attraction between Almasy and Katherine...

Her first comments on the nature of love let Almasy know that she was someone to be reckoned with from an intellectual standpoint.

She quoted Herodotus at the campfire, indicating a shared interest and literacy. ( The narration involving Candaules is also used to foreshadow the love triangle that develops later in the film and some would argue accuses Clifton of the sin of pride - parading his wife before the members of the expedition in a manner similar to that of Candaules displaying his wife before Gyges. )

As previously mentioned, they both displayed selfish natures ( as contrasted by the affair between Kip and Hana ) within the context of the relationship which helped to establish their affinity.

She is a lovely woman.

- Walter.

 

[Dick]

And that's no more disturbing than how many men consider violence to be exhilarating -- again, in the movies.

I wish this was true, Jonathan. The facts do not support you. Not all men are violent, of course, but good old testosterone certainly makes those football and hockey games more watchable and barroom fights more likely and resolution of conflict by way of physicality as opposed to intellect the method of choice for way-y-y too many guys in real life, not just in the movies.

Anyway, I am contributing to the hijacking of my own thread, which has gone off course.

Anyone else want to kick in on the original topic?

 

[Michael Costa]

Beautiful Mind - Never did like Russell Crowe's performance as a schizophrenic, just seemed like bad acting to me.


Mirror - Tarkovsky's films have always been hard for me to grasp, but this one in particular. I didn't understand the characters and the movie seemed to linger around until it was time for flashbacks.

Barry Lyndon - Almost fell asleep during this Kubrick film. Nothing that happened after intermission seemed remotely interesting to me.

Gangs of New York - The set design on the film was great, but the acting and characters were uninteresting. The film was decent, but definitely one of Scorcese's lesser works.

El Crimen Del Padre Amaro - Supposed to be one of the best Mexican movies ever. It might be a cultural thing, but the film wasn't particularly provocative or interesting.

Scent of a Woman - Al Pacino's performance bugged me the most. It seemed to be the movie where he started overacting by screaming everything to show emotion.

In the Bedroom - This was a pretty good film, but I didn't think it was best picture quality. I thought The Deep End was more deserving.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Not sure if this should be here but I know many people thought it was great. I thought it was just tedious and if it was supposed to be a comedy, I didn't laugh once.

 

[SteveGon]

El Crimen Del Padre Amaro - Supposed to be one of the best Mexican movies ever. It might be a cultural thing, but the film wasn't particularly provocative or interesting.

I agree, but Ana Claudia Talancón...

To add to Walter's comments on The English Patient: to his credit Almasy at first resists Katherine's presence, despite his attraction to her (he knows no good can come of it). Also, Katherine admits that she doesn't really love her husband, that their marriage was merely convenient. I'm not especially fond of adulterers, but I'm willing to concede that sometimes it's understandable. (and it's not as if their romance ended well...)

 

[Jan H]

Michael,

I'm with ya on The Mirror. That is a tough nut to crack. Tried (for the 2nd time) watching it last night, but my head started to hurt. I'll have to watch it early some Saturday morning with a half a pot of coffee in my veins. I like Tarkovsky quite a bit, but that film is like trying to read Finnegans Wake. Elliptical is ok. Inscrutable is another story. Makes Andrei Rublyev seem like It's A Wonderful Life.

 

[Jose Martinez]

Isn't this thread about "Supposedly terrific movies that just didn't do it for you... and why."

I think there is a difference between terrific and popular. Just because Spider-Man made a lot of money does not make it terrific. It's just a popular film for most people. Not great just popular. Same goes for others mentioned here. My .02 cents.

 

[Ches Campbell]

Resevoir Dogs- hated it from beginning to end. That's sad too, because I love every other quentin tarentino movie.

Godfather 1-2 - Bored the crap out of me. The parts where something actually happened was cool, but I really didn't care too much for it. Sorry guys.

North by Northwest - Just not that good. There are so many better movies out there. Sorry these answers aren't that speific, but I can't put my finger on one thig i didn't like, i just didn't like any of it.

Ghost World - what do people like about this movie?

Casino - way too violent and depressing

Goodfellas - way too depressing

Requiem for a Dream - i guess i can respect this film for its realness, but it made me feel like crap after watching it. Not my kind of movie.


Fargo - not horrible, but definately not great.

Blade Runner - boring

Gosford Park - totally boring

Well i guess i better let you know some movies i do like just so you don't hate me...

Shawshank Redemption
Usual Suspects
Fight Club
Signs
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Star Wars saga
Adaptation
Matrix
Minority Report
Gladiator
Traffic
L.A. Confidential
Pulp Fiction
Rear Window
Memento
American History X
Silence of the Lambs
American Beauty

well i guess that's enough

Later

 

[Dave Poehlman]

The movies that don't do it for me are films that are touted by friends or reviewers and send me into the theater with an inflated sense of excitement... only to be let down.

For example..

Pirates of the Carribean... everyone was telling me what a fun movie it was.. so, I asked for it for Christmas. I didn't see what all the hubbub was about. It's a visually fun movie.. but I was expecting more swashbuckling and less Johnny Depp staggering around.

Scent of a Woman... same as above.. everyone was telling me what a great job Pachino does in this movie. Blech...

On the reverse side.. there are movies out there that people have told me are terrible... so I go in with low expectations and come away enjoying it:

Matrix:Reloaded.. I finally sat down to watch it after reading all the bad press. I felt obligated because I liked the first one so much. It wasn't that bad... I think I may even like it more if I watch it again. I need to read some more horrible reviews of Revolutions before I go see that.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery... I saw this at the value cinema and expected it to be a useless fluff film like other Mike Myers stuff. I laughed my ass off.. which gave me high expectations for the sequels... ugh!

There are others... to be sure.

 

[Lew Crippen]

I like Tarkovsky quite a bit, but that film is like trying to read Finnegans Wake.

Very funny, but I’d suggest that this is going a bit too far. Personally I’ve never made it into triple digits anytime I attempted Joyce’s magnum opus. The Mirror is child’s play in comparison.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Now I must interject:

Saying that North by Northwest is "just not that good" is a bit much. It simply happens to be a great film that you happen not to like.

I agree with my colleague Michael Reuben about these sorts of "get even" threads. The distinction not being made here is that it's possible for a film to be good or even great yet you or whomever simply do not care for it.

I've never cottoned much to Bergman, for example. Yet I readily concede the greatness of his body of work.

Hitchcock's North by Northwest, like any truly great film, may not be everyone's cup of java. But that doesn't make it any less great.

Why is this so difficult to grasp?

The best way to approach something like this thread is to be willing to accept that films aren't "great" simply because you like them, nor are they "bad" simply because you don't like them.

 

[Mick Wright]

The movies that don't do it for me are films that are touted by friends or reviewers and send me into the theater with an inflated sense of excitement... only to be let down.

I agree. Most of the films I've mentioned in the thread were titles I bought blind based on forum recommendations, and I ended up disappointed. I sometimes wonder what I'd think about certain films (the Matrix films for example), if I could divorce myself from the Hype. I have friends who hate really good films like Titanic, the LOTR films, etc.. for no other reason than they're sick of the hype the marketers created upon release of those films. Marketing has ruined everything IMO.

 

[Holadem]

The best way to approach something like this thread is to be willing to accept that films aren't "great" simply because you like them, nor are they "bad" simply because you don't like them.

So... do you actually honestly think that Star Wars is NOT a steaming pile of shite, but a "great movie" that you "simply don't cotton to"? Same with Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, all well established classics...

Now that would be the day

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H