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

[Sam E. Torres]

my brother actually got mad at me for not liking 2001 space odyssey. he called me "uncultured" and thinks spielberg being my favorite director is ridiculous for being a film major. i'm not going to sit here and say i don't know what it is about 2001 that people like, but it just doesn't fascinate me for some reason...but it does bother me to be criticized for having my own opinion...sigh...

 

[Sean Campbell]

Here's another vote for Gladiator.
Another highly regarded film that didn't cut the mustard as far as I'm concerned was Disney's Beauty & The Beast. I'm a huge animation fan, but I found this film to be badly paced and quite boring. I remember when it first came out several newspaper reviews called it 'the best animated movie ever made'. Huh? It was nowhere near the quality of earlier Disney masterpieces such as Fantasia or Pinocchio. I even found the early post Disney material such as Robin Hood and The Rescuers to be far more enjoyable. Maybe I just watched B& TB on a bad day.

 

[Craig S]

I'll second Raging Bull. Scorsese's films usually take some time to grow on me, so I've forced myself to watch this one 3 times. I still don't get it. I can admire the craftsmanship, and especially DeNiro's performance. But ultimately I keep coming back to the fact that Jake LaMotta was/is (I have no idea whether he's alive or dead & I don't care enough to look it up) a wretched human being in just about every way. A film about him seems like such a waste of talent.

Here's a new one: L.A. Confidential. Now, I liked this one - I found it to be an entertaining, well-acted noirish tale - but the reviews had it sounding like it would be another Godfather, and it wasn't anywhere close. Just to throw fuel on the fire - I think the Academy made the right choice in awarding Best Picture to Titanic over this one.

I must defend The English Patient. This film is a masterpiece of tone & structure. Watching it (and I've seen it several times) is a mesmerizing experience. Truly rapturous filmmaking, and another case where the Academy got it right.

 

[Francois Caron]

The Longest Day - It may have been visually impressive, but I found most of the segments to be very dull and incomplete. I demolished the movie in a review I wrote for my Web site.

 

[Mick Wright]

Once Upon a Time in America. I'm a big fan of all the Leone westerns so I bought this one blind, and was really disappointed. Leone brought some kind of weird phantasy atmosphere to the ganster genre and it just didn't work for me. Plus the convoluted time-shifting plot just didn't click with me. I'm still not sure what exactly happened in this movie.

Don't Look Now. I don't deny this is a great movie, in fact the reason I don't like it, is that it's too effective. I get depressed just thinking about it.

Bully. I'm not sure how many consider this a great (or even good) film, but it has it's fans among critics. This is another film that's just too brutal and powerful for me to ever watch it again. I feel the same way about In Cold Blood.

 

[Andy_G]

I second Moulin Rouge.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

I agree about GLADIATOR.

Also, I didn't really care much for MATRIX and PULP FICTION.

Haven't seen the next 2 Matirx installments. My wife's a fan, so after the 3rd one hits DVD we'll rent the last 2 and watch all 3, (we have the first one, for the wife).

 

[Ray H]

Wasn't too impressed by Raging Bull either. It has a good story that gripped me for much of it, but after things get bleak, it just lost my interest. I stuck with it, but it never really got back to greatness.

Sullivan's Travels Don't know if it's considered terrific film but it has a reputation and a very healthy average of 8.3 at IMDB. I went the movie but it just seemed a bit pointless. The last act also just seems to come out of nowhere and ends quite unbelievably.

 

[david stark]

I'll second Kill Bill. The B movie style effects was amusing/cool at first, but then I just got bored of it. Just a total lack of story and no suspense. They made the right decision to split it because there is no way I could sit though 3 hours of that and i suspect quite a few of the people who like this film would start to tire of it if they watched all of it at once.

I know I'm being a bit pre judgemental since I've only really seen half the film, but after that half I won't be bothering with the 2nd half.

 

[Julian Lalor]

A third for Moulin Rouge. Absolute tripe in my book and a perfect display of style over substance. I've seen shampoo commercials with more depth and meaning. I also thought Kill Bill horribly over-rated. Trite, simplistic story-telling and cringing violence just left me cold. Perhaps when Volume 2 comes out and I can see it as a whole film I might revise my opinion.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Master and Commander. While I think it's good movie,and I can see it's "greatness",I was dissapointed.I must confess though that I'm not familiar with the books ,so my "expectations" could have been wrong to begin with.
Regarding some of the other picks;
The English Patient: Can't wait to get the SE DVD loved it.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: One of my favorites
Kill Bill; Overrated I agree.
Gladiator: Decent.
Moulin Rouge: One of the worst movies I've ever seen. enough said.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Moulin...
ROUGE!
i hate it
WHEN
the director
tries
to do ALL!
the work FOR me
with an incessant
NON
STOP
BOBBING
AND WEAVING!
CAMERA!
AND!
EVERY SHOT!
EMPHASIZED!
LIKE!
A!
PAYOFF!
UHHHHGGG!

to me that style represents filmmaking aimed at the most passive, numbed audience since they aren't required to invest or bring anything (imagination, enthusiasm) to the material themselves-the editing is designed to micro manage your emotional response to the (pretty thin) material.
i know plenty of people who like the film, and people whose opinions i usually concur with, but this one completely frustrates me- and yes, i did go farther than he first 30 minutes (although i did shut it off early)

Raging Bull
Vertigo (along with a few other Hitchcocks)

 

[Dennis Castro]

Master and commander:
I felt as if I was missing out on something because I haven't read the books.

Blade Runner:
It's a visually stunning film but I found the story pretty boring.

Lawrence of Arabia:
I tried. I really did. I can admire that the film was beautifully shot, but I found my self disinterested in the characters. I shut it off less than half way through.

 

[Rob P S]

The Thin Red Line:
Stunning photography and score, but a pretentious, incoherent mess with no story or characters. They even screwed up Woody Harrelson's death scene - which should have been a highlight.

 

[Adam Horak]

The Godfather
The Godfather Pt. II
Not sure why I don't like these films. They just put me to sleep. I can never get interested in the characters very much.

Rear Window
North by Northwest
A couple of Hitchcock classics that I found to be OK, but not great. Like the Godfather movies, I just never got interested in the characters or stories. Rear Window was especially disappointing.

Blade Runner
Meh

Lawrence of Arabia
I can certainly see the brilliance of this film, but it just felt tedious after awhile. I just got sick of Lawrence and was never interested in any of the other characters.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Three Colors: Blue - I can't stand this pretentious mess. I'm extremely thrilled the other two in the trilogy do no use any of the artsy conventions in this film. Fade to black and strike up the orchestra? Puh leeze. Let's not forget the plate glass window at the end. Wow, great symbolism.

Well that, and I find Juliette Binoche's character an idiot.

The Thin Blue Line- The entire film could've been summed up with the last five minutes. The other minutes were a chore. And it kept fading to black like they wanted the moment to set in.

L'Avventura - Not buying this one. I don't care a single bit about the compelling issues the film shows and raises if I don't give one single damn about the story. Might as well write a non-fictional book.

 

[Brian W.]

Casablanca (Can't fault it in any way... except that it's never made me FEEL anything)

Doctor Zhivago (Seen it twice, once in the theater in 70mm -- bored me to death both times. I almost left in the theatrical presentation. Though I've seen it twice, I couldn't even tell you what the story is now. Was there a story?)

Lawrence of Arabia (I don't know what it is about David Lean's epics, but they just don't hold my interest. I know I "should" like this film, but I don't. I appreciate it, but I don't enjoy it. So why do I love his little movies so much?)

 

[Nick C.]

Andrei Rubelev - I'll be hung by the boys for this one but dear GOD will it never end?! It's like those all-day church services of hellfire and damnation in upright wooden pews you read about in history class. Painfully slow. I don't have anything against slow; I love Ray's Apu Trilogy and that's SLOW; but this is worse than Anna Karenina narrated unabridged by Tom Carvel.

heh pretty much the way I feel about most of Tarkovsky's works...outside of Stalker and , to a degree, Mirror and Solaris

 

[Jeremy Anderson]

The English Patient - Oh, I'm sorry... I was asleep. Has anything happened yet? No? Well, wake me up when something happens.

Moulin Rouge - Hey, it's supposed to revive the musical! Except that none of the music is original... and the editing is like Michael Bay on crack doing a spot for MTV. Can we just have ONE long establishing shot, please? Oh hell, let's watch Hedwig And The Angry Inch again - original music, characters you care about, editing that doesn't make you convulse and an ending that says more about love in two minutes than Moulin Rouge did in two hours.

 

[Matt Pelham]

Moulin Rouge - one of the worst movies I've ever tried to watch (still haven't made it all the way through).