Watching a movie that turns out bad (1 Viewer)

[didi-5]

I have a fair few sitting there waiting to be watched but there aren't many films I've given up on. Usually because there's something which grabs my interest in the first place (director, actor, plot, etc.). I'll give any musical a chance although some do try the patience. And I do like The Fountainhead, The Thief of Bagdad, and Hairspray (2007). I'm Not There is one I'm determined to finish sometime but so far I've tried three times to get into it, and failed.

 

[Bob Cashill]

Why does anyone buy films they've never seen? Why not just rent them first to try them out? Seems a waste of time and money.

 

[cineMANIAC]

These days I limit 'blind buys' to films from better known directors unless its a cult flick from the 70's or 80's - I feel like I'll need to stock up on this stuff before all the independent distributors go belly-up. But the ratio of hit-or-miss has been too high on the "miss" side and I've ended up giving away alot of DVDs, some of which I paid top dollar for. But isn't it wonderful when it works the other way around and you discover a real gem? I grateful to have discovered:

Miracle Mile
Assault On Precinct 13
Full Metal Jacket
Walkabout
The Wages of Fear
Cinema Paradiso
Dragonhead
Long Weekend

and many others

 

[Jon Martin]

In many cases (Wal Mart budget bins, Big Lots, sales at other retailers) you can buy DVDs for less than renting them, especially at some place like Blockbuster.

While Netflix is a great service, sometimes if you figure in the monthly costs, it is still cheaper to buy some of those $2 and $3 DVDs than get them from Netflix.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I've cut down on my blind buys drastically in the past couple years; I never bought too many of them to begin with, but these days I just don't do it anymore. (The exceptions are TV on DVD, if I'm a fan of the show but haven't seen a particular season, or if a title is about to go out of print and I think it's something I'll love.)

Most of my blind buys have always come in sets. For instance, buying the Warner "Classic Comedies" set cost only a couple dollars more than buying "The Philadelphia Story" and "Bringing Up Baby" which are part of that set, so if it was $40 for two movies, or $45 for seven, that's kind of a no-brainer.

 

[Brian Borst]

Not every film can be rented. I'm limited to two video stores, and they don't carry every title I would like to see.
Also I want to be surprised sometimes. If the film's any good, I can keep it (that way it actually saves me money). If I truly hate it (and that doesn't happen often) I sell it.

 

[Brett_M]

The Journey of Natty Gann - run, don't walk, to the nearest garbage can
3:10 to Yuma (2008) - good performances, the shoot outs suck eggs (imho)
Alien vs Predator - pathetic movie
Inglorious Bastards - wait for Tarantino's version with the same title
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - funny, watch it
Pinnochio (starring Roberto Begnini) - DESTROY IMMEDIATELY
Bachelor Party/Revenge of the Nerds DF - watch both, great laughs to be had
The Fabulous Baker Boys - watch it
Chamber of Horrors/Brides of Fu Manchu DF - watch drunk
Rio Bravo - classic, watch it
Conan the Barbarian - watch director's cut if possible, a personal fave
Hamburger Hill - excellent Vietnam film, watch it

 

[R-T-C Tim]

Since most of my DVDs are imports, then renting is not possible. So I just have to dive right in...

 

[troy evans]

"This Island Earth" is a classic. I loved that movie when I was a kid and recommend it as a definate watch.

 

[Ed Moxley]

I always wonder what people expect of movies. I don't understand why most people dislike the movies they watch. There's been very few movies I didn't like. I didn't like Battlefield Earth. The main reason I didn't like Beowulf & 300 is because of the type animation that was used. It has gotten old, and quick, for me. I'm extremely tired of it. Now, if I know a movie is done that way, I won't even bother to watch it. A Knight's Tale is entertaining, but I can't stand the modern music being used in the movie's time period.

A movie is only meant to entertain you for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. Sometimes longer. Most movies do just that. Don't try to read too much into them. 3:10 to Yuma was very entertaining.......both of them. The most entertaining parts of the newer movies to me, is the surround sound effects, and special effects, in those that have them. Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium was wonderful. Somebody, somewhere, dislikes every movie that's made, for some reason. I'm sure there's people that didn't like The Black Knight. There's no accounting for tastes...........

I have found a lot of people don't like my tastes.

 

[smithb]

Like many I've limited my blind buys over the years. Netflix is a good way to rent first with the idea of buying later if you are into repeat viewing. It also gives plenty of time to wait for the best sales on any particular title.

Like stated previously it is entertainment and for 1 to 2 hours I don't have a problem giving any film a chance from beginning to end. I'll usually find some redeeming value, even if it may be a one time viewing. Taste really are different. Like some I really liked Fountainhead and find it to be one of the better Cooper movies.

 

[Cees Alons]

I almost always watch a film to the end, even if it looks like it can no longer be saved. Sometimes I'm just curious about where an extremely bad movie will go and how/if they will try to make something of it.
Sometimes a promising movie is destroyed by its ending.

During my last transcontinental flight, I chose to watch a movie I had no intention to buy (Julia, 2008). Because of the way things went, I wasn't able to see the very end, and so I decided to buy it after all, just to complete it (and no, it wasn't that bad either).

This practice is part of my set of "completeness" postulates. (The first of these goes back more than 40 years and says: You haven't seen a breast unless you saw the nipple. - a truth on which a whole fashion industry is based).

This one says: You haven't seen the movie until you've seen the end, sometimes extended to .... you've seen the end credits.


Cees

 

[WadeM]

Rio Bravo is very good, at least the first time or two.

I walked out on the remake of 3:10 to Yuma. It took about 20 minutes before I couldn't stand it anymore. Every second of it was full of everything I hate. The original was much, much better.

 

[Shad R]

This Island Earth is only good if you got the MST3K set!

 

[Jon Baker]

Just out of curiosity what exactly did you hate about 3:10 to Yuma?

 

[Jon Baker]

I think that may be the reason I have Benigni's Pinocchio. This version I have includes both the Italian version (which I hear is loved in Italy) and the dubbed American version which I hear is absolutely horrible.

 

[Jon Baker]

I haven't yet watched Knight's Tale, but have heard about the modern music being used. In fact that is the only thing I've heard about the film which makes me wonder if that was the only reason people went to see it.

 

[Jon Baker]

Did you actually watch this?

 

[Ocean Phoenix]

I'm very rarely capable of turning off something I've paid money for. I'm afraid I would feel too guilty. There are a few exceptions. I don't buy movies that I've never seen before, but I have rented or borrowed movies from friends that I lost interest in or grew to hate along the way. In most cases, I just leave the movie on and do something else till it's over, like surf the net. That's what I did with Odishon, the Japanese movie that starts out as a sweet and touching love story about a lonely widower and a lovely young girl before turning into torture porn. Why people think that twist and the ensuing violence was so cool is beyond me. I thought it just wasted what was blossoming into a wonderful love story for cheap violent theatrics, and I generally love over-the-top movie violence.

"Slacker" made me so miserable that the only way I could get to the end was making a phone call halfway through it and talking to a friend until it was over. Technically, I did get to the end of the movie. It played right in front of me until it was over, but I have no idea what happened after a certain point.

If I am going to actually stop watching a movie, I think it's fair to give it until half of the running time before abandoning it. That's what I did with "FUBAR" and "Dr. Zhivago". "Dr. Zhivago" is around three hours long. After two hours, I didn't care about any of the characters or anything that had happened, so I thought it was fair to give up. It had its chance, and it blew it! Same with the 80 minute "FUBAR" after 40 minutes.

 

[Dick]

THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN is a hugely underappreciated film. It has been treated like refuse by the studio. It received a quick and limited theatrical release in 1985, and in the States got a terrible 1.33:1 release on dvd (there are a couple of other-region releases in the 2.35:1 format, but even these don't look so hot). The original, absolutely gorgeous James Horner soundtrack is available (if you can find it) only as a bootleg CD, as is the rejected Elmer Bernstein score. I don't get it. This was an enormously appealing film, not an overly-sentimental one as was typical of the studio. It was gritty and completely believable, featuring stunning cinematography, sublime music, and winning performances by Meredith Salinger and then-unknown John Cusack. For anyone over the age of seven or eight, this was some of the best Disney material in ages. But, it was unceremoniously dumped on the video market, in a cheapened, horrible-looking pan and scan transfer that was basically a big "screw you" to not only a very fine family film but to all unsuspecting fans who purchased it on DVD. What a delightful (though very unlikely) Blu-ray release this would make!!

Rant Over.