Directors Why Does George Kaplan Hate This Movie Tournament? (1 Viewer)

[Lew Crippen]

This tournament will consist of films that George Kaplan hates, but that at least one of us considers to be a very fine film.

The idea for this came from a comment in George’s Oscar Tourney thread. George’s well known penchant for eschewing the middle-ground when rating movies often results in ratings of moves that hit the minus scale, even if the rating system has no negative numbers.

Put another way: there are movies that George hates.

As it happens many of these movies I consider masterpieces.

The rules are simple:
1.You may nominate any film that you like and believe that George hates
2.George may veto any movie that he does not actually hate, but he cannot nominate movies (this would make the list too long )
3.Nominations need not be seconded and will close when I think we have enough titles (and I have no preconception as to how many that will be).
4.As the match-ups are posted, vote for the film you think is the best movie (choose your own criteria)/
5.George may vote (after all, I’m sure that there is a distinction between a movie rated at minus 100 and one rated at minus 50).

Everyone gets four nominations to begin. Mine are:

Barry Lyndon

Cries and Whispers

Taxi Driver

Do the Right Thing


The Nominations:

1All About Eve
2All that Heaven Allows
3Alphaville
4Andrei Rublev
5Barry Lyndon
6Belle du Jour
7Blow Up
8Blue Velvet
9Breaking the Waves
10Broken Blossoms
11Chicago
12Conformist, The
13Cries and Whispers
14Dancer in the Dark
15Dawn of the Dead
16Do the Right Thing
17Enfants du paradis, Les
18Gone with the Wind
19Marriage of Maria Braun, The
20Moulin Rouge
21Mulholland Drive
22Once Upon a Time in America
23Persona
24Piano, The
25Red Shoes, The
26Requiem for a Dream
27Room with a View, A
28Safe
29Searchers, The
30She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
31Shock Corridor
32Taxi Driver
33Thelma and Louise
34Titanic
35Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
36Withnail & I

 

[SteveGon]

All I can think of right now is The Searchers.

Might be fun to do a "Movies You Know George Would Hate" tourney.

 

[JohnRice]

The only one I can think of off the top of my head...

A Room with a View

Edit, a couple more from the March madness final

25th Hour
Mulholland Drive (or, for that matter, anything ever done by David Lynch)

 

[JohnRice]

BTW lew, you need to make the sales pitch in your sig a link. I'm guessing you know how to do that, but if not, here is how...

just post this in place of what you have now. Don't replace your entire sig, just the part about this tourney.

[*url=http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/showthread.php?t=235293*]Check out the "Why Does George Kaplan Hate This Movie Tournament?"[*/url*]


Remove the 4 * and don't leave any space where they were.

 

[Brook K]

Alphaville
Breaking the Waves
All that Heaven Allows
The Last Laugh

 

[Rain]

Les Enfants du Paradis

 

[JohnRice]

Only one Rain? I know you can do better than that.

 

[Rain]

I can't remember what George hates. It's been a while.

Oh, I know he hates John Wayne and since Wayne's best performance is in, let's go for the close second:

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Does George like Brokeback Mountain...if not I nominate that too.

 

[Rain]

Gone with the Wind

Happy, Rice?

 

[JohnRice]

OK, my final nom is Proof 2005. I have no idea if he hates, but since I love it, he probably does.

If I may endulge myself and just in case some of my others get vetoed...

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
A Very Long Engagement
21 Grams
In the Bedroom
The Upside of Anger
Far from Heaven

Just some faves from the last couple years, so Kaplan must think they are crap. Do with them as you choose, Lew.



and yes Rain, Children of Paradise and Gone with the Wind are particularly good picks.

 

[Agee Bassett]

The Red Shoes
All About Eve
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

 

[Bill McA]

Dawn of the Dead
Requiem for a Dream
Blue Velvet
The Conformist

 

[george kaplan]

Hate might be too strong a word for some of these , but that's perhaps quibbling.

Some of these fall into the "I hate how badly they're overrated" rather than I hate the films themselves.

Let me start by saying I haven't seen (or at least don't think I've seen) the following, so they should be removed:

Proof
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
A Very Long Engagement
21 Grams
In the Bedroom
The Upside of Anger
Brokeback Mountain
The Last Laugh

There is certainly a difference between a film I think is overrated like Blue Velvet and films I hate (for various reasons) such as Requiem for a Dream or Do the Right Thing. But the things I dislike about Blue Velvet (and Mulholland Dr.) certainly outweigh the things I like about them, so I wouldn't veto them. If you get too many and want to cut it down (e.g. from 18 to 16), let me know, and I could certainly make those finer distinctions.

And some of these I must admit are spot on I certainly do abhor many of these such as Cries & Whispers, Breaking the Waves, The Searchers, All About Eve, etc.

I realize you don't want any nominations from me, but if anyone is looking for some ideas, don't forget films like:

Blow Up
Blood for Dracula
Bridget Jones' Diary
Caro Diario
Dancer in the Dark
Doctor Detroit
Don't Look Now
The English Patient
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
Festen
Flesh for Frankenstein
The Hours
Moulin Rouge
Safe
Sid & Nancy
Slacker
Thelma & Louise
Trainspotting
The Warriors
Withnail & I

 

[nolesrule]

since George made the suggestion, I'll nominate Moulin Rouge.

 

[JohnRice]

Of course, some of the movies George listed basically suck, by most people's definition, so they seem to defeat the prupose. I mean, Doctor Detroit? Anyway, based on that list, I'll nominate Safe.

 

[Brook K]

Then I'll replace my Last Laugh nomination with Withnail & I. Man what's to hate about that? Just a funny, funny comedy. Then again, for someone who doesn't think the Coen Bros. are funny, it makes perfect sense.

 

[george kaplan]

I'll save my commentary about the films until the matchups, Brook, but Withnail & I is certainly only funny in the "what's the funny smell" sense of the word.

I sometimes get titles mixed up, especially with movies I don't like, so for example, perhaps at some point in the past I mentionedd the 25th Hour, when I was thinking of The Hours or the 13th Warrior. And I know I've mixed up 28 Days with 28 Days Later in the past as another example. But, anyway, I'm also pretty sure I haven't seen either of these:

The 25th Hour
Far From Heaven

I'm guessing on these different films I haven't seen that you guys are probably right that I'd hate them, but there's always an odd chance otherwise. I mean, it took many tries but I eventually found a film by Bunuel that I love, and even one with DiCaprio that I liked - which reminds me, hint, hint - don't forget Titanic.

 

[SteveGon]

Oh, oh, oh!!! I nominate Titanic!!!!!

 

[JohnRice]

Well, George made a real point of saying how bad 25th Hour was in the March Madness final, and obstaining from voting as a result, but maybe he was just slamming a movie he'd never seen.

 

[SteveGon]

Thought I'd throw out a nom for The Piano. I'm sure George hates it if he's seen it.