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Movies that were a box office hit years ago, but don't date very wel (1 Viewer)

todd stone

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For me this would have to be Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner. This movie was a huge blockbuster and I loved it back in the day when it came out, but for the life of me I can't watch this anymore. Something about Kevin Costner and myself being older, I just cannot stand his work or something..

Throw in Bryan Adams for the song too :)
 

Charles J P

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I'm not sure what Costner did, but you are not the only one that feels that way. I dont understand it all, but throw almost all the other "good" Costner films on your list too. No one likes Dances With Wolves either, but that movie was huge. I personally like all of Costners work, including Water World and The Postman.
 

Claire Panke

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Hmmm...sorry, I didn't think Titanic, Dances With Wolves or Robin Hood were good the first time around, although they were all huge hits. (And some people probably still like them. Although that Celine Dion song...the horror, the HORROR!)) None of the above have improved with age IMO.

My favorite Costner films are Silverado, No Way Out, The Untouchables and Bull Durham. He's also good in JFK.

Sacrilege alert: Two films that I loved as a kid but that I can barely watch now are Ben Hur and Gone With the Wind. The chariot race in BH is one of the most amazing action sequences ever filmed, but the movie itself is pretentious and preachy. (Stephen Boyd flirting with Chuck, however, is hilarious.) I still enjoy the opening "comedy of manners" bits and burning of Atlanta in GWTW, but find the rest pretty tedious going...the longest soap opera ever filmed. I wanna hug Mammy, kiss Rhett and slap Scarlett and stop watching after the first half hour. Mostly, it seems like BH and GWTW go on forever.

I don't mind if films are long...Hamlet, Birth Of Nation, Seven Samurai, Abel Gance's Napolean and FOTR/TTT and many other films maintain my attention and affection.

I'm sure I'll think of some others...the world is littered with acclaimed films that have not passed the test of time.
 

Craig S

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No one likes Dances With Wolves either...
I still think Dances With Wolves is a great film. I think it gets a lot of grief because everyone thinks Goodfellas should have won BP (and Scorsese BD) that year. That's probably true, but it doesn't make DwW a bad film.

RH:PoT, OTOH, never was a very good film, although it's kind of fun in a campy way.

Titanic has been debated endlessly on this board. Just put me in the camp that thinks it's a great, old-fashioned (well, except for the drawing scene ;) )Hollywood entertainment.
 

todd stone

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Ya Top gun is another. Something about the music from Kenny Loggins perhaps? :)


Also, perhaps that Robin Hood, Kevin Costner didn't use an english accent? :)
 

Geoffrey_A

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What about the Karate Kid? Now that was big back in the day, but now? Well, it just doesn't stand the test of time. The less said about the sequels the better.
 

Charles J P

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I should specify that I do like DWW, as well as the other Costner pics. It just seems like it has gotten really unpopular.
 

JeremySt

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Natural Born Killers. First time I saw it, I thought it was great. Now, I think it is steaming pile.
 

John^Lal

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More support for Dances with Wolves. I loved and still love that movie. reasons why i think Robin Hood may not have aged well is because of Kevin Costner being in it. I know plenty of people, including myself, who have become completely disgusted by Kevin Costner's self-indulgence.
Movies i don't think have aged well, off the top of my head..
Philadelphia.
Color Purple.
impact of both films seemed reduced last time i watched them
 

Larry Sutliff

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Anything directed by Tony Scott in the eighties(TOP GUN, BEVERLY HILLS COP 2,etc.). They seemed trend setting then, now they look like 2 hour MTV videos.
 

FredK

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Anything directed by Tony Scott in the eighties(TOP GUN, BEVERLY HILLS COP 2,etc.). They seemed trend setting then, now they look like 2 hour MTV videos.

But that's the eighties... and some films shouldn't "date" well. They're great trips to the recent past for me.

On the other hand any period film should date well because it's not a product of it's own time.

RH:PoT didn't date well... it doesn't fill it's length and gets boring at times. It's a good movie, but not as good as I thought it was origninally (of course, superior product like Braveheart that is entertaining from beginning to end changes my perception too).

As much as I enjoy it, every time I watch Gladiator I think it may not age well. It gets slower (and less interesting) every time I see it.
 

Ben Osborne

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I would say "The Deer Hunter." It won Best Picture, yet not a lot of people talk about it now. These days it seems pretty tedious and difficult to sit through. That wedding scene goes on forever. Yes, the Vietnam Russian Roulette scene is very intense and memorable, but the rest of the movie just drags on.
 

Dwayne

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It's a shame that we don't have directors posting in this thread. I'm sure some might bring up their own body of work, even if we assured them that it holds up quite well.

I can see why some people say Titanic. I was amazed in the theater (three times) but I can never muster the motivation to watch in on home video (only once). And yes, I do hold Celine Dion partially responsible.
 

John^Lal

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Titanic is definately a film event. though it was at the end of way too many toungues and have made us all resent it now, we all know how magnificent it looked on that huge screen. 50" just is not the same.
all movies are better in the theaters...but some more than others. Titanic is a movie seems like it would have been perfect on an IMAX screen...i guess thats why James Cameron went back to the Titanic and filmed something for those awesome 110 ft screens
 

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