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

[WillG]

I'll go with Spiderman as well. Was at a X-mas party last night, had a few cocktails and started spouting off why "Superman" is the greatest superhero movie of all time and why "Spiderman" was dissapointing. (Just to claify, it wasn't at random, the movie did come in conversation) When I was thinking about it I just thought about how "cheap" I found it to be. The Spiderman CGI was terrible. Animated characters in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" looked more "Real" I'm not saying so much much that it is a bad movie, far from it, but definately substance over style. I didn't think it had any "Scope" or real emotion. The opening Krypton scenes of Superman had more emotion that the whole of Spiderman. The sad thing is that probably anyone born after circa 1985 probably thinks "Spiderman" is the greatest superhero film ever made. And thanks to our MTV society, I doubt you are going to find many in that generation who has enough attention span to watch "Superman"

The Blair Witch Project:
A boring film with genius marketing. I never thought I would say this, because I don't believe you need a lot of flash to tell a good story and have a good film, but damn it, show me SOMETHING. Doesn't have to be a lot, but something besides Three dopes running around the woods cursing at each other, sticks and snot.

Kids:
Heard the hype about it. How it was an ultra realistic depection. But, just a real ugly film in my opinion that just made me angry. Now I know people are going to say that was the intention, but I just did not enjoy the film.

About Schmidt:
Ok, but found it kind of dull. Guess I was expecting it to be funnier than it turned out to be. Seeing Kathy Bates naked did not help either. Jack was good though, as usual.

2001, A Space Odyssey:
Can see why people don't like it. Can be pretty boring. Still for some reason, I'm drawn to it. I doubt I will watch it again from start to finish anytime soon, but I do like to take it out once and awhile and watch certain scenes.

As for the Film Student who was lambasted for Admiring Spielberg. Don't give it a second thougt. Sure when brought down to their elements, some of his films may not be incredibly deep. But the phrase "Movie-Magic" was coined pretty much because of him. He's pulled off some great things in his work. No shame in that.

 

[Jonathan Dagmar]

Another vote for the English Patient Ugh. What a bad movie. I love that Episode of Seinfeld so much!


Angelas Ashes

Punch Drunk Love -I am a fan of both Boogie Nights and Magnolia, so I was really surprised when I hated this move.

Pitch Black - why does everyone speal so highly of this dreck? Terrible acting, terrible pacing, and terrible special effects, not to mention eye strain inducing camera filters.

A Christmas Story - one bad movie that a lot of people seem to love. hated this move as a kid, still hate it now.

The Grinch - and downright awful, miscast butchering of a favourite cartoon. Jim Carrey was so wrong for the part. Jack Nicholson would have fit the character much better. Ridiculous very un -suessien abomination like the word "cheermeister". Dr. Suess would never have used that word. The whos were turned into selfish ****heads, which is the opposite of what they were supposed to be in the book/cartoon. The only good point was Jim Carrey's rendition of "Mr. Grinch", sung very well.

The Matrix - Never have I had any desire to see this movie no matter how many people tell me how good it is.

 

[MarcusUdeh]

[c]delete[/c]

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Remember, if you expect a lot or something specific from a highly regarded movie you might be disappointed. Expect less and nothing in particular, and chances are you'll be surprised in a good way.

At least with older movies considered classics I tend to think there's a reason for that (the fact that they're considered classics). If such a film doesn't "do it" for me the first time, I still try to see its greatness - which might turn out quite rewarding eventually.

I ended up appreciating Casablanca very much when I watched the new DVD a while ago. Earlier I guess I haven't paid enough attention to this film...

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Threads like these are mean-spirited and nasty, there's hardly a post here that hasn't had me thinking 'what a plonker' and thats putting it mildly, is that the feeling this thread is supposed to engender?

I think this sort of thread can be mean-spirited, but it doesn't have to be. It's interesting to hear differing opinions of films seen as classics. If people invest some energy and thought into their critiques, it's a worthwhile topic.

 

[Matt Stone]

It's also probably good to have a place where people can post about popular movies that they don't like without being flamed.

 

[Robert Crawford]

For those that don't like such threads, I have a suggestion. Stop reading such threads and please, stop with the thread puking. Every great or poplular film has its detractors and they have the right to express their negative opinion in the right setting and I consider this thread an appropriate place to express that opinion.






Crawdaddy

 

[Steve Christou]

Well if you can't beat 'em....


High Noon. Highly overrated anti-western, Gary Cooper won an Oscar but barely changes his expression throughout this film, John Wayne hated it, nuff said.

The Searchers. Extremely overrated western, deemed by critics the greatest western of them all, well 'in my opinion' it isn't. I wouldn't even put it in the top 20 westerns ever, the top position taken by a Sergio Leone directed epic. [dissonant harmonica sounds playing]

Two glum, sour westerns that have been overpraised to the nth degree.

 

[Don_Houle]

I have to admit, I haven't read through all the posts in this thread - it has gotten too big - but here's my list:

Brazil - finally rented the DVD after hearing so many good things about it. I guess it wasn't what I was expecting and I drifted off to sleep a couple of times.

Moulin Rouge - maybe I'm not cultured enough to have really enjoyed this or something. Story-wise this was a real snooze fest. But, I did enjoy the visuals. (BTW, I loved Chicago!)

Notting Hill - this movie got a lot of hype when it was out. I watched it one night with my wife. We both hated it. Not at all interesting or funny.

That's my list for now!

 

[JonZ]

- Titanic (When the boat sinks is pretty cool though)
- Gladiator
- The Matrix (I will never,repeat,never see the sequels)
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (I didnt last 1/2 hour)
- Gone With The Wind (The most overrated film EVER)
- Brazil (I like Gilliam, but found this to be BORING)
- Singing In The Rain (Id rather have my teeth drilled for 2 hours than sit through this again)
- ET (HATE HATE HATE this film)
- True Lies
- In & Out (Just kill me now please)
- Pretty Woman (Id burn every copy in existance if I could)

 

[ChuckSolo]

Jonz, if I may ask, what DO you like?

 

[Greg*go]

Some movies I think are ruined due to age and having other movies rip off it so much. They include:

Citizen Kane It was OK, but I did fall asleep half way through it the first time I watched it so it wasn't that fascinating. I didn't know what the answer to the question was, and wasn't that relieved at the end of the movie. But I am a Simpsons fan, so I think I've seen about 75% of that movie done by yellow people.

Maltese Falcon Again, it was OK, but I thought this was easily predictable.

Godfather 1 & 2 I wasn't really shocked by any of the stuff that happened in it. Thank you spoofs. And I felt they really draw out scenes. Do we really need to see you walk up the driveway for 2 minutes?

Titanic Now this is the only movie on the list that is fairly new. I can withstand a chick flick, but a 3 hour one? I'm like the girl at the end "I'll never let go... now get off my floating thing."

 

[JonZ]

"Jonz, if I may ask, what DO you like?"

Anything here...........
http://www.geocities.com/tarim69/dvdpage.html

 

[Mike_Mig]

The Fifth Element

I tried watching with this with some of my friends and we are all about the same age (mid to late 20's). Not one of us could find anything even halfway decent in this film. I still get andgry to this day whenever I see the title or think of that horrendous experience. And that is the only movie that can do that to me. I can't believe anyone would honestly make a point of watching this stupid of a movie. It was like Star Wars on crack.

 

[Jake Gove]

Another vote for Fifth Element, horrible, one of the worst movies I've ever seen, especially Chris Tucker's "performance".

Shakespeare in Love - how could this win Best Picture?
A Beautiful Mind - ditto
The Green Mile - bad stereotypical performance from Michael Clarke Duncan, weak movie overall (liked the books though)
Lawrence of Arabia - boring, boring, boring, a few nice visuals though
Apocalypse Now - what's with the surfing? a little too pretentious for me
Fargo - ok movie, but what is all the fuss about?

Anything by Quentin Tarantino. I enjoyed From Dusk Till Dawn in a bad b-movie way, but the others, ugh.

 

[Anthony_J]

Jake Grove:

Your signature reminded me of "Jaws". I definitely recognize it's merits and like the movie, but just can't get into as a timeless, classic film.

 

[David Brass]

I love movies.

There aren't too many that I flat out don't like as I can always find something to appreciate, be it the artistic vision, cinematography, the intended message or what have you.

The title of this thread is "Supposedly terrific movies that just didn't do it for you.. and why."

I feel a little sheepish saying that Return of the King 'just didn't do it for me' and I did like it overall and enjoyed the movie immensely. Nonetheless I have some specific reasons for why it "just didn't do it for me".

I thought it had too many endings and that there was too much speechifying rather than actual dialogue that moved the story forward. There were also too many random events that smacked of deus ex machina. I know they were in the book. Yet I couldn't get over the way Aragorn all of a sudden:

was called to go into the mountain and get the cursed army


Or when:

the eagles showed up to again save the day


The way these plot devices were used in the movie felt like cheating the story rather than being part of it.

Having said all of that, it's still a great movie and I would not for a second say that it didn't do the other two films justice in terms of wrapping up the trilogy and I can't imagine doing a better job translating the books to the big screen.

Nonetheless, the Return of the King didn't do it for me.

The two towers blew me away though.

 

[Keir H]

I agree with David on the fact that most movies I could find something I like about them...acting, sound track/score ect.. Saying that, while I like Nicole Kidman (Eyes Wide Shut, The Others) I just could not get into Moulin Rouge. I like musicals though (Chicago) but this one was a bear to watch. I rented this one to see what the hype was about and was so embarrased to that I did not tell my buds I rented a "chick flick"! It may work for some though.. another borefest for me was The Piano..yawn...

 

[Brian Harnish]

I'd like to add my vote for American Beauty. What an utterly over-rated piece of crap. It's one of the only films that has ever bored to tears (and I don't get bored easily). Probably because I went in expecting a masterpiece and got something on the more negative side of the scale (and I'm not talking about the subject matter, either).

Worst movie ever made, I think. I'd rather watch the Lizzie McGuire movie over American Beauty.

Okay, I'd better shut up before HTF rule-breaking words begin showing up in this post!

 

[Paul_Scott]

American Beauty was a film i was expecting to like a lot.
i had read the script prior to seeing it, and something about the tone of the finished film rubbed me completely the wrong way.

i'll add just about every single film by Tim Burton, who i will concede is a very interesting 'visualist', but in my seemingly minority opinion, a very poor storyteller.
from what i was hearing early on about Big Fish, i was thinking that maybe he was finally starting to learn how to satisfyingly structure a film, and then i read some of the 'panning' reviews and i see the complaints are basically the same i've have seen all along with him.

Bunnel hasn't done it for me either.
Diary Of A Chambermaid and That Obscure Object Of Desire were both films i wanted to embrace and admire-especially the latter, but just left me with a feeling like 'eh'.