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What movie gets better or worse every time you watch it? (1 Viewer)

Jeff_Standley

Supporting Actor
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May 17, 2002
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905
For me the movie that gets better for me every time I watch it is the first Spiderman. I liked it in the theater the first time but didnt see what all of the hype was really about but now every time I watch it I love it even more.

The movie that gets worse every time I watch it is Star Wars Attack of the Clones. I loved it in the theater and every time I have seen it since it just gets worse and worse and now Im down to watching just parts I still think are cool.
 

Jan H

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Nov 6, 2001
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I agree with you on Attack of the Clones. The SW prequels are a pile of crap, IMO. I hope I don't lose my love for the original trilogy altogether, once the last Lucas monstrosity rolls around. Other films that got worse for me are Titanic, Ordinary People, and most of the Oscar winners from the 1980's. Jeez, what were these people thinking?

I think the easy way to answer the 'do they get better?' question is with another question. How many films have you seen more than 10 times? For me:

2001
Full Metal Jacket
SW original trilogy
Citizen Kane
Lord of the Rings (all of 'em)
Schindler's List
Excalibur
Manhattan
Goodfellas...Uh, oh, I better stop before the mods shoot this thread over to Polls. ;)
 

Brad Porter

Screenwriter
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Jun 8, 1999
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1,757

I try not to re-subject myself to films that are on a downward enjoyment spiral, so this category is more difficult to answer.

Twister - I like most of the actors involved, tornadoes fascinate me, and it's nice to have scientists be the heroes occasionally. Those are the only favorable things I can say about this film anymore. It had some energy and humor, but even seeing clips of it these days makes me feel dumber for the experience.

Brad
 

Jason_Els

Screenwriter
Joined
Feb 22, 2001
Messages
1,096
Goodfellas - The acting gets better, the dialogue gets better, and the entire story gets better but what REALLY drives me, short of the outstanding performances, is the editing. Schoonmaker deserved another Oscar for this. Best edited movie I have ever seen. Fluid, unique, even expository in and of itself. This film is a revelation. Screw Dances with Wolves, the editing in Goodfellas exists on a far higher plane.
 

Scott Weinberg

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Oct 3, 2000
Messages
7,477
Moulin Rouge gets better every time I watch it.

And I loved it after seeing it just once.

On the flip side...

The Village does not hold up well with repeat viewings. (Or even one.)
 

Lynda-Marie

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 3, 2004
Messages
761
Hmmm... films that get better, IMHO with multiple viewings:

1. Star Wars - Pre special edition, pre episode numbers, the whole 9 yards. This is a movie I never tire of. I wish George Lucas would release the original theatrical version of this movie, and forget any "improvements". In an argument with a friend who said the "improvements" made the movie better, I asked if she would approve if someone decided to update the Mona Lisa's look with a brighter wardrobe and a modern 'do.

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark - Steven Spielberg must have something to do with this one being untouched. Brings me back to the wild days of my teens, when Harrison was the only one for me!

3. Goodfellas - Awesome is too puny a word for this movie. I am really looking forward to the special 2 disk set that is coming out soon.

4. Spider-Man - Finally, proof that a movie based on a comic book can be done right. The exhilaration of having such awesome power and the angst of the struggles to use it wisely. They finally got someone who can play geeky/brainy/torn/exuberant. Viva Tobey Maguire!

5. My Cousin Vinny - Especially funny for me, since I have family in small towns in Alabama. With this and Goodfellas, Joe Pesci is assured of a place on my list of performers who will get me to plunk down my hard earned money to see a movie or buy it on DVD.

6. The Great Escape - Exciting, funny and tragic. I never get tired of it, and never stop rooting for the prisoners to make it.

7. Singin In The Rain - A movie about the movies, with song and dance numbers by a man who could have written the book on how to do it right - Gene Kelly. I defy anyone to show me a number greater than Gene's take on Singin' In The Rain... he didn't just dance on that rainy street, he gloried in movement, making it look so easy!

8. The Terminator - Herr Governor Ahnold at his biggest and baddest. With believable heroes and a great hissable villain. Not to mention a coherent, intelligent plot that never lets up on the suspense or action.

9. Gumball Rally - Okay, this is more of a guilty pleasure and it is not yet on DVD :angry: . "Great" 70s movie based on the real life cannonball run, but preceding the movie of that title by a couple of years. A thumbing of the nose at the anal retentive enforcement of the double nickle speed limit but without the hard edged anarchic nonsense that clings to many movies today like a nasty smell.

10. Just about anything put out by Pixar - Pixar is a rarity these days in that they put out original, funny, touching and intelligent movies that are for more than just the kiddies. They are kid safe, so you can show them to the family, but there is enough intelligence and jokes that are just above the heads of the little darlings so the grown ups can enjoy them, too. These are good at taking me back to the days of being a little kid.

Movies that get worse:

1. Twister - I protest, I was a captive audience at a weekend getaway when this stinker was rented!

2. Phantom Menace/Attack of the Clones - What was George Lucas smoking in all the years following the original trilogy? And why did there have to be a scientific "explanation" for the Force? "A mystical energy field that binds the universe together." That is all that was ever needed. Why the midi chlorians? Why did Amidala change clothes ever other time the camera pointed in another direction?

3. Batman and Robin - Not even an over the top Arnold can save this one. URGH!

4. Titanic - Sink the bloody ship already! The special effects were the only things worth it to me.

5. Ghost - Now, before I get flamed, let me say that I am not a romantic; Whoopi was the only saving grace as far as I am concerned.

6. Pretty Woman - Yeah, right, all hookers are that beautiful, and all of them have a rich Mr. Right waiting in the wings to rescue them.

7. The Core - Even though I am not a professional astronomer, I resent having my intelligence insulted this badly. Sure, the special effects were quite good, but I can't suspend my disbelief that much.

8. Interview With The Vampire - Tom Cruise was just wrong for Lestat. I did not like this movie.

9. Highlander 2: The Quickening - Now, why is there a trend amongst modern Sci Fi/Fantasy directors to have to EXPLAIN things in a scientific manner? Why couldn't we just hold on to the mystery of where the immortals came from? Why the battles on an alien planet? What was with that ozone shield bit? WHY? WHY? WHY? [throwing tantrum]

10. Star Trek V - Surely, even the other characters deserved moments to discover things or add to the plot, instead of just standing around as set decoration to make Kirk look better. Thank God for Star Trek VI: The Apology.
 

Scotty_McW

Second Unit
Joined
Jan 13, 2002
Messages
370
Better for me:
Attack of the Clones - I really liked this in the theater, but the more I see it, the more I like it. Sure the performances of Hayden and Natalie aren't the best, but it has some stunning visuals, amazing sound, and the beginnings of tying all the films together.

Worse for me:
Pulp Fiction - Liked it in the theater and the first few times on video. Now the film just seems to drag. I can't even sit through Bruce Willis's part. I do own it, but to me this is one of the most over rated films in recent memory.
 

Mike.B

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 9, 2003
Messages
185
Off the top of my head-

Lone Start gets better for me every time I watch it. It really is a masterpiece.

Meet the Parents gets worse each time I see any of it.
 

Matt Czyz

Supporting Actor
Joined
Jun 5, 2003
Messages
902
Real Name
Matt Czyz
Better:

Moulin Rouge- The moment when Ewan bursts out into song for the first time and Paris lights up makes me smile every single time (same goes for when the gun flies out the window hitting the eiffel tower)

Indiana Jones/Last Crusade- Maybe it's because I can recite the movie along with it, but I've never not enjoyed watching it.

2010- It manages to surprise me every time how well it holds up, and the final shot is note perfect. It's basically exactly how the book ends.

LOTR:FOTR:EE- Pulls me in every time.

Hard Boiled- It really resonates by highlighting senseless violence to symbolize man's suffering and.....I'm kidding, things get shot up really good. And Mad Dog is a god.


Worse:

Spider-Man- It kills me to say it, but I find myself skipping to the later parts of the movie more often than not.

Cold Mountain- Actually, there's nothing on earth that could get me to sit through that a second time. I think it got as worse as it gets the first time around.
 

BrettB

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Feb 1, 2001
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3,019
Better - 'Vertigo': I've always liked it but every time I watch it my appreciation grows and it inches up my favorites list.

Worse - Shrek: I loved this movie initially but in the intervening years it has dropped considerably. I attribute this mostly to Pixar.
 

JonZ

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Gangs of NY - I liked it when I saw it in the theater, but like it more every time I see it
 

DougFND

Stunt Coordinator
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Jan 13, 2004
Messages
248
I don't know that it gets better, 'cause it's just about perfect as is. But, I like T2 more with every viewing. I think it may soon take the coveted favorite movie title from ST II.

Some that seem to get better with each viewing:

Meet the Parents
The Terminator

Worse with each viewing:

Pearl Harbor. It was tolerable the first time. When my wife wanted to watch it again, I couldn't stand even a few minutes.

Pulp Fiction

Sleeping With the Enemy. Almost the same situation as Pearl Harbor.
 

Fred Bang

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
May 7, 2000
Messages
235
Better:

The Royal Tenenbaums (one of my fav now)
The Usual Suspects
Mulholland Drive (may finally have understand it)
Memento
Spirited Away
Jackie Brown
Artificial Intelligence
The classics: Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.


Worse:

SW Prequels. I absolutely loved Attack of the Clones in
theater, now I fast forward most of the scenes.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (can't stand the kid anymore)

Titanic (fast forward to sinking)
 

Alex Spindler

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Jan 23, 2000
Messages
3,971
I love this question when it pops up, as there are some films which I know improve over time and some which I gain an appreciation for that I never had before.

Movies that improved over time
Some movies, like The Big Lebowski and Rushmore, are entertaining at the start and you sort of know they'll continue to improve with time. So I'll focus on those that I was initially moderate entertained or worse on and then improved with more viewings. I've found that my watching of just about any movie on cable has helped me find these gems more than I would have normally.

The Ninth Gate - I was originally only marginally entertained with viewing it. However, after a few viewings on cable, I started to notice some nice subtle work involved. The score is just fantastic and distinctive and the reliance on more practical effects is nicely done and effective in ways that the digital effects are not. The languid pacing of the film and Depp's performance were initially negatives for me, but after a viewing or two I saw how well it integrated with the rest of the film and came to really appreciate it.

Deceiver - Little known film with Tim Roth, Renee Zellwegger, Chris Penn, and Michael Rooker, it features one of the most fascinating character portrayals from Tim Roth and easily my favorite role I've seen him in. The plot and setup are wildly artificial and full of coincidences, but it's stage-play setup works that for all it's worth. Best yet is the director who gives the actors great room and restraint during their best scenes make me sort of sad it doesn't get a bit more exposure than it has.

Heist - I walked into this one on the heels of developing a love and appreciation for The Spanish Prisoner and House of Games. First viewing was fun, but I wasn't able to set myself that I really liked it. Each further viewing has show some level of complexity in the plot and pacing that I initially missed. Seeing how this film, in contrast to so many 'clever heist' films, focused on how the smart criminal deals with plans gone awry, from marks who don't show up when they're supposed to, double/triple/quadruple crosses, and unexpected complications. The dialogue also hit my ear the right way recently in a way that has opened up all kinds of new enjoyment for me, mainly from reading some old hard boiled books that made the phrases and comments make far more sense.

eXistenZ - Some directors are in my assumed list of delivering films that improve with subsequent viewings (Coens, Mamet, Wes Anderson), but I don't know of one other Cronenberg film that so wildly grew in my estimation of it as much as this one. It initially came off as just some only moderately wierd Cronenberg entry, but the layers of well thought out concepts in it continue to amaze me. Not only is there a well planned interface established for their fictional game world, which not only discusses the concepts of how a game works but also how it affects the society and world that plays it, but you also have some (for me anyway) very interesting ideas of how reality is shaped. There are some very clever design decisions in the film as well, from how the non-player-characters interact as well as how the environments are built to the way that interactable objects are identified to the players. Once I got around the sort of stock virtual reality upper layer plot, I found all kinds of well built intelligence underneath.


I should also say that there are some actors that continue to impress me even just based on their previous work. Having rewatched some films by Bill Murray, Richard Dreyfuss, and Steve Martin, I am continually impressed with how well the do comedy in such an effortless fashion. They each have such wildly varying approaches, but they've done nothing but improve my estimation of them with each of their movies that I see.

I've also found some films I don't like but love the performances in it. Having watched Gangs of New York several times and working my way through the very informative book it was based on, I have grown to like the film less and love the performance of Daniel Day Lewis more and more. In no other way does the film seem to capture the spirit of the book like in his characterization of Bill the Butcher, although there are brief glimpses of the details in some other things. This all the more because the movie version of Bill is quite different from the actual one, so he inherits so many of the great tapestry of the times and is an excellent showcase for it. Too bad that he made some disastrous decisions in terms of plotting, casting, and pacing that degrade DDL's stellar contribution.

Now, for films that have gotten worse, I find that a great deal of the films I liked as a kid were really quite bad indeed. Some still survive on the nostalgia factor alone, some turned out to be great movies even in retrospect, but I must have been quite stupid to like some of the stuff I eventually rewatched. I mean, I liked MegaForce? What the hell was wrong with me?
 

Joseph Bolus

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
2,779
Better for me on repeated viewings:

* The Original Star Wars Trilogy
* Raiders of the Lost Ark
* Star Trek movies II through First Contact
* Jaws
* The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly
* The Mummy (The new one)
* Terminator
* T2
* Alien
* Aliens
* The Mask of Zorro
* My Fair Lady
* Singin'in the Rain

Almost all the other movies in my collection (about 300!) seem to retain their original entertainment value for me. I would view any of them at any time.
 

Richard Kim

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The Star Wars PT films . The incredible the action scenes, the intricacies and intrigue of the plot and how they end up tying up with the OT all get bet better with each viewing. I'm sure the films will be viewed in a more positive light once Revenge of the Sith comes out.
 

RobertR

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Dec 19, 1998
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10,675
Better:

Casablanca
Citizen Kane
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
The Godfather
Lawrence of Arabia

Worse:

The SW PT films. I was so reluctant to acknowledge how bad Phantom Menace was at first, but repeated viewings made it virtually unwatchable except for a few select action scenes. I was reminded again of this feeling when I saw some of AOTC on HBO at my aunt's house. I was thinking it was reasonably enjoyable during an action scene....then it switched over to the incredibly vapid, clunky "romance", and the feeling went poof. No subsequent film can possibly redeem them.
 

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