Great Films You Never Intend To See

Cafe Society
1

Are there any films you know are probably very good, but have no intention of ever seeing, simply based on subject material or genre?

Million Dollar Baby - someone spoiled the ending to me, I am not a fan of boxing, and it just seems so depressing so have no intention to ever watch it.
**
Grave of the Fireflies** - supposedly a classic film, but also mentioned as one of the saddest films of all times - pass. Same goes for Dancer In the Dark.

The Hours - great cast, great reviews, but watching a film about three suicidal lesbians? Uh, no.

Letters From Iwo Jima - don’t much like war films, even though I know this is more than just a war film.
**
Beautiful Life** - Roberto Benigni was so annoying in his press junket through the US and his Oscar win, I never want to see the film even though I have heard it was great.

So, any “great films” you have no intention of ever seeing, and why?

2

I have no interest in seeing Gone With the Wind. It looks far too sappy for me.

3

I’m with you on everything but GRAVE (it’s legendary sadness makes me really curious to see it) and LIFE. It’s not that I WON’T watch any of these, but that I’m sure not going to make any effort to see them.

That goes for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, too.

4

They’re not “great” movies, but I have no intention of ever sitting through any of the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

5

Everybody I know tells me how good The Queen is. Having very little interest in our Monarchy, and even less interest in Diana, I’m almost certainly never going to bother watching it though.

6

Everyone keeps telling me how great Titanic is. I still have no intention of ever watching it; I already know how it ends (the boat sinks) and I get irritated when Hollywood takes an already dramatic and story-ful historical incident and slops a crappy love story all over it. This is what made Pearl Harbor suck.

7

I made it several years without seeing that movie. Then, somewhere in high school, one of our teachers played it in class, probably a football coach during that last week of school.
I despised it and I pissed off a bunch of people by giving a detailed argument as to why Billy Zane was the movie’s true sympathetic character.

As for movies I’ll never see… I doubt I’ll ever see Lawrence of Arabia.

8

The Departed. I’ve had a bunch of people – all male, perhaps not coincidentally – tell me what a brilliant film it is. “I hear it’s really violent,” I’ll say. "Well… yeah … " is the inevitable response. Sorry, no interest.

Interestingly enough, despite my oft-stated preference for movies that “aren’t grim,” I loved – just among the films mentioned here – Dancer in the Dark, Million Dollar Baby, and Brokeback Mountain. Also really liked The Queen, though it’s not particularly grim.

Have never seen Titanic, and probably never will, though my disinclination isn’t at a particularly strong level of obstinacy.

9

I’ve never watched any of the Star Wars movie and have no desire to do so. Space operas without irony.

10

I know “Silence of the Lambs” is supposed to be a great movie with great acting, but the subject matter will ever keep me away.

(As to the previously mentioned films, I respect everyone’s not-see-um decisions, except “Lawrence of Arabia”. I saw that pretty late in my life, and I was enjoyably impressed. At the other end of the spectrum, although the 2nd and 3rd Pirates movies were wretched, the first one is still my favorite popcorn-y movie, perfect in its own way.)

11

Dr. Zhivago - I just don’t like epics and this one looks to be boring as hell.
Godfather movies, Casino, Goodfellas, etc. - I don’t like mob movies
Schindler’s List - I don’t want to end up an emotional wreck. Besides, I have an explicable hatred of Liam Neeson. Heck, just add all Holocaust movies in there.

12

Mel Gibson’s Christ movie. Whenever anyone asks if I have seen it I tell them I read the book so I know how it ends.

13

I probably won’t ever get around to watching Battleship Potemkin or Birth of a Nation.

14

I almost regret seeing that movie because it really was that sad. :frowning:

I don’t think I can see Requiem For A Dream.
Have heard good things about it, but it just looks like such a downer.

15

Hah, I came here to mention Million Dollar Baby, because a professor spoiled it for me on Friday. He was like, “you’ve all seen MDB, right?” A few people nodded their heads noncommitally, and he just went right into a big discussion of the ending. Douche.

16

Funny, that’s the exact thing that happened to me. You didn’t happen to go to Lebanon did you?

17

Seconded on Schindler’s List. Also include every disturbing horror movie that has been praised-- Seven? I’m sure it’s a masterpiece. Silence of the Lambs? Likewise. I’ve got a vivid enough imagination as it is, thanks.

18

Neither of those is close to being a horror movie.

I have not seen Blackhawk Down and may never see it.

19

No, but they are “heads in jars/rape with blades/skin as fashion” movies. So, call it what you will.

I’ve never seen “Schindler’s List” either. The documentaries on PBS, etc, with the piles of bodies, and a visit to Dachau, have been enough, TYVM.

20

I may get stoned here but…

I have never seen, and have no desire to see:

Citizen Cane
Casablanca
Chicago
Gone With the Wind
Godfather one, two, three

Really, any movie made before 1975 (with some exceptions, maybe about fifty).

And upon reading the replies so far in this thread, I see I’ve only seen TWO of the movies mentioned so far. Titanic and the movies in the PotC series. Other than those two, never seen any of the rest either and have no desire to.