# Good films you cannot bring yourself to keep watching **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712 "2007-12-03T22:04:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/1 "2007-12-03T22:04:45Z")
Schindler’s List was on TV recently and I happenned on it quite early on, not at the start. But I found that, knowing the subject matter, I simply could not bear to keep watching and switched it off after 5 minutes. Which films have had this effect on you? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/2 "2007-12-03T22:18:18Z")
Do you mean good films we can’t bring ourselves to watch _even once_? In that case, I can’t think of any. But any time _Leaving Las Vegas_ is on, as great as I thought it was, I can’t watch. Knowing what’s coming doesn’t make it any easier. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/3 "2007-12-03T22:27:23Z")
Not a film as such, but I can’t go anywhere near _Othello_. Can’t watch or read the play in movie or any other form, can’t hear a note from Verdi’s opera, can barely hear it mentioned. It just totally kills me. It’s too sad! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/4 "2007-12-03T22:28:26Z")
[The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097108/). Stunning cinematography and _Hellen Mirren sex scenes_ can’t get me past the awfulness of that husband of hers. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/5 "2007-12-03T22:39:02Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] [The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097108/). [/QUOTE] Me too. My high school girlfriend had a couple psycho parents, and that movie triggers flashbacks for me in a pretty dumb way (no, they never forced me to eat her cooked remains, but still). Also: _Reservoir Dogs_. I can watch it right up until a certain scene, and you know which one I mean, but I gotta leave then. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/6 "2007-12-03T22:40:45Z")
I heard somewhere that _Godfather_ and _Godfather II_ are considered above average by some people, but I’ve never been able to sit through either. Too slow. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/7 "2007-12-03T23:01:14Z")
I’ve never seen all of [Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061184/). The characters of George and Martha remind me of my parents, and their verbal battles bring back memories that are best not remembered. I read the play when I was in college, and it didn’t affect me nearly as much. There’s something about hearing the lines read aloud that makes me feel very uncomfortable. ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/8 "2007-12-03T23:03:16Z")
_The Deer Hunter_. I have had nightmares about that Russian Roulette scene. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/9 "2007-12-04T00:44:00Z")
I loved both _Brokeback Mountain_ and _No Country for Old Men_, and will never, ever even consider the possibility of watching either a second time. They’re just too earth-shatteringly bleak. ---
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/10 "2007-12-04T00:48:47Z")
_House of Sand and Fog_. Good movie, but the end…yowsa. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/11 "2007-12-04T00:52:43Z")
“Casualties Of War”. I’m told it’s an excellent movie, and the few minutes of it that I saw were very well done, but it’s so hideously unpleasant that I walked out. Pretty much any film with horrific rape scenes in it, really. ---
**Author:** ![1point618](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/c57346/32.png) [@1point618](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1point618)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/12 "2007-12-04T00:54:11Z")
To derail the thread yet more, I couldn’t watch _Requiem for a Dream_ again, even having sat through it a first time. I also have a hard time with scary movies in general, so haven’t even attempted to watch many which are considered great films (_The Shining_ comes to mind). As to movies that I started watching, but couldn’t finish even though they were good movies, I can’t think of any. Usually if I stop watching a movie, it’s because I really don’t like it and don’t consider it good. Also, I tend to watch through most movies even if I don’t like them much. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/13 "2007-12-04T00:56:51Z")
This is perhaps a bit out of theme, but… I have found that True Lies is a much, much better movie if you stop it right after the nuclear weapon on the island explodes. Just skip to the last tango scene. Seriously, it improves the movie tremendously. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/14 "2007-12-04T01:08:50Z")
I have tried to watch _Beyond Borders_ three times, and have never managed to finish it. The plot (as far as I’ve seen it) is fascinating enough – it’s about poverty in Africa, and human rights violations and the human side of world aide-- that markets itself as some kind of cheesy [romantic thriller](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294357/plotsummary). The cinematography is epic and beautiful, the emotional points are salient and visceral… But there are some images in that film, of emaciated starving children crawling through the desert, of Ethiopians in triage receiving operations with no anesthetic – that is just way too much for me make it all the way through. It is just way too good at portraying reality. I’m getting all worked up just thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/15 "2007-12-04T01:28:00Z")
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness] Also: _Reservoir Dogs_. I can watch it right up until a certain scene, and you know which one I mean, but I gotta leave then. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I hate it when people won’t tip. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/16 "2007-12-04T01:31:08Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] I heard somewhere that _Godfather_ and _Godfather II_ are considered above average by some people, but I’ve never been able to sit through either. Too slow. [/QUOTE] I thought so, too…now that I’ve seen them both, I really enjoy watching them, though. I’d recommend another try for both, but to each their own. To the OP–hey, at least you weren’t making out during it. ---
**Author:** ![neorxnawange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f4b2a3/32.png) [@neorxnawange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neorxnawange)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/17 "2007-12-04T01:49:07Z")
[QUOTE=Leviosaurus] _The Deer Hunter_. I have had nightmares about that Russian Roulette scene. [/QUOTE] “What part of _di-di-mau_ don’t you understand?” ---
**Author:** ![Nightingale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@Nightingale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightingale)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/18 "2007-12-04T02:27:03Z")
_Hotel Rwanda_ I’ve seen it once, thought that the performances and story were amazing, and I just can’t watch it again. The subject matter is simply too horrible. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/19 "2007-12-04T03:19:30Z")
**Titus**. I feel sick just thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![ChordedZither](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@ChordedZither](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChordedZither)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/20 "2007-12-04T04:04:21Z")
I was once part of a stage crew for a production of Glass Menagerie. Sitting there listening to those characters building up to an emotional train-wreck, night after night, for weeks through rehearsals and then the actual performances, was so depressing that I now cannot bear to sit through _any_ movie or play by Tennessee Williams. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712.md?page=2)