# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/21 "2007-12-04T04:25:18Z")
I’ll second Hotel Rwanda, great movie, excellent acting, but I could never watch it again. I’ll add Pan’s Labyrinth, I got through it once and I think it was great but I could never watch it again. ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/22 "2007-12-04T04:44:40Z")
Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby tied for first, with Leaving Las Vegas as a close third. Their intensity overwhelms me and I find I can’t watch them again. I plan to do so. Someday. In the future. Not now. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/23 "2007-12-04T04:55:46Z")
[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] Same. ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/24 "2007-12-04T04:56:19Z")
My fiance’ and I sat down to watch Napoleon Dynamite a few years ago and stopped it after twenty minutes. We got so freaking bored that we had a cigarette, made ourselves drinks and put in Man on Fire instead. We were much happier watching Denzel. I’ll second Million Dollar Baby as a movie I don’t think I can watch again. Children of Men is one I _may_ watch again, but it would be really, really hard. It’s a beautifully done piece with outstanding cinematography (especially the scene in the car that’s done in the round, all in one cut), but the last 45 minutes or so are just too rough. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/25 "2007-12-04T05:03:19Z")
to its credit, Napoleon Dynamite is a movie that gets funnier every time you watch it. I HATED the movie the first time I saw it, and this was after my brother made me watch it after he said he watched it about 5 times in a row. I saw it on Comedy Central last night (probably my 5th time), and I couldn’t stop laughing. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/26 "2007-12-04T05:08:51Z")
This doesn’t make any sense to me, but I’ve rented “The Long Hot Summer” three times and have never gotten past the first fifteen minutes or so. Even though I KNOW it features Paul Newman at his most smokin’ hot (and shirtless, no less!), and the clips I’ve seen of him and Joanne Woodward together make me rush to open a window…I just…I don’t know. And I love Faulkner! I should love this movie! But for some reason, I can’t sit still and watch it in its entirety. ---
**Author:** ![Surbey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Surbey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surbey)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/27 "2007-12-04T07:17:32Z")
Memento just no damn point… ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/28 "2007-12-04T07:30:45Z")
Sixth Sense ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/29 "2007-12-04T11:16:19Z")
_The Color Purple._ I’ve seen the whole movie, and then I’ve seen that it’s showing on TV…and I watch about five minutes of it–because I loved it–and I realize that I just don’t have the time or emotional capacity to watch any more of it. Like, “I just don’t think I can cry for the next hour or two right now.” I’m not a huge cry-baby generally; movies that have my mother and various girlfriends bawling will make me well-up a couple times. No big deal. Something about _The Color Purple_ just makes me come apart at the seams. I can’t handle it. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/30 "2007-12-04T11:20:25Z")
[QUOTE=fusoya] to its credit, Napoleon Dynamite is a movie that gets funnier every time you watch it. I HATED the movie the first time I saw it, and this was after my brother made me watch it after he said he watched it about 5 times in a row. I saw it on Comedy Central last night (probably my 5th time), and I couldn’t stop laughing. [/QUOTE] Everybody that I know–literally–says the exact same thing, including myself. A buddy made me watch it one night and I was bored and restless and didn’t get it at all. “WTF is the deal with this movie? It has no plot, it sucks, I don’t get it, it’s boring…” And then I’ve seen it again, and again, and again. I love it. You have to make peace with it. Step inside the world it creates. I really don’t know anyone who loved it the first time they saw it…but for some reason, most of my friends have seen it again and loved it the second, third, fourth time around. One of the most quotable movies I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Leechboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Leechboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leechboy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/31 "2007-12-04T12:12:04Z")
[QUOTE=Audrey Levins] Everybody that I know–literally–says the exact same thing, including myself. A buddy made me watch it one night and I was bored and restless and didn’t get it at all. “WTF is the deal with this movie? It has no plot, it sucks, I don’t get it, it’s boring…” And then I’ve seen it again, and again, and again. I love it. You have to make peace with it. Step inside the world it creates. I really don’t know anyone who loved it the first time they saw it…but for some reason, most of my friends have seen it again and loved it the second, third, fourth time around. One of the most quotable movies I’ve ever seen. [/QUOTE] I find it’s easier if you explain to people that it’s like a standard teen comedy made with a cast of autistic\* kids. For mine, I have tried several times to get through **Solaris** and just could not do it. Even after watching a brilliant doco on Tartovsky that explained his approach, I just could not escape the ponderous boredom of it all. - I have a daughter on the autism spectrum, and both Napoleon and Pedro seem to up there as well. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/32 "2007-12-04T12:29:34Z")
**La vita e bella** - I don’t think I could cope. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/33 "2007-12-04T12:49:30Z")
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness] 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 [/QUOTE] _singing_ “Clowns to the left of me, Jokers on the right, Here I am…” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/34 "2007-12-04T15:15:58Z")
_A.I, Life is Beautiful_ and _The Sixth Sense_ all blew me away when I saw them, but their child-in-danger theme and overwhelming sense of sadness and loss make me very unlikely to ever see them again. Once in a lifetime is probably enough. ---
**Author:** ![muzzynyc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@muzzynyc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muzzynyc)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/35 "2007-12-04T17:23:11Z")
Yeah, Requiem for A Dream. Really well done and effective and I don’t ever EVER need to see it again. My wife bought it on dvd and I don’t even like having it in the house. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/36 "2007-12-04T20:03:26Z")
I’ll second _Life is Beautiful_. I thought it was a great movie, but I don’t think I can watch it again, especially now that I have a son. Which sucks because my husband has never seen it and I want to see it again with him, but I just don’t think I ever will. _The Thin Red Line_ is another one I won’t watch again. That happens to me a lot - I will see a movie once and think it is great but never want to see it again. I’ll see that it’s on or whatever, and think “I should watch that” but I just don’t want to invest the emotional effort it will take. Sometimes that happens before I even see a movie, just from hearing about it. _Hotel Rwanda_ and _Million Dollar Baby_ are 2 examples of movies I haven’t seen, want to see, but when the time comes I think “I just am not in the mood for this right now.” I don’t own many movies for that reason, I’m not one to watch stuff over and over except a few comedies. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/37 "2007-12-04T20:10:40Z")
Ditto _Requiem for a Dream_ and _Leaving Las Vegas_. Great films, never watching them again. My nomination is _Dogville_. I spent the movie thinking “I’m going to watch this until the end, and then never ever watch it again”. Then came the final scene. Wow on a trumpet. But I’m still never watching it again. ---
**Author:** ![Saratoga\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Saratoga\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saratoga_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/38 "2007-12-04T20:17:18Z")
_Johnny Got His Gun_ Saw this in a campus theater full of students back in 1973…only time I’ve seen the entire audience stay to the end then leave in dead silence. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/39 "2007-12-04T20:38:22Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] My nomination is _Dogville_. I spent the movie thinking “I’m going to watch this until the end, and then never ever watch it again”. Then came the final scene. Wow on a trumpet. But I’m still never watching it again. [/QUOTE] OMG, yes! Dogville. Just reading the movie’s name sent waves of nausea through me. ---
**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, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712/40 "2007-12-04T23:46:48Z")
[QUOTE=Velma] That happens to me a lot - I will see a movie once and think it is great but never want to see it again. I’ll see that it’s on or whatever, and think “I should watch that” but I just don’t want to invest the emotional effort it will take. Sometimes that happens before I even see a movie, just from hearing about it. Hotel Rwanda and Million Dollar Baby are 2 examples of movies I haven’t seen, want to see, but when the time comes I think “I just am not in the mood for this right now.” [/QUOTE] This is exactly me. I have to be in the perfect mood for a good drama or else I come away exhausted and depressed. I’m sure I’ve missed out on many great films just because I’ve been unwilling to take the emotional risk. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-films-you-cannot-bring-yourself-to-keep-watching/428712.md?page=3)