# Great Films You Never Intend To See **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2007, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885 "2007-09-03T08:51:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/41 "2007-09-04T02:32:06Z")
Another vote for “Gone With The Wind”. Never seen it, don’t ever intend to. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/42 "2007-09-04T02:46:42Z")
Schindler’s List Brokeback Mountain The Godfather and the Godfather II ---
**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:** [September 4, 2007, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/43 "2007-09-04T03:15:48Z")
> [@](#): > > This is the movie that immediately popped into my mind when I read the OP. This too. I stumbled upon the short story at about the time that movie came out, and it bored me to tears. ---
**Author:** ![fruitbat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@fruitbat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fruitbat)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/44 "2007-09-04T03:37:16Z")
I will never watch a Fellini film. I saw a bit of one and thought it was horrible and I have found Italian cinema, especially Antonioni to be completely unwatchable. I also avoided Brokeback Mountain for ages for no reason that I could articulate except that it seemed like an emotionally manipulative ‘issue movie’. I was wrong. I thought it was fantastic, and if anything it didn’t get enough credit for how well done it was. I have seen all of the other movies people have mentioned, but I am an avid watcher and have spent countless hours of my life with movies. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/45 "2007-09-04T03:37:24Z")
Schindler’s list , I was scarred for life watching fog and mist in 5th grade, that was enough realism for me. Titanic , if my step daughters couldn’t stop talking about it I knew I didn’t want to see it. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/46 "2007-09-04T03:41:04Z")
[QUOTE=Surbey] **Stardust** [/QUOTE] You probably(?) mean the new one, but how about [this one](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072201/)? It’s the sequel to [That’ll Be The Day](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070788/). Together, the movies portray the rise and fall of a rock star, with various “real” rock stars in the cast. Not “great” films, but worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/47 "2007-09-04T14:58:35Z")
I can echo a lot of these: Million Dollar Baby Brokeback Mountain Gone with the Wind Citizen Kane Passion of the Christ Lawrence of Arabia Doctor Zhivago I admit that I’ve tried to watch them but got bored or annoyed. Doing a quick scan of the Best Picture nominees and winners I see tons that just do not appeal to me for various reasons: Capote Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World The Pianist Life is Beautiful Unforgiven Dances with Wolves Howards End And this is only going back to 1990. I rarely like “period pieces” or historical films. Cowboy movies/westerns have little appeal. The “sweeping epics” bore me to tears. ---
**Author:** ![NailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@NailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NailBunny)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/48 "2007-09-04T15:19:08Z")
Wow, so many movies I love listed here…_Gone With the Wind_ (which, incidentally, I bribed Mr. Bunny into watching with me recently - and he ended up loving every minute of it), _Life is Beautiful_, _PotC_, _Dancer in the Dark_, _Seven_… On the other hand, you all have listed perfectly acceptable answers as to why you don’t want to see those, so fair enough. Myself, I’ll go with _American History X_ (that’s the name of that neo-Nazi movie, right?)…I’m sure it’s thought-provoking and well-acted and all the other things I’ve heard about it, but I’m just…good without it, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/49 "2007-09-04T15:25:20Z")
[QUOTE=erie774] Capote Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World [/QUOTE] If this one is out, I’m renting it tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/50 "2007-09-04T15:47:05Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik] If this one is out, I’m renting it tonight. [/QUOTE] OK, I would go see Truman Capote as the captain of a frigate in the Royal Navy. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/51 "2007-09-04T16:23:15Z")
I don’t understand why some have no desire to see The Godfather (I or II). If for no other reason you get to see that Al Pacino was actually a great actor instead of the scenery chewing caricature he became. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/52 "2007-09-04T17:24:17Z")
Pasolini’s **Salo** is the only one I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Llyzabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Llyzabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llyzabeth)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/53 "2007-09-04T17:35:27Z")
Okay, I’m gonna get slammed for this, I know I will but…I HATED “Knocked Up.” Uncomfortable, rarely funny, completely predictable movie. Everybody keeps going on and ON about how great it was, and I got dragged in by friends and I want my two hours back. So when people start saying what a great movie “40-year old virgin” is I tune them out completely. Ditto any really “popular” movie of the moment, like “Chuck and Larry” and “SuperBad” and I’m so sorry, ANYTHING with Will Ferrell. Partly it’s the hype. Partly it’s 'cause I’m a snob. (But a pretty undiscriminating snob, because I LOVED Stardust, Seven, Hot Fuzz, and the second Pirate’s movie, so I’m all over the place.) ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/54 "2007-09-05T01:38:53Z")
**Chicago** , **Moulin Rouge** , and **The Pianist**. **Chicago** and **Moulin Rouge** : musicals, bleh. Catherine Zeta-Jones, yum, Ewan McGreggor, cool, but not enough to turn the balance toward actually seeing them. Everyone says they’re good, but they’re just not my thing. Stage musicals are kind of fun every once in a long while, but movie musicals leave me cold. **The Pianist** : yet another holocaust movie about, shock and surprise, a Jew. You know, there were about 6 million other people from oppressed groups who died in the camps. Why not make a movie about a Gypsy or token fag every once in a while? (Yes, I’m deliberately being slightly offensive in my choice of language here.) Hell, make a movie about the Warsaw uprising, or one of the [rebellions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_resistance_during_the_Holocaust#Resistance_in_the_concentration_camps) at the death camps. I’m tired of existentialist wanks where everyone goes marching meekly toward their deaths. Sure, there’s no way to even improvise a happy ending out of those incidents, since they ended by being overwhelmed and pretty much everyone dying, but so what? It happened, it was real, and it shows a lot more passion of human existence than the typical holocaust movie drudgery. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/55 "2007-09-05T01:52:24Z")
[QUOTE=Sleel] **The Pianist** : yet another holocaust movie about, shock and surprise, a Jew. You know, there were about 6 million other people from oppressed groups who died in the camps. Why not make a movie about a Gypsy or token fag every once in a while? (Yes, I’m deliberately being slightly offensive in my choice of language here.) Hell, make a movie about the Warsaw uprising, or one of the [rebellions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_resistance_during_the_Holocaust#Resistance_in_the_concentration_camps) at the death camps. I’m tired of existentialist wanks where everyone goes marching meekly toward their deaths. Sure, there’s no way to even improvise a happy ending out of those incidents, since they ended by being overwhelmed and pretty much everyone dying, but so what? It happened, it was real, and it shows a lot more passion of human existence than the typical holocaust movie drudgery. [/QUOTE] [Resistance in concentration camp.](http://imdb.com/title/tt0092978/) ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/56 "2007-09-05T03:23:21Z")
**The Wedding Singer**. I was into SNL during the early 90’s, when Sandler’s appearance was the signal that even the writers knew the skit had run out of steam. When he became their headliner, that was when I gave up on SNL. I’ve heard from people that this film is pretty good, but I will never get past the conviction that any time spent watching Sandler is a waste of the finite time I have on earth. That goes double for Tom Green. **Titanic**. It’s probably not a bad film, but there’s so much more out there about the Titanic that actually covers what I’m interested in. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/57 "2007-09-05T03:42:52Z")
[QUOTE=Sleel] **The Pianist** : yet another holocaust movie about, shock and surprise, a Jew. You know, there were about 6 million other people from oppressed groups who died in the camps. Why not make a movie about a Gypsy or token fag every once in a while? (Yes, I’m deliberately being slightly offensive in my choice of language here.) Hell, make a movie about the Warsaw uprising, or one of the [rebellions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_resistance_during_the_Holocaust#Resistance_in_the_concentration_camps) at the death camps. I’m tired of existentialist wanks where everyone goes marching meekly toward their deaths. Sure, there’s no way to even improvise a happy ending out of those incidents, since they ended by being overwhelmed and pretty much everyone dying, but so what? It happened, it was real, and it shows a lot more passion of human existence than the typical holocaust movie drudgery. [/QUOTE] To be fair, this was a pretty detailed account of an actual individual’s struggles during the holocaust. And they actually DO show an uprising in it. This story is particularly interesting as we follow a man who (spoilered just in case) survived by hiding in various places by not just lying down and letting the Nazis kill him, but by escaping from the ghetto and work camps. He was also ultimately helped by a German officer who fed him and gave him his coat when it was clear that the Germans were going to lose. All of this is depicted in the movie and the movie, in the end, becomes surprisingly inspirational. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/58 "2007-09-05T13:51:30Z")
[QUOTE=Llyzabeth] Okay, I’m gonna get slammed for this, I know I will but…I HATED “Knocked Up.” Uncomfortable, rarely funny, completely predictable movie. Everybody keeps going on and ON about how great it was, and I got dragged in by friends and I want my two hours back. So when people start saying what a great movie “40-year old virgin” is I tune them out completely. Ditto any really “popular” movie of the moment, like “Chuck and Larry” and “SuperBad” and I’m so sorry, ANYTHING with Will Ferrell. Partly it’s the hype. Partly it’s 'cause I’m a snob. (But a pretty undiscriminating snob, because I LOVED Stardust, Seven, Hot Fuzz, and the second Pirate’s movie, so I’m all over the place.) [/QUOTE] Totally, totally, totally, completely agree. Such a bad movie that I walked out of it when she went into labor. You know, when you’re watching a film and trying to calculate how many “fuck”'s are spoken per minute, it’s really time to go. ---
**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:** [September 5, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/59 "2007-09-05T15:50:07Z")
- _Schindler’s List_ - And just about any Holocaust movie. It happened, it was horrible and never (I hope) to be repeated, but I don’t want to watch movies about it. Ditto movies about the Deep South before or during the Civil Rights Movement. Vile rednecks on the silver screen bore me. _The Shawshank Redemption_ - Lots of friends have gushed about it, but it just doesn’t interest me. _The Passion of the Christ_ - Sounds like violence porn, so no thanks. Jesus suffered plenty, I know. Flogging and crucifixion were no fun at all, and I don’t want to wallow in it. _Raging Bull_ and any boxing movies. Anything by Chevy Chase (even _Foul Play_ and _Fletch_ were meh), Tom Green or Rowan Atkinson. Can’t stand 'em. _Brokeback Mountain_ - I know so much about it from reviews and friends’ comments that I now have no interest in actually seeing it. Slasher and serial-killer films generally (although I made an exception for _Seven_, and actually thought it was pretty good). Ditto fart-joke/sex-crazed movies pitched to teens. ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885/60 "2007-09-05T16:06:10Z")
**Saving Private Ryan** **The Passion of the Christ** **Titanic** I feel like I’ve had enough tragedy in my life without vicariously experiencing someone else’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-films-you-never-intend-to-see/417885.md?page=4)