Fargo. To hear people talk about it, you would think it is one of the best movies ever made. Frances Mcdormand won a Best Actress Oscar for it but for me it was just OK. Good movie but not earth-shattering.
Magnolia. I keep hearing about how its a movie about coincidences. Bullshit! There were no coincidences in the movie. You want coincidences, try Grand Canyon. Hell even Two Days in the Valley would be a better example. As a movie, good but not great.
What movies do others rave about that are just mediocre for you?
At the risk of serious abuse from Movie Fans and Buffs, I will mention Citizen Kane which I saw for the first time as a teenager in the 50’s on one of those “Fabulous Films of the Forties” programs. Yes, it would already have been as old as I was (it came out the year I was born!) and that was way before I had learned (to some degree) to appreciate the film science and technology innovations CK introduced.
It was until recent years on every critic’s Top X-Number list at the #1 slot and was used as a basis for film school technical excellence.
I have yet to learn all I need to know to think of it as a great movie. It would not make my Top 20, for sure.
Alien. As I’ve pointed out many times before, it’s a pure example of an idiot plot – it only works because everyone involved is an idiot and everyone does the stupidest thing possible at any given money.
I couldn’t relate to the characters in Fargo because they were too inept and I couldn’t relate to the characters in Being John Malkovich because they were all unlikeable (except for Charlie Sheen as himself! Winning!)
Apocalypse Now was a bunch of gibberish and then Marlon Brando showed up.
The Graduate has not aged well.
Mulholland Drive was a shitty TV show that was canceled before it ever aired so it became a shitty movie instead.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had a flashback within a flashback! How is that even legal?
Not always. As a rule, I’m not much into Hayes era movies, but I can get into some crime dramas and noir and the like. Romances of any era bore me, though.
Agree with you about The Hurt Locker, but not because I think the movie is weak. The movie is shot in that “moving camera” style that I loathe. The Hurt Locker actually made my wife motion sick, and I couldn’t figure out why I had a massive headache until she asked to leave and told me why. The “moving camera” was just too much. I’ve recently seen the movie on cable, and the effect is worse on my TV. I have literally never seen the movie from start to finish. It took me three separate viewings to catch all the parts of the movie. It is a very good movie, and I have no problem with it winning the oscar. But when I watch a movie, I want to enjoy it without feeling like I’m on a small boat in the middle of the north atlantic.
My nomination for this thread is Avatar.
If you’re interested in learning why it’s so revered and influential, I highly recommend watching the DVD with Roger Ebert’s commentary track. You may still come out of it not liking the film, but it’s an interesting, educational, and fun explanation of why so many people consider the film one of the greatest ever made.
I have tried and failed to watch several great movies at various times. I kept trying to watch Brokeback Mountain, for instance, and frankly I’d rather watch paint dry. Now, I normally knit or crochet when watching TV shows or movies, but I kept putting down the needlework and started doing stuff like reorganizing my books. That movie bored me to tears.
Thanks for the lack of abuse. I may just follow your advice and get the DVD. Ebert has taught me many things that have helped me appreciate (if not like) movies that were not quite “my cup of tea.” Even though he has missed the boat on enough movies I consider way better than he did (Blade Runner and Raising Arizona to name two) his insights and special knowledge have led me to trust him at at least the 80% mark.
I would also love to hear Ebert’s frame-by-frame analysis of Pulp Fiction, which I consider one of the 50 best movies ever.
Just to add one more bit of negative bias to the thread’s intent, I find it hard to relate to (and especially like) movies made before I came into the world. As years go on, I add a few to the list of the ones I can tolerate, but for me the “good movies” didn’t really get started until the 1960’s, and there are plenty of them that are just really weak nowadays, not that weakness didn’t just go away after the 60’s!.
My wife may toss one your way, but there’s a little story you might relate to. She loaned our VHS copy to our son-in-law for his evaluation. His critique: “I kept waiting for her to take her clothes off or for them to blow something up!”
I love Mancini’s music regardless, BaT is a fave in that respect, but I have seen too many movies he made the music for that even that wouldn’t save. I would give BaT maybe a 6 on the 10 scale.
That’s a good idea about watching Citizen Kane with a commentary - I know it’s supposed to be this incredible, game-changing movie, but it bored me, too.
To get more modern, I’ll nominate the Pirates of the Caribbean series. We were watching an ad for the fourth one recently, and I said something like, “I just really didn’t enjoy those. I have no intention of going to see the third one,” at which time my husband informed me that this was the fourth one. Well, my point still stands (and I’m not going to see the fourth one, either).
