# Great(?) movie you just didn't think was great. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664 "2011-05-29T15:22:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/41 "2011-05-29T22:16:00Z")
There Will Be Blood. There will be boring. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/42 "2011-05-29T22:38:45Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > There Will Be Blood. There will be boring. Question for you, because I am working on a theory, did you see it in a theater or at home? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/43 "2011-05-29T22:48:50Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > _Big Fish_ and _Adaptation_. Not my cups of tea. _Big Fish_ was emotionally devastating for me because of my own complicated relationship with my father. So it may have been what I brought to it myself, but I think it is the greatest film that Tim Burton has done. > [@Zeldar](#): > > 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. Did you see it in the theater or on TV? Because it just does not work on TV. It has to be seen in a theater, ideally a theater that existed when the film was new, to have it’s full impact. No, I’m not kidding. I first saw it at the Music Box in Chicago, and seeing the film on that size screen had a huge impact that just is not there on any TV. The sound of Kane and his wife talking in their big, stupid house filled with crates was emotionally devastating when heard in a big theater. It was the difference between making love and masturbation. > [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > **Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon** had a flashback within a flashback! How is that even legal? I didn’t fully appreciate this film until the 3rd time I saw it. The first time, I was following the story. The second time, I was watching the actor who was talking. The third time was the one that really hit me - I was watching the actor who wasn’t talking, seeing their face. The whole actual story is in what isn’t said. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > I know those movies aren’t “great”, but another one that is supposed to be is The Hurt Locker. I saw this in a really great theater, and I think that has a lot to do with why I love it. Kansas City’s Mainstreet Theater has 11 channel sound and bass shakers under each seat. The explosions and the sub-sonics sucked me into the world the men were in. I walked out of that film _stunned_. > [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_… just couldn’t sit through it. I find Audrey Hepburn annoying in general anyways. Do I need to dodge any tomatoes now? :eek: One that I agree with. I don’t get the love for this. Her character was a dishonest whore, and the only thing worse was Mickey Rooney’s racist freak show. > [@drm](#): > > I don’t enjoy **Boogie Nights**. I would’ve been kicked out of film school had I admitted that. I just never get drawn in. It’s not a poorly made movie or anything, just don’t enjoy watching it. I loved it from the first camera move - all two minutes and forty-five seconds of it. I was practically giggling in delight. > [@pinkfreud](#): > > Once a guy almost punched me because I told him I didn’t like _Solaris_ (this was back when there was just one version of _Solaris_). I didn’t like the remake either, but at least it provided the eye-candy of George Clooney. I am a big SF fan, but both of these movies just left me cold. Cold and bored. I saw this in the theater. I went because I love Stanislaw Lem’s work, and the film made me realize just how brilliant his English translator was, and that this person was not involved in this film. The sub-titles were terrible and the translation clunky. The theater was mostly full at the beginning, and me and one other couple made it to the end. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/44 "2011-05-29T23:28:44Z")
_Cat on a Hot Tin Roof_ was awful. Awful! ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/45 "2011-05-29T23:34:55Z")
But goddamn is Paul Newman hot in it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/46 "2011-05-29T23:47:06Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Why _Ryan_? Was it the comedown from Omaha? Admitedly the beginning set a high bar, but the rest was very good, IMO. The landing battle scene was great. The rest of the movie was a pretty average war movie that didn’t have anything that dozens of other movies hadn’t already had. I also thought the “earn this” line was really terrible. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/47 "2011-05-30T00:17:35Z")
Pulp Fiction for me. I love John Travolta, and eagerly awaited seeing it and… meh. Was not impressed. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/48 "2011-05-30T00:46:38Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_… just couldn’t sit through it. I find Audrey Hepburn annoying in general anyways. Do I need to dodge any tomatoes now? :eek: I’ve always believed that Hepburn was miscast for that role. It should have been Marilyn Monroe. My least favorite “great” movie is \*Taxi Driver. \*I even forced myself to watch it a second time, thinking that I must have missed something. I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/49 "2011-05-30T00:55:19Z")
Like I’ve said in previous threads like this…_The Big Lebowski_. It’s not shit, but I just don’t see what the big deal is. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/50 "2011-05-30T01:09:49Z")
> [@tingbudong](#): > > Like I’ve said in previous threads like this…_The Big Lebowski_. It’s not shit, but I just don’t see what the big deal is. That’s funny, I’m one of the world’s biggest fans of the coen brothers but if I decide to rewatch one of their movies, it’s almost never The Big Lebowski (or Raising Arizona for that matter). Like you said, not shit by any means but a bit overrated. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/51 "2011-05-30T01:14:29Z")
“Pulp Fiction” for me too. Had no interest in seeing it when it came out and didn’t get around to renting it until several years later. Just totally unappealing. “The Hangover”. I rented it _twice_ and never finished it. I’m kind of bummed about that because everyone seems to think it’s hilarious and it in fact \*should \*be but I just can’t get into it. “The Dark Knight”. Admittedly, that’s not usually a genre I watch and I’m one of those that saw it solely for Heath Ledger’s performance. It seemed to have potential but aside from the visuals it was a snorefest. Same for “Inception”. It was really cool to look at but not worth the effort it takes to really grasp what’s going. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/52 "2011-05-30T01:37:03Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Your thinking of “When Harry Met Sally”. Yep. I get all rom-coms mixed up, they’re all the same to me. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/53 "2011-05-30T01:38:31Z")
I think the worst thing about _Saving Private Ryan_ is the fact that they gave the German soldiers shaved heads to try to make them look evil. This may seem like a really minor quibble, but it’s actually a very big deal if you think about it for a minute. The film’s whole big selling point that it was so heralded for was the fact that it supposedly showed war “as it really was.” That is incompatible with turning the villains into caricatures of “bad guys” and the shaved heads did just that, as the producers know damn well that it dehumanized the enemy. It is not historically accurate. German troops of WWII did not have shaved or even close-cropped hair, but typically had their hair in the style of the time, which was medium length and usually parted or combed back with grease. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/54 "2011-05-30T01:41:57Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > \The third time was the one that really hit me - I was watching the actor who wasn’t talking, seeing their face. The whole actual story is in what isn’t said.\ I would say this is true for _Brokeback Mountain_ too. I can see people seeing it as a boring movie, but it took me almost a year to get over it after seeing it, I was so caught in their world. Everything was said in a look and a word - it wasn’t spelled out for you. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/55 "2011-05-30T02:16:03Z")
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned this yet, but **Goodfellas**. I just don’t like gangster movies, okay? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/56 "2011-05-30T02:29:53Z")
> [@Maiira](#): > > I’m surprised no one’s mentioned this yet, but **Goodfellas**. > > I just don’t like gangster movies, okay? There’s a difference between a genre and a specific movie. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/57 "2011-05-30T02:43:48Z")
I hate to say it, but _Gigli_. To hear people talk about it you’d think that it was the greatest, edgiest romantic comedy of the last 50 years, but I’m sorry, the story was forced and the dialogue was simply painful. I’m probably stepping on a lot of toes here, but man, _Gigli_ was just an awful, awful movie. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/58 "2011-05-30T02:50:12Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > It’s already been mentioned, but Apocalypse Now. Just a great big mess of a movie that I wouldn’t sit through again if you paid me. I should be in the Apocalypse Now target market sweet spot; white male, 39, served in the army, love guy movies. It has all the elements of greatness; great actors, great lines of dialogue, shit blowing up, The Doors, you name it. But, yeah, the movie’s a fucking mess. I was probably 14, 15 when I first saw it and even then thought “Jesus, this is some pretentious shit.” When they released Apocalypse Now Redux with almost an hour of additional footage, the very thought of watching it made me shiver. Another hour of that crap? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/59 "2011-05-30T03:14:22Z")
And, now I come away with what I always suspected------don’t tell people what you think is a good movie, or a good restaurant. People have too many different tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664/60 "2011-05-30T03:18:05Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > And, now I come away with what I always suspected------don’t tell people what you think is a good movie, or a good restaurant. People have too many different tastes. Why should that prevent you from telling people what you think is a good movie or a good restaurant? I actually like hearing people tell me why they hate movies I love, or love movies I hate. Differing tastes is a good thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-movie-you-just-didnt-think-was-great/583664.md?page=4)