Children of Men, a most offensive piece of preachy pretentious SHIT. Oh, you’re making Nazi and biblical references as social commentary AND you’re using the war in Iraq as an example? That’s so fuckin fresh! Hey, let’s couch it in John Lennon peacenik songs for irony value. We’re so fucking clever! Fuck you, fucks.
Blood Diamond. This movie was so preachy it made me want to run out to Tiffany and personally request the names of the Africans that my soon to be purchased diamond had cost.
American Beauty. Even though I love Allan Ball’s work, he does tend to be pretentious. The bigoted nazi sympathizing soldier is a closeted homosexual. Pot is the gateway to enlightenment. People who seem happy aren’t. Money and success corrupts. Artistic druggy kids are the only ones above it all. The gay couple are the only happy characters.
Almost everything by David Lynch.
The list is long, but The Matrix is near, if not at, the top.
The Good Shepherd. Plodding, stilted, mannered, and took itself waaaaaaaay too seriously. Never mind that the story is more complicated than interesting.
Forrest Gump, anyone?
SIDEWAYS. I will never, ever understand who could possibly enjoy this film aside from the most repulsive sort of self-obsessed wine snob. The success of this film in critical and high-class circles helps me understand why we liberals are viewed with such disgust in America.
Though I will admit that pinot noir is, indeed, a very nice wine.
I don’t want to start anything, but… Care to elaborate?
I know I’m in the minority for enjoying the whole trilogy, and yes, the work does have a lot of christ-figure elements and religious memes. But I never felt like it was actually “preaching” much of anything. Except maybe belief in the ability of man to triumph in the face of adversity, but even then it wasn’t couched in terms anywhere near as strongly or forcefully as your average “the underdog wins” sports flick. All-in-all, it just used those elements to add dramatic weight to the story, but the Matrix was no profound philosophical statement, just a pure-entertainment storyline that used such concepts to add color. But of course, that’s just my opinion.
So I’m kind of curious, what about it would make you describe it as preachy? What key message was it trying to convey?
First things that come to mind:
Saving Private Ryan - I’m sure I read a comic book with the same plot when I was a kid but it was less contrived and more emotionally involving.
Gladiator - how do they get all that dialogue out and keep straight faces.
2001 A Space Idiocy - the magic touch of Kubrick
Eyes Wide Shut - another home run for the K-man
The English Patient - beautiful plumage.
Lost in Translation - a movie that introduces an exceptionally vapid character to hide how vapid the leads are.
Crash.
I am continually astounded by this (commonly held) point of view.
Wasn’t the point of the movie to SKEWER – and I mean absolutely fucking eviscerate – self-obsessed wine snobs? Has a more pathetic character ever graced the screen than Miles?
I mean. . .you’re not alone. That seems to be the prevailing criticism, but I have no idea how people have come to view this movie as pretentious when the entire point of the movie was to destroy pretentiousness.
I don’t know if this counts as “mainstream”, but I found “Being John Malkovich” to be pretentious, boring twaddle.
I agree with the OP that “Children of Men” is pretentious, but I don’t think it’s shit. I actually think it’s a well-made scifi film with good acting, excellent cinematography and a fairly interesting story. It only gets really pretentious in a few spots, IMHO. It was overrated by a number of people (again, IMHO) but it’s still a decent (if sometimes preachy) film.
And on preview, and I see that OneCentStamp brings up another that I agree with.
No other recent movie comes close to this tripe- 10 years from now people will be saying “that piece of shit won an Oscar?” I mean, those that aren’t already saying it now.
I loved Happy Feet until the beat-you-about-the-head-and-neck for twenty minutes save-the-fishes ending.
Magnolia was so unbearable my wife and I quit watching after 20 minutes.
American Beauty
In my view Miles was meant to be tragic but basically sympathetic (rather than how I, and apparently you, saw him, repulsive and unbelievably boring). Recall the scene where he was expounding on the virtues of Pinot Noir to that girl he liked. There’s no question that we were meant to admire, sincerely admire, his passion about wine – and yes, to pity his inability to translate that passion into real life. And the movie portrays their travels in the wine country as some beautiful and noble quest, even if Jack can’t appreciate it.
It just reeked to me of priveleged snobs lamenting on how little appreciation they (personified as Miles) get for their strenuous efforts to foist their obnoxious version of ‘culture’ on us oafs (personified by Jack – who, despite being even more despicable than Miles, provided the only redeeming moments in the film).
[QUOTE=spazurekIt just reeked to me of priveleged snobs lamenting on how little appreciation they (personified as Miles) get for their strenuous efforts to foist their obnoxious version of ‘culture’ on us oafs (personified by Jack – who, despite being even more despicable than Miles, provided the only redeeming moments in the film).[/QUOTE]
I agree with your description, but not your conclusion. I tend to think that it was the filmmaker subversively destroying the priveleged snobs, and if someone took that as Miles being “essentially correct but misunderstood” they really missed the point.
This guy was beyond the pale.
He stole money from his mother. Really, nothing else needs to be said. His novel was ridiculous. . .whatever it was, there’s no way it was good.
The warm moments of the film were when they WEREN’T being pretentious, when they were being honest.
The Cider House Rules
Same one I always drag out in discussions like this: Ordinary People.
Legends of the Fall.
An overly long, pretty movie populated by hot men? Yes.
A passionate epic of family, war, and the American West? No.