# Most hated and most favorite movie themes
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** movies
**Created:** [May 23, 2021, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733 "2021-05-23T10:05:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2021, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/21 "2021-05-23T23:43:15Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#):
>
> Have you seen **Predestination**?
Yes. I hated it.
I guessed the twist two minutes in, and then saw all the tortuous plot dynamics they had to force to make it work. It felt like it was written by a 14 year old for English class. And I say that because I wrote a story kind of sort of similar at that age too.
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### Author:  [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/22 "2021-05-24T00:43:55Z")
Disliked Themes:
Amnesia Plots – Trite, cliché, generally without cred.
Cinema of the Victim – The cast exists to be killed off one-by-one.
Glamorized Vigilantes - Denying due process to people is not a cause for admiration or sympathy.
The Glamorization of Stupidity – Stupid characters are _de rigueur_. I don’t have a problem with that as long as those characters – and anyone else who willingly hangs out with them – suffers for their stupidity. The absence of such suffering, imo, glamorizes stupidity by making it appealing/funny.
It was all a dream cop-out movies – Overdone, tiresome, lazy.
Disliked Motifs:
Characters who continue to function despite being shot/stabbed repeatedly (absent any supernatural/sci-fi/zombie explanation).
Too many misses with automatic weapons at close range.
Characters who have no firearms training or experience being able to successfully pick off bad guys.
Characters who willingly hang out with incompetent assistants who ruin their plans _repeatedly_ (e.g., why does Cap’n Hook keep Mr. Smee on his payroll?)
Liked Themes:
Giant monsters destroying shit – This includes (virtually) all _kaiju_ and dinosaur movies, but excludes insects (with the notable exception of Mothra).
Movies set (largely) in jungles - _Kongo_ (1932), _Tarzan and his Mate_ (1934), _Strange Cargo_ (1940), _Death in the Garden_ (1956).
Truck Movies – I have no idea why they appeal to me, but after enjoying several, I cannot deny it is so; e.g., _Wages of Fear_/_Sorcerer_ (1953/1977), _Hell Drivers_ (1957), _The Long Haul_ (1957), _The Big Gamble_ (1961). NOTE: Notwithstanding Brian Keith’s hilariously macho performance, I did not enjoy _Violent Road_ (1958) owing to a plot set-up which undercut all the suspense.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/23 "2021-05-24T02:31:04Z")
> [@Dropo](#):
>
> It was all a dream cop-out movies – Overdone, tiresome, lazy…
I don’t like dream sequences at all. They’re always stupid.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/24 "2021-05-24T03:04:10Z")
Favorite: I do like a good heist, detective, or prison break movie. I think someone here once referred to a genre as “getting shit to work” movies, where the central conflict facing the characters is something mechanical or technical, like breaking into a bank vault or out of a cell.
Least favorite: I dislike romantic movies where the couple show every sign of hating each other, bickering right up to the moment where they realize they’re in love.
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Joe Bob Briggs, Drive-In Movie Critic of Rockwall, Texas, used to refer to those as “Teenage Pork Chop Movies.”
Kung fu, shovel fu, chainsaw fu. Joe Bob says check it out.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/25 "2021-05-24T03:18:00Z")
I’m a bit over the “climbing a tower/outside the submarine/down a cliff to reach the big red button” finale.
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/26 "2021-05-24T04:03:09Z")
> [@Projammer](#):
>
> Favorite. Time loops, aka Groundhog Days. Granted, I haven’t seen nearly all of them so I’m sure there are some truly terrible ones.
Another one to try is the Spanish movie _Timecrimes_.
It’s one of the few movies I watched a second time, not because stuff wasn’t explained properly first time round, but because I wanted to convince myself that all the temporal stuff was entirely self-consistent and it is.
------------------------------------------
Least favorite for me is the John Wick, Equalizer, Nobody style of super assassin movie.
Even if I can appreciate the great choreography, it just irks me whenever the hero acts as though he _knows_ he’s indestructible. Completely takes me out of the movie.
Like, I can buy that someone is a super-duper ultra killer. But I don’t buy that a human will walk into a room full of mooks, acting as though _he knows_ he cannot be trivially shot in the back of the head, or find himself in an undodgeable cloud of machine gun bullets.
Also, violence porn. I think the _Saw_ franchise had some interesting ideas but was ruined by buying into the idea that gratuitous violence was the “secret sauce”. I can recommend the movie _Escape Room_ as essentially the same thing but without all the skin-peeling silliness.
Likewise _Once upon a time in Hollywood_ was spoiled for me by the violence. There’s no way I can find that level of gross out stuff funny or cathartic.
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### Author:  [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/27 "2021-05-24T07:40:40Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#):
>
> Have you seen the TV movie _12:01_ ?
I haven’t. Are you recommending it because it’s good or offering it up as an example of truly bad? I’ve got it queued up and just want to know what to expect.
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#):
>
> Have you seen **Predestination**? It is based upon a short story by the great Robert A. Heinlein _All You Zombies"_
I did, but don’t really remember it.
> [@Mijin](#):
>
> Another one to try is the Spanish movie _Timecrimes_ .
Noted. Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/28 "2021-05-24T13:32:47Z")
But what if you would combine hated and favorite movie themes? _Groundhog Day of the Dead_? It’s _Edge of Tomorrow_ meets _Zombieland_
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/29 "2021-05-24T13:43:14Z")
I absolutely hate and will not watch rom-coms.
Although I enjoy sci-fi, I do not like fantasy.
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### Author:  [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/30 "2021-05-24T14:12:24Z")
I like a good murder mystery, but only if they avoid the trite themes like guy found dead in a locked room.
Hate movies where the underdog sports team wins the game, and virtually always by coming from behind at the last second. At least Rocky had the sense to have the hero lose at the end.
Hate it when two people who dislike each other and thrown together, and if they’re of opposite genders you know they’re going to fall in love.
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### Author:  [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/31 "2021-05-24T14:30:28Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> Kung fu, shovel fu, chainsaw fu. Joe Bob says check it out.
Ah, the ~~mammeries~~ _memories_.
> [@Mijin](#):
>
> Another one to try is the Spanish movie _Timecrimes_ .
I tried to watch that movie and I got VERY confused. However, a good friend (whose opinion I respect) absolutely loved it. I’ll have to give it another try.
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> Hate it when two people who dislike each other and thrown together, and if they’re of opposite genders you know they’re going to fall in love.
These days they don’t even have to be of opposite genders. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
But I am also bothered by the inevitability of the romantic connection whether the story seems to call for it or not.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/32 "2021-05-24T14:58:25Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> Hate movies where the underdog sports team wins the game, and virtually always by coming from behind at the last second. At least Rocky had the sense to have the hero lose at the end.
The best sports movies are when the result of the Big Game goes against the grain of the movie. _Rocky_ loses the fight, and _The Bad News Bears_ lose their championship game, and they are all triumphant. Fast Eddie beats Minnesota Fats at the end of _The Hustler_, and it’s still a tragedy.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/33 "2021-05-24T15:16:42Z")
There’s also the underrated _Mystery, Alaska._
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/34 "2021-05-24T15:17:50Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> > [@Dropo](#):
> >
> > It was all a dream cop-out movies – Overdone, tiresome, lazy…
>
> I don’t like dream sequences at all. They’re always stupid.
Agree wholeheartedly.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/35 "2021-05-24T15:35:46Z")
“True story” movies that egregiously play fast and loose with the actual facts. About the only thing the fictional William Wallace in ‘Braveheart’ had in common with the real WW was the name.
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### Author:  [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/36 "2021-05-24T16:50:13Z")
> [@Dropo](#):
>
> Truck Movies – I have no idea why they appeal to me, but after enjoying several, I cannot deny it is so; e.g., _Wages of Fear_ / _Sorcerer_ (1953/1977), _Hell Drivers_ (1957), _The Long Haul_ (1957), _The Big Gamble_ (1961). NOTE: Notwithstanding Brian Keith’s hilariously macho performance, I did not enjoy _Violent Road_ (1958) owing to a plot set-up which undercut all the suspense.
What, no ‘Duel’? ( 1971 )
‘They Drive by Night’ ( 1940 ) is worth a look. Seems to show up reasonably often on TCM.
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### Author:  [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/37 "2021-05-24T18:17:18Z")
I’ve seen most of _Duel_ (including the end), but did not care for it enough to watch the whole thing.
I haven’t seen _They Drive by Night_ (1940) in quite a long while. I do not have fond memories of it – a common phenomenon I experience whenever it comes to movies starring (or co-starring) George Raft – though I do recall some amusing overacting by Ida Lupino.
I have also seen _They Drive by Night_ (1938), a Brit truck movie which I did not enjoy apart from Ernest Thesiger’s usual creepy performance. It introduced me to the concept of “lorry girls.”
Did not like _Thieves’ Highway_ (1949) or _Convoy_ (1978), either. It seems the only truck movies I like were made in the ‘50s or early ‘60s, or (like _Sorcerer_) derived from one of them. Very strange….
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### Author:  [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/38 "2021-05-24T18:35:12Z")
I’ll go with some of the others mentioned. I strongly dislike the “it was all a dream” nonsense. I don’t like stories that start at the end.
One that hasn’t been mentioned is clones. Not clone armies like in the Star Wars prequels, but cloning used as a way to bring the villain back to life for a second, third, or more go round as the baddy. That was one of the problems I had with Star Wars IX. The Dune sequel books also rely on this to a large extent, and it’s even more annoying there.
> [@Mijin](#):
>
> Also, violence porn. I think the _Saw_ franchise had some interesting ideas but was ruined by buying into the idea that gratuitous violence was the “secret sauce”
I don’t mind the violence, but the Saw sequels, again IIRC, all had the flaw of being predictable. The villain of the upcoming sequel (not just the current sequel, all of them after the death of John Kramer) is someone who survived a prior film, usually the one immediately preceding it.
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### Author:  [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/39 "2021-05-24T18:46:18Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#):
>
> I don’t mind the violence, but the Saw sequels, again IIRC, all had the flaw of being predictable.
I don’t _mind_ violence either, I’m not squeamish. The first _Saw_ was pretty violent but it served the plot. _Game of Thrones_ was hella violent, but it was showing the reality of life in that quasi-medieval world.
The later Saw films did just become torture porn, with increasing shots of bones broken and skin flaying that I guess are supposed to be entertaining in some way in themselves, but just aren’t to me.
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2021, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-and-most-favorite-movie-themes/942733/40 "2021-05-24T19:42:15Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> There’s also the underrated _Mystery, Alaska_…
You can’t just post that! What theme is that an example of (the previous posts were all about underdog sports movies? Is it that?)
And is it a “hated” or a “most favorite” theme?
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