# Most unenjoyably Pretentious Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171 "2004-03-24T19:16:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![raizok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@raizok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raizok)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/21 "2004-03-25T01:54:53Z")
Looks like I win, nobody has mentioned **The Matrix: Reloaded** and **Revolutions** in this thread. /K.O. punch ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/22 "2004-03-25T02:21:30Z")
> [@Dooku](#): > > It’s like that angry clove-smoking beret-wearing twit that sits at your local bar writing inane musings in a notebook was given a multi-million dollar budget to surround himself with incredible industry talent so that it could be attached to his twee dark poems. He’s at your bar? He’s in MY English class. Small world… ---
**Author:** ![litost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@litost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/litost)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/23 "2004-03-25T06:00:27Z")
I am most turned off by the shock-and-awe school of independent film-making in the US. To name names… **Happiness, Gummo** etc. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/24 "2004-03-25T06:15:22Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > David Cronenberg’s _Crash_. I know a lot of people walked out on this movie, but I liked it. What? Why is everyone backing away from me? 🙂 Seriously, I laughed my ass off. _Pi_ was absolute torture. As was _Gods and Generals_ and _Bad Lieutenant_, although I’m not sure the latter would be considered “pretentious”. Then there’s _The Unberable Lightness of Being_. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/25 "2004-03-25T06:19:34Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > That said, what movies did you “fully get” but just couldn’t stand because they were so pretentious? But how would you ever know, whether you got\* the movie or not? \*unless the director/writer…etc in an interview explicitly provides the outline ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/26 "2004-03-25T06:25:10Z")
I guess since no else has said it yet I have to. Being John Malkovich. I hate you all, you’re not funny, and this movie was so full of itself I wanted to scream! AHHH! ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/27 "2004-03-25T06:43:29Z")
I opened this thread JUST to post Prospero’s Books and it was in the op!! ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/28 "2004-03-25T07:15:12Z")
Yet another vote for _Pi_. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingDragonFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c89c15/32.png) [@FlyingDragonFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingDragonFan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/29 "2004-03-25T14:37:20Z")
So far it seems like all the movies mentioned have at least some semblance of plot and dialogue. Y’all haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen The Cremaster Cycle. Or maybe I should say you’ve haven’t seen nothing, since that seems to be what’s going on here. ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/30 "2004-03-25T15:15:06Z")
The Thin Red Line. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/31 "2004-03-25T16:07:12Z")
Gosford Park and High Art- holy God, those sucked! I didn’t dislike Pi but I didn’t like it as much as a friend thought I would (she recommended it while discussing our mutual affection for David Lynch films, tho I still haven’t seen Lost Hwy, Mulholland Dr or The Straight Story). Didn’t care much for Nadja but I should watch it again (btw, I loved The Addiction). ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/32 "2004-03-25T16:47:51Z")
A fictitous auto-biography of the director/writer/lead actress Asia Argento about the daughter of a famous Italian director who wants to be a director herself, but keeps getting cast as a sex object in films. In movies like this, you hope for the character to overcome the adversity that faces them and watch them change for the better, and you feel sorry for them when things fall apart. After the third time she gets raped in this film due to her own stupidity for getting in obviously bad situations (like taking a hit of some cocaine substance _while pregnant!_), I just didn’t give a flying fuck about her. And then she continues to do the same shit. She starts off as a rich pretentious girl in a bad place, and ends up in the exact same spot. No growth, no development, still rich and pretentious and stupid. Waste of my fucking time. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/33 "2004-03-25T17:11:18Z")
My husband actually made me leave the room when we rented **Gods and Generals** because I was laughing and making so much fun of it. The whole “I’m going to war. Darling, let’s sit down and read that Bible passage together one more time before I go get my head blown off” was so absurd I found it hilarious. My husband thought I was amused in the wrong way. He later admitted, after watching the entire film, that he hated it too. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/34 "2004-03-25T17:14:48Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Especially when you compare it to a movie like [When Night is Falling](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114916/), which is, to be precise, hotter than liquid f\*ck. (And a pretty good movie, to boot. And NOT a porno, which means it actually has redeeming value if you watch it. 🆒 ) Omg, I could kiss you!! I saw part of this movie one night a few years ago. I had woken up and it was on, I only saw a little bit before I fell back to sleep. I have been trying to find this movie ever since. Thank you!!! ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/35 "2004-03-25T17:41:57Z")
> [@FlyingDragonFan](#): > > So far it seems like all the movies mentioned have at least some semblance of plot and dialogue. Y’all haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen The Cremaster Cycle. Or maybe I should say you’ve haven’t seen nothing, since that seems to be what’s going on here. Hey, there’s plot in the Cremaster cycle–it’s just that the plot is completely indecipherable 😃 I looooove Cremaster 3, though I’m not overly keen on the others. And I’ll nominate _Ashes of Time_–Wong Kar-Wai is a great filmmaker, but this one is just too painfully pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![Eman\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Eman\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eman_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/36 "2004-03-25T18:33:54Z")
I submit **Gerry** by Gus Van Sant. Basically, Casey Affleck and Matt Damon get lost in the desert. And call each other Gerry. Horribly pretentious and quite dull. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/37 "2004-03-25T18:39:00Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > _Pi_ was absolute torture. As was _Gods and Generals_ and _Bad Lieutenant_, although I’m not sure the latter would be considered “pretentious”. I think any movie that is not a Biblical epic in which a character actually sees Christ is, _by definition_, pretentious. (And probably lousy, as _Bad Lieutenant_ certainly was.) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/38 "2004-03-25T18:54:34Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Any one ever see _Last Supper_? Bunch of whiny liberals decide to start inviting people with conservative views over for dinner, and then poison them? It’s like someone made a movie out of one of **december** ’s threads. I second **elfikin** in saying “bite your tounge.” _The Last Supper_ is a fun, witty movie that deftly skewers both sides of the aisle. And thanks to this thread, I now know it’s out on DVD! Re the OP, I hated, hated, hated _The English Patient_ (or, as I call it, _Helping the Nazis is OK if Love is Somehow Involved_). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/39 "2004-03-25T18:54:52Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Any one ever see _Last Supper_? Bunch of whiny liberals decide to start inviting people with conservative views over for dinner, and then poison them? It’s like someone made a movie out of one of **december** ’s threads. But, dude! Ron Perlman! ---
**Author:** ![Wintermute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@Wintermute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wintermute)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171/40 "2004-03-25T18:55:53Z")
[QUOTE=Dooku] I’ll probably get flensed for this, but I despised **The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover**. [QUOTE] This is the only movie I’ve ever walked out on. I _hated_ it. And since **Justin\_Bailey** has already mentioned _Being John Malkovich_, which I also hated, I’ll throw in _Adaptation_. What do the critics see in these movies? Charlie Kaufman is not cool, he’s not funny (not even darkly) and I’m going to run screaming from anything he writes from now on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unenjoyably-pretentious-movies/236171.md?page=3)