# Movies suddenly no one likes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731 "2013-09-01T15:19:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/41 "2013-09-01T22:12:25Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > How about the films of Frederico Fellini? They were Oscar winners, and staples of film schools everywhere … but conspicuously absent from anyone’s list of favorite movies, because they are pretty much unwatchable. I think they are the equivalent of _haute couture_ runway designs - intended to show off style and possiblities, but not actually be worn. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/42 "2013-09-01T22:12:30Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > As much as I liked TDKR, I couldn’t get past the revelation that Brucie had been hiding out for _eight_ _fucking_ _years_. The longer I think about it, the harder that gets to swallow. Nolan needs to do a Lucas on the film and make it something sort of reasonable, like… three years. If not two. It’s a good thing that’s what happened the first time around, huh? Time between TDK and TDKR = 8 years Time of Bruce’s seclusion = 3 years ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/43 "2013-09-01T22:30:33Z")
I feel that way about most Bond movies. When they first come out, they seem AWESOME and blow me away with how innovative, stylish, and exciting they are. A few years later, I see them again, and I feel almost embarrassed that I ever thought they were watchable. (The first two Connery films being exceptions, of course) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/44 "2013-09-01T22:49:59Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Take a look at Nobel prizes for literature some time. And get ready to do your best owl impression. (“Who?”) > > Then follow up with the writers who didn’t get one and work on your Porky Pig splutter. (“W-W-What-the-the-F-F-F?”) Oh, heck, look at the people who were awarded them for medicine! Check out Egas Moniz and Dr. Wagner-Jauregg for people who won them for things that seemed like good ideas at the time. (Lobotomy and fever therapy, respectively) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/45 "2013-09-01T23:03:44Z")
I disliked Dark Knight Rises _before_ it was cool. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/46 "2013-09-01T23:04:31Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Anyone who thought the characters in _American Beauty_ were implausible or behaved implausibly really should watch the film again after they get out of high school. > > For one thing, while they have have been a bit stylized, you can say that about nearly every character in nearly very serious movie made; No, it’s not that they are stylized; they are charactures of what real, angsty, suburbanites are like. Either that, or you live in the most interesting suburb anyone in real life has ever seen; one with a gay Marine Nazi-worshipper, a middle-aged corporate escapee working at the local Tastee Freeze, and the friendlies pair of stereotypically gay neighbors ever. The most intersting character in the film is actually Thora Birch’s character who essentially gets no development whatsoever because she wasn’t sufficiently quirky enough (her quirk essentially being embarrassed about having an ample rack). This movie is basically a game of _Fiasco_ without the humor and crosstalk. It’s a pity, because with just a little more deliberate over-the-top-ness and a couple more dead bodies this film could have been squarely in typical Coen Brothers territory of films. Instead, it comes off as a pastiche of what screenwriters think normal people do and say. Oh, look, the teenage drug dealer has a video of a plastic bag being whipped about in the wind. He has the soul of a poet. Oh, look at how angry the working suburban wife is about being neglected. Oh, look, Kevin Spacey is jerking off in the shower and telling the audience that this is the high point of his day. It’s like making a movie about working at McDonalds except the kitchen crew turns into a dance party during cleanup instead of half-heartedly throwing food waste at one another. > [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > How about the films of Frederico Fellini? They were Oscar winners, and staples of film schools everywhere … but conspicuously absent from anyone’s list of favorite movies, because they are pretty much unwatchable. Dude, seriously? _La Dolce Vita_, _Nights of Cabiria_, and _8-1/2_ are some of my favorite movies ever, and not because they are broody European ah-tistic wahoo, but because they are as funny and fucked up and disturbing and hilarious as anything that has come since. On the other hand, I find everything in Fellini’s body of work from _Juliet of the Spirits_ on to be essentially not worth the bother. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/47 "2013-09-01T23:08:50Z")
[Peter Griffin videos a plastic bag.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttdv6dxr2YY) ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/48 "2013-09-01T23:10:37Z")
There are several issues with The Dark Knight Rises that are now causing it get get a lot of flack. The main one, though, is that the hype was just too much for it to live up to. The Dark Knight was hugely successful and, despite having it’s own issues as well, was pretty much universally loved, particularly because of the inclusion of perhaps the most famous of all super villains with Ledger’s now nearly legendary performance. Follow that film with Inception, which was also extremely well received, and the audience expectations were astronomically high. When a film has that much buzz, it’s going to be polarizing, and if it’s not nearly perfect, people who like it will be unreasonably defensive of it, and people who didn’t will be unreasonably nit-picky. Ultimately, I think the film suffered from what often happens with trilogies; trying to outdo the predecessors, they crammed too much into the film. Look at other series with at least three films in recent memory, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Iron Man. By the time each of those got to the third movie, they had so many characters and so many story lines that it was virtually impossible to execute properly. TDKR was particularly ambitious, trying to tie the themes of all the films together, and it fell a little short. So, now that the hype has worn off, some of the flaws are more relevant, and those who initially liked it have worn off a little bit. For the other films mentioned, Man of Steel and Star Trek Into Darkness, I don’t see that same thing happening. MoS was pretty polarized right from the start, but of the people I know who saw it, none of them have seemed to have changed their opinion about it and most of them enjoyed it. Same with Star Trek, it had legitimate criticisms from the start. However, if anything is affecting those movies, I could imagine that the Batman vs Superman and the Star Wars 7 hype could be forcing more people to take a more serious look at those two films, but it still doesn’t really seem to me that people have actually changed their opinions about either of them. That said, I can agree that American Beauty has seemed to be a fairly recent example of a film that people love to hate. I remember that it seemed like everyone loved it when it came out, and now it seems like everyone thinks it’s a pretentious and obnoxious film. Personally, I’ve always been kind of in the middle about it. I think it just didn’t age too well, that it sort of fits where our culture was at the time, but we’ve changed since then. I disagree with any mention of Phantom Menace though. I will admit to loving it on first view, and liking it a lot less when I saw it a second time, after the hype had worn down and I’d discussed it with some friends. But it seems to me that the backlash on it was pretty quick. I was in high school at the time and I remember several friends hating it the very next day. If anything, I think the general reception of the film has leveled out a bit since then. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/49 "2013-09-01T23:23:11Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Dude, seriously? _La Dolce Vita_, _Nights of Cabiria_, and _8-1/2_ are some of my favorite movies ever, and not because they are broody European ah-tistic wahoo, but because they are as funny and fucked up and disturbing and hilarious as anything that has come since. On the other hand, I find everything in Fellini’s body of work from _Juliet of the Spirits_ on to be essentially not worth the bother. > > Stranger I kinda liked _Amarcord_ in a surreal sorta way. But, otherwise, yeah good stuff, and to my knowledge, still highly regarded. In this article, 8 1/2’s listed in the Top 10 of all time: > **[Vertigo Is the New "Greatest Film of All Time"](https://slate.com/culture/2012/08/vertigo-is-the-new-greatest-film-of-all-time-according-to-the-2012-sight-sound-poll.html)** > > Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo has overthrown Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time, according to British magazine Sight & Sound. Citizen Kane had... ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/50 "2013-09-02T00:18:36Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > There are several issues with The Dark Knight Rises that are now causing it get get a lot of flack. The main one, though, is that the hype was just too much for it to live up to. I’d say the main issue was a boring villain no one knew or gave a shit about except comic fans. Someone who comes across as an asthmatic ninja who wants to institute mob rule by putting all the policemen in a giant hole isn’t exactly a figure high on my terror or even “Wow, that’s cool” list. After that, I’d say feeling like it was beating you over the head with A Message; the fact that despite trying so hard to convince you that it was a Very Serious Movie, it had no pay-off that made you say “Hmm… that made me think”; and finally the fact that it was just boring as hell. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/51 "2013-09-02T00:45:37Z")
I think some people feed on the hype itself. They enjoy a movie because they’ve been exposed to a lot of promotion telling them it’ll be a great movie. So they love the movie when it’s released - and their appreciation is real, they’re enjoying the event. But their love can’t be sustained. They move on the the next big movie and love that in its turn. ---
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/52 "2013-09-02T00:58:56Z")
_Scream_. Very popular in the 1990s. So popular that when I saw _Scream 2_ in the theaters, everybody applauded when it was revealed Dewy had survived. People applauding for David Arquette – seems unfathomable today. The problem was everybody copied _Scream_, and we got so oversaturated with Scream knockoffs that that we now see it as cliche. And _The Brady Bunch_ movie and\* A Very Brady Sequel\*, which contrasts the squeaky clean Bradys with the cynical real world – the 90s. Kind of dated now. _Cruel Intentions_. Just because today’s youth prefer to watch movies of their own generation. (Though there are exceptions, like The Breakfast Club and Clueless.) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/53 "2013-09-02T01:06:24Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > Not even Nobel Prizes - start going through [this list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishers_Weekly_list_of_bestselling_novels_in_the_United_States_in_the_1890s) year by year and see how far you have to go before you’ve even heard of the majority of titles. I may not have heard of _The Adventures of François_ by Silas Weir Mitchell, but I’ve heard of [its author.](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110726222217/grimm/images/thumb/5/52/Grim-SS-25.jpg/674px-Grim-SS-25.jpg) 1898? Werewolves seem to live a long time, like vampires, but I don’t recall that being canonical. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/54 "2013-09-02T01:29:19Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Joke all you want, but besides playing the voice of a robot in **Moon** , Spacey hasn’t made a good movie and/or a successful one since 1999. The man’s a punchline. Incorrect, mon frere. Kevin Spacey was very good in House of Cards. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/55 "2013-09-02T03:13:26Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Incorrect, mon frere. Kevin Spacey was very good in House of Cards. I’ll add another recent great performance: 2010’s [Casino Jack](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1194417/reference), a dark comedy about Jack Abramoff. The performance was nominated for a Golden Globe, but I felt it deserved an Oscar nomination. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/56 "2013-09-02T05:52:21Z")
> [@Renifer](#): > > _Scream_. Very popular in the 1990s. So popular that when I saw _Scream 2_ in the theaters, everybody applauded when it was revealed Dewy had survived. > > People applauding for David Arquette – seems unfathomable today. > > The problem was everybody copied _Scream_, and we got so oversaturated with Scream knockoffs that that we now see it as cliche. I had a disorienting moment the first time I watched _The Great Dictator_: the early WWI scenes, especially that struggle with the piece of artillery, reminded me of _Gilligan’s Island_ style slapstick. I had to hit myself to remind me that this was where Schwartz, et al, got their ideas from. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/57 "2013-09-02T13:03:57Z")
What about _Dead Poets Society_? I love it when it came out. All my friends (age 16-17) loved it. It was so much better than the films we used to watch: poetic, sophisticated, moving, the sort of film that would stay with us for ever. The critics were mostly favourable, too. Now, it’s never mentioned anymore (not even in this thread :D). I’ve not seen it on TV either. It went from almost universally loved by people of my age group to not really disliked but almost completely forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/58 "2013-09-02T13:10:29Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > How about the films of Frederico Fellini? They were Oscar winners, and staples of film schools everywhere … but conspicuously absent from anyone’s list of favorite movies, because they are pretty much unwatchable. I love to watch 8 1/2, but only for five or 10 minutes at a time. It is really something to get caught up in for brief bursts, but I agree that it is exhausting to watch longer than that. > [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > Ultimately, I think the film suffered from what often happens with trilogies; trying to outdo the predecessors, they crammed too much into the film. Look at other series with at least three films in recent memory, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Iron Man. By the time each of those got to the third movie, they had so many characters and so many story lines that it was virtually impossible to execute properly. I haven’t seen those other two films (or any of the Pirates franchise for that matter). But I thought the third Iron Man film was significantly better than the second, although neither can match the first. ETA: I don’t agree that Dead Poets Society is forgotten. In the first season finale of Bunheads, for instance, it was heavily referenced at the close of that episode. I also see if referenced here and there periodically. I always notice, because I cringe every time. I saw it originally in college and found it treacly, sentimental, vastly overrated. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/59 "2013-09-02T14:08:18Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > Now, it’s never mentioned anymore (not even in this thread :D). I’ve not seen it on TV either. It went from almost universally loved by people of my age group to not really disliked but almost completely forgotten. Note: It’s been awhile since I’ve seen it, so this is from my recollection. For me, becoming a teacher really is what lowered the movie in my mind. I now realize that while he does some things really well, all Robin Williams characters is…is the kind of idealized teacher only Hollywood writer’s would think are actually good. A real teacher does not do many of the things he did. While many of the students’ parents in the movie are too controlling and strict, I don’t believe any of them have bad motivation. They are, I think, acceptably good parents. None of the parents deserved to have a teacher come in and lead their kids towards bad behavior. It is not a teacher’s job to interfere with parents who are pushing their kids in a certain direction. He could have been an awesome, inspiring teacher without the mistakes he makes. He would have remained there longer and reached more kids. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731/60 "2013-09-02T14:09:48Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Incorrect, mon frere. Kevin Spacey was very good in House of Cards. I think he meant movies specifically. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-suddenly-no-one-likes/667731.md?page=4)