Yep. I concur.
the godfather movie and book didnt need mike getting in married in sciliy
Hmmm… IDK. I think it added something to Mike’s story, helped him on his was to ruthless killer. Also said something about his capacity for duplicity, going from that to his old gf back in New York like nothing. So maybe not so much important to the plot, but important to the character. Which is actually important to the plot in its own way, in a character-driven film. As the first two godfather films certainly were.
You had to have love in The Searchers for it to work.
The obligatory scene in any WW2 movie where the GI’s go chase tail in some European village for 20 minutes.
It’s almost always the worst part of the movie. I understand it happened in real life and you need a slow romantic/comedy bit in your movie as part of the checklist but I always hate it. I think “Battle of the Bulge” is the only time it’s actually worked in a movie and there it’s solely because it’s actually two lovers just saying their quiet goodbyes before they flee the town from the Nazi’s, you basically gain everything with what’s unsaid than what’s directly said.
Agreed. That just smacked of Hollywood fuckery. Trillion’s nonchalant rejection of Arthur Dent was part of the fun in the book/radio/tv series.
Arguably John Woo’s The Killer and less arguably so, Hard Boiled.
Sally Yeh Chien Wen was so put off my her experience filming The Killer, she retired from acting shortly after (fortunately she’s continued her music career). Woo has acknowledged that he didn’t flesh Jenny’s character and relationship with Ah Jong (Chow Yun Fat) correctly, leaving a disjointed plotline.
In Hard Boiled, I found the “romance” between Teresa (Teresa Mo Shun Kwan) and Tequila (Chow Yun Fat) unnecessary. The secret messages could just as well be relayed to a male officer in a different way just as effectively, making an all male cast. Mo’s saving grace moment in the film is when she shoots the bad guy after he slaps her!
It was heavily implied that all the airmen were fucking each other. Why else have all the emotional naked shower/spots scenes. This is cannon, and it was what made the Maverick/Charlie romance so significant.
Not no love interests, obviously, but I think Love Actually would’ve been much better without the subplot with the two soft-porn stand-ins.
As Good As It Gets
Helen Hunt as a single mom / waitress.
Jack Nicholson as the curmudgeonly patron of her restaurant. He’s an ass - but has a reputation for writing fiction that just utterly SPEAKS to his female readership.
Greg Kinnear as a gay man, which is relevant because a) he’s not a love interest for Hunt, and b) he’s a target for Nicholson’s homophobic character.
I don’t recall too many of the story details, but somehow Kinnear, Hunt and Nicholson have to go on a road trip. I think Nicholson learns to tolerate Kinnear - and somehow winds up involved with Hunt. The part of the relationship where he learns to be a better person / friend and learns to try to help others was believable - but having him wind up with Hunt romatically just rang incredibly false in my mind. It was like the producers said “Whoops - appealing to a female audience, someone gotta be in love with someone else, let’s shove these two together, the end”.
Hunt and Nicholson both won Oscars for it. Yes, their performances were very good - but ending up “together” just felt wrong.
As soon as I saw the thread title I jumped in to post this. Major League is one of the best sports movies ever, and best comedies ever, if you fast forward through all scenes with Renee Russo (nothing against her personally) and/or Dorn’s wife.
Kinnears character needed moneyand was going to borrow some from his mom since his art showing didnt make much money and he had to pay for the medical bills after getting almost murdered by a break in was the reason for the trip
Hunts character was the reason jacks character finally wanted to change and get the meds he refused ti take …
“But… but… but… Kate Beckinsale…” [/fanboy]