Why not have her get on to do the whole “Movie’s you’ll like” thing. Part of reason behind Netflix is to let it suggest movies for for by selecting what you like and dislike. They do a pretty good job.
Ah, but this means she watched the whole movie. Does this mean she likes dystopian SF? There’s a category you can mine for her.
If she liked True Lies (lots of action), maybe she’d like the A Fish Called Wanda, the Bourne movies, or Mission Impossible, Con-Air, Face-Off, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, or one of those buddy cop movies with lots of action. Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop.
Some not terrible “sweet” movies – The Fisher King, Night at the Museum, Big Fish, Overboard.
If she likes True Lies she is probably a big Arnold fan.
try Commando next
Peoples’ tastes are different because people are different.
And there are different reasons to watch a movie in the first place.
It might be to put you into a mood, pull you out of a mood, as background noise, to learn something, to people-watch; I don’t know many people with a narrow movie-style preference, as one tends to watch whatever will do the job at the moment.
So the whole ‘I don’t get people’s taste’ or ‘We raised her to watch ‘good’ movies’ just floors me. It almost makes no sense at all, except in the ‘I don’t care for what they watch, therefore it must be wrong’. Which also doesn’t make any sense.
At least the old lady made it through whatever Matrix film that was, cause I sure didn’t.
How old is your mother?
You need to have thicker skin. I don’t know what you are expecting, but normally, very few people share your opinion about anything. Think of food, for example. How many people do you know have the same favorite food you do? Favorite drink? Favorite color?
That being said, why don’t you just send her stuff at random and not pay attention to what she says about them?
She likes action movies she doesn’t need to invest too much of herself or time into. My kinda gal.
Send her The Fifth Element, Armageddeon, Enemy Of The State and The Italian Job…and let me know what she thought of those.
Doomsday? That goofy sci-fi, mindless dude flick with Rhona Mitra? You sent that to your mom? Really?
heh, I’m just busting your balls, but I agree with the other posters. Send her flicks you think she’d like, not flicks you’ll be proud of her for liking.
Start with Oscar nominees* that aren’t kids movies (anything animated in any way) or targeted for dorm rooms. (Anything action or sci-fi.) This means no District 9 – which my mom loved, btw, along with Snatch, Fight Club and the Hangover – or Avatar or Up or any of that crap. Just movies “for grownups.” Recent nominees for grownups include:
An Education
The Lovely Bones
The Messenger
Up In The Air
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
No Country for Old Men
Juno
Charlie Wilson’s War
Michael Clayton
Atonement
There Will Be Blood
*Films that got a nom for best picture, best director, best screenplay, best actor/actress, or even just a best supportiong actor/actress.
I’ll always remember the SDMB thread for The Prestige, where the OP practically danced a jig that finally there was a movie for grownups to look forward to, as opposed to all the comic book / animated / sci-fi / action drek that usually filled theaters. So of course the magician double-feature is something to consider: The Prestige and The Illusionist.
Other than that, I can offer a ton of suggestions she’d probably like if you’re interested. Better if we get feedback on some of the movies she did like first, though.
Did you and I watch the same Fisher King? Because I don’t really think it’s a good movie for a mom or anyone else for that matter.
The main character is a straight-up asshole.
Robin Williams is random and more scary than funny.
You can dress Amanda Plummer up in NYC chic and she still manages to look like a strung out crack whore.
The flashback to when Robin Williams’ wife gets shot is incredibly gory. Her whole head gets busted open by a shotgun blast and blood and brains splatter all over the place. It was some shocking violence in a movie that had been playing violence for laughs earlier.
I can’t remember exactly how it ended but I remember that just as things start going good for the characters Robin Williams gets beat to a pulp and ends up in a coma.
Not the feel good movie of the year, that’s for sure.
I wouldn’t think so, because if you get the SF part, you get why Neo can fly at the end.
Then again, there are people like my Dad who don’t quite get SciFi, and miss a lot of what’s going on, but still love it for some reason.
Does Netflix still have the capability to make sub-accounts? If so, I’d just give up now, maybe increase the number in the plan by a disc or two, and let her manage her own queue. Life’s too short to try to get other people to watch movies. My girlfriend, for example, keeps putting all these really bad horror movies into the queue (both instant and DVD.) I generally hate horror movies because they bore me. It’s just not worth setting up a second account or anything like that when both people are in the same house. But if you’re having to coordinate with her at some distance, then I’d just make her manage her own dang selection.
Profiles, my friend! You can do Profiles on your Netflix account. We have one for TV shows, one for him, one for me, one for us, etc. They tried to do away with them what, maybe a year ago? They found out in a hurry that Profiles are the only thing keeping the American marriage together.
Hey, RealityChuck, twenty years from now, when your daughter is picking feelies on CyberFlix to be downloaded directly into your brain, please post back to Straight Dope 2.0 and tell us how you are liking them.
I will. I suspect I’d feel the same way. She likes the things that make a good movie: interesting characters and plot. Special effects and violence are a trivial element in what makes a movie good.
Seems like a valid excuse. I hate the Bourne series because of the shaky camera and the .5 second clips that were put together the make a fight scene. Those two things just gave me a headache.
They can definitely overuse that shaky cam.
The OP’s mother needs her own Twitter/Facebook to post these reviews.
In your mom’s defense, True Lies is a pretty awesome film.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I have to bring up again my good friend, a 40-ish woman, who hasn’t read a book, newspaper, or magazine since high school. (she isn’t unintelligent, but popular culture goes right over her head.) Doesn’t have a computer, doesn’t watch TV, and when she was married her husband’s favorite movie he actually tried to make us watch when we were over there was that godawful country bears Disney movie. (the only thing they watched on TV? MTV. Jackass and Cribs and hip hoppers.) So she picks out DVDs from the Red Box every weekend by looking at the pictures. If it hints at a “romantic comedy”, she rents it, so that’s all she ever watches. The stupider, the better. Anything else holds no interest.
I agree with her assessment of Snatch. 
And I assume you are actually talking about the movie Inglourious Basterds and not The Inglorious Bastards, in which case I agree on that one as well. (the latter of course being a 1978 film which was quite good, and the former being the 2009 Tarantino rubbish)
Yeah, she’ll get a real kick out of “In The Cut” or “The Doors”. 