Pablito, not that Se7en was the most thoughtful movie ever, but I did have fun thinking about how well-staged the climactic scene was:
Kevin Spacey has killed 5 of the 7 deadly sins, and he needs two more: envy and rage (or whatever rage’s real name is). He comes up with an elegant way to do this: by becoming envy, he forces Brad Pitt to become rage. What he really seems to envy is, in fact, Pitt’s placement as rage: that’s who he wants to be, the self-righteous killer, but he never exactly achieves it, and so he’s slotted into a different sin. And in doing so, he manages to kill two sins with one bullet, without firing the gun himself.
The director has a sick mind, but his movies are often wonderfully convoluted; this was no exception.
Gone With the Wind for me. This is supposedly a classic, but all I saw was four hours of a manipulative, stuck-up bitch put herself and her obsession with social class above anything else in the world in importance.
Quite frankly, I also didn’t care for Citizen Kane, which most film critics consider the best film of all time. I can appreciate the plot and the characters, but the actual film put me to sleep.
Although I admit I may have spent more time rolling my eyes at the cloying sugariness than actually watching the screen. Perhaps I missed what made it so great.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, rambling plot, ambiguous characters, ridiculous stunts…I turned it off after 25 minutes because I just never could understand why these people were running up the sides of buildings and sprinting across tree tops. And who the hell were they? I couldn’t figure out who was who. Somebody was mad because somebody else killed somebody and took something and hey, get me a beer will you.
And come on, you can’t say Blair Witch was an overated movie. Was it really a movie? I thought it was just some kids with a crappy camera killing time.
Hey, let’s trash Disney while serving up a plate of glurge far more saccharine than anything ole Walt ever dreamed of! Mean and sappy is not a good combination … .
Plus, it’s ugly as hell to look at. The main characters look like they’ve been shanghaied from totally different movies. There is no unity of visual style … except for “generally lame”.
Why people swoon over this train wreck is utterly beyond me …
As a straight teenage male, I find it hard to admit that I even saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding. (I can explain! My parents went to see it. My brother and I were to see another movie, but since it was sold out, I had no choice)
What a shitty movie! About halfway through I was praying for the sweet embrace of death, but to no avail.
Almost a year later, and I am still recovering from the trauma.
As a straight teenage male, I find it hard to admit that I even saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding. (I can explain! My parents went to see it. My brother and I were to see another movie, but since it was sold out, I had no choice)
What a shitty movie! About halfway through I was praying for the sweet embrace of death, but to no avail.
Almost a year later, and I am still recovering from the trauma.
I would have to vote for “The Shawshank Redemption.” I really don’t see why the movie is so beloved. It’s okay, but cliched, looks kind of cheap at times, and there’s a lot of missteps.
Memento comes quickly to mind, more because of the raters than it’s own deficiencies. It’s good, but for some reason (kids? pseudo-film students?) are too quick to name and second it in any discussion of great movies or, inexplicably, obscure movies. I couldn’t help but think of reverse time and anything but a gimmick, and by the end I had pretty much already guessed what the twist was. I can’t be the only one.
How in the world did this thing win, what, 7 Oscars? Including one for editing? Editing?!?!? They could’ve chopped off the entire first hour of the movie and a) you wouldn’t have missed much, and b) still be left with a 2+ hour behemoth of a movie. I don’t need to be watching somebody else’s wedding video.
Also: the Jurassic Park sequels, the new episodes of Star Wars (although I was never a fan to begin with), Titanic, the Terminator movies, among others.
I don’t understand why people hate La Vita e Belle. I loved it. I’m not saying it was the greatest movie of all time, but it was very, very good.
As for American Beauty, Memento, Magnolia and the like, I wouldn’t say they were groundbreaking, but it’s nice to see some real films come out of hollywood once in a while instead of dreck like Hollow Man, The Matrix, etc. (even if they have been done before).
Forest Gump
Gladiator (Decent, but not award-worthy)
2001: A Space Oddessy
Matrix (I liked it, but save the rooftop fight and The Helicopter Crash, there’s nothing spectacular)
Terminator II
Return of the Jedi
Citizen Kane
Steven King books-into-movies (They start out stupid, and end with my asking “where the heck did that come from?” Once I settle into a healthy suspension of disbelief, it just backhands me with an act of god)
Apocalypse Now
(Metropolis got press? I never heard anything about it except that it was a remake of a remake of a … at least five, maybe 8 iterations, back from 1926. I saw the '26 version, too, a beat-you-over-the-head-with-values-and-symbolism Christian, unavoidably luddite film that looked like a high-budget from the late 50’s. If it had color and words were spoken instead of popping up on flashcards, it could have passed for late 90’s.
Beautiful, but only slightly less mindless. You can read a lot into it if you like, though.)
Heh, it’s funny you say that. One of the smartest men I have ever met (and one of the leading scholars on Shakespeare) thinks it’s the worse film ever made. I won’t go into all of his reasons, but it’s fun to make him rant about it.
I’m sorry to see so many mention Gone With the Wind, but I’m biased because it’s probably one of my favorite books of all time. The movie isn’t as good as the book, but then, what movie ever is? The Matrix is definitely on my list. Jesus Christ people, take a philosophy course. That shit will really blow your mind. :rolleyes: