# You ever think the world is wrong about a movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290 "2014-08-23T14:19:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/21 "2014-08-23T18:20:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **ftg** : > > It’s a joke of a movie. And it just won a Hugo Award. Even the SF community has given up on standards. Why, what do you think was the best science-fiction dramatic presentation of 2013? > [@](#): > > Quoth **davidm** : > > The Matrix. I wasted good money seeing this thing in a theater because of all the hype. It’s a mediocre (at best) scifi action flick with a premise based on a scifi / philosophy idea that was already worn out. I thought it had a premise based on big explosions, slow-motion gunfights, and Carrie Anne Moss in a catsuit. Look at it through that lens, and it’s pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/22 "2014-08-23T18:37:38Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Arrakis. Dune. Desert planet. I think Lynch’s\* Dune\* is weird and wonderful. This would probably be my best answer to the OP question. I love the way the movie looks, and I greatly enjoy the really shameless scenery chewing by all and sundry among the performers. It’s delightfully silly. (And, yes, I was very familiar with the book before ever seeing the movie.) Also: among the Marx Bros. movies, my favorite is either _The Cocoanuts_ or _Animal Crackers_, depending on which I’ve seen most recently. (Virtually everyone who even knows who the Marx Bros. were will cite _Duck Soup_ as their best movie. I love it, but I love the others more.) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/23 "2014-08-23T18:39:32Z")
I could never enjoy anything directed by Stanley Kubrick. His style always strikes me as weirdly-paced and self-congratulatory. Also, _Dr. Strangelove_ isn’t nearly as funny as so many people say; it has some good bits, but it hardly ranks as one of the best comedies ever. Maybe it was a scream when it was first released, but it has not held up well at all. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/24 "2014-08-23T18:46:55Z")
Not going against the whole world here – reviews were basically mixed – but I rewatched _Man of Steel_ on cable a while back and it held up better than I remembered. I thought the backstory stuff and the suspense were handled really well. The score was effective. Kevin Costner was great in his small role as Pa Kent. The villain was awesome – formidable, scary, but also somewhat sympathetic. A lot of people complained about the horrific collateral damage shown, but, without lapsing into deconstruction, the movie was grappling with what it might actually be like if characters who are essentially minor gods started duking it it out in a populated area – if it was a comic book doing this, it would be praised for it’s gritty realism. Good stuff! ETA: Oh, and \*Dune \*is awesome. I liked John Hodgman’s line from [this Ted Talk](https://www.ted.com/talks/john_hodgman_s_brief_digression), something like: “It was a David Lynch movie, which meant that everyone was both sexy and deformed at the same time.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/25 "2014-08-23T18:46:58Z")
**Isthar** is admittedly uneven, but far from terrible and some sequences are excellent. People are starting to realize the film doesn’t deserve its critical reputation. **Alien**. The characters are so consistently stupid – doing exactly the wrong thing when there are many better choices. I can’t imagine why anyone thinks it’s a good film, let alone a classic. Woody Allen’s **A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy** is an excellent film, especially when you understand the title is ironic – it’s a tragedy, not a comedy, and one of the darkest films ever (since it’s message is that love is futile). ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/26 "2014-08-23T18:50:25Z")
No place for old men. A horrible movie, just one cliche character after another. I never could understand the high marks it got. ---
**Author:** ![huitzilopochtli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e99b99/32.png) [@huitzilopochtli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/huitzilopochtli)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/27 "2014-08-23T22:06:05Z")
I watched Ishtar about 15 years ago and thought it was laugh out loud funny. I also really like The Village. I hated Gravity. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/28 "2014-08-23T23:18:52Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Similarly, people make a game of laughing about it now, but I think _The Blair Witch Project_ and _Paranormal Activity_ are two of the best horror films ever made. When I saw TBWP in theaters I genuinely felt terror, and loss, at the characters’ plight. Agreed about BWP. Extremely effective little movie. I thought the female lead gave a terrific performance. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/29 "2014-08-23T23:21:15Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > No place for old men. A horrible movie, just one cliche character after another. I never could understand the high marks it got. No Country For Old Men. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/30 "2014-08-23T23:26:12Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Alien**. The characters are so consistently stupid – doing exactly the wrong thing when there are many better choices. I can’t imagine why anyone thinks it’s a good film, let alone a classic. Give it up already. You are the only person in the world that feels that way. And there have been many threads where people have pointed out your criticisms of some plot points are wrong. Hate the movie - that’s fine. But it is still a classic. And I submit this thread should be about badly received movies that are actually good, not the reverse. Every movie has people that don’t like it. Saying GWTW, Casablanca are **bad movies** - that doesn’t make you special, doesn’t make you the lone voice crying out in the might “The Emperor has no clothes!” It just makes you wrong. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/31 "2014-08-24T00:30:13Z")
_Van Helsing_ - It got bad reviews and very few people watched it. But I liked it. I thought it was a nice homage to the Universal and Hammer horror movies and a decent horror/adventure thriller in its own right. Pluses: Kate Beckinsale dressed up in leather. Minuses: Exploding horse carriages. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/32 "2014-08-24T00:39:28Z")
I don’t understand why _Death to Smoochy_ got near-universal scorn. I think it’s hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/33 "2014-08-24T02:13:37Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Give it up already. You are the only person in the world that feels that way. And there have been many threads where people have pointed out your criticisms of some plot points are wrong. > > Hate the movie - that’s fine. But it is still a classic. > > And I submit this thread should be about badly received movies that are actually good, not the reverse. Every movie has people that don’t like it. Saying GWTW, Casablanca are **bad movies** - that doesn’t make you special, doesn’t make you the lone voice crying out in the might “The Emperor has no clothes!” It just makes you wrong. I’ve gone over the plot points very clearly, and it’s obvious that the people in **Alien** are consistently stupid; it’s what Damon Knight called “an idiot plot,” and Baird Searles, film reviewer for Fantasy and Science Fiction, refused to write a review of it when it first came out, saying it was just a cheap haunted house movie, and Ben Bova pointed out when it came out that the crew were acting like idiots, too. I understand why people like it, BTW: it’s scary (if you like being scared) and somewhat entertaining if you don’t think about it and don’t care about plot logic or intelligent characters. But, God, the crew of the Nostromo is pretty damn stupid at every turn. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/34 "2014-08-24T02:47:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > _John Carter_ got a lot of bad reviews, but really, it was pretty good. I wouldn’t say it was _great_, but it worked well enough, didn’t have any major flaws, and was enjoyable to watch. I think most of the reviews were actually panning the budget of the movie, and not the movie itself. _John Carter of Mars_ was a perfectly serviceable summer fantasy science actioneer that got dumped in March by a studio that had zero concept of how to market it. Frankly, it was a better movie than _Avatar_ or _Transformers_ (any of them), but lacking big names directing or in starring roles, a ginormous special effects budget, or toy tie-in, it was pretty much destined to be ignored. > [@HeyHomie](#): > > _Casablanca_ I found indescribably dull. I described it to my mom as “a love story with no love, and a war movie with no war.” It is best to watch _Casablanca_ with a skeptical eye and the soul of a cynicist. Imagine the film as if written by David Mamet, with Ilsa and her band of expert grifters playing the long game in order to cajole Rick into using his influence to eliminate the impediments to getting Lazlo out of Nazi hands. Those “letters of transit” that make no sense whatsoever never really existed at all, and the supposed “Major Strasser” and his curiously small entourage of German officers was just the kick needed to get Rick to act all noble to take the fall for Victor Lazlo’s escape. When viewed from the low angle and sharp, exaggerated shadows of _film noir_, the plotholes and character inconsistencies fall away and it all suddenly makes sense. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/35 "2014-08-24T03:03:37Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I don’t understand why _Death to Smoochy_ got near-universal scorn. I think it’s hilarious. I _understand_ the scorn, but think the warts are absolutely worth overlooking for such a strange, dark movie. I would say it’s nearly a poster boy for “third act problems,” though. I think the world is wrong to have utterly forgotten the film version of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Not because it’s good, per se, but I think it’s highly entertaining. It veers well into “so bad it’s good” territory, which is almost more impressive when taking into account how good the music is. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/36 "2014-08-24T03:10:31Z")
I thought _The Lone Ranger_ was great. I don’t know why nobody seemed to like it. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/37 "2014-08-24T04:11:36Z")
I also thought _Gravity_ was a bore. A storyline as deep as a puddle and some nice shots of things exploding in zero-g. Saw A.I. again today and still think it’s a great movie and have no problem with the ending. A lot of interesting stuff there. I don’t get the hate. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/38 "2014-08-24T04:26:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I’ve gone over the plot points very clearly, and it’s obvious that the people in **Alien** are consistently stupid; it’s what Damon Knight called “an idiot plot,” and Baird Searles, film reviewer for Fantasy and Science Fiction, refused to write a review of it when it first came out, saying it was just a cheap haunted house movie, and Ben Bova pointed out when it came out that the crew were acting like idiots, too. > > I understand why people like it, BTW: it’s scary (if you like being scared) and somewhat entertaining if you don’t think about it and don’t care about plot logic or intelligent characters. But, God, the crew of the Nostromo is pretty damn stupid at every turn. You don’t even need to care about the crew to enjoy, it has amazing visuals, amazing sets, a true sense of mystery and wonder. Prometheus has ruined it but the derelict ship and mystery of where it came from and why the eggs were and the enormous pilot that appears to be fused into the ship were real imagination sparkers.(I often wondered whether the ship itself was meant to be an organic construct). ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/39 "2014-08-24T04:29:21Z")
_Shawshank Redemption_, the highest-rated film on IMDb. It has ridiculously clichéd characters…they might as well have put the warden in a Nazi uniform. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2014, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290/40 "2014-08-24T04:51:20Z")
**Town & Country** , with Warren Beatty, etc., was frickin’ hilarious. I’m convinced that if it came out in the 1970s it would be considered a comedy classic and quoted endlessly. But it seems to be hated by everyone else, including the people who made it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-ever-think-the-world-is-wrong-about-a-movie/696290.md?page=3)