Classics u hate [Archive] - Forums @ The Digital Fix

Dear Mr Echo

05-03-2002, 16:54

I was right then!!! (http://217.33.154.203/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=660734#post660734)

Sorry... I'm not picking on you honest :)
Eraserhead (the Marmite of cinema) is one of my absolute all time favourites - all too often you hear tell of films having a "nightmareish" quality and they usually end up being poor slasher flicks. But with Eraserhead David Lynch managed to capture the absolute essence of a real nightmare. There is no explanation for it... it just is. As for the baby those images became all the more disturbing when I became a father.

You are of course entitled to your opinion, it's not compulsory to like it.

Back to the subject... I have an irrational dislike of the Western so classics like The Searchers and The Wild Bunch don't do a great deal for me - though I might give them both another go at a later date.

Andrew

stefmcd

05-03-2002, 16:57

Love the term 'bogroll edition' Now that could catch on!:D

The Searchers and The Wild bunch - I do believe those are classics - Perhaps we are poles apart Andrew!

KeyserSoze

05-03-2002, 17:03

i really wanna watch Eraserhead now.

Dear Mr Echo

05-03-2002, 17:14

Originally posted by stefmcd
Love the term 'bogroll edition' Now that could catch on!:D

The Searchers and The Wild bunch - I do believe those are classics - Perhaps we are poles apart Andrew!

Well they do say... opposites (raises Roger Moore eybrow)...attract!!!! :D

Like I said it is a totally irrational dislike for Westerns... I think it's the usual dry dusty atmosphere that puts me off - hardly sound criteria for disliking a film I'll agree. Quite enjoyed Unforgiven - but it rained quite a lot in that:nuts: Any other "wet" Westerns anyone?:)

sidebog7

05-03-2002, 17:15

Originally posted by Ron Hill
Classics i'd like reprinted as special bogroll editions.

Most recently. Memento - Clever idea, annoying implementation and just not worth the pay off as the "secret" isn't really that interesting. Modern classic my posterior.

I completely agree.

Finally got round to watching Gone With the Wind (see here (http://217.33.154.203/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58045) ) and in the end wondered why I had wasted my time with this.
As someone on IMDB said 'To me, Gone with the Wind looked like nothing more than a four-hour version of Dallas, spliced with Day of our Lives, directed by Ed Wood's older brother (if you could imagine such a thing).'
Well, I don't need to imagine it, just watch GWTW and you can experience it.

Of the recent 'classics' I didn't care much for:
Saving Private Ryan
American Beauty
Schindler's List

Narshty

05-03-2002, 17:17

Originally posted by KeyserSoze
i really wanna watch Eraserhead now.

Then join up (http://217.33.154.203/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59168). I don't think you'll have much trouble shifting it in the Classifieds if you dislike it.

yaffle

05-03-2002, 17:30

The Thin Red Line. I was amazed how much I loathed this, as war films are probably my favourite genre. But it was just so utterly, totally boring. I didn't find myself at all involved in the film at an point, and fell asleep for the last 15 minutes or so. It was so acclaimed when it came out, and I was really looking forward to it as well :( The pacing just didn't fit the film for me, which struck me as odd as all the best war films are slow paced IMHO.

Tob

05-03-2002, 17:35

Another vote for Withnail and I. I can see how someone being drunk is funny to a 14 year old but classic film? puuurlease. Perhaps it has something to do with my hatred for the man known as Richard E. Grant.

Robby

05-03-2002, 18:06

That French film L'Appartment. My god did i hate that film??. Did absolutely nothing for me.

It didn't help we were studying it in College once and had to watch it numerous times. :mad:

05-03-2002, 18:13

I would not 'The Thin Red Line' a classic, overlong and overhyped yes.

But as for classics - Gone with the Wind (Shame that they have not lost all known copies of it).

Davester

05-03-2002, 18:52

Any Tom Hanks films.

Evil dead 2

Narshty

05-03-2002, 19:34

I still think Carrie is astonishingly over-rated. It did absolutely nothing for me on any real level. De Palma seemed totally uninterested in all the characters, instead focusing his efforts on all things visual. And even then, there's nothing I find shocking or surprising.

I remember being very unimpressed by Casablanca back in 1999 when I bought the DVD, but I'll have to give it another look.

Mike

05-03-2002, 19:57

I think "Doctor Zhivago" is a truly dreadful film on every level with the single exception of Rod Steiger who is obviously under the impression he's doing something much more interesting.

I can't abide "Ben Hur" either, although it's more fun when watched as an incredibly camp gay fantasy especially when you know that Heston had not a clue about the rampant innuendo going on all around him

"Dances With Wolves" is horrible, as is "Braveheart" (with the exception of Ian Bannen in leper make-up)

wide_inside

05-03-2002, 19:59

Seven.

I just found it easy and obvious. The kind of thing anyone with half a brain could write in about twenty seconds. Shocking? Not even a little I'm afraid.

wide

Idle Child

05-03-2002, 20:02

Originally posted by Robby
That French film L'Appartment. My god did i hate that film??. Did absolutely nothing for me.

It didn't help we were studying it in College once and had to watch it numerous times. :mad:

yeah, dont mean to sound vulgar, but how could the guy in the movie go with the rougher bird?!! a COMPLETE mystery that!! the only similarity the 2 girls had was brunette hair (oh, and they were both French).. but otherwise..?

Classics i dont much care for:
Zulu
Lawrence Of Arabia
a few hitchcock thrillers
most musicals
Gone With the Wind (sooooo long)

but the number one movie that gets on my nerves BIG TIME is:
Casablanca <-------- absolute garbage for old foggies (sorry! :) )

Any film heralded as a "classic" by pretencious, stuffynosed film critics and also the voters on imdb.com i generally try to avoid, just for the sake of being controversial and stubborn. I have my own personal list of favourite and really dont need to be told what makes a good film!!!

charlie angel

05-03-2002, 21:18

Dances with Wolves - overlong, dull. I can't even imagine sitting through the longer cut either.

Paul490

05-03-2002, 21:42

Apocalypse Now - This is probably one of the most boring films I've ever seen.

Citysmith

06-03-2002, 08:52

I hate films like ‘The Rock’, it is the only film ever to make me jump out of my chair and shout ‘F*** off’ at the TV. So cheesy, it’s untrue. Also to add to that Pearl Harbour, it grated me with it’s American over sentimentality.

Also add to those to Independence Day, cheese on toast. Armageddon, I walked out when I saw the slow mo action with the American Flag draping in the background. I think my films that I hate which others regard on here as classics, is finding a similar thread, Cheesetastic Hollywood blockbusters, designed to dumb down Western civilisation, and treat us all like muppets with half a brain.

Ron Hill

06-03-2002, 09:56

Citysmith: I completely agree with you on all of those with the exception if ID4. It's probably not intended this way but to me that one film is like a ******** of all the other you mentioned. It's almost as if the maker is aware of the rampant gingoistic apple pie attitude and takes it to the next level just to highlight the fact. I'm probably imaging this but it's how i'd do it if I wanted to send up the American flag waving genre. Armageddon is the worst of those flag bangers for sure. You can't watch Arnmageddon and pretend it's a spoof (like ID4). It just takes itself too seriously. What the hell was Buescemi thinking getting involved in this? The Rock is just lame in places. The lethal at a distance one minute, handleable the next nerve gas is a real hoot. :)

Anything with Mel 'More Pathos, I HATE the English' Gibson is also going to make me puke. I liked him much better when he was good old Riggs.

You also probably really,really love "Top Gun". Right? :D:D:D

Michael Brooke

06-03-2002, 10:01

Any film heralded as a "classic" by pretencious, stuffynosed film critics and also the voters on imdb.com i generally try to avoid, just for the sake of being controversial and stubborn. I have my own personal list of favourite and really dont need to be told what makes a good film!!!

I’d love to adopt that working method, but life’s too short and my tastes are too wide-ranging. I simply don’t have time to sift through the crap myself any more, so I have to rely on the opinions of others to a certain extent.

Instead of slamming the entire critical profession, you should learn to read critics critically yourself – there are certain writers I’ve been reading long enough to get a pretty good idea how I’m likely to react to a film, even if the reception is largely negative (or suspiciously positive!).

Anyway, so-called “classics” that left me less than wowed include:

<UL>
Alexander Nevsky - stunning music, great visuals, but Stalinist propaganda in its crudest form (not unentertaining on that score, but for years this was just about the only foreign language film to get the full four stars in Halliwell’s Film Guide!);
Alice - this should have been a flat-out work of genius: no other living artist is quite as in tune with Lewis Carroll as Jan Svankmajer, and individual sequences are truly eye-popping. But it looks far too much like a collection of brilliant short films than a feature proper, and there are several badly missed opportunities;
Battleship Potemkin - the Odessa Steps sequence deserves its reputation, but little else does, and it’s dated badly;
Being John Malkovich - the use of Malkovich is truly inspired, but much of the rest of the film left me cold;
Belle de Jour - Luis Bunuel is my favourite director, but I’ve never really got into this one: the subsequent Tristana is far more acute, and makes better use of Catherine Deneuve’s glacial beauty;
Doctor Zhivago - got through the first half recently, but have had little incentive to sample the rest. Klaus Kinski livens things up a bit, but not enough;
GoodFellas - terrific as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go anything like as far as it should to justify its reputation. A double bill with the massively underrated Casino is extremely revealing;
Leon - a nice little thriller shot with characteristic Luc Besson brio, but why on earth people have been calling this one of the greatest films ever made will forever elude me;
Once Upon a Time in America - stunning music and production values and great individual sequences, but a long way from Leone’s best. The extreme dislikeability of the central characters is a major problem when you have to spend four hours in their company;
Saving Private Ryan - amazing opening, but the rest of the film is pretty feeble: Sam Fuller’s The Big Red One said the same thing with far greater authority two decades earlier;
Schindler’s List - certainly better than dreaded, but far from the towering masterpiece claimed by many;
The Shawshank Redemption - a decent but pretty conventional prison flick that doesn’t have one iota of the power of A Man Escaped or even the hugely underrated Escape From Alcatraz;
Star Wars - why is a film aimed squarely at small children so championed by grown men? And why do these grown men then complain when The Phantom Menace turns out to be aimed at small children? (To be fair, The Empire Strikes Back has its moments);
The Trial of Joan of Arc - I’d defend Bresson to the death under normal circumstances, and consider the recent NFT/Cine Lumiere retrospective where I saw all his films in the space of a fortnight to be one of the artistic high points of my life, but two viewings of this left me cold;
</UL>

Arch Stanton

06-03-2002, 10:14

I'll just say any film that's won the best picture Oscar starting with Kramer Vs Krammer onwards.

Tristan H

06-03-2002, 10:16

I'd have to add my name to the Gone with the Wind hate list. An absolute pile of rubbish that failed to have any suspense or romance. It's a bloated, self-indulgent heap of rubbish.

martinb

06-03-2002, 10:46

i'll stick my neck out here with spartacus. it's a good watch upto the break out from the gladiator camp but goes downhill from there. lots of bad indoor stage sets and tedious romantic interludes.

Dan Druff

06-03-2002, 11:24

I'd like to enquire as to how many people have viewed these movies on the big screen? I think it makes a HUGE difference.
Anyway for my selection of classic movies I don't like:

Heat
Eraserhead
Metropolis
Citizen Kane

I've only seen one of the above on the big screen ('Heat').
To be honest they just didn't do anything for me, though technically considering when they were made they are very impressive. I just don't like them.

Sam

06-03-2002, 11:24

Originally posted by Tob
Another vote for Withnail and I. I can see how someone being drunk is funny to a 14 year old but classic film? puuurlease. Perhaps it has something to do with my hatred for the man known as Richard E. Grant.

And another vote here. one of the most tedious and unfunny films I have ever had the misfortune to sit through.

I was less than impressed with Schindlers List - an OK film but no where near as good as the hype, but I wouldn't say I hated it.

toneeb

06-03-2002, 11:26

Originally posted by Davester
Any Tom Hanks films.

Even Bachelor Party?

Say it ain't so!!!!

RoboCop4

06-03-2002, 11:30

I simply must defend GWTW! I think it's a superb film that succeeds at all levels.

As for overrated *classics*, I'll give another vote for Shawshank Redemption. Granted it's a good film, but I can't understand why it consistently ends up in 'Top 10 films of All Time' lists.

I'd also add Citizen Kane to the list. Yes, I appreciate that it's a technical work of genius, but it's sooo self-indulgent.

Other overrated films IMHO...
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West - both good, but overlong and overhyped.
Casablanca - nice film, but not that special...
Halloween - perhaps it's difficult to fully appreciate the power of this film in the wake of so many clones, but I found it a bit boring and predicatable.
Alien
Godfather Part II - overlong and overhyped (especially the *second half*). The first one was better IMHO.
Forrest Gump
Dances with Wolves (has this already been mentioned?)

Mr Flibble

06-03-2002, 11:39

I wouldn't say 'Braveheart' was a classic, but as it's already been mentioned, stick me on the list of people who hate it too.

I hate it so much that I can't watch any film Gibson has made since (mind you, would I be missing much?)

Michael Brooke

06-03-2002, 11:49

I'd like to enquire as to how many people have viewed these movies on the big screen? I think it makes a HUGE difference.

Completely agree - I saw Withnail & I on its original release purely because I liked the poster: it had virtually no hype and the distributors pretty much buried it: Richard E Grant had made just one obscure BBC play and Paul McGann wasn’t especially well known either. Furthermore, I’d just moved out of a flat disturbingly similar to the one they inhabited, and spent much of my time (I was at Sussex University at the time) consorting with would-be actor-performers, so I recognised Withnail immediately.

More to the point, though, I hadn’t been conditioned in advance by hype or anything else – I genuinely knew nothing about the film, had no idea what to expect, and ended up literally rupturing myself laughing, as did most of the audience I saw it with. I still think it’s a masterpiece (if nothing else, it’s one of the most beautifully-written screenplays I’ve ever encountered: Robinson genuinely loves the English language like few of his peers), but I can sympathise with someone who only discovers it on the small screen after tons of “funniest film ever” hype – this might well put me off too!

Much the same goes for Eraserhead, a film I saw on the big screen in the early 1980s purely because I liked The Elephant Man and was curious to see something else by its director. To say that it blew me away is the understatement of the century: at that stage in my life (I was about fifteen, if I remember rightly), I had no idea the film medium was even capable of something like that! I very pointedly haven’t bought it on DVD yet, because none of the current releases are apparently up to scratch, and this film looks so astonishing in black-and-white 35mm that nothing less than a frame-by-frame Lynch-supervised restoration will do. Fortunately, one is on the way!

Ron Hill

06-03-2002, 11:52

Originally posted by Mr Flibble
I wouldn't say 'Braveheart' was a classic, but as it's already been mentioned, stick me on the list of people who hate it too.

I hate it so much that I can't watch any film Gibson has made since (mind you, would I be missing much?)

LOL@Mr Flibble :D:D

Yeah, he needs a good tap on the head from the SAS. I can see it now.

Gibson: "Smarmy chuckle, off hand remark, nod/twitch of head. Here mate, whassis red dot?"

ZAP! SPLAT! Q.E.D. (Quite Efficiently Deceased)

Ron Hill

06-03-2002, 11:58

Michael Brooke: While you and I will forever disagree on Withnail, I have to agree with you on Mr. Lynch. He does have a certain errm "unique" perspective on things! One of my all time favourite films is his "Wild At Heart". That thing has more unpredictable twists,turns and plain craziness than the wildest rollercoaster. Is there a good version of it available on DVD?

kerbcrawler

06-03-2002, 12:37

RON - aint no decent Wild At Heart yet but maybe R1 later this year.

As for my choice of over-rated classics (many prompted by previous posts):

HEAT
GOODFELLAS
PULP FICTION
anything by Brian De Palma or John Woo
E.T.
STAR WARS
BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN
THE EXORCIST
anything by Griffiths or Chaplin
LAST OF THE MOHICANS (Mann version)
LA DOLCE VITA
PLATOON
JERRY MAGUIRE

and the list goes on. This is not to say I don't like these films although I just think they're overrated (especially Pulp
Fiction which I liked first time and now loathe with a far too unhealthy passion - a truly vacuous yet flabby film - grrrrr).

Michael Brooke

06-03-2002, 13:41

Chaplin is one of my major blind spots as well. God knows I’ve tried, but I just can’t get into his films at all. And I write as someone who thinks that Buster Keaton was the greatest all-round talent ever to grace the cinema screen (and that his immediate predecessor Max Linder was one of the most underrated), so it’s not as though I don’t get silent comedy at all!

Oh, and Pulp Fiction was a major omission from my list – fun as far as it goes, especially as Tarantino has clearly watched the same films that I have, but it’s far too long, rambling and generally self-indulgent for my taste – annoyingly so, given that most of his ideas were nicked from 80-minute B-movies!

RDNZL

06-03-2002, 16:25

Saving Private Ryan - amazing opening, but the rest of the film is pretty feeble: Sam Fuller’s The Big Red One said the same thing with far greater authority two decades earlier; (from Michael Brooke)

Glad to see that someone else rates this film highly - now if only someone could track down the 3 hour version & get it out on dvd ....... PLEASE !! :D

Michael Brooke

06-03-2002, 16:29

I'd also add Citizen Kane to the list. Yes, I appreciate that it's a technical work of genius, but it's sooo self-indulgent.

Yes, but that’s what’s so great about it! Welles famously said that Hollywood was like the greatest train set a boy could ever have, and he deliberately set out to make a film that showcased just about every cinematic technique discovered up to then, plus quite a few brand new ones.

The only other film I can think of with that kind of ambition is Abel Gance’s Napoleon, which is even more self-indulgent – but, again, that’s absolutely not a criticism, and neither is it of films by Fellini, Ken Russell or Emir Kusturica.

(I thoroughly recommend the Roger Ebert commentary on the R1 Citizen Kane - it beautifully underscores just what an amazing film it is).

paulclissold

06-03-2002, 16:57

The Terminator.

Cameron stole the idea from two short stories from two (then) unknown authors then spent the best part of 10 years claiming the concept came to him in a dream!!. Some dream!!.

Any sci-fi buff will relate the story of how he was eventually sued and had to admit to plaigarism and its this Hollywood ******** I can't stand.

The film itself and subsequent follow up are purely average action movie fodder. Candy Floss for the kids.

wide_inside

06-03-2002, 17:48

Candy Floss for the kids.

nothing wrong with a bit of candy floss every now and again.

wide

Cornelius

06-03-2002, 21:34

Originally posted by Davester
Any Tom Hanks films.

What even Joe vs The Volcano, The Money Pit and Volunteers???

My vote's for
Gone With the Wind
Doctor Zhivago
Shawsank Redemption
Taxi Driver
Mean Streets
Shindlers List
not sure if this is a classic but Titanic
The Wicker Man

As for Eraserhead this is a classic, I've only watched it once as a teenager but it left a lasting impression on me. I can't say I understood what was going on all the time but it was just mesmerising, I was absolutely transfixed to the screen. The soundtrack, the images the disjointed narrative. You just didn't know what was coming next and most of the time it was very little that was coming next. Absolutely brilliant!

Michael Brooke

06-03-2002, 21:46

What even Joe vs The Volcano, The Money Pit and Volunteers???


And indeed Toy Story and Toy Story 2, both flat-out masterpieces in my book?

Mark B

06-03-2002, 23:13

I'm really setting myself up for lapidation here but here goes:

Much as I like foreign movies I really don't get Truffaut at all - although I've watched almost all his films!:rolleyes:
I find Jules et Jim (his alleged masterpiece) deeply irritating and overrated (IMHO)
Le dernier Metro was OK but hardly what I'd call a great film.
Vivement Dimanche is a rarity as he manages to make the usually wonderful Trintignant act incredibly badly.
La femme d'a coté is an entertaining but still slightly banal film.
Tirez sur le pianiste has it's moments but seems a tad self indulgent at times and I still have doubts over Aznavour as an actor.

Miller's crossing and Gladiator also left me completely cold as did the wizard of Oz. I'm still unclear about whether or not I hate Man bites dog or not. I think I do but there's too much intellegent filmmaking for me to hate it irrationally - I may be confusing how much it distressed me (it's clear aim) with my like/dislike of it. Dobermann on the other hand is proof that not all that comes out of France is either good or intelligent - a shocking waste of good talent on that film.

Not sure if anything Cameron has ever done is a classic but I wholeheartedly dislike all of his output (bar Abyss which wasn't too dreadful) with the same being true for Spielberg (bar the Colour Purple). If only Scorcese had directed Schindler's List as originally planned :(

Talking of whom:
Goodfellas and Casino - well one of the two is a classic but I can't make out which is the better of the two - the other one is too much of a rip of the other to be a classic! :D

McD

06-03-2002, 23:44

Originally posted by perfecta
Goodfellas and Casino - well one of the two is a classic but I can't make out which is the better of the two - the other one is too much of a rip of the other to be a classic!
Perfectly put.

Chinatown – ok as a two hour viewing goes, but its reputation is beyond me. Thoroughly average. Indeed I feel like that about Robert Towne full stop. He's mediocre and always has been.

The Searchers – again, not awful, and some nice supporting roles, but too many redundant scenes and dodgy dialogue. And for a film that was about 30 mins shorter than The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, it felt about 30 mins longer.

The Exorcist – not all that frightening in my book. The Omen was better.

Mean Streets – I thought it was pretentious pap all the way, with some of the most cringesome dialogue ever. Loved DeNiro though.

Paul490

06-03-2002, 23:56

Just going to add:

The Exorcist - This film simply isn't scary. In fact, an episode of Rainbow is probably more frightening.

Titanic - This film is vomit! Far, far too long, bad romance plot. Should never have been made.

Halloween - All right, but I didn't think it was anything special.

mr_woo

07-03-2002, 01:40

well i dont think it can be called a classic but i really detest the movie

SCREAM

and all of its sequels.

For a start it wasnt scary and it also wasnt funny at all. Plus i really hated all that self-referential GARBAGE - 'THIS is what you do in a horror movie!' etc etc

Bring on the old, classic horrors like The Thing which actually have the right to be called horror films.

john316

07-03-2002, 01:48

Hellraiser - I found it deeply uncomfortable viewing

Terminator 1 + 2 - just can't find it in myself to like them both :(

Dances with Wolves - Hollywood should have seen the warning signs with Costner here

Blade Runner - just find it hard to connect to anyone in the whole movie

And those people rubbishing movies like Titanic, The Rock and ID 4 - this is a thread about so called classics - these aren't 'classic' movies in most people's eyes (well The Rock is in my eyes! :D )

mr_woo

07-03-2002, 01:57

Originally posted by john316

Blade Runner - just find it hard to connect to anyone in the whole movie

Another vote for Blade Runner - a film which although admittedly looks stylish and has good acting is also a deeply cold film which didnt have any likeable characters in it at all.

The story can also be excruciatingly dull at times (especially the scenes with Sean Young)

Still it doesnt compare with my hatred for Scream :mad: :mad:

Michael Brooke

07-03-2002, 08:32

I'm still unclear about whether or not I hate Man bites dog or not. I think I do but there's too much intellegent filmmaking for me to hate it irrationally - I may be confusing how much it distressed me (it's clear aim) with my like/dislike of it. 

I had a very similar response to Kids, but in both cases I genuinely believe that was the reaction we were supposed to have.

One of the hardest things about making (or coming to terms with) a film that deliberately provokes its audience is defining whether or not you dislike it because you think it's a bad film or because you don't like what it's saying: it's uncovering uncomfortable things about yourself that you'd rather remained buried.

And Man Bites Dog does this better than almost any other film I can think of - it deliberately sets you up to laugh at atrocity after atrocity (nothing new there: Schwarzenegger and Van Damme do the same thing all the time) and then hits you with something so obscene that only the mentally ill could possibly find it funny - and the only truly rational response to that is to hate the film-makers for messing about with your head like that.

Goblin

07-03-2002, 09:17

Blade Runner - I dont Hate it, I just think its boring
Halloween - also thought this was rubbish
Apocalypse Now - expecting it too be the best war film ever, its was boring
Taxi Driver - utter crap!

Dan Druff

07-03-2002, 10:02

Blade Runner, Taxi Driver and The Wicker Man should not be in this thread. Please remove. :argue:

:)

sweevo

07-03-2002, 10:05

Just thought i'd mention Taxi Driver seeing as no one else has mentioned it as yet.

It was "OK'ish" but by no means a classic IMO.

Can't say i've got much time for Eraserhead either. What was all that about !!!!! :D

Dan Druff

07-03-2002, 10:23

Originally posted by sweevo
Just thought i'd mention Taxi Driver seeing as no one else has mentioned it as yet.

It has been. Unfortunately. Brilliant film.

sweevo

07-03-2002, 10:35

Brilliant film?

Maybe you're confusing it with something else! :D

Dan Druff

07-03-2002, 10:41

Originally posted by sweevo
Maybe you're confusing it with something else!

Again, this is a classic example of a movie that must be seen on the big screen. I saw Taxi Driver on one of those UCI midnight shows about 10 years ago and it simply blew me away. Now I have a projector I can experience the DVD in something closer to the glory of the big screen.

Michael Brooke

07-03-2002, 11:04

I first saw Taxi Driver in the mid-1980s on a 12” telly and it still managed to blow me away. I suspect, much like its near-contemporaries Carrie and Halloween, it’s suffered from imitation, but it’s still one hell of a film.

kerbcrawler

07-03-2002, 11:10

I had a strange thing with Taxi Driver. the first time I watched it I got bored. The second time I fell asleep! The third time I found it rather good. I'd felt compelled to watch it again and again despite my initial reaction, and it keeps getting and better and better.

Michael - I think you're right about Halloween and Carrie although I still think both are overrated - enjoyable but overrated.

Pike Bishop

07-03-2002, 11:12

My list:

American Beauty
American Beauty
American Beauty
American Beauty
Dude Where's My Car

Narshty

07-03-2002, 11:21

I hated Dressed to Kill when I first saw it (despite the technical bravura, the skeleton plot is unquestionably a blatant rip-off from Psycho), then re-watched it and liked it a bit more, but now I think the only reason I like the film is because of Pino Donaggio's score.

It can't hold a candle to two truly sublime examples of Brian De Palma's work - Sisters (which might be in my top five horrors of all time) and Blow Out - the latter of which is on this evening on BBC1.

simonb

07-03-2002, 11:24

Here goes. In recent times, I don't necessarily hate all of these, but do find them overrated:

The English Patient
Being John Malkovich
Toy Story (although loved the sequel - think I'm just odd)
The Talented Mr Ripley
Pulp Fiction
Trainspotting
Titanic

S

dunkrag

07-03-2002, 11:30

Thanks for the heads up on Blow out, Narshty. Missed that in the listings and one of De Palmas few films that I have never seen.

StephenM

07-03-2002, 12:22

Aliens - I cannot stand this movie. The marines are some of the most annoying characters ever commited to celluloid. I do remember saying "Eat them, eat them" in the cinema as I was watching it.

The dialogue is cringe inducing. The horror isn't horrific and the fact that the Aliens do not look like Giger's design stole some of the impact.

Also, it seemed to me that it had completely ripped off the '50's movie "Them!" (and I think that this is a classic!!!).

How "Aliens" has been deemed a Classic action movie by some is beyond me.

All IMHO of course:)

vaderag

07-03-2002, 13:02

American Beauty - what a pile of crap

john316

07-03-2002, 14:23

Originally posted by StephenM
How "Aliens" has been deemed a Classic action movie by some is beyond me

It is, thats why! :D

dmb6473a

07-03-2002, 14:27

Originally posted by Tob
Another vote for Withnail and I. I can see how someone being drunk is funny to a 14 year old but classic film? puuurlease. Perhaps it has something to do with my hatred for the man known as Richard E. Grant.

Make that another vote for Withnail. Not sure if it follows the "Young Ones" / "Bottom" train of thought in that it was funny at the time (but not when you grow up), or whether it just plain isn't funny.

I think I'd have to lean towards the latter.

I'd also include Eraserhead, American Beauty, Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, and The Matrix in this category.

Michael Brooke

07-03-2002, 14:37

Make that another vote for Withnail. Not sure if it follows the "Young Ones" / "Bottom" train of thought in that it was funny at the time (but not when you grow up), or whether it just plain isn't funny. 

How far do you have to “grow up”? I was 20 when it came out, and most of my friends saw it in their twenties and thirties. In fact, that’s by far the best age to see it, as the film’s underlying message about futility and thwarted ambition is most likely to strike home. As far as I’m concerned, it was funny when I was 20, 25 and 30 and it was just as funny when I renewed acquaintance with it last year at the age of 34. And my ex-girlfriend is just as big a fan, and she’s 43!

Incidentally, I didn't think Bottom was especially funny even at the time!

 or whether it just plain isn't funny. 

Well, it can’t be “just plain not funny”, since I’m very far from the only poster here who’s personally witnessed (and heard) entire cinema audiences collectively crying with laughter, quite apart from thousands of testimonies from people who feel the same way. You might not have found it funny, but that’s a different matter entirely!

That said, it’s a mistake to approach it purely as a comedy – anyone who isn’t nearly in tears after that marvellous shot of Withnail in the rain declaiming to a pack of bored wolves at London Zoo was clearly expecting a radically different type of film: either that or their own personal lives are so secure or their ambitions so limited that they just can’t identify with the film at all.

Cornelius

07-03-2002, 14:47

Originally posted by Pike Bishop
My list:
Dude Where's My Car

I thought this was about classics you hate?

Joe Pasquale

07-03-2002, 14:49

Originally posted by dmb6473a

and The Matrix in this category.

Yeah, I would too, but it says 'classics'... The 'male' equivalent of Titanic IMHO, utter pap.

Have to include myself:
- Star Wars, all four of 'em so far... Didn't click with me at all.
- Anything by 'Pixar'.
- and 'Pi', had high hopes for that one. :(

Can't say I 'hate' any of them, just that they're nowhere near as good as made out to be IMO.

john316

07-03-2002, 14:56

Anyone who can't find it in them to be entertained by a Pixar move must have a heart of stone! :D

AndyWilson

07-03-2002, 14:56

If we're talking overrated I gotta admit that both Japanese Horror and Hong Kong Kung Fu and most Sci Fi Anime tend to wash over me - is it a cultural thing?

After thoroughly enjoying Crouching Tiger I bought Iron Monkey, which wasn't bad, and OAATIC - which was just dull. I also watched The Bride with the White Hair 1 & 2 in an attempt not to give up on the genre - again a dull mix of choreographed fight scenes and mysticism.

As for horror - I've bought Ring, Audition and Battle Royale - all of which were entertaining but ultimately left me cold. I also watched Whispering Corridors on Film 4 and have to say the best thing about it was the schoolgirl uniforms (..and I know it's Korean before I get jumped on by pedants)

I was a huge fan of Akira when the movie was first released in the UK - having bought most of the Epic reprints on their first printing and the 2 VHS box set- so of course I rushed out to buy the R1 tin - only to find it dull, cliched and stereotypical in retrospect. Been trying to watch more Anime on Bravo and SciFi too - but again I can't really get into it. Saying that I did enjoy Perfect Blue so I guess I should try more non-genre Anime.

Saying all this, the great thing about DVD is that it has given me a chance to try all this stuff, and I've still got all the discs- after all I might change my mind, and I'll probably buy more too!

Joe Pasquale

07-03-2002, 15:08

Originally posted by john316
Anyone who can't find it in them to be entertained by a Pixar move must have a heart of stone! :D

:D

I LEik Disney tho. :confused:

dmb6473a

07-03-2002, 15:53

Originally posted by Michael Brooke
Well, it can’t be “just plain not funny”, since I’m very far from the only poster here who’s personally witnessed (and heard) entire cinema audiences collectively crying with laughter, quite apart from thousands of testimonies from people who feel the same way. You might not have found it funny, but that’s a different matter entirely![/B]

But I've seen people crying with laughter at Dad's Army, On The Buses, Carry On films, You've Been Framed (both the Beadle and Mandy Dingle versions), Bridget Jones' Diary, Les Dennis, Des O'Connor, Naked Gun 2 1/2, etc. (all of which I think are not funny) The list goes on. I'm sure you can list a few things that you find "not funny" that others love. Thats the point of this thread. We know people love Withnail, etc. But for some reason, others don't. There's no right or wrong for loving or hating a film. If anyone finds this film funny, then more power to you. Nothing wrong with that. I just know that I couldn't sit through it again (probably because, as you said earlier, the gushings of reviewers praising it had built it up so much)

Everybody likes something that others loathe. However, if that wasn't the case, this thread would be irrelevant.

dmb6473a

07-03-2002, 15:55

Originally posted by Joe Pasquale
Yeah, I would too, but it says 'classics'... The 'male' equivalent of Titanic IMHO, utter pap.

I know, I know. I thought that as I was writing it, but some people put the Matrix into classic category. What can you do, eh? :rolleyes:

Dan Druff

07-03-2002, 16:00

Originally posted by dmb6473a
Everybody likes something that others loathe. However, if that wasn't the case, this thread would be irrelevant.

Exactly, thats why I started a new thread (http://217.33.154.203/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60544), to cut through the crap and highlight those movies that are truly liked/disliked by the Forum members, to try and isolate the worst/best offenders. For future reference.

EchoLeader

07-03-2002, 17:08

Can't believe this hasn't be mentioned yet - Fight Club

God I hate that.

Michael Mackenzie

07-03-2002, 17:40

Classics and so-called classics I hate:

- Titanic
- Schindler's List

Ones that disappointed me but aren't terrible:

- Halloween
- The Matrix

neverland

07-03-2002, 18:24

Originally posted by Michael Brooke
And Man Bites Dog does this better than almost any other film I can think of - it deliberately sets you up to laugh at atrocity after atrocity (nothing new there: Schwarzenegger and Van Damme do the same thing all the time) and then hits you with something so obscene that only the mentally ill could possibly find it funny

Ah, so that would make me mentally ill then. Although I just thought it was the film messing with my head a bit more. Because whilst the scene in question was undoubtedly horrific, there's something about

a barearsed bloke with headphones round his neck, holding a boom mic

that I can't help but find comical. Sorry.

Sometimes you just need slightly more straightforward films. I watched the Cell last night for the first time, and can't help feeling that the only sensible response to

a bloke suspended by his body piercings above a bleached corpse, tugging himself off whilst watching video footage of her murder

is to laugh your arse off.

Back to the topic, and to risk disagreeing with Mr Brooke again, Eraserhead was a load of bobbins IMHO.

Mike

07-03-2002, 19:45

I can't believe I forgot my two eternal bete noires in this thread, "Schindler's List" and "The Shawshank Redemption". Both deeply mediocre films.

I'd have to add the following too:

- "Trainspotting": Why anyone enjoys this ludicrous mixture of overbaked melodrama, smug attitudes and junkie chic is beyond me.

- "Ryan's Daughter": So bad it's funny which puts it one up on "Zhivago". But rarely has any director deserved a pasting as much as David Lean did for this nonsense. Shame it didn't stop him making any other films or we would have been spared Alec Guinness swanning around blacked-up in "Passage To India".

- "Kramer Vs Kramer": A film about divorce with all the pain, anger and mutual loathing missed out and some idiotic soap-operatics put in their place.

- "Gandhi" - historically accurate enough (for what it's worth) but badly directed and edited with some safety scissors and sticky tape.

- "A Clockwork Orange" - hate would be too strong a word but I can't believe any director as talented as Kubrick would allow his actors to be so plain bad in a film. Patrick Magee is so appalling here that it's embarrassing to watch. I don't think it says anything interesting or original about society either, but then nor does the book.

- "On Golden Pond" - Katie Hepburn and Henry Fonda were capable of great acting on occasions. This is not one of them. Possibly the most glutinously sentimental piece of trash ever made not to feature Robin Williams.

- "Judgement At Nuremberg" - how to make the most riveting (dramatically and philosophically) trial of the 20th century into a terminally boring 3 hour string of platitudes. Leaves you with the impression that the Nazis were a gang of nasty old men who were horrid to Judy Garland. The recent TV version isn't much better apart from Brian Cox's excellent Goring.

- "Lawrence Of Arabia" - dear god, not another desert scene. Muddled, vastly overlong, totally unable to make any sense of its leading character, laughably simplistic. Looks nice though.

- "Angela's Ashes" - I was the only person in the cinema who thought this was a comedy. Great moment when Mrs Doyle turns up and offers to make some tea. Quote - "Alan Parker has technique to burn, and that's exactly what he should do with it". Pauline Kael RIP

john316

08-03-2002, 00:40

Originally posted by Joe Pasquale

:D

I LEik Disney tho. :confused:

How strange :confused:

Idle Child

08-03-2002, 12:05

just thought of another i hate. I hate Platoon. I hate Charlie Sheen's voiceovers and i hate the fact that he's trying to mirror his dad's role in Acopocolpyse Now (in some capacity as the leading man). i think it's a bad movie and the script is just awful and cliched.

I find it totally tedious and it positively looks awful in PAN and SCAM (but then, most films do).

vaderag

08-03-2002, 12:07

Originally posted by Mike
- "Trainspotting": Why anyone enjoys this ludicrous mixture of overbaked melodrama, smug attitudes and junkie chic is beyond me.

Have to agree completely

nobrot

08-03-2002, 13:12

any star trek movies
well anthing to do with star trek really.

godfather -overated and long winded.

lord of the rings -goblin nonsense(i left after 2 thirds of the film).

dont believe the hype!!

john316

08-03-2002, 13:57

Originally posted by nobrot
any star trek movies
well anthing to do with star trek really.

godfather -overated and long winded.

lord of the rings -goblin nonsense(i left after 2 thirds of the film).

dont believe the hype!!

Some incisive comments there! :rolleyes:

SaZoom

08-03-2002, 14:20

Everyone I know loves The Matrix and Gladiator apart from me. I've not even be able to watch Gladiator to the end.

Idle Child

08-03-2002, 14:30

i've been meaning to have a rant about Gladiator for a while now... i hate that movie also. The crowd scenes look atrocious if you take your eye off the main action (you can see they're just bog-standard extras, probably CGI copied and pasted.. YUK!).
Also the Hans Zimmer motion soundtrack of the village tune and Maximus dreaming of that path to his wife and child, talk about sentimental pap! I dont think Crowe's performance is all that amazing and the only actor i rated out of the whole thing was the guy that played the Emperor and i actually felt sorry for the poor bugger, that's how great it was.

but otherwise, what an over-rated piece of drivel the mvoie Gladiator is.

rant over.. :D

(Believe it or not, i am a Ridley Scott fan, and rate Alien as his best).

EchoLeader

08-03-2002, 14:33

I also don't like M*A*S*H, it wasn't at all funny or good in any sense. The characters were lifeless and predictable.

Dave L

08-03-2002, 15:27

Originally posted by Paul490
Apocalypse Now - This is probably one of the most boring films I've ever seen.

Here Here - Oh My God, a real time boat ride down a vientam river. Second only to the Home video of my parents, 25th wedding aniversary, Caribean Cruise.

The_Evil_Dean

08-03-2002, 18:15

I have tried and tried but I never can seem to make it through "The Godfather" its either circumstance or boredom which stops me ....

Im a product of the MTV generation and I need help :(

[HB]RugRat

09-03-2002, 07:52

Usual Suspects - just don't see the appeal. Saw the twist coming a million miles away and just felt cheated at the end.

Sixth Sense - as above. saw the film building up to a "surprise" ending and guessed it. weak.

Dan Druff

11-03-2002, 11:38

Four Weddings and a Funeral. On TV last night, and immediately reminded me of this post..hate that movie, manipulative rubbish with Andie McDowell, worst actress ever.

john316

11-03-2002, 14:54

Originally posted by [HB]RugRat
Usual Suspects - just don't see the appeal. Saw the twist coming a million miles away and just felt cheated at the end.

Sixth Sense - as above. saw the film building up to a "surprise" ending and guessed it. weak.

What you mean is that you knew there were surprise endings so you spent the whole movie looking for the indicators ;)

Hood

11-03-2002, 15:23

Originally posted by [HB]RugRat
Usual Suspects - just don't see the appeal. Saw the twist coming a million miles away and just felt cheated at the end.

Are you really being honest here? You sat there while watching it and thought Oh he's just making this all up from the clippings on the pin board.

Sorry I just don't believe it. I agree with the post above, i.e. you spent the entire movie working it out rather than enjoying it.

urruri

11-03-2002, 15:40

Withnail And I

Narshty

11-03-2002, 21:10

Life is Beautiful - mawkish, cloying, manipulative trash, and I don't mind who knows it. It wasn't so much what Roberto Benigni was saying, as how he said it. By the final shot I was close to gagging.

Forrest Gump - just the same.

Michael Brooke

11-03-2002, 21:53

Personally, I think few films are less mawkish than Life is Beautiful, a film I admire more every time I see it - most recently on the big screen a few weeks ago.

I took my fiancée without giving her any warning as to what she was about to see (she'd never heard of it or Benigni), and she was absolutely blown away by it - and she's normally the first person to gag at things that genuinely deserve the label "mawkish, cloying, manipulative trash" (she absolutely refuses to sit through Forrest Gump, for instance).

I picked up a special edition DVD in Rome recently, so I'll probably revisit my <A HREF="http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/reviews/region2/lifeisbeautiful.html">review</A> in due course - but my opinion hasn't changed one iota: if anything, it's been strengthened.

Narshty

11-03-2002, 22:04

I generally like Benigni - I almost fell off my seat laughing through his brilliant confession to sheep-shagging in Night on Earth, but every emotion seemed far too pre-concieved and calculated.

I found it neither moving nor uplifting (though certainly not tasteless, as some have wrongly claimed), and I wasn't the only one - the woman sitting next to me turned during the shot of the tank coming around the corner in the final minutes of the film and rolled her eyes, to which I shook my head.

Richard H

12-03-2002, 00:53

The Deer Hunter - Biggest Pile of dross I have ever had the misfortune of seeing. Cinematic historical revisionism of the worst, most exploitative kind. I swear Cimino simply thought if he made the movie long enough everyone would call it an epic. Heaven's Gate was a blessing for us all.

Jimmyboy

12-03-2002, 01:38

Some of the films that do very little for me despite there high reputation are -
Fight Club
The Thin Red Line
The Shawshank Redemption
Gladiator
The Matrix
Akira
Trainspotting
American Beauty

I wouldnt go as far as to say I hate any of these movies, but none of them are anywhere near worthy of their reputation im my opinion, (especially Gladiator).

robbiejm

12-03-2002, 17:30

These sort of threads are a waste of time really as I'm sure people just intentionally put down certain films just to wind other people up. So here's mine: :D

The Usual Suspects - don't hate it as such, just not bothered if I never see it again.

The Evil Dead

dmb6473a

12-03-2002, 18:35

Originally posted by robbiejm
These sort of threads are a waste of time really as I'm sure people just intentionally put down certain films just to wind other people up. So here's mine: :D

The Usual Suspects - don't hate it as such, just not bothered if I never see it again.

The Evil Dead

You're right. It does wind certain people up when a film that they think is great is trashed by someone else (and I'm sure there are a few people who have done that :D ). But, I also think its interesting to see how many people agree with your opinion that some of these "greats" aren't really great at all.

For example, I chose Withnail & I (a film that I would literally have to be strapped into my seat with matchsticks holding my eyes open, if anyone were to get me to watch it again), and was surprised to see that some people on here agreed with me.

At the end of the day, it makes us all feel less like freaks! ;)

sweetmate

13-03-2002, 00:40

This thread is somewhat pointless.

People can't say they "hate" the Godfather because they've never been able to "sit through the whole thing", I'm sorry but thats just lame.

If we define a film to be a "classic" if it has been liked by many people and has stood the test of time far better than other films of it's era and genre, then there's no way that anyone can say it's "rubbish" or "a pile of crap". They can say that it's not to their taste, but they can't say its a pile of crap.

I absolutely love cinema, and there a few films that have been mentioned here that I can claim to "hate", but then again I personally wouldn't call "titanic" or "gladiator" a classic. These films may win Oscars but it is far too early to say whether these films will be put in the "classic" category. Driving Miss Daisy won the best picture oscar in 1989, who calls that a classic film now and how many of you are drooling to add a 3-disc special edition director's cut of it to your collections?

I'm all for discussions about movies, and many movies bring out vastly different reactions in the viewer, I think that's the whole point, otherwise everyone would feel the exact same thing when watching movies, and there would be absolutley no point in making them. I'll happily discuss why I love Fight Club or Lawrence of Arabia or Apocalypse Now or Schindler's List or The Godfather or Citizen Kane or Taxi Driver or 2001 with someone, but if all they have to say is "Fight Club,..God I hate that." then its a waste of time.

Jimmyboy

13-03-2002, 01:13

Originally posted by sweetmate
This thread is somewhat pointless.

Driving Miss Daisy won the best picture oscar in 1989, who calls that a classic film now and how many of you are drooling to add a 3-disc special edition director's cut of it to your collections?

ME !!!.

Oh hang on,
I was getting confused with "Riding Miss Daisy". :o

:D

[HB]RugRat

13-03-2002, 09:10

"Are you really being honest here? You sat there while watching it and thought ..."

Well since it doesn't show you the "offending articles" until afterwards then obviously no but the film was obviously trying to build us up to something - when the "twist" eventually came I felt cheated by it. Like the whole thing was just a device to get you to this big "surprise" that we'd all by wowed by. Except I wasn't.

stefmcd

13-03-2002, 18:57

Sweetmate - I take offence. I started this 'pointless' thread.:D
While I share ur passion for in depth discussion of films - such discussions are primarily the domain of the spoken word.

On a forum site - brief, to the point, simplistic and downright extreme opinions r the order of the day.;)

I started this thread to trigger such views. While we can analyse every film till the cows come home and find something redeeming in each and every one - apart from Eraserhead - (did u see what I did there? Eh? Eh?) most of us have pet hates which despite often being inexplicable nevertheless exist.

U mention a few films which fail 2 meet ur concept of a classic and while I don't think I can dispute the ones u mentioned being anything other than solid movies many of the movies mentioned on this thread have undoubtedly reached classic status.

You can say a film is 'a pile of crap' and 'rubbish'. That is a right of the society in which we live and 9 times out of 10 I will value such a view more than an overblown, academic, up its a**e analysis. Why? Because it comes from the gut. Our reaction to artistic expression should be spontaneous and not always logical and never analytical.

Suffice to say this 'pointless thread' provoked a reaction from u;)

sweetmate

13-03-2002, 20:12

Originally posted by stefmcd
U mention a few films which fail 2 meet ur concept of a classic and while I don't think I can dispute the ones u mentioned being anything other than solid movies many of the movies mentioned on this thread have undoubtedly reached classic status.
Which films are you talking about (that fail to meet my classic criteria)? The films i mention not meeting my classic concept were titanic and gladiator, and riding, i mean driving miss daisy. :) The other films were just films that were slated in this thread that I feel deserve more than just a glib "pile of crap" but are not necessarily classics in my eyes. Of the films I mentioned in my last paragraph, I would say that the Godfather, Citizen Kane, 2001, Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now are all what I would call classic films, Schindler's List is somewhere near and Fight Club is too recent to call classic.

You can say a film is 'a pile of crap' and 'rubbish'. That is a right of the society in which we live and 9 times out of 10 I will value such a view more than an overblown, academic, up its a**e analysis. Why? Because it comes from the gut. Our reaction to artistic expression should be spontaneous and not always logical and never analytical.

Suffice to say this 'pointless thread' provoked a reaction from u;)

I'm not offended by this entire thread, just by some of the pointless gratuitous negativism. I guess I disagree with you stefmcd about one word reviews of films. A good film is often the work of many talented people, and takes alot of effort, time, skill, guts, and dedication to create. The end result is all to easy dismissed by someone as "rubbish" when if they don't like a film, they should really state why and what caused such a negative reaction in them.

I can understand the reaction of "pile of crap" to something like Timecop, but I doubt anyone could get away with calling that a classic, and there is little heart and soul put into creating a film like Timecop.

I think that this thread should have been called "Classics that don't do it for you" and I would be happy putting Gone with the Wind and Casablanca down as mine (not that I hate them, just that I think they are of another era to me, and as such are not the kind of films I would enjoy watching over and over.)

Oops, i've just found the one film that defeats my criteria of recent films being too recent to call classic - Big Lebowski. A classic film that if anyone says the hate, I will kill them. (is that suitably extreme for you stefmcd? ;))

stefmcd

13-03-2002, 20:40

I think that this thread should have been called "Classics that don't do it for you"

I think this comment belongs in the semantic nonsense category:D

Big Lebowski. A classic film that if anyone says the hate, I will kill them. (is that suitably extreme for you stefmcd? )

I think if u specified the nature of the death that could be more appropriate e.g. ritualistic disembowelling something along those lines

P.S. I hate the Big Lebowski - Its a rubbish pile of crap!:p

Six Toes

14-03-2002, 16:11

Can't believe this hasn't be mentioned yet - Fight Club

Couldn't agree more, I thought I was the only one who dislikes this film! I thought it was predictable and had a terrible ending.

Kronik

14-03-2002, 16:21

Most movies with Oscars or Academy Awards, especially Crouching Tiger, like someone said, the flying was so unconvincing.

f_drew

14-03-2002, 17:34

Originally posted by Six Toes
... thought it was predictable ...
Wow ! That's one thing I thought this film wasn't !

Mark B

14-03-2002, 18:47

Talking of which - is The Wicker Man a classic as such? or just a cult movie? Anyway, that's something I forgot on my list - I've always got the impression that it's been unintentionally lifted up as profound/intelligent despite the director's best intentions! :D or is it just the fact that it's a "musico-scottish-horror-thriller-soft porn flick" that made it into a "classic"?

Add also Independence day to that list and basically anything that seems to have a strong patriotic tone to it (Air Force One, U571, The Patriot etc etc) (granted some classics that I like are dredged with it :eek: )

Return of the Jedi - well not something I hate but the sheer crass commercialism of it always made me feel uneasy. Now if only they'd manage to coax David Lynch away from the fated Dune and get him to direct it - that would have been interesting to see!

That said I thought I was going to hate TPM but when I borrowed a friends DVD at the weekend I was pleasently surprised by it - granted my expectation was soooo low that what came out was an OK film - but I'd like to see the famed Phantom Edit - I think a great film was waiting to be made there with the genesis of the Freudean undertones of the trilogy and all that - kill off Jar-jar Binks and co and you may just have something quite watchable!

xtrmntr

14-03-2002, 19:48

oscar movies generally

i would imagine many people call these classics-

braveheart
titanic
apollo 13
american beauty
dances with wolves

etc

but they're all tat

american beauty is a pasterurised version of happiness [todd solondz film]

Kronik

14-03-2002, 20:28

oh yea perfecta reminded me!

The Wicker Man - after hearing good things about this, I watched this on Film Four the other night, and i was board titless!

There showing Texas Chainsaw Massacre on friday, that better be good!

Mark B

14-03-2002, 22:18

Originally posted by xtrmntr
american beauty is a pasterurised version of happiness [todd solondz film]

Although I've seen both, I hadn't really made that link - but you're absolutely right! (Ah! but where's the dancing plastic bag in Happiness? :D )

Gary Couzens

14-03-2002, 22:23

I'd certainly defend the following:

Battleship Potemkin - I've seen this several times, and a film that can have an audience on the edge of its seat AFTER possibly the single most celebrated sequence in the history of cinema must have something going for it.

Carrie - Most of De Palma is enjoyable for various reasons, but this is the one film of his I find genuinely moving. Mind you, Sissy Spacek has to take a lot of the credit for that.

The likes of Titanic, Forrest Gump etc. I found quite watchable on one viewing, though I don't have any great urge to see them again.

And here's are some from me, in no particular order:

Stagecoach - seen it twice, and it has left me cold. But as I've only seen it on TV and not on the big screen I should give it the benefit of the doubt. The same goes for most of the rest of Ford's work: its sentimental mythologising fails to connect with me - with the major exception of The Grapes of Wrath.

Leon - couldn't agree more with Michael Brooke on this. A well-made thriller, and the extended version does add something to it. But Gary Oldman is excruciatingly hammy. A great film it is not - Besson is a ludicrously overrated director to my mind.

Beverly Hills Cop - thoroughly mediocre apart from Eddie Murphy, and a little of him goes a very long way. Even so, it's better than its first sequel, which I detested. (I didn't see the third film.)

The English Patient - looks wonderful, but cold, remote and paced like an arthritic snail. I've liked Anthony Minghella's work before and since, but not this one...and I tried it twice, just in case it was me.

The Big Lebowski - Am I putting my life in my hands here? I've been a Coen Brothers fan from the beginning, and have liked pretty much everything they've done...but I found myself out of patience with this one. Perhaps I should give it another go...