| Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Fri, 25 April 2008 19:46  |
|
Now this one should be an interesting list. There are literally loads of films I own or have seen and thought 'Well, I don't see the point of this' or 'The critic thought this was brilliant but I think its crap'
Here's my list.
1. Fargo - Every critic on the planet raves over this film, but I think its violent, incomprehensible and the dialogue is rubbish.
2. The Magnificient Ambersons - the one they always put on after Citizen Kane. Too long and quite dull (I daresay I should be shot for that one).
3. The Birds - its alright.
4. Repulsion - watch this once, that's enough.
5. Reservoir Dogs - If anyone tells me the dialogue in this film is great one more time, I'll swear I'll get upset. It isn't. The film is okay.
6. Psycho - I agree, a brilliant, well shot film, but frightening? No.
7. All of the Saw series - completely pointless.
8. The Hostel series - even more pointless. I hope Eli Roth gets a new act one day.
9. Atonement - this is meant to be the saviour of British film? Right!
10. Four weddings and a funeral - worth one watch and that's all.
11. Love Actually - Yawn and double yawn.
12. Solaris - the George Clooney one - dull, very dull.
13. American Psycho - will someone please tell me WHY this film was made? Violent, unpleasant and a waste of reel.
14. Most adaptations of Stephen King novels - with a few exceptions, including the Shining and Firestarter as well as Carrie and The Stand - most Stephen King novels are badly shot.
15. Most adaptations of Dean R Koontz novels - most completely miss the point.
16. Most American remakes of Japanese horror films - the Ring, Ju-On, Dark Water - why bother, the Jap version is so much better.
17. Eastern Promises - unpleasant, not particularly brilliant but not as violent as many people said it was going to be.
Thats it.
And my other grumble is why do film censors always get hot under the collar about sex? I can understand that some get nervous about violence, fair enough but why does sex always come in for a battering? Most of the audience who see these films are already old enough to have had a lot of sex in their lives. They aren't nuns or priests, and many of them will have performed the sex acts which potentially get banned (with the exception of the more extreme S&M efforts). The BBC always get hot under the collar about this stuff. Why? I thought we'd got rid of Mary Whitehouse and her funny bunch. And they always pixelate out the male erection.
[Updated on: Fri, 25 April 2008 19:51]
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Fri, 25 April 2008 20:36  |
|
5. Reservoir Dogs - If anyone tells me the dialogue in this film is great one more time, I'll swear I'll get upset. greeeaaaaat dialogue though.... 
6. Psycho - I agree, a brilliant, well shot film, but frightening? No. In it's day it was - my mum (who was always fairly liberal about such things) would not let me stay up and watch it on tv when I was a kid.
12. Solaris - the George Clooney one - dull, very dull. See the original - much better (though still slow paced)
13. American Psycho - will someone please tell me WHY this film was made? It's a satire on capitalism & quite a pertinent one too IMO.
16. Most American remakes of Japanese horror films - you could have stopped after the word 'remakes' 
I'd add:
Saving Private Ryan - well-shot revisionist rubbish
The Da Vinci Code - why I let my girlfriend talk me into watching it I'll never know - a true 'worst of hollywood' contender
Zorro (the Antonio Banderas version) - "hey, pass me that book of formulaic plots & hammy acting will ya..."
Snatch - why?
Fight Club - great until the end, at which point suspension of disbelief falls apart. Shame.
Gone With The Wind - not seen all of it, but seen enough to know it's not for me
pretty much any kitchen sink drama of the 60s - yawwwwn
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Fri, 25 April 2008 23:55 |
|
I guess the reason there are so many different genres/styles of film is because we all have differing opinions. We also have different ideas of what exactly it is that makes a good/great or even a bad/awful film.
It would be an infinitely more boring world if we were only ever to have the films that an individual decided were good.
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sat, 26 April 2008 04:16 |
|
|
any musical!
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sat, 26 April 2008 10:31 |
|
|
Even The Blues Brothers?
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sat, 26 April 2008 11:05 |
|
HERE HERE SOUTHWEST... completly agree....everyone has a different taste.....the same as who likes stockings and who does`nt !!!!
its like asking whats the point of having sex the end result is always the same...???
we do it coz we enjoy it ...and what we dont enjoy about it we dont do......or cant see the point in doing.....>>refer to the Karma sutra....i rest my case lmao
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sat, 26 April 2008 13:48 |
|
There is a fine tradition of "talkin' turkey". It can be as much fun identifying and deconstructing turkeys as praising good films.
You never know whether you're going to enjoy a film before you see it - it's down to individual taste, but it's fun to talk/debate about afterwards.
Sometimes a film can be so bad that you end up enjoying it - anyone remember the Worst of Hollywood series Channel 4 ran in the 80s? Some truly comical stinkers such as Plan 9 from Outer Space (commonly credited as the worst film ever made), They Saved Hitler's Brain and Godzilla vs The Smog Monster.
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sun, 27 April 2008 13:26 |
|
|
Blues Brothers, OK but nothing special, and is it a musical?
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sun, 27 April 2008 13:33 |
|
| Quote |
Atonement - this is meant to be the saviour of British film? Right!
|
So glad some one else agrees with me on this.
One of the worst movies I have seen.
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sun, 27 April 2008 15:24 |
|
| harmonyclubanne wrote on Sun, 27 April 2008 13:26 |
Blues Brothers, OK but nothing special, and is it a musical?
|
It was a mixture of genres really. Enjoyed the original, but Blues Brothers 2000 was one of the most pointless movies ever made.
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sun, 27 April 2008 21:02 |
|
I didn't rate Atonement that much. Some people raved over it because it was Keira Knightley who is supposed to be everyones idea of beauty, but I couldn't see the point.
Quite why James McAvoy was nominated for an Academy Award for this, I don't know, but then put Daniel Day Lewis in there and forget getting any award. DD Lewis outacts nearly everyone.
Again, why the great dialogue in Reservoir Dogs? 99% of it is profanity. Take the profanity out of it and what have you got? Very little. Just a lot of endless arguments and debates, particularly the one about Madonna which was pointless. Mind you, I can see Quentin Tarentino arguing the toss about this one.
[Updated on: Sun, 27 April 2008 21:04]
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Mon, 28 April 2008 10:36 |
|
For me, the dialogue grounded the film in reality & was a fresh approach. 99% of films only permit dialogue that 'furthers the plot' whereas here the content of the dialogue is almost irrelevant, but does deepen our understanding of the various characters - we are drawn into their lives and attitudes, which makes the subsequent decent into violence more profound and disturbing. Had the film relied on bulk-standard heist/gangster movie dialogue, it would have been nothing remarkable.
I think it is Tarantino's most accomplished film (possibly excepting Jackie Brown). On the other hand, his Kill Bill movies were pure exercises in self-indulgence & should have been edited down to one 2-hour movie.
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Wed, 30 April 2008 22:25 |
|
I don't know about QT's films anymore. I saw one of his Grindhouse efforts about a month ago and I thought, 'why bother'. It was a bore start to finish and the so-called novelty value of intentionally 'rubbish' reel such as films were made in the seventies (without the benefit of digital DV or remastering) did nothing for me. It all seemed to be an experiment in going back to the past, whereas modern DV nowadays is so much better.
Some things work old-style, such as recording analogue and playing vinyl. In this case, digital music is often convenient but almost souless. What doesn't work old-style is cinema. Special effects have moved on for a reason - they are much better now and if used sparingly, enhance a plot rather than diminish it. DV camera work on films such as 28 days later and Gladiator where the action seems speeded up adds momentum. What works is the imagination of the director in using it. There is also the safety factor in using digital CGI instead of hard to set up stuntwork. In the old days of action film, stunt work was done manually, nowadays its all computer generated hence no harm to anyone.
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Wed, 30 April 2008 23:01 |
|
I second 'The Da Vinci Code'
However, it was one of the few films that had the same effect on me as the book... I walked out (gave up) after an hour!
Sapph
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Thu, 01 May 2008 21:25 |
|
|
What about best films you have seen Mich?
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sat, 03 May 2008 22:37 |
|
Where would you like me to start, Monty?  I love cinema and I have a list as long as the proverbial arm of stuff I love to watch.
So here is a sample:
1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Nicely shot story, nice performances and a real sense of hope. Not often you go on a journey with a character and almost don't want to leave the cinema and end the journey. One of the only films I dearly wish they would re-release on the cinema. It would sound so much better on the new sound systems. One of Spielberg's best.
2. The entire Star Wars saga. Alright, so the last three ones were a bit ropey on the plot and dialogue, but who cares! This is George Lucas doing what he does best, telling a story.
3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - Again, lots of detractors, including all those pouncey arty farty film critics who said this lot should never have been made. Why not? JRR Tolkien's saga is brilliant. Beautifully shot, lovely scenery, smart dialogue, effects .....what more can one ask for!
4. Most Kubrick films, with the exception of Paths of Glory, the Boxer and early stuff I haven't seen. Spartacus was brilliant, Lolita had some interesting moments and has never been bettered, The Shining and Clockwork Orange are classics and have shots in them often reused, 2001 - again, beautiful moments, Eyes Wide Shut - nicely shot.
5. Schindler's List - utterly brilliant and completely harrowing film. Very much Spielberg's finest.
6. The Indiana Jones trilogy - except for the 4th one which I haven't seen yet (but I will).
7. Innerspace, Dreamscape and the Big Easy - Dennis Quaid was rather good in all of them.
8. Heat - very stylish and nicely shot film.
9. 28 Days later - one of the best 'Zombie' type British films ever made.
10. Downfall, The Lives of Others, Black Book - Sometimes there are brilliant foreign movies around and these are some of the best. The foreign film list I have is way too long.
There are loads more. I have enjoyed nearly all of Harrison Ford's films, Owen Wilson's, some Christian Bale, Russell Crowe (who seems to get better), Johnny Depp and have a guilty pleasure thing about certain stuff by John Carpenter and Stanley Kubrick.
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sun, 04 May 2008 12:40 |
|
| Mich wrote |
2. The entire Star Wars saga.
|
He should have handed over the reigns for the last 3, which got progressively worse despite great fx.
| Mich wrote |
3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
|
The problem with adapting popular books is that everyone has their own ideas of how people and places look, and that often doesn't tally with the director's vision. This problem is exacerbated with fantasy, where the director cannot rely on period detail. However, for me, Jackson got it absolutely right for TLOTR and I think they are one of the finest translations from book to cinema ever.
| Mich wrote |
4. Most Kubrick films
|
Agreed, and the other thing to remember about Kubrick is that he pretty much mastered every genre - sporting, war, epic, satire, sci-fi, historical romp, literary adaption, horror, erotic drama... shame he never made a western.
| Mich wrote |
7. Innerspace, Dreamscape and the Big Easy - Dennis Quaid was rather good in all of them.
|
Loved the Big Easy - Ellen Barkin was never sexier.
| Mich wrote |
9. 28 Days later
|
Another fine movie - was the sequel any good?
Here's a few of mine in no particular order:
1. Angel Heart - gothic-noir classic.
2. Blade Runner - noir sci-fi classic.
3. The Good The Bad And The Ugly - it's far too long & I wish it were longer - every scene is great
4. The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover - the only good thing to come out of Thatcherism
5. Apocalypse Now - Redux. One of the most visisonary adaptions of a classic novel.
6. Excalibur - more holes than a colander, but visual sumptuous & a great Wagner score.
7. Malpertuis - obscure horror with a fading Orson Welles.
8. Aguire Wrath of God & Fitzcaraldo - Herzog & Kinski define cinematic chemistry for me
9. Europa - pre-Dogma Lars Von Trier
10. Black Cat White Cat - touching, funny & a killer soundtrack
11. Rumblefish - Mickey Rourke could act, once
12. One From The Heart - I have a soft-spot for tragic follies.
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Sun, 04 May 2008 19:56 |
|
| Quote |
1. Angel Heart - gothic-noir classic.
2. Blade Runner - noir sci-fi classic.
3. The Good The Bad And The Ugly - it's far too long & I wish it were longer - every scene is great
4. The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover - the only good thing to come out of Thatcherism
5. Apocalypse Now - Redux. One of the most visisonary adaptions of a classic novel.
6. Excalibur - more holes than a colander, but visual sumptuous & a great Wagner score.
7. Malpertuis - obscure horror with a fading Orson Welles.
8. Aguire Wrath of God & Fitzcaraldo - Herzog & Kinski define cinematic chemistry for me
9. Europa - pre-Dogma Lars Von Trier
10. Black Cat White Cat - touching, funny & a killer soundtrack
11. Rumblefish - Mickey Rourke could act, once
12. One From The Heart - I have a soft-spot for tragic follies
|
I found Angel Heart wasn't a bad film, although Charlotte Rampling had too little to do.
Blade Runner is a favourite as well. I DID manage to see it on the cinema a few years ago and it was lovely. DVD doesn't somehow cut it for some films.
The Cook the Thief etc was a nicely shot film but some of the subject matter was cold.
Excalibur - one of my few Arthurian raves. Lots of atmosphere and beautiful shots and Charlie Boreman.
Aguirre was a 'I've got to think about it' film and Fitzcarraldo the same but both were classics. I have yet to watch Cobra Verde though. I enjoyed Nosferatu and the documetary, My Best Fiend about Herzog's relationship with Kinski. I often wondered whether Natassja Kinski would ever consider working with Herzog.
I have seen the sequel to 28 days Later and it was alright. Much of the same.
I can understand why Lucas didn't hand over the reins for the Star Wars prequels. Blame Spielberg for that one. Spielberg told him to direct them whereas before, others had done it, including Lawrence Kasdan and Richard Marquand. Kasdan had a hard time shooting Empire and Harrison Ford nearly gave up on Jedi.
Ewan Mcgregor always says that he wouldn't have missed making the Star Wars films he did for anything even if he found it very hard to interact with green screen effects shots which had stuff added later.
[Updated on: Sun, 04 May 2008 19:59]
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Thu, 08 May 2008 17:27 |
|
| Mich wrote on Sun, 04 May 2008 19:56 |
Blade Runner is a favourite as well. I DID manage to see it on the cinema a few years ago and it was lovely. DVD doesn't somehow cut it for some films.
|
Has anyone seen the 'definitive' director's cut that was released in the UK last year?
I've seen the cinema original (liked the 'noirish' narration), the original director's cut (better ending and more cohesion), but am reluctant to shell out a third time unless it's really worth while. I suspect it's just another marketing gimmick by the studio. 
|
|
|
|
| Re: Films people have raved over, but I haven't seen the point |
Tue, 13 May 2008 16:16 |
|
|
Pulp Fiction, that was a load of crap.
|
|
|
| | |
Current time: Fri Jul 4 06:56:49 BST 2008
Total time taken to generate the page: 0.02300 seconds |
