Good Movies You Hate

Started by Mandle, Sat 18/07/2020 16:02:37

Previous topic - Next topic

Mandle

Lately I have detected an interesting category for movies that I have seen, and could recognize as genuinely good movies, but that I absolutely could not stand or even outright hated.

If anyone else has had similar experiences then please post the movies' name(s) and your reason for your reaction (if possible).

Please try to avoid posts like "NO WAY! That movie is a masterpiece!" in response to someone else's opinion. This thread is not intended to start arguments.

Think of this as more of a place to vent your feelings that would be unpopular anywhere else.

I will start with:

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.

I love Terry Gilliam movies. I think the man is a genius. I think this movie is expertly crafted, and has amazing acting, outstanding camerawork, and everything else one would expect from a Terry Gilliam movie.

I understand the concepts of Gonzo Journalism and Stream Of Consciousness writing.

But, oh my GOD! I just found this movie grating on my nerves and that feeling increasing exponentially per gorgeous onscreen minute.

The characters were screechy and made me want to tear out the last bit of hair I have left.

I knew the movie was going to wander as aimlessly as the drugged-out characters so that was also annoying on a surface level, but I have read (and watched) The Naked Lunch and read On The Road, without that being a major issue.

I think I just found the entire thing so self-indulgent on the part of the characters, the actors, and the director that I just stopped caring about anything and turned the movie off at the bathroom scene with no regret.

I doubt I will ever attempt a rewatch.

Anyone else got any movies they knew were good, or even great, but just couldn't stand for whatever reason(s)?

Snarky

I really enjoyed Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but a movie in a somewhat similar vein that I couldn't stand when I finally got to watch it was Hard to Be a God. I found it almost literally unwatchable, between the camera work of incessant closeups, the nonsensical world, the apparently nonexistent storyline and the wildly over-the-top performances. Oh, and it's three hours long. (I think I lasted about half that.)

Is it a good movie nevertheless? I don't know. I don't see it, but it's certainly critically acclaimed.

heltenjon

Lost in translation. I just found it incredibly boring. Good actors, interesting fish-out-of-water premise, and (for me) no entertainment value.

CaptainD

Quote from: heltenjon on Sat 18/07/2020 18:59:07
Lost in translation. I just found it incredibly boring. Good actors, interesting fish-out-of-water premise, and (for me) no entertainment value.

Ditto!  Some people adore it but I just can't understand why.

Another well thought-of movie that I just found boring was La Dolce Vita. Maybe I was in the wrong mood or too tired but I actually fell asleep and couldn't bring myself to finish watching it another time.
 

KyriakosCH

I recently saw Apocalypse Now.

It has some very nice scenes, and is memorable - but the plot seemed to be the opposite of anything cerebral.

This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Sinitrena

Star Wars (the original trilogy) To be fair, I was running a high fever when I watched the movies (got to about the middle of the second one before I gave up) but I just couldn't find them interesting. For me, the characters were annoyingly boring, the story dragged and the acting was okay at best. I never tried to watch them again. Maybe I'd like them more without a fever melting my brain, but the first try just left me not interested in another one.

If we aren't just talking about movies, but TV shows too, I currently try to get through Dark on Netflix. All critics I've read tell me the show is great, reactions on youtube considered it intruiging and I just find it fairly predictable so far (I'm halfway through the first season - no spoilers please, I haven't given up completely yet!) and just dragging on and on without anything noteable happening for far too large stretches each episode.

Creamy

#6
Reds by and with Warren Beatty. I couldn't stand his ego trip for very long.

Strangers on a train by Alfred Hitchcock. It may be a classic but I found the plot silly in several places.
Spoiler
Why can't the hero withdraw from his tennis match? What carousel can turn that fast? And many more
[close]

300 and Sin City. Frank Miller is all style and no substance for me.

I kinda like the feeling of disconnection that Lost in translation creates. Watching it in good company certainly helped me stand the slow rhythm.

I've tried to watch Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas twice but gave up each time for the same reasons as Mandle.
 

Mandle

Creamy, you absolutely nailed your descriptions of Warren (You're So Vain) Beatty and Frank Miller IMO. Although without Frank Miller we wouldn't have The Dark Knight graphic novel so he kind of gets a pass from me just for that.

dactylopus

OK, so Citizen Kane may have been a revolutionary movie that pushed film-making to new heights, but I found the movie to be lacking in entertainment value.  Just didn't care for it, and I love old films.  Oh well.

LimpingFish

#9
Hate is a strong word, but...

The Shawshank Redemption
: The number one movie on IMDB. Figures.

Also, and I recognize the quality, talent, and expertise involved, but almost anything by Martin Scorsese (except After Hours and The King of Comedy...and maybe Taxi Driver), Christopher Nolan (Inception is bollocks), and Quentin Tarantino (probably because I'm aware of almost everything he cribs from, which makes watching his movies nothing but prolonged fan-wank).

...

Francis Ford Coppola! I love Bram Stokers Dracula! Quite like Apocalypse Now. Don't care for much else he's made. The Godfather? Meh.

Though, I have been drinking, so this post may come off as rather boorish. Soz. :-*

EDIT: You know what I hate? People with Scarface posters. That movie sucks.
Steam: LimpingFish
PSN: LFishRoller
XB: TheActualLimpingFish
Spotify: LimpingFish

Mandle

Quote from: LimpingFish on Sun 19/07/2020 02:19:26
You know what I hate? People with Scarface posters. That movie sucks.

A valid personal opinion on the movie, but I gotta say that the poster is pretty nice-looking as just a piece of interior decoration to my eye. I would say it's one of the movie posters that rises to the level of "art worth looking at just for its own sake", even if completely divorced from the film it was originally advertising.

lorenzo

Quote from: Snarky on Sat 18/07/2020 18:09:19a movie in a somewhat similar vein that I couldn't stand when I finally got to watch it was Hard to Be a God.
The Strugatsky Brothers' book was pretty good, but I never watched the film. Seemed too exaggerated and grotesque judging from what I saw.

Quote from: Creamy on Sat 18/07/2020 23:02:15Strangers on a train by Alfred Hitchcock. It may be a classic but I found the plot silly in several places.
I found that to be the case with many of Hitchcock's films. They're well-made and entertaining, as long as you don't think too much about the story -- there are often huge plot holes.

Quote from: LimpingFish on Sun 19/07/2020 02:19:26You know what I hate? People with Scarface posters. That movie sucks.
To be honest, it's not a great poster... :P

Mandle

I've honestly been racking my brain for the last few days since I started this thread to try to come up with another example of a movie that I know is good but that I hate or dislike, mainly to justify having started the thread I guess.

But the closest I can get is:

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

I used to watch this movie repeatedly as a teen. It seemed like it was on TV five or six times a year back in the mid-'80s in Australia.

And every time I watched it I just felt like life has no point for the next 3 days and wondered why even bother.

Then one day I realized my problem and I said to myself "Just don't watch that movie ever again!"

And I never have.

I also understand that the author of the book, based on his real-life experiences in mental institutions, also vowed to never watch the film and never did, as far as I know.

It's an insanely good movie.

Never watch it!

Stupot

A recent example of this is Ad Astra. Great effects, some solid acting by a great cast, an incredibly simple and attractive premise. Absolutely mind-numbingly dull as hell. Easily the most boring film I’ve seen at the cinema.

As for classics that I hate... hmmm I can’t actually think of any examples at the moment. I’m sure I’ll think of something though,  because I hate people who seem to like everything that you’re supposed to like.

I have a suspicion that if I went back and watched some stuff I haven’t seen since I was a kid, I might not like them so much... Like E.T or something.


Stupot


KyriakosCH

Mafia films are bad, generally. In the 90s they were a craze, a bit like how it is now with superhero movies (which also suck, imo).

This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Mandle

Anyway, back on topic. Anyone else got one?

Snarky

Quote from: Stupot on Sun 19/07/2020 15:28:06
A recent example of this is Ad Astra. Great effects, some solid acting by a great cast, an incredibly simple and attractive premise. Absolutely mind-numbingly dull as hell. Easily the most boring film I’ve seen at the cinema.

I feel like we all, except for Mandle, have strayed away from the concept of the thread: movies you don't like even though you accept that they are good.

(Agreed about Ad Astra, though. I didn't much care for Gray's last movie, The Lost City of Z, either, even though it's right up my alley. Herzog he is not.)

KyriakosCH

I generally wouldn't identify a movie as good, if I don't like it, so there are very few I can think of that can be fitted into this rather peculiar mold :)

It's why I mentioned Apocalypse Now, given at least I could identify parts of the cinematography as high quality, while the overall plot didn't interest me at all. I don't hate it, just would never watch it again.

So if I just go with "movies I didn't like, but had some good elements", there are a few. Even the recent (2020) Underwater, with Kristen Stewart, has high production value (at least in the first half) and a decent lead, but the story has no originality, nor do the characters.
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk