Topic: Good Movies You Hate

[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]

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.

[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]

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: ShowHide

Why can't the hero withdraw from his tennis match? What carousel can turn that fast? And many more

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]

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.

[Mandle]

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]

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.

The Strugatsky Brothers' book was pretty good, but I never watched the film. Seemed too exaggerated and grotesque judging from what I saw.

Strangers 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.

You know what I hate? People with Scarface posters. That movie sucks.

To be honest, it's not a great poster...

[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.

[Adeel]

EDIT: You know what I hate? People with Scarface posters. That movie sucks.

x1 x2 x4 x8

[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).

[Mandle]

Anyway, back on topic. Anyone else got one?

[Snarky]

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.

[Mandle]

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.

Stu was on topic with Ad Astra, and I 100% had the same feelings about that movie.

Granted though, it's not an easy topic to find honest examples for.

I'm still searching my memory banks for another.

I know there's one in there though. I can feel it tugging on the line!

[Snarky]

There are some movies that deal with topics and issues I simply cannot relate to, or that take some position I find so problematic that it makes it impossible for me to enjoy them, even though I can see that they're well made. (The example I always come back to is a novel: Brideshead Revisited. I just cannot wrap my head around the author and narrator's enthusiasm for a religion that destroys the lives of most of the book's characters.)

For example, I found Tokyo Story pretty rough going, both in some of the cultural assumptions and in the conflict presented. I did find much to enjoy in it, but it was very much a mixed bag for me. Doesn't mean it's not a masterpiece—because it wasn't made for me.

[TheFrighter]

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.

I have the same feeling for La grande bellezza (The great beauty), Best International Feature film at 86th Academy Award.
Pratically a 2.0 version of La Dolce Vita.
Yeah, the cinematography is great. Roma is the best set ever. And the protagonist Toni Servillo deserved the academy award for the best actor more than Matthew McConaughey! (Don't hate me for this)

But... what I can say, it don't match with me. Maybe is the glamour, or the support characters. But really don't.

_

[LimpingFish]

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.

Oh, I accept that most of the movies I mentioned (in my rambling post ) are good, even great, examples of cinema. But I didn't enjoy them, for various reasons, and would choose not to watch them again.

Like Mandle said, it's not that easy a question to answer. In fact, it's something of a paradox, especially if we try to separate objective opinion from personal preference.

[heltenjon]

Titanic. I so wanted it to be a historic drama, and it partly is. I just didn't want the love story. And the love story isn't exactly bad either, it just kept interferring with me wanting to see the ship sink.

[Gilbert]

I think the love story was a necessity at the time, as otherwise they could never get back the HUGE amount of money invested in the production. People would not repeatedly dump their money to just watch an (more or less) accurate documentary. Still I'd rather have a special version with all these fillers edited out.

Otherwise this movie was just an updated version of A Night to Remember (with ideas of other old Titanic movies thrown in), which was very, very good (there was another B&W movie just called Titanic with lots of dramas added, which IMO was not as good). A number of scenes were just recreated identically in Cameron's version (together with dialogues).

Yet other than the updated effects (which were good), there were at least two features that made Cameron's version really worthy of its own:
1. The undersea submarine scenes with WTF THE WRECK OF THE REAL THING.
2. The ship broke into two halves before sinking. This was never reproduced in previous attempts due to conflicting reports and other complications.

[milkanannan]

Birdman - The filming style and stage-within-a-stage stuff seemed cool, and the characters seemed interesting, and a New York theatre troupe is a cool setting...but I've tried twice and can't make it through this movie. I don't even know why. I just cannot get myself to care about the plot.

[Mandle]

I think the love story was a necessity at the time,

Especially because, in possibly one of the worst decisions ever made in movie writing history:
SPOILER ALERT I GUESS

Spoiler: ShowHide

Their love story directly causes the sinking of the Titanic!
This is a fact that not many people remember about Titanic, but, if the two main characters had not fallen in love, the ship probably would not have sunk.
The sailor up on watch in the crows-nest is secretly spying on the lovebirds kissing down below on the deck and that is why he doesn't see the iceberg looming up behind him in time to sound the alert so the ship can turn and miss it, or not hit it as fatally.
(Actually, if he had never seen it and the ship had hit it front-on instead of a side-swipe, the ship would not have sunk, but that's a different story.)

[dactylopus]

Titanic. I so wanted it to be a historic drama, and it partly is. I just didn't want the love story. And the love story isn't exactly bad either, it just kept interferring with me wanting to see the ship sink.

The sinking ship was the best part of the movie.  I gave it an ovation in the theater.

Another "good" movie I hated is Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.  Now there are some valid criticisms of this movie, but it's otherwise well received by regular people.  I just didn't care for it.  It was ordinary.  Then again, I haven't seen it in decades, so maybe it deserves another chance.  I'm sure my wife would love it if I tried again.  Anyways, Men In Tights is the all-time best Robin Hood movie.

[Mandle]

These choices are probably going to be unpopular, but keep complaints to yourself: 

The Neverending Story

Probably because I didn't read the book and see the movie until I was an adult, but I just couldn't make myself give a shit about anything that was happening in the movie.

I disliked the book because the main character was such an obnoxious little shit for most of it, and just wasn't interested in the movie at all.

Labyrinth is a very similar kind of movie and story but I absolutely loved that. Something about The Neverending Story just rubbed me the wrong way.

I think it just felt too "hippy" to me in its philosophy... "Love Dragon"... gimme a break! 

The Dark Crystal

If this had been an animated movie I think I would have loved it.

But I just can't make it more than 20 minutes into this movie before the dead faces of the main puppet characters drive me up the wall.

Puppet shows where the characters only have their body language to express their feelings are fine for 15 minutes, but not for me for a full length movie.

[Cesar Gray]

EDIT: You know what I hate? People with Scarface posters. That movie sucks.

x1 x2 x4 x8

https://uk.edubirdie.com/nursing-assignment-help

I really love this actor, but I didn't like the movie at all.

[Creamy]

Birdman - The filming style and stage-within-a-stage stuff seemed cool, and the characters seemed interesting, and a New York theatre troupe is a cool setting...but I've tried twice and can't make it through this movie. I don't even know why. I just cannot get myself to care about the plot.

I have it on my laptop but haven't finished it either.

Another "good" movie I hated is Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.  Now there are some valid criticisms of this movie, but it's otherwise well received by regular people.  I just didn't care for it.  It was ordinary.  Then again, I haven't seen it in decades, so maybe it deserves another chance.  I'm sure my wife would love it if I tried again.  Anyways, Men In Tights is the all-time best Robin Hood movie.

The "good" Robin Hood that I don't like is the one with Russell Crowe - too serious.  It may not be a masterpiece but I had a good time with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves as a child, thanks to Alan Rickman notably.

[Babar]

The "good" Robin Hood that I don't like is the one with Russell Crowe - too serious.  It may not be a masterpiece but I had a good time with Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves as a child, thanks to Alan Rickman notably.

I'm not sure that many would consider it a good Robin Hood. In fact, my preference is where Prince of Thieves (and thus by osmosis, Men in Tights) took much of its inspiration from: Robin of Sherwood. Some might be turned off by the cheese today, but I still quite like it, although that's probably a topic for the other thread.

[TheFrighter]

I have to add the Kick-Ass movies. The comic book draw by John Romita Jr. is great, but on the screen looks too exasperate

_

[KyriakosCH]

2001 A Space Odyssey has very nice cinematography, yet its pace felt off in the latter part of the movie.