Topic: Good Movies You Hate

[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.

[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.

[Mandle]

I don't hate it but:

Midsommar

After Hereditary being the most disturbing film I have probably ever watched I really expected a lot from this one.

I avoided all spoilers and even blocked the DVD menu images with my hand while booting it up.

But it just turned out to be

Spoiler: ShowHide

The Wickerman remake we should have gotten. Although it still did have a guy dressed up as a bear by the end.

It was gripping while I was watching it, and very well filmed and acted and I was invested right up to the end and then just felt let down with nothing much to think about or take away from it once it was over.

[lorenzo]

I avoided all spoilers and even blocked the DVD menu images with my hand while booting it up.

Why do they have to put spoilers in the DVD menus, it's beyond me. Some DVDs that I have even show photos from the ending!

[Mandle]

I avoided all spoilers and even blocked the DVD menu images with my hand while booting it up.

Why do they have to put spoilers in the DVD menus, it's beyond me. Some DVDs that I have even show photos from the ending!

Have you seen the cover of the original Planet Of The Apes movie DVD?

They show

Spoiler: ShowHide

The Statue Of Liberty sticking up from the ocean. I know that movie is kinda spoiled for 99% of people currently, but do they forget that there are new people being born all the time?!

[Cassiebsg]

That's the same problem with the:

Spoiler: ShowHide

 "Luke. I am your father!"

People just forgot that no matter how old the movie is that "everybody" has seen it a million times, there are new viewers that haven't seen it! So no matter how old and well known a movie is, FFS, please use spoilers when talking about movies/shows!

[heltenjon]

That's the same problem with the:

Spoiler: ShowHide

 "Luke. I am your father!"

People just forgot that no matter how old the movie is that "everybody" has seen it a million times, there are new viewers that haven't seen it! So no matter how old and well known a movie is, FFS, please use spoilers when talking about movies/shows!

Oh no! How the West was Won spoiled! Darn if I'll ever click on an unmarked spoiler tag again! 

When The Two Towers was coming in movie theaters, the trailer was showing something everyone who had read The Lord of the Rings would know,

Spoiler: ShowHide

That Gandalf wasn't dead and would return

. My wife hadn't read the books and didn't know. I actually successfully distracted her for months during the key moment of the trailer, offering pop corn or something to make her look off screen. She got the surprise when watching the movie, as everyone should, if possible.

[Mandle]

That's the same problem with the:

Spoiler: ShowHide

 "Luke. I am your father!"

ALERT!!! ALERT!!!

MANDELA AFFECTED SUBJECT DETECTED!!!

INTER-DIMENSIONAL AGENTS ON ROUTE!!!

E.T.A. 15 MINUTES!!!