The collected body of work of David Lynch. If that is “art-house.”
Okay i’ll bite even if it puts a big bullseye on my back. The art house film I really dislike is “The River” by Renoir. I understand it’s place in film history, I understand it’s technical appeal and I understand it intellectually. I know it’s his first color feature blah blah blah, but the story is soooo boring and worst still the characters were almost literally transparent. Half way through it I found myself reading an old issue of Film Comment; now maybe iI should give it another shot but the memory is still so painfull I pick it up but can’t bring myself to put it in the dvd player. Really I’m sorry please don"t hurt me.
The collected body of work of David Lynch. If that is “art-house.”
Chris-I couldn’t agree more. I saw The River for the first time when Criterion issued it a couple years back and was underwhelmed.
Just couldn’t care about the characters or what was happening.
I’ve never like much of Godard and altho I’m a big Truffaut fan I’ve never warmed to Jules and Jim altho I’ve watched it numerous times. Just seems to gimmicky to me and none of the characters ever really come alive.
The Fountain. Stop giving me shit for calling you out on how shitty it is. Stop trying to defend it because it could have been good. It’s not. Some of Aguirre-like conquistadoring gone wrong stuff is almost watchable but it somehow bombs as you realize it was shot in some narrow alley with bad CGI jungle effects and cuts away to the totally bullshit that is the two thirds of the movie. This film is one of the biggest messes in recent memory. It’s Zardoz minus the fun and hilarious philosophical dialogue. This was one film that needed to be recut, reshot, or just fucking not given a theatrical release. It’s that bad.
Admittedly, HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR.
anything by resnais and bresson
Gummo
Daniel—who do you know that actually likes The Fountain?
Im gonna have to play the David Lynch card too. I don’t know what it is, I just can’t get in to it.
Quite a few people actually. I think their insane. One claims it’s his favorite movie. Another one of his favorite is Event Horizon, which he says that he has never fully sat through it as the flayed body grosses him out. I am thinking to myself “Isn’t that the sole reason to watch Event Horizon? To see the random gory shit thrown on screen by Paul WS Anderson? The movie doesn’t exactly have a plot.” Someday, I think I will show him some cannibal movies. Or Salo.
I didn’t even finish The River. Could not get into it at all. I tried watching it shortly before The Darjeeling Limited came out because it was apparently an influence and I never got to the end. I’ll have to try again someday.
Hey, it’s o.k. don’t be sorry- I can see how anyone could not like “The River”.
I almost literally got jumped when I said I didn’t like “Reservoir Dogs”, nor I found the restaurant banter in the beginning interesting at all. And I love almost all of Tarantino’s work. Maybe because I grew up watching so many ’70’s Asian/Japanese crime-action flicks – quick cuts, smart-ass dubbed dialogues where everybody dies, especially when Sonny Chiba is on it. I gave it another try, but nah! Sorry.
I also got tons of shit for not liking Hal Ashby’s “Coming Home”. John Voight and Bruce Dern were great, so it’s because of Hanoi Jane, to be totally honest. I’m not saying it’s a bad film, I just absolutely hated it to this day. I prefer Oliver Stone any day, anytime..
I wasn’t a fan of The Reader at all. The idea of sympathy for a Nazi who’s illiterate, even when she let people burn down in that church/barn (?) sickens me. If the director walked into this room right now to try and argue that it’s about love I would smack him across the face for making such a egocentric film. I guess I have to admit that I’m a little offended by it, since half of my family is Jewish. Usually I’m not offended by content, as I watch anything from Salo, Irreversible, those Guinea Pig movies, etc.
Sam, I read the Reader and I felt the same way. I felt no sympathy whatsoever for any of the characters.
I had the chance to talk to the Boston Globe film critic Wesley Morris, and he shared my sentiments. I’m glad to see that there are a few of us out there who share this opinion.
The films of THEO ANGELOPOULOS. Strictly for people who confuse profundity with tedium.
I’ve seen 8 1/2 twice and both times I was bored. Other than the dream sequences it was too dull and self-indulgent for me. I like Fellini better when he does stories about people other than himself.
No one has ever given me shit for anything. If anyone ever gave me shit, I would quickly, & happly return the shit.
Anything by Malick or van Sant.
A Clockwork Orange
Dr. Strangelove
—I just don’t get the hype.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
—Someone told me once I should probably bang my head against a brick wall for saying the film was overbaked and overdirected.
nothing so far…let me think again…nope,nothing so far..i guess i love movies too much :P
I got into alot of shitfests over not liking Zhang Yimou’s Hero and other similarly related films…..
Another film that I get shit for not liking is Malick’s Badlands. I really liked The Thin Red Line, and I’m thinking about giving Badlands a second viewing, but damn, Martin Sheen mumbles a lot and Sissy Spacek sucks in this movie.
I haven’t exactly gotten shit about it, but what’s the bloody damned freaking fuss over Wendy and Lucy? I think most people are simply reacting to something they haven’t put much thought into before – transience. The film was fine, really, but wow.
I thought Synedoche New York was a big let-down. I love Charlie Kaufman’s other films, but for some reason I found it uninvolving and pretentious. Someday I’ll try to give it another chance.
Renoir’s “Rules of The Game”, Antonioni’s “L’avventura”, Visconti’s “Death In Venice” and “The Leopard”.
I have tried several times, but can’t get into David Lynch’s DUNE. I also didn’t care for Eraserhead, but that was a long time ago and may give it another shot.
One last film that I get shit for not liking would have to be Antonioni’s Blow-Up. Personally, I think it’s really dated and it didn’t do much for me.
Anthony S.
About a month ago Rich Uncle Skeleton posted a forum asking people what films they were given shit for not liking. I was surprised to see people chosing films such as Crash, Napoleon Dynamite and Boiler Room?! Most people I discuss film with would have no trouble denouncing all of those films on very valid grounds. This forum is more of an extension of the first post on this topic, but I am more interested to hear what Art-House films, that are critically revered, that people are given shit for not liking.
I’d have to say for me it would be Michael Haneke’s “Cache”, which was the art-house “Jesus of Nazarath” from a couple of years ago. I found it to be dry and convoluted. Haneke ran with his name rather than content. I am a fan of slow introspective films, as long as that’s what they are and not just what their being called. The suspense was swollowed up by the lack of intrigue involving the plot points and realism of character decisions. I am a huge fan of Haneke’s other work such as The Piano Teacher, but I felt at the time that many people said it was the best film of the year, simply because that was what every one was saying at the time. I’m not looking to argue over Cache (I’’ve already done that and the film does not repulse me, just don’t like it and am given shit for it). I’d be interested to see what Art-House film or films people feel lean more toward pretentious than art.