The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Your right Fredo that was such a horrible film and it felt like Fincher was playing the Hollywood game with that one.
I love Godard’s work but Breathless was not as great as some made out.
Breathless, Contempt and 2 or 3 or Things I know about her.
i’m no good at convincing nobody of nothing, all i can do is say that i thought Jules et Jim was brilliant.
i did NOT however enjoy Atlantic City at all. and considering its been considered one of the best American films by one of the best French directors, i was extremely dissapointed. the whole picture just seemed fake and uncreative. the lines by great actors like Sarandon and Lancaster seemed forced and very inauthentic…unauthentic…not realistic? yeah… y’dig
Army of Darkness. Why is it even in the horror section.
Pickpocket. I was all hyped-up over it, and was severely let down. Should I give it another chance, people?
Carter:
I had the opposite experience with Army of Darkness. It was better, for my tastes, than I expected.
Kagemusha. The terrible colour scheme, Nakadai’s vastly overdone performance (that was perfect for Mifune, but Kurosawa was to stubborn to give him the part), and the general unfocused nature of the plot left me completely underwhelmed and angry for paying anything to see this film.
Justin, Au Hasard Balthazar did not meet my expectations. It took awhile for me to see another Bresson, but when I did (the film was Pickpocket) I was blown away. My thinking is Bresson isn’t what we expect so once we know what we should expect we can find the brilliance in his films. I will give Au Hasard Balthazar another chance, if you give Pickpocket another chance.
For the record I don’t hate Au Hasard Balthazar. I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars. Its just from what I had read about it, I was expecting it to become my new favorite film.
I second Kagemusha, I found it extremely underwhelming except for the lavish dream sequences. It seems to me that Kurosawa was creatively exhausted upon finishing his masterpiece (RAN).
OK, Drew. I’ll try watching it again. I didn’t HATE it, it’s just that, at the time I watched it, it wasn’t half as good as I’d expected.
You should watch A Man Escaped if you want to get into Bresson. In my opinion his style is best suited for that movie. And I’ve seen Balthazar 4 or 5 times and I’ve never been moved to tears or felt so completely moved by the ending, although I will say its good.
Sandwiches, That makes me bummed out. I was hoping on a second viewing it would get a lot better. I have been wanting to see A Man Escaped for awhile so I will make sure to see it as soon as possible.
As long as I can change the topic to “films you expected to be great but weren’t quite as great as you would have hoped” here is my list:
-Au Hasard Balthazar
-Battleship Potemkin
-Jules and Jim
-North by Northwest
-Tokyo Story
As I said about Balthazar all of these films I would give 4 out 5 stars. It is just these films are extremely hyped up and I was expecting masterpieces and got really good films. Interestingly enough all of these five films I have only seen once so I am fully ready to rewatch them.
Drew, if you want to give early, seminal Russian film another shot try Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera.
I have seen Man with the Movie Camera, and found it very interesting.
What didn’t impress you about Tokyo Story?
It just didn’t blow me away. I don’t know what to say, since I saw it for the first time a year ago and have not seen it since. I plan on seeing it again soon, but are you saying it is so good I should run out right now and grab a copy?
I personally think Late Spring is a better film (he’s maybe the hardest director to rank his oeuvre, though), but I have only ever been disappointed by one or two Ozu films. I think Tokyo Story is an amazing film. I could talk all day about scene after scene, and how perfectly constructed, shot, and written every single moment in it is. I’d rather tell you to give it another try when you get the chance and see what you think. He’s not a director for everyone, and I’m never really surprised when I hear someone say they don’t think he’s as great as he’s normally said to be.
Seeing Requiem for a Dream and Boondock Saints taught me to never again trust the opinions of my friends and peers.
Hmm, about “Pickpocket”: I was expecting it to be something absolutely spectacular and eye opening, but it just wasn’t. It wasn’t a masterpiece. I think it is a very good movie, which seems to have more literary than cinematical elements at times, but I wouldn’t consider it one of the best films ever made or genious or anything. Just a very good movie.
As to the actual topic: Gladiator, probably, a couple of years ago. Alien. (Ridley Scott is a master of disappointment for me). eeehm…
oh yes, Perfect World, the worst movie Eastwood has ever made! I wasn’t really expecting it to be ‘great’, but I thought ’well, its eastwood…".
JULES AND JIM..No disrepect to those who like it, but…." I HATED IT", EYES WIDE SHUT…no comment, BIRTH..i did’nt hate it, but i thought it could have been better, THE LAST SAMURAI..I liked the film, but i hated the ending , INDISCRETIONS OF AN AMERICAN WIFE….Snoooore. LE CIRCLE ROUGE…it had great atmosphere, but i thought it was a dull film. AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER..i realize it’s regarded as a classic to some," but for me"… it was like watching honey pour out of a jar. UNBREAKABLE…i thought it was an interesting idea…but. BALISTIC KISS…"Good god , i don’t know what i was thinking.!!! The “remake” of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL..by far one of the worst films i have ever seen, next to BALISTIC KISS. TERMINATOR 3….. "crrrrrap ! BLADE 3 …hated it BATTLEFIELD EARTH…. "AAAAWWWFULLLL!!!!!!!! THE SCORE…Incredible cast,.. but …no! LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN….another incredible cast..but awwwwfull ! ROCK AND ROLLA, I did not like it ! BABYLON A.D…dissapointing, "the trailer was better.
Oh i forgot – 11:14, terrible, terrible movie.
Old Boy. i didnt like it at all.
“Army of Darkness. Why is it even in the horror section.” – Carter Smith
Ok, not to abduct this thread, but Carter Smith, are you serious?
And Fandorin-San … you were disappointed by Alien? I’m just curious as to what you could’ve possibly been expecting?
But yeah other than those two, I agree with practically everyone in this thread … Rock n’ Rolla was lackluster, Lucky Number Slevin was as banal as I expected it to be, 11:14 was such a ripoff, The Score, Perfect World. And Last Samurai … terrible terrible film.
The big disappointment for me was Minority Report which was just a Horselover Fat travesty.
I also disagree with those who found Tokyo Story, North by Northwest, Breathless, Kagemusha, Unbreakable, Le Cercle Rouge, and Pickpost disappointing, heh, wow what a list.
And Lawrence, were you really expecting Terminator 3 and The Day the Earth Stood Still remake to be GOOD?
Benjamin button… and yes fincher was having his hollywood moment… too bad because, the year before he had made freaking excellent movie and everyone ignored it… Zodiac.
A.I. – Lolita – I vitelloni – Giulietta degli spiriti – …pretty anything by Danny Boyle.
I’d agree with Drew here – the topic should be “films you expected to be great but weren’t quite as great as you would have hoped”, because I don’t think I’ve encountered something that was supposed to be great and turned out truly horrible for me. The films below, while not as bad as “Twilight”, were disappointing to me.
North by Northwest
The Big Sleep
Breathless
Kagemusha – I’m glad someone else mentioned this one, because I’d almost forgotten about it.
The Cabinet of Dr. Calagri
Juliet of the Spirits
Synecdoche, N.Y. (Spelled incorrectly, I’m sure)
I’m sure there are others, but these are the first to come to mind.
Oldboy. Man.
Wow Breathless, Juliet of the Spirits, and Synecdoche. N,Y?
I think that several participators in this thread need to realize that displaying their reasoning wouldn’t hurt.
I found Synecdoche to be far too arrogant and alienating.
sandwiches
Jules et Jim and Sunrise for me were terrible terrible films. I couldn’t even finish Sunrise it was so bad. And Jules et Jim pissed me off like no other film has in a long time. Yet I went into them expecting that they would be nothing less than masterpieces.
Convince me I should give them another chance (you’ll have a hard time) or vent some similar experiences. o_O