Robert Atlman’s The Player . I was so excited about it, and an hour and 15 minutes into I felt I’d had enough. I feel bad about and wrong about, because I love Altman, but The Player just didn’t do it for me.
I also severly dislike Aronofsky’s The Fountain . Although, I’m not really sure anybody really loves that movie.
Robert Atlman’s The Player . I was so excited about it, and an hour and 15 minutes into I felt I’d had enough. I feel really wrong about it because I love Altman, but The Player just didn’t do it for me.
I also severly dislike Aronofsky’s The Fountain .
Synechdoche, New York….I like Kaufman’s other stuff, but this one fell so quickly into the depths of self-concious melancholia (not just the characters, but also the film), that I almost walked out. It was style trying to make you think it was substance – Kaufman’s earlier work didn’t deny the style over substance thing though, it relished in it.
Gus Van Sant’s indie stuff…I think he does better movies when he’s in Hollywood.
Tarantino. Haggis’ Crash. Grrrr.
I can see where people are coming from with the Little Miss Sunshine/Juno/Wes Anderson criticisms (these movies are simply an entertainment, but they’re refreshing because at least they’re not a shoot-em-up). However, if America likes ‘weird’, then filmmakers should give them ‘weird’. In the words of Andre Bazin, from his essay “Every Film is a Social Documentary”: “Every producer who has made a film that pleases knows how to fill the imaginary void within which his film took shape. In commercial terms, good producers detect within the public any ‘dream holes’ still unfilled and hasten to fill them in.” In other words, filmmakers satisfy (or manufacture) a collective dream or desire of the masses – this is why movies are made. Also, if these semi-indie movies provide a bridge for audiences into superior independent fare, what’s the problem with them?
Darjeeling Limited and in general Wes Anderson who is grossly overrated. Also Schindler’s List: I didn’t hate this movie which is dubbed a landmark in american cinema, but I cannot like a director who invented the summer blockbuster and attempts to make a serious film, an ultimate contradiction to me. There’s several more reasons but I don’t think people want to hear my rant.
I can’t stand anything by Quentin Tarantino. As for specific movies, I hated There Will Be Blood.
Shawshank Redemption – I felt it was sentimental crap.
Midnight Cowboy – I have never liked Hoffman’s performances and the ending of this film was preposterous.
North by Northwest – I just don’t get it. I felt no suspense or threat in any scene.
The Maltese Falcon – same as above. Maybe I should see it again because I loved the Big Sleep and its 10 times more complicated.
Ah, so this is the “I hate Juno/Crash” thread? Sort of figured since I agree with those thoughts. Not so much into the anti-Fight Club but I can understand that often times it is the culture that the movie inspired / predated then the movie itself. Now back to hating Juno…
Juno = I can understand that it is a “fresh take” on the teen preggo genre and I can buy that pop culture is what people often talk about but Juno’s refrences spanned at least thirty-five years of pop culture and since her parents were not that overtly poppy, where did she get all the refrences from? If there was a scene that showed her GOOGLING the web for culture or at the least showed her watching a marathon of VH1’s “I Love Employing Bad Comics” specials, I would buy it more. If she was so full of culture and empty in everywhere else, I could also get behind that but as it stood, I agreed that her character could not be the way she was.
Crash = Cronenberg owns that title and for that very reason until I get a Criterion of it, the other Crash goes down a few notches. I have also not watched the STARZ TV series based on said film. Now a Cronenberg TV series would be something to up my cable rate for.
I must agree with those who disliked—-hated—-“Little Miss Sunshine”! A girl who knows all about pageants but doesn’t realize she is about to embarass herself? A grandfather who teaches her a racy routine and her parents don’t know anything about it? A family that will do a “National Lampoon’s Vacation”-number with gramps’ corpse to preserve their daughter’s dream; yet casually mention the son’s color-blindness and destroy his own hopes just like that? And Steve Carrell has not built up enough good will to put over yet another suicidal gay character. I saw this movie when Jon-Benet Ramsay was again in the news, which added another sickening layer of creepiness. We’re even asked to laugh at a possible pedophile in the audience during the climactic pageant sequence.
Now for a couple of my own rather controversial picks…nothing personal I assure you…
Raging Bull…without De Niro’s admittedly stunning contribution, and some opera on the soundtrack to inflate its self-importance, it would be 2 hours spent with very unpleasant people for no good purpose. Nicely photographed, I’ll concede that…
Pulp Fiction…I admit I was taken in at first…then it hit me how racist and homophobic the film is. A black man is viciously raped on camera, and no one says a word; in fact it’s a cult favorite. In Brokeback Mountain, two men express their love for each other, and there are theater bans, vicious blogs, Academy snub..
No Country for Old Men….I didn’t like the book much either…it’s an effective suspense yarn, but nothing more, and not worthy of weighty recognition.
I agree re: Juno, Shawshank Redemption, Haggis’ Crash.
Also:
Garden State
Napoleon Dynamite
Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11 etc.
I think the common theme between all of these films is that they “go down easy”—not too much work on behalf of the viewer is involved. Which is why I suppose they do nothing for me, I don’t need a film to be difficult per se, but I like it to stick with me, resonate—I like to work it out in my brain for the next few days—not forget about it minutes afterwards.
I’ve not more than a tepid at best response to Godard’s Vivre Sa Vie.
According to wikipedia: "Susan Sontag, the cultural critic, has described Godard’s achievement in Vivre sa Vie as “a perfect film” and “one of the most extraordinary, beautiful, and original works of art that I know of. It is a film that underlines this director’s status as one of the most accomplished modernist artists of the second half of the 20th century.”
And I’d rather watch paint dry than sit through it again.
It says a lot when the most engaging part of the film is a segment from Dreyer’s Passion of Joan Arc.
Burn After Reading.
Look out it the dull twins being Zaaaaaaaaaannnny!!
Christ there overrated.
Tricky thread. Tricky because I think what we’re really talking about are films that film critics (and similarly celluloid-educated folks) love that for some reason you hate, as opposed to literally any widely lauded film that you don’t like. For example, everyone loved “Titanic”, but I suspect most if not all of us here will agree that it was, in the words of Bill Hicks, a piece of shit movie. ;)
For my part, I’m having a hard time coming up with an example of the former. There are a lot of films that are supposed to be great that I’m just, “Meh, it was okay”, about (e.g. every Wes Anderson film that I’ve seen), but I’m struggling to locate a greatly-loved film to which my reaction was, “Man, that was just crap!” Maybe it’ll come to me…
I partly agree with Hux: I would say that Juno or Crash are not liked by movie dorks anywhere BUT I do like Titanic AND I would include Wes Andersonn on the “widely lauded” list, so maybe generalization isn’t possible. North By Northwest (Regulus) and A Clockwork Orange (Karl) are legitimately controversial – I don’t like them either (Vertigo and Barry Lyndon for me), nice to find people with which I agree on those two. This discussion about the distinction between one kind of movie and the other needs to continue and be clarified.
@ David Lee:
I’m generally a big fan of Kubrick, but there are a handful of his films (A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut) which left me a little cold. ACO knocked me out the first time I saw it, and with every subsequent viewing, I found my mind wandering; ditto for The Shining – EWS meanwhile, I think I should give another try. I thought it was a gorgeous looking film, but I was completely uninterested in it otherwise.
Kubrick at what I consider to be his best is endlessly interesting filmmaking; to me all of his 60s films are examples. I tend to consider Full Metal Jacket to be one of his more underrated films – the latter 2/3 of it in particular is a phenomenal example of controlled dynamics in storytelling. It’s a film that begins explosively, before very suddenly turning into something far more subtle, and he handles this very memorably…
It is interesting to see this topic and the sister topic—Movies you love that most people hate—because many films seems to fit in both, such as Wes Anderson Films (I love ‘em), Napolean Dynamite (hated), Fight Club (loved), Virgin Suicides (hated), Lost in Translation (meh), Little Miss Sunshine (meh), Juno (didn’t see) and so on. I guess perception is a big part of what minority you think you fall under in your tastes.
I HATE Requiem for a Dream, and I absolutely LOATHE The Boondock Saints. I hear people in my age group (college) and younger talk about these movies all the time and how they are their favorites. I guess I can understand, because a lot of people may not have exposed themselves to a broader range of films, but I just don’t see how people can like these two so much, especially The Boondock Saints.
I can’t really think of anything I hate more than these two. I used to say I didn’t like Tarantino, but I think my dislike has more to do with the unnecessary amount of praise he gets for his films, especially when most of what he does is lift ideas and scenes from old B and exploitation movies.
As I was writing this I remembered another one I hated: The Usual Suspects. I found the premise to be totally asinine, as was the famous (and predictable) “twist” at the end. I just couldn’t take any of the plot seriously.
Garden State, Lost in Translation, Juno.
I feel like every year or so, there’s one “indie” film that is for whatever reason embraced by the mainstream crowd and they all flock to see it, and they all say the film is “different.” I don’t hate those 3 films, I just hate that all my mainstream-ish friends recommend these movies and tell me, “You’ll like it, it’s like one of those indie movies.” There are so many hundreds of better films, but some magazine told them it’s ok to like Juno, so let’s all go see Juno! Oscar-worthy my ass!
Fight Club, Pierrot Le Fou, Juno, Donie Darko and Pan’s Labyrinth
Well not sure I follow all the rants here, I was hoping for more movies reviewed than Juno and such.
I am glad there are bad movies so that the good ones shine through.
I didn’t hate them, but I didn’t particularly like them: “Jaws” and “Alien”
Little Miss Sunshine seemed to be so self-consciously attempting to be over-the-top. It received my 2007 “Delusions of Relevance” award. I agree with Catherine’s notion that she thinks “the recent trend of “quirkiness” substituting for actual character development or compelling storyline is depressing and just shows how cynical Hollywood can be.” Sad to say, I had a bit of the same feeling re-watching Happiness. Brilliant, dark humor – but tiresome after about 20 minutes of the same-grade, grim cynicism the second time around. In short, it seemed to self-aware of the sway of its own (seemingly vainglorious) cynicism.
I agree with the following negative judgments from other contributors:
- “Amélie bothers me, but not because I think it’s bad. It’s just too cutesy-poo!”
- Moulin Rouge
- “Any Wes Anderson for that matter.”
- Full Metal Jacket (seems like Kubrick rehashing Paths of Glory meets The Shining meets A Clockwork Orange)
- Fight Club (Get it?! He’s a split personality! Whoah.)
- Brian DePalma: (we’ll always have Scarface and Escape from New York, baby.)
- “post-ET Spielberg”
And would add to the bonfire of the vanities:
- Bertolucci (great cinematography, but – other than Brando making you look good, and some great set designs – you’re kinda B-grade, when you take out your gimmick of “kink”)
- The Rock (Criterion Collection?)
- Scream (I must’ve been really bored to have gone and seen this in the theater. Craven had a little dose of Viagara.)
- The Beach (Um, c’mon, Mr. Boyle.)
As well – I’d defend the following movies dissed by other contributors (not because they’re all necessarily great works, but they’re at least well crafted and/or entertaining, or my disposition “clicked” with what the auteur was trying to “say”):
- 8.5
- Lost in Translation
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Tim Burton: Batman 1&2 (it’s about Nicholson, just as Last Tango is indebted to Brando; Beetlejuice
- The Dark Knight
- Oh, and – Anything with Jennifer Connelly
- Oh, and – Anything with Jennifer Connelly… is wretched.
I hate A Clockwork Orange. I don’t know if anyone likes this movie, but Savage Grace was a steaming pile.
I’m going to go back a tad – not as far back as Clockwork Orange (which I don’t hate, but am not as big an admirer as other film geeks – I prefer “Straw Dogs” myself), but “Animal House”. I feel I was the only one who only thought it was mildly admusing – I just didn’t think it was funny. Don’t know why. But it just DOESN’T hit my funny bone…….but damn, it seemed like everyone thought it was the greatest……
I hate Juno. Worst shit ever. And I like the actors and everything, but it sucks. The other movie i really hate that EVERYBODY seems to love is Gladiator.
um, anything Kubrick.
2001 and CLOCKWORK ORANGE especially.
I don’t necessarily hate THE GODFATHER, but when compared to how much everyone else seems to love it, it doesn’t seem far off.
Anything by Godard other than Contempt and Breathless. Especially despise Weekend. Johnny Guitar-Joan Crawford gives one of the all time awful performances. Also El Topo and The Holy Mountain.
The Dark Knight.
Sure, Heath Ledger’s part was awesome but the rest was really not worth it.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
kevin b
Good Will Hunting
Not only is the protagonist capable of solving the world’s most complex mathematic equations, he’s able to analyze art, deconstruct an experienced psychologist, and wax on colonial economics. Add to that the fact that he was an abused orphan who grew to be a tough guy with a good heart, you have the perfect formula to make frat boys everywhere cry. The movie plays upon the worst sort of wish-fulfillment and cheap pathos.
Amélie bothers me, but not because I think it’s bad. It’s just too cutesy-poo!
I gave away my Criterion of Mouchette. I actually think the movie’s very interesting, but too boring for me to watch again (I’ve seen it twice), and my friend loved it, so it made a nice gift.