I think I got about 2 minutes into Forrest Gump before I had to turn it off. Cannot stand that fake accent Tom Hanks has in that movie. And yes, that’s a hill I will die on.
Same here … as a story it also feeds that false mentality of “you can do anything as long as you try”
It’s a work of fiction that everyone knows is fiction but they really really really want it to be true, even though it is so far removed from reality.
Forrest Gump is super racist revisionist history, where a low-IQ white male accidentally causes all sorts of large political and social historical events that were actually initiated by black people in real life. Plus there’s a ton of other messed up sexist/racist portrayals throughout the film. It’s a pretty awful film. And it stole the Oscar from Shawshank Redemption!
I thought it was pretty great, and still do. But Shawshank was better, no argument from me. A great year of movies.
Arrival
Selfish sack of shit sees into the future, where her and that Marvel dude have a kid, only for her (the kid) to die slowly of cancer. “BuT i HaVe ThE mEmOrIeS!¡”, and you tortured an innocent child who didn’t have to exist because YOU FUCKING KNEW SHE WAS GOING TO DIE OF CANCER, YOU BITCH!
Strongly suggest you read the “story of your life”, it’s freely available on the Internet (or check it out from your local library!)
It doesn’t add terribly much, but there is a little bit of clarity/another perspective on the mechanics of the aliens, it’s similar to certain characters from dirk gentlys holistic detective agency.
The movie uses the bootstrap paradox model of time travel: there is only one timeline, and events can’t be changed, because any attempt to change the timeline had already happened. She only was able to see her child’s future because the child was born. If she had made a different decision in the future, she would never have seen the visions in the past.
See also: Terminator 1 (not the sequels,) Predestination, 12 Monkeys, Tenet
The ending to 12 Monkeys is my favorite time travel movie ending ever.
I have the same objections, but I still think it’s an excellent movie. I like how they made first contact feel authentically weird, and didn’t try to turn it into a special effects extravaganza.
I thought the point was the inevitability of it all. She could see it, but couldn’t change a thing. At least that’s how I perceived it at the time. Wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
There was a line towards the end: D: “Why did Dad leave?” M: “He said I ‘made the wrong choice’”
My interpretation was that she could have prevented it, but chose not to.
So I’ve read the short story it’s based on several times (The Story of your Life by Ted Chiang) and it’s more explicit about how it works. It’s only possible to comprehend Heptapod writing if you can think like they can. Likewise learning their language also helps you think like them, which is also pretty true about real languages
Heptapods do not have a linear observation of time. They observe their entire life simultaneously. However that doesn’t mean that they don’t believe in free will or choice. They come to Earth because they know at some point in the future the humans will be important. Amy Adams’ character in learning Heptapod also learns to view time non-linearly. It’s not permanent and tends to come and go the more immersed she is in the language. That’s how she knows the secret phone number to call the Chinese general, that’s how she knows what will happen to her daughter, and her marriage. However since she knows it like a Heptapod does, she has no desire to change it. Like how Abbott doesn’t try to stop his own death
I think it is seeing time as the result of the free will, and acknowledging that the decisions that will be made are those that you will make at that point in time, not that some external force predetermined what your choice would be. So time is still linear, but it is linear based on the decisions you will make that you experience simultaneously with decisions made at other times that might not be the same because of free will.
She chose of her own free will with the context of knowing how it would play out. She couldn’t change the future any more than she could change the past, because she was experiencing both at the same time.
Birdman. I found it irritatingly self-important and boring.
Spider-Man Across the Spider Verse.
It was too long with too much going on. I thought it was about to end twice. But no, it kept on going… I loved Into the Spider Verse though.
Totally agreed, the pacing was awful. Everything else was good like the first one but it was very hard to get invested because of this problem, and then it just kind of… ended.
It’s not even a movie by itself, it’s an episode
Wiplash. Wiplash is to jazz what Grey’s Anatomy is to medicine.
A big book?
The book is “Gray’s”.
Dark Knight. It was really long and it kept going past several points I felt like it hit a natural conclusion. It initiated my life long disdain for Christopher Nolan, a blowhard who enjoys sucking his own dick and making movies that are torturous metaphors for their own creation.
The fifth element,i really cant understand its popularity.Plus it makes me want to punch Chris tucker in the throat.
Plus it makes me want to punch Chris tucker in the throat.
That’s the point.
I think it depends on your age.
I saw it at the theaters. It was just a silly fun popcorn movie with good visuals and Bruce was very popular.
The movie itself under a modern lens just isn’t very good.
Citizen Kane is a horrible, boring movie.
It was his sled. It was his sled from when he was a kid. There, I just saved you two, long, boobless hours.
I get this reference
I don’t think that’s a particularly new take. Lots of people find it boring, but recognize its importance because it’s the first place you ever see a ton of filmmaking techniques that are considered standard today. Welles basically invented modern filmmaking with Citizen Kane.
That’s the thing. Citizen Kane was a fantastic, groundbreaking film. So innovative that bits and pieces were copied and remixed over and over until they became trite and predictable. Now it just seems trite and predictable.
TV Tropes used to call this the Seinfeld is Unfunny effect, but has since renamed it to Once Original, Now Common.
The basic idea being that things that are groundbreaking at the time eventually become copied so much that people looking at the original don’t understand why it was such a big deal. My favorite examples are The Matrix (absolutely blew my mind in the theaters, but my kids think it’s just ok) and Golden Eye for the Nintendo 64 (I couldn’t believe how incredible it was to zoom in with a sniper rifle and see people moving on the other side of the map, but playing it today it looks laughably bad).
For me it’s David Letterman. What he did was wild in the early eighties until others emulated him. History always needs to be viewed in context
I agree. I had to watch it for a film class in college. So boring. It maybe was good in its time, but terrible in the early 2000s.
The Lighthouse
There’s a difference between being subtle, metaphorical, and artistic vs. being boring, confusing and inexplicable. Also, the dripping cum was just gross.
It’s like a few influential “smart” people claimed to like it, and everyone else just jumped on the bandwagon.
I enjoyed it for its ferocity. I think there was a parallel to be drawn with lighthouses - as the viewer you’re being assailed by relentless waves breaking against you.
Not everyone’s cup of tea no doubt. But I thought it was good. Muttered wtf a few times while watching it but I think I’ll probably watch it again.
The Big Lebowski. It’s got a perfect combination of plodding, boring plot and insufferably obnoxious characters that makes it a physically painful watching experience.
It genuinely confuses me that people like The Fifth Element. The plot is just batshit insane, and it suffers from obnoxious character syndrome just as much as Lebowski does.
Thor: Ragnarok is by far the worst Thor movie, and is in the top 3 worst Marvel movies. It’s an absolute travesty of a film that not only ruined the character of the Hulk to the point where he had to be effectively erased as a character going forward, but turned Thor himself into a Gimli-esque laughingstock, and is also just neither funny nor entertaining. But, then again, neither is anything I’ve seen by Taika. Edit: Actually, that’s not quite true. Here’s a really hot take for y’all: Love and Thunder is the good Taika Thor movie. It wasn’t great, but it was miles better than Ragnarok.
On that note, any movie (or show) where the entire second arc/B-plot is a useless side quest that either fails or does nothing but waste the audience’s time. See, for example: Thor Ragnarok, The Last Jedi, Andor.
Tarantino movies are really overrated, but I wouldn’t say I dislike them.
Edit: Ooh, thought of another one. O Brother Where Art Thou would have been an enjoyable movie if it hadn’t tried to act like it’s an adaptation of the Odyssey. As someone who’s pretty familiar with Homer, it just infuriates me every time I try to watch it.
Edit2: Someone mentioned Skyfall, which has now reminded me that as a huge James Bond fan, I hate all of Craig’s Bond films (except Casino Royale) with a fiery passion, to the extent that I don’t even consider them James Bond movies (they’re “James Bourne” movies at best), and I don’t ever include them in my rankings of the series.
Both The Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou are directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and and it sounds like you might not like their style.
I’m upvoting you for sharing your opinion even though I disagree 100% as all three movies you mentioned are fantastic at what they set out to do, but not for everyone.
I reject most of what you’ve said, but I’m still up voting because I agree entirely about the big lebowski.
I’m sorry, you’re trolling MCU/super hero movie fans if you think Thor Ragnarok is worse than Thor 2. Your opinion is opinion, but it’s factually incorrect and I think You’re here to troll/hate on the director who you call out by name.
Funnily enough, I watched Thor 2 two weeks ago during my most recent Marvel watch-through, and other than a slightly lackluster final battle, I literally can’t understand what people have against it. Great characterization and development for Loki, Thor, Odin, and Jane, a truly crushing moment with the death of Thor’s mom, Christopher Eccleston’s excellent villain, and a great cliff-hanger ending with Loki replacing Odin - I feel like I’m taking crazy pills here. It’s not amazing, but it’s definitely in the top half of Marvel movies. Much better than crap like Iron Man 3 and Captain Marvel.
If you’re this bothered by someone having a different opinion than yours, maybe a thread about people disliking popular movies isn’t for you.
Downvote away fella, funny you bring up my being “bothered by someone having a different opinion” when I didn’t bother down voting you.
Also you’re casting shade on an accomplished directors entire body of work pretty freely there, might it be that you have some bias against a certain jene c’est quoi that you’d rather not have “shoved down your throat”?
You might be taking crazy pills, or you’re just unhappy with progression of society and digging into the trenches defending more traditionally themed movies, despite their not even close to mediocrity.
Downvote away fella, funny you bring up my being “bothered by someone having a different opinion” when I didn’t bother down voting you.
I downvoted you because your comment didn’t contribute productively to the thread, which, I remind you, is about unpopular opinions about movies.
You downvoted me because you’re mad about my opinion and offended that I downvoted you. I’m sure you can figure out the difference.
might it be that you have some bias against a certain jene c’est quoi that you’d rather not have “shoved down your throat”?
I have no idea what this is supposed to mean, unless you’re implying that I’m somehow bigoted for not liking Taika’s work, which I wasn’t aware was considered especially progressive. Also, it’s je ne sais quoi.
You might be taking crazy pills, or you’re just unhappy with progression of society and digging into the trenches defending more traditionally themed movies, despite their not even close to mediocrity.
Doing a whole lotta unfounded theorycrafting there bucko. Maybe I just don’t like the director that you seem strangely attached to, and maybe you should go touch some grass instead of getting oddly worked up at a stranger on the internet over literally nothing.
Also, I don’t see this conversation becoming productive from here, so I likely won’t respond any further.
The Big Lebowski may be more fun if you’re already into stoner comedies and classic cinema, because it’s one parodying the other. The cliche in detective novels was a private eye chasing wrong leads but advancing the plot regardless.
but I’ve never seen a Simon Pegg film that I enjoyed (which have been two so far: Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).
… are you maybe just immune to the meta? Like, if you don’t enjoy Airplane!, I am gonna say this is a you problem.
I liked Airplane!, so I don’t think it’s that I just dislike meta movies. I really enjoyed Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, for example, but maybe that’s more of a subversion movie than a meta movie? I also enjoy movies like Spaceballs, but maybe that’s more of a spoof? I dunno…
I think I get the intention of Lebowski, and I’ve often enjoyed the “protag accidentally bumbling his way into success” trope otherwise, so maybe it’s the stoner movie side of things that messes it up for me, since I only rarely enjoy stoner movies.
I think in both cases, Simon Pegg and Lebowski, it might be the characters that get under my skin most.
Either way, I appreciate your help in trying to figure this out.
That was a hard upvote. Tarantino is my favorite director. I’ve only been lukewarm on one of his movies. And even then, I didn’t dislike it. Respect your opinion though.
Also, my two favorite movies are Pulp Fiction and The Fifth Element.
Question: How do you feel about Edgar Wright? Specifically Hot Fuzz and Baby Driver if you’ve seen those.
I haven’t seen Baby Driver, but I’ve never seen a Simon Pegg film that I enjoyed (which have been two so far: Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).
I swear that there are tons of critically acclaimed movies that I like, including most of the movies people are mentioning in their top-level comments. Also, I actively like Kill Bill, so that’s one Tarantino movie that I do enjoy!
It seems that we may just have complementary tastes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Edit: I love Final Fantasy VIII, so we have that in common!
Wow, that’s my top 3 that you don’t like. I love that you went and found at least something we both like though.
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I’ve seen all of those but Citizen Kane and I like them all well enough. I’d put The Truman show well above the others. I could see myself putting that in a top 10 list.
I don’t think Equilibrium is necessarily a good movie. But I still liked it.
My top 5 is probably:
- Pulp Fiction
- The Fifth Element
- Hot Fuzz
- Baby Driver
- Inside Out
I’d have to think of a top 10. The Truman Show, Lord of the Rings, The 13th Warrior, The Green Knight, Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse are all movies I can think of off the top of my head.
A Quiet Place
It is so full of holes and strange decisions I could barely get through it and was shocked it was so well reviewed.
I enjoyed it. But man, get yourself some condoms.
Also, he totally didn’t need to die. Unnecessary.
Oh man. This movie. I can handle some plot holes. But I cannot believe that the entirety of the world (or, let’s just say the entire United States of America) didn’t once think, ”Hey, these things can hear SUPER FUCKING GOOD, maybe we can somehow use that against them?”
And that nail in the stairs? Come on.
never even heard of it
Not a movie, but I really couldn’t get the hype around Evangelion.
The end credit music was fantastic thoughShame the end credits aren’t on any streaming or Blu-ray releases any longer. The rights were to expensive.
Barbie.
I’m a woman and a feminist. I’m a fan of Greta, and of everyone they cast in that movie.
I was bored for most of it. The parts that were meant to be poignant, I thought completely missed the mark. It was a waste of an opportunity.
I don’t understand the hype. Margot is a gem, one of our exports I’m actually impressed by, and I think her unfailing charm won a lot of people over to this. I think most of us would happily watch Margot read the phone book.
But I found the movie to be dull and shallow in its attempts for depth.
I feel bad because most of my female friends really hold it up as something I don’t think it is. I keep my mouth shut.
It had some good parts, but the ending kinda felt like everyone just boxing up their genders again as the status quo instead of being a society that valued people for more than just their genitals. I kept waiting for the part where they realized equality was what they should strive for to help lead the human world in the best direction.
The queer-coded Allen felt a bit on the nose for 2023, too. I liked parts of it, but it felt very…20th-century feminist and straight to appeal to larger audiences.
I think the part with Margot and the grandmotherly lady at the bus stop was my favorite part. Peaceful, sweet, and exactly where the movie felt like it was heading in a good direction (in addition to the heaven and tearoom scenes). The musical parts were a great reminder of the movies from long ago, and also a great step in the right direction.
I liked Allen so much. Only cool character that isnt overacting
The movie became a culture war wedge issue, you just couldn’t have an intelligent discourse about it in movie critic terms.
I was in the same page as you, but I think I understood it at the very end, literally at the last scene. I understood that the message is something along the lines of “women should be allowed to be just women, without anything remarkable about them”. It kinda just tries to make that point, right? Women are just people. They are not objects, nor super heroes. They don’t need to be special.
The main goal of feminism is equality right? Well, women today are asked to be a lot of things that men are not asked to, to be exceptional, to break their chains, and fight. To be better than they are now, to change and fight back. And all that is exhausting, sometimes you just need to go to your ginecologist, not change the world. And that brings you happiness and fulfillment. Leave women to be whatever they want to be, don’t put on them YOUR expectations, let them be free. Stop telling women how they should live their lives, let them pick whatever they want. They are just humans. Men are allowed to be regular humans with flaws and virtue, women are not.
I think that’s the message, or I completely missed the point there lol. I don’t think it’s not deep. You could argue that maybe it’s a message a little dangerous, sure. A very individualistic message, even alienating, but what would you expect from something financed by capitalists. The revolution will not be televised. Personally, I found it a little refreshing, sometimes it feels like we are changing one social mandate for another, but in the end we cannot choose freely anyways, just obey. I gave me one or two thing to think about.
Those messages came through to a degree (good write up by the way) but to my mind they didn’t go far enough. Then the comedy was so light touch too.
It all just felt like a first draft of something that might have been hilarious, entertaining and thought provoking. But didn’t land any of those things well. So I thought, couldn’t it have picked one of the 3 and done then well?
When the credits rolled I just said ‘k’. Because I didn’t really take anything away from it. Even without the hype for months, my expectation was built more by the cast and director. So I was just disappointed. I wasn’t even entertained.
Oh, I’m totally with you there, there were about 2 or 3 jokes that I enjoyed, and every thing else was kinda bland. I think I was overhyped.
I’m a man but have the same take, excited about everyone involved and the themes and the style, but it just kind of limped its way through the stereotypical story with a lot of preaching at the audience. My wife actively hated it and didn’t even finish it, bailing out when the mom went on her rant about how unfair everything is which was true but executed really badly.
I did really enjoy Kate’s Crazy Barbie or whatever. If the rest of the film had that kind of nuance and comedic timing it would have been fantastic.
I’m not sure if was meant to be “deep”, I think it was meant to be a bit satirical and a lot of tongue in cheek. I don’t think they were setting out to make a masterpiece, but a sharp take on mid life crisis and societys demands of women, including the monotinization of their escapism driven by corporate (men) stooges.
I’m not sure what opportunity was missed in a movie about capitalism utopia as portrayed by glamour dolls.
I’m not sure what opportunity was missed in a movie about capitalism utopia as portrayed by glamour dolls.
Set ups for the punchlines that seemed to come out of nowhere, even a hint as to why having Barbieland go back to a matriarchy was better than something balanced to follow up on the whole Kens being second class citizens. Not that I wanted to spend more time on the Kens, just like a line or two that addresses the weird situation that they explicitly set up.
Barbarian
I feel like it got so hyped up by the kind of people I usually agree with and the way everyone kept saying “Don’t look up anything, just go in blind” had my hopes up for something really unique and interesting with twists in all the right ways.
In the end I felt like it was just random and dumb… Good acting though.
I liked the idea of two people ending up in the same AirBnB in a bad neighborhood (and even the tunnels parts), but the actual execution and horror elements weren’t really great. When the fake boobs got whipped out, I actually giggled. Spoiler It boils down to a special needs person with a kink
Which kinda seems a bit…eh. Would have been better if it was some sort of carniverous fungus that the airbnb owner was experimenting with or tunneling spider the size of a large pumpkin or something.
Yes, I feel like the initial premise was interesting, and the atmosphere of discomfort at the start was really well done, then fake boob got whipped out and it just got more and more random.
the Sixt sense… It is so boring, nothing happend. And when something happend it make no sense. I was not spoiled, and i was so underwhelmed by the reveal… At least it explained why nothing was making sense prior
