I’m not saying the worst, otherwise I would need to include the star wars sequels or transformers movies… Just some really dumb movie that somehow got praised.
For me has to be Ready Player One. That movie message is so “uhuh” obvious that is stupid, the whole nerd that saves the world in a thing that otherwise would be useless to know in real life… The so over the top evil gaming corporation. The whole 80s and 90s movies and games references get old after half an hour… And it’s so pandering towards the geeks and nerds, they really want the viewer feeling really cool for knowing that is the Shining hallway, or that is a Monty python reference… Or look a GUNDAM! YOU’RE SO COOL FOR COLLECTING THOSE GUN PLA! Look we have also overwatch and halo in the background! You’re so cool modern gamer!
Also the obviously attractive “nerd” hacker girl that thinks she’s ugly and deformed for having a small hard to see red tint in one side of her pretty face… Cmon man. In no universe anyone would think that actress is ugly.
And the message at the end is so hilarious: Look man, you’re cool for getting these references and being a real gamer is cool, but go outside more!
Is like the creators have no self awareness.
I’m reliably informed there are people who like Michael Bay’s Transformers movies. The most interesting part of the entire series to me was watching a Camaro get into a literal fist fight with a Mustang. Otherwise my memories of the movie were having eye rollingly childish catch phrases boomed down at me, or visuals that are basically just technicolor television snow.
I thought the first one was at least fun, but had some obviously annoying parts that should have been cut from any sequel.
Then the second one comes out, and the annoying parts of the first are the entire movie of the second.
Godzilla. The 1998-ish version.
Was that movie praised?
Not that I remember and I saw it in the cinema. Soundtrack was decent though.
It was not.
It wasn’t critically praised, but it did almost triple its budget with its worldwide gross.
It also got a shit ton of attention for that stupid Puff Daddy song with Jimmy Page.
I’d say this film fits the thread perfectly, if you consider profit to be high praise.
You may have got me there. It was overhyped. So. Much. Merchandise. It drew people to the cinemas too, at least where I live. I do not remember whether it was actually praised though.
BTW: I hated the sound track. Anything with Puff Daddy or whatever he tries to call himself nowadays should not exist. Most lazy music ever.
It wasn’t critically praised, but the film did almost triple its budget with its box office gross.
I think that puts this film in the overrated hit film category.
Godzilla, pure f-in filler, keep your mind off the real killer
Crash the 2004 hit movie not the 1996 Cronenberg Cult-classic.
to elaborate, it was insincere corporate virtue signalling designed specifically to bait the academy awards by using a multi-character parallel storytelling style that is only ever celebrated amongst industry snobs.
a multi-character parallel storytelling style that is only ever celebrated amongst industry snobs
I’m going to agree with caveats here, because some directors who are actual artists do it for the sake of the film and the challenge of it, as opposed to what I’ll refer to as “industry types”, who do it for the prizes. And some crazy bastards manage to pull it off. Three names come to mind - Robert Altman, Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Soderbergh.
I’ve never seen “Crash” and never wanted to, from what I’ve read, the bland yet heavy-handed results onscreen, plus the lazy reflexive accolades, made me view the whole thing with a cynical eye, like you.
In fact, Robert Altman had a thing or two to say about those “industry types”, in his triumphant early-90s comeback film “The Player”.
Also, do yourself a favor and watch Altman’s “Short Cuts”, to see parallel storytelling at its’ best.crash has like one good scene in the entire film. the rest is total garbage that me and a friend laughed at the entire time we watched it
“In fact, Robert Altman had a thing or two to say about those “industry types”, in his triumphant early-90s comeback film “The Player”. Also, do yourself a favor and watch Altman’s “Short Cuts”, to see parallel storytelling at its’ best.”
Thanks, I’ll be sure to check those out. I was a little worried I came off too hot with my take. I won’t say it can’t be done well, it’s just that I’ve never seen it done well since I first learned about the storytelling style in my intro to film studies course in college.
Short Cuts is amazing. Altman changed the game in many ways. I believe he changed the entire way we record dialogue because the way we did it before just didn’t work for him.
Altman came in throwing punches with the noisy background and chaotic dialogue wafting every which way, right from the outset, on MASH and McCabe & Mrs Miller, which is why it’s a good idea to watch his films with English subtitles turned on.
I don’t remember the cacophony being as intense in some of his other early works, like Brewster McCloud, California Split and The Long Goodbye.
But in Nashville, it’s most certainly there, front and center and in your face.I’ve only ever seen Short Cuts (loved it), the Player (liked it a lot), and McCabe and Mrs Miller (ehh…). How do you think I’d feel about his other films?
My recommendations to you are as follows:
My favorite Altman film overall probably might have to be The Long Goodbye. Check out how the camera is always moving, if even slightly; there are no static shots. Midway through the movie, the great Sterling Hayden steals the show. And keep an eye out for a very, very young Ahnold Schwarzenegger in a bit role as literal and figurative muscle for the batshit insane bad guy.
Brewster McCloud is a bonkers twisted fantasy that caught me by surprise by how much I enjoyed it, it’s about a kid who:
- Lives in the Astrodome in secret, in a forgotten construction nook, a big one, between walls and floors.
- Wants to be able to fly.
- Is being encouraged by an older woman, who might actually already know how to fly.
Also, there are people being killed all over town, and it might have something to do with all this.
Thanks, I’ve saved your comment and I’ll add them to the list.
I did not get the hype for ‘Don’t Look Up’.
The hype was for its star studded cast. The movie itself was also a chuckle but was really obvious for its critique and satire.
I thought It was a pretty solid critique of mainstream American culture of the moment. What didn’t you like about it?
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Badum bum
It’s not subtle enough with its critique. Either that or it’s not ridiculous enough. It’s sitting in the middle zone that just doesn’t work well.
I absolutely agree, felt like they didn’t know what kind of movie they wanted to make and just kinda threw whatever they could think of into it.
I still haven’t finished it. So many stars are just unlikable and the pacing (of the half I saw) is just not enough to keep it entertaining enough to overcome the cringey ‘just look at how awful everyone in power is’ caricatures.
Yo! That movie sucked. I have a theory the only reason Leo starred in it was so that he could be called a sexy scientist or whatever he was.
Cloverfield. It was a monster movie where you barely saw the monster. Instead, we get the story of 4 characters with a camera trying to escape the monster but then going back to rescue their friend and may or may not have been killed by the monster. I don’t know, the movie had no beginning or end and yet it managed to spawn a couple of sequels.
I think the mundane perspective and ordinary characters were meant to ground the movie. Most kaiju movies follow elite scientists or squads of soldiers so it’s a bit easier to relate to regular people just bumbling around (and a lot cheaper to film). Found footage stuff seems to be real hit or miss for people though. I definitely understand the desire for more spectacle and a more likeable cast.
I think the mundane perspective and ordinary characters were meant to ground the movie. Most kaiju movies follow elite scientists or squads of soldiers so it’s a bit easier to relate to regular people just bumbling around (and a lot cheaper to film).
See, this is what got me into the theater for Cloverfield, I wanted this movie. It’s a bummer I got it in the form of some particularly jittery found footage. I was hoping for something more akin to those goofy disaster movies, but the disaster is a kaiju; not just in tone, but in how it was shot. As you say, some more spectacle would have gone a long way. That, or to really drill down and get into the “human horror” aspect and maybe make the military/authority figures more antagonistic.
All in all, I guess I’m glad Cloverfield succeeded despite my personal feelings because we got 10 Cloverfield Lane which, while not without problems of its own, I enjoyed much more
10 Cloverfield Lane is definitely an overall better film. Man I should watch that one again.
Also I just remembered that The Cloverfield Paradox exists which I had completely forgotten about. That one was a total mess which is a bummer because the overall premise is in my wheelhouse and I love me some good space horror. I’ll just watch Event Horizon instead.
I spent most of that movie feeling like I needed to throw up.
Lol, we still refer to movies shot with a shakey nauseating camera as “filmed Cloverfield-style”
“Filmed on a canoe” is how I put it.
Marvel civil war
The Matrix. So, so dumb. Dumb, lots of dumb.
Absolutely the most overhyped film I’ve ever paid money to see.
Well, everyone is wrong sometimes, you just chose today. That film is a masterpiece. And yes they ripped off a bunch of other shit, but they did so with proper style.
Masterpiece, schmasterpiece. It’s a series of dumb set pieces tied together with a pseudo-philosophical plot and some impressive effects.
Just IMO, of course.
I mean, the post is literally asking for unpopular opinions, so… respect the honesty at least
Thank you :-)
And if you watch the matrix today for the first time, everything is cliche and done to death.
The reason for this is that every single action movie after the matrix has copied it. When it released, it blew people away. No one had seen anything like it. I remember going to see it after an event because of how much people wouldn’t stop talking about it. Even overhyped, I was blown away.
The Matrix defined action movies for a decade+
When it released, it blew people away
I actually saw it on release in the cinema. Hated it. Ah well :-)
I saw it in theaters too. Two months later, I saw The 13th Floor. Dark City had come out the year before.
I think that all of this was just the zeitgeist of the time.
It was dumb, but at least it was semi-fun dumb. Thank goodness they never made any more Matrix movies after the first one.
shut up shut up shut up shut up no they didn’t shut up shut up
I don’t think it’s dumb but very overrated and not anywhere near as deep as people make it out to be. It’s little surprise that “the red pill” had been embraced by so many arrogant people that are pretty ignorant.
In a thread full of hot takes, you’ve picked the hottest. I’d expect Lemmy users and people who like The Matrix have a Venn diagram that’s just two nested circles.
Not gonna lie, never seen the full movie(s) and probably never will at this point since it doesn’t interest me.
Ha, yeah, I thought it might not go down well, but I’m not trolling. I genuinely hated that movie.
Using people as batteries never made sense since you’d have to continually use energy to feed them and they really dont make that much heat energy.
If I remember correctly in the first drafts they used the brain for computational power but went for the battery idea because it was, for a then tech illiterate audience, easier to understand.
Ok no. The matrix, the whole trilogy, it’s a damn masterpiece. Misunderstood to the max. I won’t bother with a essay because I know haters never move from their place.
the whole trilogy, it’s a damn masterpiece
An unpopular opinion from OP themselves.
I like the matrix series, but the two sequels are far from being masterpieces. The 2nd was a good action set piece, but the 3rd one got a bit up its own ass at times trying to fit all the exposition in with the action scenes.
As usual people don’t understand the hidden message, every dialogue the AI characters say is ON POINT. Even Neo, becoming less human and more omnipresent and digital z everywhere, meanwhile Smith becomes more human. Is perfect, the antithesis, the one and the zero, binary code. Is perfect. Majority of people just don’t get it.
And the very hidden references in music and Hinduism… I stand in my position, the movie is too clever for the average dumb viewer.
Hey, you asked for these exact kinds of takes.
Hey, I’m not a hater, at least not in the trolling sense. I just genuinely think it’s a poor movie and massively massively overrated. Never saw the sequels as I had zero interest.
I’d be curious to see what you think of the sequels because I only loved the first movie and hated everything that came after it. But I totally understand that you have no interest in watching them.
James Cameron’s Titanic. It’s marketed as a romantic film, but the moment you start looking at other aspects of the movie, it just seems stupid. The antagonist is so cartoonishly evil, it’s a wonder they didn’t give him a mustache to twirl.
And then there’s the ending. Oh dear lord, the ending. Spoiler warning and all that: at the end of the movie, The Titanic s(t)inks and the passengers try to get to safety. Rose finds a floating door or something to stay afloat and finds Jack swimming in the freezing ocean. Then Jack makes the most non-sensical decision in the entire movie: he sacrifices his own life for no good reason. The plot frames it as a necessary sacrifice, but it totally IS unnecessary, because there was enough room on the stupid door for two people. And then we flash forward to the present, where Rose is old, but still has that gem she wore throughout the movie… and then she tosses it into the ocean. WHY.
Basically the plot boils down to: two young people have a fling on a boat and then the boat sinks. It absolutely did NOT deserve all those academy awards it got that year.
People are STILL bringing up the “there’s enough room” arguments?
The movie LITERALLY shows you why it doesn’t work. At first they both try to climb on it, but they’re too heavy and the stupid thing capsizes. Only then is Jack like “You go take it, Imma good”
Also, Mythbusters tried it and got the same results. 2 people to heavy, 1 ok.
No, the Mythbusters actually proved the door could support two people. At the end James Cameron himself basically throws his hands up, concedes and makes some comment about “whatever, if the script says Jack has to die, Jack is dying.” Rewatch the edpisode if ya don’t believe me
Yes, after the took off their lifebelts and tied them under the door for adden buoyancy.
I think two people, already stressed to their teeth, now also suffering from hypothermia can be forgiven for not having the same presence of mind in that situation
Guess i forgot about that detail, so thanks for the correction. The end results are the same either way though. The door can float 2 but the script says jack has to die, rendering the entire argument pretty moot. James Cameron’s comment was basically “science be dammed, Jack’s drowning.”
I’m sure if Cameron realized that the door of that size, with two life jackets underneath could support two people, he would have written the door to be smaller. It’s ok not to like the film, but this is just CinemaSins level pedantic.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen the movie (and have no desire to see it again) and I don’t remember the scene as clearly, so that’s on me. Throwing away the gem was still colossaly stupid, though.
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Dito
crash won an oscar for best picture and it was complete and utter garbage
Anything from Marvel ever. Except maybe Guardians of the Galaxy, but it’s all way too long and just boring, I don’t know I always find fight scenes to be extremely boring in films, I’m more interested in the progression of the story over some dragged out fight
Jurassic World. It seemed like the definition of color by numbers reboot.
I have no clue how the original Mad Max made it out of Australia, let alone spawn a minor cinematic universe…
It was a product of it’s time which is to say that even though it wasn’t particularly good, it was representative of the schlocky action sci-fi films one might have seen just a few years earlier during the drive-in Grindhouse era.
Mad Max is amazing for what it is; an apocalyptic film made on a shoestring budget that depicted something that feels prophetic now. You have to look at it and compare it to other films in the 70s; if you look at, for instance, Roger Corman films, it’s Oscar-worthy in comparison. When you put it in the genre of ozploitation films, it’s solid gold.
I’m curious when you were born and where you’re from?
My pick would be fury road. The early ones at least have the appeal (imho) of being a low budget movie with a relatable plot
Then it suddenly gets a gigantic budget with a plot that is basically a back and forth in the desert.
Ready player one and also Scott pilgrim or whatever its called. That whole “needs are cool, buy funko pops” craze is super cringe.
Out of curiosity, how old are you? I hold up Scott Pilgrim as the Fast Times at Ridgemont High of my generation (older millennials). I could see it not hitting the same for older and newer gens.
Of course it’s a perfectly valid opinion even if we are in the same gen. I’m sure Fast Times had its detractors, too
I’m in that same generation but I like to think I have some taste and am quite able to critique bad writing and stupid stories
Out of curiosity, how many funko pops do you own?
1, given to me in a Secret Santa exchange. I’m not following the connection you’re trying to make between a goofy action movie and a toy line.
La La Land. Musicals are already on thin ice, but a musical about some arrogant, self obsessed people complaining about how hard it is trying to be (and ultimately succeeding in being) successful?? UGH. Shut it all down.
Right?! “Oh no we are so brilliant and talented and smoking hot, but the world won’t just give us success on a silver platter and now that we made our dreams come true we miss being together”.
More importantly, >!they just gave up on their relationship because one of them was leaving the country? For what, less than a year? After all that, they just threw it all away because they didn’t want to deal with FaceTime for a couple of months? Bet they felt real fucking dumb when the pandemic hit.!<
Logan
The whole premise was that they’re in danger and need to get to Canada to be safe (the bad guys don’t have passports I guess 🤷), but have to wait just before they cross the border for everyone to show up seemingly for no reason.
One of the best superhero movies by far. You take that back sir, and have at thee.
(I can’t find a gauntlet so I’m throwing down a dishwashing glove)
I think my favorite “recent” superhero movie is the first Guardians of the Galaxy. The whole thing just developed organically and nothing at all felt like filler.
It’s probably my most entertaining series by far.
GOTG is a really good movie. But hardly recent being 10 years ago…
They were trying to get to North Dakota initially because that’s where “Eden” is, later Logan is going there to prove to Laura that there is no Eden. Turns out bunch of escaped kids were there and they were planning on going to Canada the next day. Logan gave the impression that Canada won’t really save them (I think I might be remembering this detail wrong).
