Saving Private Ryan for me. And I fucking love the genre and the actors.
Genuinely surprising. I know not every movie is loved by everyone, but I thought Saving Private Ryan was generally regarded as one of the better efforts. What other movies do you enjoy from the genre?
So my favorite mini series of all time is Band of Brothers, I watch it yearly. I’ve tried several times to make sense of why I don’t like saving private Ryan, and The closest I’ve ever come is some of the casting decisions I just felt were a little bit off, the performances a bit stilted.
Again, not shitting on the movie just trying to explain why it never did it for me.
Vin Diesel tried his best, okay?
For me, it’s Wicked.
I generally like musicals, and I watched both the movie and the musical (w/ my SO, who loved it), and neither clicked for me. I felt the musical fell apart in the second half (I didn’t like the ending at all), and according to my SO, most of my complaints are where it deviated from the book. The movie was a bit better (and I’ll probably watch the second one, just to compare), but I still felt it was a bit generic. It goes way too hard on DEI concepts (skin color), and the characters seemed a bit shallow. I hope the second movie draws more from the book than the musical. It wasn’t “bad,” it was just pretty mid for me, not the knockout experience it was claimed to be.
The music was pretty good though, I’ll give it that.
I reckon I could think of something worse.
Top Gun 2 sucked ass.
To be honest, so did Top Gun 1…
Top Gun was what I came here to say
It was just high budget military propaganda.
Yvan eth nioj!
You shush your filthy mouth! Never disrespect the memory of Goose!
I’ma not disrespect the memory of Val Kilmer but that movie was the gayest thing I’ve ever seen and I fuck men
You ain’t wrong lol.
I know for a fact that volleyball scene was misunderstood by so many teenage men discovering that they’re gay lmao
[off topic?]
I had heard about Gone with The Wind all my life and I knew it was incredibly racist. It finally came on basic cable and I decided to see what all the fuss was about.
I found myself watching and liking a movie I knew was complete and utter bullshit.
That’s art for ya.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-iron-dream-norman-spinrad/7751155?ean=9781490439457&next=t
[nsfw, Nazi flag]
The book was written by a Jewish guy named Norman Spinrad. In the foreword we learn that in 1922 Adolph Hitler went to America and became a science fiction illustrator and, after his English improved, a writer. This is his final and most popular novel, a tale of a young man who was exiled from his homeland and finally returns to find it under the control of a mysterious cabal of mind readers…
Well, as a movie, it’s a good movie. Great directing, incredible acting (for the era), with a dynamic and well paced story. It holds up in technical terms despite the shifts in style and performance that have happened over the years.
If you hum really hard during the racist parts, you could still call it one of the greats. And it isn’t like it’s “birth of a nation” bad in that regard. There’s way worse movies out there from the era, and the era before that was horrible on average.
[nsfw]
Watch an Peter O’Toole movie, ‘The Stunt Man.’ Great movie; funny, scary, exciting, romantic, plus a bunch of great plot twists.
There’s a scene where a kinda schubby screen writer talks about how he paid $1,000.00 to fly to Guatemala to have sex with a 14 year old virgin.
That line was considered only mildly off-color when the movie came out.
Holy crap. That would not go over well any more
Even wilder. Look at the Sean Connery James Bond movies. The smoking and drinking are the least offensive things. Back in the day, Bond was considered suitable to be sold as a kids’ toy.
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/price-result/lot-of-james-bond-collectibles/
Also, Sean Connery was open about about beating women. He saw nothing wrong with it if he felt it was “corrective” of behavior, like a dog.
So part of the reason for the toys is actually a bit of interesting cultural shifting. Basically back then there wasn’t really a separation between adult and kids media unless it was explicitly pornography, so a lot of things we see now as for kids or for adults still had broad appeal in mind.
This shifted through the 60s, 70s, and then solidified some time in the 80s. It’s why Star wars a New Hope has dismemberment while being rated PG, same thing with Indiana Jones.
As a side note. The MPAA ratings system came out in 1968. Any movie made before that was automatically “G” rated if it had been shown in theaters. So if you showed “Goldfinger” in a theater it would be “G.” But movies get rated differently if it’s VHS/DVD; so when the movie went on sale it was PG, then PG-13.
You can also see this when watching films from the 50s and 60s as they were really designed to cover a variety of genres at once. Has a little romance sub-plot for mom, action sequences for little Tommy and some cool cars/gadgets for dad. Y’know because everything had to be stereotyped to hell and back. But it is jarring seeing how much of variety films old movies really were
While the reasoning for why that is the case is kinda meh, I wish that was done more often nowadays. Sadly it seems like the media that inherited that tendency was video games, which while I love my vidya it does make it harder to backwards push it into film.
It really depends on the movie, but I think most movies that people see as “universally loved” are children’s movies, and the people who love them the most are those who watched them when they were kids. Sometimes, they’re not very good if you see them outside of their intended demographic.
On top of that, everybody has their own tastes. I know a person who doesn’t like Shawshank Redemption because she feels uncomfortable with enclosed spaces. And I’m personally not fond of movies with people who act like gangsters, so I’ve never felt particularly affectionate towards Godfather movies.
I think most movies that people see as “universally loved” are children’s movies, and the people who love them the most are those who watched them when they were kids. Sometimes, they’re not very good if you see them outside of their intended demographic.
Avatar the Last Airbender for me. I just can’t get into it. I’ve tried watching numerous episodes and given up or have seen countless clips that just don’t catch my attention. Seems most people who did started when they were fairly young and the love grew overtime, and all the power to them.
I know a person who doesn’t like Shawshank Redemption because she feels uncomfortable with enclosed spaces. And I’m personally not fond of movies with people who act like gangsters, so I’ve never felt particularly affectionate towards Godfather movies.
Funnily enough, I don’t like those movies either and are also perfect examples of the title post for me. I don’t think they’re good, I don’t think they’re bad. They’re movies that just sail right over my head and I’m like “I guess this one just aint for me.”
Atla is pretty long and if you didnt start watching it as a kid it could be pretty hard to get over the start of it. It starts off very slice-of-life-ish with some of the more mature themes sprinkled in between, and becomes much more dense later on. It’s also a story about a bunch of kids (who grow and learn to cope or deal with their issues later on) which isnt the easiest to identify with unless you started watching it at a young age.
It insists upon itself.
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What movie is it for you? For me, The Princess Bride.
The Princess Bride is an action movie that many people don’t realise is an action movie, I love it.
Pulp fiction
I can see not liking that movie. It’s very specific. Endearing for a shitload of people, myself included, but it’s a very particular brand of comedy.
Movie? Oh god there are so fucking many. One that comes to mind at the moment is Whiplash. Ive seen it 3 times because a dude I cared about deeply loved it. Everytime I saw it I got it less and less. I don’t see why people like it at all.
Oh man. I think Whiplash is amazing and the story absolutely sickens me at the same time. I can absolutely understand people not liking it.
I wasn’t sickened or anything. I was just bored. Just felt overly pretentious to me which, considering the Juliard or whatever school stuff, I figured was the point.
inconceivable!!!\
The book is fantastic
Almost done with the Cary Elwes behind the scenes book too
Oh, there is my bus. Thanks to the Net I know all the characters and quotes. But I guess
Mel Brooksthat movie’s humor never really did it for me, sorry.(edit : apologies. I always thought it one one of his)
Unless I’m misinformed, I don’t believe Mel Brooks was involved in The Princess Bride.
I think you may be thinking of Robin Hood Men in Tights.
I once knew someone who told me she couldn’t enjoy the movie because the ships traveled somewhere that was anachronistic to the time period.
Like, what??
Is there a specific reason you didn’t like it or more a general meh?
Like the overall premise of the post asks, it just didn’t click. For people who love it, I don’t think they’re wrong. I generally like the humor, and the cast is great– like legitimately great. But it might be the medieval setting that I seldom find interesting, or the magical/mystical things that I never do.
I mean the setting isn’t really the point. It’s about the characters and their journey. So it sounds like you liked the parts that most people like
What?? That movie has everything, it’s like the perfect movie. This is the only answer that has left me genuinely confused.
This whole thread is kinda wild to me, but I think this Princess Bride answer helps me distill it down to: I’m ok with you not liking movies that I love, but how can you say that you don’t understand other people liking it?
I don’t care for Star Wars or Lord of the Rings but never has it crossed my mind that this is more than just a matter of taste, that there are people whose preferences are outright wrong.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Grave of the fireflies. Didn’t even shed a tear and I cry at everything. Someone psychoanalyze me.
I second The princess bride but to add something new: (although not a movie but a serie)
The Game of Thrones
I love fantasy, I love medieval history, I love huge worlds, I love slow pace. But this one … just didn’t click, I don’t even know why. I gave up after the 4th episode
I know why - Martin can’t write complex characters and confuses shock value for motivations. They’re all caricatures, not characters. Its just a medieval soap opera.
I thought the appeal was the fact that it was a medieval soap opera
medieval soap opera
This sounds accurate when I think about it, maybe I found out why I wasn’t interested. The thing is - I don’t mind medieval soap operas (to some degree), I really liked The White Queen, The White Princess and The Spanish Princess. But those are based on real characters in actual history, I can forgive them for being boring at times since history is sometimes a bit boring. But for me the selling point and the excitement comes from the fact that this actually happened (well … sort of). With GoT it felt like I’m watching one of those medieval soap operas but without the excitement of being based on the real thing
i was invited to a viewing party for a GoT season premier. i had never seen any of the show before and had no idea what i was in for beyond “gritty fantasy show”. they all talked it way up, told me it was “sex and violence the TV show” and how much i would love it.
it was so so so boring i thought it would never end. i’m baffled why it’s popular.
I tried the show twice and never made it to the second episode. Everyone who knows me is blown away by the fact that “I’ve never watched GoT” because I’m such a big fantasy nerd. I’ve even tried the audiobooks but made it maybe 2 chapters in.
I just got annoyed that every character I liked died. Real life is depressing enough without watching fiction that also just bums you out.
See if you can find “Black Sails” It’s got all the sex and violence and intrigue GOT promised in a much more fast paced form.
Kingsman: The Secret Service. just… no.
if i lived life thinking there was something wrong with me just because i don’t like something it seems like everyone else likes, then that would be one miserable existence–no thanks. anyway, for me it was the big lebowski–probably the most boring pointless movie i ever sat through
Agreed on both philosophical ground and impression of Lebowski!
The one saving grace of lebowski is that when you bring up not liking it the people who do like it are too busy quoting it to argue with you.
Everything’s a fucking travesty with you, man! And what was all that shit about Vietnam? What the fuck has anything got to do with Vietnam? What the fuck are you talking about!?
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Thank you. Plus his “best friend” (John Goodman) was a complete dick that did nothing of benefit for him the entire movie.
Haven’t watched it in years though, so I was planning to re-watch and see if my opinion changes.
Shut the fuck up Donny
Well that just like, your opinion man…
I was a huge Star Wars fan before Disney took over, and haven’t liked anything they’ve done with it. Most people agree, with 2 exceptions: Andor, which I admittedly haven’t watched yet, and…Rogue One
I don’t think Rogue One is much better than the other Disney Star Wars drivel, but I’m apparently the only person in the universe who thinks that. I’ve watched it three times and just don’t get why people think it’s good.
Rouge One was okay, in my view. It wasn’t spectacular, it wasn’t terrible, it was okay.
Andor tells the story of how a full scale rebellion was born from a guy who pretty much wanted nothing to do with it and the choices the empire made for their agenda. Rogue one is the peak of that story and shows you just what it takes to defy a galaxy wide space government bent on total control.
I liked it because i grew up on the original trilogy and it was nice to see a fleshed out depiction with characters who barely had screen time or none at all in the OT but had so much to do with the events leading up to it. It feels like history and they did it very well imo
So I actually do like a lot of the Disney stuff (I get enough hate please noooooo) but Rogue One I cannot stand and don’t understand why it exists. The whole movie was justified off of a single line from A New Hope and the ending of Rogue One changes the opening of A New Hope in a bizarre way. Went from him chasing her down to her literally being like 15 feet from him as he watches her leave and follows her easily. Not necessarily bad because Leia bold faced lying to Vader and giving no fucks is kind of hysterical knowing he just watched her 10 seconds ago but odd.
Andor… I watched the first episode and was interested to an extent but I think I’d have to push myself through a few episodes to really get into it. I’ve been in stress mode the past few months so just rewatching what I like over and over again. I’ve seen Penn and Teller so many fucking times in the past 3 weeks…
Interesting that we both dislike Rogue One, but I also don’t like anything else recent. That being said, I’m always down for some Penn and Teller, those guys are great
The Last Jedi is probably my favorite Star Wars movie. What I was surprised to find out recently was that on Rotten Tomatoes, the critic review of TLJ is high but audience is low. Bizarrely, it’s the dead opposite with Rise of Skywalker. That confuses me considering I’ve never heard anyone other than myself say a single good thing about it.
And hell yes Penn and Teller. Although Teller does look like Yoda lately…
it’s so weird to me that the hate for TLJ (easily the best of the sequels, and imo better than any of the prequels) is so strong but the reaction to and criticism for RoS (the worst SW movie to date by a WIDE margin) are and remain extremely tepid.
Also they did my girl Rose Tycho dirty af and I’m still salty to this day.
I enjoyed Andor but I think that has more to do with it seemed to focus far more on telling a good story than relying heavily on all of the tropes that make Star Wars content Star Wars
In descending order: Andor, Empire Strikes Back, A New Hope, Rogue One. Everything below that isn’t worth watching. (OK I didn’t see any of the animated stuff yet, and I heard some of that was good, but I also heard a lot about baby yoda, so who knows?)
for animated stuff skip the dave filoni garbage and go straight to Visions and the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars.
I want to read your next unpopular opinion on an even more controversial topic, especially if it involves sincerely held beliefs.
I didn’t used to think this but now have come around to believing that it’s about how old you are because I dislike both the prequel and sequel trilogies but most people younger than me generally feel as good about the prequels as I do the original. Which seems like an obvious difference to me but I guess it’s that bias.
I’m fine with the prequels, and I’m old enough to have seen a New Hope before it was called a New Hope. In the theaters even, though I didn’t actually see it there. I don’t think the prequels are as good as the originals overall, but I enjoy watching them every few years.
But you’re right, the prequels are almost always split on generational lines. Most of us old farts don’t like them.
Star Wars. LOTR.
I’ll let myself out.
lotr has always been meh to me. all the books after the hobbit were an absolute slog to get through, and the movies were just annoying. star wars–everything after jedi (and maybe even jedi itself) is polished turds
Tolkien has some very dense prose and it can be tough to get through. The Silmarillion’s even moreso, it reads like the King James Bible. I think what really kills it though is how influential it’s been on the genre. So much is derivative of LotR that it no longer feels “fresh”, kind of the same way The Beatles were mind-blowingly innovative at the time but now it all just sounds really generic and well-worn. You’re bang-on about Star Wars too, I like Star Wars quite a bit but it goes groundbreaking movie (ANH), goated classic (ESB), schlock (the rest of the movies).
With LotR you have to remember that the books were essentially the foundation of the genre so you have probably read and watched hundreds of derivative works, doubtlessly some of them an improvement over this early part of the genre in at least some aspects.
Any of the mission impossible/fast and furious films. That shit is boring.
I am Legend.
Despite the movie being mid, the book is awesome. Highly recommend. easy read.
I think the alternative ending (that follows the book) makes it a much better film.
