Movies that everyone loves but I HATE.

We have flirted with this topic for a long time but I can't recall a thread about it, maybe it was on Rudius but again I can't remember.

Over the weekend I was in a bar with a guy who told me he hated "The Departed." This really bothered me considering I thought this film was the best thing to come out in a long time. He then proceeded to tell me Platoon sucked and he could barely sit through Braveheart. I was wondering if he was pressing my buttons so I pointed out to him that they had won best film awards, he acknowledged it and said he would rather watch The English Patient or Chicago if he had to watch films that had won the Oscar.

I promise you I couldn't make this up, he went on to explain that he just did not like violence. He was an art professor at the University Of Delaware, he went on to explain he didn't enjoy war films, mobster flicks or anything based on violence. (I meant to ask about The English Patient because I never saw it) He did however explain himself rather well, I would never go to the movies with him but I respected his opinion.

I always go back and forth with KIMaster on specific films that I thought were amazing got good critical acclaim but he didn't like. To be fair he never said he hated them he just felt a movie like "Gladiator" didn't live up to the hype.

FOCUS: Now is your chance, sound off on the films that everyone talks and raves about yet they leave you empty.

Mine is 100% No Country for Old Men before everyone starts telling me "I didn't get it" please refrain. I understood it just fine. However I didn't enjoy long boring soliloquy's by Tommy Lee Jones and yes I was a little upset that there was not a climactic shoot out between Anton and Josh Brolin's character. I respect the uniqueness of the film but that doesn't mean I liked it, nor want to ever have to suffer sitting through it again. Even more annoying are the fans who accuse everyone who disliked it for not understanding it. That's the point of this board, movies like most art is about individual taste, no matter how great you think a movie is someone out there hates it. Just like the professor I met this weekend and almost throttled for not liking The Departed, everyone has an opinion.

 

I have to support hating No Country For Old Men. I've seen it several times just to make sure I didn't miss something, and every time I just wanted to turn it off. The acting is good, I think the Coen brothers are great, but the story does absolutely nothing for me. It's boring and slow. I don't even hate the movie that much, I hate people telling me that I didn't get it when there's a good chance I've seen it more times than they have.

Also, being a college kid, I've heard way too many people tell me how great Transformers is. Fuck you, retards.

 

I'm 100% positive I will take more shit for this than any other movie, but I absolutely loathe The Big Lebowski. I've tried watching it three times at three pretty different points in my life, thinking that as I get older/more mature, I'll see what everyone else sees, but I've never finished the movie. I find it completely boring, ridiculous, and totally unfunny. I think I chuckled at two or three scenes, but nothing more than that. I've tried watching it three times because I figured I must be missing something since it appears as though most people (here at least) would pick that movie if there was one movie they could have sex with, but I just don't see it. Three times will be the max for me. No more time will be wasted watching it.

 

The Notebook is quite possibly the worst romantic movie I've ever seen. I really found it hard to feel empathy or excitement for either main character as the guy is a demanding prick, and the girl is a whiny little bitch who has to choose between two incredibly attractive men. I mean it didn't have a lot to work with being based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, but really just awful.

 

The Butterfly Effect. An ex-girlfriend talked me into renting it. She said it was one of her favorite movies and she asked me what I thought. I told her. She was pissy for days.

Allow me to copy and paste from my Zip.ca review:

Spoiler

The Butterfly Effect was, in a word, terrible. The mildly intriguing plot was buried by weak writing, poor performances, too much unintentional comedy and too many inconsistencies. It's been a few years since I've seen the movie, but allow me to explain...

An early scene features Evan (Ashton Kutcher) as he's just been imprisoned. His plan to escape involves convincing his cellmate that Evan can communicate with Jesus. Evan uses his "ability" to revisit a classroom and slam his hands onto two spiked objects. This past act causes a stigmata scar to suddenly appear on each of Evan's palms in his current reality, but why would this act not completely alter the time line that's just been established? In the world that the film has created, he should no longer be in prison and he certainly shouldn't be in the "fraternity" reality.

Another scene features Evan awakening as an amputee after using his ability to save a woman and her child from an exploding mailbox in the past. Evan then encounters Tommy (William Lee Scott) and Tommy's antagonistic character has been altered because of the same mailbox episode. Evan seems confused. Kayleigh (Amy Smart) then explains what's going on. I'll paraphrase:

"You know how good and wholesome Tommy has been since he helped you save that woman and her child. He's not a jerk now."

Ridiculous. The only reason that Kayleigh would say this is to educate the audience. In the movie's world, Evan would already know what's going on. We've already been shown how new memories rush into his head when he enters a new time line. Why not just have him turn to the camera and wink? This is a perfect example of the weak writing that I had mentioned earlier. Such plot inconsistencies ruin the experience.

The only good thing that can be said about this film is that its awfulness is consistent. I don't recommend the movie to anyone and I certainly don't understand how it's received as many positive reviews as it has.

 

Napoleon Dynamite. People have told me to watch it twice and I hated it more the second time around. It has a couple funny parts here and there but by the end, a nuke could have went off killing all of them and I wouldn't care.

 

I second this. I can't stand this movie. When this came out in high school, everyone raved about how funny it was and would repeat every line from the movie. I tried watching it several times but never thought it was nearly as funny as everyone else did. I think this movie is absolute shit. It has horrible acting, stupid jokes, and a dumb plot. I loathe it.

Another one I can't stand is Anchorman. Do I chuckle at a few parts? Yes. Is it as great and entertaining as everyone thinks? Hell no. Many people I used to work with were obsessed with this movie and I watched it with them on numerous occasions. I never got what made them love this movie so much. I like Will Ferrell but this movie just isn't funny. My friends would roar with laughter at the the scene when Will is lifting weights and the scene with the panther perfume. I just thought it was stupid. The more quotes my coworkers and friends rattled off and the more I watched it, the more I hated it.

 

Army of Darkness. What a pile of shit.

I love the first two Evil Dead films. As a nipper, the first one had been banned over here, so when it was finally released, I, as an easily excitable 13 year old just HAD to see it, and I wasn't disappointed. Even today, the 'card' scene gives me the chills, and even thought the effects weren't great they were fucking effective. It was simply a very well done horror movie, in spite of the obvious budget restraints.

The sequel (yes, it's a sequel-anyone who still entertains the notion that it's a remake is an idiot who needs to drown in a toilet with a cucumber up their posterior) was even better-it managed to be scarier, yet had a strong element of humour throughout and to me truly defined how you find the perfect balance between horror and gore (most 'horror' films seem to think that severed limbs and blood are enough). To this day it remains one of my favourite films.

Army of Darkness? Fuck. When I saw this had a cinema release I had such high hopes. I stupidly assumed that a bigger budget would mean more of the same, yet slightly more polished. How wrong was I. Basically, it's a comedy. One that fails on every level, unless you can find humour in how bad it is. Despite the higher budget, the effects somehow managed to look worse (the original relied on stop motion animation, which being obvious at least looked like someone had made some effort). It was utterly pathetic-if any of you on here are familiar with the British 'Carry on...' series of films, it was more suited to that genre than it was the horror one.

I've seen plenty of bad films. I don't invest much stock in this notion that art should be life changing-I just want it to be entertaining-but this was the only time in my memory that I left the cinema feeling cheated, and a little hollow and angry.

In summary, fuck that film. At least the comic adaptation had some lovely artwork.

 

I wrote a review about how much it sucks, but I wouldn't include it in this topic.

Reason being, I believe at least as many people hate as like this movie nowadays. When I brought up that I had downloaded the film, two friends who were with me instantly burst in with, "Holy shit! That is the worst film I have EVER seen!"

Focus-

Well, for those that read the Old Movie review topic, I agree with Chater, Mike Ness, and others in Casablanca in being ridiculously overrated; a sappy, cliche Hollywood romance with contrived plot holes at every turn. Its popularity can best be explained by this amazing article by Umberto Eco.

Of course, there is also 2001, which is painfully boring, and a favorite of the pretentious "film is art" crowd.

While the above two films aren't ones that I necessarily hate (I just think they are mediocre/below average, or have some good/great elements obscured by major weaknesses), I make an exception for both Lost in Translation (one of the worst films ever made) and both Kill Bill films. (awful)

Lost in Translation derives the majority of its humor from making fun of the Japanese, which is fine, except they take the most pathetic, obvious course of action; everything in Japan is small, the Japanese are like a bunch of children.

Besides that, the story is largely pointless, and lifeless as all fucking hell, with extended shots of a Scarlett Johansson lying on her side. Bill Murray is great, no arguments there, and I'm sure a Godard, Bergmann, or Bunuel could have made a masterpiece out of this premise, but in the hands of Sofia Coppola, it's student film level garbage, with a healthy dose of unfunny racism added in.

Kill Bill? Awful, sleep-inducing action scenes (if they even had a fight choreographer, he should never work again), completely lame, unfunny dialogue, and "serious/badass scenes" that just come off as really pathetic and childish.

The first one was a little better, with a few good jokes buried here and there, and more action, while the second was flat-out terrible. No one fucking cares what you think about Superman's human alter ego, Tarantino.

There are a lot more, but this will do for now!

 

With the exception of one or two (Pulp Fiction), Tarantino sucks. He'll choose style over substance everytime, and he's not good enough of a director for the pacing he subjects us to. M Knight Shamaamadingdong is worse, but at least critics admit he sucks, too bad the public doesn't.

I bought into the hype with "Up in the Air" but after reflecting on it some more, what makes this movie Oscar worthy? The twist near the end is obvious, I can't think of a single memorable line, and it kind of just wallowed in its own ego.


Any movie with a comedic actor trying to play serious- Punch Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine, etc.

 

Twilight

I've never seen it but it's a safe bet.

 

A controversial one that comes to mind is Eternal Sunshine For The Spotless Mind.

I've heard from a lot of people that I respect that this was one of the best movies of the decade, but I got about 40 minutes into it and got bored. The premise seemed cool but the Indy-Cam (CONSTANT extreme closeups of peoples faces and general shakiness) really pissed me off. I seriously felt like screaming JUST FUCKING ZOOM OUT A LITTLE BIT. And Jim Carrey's character was so painfully timid in the beginning that I felt like punching him through the screen.

It probably didn't help that I was watching it on netflix instant on my small laptop, and that I was in a college dorm with frequent distractions. I've thought about re-watching it to do it justice, as it seems like a very emotional and cerebral movie that I was just wasn't in the right mindset for, but I can't shake that initial impression.

Another movie (that I actually watched all the way through) that I REALLY hated was The Insider. By all metrics I should've liked it. It starred Al Pacino and Russel Crowe and was almost universally praised by critics. But something about its style just fucking IRKED me. I felt like everything seemed super contrived in a very transparent way and that all of the tension was completely artificial. You know how when sort of ambiguous events are matched with pounding, epic thriller music that telecasts exactly how you are supposed to feel, but without that music you'd just be watching something sort of mundane? That's this ENTIRE movie.

For example. There is a scene where Russel Crowe goes to the driving range. He is very paranoid that the Big Tobacco execs that he testified against have been trying to fuck with him. You know this because EPIC HEART POUNDING MUSIC is playing. He hits like two balls and then looks over at some guy in a suit. MUSIC CUE! THIS GUY IS FOLLOWING HIM! For seemingly no reason whatsoever, besides shitty internal movie logic, Russel Crowe just twists his face up and starts screaming. He instantly knows that this guy hitting golf balls at night is an agent tailing him. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY FAMILY! YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY FUCKING FAMILY RAIUHAHAARUAAHRA GHRHRHRHGRHAAAG."

I saw it like two years ago and I'm tempted to rewatch it. I have a sneaking suspicion that my feelings wont change.

Anyone understand what I'm talking about, or am I just retarded?

As for the rest of the movies in this thread, YOU'RE ALL WRONG! Except Napolean Dynamite obviously, and I haven't seen Lost In Translation.

Edit: A good alt-focus could be what movies did you not like, then rewatch and change your opinion (or vice versa). I'm really tempted to rewatch these movies because I have a feeling Eternal Sunshine is probably really good (not so sure about The Insider). I remember I thought Broken Flowers was boring as shit the first time I saw it (I was like 16) and I watched it recently and loved it.

 

I've seen this line a bunch of times on people's twitter accounts lately -

'Twilight is a lot like the world cup. 2 hours of pasty faced geeks running around and nobody scores. If you were bored at the end, millions of dorks will tell you that you just didn't get it'

I've watched the first two movies over the last couple of days (with my wife and our girlfriend, fuck all of you) - and what I take out of Twitter is that it doesn't matter if you're a pasty faced dork with 2 percent body fat and a hair cut that looks like your mom was drinking while she did it. You can still be cool and kick ass. Also, if someone you dated for a couple of months breaks up with you in highschool, it is entirely appropriate to spend 3 months being a weepy shut in, have visual hallucinations and engage in self harm behaviours and write long moaning letters to a friend who not only left town to avoid you, but changed their email address and made a point of not telling you the new one. Then when you finally find out where your object of codependant obsession is, run away from home, steal a car, blackmail them into agreeing to help you die and live happily ever after. If some idiot actually tries to get close to you and cheer you up because he's retardedly in love with you, and doesn't get turned on every time you hit your head, don't give him a sympathy handjob or kiss him or anything - use him as a free mechanic untill the guy who ditched you comes back. Also - there's nothing at all wrong with a 17 year old dating a guy old enough to be her grandfather. A guy who keeps hanging around highschools years after he graduated.

No wonder emo's are fucking socially malajusted.

 

Young Frankenstein

Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with me either. I went into it thinking I would like it, because I absolutely adore Blazing Saddles, but I just got so bored and wanted it to end. I only chuckled a few times, and just didn't find many of the jokes funny. Throughout so much of the movie I felt like I needed to be watching it with the friend who recommended it to me so I'd know when to laugh, which is not how it's supposed to be.

 

Taxi Driver
It does have memorable, powerful scenes and vivid performances but this is an unrepentantly ugly descent into hell, it seems Scorscese was just trying to be as repugnant as possible (cocaine will do that to a 5' ft. tall man). It had no point in my mind, but opinions vary wildly.

The Big Lebowski
This film did ho-hum in the theatres but caught a huge cult following a couple of years later, now being regarded by many as one of the best comedies of all times. Sure it had funny moments, but essentially all this film really bestows on the viewer is a collection of Coen-quirky characters in an uninteresting plot. I think Raising Arizona blows this film away. It's not so great.

The Grudge
This film was not scary. The sound effects were so irritating that they could make a green beret commit suicide. The story had NO sense or direction whatseoever. No beginning. No ending. No scares. No nudity. No graphic violence. What target horror audience were they shooting for, exactly? A lot of people found this nonsensical film scary. I am not among them.

 

Are you talking about the original and rather good Japanese version or the shit Hollywood adaption?

Drag Me To Hell This keeps getting brought up as a good horror film, I found it dull, predictable and just plain un-scary. The old lady scene was admittedly fun, but 1 minute of fun does not a good movie make.

 

The stupid Hollywood version, of course. Ju-On had a menacing style to it, instead of trying to money the effects scenes which or friends in California love to do. That always fucks up, and Hollywood has failed every time when trying to remake a Japanese horror.

 

Pirates of the Caribbean. This came out right before my senior year of high school, and everybody was obsessed with it. It still has a huge cult following to this day. I don't see what is so great about it. I don't think it's funny or thrilling. I do like Johnny Depp, but not this movie.

Ferris Bueller's Day off. I hate this movie. I think that John Hughes is overrated in general, but this film is not funny at all. I also think that The Breakfast Club is grossly overrated (The Faculty is a better movie to watch if you want to see what happens when a few kids from different high school cliques are forced to put up with each other), but it is at least watchable from start to finish. And I can't even count how many kids from my high school used that "life moves pretty fast" quote as their senior quote.

I will probably catch more crap for this one than anyone on this board could possibly get for The Big Lebowski, but I have to say The Dark Knight. I loved Batman Begins but I hated The Dark Knight. I have seen it three times and have tried very hard to appreciate it, but aside from Heath Ledger I don't see what is so great. The problem that I have with it is that there is no story, it's just The Joker going around committing random crimes. I realize that the Joker even says in the movie that he is all about that, but still, they could have gotten some kind of story out of it.


I also agree about Napoleon Dynamite, but thankfully its popularity has seemed to dwindle.

 

Could we save some time and just hate everything that was remade for an American audience after being internationally succesful? The American version of the office is the only American remake of a good movie or show that was even tolerable. The rest of the time, you're not only reinventing the wheel - but you're fucking it up in the process. For fuck sake, why?