Your favourite movie is absolute garbage and is only liked by tasteless philistines. The plot is obvious, the actors are hamming it, the direction is bland, and everything looks fake and pompous.
My favourite movie, on the other hand, is a masterpiece with a clever scenario, excellent and subtle acting, a work of genius by the director and the technical team. And one of the best soundtracks, too (it’s Universal Soldier)
You really have to love the fact that people are getting downvoted in this thread for their own fucking opinion…
Dude I’ve all but forgotten about this. For whatever reason, I loved this movie when I was younger. I also got it constantly mixed up with another similar movie that came out around the same time like Hollywood enjoys doing, but enjoyed Universal Soldier more.
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.
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 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.
The movie became a culture war wedge issue, you just couldn’t have an intelligent discourse about it in movie critic terms.
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
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.
Superhero films
I’m a massive fan of suspending my disbelief in a fantastic fantasy world, still have no interest in superhero films.
They’re so incredibly predictable, I can get the same from the trailer as watching the film.
I want a marvel movie where the entire movie is just an insurance adjuster’s life in superhero NYC where the entire city gets destroyed every 1.5 years due to alien sea turtles and two men punching each other through buildings and such.
The insurance premiums would be insane. The insurance agencies would have to be massive and get constantly bailed out. People would deliberately try and live in the ugliest places they could to avoid the carnage (and later lawsuits).
Maybe the superheroes should be required to get public liability insurance to cover the impact of their adventures.
Or
Maybe this accounts for their popularity, the greatest fantasy is a world not defined by capitalist considerations!
Oh boy.
Everything everywhere all at once.
And I did like it to a point but absolutely don’t see it as the phenomenon that was presented as. I saw it as a good film that lacked nuance and subtlety, instead of leaving stuff for the viewer to discern it rather just loudly announcing with bright signs ‘This is profound, we are very artistic’. While the quirkiness and comedy were fun, it always felt to me like if marvel had suddenly decided to make an indie film, with all the good and bad that carried.
Obviously I was shunned by everybody else so what the hell do I know lol.
I think that Hollywood wanted that film to be really popular because they were tired of Marvel movies being all over the box offices.
I agree that it was…like okay, but I think most of the Marvel movies were like okay.
Very good take. I wached it based on the hype. It is ok
Thank youuuuuu. Totally agree. It was a fun contemporary king fu movie with some great visual effects. Everyone I spoke to about it thought it was a groundbreaking masterpiece.
Same! For me, it was an ok action/fighting movie. There is a message there, but the message itself is not as deep as people want it to be, and nothing new. It was just OK.
Very good take. I wached it based on the hype. It is ok
Skyfall. The whole film rests on a basically omniscient villain, which made it boring as fuck.
I hate it when a big franchise or series ends up making the entire story revolve around the personal life of the protagonist.
For me the appeal of Bond was this unknown secret agent uncovering some big bad plot from some bad guy we knew little about art the start. I want it to be about uncovering the conspiracy and finding a way to stop it against all odds.
I do not want it to be able Bond’s relationship with his mother (or mother figure).
imho the best Bond script was 'From Russia, With Love." Other movies have better stunts and action, but FRWL is the only one that manages to make Bond a person without getting maudlin.
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
Napoleon Dynamite. Tried watching it a few times with friends who insisted it was funny. I just found it more annoying than funny.
That’s fair. My experience with the movie when I was watching it was similar. When it was over my wife and I looked at each other and we both were like, “what the fuck did we just watch?”
The next day we found ourselves quoting the movie and laughing our asses off about it. It seems that we needed time to process it in order to appreciate it.
I watched it once to give it a chance and eh, I probably chuckled a few times. It just wasn’t my humor and felt boring. The dance was the best part but honestly it was more how Jon Heder played it so earnestly, which I get was sort of the point. I still didn’t really find that funny necessarily, just more entertaining in general.
With that said, I still occasionally quote it to my SO because I know they liked the movie and the quotes are pretty memorable.
I don’t really like the awkward genre. The Office is similar; I can see why people like it but it’s not really for me.
I can’t watch awkward humour. My wife understands when I simply leave the room.
Lord of the rings. Over the years i tried watching it again and again but i either fall asleep of stop caring and do something else halfway through.
Not to be that guy, but are you watching the extended editions? I used to also not enjoy the movies until I gave the extended editions a chance. Much better pacing
I always thought the theatrical editions would be easier for first-timers, but I’ve never tested that theory. Interesting to hear that you felt the opposite.
Just saw the extended edition. I can’t see what people enjoy about it. The dialogue is sharp but the story is abysmal.
Thoughts on the books? (if you’ve read them)
I’ve tried reading the books twice and watching the films once. They’re just so fucking long.
(I’ve read lots of books with a similar number of pages without thinking they’re too long, and smaller books that I’ve also got bored of)
OPPENHEIMER
I liked it. But I’m surprised it’s gotten all of the accolades that it has.
Turned it off after 45 minutes, it felt so artificial and pretentious. I mostly enjoyed his other films.
Honestly this is pretty much every Christopher Nolan movie for me. I’ve seen most of them and they range from meh to okay. I’m extremely confused as to why he’s so popular and respected.
He tends to make the audience feel clever (even though you dont need to be) and he makes studios a ton of money.
Oh god same! I genuinely don’t understand all of the hype it’s gotten!
Yup, also I laughed at the scene near the end where Einstein just appeard on the lawn with a book in his pajamas. No one else laughed. So that wasn’t awkward or anything.
The longer I wait to see it the more likely it is to actually be good, I just can’t imagine it being good.
Gangs of New York.
I love Scorsese and I usually don’t mind how long his films are, case in point Killers of the Flower Moon. But Gangs of New York is not only too long and weirdly self indulgent, but whatever Cameron Diaz is doing in her role is… Not great and makes me sad every time.
Edit: I realize I inverted flowers and killer in Killers of the Flower Moon.
That movie has so much interesting history stuff like the gangs controlling the fire brigades and the city being rebuilt time and again but it’s at odds with the weird cartoon vibe of the characters and story.
Well at least we know what it would look like if Scorsese did a live action One Piece adaptation.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tropic Thunder.
I liked the RDJ gimmick, but the rest was really dumb. Everyone else likes it but i even bought a copy based on terrific reviews and ended up giving it away. So it was pricy too.
This is definitely going to be an unpopular opinion. I salute you for your bravery! Now get ready to embrace downvote hell.
Edit: a few hours later, I guess I was wrong.
Ya, I’m one of your upvotes on this one.
Guess I’ll be joining you with the downvotes.
Same. Also hated tom cruise and I really cannot believe anybody would find it funny
I hate Tom Cruise generaly. But he was funny in his 2 min scene
No Country for Old Men. I was just bored through the whole movie.
My theory is that people who found No Country boring are only familiar with straight forward plots. It takes thoughtfulness to enjoy the film, and the people I know who disliked it lack that.
The movie doesn’t hold your hand. John Wick requires lots flashy action because the average viewer would benefit from a close caption that says “feel excited now,” while No Country is boring unless you’re brain is actively participating.
What are your thoughts on this generalization?
This sounds like the rick and morty copypasta.
To be fair, you need a very high IQ to understand No Country for Old Men.
Turns out I’m good at something after all.
I don’t really think it’s accurate. I love when the main plot is deeper than just what you can see. I just watched The Green Knight and I was constantly trying to find the deeper meaning to whatever was happening and how it related to the overall plot in a more symbolic way.
My favorite movies are Pulp Fiction and The Fifth Element which both have multiple storylines. Although for The Fifth Element, the overall plot is straightforward.
I just didn’t find this movie interesting and the “intense” scenes didn’t really land for me.
I understand. What would you say is the most intense scene in a film?
It’s probably been 17 years since I saw it, and I didn’t love it. So my memory on it isn’t the best. So I’m going to give the obvious example of the coin scene. Which from what I remember commanded some gravitas.
Ah, my mistake. I meant to ask what is your favorite scene from ANY film. The coin flip scene is lit tho.
First intense scene like that comes to mind is the opening to Inglourious Basterds. I’ll let you know if I think of one I like more than that. But that’s probably it.
Coin scene is boring, car scene from Nocturnal Animals.
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.
