to think that there are certain films you should NEVER rewatch?

[PyongyangKipperbang]

For it was The Breakfast Club.

I was the perfect age for it when it came out, mid teens. OMG they GOT me! Their parents were arses too, they understood what it was like. Loved it my whole life.

Watched it again at 40 with teens and just thought "What a bunch of whining little shits" It is now my least favourite film of all time! It should have stayed in my memory as once you are the parent of the "misunderstood" teen you realise what an utter prat you were when you were 15!

@Somanysocks

Everyone said 'you must watch It's a Wonderful Life', once was enough, never again.

Toatally agree about it's a Wonderful Life, sentimental rubbish (Ha just corrected Lie to Life says it all). It occurs to me that Richard Curtis is attempting or has attempted to be a modern, English, Capra. To me, he represents all thaat is wrong with Britain today. I hate his films. Have never seen Love Actually. But to my shame I have seen Notting Hill and by the way, Richard, it wasn't absurd for a customer in a travel bookshop to ask for Dickens - he wrote many travel books on England, Italy and America.

Also have never been able to watch Mama Mia, boring assinine rubbish, nice little earner though. Not even on the rainiest day of a 40 day downpour, I would rather lie on my bed and stare mutely at the ceiling for 4 or 5 hours while waiting to drown.

Flashdance!

First there’s the dance training scenes focussed mainly on her butt. Then, there’s Michael Nouri modelling what a sexy, mature man is supposed to do: hit on a woman half his age who also works a few levels junior to him in his company, ogle her in the ‘Gentlemen’s Club’ that is her second job, follow her home in his Porsche late at night to see where she lives, don’t take ‘no’ for an answer when he wants a date with her and instead joke about firing her from a job she needs thathe controls, use his money and status to get her an audition once he is dating her ... and that predatory and stalkerish behaviour is supposed to be romantic... YIKES! Now I cringe at the memory of having liked anything about that movie except for the main dance audition at the end.

I thought it would be fun to rewatch Ferris Beuller's Day Off with dd.
It was DREADFUL and completely unwarchable.

@Snog

I thought it would be fun to rewatch Ferris Beuller's Day Off with dd. It was DREADFUL and completely unwarchable.

How come? Presumably you had already seen it? Which bits made it unwatchable?

Schindler's List

(Fiennes was perfect casting)

2 scenes

The little girl in the red coat (I have never held my breath like that in all my life ... its a movie, but I was really scared by that scene)

A long line (filmed from above) of prisoners shuffling thru the snow to what became clear was the Gas Chamber.

I deliberately won't ever watch SL again because I was so affected by those scenes (and others) and I know that if I were to see the film again, it would dilute my genuine upset that film caused me.

And I don't want that to happen.

Life is Beautiful is a total masterpiece and manages to be uplifting and funny about such an awful subject (the Holocaust) but is ultimately too heartbreaking to sit through more then once. I only initially watched because of the directors’ wacky Oscars acceptance that made the news, but it has stayed in my mind forever...

Toy Story 3. I cried so much in the cinema that my now-XH had to drive home because I couldn’t see.

I was basically sitting in a cinema with my STBXH and two teenagers watching a film about the end of their childhood. Too much, and never again.

I used to love pretty woman as a kid

Could not bring myself to watch it now. When the title makes me want to scream

I sill hate the film 'UP' all that stuff at the beginning where they can't have children and then the bit where the wife dies. Heart wrenching. I couldn't get past those bits to enjoy the film at all.
I am so glad I don't have to forcibly go to the cinema and watch kids films any more.

@upsideoxide

I used to love pretty woman as a kid

Could not bring myself to watch it now. When the title makes me want to scream

I loved it when it came out. It came on the TV the other day (and again the next-must be on the Notting Hill loop channel) and I couldn't watch much, Julia Roberts was just annoying and not very good.

A lot of films I watched and enjoyed as an agreeable teeanger or 20+, now massively irritate the raging feminist in me. Like... why did you need a rape scene? Why glamourize prostitution? Why make light of sexual harassment and domestic violence? On the other hand, the woke filmmaking of today is even worse. So inclusive to the point of puke.
Seems i'm unable to enjoy nothing anymore.

I found Forrest Gump a bit and won’t watch it any more.

First off, the portrayal of learning disability is a bit clunky. I think Hanks did a much better job than many actors would have done but it still jars. It’s played as a kind of ‘magical ingenue’.

But for me the main problem is the overt exceptionalism that favours white men. Forrest behaves like a ‘good American citizen’ — he excels at sport, joins the army, invests in the stock market etc. Whereas Jenny protests the draft, becomes addicted to drugs, gets knocked up and then dies of AIDS. It’s like she gets punished over and over again for going against the ‘American way’.

Flashdance is just sexist crap-one good scene thats it

Cant watch schindlers list again for obvious reasons

I felt quite sympathetic to Cal and her mum really, neither of whom were delightful creatures but weren't total monsters.

The antagonists in that film - Cal, Lovejoy (great misnomer there!), Ruth and probably Ismay - were mostly cardboard cut-out, two-dimensional villains IMO. The chief bad guy was the iceberg, which had more depth than most of them.

Cal was overegged, but as the film progressed showed the escalating tendencies of the abuser quite well. Lovejoy is voyeuristic over Rose's activities in a way that's quite repulsive, not least sinister and murderous. He's an unconvincing pantomime villain (not to cast aspersions on the actor; that was the fault of the script). Ruth is trapped the same way Rose is trapped, so in a way commands more sympathy. She hates the 3rd class because she fears becoming like them: the money's all gone and she's at risk of working as a seamstress! The horror.

As for the 'good guys', as far as I'm concerned Victor Garber can do no wrong. His role as Thomas Andrews was tiny but he still steals the performance, and seemed to capture the essence of everything I've ever read about the real historical figure.

It was the film's treatment of First Officer Murdoch I thought was really problematic and disrespectful, and should never have been included. I don't know what on earth he could have been thinking to have believed that a good idea. Yes, it was a very long-ago tragedy but these are real people's reputations Cameron was besmirching: people with relatives who might have been hurt or offended by such a portrayal. That was badly done.

As for the 'good guys', as far as I'm concerned Victor Garber can do no wrong.

In this house he will always be Ferguson, Frasier's butler.

Manhattan by Woody Allen which is probably far too old for most here. But even when I saw it in late '70s I thought the idea of middle-aged WA having a relationship with the radiant 17 year old Mariel hemingway and nobody batting an eyelid. I was confused about what it isaid about relationships , was that even possible a young girl would be introduced into a midddle aged group and no-one would say a word? On the one hand Hollywood/film 'morals'. On the other hand yes a lot of people were critical at the time and yes it probably did adversely affect Mariel Hemingway.

Forrest Gump was on TV a few weeks ago and reminded me of probably the single most annoying line: "Life is like a box of chocolates , you never know what you're getting." Don't American chocolate boxes have those little flavour and ingredient guides?

Did you see the Allen V Farrow documentary series @tomorrowalready ? They analyse Manhattan very well as part of that.

The human caterpillar gave me a laugh

No @RickiTarr, I have not seen that. Did it come down on one side or the other? I have always regarded WA as the fore runner of the current Revenge of the Nerds school of heterosexual relations. By which of course I mean the formerly disregarded young man due to looks/size/interests gets the girl and preferably the exceptionally beautiful girl.

When I first saw his films at the cinema in the 1970s I must admit I thought I should like them as sophisticated New York humour but as a dsiregarded fat, self -conscious young female was aware of a certain mis-alignment in what I was identifying with. The film critic Pauline Kael (sp?) wrote very critically about his films I believe.

The film critic Pauline Kael (sp?) wrote very critically about his films I believe.

How strange. I just came across her for the very first time last night in a clip from the Dick Cavett show in the 70s, critiquing McCabe & Mrs Miller!
I will look out her comments on WA. She didn’t seem inclined to self censor or soft pedal!

I’m sure you’re quite right about Allen’s role in elevating the nebbish, culturally speaking. I’ve been having some uncomfortable feelings about Tarantino, too, and he would be part of the same pattern.

I’m sure Mia Farrow is quite happy with Allen V Farrow, I’ll put it that way.

@tomorrowalready

No *@RickiTarr*, I have not seen that. Did it come down on one side or the other? I have always regarded WA as the fore runner of the current Revenge of the Nerds school of heterosexual relations. By which of course I mean the formerly disregarded young man due to looks/size/interests gets the girl and preferably the exceptionally beautiful girl.

When I first saw his films at the cinema in the 1970s I must admit I thought I should like them as sophisticated New York humour but as a dsiregarded fat, self -conscious young female was aware of a certain mis-alignment in what I was identifying with. The film critic Pauline Kael (sp?) wrote very critically about his films I believe.

There is a recognised trope in film and TV in which it is perfectly acceptable for a man to treat women like utter shit if he's nerdy and awkward.

Revenge of the Nerds is a particularly egregious example but you don't have to look too far for other, more recent ones.

@RickiTarr, nebbish - that is a wonderful world and illustrates what I was attracted to in the world of WA. I don't know what it means exactly but i get the sense of it as with so many Yiddish words. As to Quentin Tarantino, another one whose films I have not only never seen but have assiduously avoided. But I must remember that is not the thread topic.

I just went off on a short Wikipedia byway, there are short excerpts of some of her pieces. She was mostly critical of WA for replaying his narcissistic concerns and the indulgence given to that. Speaking of Wikipedia, I have had to look up his name 4 times because it was not sticking but I don't know if I would watch Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby again. I think it is the only film of his which I have watched and that is mainly for the New York apartment and Mia Farrow was excellent in it.

@DrSbaitso, I genuinely believe I did not know that Revenge of the Nerds was an actual film, I just thought it was atrend I noticed with the rise of the Internet. Big Bang Theory and all that. Maybe I had subconsciously heard of it. I googled just now to check if it was a title. Also sorry to young ones who are wondering how come this has taken a turn to ancient history, I had a look on Grnsnet but seemed to be little interest there.

@TheValeyard

As for the 'good guys', as far as I'm concerned Victor Garber can do no wrong.

In this house he will always be Ferguson, Frasier's butler.

Ha ha, that was amazing.

[quote tomorrowalready]@DrSbaitso, I genuinely believe I did not know that Revenge of the Nerds was an actual film, I just thought it was atrend I noticed with the rise of the Internet. Big Bang Theory and all that. Maybe I had subconsciously heard of it. I googled just now to check if it was a title. Also sorry to young ones who are wondering how come this has taken a turn to ancient history, I had a look on Grnsnet but seemed to be little interest there.[/quote]
It is a real film, and even by the standards of 1984 it is astoundingly offensive. A couple of plot points involve a nerd tricking a woman into having sex with him by making her think he is her boyfriend, and distributing naked pictures of women without their knowledge or consent. There are racist elements too, in case rape and revenge porn (with the target of the revenge not even being the women) aren't side splitting enough.

From Wikipedia: "Revenge of the Nerdswas panned by reviewers at release. Lawrence van Gelder forThe New York Timeswrote "It is the absence of genuine comedy that exposes glaringly the film's fundamental attitude of condescension and scorn toward blacks and women, and a tendency toward stereotyping that clashes violently with its superficial message of tolerance, compassion and fair play."

But it was popular enough that several sequels were released, and a trope was established by which a man can do pretty much anything to a woman, including stalking, harassing and assaulting her, and it's totally fine as long as he's nerdy and socially awkward. In fact, women should date the nerds!

Sometimes, guys, people dislike you not because of your reedy voice or bad dress sense, but because you are a hateful thundercunt.