Supposedly good films that you thought were shit?

[BlueSmarties76]

I've just watched Before Sunrise & Before Sunset. Both highly rated and well regarded. I didn't enjoy either of them, especially Before Sunset. It was basically two quite uninteresting characters talking to each other for the duration of the film, and I didn't even like the characters either!

Tell me some of the highly rated / regarded films that you think are crap?

Shove That's an inspired bit of amateur film criticery there. I'm impressed. Even if I still think Sandra should have been blown up.

I love Moulin Rouge. Terrible acting but so Baz Luhrmann'd up, he got away with it.

I hate Amelie too. As much as I love all of the primary colours, you can have too much of a good thing. And it's intensely boring. She can get back on her silly bike and stop stalking Paris.

And Pirates of the Carribean. What actually happens in any of the films? I've never seen anything where I couldn't even remember what had been happening during it, let alone afterward.

That's the thing Chips I love Strictly Ballroom and Romeo & Juliet, but Moulin Rouge just leaves me thinking wtf

Disney's Pinocchio - gives me the creeps.

Black Swan - nasty, unpleasant and utter shit, and the only dvd I have ever cut in half and chucked in the rubbish.

Happy Feet - Penguins don't bloody sing, and all that pseudo-environmental cobblers about saving the planet. (But only the creatures that are worth saving obviously, because they are cute and can entertain us).

The French Lieutenant's Woman with Meryl Streep. Tried watching it several times, but to no avail. Bored to tears.

I'd forgotten about The French Lieutenant's Woman. I had no idea what it was all about and realised I didn't care either..

History boys. Homophobic sentimental rubbish.

Holly
Nah-ah! I love films. I love talking about them, but don't know anybody who cares as much as me about the horror of the opening scene in Saving Private Ryan that makes you realise that, as opposed to the idea that any action film you ever see presents about the hero diving into a river yet comes out unharmed despite a hail of bullets targeting him, when you are underwater getting shot at can and will get you killed because water is not an unpenetrable shield!

But nobody cares

Ha! Brilliant Zing - I'd never thought of it like that. Google tells me there's a whole world of research on how far bullets will travel underwater.

I'm now trying to think of other people who get killed in water (not by water). Isildur in LoTR - but that doesn't count because he's suddenly visible from having been invisible. (And it's a terrible scene).

I'm sure I've seen a movie that traces bullets through water, but I can't think what it is! It's driving me mad!!

Maybe Jaws? That poor shark gets everything thrown at him but the kitchen sink :-(

I always thought the boy (the son of the hat lady), who gets eaten up, was wearing red pants on purpose. what colour could be more obviously screaming "danger! danger! Do not avert your eyes!" at you?

I think there are rockets and stuff exploding are shown here and there, so the image has been used, but that scene.... very powerful

I think there should be a sort of anti "if you like this you might like that" warning with certain film combinations.
For example, scaredy cats like me should be advised to avoid watching Psycho, Nightmare on Elm street and Jaws within the same few weeks as you'll be so freaked out and will avoid using the shower (home, hotel swimming pool), the bath and refuse to dip into any natural bodies of water.
Horror films are no good for maintaining a good personal hygiene

The TV version of Tinker Taylor is much better, it actually explains what's happening, I found the film utterly incomprehensible and for my sins I had to watch it twice! ( was on holiday in India and they had an outdoor cinema, was so excited to go but my heart sank when I realised what film they were showing)

Oh and I know it's all the rage but I will never watch a 3D film again. Never ever.

We saw 3D Toy Story on my birthday in 2010 or (2012?) and not only did I start feeling queasy half way through, but by the time it finished I was feeling sick and dizzy and by the evening I had a full-blown migraine (flashing lights and all) which last for 2 whole days.
I'm content with Netflix thank you very much!

I don't much like 3D films either. I accidentally saw one movie as 3D (because I'd got the time of the films wrong, and the 3D one was on before the non-3D one) and during the trailers, they showed the Transformers film in 3D - it was ridiculous! SO overdone, everything was far too sharply focused and it was just too much. Since then I've pretty much refused to see anything in 3D.

I'm not normally a fan of 3D. That said, I watched the new Star Wars in the full 3D IMAX experience and then watched it in in regular and the first one blew the second out the window.

So many of the films mentioned here aren't even 'supposedly good'.

Mrs Brown's Boys, Mamma Mia, Avatar, Titanic - c'mon, no one has ever said they are good films!

I'm going to say Requiem For A Dream - batters you over the head with the oh so subtle 'drugs are bad m'kay?' message. I didn't feel depressed at the end, just irritated. Fantastic soundtrack though.

Mitzy - agree about Requiem. I got SICK of that montage, over and over and over. (I get it, the point is the repetitious and destructive nature of drug-taking, but it felt like being trapped in a 90s MTV video). It gets a 'meh' from me.

Zing - I quite enjoy 3D, though I think it's often poorly used just to fling things out of the screen. Life of Pi and Gravity were both more interesting uses of it IMO. But I had no idea it could make people ill! But it makes perfect sense that it could, because it must involve the eye and brain doing all sorts of unusual backflips. Poor you! A two-day migraine sounds like too heavy a price to pay.

I hear you on the after-effects of horror, too. After I saw Ring (the Japanese one, of course ) I was actually scared of my TV for a bit. I was living in a one bedroom flat and I had to walk past it to get to the kitchen and make a cup of tea - so I just didn't make a cup of tea for about a week. This is probably better for productivity and less anti-social than a fear of water though. I was 21 at the time, so no excuses for major wussiness.

I thought of more movies I think are overrated: Million Dollar Baby, Slumdog Millionnaire, The English Patient. (I think my list is starting to say more about me and my dislike of schmalz than the movies). I also have it in for Back to the Future, but that's more because I don't like the Reganite idolization of 1950s life and its gender, class and race hierarchies than anything aesthetic!!

So many of the films mentioned here aren't even 'supposedly good'.

Yep, that irked me. The films you mentioned were popular, but never critically acclaimed.

I don't like the Reganite idolization of 1950s life and its gender, class and race hierarchies

Yes, the bit where Marvin Berry called his cousin Chuck telling him about some skinny white kid playing rock n'roll grinds my gears. Given that Chuck Berry was ripped off financially and artistically by white musicians and managers, to suggest rock n' roll was something he appropriated is crass .

Are you English Holly? If yes, then no tea for a week must have been torture!

I have to say I know very little about the techincal side of film-making, but I'm interested and would definitely want to learn more.
Do you like sitcoms like Frasier and Friends etc? And action movies like Die Hard and Lethal weapon etc?
And there are some series on Netflix like Person Of Interest, White Collar, Breaking Bad even Chuck that I really love - most of them have brilliant actors & storylines that make them really enjoyable.
I always wondered what people, who know are "film buffs" and knowledgeable about the technical side think of those types of creations.

I also love stupid comedy, like Impractical Jokers, they are hilarious.

Zing...... I think that's really interesting about TV and the advent of channels like Netflix, Amazon, etc. I love films, always have done. I used to spend Saturdays, school holidays with my Nana - we watched every black and white film ever shown on terrestrial tv . I met my husband, we fell in love going to the pictures and we watched films constantly, when we moved in together we used to rent 4 or 5 films and watch them - films were always "our thing".

Recently over the past two years or so I've enjoyed series on tv much more - I like seeing different actors, in my mind the same actors appear in films year in year out. If you can't get Cate Blanchett, try Naomi Watts, if not her Rachel McAdams, Kate Winslet, Amy Adams etc etc. I think the writing on tv is superior now, there seems to be the scope to take more chances with storylines. Cinematic films now seem quite "safe" compared to some tv shows.

This year for the first time in a long time I've seen most of the big films touted over awards seasons. I've loved some of them, appreciated others, a few bored me but I've enjoyed the Leftovers, Mr Robot on tv much much more.

ComposHat - YES! You're so right! And the whole gender politics of the 'ideal' 50s family. And the 'revenge' on the "evil" working class family by the squeezed middle. Ugh, ugh,ugh.

Zing - yep, English here. So not having tea was like being lost in life, really.

To answer your question, I like all kinds of movies, high culture and low culture, from all eras. (The one thing I don't seem to like is new middle-of-the-road releases. Maybe I'm just being a snob!!). I love me a good action film (not just American ones, but the really stylish Hong Kong ones - Hardboiled and anything else by John Woo, the original Infernal Affairs, which I prefer to Scorsese's The Departed etc). But I feel like a charlatan claiming that because I STILL haven't seen Mad Max: Fury Road, which was Tarantino's movie of 2015. I haven't seen nearly as many films as I'd like lately.

TV is something I've got into more recently, and while I'm no expert, I would definitely agree with wiggles that we seem to be in some kind of golden age and that some exciting stuff is happening with commissioning by new channels. I am riveted by House of Cards on Netflix at the moment, which is something they commissioned. Really loved Breaking Bad too, and even Mad Men, which I didn't expect to like as much as I did (I had been told it was quite misogynistic, which I'm not sure is true) - and of course the usual Danish things . Rather boringly, The Wire and Twin Peaks probably remain my favourites. Oh, and I really liked Top of the Lake too.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Dh loves it - I just don't get what is so entertaining about it. I understand it (I think) but I just don't get how someone can watch it repeatedly! The sequel is absolutely dire.

Just kidding - I've only seen it once!

Let's do the time warp agaaaaaaaaain!

I've tried watching Beetlejuice a few times, never got through it (fell asleep). Although I'm not sure if it "supposed" to be good or not, but it seems to be it's another Marmite film.

If you lot have Netflix and haven't seen Person Of Interest I recommend you do. The concept it's based on is very interesting and thought provoking, Michael Emerson is a superb actor and a delight to watch, Jim Caviezel is fab too (and a delight to watch as he is hot as lava ), there's wry humour and action and twists. Then there's the actor who plays Root who is just fantastic too....watch it. Season 5 is being produced, I can't wait!

Yeah, I've never seen the 'thing' with Beetlejuice either.

I'm gonna check out Person of Interest once I'm through House of Cards. My obsession with it won't allow me to watch anything else at the moment. I am so sad - I'm away for the next few days for a long weekend, which should be brilliant, and I'm wondering how I'm going to cope without my daily dose of Robin Wright!!

She's so lovely. It bothered me for ages that she was so familiar but I couldn't place her.
When Google told me she is Forest's Jenny I actually did the forehad slap!

House of cards is good stuff. I was always looking forward to the bits when he talking to the camera. Kevin Spacey can do no wrong.

Here's me watching Netflix