Movies that are total hyped crap that everyone raved about:

[RPD]

well, like I said, TM is not for the faint of heart. well, not that any of his films are disturbing, it's just you have to go in expecting excessive narration and highly cerebral content.

it is not a typical war movie, and it is more similar to the 70s style "war is evil" theme In Hollywood, than the contemporary style of "War is a patriotic act" --as shown with SPR.

that in itself put a lot fo people off. again, TM is very devisive. People either hate his stuff because they mosey in having no idea what they are about to see, or gush because there is simply no one like him. personally, I love his style. The narratives, images, and overall pacing and story arch in TRL are some of my favorite moments in all of cinema.

And honestly, I went in to the theater not knowing what to expect when it was released...I think it was midnight, actually...and I was glued to the screen.

Some of his other flicks--heaven's Gate and The New World have indeed put me to sleep. Doesn't mean I don't like them... Hell, my favorite movie ever--8 1/2, put me to sleep about 3x before I could get through it completely.

Well when I went, it was a college crowd of about 12 people, majors ranging from math, engineering, music, computer science and theater. The general consensus of the movie when it was over... was it was really really boring. We were all 19-23 in age.

 

[qliveur]

Malick didn't direct Heaven's Gate; Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter) did; bankrupting United Artists in the process.

I also loved The Thin Red Line. Saving Private Ryan was a good film, but it had too many WTF moments, and I prefer the way that TTRL let you feel the emotion of the moment naturally instead of beating you over the head with it.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I love most Nolan movies, but Inception was just far too impossible for me to suspend my disbelief. It did not blow my mind, it was not confusing, the concept is just ridiculous. You can't share dreams with people, and even if you could, you don't dream within a dream, and even if you could, you don't experience a sort of "time dilation" with a factor of 10 involved for each "layer" of sleep.
Parts of it were cool, but, for me, it was just too much like "the core" to enjoy.

 

[zinfamous]

Zin has good taste, but I think his hate for cartoons as a whole is my main issue. Oh.. I think you both get along pretty well.. because you both have the exact same preferences.. AFAIK.

I actually like just about everything Pixar does and I love plenty of animation.

the thing, is, what I call cartoons, are cheap worthless anime crap that pretends to be mature and discuss "deep issues," when all it really does is present cardboard one-dimensional characters, horrible low rent animation, and the concept of maturity never surpasses "boobs."

Yes, I've seen a handful of decent japanese anime--the Miyazaki films come to mind--though even those start off spectacularly, but by the third act collapse under their own weight as they have no idea how to finish. The narrative is lost, and the characters begin to start departing from their archs and do outlandish, uncharacteristic things for the sake of finishing under a reasonable running time.

So, I love plenty of animated films, I think it is a fine vehicle for story telling. I do use cartoons as a disparaging term, because there is a lot out there that is held out to be high-brow when it really is low-rent.

 

[zinfamous]

Malick didn't direct Heaven's Gate; Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter) did; bankrupting United Artists in the process.

I also loved The Thin Red Line. Saving Private Ryan was a good film, but it had too many WTF moments, and I prefer the way that TTRL let you feel the emotion of the moment naturally instead of beating you over the head with it.

Oh right. Days of Heaven.

I always get those mixed up.

I never got around to watching Heaven's Gate--I always wanted to b/c The Deer Hunter is one of my favorites, and I do love a good disaster, but I just haven't found the time.

 

[zinfamous]

That is fucking hilarious.

hehe, yeah. In case you didn't pick up on it, that is Terrance Mallick's current film in the theater. it actually has an unusually high level of praise from the critics, even though he tends to be universally loved among them.

One of his deals is that he rarely puts out a film. only 5 in ~30 years? though the last 3 have been closer in time.

 

[zinfamous]

How about that mediocre movie about the guy who is addicted to war diffusing bombs in iraq/afghanistan?

So over hyped that I honestly can't remember the name. Can't believe it won awards either... it was at best a 7/10 movie.

not a single person has mentioned that in this thread.

not one. no sir. not one person...

 

[zinfamous]

I love most Nolan movies, but Inception was just far too impossible for me to suspend my disbelief. It did not blow my mind, it was not confusing, the concept is just ridiculous. You can't share dreams with people, and even if you could, you don't dream within a dream, and even if you could, you don't experience a sort of "time dilation" with a factor of 10 involved for each "layer" of sleep.
Parts of it were cool, but, for me, it was just too much like "the core" to enjoy.

For me, I found it easy enough to follow. I didn't really care how ridiculous it was, I just want it to be effective.

it was not mind-blowingly great. it was not life-changing. It was decent, passive entertainment. It didn't live up the hype that I felt going into it.

I've liked most of Nolan's work, but his problem always seems to be characters--they are always flat and emotionless. I have never been able to sympathize or feel any sort of attachment to a Nolan character.

I still think Memento is his best work. I also really liked Insomnia, but it's been many years since I saw it. Though, I recently tried watching it again b/c it was on Netflix streaming (or On Demand?), but....I fell asleep. :\

 

[KeithTalent]

K, guess how much I value you yours?

Prolly this much -----> . <------

KT

 

[KeithTalent]

Malick didn't direct Heaven's Gate; Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter) did; bankrupting United Artists in the process.

I also loved The Thin Red Line. Saving Private Ryan was a good film, but it had too many WTF moments, and I prefer the way that TTRL let you feel the emotion of the moment naturally instead of beating you over the head with it.

Aye, well said sir. :thumbsup:

KT

 

[pontifex]

whats that piece of shit where will ferrell plays a race car driver? that one is on the list.

 

[pontifex]

Can't tell if this is sarcastic, but I love there will be blood, not so much a fan of no country, though it has grown on me a little

nope, people love these movies and i can't tell why. boring snoozefests.


oh and i agree with Inglorious Basterds being on the list too.

 

[HendrixFan]

Crumble != all-out war.

It wasn't all out war, just random acts of violence from fringe groups. Did you see the first minute of the movie?

Humans have an energy budget, and they do not spend meaninglessly. The people fighting were expending a ton of energy, so they must have had a cause. But what cause is worth engaging in major combat operations over when there is no future?
The people in that world would have reevaluated the cause to fight given their new surroundings. But that's not what the movie showed -- it showed stereotypical war scenes; i.e., scenes of people fighting for a future.

You presume, incorrectly, that people are rational beings. Even worse, you presume that people in groups act only to benefit the group. This is not the case. The movie explains that most every other country had completely crumbled, and that the UK was "holding on" in a sense. People weren't fighting "for a future". Do you have any idea how inner city gangs work? Why they exist? Why they misbehave? They don't fight "for a future", they fight because there is no future. Any metropolitan area in the US completely dismisses your assertion.

If they had slipped into, "Everything is meaningless," the baby would be meaningless -- they wouldn't care one way or the other. But if they had meaning to their lives, then the future would have meaning, too, and you need babies to have a future!

What are you talking about? The movie says just that, so why are you complaining? They slipped into "everything is meaningless" because nobody could have a baby. Clive Owens' character changed when he saw the pregnant girl.

They never showed a value system that valued X and that a baby was in contradiction to. So why would anyone be against a baby?
If they had set up that this was a new whack-job religion, that would've at least been something. Kinda cliched that religious people are mindless fools with no sense or morals, but at least it fits reality.

Nobody was "against" the baby, they had different ideas of how they could exploit the situation for their own gain. Most of your complaints seem to stem from a deep misunderstanding of the movie, not the movie itself.



What one man thinks is irrelevant, especially as his journey wasn't shared.
Nothing external ever changed.[/QUOTE]

 

[AstroManLuca]

Here's the thing, your opinion of movies holds just as much weight as mine.

That movie was horrible. All I remember about that movie was some stupid hill they need to over take for tactical reasons, which took like 2 hrs to do, they took it, then the movie went on for like hour, they made it seem like taking that hill was now completely unimportant then just ended the movie. Granted I was taking 10-15min naps in there but still. If I have trouble sleeping I suppose I could try to watch it again.

LOL, the exact same thing happened to me with tTRL, except luckily I was just watching it on DVD and I didn't waste a bunch of money seeing it in a theater. I was kind of tired anyway so I just left it on and allowed myself to sleep.

There were a few parts that were okay, mostly near the beginning, but it got really boring in the middle and end. I could barely follow what was happening even when I was fully awake.

I think the reason film buffs love it is there's a lot of empty time when nothing happens. This makes it appear complex and gives them time to think about how symbolic and thoughtful the director was; in turn, they can also revel in how smart they are for picking up on such things.

I need no further evidence than zin and DominionSeraph's "I'm smarter than you" posturing in this thread.

 

[Arkaign]

Hmm,

The Godfather part I and II
Casablanca
Schindler's List
so many others

they were like lifetime tv movies, terrible acting, directing, so overrated!! I know this because I'm on ATOT and my opinion is automatically better than everyone else's

 

[davmat787]

LOL, the exact same thing happened to me with tTRL, except luckily I was just watching it on DVD and I didn't waste a bunch of money seeing it in a theater. I was kind of tired anyway so I just left it on and allowed myself to sleep.

There were a few parts that were okay, mostly near the beginning, but it got really boring in the middle and end. I could barely follow what was happening even when I was fully awake.

I think the reason film buffs love it is there's a lot of empty time when nothing happens. This makes it appear complex and gives them time to think about how symbolic and thoughtful the director was; in turn, they can also revel in how smart they are for picking up on such things.

I need no further evidence than zin and DominionSeraph's "I'm smarter than you" posturing in this thread.

Wow, to lump zin in with DoucheSeraph like that is a little harsh. DS is completely blatant in his self aggrandizing and has no peer in the douchebaggery department. Did zin rape your puppy or something?

Anyway, as I briefly touched on in an earlier post, the reasons I liked tTRL has nothing to do with supposedly operating on a higher mental plane. If anyone saw the extra time as an issue, perhaps the director wanted time for the audience to sit in the characters shoes? I dunno, I usually don't put this much effort into understanding why I liked one film more than another. I simply let it be, they aren't that big of a deal to me maybe.

*shrugs again*

 

[davmat787]

All SW movies, Titanic, any John Wayne movie, Spiderman 1 + 2, all Rocky movies, all Rambo movies, in fact almost all Stallone movies, etc.

If you don't like any John Wayne movies you probably don't like Westerns, and if you don't like Westerns you won't like John Wayne. So... yea... not sure where that leaves things but do you like any Westerns by chance? Unforgiven maybe? They certainly aren't for everyone these days, no foul there.

However, I thought I was the only one that didn't enjoy the spiderman movies, nice to see someone else like that. To be fair, I don't usually like any comic based movie. However, Thor was ok, and I am actually looking forward to Captain America.

 

[KeithTalent]

LOL, the exact same thing happened to me with tTRL, except luckily I was just watching it on DVD and I didn't waste a bunch of money seeing it in a theater. I was kind of tired anyway so I just left it on and allowed myself to sleep.

There were a few parts that were okay, mostly near the beginning, but it got really boring in the middle and end. I could barely follow what was happening even when I was fully awake.

I think the reason film buffs love it is there's a lot of empty time when nothing happens. This makes it appear complex and gives them time to think about how symbolic and thoughtful the director was; in turn, they can also revel in how smart they are for picking up on such things.

I need no further evidence than zin and DominionSeraph's "I'm smarter than you" posturing in this thread.

This statement is just as lazy and ignorant as the "film buffs" that say "you just didn't understand". I enjoy movies of all types, from slow, ponderous art films, like Tree of Life for example, to dumb comedy or action movies (Dumb and Dumber, Cable Guy, Doomsday, lots of horror, I could go on forever) and there is nothing wrong with being able to appreciate both types of films.

Just because some people like to discuss the intricacies of films, does not necessarily make them elitist or snobby; it's the same as anything else, music, books, food, beer. It seems if anyone has an appreciation for the less commercially palatable styles of those things they are automatically labelled a snob or a douchebag and that's just as unfair as labelling someone uncivilized or dumb for not liking those things.

KT

 

[jhu]

Gone with the Wind - Too long
Casablanca - not in color
Ben Hur - bad acting

 

[zinfamous]

LOL, the exact same thing happened to me with tTRL, except luckily I was just watching it on DVD and I didn't waste a bunch of money seeing it in a theater. I was kind of tired anyway so I just left it on and allowed myself to sleep.

There were a few parts that were okay, mostly near the beginning, but it got really boring in the middle and end. I could barely follow what was happening even when I was fully awake.

I think the reason film buffs love it is there's a lot of empty time when nothing happens. This makes it appear complex and gives them time to think about how symbolic and thoughtful the director was; in turn, they can also revel in how smart they are for picking up on such things.

I need no further evidence than zin and DominionSeraph's "I'm smarter than you" posturing in this thread.

well, if you read back, it was the pony kid attacking my intelligence, claiming, simply "that he is smarter than all b/c of his unique ability to inject meaning where none exists, and find none where he righteously and infallibly presumes that none exists."

I gave reasoning. I submitted that TM simply isn't for everyone, and while TTRL is a superbly fantastic movie, it is not for everyone.

the thing is, I spent several years in school studying film. as part of a minor, part of a major. it definitely changes how you watch film. You start to see things that you didn't notice before. shoddy directing and editing becomes very easy to spot. I've written a few crappy screenplays myself, and spending time learning that type of structure and plotting (which in almost all films--is very formulaic, despite how original it may appear, or how good it is--the general 3 act structure is almost canon. ...which is one of the big reasons that critics love Mallick films, b/c he departs from this, and is almost always successful with it--and probably why many mainstream audiences hate him--it's simply not what they're used to, and they don't know why).

The thing is, what I like and what I don't like, and my opinions, are based on a pile of experience. There are people out there that certainly know more than me about these things, but when I say I don't like something or that I do, I know why I don't like it.

I try never to suggest that someone must like movie x. granted, I defend Hurt Locker much more than I thought I ever would. I tend to see the complaints of realism, for this one, as generally unnecessary--it is a piece of fiction. If you wanted realism...wouldn't they be guarding a truck and playing cards 3 out of 5 days on base? That doesn't make for good drama...Bottom line, to make effective and useful movie characters--they have to act on impulse, or it will die. Just about every film character that is worth their salt makes dumb, DUMB decisions. This is where action and conflict is born.

movies like Meet the Parents annoy me--because he always makes the absolute worst decision at every opportunity, lol. after a while, I simply became aggravated with it. but think about how that movie would have played out if he didn't create these situation and there was no conflict? there would be no story.

Too often, I see complaints levied at characters who do something that they would never do in RL. well...no shit Sherlock! You wouldn't be going to the movies to escape RL for a few hours if you expected them to be strolling off to the grocery store, as you do every week, and not a damn thing happens. Sometimes, I wonder why people see such films when they complain about things that are simply fundamental to how a film is made.

 

[zinfamous]

Gone with the Wind - Too long
Casablanca - not in color
Ben Hur - bad acting

troll!

I also did not Like Ben Hurr. Charlton Heston blows.

 

[zinfamous]

This statement is just as lazy and ignorant as the "film buffs" that say "you just didn't understand". I enjoy movies of all types, from slow, ponderous art films, like Tree of Life for example, to dumb comedy or action movies (Dumb and Dumber, Cable Guy, Doomsday, lots of horror, I could go on forever) and there is nothing wrong with being able to appreciate both types of films.

Did you like Doomsday? I started to watch it--I've wanted to for some time b/c I like those post-apocalyptic simple action flicks, but I couldn't get too far. Mainly--it was FX On Demand--so while it was On Demand, it was a fucking horseshit edited and censored version. It's been in my DVD queue for well over a year now, probably longer, but I keep bumping it back.

Is it worth another shot?

 

[KeithTalent]

Did you like Doomsday? I started to watch it--I've wanted to for some time b/c I like those post-apocalyptic simple action flicks, but I couldn't get too far. Mainly--it was FX On Demand--so while it was On Demand, it was a fucking horseshit edited and censored version. It's been in my DVD queue for well over a year now, probably longer, but I keep bumping it back.

Is it worth another shot?

You can't watch it edited. I do like it for what it is, but I'm a huge Neil Marshall guy, I kind of love everything he does. I thought it was fun and kind of a throwback post-apocalytpic movie.

KT

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Pirates of the Caribbean 1. Whole movie felt so forced and derivative that I decided a nap was a better use of my time. Never even bothered to watch the rest.

Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Chick Flick disguised as legitimate cinema. Brad Pitt went back to his roots on this one.

Dunno if it was ever even remotely hyped, but Windtalkers. Holy mother of god I actually felt embarrassed for any Veterans of the pacific campaign that had to watch this. We'll just take damn near every other Nick Cage movie and throw it on the bonfire as well.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

The sacred cows of ATOT:

Saving Private Ryan
Silence of the Lambs
Schindler's List
Inception
The Dark Knight
Every Star Wars movie ever made
Aliens
American Psycho
American History X
Spirited Away
Gladiator
Heat
The Big Lebowski
Platoon
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Let the Right One In


Let's fight!