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Inspired by the other film thread.
Which films have you seen that had you scratching your head as to why they are held in such critical and/or popular acclaim?
I'll start (obvs)-
Withnail and I. Absolute gash. (sorry Binbins)
Shawshank Redemption.
Also not a fan of Withnail, but I wonder if I'd have liked it more if it hadn't been built up so much (and subject of so many terrible impressions).
Popular ones...
Fast & Furious
Stuff with Adam Sandler
Hangover etc.
Lock stock and two smoking barrels, totally dire.
Shawshank Redemption
is another good shout. It's not bad, but it's not all that.
Anything with Tom Hanks or Robin Williams
Lost in translation
Star Wars
Harry Potter
Bladerunner.
i know, for it's time, etc. the effects, blah. genre defining, yawn.
but it's 3 and a half hours of H Ford looking out of a window.
Bladerunner.i know, for it's time, etc. the effects, blah. genre defining, yawn.
but it's 3 and a half hours of H Ford looking out of a window.
Amen brother.
And to this I shall add Alien.
Adam Sandler films are well-regarded, you think?
It's a Wonderful Life. Mawkish bollocks.
+1 Bladerunner. My wannabe film critic brother-in-law sums it up nicely as a person because it's his favorite film getting the same review as every other film he does "it's so clever, great screenplay". It's boring (or maybe I'm not clever enough).
Slumdog Millionaire.
Lord of the Rings
Avatar
The correct answer is Titanic.
It's a Wonderful Life. Mawkish bollocks.
^^ THIS.
Also, Perfume. That's two hours of my life I'll never get back.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Happy Gilmour
Bladerunner
21 Jump street
Fast & Furious
The Hangover
How could I forget....Eyes wide shut
chakaping - Member
Adam Sandler films are well-regarded, you think?
I went with the popular option
why they are held in such critical and/or popular acclaim?
not sure why people actually pay to see some of the crap out there
oh and as for Titanic, when a girl suggests watching it after coming home it means you're not getting any, what is it near on 3hrs and we all know it's going to sink and we are going to have to listen to Celine Dion!
Frozen
Everything by Tarantino after Reservoir Dogs.
Another vote for the Shawshank redemption. Awful
The thin red line - its just so boring
Ooh, remembered a good one.
The Lego Movie!
From the 'Everything is Awesome' song onwards, it felt like a contrived, unfunny, over-long and underplotted advert for whatever set they wanted to flog that Christmas.
some people have a very different definition of 'well regarded' to me. 😆
EDIT
just looked up reviews of the Hangover. Seems that it is, in fact, reasonably well regarded. Who knew? 😆
Any film given a 5 star rating by the Guardian, or referred to as a 'must see' on Newsnight Review
Avatar
Oh god this, I think I know why - it was the 3D thing, we went ooooh, we went ahhhh this is amazing.
Then we watched it at home without 3D and you realise it's an overly long, boring mess of a thing.
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Top Gun
Oops! You said "Well regarded" 🙄
The Thin Red Line and anything by Wes Anderson except The Grand Budapest Hotel (which is ace).
Erazorhead
Wings of Desire
Alien
The thin red line - its just so boring
was going to nominate this as soon as I saw the thread title. Totally pretentious twaddle.
And in a similar vein Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Not clever, surreal and quirky, just annoying and far too full of itself.
On behalf of Munqe Chick I'll list The Grand Budapest Hotel. she HATED it!
Heat
and
Silence of The Lambs.
Both for the same reason. The ending is stoooopid!
and
Knocked Up. Which has masses of good reviews on Amazon and elsewhere. It is unfunny, overlong, full of unlikeable, vile characters and well, is shit.
The Thin Red Line or anything by Terrence Malick (pretentious [rudeness])
Any Richard Curtis Film but lets say Love Actually
Chariots of Fire
DezB La Takedown is better than Heat from what I remember
BIRDMAN
BIRDMAN
Oh god, how could I forget? One of only two films where I've walked out of the cinema half way through (the other being Kill Bill)
I went to see Traffic (Michael douglas and welsh bird) in the cinema and fell asleep. Hated it!
The Apartment ..Jack Lemmon's CC Baxter just annoyed me too much.
Bicycle Thieves .. Meh
Aliens.
Top Gun.
Anything by Oliver Stone, apart from Salvador.
Stargate.
Braveheart.
Gladiator.
Nightmare on Elm St.
Just don't do it for me.
Oh, and the last film I saw - "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them" aka "A Shit Actor and Loads of CGI Bollocks".
My son's review "That's the worst film I've ever seen". (he hasn't seen as many as most of us, but he's seen a fair few)
Oh god, how could I forget? One of only two films where I've walked out of the cinema half way through (the other being Kill Bill)
I think you and I would probably get on.
walking out of a cinema you say?
Jackie Brown.
I think you and I would probably get on.
Oh, quiet you *blushes*
[i]walking out of a cinema you say?[/i]
Only 1 film ever: Highlander
I've said a few times on threads like this, but this film made me walk out.
Vile.
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walking out of a cinema you say?
Charlies Angels 2: Full Throttle - I'm ashamed I even went in
My go to on these threads is Solaris with George Clooney. Steven Soderbergh isn't a good director or writer, but that's the film that winds me up the most. F***ing awful navel gazing twaddle
The Big Lebowski
You're dead to me Flashy!
*bursts into tears*
Midnight in Paris
The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Watched this on TV the other week, not expecting much as I've found his other stuff a bit too up itself. Loved this one though - funny, smart, touching and a great chase scene.
Jackie Brown.
I think it's a great film. Have happily watched it a few times now and enjoyed it more each time.
The Matrix.
Just a bit too old for it I think.
I don't think it's rubbish, or most of the others, I just don't like it.
Most of the National Lampoon stuff too.
I'm not sure I've ever seen Withnail & I from start to finish in one go, but from what I've seen I don't get the adoration at all. Maybe it was a right time/right place sort of film for a lot of people?
The Force Awakens was also not all that.
Avatar, Kill Bill, Lord of the Rings, Hobbit, Raging Bull.
I don't think Eyes Wide Shut was highly acclaimed.
The Thin Red line is good, albeit a touch confused in places.
Fury.. everyone seems to simper over it, and yes the first half is probably quite realistic (hence veterans recommending it), but the 2nd half is a steam pile of jingoistic crap.
The Big Lebowski
Hmmmm, while I'm all for individual taste and all that and I get that what might appeal to some won't to others, but for the record there is no doubt that this film is not by any definition you care to choose "rubbish"
Apocalypse Now and nearly everything by Stanley Kubrick
+1 Withnail and I.
The Big Lebowski is, however, brilliant.
Fury.. everyone seems to simper over it, and yes the first half is probably quite realistic (hence veterans recommending it), but the 2nd half is a steam pile of jingoistic crap.
We watched it last week, and by the end were both laughing out load at how comically, preposterously ridiculous it was. Bloody awful film!
bikebouyI've said a few times on threads like this, but this film made me walk out.
Vile.
What was wrong with it?
Seven was terrible...!
Not a fan of the godfather trilogy.
Everything by Tarantino [b]including[/b] Reservoir Dogs.
Ftfy
The Apartment ..Jack Lemmon's CC Baxter just annoyed me too much.
Shibboleth! He was [i]supposed to be annoying! [/i] 😉
The Sixth Sense.
Seven was terrible...!Not a fan of the godfather trilogy.
How we've been friends so long amazes me 😉
Another one I'll add to the 'meh' category - The Revenant
I bet some of you even talk in the cinema
Forrest Bloody Gump. Complete balls.
The Departed.
4 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director yet the film it's based on (Infernal Affairs) is sooo much better. Scorsese seems to have missed the entire point of the story...
Oh, and The Fifth Element. So close yet so utterly ruined by its own complete cheesiness.
Watching the Diva scene was like having a block of edam topped with some chedder and sandwiched between two bricks of brie rammed down your throat.
yet the film it's based on (Infernal Affairs) is sooo much better.
I thought Scorsese had taken a decent movie and added another dimension to it.
The Usual Suspects - Nobody ever agrees with me here so maybe I need to watch it again, but not sure I could torture myself for that long!
Withnail & I - errrr yeah! Makes Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas look high brow by comparison! Not sure I even managed to finish it, can't remember it was so crap.
Jackie Brown is a grower... Wrote it off after the first watch, subsequently "accidentally" watched it a 2nd time (might have been trying to entertain a lady I think) then a 3rd etc. The more you watch it the better it is.
Anything by M. Night Shyamalan after The Sixth Sense. Everything since suggests that the first one was a fluke.
...Was Braveheart not a documentary? :O)
Taxi Driver
The Deerhunter
Kubrik? Dr Strangelove is utterly, utterly brilliant!
The Usual Suspects - Nobody ever agrees with me here so maybe I need to watch it again, but not sure I could torture myself for that long!
my wife would agree - basically considers the ending to be equivalent to 'then he woke up and it was all a dream'.
jimjam
bikebouyI've said a few times on threads like this, but this film made me walk out.
Vile.
What was wrong with it?
MartynSSeven was terrible...!
Well thanks for clearing that up.
"Nearly" everything... I like Full Metal Jacket too, but everything else just doesn't click at all...Kubrik? Dr Strangelove is utterly, utterly brilliant!
Got to semi-agree with Spin. Most Tarantino films are overrated but I watched Reservoir Fogs for the first time since release. Very very good. Jackie Brown deserves an honourable mention and one scene in Kill Bill but the rest is tosh.
Although he can be *slightly* forgiven for introducing me to Christopher Waltz.
The Master. Critically lauded.
Three hours of brutally rambling tedium.