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“Great” Movies You Just Don’t Get...

gUt

Coach
Messages
16,886
I like it. And it is rewatachable. Seeing an old man lost in a world that has been so familiar to him. The shrinking circle of influence he has. The need to redeem himself, despite of who he now is. I think it bookends nicely with Unforgiven. In Unforgiven we see what has become of the earlier character from the gunslinger days and spaghetti westerns. He has out survived his world, failed at trying to fit in to the new ways and has ended up alone. Still with a chance of redemption and also to prove that his values are lasting and applicable. In Gran Torino we are seeing the end of life of a man from the Dirty Harry era. Hard, white, conservative, judgemental. Alone and still facing the demons of his past. Same shot as Bill Munny at both redemption and validating himself.

I had really high expectations when I watched it and just found it a tedious, boring grind full of cliches. I think it's the only Eastwood film I've ever seen so I can't connect it to anything else he's done.
 

gUt

Coach
Messages
16,886
Some comments on others' observations:

Yeah superhero movies are just mass entertainment but as a Marvel comic fan from the 80s-90s I appreciate we live in a time when these can be done "properly" at long last. The only one I've watched more than once was the first Avengers film. Those who just 'hate' them all, have you seen the one good DC superhero film, The Watchmen? That is a genuinely good movie imo.

Sin City is kind of a superhero movie too and I can understand why it's difficult for some to appreciate it. Basically I think you have to watch it with your camp/noir goggles on. It's deliberately over the top in all the right ways. I love it.

LOTR films I love because I grew up having the books read to me and always loved the world, lore and history that Tolkien invented. Again, living in a time where they could finally be done 'properly' is great, however this makes the utter f**kup of the Hobbit "trilogy" so lamentable.
 

Springs09

Juniors
Messages
1,903
I think Watchmen was a great adaptation, very surprising it was from Snyder. I also liked Sin City and V for Vendetta.

There are a few good superhero movies, there's just so many now that they all blend in. From the MCU - Iron Man, Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and Civil War are all good, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2, X2 and Into the Spider-Verse are all great, Days of Future Past is pretty good and Logan is great thematically without being great story-wise. Others are entertaining without really being good, such as Deadpool.

Others are overrated as f**k though, particularly Wonder Woman, Black Panther and the last few Avengers movies.
 

mongoose

Coach
Messages
11,345
Anything by Darren Aronofski. Pretentious pointless shit.

Requiem for a dream, black swan, mother!

Mulholland drive requires repeated viewings. I like its surreal nightmarish atmosphere though.
 

Matua

Bench
Messages
4,579
Gangs of New York took a couple of attempts for me to appreciate.

There Will be Blood is a great film. My the time he was delivering the "I drink your milkshake" line he is a hollow shell. Achieved what he set out to do, but at what cost? By this stage he is a caricature of who he set out to be. And the end is close. A form of self destruction. Contrast this moment with the brilliant way he dealt with the town earlier, when their petty squabbling blew the deal and he just walked away.


I don't understand the link between La La Land and Whiplash. I haven't seen La La Land, I agree that Whiplash is brilliant.
Your responses are exactly why they fit the thread title to me. Big fan of DDL pre Gangs, big for of Scorcese and PTA - can't stand those movies. Watched them twice just to be certain.

Whiplash and La La Land are by the same director. He made Whiplash so he could eventually make La La Land. Whiplash is great, La La Land isn't. The opening musical number fails completely and sets the tone for the rest of the movie. (Edit: I see another poster has already covered this).

Re: Superhero movies discussion on thread. I like them. They are what they are. I don't get people who don't like them but continually go on superhero discussion threads/forums to complain about them. I'm not a fan of musicals as a genre (but some are good), but I wouldn't frequent threads about them complaining they follow the same structure etc. However, 100% have no problem with people not liking them, each to their own.

I also don't think they're ruining movies - look at the sheer amount of movies released these days. Checking all the movies on my cinebuzz/palace accounts and Superhero movies don't really dominate them.

I liked most of the best movie winners mentioned, not all, and in most years they weren't the best movies of the year personally. People like what they like so we're all not going to like the same stuff.
 

Wizardman

First Grade
Messages
8,630
Anything by Darren Aronofski. Pretentious pointless shit.

Requiem for a dream, black swan, mother!

Mulholland drive requires repeated viewings. I like its surreal nightmarish atmosphere though.

"Requiem for a Dream" is my favourite movie of all time. Everything about it just woirked for me. I do see why some would not like it though. I have not seen "Black Swan" but "Mother" was an absolute mess.
 

Wizardman

First Grade
Messages
8,630
In fact, other than Requiem and "The Wrestler", I ve pretty much disliked the rest of his movies. I do like the fact that he tries to be different...it doesn't always work though.
 
Messages
13,982
In relation to the Lords of the Ring Trilogy, Peter Jackson left a lot of material in the books out of the movies to try and fit it into 3 movies. Problem is The Fellowship of the Ring has the least action in it as it is mostly character development. The action really gets going in The Two Towers and his peak in The Return of the King. The Battle of Helm's deep in The Two Towers is longer than many pitched battles in other films.
 

Dogs Of War

Coach
Messages
12,718
"Requiem for a Dream" is my favourite movie of all time. Everything about it just woirked for me. I do see why some would not like it though. I have not seen "Black Swan" but "Mother" was an absolute mess.

Black Swan is a masterpiece. Love that movie. Requiem for a Dream is the perfect movie for addicts who see just how low you can go, I still chant some of the catchphrases from this movie.

Mother! had it's moments, but I've given it a couple of goes, and it really is not growing on me. Big miss.
 

Parra

Referee
Messages
24,896
2001: A Space Odyssey

I'm a fan of Stabley Kubrick, but f**k me sideways, this movie blows thick, goopy chunks.


Ffs no. This is a genuine classic. Every "space" movie you have seen since owes homage to 2001. It has defined what we think space is like. It is a masterpiece. Haven't even got into the themes.
 

Matua

Bench
Messages
4,579
2001: A Space Odyssey

I'm a fan of Stabley Kubrick, but f**k me sideways, this movie blows thick, goopy chunks.
I get you. While I think Kubrick is a great filmmaker, I've never been a huge fan of his movies, if that makes sense? My favourite is probably Paths of Glory closely followed by Dr Strangelove.

2001 is slow and not in a good way, yes it is influential, and yes I can see why some fans love it, but I was bored, bored in a way that the films it influenced don't bore me.

Another one for this list for me is Terence Malick's The Thin Red line. If you want to make a film about visual images then do that - don't take a narrative and then superimpose your other film on it rendering the narrative pointless. Pretentious bollocks. And it unleashed Adrien Brody on the world and he's crap. I'm in a bad mood now that I remembered this film and Brody.
 
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