“Great” Movies You Just Don’t Get...

[Pommy]

Anyone over 30 won’t. Maybe I’m having an angry old man moment (in my mid 30s which is worrying) however a lot of people talk about them as some of the greatest movies of all time. If these are the movies that people want their generation defined by in 15-20 years time they’re going to be looked back and laughed at.

If they were simply spoken about as what they are, dolled up mind numbing popcorn flicks, it’d be sweet.

After I saw Aquaman I’ve sworn off them. It was the exact same story line as Thor 1 and only slightly different from Black Panther.

I genuinely feel their success is dumbing down the entire movie industry. Companies churn these out by the truck load as they are guaranteed success. There’s no risk involved, they don’t need to push any boundaries. Again like I said that generation don’t like anything edgy, they want to Hollywood ending with the bad guy getting his just deserts and everyone living happily ever after.

Again I totally agree and am about the same age. I heard the other day they were rebooting shrek. I’m not sure if it’s actually true or not but i’m sure they could be a bit more creative.

 

[Wizardman]

What are your thoughts on the movie Taxi Driver ???

Absolutely loved it. One of my favourite performances of all time by an actor. It had no true direction except a gradual descent into madness....which I thought was great.

 

[Generalzod]

Absolutely loved it. One of my favourite performances of all time by an actor. It had no true direction except a gradual descent into madness....which I thought was great.

Yep de-Niro performance was first class I don’t think they could have found a better actor to play Travis Bickle maybe Al Pacino could have played the role, but you are right it’s the journey to madness that makes this movie great..

 

[Knuckle-dragger]

Titanic (1997).

 

[Mr Spock!]

Titanic (1997).

A couple of good scenes eg the sinking and seeing kate's knockers.

 

[The Charlatan]

Anyone over 30 won’t. Maybe I’m having an angry old man moment (in my mid 30s which is worrying) however a lot of people talk about them as some of the greatest movies of all time. If these are the movies that people want their generation defined by in 15-20 years time they’re going to be looked back and laughed at.

If they were simply spoken about as what they are, dolled up mind numbing popcorn flicks, it’d be sweet.

After I saw Aquaman I’ve sworn off them. It was the exact same story line as Thor 1 and only slightly different from Black Panther.

I genuinely feel their success is dumbing down the entire movie industry. Companies churn these out by the truck load as they are guaranteed success. There’s no risk involved, they don’t need to push any boundaries. Again like I said that generation don’t like anything edgy, they want to Hollywood ending with the bad guy getting his just deserts and everyone living happily ever after.

Nah I'm with you Vic. All the comic book movies are simple and formulaic.

 

[Knuckle-dragger]

Nah I'm with you Vic. All the comic book movies are simple and formulaic.

But they make bank: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films

 

[Parra]

Absolutely agree with you on "Deer Hunter". One of the most overrated movies in cinema history. Very, very boring for the majority with some tension right at the end.

Very good call Pommy.

f**k no. Great movie. Love the small town usa scenes. Meryl Streep was a standout performance in a movie that had several great performances.

 

[Vic Mackey]

But they make bank: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-grossing_films

Yep

To me they’re the Backstreet Boys/One Direction of movies

 

[Knuckle-dragger]

Yep

To me they’re the Backstreet Boys/One Direction of movies

Can't and don't disagree.

 

[gUt]

I enjoyed it....not a groundbreaking movie at all though. I just enjoy watching Clint.

YOU ARE WRONG

 

[Sans Souci Sainter]

Almost everything that has won best picture at the oscars for the last decade confuses me:

- Green Book
- The Shape of Water
- Moonlight
- Spotlight
- Birdman
- 12 years a slave
- Argo
- the Artist
- The Kings Speech

Seriously, is that the most underwhelming list of crap or what? I reckon there would be quite easily 200 movies from the same period that I would rate ahead of any of them.

I thought 12 years a slave was a pretty good movie and worthy of the award (if it got it.?)

Argo and The Kings Speech were both ok.

Birdman was extremely overrated and self-indulgent. Pretty shit.

I haven’t seen the rest.

 

[skeepe]

No Country For Old Men. I found it extremely boring.

 

[nöyd]

YOU ARE WRONG

wtf

are you saying that he didn’t enjoy it, it was a groundbreaking film, and that he doesn’t enjoy watching Clint?

how the f**k would you know?

 

[Parra]

Everyone goes on about that Gran Torino from Clint Eastwood being this wonderful, dramatic film with these deep messages. I f**king hated it. Boring, cliched, sterotypes everywhere, poorly lit, shit dialog, his "acting" had me counting on 1 hand the amount of times his face changed. What a piece of shit.

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.

 

[Parra]

Ok here's some others from me off the top of my head. Both with big name directors and actors.

Gangs of New York - this is almost the unthinkable, a bad Scorcese film which drew a terrible hammy performance from Day Lewis (now I'm going to cop some shit from fanbois).

Which then leads into my next choice - Day Lewis carried his ham into There Will Be Blood. "I drink your milkshake" is laughable as well yet it gets hailed as a great line in a film.

Oh, and I really do not like La La Land, but Whiplash is brilliant.

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.

 

[Vic Mackey]

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.

Agree, Gran Tourino is an all time for me

 

[Pommy]

Yep

To me they’re the Backstreet Boys/One Direction of movies

After Civil War I told my Mrs I would rather get divorced and therefore deported than go watch another Marvel movie. I haven’t been to another and got my PR I win.

 

[Springs09]

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.

Same director, along with First Man.

 

[Springs09]

Anyone over 30 won’t. Maybe I’m having an angry old man moment (in my mid 30s which is worrying) however a lot of people talk about them as some of the greatest movies of all time. If these are the movies that people want their generation defined by in 15-20 years time they’re going to be looked back and laughed at.

If they were simply spoken about as what they are, dolled up mind numbing popcorn flicks, it’d be sweet.

After I saw Aquaman I’ve sworn off them. It was the exact same story line as Thor 1 and only slightly different from Black Panther.

I genuinely feel their success is dumbing down the entire movie industry. Companies churn these out by the truck load as they are guaranteed success. There’s no risk involved, they don’t need to push any boundaries. Again like I said that generation don’t like anything edgy, they want to Hollywood ending with the bad guy getting his just deserts and everyone living happily ever after.

What most annoys me about modern superhero movies is there are a lot of good stories in the comics that could be adapted (mostly from DC), most easily in a high budget TV format, but they screw around, change characters and come up with 'original' stories to fit the safe formula and end up making a bunch of generic crap. Now we have far too many properties on the market with no real plan to any of it, including all the TV shows which means we have several versions of different characters at the same time, reboots and re-imaginings galore, and superhero fatigue has well and truly set in.

I can guarantee its nothing to do with 'Hollywood endings' though. This is the generation that made Game of Thrones so famous because of how 'shocking' and 'subversive' it was.