94 replies to this topic

[Loomis]

Other pet hates of mine:

RAGING BULL - why this dull, pretentious "character study" (why are all those critics genuflecting?), which does its best to alienate the viewer, is commonly regarded as one of the best films of all time is quite beyond me. To my mind, it's barely watchable. GOODFELLAS is one of my favourite films, BTW, so it's not as though I'm a Scorsese/De Niro hater. Believe me, I've really tried to like RAGING BULL, but it just defeats my every attempt to do so.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING/THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS - not films I hate, by any means, in fact I quite like them, but I'd certainly say they're hugely overrated. The most imaginative and magical fantasy films of all time? Don't make me laugh!

STAR WARS/THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK/RETURN OF THE JEDI - see above comments for the LORD OF THE RINGS films. Strangely enough, though, I consider THE PHANTOM MENACE and ATTACK OF THE CLONES underrated!

[ChandlerBing]

Try watching Raging Bull on TV so when Pesci and Deniro really go at it, you can count how many uses of the word Freak are used to liberal levels. You should at least have a comedy, Loomis, and no one can resist a comedy.

[License To Kill]

Originally posted by Jim
7. The Godfather part III. See Carry on Columbus, above. Although this doesn't have Jim Dale in it. Which, frankly, is its major weakness. Apart from Al Pacino mistaking shouting loudly for acting. Yet again.

Although it wasn't as good as the first two, it was still better than all the movies created in 1990.

Oh, and Lord of The Rings books and movies are garbage too.

[Kingdom Come]

T i t a n i c script written by Jim Cameron - have a listen....

Rose
Jack?

Jack
Rose?

Rose
Jack, thank God.

Jack
Down this way, Rose.

Rose
Okay!

Jack
Keep following my voice.... Rose.

Rose
Okay!

Jack
Rose, I thought I'd never see you again.

Rose
Keep talking, your voice is getting nearer... Jack.

Jack
In here.

Rose
Okay!

[BONDFINESSE 007]

people who dont like titanic?....god have mercy on you...shame on

but i hate harry potter...all things harry potter AND the whole lord of the rings crap and it hurts me to say because i am an elijah wood lover

[Tanger]

I utterly detest Westerns. Unfortunately though we're just about to start studying them in Media and we have to watch a whole bunch of them to get a feel for the genre. I'm only going to watch the ones that have been recommended as the best though. eg. Once Upon a Time in the West.

[Kingdom Come]

Tanger, be sick the day they show Unforgiven!

[Tanger]

That's on Tv next week. That was one of the ones I was going to watch as it has been recommended as good. Is it not so?

[Tanger]

Ps. We actually have to go and hunt down the movies ourselves and then watch them in our spare time. It wouldn't be so bad if it was a genre I actually enjoyed. But as it happens, I've probable got one boring month ahead of me.

[Jaelle]

Hmm, this thread should be entitled

[Jaelle]

Ok, guys, I'm running off at the mouth here...

From MBE:


MBE and I do not agree on our Bonds. But often we agree on other films. She is the only person I have ever seen express the same disgust toward this film that I feel. Others don

[Loomis]

[quote]Originally posted by Jaelle

SW is a fantasy, it bears *zero* relation to science fiction.  The one community that you

[Loomis]

[quote]Originally posted by Jaelle

From MBE:


The LA Times critic Kenneth Turan, upon watching Armageddon, pronounced it as

[Johnboy007]

I hate the following:

The Truman Show

Batman 3 & 4

Harry Potter

Aliens 3 and 4

Shallow Hal- can't say i saw most of this movie, something er somone else got my attention for most of it.

Blue Crush

[Kingdom Come]

I agree re. The Truman Show.

In The Garden Of Good And Evil.

Phantasm 2.

The Devil's Adocate.

Gosford Park.


Come to think of it, I'll remove The Truman Show!

[Joyce Carrington]

Hmmm... I quite liked the Truman show.

Films I didn't like:

The Phantom

Daredevil

[Johnboy007]

That may be the only thing we agree on KC

[ChandlerBing]

Well, I like Kevin Costner. With the exception of that Graceland movie, I've liked to varying degrees everything he has done. I absolutely despise Keanu Reeves. His role in Dracula is hysterical. The idea of him being the chosen one in the Matrix is downright terrifying.

[Jaelle]

Originally posted by Loomis
No, the STAR WARS prequels don't represent cinema at its best, but neither do they represent it at its worst - far from it. And they were never meant to be the Second Coming, although it's clear that a lot of fans' anger towards them (and Lucas) comes from the fact that they'd deluded themselves into believing they'd be the most staggering, amazing motion pictures of all time. (I well remember the wild claims of some of my wishful-thinking STAR WARS fan friends in the months leading up to the release of THE PHANTOM MENACE.)

On that we can definitely agree. I don't think the SW prequels are absolute dross (altho the third one might qualify). I actually quite enjoy THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. That was the film that got me a bit more interested in Lucas' little universe and characters. But I've just never been able to understand the way SW is viewed as some great revelation of mythic proportions by some folks.

I also love Greene, especially "The End of the Affair", [/B]

I love that novel. Two people in love actually wrestling with *ideas,* *principles* and *consequences*, and not their trivial personal angst or navels. How often do we get that in novels nowadays? And forget films!

Have you read "Getting to Know the General"? Really makes me want to visit Panama.

Yes, I've read all the novels you mentioned. Isn't it amazing how Greene makes you want to visit all those locales? I've been to Panama, such a bizarrely created country, really belongs to Colombia you know.

What did you think of Phillip Noyce's THE QUIET AMERICAN? I read the novel for the first time when I visited Saigon and found that it was one of the few English novels on sale there (counterfeit copies only, of course). Wonderful to read it in a number of the locations described by Greene. I also got to know a couple of people who were in Vietnam working on the film. I guess I have a soft spot for TQA for those reasons alone, but, quite honestly, I think it's one of the finest films of the last few years. Noyce, Michael Caine, and cinematographer Christopher Doyle were really robbed at the Oscars.... actually, I think Brendan Fraser was robbed, too.[/B]

Ah well there you've gone and mentioned one of my top favorite Greene novels. And I agree with everything you said in the above paragraph. I knew I shouldn't have hoped for Caine to get the Oscar but I couldn't help fuming nonetheless when he didn't. And Fraser has real talent, he just doesn't get enuf good work. How cool that you got to meet people who worked on the film. I visited Vietnam back in 1990 and saw several copies of Greene's book available for easy purchase in public. TQA is a masterful film, definitely better than any of the films nominated for best picture.

As for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, I agree with both Jim and yourself, although while I deplore Spielberg's (let's be charitable - perhaps inadvertent) portrayal of World War II as being about nothing more than America fighting against Nazi Germany to try and defend the Jewish people, I greatly admire his filmmaking genius - and "genius" is not a word I use lightly (well, unless I'm talking about the Dalton Bond era;)). [/B]

I don't deny the man is a serious filmmaker, nor that he is capable of great genius *at times* -- I'm not one to dismiss Spielberg offhand. I just think SPR is not one of his best efforts.

[Jaelle]

Originally posted by Loomis
I will. You know it's going to be absolutely hilarious, Jaelle. I can see it right now: Cruise arrives in Japan, where all the leaders of the various factions speak flawless English. One of their beautiful young daughters will fall in love with Cruise....

Well you do have a point. It might make for a good laugh. But I'm picky about which movie to shell $10 out for, so I'll wait for the pay-per-view edition.

I'm avoiding THE HOURS.[/B]

Do so. Avoid it like...well...David Blaine. Actually, no, Blaine is probably more fun to watch. Oh, btw, Loomis, I appreciated your little reference to "genius" and "Dalton" in your earlier post. But you knew I would.

That stupid false nose of Nicole Kidman's! What really, really sticks in my craw is that this sort of "ugly" or "disabled" performance that always wins Oscars and has everyone oohing and ahing (see also Dustin Hoffman in RAIN MAN) is really the easiest kind of "Look Ma I'm Acting!" schtick. It's show-offy, buried-under-tonnes-of-makeup acting. And I hate it! [/B]

Generally I agree with you. Hoffman was awful in RAIN MAN. But I will make one exception for Daniel Day-Lewis in MY LEFT FOOT. And, no, it's not just because I think Daniel's a hottie!

[Icarus]

Anything with those evil little wenches, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.

[DLibrasnow]

The World is not Enough

If not the worst big budget action movie ever made, very close to it. Tedious, boring, overacted, inflated, lakluster, dull....I could go on and on but you get the picture. The only James Bond movie I have been unable to sit through a repeat viewing of!

[TortillaFactory]

I must, MUST resurrect this thread.

Gone With the Wind - I am sure the book is much better. Unfortunately it's five inches thick and the typeface is a millimeter high, so I haven't gotten around to cracking the spine yet. The film is utter tripe - hailed as a classic because it's old and they burned a bunch of stuff to make it. Main characters are gratingly OTT and spend a great deal of time sweeping around in stiff clothing and wailing at each other. Goes on about twice as long as it needs to.

Forrest Gump - Approximately ten hours long, and I believe I cracked a smile once. I think it was something about shrimp. Unforgivably simplistic, gimmicky, syrupy. Tom Hanks is pretty good, but that doesn't quite save it.

Buffalo Soldiers - Relentlessly unfunny dark comedy about war, or the lack thereof. Shame on you, Joaquin Phoenix. Anna Paquin could not act her way out of an open Rubbermaid container.

Road to Perdition - Vague, rain-soaked gangster movie with a woefully miscast Tom Hanks and a little boy attempting valiantly to change facial expressions as his son. Lots of people are shot, but I couldn't force myself to care.

Tombstone - Makes little or no sense if you don't already understand the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which I don't. Lots of men in mustaches gallop around and stare meaningfully at each other. Val Kilmer is all right as Doc Holliday, but most of his dialogue appears to have been swept up from the Indiana Jones cutting room floor. When he gets weirdly sentimental at the end, it is meaningless and unsettling. Had to watch this for a screenwriting class, and I haven't quite forgiven the teacher yet.

The Tailor of Panama - Got to add my vote to Jim's on this one. Brosnan is oddly unappealing, Jamie Lee Curtis' dialogue is just strange (Le Carre's fault, probably), and Geoff really should stick to parts where his Long John Silver voice doesn't seem out of place. He was great as Barbossa in POTC, and he was fine as the Marquis de Sade in Quills. He is not great as a tailor in Panama. Whole thing feels like an early 90s made-for-T.V. movie, and nothing's improved by tacking on an artifically upbeat ending. I'm a fan of Le Carre, but I never did make it through this particular book.

Brother Bear - Not charming, not funny, and amazingly heavy-handed. Even for Disney.

My deepest apologies to anybody who enjoyed these. You're wrong.

[Qwerty]

Hanging Up - a completely pathetic, sorry- excuse for 100 minutes to waste away of your life. If it had been up to me originally, I'd have never had seen this film but, (I cannot remember the exact reasons why), that was not the case.

Meg Ryan, Diane Keaton, Lisa Kudrow, and Walter Mattheau star in this unappealing story that no-one reall cares about. It's awful. The whole thing is like an annoying cellphone that never stops.

It's about communication between people, particularly those girls and their dying father. However, most of the conversation and communication in this film is done on the phone. When done correctly (Cellular, Phone Booth), the results can be pleasing. In this case, it's downright torturous.

It's a complete and utter failure on many accounts. It's a waste of the actors and actresses time. It's a waste of your time. It's a waste of everyone's time.

Batman & Robin - Don't think I really need to explain this one.

[Mr Malcolm]

Forrest Gump - it burns us! It BURNS US!!!!!! I'm kind of allergic to Tom Hanks anyway, but this is just the worst, schmaltziest film I can remember seeing. And it both celebrates being stupid and is critical of intellectualism in an entirely unironic fashion. WE HATES IT WE HATES IT WE HATES IT!!!!!!!!

Free Willy - I saw this when I was a kid, and remember thinking, 'this is crap.' Honestly, it's enough to make Greenpeace supporters hop on the first available boat with a harpoon.

Poltergeist - supposedly scary, but not at all really. Just...silly. Which brings us to...

Nightmare on Elm Street - I just didn't find it scary. Maybe I was too old for it when I finally got around to seeing it?

Ooh. I feel much better now!

[Qwerty]

Daredevil, as well. What were they trying to accomplish with that?

[Mr Malcolm]

I agree it was rather bit rubbish, Qwerts. It's just that for me, it wasn't even bad enough that I'd remember it. Which in a way, might be even worse!

One more thing about Forrest Gump:

LIFE IS NOT LIKE A [censored]ING BOX OF CHOCOLATES!!!! YOU DO KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO GET BECAUSE IT SAYS SO ON THE [censored]ING BOX!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Major Bloodnok]

I speak for myself: MAGNOLIA was the worst piece of dudu ever made. This POS was the 1990s version of the Emporer's New Clothes. Nobody seems to want to admit that it was dull as dishwater and absolutely pointless. There's zero substance but people think that because frogs fall from the sky it has to be deep and meaningful. But in the years since it's come out nobody has been able to tell me what it means. I've given up. The Emporer is naked. You heard it here first.

It's like Brokeback Mountin'. Everybody tells us how good it is and how the only reason you wouldn't see it is because you're an intolerent philistine. Maybe I had enough of Heath Ledger after A KNIGHTS TALE. Tell me all you want about how good it is- I ain't fallin' for it again.

[Hitch]

Would anyone like a mint? Cup of camomile tea?

If only I'd spotted this thread on Saturday night, when your humble correspondent morphed into a pain-soaked, alcohol-drenched, pill-poppin' ratbag.

But I'm back to being a cuddly bunny, so I'll just say: Bram Stoker's Dracula - loved Oldman, loathed Keanu.

Keep slaughtering those sacred cows.

[spynovelfan]

Keep slaughtering those sacred cows.

Most of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE is rubbish.

I can't stay awake for the last nine hours of THUNDERBALL.

George Lazenby acts better in the final scene of OHMSS than anyone else at any point in the series.

Parts of NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN are very good.

Um... are there many left?

CITIZEN KANE's quite dull, as well. And don't get me started on THE SEVENTH SEAL!