Movies You Can't Stand

[scotpens]

Any movie by Henry Jaglom.

My contributions on that note: Half of Godard's catalog. I kind of like Breathless, but Contempt and Pierrot Le Fou I find awful. Godard's films have a kind of ridiculous attitude toward culture that reeks of substanceless provocation. (Hey, like Kanye West!)

Hear, hear! I can't stand most of Godard's films. Contempt and Alphaville should be marketed as cures for insomnia.

Then of course D.W. Griffith. Birth of a Nation glorifies the KKK, and True Hearted Susie is morally condescending, even more so than the average 1910s movie.

OTOH, Griffith made Broken Blossoms, a film with a strong anti-bigotry message. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

 

[auntiehill]

Pretty Woman. The title says it all. It doesn't matter if you're a whore with no education and poor judgement; just be pretty and you can land the man of your dreams. All that matters is that you're pretty. Great message to send out to young girls. Fabulous.

THIS. YES. OMG, YES.

That movie is the most steaming pile of tripe, and the reason you gave is just the tip of the Reasons Iceberg.

Thank you! I just can't grasp why other women don't see that. It baffles me.

 

[Shanndee]

David Cronenberg's Crash. I sat through the whole thing and I regret it. The one positive thing I can say about seeing this is that I will never again sit through a movie I hate. I will get up and leave without a second thought. Ugh.

 

[Timewalker]

Just about every evangelical Christian movie ever made. I normally wouldn't mention it, but in this case, they're the movies I grew up with. They're plodding, dull, preachy (obviously), ham handed, poorly directed, and poorly acted. Now, I'm not talking classic religious movies like Ben-Hur, or The Ten Commandments. Those movies are damned good. I'm talking movies like Left Behind, and Omega Code, and all the other saccharin "family" movies I see today.

Aside from that, I haven't really ever found a movie that I didn't get some kind of enjoyment out of, even if I grew tired of it quickly (Transformers).

Ben-Hur is worth watching for two scenes all by themselves: the scene in the galley when the rowers are put through their paces, and the chariot race at the end. That makes up for the ridiculous parts of the movie.

The Ten Commandments is a movie my family watched every year at Easter.

Pretty Woman. The title says it all. It doesn't matter if you're a whore with no education and poor judgement; just be pretty and you can land the man of your dreams. All that matters is that you're pretty. Great message to send out to young girls. Fabulous.

I found the friend/mentor relationship between Vivian and the hotel manager more appealing than anything that happened between the lead characters (that was rather crass).

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. I saw it in a theatre at 31, and definitely outside the target group since I had no kids and saw it alone. I hated it, because at one point I realized how much Spielberg was manipulating the audience. and it pulled me right out of it for the rest of the film. It's well made. Spielberg would have been great at WWII propaganda films.

Did you ever see Empire of the Sun?

I started watching Shakespeare In Love about a year ago and shut it off after about 45 minutes. I need to give it another chance, but right now, it's going into this thread.

Shakespeare in Love is ridiculous. Historically, Shakespeare was already married with a family to support long before he became a professional playwright.

The actor is okay, though. He played Robert Dudley in the movie Elizabeth.

I didn't know people hated Pretty Woman. I mean, it's got Richard Gere!

Richard Gere is very nice to stare at, to be sure. My favorite of his movies I've seen is First Knight.

 

[Amaris]

Ben-Hur is worth watching for two scenes all by themselves: the scene in the galley when the rowers are put through their paces, and the chariot race at the end. That makes up for the ridiculous parts of the movie.

The Ten Commandments is a movie my family watched every year at Easter.

Yeah, the Easter viewing of The Ten Commandments is a tradition in our house, too. Of course, so is my joke every year: "We'll watch the first five now, and then save the other five for tomorrow night."

Richard Gere is very nice to stare at, to be sure. My favorite of his movies I've seen is First Knight.

Yes, yes he is. He's also a very peaceful, compassionate man, and I admire that.

 

[Random_Spock]

The Matrix. Tried watching it... and I ended up wondering just how it was so popular in the first place. Same goes with Dumb and Dumber.

 

[Gaith]

Well, to be fair to Pretty Woman, said woman was hugely charming well as very pretty, with a far sunnier dispostion than could possibly be expected for someone of her circumstances, and the social class/transactional context allows for a more ritualized sort of courtship than would make sense in a more typical modern romance... but yeah, I certainly can't fault anyone for not digging it.

 

[EnriqueH]

The Matrix. Tried watching it... and I ended up wondering just how it was so popular in the first place. Same goes with Dumb and Dumber.

I remember when The Matrix came out, I missed out on seeing it on the big screen because it was a Keanu Reeves movie, and I thought he was one of the worst actors ever. So I assumed the movie would be TERRIBLE.

I saw it when it debut on video and remember thinking, "Hey, not bad!" And then I watched it a bunch more times and ended up loving the movie.

So I had the opposite reaction, I thought it would SUCK, but ended up loving it.

I hate it when I movie gets overhyped. It kinda kills it for you.

 

[Spot's Meow]

1. The Goonies - Boring. Annoying. Not funny. I get that people feel some connection to their childhood through it, but there's better options out there for that. Never want to watch this movie again.

2. The Princess Bride - Also annoying and not funny. This one was hyped to me too much and when I finally watched it I thought, "well that was really not very good." There are so many better comedies out there that I would rather spend my time on.

3. The Matrix - I actually liked this movie at first, but about 30 minutes in it took a turn for the worse and I really couldn't stand watching it any longer.

4. Lost in Translation - One of those boring movies about absolutely nothing, a complete waste of time. The only movie that I wanted to walk out of the theater for. I only stayed because I was with other people and I thought they wanted to stay. In talking after the movie, it turns out that we all had similar feelings of wanting to leave but thinking the others didn't.

 

[EnriqueH]

Goooooooood! Use your aggressive feelings. Let the hate flow through you!

hehehehehehe



Great choices here, you guys. Keep 'em coming!

 

[pigletsgiblets]

Any movies that have Will Ferrell or Ben Stiller in them.

 

[Gaith]

The Princess Bride - Also annoying and not funny.

Thank you for playing! I'm afraid that, because you lost all your points with that particular answer, we can't give you a prize, but I'm sure all of us here will give you a consoling round of applause! Be sure to try again sometime!

 

[The Old Mixer]

I've long since watched it and come to terms with it...but as someone who was looked at like I had two heads because I didn't even have any interest in seeing E.T. back when it was in theaters, I'm always gratified to see that there are others who didn't drink the Kool-Aid. If they hadn't thrown in a couple of obligatory swear words, it would have been rated G and nobody above a certain age would have been caught dead seeing it.

Another one that comes to mind is Independence Day...the ex and I rented it back in the day and just stopped it partway through with zero interest in finishing it, it was so moronic.

 

[Toxteth O´Grady]

Maybe it's because I was really young when I first saw E.T., but I've always loved it. I can see why people wouldn't, though. It really is getting a thrashing in this thread.

 

[gblews]

Speaking of double features, I've got one about pregnancies! Hooray! Pass the popcorn!

Knocked Up: because Rogen's character was a directionless asshole, and not for a moment did I buy that Heigl's character would fall for him. But then he redeems himself - by helping build a web site devoted to female movie nudity. That everyone considers a brilliant idea that people will pay memberships for, copyrights be damned. In 2007. What the actual f***?

Mr. Skin. Not disagreeing about the movie, just pointing out that there are websites with that business model that pull in money. Granted, they were around well before 2007.

Rogen's character didn't redeem himsrlf by building that website. He got some kind of "real" job (can't recall doing what), read the baby books, and began living his life like an adult. This was how he redeemed himself. His character arc was actually quite pleasant.

But I will agree with Gaith on one thing; there is no way on god's earth a woman like Hiegl's character would have fallen for a shlub like Rogen's character. Not only was she out of his league looks-wise, she was also a rising T.V. star.

Let me add another of Chris Nolan's "revered" films (around here anyway) to the list of movies at least at least one person hates; Batman Begins. Worst villain character presentation ever and a boring lead playing Batman. No third strike is required. I'm watching this movie, trying to see through the darkness, starting to get into it and...I'm snoring.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Then of course D.W. Griffith. Birth of a Nation glorifies the KKK, and True Hearted Susie is morally condescending, even more so than the average 1910s movie.

OTOH, Griffith made Broken Blossoms, a film with a strong anti-bigotry message. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

I would cite Intolerance more as a counterexample than Broken Blossoms. Broken Blossoms has an anti-bigotry message but tells it by showing a sympathetic portrayal of an Asian stereotype played by a white guy holding his eyes half closed.

Lost In Translation is one of those movies that you shouldn't go into if all the movies you've ever been exposed to are the ones that manipulate the audience to an emotional payoff. It's the kind of movie that abides the idiom "Show me, don't tell me", but if all you've seen is big budget movies you're going to sit there waiting for it to 'tell you'.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

- Starship Troopers. It took Heinlein's serious novel, which made some excellent points, and just shat all over it. And worse yet, Paul Verhoeven even admitted HE NEVER READ THE BOOK.

- Torture porn, like the Hostel films which are literally nothing but "a bunch of guys in small rooms mutilate people for no reason".

David Cronenberg's Crash. I sat through the whole thing and I regret it.

Pretty much every movie Cronenberg has ever made, actually.

I don't view his movies as particularly daring or inventive. Disgusting, sure. But that's it, really. And I swear, if I hear one more of his stupid characters prattle on about "flesh", I will take a ginormous sledgehammer to the TV showing it.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Maybe it's because I was really young when I first saw E.T., but I've always loved it. I can see why people wouldn't, though. It really is getting a thrashing in this thread.

Nothing wrong with enjoying a kid's movie when you're a kid, and carrying a liking for it into adulthood. Being peer-pressured for not giving a crap about it as a teenager, that's another thing. It was the new shiny and people were saying that it was better than Star Wars...to me, that was just crazy talk.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Pan's Labyrinth. Went to the theatre with a friend who wanted to see it. I knew nothing of it going in and after viewing the trailer and seeing the website, agreed to go with him. It looked innocent enough. But I was blindsided by the violence and the gore which just seemed so gratuitous and I'm one who usually doesn't mind all that when done right. In the end, I left the theatre feeling emotionally empty and sick.

 

[Toxteth O´Grady]

Nothing wrong with enjoying a kid's movie when you're a kid, and carrying a liking for it into adulthood. Being peer-pressured for not giving a crap about it as a teenager, that's another thing. It was the new shiny and people were saying that it was better than Star Wars...to me, that was just crazy talk.

As much as I love E.T. even I would agree with that!

I think you're right, though, that the movie really appealed to a certain age group, young kids. I was born the year it came out and we had a VHS copy in our house, so I don't really know when I first watched it. It's just been a movie that I've always been familiar with.

The topic at hand? Any movie that Judd Apatow has been involved with in a creative way, as a writer and/or director. Back when The 40 Year-Old Virgin was tearing up the box office and landed on everybody's favorite comedies of all time lists I had to see what all the fuss was about. Huge disappointment! The funny parts were all seen before in the trailers and commercials and everything else was just so mediocre. Knocked Up was more of the same, only a lot longer. Since then I haven't even bothered with Funny People or This is 40. It just annoys me when he is portrayed as the comedic genius of our time when everything he's done has just been so bland.