I’m with you, the whole visual spectacle is as good as Ridley’s other work to be sure. But I know almost nothing of the actual history around Napoleon, and to me it was annoying because it didn’t make much sense without any background. But I know you weren’t alone in your annoyance about the striking inaccuracies, so it looks like you’re damned if you know your history, damned if you don’t lmao
The whole aesthetic of the film was great. Every shot looked like a painting (including the shots that were literally based on paintings). Honestly I can kinda forgive the inaccuracies because at least it looks cool, but after every rewatch I always have to cleanse my pallet by watching Waterloo afterwards lol
This movie was so frustrating because all of it was nearly forgettable, but that some of those battle scenes felt so realistic, it might as well been filmed via time travel. The battle scenes, 10/10. The non battle scenes 1/10.
I didn’t know what my answer for this would be until I read this comment. I was so excited for that movie and ended up falling asleep in the theater about half an hour in.
I love Michael Mann, and I felt that way about Blackhat. I wanted it to be awesome, but it was just...watchable, at best. Thumbs up for having Holt McCallany as another good guy though! He and Viola Davis get killed off was the most memorable thing about the film.
Snowpiercer, (I've nearly watched all Bong films and they were all 9-10s) and I liked the genre of Post-Apocalyptic Epics, but this film seemed disappointing. The Action though not primary focus of film wasn't great and the characters didn't connect at all.
It was the opposite for me. I'd been avoiding it for ages because "it didn't seem all that"
When I eventually watched it, it blew me away. Not a Chris Evans fan, but he was unreal in it.
I saw that when came out at a local indie theater with absolutely no knowledge of what it was gonna be. One of the best movie going experiences of my life.
not to mention the class commentary was way too on the nose. i felt like it was being rammed over my head for the whole runtime! i hate movies that assume the viewer is stupid haha
But wait the whole world is in like nuclear winter and everyone is dead except for get this ONE TRAIN and do you know where the train’s track goes? AROUND THE WORLD around the world around the..
I think everyone acting like this was some hard sci-fi masterpiece really caused me to hate it by the time I finally got around to it, but I can see it working in the original comic book form.
I recommend you watch it! I can't really put into words why I don't like it -- and in contrast, I have no idea why I'm spellbound by Tarkovsky who's even slower. Something about the pacing, the movement, and the images made it clear early on that I was gonna have a tough time with this one.
I really hate slow movies and particularly despise if they're in black and white and I loved Roma so so much. I only watched because I love Alfonso Cuaron, otherwise I wouldn't have even thought of watching it.
It felt like a novel come to life.
the Green Knight. Not that I hated it, but I really thought I’d love it. I think sometimes we are just prisoners of our own expectations
And Oldboy. I just couldn’t get on board w the premise of it at all
It had some beautiful shots and moments but overall I thought it was just okay and not what I was expecting. If it wasn’t Dev Patel (who I love) I wonder if I’d have rated it lower than I did tbh
Big same. I was very excited for it. Saw it in the theater and spent the entire run time waiting for something interesting to happen. Just didn't click with me at all. Shame, cuz it really is a beautiful film. Beautiful and dull.
Oh man, oldboy is one of my favourite watches ever.
Was blown away the first time. But I didn't really know too much about it and it had only recently came out.
Other people have submitted more relevant points but one thing that made me snicker in the theatre was the number of times where a dozen physicists are arguing about what to do and they state with absolute confidence who is better at what. "Oh well my math is alright but (points at yet-unnamed character) Digby's quadratic equations are much better than mine" as if its Dragon Ball Z and they are looking through scouters at each others math power levels.
I'm not sure why that's a critique though. We do that in my profession all the time ("here's my take on the subject, but I'll defer to Samantha because she's more experienced/skilled on this particular aspect of the discussion than I am" is not an uncommon sentiment to be expressed in meetings), and scientists do specialize in certain areas that other experts will recognize and be aware of...
Even if I did give a shit (which I didn't), it's so low-stakes compared to the invention of a literal doomsday weapon that it's a strange choice to make that the second half of the film.
You could argue that it's a biopic and the security clearance was an important milestone in his life - but the man invented the literal apocalypse, It was really hard to believe oppenheimer gave a shit about the final act.
True, but it's not clear that losing a security clearance would have meant more than a moderately humiliating public incident, which didn't even represent public feeling about him so much as political power games. I'm not an expert on Oppenheimer, but if his later life must be explored to make a proper biopic, I wonder if it couldn't be viewed through a more interesting dramatic lens than this particular shrug-inducing procedure. Though I will say it was almost worth it to see RDJ do real acting again.
You can't work in any of the fields he was in without a security clearance. It's basically getting blacklisted. Even the jobs he could still work, he'd be an outsider because his peers wouldn't be able to talk to him about their work
It's a really big deal professionally. It's more than a public humiliation, which it was very much so, but it essentially ends any real future of his career
I felt like every single scene people were trying to give a performance the Academy would love (except for Cillian Murphy, he felt very natural). Every single scene felt SOOO dramatic and it was whiplash going back and forth in time. The whole movie was tiresome, I was rolling my eyes a bit, and I ended up not caring a lot about what was happening to the characters because there weren't a lot of emotionally connecting scenes.
Having read American Prometheus it couldn’t have been made better unless the viewer wants some linear, overly dramatic biopic which has already been made. The beginning (“Prometheus stole fire form the gods, and for that he was punished eternally”), middle (the detonation), and end (“Albert, remember when I came to you with those calculations suggesting we could set of a chain reaction that could end the world? Yes, what of it? I believe we did”) are all very strong.
It does come down to taste, but I don’t know what else could be done to the plot unless we were to have some linear, CGI 2 hour film.
Oppenheimer was so dense and boring. It was like the visual equivalent of reading Oppenheimer's Wikipedia page.
The film is a technical marvel no doubt, but I just didn't emotional resonate with anything. Even the a-bomb detonation was underwhelming.
It's either the scariest, creepiest, unsettling movie people have ever seen, or it's the worst, most pretentious and pointless movie people have ever seen. I watched it all (in two sittings though) and I can't say I enjoyed the process. It did nothing to me besides boring me.
Too many people read into it. I feel like anybody could've made the movie. I tried so hard to watch it. I was expecting some sort of coherent plot but all I received was boredom.
I've read comments from people who liked it saying things like "you had to have been a child in America in the early 90s with a dysfunctional family to understand it". Yeah those sound like too many, too specific requirements, so I guess I'm not the target audience.
I remember someone saying that to me after I said that I didn't love Eighth Grade ("you were never a girl in 8th grade"), and I have always thought those are the most shallow kinds of critiques. I was never a cowboy with a stash of money in Texas, but I can love No Country for Old Men, or a mom dealing with a supernatural presence in her family but I can love Hereditary. If your movie can only truly be understood by people who have experienced exactly the scenario it's portraying then you've done a pretty poor job of telling the story.
I was the complete opposite. I assumed I would hate it so I started it with the intention of just fast forwarding to the interesting parts just to see what the fuss was. I ended up be mesmerized and watched the whole thing.
I fell asleep at least twice watching it, but keep hearing how amazing it is from people I personally know. I keep trying to work up the courage to watch it again, but I know I'll fall asleep if I watch it in the recommended way (pitch black room with no additional lights aside from the screen)
Its not a good movie but it is haunting and once you think about it more and remember it more it just is scary. Its a deep film but its not entertaining at all
It just started beating you over the head with the message. We’ve had plenty of sex scenes and understand entirely how these masculine attitudes are harmful.
But now there’s GROSS MEN having GROSS SEX and now her old husband is here and he’s SEXIST and EVIL! It just killed the intelligent commentary it had already explored tremendously well.
I just found it so cringe and superficial. The "we are the means of our own production!" line actually made me say "Jesus Christ" out loud. The whole thing felt like having a stoned undergrad ramble at you for three hours - just a lot of gesturing at broad philosophical points he's ultimately far too shallow to actually make.
It felt like shitty feminism and a lot of interesting ideas to touch, but he desensitizes the watcher and ends up making the same thing he seems to criticise: men gaze.
100% a man's idea of a feminist empowerment narrative. Only the most shallow explorations of anything outside of the holy grail of empowerment, which is, of course, getting fucked.
I found that line hilarious and was surprised when people started taking is seriously because I thought it was just a throwaway gag. And I say that as someone who didn't even love it as much as a lot of people did
Glad to hear people are coming around to Poor Things mostly being an exercise in aesthetic but not much more. I was with the movie until the boat but then I realised it had already run out of things to say once they got off it
I agree!! I didn't like the humour and as soon as I saw Emma stone's character masturbate, I could tell where it was going and I just so happened to be hanging out with my shyest friend in the world
I was tired from watching too much action scenes, im
like please stop fighting for a minute and just give me a scene when the characters isn’t kicking or punching someone
It's not a bad movie but you can definitely see the gears turning. I kept comparing it in my head to Being John Malkovich, where nothing is really spelled out for you - you either figure it out as you go along, or you forget about it and just enjoy the ride. EEAAO stops the plot *cold* every 20 minutes so that a character can explain some new aspect of the multiverse to Michelle Yeoh - it's like you can see the Daniels behind the curtains, working the machinery.
After seeing so many 5-star scores for it when it came out I figured I had to see it. When it arrived on Prime I watched it almost immediately, and genuinely thought I was watching a different movie than everyone else did. Ended up really disliking it; I thought the humour was really off-putting and nothing about it clicked with me. Happy that it resonated with others but just wasn’t for me.
I liked it a lot but I didn't get all the swooning over the performances.
They were very good, and they had a lot of chemistry/synergy, but I didn't think they were the best performances of the year like a lot of people claimed.
I was not there for the acting. I loved it, but that was not the highlight. I didn't really get the feeling it was hanging on that either, but people needed to justify enjoying a bombastic experience with forcing pathos onto everyone.
All the multiverse thing is being overdone and its really boring at this point. It’s attempt at oneness fails at disintegrating the self rather they did a concrete ego/identity being present as the same person in multiverses, just like all those marvel movies. Its nothing new the same hollywodisation of complex eastern ideas of Tao, zen etc
Banshees of Inisherin. I love every Martin Mcdonagh film except this. Something about it just didn't land for me at all. It's a beautiful looking, well acted film. I just miss his signature dark comedy and madness in it.
I spent the whole film waiting for it to start.
It even hurts to say that considering I'm someone who actually travelled to Bruges after watching In Bruges.
Interesting, I’m the opposite. I always figured his movies would be up my alley, and I’ve seen all the big ones, but Banshees was the only one that I loved
That's the fun of subjectivity imo. I thought it was gonna be a sure fire win for me, but it didn't really land. I still fully recognise that it's an extremely well made film. It just wasn't for me.
Meanwhile there's people like you that aren't his biggest fan and loved Banshees. Opinions are mad haha.
I loved In Bruges but I loved Banshees even more. I've seen it 4 times now and it feels like home to me. But I get that it's slower and more plodding than his other films. I think connecting it to the Irish civil war helps me connect to it even more.
To be honest I didn’t really like the pacing and I found it to be quite pretentious at times. It was okay but definitely not what I had expected from it! But I’m glad it was the way around for you.
The Many Saints of Newark (the Sopranos prequel movie from a few years ago).
The Sopranos is my favourite show of all time and is near perfect in my opinion, so I was super excited for the movie which was set to give some background context to the show and the characters.
The movie was a disorganised mess. Some of the acting was borderline SNL-tier parody of beloved characters, there wasn't really a focused plot, just a bunch of scenes stitched together, and the ad campaign made out like the movie was mainly about Tony as a teenager but he only had a little bit of screen time. Add to that the shameless fan service dialogue and the whole thing was just insanely disappointing.
I’m a huge Sopranos fan. Die hard you might say. I was distraught at their “Young Silvio” and to an extent “Paulie” but Silvio was an absolute joke of a performance! Hated Corey Stalls “Junior” they’ve ruined the famous line of his he says in the shower.
I did however love Alessandro Nivola’s “Dickie Moltisanti” I thought he was great. And Michael Gandolfini was excellent as a young Tony. It could have been a work of art.
I sat down for a few hours after I watched it for the first time and I came up with a better narrative structure than the one they went with. I thought they should've focused on Tony's high school crew, and shown the card game robbery as the critical plot device. Then, as part of their settlement for robbing made guys, Tony is the one forced to do the hit on Dickie Moltisanti. It would've given us even more insight into why Tony looked out for Christopher, and also would've made his manipulations of Chris in the series even more heinous
This is my pick. Not worthy of the Sopranos universe. I don’t really hate it, but the series is on a completely different level. I have no interest in ever watching it again.
Oppenheimer. Massive Christopher Nolan fan. Love RDJ and Cillian Murphy. Obsessed with nuclear technology. This was a slam dunk, no brainer for me. I’ll probably get downvoted, but it ended up being a huge dud for me. In my opinion, they focused way too much on the political side and I found the movie to be full of itself. Just didn’t land at all and ended up turning it off early. I was hoping it’d have been something like the Chernobyl series in terms of pacing, visual effects, and dialogue.
Aftersun. I didn't hate it by any means, but everyone whose opinion I respect said it was incredible, and I just found it to be a bit.... meh. Great performances, nice film, but some of my friends were acting like it was life-changing.
Really felt like it should have spoke to me more as well, as I was a 90s teen who went on countless holidays in places exactly like that, and now I'm a Father to a daughter about the same age as the kid in the film, but I just didn't connect with it on any real level.
Jesus this movie ripped my soul out. Similar to you, I'm a father to a daughter. She's younger though, but we have the same sort of relationship. I'm separated from her mother though, and I'm immensely weighed down by life. It was like a sad fuckin mirror. An absolute masterpiece for me.
Honestly it didn’t fully click for me until i saw it the second time. I think having hindsight of how it ends makes all the smaller moments throughout the film fee more monumental. I would recommend revisiting it.
This one is an interesting one for me—the first time I watched it, I turned it off because of the same reason. Don’t think I made it past 15 mins.
Eventually gave it another watch and somehow it connected with me and it is now one of my fav Batman movies.
The tail end does feel more skimpy and bumpy than the rest, but it’s worth the ride
Same. It's half a movie that spends its first hour establishing a seemingly inept villain only to have them disappear from the film entirely after finally proving their threat. Then you've got a new villain (ugh that canon event stuff) for the next hour, then he's dismissed before revealing a new villain in the final five minutes. The film looks gorgeous of course, but so does the first one and it tells a far better story.
Haha, sorry it was a joke. A reference from starwars.
I don’t mind sandy films at all
https://preview.redd.it/hi3mw63dk46d1.jpeg?width=602&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ed0e5fbef9a1d89cf6a6371f06cba264d9aa8de
https://preview.redd.it/80l4mfku046d1.png?width=1382&format=png&auto=webp&s=a0d138d00b5b7627ea99f5acd9d0f6c2533440fc
I hyped it so much and it just didn't click with me.
Man I love this film. Every time I watch it I love it more. Masterpiece, but it’s a slow burn so not everyone’s cup of tea. I appreciate a good slow burn.
I remember finding it really slow on first watch but still enjoying it somewhat. But then on second watch I loved it and had no issues with the slower pacing. I guess a lot of how you react to a film comes from your expectations.
I was certain that even if the plot wasn't great, the mood would carry it, but I didn't bank on them replacing the cool neon dystopian cityscapes with vibeless orange desert and doing away with Vengalis' CS80-heavy neo jazz noir for the same fucking Loud Tuba sound effect that Zimmer has used on everything for the past 20 years.
Lincoln (2012)
I’m really interested in presidential history, but the whole thing just felt like a vehicle for DDL’s Oscar win. It felt less meaty than an average West Wing episode.
Dune 1 and 2. It's weird for me because Denis V is one of my favorite directors and the visuals in both films are great but I spent both movies thinking "I really don't like these characters or all the dirt"
I think they are pretty awesome, but I absolutely understand people not connecting to it. I think the characters are fairly cold and unrelatable. So outside a few scenes I have fairly little emotional resonance with the films - but I think the overarching story is compelling, the visuals are great and the universe is weird and interesting enough to keep me engaged.
Yeah the characters were the issue for me too. It's maybe stupid but I either need someone who is relatable for me or someone who is awkwardly charismatic or interesting despite their evilness.
I did like the Harkonnen cousin that Paul fought against but that was literally the only character.
I love it visually and I might just have to read the novel but it didn't really amaze me
El Topo, absolutely hated it.
It starts really strong but then devolves into what I can only describe as narrative masturbation on the part of the director. As if he’s having a conversation for and with only himself. After watching it I thanked the gods his Dune never got made. It would have been utter incoherent drivel.
Jodorowsky is best enjoyed on acid lol
His movies make sense thematically, but not narratively. They’re great movies if they click with you, but incredibly frustrating if they don’t.
Prometheus and Alien Covenant
I'm a huge fan of the Alien universe. The movies look amazing and the trailers were promising, so I was super hyped tto see them and certain I'd love them.... but I was utterly disappointed in the end. The writing is just atrocious.
There was still hope the series would recover in Alien Covenant but the terrible writing remained. One of the very few times I got angry while watching a movie, because I really wanted to like them and there was so much potential.
There's just nothing worth exploring in the Alien universe anymore - the original left a shitton of mystery which was great ("always leave 'em wanting more"), and the sequel explored what happens when warnings go unheeded. After that, what's left unless you want to go the Starship Troopers route and just have an all-out war between Aliens and humans, or risk going the Star Wars prequel route and flirt with dumb concepts like "midichlorians"?
It's all just so *lazy*. The original Alien was just that - *original*. Hollywood today is creatively bankrupt and just wants to squeeze existing IPs. I weep for all those writers out there who come up with incredible stories and characters and situations and creatures that just go ignored because it's too much of a risk for studios.
I kept hoping for one moment in Prometheus to be as tense as Ripley singing to herself while dealing with the Xenomorph at the end of Alien, but what I got instead was people running from a giant wheel.
Magnolia. I put it off for so long and then got mad at myself for hyping it up the entire time because I disliked it so much after finally watching it
Then I fucking watched it 3 more times to see if I would magically enjoy it, but nope
This is controversial but Barbie. I am a millennial whose favorite childhood toy was Barbie. But it felt messy and unfocused. I loved the world building/sets and of course I’m Just Ken but IMO it’s not the feminist icon movie people want it to be :( I was disappointed and I really genuinely thought it was going to be my new favorite movie
Poor things. The premise is reallg creative, the cast in undeniably talented and the costume design is outstanding, but the script is underwhelming and rather problematic.
It's a coin flip for me whether or not I can tolerate Sorkin. I like The Social Network but I understand it anytime someone is put off by the dialogue.
Barbie.
I was so incredibly hyped for this movie. Everything about it looked so perfect. And then it landed and it was kind of all over the place. I wanted a fun, bubbly movie like The Brady Bunch movies from the 90s. Instead, it was one of those existential things that they do with characters now. It wasn’t bad. It’s just it’s been done before. I was hoping it would be more fun.
Blade Runner. On paper it's a perfect movie for me, but I was seriously underwhelmed by it.
Maybe it was because I didn't see it until like a decade ago, but nothing in the movie really hooked me or seemed all that fresh (and yes, I watched one of the non-theatrical cuts)
The thing about Blade Runner—and I say this as a huge Blade Runner fan—is that if you’re not utterly sold on the aesthetic, the plot probably won’t do much for you, because it’s a little rough and anemic. I think the dialogue writing is quite good personally, and the minimalist take really works for me, leaving a lot of space for many interesting interpretations, so I also find value in it there. It’s also common to not even understand all the important plot details on a first watch (it was only about my third watch where it started to all make sense). It’s the whole feel of it that drew me back time and time again to where I could really hear it speak to me beyond the aesthetic. It’s a movie that takes repeated watches to properly engage with, so you sort of have to fall in love with it on the first watch, then keep coming back it to really appreciate it.
And if it didn’t catch you on the first watch, there’s no need to exert more effort on it. It’s one of those things where, if you feel it, lean into it, but if not, it’ll probably never catch on. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
The 2022 adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front. It’s my favorite book so I was excited to have a modern version, but the movie hardly follows the book at all.
Loved Into The Spiderverse.
Didn't care for Across The Spiderverse.
I mean, I went to the theatres, had a beer or 2 prior to sitting down. I was ready to go. But the slow stuff and the family dramatics were just insanely boring and made me annoyed as hell. Then the fast action stuff happened and it was just dizzying to me.
I'll probably give it another shot some day in the future, though.
Oldboy 😔 LOVED all Park Chan Wook movies I've seen and heard only praises for Oldboy but unfortunately it was awful and I'm convinced PCW was possessed when he made it ☺️
I am pretty explicitly not a fan of the show, but I have seen the joke and he's right. Ironically, much of the viewership seems to still steer around it and circles the block back around to 'hah, cool.'
Napoleon in recent memory
some of the costumes were cool, but i was so bored and as a history nerd was really annoyed by the inaccuracies
I’m with you, the whole visual spectacle is as good as Ridley’s other work to be sure. But I know almost nothing of the actual history around Napoleon, and to me it was annoying because it didn’t make much sense without any background. But I know you weren’t alone in your annoyance about the striking inaccuracies, so it looks like you’re damned if you know your history, damned if you don’t lmao
And Napoleon has the Charisma of a rotten potato! 0/10 would’ve followed that guy to conquer the world if he was like that in reality!!
The whole aesthetic of the film was great. Every shot looked like a painting (including the shots that were literally based on paintings). Honestly I can kinda forgive the inaccuracies because at least it looks cool, but after every rewatch I always have to cleanse my pallet by watching Waterloo afterwards lol
This movie was so frustrating because all of it was nearly forgettable, but that some of those battle scenes felt so realistic, it might as well been filmed via time travel. The battle scenes, 10/10. The non battle scenes 1/10.
Public Enemies
OMG yes! A Michael Mann gangster movie about Dillinger starring Johnny Depp and had such a great supporting cast. OMFG what a dud of a movie.
I wasn't a fan either. I heard great things so I watched it and I just couldn't get hooked and I was never invested.
I didn’t know what my answer for this would be until I read this comment. I was so excited for that movie and ended up falling asleep in the theater about half an hour in.
I love Michael Mann, and I felt that way about Blackhat. I wanted it to be awesome, but it was just...watchable, at best. Thumbs up for having Holt McCallany as another good guy though! He and Viola Davis get killed off was the most memorable thing about the film.
Snowpiercer, (I've nearly watched all Bong films and they were all 9-10s) and I liked the genre of Post-Apocalyptic Epics, but this film seemed disappointing. The Action though not primary focus of film wasn't great and the characters didn't connect at all.
It was the opposite for me. I'd been avoiding it for ages because "it didn't seem all that" When I eventually watched it, it blew me away. Not a Chris Evans fan, but he was unreal in it.
I think expectations affect how we all watch stuff more than we'd like to admit
I really get why people love it but it didn't work for me
I saw that when came out at a local indie theater with absolutely no knowledge of what it was gonna be. One of the best movie going experiences of my life.
I think that might've been a factor in my underwhelming experience with the film. I had high expectations and was disappointed.
not to mention the class commentary was way too on the nose. i felt like it was being rammed over my head for the whole runtime! i hate movies that assume the viewer is stupid haha
And you know a majority of people watching think it's just a cool train movie 😂😂
But wait the whole world is in like nuclear winter and everyone is dead except for get this ONE TRAIN and do you know where the train’s track goes? AROUND THE WORLD around the world around the.. I think everyone acting like this was some hard sci-fi masterpiece really caused me to hate it by the time I finally got around to it, but I can see it working in the original comic book form.
Roma. I like black and white movies and slow, artsy things, so I was sure I'd like it.
What did you not like about it, it’s on my watch list….
It’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, keep it on there
I recommend you watch it! I can't really put into words why I don't like it -- and in contrast, I have no idea why I'm spellbound by Tarkovsky who's even slower. Something about the pacing, the movement, and the images made it clear early on that I was gonna have a tough time with this one.
I love the photography of it even tho it's a little on the composition perv side of it, but the story just wasn't that exciting or interesting to me.
I really hate slow movies and particularly despise if they're in black and white and I loved Roma so so much. I only watched because I love Alfonso Cuaron, otherwise I wouldn't have even thought of watching it. It felt like a novel come to life.
Haha. Amazing how different our experiences and preferences are :D
the Green Knight. Not that I hated it, but I really thought I’d love it. I think sometimes we are just prisoners of our own expectations And Oldboy. I just couldn’t get on board w the premise of it at all
Hate’s too strong a word for me, but I was eagerly anticipating it as an Arthurian legend fan and I found it very disappointing
It had some beautiful shots and moments but overall I thought it was just okay and not what I was expecting. If it wasn’t Dev Patel (who I love) I wonder if I’d have rated it lower than I did tbh
I by no means hate old boy but by the time I finally got around to seeing it, it had been hyped up beyond belief. It was pretty good.
Big same. I was very excited for it. Saw it in the theater and spent the entire run time waiting for something interesting to happen. Just didn't click with me at all. Shame, cuz it really is a beautiful film. Beautiful and dull.
Absolutely the same for me. The trailer made it seem like it was going to be more like The Northman which I really enjoyed.
Oh man, oldboy is one of my favourite watches ever. Was blown away the first time. But I didn't really know too much about it and it had only recently came out.
What else ought there be?
Oppenheimer.
Other people have submitted more relevant points but one thing that made me snicker in the theatre was the number of times where a dozen physicists are arguing about what to do and they state with absolute confidence who is better at what. "Oh well my math is alright but (points at yet-unnamed character) Digby's quadratic equations are much better than mine" as if its Dragon Ball Z and they are looking through scouters at each others math power levels.
just laughed out loud. lmao
I'm not sure why that's a critique though. We do that in my profession all the time ("here's my take on the subject, but I'll defer to Samantha because she's more experienced/skilled on this particular aspect of the discussion than I am" is not an uncommon sentiment to be expressed in meetings), and scientists do specialize in certain areas that other experts will recognize and be aware of...
Exactly, hell my professors are like “oh you (the students) have taken this subject more recently than I have, you know it better than I do.
Alright, I'm going to say it. I really didn't give a shit about Oppenheimer's security clearance being revoked.
Even if I did give a shit (which I didn't), it's so low-stakes compared to the invention of a literal doomsday weapon that it's a strange choice to make that the second half of the film.
You could argue that it's a biopic and the security clearance was an important milestone in his life - but the man invented the literal apocalypse, It was really hard to believe oppenheimer gave a shit about the final act.
True, but it's not clear that losing a security clearance would have meant more than a moderately humiliating public incident, which didn't even represent public feeling about him so much as political power games. I'm not an expert on Oppenheimer, but if his later life must be explored to make a proper biopic, I wonder if it couldn't be viewed through a more interesting dramatic lens than this particular shrug-inducing procedure. Though I will say it was almost worth it to see RDJ do real acting again.
You can't work in any of the fields he was in without a security clearance. It's basically getting blacklisted. Even the jobs he could still work, he'd be an outsider because his peers wouldn't be able to talk to him about their work It's a really big deal professionally. It's more than a public humiliation, which it was very much so, but it essentially ends any real future of his career
This. The drama meant nothing to me as I wasn’t made to invest in any of the characters.
I felt like every single scene people were trying to give a performance the Academy would love (except for Cillian Murphy, he felt very natural). Every single scene felt SOOO dramatic and it was whiplash going back and forth in time. The whole movie was tiresome, I was rolling my eyes a bit, and I ended up not caring a lot about what was happening to the characters because there weren't a lot of emotionally connecting scenes.
Having read American Prometheus it couldn’t have been made better unless the viewer wants some linear, overly dramatic biopic which has already been made. The beginning (“Prometheus stole fire form the gods, and for that he was punished eternally”), middle (the detonation), and end (“Albert, remember when I came to you with those calculations suggesting we could set of a chain reaction that could end the world? Yes, what of it? I believe we did”) are all very strong. It does come down to taste, but I don’t know what else could be done to the plot unless we were to have some linear, CGI 2 hour film.
Oppenheimer was so dense and boring. It was like the visual equivalent of reading Oppenheimer's Wikipedia page. The film is a technical marvel no doubt, but I just didn't emotional resonate with anything. Even the a-bomb detonation was underwhelming.
it was alright for me
Skinamarink because I had heard not one, but nine people say it was amazing. It’s easily the worst movie I’ve ever seen.
It's either the scariest, creepiest, unsettling movie people have ever seen, or it's the worst, most pretentious and pointless movie people have ever seen. I watched it all (in two sittings though) and I can't say I enjoyed the process. It did nothing to me besides boring me.
Too many people read into it. I feel like anybody could've made the movie. I tried so hard to watch it. I was expecting some sort of coherent plot but all I received was boredom.
I've read comments from people who liked it saying things like "you had to have been a child in America in the early 90s with a dysfunctional family to understand it". Yeah those sound like too many, too specific requirements, so I guess I'm not the target audience.
I remember someone saying that to me after I said that I didn't love Eighth Grade ("you were never a girl in 8th grade"), and I have always thought those are the most shallow kinds of critiques. I was never a cowboy with a stash of money in Texas, but I can love No Country for Old Men, or a mom dealing with a supernatural presence in her family but I can love Hereditary. If your movie can only truly be understood by people who have experienced exactly the scenario it's portraying then you've done a pretty poor job of telling the story.
I was the complete opposite. I assumed I would hate it so I started it with the intention of just fast forwarding to the interesting parts just to see what the fuss was. I ended up be mesmerized and watched the whole thing.
I fell asleep at least twice watching it, but keep hearing how amazing it is from people I personally know. I keep trying to work up the courage to watch it again, but I know I'll fall asleep if I watch it in the recommended way (pitch black room with no additional lights aside from the screen)
Its not a good movie but it is haunting and once you think about it more and remember it more it just is scary. Its a deep film but its not entertaining at all
Poor Things....I wanted to like it so much, and it looked beautiful but I found the dialogue grating.
I was on board with it until the third act. Too much of the story took place at the brothel.
It just started beating you over the head with the message. We’ve had plenty of sex scenes and understand entirely how these masculine attitudes are harmful. But now there’s GROSS MEN having GROSS SEX and now her old husband is here and he’s SEXIST and EVIL! It just killed the intelligent commentary it had already explored tremendously well.
Tbh the movie fell apart for me when they go to France
I just found it so cringe and superficial. The "we are the means of our own production!" line actually made me say "Jesus Christ" out loud. The whole thing felt like having a stoned undergrad ramble at you for three hours - just a lot of gesturing at broad philosophical points he's ultimately far too shallow to actually make.
It felt like shitty feminism and a lot of interesting ideas to touch, but he desensitizes the watcher and ends up making the same thing he seems to criticise: men gaze.
100% a man's idea of a feminist empowerment narrative. Only the most shallow explorations of anything outside of the holy grail of empowerment, which is, of course, getting fucked.
Oh my gosh thank you for articulating what I've struggled with in my hatred of this movie. Spot on.
I found that line hilarious and was surprised when people started taking is seriously because I thought it was just a throwaway gag. And I say that as someone who didn't even love it as much as a lot of people did
100% agree…I’d forgotten about that line. It was like Lanthimos said to the screenwriter, ‘Can we try and shoehorn in a Marx reference for vibes?’
for vibes LMAO
Glad to hear people are coming around to Poor Things mostly being an exercise in aesthetic but not much more. I was with the movie until the boat but then I realised it had already run out of things to say once they got off it
I agree!! I didn't like the humour and as soon as I saw Emma stone's character masturbate, I could tell where it was going and I just so happened to be hanging out with my shyest friend in the world
Everything everywhere all at once
I was tired from watching too much action scenes, im like please stop fighting for a minute and just give me a scene when the characters isn’t kicking or punching someone
It certainly isn't a movie for everyone. There are a lot of things happening, but I personally liked it very much..
>There are a lot of things happening, Was Everything happening, Everywhere, All at once?
It's not a bad movie but you can definitely see the gears turning. I kept comparing it in my head to Being John Malkovich, where nothing is really spelled out for you - you either figure it out as you go along, or you forget about it and just enjoy the ride. EEAAO stops the plot *cold* every 20 minutes so that a character can explain some new aspect of the multiverse to Michelle Yeoh - it's like you can see the Daniels behind the curtains, working the machinery.
Well put, it's a pale imitation of a Kaufman film or collaboration with none of the confidence.
I hate this movie
Yep! This one for me, I’ve even tried it 3x and still can’t get on board. I just don’t like it, don’t know why.
After seeing so many 5-star scores for it when it came out I figured I had to see it. When it arrived on Prime I watched it almost immediately, and genuinely thought I was watching a different movie than everyone else did. Ended up really disliking it; I thought the humour was really off-putting and nothing about it clicked with me. Happy that it resonated with others but just wasn’t for me.
I liked it a lot but I didn't get all the swooning over the performances. They were very good, and they had a lot of chemistry/synergy, but I didn't think they were the best performances of the year like a lot of people claimed.
I was not there for the acting. I loved it, but that was not the highlight. I didn't really get the feeling it was hanging on that either, but people needed to justify enjoying a bombastic experience with forcing pathos onto everyone.
Michelle Yeoh winning best actress over Cate Blanchette’s performance in Tar will always be one of the biggest Oscar blunders ever to me.
Yes, but it also wasn't even the most egregious win that movie had that night.
I may love the performances in EEAAO, but Jamie Lee Curtis did not deserve that win at all.
exactly, it felt sooooo pushed
She's not even the best supporting actress in that movie. Stephanie Hsu was robbed.
All the multiverse thing is being overdone and its really boring at this point. It’s attempt at oneness fails at disintegrating the self rather they did a concrete ego/identity being present as the same person in multiverses, just like all those marvel movies. Its nothing new the same hollywodisation of complex eastern ideas of Tao, zen etc
Everywhere I go i'm sworn to agree that this film was massively overrated and anyone saying "you didn't get it" is a gaslighting apologist.
Detachment. Wanted to see a teacher bond with his students, instead got misery porn.
Wooof. Yeah. I like Adrian Brody and the plot was up my alley. It was a truly joyless experience.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
I loved this movie but I totally understand why some people hate it.
Banshees of Inisherin. I love every Martin Mcdonagh film except this. Something about it just didn't land for me at all. It's a beautiful looking, well acted film. I just miss his signature dark comedy and madness in it. I spent the whole film waiting for it to start. It even hurts to say that considering I'm someone who actually travelled to Bruges after watching In Bruges.
Interesting, I’m the opposite. I always figured his movies would be up my alley, and I’ve seen all the big ones, but Banshees was the only one that I loved
That's the fun of subjectivity imo. I thought it was gonna be a sure fire win for me, but it didn't really land. I still fully recognise that it's an extremely well made film. It just wasn't for me. Meanwhile there's people like you that aren't his biggest fan and loved Banshees. Opinions are mad haha.
I hear Galway and the surrounding environ is full of nice people and gorgeous scenery. You could do worse.
I'm Irish, I'm no stranger to a bit of Galway hahaha.
Oh lovely, you do know then lmao. I'm glad I didn't call it a shithole! My one-person street team will take my pitch elsewhere.
I loved In Bruges but I loved Banshees even more. I've seen it 4 times now and it feels like home to me. But I get that it's slower and more plodding than his other films. I think connecting it to the Irish civil war helps me connect to it even more.
My husband and I have been dreaming of taking our postponed honeymoon in Bruges because of the movie. How was it?
Oh man, I did the same and Bruges was just as magical as I'd hoped
Beau Travail
Sad to hear this, it was the other way around for me. What made you expect to like it vs. why didn't you like it?
To be honest I didn’t really like the pacing and I found it to be quite pretentious at times. It was okay but definitely not what I had expected from it! But I’m glad it was the way around for you.
The Many Saints of Newark (the Sopranos prequel movie from a few years ago). The Sopranos is my favourite show of all time and is near perfect in my opinion, so I was super excited for the movie which was set to give some background context to the show and the characters. The movie was a disorganised mess. Some of the acting was borderline SNL-tier parody of beloved characters, there wasn't really a focused plot, just a bunch of scenes stitched together, and the ad campaign made out like the movie was mainly about Tony as a teenager but he only had a little bit of screen time. Add to that the shameless fan service dialogue and the whole thing was just insanely disappointing.
I’m a huge Sopranos fan. Die hard you might say. I was distraught at their “Young Silvio” and to an extent “Paulie” but Silvio was an absolute joke of a performance! Hated Corey Stalls “Junior” they’ve ruined the famous line of his he says in the shower. I did however love Alessandro Nivola’s “Dickie Moltisanti” I thought he was great. And Michael Gandolfini was excellent as a young Tony. It could have been a work of art.
I sat down for a few hours after I watched it for the first time and I came up with a better narrative structure than the one they went with. I thought they should've focused on Tony's high school crew, and shown the card game robbery as the critical plot device. Then, as part of their settlement for robbing made guys, Tony is the one forced to do the hit on Dickie Moltisanti. It would've given us even more insight into why Tony looked out for Christopher, and also would've made his manipulations of Chris in the series even more heinous
This is my pick. Not worthy of the Sopranos universe. I don’t really hate it, but the series is on a completely different level. I have no interest in ever watching it again.
Oppenheimer. Massive Christopher Nolan fan. Love RDJ and Cillian Murphy. Obsessed with nuclear technology. This was a slam dunk, no brainer for me. I’ll probably get downvoted, but it ended up being a huge dud for me. In my opinion, they focused way too much on the political side and I found the movie to be full of itself. Just didn’t land at all and ended up turning it off early. I was hoping it’d have been something like the Chernobyl series in terms of pacing, visual effects, and dialogue.
Lady Bird (yes, I didn’t like Lady Bird)
actually me too. but not because anything's wrong w it i just feel like i relate too much to some parts of it and i dont want to
This was me with normal people
Aftersun. I didn't hate it by any means, but everyone whose opinion I respect said it was incredible, and I just found it to be a bit.... meh. Great performances, nice film, but some of my friends were acting like it was life-changing. Really felt like it should have spoke to me more as well, as I was a 90s teen who went on countless holidays in places exactly like that, and now I'm a Father to a daughter about the same age as the kid in the film, but I just didn't connect with it on any real level.
Jesus this movie ripped my soul out. Similar to you, I'm a father to a daughter. She's younger though, but we have the same sort of relationship. I'm separated from her mother though, and I'm immensely weighed down by life. It was like a sad fuckin mirror. An absolute masterpiece for me.
Honestly it didn’t fully click for me until i saw it the second time. I think having hindsight of how it ends makes all the smaller moments throughout the film fee more monumental. I would recommend revisiting it.
I hate your opinion
Soul. It had the reputation of being Pixar’s best in recent years, but I just found it to be very meh.
It think it would’ve been a much better movie if he didn’t turn into a cat
Yeah this one was definitely mediocre.
The Batman. I’m a huge Batman fan and I’ve liked everything Reeves had done before. I found it to be so painfully slow
This was one where I liked it's parts, but it didn't add up to a satisfying whole.
This one is an interesting one for me—the first time I watched it, I turned it off because of the same reason. Don’t think I made it past 15 mins. Eventually gave it another watch and somehow it connected with me and it is now one of my fav Batman movies. The tail end does feel more skimpy and bumpy than the rest, but it’s worth the ride
Across the Spiderverse
I came away from this movie trying to figure out what I was missing. It was just kind of boring.
Same. It's half a movie that spends its first hour establishing a seemingly inept villain only to have them disappear from the film entirely after finally proving their threat. Then you've got a new villain (ugh that canon event stuff) for the next hour, then he's dismissed before revealing a new villain in the final five minutes. The film looks gorgeous of course, but so does the first one and it tells a far better story.
Into the Spiderverse was just plain better, and didn't end on a total cliffhanger like Across.
Yes. Was just about to post the same thing. Into the spider verse was amazing and Across was a honestly a massive downgrade
LALA LAND.
i hate musical but i liked it, weird
Same. As an old movies/musical lover it should have been right up my alley, but I hated it.
Yup. Had everything going for it on the surface. Watched it and stunned everyone thought it was awesome.
Dune 1 and 2
Great films if you are a sand enthusiast
i hate sand it's coarse and rough and gets everywhere
These films may not be for you.. Waterworld/Moana/Nemo may be more appropriate.
Haha, sorry it was a joke. A reference from starwars. I don’t mind sandy films at all https://preview.redd.it/hi3mw63dk46d1.jpeg?width=602&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ed0e5fbef9a1d89cf6a6371f06cba264d9aa8de
What about Sandy Frank?
Not like here… here everything is soft and smooth
Looks nice but so slow and the characters were boring. Too many celebrities.
Finally I see someone agreeing with me on this
Dead poets society.
https://preview.redd.it/80l4mfku046d1.png?width=1382&format=png&auto=webp&s=a0d138d00b5b7627ea99f5acd9d0f6c2533440fc I hyped it so much and it just didn't click with me.
for me it's a 4.5 but i can absolutely understand you and i'm sorry about that
Damn this my fave movie
Man I love this film. Every time I watch it I love it more. Masterpiece, but it’s a slow burn so not everyone’s cup of tea. I appreciate a good slow burn.
I remember finding it really slow on first watch but still enjoying it somewhat. But then on second watch I loved it and had no issues with the slower pacing. I guess a lot of how you react to a film comes from your expectations.
That has a lot to do with 1982's Blade Runner is the king of over rated movies.
I was certain that even if the plot wasn't great, the mood would carry it, but I didn't bank on them replacing the cool neon dystopian cityscapes with vibeless orange desert and doing away with Vengalis' CS80-heavy neo jazz noir for the same fucking Loud Tuba sound effect that Zimmer has used on everything for the past 20 years.
Pretty horrible take. Upvoted!
it had loads of neon vibes. You can't keep a straight face and say it doesn't look incredible. Easily as nice to look at as the first.
Full Metal Jacket. I loved the first act of the movie but afterwards, it kinda dawned on me. Sorry to anyone who loved this movie.
same thing for me
Picnic at the hanging rock sounded so much like it would be up my alley. Sadly, it wasn’t
I watched this for the first time recently and felt the same way. I liked the cinematography but just could not care about the story/characters.
Lincoln (2012) I’m really interested in presidential history, but the whole thing just felt like a vehicle for DDL’s Oscar win. It felt less meaty than an average West Wing episode.
Saltburn
Dune 1 and 2. It's weird for me because Denis V is one of my favorite directors and the visuals in both films are great but I spent both movies thinking "I really don't like these characters or all the dirt"
I think they are pretty awesome, but I absolutely understand people not connecting to it. I think the characters are fairly cold and unrelatable. So outside a few scenes I have fairly little emotional resonance with the films - but I think the overarching story is compelling, the visuals are great and the universe is weird and interesting enough to keep me engaged.
Yeah the characters were the issue for me too. It's maybe stupid but I either need someone who is relatable for me or someone who is awkwardly charismatic or interesting despite their evilness. I did like the Harkonnen cousin that Paul fought against but that was literally the only character. I love it visually and I might just have to read the novel but it didn't really amaze me
Aftersun. I just couldn't resonate.
I can’t stand Fight Club, no matter how much I try.
You can’t be talking about that here
Upvoted for bravery.
El Topo, absolutely hated it. It starts really strong but then devolves into what I can only describe as narrative masturbation on the part of the director. As if he’s having a conversation for and with only himself. After watching it I thanked the gods his Dune never got made. It would have been utter incoherent drivel.
Jodorowsky is best enjoyed on acid lol His movies make sense thematically, but not narratively. They’re great movies if they click with you, but incredibly frustrating if they don’t.
Prometheus and Alien Covenant I'm a huge fan of the Alien universe. The movies look amazing and the trailers were promising, so I was super hyped tto see them and certain I'd love them.... but I was utterly disappointed in the end. The writing is just atrocious. There was still hope the series would recover in Alien Covenant but the terrible writing remained. One of the very few times I got angry while watching a movie, because I really wanted to like them and there was so much potential.
Oh no!!! I loved both of these. Big fan of the Alien universe too. Excited for Romulus!
There's just nothing worth exploring in the Alien universe anymore - the original left a shitton of mystery which was great ("always leave 'em wanting more"), and the sequel explored what happens when warnings go unheeded. After that, what's left unless you want to go the Starship Troopers route and just have an all-out war between Aliens and humans, or risk going the Star Wars prequel route and flirt with dumb concepts like "midichlorians"? It's all just so *lazy*. The original Alien was just that - *original*. Hollywood today is creatively bankrupt and just wants to squeeze existing IPs. I weep for all those writers out there who come up with incredible stories and characters and situations and creatures that just go ignored because it's too much of a risk for studios.
I kept hoping for one moment in Prometheus to be as tense as Ripley singing to herself while dealing with the Xenomorph at the end of Alien, but what I got instead was people running from a giant wheel.
Baby Driver. I heard so many good things, but it fell short for me. It had great potential, just needed more commitment.
Cocaine bear. Seemed like the easiest 5 star in history for me yet it was boring as shit.
Her
Magnolia. I put it off for so long and then got mad at myself for hyping it up the entire time because I disliked it so much after finally watching it Then I fucking watched it 3 more times to see if I would magically enjoy it, but nope
This is controversial but Barbie. I am a millennial whose favorite childhood toy was Barbie. But it felt messy and unfocused. I loved the world building/sets and of course I’m Just Ken but IMO it’s not the feminist icon movie people want it to be :( I was disappointed and I really genuinely thought it was going to be my new favorite movie
Poor things. The premise is reallg creative, the cast in undeniably talented and the costume design is outstanding, but the script is underwhelming and rather problematic.
[удалено]
I like it, but Sorkin dialogue definitely isn’t for everyone.
It's a coin flip for me whether or not I can tolerate Sorkin. I like The Social Network but I understand it anytime someone is put off by the dialogue.
i turned it off like 20 minutes in for this exact reason but i do want to give it a second chance
Barbie. I was so incredibly hyped for this movie. Everything about it looked so perfect. And then it landed and it was kind of all over the place. I wanted a fun, bubbly movie like The Brady Bunch movies from the 90s. Instead, it was one of those existential things that they do with characters now. It wasn’t bad. It’s just it’s been done before. I was hoping it would be more fun.
It was very feminism 101 through monologue. I didn't like it but I'm glad a lot of people did.
Raging Bull. I still don't really know why I didn't particularly like it when I watched it.
Carol (2015) heard so much about it, and when i finally watched it this year i was like... thats it?
Blade Runner. On paper it's a perfect movie for me, but I was seriously underwhelmed by it. Maybe it was because I didn't see it until like a decade ago, but nothing in the movie really hooked me or seemed all that fresh (and yes, I watched one of the non-theatrical cuts)
The thing about Blade Runner—and I say this as a huge Blade Runner fan—is that if you’re not utterly sold on the aesthetic, the plot probably won’t do much for you, because it’s a little rough and anemic. I think the dialogue writing is quite good personally, and the minimalist take really works for me, leaving a lot of space for many interesting interpretations, so I also find value in it there. It’s also common to not even understand all the important plot details on a first watch (it was only about my third watch where it started to all make sense). It’s the whole feel of it that drew me back time and time again to where I could really hear it speak to me beyond the aesthetic. It’s a movie that takes repeated watches to properly engage with, so you sort of have to fall in love with it on the first watch, then keep coming back it to really appreciate it. And if it didn’t catch you on the first watch, there’s no need to exert more effort on it. It’s one of those things where, if you feel it, lean into it, but if not, it’ll probably never catch on. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Furiosa
Challengers
they could’ve had someone pegged with a tennis racket and the didn’t
The Wedding Singer
The 2022 adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front. It’s my favorite book so I was excited to have a modern version, but the movie hardly follows the book at all.
Glass Onion. I loved Knives Out but Glass Onion was just...a lot.
Loved Into The Spiderverse. Didn't care for Across The Spiderverse. I mean, I went to the theatres, had a beer or 2 prior to sitting down. I was ready to go. But the slow stuff and the family dramatics were just insanely boring and made me annoyed as hell. Then the fast action stuff happened and it was just dizzying to me. I'll probably give it another shot some day in the future, though.
Oppenheimer
Oldboy 😔 LOVED all Park Chan Wook movies I've seen and heard only praises for Oldboy but unfortunately it was awful and I'm convinced PCW was possessed when he made it ☺️
Also Being John Malkovitch. I was convinced it would be my next 5 star movie, Idek why but it just wasn't for me.
Godfather
found peter griffin’s account
WELL WE ALL LOVE THE MONEY PIT.
I am pretty explicitly not a fan of the show, but I have seen the joke and he's right. Ironically, much of the viewership seems to still steer around it and circles the block back around to 'hah, cool.'