Topic: Movies you hate (Read 24281 times)

coldcut · « **on:** 20 Oct 2005, 03:36 »

I read the top part of the news post before the actual comic, and I was so irrationally convinced that jeph was referring to Armageddon, i.e. that asteroid movie with Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler.

God I hate that movie. I think the scene that best sums the whole thing up is when they blow open the "crashed" shuttle with a gatling gun that happens to be mounted on the front of this giant lunar rover. I had seen the gatling gun in a prior scene. I had thought, "what the hell do they need a gatling gun for on the moon?" At best it's useless weight. At worst it's going to tumble said moon rover all over the surface of whatever astronomical body it's landed on via Newton's Third Law. And let's say they do run into some sort of, I don't know, 12 point space deer or other that does need shooting. It's not going to need shooting at 3000 rounds a second!!!

And so here they blow open a space shuttle with a gatling gun. At this point, they've violated enough laws of physics to make the creators of Silverhawks a little edgy, but they just keep managing to surprise me, because at this point, the bullets don't just go in a straight and puncture holes, as bullets tend to do, but actually blow out an entire wall of orbiter. Apparently, the thing was loaded with explosive rounds, which makes even less sense!

Aaargh, that movie drives me nuts! And not in the good, pirate-with-a-steering-wheel way.

ForteBass · « **Reply #1 on:** 20 Oct 2005, 05:43 »

I'm fairly certain that, despite Jeph's bringing it up in the newspost, this still belongs in the Movies/TeeVee/Books forum. Thanks.

happybirthdaygelatin · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 Oct 2005, 09:41 »

Oh man, do the way they show lasers and explosions in space in Star Wars and other movies annoy you?

Not me, really. They strike me as going against a lot of known science. This thread could use some movin'.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #3 on:** 20 Oct 2005, 13:05 »

I would say any movie with Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen in it is on my list. I have already seen more then any person should.

Not An Addict · « **Reply #4 on:** 20 Oct 2005, 14:21 »

American Beauty. It's like spending two hours under an anvil.

Kid Modernist · « **Reply #5 on:** 20 Oct 2005, 14:27 »

Man, can we please cut the elitist bullshit of saying what we hate? It's so tiring. This culture of "dislike" being more present than "like" is completely retarded and of no use.

It just engenders bad moods and hurt feelings and flames. Come on people.

I mean, come on.

Switchblade · « **Reply #6 on:** 20 Oct 2005, 15:25 »

^
|

Wisdom he speaks. Heed him you will. Yes.

noise_wave · « **Reply #7 on:** 20 Oct 2005, 16:29 »

I'd say a lot of those Hillary Duff and Lindsey Lohan movies are pretty lame. Come on, that remake of Cinderella? A pretty damn bad movie if you ask me.

Not An Addict · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Oct 2005, 10:32 »

Quote from: Kid Modernist

Man, can we please cut the elitist bullshit of saying what we hate? It's so tiring.

Normally I'd agree with you, but I think movie-bashing is therapeutic, especially if you hate movies that everyone around you seems to love. Music-bashing is a lot more nebulous, since it's hard to explain exactly why a certain band moves you while another makes your teeth grind.

Switchblade · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Oct 2005, 16:05 »

I can't honestly claim to hate a movie. I have never watched a movie I didn't enjoy for sufficiently long to grow to hate it... I either change channel, go find something else to do, or, in one case (American Pie: the Wedding) left the cinema.

I guess I think that bitching about movies you didn't like afterwards is counter-productive. I'd rather keep the endorphins flowing.

ImRonBurgundy? · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 Oct 2005, 18:23 »

Christmas With the Kranks. i wanted to bash my head into the seat in front of me until i lost consciousness.

insert silly name here · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 Oct 2005, 19:03 »

The next person to quote Napolean Dynamite gets chopped in half and Gordy was just terrible, and should be stricken from our collective memories forever.

Bunnyman · « **Reply #12 on:** 21 Oct 2005, 22:48 »

Moulin Rouge. Fucking Evil.

Daniel · « **Reply #13 on:** 21 Oct 2005, 23:51 »

Quote from: Bunnyman

Moulin Rouge. Fucking Evil.

What? How? It's so delightful.

Only movies I'd really say I'd hate would be Van Helsing and AvP - they both had potential to be so totally awesome, but instead were so totally ass-sucking.

Oh, and I've never seen a movie worse then Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4: The Next Generation.

Coolhanderik · « **Reply #14 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 00:53 »

there was a time when I didn't hate Napolean Dynamite, but everyone being so obsessed with it has just annoyed me to the point where I don't like the movie, also the dawn of the dead remake is possibly my most hated movie ever, even if I didn't love the original I'd still hate it, because it was fucking stupid, it had no character development, and it wasn't very gory, and zombies were more athletic dead then they could ever be alive

Daniel · « **Reply #15 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 01:13 »

Athletic in that they... ran?

I quite liked the DotD remake, it was stylish, and a lot more gory than most modern horror movies are. And there were lots of zombies. Lots of zombies = goodness.

GebStar · « **Reply #16 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 01:59 »

Quote from: Coolhanderik

there was a time when I didn't hate Napolean Dynamite, but everyone being so obsessed with it has just annoyed me to the point where I don't like the movie,

I saw it with a few friends when it first came out in the movies. I enjoyed it for its merits, and said "yes, this is a decent movie". Then five months later it's on the American movie awards and then the next thing you know every dumb fuck and his goat is quoting this movie claiming it to be the greatest movie since, fucking crossroads, i don't know.

Speaking of crossroads i don't like musical celebrities making their own movies, most of the time it needs to be decent to get by, but crossroads, glitter, and that nsync movie, all terrible.

Also, Honey and You got served, shit me to tears, arghh.

dessa · « **Reply #17 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 03:50 »

i hate donnie darko, wow stupid relativity meaning!!!
that makes people think they are smart, when they are all just terribly mediocre like me.

McTaggart · « **Reply #18 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 07:16 »

Quote from: Not An Addict

American Beauty. It's like spending two hours under an anvil.

and

Quote from: Bunnyman

Moulin Rouge. Fucking Evil.

No. Just... no.

American Beauty really struck a chord with me. The way the rest of my family got all uncomfortable and left just drove the point home like a 10 lb mallet. I'm not arguing the fact that it's like spending two hours under an anvil, it was just like that in a good way.

Moulin Rouge was just delightfully silly. Almost painfully so in places, but it was fun.

IronOxide · « **Reply #19 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 08:26 »

I agree completely, I loved both of those movies.

I do say that LXG, AvP, and Van Helsing were all some of the greatest disappointments ever.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #20 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 14:59 »

But Van Helsing is so awesome! I've lost it now, but I once wrote a 101 point defence of it as quality entertainment. Although I think I used the point 'Fucking DRACULA' at least 5 times. I have a thing for silly action movies, and silly action + vampires + random plot + lots of classic horror references + vampires versus werewolves action is serious winnage.

shrimp · « **Reply #21 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 15:18 »

I agree with Khar... random silly movies can be great. I liked Van Helsing, the hubby ALMOST kiled me for saying I liked it.. but mih, marmite?

I HATE Rom-Coms. They make my eyes bleed, theyre as bad as BIG tearfests that are deemed "chick flicks". EUGH! An example would be Beaches with bette midler. Kill ME!

I wasn't a big fan of American Beauty.. It just didn't "do it for me". I don't hate it, but I won't change the channel to watch it.

I really really really disliked Tomb Raider Mainly due to the action film notion of a leading bad ass lady. Or MAY have been because the hubby was drooling...

Daniel · « **Reply #22 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 22:35 »

Quote from: KharBevNor

But Van Helsing is so awesome! I've lost it now, but I once wrote a 101 point defence of it as quality entertainment. Although I think I used the point 'Fucking DRACULA' at least 5 times. I have a thing for silly action movies, and silly action + vampires + random plot + lots of classic horror references + vampires versus werewolves action is serious winnage.

It should have been scientifically impossible to make a movie with all these elements and make it bad... worse than bad, they made it boring. It could have been so cool, but it wasn't even entertaining in it's badness... I dozed off while watching it. In the middle of the afternoon.

Quote from: shrimp

I really really really disliked Tomb Raider Mainly due to the action film notion of a leading bad ass lady.

...huh?

Bunnyman · « **Reply #23 on:** 22 Oct 2005, 23:57 »

Quote from: shrimp

I really really really disliked Tomb Raider Mainly due to the action film notion of a leading bad ass lady.[/size]

I think the problem here is that the bad ass leading lady ends up being trite and unwatchable. Pity, so much potential.

On something of a tangent, I hated SWAT so much I wrote a multi-page (and poorly edited) critique of everything it fucked up. Still on the internet, somewhere.

JLM · « **Reply #24 on:** 23 Oct 2005, 10:39 »

Quote from: Bunnyman

Moulin Rouge. Fucking Evil.

Not evil. Just juvenile. And not juvenile in the Dude, Where's My Car? way.

I also agree on Donnie Darko. Talk about a movie that was trying too hard.

Oh, and even though I never saw it, I hate What the !$@#$ Do We Know?! on Principle, since i don't believe that cult propaganda films should be allowed to be mass market released like that. (See also Battlefield Earth).

Switchblade · « **Reply #25 on:** 23 Oct 2005, 11:14 »

Quote from: Daniel

It should have been scientifically impossible to make a movie with all these elements and make it bad... worse than bad, they made it boring. It could have been so cool, but it wasn't even entertaining in it's badness... I dozed off while watching it. In the middle of the afternoon.

Now, see, I really enjoyed that film. There is no way in hell that it's ever going to win an academy award, but come on! it has an assault crossbow, a hot chick in a corset, and vampires. Vampires are inherently cool.

Come to think of it, I genuinely enjoy ever single one of the films that have been mentioned thus far.

One movie that comes closest to earning my hatred is "Eraserhead". I'd heard so many people talking about that film in almost reverent tones, and then when I finally came around to watching it... it really fucking sucked. It's just long stretches of absolutely nothing happening while loads of really irritating noises play in the background, briefly interspersed with short sequences that are apparently weird purely for the sake of being weird. And the sound NEVER STOPS. there's always an irritating noise playing - cars, trains, steam pipes, babies, rattles, clanks, thumps, bangs, squeaks, groans... after a while it just bored straight down into a corner of my brain that really wanted to rip the TV off the wall and throw it in front of a train. And then go lie on a beach at midnight.

seriously, look at me: I'm getting really worked up over a film that I watched six months ago and swore to avoid from then on.

Perhaps I just have lowbrow tastes, but I prefer a movie where something - anything at all - is happening for more than 60% of the time, and where the stuff that happens actually makes some kind of sense. That's probably why I never fit in with my Film Studies class...

shrimp · « **Reply #26 on:** 23 Oct 2005, 11:18 »

I guess lady should have been "lady". In general female roles of that type are written more to appeal to the males in the audience and thus tend to be big breasted females with guns. Now I know Lara Croft in the game was written like that, cause only teenage boy gamers are targetted. I guess it's more a complaint in general about that type of casting, plus the fake boobies she had to wear.

At least she wasn't too scantily clad...

It just goes against my wee feminist that lives in my brain... she reckons that to beat the baddies you don't need HUGE boobs and you don't need to sleep with randomers to get closer to the target. Yes for stealth reasons your clothes may need to be tightish, but NOT spraypainted on. Plus long hair is just an EASY target... Especially if its in a NICE BIG THICK braid, grab hold and beat that bitch's face in easy-peasy.

Mih... I still stop my hatred of Jolie there...

Peet · « **Reply #27 on:** 23 Oct 2005, 15:55 »

Revenge of the Sith.

Actually, perhaps not. It wasn't very good. It was godawful. But I can't quite bring myself to hate it. It's got lightsabers and spaceships and lasers and fighting and jumping and that awsome lizard thing Obi Wan rides and the jedi robot and I digress.

But there are some bits of it that are terrible. Why does the jedi robot cough? Why is Padme still pregnant at her funeral? And why in the name of all that is holy did Darth Vader shout "NOOOOOOO"

I hate the fact that it could have been really good. I hate that George Lucas couldn't let someone else write it. I'd like to hate the film, but I just can't bring myself to.

EDIT!!!!!!!

I am also from Notts, England Shrimp. Do I know you?

Praeserpium Machinarum · « **Reply #28 on:** 23 Oct 2005, 16:15 »

Blade 3: Trinity

I don't hate this film but it ranks among the worst I have seen, it was so abysmal that it was laughable. I was of the opinion that they shouldn't have the first movie but then they went and made it a trilogy. Which may have been one of worst decisions in the history of film making, if it wasn't so mindbogglingly common. Even Underworld was better, now that is a feat.

Switchblade · « **Reply #29 on:** 23 Oct 2005, 16:58 »

TRIVIA MODE ACTIVATED

Quote from: Astaldo

Why does the jedi robot cough?

According to the official "Star Wars" canon, In the "Clone Wars" animated series by Cartoon Network, General Grievous was a recurring character (he's not actually a jedi, he's a biomechanical droid who, despite not being force sensitive, has trained himself to use lightsabers). He suffered something of a defeat at the hands of Mace Windu, who used the force to crush his torso. The damage to his respiratory system (although he had an internal reservoir of air, he still needed to breath to keep his organic components oxygenated) never really healed, leaving him with a permanent wheezing cough.

Quote

Why is Padme still pregnant at her funeral?

Two things: firstly, there's apparently a deleted scene in which Yoda and Obi-Wan decide that she must still appear pregnant at the funeral so as to convince anakin/vader that the children were dead too.

the other thing is that, in the real world, it does take quite a long time for the appearance of pregnancy to fade. A woman who's only recently given birth will still have a distended abdomen. And that's assuming she's even alive for the normal healing process to kick in.

Quote

And why in the name of all that is holy did Darth Vader shout "NOOOOOOO"?

Because George Lucas writes terrible dialogue.

I personally thought it was roughly on a par with the "first" episode - namely episode 4, "A New Hope". not as good as Empire or Jedi, better than Phantom Menace and Clones. Still, I can honestly claim to like ALL of the SW films.

As for blade trinity - it's not supposed to be any good. They deliberately went OTT. That's why I enjoyed it so much - it was very unashamedly hokum.

ImRonBurgundy? · « **Reply #30 on:** 23 Oct 2005, 17:17 »

i heard something about Tom Stoppard helping George Lucas out with the dialogue in Episode III. to which i immediately responded with, "WHAT?!?"

Bunnyman · « **Reply #31 on:** 23 Oct 2005, 17:22 »

RonBurgundy, you just broke my brain.

Quote from: Switchblade

One movie that comes closest to earning my hatred is "Eraserhead". I'd heard so many people talking about that film in almost reverent tones, and then when I finally came around to watching it... it really fucking sucked. It's just long stretches of absolutely nothing happening while loads of really irritating noises play in the background, briefly interspersed with short sequences that are apparently weird purely for the sake of being weird. And the sound NEVER STOPS. there's always an irritating noise playing - cars, trains, steam pipes, babies, rattles, clanks, thumps, bangs, squeaks, groans... after a while it just bored straight down into a corner of my brain that really wanted to rip the TV off the wall and throw it in front of a train. And then go lie on a beach at midnight.

Wow, now I really want to see that movie. Then again, I *enjoyed* Tetsuo: The Iron Man, soooooo...

Quote from: shrimp

It just goes against my wee feminist that lives in my brain... she reckons that to beat the baddies you don't need HUGE boobs and you don't need to sleep with randomers to get closer to the target. Yes for stealth reasons your clothes may need to be tightish, but NOT spraypainted on. Plus long hair is just an EASY target... Especially if its in a NICE BIG THICK braid, grab hold and beat that bitch's face in easy-peasy.

Thank you shrimp, you stated what I was trying to say in a much, much more eloquent manner.

shrimp · « **Reply #32 on:** 23 Oct 2005, 17:35 »

Wait, what?

Um.. yeah glad to be of service.... (if I was)

My brain nearly broke when my sister was visiting and she made me watch "maid in manhatten" and thereatened with Gigli. J. Lo hurts my brain.

Daniel · « **Reply #33 on:** 24 Oct 2005, 02:02 »

Quote from: Switchblade

TRIVIA MODE ACTIVATED

Quote from: Astaldo
Why does the jedi robot cough?

According to the official "Star Wars" canon, In the "Clone Wars" animated series by Cartoon Network, General Grievous was a recurring character (he's not actually a jedi, he's a biomechanical droid who, despite not being force sensitive, has trained himself to use lightsabers). He suffered something of a defeat at the hands of Mace Windu, who used the force to crush his torso. The damage to his respiratory system (although he had an internal reservoir of air, he still needed to breath to keep his organic components oxygenated) never really healed, leaving him with a permanent wheezing cough.

All people who have not seen Clone Wars, should. It's like Star Wars, but it's actually good.

Quote from: noise_wave

I'd say a lot of those Hillary Duff and Lindsey Lohan movies are pretty lame. Come on, that remake of Cinderella? A pretty damn bad movie if you ask me.

Duff shoulda stuck with Lizzie McGuire. Not that was good television.

Quote from: JLM

Not evil. Just juvenile. And not juvenile in the Dude, Where's My Car? way.

...I like Dude, Where's My Car, as well.

...what's that you say? My credibility is fading, you say?

CHEESEGOD · « **Reply #34 on:** 25 Oct 2005, 20:20 »

Well, most movies I'd list I haven't seen. I won't mention them.

Some movies I have seen that I did not enjoy.

Armageddon
Van Helsing
The Hulk

sjbrot · « **Reply #35 on:** 25 Oct 2005, 22:51 »

I disliked King Midas. It's this really bad movie that was made by a bunch of former drug dealers. It is a pretty unintentionally funny movie, but that fact that the large black man with a golden shotgun (who appears on two different versions of the cover) isn't anywhere to be seen gets my goat.

Leonidas · « **Reply #36 on:** 26 Oct 2005, 05:35 »

Oh stop being so bloody touchy some of you....

I hated Armageddon. I thought it was absolute mince. It was a cliche ridden absolute waste of time. I was so tempted to walk out of the cinema I was so sick of being left feeling frustrated at the sheer nonsense (which was trying to be serious) that was developing in front of mey eyes. The only reason I didn't was for some reason my ex girlfriend whom I was with was enjoying it.....!

Inlander · « **Reply #37 on:** 26 Oct 2005, 07:00 »

I hate Fight Club. Yes, that's right. Brilliantly acted, directed, and designed . . . but the central idea behind it is just so repugnant to me. I mean, the way I interpreted it, it essentially seemed to be saying that men could only truly become men by beating the living shit out of each other. This is the equivalent of a film saying women will not be truly happy until they accept that their role in life is to cook all the food and do all the housework. The vision of masculinity presented in Fight Club is such an objectionably narrow and retrograde one that I just can't relate to it at all. It's completely at odds with the way I was raised, and what I understand masculinity to be, which is essentially generous in spirit. Ugh.

And before anyone asks, no, I haven't read the book.

Meh. Whatever you say... · « **Reply #38 on:** 26 Oct 2005, 18:34 »

Quote from: *insert silly name here*

The next person to quote Napolean Dynamite gets chopped in half and should be stricken from our collective memories forever.

I LOVE YOU.

I saw the movie before it was really popular, and I thought it was stupid and pointless and retarted, but it had some good humor to it.

Then everyone started quoting it.

It got kind of annoying, but I still thought the movie was remotely funny.

Then everyone started wearing the shirts and merchandise and buying anything to do with it.

Man, I hate that movie now.

</3 Kerry

Not An Addict · « **Reply #39 on:** 26 Oct 2005, 22:04 »

Quote

American Beauty really struck a chord with me. The way the rest of my family got all uncomfortable and left just drove the point home like a 10 lb mallet.

Much like the rest of the film? It could have been handled with so much more subtlety, is what I'm saying. I hate screenplays that do all the thinking for you, particularly in so-called "artsy" movies like this one. The subtext becomes text. And that text gets yelled at top volume in full surround sound for ninety minutes.

Leonidas · « **Reply #40 on:** 27 Oct 2005, 03:21 »

Quote from: Meh. Whatever you say...

Quote from: *insert silly name here*
The next person to quote Napolean Dynamite gets chopped in half and should be stricken from our collective memories forever.

I LOVE YOU.

I saw the movie before it was really popular, and I thought it was stupid and pointless and retarted, but it had some good humor to it.
Then everyone started quoting it.
It got kind of annoying, but I still thought the movie was remotely funny.
Then everyone started wearing the shirts and merchandise and buying anything to do with it.
Man, I hate that movie now.

</3 Kerry

I knew this movie was going to suck as soon as I saw the Mtv symbol at the start. I hadn't realised before that Mtv had anything to do with it. As soon as I did, I knew that what I hoped would be an intelligent and funny film would just become something stupid.

I don't hate the movie, but I didn't think it was very good.

Merkava · « **Reply #41 on:** 27 Oct 2005, 14:03 »

Quote from: Inlander

I hate Fight Club. Yes, that's right. Brilliantly acted, directed, and designed . . . but the central idea behind it is just so repugnant to me. I mean, the way I interpreted it, it essentially seemed to be saying that men could only truly become men by beating the living shit out of each other. This is the equivalent of a film saying women will not be truly happy until they accept that their role in life is to cook all the food and do all the housework. The vision of masculinity presented in Fight Club is such an objectionably narrow and retrograde one that I just can't relate to it at all. It's completely at odds with the way I was raised, and what I understand masculinity to be, which is essentially generous in spirit. Ugh.

And before anyone asks, no, I haven't read the book.

I don't think that was the point of the movie at all. I think it was dealing with the fact that all men have a violent side and that we should embrace it, before it becomes an entity all it's own.

Of course, I haven't seen the movie in a while.

NaA: You don't /get/ art, do you?

Gryff · « **Reply #42 on:** 27 Oct 2005, 14:23 »

Regarding both Fight Club and American Beauty:

I love art that deals with extremes of human nature/emotion.

Fight Club is not suggesting that "men could only truly become men by beating the living shit out of each other". It's saying that, as Merkava points out, there is a violent side in all of us, whether we embrace it or not.

American Beauty was saying that people should stop being so goddamn subtle all the time and actually live.

Switchblade · « **Reply #43 on:** 27 Oct 2005, 14:24 »

Quote from: Merkava

NaA: You don't /get/ art, do you?

I know I don't seem to. All the "art" films that everyone lauds as being really great just fail to score with me, but I genuinely enjoy about 60% or so of what Hollywood puts out.

No wonder I got an "E" in Film Studies.

Aphi · « **Reply #44 on:** 27 Oct 2005, 14:27 »

Quote from: Gryff

Fight Club is not suggesting that "men could only truly become men by beating the living shit out of each other". It's saying that, as Merkava points out, there is a violent side in all of us, whether we embrace it or not.

Has anyone else read an essay written by Stephen King about why we as people enjoy horror movies so much? I kind of think that Fight Club was the same general idea. Gotta keep them gators fed, or you'll have a problem. A pretty serious one.

Then again, I could just be rambling in a desperate effort to defend one of my favorite movies /ever/.

Gryff · « **Reply #45 on:** 27 Oct 2005, 14:38 »

Catharsis? I think that would definitely be an aspect of it.

Aphi · « **Reply #46 on:** 27 Oct 2005, 14:40 »

Ah, that's exactly what I meant! I just lost the word. Thank you. "Catharsis".

JLM · « **Reply #47 on:** 27 Oct 2005, 14:48 »

ok three more.

Happiness - Todd Solondz bets everyone that he could shoot a film of him taking a metaphorical 1.5 hour crap on celluloid and they would think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. He then releases Happiness. He wins.

Buffalo `66 - Vincent Gallo makes a movie about the city where he grew up, using it's losing football team and love of fatty foods (gasp! what originality!) as the backdrop for a lowlife loser who for some reason manages to stockholm syndrome a girl into actually thinking he's a worthwhile human being. Ends up unintentionally paralleling his own life. 17 year old Christina Ricci gets drunk off her ass and commits public urination at a local bar to deal. (wish I was making that last part up...)

Waking Life - Richard Linklater, still high off the fumes from Dazed and Confused, thinks he can stretch a half-hour short about the dreaming experience to an 80 minute movie with "trippy" animation and stoner metaphysics. People walk out of the theater during the premiere. Alt-news critics across the country proclaim the movie a "mind fuck" that people will be "tempted to see in altered states" and then insist that the film needs to be appreicated sober, thereby alienating any potential audience.

Inlander · « **Reply #48 on:** 27 Oct 2005, 18:17 »

Quote from: Merkava

Quote from: Inlander
(Rant about Fight Club)

I don't think that was the point of the movie at all.

I thought in this post-modern age the point of a work of art is whatever we, the viewer, make of it? Regardless, if nothing else this is a thread about opinions. What I wrote is what I took away from Fight Club, and no amount of telling me I'm wrong is going to change the fact that that's my overwhelming impression, and that I find it utterly repugnant.

Garcin · « **Reply #49 on:** 27 Oct 2005, 19:26 »

Man, I could go on and on. I'll do my best to keep it short. Just proffering my own opinion here; certainly not telling anyone that they are wrong about their's.

A very, very mentally ill narrator (Edward Norton), so closeted emotionally that his rage, sexuality, and most of his intellect is channelled into an alter ego, starts a cult wherein members find out that endorphins (natural doping chemicals released when you get hurt and when you fight) make them feel good. The cult members are the most alienated members of society, and identify themselves as such. Narrator, through his alter ego, proceeds to destroy buildings. His cure to his mental problems involves, not lithium, but shooting himself in the face.

I'm didn't leave that movie feeling that it endorsed the members of Fight Club or the narrator himself -- and certainly not the alter ego. These are truly limited people, who don't know how to properly rebel, and end up worshiping a figment of a delusional's imagination. I don't believe that Chuck Palahniuk created Norton's character to provide someone to identify with, beyond the fact that Norton is alienated and dissatisfied, and the reader/viewer might be alienated and dissatisfied. I believe that Palahniuk wrote Fight Club to shock and provoke, and the changes made in the movie certainly allowed it to accomplish that goal. Norton plays an anti-hero. While I don't believe authorial intent is everything, I do believe it is relevant. And yes, I am privy to the fact that enormous changes were made to the plot and characters of the book. Irregardless, the movie's "message" to me, was to be provocative, and beyond that, to mock the gullibility of the dumb and disenfranchised.

But to blame the movie for the idiots who inevitably walked out of it wanting to join a Fight Club? It never occurred to me. And interpreting to say something true about mens' violent sides? That would have involved identifying with the cult members which, again, never occurred to me.

End monologue.

On topic: I really disliked Magnolia. I thought it failed intellectually and artistically. I found Tom Cruise's performance to be neon polyester, and to this day can't figure out why it was critically acclaimed.

EDIT: Spelling.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Movies you hate (Read 24281 times)

coldcut

Not An Addict

Kid Modernist

noise_wave

Not An Addict

*insert silly name here*

Bunnyman

Daniel

Coolhanderik

Daniel

dessa

shrimp

Daniel

Bunnyman

shrimp

Praeserpium Machinarum

Bunnyman

shrimp

Daniel

CHEESEGOD

sjbrot

Meh. Whatever you say...

Not An Addict

Merkava

Aphi

Aphi

Garcin

insert silly name here