Friday Film Fun: Critically-acclaimed movies you loathe

Sideways -- wine, cheating, last fling, blah.

The English Patient -- Boring! And Ralph Fines will always be the villain in Schindler's List to me.

Magnolia -- Frogs raining from the sky?! wtf?!?!

------------------
life as i know it... ( http://skylarkd.blogspot.com )

Hey there,

I couldn't stand Fargo. I got it out on DVD and stopped it before wasting any more time. I just didn't get it and didn't want to get it. But I do that. If I don't like a film or a book I stop before I start arguing too much with it and waste too much time.

I find that heaps of the trailers for movies present good movies as crap and bad movies in an interesting way. I've given up on movie trailers and rely on Margaret and David of the Movie Show (the repeat because I just don't get to see it on Wednesday night).

I do have an aversion to guns and their use in films. Who needs guns? Farmers to kill imported vermin and not really anyone else. So why bother having them in films as something good (when there isn't anything good about them, look at the harm done through them to children in recent weeks)? When I see films like Dirty Harry or others of that ilk I just think "build a bridge and get over that ego and leave the gun on the other side". Too much violence without purpose is such a waste of life.

Yes, I'm one of those live and let live people and enjoy films that celebrate life. One I love is "Life is Beautiful" and that's acclaimed (wonder who doesn't like that one?). :)

Smiles
Belinda

Come visit my Jewelry Sale with Up to 40% Off! Great Fun! ( http://www.creativelybelle.com/sale/ )

My dad forced me to sit through 2001 when I was fifteen, as he asserted that it was a film "every educated person should see." Here's what I got out of three plus hours:

gorillas + black phallic symbol + narcissistic computer = fetus

Huh?

I also don't get the hype behind Forrest Gump. Things happen AT the pathetic Mr. Gump--he's not an active character at all.

Similarly, I hate Risky Business because the whole plot is built around Joel consistently making the WRONG choices, and miracle of miracles, it all works out for him in the end.

beachmommies.com ( http://www.beachmommies.com )

I never understood why so many women liked "Pretty Woman". They might as well have made a movie about Hugh Grant marrying Divine Brown!

None of you have enough time to read about all the Hollywood movies I've hated. (I like many more independent films, though not all.) The list of Hollywood movies I've liked would be a lot shorter.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen ( http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com )

Citizen Kane. I don't know why but I hated it.

Priya Ramachandran
Blogher Contributing Editor - South East Asia
Words on Water ( http://dckimaya.blogspot.com )

So many movies. So little space.

I loathed Pulp Fiction with ever fiber in my being. OMG I can't tell you how much I hate that movie. If I never hear that lame "royal with cheese" line again, it'll be too soon.

Also garnering my disdain: The Blair Witch Project, The English Patient, Batman, Kill Bill & it's sequel, and.. you ready.. The Lion King. Yup, The Lion King. I could keep going, but I already feel free.

I had to edit and add Psycho. I love Hitchcock, but I've always hated Psycho.

PhillyKat's Den ( http://phillykat.livejournal.com/ )

You didn't like Blair Witch??? It's one of the funniest comedies ever ... What? It's not meant to be a comedy? Ooooh..uh.. nevermind then.

Thank you Laura! Sideways rubbed me the wrong way for the same reasons.

Also on my list:

Godfather - I don't get the fascination with mobsters and the Mafia. And yes, I'm not a big fan of The Sopranos, either.

Forrest Gump - Too saccharine for me.

I've also never liked a single popular movie with Tom Cruise in it - long before he was ranting about psychopharmaceuticals and changing Katie's name to "Kate."

Annie
www.SmartatLove.com ( http://www.SmartatLove.com )

I have to say that at the top of my list is The Passion of the Christ. I really hated this movie. It was 2+ hours of uninterrupted violence and bloodshed; the movie never even really explained why they were doing this to the guy. I guess the audience is just supposed to know, which may be a fair assumption, but is it too much to ask for a little story telling with my gore? This movie would have been much more effective, and easier to watch, if they spent some time on some of Christ’s teachings rather than focusing on his end. About half way through this movie I felt like yelling, “Okay, I get it already!!! Can we just move on???” I wondered if this had more to do with sadistic fantasy than faith. The Passion of the Christ did not make me want to repent and return to Christ and the church. Actually this movie disgusted and repelled me.

Also on the list:
Blair Witch Project – it wasn’t scary, the camera work gave me a headache and I actually threw up after the movie (I tend to be pretty sensitive to motion sickness).
Million Dollar Baby – it started out as a really good movie that I enjoyed, but it should have ended about ½ hour before it actually did.
And, I really didn’t like Gone with the Wind : ) Scarlett got on my every last nerve and am I the only one who thinks Rhett raped her to conceive their daughter? How is that a romance?

English Patient -- thank you! Some good actors, but I felt like it was toy soldiers and soap opera. Anyone who's seen war movies from the era would sense immediately how false it all seemed -- or so I thought, until the reviews kept piling in.

Lord of the Rings -- The first one was so disappointing that after I fell asleep watching the second I never bothered to try to see the third. The books were great. The script managed to cut out all the mystery. The movie, with all that wall-to-wall music, was unbearable. Best picture?

Sideways -- It's not that it was a bad movie. It had its moments, for a quirky indie flick. But Oscar material? I wouldn't even mention it, but the hateful story that treated cheating, lying and betrayal as a joke really offended me.

Titanic -- Anything with Leonardi DiCaprio have trouble taking seriously. But I really had to take issue with the whole jealous lover with a gun thing. Can Hollywood studios make a movie without a gun anymore? As if a sinking ship didn't offer enough of a threat and enough death!

My Mom said she saw it in the theatre and just didn't buy those ladies running around on the deck in sundresses in the North Atlantic at night. I think she has a point.

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Sports and Fitness ( http://www.blogher.com/topic/sports-fitness )
Sarah and the Goon Squad ( http://sarahandthegoonsquad.com/ )
Draft Day Suit ( http://ronmexicosblog.blogspot.com/ )

I thought it was just me.

I feel less alone in the world. I mean: I know the ending...they all freeze and die. So do not want to see it.

Million Dollar Baby: hated it.
Brazil: Over-rated.
2001 Space Odyssey: Yawn.
Wim Wenders Wings of Desire: Pretty angels standing on rooftops. And circus people. Whatever.

But I too loves me some Purple Rain.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer and Worker Bees
elisa@blogher.org/elisa@workerbees.biz

I seriously wanted to walk out as I found it so boring, tedious and unbearable but I forced myself to stay because I saw it post-Oscar and all the praise. I actually appreciated that my friend and the couple behind us engaged in the very bad habit of talking all the way through the movie because they were all complaining about how much they were hating the movie, too, so I felt that I wasn't insane.

I've slept through the original 3 about 10xs each. I haven't even bothered trying the others.

~Denise
( http://feeds.feedburner.com/DailyDoseOfDenise )

~Denise
( http://feeds.feedburner.com/DailyDoseOfDenise )

And so not scary.

But Purple Rain? I love it. Even now. Sometimes when I'm all alone, I think about Prince sitting in his dressing room playing with that puppet and I laugh. That scene was so DUMB! ...but I love Prince, and love that movie.

Stefania Pomponi Butler
Contributing Editor, Arts & Entertainment, BlogHer

I blog:
CityMama ( http://citymama.typepad.com )
Kimchi Mamas ( http://kimchimamas.typepad.com )
Family F ( http://citymama.typepad.com/cityfood )

Breakfast At Tiffany's.
There. I said it.

Five Dollar Camera ( http://www.fivedollarcamera.com/blog/ )

The English Patient

Liz Rizzo ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/liz-rizzo )

Everyday Goddess ( http://everydaygoddess.typepad.com/ )

SexySmart Blog ( http://sexysmart.typepad.com/ )

Titanic – never saw it, don’t wanna see it.

Dances with wolves – booOOooorrrring

Million Dollar Baby – liked it at first, and ending was like a punch in the gut, I’ll never watch it again

The Rookery ( http://the-rookery.blogspot.com )

The Blair Witch Project. Most overrated movie ever.

Unforgiven. And I generally love Clint Eastwood, too.

Brazil. (Okay, perhaps not as critically acclaimed, but I was just left scratching my head.)

Purple Rain. Okay, my age is showing. And I'm sure when I saw it (what was I, 13?) I told everyone that yeah, it was awesome. ;)

--
Mir from WCS
(BlogHer Mommy & Family contributing editor)

Personal: Woulda Coulda Shoulda ( http://wouldashoulda.com/ )

Having it all with less: Want Not ( http://wantnot.net/ )

thank you!

Stefania Pomponi Butler
Contributing Editor, Arts & Entertainment, BlogHer

I blog:
CityMama ( http://citymama.typepad.com )
Kimchi Mamas ( http://kimchimamas.typepad.com )
Family F ( http://citymama.typepad.com/cityfood )

I hated "Taxi Driver". There I said it.

I love the cast, I usually love the director. I just don't get it.

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Sports and Fitness ( http://www.blogher.com/topic/sports-fitness )
Sarah and the Goon Squad ( http://sarahandthegoonsquad.com/ )
Draft Day Suit ( http://ronmexicosblog.blogspot.com/ )

Weirdest film ever made. And not in a good way.

The English Patient also bored me to death. Although I do find it an intersting little factoid that Naveen Andrews was in it... I don't remember that! (I'm a huge fan of Lost) It's always fun to see where the current stars got their start.

Here's the link ( http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1543584_1_0_,00.html ) that you were looking for.

Debra
A Stitch In Time ( http://astitchintime.blogspot.com )
Deb's Daily Distractions ( http://debsdistractions.blogspot.com )