Not sure if memes are allowed here. Apologies if they aren’t.
Bird man and the whale come to mind
See, I find, that “critically acclaimed” and “popular” usually don’t go well together. However, something with just critical acclaim from people I like (and sometimes a Criterion release) tends to be some of the most amazing things I’ve ever witnessed.
But to the meme’s point, Tarkovsky’s Solaris was boring, and hard to understand for me, so much so I didn’t ever finish it. I’ll have to try again maybe from a different perspective.
I actually enjoyed Solaris a ton for its pacing. It’s controversial understandably, but it felt like the story was moving at a real world pace, rather than the modern approach of one moment of action to the next.
It’s a slow burn, for sure and I wouldn’t say it’s for everyone.
I had a really hard time getting through Solaris, but the ending with the rain is burned into my soul. Sometimes the slog is important in order to feel the meaning.
Read the book. Seriously, Lem’s depictions of all things alien are orders of magnitude better than any movie - even modern CGI - can be. (I watched the Tarkovsky movie after reading the book and wasn’t impressed either)
You are supposed to be bored. His films are contemplative. They are also very Russian.
Stalker is even better/worse.
I really do appreciate art, but like anything meaningful, such things usually deserve more time to appreciate. I’ll come around to it with time.
Spoiler for the OP:
Tap for spoiler
The planet is an alien organism that grants wishes.
All the subconscious thoughts of the people on the space station Solaris come true, their fears, and anxieties as well.
KPop Demon Hunters came out this year.
It sounds like a cheesy kids’ movie. It even kinda looks like one. Or, at least, before it got super popular when everybody realised “hey, this movie is actually really good” and started playing the soundtrack nonstop between viewings. And not just little kids, middle-aged people like it, too. I’ve been watching and loving movies for about 40 years, and I remember seeing Mortal Kombat (1995) in theaters, and being just floored by that opening. Cheesy yes, but techno music with sound bytes from the game (the Super NES/Genesis game!) while flames roasted the dragon logo? Movie intros usually aren’t that cool. Movies aren’t meant to be a thrill ride. They play the long con. KPop Demon Hunters was the first one in a long time (I guess 30 years) that gave me the same feeling. I felt it when the first song hit. Then the scenes with the light flashing in the plane windows. I knew I was in for one hell of a ride. I’ve seen it four or five times now, and it doesn’t get old. It may not be good like a Scorcese or Tarantino movie, but it’s fun, and that’s good. It’s more fun than all the recent-ish Star Wars movies. I remember when those were fun. Someone lost the memo.
Movies don’t have to be good if they’re fun. A lot of people liked Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy’s, The Emoji Movie… I haven’t seen any of them. But KPop Demon Hunters looked pretty stupid, too, until I gave it a chance. If a movie makes you forget about the bad shit in the world for a couple hours, it’s done its job. Let’s stop asking much more than that from movies. Sure, I have a niche I absolutely love (smart/weird flicks like I Origins, Predestination, Donnie Darko… even if they’re pseudo-intellectual, if I can dig into it, I love that shit) but a fun dumb movie is cool in my books.
If a movie makes you forget about the bad shit in the world for a couple hours, it’s done its job. Let’s stop asking much more than that from movies.
Never underestimate entertainment value. All art is also always part entertainment. Never forget that.
Well shit. I might just have to watch Kpop hunters. I kept seeing it but I didn’t care enough to look into it.
I know the exact feeling with watching Mortal Kombat because I watched it in the theaters and thought it was great.
“Your soul is mine.”. Cutt to techno music 🎵🎶🎵🎵🎶
Kpop Demon Hunters initially looks like a girlie movie that was shoehorned into being an action flick.
It’s a drama, interspersed with enough comedy and action to make you forget that it’s a drama. The story isn’t anything special, but it has well-done emotional beats backed by a soundtrack that elevates it. It is absolutely worth watching. (And the animation is fantastic.)
Don’t go into it expecting a cinematic masterpiece; it’s made for kids. It is also, however, a kid’s movie that is intended to entertain the adults who take their kids to see it.
Choose your might
I watched it with my wife. I can see how it became popular, especially the music, but it’s not for me. I didn’t like the movie due to the music.
The animation, however… I’m honestly excited for the sequel JUST for the animation!
I’ll try to be generous to your meme but it’s hard. I’ll say I used to be like that, part of the majority who thought going to a movie meant it needed to have action, a superhero, or magic. It gets tiring and repetitive though.
A recent example was train dreams. Me 10 years ago would have called it a snore fest. Now? I have much more respect for movies and it ripped me up inside. So this meme is very subjective on the individual
Same. If I see people complaining about a movie being slow and boring 9/10 times I’ll love it
Train Dreams was awesome
For me, there’s 3 reasons to watch movies. 1 is to kill time because I’m bored while being too tired to do anything that requires real attention. That’s mostly been replaced by YouTube. The second is because I want to experience a good piece of art. And the third is for a fun experience.
If I’m going to a theater, it’s gonna he for a big, splash film with gorgeous visuals. I ain’t paying 15-20 dollars a person for a slow, contemplative film I could enjoy at home.
At the same time, when I’m by myself at home, I’m not really into the flashy stuff, because fun is something to share with friends and family. So that’s when I watch the deeper stuff.
Same, if I’m spending my time I need more than the predictable super hero plot, I want something with character and heart. It’s hard to find but it is out there.
For theaters there are smaller indie ones that do play big titles. Search out your local area to find what may be around you. Those are the ones worth giving your money to. I just won’t go to AMC or Cinemark anymore on my own because of how low quality it is
We compare the slop of the present to the masterpieces of the past because we don’t remember the slop of the past.
Survivorship bias but with movies
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Any you’ll forget about it in about two or three years.
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Isn’t that what they said Movies would do to you in the 30s?
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What, you think that’s a new thing? You think people weren’t dumb fucks in the 1930s? The 1830s? The 1730s? Human life is temporary, mass idiocy is eternal.
they were even dumber back then, i know it’s hard to believe but it’s true
This happens a lot with old movies.
A film comes out that’s revolutionary, so every film after it copies it. Future eyes lack that context, so they just see something that looks like everything else they’ve seen.
Citizen Kane is a good example. The writing, editing, and cinematography were revolutionary at the time. But, through a modern lens, it appears very ordinary because it’s very similar to every copycat that followed it.
It’s not just you, my friend.
Among many movies, I felt that way about Killers of the Flower Moon and it literally took me to fall into a random convo with the girl who cleans my office at work before I found a like-minded individual.
That movie and The Irishman were piss, but everybody insists they are masterpieces because Scorsese made them. Scorsese is just like James Cameron and Fancis Ford Coppola where they have reached an age and are so accomplished that they have lost touch with the world and are surrounded by yes men who don’t dare tell them no. And so they make very long and very shitty movies that are more for themselves than they are for anybody else. At least, Cameron is able to make his avatar slop entertaining while you’re watching it even if it is forgettable af.
Killers of the Flower Moon was particularly infuriating for me because it was so clearly just Scorsese making yet another movie about white men who are shitty, while pushing the native Americans off to the wayside as supporting casts in the movie that was supposed to be about them.
I read the book too because people kept telling me my opinion was wrong and that this was a good movie that is very faithful to the book. Well, clearly every person who claimed this, did not read the book because the book very much stays with the native Americans and their perspective and the case is treated the way it normally would when you have a conspiracy/murder mystery. You get invested in this people, you fear for them and the revelations are horrible.
Scorsese was like: how about we make the movie entirely about the bad guys and we have no reveals ever because we are told exactly what and how things happen from the start and treat the native Americans like they are ignorant, brain dead idiots who fall for the easiest trick in the book? Yeah, let’s do that. Let’s make the natives stupid and naive and have the conmen be super obviously evil and gross too, to the point that we don’t understand how any of these native Americans could have ever called them friend or family. Let’s race swap the only nice white man in the movie too. He was native American in real life, but for whatever reason they made him white in the movie. I still don’t know why they did that. I thought this was supposed to be authentic to real life. We do not race swap historical figures. I thought we all agreed that it was dumb when they made Anne Boleyn black. It’s also dumb when we make a native American man white in a movie about how white men committed systematic murders on native Americans to get their money.
Oh, let’s also make the movie 4 hours long and throw a temper tantrum when cinemas around the world implement intermissions so that movie goers have a chance to pee and get refreshments. No no, this slop is ART and Scorsese-manchild wants you to sit through all 4 hours of his slop because it’s his movie.
Piss movie. I hated it so much and nobody agreed with me until I spoke to my cleaning lady who completely understood where I was coming from.
The book is so much better. Such a well crafted blueprint for a suspenseful movie or TV show about a horrific chapter in native American history and how oil money attracts all the predators and vultures in the world to eat you and your family until nothing is left. Not even bone fragments.
But no. Scorsese cannot make movies from any other perspective than that of white men with corrupt souls so, sorry, native Americans. You gotta be supporting casts in your own friggin story.
Amazing. Piss movie. It riles me up everytime I think about it and it riles me up even more how much undeserved praise it recieved. Piss. Movie.
Scorsese thinks if you fire editors and shit out 3 hours of film it’s an epic.
Thought it was good. I missed much of the hype before and after and went in blind.
I think your anger is directed more at your expectations of it (a.k.a the ad/hype machine) than the film itself
I didn’t follow the hype. All I knew about the movie before going into it was that Scorsese had rewritten the script because he realized he had made a movie about white men and forgotten the native Americans. To which I now ask: what the fuck was the script like before?
I’m glad that you liked it, but please don’t make assumptions about me disliking it because I supposedly fell for a hype train. That is not what happened.
From your long drawn out text that goes into Scorcese’s filmography, I assumed you were well informed of his upcoming works and watching something because of a script re-write tends to lend itself a sense of expectation.
I think you might be plugged into the hype machine more than you might allow yourself to believe
Ah, you’re one of those people.
Yeah, I tend to heckle the soapboxers. It’s a hobby.
Especially those who can’t have a civil discussion without downvoting anyone who disagrees with them out of a deep insecurity of being challenged on anything, no matter how small.
I liked that sci-fi movie where they poked a rocket at the moon. After that it all went downhill.
Seriously, your meme is too broad. Always happy to complain about something specific though.
Fun fact: there’s a recently-ish restored copy of ‘Le voyage dans la lune’ that was hand-colored way back in the day. And the band Air made a soundtrack for it. It was on YouTube, but apparently gotten copyright-struck by someone, and the viewer is advised to be wary of the multitude of AI colorations when looking for a new upload.
This is usually where le pirate is more reliable. Thanks for the tip.
You’re right, the warm ports have the blu-ray with not only the colored and soundtracked version, but also a b&w version with an English narration written by Melies, and another with actors voicing the characters as performed in the US in 1903.
For me it’s Gravity (the one with Sandra Bullock crying in space) and the last two Nolan Batman films. I just don’t understand why people like them so much.
Nah man, see… you didn’t watch it right.
First time I saw Gravity I was high as fuck on edibles and watched it on 42" plasma screen.
Shit was like the best 90 minute theme park ride of my life lmao
Also, the part where
spoiler
George Clooney jumpscares you by inexplicably returning from space and popping open the hatch to the spaceship
blew my goddamn mind ahaha
I watched it on my 120" 3D projector (while also high as fuck) and still hated the film.
Weed and a giant screen couldn’t save that shitshow of a film.
because it’s porn/fan service.
Gravity was a 2 hour ‘omg going to die in space’ porno.
“Choke me harder, space vacuum! <3”
Are you including the dark knight there? I though that was the best of the three.
See this is what I’m saying. Everyone praises Dark Knight, so I went in all excited to see what the hype was about, only to leave the film thinking “this is it”?
It’s not a bad movie, per se; I think the problem is that the hype had set my expectations sky high, and I don’t think it could ever live up to expectations, no matter how good it was. But honestly just about every scene that didn’t have Heath Ledger in it had me falling asleep on the couch. The cinematography was good (especially the IMAX shots) but I just wasn’t interested in the plot.
2 is the best of the trilogy. 1 was just OK and 3 had its moments but failed to capture the spirit of 1 and 2.
“Death by exile” was pretty funny though.
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I’m here with the nolan movies, but i thought the first one was the weakest of them. And by weak i mean it was pretty ass.
lol Batman Begins is the only one of the three I like
Frankenstein was pretty damn good imo.
It was, and that is one of the worst movies I’ve seen from Guillermo Del Toro IMO. If you enjoyed his adaptation of Frankenstein, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t seen Pan’s Labyrinth or The Devil’s Backbone. Depends on if you’re okay watching subtitled, though.
Or motherfucking Pacific Rim. That movie is literally just “big robot go boom” and it’s fuckin awesome.
Crimson Peak was pretty meh imo. The visuals were interesting, and I liked the designs of the ghosts.
I haven’t watched Frankenstein yet but I want to. Stupid Netflix.
it was very pretty, but it was weak otherwise. i really expected more compelling storytelling from him.
I’ll admit I haven’t seen Pan’s yet and I will be watching it this Friday after remembering about it. My first child was born in 2019 which is probably why it fell off my list.
I really enjoyed his adaption of Pinocchio a couple years ago.
I did watch Chronos yesterday for the first time, and while it’s quite dated now the overall premise and story still stands out to some degree.
Pan’s Labyrinth is soooo fuckin good. And brutal.
Pan’s Labyrinth and Devil’s Backbone are both really good. Much better than Cronos imo (which was also pretty good)
Don’t forget Pinocchio. In my opinion, that is the best Del Toro movie. Practically flawless and it is a crime that Netflix didnt put it in cinemas and that they refuse to put it on DVD or bluray. Fuck them for real.
While watching Frankenstein I realized I was seeing what will be a classic movie. Not sure I’ve ever felt that during a show.
what will be a classic movie
Damn you must be old by now.
It took me an embarrassing amount of time to understand the joke.
I thought the cgi was pretty lackluster for a 2014 movie. Looked like a ps2 cutscene at times. But I still enjoyed it. The werewolves were hot.
Not sure if joke or just missing the 2025 Del Toro version that came out on Netflix…
i don’t even know if i’m joking anymore honestly
I think this short video may blow your mind then - https://youtu.be/ezncotSdXDQ.
The Creature actor also took 10-12 hours in makeup each day for shooting. https://youtu.be/Z1zX34F5jvs
I watched “Hugo” because it was so critically acclaimed. It had all the awards. Critics loved it…
Most boring, pretentious, film-school self-masturbatory slog I’ve ever watched.
The plot was either boring or incoherent. There a boy in a train station? And now there’s a steampunk robot who… draws movies or something? And some old dude in a shitty apartment has a bunch of obscure history films? What tf are we doing? And the robot is magic now?
The only reason it got high marks is so every critic to wax themselves about how bigbrain cultured they are. The totally got all the niche nods/ode/references and it totally justified their bullshit college degrees…
You watched a children’s adventure comedy movie and surprised it’s a but nonsensical? Unless the critics sold it as something it’s not, I think this one is in you 😄
I saw bits when a flatmate watched it and it was not being treated like a movie aimed at children. Looked dull as dishwater.
right? like… it’s a kids movie. it’s not a biopic or art film. the hell is OP going on about?
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Brokeback Mountain
The recent adaptation of Dickens with Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. Interesting, but they could’ve cut about 30% of the singing. It got to be repetitive, and it’s not like I dislike musicals.
There are many, but I tend to automatically forget them - I’m not wasting space in my brain for that crap.
Now, of course, you’re going to tell me why I’m wrong about these movies. Save it.
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Gone Girl. Most boring, predictable, lazy ass movie. The Postman is by far the worst movie I’ve ever seen. Tootsie, I can’t imagine a more problematic way to make a movie. One Battle After Another was good, but nowhere near good enough to win any awards which it definitely will win.
I love The Postman. It’s not an amazing film but it has its own identity and I really appreciate that.
I liked One Battle After Another but it’s definitely a kid-tier PTA. I watched it pretty shortly after Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, and Punch-Drunk Love, though… so the bar was very high. Magnolia was so much better than I expected, it was amazing.
Really? Magnolia was fine. Far from his best film imo
A few of my friends recommended Eraserhead. It felt like David Lynch was seeing what he could get away with.
Eraserhead isn’t a movie to be enjoyed, it’s a movie to be regretted, for the rest of your life….
fun fact: that’s a real horse embryoAnother fun fact: it was based on Lynch’s feelings of becoming a father to a baby with deformed feet. His daughter’s feet are ok now, they have a good relationship and she became a film director too!
I absolutely love David Lynch, but Eraserhead is not the first, second nor third Lynch movie I would put on at any given time. I love the radiator girl segment in the film. The rest is forgettable.
I’m more of a Mulholland Drive fangirl. It is one of the best movies ever made in my humble opinion.
Someone also mentioned Elephant Man which is likewise a stellar movie.
That’s just David Lynch, no?
You’d think so, but then he makes The Elephant Man and The Straight Story. Both pretty grounded and simple to follow scripts with not too much Lynchness to them. I honestly don’t know what to make of Lynch… he was a man of contrast.
I saw someone suggest The Elephant Man as the best way to introduce someone to Lynch, and after watching it, I totally get it. Amazing film.
Unfortunately, it’s next to impossible to find these days and I was only able to watch it after finding a torrent.
These are my two favorite films of his. I’m not much of a Lynch fan though, so I think it tells.
Yooooooooooooooo, I have been saying this shit for years.
I hate that movie so goddamned much and the recommendation felt like a friend group initiation prank hahaha
Hey now, Crash came out like twenty years ago.
I’m bitter and old, AND movies have gotten worse. All those things are true.
I have better now luck with TV shows. Currently, Pluribus is good.
I’m on here now, because I couldn’t find anything to watch tonight. I’m hoping One Battle After Another is good, we’ll see. Often, I turn off a new movie less than 15 minutes in.
I watched Point Break last night for the second time. Great film. Very unaware of how gay it is though, and I wonder what 90s mainstream audiences thought of it
we just thought it was an awesome, underrated bro movie. bro as in brothers and male relationships.
A lot of male asses being shown, and guys who hold eye gazes longer than can be deemed non-romantic.
Also “young, dumb, and full of cum” isn’t something you typically say to a new hot shot. You say they’re “full of spunk”.
Edit: Oh shit, it’s all been gay all along. The whole damn english language!
full of spunk is a bit outdated of a phrase, but it still checks out.
it’s art, you’re welcome to interpret it how you like! i’m just saying, i was there, that’s how we interpreted it. since you asked.
Oh absolutely, it’s a great film! Just watching with a modern lens kind of makes you miss that innocence in filmwriting where macho hotshots “testing” each other comes across now more like closeted bromances than what was perhaps intended.
I kind of feel like a modern remake would lose that bromance edge, and would turn it more into a standard action film which would ruin the magic of the original.
there is a remake, and i think that’s what happened XD
I weep, why remake a perfect film 🥲
