Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Over on the Main Feed, the great James Delingpole evokes J.R.R Tolkien.
Now, I have to admit that I have never read any part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and my attempt to read The Hobbit was aborted. Perhaps I would have found them wonderful and inspiring. But the films left me entirely unmoved and bored.
This got me to thinking about other movies, highly regarded by critics and audiences, whose popularity I simply cannot understand. One of these is Dead Poets Society (Rottentomatoes.com audience rating of 90%). Another is Natural Born Killers (RT audience rating of 80%), which I would probably put at the top of my all-time-worst list.
What titles would you put on a list of popular films whose reputations leave you scratching your head? Don't be embarrassed; we're non-judgmental here.
UPDATE:
Crow's Nest said, "None that I don't 'get' in the sense of failing to understand. But how about some that I can't understand WHY they are so highly rated as they are..."
That is, in fact, what I meant when I (originally) said, "...films that you just don't 'get'": Movies that don't "grab" you in the same way they seem to grab the vast majority of viewers. I have edited the title and body of my post to be more clear.
UPDATE 2:
The opposite question is posed here.
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May '11
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Many of the movies that people hate I like. But if anybody writes a negative word about the cable classic "Roadhouse" (RIP Patrick Swayze) you're going to have a roundhouse kick to the face coming at you. Greatest if you turn on the TV and channel surf and I'm sure you'll find it playing on cable TV movie ever. "Shawshank Redemption" is a close second.
BTW, Dark Knight was dull, agonizing and depressing.
Mar '11
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Judith Levy
Larry Koler
And how about the Oscar winner, "American Beauty" ? No reason that it was ever considered for an Oscar much less win one.
Agree 100%. Loathed it. · Dec 28 at 11:47pm
That movie won because of politics. Hollywood adored the central theme: America is corrupt and hypocritical. It tossed in so many left-wing memes in one film, it was actually quite impressive.
The whole flick was one big "What a drag backwards, gun-toting bitter-clinging country America is".
Jul '10
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Amen, my brother. Judging by the trailer, the new one is fixin' to be dull-agonizing-depressing-er. In spades.
Edited on December 30, 2011 at 2:43amNov '10
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
The English Patient. I loathe that film with a flaming purple passion. I want to scratch my eyes out just thinking about it. I want to cry that Juliette Binoche, one of my favorite actresses, is in it.
Nov '10
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
I just read where someone else mentioned Love, Actually. YES! Detestable film. No, that is not love, actually. That is lust and vulgarity and self-absorption, actually. Love looks somewhat different.
Another crowd pleaser that I abhorred: Four Weddings and a Funeral. Gag moi. Far too few funerals, if you ask me.
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Peter Christofferson
Amen, my brother. Judging by the trailer, the new one is fixin' to be dull-agonizing-depressing-er. In spades. · Dec 29 at 5:42pm
Edited on Dec 29 at 05:43 pm
What? That movie was awesome. Also, did you ever read Andrew Klavan's take on it? Kind of interesting in light of the fact that the new movie appears to be taking on OWS.
Nov '11
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
What? That movie was awesome. Also, did you ever read Andrew Klavan's take on it? Kind of interesting in light of the fact that the new movie appears to be taking on OWS. · Dec 30 at 6:41am
I have to second Mollie. That movie was great. It was dark and gritty and morally ambiguous. The thing hooked me in the opening scene. No. It was an awesome movie.
Aug '10
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Fred Cole
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
What? That movie was awesome. Also, did you ever read Andrew Klavan's take on it? Kind of interesting in light of the fact that the new movie appears to be taking on OWS. · Dec 30 at 6:41am
I have to second Mollie. That movie was great. It was dark and gritty and morally ambiguous. The thing hooked me in the opening scene. No. It was an awesome movie. · Dec 30 at 7:24am
I recently rewatched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
I hereby declare that Batman Begins is definitely the better movie, but my eyes are glued to the screen whenever Heath Ledger is featured.
May '11
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Paul DeRocco
Paul Erickson
Paul DeRocco: I went through the AFI's 100 best of all time, and found these stinkers:
40 The Sound of Music
Paul, I am with you on "Sound of Music." Makes my skin crawl. Can you explain, then, why I loved "Mary Poppins?"
Because it wasn't written by Rodgers and Hammerstein? · Dec 29 at 11:56am
No, that's not it. I kind of like R&H (amateur musician.) I think it's maybe that I can take a spoonful of sugar, but not with a cup of saccharine.
May '11
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
A little off topic, but I took a high school date to a double feature of "Deliverance" and "Clockwork Orange." (Those who remember what a "double feature" is will realize how long ago this was.)
Miraculously, she married me anyway. But for 31 years of marriage, she still won't go to the movies with me.
May '11
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
I can't top that comment, it's exactly what I was thinking, LOL.
Alan Weick: The English Patient. Someone please explain why I'm supposed to care about these 2 adulterers? After sitting in the theater for 36 hours (it seemed liked that) I was ready to crawl into a cave a die. · Dec 28 at 10:06am
Edited on Dec 28 at 10:09 am
Jul '10
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Fred Cole
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
What? That movie was awesome. Also, did you ever read Andrew Klavan's take on it? Kind of interesting in light of the fact that the new movie appears to be taking on OWS. · Dec 30 at 6:41am
I have to second Mollie. That movie was great. It was dark and gritty and morally ambiguous. The thing hooked me in the opening scene. No. It was an awesome movie. · Dec 30 at 7:24am
Well, I'm not gonna argue you with either of you. I would just draw your attention back to the title of this thread. I realize almost nobody agrees with me. The fact is I hated it, which is kind of the point of this whole discussion, isn't it? ;-)
Mar '11
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
I like Citizen Kane but I think it's reputation as 'the best movie ever made' is ridiculous. In my opinion it is flawed by Orson Welles compulsion to demonstrate how clever he was: he tried too hard. I believe it's held in such high regard because of the controversy (courted by Welles) about its subject (was it, or was it not, about Randolph Hearst?) and a desire among critics and film buffs to compensate for the way it was snubbed by the Oscars.
For me, Gone With the Wind was the most bloated, putrid heap of garbage ever committed to film for 58 years until it was supplanted by Titanic. Because I have been careful to avoid Avatar I can't give it the title. I saw a definition of pornography which I believe follows closely its greek origin: 'writing by, or about, whores.' I avoid Avatar because if I want to see pornography, I prefer it to be about sex rather than culture.
Mar '11
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
I was positively angry about the popularity of Good Night, and Good Luck. It was a ludicrous rehash of a half century old liberal myth. How much courage and integrity did it really take for Murrow and his team to put their boots into Joe McCarthy when the entire Federal bureaucracy, the White House, including both Truman and Eisenhower, the Democrat majority in the Senate and almost all of the media were actively conspiring to destroy him?
Sep '10
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
A lot of the edgier, and often acclaimed, films of the 1970s really have not aged well:
Straw Dogs, Mean Streets, Swept Away..., and the really ugly and pointless Taxi Driver.
Oct '10
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Hmmm... let me consult the imdb top 250 films
Godfather
Inception
Amelie
Any Pixar movie not titled The Incredibles
Nov '11
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
Misthiocracy
I recently rewatched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
I hereby declare that Batman Begins is definitely the better movie, but my eyes are glued to the screen whenever Heath Ledger is featured. · Dec 30 at 7:48am
Yeah, I agree with you. Every time he was on screen, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I hope he's in the next movie.
Aug '10
Re: Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?
kylez: A lot of the edgier, and often acclaimed, films of the 1970s really have not aged well:
Straw Dogs, Mean Streets, Swept Away..., and the really ugly and pointless Taxi Driver. · Dec 31 at 12:05am
re Taxi Driver: You gotta understand that the ending is a bit of a cypher. Even Scorsese admits the ending isn't all that it appears to be. The most popular theory is that the ending is all in Travis' mind, and that he actually dies from his gunshot wound.
Edited on January 1, 2012 at 12:28am