The other side of film dissonance...

[Dark Jezter]

Another addition to the list.

Ladyhawke: Okay, I don't hate this film, but I don't see what's so special about it either. A lot of people talk about Ladyhawke like it's the pinnacle of fantasy films, but I only found it mildly entertaining. Oh well.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Re: Re: Some unneccessary comments...

Akira is easy to dislike because the ending IS confusing and kind of 'ehhh??'...but that's because its just the movie version. The original manga version of Akira makes a LOT more sense, and is definatly a good read...expensive, but a good read.

That's because they were making the movie before the manga series had been completed. The movie's ending was based on a general outline of what would happen in the mangas, not on the finished specifics.

 

[Mallus]

Re: Re: Some unneccessary comments...

The original manga version of Akira makes a LOT more sense, and is definatly a good read...expensive, but a good read.

I think I have the first trade paperback from when Marvel/Epic released them... Another in a long list of "one-of-these-days" purchases...

 

[Mark]

Re: Another addition to the list.

Ladyhawke: Okay, I don't hate this film, but I don't see what's so special about it either. A lot of people talk about Ladyhawke like it's the pinnacle of fantasy films, but I only found it mildly entertaining. Oh well.

Good story, not bad acting, but the soundtrack was very distracting, IMO. But if I had to pick one film to add to this thread...

I have never been more happy that a film was so misnamed as The Neverending Story.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Re: Re: Another addition to the list.

I have never been more happy that a film was so misnamed as The Neverending Story.

I absolutly love the first one...but the others...ugh..NO.

 

[Kai Lord]

What offended you [re: American Beauty], if I may ask?

Nudity of underage characters, even if the actresses were 18 or over. I bought into them as being 15 or 16 year old high school girls, and was absolutely sickened that the film showed them topless.

Being asked to relate/identify with a man on the verge of statutory rape. A number of other things, but I was so irritated with the film I haven't watched it since it was released and have for the most part put it out of my mind.

 

[Robbert Raets]

I think I see your point, but in my opinion, this was a case of functional nudity.

I once saw a part of a movie about a whorehouse in the Old West with a very young and very nude Brooke Shields in it. That had me dumbfounded for a few minutes, I must say.

 

[jdavis]

Re: Some unneccessary comments...

Fast Learner re: Happiness... I'll admit that there were some pretty amazing individual scenes in the film {like several w/the child-molesting psychologist}. But overall wasn't the film just the setting up and knocking down of obvious caricatures {fat, lonely programmer, dumb aimless folksinger, untrustworthy Russian emmigrant... too easy}? Without enough psychological realism to be honest, nor enough panache and over-the-top wit to be thrilling trash. The director's complete lack of empathy for the characters prevented them from being truly chilling. It was a soap opera about RL monsters...

jdavis re: Trainspotting... were you supposed to sympathize/empathize w/the films junky mates? Absolutely. I always thought the film was less concerned with drugs and more concerned with friendship {its a pretty dishonest drug film}. I'll bet you could replace the drugs in the film w/Playstation {another listless-youth rite of passage} and it would work about the same {except for the baby and the withdrawl hallucinations}.

all who dislike Akira... are you crazy? I recently saw the remastered version on the big screen. Its beautiful. And for those of you who found the ending obtuse and annoying, forget about it, and try watching the film as a collection of anxieties that the Japanese have about their whole society coming unravelled in the 21st century. Akira is all about fear, modernity, reconcilliation w/the past/cultural heritage, just like the giant monster films, only less stupid.

all who disliked Chasing Amy but like Kevin Smith... the thing about Chasing Amy is that its Smith's most well-rounded work; humor, well-drawn characters, a bit J&SB, even some nice psychological insight in jealousy, desire, and friendship.

end unsolicited remarks...

Never saw Chasing Amy or Fast Leaner.

Trainspotting, yes it felt fake, of course whether it's accurate or not it's hard to have a lot of sympathy for the druggies, I mean it's a sad thing, but......... Well anyway to the movie, it just didn't do anything for me.

Akira: Yea I'm sure it had a lot of deep meaning. Of course a lot of movies have a deep meaning, doesn't make them good, and it doesn't make giant flesh blobs any more interesting. The first 3/4ths of it were good, but even then it wasn't all that.

 

[jdavis]

Look at many of the films that we today regard as classics, such as The Wizard of Oz or It's a Wonderful Life. These and a number of others were poorly received when first released. (I don't know how much box office they took in at the time, though; that tends to be a better - though not the only - indicator in my book. People go to see films that others tell them were good.) Standards were different, tastes were different. Forty years from now, people will probably be shaking their heads and calling us deluded fools for not seeing the comic genius of Ernest.

I rather live a Earnest movie than watch Wizard of Oz again. When I was little my mother turned it on every time it was on TV. I cannot stomach anything about that movie anymore.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Has anyone seen Spike Lee's Bamboozled? I have never been angrier with a film than this one. I don't know what emotional reaction Lee was trying to provoke in me, but if making me want to smash my TV in with a drywall hammer was what he was going for, I guess he succeeded.

He's made a couple of movies I thought were OK; Malcolm X was good, if a little long, and I actually really liked Summer of Sam. Apart from these though, I would nominate Lee as Most Overrated Director working today. I love how he whines constantly about how they'll never give him an Oscar. Try making a good movie that doesn't outrage the people you're trying to connect with.