The other side of film dissonance...

[WayneLigon]

My problem with this is that it undermines the whole point of criticism. One should be able to hold up anything, be it movie, album, book, or whatever, and objectively determine whether it's good or not.

I can both agree and disagree. I think there are some films, as with most things, that you can point at and say 'this is a good thing' for the same reason that you can look at a well-balanced meal prepared by a five-star chef and say 'this is better' than McDonald's.

I doubt there is a set of objective tools anyone could agree on to do this job in film, or any other art work. Any form of art is subjective; that's the point of art.

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.

American Beauty

Can't imagine what was offensive in it. It was pretty darn funny, ironic, etc.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I already see the comic genius of Ernest.

Well, the earlier movies at least.

 

[dravot]

I'm reminded of an interview that Terry Gross had once with a movie critic who quit to become a screenwriter and is now once again a movie critic.

Once he started to pay for his own movies, he found that he liked them (or most of them) much more than he did as a critic. When you're investing your personal time and money into a movie experience, you're more likely to enjoy a film.

I find that most people can't separate the concept of enjoying a film vs. calling a film good. You can enjoy a bad film, or a mediocre film, but that doesn't mean it was a good film.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

What movies come to mind.

Boondock Saints - My brother loved this movie and said everyone he knew who saw it loved it. I watched it and all I can say about this piece of film filth is that I personally felt dirty after watching it.

Eyes Wide Shut - Hire a married couple to play as a married couple and they fail. Huh?

Guess no others really come to mind. As a general rule when the critics absolutely love a movie I dont go and see it.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

What movies come to mind.

Boondock Saints - My brother loved this movie and said everyone he knew who saw it loved it. I watched it and all I can say about this piece of film filth is that I personally felt dirty after watching it.

Eyes Wide Shut - Hire a married couple to play as a married couple and they fail. Huh?

Guess no others really come to mind. As a general rule when the critics absolutely love a movie I dont go and see it.

 

[Delgar]

Hmm Movies that were critically acclaimed that I disliked:

Matrix Reloaded - I really, really wanted my money and time back after this one. It was slow, felt pointless, ended poorly, left way too many things unanswered and well the action sequences really seemed dry and lacked any sort of emotion. Sure there were a few scenes that were neat, but the movie was 2 and a half hours it better have a few neat scenes in that time period!

AI - Was this highly regarded? It was so bad I've forgotten everything about it. Except for the bear.

Signs - Ick, horrible, horrible, horrible. Slow, made no sense and the whole ending just annoyed me.

Eyes wide shut - HORRIBLE <Shudder>

I'm sure there are plenty more I just can't think of them off the top of my head. There are a lot of movies that critics thought were bad that I thought were bad.

The Avengers
Armageddon
Deep Impact
Red Planet
Mission to Mars

Actually forget that the list could go on forever!

Delgar

 

[Delgar]

Eyes Wide Shut - Hire a married couple to play as a married couple and they fail. Huh?

Of course their marriage failed as well. So you'd think they could play a married couple whose having difficulties no problem right? <bleech>

Most likely due to the fact that Tom Cruise is well, you know....

Delgar

 

[Mallus]

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...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Re: Some unneccessary comments...

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.

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.

 

[Welverin]

Re: Some unneccessary comments...

all who dislike Akira... are you crazy?

No. I saw it a long time ago and the only impression I have left is how boring I found it.

Gladiator is the one movie I would add to this list. I found the fight scenes unimpressive and the movie as a whole unimpressive.