Well I definitely don’t care for
A Streetcar Named Desire, my opinion lines up quite nicely with Goliath’s but I’m not going to devalue someone else's opinions on movies when they differ from my own (which happens quite a bit).
Dr Frankenollie wrote:Also Goliath: there are plenty of 'classic' films that I dislike. Casablanca; Double Indemnity; 2001: A Space Odyssey; and even though I adore Hitchcock, I see Vertigo as one of his weakest and most lackluster films (but there are some scenes in it which I do kind of like). I don't praise 'every piece of drivel' considered a classic, thank you very much.
I can understand
2001: A Space Odyssey, which I’ve sat through it multiple times in hope of discovering whatever it was that I’m obviously missing but I always come away with the same opinion that it’s just a vague boring mess of a movie - not without it’s moments - that a few purport liking to feel superior (if you want actual good filmmaking by Kubrick, check out
Paths of Glory).
I can also understand
Vertigo, that while having a magnificent score by Bernard Herrmann (one of his finest) and great talent like Jimmy Stewart, is a fairly unpleasant movie. There are moments of great suspense but the plot just doesn’t have the drive and energy of his other movies that this is often lumped together with (
Rear Window, North by Northwest, Psycho The Birds).
It’s been a while since I’ve seen
Double Indemnity but outside of Stanwyck’s goofy ass wig (to quote Buddy DeSylva, then production head of Paramount, “We hired Barbara Stanwyck and here we get George Washington.”), I remember liking it. Billy Wilder movies tend to hold up quite well on revisitations (speaking of which,
Sunset Blvd. is on HDNet Movies next month, just a heads up).
As for not liking
Casablanca; blasphemy. Wonderfully diverse cast, great chemistry between the characters and plenty of humor found throughout. Claude Rains is found here in my favorite roll of his, he’s just perfect. Sure, it can get a little melodramatic and overly patriotic (they had to sell war bonds), but it’s just fun all around. It’s the characters that do it for me but to each their own I guess (BTW, you may want to update your posts
here and
here, where you list
Casablanca as one of your favorite movies.
Vertigo is also on that list.).
dvdjunkie wrote:Dr. Frankenollie wrote:
.......'classic' films that I dislike. Casablanca; Double Indemnity; 2001: A Space Odyssey.........
And that is probably why your criticisms of movies other people watch aren't valid.
You have named some very classic films that EVERYONE likes!!!!
Wait...what??? I’m confused as to why his opinions aren’t valid and how it is that everyone likes those movies when you’re quoting someone stating that he doesn’t like them??? I need Doc Brown to explain this paradox to me.
dvdjunkie wrote: How about films like The African Queen, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Captain Blood, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Caine Mutiny - I supposed you don't like any of those titles either.
Big fan of Bogart and Flynn are we?
The African Queen (aka Jungle Cruise) is alright, but it could stand to be a little shorter and have the ending reworked a bit to something a little more satisfying.
The Adventures of Robin is alright but I’ve never been particularly impressed with Robin Hood in movies (although, I have to admit, this is one of Hollywood’s better efforts).
Captain Blood is a rousing precursor to
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and probably my favorite role of Flynn’s.
Mutiny on the Bounty, assuming you’re talking about the Laughton / Gable effort in the 30s, is pretty good. You certainly HATE Laughton in it and I found it much more impressive then the Brando 60s effort or the Hopkins / Gibson 80s effort. Honestly, I was bored with
The Caine Mutiny up till the trial scene, where Bogie captivated me with his performance.
Hopefully my opinions are still valid, even when I don’t faun over these movies.
dvdjunkie wrote: Goliath's taste in films in spot on, and I agree with his reviews more times than not.
Agreed.
dvdjunkie wrote: Most of your reviews I have never agreed with.
While I definitely don't agree with Frankenollie on all movies, anyone who champions
North by Northwest, Back to the Future and
Aladdin as much as he does gets a pass. When he finally gets around to watching
The Godfather (he said he hasn’t
here, but implies he has
here) and starts championing that film too, he’ll be near untouchable (hey, if you throw in
Casablanca you have my top 5).
dvdjunkie wrote: It's all in the genre of films a person likes.
Others have already addressed this so I won’t contribute.
Avaitor wrote:Dang, I'm surprised at some of the more recent posts. I find it hard to believe that people could outright dislike The Muppets, Casablanca, or Double Indemnity.
The Muppets the movie was just mediocre on all fronts but The Muppets the characters are just as appealing as they were in the 70s. I can’t answer for the other two.
Anyways, the latest...
Cars 2 (2011) 5.5/10 - Hard to believe but it was worse then I expected. I usually like the ‘wrong man’ plot, it served Hitchock well but those movies usually involve a protagonist who isn’t annoyingly stupid. Having a stupid protagonist, like Bill Murray’s in
The Man Who Knew Too Little, just doesn’t work as well. Which brings me to Mater, who is tolerable in small doses (like in the first film) but is just too much an irritant to carry a film. He’s one of the main reasons for this movie’s failure as it’s devoid of any kind of emotional center to hold it all together (say what you want about the first one but at least the characters didn't feel so hollow). His relationship strain with McQueen is soo forced that I felt insulted. Actually, most elements in this movie are incredibly contrived and only seem to be there to get us to the next location / race / action sequence. Even the new characters, who are little more then plot devices, serve only to get us to the next action sequence (so generic that labeling them ‘the two spies and McQueen’s new rival’ actually describes their personalities, or lack there of). Hell, 90% of this movie is juvenile humor and action sequences, and is completely different in tone from the laid back original. I didn’t think Pixar could make such a lifeless film but here we are. It looks like
A Bug’s Life finally has a challenger for worst Pixar film. A shame to, since this is a stunningly beautiful film (artistically speaking). Gorgeous scenery.
Cowboys & Aliens (2011) 5.5/10 - Who would’ve thought such an interesting concept would make such a mediocre movie? Generic as shit. It seems like the last 1/3 of the movie is just a battle. Then again, the last thing the writers of this movie wrote was
Transformers 2, and if I would’ve known this ahead of time I would’ve adjusted my expectations accordingly. A shame too, since there is soo much [wasted] talent involved that you think they would’ve waited for a solid script first.
It features great acting from all members of the cast (with Asa Butterfield and Ben Kingsley being especially tremendous) and beautiful visuals, and as James Cameron said, it's the best usage of 3-D thus far. An enchanting tribute to classic cinema that every movie buff should see.
