Films you admire, but don't like

[Kaka Tim]

All of it. from the monoliths to HAL singing Daisy Bell.
I'd watched it as a child, and only recently thought "was it really as shit as I thought it was", and downloaded it again. Turns out I was wrong. It was much worse. It was far more pretentious than I'd remembered, and if it was the book I was reading, I'd have said half as many pages would still have been too many. It was impossible for me to engage with the film or the characters. 2 and 3/4 hours of self-indulgent meh.

mate - you are not alone. its overrated, self indulgent, pretentious wank. i have tried several times to get through it. i watched the whole thing as a teen and was nonplussed. re-watching it was just tedium - its so fucking slow. fuck beautifully executed extended tracking shots and glouriosly designed sets - i want a good pacy yarn with some snappy dialogue and characters you care about. Everyone hates 2010 - but its a much more entertaining film IMHO.

 

[Plumdaff]

I remember watching 21 Grams in the cinema and thinking "this is a Good Film but I'm not enjoying it". Haven't watched it again and have no idea what it was about beyond people crying lots

I think it's a film that tries to convince you by its seriousness that it's Important, when it's actually not a good film. I love Amores Perros but everything Inarritu has done since is overblown pants.

I find a lot of David Lynch, Todd Solondz and Terrance Malick more admirable than enjoyable.

 

[lefteri]

There Will be Blood

 

[agricola]

Hara-Kiri. The story is good, the action scenes better and yet I have only ever felt the need to watch it once.

 

[Fez909]

A number of recent award-winning, critically acclaimed films over the last decade. I would agree that the acting might have been superb, but still found the actual product joyless if not boring. Annoyingly I cannot think of the titles now, but will return when they come to mind. As an opener though I submit No Country for Old Men. And Apocalypse Now. Enjoyable first half, insufferable one they go hunting for Marlon Brando.

Boyhood

 

[JuanTwoThree]

Charlie Chaplin

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Un chien andalou

La grand bouffe

Bicycle thieves

Everything by Jacques Tati

and many more

I nearly mentioned La Grand Bouffe, but when I thought about it I really like and enjoyed it more than I admired it.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I used to like and admire Scarface, but as I've got older I don't like it much at all.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I admire Godfather Pt 3 just because they attempted when there was no way they could have matched the original 2, yet despite everything wrong about it there are still flashes of greatness from Coppola and Pacino, and there is a great story in there somewhere, and a great finale, but the cut that was released just wasn't anywhere near good enough to stand side by side with pt 1 and 2.

 

[JuanTwoThree]

I suppose there's a lot of art-house cinema that goes a bit like this:

'Oh the lighting! The cutting! The mise-en-scene! The masterful acting, the brooding mood! How much longer though? When do the pubs close round here?'

 

[Badgers]

I could begrudgingly say Dirty Dancing.

Recall it is is the most (or one of) profitable films ever made. Cost $6m to make and made $200m+ at the box office.

Putting aside the fact it encourages middle age men to be with under age women they pulled off quite a coup.

I won't watch it but it did well

 

[albionism]

Apocalypse Now.
Life's too short for me to sit through it again.

 

[DotCommunist]

Hara-Kiri. The story is good, the action scenes better and yet I have only ever felt the need to watch it once.

if thats what the OP means then I'll have Once Upon a Time in America. I was never bored or put off and its clearly good work, but not more than once I think

 

[Chz]

I suppose there's a lot of art-house cinema that goes a bit like this:

'Oh the lighting! The cutting! The mise-en-scene! The masterful acting, the brooding mood! How much longer though? When do the pubs close round here?'

Yeah, but past a certain point it's so awful that you can't even admire the good bits. Like Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. Winner at Cannes, darling of the critics, so mind-numbingly fucking boring that I fell asleep through about 20% of it and didn't notice until my wife told me. It doesn't belong in this thread, there is nothing to admire there. (and my rant about Under The Skin could have a thread of its own)

 

[fishfinger]

Hara-Kiri. The story is good, the action scenes better and yet I have only ever felt the need to watch it once.

The Masaki Kobayashi 1962 version? or the Takashi Miike 2011 version?

 

[TruXta]

Apocalypse Now.
Life's too short for me to sit through it again.

You'd enjoy the extended version then

 

[not-bono-ever]

Birdman
Time Bandits ( Actually, most Gilliam filums are unwatchable the second time the opportunity arises, but do you have to admire his touch)

 

[nuffsaid]

The Usual Suspects - I understand it's good, but ultimately it lied to me, promised me a really scary all-powerful villain, was just a scrawny bloke with a false limp.

Pulp Fiction - yeah, yeah, clever, clever, great dialogue - so what, no narrative, just went round in a loop, didn't tell me anything. Tarantino wankfest. First film I ever saw on my own at the cinema - it was effort to have the courage to do that at the time and I got no reward.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Tarantino output is neither deserving of respect nor likeable, so falls outside the scope of this thread

 

[cheesethief]

I admire some films for their technical prowess, for pushing the boundaries, such as Ben Hur, but would rather watch my nails grow. Generally speaking however, for me to admire a film I really have to like it as well. Otherwise it's a bit like admiring a pig-ugly statue simply because it was such a challenge to build.

Everyone bangs on about films like the Godfather, which I suppose might come under this category. But to me they don't, I don't care how amazing a film is reputed to be, how much of a technological tour de force, how artistically ground breaking, if I don't like it I won't admire it either.

 

[nuffsaid]

All the Lord of the Rings films, technically amazing. Enjoyable....meh.

Much like watching Formula 1 these days.

 

[cheesethief]

All the Lord of the Rings films, technically amazing. Enjoyable....meh.

Much like watching Formula 1 these days.

I have a low opinion of anyone who claims to like any of the LOTR films...

 

[sovereignb]

Cloud Atlas...im convinced its a great film and should watch it again...but I know I wont.

 

[skyscraper101]

Another vote for Lord Of The Rings.

Can’t argue with the mass appeal and the technical feat of the project but the whole genre bores me senseless. See also The Hobbit, Game Of Thrones etc

 

[quimcunx]

Mona Lisa in the sense that I thought it was an excellent film but I don't enjoy the thought of watching it ever again.

 

[Plumdaff]

Tarantino output is neither deserving of respect nor likeable, so falls outside the scope of this thread

Jackie Brown is the exception to this rule.

 

[not-bono-ever]

no

 

[Sprocket.]

I could begrudgingly say Dirty Dancing.

Recall it is is the most (or one of) profitable films ever made. Cost $6m to make and made $200m+ at the box office.

Putting aside the fact it encourages middle age men to be with under age women they pulled off quite a coup.

I won't watch it but it did well

Allegedly, also one of the most subversive anti-american, pro-feminist films ever made, but that argument is for another thread and another time.

 

[Sprocket.]

Another vote for 2001 by the way.

 

[8ball]

Two Girls, One Cup