Unpopular film & TV opinions

[AnnO'Neemus]

i was thinking about the Batman film with the Prince soundtrack the other day - i kind of wish more films tried to have a really bold unusual overbearing soundtrack like that. if you dont like the music it ruins it but worth the risk i think

I don't recall that film, but I love it when a film has a really good, standout soundtrack.

Off the top of my head, some of my favourites are Baby Driver, If Beale Street Could Talk, La Haine, Garden State.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Anything with monsters, werewolves, slashers, vampires, zombies, ghosts, or Kiera Knightley, can fuck right off.

I love the zombie genre, will watch anything zombie-related. For slashers, Halloween franchise can't be beat. I'm with you on Keira Knightley though, her stupid pouty face annoys me, pouting ≠ acting.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Depends on the critic. Many film critics are essentially industry shills. I mostly trust the ones who write for the Roger Ebert site (Ebert was a good critic). The likes of Mark Kermode are worthless.

But you're never going to agree with everything they say. The BFI critic at the time slated Onibaba when it came out, for instance. Which is just weird. But liking or not liking films is subjective.

I still miss Barry Norman who had a great knack for tongue in cheek and making even shit films sound so bad they were good, so you ended up wanting to watch pretty much everything he reviewed.

 

[Chz]

The art of colour grading is massively underrated.

As is the job of whoever selects the music to play in films and television series, there's a real knack and an art to that too.

Oh yes, I get what you mean. Particularly about Wes Anderson. I saw his latest and loved the way it looked, but too much of it was cutesy "Oh, aren't I just being quirky" shit and it pissed me off.

 

[rubbershoes]

WALL-E and Up were good though. Apart from those two, they do seem to rinse each film franchise for sequels.

Inside Out, Up and Big Hero 6 were all good and weren't devalued by sequels

 

[danny la rouge]

Big Hero 6

Never saw that, as I hadn’t seen the first 5.

 

[Chz]

Inside Out, Up and Big Hero 6 were all good and weren't devalued by sequels

BH6 not Pixar, but it was a product of the ex-Pixar head (John Lassiter) heading up Disney Animation. Which also lead to Frozen. I think Wall-E is underrated. Not many films start off with 20 minutes of footage before anyone says a word. I'm partial to Ratatouille, as well.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I agree on the Sopranos but strong disagree on the Wire. Sopranos has aged really badly

I never even liked the Sopranos even at the time. I just don't see why people go so bananas for it. It's not even good for what it is. It's so bland.

 

[seeformiles]

I never even liked the Sopranos even at the time. I just don't see why people go so bananas for it. It's not even good for what it is. It's so bland.

It completely passed me by first time round, then I tried it on DVD and still nothing. It was only during the first lockdown that I tried it again on a streaming service and really got into it. Odd how these things work sometimes.
However, when it comes to “Breaking Bad” I just don’t see what the fuss is about and Lordy, I’ve really tried. Perhaps I’ll have a moment in the future where it catches my imagination?

 

[stavros]

I watched American Psycho the other day for the first time, and thought it was a bit shit.

 

[paul mckenna]

Hugh Abbott should have returned in the final season of The Thick Of It

I am king of remembering my own password

 

[T & P]

I never even liked the Sopranos even at the time. I just don't see why people go so bananas for it. It's not even good for what it is. It's so bland.

To be fair, I think it still deserves some recognition both as a pretty decent series (I’m sure if you or I had been on a desert island and were unaware of the cult following, we’d certainly rate it somewhat higher) and one that heralded the beginning of the age of great TV series. The editing looks rough around the edges at times, and there are several series decisively above it in my greatest list, but I certainly enjoyed many aspects of it. But at the end of the day, each to their own of course.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

To be fair, I think it still deserves some recognition both as a pretty decent series (I’m sure if you or I had been on a desert island and were unaware of the cult following, we’d certainly rate it somewhat higher)

When I watched it and dismissed it I was compleatly unaware of it's status. I guess I didn't talk to anyone about it. . . plus it was new, so had not been around long enough to be cult? I caught a few episodes due to that thing in the old days of "it was the only thing on and I was in doing nothing".
I didn't really hear anyone rave about it until years later, maybe it just wasn't on my radar. I got my hair cut and the barber had a framed poster, or photo or something and I remember thinking 'lame'. It stuck in my head and I kept seeing or hearing other people say it was great.
I was really surprised . . . kind of in the same way I was when I saw lord of the rings at the cinema. I remember thinking "is this a joke?" I had never seen anything so shit. Shit story, shit cgi, the whole thing was laughable. I thought there was going to be huge backlash because everyone had been bigging it up, but it was in actual fact a massive turd. I was literally stunned, flabbergasted when stood up from my seat and I appeared to be the only person in the cinema that thought it was anything less than the greatest cinematic event they had ever seen. . . I still can't really believe it.

. . . but yeah. The Sopranos is well shit (IMO) Fucking party of 5 or 30 something but with fat goodfellas.

 

[stavros]

Hugh Abbott should have returned in the final season of The Thick Of It

Maybe, although I might argue that that series has Peter Mannion, probably the best of all the politicians they had in that show.

 

[shambler]

Sad films which win prizes at Cannes are all basically the same, and no more intellectually interesting than slashy giallos with loads of chases and gratuitous nudity. It's just grief porn vs porn porn

 

[Yossarian]

Inside Out, Up and Big Hero 6 were all good and weren't devalued by sequels

Big Hero 6 had an animated series for a sequel and the second movie comes out next month

‘Big Hero 6’ sequel ‘Baymax!’ hits Disney+ on June 29th

Baymax!, the Disney+ sequel to 2014’s Big Hero 6, will debut on June 29th

www.engadget.com

 

[rubbershoes]

Big Hero 6 had an animated series for a sequel and the second movie comes out next month

‘Big Hero 6’ sequel ‘Baymax!’ hits Disney+ on June 29th

Baymax!, the Disney+ sequel to 2014’s Big Hero 6, will debut on June 29th

www.engadget.com

Thank god for Disney. You can count on them to squeeze every dollar out

 

[hitmouse]

I've started watching that Succession thing that everyone keeps banging on about, it'd be better if it was funnier. Reckon I'll probably give up after the first season unless it starts grabbing me a lot more. Maybe I should try rewatching Breaking Bad one day but maybe I shouldn't.

 

[The39thStep]

I've started watching that Succession thing that everyone keeps banging on about, it'd be better if it was funnier. Reckon I'll probably give up after the first season unless it starts grabbing me a lot more. Maybe I should try rewatching Breaking Bad one day but maybe I shouldn't.

A mate of mine started to rewatch Breaking Bad recently but said it just seemed dated with other series covering similar ground but better.

 

[T & P]

Whereas the acting and storytelling in most of such landmark series is undoubtedly superb, I find the pace in some of them very slow. I guess the first time you watch them it is easier to put up with, but it’s not so easy during subsequent viewings.

If Succession hadn’t received such amount of praise I wouldn’t have finished tge first season, which I found it positively boring at times. S3 however I found much better to watch.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

It completely passed me by first time round, then I tried it on DVD and still nothing. It was only during the first lockdown that I tried it again on a streaming service and really got into it. Odd how these things work sometimes.
However, when it comes to “Breaking Bad” I just don’t see what the fuss is about and Lordy, I’ve really tried. Perhaps I’ll have a moment in the future where it catches my imagination?

What I loved about Breaking Bad wasn't just Walter's character's story arc, the normal, ostensibly 'good' bloke turned bad, how he slowly (or relatively quickly, depending on your perspective), descended from desperate dad/husband, determined to do right by his family, very out of his depth, in way over his head, to someone who not only got the measure of the drugs industry, and not only learned to operate in it, but eventually to thrive in it. He had hidden depths, that he plumbed only too willingly. And I don't only mean depths to his character generally, in terms of him not being just one dimensional, he had so many different facets, but also the depths to which he plumbed in terms of criminality/badness - and how much of that was due to his desire/urge to do right by his family, his initial motivation, and how much of that, eventually, was him growing (devolving?) into that kind of character/person. It seemed like he was originally playing that kind of character under duress, because needs must, but then eventually he tapped into something within his own character/psyche... what are any of us capable of, given the 'right' - or rather wrong - conditions?

It reminded me about confidence/fake it till you make it, kind of thing. If you pretend to be a bad guy, and you do bad guy things... at what point do you stop being a good guy pretending to be a bad guy (because needs must), at what point does the ostensibly good guy actually become the bad guy? Is a good guy doing bad things for good reasons still a good guy, or has he crossed over into being a bad guy? How bad do the things he does have to be before that line is crossed and the good guy becomes the bad guy? I found that fascinating.

But what I loved most was Walter's relationship with Jesse and how their character/story arcs oscillated - it wasn't as simple as Walter = teacher = clever = good versus Jesse = high school drop-out/trouble-maker = not clever = bad. On the surface it was, in very, very broad strokes. But what I loved was the interplay between the characters mashing up those simplistic binaries, how Jesse would get into trouble and clever Walter would rescue Jesse from whatever dilemma he was in (as you'd expect, Walter being a teacher, being clever), but the twist was that Walter often got himself into trouble through lack of 'street smart' and Jesse would often have to rescue Walter from himself/from whatever trouble he'd gotten himself into through his lack of street smarts. They were both good, in different ways, they were both bad, in different ways, sometimes bad in the same ways. But through it all, despite their ups and downs, they were in it together, through thick and thin, and there seemed to be an almost father-son type relationship between them, some kind of familial fondness, despite their disparate background and how they ended up entangled together.

I loved all that.

 

[hitmouse]

From reading about WEB Du Bois, I've learned about what sounds like a really fascinating Breaking Bad plot arc:

 

[Orang Utan]

Whereas the acting and storytelling in most of such landmark series is undoubtedly superb, I find the pace in some of them very slow. I guess the first time you watch them it is easier to put up with, but it’s not so easy during subsequent viewings.

If Succession hadn’t received such amount of praise I wouldn’t have finished tge first season, which I found it positively boring at times. S3 however I found much better to watch.

Not enough exploding helicopters?
I hate it when people describe tv or movies that are heavy on conversation as slow when they’re not at all. They’re full of incident!

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Not enough exploding helicopters?
I hate it when people describe tv or movies that are heavy on conversation as slow when they’re not at all. They’re full of incident!

I agree. Increasingly heavy bombastic action in films is only highlighting this even more. My favourite example is probably 'The Island' which had an extremely interesting premise and a great opportunity to explore morality / survival instincts and display some intense personal dynamics. . . . but instead threw helicopters and impossible gymnastics at it until it exploded.

I was watching that guardians 3 at the cinema the other day. I liked it. Then there was some giant smashy smash action bit in space and I found my mind drifting. I lost maybe five or ten minutes. Last I remember was Rocket Raccoon was singing This is the Day by The The. . . then huh. . . where am I? What happened?

I like the idea that a raccoon has been listening to The The enough in space to know all the lyrics. Do they have the whole of Soul Mining on the zune?

 

[hitmouse]

I'm fine with things that are just people having conversations, I think my problem with Succession is that it's full of people I don't care about having conversations?

 

[T & P]

Not enough exploding helicopters?
I hate it when people describe tv or movies that are heavy on conversation as slow when they’re not at all. They’re full of incident!

Thank you for the patronising characterisation

There is such a thing as an inappropriately slow pace in an otherwise good film or series, you know? Or are you suggesting otherwise? I’m happy to disagree with someone about the pace of a given show, but please drop the snobbishness.

Hell, if I were to search for posts of yours in this forum containing the words ‘slow’ and ‘pace’ used as a criticism, I wouldn’t be surprised to find a few. But even if you had never in your life seen slow pace as a flaw in a given film or show, rest assured that most other people do from time to time.

 

[krtek a houby]

Think it's sad that people play with their phones while "watching" films. Just don't get it and why bother?

It's all about immersion, imho. Can't be doing with distractions.

 

[Orang Utan]

Thank you for the patronising characterisation

There is such a thing as an inappropriately slow pace in an otherwise good film or series, you know? Or are you suggesting otherwise? I’m happy to disagree with someone about the pace of a given show, but please drop the snobbishness.

Hell, if I were to search for posts of yours in this forum containing the words ‘slow’ and ‘pace’ used as a criticism, I wouldn’t be surprised to find a few. But even if you had never in your life seen slow pace as a flaw in a given film or show, rest assured that most other people do from time to time.

yes there’s plenty of films with long shots and not much happening that I would describe as slow. Just not the sort of thing you have referred to as slow.
Slow isn’t necessarily a pejorative word in entertainment. Sometimes it’s good to take time to establish a certain mood or setting or whatever. But dialogue-heavy films are not slow just cos they have little action in them. You find out a lot about the characters and that’s entertainment.
I will not apologise for my view of you as someone with poor critical faculties and very little discernment, because it is sincerely held. It’s exasperating to read.

 

[Pickman's model]

Thank you for the patronising characterisation

There is such a thing as an inappropriately slow pace in an otherwise good film or series, you know? Or are you suggesting otherwise? I’m happy to disagree with someone about the pace of a given show, but please drop the snobbishness.

Hell, if I were to search for posts of yours in this forum containing the words ‘slow’ and ‘pace’ used as a criticism, I wouldn’t be surprised to find a few. But even if you had never in your life seen slow pace as a flaw in a given film or show, rest assured that most other people do from time to time.

Tbh what can be really annoying is things which should be a slow boil to a series climax being sped up, in for example longmire where several times plot lines which could have had dramatic denouements happened really quickly and were passed over with scarcely a ripple

 

[hitmouse]

One thing I will give Succession credit for, it's pretty smart how they named that character Ken Doll as a way of establishing that the show takes place in the same cinematic universe as Barbie.