Unpopular film & TV opinions

[Knotted]

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

Good example of a good overbearing soundtrack is the Teiji Ito soundtrack to Little Joe. Properly ear splitting with barking dogs. That's how soundtracks should be.

 

[ska invita]

It's a rare occurrence that a score improves a film. Most of the time watching most films I'm thinking "ferchrissake just leave out this half-arsed attempt at film music and let me listen to the incidental noise". I wish there was a mute option for it.

im watching the new Lord of the Rings most expensive tv show ever made thing Rings of Power - almost nonstop background strings throughout it - its annoying and manipulating and cheesy

 

[Knotted]

im watching the new Lord of the Rings most expensive tv show ever made thing Rings of Power - almost nonstop background strings throughout it - its annoying and manipulating and cheesy

I think a lot of soundtracks are purposely manipulative. They're there to tell you what to feel.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Most of the "great" films that it's popular to dunk on are in fact great actually.

Even Cititzen Kane's not bad.

I watched a doc on that the day before yesterday too.
Do people dunk on Citizen Kane? I think it's generally considered pretty good. Would probably have been utterly mind blowing at the time.

 

[poppy60]

You don't need to have seen a show or film to have an opinion on it

It helps though.

 

[Pickman's model]

It helps though.

By no means. I have strong opinions on books I haven't read, songs I haven't heard and films I haven't seen

 

[ska invita]

I think a lot of soundtracks are purposely manipulative. They're there to tell you what to feel.

yeah i guess thats what i mean about the batman soundtrack - its not saying feel happy sad tense - its just real tunes as you might listen to without it being a score (there probably is incidental strings in there too as well as the prince tunes)

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I watched a doc on that the day before yesterday too.
Do people dunk on Citizen Kane? I think it's generally considered pretty good. Would probably have been utterly mind blowing at the time.

I think people sit down to watch it already knowing it's supposed to be the greatest thing ever. So it's almost bound to disappoint.

Some of the reasons it's considered 'great' are because it did a bunch of things that were new - both visually, such as digging holes for the cameras to create the upward shots, and narratively, such as the flashbacks. But even without knowing that, it's a superbly crafted film, the acting is universally brilliant, and it's a really enjoyable watch.

What blows my mind is that Welles was only 24 when he made it and it was his first film.

 

[A380]

Apocalypse now could have done with being an hour shorter.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I think people sit down to watch it already knowing it's supposed to be the greatest thing ever. So it's almost bound to disappoint.

Some of the reasons it's considered 'great' are because it did a bunch of things that were new - both visually, such as digging holes for the cameras to create the upward shots, and narratively, such as the flashbacks. But even without knowing that, it's a superbly crafted film, the acting is universally brilliant, and it's a really enjoyable watch.

I think when I first watched it in the 80s I was aware that I might be expecting a masterpiece and be disappointed . . and so somehow cancelled that out. You are correct, it's a fairly solid watch even by today's standards . . . by the standards set at the time it's quite incredible (but I didn't really know that at the time).

 

[Knotted]

I've never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4 the Next Generation. But I'm a bit obsessed with opinions about it. I think it sorts out those with something to say about film in general from the "well that was shit" crowd.

 

[Knotted]

I watched a doc on that the day before yesterday too.
Do people dunk on Citizen Kane? I think it's generally considered pretty good. Would probably have been utterly mind blowing at the time.

People do sometimes including me. But I feel we should all correct our instinct to dismiss something that doesn't click with us. That's kind of you not the media. The biggest unpopular opinion is that the viewer should criticise themselves too.

 

[Chz]

Woody Allen's only good films are the silly ones from the 70s. His best film is Sleeper, and it's been downhill ever since. His take on modern urban living is shallow and self-indulgent and has little relevance to anyone not from the upper middle classes of Manhattan.

Prefer Purple Rose of Cairo myself, but I think the point stands. But in this day and age where it's difficult to keep the artist and their art apart, there aren't going to be a lot of people thinking this is an unpopular opinion.

 

[Chz]

Computer animation is 99.9% rubbish. Ray Harryhausen has never been bettered.

Highly recommend Light and Magic on Disney+, all about the foundation of Industrial Light and Magic. Yes, it all ends up as computers by the end of it, but getting there is amazing.

 

[Part 2]

That may be true, but if anyone else is like me at all, it’s one of the only tv dramas they watch so there’s nowt else to compare it to apart from distant memories of Corrie and Emmerdale

I think you're probably right as a returning series and just from the HV thread people are obvs seeing and remembering much more than me....which is fairly standard tbh

 

[not-bono-ever]

Every Star Wars film is better than the previous one

 

[killer b]

Computer animation is 99.9% rubbish. Ray Harryhausen has never been bettered.

Is this from some facebook boomer meme generator or something?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Prefer Purple Rose of Cairo myself, but I think the point stands. But in this day and age where it's difficult to keep the artist and their art apart, there aren't going to be a lot of people thinking this is an unpopular opinion.

I don't care about Allen's private life. The allegations of abuse from his ex were never substantiated, and you might frown at his relationship with his stepdaughter, but she was an adult when they got together and they're still together now 30 years later.

He's a very different case from, say, Polanski.

My problem with him is that he keeps churning out shit films.

 

[contadino]

I don't care about Allen's private life. The allegations of abuse from his ex were never substantiated, and you might frown at his relationship with his stepdaughter, but she was an adult when they got together and they're still together now 30 years later.

He's a very different case from, say, Polanski.

My problem with him is that he keeps churning out shit films.

When discussing his films with people who do like them, "I don't find them funny or entertaining" seems to be understood as "I don't understand them". No, I understand them but they're either pointless or just not very well done.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

He's not even decent enough to make shit shit films. They're mediocre. Nowhere near as good as you think they could be when you start watching. Disappear from your mind as soon as they're over.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

And since I brought up Polanksi (and given the Allen link), Rosemary's Baby is a great big pile of cinematic poo.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

When discussing his films with people who do like them, "I don't find them funny or entertaining" seems to be understood as "I don't understand them". No, I understand them but they're either pointless or just not very well done.

Lynch, Tarkovsky, Allen...

Notoriously hard to understand.

 

[hitmouse]

Films are generally not that good. If you have a story you want to tell properly then you should grow the fuck up and make a sitcom like an adult.

 

[hitmouse]

Aliens ain’t all that. It pales into insignificance compared to Alien

100% agree with this one, everyone holds it up as "the rare example of a sequel that actually improves on the original" but it's bollocks - Alien has great character-driven storytelling and a genuinely terrifying monster, Aliens has a huge number of disposable characters who are just there to die, a kid who's there for the cheap emotional involvement of having a kid in danger, and then instead of having one very scary monster they have 500 monsters who have to just sit around not doing anything whenever the kid's around.

Tarantino opinion: Inglorious Basterds is a really interesting film about how historical stories are told, although without wanting to be too patronising I'm not sure Tarantino was actually thinking about what he was doing while he was making it?

Woody Allen opinion: Can't remember having strong opinions about any of his films (I think Annie Hall might have been quite good?) but I did really enjoy Without Feathers and Getting Even when I read them. Very SJ Perelman but that's no bad thing.

 

[killer b]

He's not even decent enough to make shit shit films. They're mediocre. Nowhere near as good as you think they could be when you start watching. Disappear from your mind as soon as they're over.

I'm not sure about that - I went to see one of his relatively recent efforts (about an older college professor and his sexual obsession with one of his students, of course) and it was absolutely terrible.

IIRC Bullets over Broadway and Sweet and Lowdown were both great, so it's a mixed bag

 

[belboid]

Blue Jasmine was excellent.

 

[hitmouse]

May have mentioned this one before but I found Mad Men genuinely unwatchable, think I've tried starting it twice now but never managed to get beyond the third episode or so.

 

[RedRedRose]

Better Call Saul was alright, but not a scratch on Breaking Bad.

 

[Orang Utan]

People should watch tv series one episode at a time and not binge them thus ruining civilised discourse on what was on the telly last night

 

[danny la rouge]

Here’s my unpopular opinion: it’s fine for people not to like things I like, or to like things I don’t like; we have different tastes. So the fuck what?