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Movies you really need to "get" to enjoy
- Thread starter viciouskillersquirrel
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I believe this part heavily depends on where you grew up. I liked Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but maybe it's because I've never watched the '70s version. Neither did anyone I know. This movie is largely unknown to people here. We have no connection to the original adaptation and we don't care.viciouskillersquirrel said:
About Burton, I've met people who hated Beetlejuice and it's one of my favourite movies ever. Screw the haters!
Onto the topic itself, I really didn't like Mulholland Drive. I know it's supposed to be sophisticated film, not for everyone, only those who can see that it's an art. Personally, I think it's just bullshit and the movie is weird for sake of weirdness. It's boring and pointlessly weird. Some of the scenes go nowhere - I know, art, but in any other movie it would've been criticized for having no connection to the general plot of the movie.
Trent Strong
Banned
Movies with paper thin stories and characters that rely almost entirely on visuals, like 2001 and Jesse James, I will never understand. I don't know how people can enjoy them.
Combichristoffersen
Combovers don't work when there is no hair
CassSept said:
Beetlejuice was fucking fantastic when I was a kid, and it's still a pretty good movie. Overall I'm a sucker for Burton, although Alice was a bit of a letdown. As for Charlie, it's an OK adaption, but I don't think I've ever met anyone IRL who's actually seen the 70s version. Seems to me it's more well-known in the US than in Europe?
Burton's Batman movies > Nolan's Batman movies
Alx
Member
It may be more obvious now than when it was released, but :
Starship Troopers
You have to take it as a caricature of action/military movies. One review even described it as "Ken & Barbie go to war".
For the record, the source material has a different tone and is very interesting, too. Not as "pro fascism" as many people consider it to be.
In the same vein but even more obvious : Last Action Hero.
Starship Troopers
You have to take it as a caricature of action/military movies. One review even described it as "Ken & Barbie go to war".
For the record, the source material has a different tone and is very interesting, too. Not as "pro fascism" as many people consider it to be.
In the same vein but even more obvious : Last Action Hero.
Naked Snake
Member
I came here to post 2001: A Space Odyssey
I think it's a greatest film ever and I have a profound experience every time I watch it. But I'm always aware that not everybody can/would enjoy it, or "get it", as you say. In fact, the first time I saw it on VHS many years ago, I was one of those people and didn't get what the fuss was about. Found it every boring.
Fast forward a decade or so later, I watched it again on blu-ray on a big screen, and whoa. Hit me like a lighting bolt.
I think it's a greatest film ever and I have a profound experience every time I watch it. But I'm always aware that not everybody can/would enjoy it, or "get it", as you say. In fact, the first time I saw it on VHS many years ago, I was one of those people and didn't get what the fuss was about. Found it every boring.
Fast forward a decade or so later, I watched it again on blu-ray on a big screen, and whoa. Hit me like a lighting bolt.
bumbillbee
Member
Naked Snake said:
You're on to something here. Watching movies on a big screen (ideally properly projected in a theater, but a good home setup,too) can completely change the experience. The first time I saw 2001 was in 70mm. I can't imagine watching something like that as a shitty pirated rip on a computer screen.
Similarly, I didn't quite "get" Last Year at Marienbad first time I watched it on my tiny TV at home. Then I got the chance to watch it in a theater and its hypnotic beauty came through.
drugstore_cowboy
Member
A Scanner Darkly is much more entertaining when I'm bonged and paranoid too.
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Primer. It took me three watches to remotely understand how it worked. :lol
Jex
Member
Pappasman said:
ITT people who don't understand movies.
(Not being serious)
Movies tell you things through visuals, so "trimming it down" would completely remove the point of the whole movie.
goldenpp72 said:
Okay, maybe you suck.
Talk about the ADHD generation...
Salazar said:
That sounds awesome :lol
Naked Snake
Member
bumbillbee said:
I envy you for watching 2001 in 70mm. I really think it's one of the most cinematic films ever and needs to be watched on a big screen. The biggest screen I've seen it on was 42" HDTV and I don't consider myself to have truly seen it yet. In fact I've been holding out on watching it again lately until I have a much bigger TV.
No wonder I didn't appreciate it the first time on VHS and 14" screen :lol
Raist said:
I see that all the time. I think the order of the names is usually according to a contract or biggest-name-to-smallest (in money terms), it doesn't have to correspond to the floating faces.
viciouskillersquirrel said:
One thing to "get" about Lost in Translation in order to like it is to realize it's not intended to be a "romance" exactly. You're not supposed to care if they end up together or not; they don't.
It's about two people who are really lonely. ScarJo's boyfriend is already distant. They've got a mid-life crisis style marriage and they're in their 20s. She's stopped her own life, set everything aside, and traveled with him for the sake of romance or whatever and found out there's nothing there at all. She feels like he doesn't know who she is and maybe she doesn't either. Bill Murray's character is having an actual mid-life crisis. Both act like assholes on occasion, acting out. Like they feel really detached from everyone else in the world, but if they behave like a real prick to someone, at least that's a moment with a human connection, however shitty.
And then they find each other and realize that there are people they are capable of being decent toward. They talk about things that matter and feel like they are understood and can understand the other person. It's not necessarily about whether or not they get together, but rather that they've each learned that they still have the capacity to make connections. Neither of them is going to throw away a marriage on someone they met like a week ago, but they do come away from it changed and possibly better people.
That sounds sooo pretentious written out like that. :lol But there you go: to enjoy Lost in Translation it helps to not care if they hook up or not.
Steppenwolf
Member
That's the beauty of Lost In Translation. It's not the usual superficial romance type of movie that ends up with sex and relationship. It's about true and pure affection that is not just based on hormones.
faridmon said:
I absolutely loved that movie. I liked it so much more than A Simple Man which most people loved and I felt rather indifferent about. I really need to buy Burn After Reading on Blu_Ray and I feel I should rewatch A Simple Man to find out what I missed.
2001 is IMO a movie you have to experience, it's not about the plot or the characters. Some movies are like that, for instance Terence Malick's The New World. I wish he'd cut out all the interior monologues and most of the plot and focus totally on the sounds and images.
John Dunbar
correct about everything
Since 2001 was mentioned, Eyes Wide Shut is another of Kubrick's that I think qualifies. I still maintain that in another 10-20 years it will widely be considered to be right up there among his best.
spandexmonkey
Banned
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
First time anyone I know watched it, they had a hard time finishing it. Then they watched it again and liked it a bit more. Further repeat viewing and you start to just love the film. It's what turned most people I know on to Hunter Thompson as he was kind of unknown to most of people.
First time anyone I know watched it, they had a hard time finishing it. Then they watched it again and liked it a bit more. Further repeat viewing and you start to just love the film. It's what turned most people I know on to Hunter Thompson as he was kind of unknown to most of people.
Stridone said:
Clint Mansell should have won an oscar for his soundtrack. Unbelievable that he wasn't even nominated for an Academy Award because The Fountain would have been a completely different movie without his music. The climax of the movie combined with the music of "Death is the Road to Awe" was a truly transcendent cinema experience. Simply incredible.
bigmit3737
Member
spandexmonkey said:
Movie was too disturbing for me.
BobsRevenge
I do not avoid women, GAF, but I do deny them my essence.
Steppenwolf
Member
spandexmonkey said:
I believe its necessary to have your own drug experiences to be able to fully understand and appreciate this film. The film is a perfect portrayal of the confusion and mind fuck of tripping heavily. How would anyone who hasn't experienced it first hand be able to truly comprehend this?
Mr. B Natural
Member
A lot of people don't get the movie despite it being quite blatant. It's a genius movie with a genius idea that is so weird that maybe some people have a hard time picking up on it.
Complex Shadow
Cudi Lame™
what you have to get is that the director didn't have a lot money.
GullyJuice
Banned
The musical stuff in 2001 is just bullshit that wastes time. Great films can have flaws.
And for someone to really like Lost in Translation you have to go in looking for a philosophy on life. Some people have it figured out and see those characters as douchey assholes, some see themselves in those people.
And for someone to really like Lost in Translation you have to go in looking for a philosophy on life. Some people have it figured out and see those characters as douchey assholes, some see themselves in those people.
MarkMclovin
Member
Magnolia
GullyJuice
Banned
MarkMclovin said:
Agree
And I really like PTA
I see a lot of movies that I believe I understood, and that I hated anyway. Probably a matter of opinion, though.
Altered States - a movie that won't tell you anything at all, if you're not into spirituality and looking for a higher goal in your life. And 100% atheist, too.
Blade Runner - just doesn't tell you much, and deals with themes that aren't for everyone.
Citizen Kane - it would be safe to say that it's a masterpiece, yet it'll bore the shit out of you if you're expecting an all-time mindblowing experience. All it is is a flawless movie with a great message.
Recently : Splice - a drama. Not a horror movie.
Valhalla Rising - Very few spoken lines, telling you a story about the man of nature. You pretty much have to guess that.
Altered States - a movie that won't tell you anything at all, if you're not into spirituality and looking for a higher goal in your life. And 100% atheist, too.
Blade Runner - just doesn't tell you much, and deals with themes that aren't for everyone.
Citizen Kane - it would be safe to say that it's a masterpiece, yet it'll bore the shit out of you if you're expecting an all-time mindblowing experience. All it is is a flawless movie with a great message.
Recently : Splice - a drama. Not a horror movie.
Valhalla Rising - Very few spoken lines, telling you a story about the man of nature. You pretty much have to guess that.
DataStream
Member
bumbillbee said:
I really have trouble getting down with Italian neorealism.
However, I do love "Killer of Sheep".
IAmtheFMan
Member
So this movie in 1999 broke all sorts of records in Korea (beat Titanic) and was one of the precipitants for creating the Korean film industry as it stands now. But if you watch it, it's an almost by-the-numbers thriller movie, complete with double agents and slow-mo bombs ticking down to 00:00. Granted the production value was higher in Shiri then almost all Korean movies up to that point, but still: how did this become a go-to standard of Korean cinema?
To "get" this though is not at all to understand an intricate plot. Rather, it has to do with understanding the undercurrent of North/South relations, and the pain that's been tearing the countries apart; essentially a civil war that's been ongoing still for 60 years. I've had non-Korean friends watch this and go "that was it?" while most of my Korean friends are stirred by it.
This is also my problem with the whole rumored JSA remake on the Mexican/U.S. border. Hollywood DOESN'T get it, and this allegory is not nearly the same as the one on the DMZ.
If you watch it as a thriller/action movie, it's average at best. If you watch it understanding the political situation, it strikes a nerve.
Back when I was on my Asian cinema kick, I had pondered Shiri for a bit but ultimately decided against it when I had read the same thing that you just described. Really interesting, though; it's rare that you see a film be successful because of the environment it's released in rather than its own merits.
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