Movies you can't sit through | Golden Skate

Movies you can't sit through

heyang

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Joined
Jul 26, 2003
From a comment in the Golden Globes thread, I got to thinking about movies that I had a really had a hard time watching, although I know other people really enjoyed them and some of them I actually enjoyed when viewing a 2nd time.

Great Balls of Fire starring Dennis Quaid. It was a 1st date movie - nothing else was out in theaters at the time. My date and I walked out because neither of us was enjoying the movie and continued our date elsewhere.

Resident Evil. I would've walked out, but I didn't have my own car; so, I was stuck in the theater. It didn't help that the lady next to me had bad breath and talked to her friend through the previews and the 1st 10 minutes of the movie. However, I still don't find the movie entertaining.

The Last Emporer. When I saw this movie in the theater, I got a bit squirmy because of the length of the film and the crowded room. I found that I enjoyed the movie a great deal more in the comfort of my home.

Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford. I think it was a bit too sci-fi for me that night. Enjoyed it more the 2nd time around.

Not trying to be negative, but just curious about people's dislkes as compared to the general public.

LOL - I guess it's all a matter of taste. One of my co-workers hated Titanic - he only wanted to see the ship sink and didn't count on getting a romance 'period' piece. Obviously, a lot of other people loved it based up box office, repeat viewers, awards, etc.
 
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louisa05

Final Flight
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Dec 3, 2011
Captain Corelli's Mandolin. I would have walked out but the friend I was with actually liked it.

Also, the Beverly Hills Cop movies which my husband watches over and over again. They make me insane. I usually end up in another room with headphones on. On that same note, Urban Cowboy which I'm pretty sure he has seen over 1000 times in just the six years we have been together. I hate that movie. Particularly the casual way it treats domestic violence.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I don't know whether it's you or I who is the contrarian, Toni, but I loved Titanic--I guess it takes all kinds!

One of my favorite kinds of movies is film adaptations of favorite books, but these can be very frustrating as well if I feel they go wrong. I don't expect complete fidelity to the book, because film is a completely different medium, but some interpretations just violate the essence of a work.

One old movie I was never able to sit through was the Orson Welles Jane Eyre. Now, you have to know that of the Bronte sisters' novels, I prefer Jane Eyre to Wuthering Heights by a long ways. But I found that movie interminable and completely devoid of charm. Welles was not my idea of Mr. Rochester, and the pacing was just funereal.

As for more modern films, since I go to so few of them, I probably don't end up finding a lot of them unwatchable. (I avoid movies with excessive noise or violence, save for the occasional superhero movie.) One that I did was Bewitched. I used to enjoy the TV series, but the movie was starchy and long-winded. If it did show any of the whimsy that made the series so enjoyable, I wouldn't know, because I didn't last past the first half hour.

Speaking of superhero movies, the one that really left me cold was Superman Returns. One of my favorite superheroes ever, and the film turned him into a statue. He almost never opened his mouth (while the villain, Kevin Spacey playing Luthor, never shut up); Lois Lane was unconvincingly young and lightweight; and the cinematography was murky. Even the costume was murky--the iconic red and blue of the outfit had a grayish cast even in daylight. The movie committed two cardinal sins: (1) the "other man" (James Marsden as Lois's fiance) was far more charming and interesting than the male lead, Superman himself, and (2) the little boy, Lois's son, never moved, rarely spoke, never had a single natural moment. He was there purely for plot purposes, not as a living human being. The music was also turgid and repetitive. I went back and watched the first Christopher Reeve movie and some Lois and Clark. (Teri Hatcher was the best Lois ever, and Dean Cain wasn't half bad in his Clark persona.) That made me feel better.

I hope the upcoming Man of Steel does a better job.
 
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evangeline

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Nov 7, 2007
Most recently for me, The Avengers. I like Joss Whedon, and so many people (and even movie critics!) I know loved the movie--but I was so bored while watching the movie I literally could not finish it at all despite my best efforts. It was basically mindless action + more mindless action + occasional snarky comment + mindless action, rinse, wash, repeat.

What did me in was probably the massive hype around this completely overrated film. I think I was actually expecting something clever.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
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Jun 27, 2003
The Harry Potter films and Twilight films are also blaaaaahhhhh worthy.
 

iluvtodd

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Mar 5, 2004
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Howard the Duck - one of the stupidest movies we've ever seen.

Just could not watch Edward Scissorhands

The Boys from Brazil (I hope I'm not confusing it with The Odessa Files, which I think I really liked)

I couldn't stand "Beetlejuice" - our niece rented it, so I only watched part of it.

I know it won as best picture in its respective year, but I thought "The English Patient" was tedious! watched the whole thing, but was bored to death by it.
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I think, in addition to movies with a lot of violence or scary bits or monsters, there are two main movies I tend to dislike. One is the kind of guy comedy featuring Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler or whoever. It usually depends on making people look like fools, very loudly, and the "jokes" go on interminably. I don't even like Monty Python. I once watched a famous Python routine, and I laughed for the first three minutes, and then the joke was hit again, and again, and again...and again, and again. Exit Olympia.

The other kind of movie I dislike, and maybe liking these movies is a cultivated taste, is a slow, dreamlike film with long, pained looks--a description that exactly fits The English Patient, I think. And Barry Lyndon. I think Iluvtodd and I would both sneak into the projection booth and substitute West Side Story or Easter Parade (with Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Ann Miller, and music by Irving Berlin). Right, Iluvtodd?
 

iluvtodd

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Believe it or not, I've never seen Easter Parade, but I would probably like it (loved the movie White Christmas and the stage production we saw locally). West Side Story is a classic! I actually liked Barry Lyndon (have only seen it once, I must have liked the soundtrack too, even though I don't have it :biggrin:).

Re; Monty Python, we need to rent The Life of Brian and Monty Python & the Holy Grail. We just saw "Spamalot" for the third time this past weekend. Saw the show on Broadway in 2006, and laughed our heads off. Saw it again when it came to Philly in 2008. It in back in Philly for a short run, so we had to see it again. I :love: the Broadway cast recording to pieces (there is a hilarious song in the show called "You Won't Succeed on Broadway" - I won't give away the rest of it, you've got to see in on Youtube to believe it). Of course, I also :love: the fact that Todd skated to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life in SOI (I was seriously hoping he would skate to that song some day, and I got my wish!).
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Oh, you must watch Easter Parade! Astaire dances with both Miller and Garland, and the singing is splendid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFqFMxIeeU0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KsswOqNOjs

Barry Lyndon did have a lovely soundtrack. At least part of it was contributed by the Irish folk group the Chieftains. I think it was the soundtrack that tempted me into going and seeing the movie in the first place. I just couldn't warm to the actual film. Glad you liked it, though. It was Stanley Kubrick, so I'm sure it was excellent.

As for Monty Python, I suppose I could try them again....
 

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
The Harry Potter films and Twilight films are also blaaaaahhhhh worthy.

I enjoyed both series of books. As related to the movies, I enjoyed HP 1-4 and had mixed feelings about the remainder of the movies. I have mixed feelings about the entire Twilight movie series - enjoyed some aspects, but definitely not a series I consistently stop to watch when it's on TV
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I never read the Twilight books but enjoyed Harry Potter. I thought they did a splendid job with the HP films, considering how complex and involved the plots of the books were, especially the later ones. They had to cut out a lot. Of the "big three" fantasy authors that movie makers tackled within the last decade or so, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and J.K. Rowling, I think Tolkien and Rowling came out really well. Lovers of the books could enjoy the movies and see some really imaginative ways to represent the authors concepts. The filmmakers also got some terrific actors for both those series. The Harry Potter people really lucked out with the kids, and not just the three major ones. They were cute kids who grew into their roles, not something that always happens with child actors. Whoever cast that series really had the golden touch. And all those British theatrical giants seemed to be having such fun running Hogwarts, didn't they?

Since we're airing peeves here, The Lewis Narnia movies after the first one, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, disappointed many fans because some important themes and characters were distorted. (Fan, here.) There were some lovely moments, but there are parts especially in Prince Caspian where I close my eyes or (if I'm watching at home) do other tasks. Sigh...maybe I can hope for a reboot in some far future.
 

heyang

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Howard the Duck - one of the stupidest movies we've ever seen.

I couldn't stand "Beetlejuice" - our niece rented it, so I only watched part of it.

I know it won as best picture in its respective year, but I thought "The English Patient" was tedious! watched the whole thing, but was bored to death by it.

How in the world did you end up going to see Howard the Duck??

I agree totally with your comments about The English Patient. It was beautifully filmed, but tedious.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
I was surprised at how much I liked Beetlejuice. I love Michael Keaton, who seems to have been lying low in recent years--too bad, because he's a wonderful character actor. And I like Winona Ryder, and I enjoyed the subplot of the girl who needed attention who was nurtured by the ghosts.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
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Jun 27, 2003
Michael Keaton and Tim Burton are a genius combo, just like Burton and Depp are.
 

iluvtodd

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How in the world did you end up going to see Howard the Duck??

I like ducks (real ones, Donald, and the Aflac Duck), and my brother (7 years older than I am) wanted to see it. ETA, I forgot to mention that my brother's name is Howard, duh! :laugh: He would also entertain me with Donald Duck imitations ever since I was a little kid. I think he thought it was a pretty stupid movie too. :laugh:
 
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Joined
Aug 16, 2009
Michael Keaton and Tim Burton are a genius combo, just like Burton and Depp are.

One of the things I like best about Henry Winkler is that when they made Night Shift, which I think he produced as well as starred in (and his good buddy Ron Howard directed), he saw at once that Keaton had "It," and he (and Howard) generously allowed Keaton a huge amount of space in the film, even at the expense of his own character. Keaton was like a beacon onscreen. He walked away with a large part of that movie, and I think it was his first major role. I can't believe that talent like that has no place in Hollywood today, and I'm really curious how that came to happen.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
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Jun 27, 2003
I believe he took a break. When you do that typically it is hard to regain your footing (so to speak). He could still make it big (johnny depp reinvented his career by going Disney) again, but to me it doesn't seem like he's concerned enough to do it. He may like where he's at.
 

Dee4707

Ice Is Slippery - Alexie Yagudin
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A Beautiful Mind
Chariots of Fire
Rudy
The Passion of the Christ

I have never seen Casablanca, just bits & pieces.
 
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