What movie is most likely to get caught in your challopian tube?

yeah, it's more entertaining when you're not arguing about whether so-and-so is supposed to be representing Lou Reed, Bowie, Iggy, etc. at a given point in the movie.

yes. and right from the first scene you know it's going to be great, with the bullied kid finding Oscar Wilde's brooch, and the camera shooting off to the stars.

the only thing i didn't like about VG was the citizen kane thing

I love Velvet Goldmine. I'm sure there's a thread. But we should be talking about mainstream hits that really suck.

Of recent movies The Dark Knight really bugged me.

bloated, overly-gothic, 4 or 5 pseudo-endings, and it was all taken so seriously...

500 days of summer. SUCKED.

I'd have preferred Magnolia if it was only 5 minutes of raining frogs.

a bit too wishy washy for a challop but I didn't get all the OMG over Shawshank. It's kind of beyond me why it's a favorite movie of all time kind of movie. Maybe if someone didn't already know the story it'd be more exciting? Dunno.

I still can't figure out why I left the theater after seeing Magnolia feeling good about myself and life in general, and it actually made me mad because I never once thought "okay, wow... I'm seeing a meaningful movie." I haven't watched it since.

As far as Stephen King adaptations go, it was better than Apt Pupil. Shawshank I mean

I think people like it because it's not as shit as what they're used to: the actors do their job and the script assumes that you are sober, can follow the dialogue, and won't resent the lack of car chases. It would still be a half forgotten b-movie if it had been produced before 1980, which I understand is the industry cut-off for cable.

tbf it's probably one of the better SK adaptations to screen. I like the Shining the most of all of them though, but then that's pushing the definition of 'adaptation' pretty far.

http://static2.unlike.net/system/photos/0031/9794/wings.jpg

Self-importance is the only quality in a movie that brings out hatred imo.

Totally agree, and as such my additions to this thread are Pay It Forward and The Notebook.

a bit too wishy washy for a challop but I didn't get all the OMG over Shawshank. It's kind of beyond me why it's a favorite movie of all time kind of movie. Maybe if someone didn't already know the story it'd be more exciting? Dunno.

yeah i used to be on imdb a lot and it was the top movie on the charts for like 4 years, i just could not wrap my head around it. and it's not even a dislikeable or remarkable enough movie to warrant mounting an attack, it's just a super-weird phenomenon.

It's because Morgan Freeman is America's cuddly grandpa.

fyi here is the current imdb top 25:

Rank Rating Title Votes
1. 9.1 The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 447,121
2. 9.1 The Godfather (1972) 366,574
3. 9.0 The Godfather: Part II (1974) 214,585
4. 8.9 Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. (1966) 134,203
5. 8.9 Pulp Fiction (1994) 366,430
6. 8.9 Schindler's List (1993) 242,819
7. 8.8 12 Angry Men (1957) 97,448
8. 8.8 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 186,551
9. 8.8 The Dark Knight (2008) 394,336
10. 8.8 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 248,624
11. 8.8 Casablanca (1942) 151,099
12. 8.8 Star Wars (1977) 291,471
13. 8.8 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) 320,266
14. 8.8 Shichinin no samurai (1954) 86,128
15. 8.7 Goodfellas (1990) 200,943
16. 8.7 Rear Window (1954) 105,028
17. 8.7 Cidade de Deus (2002) 142,564
18. 8.7 Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 220,286
19. 8.7 Fight Club (1999) 332,512
20. 8.7 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) 347,127
21. 8.7 C'era una volta il West (1968) 63,184
22. 8.7 The Usual Suspects (1995) 239,441
23. 8.7 Psycho (1960) 126,714
24. 8.6 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 216,850
25. 8.6 Sunset Blvd. (1950) 47,498

Shawshank is not a self-important movie. It's quietly competent. But it really isn't that good.

The Usual Suspects, ugh. I love twist endings as much as the next person, but if you make a film people can only see once, then you've made a bad film.

Unlike Psycho (just below it on the imdb list), the payoff of the movie is in the suspense, not the twist.

i think shawshawk is pretty all right but weird tonally. it's like a lot of stephen king's work in that way (and in that way it gets it right.) it's this wide-eyed almost innocent-style relating of a tale that's filled with shit like prison rape and murder, and then it all gets tied up in a neat bow at the end with a twist and all of the evil characters paying for their misdeeds with ironic fates.

the usual suspects is by far the worst film out of that list imo

(by which I mean Psycho wins and The Usual Suspects loses) xxp

There are films in that list that I quite like, but not one that I love, and there's more than a couple that I secretly despise.

Impossible choice for me between F.Gump and Watchmen.

Watchmen wasn't _that_ awful.

I thought it was OK. But just OK. Nowhere near top 20 great.

On the other hand, I've never seem Forrest Gump, but John Waters was unusually vehement on that one, and, based on the people I know who loved, I really don't think it's going to be my kind of thing at all.

the subtext of Forrest Gump is that sexually liberated women with liberal politics get AIDS and die.

It's because Morgan Freeman is America's cuddly grandpa.

...who we have sex with and get married to.

the subtext of Forrest Gump is that sexually liberated women with liberal politics get AIDS and die.

― I ♠ my display name (sarahel), Tuesday, September 29, 2009 8:11 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is a whole genre of movie, the out of control lady movie. i hate it.

but she redeems herself by marrying the retarded patriot and, of course, having a baby.

Splitting hairs, I know, but I'd say it's "a subplot" rather than "the subtext" of Forrest Gump. The subtext of the film is: stumbling brainlessly through life will lead to a wondrous existence filled with magic and stars.

it isn't a subplot, it is a subtext, but not the only one.

i was alarmed by the pro-jogging undercurrent.

I thought it was about the rape of our Gulf coast's seabed just to please gluttonous Americans who crave shellfish.

Another vote for Donnie Darko, the worst film ever made.

Mordy, have you seen Southland Tales?

Yes. Southland Tales is bad enough to be enjoyable as a shitty movie (not to mention quotable with all those ridiculous The Rock lines). Donnie Darko is just competently enough made to impart absolutely no enjoyment while watching it whatsoever.

Usual Suspects is awesome if only for Benicio Del Toro and his accent/look.

On that IMDB list Fight Club would get my vote. I don't hate it, but I dislike it more than most of them.

no-one's hardcore enough to challop Schindler. Cool. That might be be our saving grace, gize.

I have a soft spot for Schindler's List because my mom's a bookkeeper for right-wingers, and it gave me hope that if there were some sort of purge on liberals and lefties, that my family would be similarly saved.

Lost in Translation. I really hate this style of under-scripted movie which then gets praised for being subtle and meaningful cos it's so lacking in substance that people just project whatever they want on to it. Actually come to think of it i might hate Broken Flowers even more.

I liked Broken Flowers. And I liked Lost in Translation. But I already cried about LOTR so hack away :)

Actually come to think of it you might hate Bill Murray most.

I will no longer see any movies where Bill Murray does his deadpan depressive schtick. He should have stopped at Rushmore.

And to balance the universe I will see them in your stead. Ah. harmony!

I don't know if everyone a) saw this or b) raved about it but I didn't like 'Tell No One'. And I kind of liked it even less for having had it RAVED to me that it was omg awesome. Really not. You don't get a pass just for having subtitles.

Lost in Translation. I really hate this style of under-scripted movie which then gets praised for being subtle and meaningful cos it's so lacking in substance that people just project whatever they want on to it.

i dunno, i liked it in a 'don't mind spending time with these characters + listening to this music + watching the pretty lights' sort of way but 'under-scripted' still doesn't seem fair. (or at least changes in your direction would prob have doomed what *I* like about it). its charms are fragile but not slight if that makes any sense.

I just didn't think there was anything there beyond "It can be a bit lonely being in a foreign country on your own and incidentally aren't those Japanese crazy?" You could take a walk round any big city at night with some My Bloody Valentine on your iPod and get the same experience.