Unpopular Opinions

[Enigma X]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

I adore Christian Bale. 

Me too!

[Danny Franks]

10 hours ago, festivus said:

I was thinking about it and although I did like the first two Dark Knight movies, I never re-watch them because I can't stand Christian Bale either. Now there's an UO. Although I don't dislike Ben Affleck, I never watched his take because I hated the Henry Cavil Superman movie so much. So I guess I have problems more with the casting than the movies in most cases. While I'm here, I also can't stand Tom Hardy. Haven't even watched Venom.

I still think Christian Bale's career best performance was when he was thirteen years old, in Empire of the Sun.

I cannot say I'm a fan of anything he's done as an adult, because he always seems dead behind the eyes and completely cold and remote. For some of his roles, that has been incredibly beneficial to his performances, but it certainly didn't help when he was supposed to be playing charming, debonair Bruce Wayne.

[JustHereForFood]

I don't care either way about Christian Bale as an actor or person, but his Batman movies are my favorite live-action version of the character. Though I still prefer animated versions, either the 90's animated series or the recently concluded DCAU.

[JimmyJabloon]

On 4/19/2022 at 9:22 PM, festivus said:

I haven't seen it yet but I'm in no rush. I'm just not into the grimdark take on it. I know the Tim Burton films were style over substance but I vastly prefer them to any modern take on Batman. 

I also can't stand Robert Pattinson. Has nothing to do with Twilight, I only saw the first one and I don't remember much about it. It's because I can see him "acting" in everything else I've seen him in. Not a fan.

Only really watched it to see gollum’s Alfred. Can’t stand Robert pattinson either.  Never watched the twilight movies.

 

Also kinda got curious seeing people call this best batman and better than dark knight. Neither of the claims seemed even close to truth to me.
 

i’ll rank voldemort’s Alfred over gollum’s. But that could be because Alfred had way more to do in the Lego batman than in this one. Which is also a vastly superior movie.

[Columbo]

My favourite Christian Bale performance is in The Fighter.

[EtheltoTillie]

On 4/19/2022 at 10:32 AM, JimmyJabloon said:

The new batman movie was terrible. Too slow, too long, too pretentious and trying too hard.

Man, I couldn't agree more.  My husband was watching it now that it came to HBO Max.  Boring and dark and gloomy.  And too long!!!!  This is not a true unpopular opinion, though.  I think the world is evenly divided by people who like it (and had it earn $700 million +) and those who hate it.

[Mabinogia]

On 4/20/2022 at 9:27 AM, JustHereForFood said:

I don't care either way about Christian Bale as an actor or person, but his Batman movies are my favorite live-action version of the character.

Adam West was the only Batman I ever liked. 

As for the Harry Potter movies, I liked the first one just because it was the first time seeing the world of Hogwarts come to life, and I think it did well with the magic and enchantment of that world. My interest waned with each movie though as the magic wore off. Once the kids grew up and put on "street" clothes I was done with the movies. IDK, I liked them as little kids in school uniforms in this magical otherworld. As the movies progressed and the kids grew up the world got a lot less magical for me.

[andromeda331]

On 4/25/2022 at 11:00 AM, Mabinogia said:

Adam West was the only Batman I ever liked. 

As for the Harry Potter movies, I liked the first one just because it was the first time seeing the world of Hogwarts come to life, and I think it did well with the magic and enchantment of that world. My interest waned with each movie though as the magic wore off. Once the kids grew up and put on "street" clothes I was done with the movies. IDK, I liked them as little kids in school uniforms in this magical otherworld. As the movies progressed and the kids grew up the world got a lot less magical for me.

I liked the first three movies. That was enough for me. I tried to watch the fourth but couldn't get into it. I never thought about them growing up being the reason. But that might be the reason. It was fun in the first couple when they were little kids. By number four it just wasn't the same. I did get tired of seeing Harry having to keep going back to live with his shitty aunt and uncle. Why didn't he go live with Ron or Hagrid or someone after the first movie?  

[Spartan Girl]

9 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I liked the first three movies. That was enough for me. I tried to watch the fourth but couldn't get into it. I never thought about them growing up being the reason. But that might be the reason. It was fun in the first couple when they were little kids. By number four it just wasn't the same. I did get tired of seeing Harry having to keep going back to live with his shitty aunt and uncle. Why didn't he go live with Ron or Hagrid or someone after the first movie?  

The books explained it: his protection from his mother’s sacrifice made it so that Harry was protected from Voldemort and the Death eaters as long as he was living with his mother’s blood (his aunt). Would have been nice if that protected him from abuse but 🤷‍♀️ 

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

On 4/30/2022 at 7:53 AM, Spartan Girl said:

The books explained it: his protection from his mother’s sacrifice made it so that Harry was protected from Voldemort and the Death eaters as long as he was living with his mother’s blood (his aunt). Would have been nice if that protected him from abuse but 🤷‍♀️ 

True, but considering that the Wizarding world is practically all-powerful, they could’ve made sure the Dursleys treated Harry properly. They could’ve made sure he grew up aware that his parents were martyrs and magic existed and that people cared about him, even if he did have to stay with his relatives he could’ve had some semblance of support and clothes that actually fit. 

[KatWay]

3 hours ago, ZuluQueenOfDwarves said:

True, but considering that the Wizarding world is practically all-powerful, they could’ve made sure the Dursleys treated Harry properly. They could’ve made sure he grew up aware that his parents were martyrs and magic existed and that people cared about him, even if he did have to stay with his relatives he could’ve had some semblance of support and clothes that actually fit. 

true, but then the whole premise of the character is gone and he becomes a lot less relatable. Harry being the specialest special boy who defeated the dark lord as a baby is more impactful cause we've seen him being treated like he's nothing in his regular life. Hogwarts isn't just a cool magic school, it's a wondrous safe haven for him, and the reader experiences it with him.

so real life situation, this is awful of everyone involved, but narratively it absolutely makes sense.

Edited May 6, 2022 by KatWay
typo

[Browncoat]

Sometimes I feel bad for the kids who grew up with magic.  By the time they get their Hogwarts letters, it's all old hat to them. 

[starri]

On 5/6/2022 at 7:28 AM, Browncoat said:

Sometimes I feel bad for the kids who grew up with magic.  By the time they get their Hogwarts letters, it's all old hat to them. 

Just imagine the poor squibs.

[Spartan Girl]

Count me in The Batman Sucked club. Other than The Bat and the Cat stuff, it was dark, gloomy, grotesque and so fucking long!!! It did the exact same thing The Dark Knight did, only sloppier. 

I have nothing against Robert Pattinson, but the greasy emo hair and smeared cowl makeup did nothing to erase the image of him as Edward Cullen. And his diary monologues just felt like a knockoff of Rorschach’s journal in Watchman. Also, turning the Riddler an intel vigilante serial killer was such BULLSHIT. 

I’m so glad I waited for a free weekend to watch this. But the fact that this is getting a sequel while we will probably never see a Lego Batman 2 is a travesty.

[starri]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

And his diary monologues just felt like a knockoff of Rorschach’s journal in Watchman.

Since I have yet to spend three of the precious hours I have been allotted on this Earth to watch The Batman, I will refrain from those comments, however...

Whatever successes Watchmen has comes from the fact that Snyder just essentially adapted a great deal of it from the graphic novel, completely unaltered, down to shots that are 1:1 with Dave Gibbons' panels.  He also completely missed the point that Rorschach is NOT the hero of the story, and we are not supposed to be rooting for him.

[Avabelle]

2 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

 

Count me in The Batman Sucked club. Other than The Bat and the Cat stuff, it was dark, gloomy, grotesque and so fucking long!!! It did the exact same thing The Dark Knight did, only sloppier.

 

This! The writing was so bad that I felt it seep into the actors performances. They were given nothing to work with. The Dark
Knight at least had a few lighter moments when Bruce is in playboy mode. Emo Pattinson was just depressing to look at. 

It also ruined that Nirvana song for me. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 5/7/2022 at 9:44 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Count me in The Batman Sucked club. Other than The Bat and the Cat stuff, it was dark, gloomy, grotesque and so fucking long!!! It did the exact same thing The Dark Knight did, only sloppier. 

Way too long!

[Shannon L.]

*sigh*  My daughter and I just got back from watching Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.  I understood it, I knew what they were going for and the performances were fantastic, but my God did I dislike this movie.  There were two scenes that I really liked and, thanks to the strong performances, I teared up, but talk about being way over the top and about 20 minutes too long.  I know I'm not alone because my daughter didn't like it either (she pretty much agreed with everything I just wrote).

[starri]

Howard Ashman was a lyrical genius who saved the Walt Disney Company.

But the song he co-wrote for Oliver & Company, "Once Upon a Time in New York City," doesn't get nearly enough love.

[starri]

Skyfall and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II should have both gotten Best Picture nominations, and Judi Dench and Alan Rickman should have both won for their performances

[Anduin]

A lot of people are defending Solo, the Star Wars movie. I hated it. I still hate it. It's the worst movie I've ever sat all the way through. At least Sicario was good most of the way through. Solo started bad and ended worse. Let's cast an actor with no charisma in the main role, playing a character we all know has quite a lot.

Let's give the character an origin story, where everything important happens in a week. Let's give him jokes that aren't funny. Let's put him next to essentially a live-action cartoon character. Who himself is saddled with bad writing.

Let's take what could be a metaphor for a very serious real-world issue and turn it into a joke. Let's saddle the movie with a completely unnecessary stinger, setting up something in the most hamfisted way, that'll never pay off.

I could probably elaborate on some other aspects, but I've said enough for now. All in all, I found it a failure on almost every level.

[Mabinogia]

24 minutes ago, Anduin said:

A lot of people are defending Solo, the Star Wars movie. I hated it. I still hate it.

I feel like that movie was made just so they could jam as many references to the originals as possible. I do agree it was terrible. You couldn't pay me to sit through it again...unless you had millions. I would suffer through it for a few million which I would then use to take a vacation to try to forget how terrible that movie was. 

Thing is, now, I grew up with the original trilogy, Han is one of my childhood crushes. I wanted to be Leia. I was a Star Wars kid. And for me it was painful every time a reference came up. Oooh, this is how he got the Millennial Falcon! Oooh, this is how he met Chewbacca. I don't do the whole "this movie ruined my childhood" thing because, well, it didn't, really, but this is the closest any movie has ever come to it.

[proserpina65]

15 hours ago, Anduin said:

Solo started bad and ended worse.

The only good thing about that movie was casting Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian.  And then they completely wasted him.

[Spartan Girl]

We are still getting Lando's Disney+ series, right? Right?!

[Wiendish Fitch]

Speaking of random movies that not only get a critical re-evaluation, but a rabid following as well... I wish I liked Jennifer's Body more than I did. I found it weirdly "meh". Don't know what that says about me, but there ya go.

Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox were quite good in it, though, and always nice to see Amy Sedaris!

[Spartan Girl]

30 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Speaking of random movies that not only get a critical re-evaluation, but a rabid following as well... I wish I liked Jennifer's Body more than I did. I found it weirdly "meh". Don't know what that says about me, but there ya go.

Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox were quite good in it, though, and always nice to see Amy Sedaris!

I mean…I can kind of see the feminism allegory and the fact that it doesn’t cater to the male gaze had earned my respect, but I don’t get why people are treating it like it’s some under-appreciated masterpiece.

[Hiyo]

Quote

I don’t get why people are treating it like it’s some under-appreciated masterpiece.

All you need is a couple of thousand people online mentioning how something is an under-appreciated masterpiece, and suddenly history is rewritten.

Edited May 18, 2022 by Hiyo

[Anduin]

7 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

The only good thing about that movie was casting Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian.  And then they completely wasted him.

Yes! If he'd played Lando like a regular person, not the live-action cartoon, he'd have been a thousand times better.

[pancake bacon]

On 5/18/2022 at 7:04 AM, Anduin said:

A lot of people are defending Solo, the Star Wars movie. I hated it. I still hate it. It's the worst movie I've ever sat all the way through.

I'm sure most everyone out there agrees with your position, and I'm glad you shared your thoughts on it. I can totally understand why the movie is highly flawed.  

As an Unpopular Opinion though, this is space to ADORE Solo: A Star Wars Movie, which I do: the more direct storytelling, the emphasis on adventure, and I cared for all the characters and their journey. In my universe, it's the second most delightful Star Wars movie to re-watch after A New Hope. 

Edited May 19, 2022 by pancake bacon
Because it's Star Wars, not STAR Wards (which could be concept for a reality show)

[Anduin]

5 minutes ago, pancake bacon said:

As an Unpopular Opinion though, this is space to ADORE Solo: A Star Wars Movie, which I do: the more direct storytelling, the emphasis on adventure, and I cared for all the characters and their journey. In my universe, it's the second most delightful Star Wars movie to re-watch after A New Hope. 

I'm listening to current season of SWM, which is full of Solo love. And all the SW fans I follow on twitter love it too. That's why I feel my opinion is unpopular. Anyway, I'm not a lover of origin stories or prequels in the first place. They're a combination of the person you like before they were cool, with a mix of look at all the setup we're doing to get them in the place where everything starts.

[Blergh]

On 5/18/2022 at 1:33 PM, Hiyo said:

All you need is a couple of thousand people online mentioning how something is an under-appreciated masterpiece, and suddenly history is rewritten.

YEP! That's what seems to have happened with the Monkees full-length feature move Head (1968). After decades of being only see via having been broadcast on obscure UFH stations in the overnight 'bad movie' hours, after some loudmouth fans made a big deal of it c.2010, it suddenly supposedly became an undiscovered gem having not been given a fair chance when released (and the group bombarded their fans with clips from it during their last 3-survivors' tour). No, AFAIC, it still is a confusing, depressing, pretentious mess! 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Blergh

[pancake bacon]

40 minutes ago, Anduin said:

I'm listening to current season of SWM, which is full of Solo love. And all the SW fans I follow on twitter love it too.

Well, color me surprised! Has a tide turned?! All I recall was the pooh-pooing that Solo received when the movie came out. And it was intense!  Maybe the world (or Twitter?) has finally caught up to the charms of this movie. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

YEP! That's what seems to have happened with the Monkees full-length feature move Head (1968). After decades of being only broadcast on obscure UFH stations in the overnight 'bad movie' hours, after some loudmouth fans made a big deal of it c.2010, it suddenly supposedly became an undiscovered gem having not been given a fair chance when released (and the group bombarded their fans with clips from it during their last 3-survivors tour). No, AFAIC, it still is a confusing, depressing, pretentious mess! 

Same with Inside Daisy Clover. Some have defended it as Natalie Wood's most underrated film (including her daughter Natasha) and an overlooked gem.

Nope, sorry, I respectfully disagree. I found Inside Daisy Clover torturous to watch, a relic of the "look how shocking we're being" phase of 1960s cinema. Wood, at 27, was nowhere close to believable as a 15-year-old, and the story aims for provocative, but it just comes off as icky and ponderous.

[Hiyo]

Heh. I think people the people who liked Solo: A Star Wars Movie are just being the more vocals ones about it. Nope. Still a turd for me.

[Anduin]

16 hours ago, pancake bacon said:

Well, color me surprised! Has a tide turned?! All I recall was the pooh-pooing that Solo received when the movie came out. And it was intense!  Maybe the world (or Twitter?) has finally caught up to the charms of this movie. 

Maybe. Not for me, though. I've somewhat come around on the prequels. I see what they were trying to do, but that doesn't mean I actually like them. Whereas Solo was trying to do almost everything I dislike in a prequel or origin story. I can't see my opinion changing in the future.

[methodwriter85]

15 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Wood, at 27, was nowhere close to believable as a 15-year-old, and the story aims for provocative, but it just comes off as icky and ponderous.

She was pushing it as a 17-year old in West Side Story/Splendor in the Grass, and that was 5 years earlier.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 5/16/2022 at 8:05 AM, starri said:

Skyfall and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II should have both gotten Best Picture nominations, and Judi Dench and Alan Rickman should have both won for their performances

Skyfall is my least favourite Craig Bond movie, which I feel like is a much more unpopular opinion than thinking Skyfall is great (Rotten Tomatoes has it at 92%).  I am shocked to read that it was nominated for 5 other Oscars.   That's........ a lot.  (The only thing I remember liking about that movie was Adele!).  I seem to like Quantum of Solace more than my film-head friends do, anyway.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Ms Blue Jay

[proserpina65]

On 5/18/2022 at 5:51 PM, Anduin said:

Yes! If he'd played Lando like a regular person, not the live-action cartoon, he'd have been a thousand times better.

He made a fantastic Lando in that skit on SNL about the convention for all the black people in the Star Wars universe.  The writing for that skit was a zillion times better than Solo.

[Crashcourse]

On 4/21/2022 at 6:59 AM, Columbo said:

My favourite Christian Bale performance is in The Fighter.

I liked him in that one, but also in Ford v. Ferrari. 

Edited May 21, 2022 by Crashcourse

[callie lee 29]

The best movie parents thread reminded me of something. I don't like Dianne Weist. Not only do I think she's just not that great of an actor I just find her annoying. I think it's the voice that throws me over the edge. 

[Hiyo]

The Shawshank Redemption is one of the most overrated movies of all time.

[wallflower75]

21 hours ago, callie lee 29 said:

The best movie parents thread reminded me of something. I don't like Dianne Weist. Not only do I think she's just not that great of an actor I just find her annoying. I think it's the voice that throws me over the edge. 

I think the one movie I liked her in was Parenthood.  That's it.

[Shannon L.]

3 hours ago, wallflower75 said:

I think the one movie I liked her in was Parenthood.  That's it.

I don't like or dislike Dianne Weist.  She was really good in Parenthood, but I thought she and John Lithgow elevated Footloose with their performances. 

[festivus]

I loved her in The Lost Boys. That movie a not at all guilty pleasure of mine. It's a classic. Is that an UO?

[Blergh]

14 hours ago, festivus said:

I loved her in The Lost Boys. That movie a not at all guilty pleasure of mine. It's a classic. Is that an UO?

I thought Miss Weist and the late Bernard Hughes (who played her father) deserved to have been in a far better movie than Lost Boys. Yeah, boo me. 

[Anela]

I preferred the Jurassic Park book, and was disappointed in parts of the movie, when I first saw it. 

[luckyroll3]

On 5/26/2022 at 3:51 PM, festivus said:

I loved her in The Lost Boys. That movie a not at all guilty pleasure of mine. It's a classic. Is that an UO?

One of my all time favorite movies! And I don't care what anyone says, it's fantastic!

[Shannon L.]

2 hours ago, Anela said:

I preferred the Jurassic Park book, and was disappointed in parts of the movie, when I first saw it. 

I loved the book and didn't care for most of the movie, either, because I thought that some of the changes were unnecessary and I found that annoying. I understand why things are changed from the book for the most part, but there were some that didn't make sense to me. I'll go a step further:  Jurassic World was my favorite of the bunch so far.

ETA:  I do appreciate the outstanding special effects, though.  My favorite scenes in JP are when they see the first dinosaur, when they were going through the explanation of how they made it happen (especially when they visited the nursery) and the scene with the sick triceratops.

Edited June 2, 2022 by Shannon L.

[Blergh]

I don't care how big a box office draw it has been  or how many shilly reviews get put out, I WON'T be seeing the Top Gun sequel or ANY movie employing Mr. Cruise on account that I'm using my Patron Power to opt to not knowingly support someone with high ranking ties to a questionable organization! 

[Wiendish Fitch]

3 hours ago, Blergh said:

I don't care how big a box office draw it has been  or how many shilly reviews get put out, I WON'T be seeing the Top Gun sequel or ANY movie employing Mr. Cruise on account that I'm using my Patron Power to opt to not knowingly support someone with high ranking ties to a questionable organization! 

Same here, Blergh. And I call 100% bullshit that Tom Cruise still does his own stunts. Nope, not buying it. 

Furthermore, I don't care how lame and basic this makes me: I completely agree with Lindy West's take that Maverick is the real villain in Top Gun, Charlie is way too good for him, and Ice Man is a good guy.