Unpopular Opinions

[dusang]

 

I'm looking forward to Freeheld, mostly because I've been patiently waiting for Ellen Page to do something interesting again.

 

As for Julianne Moore, I think she's already been pigeonholed as The Woman Who Always Cheats On Her Partner. Which is too bad, because she's capable of a lot more than that, but considering the lingering reaction to her role in Crazy, Stupid Love, I can see why she might prefer to be thought of as something else for five minutes.

 

I was listening to the Pop Culture Happy Hour episode where they did the Fall predictions and discussed some of the films they had seen at TIFF and they mentioned Freeheld -- which got mixed reviews -- and

basically said that the movie shifts focus to Moore's straight male partner and said gay rights movies are sort of getting a "straight saviour" slant, the way civil rights movies frequently have a "white saviour." I just thought that such a hilarious terrible parallel.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I was listening to the Pop Culture Happy Hour episode where they did the Fall predictions and discussed some of the films they had seen at TIFF and they mentioned Freeheld -- which got mixed reviews -- and

basically said that the movie shifts focus to Moore's straight male partner and said gay rights movies are sort of getting a "straight saviour" slant, the way civil rights movies frequently have a "white saviour." I just thought that such a hilarious terrible parallel.

 

Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have clicked that.

 

Given what I understand 'white savior' to mean, I take it the male partner is going to attempt to be some kind of ally or something? That that should be seen as a bad thing is something I have issues with, but I imagine that's neither here nor there. I guess they'd have preferred it if he had turned into Kim Davis over it. SMDH.

[dusang]

Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have clicked that.

 

Given what I understand 'white savior' to mean, I take it the male partner is going to attempt to be some kind of ally or something? That that should be seen as a bad thing is something I have issues with, but I imagine that's neither here nor there. I guess they'd have preferred it if he had turned into Kim Davis over it. SMDH.

You don't understand what it means.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_savior_narrative_in_film

[Princess Sparkle]

I hadn't initially thought this was an UO, but I'm gathering that it is - I like Seth Rogan, and his laugh doesn't bother me in the slightest.  Maybe I'm sensitive to it, because I am also a person with a pretty loud laugh, but I have never found his laugh to be something he's putting on or faking - it's just his laugh, that seems to be a bit of a nervous tic during interviews.  I'd rather someone who laughs then someone who is stoic and humorless in an interview.

[cpcathy]

Every movie he does I like him more. I keep watching Neighbors on HBO, and I love that the husband and wife in it are co horts and she's not a harpy shrew.

[harrie]

Rogen is getting decent to good reviews for playing Steve Wozniak in the new Steve Jobs movie, too. I like him too.

[Demented Daisy]

I am frustrated with the number of franchises that Disney owns.  It's getting out of hand, IMO.  So far this year, I've seen four Disney references in Marvel movies and it's taken me out of the movie every time.  The least, and yet the most, annoying was Black Widow.  In a deleted scene (which makes it less annoying because it wasn't in the final product), she's having a quite serious, personal discussion with Banner about being unable to have children.  Then says, "Let's not play 'Circle of Life', let's just play."  It added nothing to the scene (which is probably why it was removed).  It was like a record scratch.  Awful.

 

I'm halfway afraid that we'll get one in the upcoming Star Wars movie.

[ribboninthesky1]

I have zero interest in gothic horror films.  Probably why I've never been a Guillermo del Toro fan. 

[wanderingstar]

I don't get the Say Anything love. I watched it in high school and found it pretty boring.

 

I disliked Tom Cruise long before The Infamous Couch and the Scientology. He made my skin crawl in Top Gun. In fact, the whole movie does.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Gillian Rosh

[Shannon L.]

I never got the love for Say Anything, either. And while I like Tom Cruise, I thought Risky Business was one of the dumbest movies I'd seen up to that date.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Shannon L.

[DeLurker]

Hmmm...maybe my Tom Cruise distaste is not so unpopular after all.  I've never thought he was attractive.  I was mystified to be given a copy of Top Gun as a present because of all the "eye candy".  I've never seen it nor have I ever been tempted to see what all the fuss was about.

[methodwriter85]

I never got the love for Say Anything, either. And while I like Tom Cruise, I thought Risky Business was one of the dumbest movies I'd seen up to that date.

 

I will say that Ione Skye is a terrible actress, and I'm kind of surprised she was actually a thing back in the late 80's. Her brother Donovan Leitch at least had some kind of presence.

[Julia]

I will say that Ione Skye is a terrible actress, and I'm kind of surprised she was actually a thing back in the late 80's. Her brother Donovan Leitch at least had some kind of presence.

Pretty sure that's her dad Donovan Leitch.

[blixie]

 

Pretty sure that's her dad Donovan Leitch.

 

Yes Donovan her brother,  is named after Donovan her father, her brother was both an actor and singer in the late 80's and 90's. Unless you meant that only her dad has "presence" which sure. 

Edited October 13, 2015 by blixie

[Shannon L.]

 

I've never thought he was attractive.  I was mystified to be given a copy of Top Gun as a present because of all the "eye candy".

I think Tom Cruise is much more attractive now in the Mission Impossible movies than he was when he was younger.  I did like Top Gun, but the only real "eye candy" scene was the volley ball sequence and, imo, it was Iceman (Val Kilmer) and Slider (Rick Rossovich), plus a couple of other actors with smaller roles, who made that scene.  Until recently, Tom didn't have shoulders (meaning his shoulders slanted downward instead of more horizontally, then down) and that made his body shape odd-looking to me.

[ribboninthesky1]

I assumed Top Gun was known as of those kind of awful, yet with a cult following movies.  My favorite silly Tom Cruise movie from the 80s will always be Cocktail, and a lot of that has to do with Elizabeth Shue.  I really liked her character in the film.   

[Julia]

I always assumed people were into it because of the brobait with the planes and the homoerotic subtext.

[Crim]

^ I agree. I watched Top Gun as a teenager, IIRC, and thought it was epic (bros! planes! action!), definitely candy, but never thought of it as eye candy for women i.e. "hot guys". (Gay men weren't a part of any equation for me at that age; I didn't even notice any homoerotic subtext. In Top Gun. Oh, youth... lol.)

I assumed Top Gun was known as of those kind of awful, yet with a cult following movies.

That reminds me, I saw it mentioned in vulgar auteurism discussions (like here).

[Crs97]

I hate vampires. And ghosts. And zombies. And any movie about vampires or ghosts or zombies. Maybe I'd rewatch the movie Ghost, but otherwise no.

[ribboninthesky1]

Maybe it's because I've not seen the films in years, but I had no issues with Mary Jane in the Toby McGuire Spiderman films.  I do remember thinking Peter Parker was kind of whiny about her, and didn't feel that sorry for him when James Franco's Harry (who was HOT - what the hell happened, Franco?) got involved with her.  Thinking on it further, I've never been much of a Peter Parker fan.  Probably why I wasn't interested in Andrew Garfield's Spiderman.         

Edited October 14, 2015 by ribboninthesky1

[Danny Franks]

Top Gun is a pretty corny movie, from what I remember. It's a long time since I last saw it. The ultimate high concept movie as well, because I remember reading a story about how the pitch for it was nothing more than a picture of Tom Cruise in front of an F-14 Tomcat. I remember Kelly McGillis being very hot in it, though.

 

As for Spider-Man, I liked Andrew Garfield's version fine, but I think they burned all of the goodwill they had with fans when they showed stupid, slavish, unimaginative adherence to comic book canon by killing Gwen Stacy at the end of the second one. I found Garfield much more likeable than Maguire was, and obviously Emma Stone was better as the love interest than the bland Kirsten Dunst.

 

As for zombies? I don't get the big deal about them. Never have. They're not interesting or particularly scary.They don't make for some thrill-ride of a movie. Dead, shambling corpses? How the hell did they take over the world? I mean that in both senses of the phrase.

[Dandesun]

Top Gun is a pretty corny movie, from what I remember. It's a long time since I last saw it. The ultimate high concept movie as well, because I remember reading a story about how the pitch for it was nothing more than a picture of Tom Cruise in front of an F-14 Tomcat. I remember Kelly McGillis being very hot in it, though.

 

....

 

As for zombies? I don't get the big deal about them. Never have. They're not interesting or particularly scary.They don't make for some thrill-ride of a movie. Dead, shambling corpses? How the hell did they take over the world? I mean that in both senses of the phrase.

 

I stood alone among my peers as not giving two shits about Top Gun or Tom Cruise when it came out. I do remember being put out that Val Kilmer was the heavy in that because I loved him in Real Genius and Top Secret. Tom Cruise just didn't do it for me at all and most of the girls my age thought I came from a different planet because of that.

 

Fast foward a few years and I'm the odd one out again because I didn't think Brad Pitt was the hottest thing on earth as Tristan in Legends of the Fall. I loudly proclaimed he was a raging douche whenever the young women in my age group would start sighing over him. I still fucking hate that movie.

 

Now, as to zombies... they are my recurring nightmare. What's scary about them? They don't stop. They don't stop to rest, to drink, to eat... what happens if they don't get their human flesh to feed on? Do they die again? You never seem to hear about that part of it. They seem to only have to scratch or bite you to turn you as well which is why it's always bloody moronic when people go after them in hand to hand combat. But it's because it doesn't take much to turn someone that makes them so prolific... you'll run out of ammo before they run out of bodies. They don't reason, they don't plan or plot... they just keep coming.

 

And then 28 Days Later added speed. So they're no longer slow, shambling, rotting corpses... they're really fast rotting corpses!

 

Humans, as a species, are a pursuit predator and zombies basically take the role up a notch. They truly do not stop and that's the terrifying thing about them. There's something better at what we do that consumes us. We are no longer the top of the food chain. It's the pursuit predator link that infiltrates my dreams... no matter what you cannot get away.

[Wiendish Fitch]

 

Fast foward a few years and I'm the odd one out again because I didn't think Brad Pitt was the hottest thing on earth as Tristan in Legends of the Fall. I loudly proclaimed he was a raging douche whenever the young women in my age group would start sighing over him. I still fucking hate that movie.

 

 

Agreed. Tristan was an entitled, shallow pig, and Susannah was an insipid little twerp. My crush in that movie wasn't Brad Pitt, but Aidan Quinn. That deep voice, those blue eyes... excuse me while I sigh dreamily like a dumb schoolgirl.

 

 

Okay, done.

 

Anyhoo, what does it say about me that my favorite zombie movie of all time is Warm Bodies?

[Shannon L.]

 

Agreed. Tristan was an entitled, shallow pig, and Susannah was an insipid little twerp. My crush in that movie wasn't Brad Pitt, but Aidan Quinn. That deep voice, those blue eyes... excuse me while I sigh dreamily like a dumb schoolgirl.

At least you could blame a lot of his b.s. on PTSD.  Susannah was just ridiculous (see my post in "Characters You Hate")

[Dandesun]

Agreed. Tristan was an entitled, shallow pig, and Susannah was an insipid little twerp. My crush in that movie wasn't Brad Pitt, but Aidan Quinn. That deep voice, those blue eyes... excuse me while I sigh dreamily like a dumb schoolgirl.

 

 

Aiden Quinn was everything. How could I remotely root for Susannah? She had Aiden Quinn and decided to kill herself? Good riddance!!

[Shannon L.]

Why would Aiden Quinn/Alfred want her?  That's what boggled my mind.

Edited October 17, 2015 by Shannon L.

[SmithW6079]

I know "Duck Soup" is considered a classic, but I watched it recently, and it was so stupid. I didn't find it inspired lunancy, just an incoherent mess.

[Julia]

I know "Duck Soup" is considered a classic, but I watched it recently, and it was so stupid. I didn't find it inspired lunancy, just an incoherent mess.

 

I forced a film maker friend to watch Chaplin (he only really watched german expressionist silent movies) and he wasn't impressed. He said he'd seen all that before, and he had, in movies that quoted Chaplin. I think Marx Brothers movies suffer from the same thing. Their style of anarchic, absurd humor has become so much a part of the language of comedy that we don't come to them in the same way as the original audiences did, because we've seen all that before. Think of them as Big Bill Broonzy, the guy all the guys who formed bands grew up listening to, and, say, the cast of Saturday Night Live as Whitesnake.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Julia

[proserpina65]

Now, as to zombies... they are my recurring nightmare

 

Mine too.  I cannot watch zombie movies, not even funny ones.

[methodwriter85]

Yes Donovan her brother,  is named after Donovan her father, her brother was both an actor and singer in the late 80's and 90's. Unless you meant that only her dad has "presence" which sure. 

 

No, I meant her brother. He was actually pretty good in this one film he did in the late 80's, called The In Crowd. He played a teenager who starts dancing on Not American Bandstand in the early 1960's in Philadelphia. I thought it was a pretty nice, small affecting film.

[blixie]

 

No, I meant her brother.

 

I wasn't talking to you, I quoted Julia, I very clearly understood you were talking about Donovan Lietch from the In Crowd.

[cpcathy]

I don't care that it is Back to the Future Day. I never saw the two sequels and I can no longer stand Michael J Fox (hey, UO within an OU!) so I hope never to see BTTF again.

[ribboninthesky1]

I liked the original film and all (don't remember much from the sequels), but yeah, I'm grateful for the ability to put certain social media trending topics on "ignore."  

 

ETA:

On a separate note, the last Star Wars trailer managed to diminish my interest in the film. Still, I was highly entertained by the so-called "boycott," and the HUGE impact it had on early ticket sales.   

Edited October 22, 2015 by ribboninthesky1

[Janet Snakehole]

The concept of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies bugs me, I can't quite put my finger on why. I am not a zombie fan, and am ok with P and P, but the melding of the two seems like it is trying too hard to be adorably weird and zany. Yes, I know zombies are not cute, but the idea just seems twee to me for some reason.

[Anyhoo, what does it say about me that my favorite zombie movie of all time is Warm Bodies]

With you completely on this! Maybe it is because I dislike zombies so much that I am happy that they can change back in the end?

Edited October 24, 2015 by Janet Snakehole

[magicdog]

 

On a separate note, the last Star Wars trailer managed to diminish my interest in the film

 

 

Ditto.  I thought  the 12 sec mini trailer (which contained a scene from the 2nd full trailer) was a bad sign; I'm guessing the new leads are going to be dull as dishwater.  Let's face it, people want to see the original cast.

[Danny Franks]

Ditto.  I thought  the 12 sec mini trailer (which contained a scene from the 2nd full trailer) was a bad sign; I'm guessing the new leads are going to be dull as dishwater.  Let's face it, people want to see the original cast.

 

The original cast are in it. And as far as I can tell, the reception to the new leads has been very positive (except for the people who don't want a black person to be the lead of their favourite futuristic fantasy franchise, but they don't count).

 

I'll have to say that I have absolutely no interest in James Bond. Never have, never will. The franchise is a dinosaur that wasn't even good in the 60s and 70s when it began. 'Who will be the next Bond?' Who gives a shit? The actor will still be asked to stiffly utter corny one liners and sleaze on vacuous women before shooting endless bad guys for the entirety of the movie.

[magicdog]

The original cast are in it.

 

 

 

I know.  What I meant was people are going to see Luke, Leia, et al 30+ years older.  They are not going expressly to see the new people. 

 

the reception to the new leads has been very positive (except for the people who don't want a black person to be the lead of their favourite futuristic fantasy franchise, but they don't count).

 

 

Tell that to the folks behind the "Annie" remake. 

[Danny Franks]

I know.  What I meant was people are going to see Luke, Leia, et al 30+ years older.  They are not going expressly to see the new people. 

 

 

I disagree. I think people would go to see them regardless of whether the original cast were in them or not. I think people want to watch a Star Wars movie, full stop. Even with the cautionary tale of the prequel trilogy, a new Star Wars movie would incite fervent excitement in a lot of people. That's the nature of fandom: disappoint them again and again, and they'll still be suckered in the next time. I speak from experience.

 

I can't speak for the Annie remake. I've never watched the original and have no interest either in that or a remake. But the people attempting to orchestrate a boycott of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens because of the skin colour of one of the leads are clods of the highest order.

[Crim]

I disagree. I think people would go to see them regardless of whether the original cast were in them or not. I think people want to watch a Star Wars movie, full stop. Even with the cautionary tale of the prequel trilogy, a new Star Wars movie would incite fervent excitement in a lot of people. That's the nature of fandom: disappoint them again and again, and they'll still be suckered in the next time. I speak from experience.

I agree that people are excited about any new movie in a fandom-inspiring franchise. Star Wars is the front runner for Most Crazed, but there was also a lot of (imo totally undeserving) excitement over the new Godzilla, Jurassic Park, Terminator... etc. Old cast or not, Star Wars will be a spectacle, and that's enough for a very large number of people who aren't even Star Wars fans. I'll watch it, unless the reviews are bad, because I'm interested in the next one; Rian Johnson is an interesting director.

[UYI]

Since it came up, and it might be a bit of a UO:

 

I LOVE the original Annie movie, the one with Albert Finney and Carol Burnett. IDGAF.

 

I also prefer the 1987 Hallmark TV movie version of The Secret Garden--the one with Billie Whitelaw and Derek Jacobi--to the 1993 full length movie version.

[magicdog]

I LOVE the original Annie movie, the one with Albert Finney and Carol Burnett

 

 

 

Didn't know this was an unpopular opinion.  I enjoy it as well.  I also saw it on Broadway way back in the day.  My only annoyance with it was the use of "Damn it" in the film (when Burnett's "Miss Hannigan" uses it to demand her brother, "Rooster" to let Annie go as he chases her on the drawbridge), as I thought it was unnecessary (it wasn't in the stage version either).   

 

the people attempting to orchestrate a boycott of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens because of the skin colour of one of the leads are clods of the highest order.

 

 

I don't believe this.  It's not as if black characters hadn't appeared in prominent roles in Star Wars before (Lando Calrissian and Mace Windu).  Hell, the voice of Darth Vader has been  personified by a black actor (James Earl Jones).  I'm thinking there's more to this story.   

Edited October 26, 2015 by magicdog

[proserpina65]

Quote

the people attempting to orchestrate a boycott of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens because of the skin colour of one of the leads are clods of the highest order.

 

I don't believe this.  It's not as if black characters hadn't appeared in prominent roles in Star Wars before (Lando Calrissian and Mace Windu).  Hell, the voice of Darth Vader has been  personified by a black actor (James Earl Jones).  I'm thinking there's more to this story.  

 Edited by magicdog, Today. 1:24 pm.

 

Apparently it was a hoax, perpetrated by a couple of internet trolls.

[dusang]

I don't believe this.  It's not as if black characters hadn't appeared in prominent roles in Star Wars before (Lando Calrissian and Mace Windu).  Hell, the voice of Darth Vader has been  personified by a black actor (James Earl Jones).  I'm thinking there's more to this story.   

 

The original hashtag was a troll -- deliberately inciting an online furor.  But it hardly requires effort to uncover racism online and it's hard to believe that the original trolls didn't, deep down, believe what they were tweeting.

Edited October 26, 2015 by dusang

[Wiendish Fitch]

I hate Hocus Pocus, and I don't understand why it's suddenly regarded as a classic. 

 

And I don't get nostalgic for movies just because they were released during my childhood. I grew up in the 90s, and the majority of kids movies released kind of sucked, IMO. I hated Hook, Fern Gully, We're Back!, etc.

[proserpina65]

it's hard to believe that the original trolls didn't, deep down, believe what they were tweeting.

 

Eh, I can believe it.  Some people just like to sh*t-stir, and they knew full well that this would on a major scale.

[dusang]

Eh, I can believe it.  Some people just like to sh*t-stir, and they knew full well that this would on a major scale.

 

I can't imagine what else they were tapping into to come up with those lines.  Either way, the 6% of hashtag activity supporting the original trolls suggests that someone believes that shit.

[proserpina65]

I can't imagine what else they were tapping into to come up with those lines.  Either way, the 6% of hashtag activity supporting the original trolls suggests that someone believes that shit.

Oh, certainly there are people who genuinely feel that way, but I think the original trolls were just trolling.  And having read it, I doubt it would take that much thought to come up with what they posted.

Edited October 30, 2015 by proserpina65

[LilWharveyGal]

I also prefer the 1987 Hallmark TV movie version of The Secret Garden--the one with Billie Whitelaw and Derek Jacobi--to the 1993 full length movie version.

 

The 1993 version was one of the very first movies I remember seeing in the theater, and I totally agree!  Whenever I see the house from the 1987 version, I still think of it as Misslethwaite Manor as opposed to Downton Abbey.

[Julia]

I could have sworn the OPs were white power trolls trying to tie in to a popular topic for publicity and then got a flurry of attention from the melanin-averse segment of the gamergate/sad puppies nexus.

I liked the 1949 Secret Garden with Margaret O'Brien as Mary, Dean Stockwell as Colin and Elsa Lanchester as Martha. I had no idea howmany others existed. I'll have to find the Derek Jacobi version, though, because Derek Jacobi.

[blueray]

I didn't like Nightmare Before Christmas. I was looking at a list of Halloween movies and it was listed toward the top.  I don't get why that would be, besides animation reasons. The story sucked.