Unpopular Opinions

[WendyCR72]

30 minutes ago, Amethyst said:

I read somewhere that the older the film, the smaller the actor's residuals get over time.  For example, Gibson gets residuals from the Lethal Weapon franchise, but it's not gonna be a lot of money because the films are over 20 years old.  That makes sense.  It's like going to a store and the older movies are on the $4.99 rack, or $1 .99 on ITunes.  

However, something like the Hangover franchise would bring better residuals for the actors because those movies are more recent.

Right; I've read that. I believe the same concept holds true for TV series that go into syndication and have been around for a while.

[Wiendish Fitch]

I know he's much-beloved, but with the exception of Say Anything, I don't like Cameron Crowe as a director. I find that his movies are just excuses to display his music collection, as if to say, "Hey, I listen to stuff too, you guys! My album collection is way cooler than yours!" 

Quite frankly, anyone who shoehorns in the unforgivably overplayed "Solsbury Hill" (how much do you want to bet Peter Gabriel now despises that song?) in anything, especially a trippy, artsy-fartsy movie like Vanilla Sky, isn't going to get creativity points from me. 

[GreekGeek]

On 9/30/2016 at 11:33 AM, slf said:

 

Clint Eastwood is a racist, misogynistic, good ol' boy who misses the old days. I suspect he has a Confederate flag in his house.

The complicating factor is that you can make a case for Eastwood as a male feminist, at least in his movies. Richard Schickel's biography praises him for casting Tyne Daly rather than a sexier actress as his partner back in 1976's The Enforcer. Million Dollar Baby nicely depicts female empowerment through athletic achievement, 

Spoiler

at least until tragedy strikes.

Here's another discussion of the pivotal roles women have played in many of his films, as well as a look at the "feminine" aspects of Eastwood's own screen persona: http://www.thewrap.com/clint-eastwood-closet-feminist-2558/ 

He also received an NAACP Image Award in 1988 for Bird.

Maybe he's become more intolerant in his old age.

[slf]

21 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

The complicating factor is that you can make a case for Eastwood as a male feminist, at least in his movies. Richard Schickel's biography praises him for casting Tyne Daly rather than a sexier actress as his partner back in 1976's The Enforcer. Million Dollar Baby nicely depicts female empowerment through athletic achievement, 

I suppose it depends on what you consider feminist media. I don't think the opposite of misogynistic is feminist. Plenty of men and women aren't especially misogynistic but they aren't feminists either. Being willing to cast a woman other people don't consider sexy and being willing to acknowledge that women are capable of great athletic ability aren't particularly feminist. Also, there are many people who do support some feminism- so long as it's for the right kind of women. An argument could be made that you can't be racist and a feminist simply because not all women are white. Any politics that disadvantages black people inherently disadvantages black women and therefore can't be feminist.

[UYI]

Clint is also in favor of marriage equality, which makes things even MORE complicated.

But I don't want to drag things anymore off topic, and I have nothing else at the moment, so I'll leave it at that.

[RedheadZombie]

I absolutely hated Out of Africa.  Maybe I was too young when I first saw it, but I found it excruciating. 

I despise The Great Gatsby, movie and book (which I was forced to read in high school AND college).  I don't need likable characters, but I do need someone who isn't completely despicable to root for.   And I never understood his obsession with the insipid Daisy  

I adore The English Patient, and was shocked when I lent my copy to a co-worker who stated she couldn't get through it from boredom.  

I vastly prefer A&E's version of Pride and Prejudice.   Maybe it's due to Keira's propensity to talk with her back teeth clenched together, but I don't care for it. Colin will always be Mr. Darcy, and Jennifer is Lizzie. 

[topanga]

1 hour ago, RedheadZombie said:

I absolutely hated Out of Africa.  Maybe I was too young when I first saw it, but I found it excruciating. 

I despise The Great Gatsby, movie and book (which I was forced to read in high school AND college).  I don't need likable characters, but I do need someone who isn't completely despicable to root for.   And I never understood his obsession with the insipid Daisy  

I adore The English Patient, and was shocked when I lent my copy to a co-worker who stated she couldn't get through it from boredom.  

Maybe environment has something to do with it? I watched Out of Africa one day in class when the teacher didn't feel like teaching (or had a hangover. I couldn't tell which). So it felt like a special treat, which made me enjoy the movie. 

The English Patient I watched alone, and I found it pretentious, self-congratulatory, and all of the characters were whiny. But it was also the best movie made that year, so it deserved the Best Picture Oscar. 

I didn't like Chocolat for some of the same reasons: it was very pretentious and self-congratulatory.

[Ohwell]

7 hours ago, RedheadZombie said:

I despise The Great Gatsby, movie and book (which I was forced to read in high school AND college).  I don't need likable characters, but I do need someone who isn't completely despicable to root for.   And I never understood his obsession with the insipid Daisy  

This.  I couldn't stand the movie, and I couldn't for the life of me understand what he saw in Daisy.

[scarynikki12]

Chocolat has a weak story but the chocolate porn is amazing. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

I found Chocolat twee and preachy. And why does poor Alfred Molina constantly get cast as goofy, cartoonish villains?

[proserpina65]

On ‎10‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 1:56 PM, RedheadZombie said:

I absolutely hated Out of Africa.  Maybe I was too young when I first saw it, but I found it excruciating. 

I despise The Great Gatsby, movie and book (which I was forced to read in high school AND college).  I don't need likable characters, but I do need someone who isn't completely despicable to root for.   And I never understood his obsession with the insipid Daisy  

I adore The English Patient, and was shocked when I lent my copy to a co-worker who stated she couldn't get through it from boredom.  

I vastly prefer A&E's version of Pride and Prejudice.   Maybe it's due to Keira's propensity to talk with her back teeth clenched together, but I don't care for it. Colin will always be Mr. Darcy, and Jennifer is Lizzie. 

I like Out of Africa, but I agree with all the rest.  Especially Keira Knightley's clenched jaw.

[millennium]

On 10/3/2016 at 9:01 PM, Ohwell said:

This.  I couldn't stand the movie, and I couldn't for the life of me understand what he saw in Daisy.

I think Daisy was a pretty facade concealing something unlovely, not unlike Gatsby's ostentatious wealth, which was acquired through unsavory activities. 

Unfortunately, Mia Farrow wasn't very convincing in the role.   If you google around, you'll find that many consider her Daisy one of the worst casting choices in cinematic history.

[Ohwell]

But Daisy wasn't even all that pretty, and that goes for Mia Farrow and Carey Mulligan, who played her in the most recent movie.  That's really why I couldn't understand him falling all over her, in addition to her vapidness.

[Silver Raven]

On ‎9‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 0:54 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

It's too damned bad about Gibson, because he was (can't speak to his current projects) was a very good actor.

He directs the upcoming Hacksaw Ridge, which looks like it has Oscar bait writ all over it, though I would be surprised if he gets a directing nom.  But I so want to see it.

On ‎10‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 4:19 PM, GreekGeek said:

Maybe he's become more intolerant in his old age.

He was pretty anti-racist in Gran Torino.

[Raja]

3 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

He directs the upcoming Hacksaw Ridge, which looks like it has Oscar bait writ all over it, though I would be surprised if he gets a directing nom.  But I so want to see it.

 

I was getting faith based vibes from the  Hacksaw Ridge trailers before I noticed Mel Gibson was involved. It looked like a Sherwood Baptist Church production with a spider man making volleyball pass of a grenade away instead of Kirk Cameron playing a firefighter. But then I remember PFC Doss's story from my ROTC days. So I am in somewhere down the line and was expecting it to be on Trinity Broadcasting Network next year.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Raja

[Sandman87]

My UO for the day: It's perfectly acceptable to hate the viewers who watch crappy shows. They're the reason that the shows get high enough ratings to stay on the air, thereby displacing non-crappy shows. You hear that, crappy show watchers? You're the reason that I've got 290 channels on my TV, but nothing worth watching!

[Ohwell]

I'm sorry.

[Bruinsfan]

My impression of Eastwood is more crabby, stodgy old grandpa with no filter than actual bigot.

[Wiendish Fitch]

I'll take Keira Knightley's clenched jaw and Anne Hathaway's flaws (real or imagined) over Mia Wasikowska's vacant stares and frighteningly dull acting any day of the week. At least the former two can convey emotions; Wasikowska has the emotional range of a brain-dead Vulcan.

I like Carey Mulligan, but she's the type who does better when she has big roles in small movies, or small roles in big movies. She doesn't really have the presence to be a tried and true leading lady.

Edited October 8, 2016 by Wiendish Fitch

[millennium]

My unpopular opinion is that I liked "Untitled Movie Talk Project."

[millennium]

On 10/5/2016 at 9:39 AM, Ohwell said:

But Daisy wasn't even all that pretty, and that goes for Mia Farrow and Carey Mulligan, who played her in the most recent movie.  That's really why I couldn't understand him falling all over her, in addition to her vapidness.

I think Gatsby loved what Daisy represented -- a life that was closed off to him because of his social position -- rather than for who she was.   

[Ohwell]

11 hours ago, millennium said:

My unpopular opinion is that I liked "Untitled Movie Talk Project."

Same here.  Why did they change it?

[Blergh]

On ‎10‎/‎5‎/‎2016 at 8:39 AM, Ohwell said:

But Daisy wasn't even all that pretty, and that goes for Mia Farrow and Carey Mulligan, who played her in the most recent movie.  That's really why I couldn't understand him falling all over her, in addition to her vapidness.

IMO, it somewhat helped make the what-does-he-see-in-her plot more credible. That said, my UO is that I never liked the book or movie mainly because there wasn't a single tolerable character (or if they existed they were so muted and poo-poohed that they ultimately made zero plot contributions). IOW, not unlike Dr. Zhivago ,and Gatsby didn't even have any epic train rides or frost palaces to make it visually intriguing.

[Wiendish Fitch]

I think Amanda Seyfried should have been cast as Daisy; she's strikingly pretty, has a lot of presence, is a better actress than people give her credit for, and she has proven more than once that she has a handle on the "vapid mean girl" routine.

Moving along, if I've said it once, I've said it a million times: I can't watch Doctor Zhivago because I just feel too awful for poor Tonya. And I really don't like the defense "But Julie Christie is so hawt!". 

[millennium]

18 hours ago, Blergh said:

 That said, my UO is that I never liked the book or movie mainly because there wasn't a single tolerable character (or if they existed they were so muted and poo-poohed that they ultimately made zero plot contributions). IOW, not unlike Dr. Zhivago ,and Gatsby didn't even have any epic train rides or frost palaces to make it visually intriguing.

100% agree.   The characters range from vapid to more vapid.   One of my least favorite scenes in modern American fiction is when the Gatsby gang drives into New York to rent a room at the Plaza for the afternoon.   Five shallow, bitter human beings shut up in a hotel room together -- for no good reason -- sniping at each other.  Passive-aggressively.  In the 1920s.  

And we're supposed to care.   When we're in high school.

I get that the New York trip served as a plot device to set the final events in motion.   And Fitzgerald did a perfect job of conveying the hot, sticky, claustrophobic atmosphere of that scene (I only had to read it and I wanted to jump out of one of the Plaza windows).   But it's as flat and pointless as the characters themselves.

Edited October 9, 2016 by millennium

[JustaPerson]

I always found Nick to be fairly likable. Definitely the only character I liked while reading it. Although it's been a few years since I read the novel.

[UYI]

On 10/6/2016 at 7:29 PM, Sandman87 said:

My UO for the day: It's perfectly acceptable to hate the viewers who watch crappy shows. They're the reason that the shows get high enough ratings to stay on the air, thereby displacing non-crappy shows. You hear that, crappy show watchers? You're the reason that I've got 290 channels on my TV, but nothing worth watching!

I think you meant to put that in the TV UO thread. ;) 

[UYI]

On 10/8/2016 at 4:03 PM, Wiendish Fitch said:

I think Amanda Seyfried should have been cast as Daisy; she's strikingly pretty, has a lot of presence, is a better actress than people give her credit for, and she has proven more than once that she has a handle on the "vapid mean girl" routine.

Moving along, if I've said it once, I've said it a million times: I can't watch Doctor Zhivago because I just feel too awful for poor Tonya. And I really don't like the defense "But Julie Christie is so hawt!". 

I've never seen the movie (my parents love it, though), but the music was in the long program that won Nicole Bobek her only National championship in figure skating in 1995. And IMO, that music--and that stunning dress--were MADE for her (literally in the dress' case, lol).

[SmithW6079]

I think the Coen brothers make sucky movies that are pretentious and quirky just for the sake of being quirky.

I watched "Hail, Caesar" the other night, and while there were a few humorous spots (and the gay dance number was hilarious), 90 percent of it was crap.

[cpcathy]

Some Coen movies are great (Raising Arizona), some stink (Hail, Caesar), so yeah, not everything they do is perfection and should not be treated as such. I'm still mad at No Country for Old Men having NO ending and I think Fargo the TV show is better than Fargo the film.

[proserpina65]

I didn't think Raising Arizona was funny.  I thought No Country for Old Men was amazing, although also very, very depressing; I didn't mind the non-ending.  I really liked Fargo.

[Wiendish Fitch]

Just now, proserpina65 said:

I didn't think Raising Arizona was funny.  

Same here, though I sometimes wonder if my opinion is colored by my intense hatred for Nicholas Cage. 

[Ohwell]

13 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I didn't think Raising Arizona was funny.

I didn't get all the fuss about it either.  Plus, I can't stand Nicholas Cage, so there's that.

[proserpina65]

1 minute ago, Ohwell said:

I didn't get all the fuss about it either.  Plus, I can't stand Nicholas Cage, so there's that.

I liked him in Valley Girl, not so much since then although I don't hate him.  I think it was the whole premise of Raising Arizona which turned me off.  I saw it the same day as Big Trouble in Little China, which I greatly enjoyed; it was dumb, but fun.

[Shannon L.]

Quote

I didn't think Raising Arizona was funny

I don't think I even finished it. Nor did I finish Oh Brother Where Art Thou, and it was all I could do not to walk out of Fargo. The only one I liked was that Western remake, the name of which is escaping me right now.

[GreekGeek]

30 minutes ago, Shannon L. said:

The only one I liked was that Western remake, the name of which is escaping me right now.

I'm guessing you mean True Grit.

[Shannon L.]

15 minutes ago, GreekGeek said:

46 minutes ago, Shannon L. said:

The only one I liked was that Western remake, the name of which is escaping me right now.

I'm guessing you mean True Grit.

Yes, that's it.  Thank you!

[SmithW6079]

The Coens did "Raising Arizona"? That's actually the only movie I liked Nicholas Cage in, partly because I think the idiot character he played wasn't too far from his real self. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I find that the Coen brothers rarely disappoint me, Javier Bardem's Dutch boy wig aside. The Coens are a bit like Quentin Tarantino - guys who love movies for the sake of movies, and that Frances McDormand picked up her Oscar for Fargo playing a non-flashy, "boring" character like Marge Gunderson was even better.

[Blergh]

On 10/11/2016 at 3:47 PM, Ohwell said:

I didn't get all the fuss about it either.  Plus, I can't stand Nicholas Cage, so there's that.

 

On 10/11/2016 at 3:39 PM, proserpina65 said:

I didn't think Raising Arizona was funny.  

 Actually, I liked Mr. Cage in the FIRST " National Treasure " movie (but thought the 2nd was a good case of 'if it ain't broke, fix it'). However; I thought "Raising Arizona" was an unpleasant experience all around -and downright condescending to not only folks of the financially challenged set but also those on seemingly easy street. Not to mention that it did Miss Holly Hunter no favor and even John Goodman's innate likability wasn't enough to salvage his character much less the rest of the movie.

[Wiendish Fitch]

25 minutes ago, Blergh said:

 

 Actually, I liked Mr. Cage in the FIRST " National Treasure " movie (but thought the 2nd was a good case of 'if it ain't broke, fix it'). However; I thought "Raising Arizona" was an unpleasant experience all around -and downright condescending to not only folks of the financially challenged set but also those on seemingly easy street. Not to mention that it did Miss Holly Hunter no favor and even John Goodman's innate likability wasn't enough to salvage his character much less the rest of the movie.

 

2 things in Raising Arizona made me laugh: the easy-going, amiable storekeeper who blithely obeys the "cover your eyes and count to whatever number" (sorry, I haven't seen this movie in a decade or more) by counting "one Mississippi, two Mississippi", and we cut to him still doing this a handful of scenes later. Then, there's Ed lamenting about her "finance left [her]". Oh, Holly Hunter, only you could sell that line.

Huh. Now that I think about it, Raising Arizona is, in my estimation, superior to Trainwreck, because there were 2 good jokes as opposed to one, so it's twice as funny!*

 

*Strictly my opinion, by the by. I have weird tastes in comedy, so I don't consider myself an authority.

[Crs97]

I tried to watch Raising Arizona once and didn't make it too far, but I do remember liking the scene when the adoption agency points out his criminal record and Nicholas Cage says with Holly Hunter being in law enforcement they can give the child a balanced look so the baby can choose for him or herself.  That is one of the movies that made me realize I don't particularly like movies described as "quirky." 

[Shannon L.]

22 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

that Frances McDormand picked up her Oscar for Fargo playing a non-flashy, "boring" character like Marge Gunderson was even better.

She was the only thing about the movie that I did enjoy.

[NutMeg]

I've enjoyed every Coen brothers movie I've seen, but the only one that truly haunted me for a while and that I both do and don't want to watch again is Barton Fink. Funny, scary, horrifying, unforgettable. OK, I do want to watch it again, but mostly to see if what I know now will change how I experience the beginning. Or I'm lying to myself, and just want to watch it again. Yes, I think I'll watch it again.     

[meep.meep]

"I'll give you the life of the mind!"

I admit I've only watched it once.

[King of Birds]

I think the only Coen movies I didn't enjoy are Intolerable Cruelty and Ladykillers.  Everything else is gold. I had some movie channels free this summer, recorded Raising Arizona and rewatched it a few times, I still find it funny.

[dusang]

Re: Nicolas Cage

"I don't know--if I was in 70 films over 30 years, and spent each one talking at random volumes, I might accidentally win an Oscar." - Shirley

[Cobalt Stargazer]

6 hours ago, King of Birds said:

 I had some movie channels free this summer, recorded Raising Arizona and rewatched it a few times, I still find it funny.

"Son, you got a panty on your head."

[slf]

I'm a lefty who enjoys smart political films with long, grand speeches and while I can appreciate aspects of Aaron Sorkin's movies I think he's overrated. I think he's capable of making great movies but he stops at about 80%, too smug about what he's written to really polish it. They somehow always stay really small and contained. As such his movies aren't quite the classics for me they are for other people; for me they're more like really fantastic made-for-tv movies.

[festivus]

On 10/14/2016 at 7:53 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

"Son, you got a panty on your head."

I love that line so much. I find most comedies unfunny so I guess my UO is that Raising Arizona is my favorite comedy. I still find it just as funny as I did the first time I saw it. I think it's brilliant. Or maybe the UO is that I don't find most comedies funny. Like at all. I like early Adam Sandler and the Austin Powers movies. And Shaun of the Dead. That might be it.