Classics I'm Not A Fan Of...

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

I mean "I" as in you, but I posted it, so whatever...

-Seven Samurai - I wasn't a huge fan of this...although a lot of "movie buffs" were...just too slow for me.  I have no problem with subtitles, just didn't really enjoy this one.

-Ben Hur - Very often while watching it I asked myself "Why?"  It was pretty slow and sometimes appeared to be crawling.  The ending was pretty cheasy, too.  And not even Charleton Heston could save this... if anything.

OK, so I can only think of 2 right now... any classics you guys didn't paticularly care for?  I know movie preference is discussed in many other places, but here is where I'm asking is there a "Must See Classic!" that just didn't live up to expectations at all?

[godardian]

Gone with the Wind

Saving Private Ryan

[kotte]

Saving Private Ryan

A classic? Ah well...


For me, it's Taxi Driver. Had huge expectations when I sat down to see this. Felt like a mediocre 80s film.

Will give it a second viewing though. Might imporove.

[MacGuffin]

Don't cry, this will only hurt a bit:
http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=1334

[Gamblour.]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - just didn't get into it.

Blade Runner - besides the special effects, what was the big deal? Not enough of Ford's character.

Apocalypse Now - still haven't been able to sit all the way through it, saw Redux until the end, goddamn, just too slow and not enough for me to get involved with.

Chinatown - egh. Nope.

These movies just tend to not sit right with me at all. Dunno why, just one of those things.

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

Don't cry, this will only hurt a bit:
http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=1334

I'm getting used to this mistreatment... I feel like a dirty, dirty whore.  Now we can relate, eh kotte?

[Gold Trumpet]

Well, where to start? Naw, it'd really take too long to go through my grievances of all the classics, but I'd like to mention this one:

The Godfather Part II The entire series is Gone With the Wind for men. Stories of little to no truth, but romanticism of a subject endlessly enjoyable and identifiable for people everywhere. I could count one to two scenes in the first two movies were perspective of the violent nature of the mob is shown, but they are regulated to small scenes so carrying little validity. Thing is, the first one is still enjoyable for me because the myth of the world is alluring and and three of the best actors ever are in it (Brando, Pacino and Duvall).
The problem with the second one is that it really adds nothing to what is in the first, thus just exploitation of the myth. Pacino's killing of his brother can be seen as equal to him killing his brother n law in the first. De Niro's rise to prominence as the violent, but fair mob boss is what Brando conveyed with just a line of dialogue in the first. Pacino's own problems with greed of power in the ending of the second was the same exact ending in the first. Godfather Part II is a sequel just for the physical extension of the story that everyone already loved.

[Ernie]

I'll just list em for now, don't really feel like elaborating unless I'm provoked, it's much revised from my "not so classics" post, much much much revised....

-All Quiet on the Western Front
-American Beauty
-Arsenic and Old Lace
-Apollo 13
-Braveheart
-Chinatown
-Dances With Wolves
-The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeisie
-Dr. Strangelove (saw it a looong time ago though, I do love Sellers)
-Forrest Gump (I honestly don't dislike Tom Hanks)
-Gladiator
-The Grapes of Wrath (didn't hate it, there were some pretty moving parts)
-Happiness
-The Killing Fields
-The Last of the Mohicans
-The Matrix
-Saving Private Ryan
-Schindler's List
-Se7en
-Sling Blade
-Spartacus
-Stand By Me (River Phoenix is like my favorite actor though, RIP)
-Titanic
-The Usual Suspects (hate this film)
-The Wild Bunch

For some reason, I feel strangely comfortable. I actually don't think I'll get too many arguements.

Good thread by the way.

[ono]

I'll just list for now, don't feel like elaborating unless I'm provoked....

-All Quiet on the Western Front

The book is great.

-American Beauty

I love this film.

-Arsenic and Old Lace

Funny, but hardly brilliant.

-Apollo 13

Feh.  Agreed.  Decent flick, but hardly earth-shattering.

-Braveheart

*snickers* ... You won't hear any argument here, I don't think.

-Chinatown

Boring film by an overrated director.  The only two things memorable are the nose thing and the fish thing.

-Forrest Gump (I honestly don't dislike Tom Hanks)

I love this film.

-Gladiator

One of the worst films I've ever seen.

-The Matrix

Great when I first saw it.  Diminishing returns now.  The second one sucked.  Haven't seen the third yet.

-Saving Private Ryan

Another one of the worst films I've ever seen.

-Schindler's List

Yeah, I don't get the praise for this either.  Yeah, we get it, we get it.  Jews died, human spirit is great.  Get.  Over.  It.  Already.

-Se7en

Hardly a classic, but more of a mainstream film people call on as arty fare.

-The Grapes of Wrath (didn't hate it, there were some pretty moving parts)
-The Killing Fields
-The Last of the Mohicans
...
-Sling Blade

Haven't seen them.

-Stand By Me (River Phoenix is like my favorite actor though, RIP)
-The Usual Suspects (hate this film)

Stand By Me is a crap shoot.  I like The Usual Suspects for one reason: in Keyser Soze, it's created a great, great character that transcends archetypes and sets the standards for thrillers for years to come.  I do think a lot of the movie is sloppy, and it could've been a little bit more cerebral and thought out.  In fact, I'd like to try to write a more intelligent version of a Usual Suspects-style crime/thriller someday.  The whole premise has me that intrigued.  What it all boils down to is this film itself was one that wrote a check its ass couldn't cash.

So many classics I really don't think are that great.  Lynch's work bugs me, though admittedly he has talent.  Polanski, OTOH, simply doesn't.  Spielberg is way overrated, as is Lucas.  Those two have bastardized an artform.  It's such a shame Coppola was ever even associated with Lucas.  I was reading David Breskin's Inner Views (thanks ... ©brad ... I think it was ... for recommending it), and all of what Coppola says is so brilliant.  In fact, all of what everyone, especially Cronenberg, says is brilliant.  I'm on Altman's section now; can't wait to finish.  But I digress.

[NEON MERCURY]

dr. strangelove
gosford park....................................................................

[ono]

It took me two viewings to like Dr. Strangelove.  But yeah, Gosford Park was just boring.  Perhaps, though, that was 'cause I watched it early in the morning.  Somehow, though, I doubt it.

[classical gas]

I really didn't enjoy "Vertigo" as much as I thought I would.  It probably was built up so much, having been listed many times as one of the top three American films of all time.  It was definitely good though.  I think a lot of classic films suffer, in my eyes, because I wasn't around when they came out to notice how much of a breakthrough they were.

[Ernie]

I really didn't enjoy "Vertigo" as much as I thought I would.  It probably was built up so much, having been listed many times as one of the top three American films of all time.  It was definitely good though.  I think a lot of classic films suffer, in my eyes, because I wasn't around when they came out to notice how much of a breakthrough they were.

I've never been able to honestly give a film that benefit of the doubt type respect, where you don't particulary like it but you talk about how great it must have been in its time, how it must have been a big breakthrough...like you were describing...I've never been able to figure that out. To me, if a film is truly classic, its almost essential that it has a sense of timelessness to it....cinema is too young of a medium for the age of a film to be an excuse for a lack of quality. Buster Keaton and The Marx Brothers are as entertaining as can be in our time, and a lot that came out damn near the beginning of cinema in the 20's and 30's....if they're still great than why can't films like All Quiet on the Western Front be? It's too old? No, it just sucks. It's boring. Not because it's old, it's just a bad film. Say what you will about the book, I haven't read it. But it doesn't DESERVE respect because it's old, that's bullshit I think. I understand the significance of early innovations in cinema but I don't agree with liking or dislikng a film based on those innovations, that's not right.

Footnote: If it's younger than Keaton's stuff, this excuse is scrapped for me.

[xerxes]

a few that came to me...
-american beauty, and all the other movies that have won best picture in the last few years (a beautiful mind, gladiator)
-2001
-usual suspects

[NEON MERCURY]

....why do you guys hate the usual suspects?????

a)because i knnow its actually a good film btu i just don't like it to be different
b)i gotta uphold movie elitist snob persona
c)its really no tthat good....
d)i have never seen it but based on the title it cann't be good