Quoted from dogglebe Star Wars sucked from start to finish. Phil

    
                                                   I                                      
                                                agree          
                                             completely                        
                                           here with Phil.
                                       I think it reminded
                                  me of every other movie                  
                           in the sense that it was unoriginal.
                    But it did seem to usher in movies where you
            kinda hoped the main star would have sex with his sister.  
                                                  

          Shawn, I'll give you credit.  
           That was a beautifully
                 formatted
                  response.  
                        

But Star Wars defined my entire childhood.  The sense of wonder it created... wow.  Actual aliens that didn't look like humans with antennae or just a few added wrinkles?  Spaceships that were dirty and battered?  HAN SOLO?!?  Sorry.  My allegiance is undying.  (Not to George Lucas.  Just the original trilogy.)

Oh, to add to the list.  A friend of mine told me he tried to see ET as an adult, and nearly threw up from the storyline.  So that's probably on there, if I were to revisit it.

Phil tells me he can't deal with the Maltese Falcon.  Never saw it myself, though.

** And, I'll jump on the "what's with Woody Allen" bandwagon.  Not at all because of the family scandals.  Because I don't find his neurotic sensibilities funny. At all (don't like Curb Your Enthusiasm, either.)

I loved There will be blood and Her. But didn't find the Master that interesting, some scenes where completely weird and uncalled for. If some one can explain to me when all the sudden philip seymour hoffman is signing with a bunch of naked people that would be cool.
Anyways
Godfather: Great movie, sequels are okay.
Nolan is the sh*t
Star wars: Alright, Lucas is a terrible story teller.
But the one movie I find that doesn't deserve its praise is Argo.

Quoted from Toby_E Despite being a fan of his, I will be the first to admit that I do not like all his work. What films have you seen of his, if you don't mind me asking?

Toby, The Thin Red Line and Tree of Life.  After Saving Private Ryan, I was super hyped for another WWII flick and I just felt tremendously let down (and bored).  Tree of Life, man, I just don't know what to say about that one. It was just...different, I guess, but not in a good way. Now again, that's just my opinion, but I think he tries to be so unlike mainstream movies that he alienates the large portion of the ticket buying public.  "To the Wonder" was another example. I tried to watch and was out within 20 minutes.  But I guess there's a market for people like him, Godard, Felini, Bergman, etc.

Gary

Quoted from Gary in Houston Tree of Life, man, I just don't know what to say about that one. It was just...different, I guess, but not in a good way. Now again, that's just my opinion, but I think he tries to be so unlike mainstream movies that he alienates the large portion of the ticket buying public.

I don't think Malick tries to be unlike mainstream movies. He just likes different movies and telling different kinds of stories than other moviemakers.

I thought the core of the Brad Pitt story, his wife, and his boys was good. And if it wasn't for the weird space and dinosaur stuff, and Sean Penn, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. That stuff was strange and unnecessary, in truth.

I think he captures nature unlike any director in history. For that, I really enjoy his movies. Especially his first two.

But you have to bare in mind that he was a Kierkegaard/Heidegger scholar for several years and taught Philosophy at MIT before eventually turning to moviemaking. So that's had a huge impact on his thinking and how he perceives the world, nature, people, etc. I'm sure he sees things and captures them with his camera that the rest of us do not see. Whether we will ever be able to see them is a mystery.

I don't think he's deliberately trying to make something diametrically opposite the mainstream. Why would he have such success? Why does anyone care to finance his movies? There are tons of films that are weird and strange and make no sense whatsoever. Clearly there is some talent there, even if it gets muddled up with an incongruous story. But like Robert Duvall said, he needs to work with a better writer. That's true.

-J.S.

P.S.

Here's a great review of Days of Heaven and the New World: http://www.reverseshot.com/article/terrence_malick

Oh yeah....

Woody Allen films suck.  Not a fan. Not at all.

Greatest movie of all time: Seven Samurai. Please remove Citizen Cane from the number one spot.

I totally get how people can be turned off by a Malick film. I really appreciate his films though. Not exactly stories, more like visual poetry, especially newer stuff.

Agree with some of the above about Woody Allen. Just does not compute.

Newer oscar winners/contenders that baffled me: Zero Dark Thirty. Lincoln (Daniel Day lewis is the jam and all)

Others I just couldn't stand: 300, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception.

Interesting seeing all the varied tastes. Fargo, No Country for Old Men, There will be Blood, The Big Lebowski, A Clockwork Orange... all great in my book. But to each his/her own.

I tried to like Malick's recent efforts. They are beautiful, some of the most skriking imagery you'll ever see anywhere. But they also seem devoid of any real plot. There's certainly no urgency, or any real drama. More like snippets of lives. Maybe there's a deeper meaning in there somewhere. Buggered if I could spot it.

No cake for those who dislike Woody. He often misfires, but his good stuff is great.

And you don't like Nolan? Jesus, Jimi. Are you sure?

Forrest Gumpy is just fucking awful. Apart from ripping off Zelig it's just sentimental wank.

Have I mentioned Casablanca? Hang on, I think I did. Play it Again, Sam was much better.

I just noticed Deadite appears to have disappeared. Anyone know what happened there?

R

I like Nolan. Loved Following, Memento, Insomnia and the first two Batman flicks. Inception was brilliantly made but just didn't care for what was going on. Maybe I was in a mood.

I did like Annie Hall and Match Point. Okay, I sort of liked Bananas too. As far as Malick: All I can say is Badlands. Brilliant.

I've watched Inception many times.  At first I thought it was all flash and no substance. But there's a lot more to it than that. In the first ten minutes or so he's got three different scenes with the same actors in, all connected and all affecting the next. Without getting carried away, which I am prone to do, it's fucking amazing.

I love Badlands too. And the Thin Red Line. It's his recent stuff that irks. It's like he's read too much philosophy or met some French girl in her twenties and now lives in a commune in Amsterdam which some new age hippies. Looks amazing, but like students at 3:00am at the weekends, makes no sense at all.

I'd say this list reflects what movie fans like. I'd be hard put to disagree with most of them. I'd probably have them in a different order, but most would, no doubt.

The only ones near the top I really don't agree with are Gump, as said. And Saving Private Ryan.

Some say the second half of Full Metal Jacket is disappointing. But at least they didn't start acting like they were in the A Team.

R

Reckon I'll give Inception another go. Just watched it once when it first came out.

Agree on Forest Gump.

Not sure what's disappointing about the second half of Full Metal Jacket. It had to go where it was going, considering all the potential themes of the movie and the ending. And they definitely didn't start acting like the a-team. I'm sure this happened before but I be interested in seeing people's top 5 favorite films. Or ten. Something like that.

I hated Gladiator.

The Big Chill was incredibly disappointing.

Slumdog Millionaire just annoyed me.

Cars was pretty to look at, but I hated the characters and was severely disappointed by the lack of a true villain.

Those come immediately to mind.

I did not like Citizen Kane.