I was a big fan of AVATAR last December and enjoyed INCEPTION a few weeks ago, but I find this sort of movie is like the popcorn I eat with it.My enjoyment is temporary. A few weeks or months later, there is little resonance, just some respect for the techniques or perhaps for the initial thrills. At year's end, I remember the films about people-ones like FROZEN RIVER, THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES, WINTER'S BONE, THE SQUARE, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT.
Now I am not saying that big busy movies can't be about real people. But they rarely are.
What movie wowed you when you saw it and then faded? Or am I the only fickle one?
Titanic
ReplyDeletePatti - Oh, I don't think you're fickle at all. I think there are plenty of movies (books, too!) that capture one fleetingly, but don't resonate. Men in Black was that way for me. I truly enjoyed the movie - nothing against it - but it didn't really stay with me, resonate, etc... Not like other films I've seen that I think of years later...
ReplyDeleteThese are two prime examples. Like summer, quickly fleeing.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all big budget movies disappoint me but if I had to pick one, I'd probably agree with Mr. Wheeler and choose Titanic.
ReplyDeleteClockwork Orange sent me through the roof when I was in high school. I wouldn't watch it again (actually, I prefer all of Kubrick's b/w movies to any of his color ones). On the same level, I also liked Tommy at about the same time in my life. I thought these movies were DEEP.
ReplyDeleteDan Luft
For me, it was Avitar also. It was so visually beautiful, but the people were so predictable and stereotyped.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's also the ones that seemed funny once but not now. IT"S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD.
ReplyDeleteTitanic was the first one that came to my mind too, Richard.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Mad Mad World is a perfect example of how our tastes change. When I was a kid I thought the funniest movie ever was One, Two, Three with James Cagney. It looks very, very dated these days.
While I enjoyed Avatar - mainly for the 3D visuals - I never thought it was anything profound.
What about a list of overly hyped movies that don't live up to all the raves?
Jeff M.
I think I've always been a somewhat critical viewer. I remember being a tad bored by one of the first films I saw in a theater, the Rex Harrison DR. DOLITTLE. I was underwhelmed by STAR WARS and actively annoyed by CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and ALIEN. I did like JAWS and DUEL better on first viewing than I have since...likewise WHAT'S UP, DOC? (The Streisand/O'Neal comedy). Some of the tics in MISSING (the Chilean coup film) are less effective for me now than they were upon first viewing.
ReplyDeleteI love THE MATRIX (especially Carrie-Anne Moss), but the sequels bitterly disappointed me. I can always find something new every time I rewatch a Hitchcock film.
ReplyDeleteThe big test for me is when a movie comes out on DVD; if I am eager to see it again, or even buy it, I know I really liked it. If I just shrug, I know it didn't stick, regardless of what I thought in the theater.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah, Avatar fit that bill for me. Same with District 9 and the new Star Trek movie as well, though the latter has tempted me via cheap used DVD a couple times.
The last movie I saw in the theater that I simply couldn't wait to get on DVD and watch a couple more times is one called 180 Degrees South.
As for Titanic, I have steadfastly avoided ever seeing it.
Oh, yes, certain movies never grow old. At least to me. Phil never rewatches movies. He needs the surprises. That's a new one on my Chris. I will check it out.
ReplyDeleteTodd-Those are big screen movies for me mostly. I never rewatch those on TV. Dr. Doolittle is horrible-at any age.
There are movies I can rewatch endlessly:
ReplyDeleteCasablanca (I know it's a cliche to say so but there it is)
When Harry Met Sally... (we watch it every New Year's Eve)
1776 (ditto, on July 4)
Animal House
Two for the Road
Charade
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn version)
My wife's favorites for rewatching would also include:
Fools Rush In
Independence Day
Saturday Night Fever (R version)
Jeff M.
That's gonna be a blog topic. Thanks for the idea and my list would include most of these and some more. It sort of links with my list of guilty pleasures in some cases.
ReplyDeleteYeah, titanic, or maybe Top gun.
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ReplyDeleteJulia doesn't rewatch much either. Me, certain movies I can rewatch endlessly.
ReplyDeleteAnother possible topic: most overrated movies.
ReplyDeleteJeff M.
Tom Cruise movies don't hold up well and it may be because our opinion of him has changed. Woody may suffer the same fate.
ReplyDeleteInception and Avatar are excellent examples of engaging movies that don't stick with you. Though I will say that I thought Inception was more interesting and better plotted than Avatar, which succeeded only on its totally rad (yep, bringing back that expression) visuals.
ReplyDeleteSome of the cool 1980s action flicks are kind of like that too--loved em, but couldn't watch them again and again. Raiders of the Lost Ark comes to mind. But there are waayyy more empty movies now. When I buy a ticket, I'm just hoping that they're at least enjoyable--like, say, Toy Story 3.
It's like the formula was finally worked out to perfection in the mid-nineties.
ReplyDeleteStar Wars 1, 2, & 3. As fast as I could help them fade away.
ReplyDeleteIt's the little films, mostly, that stick with me.
In 1981 we met friends in Dublin and he was raving about a new movie he'd seen that - to hear him tell it - was the greatest thing in DECADES. The movie was Raiders of teh Lost Ark.
ReplyDeleteNow, probably nothing could have lived up to that buildup, but when we saw it that month we were very disappointed. This was the great movie in decades? I don't think so.
We've seen it since (and the sequels) and come to appreciate it, but as a general rule...
Don't. Trust. The Hype.
Jeff M.
STAR WARS 1,2,3 should be burned. I worry kids will come to the series and see those horrible films first.
ReplyDeleteI liked Raiders a the time but am afraid to see it again.
Even I will admit that SW "1" & "2" were even worse than STAR WARS (I was dragged by my best friend, who loved the original three as a child). I've yet to see "3" or "6" (and mostly was willing to see "5" because Leigh Brackett wrote the first version of the script).
ReplyDeleteWoody Allen struck me as a whining, resentful misogynist well before he made that so publicly clear in his personal life. Not that I didn't think WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILY? funny, mind you (particularly as a kid)...but even that one had the tone. Those foolish women, uninterested in wonderful me, however I might appear.
For some reason, Patti, THE LAST EMPEROR faded quickly from my memory. When I saw it in the theater (the only way to see a movie like that), I proclaimed it as "one of the greatest movies I've ever seen". A few months later it was on TV and I turned it off after 10 minutes. TV just ruined it, but then I realized that I'd forgotten most of what I thought was so great.
ReplyDeleteBut give me something like NIGHT AND THE CITY (1950 version) or UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and I never tire of them. Those films, and a few others, occupy their own little areas of my memory, where they will remain forever.
Oh, THE LAST EMPEROR is a great example. I can hardly remember it at all.
ReplyDeletewow - kinda harsh picking on Raiders of the Lost Ark. It wasn't trying to be the Seventh Seal or Cuckoo's Nest. It was for fun, like CLose Encounters and Star Wars.
ReplyDeleteDan Luft
I loved Raiders of the Lost Ark, both then and now. The only thing I didn't like when I watched it again in the past year was the overuse of the theme music. Beyond that, as a pulpy action movie there are few better, IMO.
ReplyDeleteI also love the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies (the first two anyway).
The first Raiders sticks in my mind as fun. But the second one TEMPLE OF DOOM depressed me so much I could hardly climb out of bed. Children at risk really does me in.
ReplyDeleteBertolucci is the most overrated film director of the last century, probably. THE LAST EMPEROR was risible, no matter the size of screen, and as such fits in perfectly with the rest of his work. At least enough people are annoyed by and/or scornful of the likes of Spielberg, Stone, Allen, and others whose reach exceeds their grasp by some distance. For no good reason, BB gets a pass, despite one bad film after another. (Christopher Nolan, the megabudget M. Night Shyamalan, is in the early running for most overrated for the current century.)
ReplyDeleteBertolucci even beats out Godard, who at least had BREATHLESS. Even if what looked like self-parody at the end might've been meant to be taken seriously...
ReplyDeleteGorgeous clematis!
ReplyDeleteThe Sixth Sense -- loved it on first viewing, can't get through again.
that's a long list.
ReplyDeletei pine for the days or irwin allen.
Why, exactly, do you delete the embedded video posts? Mine stay up with little problem indefinitely, even when the video isn't available any longer...
ReplyDeleteI felt bad taking up all that cyberspace after people stopped looking at it. It makes no sense, I guess. I also delete emails as soon as I respond unless there is something urgent. I also throw everything away--even before my husband reads it. I am the opposite of the Collier Brothers.
ReplyDeleteWell, all the comments go when you delete the post...I've never written that anecdote before, in the case of the "Driva' Man" Incident (as I'll now think of it)...and now, alors, it's lost! (Not too devastated.)
ReplyDeleteYour link isn't taking up any more space than other posts, fwiw.
ReplyDeleteMy husband says the same thing when I throw away his stuff. I'll leave them up from now on.
ReplyDelete