While Phil watched the Tiger playoff game, I went with friends to see Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame. My interest in this film was minimal, but I thought I could review it for Crimespree Cinema at the very least.
But here is the dilemma. This was a good film in many ways. It was beautifully made, exciting, colorful, great music, some smart humor, smart, in general.
But I didn't like it.
It was not my kind of movie. I simply could not get into the fantastic elements of it. It had far too much action, my eyes grew weary of swirling bodies, flashes of color, all of it. Perhaps if it was in English instead of Chinese, it would have gone down easier, but I doubt it.
If you know a movie is a good one, but it is simply not your genre, do you watch it? What was the last movie you appreciated despite not caring for the genre? Or book? What genre just turns you off despite its merits?
38 comments:
Ever read one of the Judge (not Detective) Dee books? You might like it better than you liked this movie.
Funny, the one that leaps to mind is by the same director as DETECTIVE DEE, Tsui Hark. It was an earlier film of his called ZU: WARRIORS FROM THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN. I can enjoy martial arts movies, action movies, sci-fi, and comedy. This was a combination of all three. Immediately, I recognized how well-done it was, and how innovative and influential. But I was just unengaged and uninterested the whole way through. Not necessarily the movie's fault -- it can't be everything for everyone -- but we just weren't a good match.
That said, I would check out DETECTIVE DEE if it were playing out in East Hampton.
New to me, Bill, I will check it out.
I think I need a lot of dialogue in a movie. The more, the better. I prefer my action in ballets, I guess. And I also need stories steeped in reality. This is definitely a failing on my part.
I'm the opposite when it comes to dialogue (for the most part). That's one of the reasons I like Bronson, Eastwood, and John Wayne movies so much. And silent films, for that matter.
But when you have people like Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett writing dialogue, then I have no complaints whatsoever. Let the people talk as much as they want!
Hm. I'm hard-pressed to think of a type of drama or fiction that inherently I don't like. Dumb, I suppose. But that's about it.
Last movie I liked that surprised me in this way was Tattoo : A Love Story.
I can;t watch or read horror.
I'll go with Todd. Can't think of any. Equally dumb, I guess. But I usually sit through a movie and stay with a book till the end, no matter how boring, depressing and painful either might be. A waste of time, I know.
I don't like...I'm not sure what to call it...drama that just piles and piles and piles on terrible things.
However, what I find refreshing about you post is that you can recognize postives about Dee and simply admit that it's just not your kind of movie. I'm always stunned by how often I see reviewers tear something apart that just simply comes down to it not being their thing.
Tattoo is new to me. Have to check it out. I don't really like the traditional chick flicks either.
Oh, yes, I admit to a real deficit in fantasy especially. Given the choice of Dick and Jane narratives and the Brothers Grimm I always opted for reality. And probably was starved in certain ways by that choice.
I had to think a bit, but I generally don't like comedy. I don't like "joke" writing or "joke" bands, for example. And most comedy movies aren't funny to me. So when I stumble across ones that actually work and I enjoy, it is quite a revelation.
I go out of my way to avoid romance novels and most modern romantic comedies. I find nothing romantic or funny about them.
Chris-did you like comedies of the past. Randy-how about classic romantic comedies like BRINGING UP BABY or MY GIRL FRIDAY.
I feel this way about Terrence Malick's "The New World." I watched it with all these English graduate students who were so impressed with it -- the cinematography is stunning -- but I was bored. Like three hours of melodramatic romance.
Patti, I agree with you on action movies getting too actiony. For example, why did there need to be 45 minutes of people shooting each other in Inception? It's perfectly fine without that.
Patti, there are a handful of comedies I've liked over the years, but I've never really been a big fan. And the stuff I DO like definitely falls in the "guilty pleasures" category. Certainly nothing I would share with such sophisticated and erudite company as your readers.
TREE OF LIFE was even more puzzling although Brad Pitt almost saved it.
So what is your favorite genre Chris L?
Tough to pick a genre, Patti. Depends on my mood. I love a good popcorn movie, and tend to be pretty forgiving. But if I were forced to choose a favorite, it would be some kind of drama with some action in it. Maybe a police or crime drama, or a Western like Unforgiven or Open Range and stuff like that. Winter's Bone. That kind of thing.
I recently saw both Contagion and Money Ball and liked them both a lot. I tend to be all over the place.
My husband has never liked any musical with the exception of Cabaret.
Not much difference between westerns and crime drama. Is there any western that isn't about a crime of some sort.
Yes, older romantic comedies, almost all of them, had more heart than most of the crap today. Well, that's not fair I guess. I haven't seen them. The trailers are enough to send me running, exactly like Will Ferrell trailers.
On the subject of musicals, Oklahoma I loved(saw it as part of a class project in junior high school), but any other sends me grabbing for the remote.
I just don't get movies where people break out into choreographed song and dance in the middle of a conversation. I've never ran into that in real life.
What interest me most about your questions is how you seem almost guilty for not liking the film.
It seemed to me the reason to go to the movie was not the movie but spending time with friends and getting out of the house. There are reasons to go to a movie beyond the movie.
As a critic, I can watch anything, take it apart and admire the positives. "Citizen Kane" is a visual masterpiece with no story and stick figures for characters. I can enjoy it on that level.
As just someone who wants to just watch a movie, I rarely spend money for something I don't think I will enjoy. Genres don't bother me but some sub-genres do. I will avoid historical costume drama, but I might go see a historical drama.
"Is there any western that isn't about a crime of some sort."
Goodness, Patti. Of course there are. Lots of them are about braving the elements or simply trying to establish one's self (or "ourselves") in new territory.
Though there are fewer films than stories in this mode, and fewer still television series (LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, MCLEOD'S DAUGHTERS, a few others).
CITIZEN KANE's characters are an extended parody of Hearst and his kith and kin, of course...and the story is a Bildungsroman.
A handful of the romantic comedies and their cousins over the last 30 years that I can recommend:
CROSS MY HEART (Annette O'Toole, Martin Short)
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB (though the film version does come close to being not recommendable)
BOUND
KISSING JESSICA STEIN
PUMP UP THE VOLUME
STRANGER THAN FICTION
SAY ANYTHING
DEFENDING YOUR LIFE
ADAPTATION...
Oh God, musicals. I forgot about musicals. I hate musicals.
I liked Tattoo: A Love Story a lot and it brought me to Tracing Cowboys, another films that I liked a lot more than others.
As to the question, I think it's just a fact that there are things that you know are good, and have substance, but just don't work for you. Sometimes it's important to remember that not every film is for everyone.
and for Rom Coms that I can recommend? well I have a short list of ones where the man isn't a clown, fool or idiot that I like, but strangely women don't seem to like them....
Ed's Next Move
Barcelona
Mr. Jealousy
Next Stop Wonderland
Hi Life
Loved Barcelona, Next Stop Wonderland,Eternal Sunshine, Kissing Jessica and most of these. But I have to say the romantic angle trumped the comedy.
Give me some titles, Todd. Because of the westerns I have seen, all seem to be about holding onto the land, the girl, the gun, etc.
Michel-I am guilty for not liking a movie I know in my heart to be a good one. I am guilty for not being open to all genres, to not having the patience to go with it.
Aside from the television series I've mentioned, among the western films that come to mind that aren't inherently crime dramas are mostly literary adaptations...THE VALDEZ HORSES/CHINO (a Charles Bronson film, no less, based on a novel by Ms. Lee Hoffman), WHITE FANG, to some extent MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER and LITTLE BIG MAN, DANCES WITH WOLVES, THE LIGHT IN THE FOREST, TRACK OF THE CAT, the somewhat disappointing Walter Van Tilburg Clark adaptation...to say nothing of all those Grizzly Adams films and their imitations and spinoffs...
Meanwhile, I'd say the comedy and the romance was pretty well meshed in most of the films I'd endorse...the comedy trumps the verisimilitude, even as it grows out of it in part in the best example (HIS GIRL FRIDAY) in the screwball comedies. It might've helped that HGF wasn't an outright romance in its origins, but simply an antic play with most of the same serious subtexts...a satire with more bite than most (so is ETERNAL SUNSHINE).
And you should see CROSS YOUR HEART for a charming mix of romance and comedy in nearly equal measure. Caught most of it again on cable for the first time in fifteen years or so, and it holds up well.
MONTE WALSH comes to mind as another borderline example (and another literary adaptation).
Some of these westerns are more romances, you're right. Most I haven't seen though.
Congratulations on the Tigers beating the Yankees. And good luck to the Lions in the upcoming MNF clash with the Bears. As for a film that left me cold: AMERICAN BEAUTY.
Most of the time I just can't bring myself to watch relationship movies, even though there are plenty that are well done and well acted. I just fall asleep or lose interest.
Now that's one that was really over-praised at the time and I know of no one who defends it now.
Thanks, George,
I liked American Beauty, which is strange, because it struck me as a French film in English, and I usually hate French films.
I haven't seen it since, so I don't know whether it has held up.
This may not be a genre per se, but it is a type of movie making that really bothers me. I am fed up with the whole green screen mania. I have no interest in watching Avatar because of this. The Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland had a few interesting performances (Anne Hathaway really surprised me) but I pretty much hated it. It was like watching a mash-up video project by a film school student who desperately wanted to be thought he was clever. When movies become nothing more than special effects gimmicks and high tech digitizing all the soul is gone from them. Even heartfelt performances can't rescue them for me. On the other hand I can really enjoy a computer generated animation movie if it's done well. UP, for instance had real heart and was surprisingly entertaining from start to finish. Go figure.
I find high school comedies a major turnoff. Bathroom humor, bad sex jokes, and all the rest of it may appeal to the 15-year-old, but grownups want something different.
That of course begs the question, Why did all my adult friends howl with stomach-clutching laughter while watching THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY? I thought it the height of tastelessness, but to a person, they proclaimed it the "funniest movie ever made".
As someone cool on the Stiller and Diaz, it didn't sit well with me--at all. But my mother liked it. Go figure.
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