Everybody Loved Them; I Cringed

"Claire's Knee" wasn't that bad. It would have been excellent if it were a little shorter (say 20 minutes).

I did like "Jules et Jim", but I don't know if time has been cruel.
Time was cruel with "Day for Night" (though I still like it).

Now, Antoine Doinel was certainly "very irritating & self indulgent & maddening". No wonder so many of us boys identified with him!

You may not respect any opinion of any critic but quoting one of them like Mr. Cranky is frankly beneath you. I wouldn't bother quoting what great praise has been written about "Citizen Kane," especially not one who can write in coherant English. Let's just leave it that you don't care for the movie and there's no need to defend your opinion. I will agree there's no reason to defend the film as it has already found its place in film history -- it may be only a film and film is considered by many to be the lowest form of art but this happens to be a revolutionary film that has influenced nearly every filmmaker since it was screened. I can't help feeling there's something about Welles that irks people but they sure don't know how to put it into a meaningful sentence. BTW, Mr. Cranky is a terrible writer -- his "humor" is strictly beerhall.

I never could figure out what people find that is pretentious in "2001." I found it sublime and it stimulated thought about many things, but I found no pretense in it whatsoever. Perhaps one should finish off a joint the next time they see it. Also, they should go and see it in IMAX which is it's next incarnation. Trying to watch it on a small TV screen is an exercise in futility.

LOL
GrandVizier - i was just reading along and thinking that the only time I didn't mind watching 2001 was when I was significantly under the influence. The other couple of times I tried to watch it, I left to go and get myself some influence.

I was trying to figure out if there was a theme to 'big' films that I didn't care for. I think the bottom line is I don't appreciate films that are trying to pretend that I'm not going to notice being clubbed over the head with a message. There are definitely days when a travelogue about the Alps is easier to watch than a film with an earnest message.

I remember really liking Jules and Jim, and do know that Day for Night is very well regarded.

On critics - in my movie going heyday I would see a movie and have my own nebulous or clearcut reactions to them, and then read the New Yorker reviews, for example, plus LA newspaper reviews, perhaps Village Voice reviews, and sometimes a given critic would speak to my concerns or appreciation. I remember finding that Kael did that, though not always.

In college, I read the Bruin reviews, which were often interesting (at the time). There was a fellow, whose name fails me now, who related storylines to literature in ways that I thought helpful.

In any case, I didn't care what the source of the review was if it brought a new point to my attention, given that I was interested in reading about the movie in the first place. Alternately, sometimes I read the reviews first, before the movie, and didn't always agree.

On Mr. Cranky, I am not familiar with him, so have to pass on him as a critic.

LOL Roberta! "Loud, barking, horror-filled reaction" - not bad ;-). Gotta remember that one.



Oh but theres beautiful French movies! I saw Truffaut's Tirez sur la Pianiste last year, so very beautiful. Baisers Voles was his, too, wasn't it? I dont remember much from it except that I really liked it, went home in a dream-like state. A Bout de Souffle (Breathless, in English?) is still one of my all-time favourite films. Same (though less so) with Hiroshima mon Amour.

Last year I loved Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain - an unpretentious fun feel good movie, true, but a very very cute one! And some nineties films like Marie, Baie des Anges, La Haine and Gadjo Dilo were pretty good too, with some reservations. (Not Gadjo Dilo, that was good without reservations). Overall, though, I have the impression that French movies tend to mostly be kinda good or kinda bad - unlike, say, Hungarian or German movies which can be really good or really bad ;-).



Yeh, thats funny that! I rented Jules & Jim on video last year. I thought it was kinda cute actually, and then really sad - I could kinda "feel along" with the story. But not all that much, no - it did seem oddly dated, viewed now ...



Ah - the shine of fame in our midst! People - we have someone who took John Wayne's blood and someone who went to the same school as Stanley Kubrick!

Roberta, I suspect this example was your original point of this thread
Capturing the Friedmans.
I thought it ground breaking and troubling documentary. The women I took to see it with, a producer and director of documentary films and videos, contemptuously dismissed it as an over long sob story about another dysfunctional family. ie she cringed while the rest of the audience cheered.

The only reason I haven't mentioned 2001 before is because I actually did enjoy a few segments, and it was well photographed. But, I found the final sequences particularly vapid and tedious.

You're supposed to get all dewy-eyed with deep appreciation when pondering the opening of 2001. At least you're supposed to if you still believe in the '60's!

I still believe in the 60s, but not that movie.

We might want to consider the counter-topic on guilty (movie) pleasures: "I loved it; everyone else cringed!"

There are movies that I love that others don't want any part of.

Thatd be a cool follow-up topic, yeh.

that would be fun. i've got one ready.

There already is an old thread about the subject.

Aawww ...

<mutters: party pooper ...>

<grins>

Hell, I can't find the thread. It must be too old. Perhaps I only defended a movie in the thread "What film do you think is the worst of all?"

Not quite the same subject matter.

2001. I was in the 8th grade when it was released in the theatre and someone had the bright idea of taking the entire 8th grade class to view this movie. It was madness. The boys got ahold of a few fifths of Wild Irish Rose wine and passed it around on the buses. When we got into the theatre and the movie started, the place was up for grabs. The boys used the wine as an excuse to be pigs, roaming from girl to girl, putting their hands where they didn't belong. It was a crazy scene! Needless to say, altho' my husband owns the dvd, I've never watched it. That movie couldn't be of less interest for me.

And I remember the director of one of my hub's plays going with us to the Plitt (I think the name was) in Century City, west Los Angeles, and our getting front row seats. Yikes.

Remember, folks, I am a small movie aficionado, generally speaking.

I didn't hate it, but I am basically not very interested.

Anybody out there see the "Last Samurai" yet? My wife wants to go see it. Maybe tomorrow will be a good day.