The Most Boring Movies You've Ever Seen

I'm not particularly a de Caprio fan, but I'll grudgingly admit that the man has some quite fine skills of his craft. He's a lot more than a pretty face.

I think it's also the tonal quality of his voice -- that slight youthful twang that doesn't aways lock into the charcter. He seems to have supplanted it almost entirely in "The Aviator," but I found it sometimes annoying in "Gangs of New York." I can't help wandering if some male response to De Caprio is somehow twinged with a bit of sour grapes, a little bit of jaded, "Just who does this whipper-snapper think he is?"

Whoa..whoa... who-o-o-a,...Plainoldme,
You found Face/Off, boring, AND action was the only characteristic you noticed. Had you looked with a tad of interest, you might have noticed two superb acting achievments. You had each actor, pretending to be the other actor pretending to do the other's character...... (what?)...... Anyway, as crazy as that sounds they both kept track, very well. I don't believe I've ever saw Travolta in such a subtle tour de force.
LW,.... furthermore, unlike Mike Tyson, who has a ferocious look to offset his unmanly voice, poor Lenny has a baby-face to boot. He should get an honorary award just for pulling off the mature, and macho Huges.

LW,
You said you can't think of another actor who could play Huges. Think, Geoge Peppard, Carpetbaggers......huh....huh? You might say it's already been done. Not to mention younger Deniro or Pacino could most likely do it, and look like him.

I have to agree with Merry Andrew that most biopics are over-rated. I was very disappointed in the Cole Porter biopic although I found myself with a series of Porter "ear worms" that lasted for three weeks. I also thought the girl stole the picture. (BTW, Kevin Klein, at 6 feet tall, was not Cole Porter in the physical sense.)

I probably wouldn't have seen The Aviator if I hadn't been so disappointed in Million Dollar Baby. I had heard a whisper or two that Aviator was the better picture and it was. Whether I wrote it here or on another thread, I will write again that there was real chemistry between Cate Blanchett and Leonardo de Caprio and I loved the scene in which De Caprio's Hughes taught Blanchett's Hepburn to fly: it captured the whole essence of the way in which people (and not just rich, famous and beautiful people) fall in love.

A local tv personality, Emily Rooney (daughter of CBS commentator Andy), thought Blanchett annoying as Hepburn. I didn't. I felt she portrayed Hepburn as a flesh and blood woman, not a movie star, who fell in love with a fascinating man but found she couldn't sustain the love. My goodness! Haven't we all been there?

I must admit that having remembered Hughes from the later years of his life, that I thought Leonardo too young (he is cursed by his failure to have developed a full beard) to play Hughes until I read the capsule review in the Boston Phoenix which reminded all of us that Hughes made his movie, bought (was it?) TWA and wooed Hepburn before he was 35. That made Leonardo just about right in terms of age.
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booman -- While I like true science-fiction, that is, a sort of fiction that is actually a commentary (sometimes satire; sometimes not) on a socio-political situation, I do find it difficult to "suspend my disbelief," as my adult children urge me to do when confronted with action/disaster movies.

Movies, like books, exist on many levels for many audiences. Face Off was not meant for a literary, discerning audience. It, like many mass release movies aimed at young men between the ages of 17 and 35, offered the suggestion of science fiction. It was science fiction exploitation.

I can not suspend my disbelief when the situation is so ridiculous. Even my former boyfriend was crashingly disappointed. The kind and amount of surgery and the time constraints of the plot in terms of recoveries from said surgeries is impossible.

Furthermore, that was not acting. While I am not a fan of "John Revolta," I admit that he had a talent for playing what the above mentioned boyfriend called, "slick psychopaths." He's a little weak as a husband and father, but, then, the script gave him a cardboard character with which to work. On the other hand, Nick-whatever-his-name-is is a fine actor who has put in some strong performances. Again, the cardboard villain of Face Off gave little room for anything but scenery chewing.

I can't help but notice you are a George Peppard fan. Never saw The Carpetbaggers but it isn't my sort of movie. Peppard hardly had a long standing career.

My favorite Peppard performance was in "The Blue Max," but he did quite well in "Breakfast At Tiffany's" despite the fact that they changed the character from bi-sexual to hetero. As Hughes? I don't know if I would buy that, nor Pacino or De Niro. Nicholson had the widow's peak early on in his career and the slickly suave demeanor that could have emulated Hughes. Hughes could be excruciatingly stoic and suddenly switch to a kind of charismatic mania. Something I think De Caprio captured. But Cate did steal the show.

Sometimes, actors become, as one critic said of Diane Keaton, "prisoners of her (his) mannerisms." I wonder if Pacino isn't on the verge of becoming a prisoner of his mannerisms. I saw him on a talk show about a year ago, and he seemed out to lunch but harmless. Apparently, his girlfriend Beverly D'Angelo talked him into going to a baseball game and he just happened to have a false beard in the car, so he wore his beard into the game, with dark glasses and a baseball cap. The problem is the beard itched, so he scratched his face throughout and moved the beard. Of course, he was with a recognizable woman. Anyway, the camera kept focusing on the couple and he felt foolish and itchy but unable to remove the beard. And this was in real life!

the most boring movie i ever paid to see was the village. in my opinion it was a horribly predictable movie. the plot didn't really make much sense to me

Silent Movie (Mel Brooks).

Hollywood "insiders" and film nerds would have understood all the private jokes, but I was so bored my teeth started to itch.

Plainoldme,
I'm not sure about your position on Carpetbaggers. You say you didn't see it but It's not your type of flik. (HUH ) I don't know if your opinion came from reading the book or word of mouth. So if you don't know, It tells the story of a young man who Inherits a small aircraft parts factory from his father and proceeds to becoming a billionaire withbold inovative moves, and along the way, he sets speed records, as a pilot... buys a movie studio, romances stars and starlets... etc.,etc.,osund familiar yet?
Anyway I rate G.P. as a fair actor. That movie is the best I've seen him in. I loved the premise of "Banacek", and "The A-Team was a guilty pleasure, until I was overwhelmed by the corn after a while.
So to me G.P. was H.H., because he led me to read up on the real guy.
As for Face/Off, I'm not a lover of action for the sake of action, but John Woo's ballet style of action become's a surreal thing of beauty for me , and many others. I really didn't look as a sci-fi flik, but sorta' like a fantasy, it was so far out. If you have the patience, perhaps you could give it another chance; don't try to look it as real or sci-fi. (That's a genre, that precede's reality, at it's best. So just concentrate on the stylish beauty of the action scenes, and especially the acting of the stars which is above the usual for "Revolta", , and usual for the more accomplished Cage. BTW somebody, isn't his real name Scorcese, or something? I believe that's the director he is related to

Nick's real name is Nicholas Copolla, the son of August Copolla, Francis Ford's brother.

"Face/Off" was a watchable thriller but not one I'd particularly return to. Yes, I thought the acting in this unique situation was good, as good as the comedies where characters switch identities but I find the movie more of a curiosity than a classic.

"The Carpetbaggers" is a watchable movie also but I'd rather watch "The Blue Max" again. Besides, I love the flying music in "The Blue Max."

Ooops! ....

Ooops! is right! I inadvertantly typed in "Mad Max" when I meant "The Blue Max."

If that's what the "ooops!" was for.

No, I had an ooops of my own. Scorsese, instead of Capolla.

I can't think of the most boring movie offhand...but by far, the most boring stage production I ever saw was a couple of years ago in NYC. The play was called "Dance with Death" and I think the title pretty much says it all.

I can't remember the name of the playwright (let's hope for his sake, nobody remembers it)

It was so boring, glum and depressing!!! A drunken Eugene O'Neil at three o'clock in the morning would be more upbeat than that!

When that play was finally over, it was getting a stay of execution from the governor!

That would be a post for the performance forum -- I'm having trouble believing you can't think of a movie that was boring.

I hated "abandon" or "abandoned" I'm not sure what it was called. All I know is that tom cruises current bitch is in it

Ah, yes, Cruise and his love life. What a maroon, as the great Bugs Bunny would say.

I've recently come up with a great topic for a thesis in American literature: The Immature Male in American Letters. I finally read The Great Gatsby and Studs Lonigan.

Well, a local (Boston) critic, reviewing War of the Worlds, wrote that in the past, Cruise has played immature men who have difficult relationships with their fathers. Here, he plays an immature man who has a difficult relationship with his children ... or some such thing.

Speaking of Boston wits, Click and Clack, the evil geniuses behind Car Talk, have started a Save Katie (Holmes -- the Cruise bitch) website.

okay, kicky, i'm bored enough here at work to put my two cents in.

one movie that some critics seemed to love was woody allen's sweet and lowdown, a movie about a boring guitar player whose favorite pastime is shooting rats at the dump. which is kinda funny the first time he does it or mentions wanting to do it, but that's all he ever wants to do. besides play the guitar, which is mildly interesting the first time he does it... you get the idea. and sean penn got an oscar nod for this boring character! i can only guess that allen fans and penn fans were blinded by their devotion. if it wasn't for their reputations, nobody would've paid any attention to this waste of time, money, film, talent, etc.

other snoozefests... K-PAX, in which kevin spacey eats a banana without peeling it first. that's about all i remember of that one.

the terminal, a movie that was dead on arrival. (badump-bump.) tom hanks was good in that he almost made you forget he was tom hanks. but the only memorable part was the 20-second take that he does in the bathroom. the rest of the movie contorted itself to keep the nimrod in the airport terminal. why? because if he left it the movie would end and spielberg et al. wouldn't be able to charge admission to a five-minute movie.

which reminds me of you've got mail, which may not be entirely boring, but it had the most boring ending. why did a similar ending in sleepless in seattle leave me weeping in my popcorn? there was just no drama. you expected some kind of cute twist or something. but it just kinda ends. kicky disagrees, but that's only cause he's blinded by his love of meg ryan, and he imagines himself in the same situation. (which i can kind of understand. some actors make me catch my breath, but i don't kid myself. i know that legends of the fall -- another one! maybe the most boring ever! -- was a cinematic soap bubble, brad pitt or no brad pitt. oh yeah! cool world! another waste! let's see, i can search by actor. keanu reeves' most boring movie? the replacements. more boring than football itself. johnny depp's? sleepy hollow. heads roll -- right to sleep! ryan phillippe -- 54. oy, the crap we sit through for a pretty face....)

jay -- I saw The Terminal with another single woman, on video, at her house on a night when we didn't have the money to do something more interesting. I contributed a bottle of wine and she rented the movie. We decided it was ok watching it that way -- interrupted by conversation, some snacks and good wine -- without paying nearly $10 during first run. But, there wasn't enough there to see it in second run!

As for You've Got Mail, I hated the movie. Here was a big corporation, ousting a small business, and the movie pretended that the big corp had more heart than the small business.

I miss small businesses where the buyer catered to her taste in clothes or bought specialized books and played her music in the store.