Tasteless friends.What am I to do

[wickednick]

I have a bit of problem, my friends have no taste in movies.They always enjoy the newest special effect driven pop-culture trash, and it is driving me nuts.Its hard to see movies with them because are tastes are so completely diffrent. A good example is back when Resident Evil was released we all went to go see it.I was the only one out of five friends that hated it.They all said it was cool and scary, I personally thought it was a cheap rip off of the video game and if it was done by a actually competant director it could have kicked ass.
Now when 28 Days Later came out me and my friends went to go see it.They all hated it, I loved it.It was the most orginal horror movie I have seen in years.Several of my friends actually argued that it was a rip off of the Resident Evil movie.
I anouther friend that has a huge movie collection, but half of it is filled with horrible movies like League of Extrodinary Gentelmen, Godzilla(98),Freddy got Fingered,Ghost Ship, Thirteen Ghosts, and the list of s**ty movies goes on.
They also have no appreciation for the classics.With the exception of the Evil Dead series and Nightmare on Elm Street, they hate everything else.I've tried showing them Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills have Eyes, Last House on the Left,The Night of the living dead series, some of them even liked Alien 3 and Alien Ressurection over Alien and Aliens.ARG.
I love my friends but there terrible taste in movies is driving me nuts.

[Ash]

It sounds like your friends are alot like mine.

If a movie requires them to use their brain, they automatically hate it.

I have a friend who thinks that Bad Boys 2 is the best movie he's ever seen!
AHHHHH!!!

I want to slug some sense into him.

Just take heart in knowing that you, I and many others here are THE SMART ONES!

[Evil Matt]

Y'know, there's a HELL of a lot of people out there who will think a movie's good because the commercials tell them it is.  I think a lot of people refuse to admit to themselves that the 8 bucks they spent to see a movie in the theater was a total waste of money, in that the movie was a festering heap of s**t.  Which is why I'm still saying that "Paycheck" should be up for an Oscar...

[ulthar]

wyckednick wrote:

> I have a bit of problem, my friends have no taste in
> movies.They always enjoy the newest special effect driven
> pop-culture trash, and it is driving me nuts.Its hard to see
> movies with them because are tastes are so completely diffrent.


So, don't see movies with them.  They're your friends, not your conjoined siblings.

I have noticed a common theme with several members of this board that has me really curious.  This is not a criticism, it is just something I don't understand.  What is this drive, this incredible desire to have everyone like the same movies as you do?

This was indeed part (the better part) of the "Movies hated for a  single scene" thread...why do we invest so much in having others enjoy the same movies.  Or music.  I'll wager we could get a good arguement going over "[insert name of favorite band here] sucks."

My advice:  let it go.  You enjoy the movies you like, let them enjoy what they like.  Even on this board of fans of a particular genre, there is very broad taste in what contitutes 'good' or 'I'll never watch it again.'

If you must see movies together just to hang out, do it with the open understanding that you won't enjoy the movies they pick, and they won't enjoy the movies you pick.  After all, the point is to hang out.  And think of the fun you could have....while watching their flicks, you could make constant comments a la MST3000.  If your comments are funny (and not just sarcastic), they will probably come to your way of thinking sooner than later.

[Chopper]

I don't think it's so much wanting people to like the same things you do, but it's more of wanting people to watch movies with because a big part of the movie-going experience is having a social gathering involvement with it. I always joke about myself though for being an "Art-fascist" for getting onto people that don't see the fine points or meanings in the films I love. I probably take movies too seriously, oh well!

[wickednick]

Its a good point you make Ulthar but I hate going to see movies by my self.Its just not as enjoyable if its just me and a bunch of strangers sitting in a theater.
I think the reason people always want others to like the movies they do is because we often judge people on there tastes.My friends are all good people but I find it hard sometimes to respect them due to there terrible taste in movies, books, and music.
To each his own, but when your the only friend that likes a movie and you know that it is a good movie, but all your other friends hate it, it really gets on your nerves.

[-=NiGHTS=-]

Well, really, the only thing you can do is kill your friends.

[ulthar]

The thing is, there is no accounting for taste.  Who really knows why we like the things we like?  It's an unanswerable question.  To your friends, you have terrible taste in movies.  My point is the word 'terrible' in this instance is highly subjective, and simply means 'other than my taste.'

It's an interesting phenomenon to me, that's all.  We all have these very emotional responses when we post something about a movie, actor or director that we really like, and someone puts it down.  

It really is fascinating, especially when you consider that the genre we all on this board 'like' is viewed by "most people" as junk and a waste of time.  We're like a subculture in a way, in our taste for Bad Movies, yet we say "what's wrong with THEM?"

[Chris K.]

Yes, I too have friends who don't share the same enthusiasim with the films I like (i.e., EVIL DEAD, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, BAD TASTE, etc.). And yet, I don't share the same enthusiasim when it comes to "their favorites" either: most of it is the same old mainstream explosion-thon crap that is made by the thousands of untalented and witless hacks. Even so, we still get along and account this as a small difference between us. But as friends, we have one thing in common: movies. It doesn't matter if we love the same film or not, we just freakin' love movies. And that is where it comes down to.

I will say that, whenever we critisize on what films we like or not, I'm always shafted for liking a "selected cinema". I always break it to them that every kind of cinema can be "selected": be it cult, independent, or mainstream each is for a "selected audience". But, we still get along.

[George]

Why does anyone care what their friends, family or anyone for that matter think about films.  I'm one of the few people I know who liked Hudson Hawk.  That doesn't mean that everyone else is crazy.  I like the fact that I can argue with my friends about Smokey and the Bandit and Cannonball Run.  I like that they enjoy crap as much as I enjoy crap.

As I was leaving Kill Bill Volume One, I heard some "guys" talking about it in the lobby.  Clearly they all had Master of Movie degrees.  I just wanted to ask them all "Yeah the blood was excessive, but did YOU like the movie??"

[jmc]

Tarrantino's films seem to attract that crowd anyway.  

With my wife and I, we each tend to give a little bit....we each occasionally watch the other's favorites on occasion, but we also both have at least a little appreciation for the other's tastes.    It would really be hard living with someone who didn't like any of the things I liked at all.  

When I was younger, though, my friends didn't have nearly the same taste or interest in movies that I had.....I usually just tried to get us to watch something that was less crappy.  It didn't help that most of the movies that came out then sucked, so it was like a choice between TANGO AND CASH and SHOCKER.

[Chopper]

LoL. buddy we don't appreciate homicide on this message board!! ;)

[daveblackeye15]

I love my best friend's taste in movies. Just about every movie that I've shown him, (Evil Dead's, NotLD,Conan the Barbarian, original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Return of the Living Dead and many others) He's said that he loves them. What a cool guy.

[Eirik]

wykednick:

I'm not sure how old you are, but I am in my early 30s and I have found that as I progressed through my 20s, I developed a number of different friendships around my different interests.  Right now, I have several groups of friends.  My football-watching buddies are all really into the same team as me, and we get together to watch the games.  We don't see each other a hell of alot in the offseason - except draft day when we get together - and that's okay.  Then my movie buddies I see pretty often - especially since my wife hates the movies I like and I hate the ones she likes (we haven't been to the movies together months at this point).  I have a whole group of guys I consider friends who I only see at the local basketball court a few times a week.  Then there are my golf friends, my parenting friends, and my old friends from school.  There is some crossover between the groups, but not all that much.

If you don't like seeing movies with your group of friends, then make time for new friends.  It won't mean letting your old friends go.

[wickednick]

To answer you question Eirik, Im 22.I understand all of your points on how everyone has diffrent tastes in movies and often are friends do not have the same tastes.But My problem is that none of my friends have the same tastes in movies that I do so im often left out in the cold, when I want to see a movie.It sucks when your the only guy that likes a movie and every one of your friends hate it.
Thats the reason I like this board so much because you guys all have simular tastes as I do and I don't feel like a outsider when it comes to movies.
But they are my friends and suppose that are differing tastes in movies is little ground to hate them.Its annoying as hell but I guess I have to get use to being the outsider.