Movies that you never "got"?

[bob]

Lord of the Rings

[M.10rda]

Part 3, the one that won Best Picture, is complete cowflop. 

[zombie no.one]

I have successfully resisted all efforts by family, friends and work colleagues (and even random strangers) instructing me to watch the LORD OF THE RINGS movies for the common good.

sometimes you just know when something is not going to be your thing.

[Trevor]

I have successfully resisted all efforts by family, friends and work colleagues (and even random strangers) instructing me to watch the LORD OF THE RINGS movies for the common good.

sometimes you just know when something is not going to be your thing.

I had one client ask me why I mentioned TLOTRings in my book and I said because of the South African born writer of the original books. Hearing that, the client went 😳😳😳

[RCMerchant]

I have successfully resisted all efforts by family, friends and work colleagues (and even random strangers) instructing me to watch the LORD OF THE RINGS movies for the common good.

sometimes you just know when something is not going to be your thing.

Count me in with that sentiment. I feel the same way of the HARRY POTTER films as well.

[zombie no.one]

I feel the same way of the HARRY POTTER films as well.

ditto... few years ago one of my work colleagues literally gasped at me when I said I hadn't seen any of those. 

I'm not exactly the target audience

[M.10rda]

A couple of the HP movies are pretty good but I could never recommend anyone watch all of them (a couple of which are appallingly bad) just to get to the good ones. I mean I guess you could just watch the good ones - it's not like there's actually a consistent narrative that develops, is sustained, and pays off through 7 or 8 movies.  That kind of statement could get me punched out in many quarters.

Actually, most or all of them are formulaic in ways that might be reassuring to megafans but are highly puzzling to thinking human beings. In literally each of the first 5 or 6 movies (thus presumably the books as well) they replace the teacher of the exact same course with a new teacher, and each consecutive teacher is evil or insane and tries to murder all the kids etc. This might've been Rowling's idea of a funny running gag, like Spinal Tap's procession of doomed drummers, except it's not a recurring reference in the background, it's literally the central plot of each movie. Like, what the heck was Dumbledore doing, not screening all these applicants a little more carefully before putting them in charge of his students?!   

[HappyGilmore]

Who's that guy who did the SHAPE OF WATER? Not a fan of his films either.

Guillermo Del Toro (I think) 🙂🐢

Yes.

He's got a Frankenstein film coming out on Netflix later this year

[LordGraal]

I feel the same way of the HARRY POTTER films as well.

ditto... few years ago one of my work colleagues literally gasped at me when I said I hadn't seen any of those. 

I'm not exactly the target audience

Exactly.  I saw the first two to get me in the mood for the LOTR films coming out soon after.  But as they're kids films they didn't stick and I lost interest.

Same with the recent Dune films by Villeneuve - I find them so dull and haven't finished either of them.  Why does Villeneuve dull the colours?  He did it in Blade Runner:2049 as well.  It's a good example of style over substance for me.  Some occassional epic scenes but no emotional clout to the characters at all.  Everybody plays it dead earnest.  There might be a rare flash of humour but even that feels forced.  And everybody mumbles or talks in gruff.

Similar can be said for The Batman (2022). But at least that has Paul Dano as The Riddler who comes across as genuinely disturbed.  But overall it's too long, unintentionally funny in some bits (I thought Batman and Gordon were going to kiss at one point and Batman wears some deafening heels at the subway station).  Again, it's style over substance yet some many people fall for it.

[M.10rda]

I liked about three hours of THE BATMAN  but there was one long sequence that I didn't "get" at all... SPOILERS for a blockbuster superhero movie? Robert Battinson and Commissioner Jeffrey T. Gordon pursue the make-up-less Colin Ferrell on suspicion that he's committed a couple of murders, a long car chase ensues, eventually they apprehend him, and they realize he's not the murderer at all and they've made a mistake and had better release him. Of course, in the course of the Batman-on-Penguin car chase, countless uninvolved vehicles have been run off the road, flipped, crashed, and/or blown up, including at least one tractor trailer, and clearly the result was millions of dollars of damages plus a plurality of lost civilian lives exceeding the number of victims the Penguin was suspected of murdering. No one ever mentions this devastating carnage.

Am I getting old and do I no longer appreciate subtle irony in narrative cinema? Was this 25-minute sequence all a funny gag intended to comment on the mindless destruction of mainstream action movies? Or did I nod off near the end when Battinson saves people from drowning in a big terrorist attack, and do some of the people he saves thank him for saving them, then they slap him in the cowl hard and yell "...But that's for your reckless mass vehicular manslaughter!" 

[RCMerchant]

[claws]

[FatFreddysCat]

I never "got" "Pulp Fiction." I saw it during its theatrical run with two friends, who couldn't stop raving about it when we went out for drinks afterward. Meanwhile I was like, "Did we all see the same movie?" because I'd been bored stiff and checking my watch the entire time.
I've tried revisiting it once or twice since then but it's never clicked with me, so I gave up tryin'.

I never understood the fuss over "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai" either. I remember watching it on HBO as a teen and not "getting" it at all. I revisited it a couple of years ago on Tubi and I still don't "get it."

[claws]

I never understood the fuss over "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai" either. I remember watching it on HBO as a teen and not "getting" it at all. I revisited it a couple of years ago on Tubi and I still don't "get it."

Critics who liked Buckaroo Banzai in 1984 typically praised its bold originality, offbeat sense of humor, and memorable performances—especially from Lithgow and Weller—even if they admitted it was confusing or disjointed. Over time, it's grown into a cult classic largely because of those very traits.

But I can understand not getting Buckaroo Banzai. It's a weird one.

[HappyGilmore]

Not one movie, but the Sony Spider-Man Villains Spinoffs.

Venom, Madame Web, Morbious, Kraven. Like, I appreciate exploring other villains, but when they have zero interaction with...you know...Spider-Man? What's the point? Just give up the rights to Marvel so they can be in good movies.