Unpopular movie opinions...

[Lincsong]

Happy is one thing, but if my husband married someone after I died I'd come back from the hereafter and kill him

ridiculous

 

[Edward]

Napoleon Dynamite bored me to tears, and I actively loathed every single character in it.

 

[Deacon]

I didn't once crack a smile while watching The Hangover. I thought the earlier-made Very Bad Things, which had a very similar theme, was the more entertaining film. It made me laugh, anyway.

 

[W-D Forties]

That is actually my favourite of the eighties era Vietnam picture trend. I liked that scene a lot, though my favourite is actually the ending, with the GIs marching through the burned ruins of a Vietnamese City while singing the Mickey Mouse Club theme song. Beautifully worked metaphor.

The thing that always irks me about Full Metal Jacket is the fact that it was filmed on the Isle Of Dogs. Vietnam has never looked so cold!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

But they killed the guy from Mail Call and the Geico commercial.... he's not bad, he's just impatient

R. Lee Ermey.

He can also be seen in Apocalypse Now where he played one of the helicopter pilots in the iconic air cav attack scene. Ermey was also in a 1978 made-for-television movie called The Boys from Company C where he played a Marine DI. It was that role that led to his Full Metal Jacket role as GSGT Hartman.

The thing that always irks me about Full Metal Jacket is the fact that it was filmed on the Isle of Dogs. Vietnam has never looked so cold.

The Parris Island scenes in Full Metal Jacket were filmed at the Queen's Division Depot at Bassingbourne Barracks. My two favorites from the film are the "Marine" M-41A3 light tanks (in Vietnam they were used only by the South Vietnamese) and the HC.2 Wessex -- identifiable by the "wart" on the nose -- masquerading as a CH-34.

Actually the one that really makes me laugh are the scenes in Evita depicting the 1943 Argentine military coup where British Fox armoured cars can be seen. The Fox armoured car is a postwar design from the 1950s and clearly wasn't around in 1943. Also evident are Sherman tanks that did not enter Argentine service until after the war.

 

[Son_of_Atropos]

"Rebel without a Cause" forty-five minutes in and I turned it off. It is hard to connect with a rich kid who has daddy issues.

 

[Atomic Age]

James Cameron is rather bad writer. All of his characters speak with the same voice. While he is a skilled filmmaker, he should really stop writing.

Doug

 

[Tiller]

R. Lee Ermey... It was that role that led to his Full Metal Jacket role as GSGT Hartman.

Maybe it proves I have more issues then I'd like to admit, but I've always laughed when it came to Hartman. There are things he does to Pyle which are of course a bit upsetting to see, but the rest of the time I can't help but laugh when he starts running his mouth, especially when he first shows up. Maybe it's because it's so over the top, and yet based on reality. I'm not quite sure, but I usually end up crying with laughter about half way threw the first act.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

John Ford's glorification of the U.S. Cavalry makes me sick, but at least he partially redeemed himself with Sergeant Rutledge and Cheyenne Autumn.

 

[Tiller]

Oliver Stone is the most over rated director in this age.

 

[Stray Cat]

Never saw "Avatar".
If I want to see blue people, I'll go and see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472181/.. Smurfs!
Also, I fell asleep while trying to watch:
1. Godzilla
2. E.T.
3. The close encounters of the third kind
.. I just fail to see deeper meaning in "E.T. phone home.."..

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Also, I fell asleep while trying to watch:
2. E.T.
3. The close encounters of the third kind
.. I just fail to see deeper meaning in "E.T. phone home.."..

There's because there's never been any kind of deeper meaning in a Spielberg film. Even in his movies chronicling established, major tragedies (The Holocaust, D-Day), his characters and situations are flat and superficial; when you consider the immensity of those historical events, that's quite an "accomplishment."

Spielberg and George Lucas have blighted movies for all time with their "Summer Blockbuster" nonsense. These two are the "good boys" of the post-Studio/Production Code era and have always made movies to sell popcorn. At least Oliver Stone--whose beliefs I abhor--took chances, as did Scorsese, Coppola, et al.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Of course, from a business standpoint, the purpose of movies *is* to sell popcorn. And soda. And candy. The Spiel-lucas style might be empty calories, but you can't say they don't do exactly what they're intended to do -- and the money such pictures make subsidizes the artier stuff.

We show indie/art films most of the time, and frankly, it's a struggle. If thirty people show up, it's a good audience. People might say they want more art in the movies, but they don't say it with their pocketbooks open.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Of course, from a business standpoint, the purpose of movies *is* to sell popcorn. And soda. And candy. The Spiel-lucas style might be empty calories, but you can't say they don't do exactly what they're intended to do -- and the money such pictures make subsidizes the artier stuff.

We show indie/art films most of the time, and frankly, it's a struggle. If thirty people show up, it's a good audience. People might say they want more art in the movies, but they don't say it with their pocketbooks open.

That's the eternal struggle between art and commerce, isn't it? I don't deny that Spielberg and Lucas do their jobs well, I just don't like my generation's perpetual, pre-adolescent fawning over empty entertainment like Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't love that stuff when I was ten years old. However, when I see those movies today, there's absolutely nothing more to what I first experienced thirty odd years ago. Star Trek, as silly as it may sound, has content that resonates with me as an adult. As a kid, I liked the ships and fights; as an adult I like the political and sociological allegories.

 

[Benzadmiral]

"Slumdog Millionaire." It simultaneously bored and annoyed me, mainly because of that hot butter-yellow sunlight all over everything. I can see that right here anytime from March to December. Give me a movie with some snow in it!

 

[Atomic Age]

Oliver Stone is the most over rated director in this age.

I'll second that!

 

[Edward]

Of course, from a business standpoint, the purpose of movies *is* to sell popcorn. And soda. And candy. The Spiel-lucas style might be empty calories, but you can't say they don't do exactly what they're intended to do -- and the money such pictures make subsidizes the artier stuff.

We show indie/art films most of the time, and frankly, it's a struggle. If thirty people show up, it's a good audience. People might say they want more art in the movies, but they don't say it with their pocketbooks open.

Ain't that the truth. I've also been told by folks in the industry that most film, even in the mainstream, are lucky to break even, a cinema's profits being made on the concession stand.

 

[Atomic Age]

That's the eternal struggle between art and commerce, isn't it? I don't deny that Spielberg and Lucas do their jobs well, I just don't like my generation's perpetual, pre-adolescent fawning over empty entertainment like Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't love that stuff when I was ten years old. However, when I see those movies today, there's absolutely nothing more to what I first experienced thirty odd years ago. Star Trek, as silly as it may sound, has content that resonates with me as an adult. As a kid, I liked the ships and fights; as an adult I like the political and sociological allegories.

If you don't see the political and sociological allegories in Star Wars then you just aren't looking for them.

Star Wars is and was always intended to be a metaphor for the Vietnam war. Its the project that Lucas made when he couldn't make Apocalypse Now. The Empire of course represents the United States, and the rebels are the North Vietnamese. More directly the Ewoks in Jedi represent the Vietcong, fighting and defeating an onslaught of high technology.

The great theme of all 6 Star Wars films is that man vs technology. At the end of episode 4, Luke is robbed of his technology (his targeting computer and R2 D2) and must attack the Death Star with his wits (and the Force) rather than rely on his gadgets. This all comes from Lucas' love and yet mistrust of technology.

The last 3 films are an Allegory for the Nixon administration. Of course the whole thing is a left wing hippie fantasy, wrapped up in a very entertaining package.

Doug

 

[LizzieMaine]

Ain't that the truth. I've also been told by folks in the industry that most film, even in the mainstream, are lucky to break even, a cinema's profits being made on the concession stand.

It's quite true. For most theatres, the studio takes at least fifty percent of the gross, skimmed right off the top, and often more -- for big attractions, you might pay the studio 70 percent of the take just for the right to show the picture. That being so, you've got to sell a huge number of tickets just to break even -- let alone show a profit. Failing that, you have to make your money at the concession stand -- which is why concession prices are as high as they are.

People need to think about that the next time they think they're Sticking It To The Man by smuggling in their own snacks.

 

[Atomic Age]

Ain't that the truth. I've also been told by folks in the industry that most film, even in the mainstream, are lucky to break even, a cinema's profits being made on the concession stand.

It is true that after the theaters pay the rental fees for the films, most of the profits go back to the studios. The only profits left for theaters is concessions, which is why you are now seeing theaters offering things like Pizza and subs. There are some theaters now that are offering full course meals and a glass of wine.

Doug