Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
User avatar
Topic Author
stemikger
Posts: 4950
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 5:02 am

Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by stemikger »

This was inspired by another thread on what movies you recently saw and recommend.

My question to you all is what critically acclaimed and/or Oscar nominated movies did you not like. I'll go first.

The English Patient
American Hustle and
Dallas Buyers Club
Choose Simplicity ~ Stay the Course!! ~ Press on Regardless!!!
User avatar
Ged
Posts: 3945
Joined: Mon May 13, 2013 1:48 pm
Location: Roke

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Ged »

Shakespeare in Love
Annie Hall
Titanic
Ordinary People
A Beautiful Mind
Terms of Endearment
User avatar
Tycoon
Posts: 1630
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:06 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Tycoon »

All of them.
Emotionless, prognostication free investing. Ignoring the noise and economists since 1979. Getting rich off of "smart people's" behavioral mistakes.
User avatar
Aptenodytes
Posts: 3786
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:39 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Aptenodytes »

You are lumping two very different groups. I can think of virtually endless Oscar-nominated films I didn't like; but it would take work to come up with a list of critically acclaimed movies I didn't like. Of the movies listed so far that I've seen, I've liked them all.
Erwin007
Posts: 476
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:29 am
Location: Intermountain West

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Erwin007 »

Two of mine already made this list:

The English Patient (over 2 hours of my life wasted that I'll never get back)
Titanic (ditto, except closer to 3 hours IIRC)
User avatar
cfs
Posts: 4154
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 12:22 am
Location: ~ Mi Propio Camino ~

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by cfs »

Chariots of Fire.

I went to see Chariots of Fire when it was launched. I left the theater in the middle of the boring movie. The movie was nominated for a bunch Academy Awards--maybe they watched a different version of the movie.
~ Member of the Active Retired Force since 2014 ~
User avatar
matjen
Posts: 2189
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 10:30 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by matjen »

Crash
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
dgdevil
Posts: 938
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:42 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by dgdevil »

Everything by Wes Anderson (except Rushmore).
Minot
Posts: 454
Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 1:35 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Minot »

Blue Jasmine
The Descendants
sschullo
Posts: 2840
Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2007 8:25 am
Location: Long Beach, CA
Contact:

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by sschullo »

Star Wars
Never in the history of market day-traders’ has the obsession with so much massive, sophisticated, & powerful statistical machinery used by the brightest people on earth with such useless results.
User avatar
JonnyDVM
Posts: 2999
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:51 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by JonnyDVM »

matjen wrote:Crash
Beat me to it.
I’d trade it all for a little more | -C Montgomery Burns
User avatar
telemark
Posts: 3389
Joined: Sat Aug 11, 2012 6:35 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by telemark »

I'm pretty good at telling whether a movie is something I'd like, so when I end up sitting through a movie I dislike it's usually out of social obligation or because some critic whose judgement I trust recommended it. In the second category are
  • Jindabyne. Opens with a murder, then runs to its end with no one ever bothering to investigate the murder or even seeming to consider that this might be a possibility.
  • Being John Malkovich. Clever, but every single character is so completely despicable that I ended up hating all of them.
Herekittykitty
Posts: 930
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:11 pm
Location: Flyover Country

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Herekittykitty »

cfs wrote:Chariots of Fire.

I went to see Chariots of Fire when it was launched. I left the theater in the middle of the boring movie. The movie was nominated for a bunch Academy Awards--maybe they watched a different version of the movie.
I loved Chariots of Fire. I watch it again every few years.

On the other hand I recommended it to a friend, who found it boring and wondered what I saw in it.
I don't know anything.
dgdevil
Posts: 938
Joined: Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:42 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by dgdevil »

The Chariots of Fire disparity reminds me of Finding Neverland. I loved it, recommended it to a female friend, who said it was the worst piece of garbage. Admittedly, I was flying and possiby a tad drunk when I saw it, but still ...

(Loved Chariots at the time - I was 13, and everyone in school had to go and see it - haven't seen since, so maybe it has not held up.)
Last edited by dgdevil on Sat Oct 04, 2014 8:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
market timer
Posts: 6535
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:42 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by market timer »

JonnyDVM wrote:
matjen wrote:Crash
Beat me to it.
Easily the worst Best Picture winner I've ever seen.
Bacchus01
Posts: 3182
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2012 8:35 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Bacchus01 »

market timer wrote:
JonnyDVM wrote:
matjen wrote:Crash
Beat me to it.
Easily the worst Best Picture winner I've ever seen.
Has to be at the top. I rarely turn off a movie mid stream but this one made it about 30 minutes.
john94549
Posts: 4638
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:50 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by john94549 »

I think we were able to cancel "American Hustle" before we got charged.
User avatar
whaleknives
Posts: 1238
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2012 7:19 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by whaleknives »

Image

I guess delight, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. But I liked the The English Patient very much.

I still have vivid memories of the opening flight over the ocean-like desert, the cave paintings of the prehistoric sea, Kristin Scott Thomas' campfire story, the rope and flare tour of church paintings, and Juliette Binoche crying as she scores morphine ampules with a file before killing Ralph Fiennes.
"I'm an indexer. I own the market. And I'm happy." (John Bogle, "BusinessWeek", 8/17/07) ☕ Maritime signal flag W - Whiskey: "I require medical assistance."
User avatar
John151
Posts: 416
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 5:03 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by John151 »

"Easy Rider." Man, it's like really, really boring, you know?
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52219
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by nisiprius »

Last Year in Marienbad

Anything by Ingmar Bergman (spent too much timing telling people I didn't like Bergman, and they would say "which ones did you see?" and then whatever I'd say they'd say "oh, you saw the wrong ones, go see Wild Strawberries" or whatever, and like an idiot I'd go see it and hate it too...

Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope)

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Barry Lyndon

Any Buster Keaton movie
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
staythecourse
Posts: 6993
Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:40 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by staythecourse »

Erwin007 wrote:The English Patient (over 2 hours of my life wasted that I'll never get back)
HA HA. I thought the EXACT same thing after getting done with that movie. If I remember correctly by response was the same as Elaine from Seinfeld, "Just die already and stop telling your stupid story!!"

But did like Titanic, but that might be because I was getting over being dumped by first serious relationship.

I also liked Crash so maybe not accounting for taste?

Good luck.

p.s. great thread can't wait to hear others.
"The stock market [fluctuation], therefore, is noise. A giant distraction from the business of investing.” | -Jack Bogle
Helloeeze
Posts: 161
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 11:47 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Helloeeze »

Boyhood. 2 hours 45 minutes of slice of life movie, no deep meaning, unlikeable main character. It wasn't absolutely horrible like Crash though.

I never liked the Lord of the Rings movies either. Not my thing.
peppers
Posts: 1650
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:05 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by peppers »

Million Dollar Baby

There Will Be Blood

No Country For Old Men
"..the cavalry ain't comin' kid, you're on your own..."
gkaplan
Posts: 7034
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by gkaplan »

I must be an outlier, but I like nearly all the movies people are listing.
Gordon
Busting Myths
Posts: 353
Joined: Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:04 pm
Location: So Cal

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Busting Myths »

dgdevil wrote:Everything by Wes Anderson (except Rushmore).
Rushmore but not Bottle Rocket? Mr. fantastic Fox was good as well.
User avatar
CMartel2
Posts: 225
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:46 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by CMartel2 »

Brokeback Mountain. Garbage.
Pulp Fiction
Kill Bill
User avatar
joe8d
Posts: 4545
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 7:27 pm
Location: Buffalo,NY

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by joe8d »

About 90% of them.
All the Best, | Joe
Thrifty1
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 8:15 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Thrifty1 »

I slept through large chunks of Lord of the Rings (first episode). I thought it would never end, and was with a family group which meant that I could not leave.
User avatar
BolderBoy
Posts: 6755
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:16 pm
Location: Colorado

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by BolderBoy »

Gone With The Wind.

First time I walked out after 20 minutes - boring. Each time since then, I've simply fallen asleep, awakened and turned it off.
island
Posts: 1971
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 1:45 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by island »

Crash
The Hurt Locker
Argo
Shakespeare in Love
Fargo
Woody Allen movies
Easy Rider Agree, a total bore I turned off well before the end.

While not Academy Award caliber, many popular movies I didn't care for. Top of that list: Something About Mary. Lame unfunny waste of time.
denovo
Posts: 4808
Joined: Sun Oct 13, 2013 1:04 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by denovo »

sschullo wrote:Star Wars
Heresy!
"Don't trust everything you read on the Internet"- Abraham Lincoln
denismurf
Posts: 544
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:29 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by denismurf »

The Piano
Fish Called Wanda
The Inglorious Basterds

plus, another vote for English Patient
Levett
Posts: 4177
Joined: Fri Feb 23, 2007 1:10 pm
Location: upper Midwest

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Levett »

Memento--handily.

Since it was my idea to see it, I told my friends I'd give them a refund.

They settled for the local watering hole. :sharebeer

Lev
sambb
Posts: 3257
Joined: Sun Mar 10, 2013 3:31 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by sambb »

boring:
english pt
shindlers list
all woody allen movies
hurt locker
capote
sideways
remains of the day
dances with wolves
User avatar
Dinero
Posts: 307
Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:34 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Dinero »

Crash
The Hurt Locker
Argo
Shakespeare in Love
Fargo
Woody Allen movies
Easy Rider Agree, a total bore I turned off well before the end.
I sense a pattern here...

Perhaps all movies that contain "argo"? Could that also include movies with Victor Argo... :D
FreddieG
Posts: 188
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2014 4:42 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by FreddieG »

Slumdog Millionaire - trite.
There Will Be Blood - tedious and unpleasant
Million Dollar Baby - Predictable and boring.

I'd make you buy me a beer, too, if I had to see Memento again.

Best movie I've seen in the last decade: Magnolia with no less than Tom Cruise. Pure art.
Most depressing movie: Boogie Nights.
User avatar
DesertOasis
Posts: 133
Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:55 am
Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by DesertOasis »

Forrest Gump -- too cloyingly cute
BahamaMan
Posts: 896
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2014 5:52 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by BahamaMan »

peppers wrote: No Country For Old Men
Whoa! - No Country for Old Men, is one of my All Time Favorite Movies.

Just Genius on the part of the Coen Brothers.
User avatar
Rob5TCP
Posts: 3812
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: New York, NY

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Rob5TCP »

So far, these come to mind- from reading other listings

Ordinary People (got the Oscar instead of Raging Bull - who ever watches Ordinary people now; raging bull is in most film courses)
The English Patient
Shakespeare in Love
Pulp Fiction (but loved Kill Bill, go figure)
Any Woody Allen movie - way overrated
stoptothink
Posts: 15368
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:53 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by stoptothink »

market timer wrote:
JonnyDVM wrote:
matjen wrote:Crash
Beat me to it.
Easily the worst Best Picture winner I've ever seen.
It's in a tight battle with Argo.
Kersten
Posts: 121
Joined: Fri Apr 12, 2013 7:05 am
Location: Florida

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Kersten »

"Magic Mike". I think I recall that it got a lot of press, not sure how critically acclaimed it was.

Saw it on TV last night, well 3/4 of it before I turned it off. Pretty boring. Happy I didn't pay $12 to see it when it first came out.
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52219
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by nisiprius »

island wrote:...Easy Rider...
Yes, forgot that one.

There's a comparison with Citizen Kane. In my opinion Citizen Kane is a very good movie, but not by any means the masterpiece film people seem to think it is. I think they give it a ton of undeserved extra points because of a) Orson Welles being an industry outsider... and b) because a lot of people disliked Hearst and/or were afraid of him and admired Welles for taking him on... and c) because it did have a pretty nice little pack of cool cinematographic tricks. Deep focus, seeing the ceilings in interior rooms, crazy tracking shots through neon signs... In total, a movie that was very good, but called great.

Well, similarly, Easy Rider got a lot of undeserved extra points for a) being a low-budget film made by industry outsiders... and b) because it was "counterculture." You could say it c) had its own cinematographic tricks but I don't think shakiness and grain are worthy of admiration. In other words, a movie that was actually not very good... but called great.

*****

Showing my age, but add UPA cartoons to the list. UPA was founded by cartoonists who'd left Disney during the 1941 animator's strike, and the struggling studio didn't have the money to do full animation so they used limited animation... and a lot of people wanted to believe that they were more artistic and creative than Disney. Well, Gerald McBoingBoing is OK but give me Dumbo over Gerald McBoingBoing any day.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
Bfwolf
Posts: 2108
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:19 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Bfwolf »

I hated Groundhog's Day. Apparently it's considered an existential classic.

Going down the list of the AFI Top 100 movies:

Citizen Kane
Raging Bull
Lawrence of Arabia
2001: A Space Odyssey
Chinatown (can't say I honestly saw the whole thing, I was so bored after 10 minutes I turned it off)
The Maltese Falcon
The Deer Hunter (I enjoyed parts of it very much, but on the whole it didn't do it for me)
Titanic

It was also nice reading the list to see a ton of movies I really enjoyed.
coalcracker
Posts: 1076
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2012 11:25 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by coalcracker »

I don't know if they are critically acclaimed, but I don't like the Monty Python movies for the most part. Most people I know seem to love them, but I think the humor is kind of stupid, I mean, british :twisted:
User avatar
Topic Author
stemikger
Posts: 4950
Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2010 5:02 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by stemikger »

coalcracker wrote:I don't know if they are critically acclaimed, but I don't like the Monty Python movies for the most part. Most people I know seem to love them, but I think the humor is kind of stupid, I mean, british :twisted:
I agree. Most British Humor is an acquired taste especially Month Python.
Choose Simplicity ~ Stay the Course!! ~ Press on Regardless!!!
gerrym51
Posts: 1679
Joined: Sat Apr 27, 2013 1:44 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by gerrym51 »

the King's Speech
User avatar
cheese_breath
Posts: 11787
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:08 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by cheese_breath »

Pulp Fiction. A porno film would be considered G rated compared to the trash in this garbage dump.
The surest way to know the future is when it becomes the past.
User avatar
cheese_breath
Posts: 11787
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 7:08 pm

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by cheese_breath »

coalcracker wrote:I don't know if they are critically acclaimed, but I don't like the Monty Python movies for the most part. Most people I know seem to love them, but I think the humor is kind of stupid, I mean, british :twisted:
You mean you didn't like Monty Python and the Holy Gail? :shock: It's hilarious. :D :D :D
The surest way to know the future is when it becomes the past.
Hypersion
Posts: 311
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:20 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Hypersion »

Ordinary People the film version of The Catcher in the Rye, about a teen with a bunch of 1%er problems.
Jim85
Posts: 214
Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2012 9:10 am

Re: Critically Acclaimed Movies you did not like

Post by Jim85 »

Most of my favorite movies are listed in this thread, not a big fan of Easy Rider though. There are a few I haven't seen (Crash, American Hustle) so maybe I should see those. Someone listed Schindlers List and Hurt Locker as boring, really?
Post Reply