Or you watch something that you thought was just awful and you find out that people on the internet loved it…
This was me trying to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey
Either I didn't get it, or I watched it too late to appreciate the ground-breaking effects. Maybe I'll give it another try someday.
2001 is one of those movies that's really important historically, but doesn't really hold up to modern standards.
Prior to 2001, there wasn't really a market for non-schlocky SciFi movies, the whole genre was just cheap horror stories about aliens and monsters.
That movie opened the door to let us have more thoughtful genre flicks with much higher budgets.
I have a close friend who has absolutely no taste in movies. He likes everything! I've learned to stop listening to his feedback for movies, because it could be the worst movie ever made and he's like "wow, that was such an amazing experience!". I kind of envy his state of ignorant bliss.
I want to be that way. It seems like a more pleasant way to experience everything, like how kids do.
I started to make a conscious effort to do this for the media I consume. I've noticed I've been a far less negative person in general since I started doing that.
The secret is mostly to judge a work based on the intent rather than the execution. Most movies have something about them that is interesting, even if the direction/cinematography/acting completely failed to convey it accurately.
My mom is like this. She liked Battlefield Earth lol
One of my biggest pet peeves is when critics judge a movie on what they think it should be, instead of what it’s actually trying to achieve. Sometimes it’s perfectly fine for a film to be big, loud, and nonsensical. Sometimes, a movie needs to be “complex” (although what critics call “complex” makes me think that a lot of them consider filmgoers to be idiots with the attention spans of goldfish).
Are there plenty of problems with any given popular film? Yes, but if it satisfies the audience it’s for, shut up.
filmgoers to be idiots with the attention spans of goldfish
Why do you think big, loud, and nonsensical is so popular?
I knew a dude that didn't like any movie that didn't teach him anything. That's fine. That's preference I guess no judgment... Until you had to work with him and listen to him drone on and on about how uncultured or unintelligent an animated Disney movie is for eight hours. Every now and then I see a review with someone complaining about how they didn't learn anything/the movie is too dumbed down and I wonder if he's still at it lol
I had a friend at school who did this. At the cinema, after the movie was over, he would be one of the loudest voices in the group, talking about how awesome the movie was, how it's going to do so well at the box office and how he couldn't wait for the next one to come out.
The very next day, he'd come in armed with research on all the plot holes and ways the movie failed from other critics, and then just lay into the movie as if it was the worst movie he'd seen and how it was a waste of his money.
We would point out how annoying he was for convincing himself that he hated it. The only opinion that counted was the one right after the movie ended; that's the best and most honest review one could give. He kept on doing it. It wasn't cool, Chris.
My wife and I went into The Northman blind, and we honestly loved the experience. I don't give a shit whether or not it's realistic or historical accurate on any front. It was like John Wick with Norse mythology. Just an intense and barbaric ride from start to finish. I was genuinely surprised to learn how universally disliked it was. But people are out there buying tickets to 9 Fast 9 Furious 9, so I don't exactly value the reviews of opinions of strangers.
I know people who swear The Prestige is the worst movie they've ever seen, one person said they turned it off half an hour in because "nothing made any sense"
But you better believe they praise every MCU movie like it's Shawshank Redemption.
There are plenty of movies I love but will readily admit they're garbage. Like Evolution. Hot garbage but I love every second of its shiny, flake-free existence.
Who cares, as long as you liked it?
Rotten tomatos had Interstellar listed as 70% fresh, the week it come out.
Thr "critics" called the characters half baked.
I was so stoked for that movie i ignored it. And im so glad I did.
But that is like your opinion man, I think the whole "love" thing is hot garbage. Nice pictures, garbage movie.
Broke: Wahhhh everyone hates the movie I liked. They are all wrong and stupid.
Woke: Yeah that movie was crap. I loved it!
People need to accept that a film can be entertaining without actually being good.
Street Fighter is my go to for this. It's objectively awful. Half the cast can't act for shit. The plot of a 2D arcade fighting game was never going to stand up to a cinema audience trapped with it for an hour and a half. But then Raul Julia shows up and old-school chews the scenery. He knows it's shit too, but by fuck he's going to make you enjoy it.
Why is that embarrassing? Feels good to break from borg mentality. Means it spoke to you in away it didn't for others. Fly your freak flag.
Rotten Tomatoes is one of the worst rating systems out there. I use IMDB, and even then I take ratings with a grain of salt.
I have just learned to accept that if I enjoy the movie watching experience and feel it was worth my time, it doesn't really matter what others think. That doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the film in the slightest. I may be curious why people disagree though, at the very least.
Movies don't always have to be a slam dunk or a masterpiece. I watched the detective pikachu movie on edibles and had no clue what any of the plot was but I loved every minute because the visuals were stellar and something I'd wanted to see as a kid. The Ryan Reynolds shit had me mega confused lol
Even if I didn't like a movie, at least I have an experience to share (more applies to watching with someone else) and something to discuss and keep my mind occupied for a bit on something that is low-stakes at the end of the day.
Even if I absolutely do not like a movie at all, at least all I'm out on is a little time and maybe money; and maybe I can bitch to a friend if they've seen it.
Ratings in general are heavily biased. For example, critics have a very different point of view from most viewers. And even the typical non-critic who goes on sites to rate movies isn't the average viewer either. People like that tend to over-analyze every detail and try to look for a deeper meaning in the works. But that doesn't correlate with your enjoyment of something.
not a movie, but a video game.
call of duty black ops 3. (no spoilers, in case anyone is still to play it.)
during my playthrough i was like:
- start the game
- the flashing text before the mission is way too fast to read. let's record it and play it slowly. huh...intersting.
- this is weird... why is this exactly THAT way that it has never been done before and doesn't make sense to do that way in general?
- this is weird... why do they mention THIS exactly? is that a mcguffin/chekhov's gun?
- this is weird... funny that they display this character how they handle their specific, unusual situation...
- this is weird... the story starts to become awkwardly surrealistic...
- reach the finale... i know there's more to it but i took so long to finish the game that i forgot all the clues, so i don't QUITE understand the meaning
- insert some hours of googling/yt explanations, and there's the big "OOOOOOOH! that's a brilliant display of what's happening to the main character and how it's described in real life!"-moment.
- realization that everyone hates it either because they didnt understand what happened and think it's the most random thing ever or because they understood what happened and think it's lame. sadge.
I think there are some movies where your first impression when you walk out of the theater is going to be very different than your impression once you've had a couple of days to think.
Speaking of divisive movies, for the people here who watched it, what's your honest assessment of "Babylon"? Just curious.
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