Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Question: You're Ruining It For Me!

We've all seen movies we loved and movies we hated. But sometimes, we come across a movie we really liked, except for that one little bit. Maybe the side-kick rubbed you wrong? Or maybe it was when Conan broke out into song? Or the Miss Piggy kick-boxing training montage? How about that whole metachlorians thing? What one thing rubbed you wrong in a movie that you otherwise really liked?

15 comments:

Mike K. said...

One of my favorite movies, Braveheart, has one line in the end that makes me cringe. "They fought like warrior-poets."

What does that mean? Did they write poetry like poet-warriors? How can their poetry-writing ability influence their ass-kickingness? It can't.

Ponderosa said...

I concur – Braveheart! The historical inaccuracies are legendary.
Starting with Wallace & Isabelle - they never met.

I loved it at first, unwisely looked up the timeline, then hated it.
Finally, I made my peace with it a few years ago and enjoy it as just a movie.

USArtguy said...

There are several films I like that have an eye-rolling moment but off the top of my head comes the first "Hulk" movie (2003). Overall I though it was good (not great, but good), except the director (Ang Lee) felt it was necessary to remind the audience--constantly--that this film was based on a comic book. First we get the opening credits that look like a comic book (OK in itself but way too long). Then seemingly every transition was divided up into comic book-like panels of 3, 4 or more at a time. Every transition. Over and over. Again, the FIRST time it was ok, but after the twentieth it wore thin.

"Yeah Lee, I know, it's based on a comic book...OK I get it... you can stop now... it's distracting... OK now it's just freaking annoying... "

AndrewPrice said...

Mike, I can see where that would be annoying! LOL! Frankly, I would assume that poets would fight with a lot of latte throwing?

AndrewPrice said...

Ponderosa, I've run into that myself a lot -- ran into a movie I wanted to like, but it was so historically wrong that it really ticked me off. . . but finally made peace with it.

AndrewPrice said...

USArtguy, That did get a little tiring.

I find that a lot of movies go that extra bit too far with the CGI and just ruin an otherwise good movie. For example, I liked Pirates of the Caribbean III. . . until the last 20 minute video game they stuck onto the end. If they'd stopped the movie 20 minutes earlier, it would have been so much better.

Anonymous said...

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

I don't mind the Star Wars Special Editions but I'd feel much better if Han still shot first! That is probably the only change I cringe at, also because it was done so poorly.

I love Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade but they had to turn Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot) into a bumbling idiot.

Black Sunday is awesome (Robert Shaw is a badass) but the FX shot at the end of the blimp exploding is just awful, even for the time the film was made. It totally takes you out of the film.

Alien - the awkward cut from a dummy Ian Holm to the real actor. I'm surprised Ridley Scott hasn't gone back to fix it.

Star Trek V - I know this movie gets knocked and for good reason but I kinda like it, warts and all... except for Uhura's "fan dance." Yikes. :-)

AndrewPrice said...

Scott, All good changes. . . though I can't stand the special editions.

I didn't like what they did to Elliot either in Crusade. He was smarter and much more competent than that. In fact, making him into an idiot, kind of sucks the life out of his warning in Raiders.

Robert Shaw is one of my favorite actors. He's amazingly versatile and really becomes every role he's ever done. In fact, when I was young, I didn't realize he was in so many movies I enjoyed because he was always so different in those movies.

MegaTroll said...

I agree with ScottDS about "Last Crusade." I don't like the comic relief sidekicks in a lot of films either. I don't mind them when they're competent with some funny, but I can't stand the ones who are pure comic relief.

AndrewPrice said...

Mega, I don't care for characters who don't strike me as real. And too often, the goofy sidekicks are so not-real that it's distracting.

StanH said...

My wife and I we’re watching “Legion” the other evening and was a decent movie up to where Michael and Gabriel began to combat and Gabriel showed up with a motorized mace, wings that could resist bullets…I don’t know all of a sudden it got worse for us.

AndrewPrice said...

Stan, I think that's common -- lots of movies are humming along fine only to suddenly do something incongruous, senseless, unbelievable or just plain stupid. It makes you want to grab the filmmakers and say "that idea you think is really cool. . . drop it. Just shoot the rest of the film."

Mike K. said...

Oh, Scott, the Uhura scene! I'd repressed that one. I remember seeing this in the theater and I wasn't the only one who burst out in appalled laughter.

What were they thinking?

Anonymous said...

I'm a little late to this post, but here goes: Strictly Ballroom. This is one of my favorite movies, but there is one part that I always skip over. It is the scene where Barry Fife is telling Scott about what happened to his dad. I think it's totally silly they way they did that. I remember reading somewhere that that was not the way the director originally wanted to film that scene, but had to change it at the last minute. This film has that quirky aspect that I love, but this scene is just a little too silly, even for me. TJ

AndrewPrice said...

TJ, I have to admit that is a little disconcerting, but, to me, it fits with the quirkiness of the film.

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