Films Loved by Critics and Hated By You

[BAYLOR]

The lauded partied and gushed that. tases films are great must see films. The trouble was , that when you finally got to see these films , you ended up hating or you found them overrated or just plain meh.

Which crucially acclaimed films films didn't make your grade and why?

 

[BT Jones]

I would say I 'hated' any of the following, but they were all, for me, underwhelming and lacking to some degree.

• No Country for Old Me - Great in places, but it botched it's ending, particularly how it portrayed a critical event between 2 of the main characters in flashback form. I found that bizarre. Maybe I need to give it another watch.
• Tree of Life - Ditched it after 20 the first time. Eventually finished it the 2nd time around but still found the contrast between mid-western drama and scenes of volcanoes and dinosaurs very jarring. And once you know Terence Mallick's signature shots (wandering camera following wandering people), it starts to feel a little rote.
• There Will Be Blood - Interesting and a great performance by Daniel Day Lewis, but I just didn't find it compelling.
• First Man - I think in part due to Ryan Gosling's aloof (but probably accurate) depiction of Neil Armstrong, I just felt disconnected from the emotional core of the film.

If I think of any more, I will post again.

 

[Toby Frost]

I'd agree about No Country For Old Men: I spent a lot of that film thinking "Why is this said to be so good?" It just felt a bit pretentious.

 

[AlexH]

I agree with There Will Be Blood. It wasn't bad, but I couldn't get into it.

Similarly some of the most critically-acclaimed superhero films that I found okay but not great, especially The Dark Knight (I loved Batman Begins) and Black Panther. The Dark Knight is the main reason I avoid reviews before seeing a film - I'd loved pretty much everything Christopher Nolan had done up until then, so was excited enough without seeing the gushing reviews. Maybe my expectations were too high.

2046 was a highly-rated romance (and supposedly sci-fi) that bored me.

Anomalisa, an animation about a guy bored with his life, got great reviews, but I thought it was terrible - another really boring film.

Lady Bird, a recent critically-acclaimed film - I couldn't empathise with the main character and was bored throughout the film. Speaking of redheads, Run Lola Run bored me too.

Magnolia, Requiem for a Dream, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Amores Perros, Goodfellas, The Hurt Locker, Computer Chess, The Boat That Rocked, The Fault in our Stars, American Beauty, Dr. Strangelove, Brazil, Summer Wars, Chicken Run (I loved previous Aardman animations), The Departed (not a patch on the Hong Kong original), District 9, Control (the biopic about Ian Curtis), Reservoir Dogs, Ran (the 80s Japanese film) and What We Do in the Shadows all bored me.

I love Studio Ghibli, but probably their most loved film - My Neighbour Totoro - is one of my least favourite Studio Ghibli films, though it was okay. I didn't like Ponyo much.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Madness of King George It got raves , but when I saw it m I found it to be a very tedious film.

 

[Rodders]

I'm with AlexH on Black Panther. My GF absolutely loved it and has seen it several times, which is very unusual for her.

I found it mediocre at best. However, I do like the inclusion. (I feel the same way about the Wonder Woman movie.)

I still haven't seen The Dark Knight.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Is a movie enjoyable to watch? For me this is the only criteria that matters. I suppose critics have to review movies based on the quality of acting, originality, cinematogrophy etc.; it can't just be a personal opinion. I think one of the reasons why Citizen Kane is held in such high regard is because it did a number of 'firsts' that had not been seen in film before , but whilst I don't dislike it (it's actually quite engaging first time around) , when it comes to repeats I would much prefer to sit down and watch Aliens, Ghostbusters, Spaceballs or Die Hard. Hardly original films, and unlikely to make it to the top of many critic's shortlists but they are enjoyable to watch, and (as I have said) that is the main thing.

 

[paranoid marvin]

The Madness of King George It got raves , but when I saw it m I found it to be a very tedious film.

I really liked this film, and I also liked (as discussed above) No Country For Old Men. Then again it probably helps that I have an interest in history (in relation to Madness) and enjoy films with Tommy Lee Jones and Nigel Hawthorne in them, and the villain of No Country is quite a chilling one. Having said that 'Madness' came out 26 years ago and I only got around to watching it recently, so I hardly rushed out to watch it!

I also wasn't a great fan of the way that No Country ends; it's nice to watch movies (that have no intention of producing a sequel) having closure. But then again the way it ends is the way that real life is - everything (usually) doesn't get neatly tidied up, it just goes on.

 

[AlexH]

I loved No Country for Old Men but missed the last few seconds!

 

[paranoid marvin]

Re No Country, the scene with the shopkeeper and the coin; brilliantly done and so powerfully tense. Nothing actually happens, but the underlying feeling of what might have happened is truly terrifying.

 

[Rodders]

I always felt that the Coen Brothers were overrated. Wes Anderson as well.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I always felt that the Coen Brothers were overrated. Wes Anderson as well.

Looking at their filmogrophy most of it doesn't appeal to me, I think the only other movie I've seen (and enjoyed) was True Grit. No Country For Old Men feels more like a Tarrantino film for me.

 

[BAYLOR]

Natural Born Killers I saw thing when it came out, I wish I could have back the time I wasted watching this film.

 

[AlexH]

I always felt that the Coen Brothers were overrated. Wes Anderson as well.

I agree - I thought Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Raising Arizona were okay and not as great as critics seemed to make them out to be. Blood Simple and No Country for Old Men are the only two great Coen Brothers films I've seen.

I'd add every Wes Anderson film I've seen to the list too. I don't think I've seen a bad Wes Anderson film, but they don't deserve the critical love they get.

 

[BAYLOR]

Fargo and it's quirky ,unlikable and otherwise noxious characters grates on me.

 

[psychotick]

Hi.

I liked the film Fargo, but the series were so much better. OMG the first one was a Shakespearian tragedy / comedy rolled up into one and the second series was that on crack! The third season was a bit eeh!

Cheers, Greg

 

[BAYLOR]

An Officer and A Gentleman Ive seen this film just once and that was quite enough .

 

[.matthew.]

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. I wanted to walk out of the cinema at several points. Nothing made sense about the plot at all.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Mindless action and overdone psychedelic effects pretty much from start to finish. Also, I don't see what's so special about the love interest, and the characters in general were one-dimensional.

@AlexH I agree with you on Brazil. It didn't seem anywhere near as brilliant as so many people seem to think.

 

[.matthew.]

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Mindless action and overdone psychedelic effects pretty much from start to finish. Also, I don't see what's so special about the love interest, and the characters in general were one-dimensional.

Somehow you just described the entire point of the film. I think those things are what made it work, not as anything truly special, but as a long-form joke.