jamesq | Random Movie Thoughts (Reply)

It's always a little odd when reviewing movies to hear people with wildly dissenting views. The knee-jerk reaction is to yell "Philistine!!!". Then you come to your senses and realize that entertainment is a highly personal thing. Obviously I look for different things in a movie then others. In fact, most of my friends look for (sometimes wildly) different things in their movies.

Eeyore - an ex-friend of mine was adamant that he didn't like Silence of the Lambs. I was astonished - how can anyone not like the two best performances of two of the best actors working today (Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins)? Turns out he hadn't seen SOTL!

"How can you say you don't like it if you haven't actually seen it?"
"I don't like psychological horror."
"Oh. Well, um, OK.".

Brain - Hated Amelie. I thought it was the best movie I saw in 2001. To be fair, he told me he was going to hate it and I dragged him to it anyway. Why? He doesn't like Meet Cute Movies - and Amelie is the king of the Meet Cute Movies.

kermie_canada - Her favorite movie is Better off Dead with John Cusack and she hated Hudson Hawk. I, on the other hand thought Better Off Dead was a marginally acceptable (but forgettable) 80's teen comedy and I loved Hudson Hawk. Turns out all the things I love about Hudson Hawk (Bruce Willis, the banter, the singing) were the parts she hated. We both loved Grosse Point Blank though. Of course, I thought it would be better as a musical.

thebrucie - loved Tron and made me watch it a few weeks ago. I was checking my watch every 2 minutes I was so bored. I suspect I would have loved this movie if I had seen it when it first came out. It's a little like the first Star Wars movie - by any objective standard it stinks on ice, but I love it because it is such a big part of my childhood.

The Homophobic - I know several people who didn't like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Invariably, you can hear their sphincters clench shut from a hundred yards away when they realize that the three main characters are screaming drag queens. Of the non-phobic, reactions range from "great flick" to "whatever".

Everybody I Know - thought I was nuts because I didn't think The Philosopher's Stone/Fellowship of the Ring was the best movie of the year. These two movies were so beloved last year that simply saying that I didn't love them unconditionally meant I must have hated it. Nope, I thought they were both very good - just not the best.

Everybody I Know Except Chantelle - I can't find people who like Cameron's Titanic. Funny how it still made over a billion dollars when only the two of us liked it. I find the Titanic haters fall into three categories:

1) People who originally loved it, but got tired of the hype.
2) People with legitimate grievances about it (i.e. people like Ryan Schriml who can give reasonable examples of why they didn't like it)
3) People who don't like Leonardo DiCaprio.

As you can see, if I get on the topic of movies I tend to prattle.