comment #1

alan says ...

I watch A.I. about once a year. Great, beautiful film!

As for all of the others, no.

comment #2

quinn says ...

Your loss...

comment #3

corey3rd says ...

I will watch the first reel of Cobra. It's brilliant with the grocery store action and Stallone's one liners. Unfortunately the movie doesn't end after that reel. The rest of it is a complete lame mess compared to the genius of those first minutes:

Supermarket Killer: Get back! I got a bomb here! I'll blow this whole place up!
Marion Cobretti: Go ahead. I don't shop here.

comment #4

Steven Kar says ...

Glad I'm not the only one who thought Deer Hunter was overrated and not worth all the awards it garnered.

I also feel the same way about The Dark Knight. Poor storytelling, mediocre directing, preposterous in its egregious lapses of logic and common sense.

I also wouldn't watch any "comedy" that Judd Apatow had anything to do with.

comment #5

Mark says ...

Your take on DH mirrors mine on Howard's Grinch that Stole Christmas, sans the Russian Roulette device; though such a scene may have improved things in Whoville.

comment #6

Travis Crabtree says ...

corey3rd..... you are so correct, that is, assuming that you mean it in an ironic sense.

The first twenty minutes of "Cobra" are absolutely MAGIC in a 1980's, "Roadhouse", bad cable movie way....

"....better call in The Cobra." Frank Cobretti?! If you did a parody of films like that you couldn't make it funnier.... if only Parker and Stone could remake it with puppets...

anyway, back on point....

It seems Jeff doesn't like "The Deer Hunter". Fine. But when I first started reading the post I thought the subject was "films you liked but have no interest in seeing again"....

if that was the point then I'd have to mention "Breaking the Waves" and "Requiem for a Dream"

Re: Deer Hunter.... when it first came out and was being hailed as a great film many pointed out the loooong wedding scene as being a brilliant choice because it lulled you into complacency, so when we are dropped into the Nam it shook us up that much more....
Now when I see it the wedding just seems to go on for fucking ever and all I can think is how nice it would be to snip about 20 minutes....

comment #7

clancy says ...

You can call DH on its bulllshit all you want, Jeff. But the fact of the matter is that the bullshit is about as artful as it comes. One of the great films in history.

My Never-Againers:

Steel Magnolias
Driving it up Miss Daisy
Field of Dreams

comment #8

RustysaGoodDog says ...

Call me what you will, but I wouldn't watch, 'Up' again for $20. Yes, the technology is great. In the end it's a simple kids movie with no surprises in storytelling or character.

Nah, I've now officially officially sworn off those things. I officially swore off after a screening of, 'The Incredibles', but I mean it now.

Same for, 'Bruno', 'Borat' was enough. How smarmy do you have to be to treat other unsuspecting and mostly amenable people with such contemp. I guess it's easier than having to write and produce an actual entertaining movie.

comment #9

Josh Massey says ...

I loved The Cannonball Run II. Greatest cast in history.

Frank Sinatra and Jackie Chan? I mean, come on.

comment #10

Chase Kahn says ...

I know alot of people on here like "A.I." -- at least I think they do, but I can't stand it.

"Call me what you will, but I wouldn't watch, 'Up' again for $20. Yes, the technology is great. In the end it's a simple kids movie with no surprises in storytelling or character."

I'll second that.

comment #11

cinefan says ...

I wouldn't sit through all of Titanic again (one of the most overrated pieces of junk to ever come from a major studio) for $100 despite my deep love and affection for Kate Winslet.

comment #12

MilkMan says ...

Ditto on The Dark Knight. If there is a movie that serves as a better litmus test for the hideous taste of the American public, I can't think of one. Sloppy acting, incoherent storyline, unintentionally campy dialogue...I bet Chris Nolan looks at this movie and then looks at his best films, Memento and The Prestige, and thinks to himself, "So this is what you people like? Really?"

The Deer Hunter has a lot of problems, but it is still a master class in film acting. De Niro and Walken and Savage do things in the Russian Roulette scene that have never been equaled, especially Walken, who has what looks like an actual nervous breakdown on camera.

comment #13

Chase Kahn says ...

I think "The Prestige" might actually be Nolan's best film.

And as for the "Dark Knight" litmus test for the hideous taste of the American public, it wasn't just the low-thread count goons who ate it up.

comment #14

GKLondon says ...

Love the Deer Hunter, love it. Jeff, did you recognise that the mountain peaks were not where they were supposed to be from watching the film or did someone clue you in? And why is the roulette device idiotic? Plus the fact that the characters can sing seems like a strange criticism. It seems the 'movie-ness' of it is what struck you.

Similarly, the false note after false note of 'The Life of David Gale' ensures that i will never, ever sit through it again. What a self-regarding piece of loose stool water.

comment #15

GKLondon says ...

And I agree that 'The Prestige' is Nolan's best film, but I still really dig 'The Dark knight'. That film completely surprised me with the depth of feeling and the beautiful precision of it's execution.

comment #16

lipranzer says ...

Thank God - I thought I was the only one who hated THE DEER HUNTER. Except for the Russian Roulette sequence, which was exciting, I thought the movie was bad and offensive on almost every level.

And, sad to say, I did watch PRACTICAL MAGIC. I happen to love the novel - I like Alice Hoffman, even though I'm normally not a fan of the "magic realism" genre - but the movie was wretched. It's as if Griffin Dunne had no understanding of the book at all.

As for movies you couldn't pay me to watch, that's a long list. Rob Schneider and Jennifer Lopez movies (excepting OUT OF SIGHT and THE CELL) figure prominently.

comment #17

mpneeb says ...

1492
Legends of the Fall
Transformers
Lost in Space

comment #18

MilkMan says ...

You're right, Chase Kahn. For some inexplicable reason, everybody, including people who should know better, gobbled The Dark Knight up.

Another movie I would actively avoid is The Fog of War. You'd think that a robot being interviewed by a psychopath would have some kind of inherent entertainment value, but in this case, that is not true.

comment #19

berkguru says ...

Deer Hunter is haunting and poignant- every actor is amazing. You either dont have a heart or are not a man's man if you dont like that one.

Movies never to watch again:

1. Any with Adam Sandler
2. 2001 Space Odyssey
3. Lord of Rings trilogy and King Kong
4. Pulp Fiction

comment #20

markj says ...

I love A.I.

Didn't Wells give it a good review on release?

comment #21

MilkMan says ...

I forgot about the Lord of the Rings movies, but maybe that's because I've never seen any of them and won't ever if I can help it.

comment #22

markj says ...

Clancy: Field of Dreams is a wonderful film. I think you may be the first person i've come across that didn't like it. Not that it invalidates your opinion, just interesting.

berkguru: 2001?

comment #23

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

I love Jim Jarmusch's early films (Stranger than Paradise, Down by Law, Mystery Train) and they are so beautiful but I feel like I should only watch them ONCE-- because if I watch them again, I already know what kind of style to expect and the magic just isn't there.

comment #24

JapAdapters says ...

I love THE DEER HUNTER, conceits and all.

DeNiro is maybe the baddest mfer of all time in that movie and the scene in the bar where they sing the Franky Vali song is among my favorites in cinematic history.

Sometimes I wonder if Wees has ever hung out with the fellas.

comment #25

actionman says ...

"I forgot about the Lord of the Rings movies, but maybe that's because I've never seen any of them and won't ever if I can help it."

Here-here, MilkMan.

Buuuuutttt.....no 2001? Pulp Fiction? The Deer Hunter? Field of Dreams? Yeesh....all four of those are GREAT films.

comment #26

NightWriter says ...

Is DH a little folksy, obvious and sappily-scored? Yes. But this blanket write-off is undeserved. MilkMan is correct to praise its acting but I would also laud Deric Washburn's script. Most writers ignore the subtext in their dialogue; Washburn harnesses it to great dramatic effect. No one emotes or self-consciously explains themselves at any point in the film. This rang true to me given the working-class milieu.

The last Return of the King is still going...

comment #27

NightWriter says ...

Sorry...Return of the King is still going...

comment #28

MAGGA says ...

Weird choices all around, as if everyone is trying to push people's buttons by listing their choices. The Dark Knight was overrated as all hell, but there were good moments in it and the best Joker yet. As a non-fan of comic books I found it kind of comical, but Heatch Ledger walking out of the hospital in women's clothing has stuck with me as a really fun image.

When I saw the picture of the article I assumed Welles would list the Deer Hunter as a classic, and I'm happy to see my thoughts about the movie reflected so well. Good acting, but that's it. I remember it being screened in Film School, and the students looked befuddled afterwards, wondering what the hell the point of all that was. The discussion was hillarious, as the teachers got all red-faced and near-aggressive, in disbelief that all the young brats didn't see the glory of this classic. Might be one of those movies I just don't get.

Have probably seen A.I about fifteen times, but it has it's problem. There's just something about the sensuality of Spielberg's compositions and camera movements that give all his movies except Hook and Crystal Skull (yes, even Always) some sort of fail-safe function in my eyes, as if I can't stop watching even while sometimes feeling like the movies are full of bull.

Anyway, Antichrist is a movie I probably won't watch again, and it's not because of it's graphic nature. It was just remarkably dull and simplistic, and I'm amazed, Wells, that neither you nor anyone I've read have pointed out the pro-life conservative subtext which was hammered home so crassly throughout the "plot". Come to think of it, I always go to see Von Triers film in their opening weekend, and I never feel like watching them again savr for, ironically, The Boss Of It All and his TV-series Riget.

comment #29

bents75 says ...

Off the top of my head...

-Twilight
-Moonraker
-Van Helsing
-Batman and Robin (you all list Dark Knight, but would still watch Schumacher's opus!?)
- I Am Sam
-Charlie's Angels (and especially the sequel - I would pay someone else $20 not to have to watch that ever again)
-Anything with Treat Wiliams
-Anything DZ loves
-Anything with Jason Biggs
-Anything with Freddie Prinze Jr.
-Anything with Eddie Murphy made after 1990
-Anything with Robert Deniro made after 1998 (he died upon completion of Ronin in my version of film history).

comment #30

corey3rd says ...

there's no need to watch Cobra with irony. It's kick butt action to the nth degree from the time period.

after I get prescribed painkillers for surgery, I always pop in DVDs that I want to "rewatch for the first time."

comment #31

drbob says ...

I hate, hate, hated The Dark Knight (even though I liked Batman Begins quite a bit). But, I wouldn't put TDK in a category that I would never watch it again. In fact, every time it comes on TV (it's playing HBO right now), I have to watch it. I keep thinking if I watch it enough times, maybe I'll figure out what people thought was so great about it.

comment #32

Movie fan09 says ...

comment #31
drbob says ...
I hate, hate, hated The Dark Knight (even though I liked Batman Begins quite a bit). But, I wouldn't put TDK in a category that I would never watch it again. In fact, every time it comes on TV (it's playing HBO right now), I have to watch it. I keep thinking if I watch it enough times, maybe I'll figure out what people thought was so great about it.

it was more about representing the comic sensibilities than anything else.
The Batmam characters have never been portrayed properly on the big screen, and this was really the first time they had been, even if it wasn't the best script.

comment #33

Imogen says ...

There is no way in the world I would ever watch again

Punch-Drunk Love
Boat Trip
The Thin Red Line
Rat Race
Magnolias
Ernest Goes To Camp
The New World
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo
A Beautiful Mind
White Chicks
Far From Heaven
Lost Horizon (the musical)

comment #34

berkguru says ...

bents75 this is all real solid except i like treat williams for some reason:

Anything with Treat Wiliams
-Anything DZ loves
-Anything with Jason Biggs
-Anything with Freddie Prinze Jr.
-Anything with Eddie Murphy made after 1990
-Anything with Robert Deniro made after 1998 (he died upon completion of Ronin in my version of film history).

comment #35

MAGGA says ...

Hey, imogen, thanks for reminding me of The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. Loved it when I saw it, forgot about it, need to rewatch. And I watch Punch-Drunk Love at least three or four times a year. It gets better every time, and Adam Sandler's performance is, IMHO, as good as any performance in Deer Hunter. It feels like where The French New Wave would have headed if all those directors went into a time machine in their youth and tried to reflect upon our age from an outsider's perspective. In fact, I can watch any PTA movie over and over again, even in the span of a single day. Don't have the time, but I COULD. Thin Red Line strikes me as pretty banal right now, but I worshipped it so much as a teenager that it will always have a place in my consciousness, and it feels like one of those movies one might rediscover at different times in one's life. Some movies are like that. When you're in a really EMO phase, Mallick hits the spot always

comment #36

bents75 says ...

Wow Imogen. Seriously?

That's almost a perfect mixture of absurd crap and brilliant films.

Mentioning The New World and White Chicks in the same comment is like mentioning Of Mice and Men and Mein Kampf at the same time. It's puzzling.

Fair enough berkguru - I don't really loathe Treat Williams that much, I just felt like throwing him in there given the recent love for Deep Rising. He always struck me as amusingly bad even when I saw him in crappy straight to video movies as a kid - so I either can't take him seriously now, or I can't take myself seriously now.

comment #37

Colin says ...

I don't get the Dark Knight hate, but crap like Slumdog Millionaire gets the ace card every draw.

Granted the boat ending was a little goofy, but Bale, Ledger and Eckhart made that movie great. You can question the story, but the direction and acting were excellent.

comment #38

Steven Kar says ...

drbob - comment #31

believe me, i've tried watching TDK on HBO just to figure out what all the fuss was about but i just couldn't sit past the 20 minute mark. it is so boring and dull and nonsensical. just a bunch of people indoors talking talking talking...

i've seen it before in the cinema and knew by the half way mark that i would never want to see it again.

the joker was terrific however.

comment #39

Howlingman says ...

Not if you paid me:

Man Behind The Sun

Salo

Diary of the Dead

Anything where girls in pajamas sing along to Motown into hair brushes..

comment #40

MilkMan says ...

MAAGA: I second your love for PDL. I hope PTA doesn't abandon that style and treat the film as a one-off, because it really is a marvel of editing and writing and direction, not to mention that it has a tone unlike any other film I can think of. I could do without the grating Jon Brion score (or any of his scores), but it wouldn't be a PTA film if it was perfect.

Another film that I loathed on contact and will avoid like the plague: THE DYING GAUL.

comment #41

berkguru says ...

agree with Salo - jesus christ

also, Funny Games - only good to rewatch if you want to induce a migraine

comment #42

LeroyBrown says ...

Field of Dreams sucks ass.

comment #43

efbrackett says ...

Picking TDK, Up, Pulp Fiction, Field of Dreams just seems like cranky choices to get a reaction.

I mean think of some truly awful movies in just the past 10 years. Would you really EVER want to see Scooby Doo, Big Momma's House, Pay It Forward, Down to Earth, Bringing Down the House, Cats & Dogs, Sweet November, Showtime, The Hot Chick again? Makes me sick just thinking about the first time I saw them.

comment #44

Colin says ...

Funny Games - only good to rewatch if you want to induce a migraine

Seconded, that movie is easily my worst of all-time.

comment #45

MilkMan says ...

Oh, I forgot: Southland Tales, Ballast, Mutual Appreciation, Semi-Pro, Any Given Sunday, Panic Room, Ratatouille, Amistad, The Aviator, Torque.

comment #46

ketut says ...

A. I. for sure. You couldn't pay me enough (well maybe but it would have to be a lot.)

I'll second anything with Adam Sandler in it and I'm beginning to tire of Ben Stiller too.

Any M. Night Shyamalan movie. any chick flick with Meg Ryan, Jennifer Aniston or any movie with Julia Roberts.

comment #47

Ryansi51 says ...

BADLANDS

Sissy Spacek v.o. = nails on a chalkboard

comment #48

actionman says ...

Imogen -- there are 5 flat-out masterpieces on your list.

I need to see Southland Tales again.

comment #49

Howlingman says ...

Add also:

Prince of Tides

comment #50

DavidF says ...

We should differentiate between films that you won't watch cuz they're horrible and films you won't watch even though they're great.

I only saw Deer Hunter once and I also found it kind of forced and stilted. Not as out there as Apocalypse Now and not as "real" as Platoon...it's just kinda there.

I wouldn't make a point of NOT watching Thin Red Line but I feel a bit about it like that. Clearly there's beauty there but I feel like people who say they like it are trying to prove their cinematic superiority. It's "man is a violent animal" theme is telegraphed, its narrative is an atrocious mess due to poor editing, the voiceovers don't at all sound like the character who is delivering them and...well, it looks awful nice.

Someone up above noted Requiem for a Dream as a great movie that's be hard to sit through a second time and I'll second that.

I know there's other dark-but-brilliant movies on the tip of my tongue in the same category...

I know some people can't watch it but Schindler's List I still enjoy watching because the emotional shock is lessened with the years, giving a greater appreciation of the filmmaking itself.

Treat Williams is in Once Upon a Time in America which I love, so no outright ban there and I'm in the pro-AI camp. When Harry Met Sally and even You've Got Mail are perfectly tolerable Meg Ryan movies.

comment #51

Chase Kahn says ...

Whoa, whoa, slow down there, speed racer! -- "2001", "Assassination of Jesse James" and "The New World"?

I also second "Funny Games" -- I've gotten into blood-boiling feuds with people trying to tell me its some kind of anti-horror masterpiece. I love Michael Haneke, but that's a shitty-ass film.

And count me in as anti-"Field of Dreams".

comment #52

Chase Kahn says ...

Ryan51 --

Never liked "Badlands", either. Although it's far from terrible or unwatchable, I just don't care for it.

The only Malick I've seen where I thought the voiceover actually enhanced the film was Linda Manz's in "Days of Heaven".

comment #53

MilkMan says ...

Treat Williams is in Once Upon a Time in America? He is? At what point? I must've missed him the first ten times I saw it.

comment #54

the sordid sentinel says ...

Titanic is one I refuse to waste 3+ hrs. of my life on again.

comment #55

hcat says ...

Treat Williams was a labor boss that they dowsed with Gasoline to get control of the Unions. It wasn't a much bigger part than Danny Aiello had in the movie.

And am I the only person who absolutly loathes Saving Private Ryan and it's "Boys Life" view or war. For all the technical brillance going on in that film, it would take about $200 for me to sit through that again.

comment #56

hcat says ...

'view or war' should be view of war, and I am too lazy to see if I spelled absolutly right.

comment #57

bmcintire says ...

The Long Goodbye
Life Is Beautiful
Legends of the Fall
A River Runs Through It
House of the Spirits
Melinda and Melinda
Anything Else
Gran Torino
Million Dollar Baby
What Women Want
Spiderman 3

comment #58

berkguru says ...

what about movies you can watch 100 times? I would be curious to get Well's input on his choices.

some of mine:

1. Rocky 1-3
2. Rounders
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Road Warriors
5. Animal House
6. Cool Hand Luke
7. Once
8. Goodfellas and Casino

comment #59

Movie Watcher says ...

Antything wiith Kate Hudson.
A.I. is on the cable movie channels recently, so I might check it out. A bit too long.
I know it's not out yet, but I don't know about 'Funny People', another Apatow movie w/ Rogen and Mann in it. How about trying different actors for a change. Sandler? Don't know about him anymore.
Movies I will never see:
1408
Seven Pounds
Anything w/Julia Roberts
Dan in real life
Pearl Harbor
Tropic Thunder
Speed Racer
I have to stop the list somewhere.
DH was a long movie and went on too much about the DeNiro/Streep relationship. I have to stop myself before I go off on a Streep diatribe.

comment #60

markj says ...

Imogen: You were dissing me a while back for slamming The Lord of the Rings yet you have The Assassination of Jesse James and The Thin Red Line on the same list as Deuce Bigelow and White Chicks?

Sheesh.

comment #61

BurmaShave says ...

I would understand saying you can't bear to watch THE DEER HUNTER again because its too devastating, but this is just insane.

comment #62

Floyd Thursby says ...

Under no circumstances would I watch
Terms of Endearment
Forrest Gump
American Beauty
A Beautiful Mind
Million Dollar Baby
Chicago
The Sound of Music
The Greatest Show on Earth
Ben-Hur
Driving Miss Daisy
Gandhi
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Apartment
The Greatest Show on Earth
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki

I watch the following over and over:
North by Northwest
To Catch a Thief
Bringing Up Baby
The Lady Eve
Point Blank
Heat
The Graduate
Lawrence of Arabia
Annie Hall
Manhattan
The Big Sleep
The Ladykillers

comment #63

hcat says ...

Movie Watcher, not sure where your tastes lie and that is a wise list to avoid but I thought Dan in Real Life was a lot better than the marketing indicated. It was still a little cutesy but nowhere near the cheese I was expecting.

comment #64

Ghost072 says ...

Man Behind The Sun, Salo and Requiem for a Dream are all good candidates and I'll throw Leaving Las Vegas in there as well. I consider all of these to be the "glad I saw them but never again" variety, well, except for maybe Man Behind The Sun. That one still throws an image I'd rather forget into my brain now and then.

I'm still kind of pissed that I bought The Dark Knight on bluray sight unseen. I love Nolan and loved Batman Begins and with all the praise for TDK, I just thought it was a can't miss (although I never buy movies I've never seen). So I buy it and wonder what movie everyone else saw? Sure, Ledger is brilliant and there was some good stuff interspersed, but really? Too long, too melodramatic and too full of itself. I will watch it again though because, well, I own the damn thing and I need to get my monies worth.

comment #65

dangovich says ...

imogen, you watched Boat Trip?

comment #66

berkguru says ...

final post for the un-rewatchable - almost any Ron Howard movie

comment #67

hcat says ...

I have watched Eyes Wide Shut six times in an attempt to see what everyone likes about it and have never enjoyed it. I will now give up trying and put it on my list along with

Inland Empire
all Sandra Bullock films
All Kate Hudson or Matt McConnoughy films
Studio films with Penelope Cruz
Lord of the Rings films
any non-Potter Columbus
and so far any post Simpsons Movie Fox productions.

comment #68

berkguru says ...

Boat Trip is pretty funny. Gooding Jr. is underated.

comment #69

George Prager says ...

Always. haha.

THE DEER HUNTER is awesome. Anyone who doesn't think
so is gay.

I used to think that INTERIORS was one of those films but then I grew up, saw it again and since then, I've seen it about 5 times.

comment #70

larry braverman says ...

The Usual Suspects
In the Company of Men
About Schmidt
Audition
Vanilla Sky
Existenz

comment #71

Chase Kahn says ...

"Under no circumstances would I watch
Terms of Endearment
Forrest Gump
American Beauty
A Beautiful Mind
Million Dollar Baby
Chicago
The Sound of Music
The Greatest Show on Earth
Ben-Hur
Driving Miss Daisy
Gandhi
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Apartment
The Greatest Show on Earth
Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki"

Oh come on. "Ben-Hur" is great. Would I turn it off after the chariot race scene? Probably. But I'll defend that movie 'till I die.

comment #72

great scott says ...

Field of Dreams

RAY
Dad.
(choking up)
Wanna have a catch?

PUKE

comment #73

creepingmalaise says ...

re: comment #19

2001? 2001??? You must be 15.

comment #74

COCO says ...

Play it again......

The Wild Bunch
Bridge on the River Kwai
The Great Escape
The Sting
Cinema Paradiso
Dr. Strangelove
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
True Grit
Alien
Lust for Life
The Fortune Cookie
Cross of Iron
Major Dundee
Planet of the Apes

Is it soup yet?

comment #75

The Winchester says ...

Never have to watch again, in recent memory:

21
Across the Universe
Benjamin Button
Babel

comment #76

LexG says ...

Sorry to be negative, but this thread has devolved into one of those Aspergian list-fests where all these anonymous dudes are throwing out their arbitrary lists with no backup or explanation. And I just glaze over.

Like I'm going to care or remember that "bonefuckS69" won't watch "Legend of the Lone Ranger" a second time. SNORE. You dudes should stop with the impersonal lists NOW.

On target, I think DEER HUNTER is great, but it's so depressing, sad, dreary and funereal, I NEEEEEVER want to rewatch it, and I usually go into fits of depression when I hear that treacly guitar score. SO MELANCHOLY and depressing, gets stuck in your head for a month.

It's the movie equivalent of watching home movies of a wake. So unbearably depressing that, yeah, it's the least rewatchable thing imaginable, despite its greatness and the three or four brilliant performances, though I've ALWAYS wondered:

Why were these three CLEARLY 35-YEAR-OLD GUYS just then going to 'Nam? DeNiro in particular all looking 43 years old and shit. NEW RECRUIT COMING THROUGH!

comment #77

Butters says ...

Glad to see that someone else had Million Dollar Baby and American Beauty on their list. I would never watch those again, they are both overrated junk. I would also add anything by Pixar. I hated that stupid rat movie. I swear that Pixar could make a movie about a guy taking a huge dump and people would call it "genius" and "original". I am in the middle on Field of Dreams. I didn't hate but I didn't really like it.

comment #78

MAGGA says ...

Milkman, I LOVE the Brion-score for PDL. You cited the editing as brilliant and to me it's the combination of that fucked-up music and the tense camerawork that makes the scenes with the sister and the visiting friend so engaging. The movie has the combination of those strange, panicky sequences and the long-take, wide-shot descriptions of intense loneliness which really rattle me, even as I find it funny and charming. I think PTA is the equal of Scorcese when it comes to combining music and images on film.

As for The Deer Hunter, do the friends just happen to run into one another in 'Nam? That's what it always seemed like to me, as if they all got sent off and they just happen to end up together as prisoners and having to play that russian roulette-game. A concept I actually think 24 did more effectively, which I mean as an insult. it's not that the scenes are bad, I just find them irrelevant to the story. I find most of the events irrelevant to the story, in fact I fail to see the story. Not that all movies need one, but there appears to be a narrative there, but to me it really doesn't hang together well.

And yes, Babel and 21 Grams seemed really silly to me, even though I loved Amorres Puerros (SIC probably). Silent Light is another film I found unbearable, one of those movies that I hope I don't get, films that seem to me to only dress up in profound-looking clothes while telling truly simplistic stories with more narrative crutches than any rom-com could get away with. I'm certainly willing to concede that it might have gone over my head. I really hope so, because the people who raved about it outside the cinema suddenly seemed like pod-people to me, and they're people I usually respect. No-one could give me a reason for their enthusiasm, but that can sometimes be tough. I love Waking Life, and when people argue that it's just first-year college text-book meandering in animation I can't really argue against it. It just hits me in some way. But I'll never EVER get Silent Light.

comment #79

Geoff says ...

I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in theaters and thought it was great.

I stopped 40 minutes in on Blu-Ray and can't seem to finish it.....

comment #80

dinovelvet says ...

I also checked out Dark Knight for the first time this weekend, on cable. Didn't care for it at all. Ledger's much touted performance was nothing more than a silly voice and giggling! I kept waiting for the great dramatic Oscar winning acting. Bale's growling was just hilarious this time round - like the scene where Oldman, Eckhart, and Batman are having a serious conversation about the law, and Batman is growling all his lines. I thought I was watching Tugg Speedman from Scorcher VI. Also of note, Maggie Gyllenhaal being thrown out of a window and screaming as she's sliding down a roof = unintentional comedy gold. And did this thing just go ON and ON and ON or what? END ALREADY!!!!

Bright Side. Eric muthafuckin' Roberts in a summer blockbuster, gotta love that.

comment #81

Jeremy Fassler says ...

To start things off, I think Deer Hunter is only 80 percent of a great movie, but the 80 percent which works is better than most movies. I'd take the good 80 percent of Deer Hunter over all of Terminator: Salvation any day.

I don't like to bash most great movies that don't do it for me. I'm not going to go out there and say something like "YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THAT THIS GREAT MOVIE SUCKS AND YOU MUST REALIZE IT NOW!!!!" I used to be like that, but there's no point. I am not a huge fan of John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath, but I'm not going to argue against its greatness anymore. For many, many people, it is one of the most important American movies there is, and for that it has my respect.

I never want to see Crash again. I liked it the first time and would like to leave it at that. I know that if I watch it again, it will fall apart for me. I also never want to see Babel again, largely because the pretentiousness of it all irritates me to no end. There are not many best picture winners/nominees I would be opposed to seeing again, although I certainly don't need to see something like Seabiscuit or Atonement again. But that's different. Those are just shrugs.

Let's see what else...I don't ever want to see a Todd Solondz or a Harmony Korine movie again, because I can't stand when filmmakers have such contempt for their characters. Korine in Gummo seems to sympathize with the young boys, but then why does he show the retarded woman trying to shave her eyebrow? He's a man riddled with contradictions.

Also, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys, which won the best director award at Cannes last year, is a movie I never want to see again ever. I don't understand why a filmmaker would take an interesting premise and focus on the least interesting parts. That's to me what that movie does. I fell asleep in the final twenty-five minutes.

However, MilkMan, I cannot understand for the life of me why you wouldn't want to see The Fog of War again. I think that's probably the most absorbing and fascinating documentary of the last decade, with the exception of Man on Wire. Now there's a movie I'd watch again any day.

comment #82

renorambler says ...

If we're talking about GREAT films that we're not sure about seeing again the one that always comes to mind for me is Fanny and Alexander. I love a lot of Bergman and FA is beautiful in so many ways but I was so wrung out after watching it I didn't feel at the time like I could see it for another 10 years. That was two decades ago. I'm starting to get small glimmerings of interest in seeing it again but it will have to be on a cold winter day when I'm holed up and my wife isn't around.

comment #83

MilkMan says ...

I don't want to see The Fog of War again from the same reason I haven't spoken to my 97 year old grandfather in two years: because he is a bore, right about everything, including things he knows nothing about, completely uninterested in any type of reflection, and oblivious to the fact that luck has played a bigger part in his longevity than his overinflated sense of will. I also can't stand Errol Morris anymore. I think he's a creep who likes to profile other creeps to make himself feel better about his own creepiness.

comment #84

Chase Kahn says ...

Boy, that sounds like my 95-year old grandfather. Everything the dude says is legit, the final word -- you can't call him out on anything because, for one, he can't hear you and two, he's stubborn as hell.

I swear it's the reason why I thought "Up" sucked.

comment #85

Imogen says ...

I don't know why people cannot accept that an arthouse movie you cannot stand is just as much an ordeal to endure as a comedy you can't stand. For me, watching a movie just because it has great cinematography ("The New World", "Jesse James") is just as boring as watching Cuba Gooding Jr. being chased around a boat by homosexuals ("Boat Trip") or knowing how a movie will end five minutes after it begins ("Far From Heaven") or suffering a flailing director's failure to control their actor's performances ("Punch-Drunk Love"). I ask only one thing of a movie: make me forget I'm watching one.

comment #86

MilkMan says ...

Both of my dad's parents are 97 and in perfect health. They still drive, take care of themselves, are completely coherent, and both of them are miserable. Like Seige of Leningrad miserable. They have never had any illnesses, lived in poverty, lost a child, etc., and they hate life and everyone in it. One part of me hopes I get their genes, and another part of me feels like I want no part of old age. I don't want to die, but I don't want to live to be like that either. Life is nothing but one conundrum after another. Fucking blows.

comment #87

bibliotechnician says ...

Saying "Up" sucks because it's juvenile is like saying Cobra is good because Stallone walks and talks without falling down.

My list for this thread?

Godfather (except for 3)
Taxi Driver
Lawrence of Arabia
Jaws
Any Monty Python film

comment #88

MilkMan says ...

Glad someone else said the Godfather movies. I have to admit that I have never gotten through the entirety of either movie. They put me to sleep faster than a glass of Coppola Pinot Noir and a joint.

comment #89

va says ...

thank you Burma and George - Deer Hunter is a great film. Wells' take is similar to the backlash back in 78 when Coming Home and Deer Hunter were both up for Oscars. Jane Fonda, Jon Voight and others in the Coming Home camp complained about Deer Hunter's middle of the road assessment of Vietnam War, which was bullshit then and now. The film used the war and the russian roulette sequences to highlight the bond between DeNiro, Walken and Savage. Wells' bias against Lucas, Spielberg, and Cimino is showing.

comment #90

mccool says ...

biblio, those are movies you will NOT watch ever again? i think milkman be confused...

I think the list should be movies that have generally received high praise from critics or film lovers, but that you just can't stand. We all know know one here wants to watch Matthew McConaughey.

I'll never watch LOTR because I couldnt make it through the second one without fast-forwarding and I couldn't take the look of constipation on Woo'ds face throughout the third. Just stupid. I also don't like watching characters unsheath swords while marveling at them, nor do I like the sound of a sword unsheathing. That metal "sshlllwiing".

I used to really like 'Three Kings.' Now I skip past it every time I see it in the listing. Too much Clooney head-bobbing and Wahlberg has really played the soft-spoken simpleton card to death since then.

Brazil --- an accomplished satire and social commentary with one or two moments of comic genius with an arcane plot and meandering focus. I won't deny the intelligence, but ultimately it feels like a forced high school homework assignment. Visually stunning while contemptibly boring

Elephant --zzzzzzzzzz
The Thin Red Line -- too pretentious
American Beauty -- forced vulgarity....and the plastic bag.

Can't think of any others right now...

comment #91

DeeZee says ...

Sixth Sense, any QT movie, Brokeback Mountain [I don't care if the characters are gay. They'd be a boring couple if one of 'em was a chick. And Gylenhaal ruins every movie, and no I didn't see Donnie Darko.], Steamboy, The Myth, Izo, any Emmerich movie, Sky Crawlers, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Tokyo Godfathers, Blair Witch, Meet the Feebles[maybe], the original Solaris[maybe], the original and PJ King Kong, Jay and Silent Bob, Bayformers, Drop Dead Fred and Searching for Bobby Fischer, Addams Family Values, the SW prequels, A History of Violence, the Grudge remake, the original Scarface [Sorry, but it's hoakey, compared to the DePalma version.] , any Don Bluth movie, any Leo movie, Magnolia, My Best Friend's Wedding, A History of Violence, Spaceballs[Hardware Wars did it first, and better.], Young Frankenstein, Stevie's WOTW, American Beauty and Pie, the Farrelies' post-Something About Mary output, including Outside Providence, Baseketball, Conan: The Destroyer, the 60s Casino Royale, Analyze This, Running Scared, any Disney cartoon in the 90s made after Aladdin, Animal House, Brothers Grimm, Trainspotting, Dances with Wolves, Grease, the DePalma Mission Impossible, Annie Hall, Speed Racer, Blow, anything from Larry Clark, the Cronenberg Crash, Storytelling, Spaceballs[Hardware Wars did it first and better.], and any Karate Kid movie after part II. I know I missed one, though.

Rusty: You're in luck, since Ponyo's out in a couple months.

Butters: I liked Toy Story, but everything else they do is the same. Pixar's animated movies have all the annoying flaws people used to complain about with Disney animated movies, but because the former is in CG, people give it a pass.

comment #92

messiahcomplexio says ...

good movies I don't want to watch again...

Requiem for a dream- great editing, amazing music, awesome performances, and one of the most effective stay off drugs message I've seen in a film.
About 2/3rds of the way through, I remember saying to a friend "this is brilliant, and I'll never watch it again."

Tony Kaye's Lake of Fire- great abortion doc- but who re watches something like that over and over...

Jesus camp- just thinking about it makes me really sad for those kids

My black sheep pick...
Godfather 2- undeniably a well made movie, but felt unnecessary too me. I think coppola said in an interview a few weeks ago that all that was needed to be said was said in the 1st godfather and I would agree.

comment #93

Chase Kahn says ...

I can watch "Brazil" over and over again. Brilliant.

comment #94

sumo-pop says ...

Sheesh, I agree that The Deer Hunter is a tad overrated but come on. I also would defend cimino's Year Of The Dragon with Mickey Rourke. Cimino is full of madness and full of himself but those two flicks have something. Now Air Force One makes me want to break a chair over the television whenever it's on cable. If it would have been a Naked Gun movie it wouldn't have been any more rediculous. Ditto Forrest Fucking Gump.

comment #95

LeroyBrown says ...

I wish everyone here would learn the difference between its (possessive) and it's (contraction of "it is"). It's like nails on chalkboard, visually speaking.

And Field of Dreams still sucks ass.

comment #96

Steven Kar says ...

Leroy Brown,

How about the people who use "then" for "than" vice versa. That one I will never understand.

comment #97

Carl Kolchak says ...

Wow, I guess there's no accounting for taste.

Floyd Thursby....The Apartment? Near perfect film. What do you have against it?

comment #98

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

This discussion is fucking ridiculous and let me illuminate how.

A partial list of what has been mentioned here:

A.I., Deer Hunter, Dark Knight, Titanic, 2001, Pulp Fiction, LotR Trilogy, Stranger Than Paradise, The Thin Red Line, Punch-Drunk Love, The New World, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, Funny Games, Panic Room, Badlands, Sixth Sense, Road Warrior, There Will Be Blood, Goodfellas, Casino, Speed Racer, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Incredibles, Apollo 13, Audition, Wild Bunch, Dr. Strangelove, Alien, Planet of the Apes, Brazil, Three Kings, Elephant, Godfather Parts 1 & 2, Taxi Driver, Lawrence of Arabia, Jaws, Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail, A History of Violence, Scarface (Hawks), Young Frankenstein, Annie Hall, Mission: Impossible, Trainspotting, Crash (Cronenberg), Kids.

Just about anywhere but HE, this could be mistaken for a list of people's favorite films. I love damn near every one of these films (yeah, some are flawed, I don't care).

Y'all are crazy.

Screw this thread.

comment #99

DeeZee says ...

Oh, yeah. Forgot to add Dances with Wolves and Bird on a Wire.

comment #100

larry braverman says ...

Anyone that doesn't appreciate THE FOG OF WAR for what it is needs to re-evaluate why they see movies.

comment #101

https://me.yahoo.com/a/89_wuPA_qOHwoSMLxVv2Vl4tX87Zeg4-#c5048 says ...

I love A.I. One of my favorite Spielberg films.

comment #102

Jeremy Fassler says ...

Every time one of these posts goes up, people on this website use it as an excuse to start spreading Hateorade towards great movies. I mean, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but Jesus, when we start posting stuff like what Milkman wrote about Fog of War sucking and Chase Kahn on Up sucking, my first thought is "Wow, what a bunch of jerks."

And that shouldn't be what I think at all, but it's what comes across in print.

comment #103

GiveMeTheMapScott says ...

CitizenKaned, you left out FIELD OF DREAMS, which caught some undeserved negativity

comment #104

jasctt says ...

INSIDE. I'd rather pull my eyeballs than watch that extremely well shot death fest. Images I will NEVER get out of my head as long as I live. Makes SALO look like TOY STORY.

comment #105

BurmaShave says ...

Is someone pretending to be MilkMan now?

comment #106

MilkMan says ...

Larry Braverman likes to drink piss out of an old carton of chocolate milk and then masturbate with ants for lubricant.

comment #107

Floyd Thursby says ...

"Floyd Thursby....The Apartment? Near perfect film. What do you have against it?"

Pathetic characters. Contrived situations. Smug, sentimental morality: the sad little men of the world are the best of us.

Tried to watch it for the first time in years a few weeks back and struggled to get to 45 min. Fred's pretty good, though.

comment #108

moviemaniac2002 says ...

Benjamin Button.

I'm still sorry I even watched it once.

comment #109

jasctt says ...

I love Wells acting like he even knows what the working class is actually like in his wrong-sided dis of TDH. The film, Wells, is more about friendship than anything else. Obviously, you missed the boat.

I recently watched TDH again after a few years since and it was still a VERY powerful film and it also contains one of DeNiro's 2,3 top performances. Also, he has said in a couple of interviews that it remains one if his best performances, if not his best.

comment #110

Aladdin Sane says ...

I don't know if it makes me pretentious or not, but if a film is well made, I will probably rewatch it at least once during the course of time. The snobbery towards some well made films is staggering. I can appreciate not connecting with films, since we all have those times, but I don't think it means that film is poorly directed or shot or something.
I recently saw Amarcord. Liked the second half better than the first, but I have no desire to see it again, and I love Fellini. Just didn't resonate with me. Is it a bad movie? Nope. It's just another good movie that I'll never rewatch.
Stuff that is bad that I'll never rewatch? There's a ton of - Top Gun and Spider-man 3 are at the top of the list. But listing off shitty ass movies is pointless. It's almost a given at this point that many of us will list the same things. Then again, there's no accounting for taste.

And Wells, The Deer Hunter owns. I can agree with those that say it's slow paced at times and a tad long, but it has undeniably brilliant stretches. I dunno what else to say.

comment #111

George Prager says ...

I've never seen batteries not included and if I saw it there's no way that I would ever see it for a second time, or a third time! Take that, fuckers!

LexG wins for best comment. Citizenkaned, second best.

comment #112

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

batteries not included would make a great porn about a sexually introverted woman who must venture into the world of deep-dicking when her vibrator runs out of juice.

comment #113

Travis Crabtree says ...

I thought we were talking about what movies we really liked, but had no desire to ever really see again, not bad movies we never want to see.

And what kind of jack-ass has a web address for his user name?
(no offense, http//:me@yahoo etc.)

comment #114

/3rtfu11 says ...

Star Trek Nemesis - unwatchable
Panic Room - boo
Mysterious Skin - ick
Rambling Rose - ick
Children Of Men - boo
The Ladykillers w.Tom Hanks - boo boo
Vanilla Sky - highfalutin remakes of Total Recall are unwelcomed
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - highfalutin remakes of Total Recall are unwelcomed

comment #115

Carl Kolchak says ...

I hate every movie ever made. There, that about covers it.

Oh, and T.V., too

comment #116

jimb12345 says ...

its great to watch a movie on blueray. Its such a amazing picture to watch. i just love the technology.
Adapter

comment #117

air nike shoes says ...

batteries not included would make a great porn about a sexually introverted woman who must venture into the world of deep-dicking when her vibrator runs out of juice.