The Criterion Collection

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

Same here. I can't think of a film I out and out hate. I generally can find something to like in just about every film. Example: Rio Bravo-Dimitri Tiomkin's score.

If you want to keep like that don't see:

The House of the Dead
AVP: Alien vs Predator
Street Fighter
The Mangler 2
An American Carol
Disaster Movie...

I used to watch everything I could get my hands on via VHS, so I learned the hard way to know which movies to avoid.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by iScottie

The kid in Shane has to be the most annoying character in movie history.

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

haven't seen Shane yet, but the kid in Fallen Idol wins the prize for me

I actually think those two are ok. Lonely kids; looking for someone not too busy to pay some attention to them. Especially Phil, in The Fallen Idol, he's constantly being pushed aside, ignored, and even physically abused by Mrs. Baines. I think that's why he's awkward and has trouble speaking his thoughts to anyone but Baines.

I also liked Brandon de Wilde. I thought he was an excellent child actor and I'm looking forward to the upcoming release of The Member of the Wedding. As a young adult, he was also good in Hud and All Fall Down. A shame he died young.

Two of my least favorite kids would be Pearl in Night of the Hunter and the kid brother in The Blob.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by iScottie

The kid in Shane has to be the most annoying character in movie history.

Well, I give first place for that to the kid in Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close.

[DaBargainHunta]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Well, I give first place for that to the kid in Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close.

That kid had Aspergers, or was somewhere on the Autism spectrum. Subtly mentioned in the movie, and I think slightly more fleshed out in the book. So, there was a reason for his idiosyncratic behavior. I thought he was fine. I wasn't annoyed. The movie was about losing a parent on 9/11, after all.

[jmclick]

Originally Posted by hoytereden

I actually think those two are ok. Lonely kids; looking for someone not too busy to pay some attention to them. Especially Phil, in The Fallen Idol, he's constantly being pushed aside, ignored, and even physically abused by Mrs. Baines. I think that's why he's awkward and has trouble speaking his thoughts to anyone but Baines.

I also liked Brandon de Wilde. I thought he was an excellent child actor and I'm looking forward to the upcoming release of The Member of the Wedding. As a young adult, he was also good in Hud and All Fall Down. A shame he died young.

Two of my least favorite kids would be Pearl in Night of the Hunter and the kid brother in The Blob.

How did I miss the news about Twilight Time releasing The Member of the Wedding? Thank you so much for the "heads up"! Few movies have captured the awkward emotional roller-coaster of adolescence the way that one does; at times, Julie Harris is almost painful to watch. And Brandon de Wilde and Ethel Waters are superb in it. I'm so glad it's coming to blu-ray.

[Marlow27]

Wow, some of these choices for 'films you hate the most' are pretty astonishing. I understand if there are classics you don't click with, but for some of them to inspire such dislike I find pretty crazy.

My choice may be cliche, but the Star Wars prequels for me are some of my most hated films. It's not because George Lucas ruined my childhood, it's not because I'm letting nostalgia blind me, it's not because of midochlorians, it's because they are complete and utter failures on every level of filmmaking, from the directing, to the cinematography, to the writing, to the effects. Shallow, sterile, lazy filmmaking, with awful, awful scripts. The characters are poorly drawn, and the whole enterprise is a failure on every conceivable level. The Force Awakens (a profoundly average film) is lucky it came after these.

If we're talking more critically acclaimed films that I happen to strongly dislike, a couple of modern choices for me would be Silver Linings Playbook, Wetlands and The Force Awakens.

[oildude]

The ending of Shane is one of the most iconic in film history. Long before I ever saw the movie, I had seen the ending in documentaries and film retrospectives. When I finally saw the movie, the ending is even more powerful. I think many people who have seen the ending do not realize

[Show spoiler]that Shane is mortally wounded and is riding off into the night so the little boy won't see him die.

The first time I saw Shane, I sat unmoving for a few moments when it was over, misty eyed and glad that I was alone to savor the experience. Wow, I thought....this is how you make a movie!

In my opinion, the most important character in the film is not the gunfighter, it is the little boy Joey Starrett (played by Brandon de Wilde, who the year before appeared in The Member of the Wedding). His performance is not annoying; far from it. Director George Stevens got the performance he wanted out of little Brandon, who plays an only child on a working ranch. Stevens shows us the struggles of the boy's small-holding rancher father, played by Van Heflin, to maintain the love and adulation of his own son, to remain the little boy's hero and role model in the presence of the exciting and worldly gunman Shane. The suspense is palpable; no matter what happens, it will not end well because the little boy, in his innocence of the world and in his inability to modulate his excitement over the stranger and his guns, is about to grow up in a most painful way. Without Brandon's "annoying" performance, as some describe it, the moral lessons and the ending of Shane would not be nearly as strongly felt or unforgettable.

Shane was a true "thinking man's" western, a mature character drama that transcended the standard western tropes. It is a morality play of the highest order. In that sense, it is one of the groundbreaking films to come out of the 1950s. Shane set the table for a lot of what came after, and is an example of why, as I learn more about them, I love 50s movies. A lot of people less exposed to westerns point to the 1960s as the benchmark, as if the western only really began with Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, and Lee Van Cleef. I know because I used to think that way too. And then I discovered Anthony Mann, George Stevens, John Ford, Fred Zinnemann, Delmer Daves, Howard Hawks, and a handful of other directors who were taking the western in new directions in the 1950s. As much as I LOVE spaghetti westerns and many of the hard, gritty, and powerfully moving westerns that came in the 1960s and 1970s - those westerns I grew up watching on TV when I was a kid and on home media into my adulthood - my education only really began later in life when the 1950s took me to school.

Fortunately for us, Criterion is ready to help with our educations. I encourage all of you to add Delmer Dave's two outstanding 1950s westerns 3:10 to Yuma and Jubal to your "buy" list next sale. These are two first class films, not just excellent westerns. Like Shane, they are moving and memorable films because they use the western as a means of telling us a story about the nature of human endurance, failings, triumphs, and our connections to each other....universal themes that guide us to a better place within ourselves. In that same spirit, stepping back in time a bit before Shane, I also recommend John Ford's Stagecoach and Howard Hawks' Red River.

As an aside, Brandon de Wilde was Oscar nominated for his role in Shane, and deservedly so. His performance is phenomenal for a child. He debuted on Broadway at the age of 7 in The Member of the Wedding and became a nationally known child actor, before appearing in the theatrical version of the play in 1952. He grew up to continue acting in films and on stage, until tragically dying in a car accident in Colorado in 1972 at the age of 30, leaving behind a small son of his own.

[Cook]

Decided to add Polanski's MacBeth to my collection.

After watching Justin Kurzel's MacBeth this past weekend Ive been on a Shakespeare kick.

[belcherman]

I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to bad movies. I figured someone was trying to make a good movie and, for whatever reason, failed. My pet peeve is with movies made by talented people that try to cynically manipulate the audience. There's a long list, but the one that comes to mind first is Gravity.

[Knaldskalle]

Hated Movies, oh, where do I begin...

Forrest Gump (and its twin, Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
300
Watchmen
The Blair Witch Project
How Green Was My Valley
The Birth of a Nation (Griffith)
The Postman
The Green Berets
The Weather Man
Red Dawn ('84)
The Phantom of the Opera (Argento's)
Funny Games (1997 version)
Bridesmaids
Les Miserables (2012)
La Commune (Paris, 1871) (Watkins)
Mother India
Deewaar

[JoeBuck]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

Quick, name the movie(s) you hate the most!?!
Inside Llewyn Davis

Kids, any of the modern spoof movies, Juno, The Blind Side, Week End, The Untouchables

A whole lot more but those are ones that all drive me up the wall.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by oildude

The ending of Shane is one of the most iconic in film history. Long before I ever saw the movie, I had seen the ending in documentaries and film retrospectives. When I finally saw the movie, the ending is even more powerful. I think many people who have seen the ending do not realize

[Show spoiler]that Shane is mortally wounded and is riding off into the night so the little boy won't see him die.

[Show spoiler]
In my opinion, the most important character in the film is not the gunfighter. It is the little boy Joey Starrett (played by Brandon de Wilde). His performance is not annoying; far from it. Director George Stevens got the performance he wanted out of little Brandon, who plays an only child on a working ranch. Stevens shows us the painful struggles of the boy's small- holding rancher father, played by Van Heflin, to maintain the love and adulation of his own son, to remain the little boy's hero and role model, in the presence of the exciting and worldly gunman Shane. The suspense is palpable; no matter what happens, it will not end well because the little boy, in his innocence of the world and his excitement, is about to grow up. Without Brandon's "annoying" performance, as some like to call it, the moral lessons and the ending of Shane would not be nearly as memorable or unforgettable.

Shane was a true "thinking man's" western, a mature character drama that transcended the standard western tropes. It is a morality play of the highest order. In that sense, it is one of the groundbreaking films to come out of the 1950s. Shane set the table for a lot of what came after, and is an example of why, as I learn more about them, I love 50s movies. A lot of people less exposed to westerns point to the 1960s as the benchmark, as if the western only really began with Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, and Lee Van Cleef. I know because I used to think that way too. And then I discovered Anthony Mann, George Stevens, John Ford, Fred Zinnemann, Delmer Daves, Howard Hawks, and a host of other directors who were taking the western in new directions in the 1950s. As much as I LOVE spaghetti westerns and many of the hard, gritty, and powerfully moving westerns that came in the 1960s and 1970s, those westerns I grew up watching on TV when I was a kid and into my adulthood, my education only really began when the 1950s took me to school.

Fortunately for us, Criterion is ready to help with our educations. I encourage all of you to add Delmer Dave's two outstanding 1950s westerns 3:10 to Yuma and Jubal to your "buy" list next sale. These are two first class films, not just excellent westerns. Like Shane, they are moving and memorable films because they use the western as a means of telling us a story about the nature of human endurance, failings, triumphs....universal themes that guide us to a better place within ourselves. And to step back in time a bit before Shane, I also recommend John Ford's Stagecoach and Howard Hawks' Red River.

I really like most westerns, starting from Ford's Stagecoach, Howard Hawks, Delmer Daves, Fred Zinnemann, then Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood, I also loved George Stevens next film after Shane Giant.

So I don't know why exactly Shane didn't grab me, but I do think the child was annoying, and found some parts were just weird and also Alan Ladd acting wasn't great either.

[Show spoiler]Like when the kid wants Shane to come home and tells him his mother want's him, that was kind of awkward

By the time it got to the end I was so annoyed by the kid screaming "Shaaane" that I probably wasn't focusing as I should in the film itself to care that much for it.

[olivianewtonyawn]

+1 for Forrest Gump - Hate it.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by jmclick

How did I miss the news about Twilight Time releasing The Member of the Wedding? Thank you so much for the "heads up"! Few movies have captured the awkward emotional roller-coaster of adolescence the way that one does; at times, Julie Harris is almost painful to watch. And Brandon de Wilde and Ethel Waters are superb in it. I'm so glad it's coming to blu-ray.

You're welcome. What I find pretty amazing is that de Wilde did this part on Broadway prior to the film. I can't imagine being a little kid and doing this live in front of an audience. I'd be

[bwdowiak]

Originally Posted by Knaldskalle

Hated Movies, oh, where do I begin...

Forrest Gump (and its twin, Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
300
Watchmen
The Blair Witch Project
How Green Was My Valley
The Birth of a Nation (Griffith)
The Postman
The Green Berets
The Weather Man
Red Dawn ('84)
The Phantom of the Opera (Argento's)
Funny Games (1997 version)
Bridesmaids
Les Miserables (2012)
La Commune (Paris, 1871) (Watkins)
Mother India
Deewaar

What is there to 'hate' about How Green Was My Valley?

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by bwdowiak

What is there to 'hate' about How Green Was My Valley?

That it beat Citizen Kane at the Oscars?

I am actually not a fan of it (Citizen Kane), although a 7/10 is far from hating, so don't hate me for that.

[Edward J Grug III]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

Quick, name the movie(s) you hate the most!?!

Unbreakable

[Edward J Grug III]

Oh, and Top Gun of course.

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by Martin_31

Quick, name the movie(s) you hate the most!?!
Inside Llewyn Davis

Pulp Fiction
Wes Anderson movies
Most Coen brothers films (outside Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Hudsucker Proxy & Llewyn Davis)
Kevin Smith movies
Odd Man Out
The Tin Drum
Inception

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by Bates_Motel

Pulp Fiction
Wes Anderson movies
Most Coen brothers films (outside Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Hudsucker Proxy & Llewyn Davis)
Kevin Smith movies
Odd Man Out
The Tin Drum
Inception

Wow so you have seen most Coen films even though you usually hate them? Must have been an insuferable long wait since The Hudsucker Proxy to Inside Llewin Davis