Unpopular Movie Opinions: Part III

[happydood]

Originally Posted by dvining

Frank Capra top ten:

10. Arsenic and Old Lace
9. Forbidden
8. The Matinee Idol
7. Meet John Doe
6. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
5. It Happened One Night
4. You Can't Take it With You
3. American Madness
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1. It's a Wonderful Life

I like your style. But I think Deeds is my number 3 and Meet John Doe my number 4. And I'd put American Madness behind It Happened One Night.

[BluGalaxy]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

War of the Worlds and War World Z are both terrible.

Making a zombie movie without any blood or gore is one of Hollywood's biggest mistakes ever.

[BluGalaxy]

Originally Posted by Cinemaniac

"Call Me By Your Name" is about pedophilia.

So is the TV series Queer as Folk. That's why I don't watch anything made by Russell T Davies

[DR Herbert West]

Affleck > Damon

[dvining]

Originally Posted by El Dopo

For some reason I always forget that Arsenic is a Capra movie, although it explains why I like it so much. Personally I'd put it higher (like 4 after Wonderful Life, Smith and One Night), but any appreciation of the guy is good by me

Arsenic is funny, but it's one of those comedies that just doesn't land as hard now with me as it seems to have 80 years ago with its contemporary audience. I am consistently amused, but I almost never actually laugh. Actually casting Karloff might have gotten a few heightened reactions from me, but alas. Arsenic is also pretty atypical of Capra's output, especially the most famous stuff. It doesn't have those Capraesque elements to it, so it kind of sticks out.

It's also one of five Capra movies that I think Howard Hawks would have made better. There is his unofficial military trilogy (Submarine, Flight, and Dirigible) that echo Hawks films like Ceiling Zero, Only Angels Have Wings, and Tiger Shark (none of which are military movies, by the way) about men working in dangerous professions and the women who love them (Hawks loved his love triangles, too). The other two are It Happened One Night and Arsenic. My only real issue with It Happened One night is the speed of the dialogue delivery. It feels spread out like Capra built space between lines of dialogue to fill with laughter from the audience which, I think, deadens the impact of the comedy as opposed to something like His Girl Friday where the dialogue is delivered super quickly, forcing the audience to play catch up which, I think, makes it a more entertaining experience.

Originally Posted by happydood

I like your style. But I think Deeds is my number 3 and Meet John Doe my number 4. And I'd put American Madness behind It Happened One Night.

I have niggling issues with Deeds and John Doe that hold them back slightly. For Deeds, it's that the first half of its final half-hour is a rhetorical repeat of the actions of the film up to that point. It does end up laying the groundwork for a series of jokes that Deeds says in that second half of the final half-hour, so it's not like it's a worthless chunk of film. It's just not as compelling as pretty much everything around that fifteen minutes.

John Doe just doesn't seem to operate in the real world (the idea that Americans had no strong sense of community in the late 30s just feels wrong), which I could be okay with except that its finale kind of relies on that feeling while bringing in more real world aspects at the same time. It, essentially, just dulls the impact of some of the finale's effects, especially around the John Does who decide to go back after they'd instantly fled the movement upon the reveal of Doe's true background. It's a hinky ending that not even Capra or Riskin thought really worked (argument by authority).

I don't think American Madness has those kinds of problems and works more fully in a certain fairy tale mode. One thing about American Madness I like is a bit metatextual. It was supposed to be one of a series of films made to reignite America's faith in the banking system and big banks, but it's actually a condemnation of big banks. The main character is portrayed and dramatized as extremely different from the rest of the banks around him, and it does the typical Capra thing of having the American people be their own savior rather than the big banks being it (which I assume was the point).

[John1701D]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

Affleck > Damon

That's unpopular?

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by John1701D

That's unpopular?

[moreorless]

Affleck playing a moody bastard I'v always enjoyed, the problem was when they tried to make him a conventional leading man.

[Blu Lemmy]

I love Matt Damon.
Haven't seen him in something I didn't enjoy.

The Lost City Of Z was good, would have been great if Pattinson and Humman swapped roles

[BudBaxter]

World War Z the movie > World War Z the book.

[The Sovereign]

Originally Posted by dvining

[Show spoiler]Arsenic is funny, but it's one of those comedies that just doesn't land as hard now with me as it seems to have 80 years ago with its contemporary audience. I am consistently amused, but I almost never actually laugh. Actually casting Karloff might have gotten a few heightened reactions from me, but alas. Arsenic is also pretty atypical of Capra's output, especially the most famous stuff. It doesn't have those Capraesque elements to it, so it kind of sticks out.

It's also one of five Capra movies that I think Howard Hawks would have made better. There is his unofficial military trilogy (Submarine, Flight, and Dirigible) that echo Hawks films like Ceiling Zero, Only Angels Have Wings, and Tiger Shark (none of which are military movies, by the way) about men working in dangerous professions and the women who love them (Hawks loved his love triangles, too). The other two are It Happened One Night and Arsenic. My only real issue with It Happened One night is the speed of the dialogue delivery. It feels spread out like Capra built space between lines of dialogue to fill with laughter from the audience which, I think, deadens the impact of the comedy as opposed to something like His Girl Friday where the dialogue is delivered super quickly, forcing the audience to play catch up which, I think, makes it a more entertaining experience.

I like Arsenic & Old Lace better than you, but I do find your thought on Hawks interesting. If anyone could have made it better, it likely would have been him. I think comedies are the most subjective of genres, and the least defendable for why one is better than another.

The list overall is pretty uncontroversial for this thread. I would have included Lost Horizon, and moved A&OL way up, but if you want to start a fight, you should put It's a Wonderful Life at dead last.

[dvining]

Originally Posted by The Sovereign

I like Arsenic & Old Lace better than you, but I do find your thought on Hawks interesting. If anyone could have made it better, it likely would have been him. I think comedies are the most subjective of genres, and the least defendable for why one is better than another.

The list overall is pretty uncontroversial for this thread. I would have included Lost Horizon, and moved A&OL way up, but if you want to start a fight, you should put It's a Wonderful Life at dead last.

There's always some bit of unpopular in my little lists. I guess Arsenic being so low is the unpopular part of this one. So be it!

Lost Horizon just...doesn't have a story for most of its running time. It's pretty and has some compelling stuff on the bookends while Capra's cast does its utmost. I like it, but I just find my mind wandering during that middle hour where not much is going on and we just see Shangri-La a whole lot.

I hadn't seen It's a Wonderful Life since I was in my teens, at least. In fact, I'm not sure if I had ever seen it all the way through. I got to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and I pronounced that there was no way any movie Capra made after that would I like more.

And then It's a Wonderful Life had me blubbering like a baby. A manly baby. With chest hair and an anchor tattoo on my forearm.

I mean, I can troll, but I don't think crapping on It's a Wonderful Life would be worth the trolling.

[spider-neil]

Originally Posted by BudBaxter

World War Z the movie > World War Z the book.

I’ll bite. Why?

[BudBaxter]

Originally Posted by spider-neil

I’ll bite. Why?

Expectation I guess. Everyone raved about the book. I read it, & it did absolutely nothing for me at all. Thought it was terrible. A few years later, the movie came out & got a very mixed critical response (mainly bad), so I wasn't expecting much. Really enjoyed it then & have enjoyed it every time I've seen it since.

Admittedly, the two don't really have much in common other than titles & zombies, but I can't imagine I'll ever return to the book, whereas the movie gets watched at least once a year.

It seems very unlikely now, but I still hope they'll release the original version one day. Or at least let us see all the deleted footage.

[spaceball-one]

Never Say Never Again > Thunderball

[mwynn]

Never to Young to Die > If Looks Could Kill

[Verisimilitude1984]

Originally Posted by spaceball-one

Never Say Never Again > Thunderball

Interested why you think that. What are your reasons?

[spaceball-one]

Originally Posted by Verisimilitude1984

Interested why you think that. What are your reasons?

Big Bond fan, I love Thunderball, but that's the first one where Sean's lost interest, whereas he seems to be having more fun in NSNA. I prefer Kirshner's direction to Young's, and Brandauer's Largo to Celi's. Edward Fox is a great M (though no Bernard Lee), while Barbara Carrera, Rowan Atkinson, and Max Von Sydow round out an inspired cast. Thunderball is great, but feels very ho-hum routine after the immortal opening trilogy (the first three 007s are the only essential films of the franchise).

[NARMAK]

General unpopular movie opinion i thought of for myself.

Although movies are supposed to be a form of escapism, i don't think most movies with conflict scenes are done realistically enough. I don't think they truly reflect the horrors adequately even when implied because they are trying to get away with a lower age certification.

Saving Private Ryan is probably one of the few big names i can think of that for the Normandy scene they went really graphic for the level of a Hollywood movie.

[ImBlu_DaBaDee]

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is really good and I would rank it third out of five for the series, above Crystal Skull and Temple of Doom