Most Polarizing Films

[stlcards]

1) The Fountain- I have never seen it.
2) Vanilla Sky- I like it.
3) Eyes Wide Shut- I like it.
4) The Blair Witch Project- I hated it.
5) Fahrenheit 9/11- I don't like Michael Moore. I don't watch his movies.
6) Moulin Rouge- I have never seen it.
7) The Village- I have never seen it.
8) Crash- I liked it.
9) A.I.- It was ok.
10) Watchmen- I loved it.

Someone mentioned 2001. I hated 2001.

[Fighter]

Ditto about 2001...hated it

Bladerunner sticks out in my mind as a recent film I saw a couple of weeks ago. The restored version is bonafide masterpiece

[BoomerKS]

The Thin Red Line--Absolutely hated that movie. Saw it in the theater and it was the first time I ever wanted to walk out.

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by BoomerKS

The Thin Red Line--Absolutely hated that movie. Saw it in the theater and it was the first time I ever wanted to walk out.

I can understand that....despite the fact that I spent two years doing a thesis on that film and Malick's other four films. Certainly not a director for everywhere--requires the utmost patience.

[jebhdb]

1. The Fountain- I loved it. Beautiful movie.
2. Vanilla Sky- Reviews were so bad I never watched it.
3. Eyes Wide Shut- Didn't care for it. The piano clanging got on my nerves.
4. Blair Witch- Very good. The ending still gives me chills.
5. Fahrenheit 9/11- Not a Michael Moore fan. Only seen bits and pieces.
6. Moulin Rouge- Tried to watch it and couldn't get into it. Hated it.
7. The Village- I liked it, but it could have been better.
8. Crash- Was good, but I don't know if it was worthy of an Oscar.
9. A.I.- Haven't seen it.
10. Watchmen- Very good movie.

[toef]

1) The Fountain -- saw it, liked it, will probably eventually get it

2) Vanilla Sky -- saw it, liked it, I think I own it on DVD, but someone borrowed it and never gave it back

3) Eyes Wide Shut -- bought it for $2, didn't really like it, although people have been coming around on it over the years (I don't think it's as polarizing today as it was when it came out)

4) The Blair Witch Project- saw it, didn't like it (kind of an original idea, just a boring movie to me)

5) Fahrenheit 9/11 -- saw it, didn't like it, but it had it's moments

6) Moulin Rouge -- never saw it

7) the Village -- saw it, liked the general idea, hated the execution of it

8) Crash -- saw it, liked it, didn't deserve best picture, but I hate that it became cool to dislike after that

9) A.I. -- saw it, didn't like it, it dragged on way too much, plus I don't like Jude Law

10) Watchmen -- saw it, liked it, too long to watch very often, but it's nice to have to watch once in a rare while

[jhiggy23]

Originally Posted by toefer

1) The Fountain -- saw it, liked it, will probably eventually get it

2) Vanilla Sky -- saw it, liked it, I think I own it on DVD, but someone borrowed it and never gave it back

3) Eyes Wide Shut -- bought it for $2, didn't really like it, although people have been coming around on it over the years (I don't think it's as polarizing today as it was when it came out)

4) The Blair Witch Project- saw it, didn't like it (kind of an original idea, just a boring movie to me)

5) Fahrenheit 9/11 -- saw it, didn't like it, but it had it's moments

6) Moulin Rouge -- never saw it

7) the Village -- saw it, liked the general idea, hated the execution of it

8) Crash -- saw it, liked it, didn't deserve best picture, but I hate that it became cool to dislike after that

9) A.I. -- saw it, didn't like it, it dragged on way too much, plus I don't like Jude Law

10) Watchmen -- saw it, liked it, too long to watch very often, but it's nice to have to watch once in a rare while

Thanks Toefer. It's funny, I used to not be a fan of Jude Law myself. Then I saw the fantastic film Gattaca, which he should have had an Oscar nom for. I also am a fan of Road to Perdition, which he was very good in as well. Same goes for Cold Mountain, come to think of it.

[Suntory_Times]

1) The Fountain: By far the best film on the list, I can see why some would dislike it, I however thought it was terrific.

2) Vanilla Sky: Slow, boring, and no thought provoking or interesting in any real way. Avoid like cancer.

3) Eyes Wide Shut: A descent end to a great directors carrer.

4) The Blair Witch Project: I don't mind when the camera shakes (eg: cloverfield or quarantine), but at some stage after shot after shot of the floor shaking you have to wonder what the point was.

5) Fahrenheit 9/11: Pretentious biased crap, it doesn't offend my political beliefs, its just crap.

6) Moulin Rouge: An okay musical, nothing more, nothing less.

7) the Village: Terrible third act, with two descent opening acts. Film remains very bad.

8) Crash: An okay film, better then average but not spectacular by any means

9) A.I.: A slow film, that evokes the same reactions as Crash did to me.

10) Watchmen: A fun comic book film, that never really blows you away (outside of Dr Manhattans story line). Probably the second best film on this list though in my opinion.



Another polorazing film is Babel.

(Resists the urge to make a joke about all the real d 3d films bieng the most polorizing films).

[Travis]

1) The Fountain--Never seen it
2) Vanilla Sky--Can't stand it
3) Eyes Wide Shut--Can't stand it
4) The Blair Witch Project-- One of the worst movies ever
5) Fahrenheit 9/11--Never seen it, can't stand Michael Moore
6) Moulin Rouge--Like ie
7) the Village--Didn't like it
8) Crash--Enjoyed it
9) A.I.--Like it
10) Watchmen--disappointing

Juno
Napolean Dynamite
Superbad
Heard they were so great, wasted my time. Many new comedies, I cant watch. I do enjoy Ferris Bueller and 80's teen comedies. The new batch, nope, not a all.

An older one Fear and Loathing, maybe it is good on shrooms but watching it sober, no. Terrible

[mjbethancourt]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I just found this link of the top 10 most polarizing movies of the past decade:

http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/20...e-last-decade/

I am very interested to see what people think about each of the following films listed in the poll, and whether you like each or not and why.

Here is my opinion:

1) The Fountain--my favorite film, for the reasons provided in the link and more.

2) Vanilla Sky--beautiful story, decent acting, great soundtrack

3) Eyes Wide Shut--immersive and interesting, but not a huge fan

4) The Blair Witch Project--one of only a few movies that truly terrifies me. without a doubt the best marketing ever done for a film, and a throwback to the horror masters who realize that things are scarier when they are in your mind and not on the screen. the final shot is still incredibly innerving to me.

5) Fahrenheit 9/11--I think Michael Moore is a great documentarian, and I like Bowling for Columbine and Roger and Me, but I cannot stand 9/11 conspiracy junk, as much as I hate Bush

6) Moulin Rouge--completely unwatchable to me, despite its technical merits

7) the Village--hated the ending as much as other people. i think Shyamalan is a great director and good at coming up with concepts, but poor at writing the final act of his films. this film was one of the biggest disappointments to me because i thought the concept was genius

8) Crash--great movie and deserving of the Oscar. great writing and great acting across the board.

9) A.I.--yes, it is rather boring, but in many ways I consider it a masterpiece.

10) Watchmen--did not like it one bit.



Also, feel free, after commenting on each or some of the above 10, to list films you yourself would include as the most polarizing.

1.) Never saw it, the trailers and ads made it look really bad to me. I have a distaste for New age, mumbo-jumbo type stuff, and that's what they made it look like.

2.) Never saw it, but it looks very intriguing. I'll have to get around to that one someday.

3.) Basic Kubrick... great direction and photography is a given, but a real tendency to be weird for the sake of weird, and not have much of a point. Kubrick films can really meander or miss altogether sometimes, but at least they're always a beatiful ride. I didn't like this one.

4.) Absolutely hated everything about this movie. Movies like this are not made for people like me. Generally speaking, though, I tend to hate all horror movies, and anything with supernatural/paranormal stuff. I thought the movie was a mishmash of cheap gimmicks... glad I didn't pay to see it.

5.) Everything about Michael Moore disgusts me. The less I say about this, the better. I think you picked a winner here for "most polarizing film".

6.) I agree with you about Moulin Rouge. One more movie that a woman made me see, that I wouldn't otherwise deign to stop to spit on.

7.) Probably the only Shyamalan movie that I've enjoyed. It had good characters, and I liked the basic message: we make our own boogeymen, and there is no running away from evil, you just plain have to learn how to face it.

8.) Have only seen parts of Crash, I can't judge it fairly.

9.) A charming family movie. Not a favorite of mine, but I enjoyed watching it.

10.) Definition of a stupid movie. I couldn't find much of anything that I liked about it. I think it was very poorly made and poorly written. A big waste of a lot of money.

Jeez, looking over it, that's a lot of negative response! I guess that's to be expected when you make a list of "Polarizing movies".

[stlcards]

Thin Red Line- I hated it.
Blade Runner- I liked it.

[goochspot]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I just found this link of the top 10 most polarizing movies of the past decade:

http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/20...e-last-decade/

I am very interested to see what people think about each of the following films listed in the poll, and whether you like each or not and why.

Here is my opinion:

1) The Fountain--my favorite film, for the reasons provided in the link and more.

2) Vanilla Sky--beautiful story, decent acting, great soundtrack

3) Eyes Wide Shut--immersive and interesting, but not a huge fan

4) The Blair Witch Project--one of only a few movies that truly terrifies me. without a doubt the best marketing ever done for a film, and a throwback to the horror masters who realize that things are scarier when they are in your mind and not on the screen. the final shot is still incredibly innerving to me.

5) Fahrenheit 9/11--I think Michael Moore is a great documentarian, and I like Bowling for Columbine and Roger and Me, but I cannot stand 9/11 conspiracy junk, as much as I hate Bush

6) Moulin Rouge--completely unwatchable to me, despite its technical merits

7) the Village--hated the ending as much as other people. i think Shyamalan is a great director and good at coming up with concepts, but poor at writing the final act of his films. this film was one of the biggest disappointments to me because i thought the concept was genius

8) Crash--great movie and deserving of the Oscar. great writing and great acting across the board.

9) A.I.--yes, it is rather boring, but in many ways I consider it a masterpiece.

10) Watchmen--did not like it one bit.



Also, feel free, after commenting on each or some of the above 10, to list films you yourself would include as the most polarizing.

The Fountain - I've seen this once, but I really enjoyed it. I have no idea what the last part of the movie was about, but I do want to see it again.

Vanilla Sky - I saw this movie during a time when I was obsessed with Fight Club. Because of this, I liked it when it first came out, but I revisited this film along with other Cameron Crowe films last year and I'm not impressed with any of his films. Vanilla Sky has a lot going for it and has some very interesting ideas, but I feel, Cameron Crowe delivers his movies a little heavy handed when it comes to emotion.

Eyes Wide Shut - I've seen this movie about 12 times. During the first 8 times, I wasn't sure why I was watching this movie again, but there is something about this film that made me want to watch it any time it was on. On the 9th viewing I had a connection beyond the visual appeal of the film. I feel I get what Kubrick was going for. It's a film that when it's on, I'm going to be watching it.

Blair Witch Project - I've only seen this movie once and that's when it was at the theater. I loved it and felt it was very original. I haven't had the urge to watch it again, so I don't know what that means.

Fahrenheit 9/11 - It is not a Documentary. I do like Michael Moore, but he droped the ball on this. He let his hate with Bush blind him from making a Documentary.

Moulin Rouge - I don't understand this movie's appeal.

The Village - What can be said about this bad movie that hasn't already been said. I hated the ending and I figured it out. Not the exact ending, but I knew something along those lines were coming. I wish instead of a twist ending, there should of been monsters in the woods. That would of been a cool movie.

Crash - After I watched this movie at home for the first time, I got 10 more people to watch it with me because I loved it so much. During the second viewing, I realized how over the top the whole movie is. I just don't feel it's that great of a movie. I need to watch it one more time.

A.I. - I liked this movie, but I wish it would of ended with David reaching out to the Blue Fairy. I understand that this would of been a bleak ending to a film that was about love and hope, but I didn't like the whole alien ending.

Watchmen - The idea of the comic was putting Superheros into the real world and seeing what that would be like. Nothing in the Watchman was grounded in reality. This just annoyed me.


I would add TWBB and NCFOM to the polarizing list. Also Kill Bill Vol. 2. I've met a lot of people who love Vol. 1 but can't stand Vol. 2.

[uziel5000]

The Passion of the Christ is imo the most polarizing film of the decade and one of the most polarizing of all time.

As for this particular forum, nothing quite brings out the passion, the energy and the silly more than the Star Wars films.

[goochspot]

Originally Posted by uziel5000

The Passion of the Christ is imo the most polarizing film of the decade and one of the most polarizing of all time.

As for this particular forum, nothing quite brings out the passion, the energy and the silly more than the Star Wars films.

I agree with your statement about Passion. Any movie based on a religious belief will be met with polarization.

[Grand Bob]

Originally Posted by goochspot

Eyes Wide Shut - I've seen this movie about 12 times. During the first 8 times, I wasn't sure why I was watching this movie again, but there is something about this film that made me want to watch it any time it was on. On the 9th viewing I had a connection beyond the visual appeal of the film. I feel I get what Kubrick was going for. It's a film that when it's on, I'm going to be watching it.

Maybe I haven't seen it enough. Nobody respects Kubrick more than me, but WTF he was thinking when he made this is beyond me.

[assydingo]

I was more impressed with Blade Runner the second time.

I personally love Watchmen. Maybe in time it'll get the respect it deserves.

[SquidPuppet]

1) The Fountain: Perfect in every way. Absolute masterpiece.
2) Vanilla Sky: I give it a big meh.
3) Eyes Wide Shut: Saw it once and hated it, but couldnt turn it off.
4) The Blair Witch Project: In my Netflix queue
5) Fahrenheit 9/11: Enjoyed the data, but he is too "passionate"
6) Moulin Rouge: Pretty to look at, but Yaaaawwwn.
7) The Village: Liked it, including the ending.
8) Crash: Saw it once and liked it a lot.
9) A.I.: Never saw it.
10) Watchmen: I didnt like or dislike it. It was just kinda there...

[Riff Magnum]

Very surprised that No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Mullholland Drive, and Inland Empire didn't make the list. I think those could easily replace Watchmen, A.I., Vanilla Sky, the Village, and Moulin Rouge.

[goochspot]

Originally Posted by Grand Bob

Maybe I haven't seen it enough. Nobody respects Kubrick more than me, but WTF he was thinking when he made this is beyond me.

I think he was interested in making a film about relationships and what they can do to people. He focused on a married couple, but there is also a past friendship, a current friendship, a father/daughter relationship, work relationships and then group relationships. I feel the three main themes in no particular order are, Trust, Love and Lust and all three play into the above mentioned relationships. I feel I've only spoken of what's on the surface, but like any Kubrick film, there's so much more going on. I would recommend watching it a couple more times. Plus, the fact the whole movie was shot on a sound stage blows my mind. I think that's why I love the visual look of the film.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

I just found this link of the top 10 most polarizing movies of the past decade:

http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/20...e-last-decade/

I am very interested to see what people think about each of the following films listed in the poll, and whether you like each or not and why.

Here is my opinion:

1) The Fountain--my favorite film, for the reasons provided in the link and more.

2) Vanilla Sky--beautiful story, decent acting, great soundtrack

3) Eyes Wide Shut--immersive and interesting, but not a huge fan

4) The Blair Witch Project--one of only a few movies that truly terrifies me. without a doubt the best marketing ever done for a film, and a throwback to the horror masters who realize that things are scarier when they are in your mind and not on the screen. the final shot is still incredibly innerving to me.

5) Fahrenheit 9/11--I think Michael Moore is a great documentarian, and I like Bowling for Columbine and Roger and Me, but I cannot stand 9/11 conspiracy junk, as much as I hate Bush

6) Moulin Rouge--completely unwatchable to me, despite its technical merits

7) the Village--hated the ending as much as other people. i think Shyamalan is a great director and good at coming up with concepts, but poor at writing the final act of his films. this film was one of the biggest disappointments to me because i thought the concept was genius

8) Crash--great movie and deserving of the Oscar. great writing and great acting across the board.

9) A.I.--yes, it is rather boring, but in many ways I consider it a masterpiece.

10) Watchmen--did not like it one bit.



Also, feel free, after commenting on each or some of the above 10, to list films you yourself would include as the most polarizing.

(1) The Fountain - was very confusing on my first viewing. On subsequent viewings and research, I've come to love this film as a masterpiece, and say its up there in my top 20 all-time

(2) Vanilla Sky - in my top 10 all-time. This is definitely a love or hate. I don't think most people truly "get" this film, hence they're criticizing a misconception of the film, not the actual film. Upon subsequent viewings (a pattern with Vanilla, Fountain, 2001, and other such films that explore complex issues) the themes and plot becomes more clear and this masterpiece was incredible. what is reality? what is happiness? is it having everything? is it having lots of stuff? is it having your health? how do we know if we're awake or dreaming? fundamental questions explored with great detail.

(3) Eyes Wide Shut - another masterpiece overlooked by many and that also requires subsequent viewings. I think this will become a classic with time and gain respect it deserves with time. I still am not aware of a movie that examines the theme of revenge for imagined, not actual, acts done. our minds are complex devices, that think these things all the time, and yet this movie does a great job of exploring this.

yes, i'd agree that religious movies like Passion are polarizing, but I'd say that Brokeback was just as polarizing as the Passion.