Unpopular Movie Opinions: Part III

[Invid Ninja]

I mean as far as unpopular views go, saying Taxi Driver is flat out incompetent is news to me, it's my favourite of his works and I'm by no means an acolyte of his.

For what it's worth, my rant wasn't geared for you scifisuperfan particularly if that helps.

[LegacyCosts]

Originally Posted by Invid Ninja

I mean as far as unpopular views go, saying Taxi Driver is flat out incompetent is news to me, it's my favourite of his works and I'm by no means an acolyte of his.

For what it's worth, my rant wasn't geared for you scifisuperfan particularly if that helps.

I always thought the point of the thread was to voice unpopular opinions and be willing to discuss them. Superhero echo chambers are pretty common around here so I've always lurked on the UO thread. I admit to being overly sentimental with a few films like taxi driver or blade runner but I still am interested in seeing why he feels the way he does.

[Gacivory]

Originally Posted by Mistress9

I think you misunderstand my argument. When you do jump cuts, hand held camera, artsy fartsy closeups of glasses or door knobs or whatever, that is cinematography and editing that calls attention to itself, in other words, it reminds you that you are watching a movie. That was the whole point of French New Wave, to destroy the Hollywood style of seamless editing, lighting and shooting that makes you forget you are seeing a movie. Then people like Scorcese decided to make that THE cinematographic style, and it doesn't work. Unless you are being ironic or purposefully deconstructive, it doesn't make sense, because who is the camera? what is it looking at and from what perspective? When you use those techniques all you see is the director calling the shots, it calls attention to itself.

And that is the monumental failure of that style, Taxi Driver may be dark and informal all you want, every frame is a glaring reminder of Scorcese and his mustache calling the shots. It is amateurish as hell and can't stand next to something like King Kong, or The Grapes Of Wrath, or the original Scarface, etc. It just can't.

Confirmed! You believe Hitchcock’s Stranger’s on a Train is artsy fartsy garbage!

[Invid Ninja]

Exactly, I don't mind most mainstream film chat but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find the seemingly endless MCU/DC/etc threads on most social media platforms a little exhausting.

[scifisuperfan]

Originally Posted by Gacivory

Confirmed! You believe Hitchcock’s Stranger’s on a Train is artsy fartsy garbage!

[Foggy]

If Taxi Driver is too “artsy farty” then lord knows what will be thought about the mass majority of other films.

[AaronJ]

Originally Posted by Foggy

If Taxi Driver is too “artsy farty” then lord knows what will be thought about the mass majority of other films.

I'm waiting for someone who finds Taxi Driver too artsy to finally meet up with Malick.

[spanky87]

Dirty Harry -v- Artsy Fartsy - YouTube

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by scifisuperfan

I was being sarcastic. People can say whatever they want here.

Except when they say Taxi Driver isnt a good movie. There are limits. Come on...

It's not a bad movie, I just don't like it since it's not my type of movie. Same goes for something like Shawshank Redemption. I've seen it once but I don't have the intention of ever watching it again.

[LegacyCosts]

Mistress was already banned, probably for not liking Taxi Driver I imagine. Surely a crime against film punishable by death.

[Rzzzz]

Originally Posted by LegacyCosts

Mistress was already banned, probably for not liking Taxi Driver I imagine. Surely a crime against film punishable by death.

I don't understand why we can't love Hitchcock AND Taxi Driver....

[LegacyCosts]

Originally Posted by Rzzzz

I don't understand why we can't love Hitchcock AND Taxi Driver....

They're both pretty great

[scifisuperfan]

Ok moving on.

Peter Berg movies make me headaches but i end up liking them.

[LegacyCosts]

Originally Posted by scifisuperfan

Ok moving on.

Peter Berg movies make me headaches but i end up liking them.

Never watched one, far too much wahlberg

[DragonOfTheBlackPool]

Originally Posted by LegacyCosts

Never watched one, far too much wahlberg

Check out Very Bad Things. Pretty good movie and no Marky Mark.

[scifisuperfan]

Originally Posted by LegacyCosts

Never watched one, far too much wahlberg

You can safely watch Hancock, The Kingdom and The Rundown. There is no Mark, altough you might see Donnie. haha

[oilers73]

Hey, here's an unpopular opinion that's positive, rather than "(fill in the blank) sucks".

I think Julia Roberts and Mel Gibson gave their best performances in Conspiracy Theory. This one didn't make a lot of money, got mostly mediocre reviews, and is never talked about. It just kind of fell through the cracks. If you haven't seen it, check it out!

[Martoto]

Originally Posted by LegacyCosts

Mistress was already banned, probably for not liking Taxi Driver I imagine. Surely a crime against film punishable by death.

More likely because of their antagonistic posting style.

[Dr. Pavel]

caught the departed on tv the other night, geez, such a terrible film, one of the worst high-profile pictures i've ever seen. it's even worse than remembered. such a big hackjob, i just don't even see the point of doing that one. it has few good scenes but overall it's just a big mess with typical scorsese cliches, typical cop cliches, forced symbolism and crappy improvisation. i can't stand matt damon but he was the best part of the film, such a turbo twat. marky mark was also good. also unusual for a scorsese picture, but the soundtrack was dull. that ending with the literal rat is the worst of all time.

[Mothravka]

Originally Posted by Dr. Pavel

caught the departed on tv the other night, geez, such a terrible film, one of the worst high-profile pictures i've ever seen. it's even worse than remembered. such a big hackjob, i just don't even see the point of doing that one. it has few good scenes but overall it's just a big mess with typical scorsese cliches, typical cop cliches, forced symbolism and crappy improvisation. i can't stand matt damon but he was the best part of the film, such a turbo twat. marky mark was also good. also unusual for a scorsese picture, but the soundtrack was dull. that ending with the literal rat is the worst of all time.

As a remake, I think it's better than the first original Hong Kong film, but that doesn't say much. In the end, it's still not good or exciting at all, it's rather just quite pointless, boring, too apparent and without any real finesse.