The "convince us about a film" thread.
 

Ever seen a film that you've not liked, then found that your view flies in the face of received/general opinions? Well, here's the chance for us doubters to be convinced otherwise.

First up: I think that Jack Smith's "Flaming Creatures" is a non-stop borefest. Who can persuade me of it's worth?

No one could convince you that you're wrong. Just accept that you are.

"Flaming Creatures" is a good film

If anyone can explain why so many people like Leon, I'd be REALLY grateful.

The same goes for Amelie, for that matter. And Carlito's Way.

No, because drugs really screw you up.

That's not what Nancy Reagen said.

pssssshhhhhhhht:fuckyou::D

This is now officially the most 'off-topic' thread on the inter-web.

Personally, I blame drugs.

"Carlito's Way" is hardly great cinema, but is an enjoyable enough romp. It's a film that is best seen with the brain switched off.

I haven't seen "Amelie", and much "Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels", I never intend to either.

Did you know that Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is Armenian slang for gay rape?

A version of the Paul Verhoeven film "Spetters" has a hardcore gay sex sequence that depicts rape. A coming of age film that you couldn't take home to you mother.

nobody, but nobody can convince me to like that "garden state" piece of shit. most overrated movie ever.

Films I hated and then found out that other people liked them:

Shrek
Napoleon Dynamite
Mulholland Drive

Go for it.

Amelie is quite good, in its own idiosyncratic french way. It's subtitled, so that could be annoying, but if you're interested in actually watching the film you don't really think about it.

I really like "Mulholland Drive", especially it's lack of linearity and almost blatant refusal to follow a conventional narrative. Some good performances too. However, like you, I know a good few people who can't stand the film for these reasons.

i was writing about leon but stopped to check how the thread was going & found this. wow! i LOVE napoleon dynamite.

why?

1) napoleon is a complete fucking dork. i mean PAINFULLY. a sad sack. pathetic, i mean jeezus. so is his brother. they are like these basement dorks who never grew up.

2) somehow they both find redemption & discover that they are capable of being more than 2 pathetic pencilnecks. napoleon through friendship and kip through (ha ha ha) the internet!

3) even uncle rico who is a complete asshole stuck in 1982, with a pathetic outlook on life, finds some sort of forgiveness after he gets his ass kicked, though i can't tell who that chick in the bike was.

4) its fucking hilarious, i mean, so many funny moments, so many absurd characters, moments & lines. "pedro offers you his protection." ha ha ha ah ha haha . oh man. "we should get some holy santos, to watch over us. the santo nin~o de atocha is a good one". ha ha ha. the scene when he goes work in that chicken farm & gets fed raw eggs. ha ha ha ha haha ha. i can't stop laughing at that movie.

4) pedro wins. napoleon finds a girl who is not so bad after she undos that ugly ponytail. it's kinda like revenge of the nerds, except that these people don't perform any technical miracles, they are just well-meaning decent people.

5) i love the way it was shot & edited. the pacing of the scenes worked perfectly to support the comedy.

6) i even own the movie, and i first bought movies recently for the first time.

Amelie is a worthless movie.

not quite; the style is overripe & over the top but it has its qualities... which i can't name at the moment :D

See!

ha ha ha

I'll give Carlito's Way a thumbs-up. Not the strongest thumbs-up, but still a recommendation.


Similar marginal thumbs-up go out to Amelie, Napoleon Dynamite, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

I'll begrudgingly also give Mulholland Drive a thumbs-up. It's definitely still worth seeing.

Per the topic, I'd love to convince others that McCabe & Mrs. Miller is a great film and am glad I was able to encourage some to see The Elephant Man the last time this thread was incarnated.
As for documentaries, Roger & Me is a masterpiece, but I don't have it in me right now to elucidate further. As for comedies, I really enjoyed the Coen Bros.' The Ladykillers, but most seem to be kinda iffy about it. I'll go ahead and state my opinion now that The Circus is Chaplin's funniest (one of his saddest too) and that everyone should see it.

I know it's not the most accessible of films, but i really don't get the general apathy that greets Mulholland Dr. Worth the price of entry if only for the 'Crying' scene.

Well I wrote this for the newspaper the other day. If any of you are thinking of seeing Blades Of Glory/getting it on DVD:

. . .Will Ferrell. Ice skating. Crotches. You can guess the rest – a patchy frat-pack vehicle pitching Ferrell alongside Jon Heder (of Napoleon Dynamite fame) in what will likely amount to one of the biggest comedy films of the year. Bearing all the hallmarks of a cut-price Anchorman (sans cameos from Ben Stiller and the boys, though Stiller himself produces here), Blades Of Glory represents a thoroughly mindless 93-minute dissection of the contradiction in terms presented by an overtly macho, self-confessed sex addict pairing up with an effeminate, kind-hearted orphan for a bout of all-male paired figure skating.
. . . Jimmy MacElroy (Heder), the adopted son of billionaire horse breeder Danny MacElroy and raised solely for figure skating success, finds himself upstaged at the WinterSport Games (ostensibly the Winter Olympics) by one Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and his raunchy routine. A fracas on the podium ensues, resulting in a lifetime ban from the sport for the pair. Naturally, a psychotic fan of MacElroy’s, Hector (Nick Swardson), intervenes with the all-important discovery of a loophole – the bans only apply to the singles category.
. . .The resulting journey back to the ice for the two provides its fair share of guffaws as first-time directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon have endeavoured to render each scene more farcical than the last, with anything from Michaels’ constant leering (“''You an official here? Because you have officially given me a boner!'') to high-octane chases in ice skates on dry land providing the fun. The problem of course is that we’ve seen all of this before - the same rudimentary high-low-higher story arc providing the basis for Ferrell’s previous two outings – and there’s precious little added to the formula this time around (save an extra layer of homoeroticism) to mask what’s essentially a one-joke wonder with an hour-long punchline. Still, if the sight of a paunchy spandex-clad comedian on ice sounds like a lark to you, you could do worse than this Ferrell-by-numbers effort. Kick some ice.

Etc.

Well, I guess I don't totally dislike Napoleon Dynamite. I watch it and laugh, but when I first saw it, it didn't work for me as a whole. It very funny characters and individual scenes, but I didn't think it was cohesive.

Mulholland Drive elicited a very strong reaction from me when I saw it in the theater. Any film that can evoke such strong emotions, even hate, is worth something, I suppose. I liked it better the 2nd time I saw it, just because I was in a better mood. Its non-linearity has nothing to do with why I didn't initially like it.

Hudson Hawk is funny and entertaining.

i accidentally deleted what i was writing about leon. o well! in a nutshell: i like the story & the characters.


well when i started napoleon dynamite he was so painfully terrible i thought euthanasia was the best course. yeah it wasnt cohesive but i expected a lot less from an MTV movie. comedies like that are often not cohesive, they aim at the isolated gag, but this was a nice story nevertheless.

about mulholland drive, it's funny, i remember little of it, i only have a vivid memory of a few scenes, but i remember i was not displeased with whatever it is that happened. ha ha ha! i should see it again.

You meant "she seemed".
As a carachter, not the real person.

I don't even know the point of my previous post. But I understood what you meant.

Amelie is a very idealist/romantic movie. It is uplifting yet very sad to see a beautiful girl like that so trapped in idealism. It isn't for the cynic part of you.

I thought Casino Royale was brilliant. Best Bond in years. My friends think not.

I also liked the film Borat. Apparently that puts you on the ignorant list.... when really I think Sacha Baron Cohen is quite clever for doing that film. It shows us how culturally ignorant we can be when people start asking if all that Kazachstani stuff was real.. the running of the jew and what not...
absolutely hilarious. I wasn't a big fan of the naked fight though... bad mental image.