'Good' Movies, TV Shows, Books Etc. You Dislike

[gunhilltrain]

"No Soup For You!"

That was based on a real shopkeeper - or so I've heard.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I think it's one of the best and funniest shows ever. Absolutely brilliant. Jason Alexander's performance as George might be my all-time favorite performance by an actor in a TV comedy series.

I like the honesty and complete lack of sentiment in it. Its mantra, according to co-creator Larry David, was "No hugging, no learning."

It's why I like It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia so much. It's like Seinfeld, but on crack. Nobody ever learns anything.

It was watchable when new. George reminded me of a friend of mine, and his parents on the show were much like that guy's parents. However, years later I have no desire to revisit the show.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I thought this thread was supposed to be about good movies and series?

Well, if you dislike the movie or series, then by definition it's not very good. The thread is about minority opinions on works that were lauded by most audiences. Seinfeld fits in that category. Also, works that seemed fresh once loose their appeal over time.

 

[lovecraft68]

Or it's just not funny.

It's not funny, and that whole culture of "well, maybe its so subtle, or so...that you don't understand it."

Something's funny you laugh. When it's not you don't. Anything beyond that is fanboys/girls defending it

 

[lovecraft68]

No Country for Old Men.

I'll just be blunt. Fuck all the way off with this thing. Boring as all get out, nonsensical, and the people yammering that the bowl headed drip hitman is one of the scariest killers ever portrayed obviously don't know anything about...well, much of anything.

 

[CuriousRick]

No Country for Old Men.

I'll just be blunt. Fuck all the way off with this thing. Boring as all get out, nonsensical, and the people yammering that the bowl headed drip hitman is one of the scariest killers ever portrayed obviously don't know anything about...well, much of anything.

Hated this movie. Also hated Million Dollar Baby

 

[Kelliezgirl]

No Country for Old Men.

I'll just be blunt. Fuck all the way off with this thing. Boring as all get out, nonsensical, and the people yammering that the bowl headed drip hitman is one of the scariest killers ever portrayed obviously don't know anything about...well, much of anything.

The book was pretty good.

 

[CuriousRick]

The book was pretty good.

Books are almost always better

 

[lovecraft68]

The book was pretty good.

I've heard that, but the movie scarred me so I won't bother with it.

 

[lovecraft68]

Books are almost always better

I mostly agree, but one example of the movie being better because of the changes it made was Jaws. In the novel Hooper screws Brody's wife, but also dies at the end, and the ending was anti-climactic with Brody killing the shark with a hunk of meat on an electrified hook.

 

[TheLobster]

Books are almost always better

Both cinematic adaptations of Dune are better than the boring slog, plot-wise, that the original novel is.

 

[SimonDoom]

Books are almost always better

I wouldn't say almost always. Often.

I thought the movie No Country For Old Men was better than the book. Some of the story doesn't make much sense, and the movie doesn't have to make sense of it. We can interpret it as we like. To me, the book came across as McCarthy light.

Jaws the movie was much better than Jaws the book.

The Godfather book was a fun potboiler. The movie was a masterpiece.

I thought the Harry Potter movies were, maybe not better than, but as good as, the books.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've heard that, but the movie scarred me so I won't bother with it.

McCarthy writes well, but the extreme violence in his work is off-putting. He admitted to it in a 1992 interview.

“There’s no such thing as life without bloodshed. I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea."

 

[lovecraft68]

McCarthy writes well, but the extreme violence in his work is off-putting. He admitted to it in a 1992 interview.

“There’s no such thing as life without bloodshed. I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea."

The violence in the movie was fairly tame-then again I'm a horror fan-so I guess they cut it down. I agree with his belief that base human nature will not allow for everything to be peaceful and loving. People will ultimately do bad things and need to be met in kind by people with similar mindsets.

 

[lovecraft68]

The Exorcist is a masterpiece both in book and movie form. What the book had was a much more detailed investigation by Karras on whether or not she was possessed of mentally ill, and him questioning his faith as he tried to slide from priest to psychologist the entire time.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

The violence in the movie was fairly tame-then again I'm a horror fan-so I guess they cut it down. I agree with his belief that base human nature will not allow for everything to be peaceful and loving. People will ultimately do bad things and need to be met in kind by people with similar mindsets.

The book isn't graphically violent. There are gunfights and people die, but none of it is gory.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I guess it could be argued that books with a horror or fantasy theme often benefit from being transferred to the big screen, assuming competent production. The visuals in the case of these genres can offer so much, even if movies rarely have enough "time" to convey the deep characterization and development that (good) books usually offer. In the case of dramas and thrillers, the visuals will rarely be as beneficial to the story.

 

[lovecraft68]

Well, if you dislike the movie or series, then by definition it's not very good. The thread is about minority opinions on works that were lauded by most audiences. Seinfeld fits in that category. Also, works that seemed fresh once loose their appeal over time.

If I recall the last episode is one of the worst ever in a series....and his cop out was, well the show was supposed to be about nothing. For whatever reason he's come out from the rock he's been under for awhile and just whining and crying that cancel culture has ruined comedy. The guy was never funny anyway, not to mention another celeb pedo.

I'd go with Rosanne as having one of the worst endings ever, but I also was never a big TV person so odds are there is worse out there.

 

[lovecraft68]

The 13th Warrior, a great guilty pleasure type of movie, was far better than the book "Eaters of the dead." That thing is very short yet still a snoozefest.

 

[RetroFan]

Knives Out from 2019 was supposed to be one of the best movies of 2019 if not the entire decade of the 2010s and I like crime fiction especially murder mysteries. I was really counting down until its release date. But when I saw it I thought it mindless drivel and sat in the cinema bored out of my fucking head.

Hail Caesar from 2016 was another movie I should have liked given my taste in films (it's set in the 1950s and I like the 1950s despite never having lived in this decade) and seemed to have a good premise. It received rave reviews but I absolutely hated it. However I was not alone in my distaste for this movie, and it seemed to be a good example of films loved by critics and not so popular with audiences.

 

[SimonDoom]

I didn't like Barbie. I'm not sure if it qualifies for the thread because I'm not sure I'm prepared to admit it's "good." But everybody seemed to love it so much. I found it off-putting almost from the very beginning (after the somewhat amusing 2001 spoof beginning). I found the pace frantic and annoying, everything about the messaging was overdone and overbroad and overacted. I didn't think it was funny or touching or profound. I was surprised, because I think Greta Gerwig is talented and I expected to enjoy it. But I felt it was very much an example of a movie that society decided one should like . . . and I didn't like it.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I didn't like Barbie. I'm not sure if it qualifies for the thread because I'm not sure I'm prepared to admit it's "good." But everybody seemed to love it so much. I found it off-putting almost from the very beginning (after the somewhat amusing 2001 spoof beginning). I found the pace frantic and annoying, everything about the messaging was overdone and overbroad and overacted. I didn't think it was funny or touching or profound. I was surprised, because I think Greta Gerwig is talented and I expected to enjoy it. But I felt it was very much an example of a movie that society decided one should like . . . and I didn't like it.

I wrote about Barbie without having seen more than the trailers; it hadn't been released yet. (I still haven't seen it.) Much of it is a roast of Quentin Tarantino, who directed Margot Robbie in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

https://classic.literotica.com/s/what-s-up-with-barbie-s-feet

Spoiler Alert. The works of Tarantino often annoy me. Vigilante-style tales make me uneasy. Susan Atkins may have been a deplorable person, but killing her in an extensive flame-thrower incident makes me cringe. The clip in on-line; judge for yourself.

 

[gunhilltrain]

If I recall the last episode is one of the worst ever in a series....and his cop out was, well the show was supposed to be about nothing. For whatever reason he's come out from the rock he's been under for awhile and just whining and crying that cancel culture has ruined comedy. The guy was never funny anyway, not to mention another celeb pedo.

I'd go with Rosanne as having one of the worst endings ever, but I also was never a big TV person so odds are there is worse out there.

Rosanne was one of that shows that went on for far too many seasons. It became stale after a while. By the time of the ending, I wasn't watching it any longer.

Speaking of endings: was the end of The Sopranos brilliant or just a lack-of-ideas cop-out? I'd say the latter, but many would disagree with me. Gandolfini passed before anyone could attempt a sequel. That prequel set in Newark (I forgot the name of it) might have worked as a series instead of a stand-alone movie.

 

[lovecraft68]

Rosanne was one of that shows that went on for far too many seasons. It became stale after a while. By the time of the ending, I wasn't watching it any longer.

Speaking of endings: was the end of The Sopranos brilliant or just a lack-of-ideas cop-out? I'd say the latter, but many would disagree with me. Gandolfini passed before anyone could attempt a sequel. That prequel set in Newark (I forgot the name of it) might have worked as a series instead of a stand-alone movie.

Ohhh good question.

To me, the series could only end two ways, Tony being whacked, or put in jail.

There's a point in the series where either he or one of the other mobsters were talking about getting whacked and do you see or feel anything, and someone says they think it would be a blinding white light, so he may have been referencing that.

Its ambiguous as well in the way they set up the other people in the diner so that the real question hanging is who whacked him? I know people also wondered if they just did him or killed the wife and son, but odds are I'd think just him.

Odd show, its full of absolute trash for characters, but they never really try to show them as anything but. Great dialogue.

There's a Sopranos ending explained vid on You tube-a few actually-that are pretty good if you're interested.

I agree on Roseanne, that entire last season where they won the lottery and all that crap, then the final episode with "Dan died, and the entire show was her writing in her journal. Only interesting thing was the mention of how the daughter's boyfriend's were switched because its who she thought they should have been with, and Jackie was gay all along, but Roseanne wrote her as straight throughout the show because its what she wanted her to be.

But that wasn't enough to save it.

I identified with the show, and I think a lot of Gen X did because many of us were raised in that level of dysfunction.

 

[MrHereWriting]

Ohhh good question.

To me, the series could only end two ways, Tony being whacked, or put in jail.

There's a point in the series where either he or one of the other mobsters were talking about getting whacked and do you see or feel anything, and someone says they think it would be a blinding white light, so he may have been referencing that.