Disapointments---who else?

[Potzer! 37]

I'm not talking about waiting all summer of a new super-hero movie and then being bummed (tho' please feel free to tell those stories too).

I mean a movie that's older, acclaimed and has been on your list for awhile. Years maybe. And for whatever reason, you had trouble finding it. Then you do...and it's sucks.

I'm a dialogue guy. I love conversations and character stuff. I also love character actors and little know actors...so imagine my anticipation to see a film entitled My Dinner with Andre. A movie that is simply a conversation with an actor I love (Wallace Shawn) and an actor I didn't know (Andre Gregory). And so it was, that I sat down tonight to enjoy myself as these two men discussed life, relationships, each other and the mystical adventures of Andre...a comedy about two friends. Or so the reviews/synopsises/dvd case informed me.

Instead I got a longwinded loser leading a conversation about nothing of any importance with little for Mr. Wallace Shawn to do. I gave up after about an hour (and so, will not post a rating or even write a review (I tore out the page I'd stared in my review book)) of very unfunny and uninteresting talk.

Andre's stories had little substance for me as the changes he went through we're not well expressed...just the details of the events that made him change. The stories were apparently about meaning and self and yet, without any wit or any kind of comment from Shawn, they were utterly unfunny...just tedious. I understand that things change a tad after an hour, but I'd had enough. And I felt so disillusioned.

Ebert loved it (and I tend to share his sentiments). It won awards. It's THE "talking head" movie. I wanted wit and humor and emotion about two old friends discussing their lives...I got none of that. Sigh....

anyway....what are you're greatest disapointments...did somebody finally watch Seven Samauri or The Godfather and just not dig 'em?

Let me hear it.

[mel1ssa]

just something recent for me -- i watched the asian horror film, the eye (not alba's film). i saw where some people listed this movie among their top scariest movies...? it wasn't at all what i was expecting. it's not that it was a terrible movie, in fact it was well done, but i would not consider it scary and i've sat through many other intense and creepy movies that stayed with me a lot longer. definitely disappointed in this one.

[QUENTIN]

The Ninth Configuration
Dead-Alive
Big Wednesday (remember loving it about 10 years ago, revisited it recently and HATED it)

[Frank the Tank]

I'll definately agree with the original Eye being disappointing. It had about three scenes that were scary as hell but other than that it just kept dragging and had a lot of scenes that felt padded on. The most recent one for me was definately The Strangers. Fight Club was also really disappointing.

[Cronos]

Citizen Kane - doesn't suck but it's average at best.
Casablanca - see above.

[NathanRomano]

Silence of the Lambs

[Rated R]

Immediately Being There came to mind. Peter Sellers is top notch in Dr. Strangelove and the Pink Panther movies and pretty much everything I had seen him in. Then I found Hal Ashby's Being There, which is highly acclaimed. His performance as Chance the gardener is acclaimed and it's apparently very funny. Maybe it was my mood, but I didn't laugh once. In fact, his fish out of water without realizing it routine was irritating. Watching everyone misinterpret his quirks as genious made him out to be an idiot savant instead of a sheltered adult with the mind of a child. Didn't like it at all...

[Le_Big_Mac]

The Harder They Come. It was average, I guess, but there's a reason the soundtrack gets more praise than the film. But if we're not just talking about movies that aren't available for me to put at the top of my Netflix queue at any time, I've had plenty of other disappointments.

[therealjohng]

Silence of the Lambs



I fucking hate this movie.

[jdparker]

That happened to me with both Citizen Kane and Lawrence of Arabia. I watched Citizen Kane again though and now it's one of my favorites - same kind of thing with The Godfather actually. Sometimes high expectations (especially for any movie you wait a long time to see) can kill your overall perspective. So a second watch with revised expectations MAY change your mind a little.

It also may just be that I was too young to appreciate shit like Citizen Kane when I first watched it.

[mel1ssa]

Fight Club was also really disappointing.

Please, do elaborate. :)

[ilovemovies]

Quite a few for me but the two that immediately come to mind are The Shining which I thought was incredibly dull and Nicholson, who I usually love, was WAY TOO over the top to the point where he was laughable at times.

And the other one is boring and stupid Manhunter that also contained so many boring performances from some actors I have never cared for (William Peterson) and by some whom I normally love (Brian Cox). Bad movie.

[Potzer! 37]

Is Red Dragon better in your opinion?

[ilovemovies]

Yes. MUCH better infact.

[Kevin Smith fan]

RAGING BULL. I fucking love Scorsese and DeNiro (Taxi Driver is my favorite movie of all time), but I really couldn't connect with this film at all. Boring character with a boring plot.

[spacemonkey]

I didnt like Richard Linklaters Slacker so much. Bored me to tears. And I was sooo looking forward to it.

[Ripper1888]

The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre

[Bourne101]

The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I had heard so many great things about it, and finally rented it when I was 13 or so and didn't like it at all. Felt it was very annoying and had terrible acting. Having said that, I was 13, so I'll have to see it again some time to see if it's better on a re-watch since my movie knowledge has matured much since then.

I didn't see The Usual Suspects until about 5 years after it was released, and didn't really find it to be anything special, besides the ending which is one of the best of all time. Other than the ending though, it was a very average film IMO.

The Exorcist, although a great film, was not that scary IMO. People had hyped it up so much for me, and when I finally got around to watching it, it was entertaining and unsettling, but it certainly wasn't that scary.

[deftdelivery]

I didnt like Richard Linklaters Slacker so much. Bored me to tears. And I was sooo looking forward to it.

Dude, I'm so with you on that. I love Linklater...I mean he's the fuckin man. Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise/Sunset, Waking Life...all of those are amazing. But this...was just honestly a piece of shit.

For me, it'd be the movie SAFE starring Julienne Moore. Just bored me to tears and I really found no substance in it.

Also, Driving Miss Daisy. I didn't hate the movie by any means...but by the end of the movie I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and went "huh...so that's all eh?"

[poopontheshoes7]

2001- Theres no denying how incredibly well made this film is. But good lord was it boring. I'm sorry but geez I just couldnt get into it at all. Maybe I'm to dumb to get the deep meaning of it all:(

[Potzer! 37]

I second Slacker...after seeing Clerks and falling in love with Kevin Smith and his story of making the small movie that changed his life, I sought out the movie he said inspired him to make it...Slacker.

And holy balls was it lame...I liked the guy in the cab at the beginning though.

[scottmushroom]

I'm probably going to get ripped to shreds for this.....but Oldboy. Not sure why, just didn't like it.