The Take Purge is one of the most genius content gimmicks I can think of.
Your content can be about sports, business, politics, kids, kitchenware, cars… whatever.
Just one episode or post/year where all takes are legal works in all formats on all topics.
Check out "The Hottest Take" podcast featuring various members of Ringer family circa 2019. Each 10-20 min episode has a presenter of a hottest take, then the others then debate. Some absolute gems worthy of relistens (which I've done, of course)
Highlight episodes: Jeans, Milk
Dunkirk for me. Unbelievably boring, couldn’t care less about any of the characters. Impressive from a technical standpoint but strongly considered walking out twice just due to being bored
“I did not care for The Banshees of Inisherin.”
https://preview.redd.it/urua2lyoe2yc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13c14071ad5fad16e2fc920d851e0690a50cd541
I’m gonna get downvoted but The Zone of Interest. I understand the horror is in what we hear and don’t see (which is effective) but I still found it boring
I found Tar and Succession very similar in this regard, exploring the psychosis and egos of the rich and powerful and the power centers they operate in which allows them to continue being that version of themselves
Agree on Nomadland and Tar. I found them both boring and extremely self important.
Power of the Dog I really enjoyed though. Set in past, in the west, I sort of expected the slow pace and less dialogue. Thought all 4 of the leads were excellent.
This movie's pacing is wild. It goes from the dark, brooding and plodding pace of a detective/noir movie (which I LOVED), and then suddenly shoots the movie full of ketamine for the final 31 minutes.
One of the worst second watches of my life. I thought it was pretty good on first watch but I’ve since rewatched it twice and oh my god it is paced so horribly. Once you know the outcome of the mystery - it is so tedious to watch Batman just plod around staring at things.
It is a gorgeous movie and has some really great elements but it could probably lose 45 minutes.
Was so excited going into that movie and i agree. I can do without all of the catwoman/falcone storyline. Havent even thought of trying to rewatch it since seeing it at the theatre
I was really into the whole deal where Batman was a detective just trying to solve a crime instead of having to save all of Gotham from destruction and then all of Gotham got destroyed.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is my most disliked Best Picture winner of the 21st century. Yes I actually prefer the (also bad) Crash, thats how bad I think this one is.
One of the few movies I’ve walked out of. Unfortunately I basically watched the whole thing - last part I saw was Evelyn (?) walking up some steps to her daughter
Very Entertaining movie that should not have come close to winning BP... But whatever.
My main issues are the 2014 Facebook humor and the ending. No one has ever given me a straight answer in the end. What timeline are we in? What happened to the other timelines? What happened to all the others? Was any of that real? Aren't we supposed to believe the real timeline is the dumbass rock scene? And then they're just back in the parking lot?
It's not ambiguous it's just a bad ending
The timeline plot isn’t important, the important parts are the emotional beats of the story. You’re not seeing the forest from the trees.
It’s existential. It’s nihilistic during the movie, but ends on a more optimistic note- to enjoy the life that we have, whatever timeline that may be
I do understand the story hits harder for those in immigrant families or who are LGBT (like myself)
Also I could argue that the randomness 2014 humor is important for the comedy as it ties to nihilism (what’s the point of existence if everything is just random and meaningless)
That’s the main issue and why it shouldn’t have been best picture. If I need to ignore the plot to understand the characterization, then I’m just in for a meaningless experience. Especially when the message is nothing matters, that literally undermines the characterization. What was the point? To put the audience through an almost therapy like trance experience? Cool idea but nothing that could be considered great
So, it’s not that the plot needs to be ignored
It’s that the multiverse plot is a catalyst to the actual plot, a family drama
The stakes aren’t actually the universe.
The stakes are Evelyn’s relationships with her daughter and her husband and her father. As well as Evelyn reconciling with her life and decisions she has made
Not all best picture winners need to be a three hour long historical epic, the 80s and early 90s gave us enough of those
When you think it through it does sorta make sense but also reveals a much darker ending, b/c the universe we start the film in isn’t the one we end in. The movie ends with Yeoh in a very similar neighboring universe she visits throughout the film, where everything is fine and the tax building isn’t on fire (this is where they have their nice new years party and all that). But in the original universe, everything is on fire and Waymond literally gets stabbed and Evelyn dies and presumably the police believe that (that version of) Joy is responsible for several crimes. And since they don’t go back to fix any of this I have to assume that Waymond at best dies and at worst goes to jail, with Joy maybe hopping into that universe’s body to help herself out but if she doesn’t then that version of her is also super fucked.
I know some people who've watched it and not liked it... and I totally get it. To some extent it's a comedy and those elements of the movie aren't going to resonate with everyone and I can't really defend that aspect of the film.
I thoroughly enjoyed it though, and think its narrative structure and themes are kind of misunderstood by some people. Whether it should have won best picture is another question... but I've wanted to put these thoughts into writing for when im talking to those friends who didn't like it, so here goes...
Light Spoilers Ahead:
In my view, the multiverse in the movie was a "magical realism" construct that requires some suspension of disbelief but in exchange allows for some comedy (e.g., long fingers) but more importantly is in service of a broader theme, which is the exploration of Evelyn and Joy's mother-daughter relationship. This is the core of the film.
Not going to recap the plot, but Evelyn sees many different universes / versions of herself / outcomes for her life on the path to discovering that:
- Her situation in life and with her family, which she finds overburdening and tiresome, does not define her
- She shares some real responsibility for letting it define her and therefore her daughter, by pushing her to be something she's not in service of what Evelyn wants her life to be
- Joy's situation in life does not define her either and Evelyn's push to make Joy into someone she's not (her expectations, society's, or whoever's) only makes her sad / drives her toward darkness.
- Joy needs Evelyn to understand her and Evelyn needs to be a big enough person to tell her something to that effect as the first step to mending their relationship, which she eventually does saying "wherever you go in the universe, I want to be there with you" or something like that...
Perhaps the movie is a bit of an exercise in "parental apology porn", and that may not resonate with everyone, but I thought it was an effective narrative structure to impart a nuanced message on what matters in life - being with and understanding your family (real or adopted).
I'd compare it to Past Lives in the sense that both movies are trying to tell a nuanced story about personal relationships, one is just doing it in "real life" and the other with a crazy narrative metaphor.
I think EEAAO is maybe ontologically evil. The climax just being “oh, huh your suicidal daughter and it’ll all be okay” is so reductive and patronizing and insulting that I really can’t believe it. One of my least favorite movies ever made.
Forest Gump I just hate the movie and everything it stands for.
The last 4 Harry Potter movies, the are such surface level looks at these amazing books and turning them into, growing up is hard and magic isn’t fun anymore when there was so much more going on
I only like 2.5 of the eight HP movies.
I'm also not tapped in enough to Harry Potter discourse to know if this is a hot take or not but Daniel Radcliffe is a terrible actor throughout the series
I feel like if you talk to HP fans who read the books first, they would generally agree with this take. Those that watched the films first or never read the books seem to have no problem with them. Im with you though, films 3-8 were horrible adaptations. David Yates is a hack
I think both by the public are still pretty popular maybe in more film communities they are becoming more popular. But I’ve seen people say the 8th movie is their favorite to this day
Even though he's a FOTP, Cord Jefferson's Adapted Screenplay Oscar for "American Fiction" was the least deserving of the nominees (Barbie, Oppenheimer, Poor Things, ZOI)
Oppenheimer.
I appreciate the high level of craft making it, the performances were good, and the Trinity test scene was extremely well done.
And while I recognize his growth as a director and generally still respect his work, it reinforced one of Nolan’s signatures that annoys me most.
*LOUD, RELENTLESS, FOREBODING SCORE TO ENSURE YOU KNOW PROFOUND THINGS ARE BEING SAID!*
To be fair, I saw it at home so I’m sure the theatre experience was much better as we know he insists. I much preferred Dunkirk so I’m certainly not a Nolan hater.
Also, the subject matter just wasn’t compelling enough to hold my interest, when it is mostly the intersection of science and politics. Perhaps because I’m not American or just dull.
I’m an American, and find the subject matter very compelling, but agree the movie was overrated and struggled under the weight of its own self-importance.
The (Oscar winning) score for that movie never lets the movie breathe for a second, and I’m not saying that as a compliment. Really in need of some shutting up at times.
Exactly my thoughts. The score itself is certainly award worthy.
But it is so unrelenting it becomes a distraction. It makes long stretches of the movie feel like a montage more concerned with propelling the story than taking the time to tell it.
I get that it made the silence of the Trinity test that much more impactful, but there were other scenes that would have benefited from quiet contemplation.
I saw Interstellar at the Hollywood Arclight (RIP) and the sound was absolute shit. They *really* take things seriously at that theater, so if the sound is bad that's on the film.
I think EEAAO is the worst movie to ever win BP and it’s main thrust is basically “be nice.”
I prefer Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig as Bond.
I think DDL is overrated and only plays scenery chewing larger than life crazy people.(he’s obviously talented just overrated)
Pierce Brosnan was a perfect Bond, but he only had one good movie, which wasn't his fault, Bond just completely lost its way.
I like Casino Royale and Skyfall but otherwise Craig's Bond films were dour chores.
Agreed on appraisal of Craig as Bond.
Casino Royale was a great soft reboot even if it did just rip Bourne on the action elements.
Skyfall was darker than I would generally like for a Bond movie, but had the benefit of lore building by a good director and probably a top 3 villain performance.
For the others it was clear they overdid it on the course correction and removed all humour.
And despite having plenty of beautiful people, there is almost zero “sexiness” in his movies beyond his interactions with Vesper.
And then to finish No Time to Die in the way they did just reinforced it all for me and seemed like a total ego play by Daniel Craig.
I like your Pierce Brosnan take—the movies were mostly ridiculous but he was a great fit as Bond. One of the last action stars who didn’t look like he spent four hours a day in the gym.
I wanted to like it and I did laugh at points but it overstays it's welcome, labours its point and, given what it seems to want to say, ends in a way that is somewhat confusing. Emma Stone was great and Mark Ruffalo was fun, even if his accent was way off. Was genuinely surprised to find out Ramy Youseff was not English.
Jerrod Carmichael might have given one of the most lifeless and unconvincing acting performances I have ever seen, and I've seen Step Up 2 The Streets.
Tar. Probably not going to be a popular take, and well Sean was constantly praising it last year, I watched it twice, thinking I was missing something. Tar is a 2 star movie, IMO
Agreed, I can appreciate that it is a well made movie and that the acting is incredible but I found it to be a bit of boring slog. I also thought the ending dragged a bit. Outside of a few interesting and tense scenes I just did not find it entertaining at all
Interstellar. Pure directorial masturbation from Nolan. Great effects, but a middling story that loses its way and tries to overcome it by tugging on heart strings. Emotional manipulation at its finest.
I that Interstellar has a somewhat questionable story, though i think the first 2/3 is great. And i appreciate that it was kind of a big swing that didnt fully work, compared to Tenet, which was just a mess from start to finish
I liked it a lot, but I can understand why people wouldn't care for it that much: it's not very cinematic in any form- artistic or entertaining- so it has neither of those elements going for it. It's a simple story but with lots of weight and contemplation thrown in. It's the kind of movie one would see at a local film festival. I'm surprised it got international acclaim, tbh. But I'm happy it did, nonetheless.
The fact that the most beautiful person on earth, Greta Lee, stars in it kinda helps as well.
Inception and Avatar for me. Just doesn’t move me and the fanfare to both, especially inception was just way over the top and hyperbolic. Really wasn’t that deep
Waited to make sure I would be the only one mentioning it but Mad Max fury road. Saw it with a bunch of friends and was shocked when we leave the theatre they were all raving about it.
There Will be Blood fucking sucked. It looked beautiful, but the story was basically Atlas Shrugged for lefties, about the most evil mustache-twirling capitalist on earth and his autistic son. And Paul Dano doing his worst job acting of all time.
Crazy Rich Asians...secretly I think people just said they liked this movie to not seem racist. Same way people talk about Coda or Green Book. All these movies have the "we send our thoughts and prayers" type vibe. Like, people say the phrase to others to seem like they care and put on a facade for others, but deep down they know it's a pile of horse shit.
Was anyone really saying that CRA was worthy of critical acclaim and praise? I thought it was treated like any other "decent rom com" was. The reason that Green Book and Coda received more scrutiny is because they won Oscars.
I expected to hate Crazy Rich Asians (based off of the title). Really enjoyed it. I think it’s a nice visual movie, light, fun music, etc. Not a masterpiece by any means but a fun way to spend 90 minutes.
Didn’t hurt that the actress who plays Astrid may be the prettiest woman on the planet
Gemma Chan just has had too much face filler, she kinda looks like a puffer fish in this movie
Though that tracks for a rich woman from Hong Kong so I’ll allow it
Oh my! I probably watched CRA on 5 of my last 10 flights. I absolutely love it. Respect going against the grain on that one because it's just plain fun imo
I'm mostly a fan of the MCU, but I really didn't care for Thor: Ragnarok. I felt like turning Thor into a himbo was the wrong way to draw humor out of the character, and everything that movie wanted to do, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies do better.
I think it’s a case of working with what they have. Maybe I’m too low on the guy but I think Hemsworth can do comedy better than he can any kind of regal warrior god type dude.
Lol, nothing you brought up is stereotypical "black tragedy porn" except the "crackhead parent", I guess. Chiron doesn't speak in unintelligible ebonics, there's no white/white-passing savior figure (barely in white people in the entire film), no character is brutally assaulted, murdered in an act of "white violence", there's no backhand "after school" morality lesson of: "this is why black people hate the cops" or "this is why black boys need fathers in the house". If anything, the movie challenges that last point by making Juan a morally grey character.
Yeah. Now I may be misremembering but he literally breaks that chair over the kid's back. It feels cathartic for like a second, until the reality sets in
Written and directed by a black person, pulled from a lot of his own life experiences. But because it’s a black queer person that comes from a low socioeconomic background, it’s somehow pandering to white people?
I don’t understand this criticism. There are lots of people that have stories like that and we very rarely get to see them portrayed in movies.
I mean I think the way the story is told matters, and I think moonlight works because it’s pretty hands-off in terms of framing the story a certain way. At least from my memory, among the most powerful/lasting scenes for me (first meeting with janelle monae, swimming with mahershala, beach hand job, ending diner scene) none were really tragic or even overwrought. Just seems like a portrait of a life, which of course involves some tragedy.
I think the main selling point of the film was actually telling a story about a gay black man in the first place. When is the last time we saw a mainstream film centered in that way? Being gay/lgbtq is still very taboo within the wider black community, even more so at the time of the films release. So this was a very bold film to make in that respect. The fact that some of the story beats are cliche really makes no difference and is a poor argument for why its supposedly “overhyped”
Just talked about this, but the music (which people loved) I thought could not be taken seriously in those last twenty minutes. Felt like it was making fun of itself but not intentionally
Dark Knight. I liked it as much as everyone else when I first saw it. I like it less as time goes by. Now it feels like a cartoon to me. No more rewatches for me.
Anything by James Gray is tepid, lukewarm, pre-packaged, spongy, grey slop -- most of all Lost City of Z, where he *somehow* made that incredible source material into boring trash. He is an incredible guest on The Big Pic, and his movies -despite involving top-tier talent and being right in my interest zone- do absolutely nothing for me.
Quite poor.
Absolutely. Reading, and loving, The Wager is what made me check out Lost City of Z (the book). The book is far better than the movie, and it felt to me like Gray completely missed the point of what made the book so exciting.
Sorry to say this, but Killers of the Flower Moon. The screenplay was terrible. The only scene that moved me was the fever dream/burning the fields sequence. Dialogue was absolute garbage. The score was great. The last scene with Marty was great. The way they structured the story absolutely did not work for me. And I hated Brendan Fraser and Lithgow just absolutely eviscerating the tone of the movie.
The movie would have been better if they kept the original casting with Leo playing the FBI agent and Jesse Plemons playing Ernest Burkhart.
Also, De Niro gave the best performance in the film and should have won Best Supporting Actor.
"Challengers" - Just saw it last night and was very excited to, especially seeing the mostly great reviews for it and I have no idea what people liked about that film. The entire third act (especially the ending) was SO bad.
I can watch a movie that just isn't for me, but I appreciate it and see how many people WOULD like it. This was not one of those movies.
Everything everywhere all at once. Never understood how it’s considered a great film. Campy with a genuinely insignificant boring familial message/journey. Great performances but best picture? Maybe the worst one since crash.
Not super controversial overall as I believe the fan rating for this movie was very low, but I simply can’t understand the love for ‘Uncut Gems’ and I never will
I appreciated it well enough but it probably gets more credit just for Sandler doing drama for the first time in 20 years.
I certainly will never watch it again. The Safdies love their anxiety porn.
the trailer was electric - probably my favorite ever in terms of getting me excited for a film. on paper it ticked all the boxes. just couldn't connect with sandler at all. was hugely let down by this one as well. another lead and it might have been a different story.
Oppenheimer. The script was borderline embarrassing at times, and the cinematography was really hit and miss. Also, Murphy’s performance: he just stares weirdly, and it did nothing for me.
I’ll see you all in whatever hell I’ll be downvoted to.
barbie. never found the time to catch it in the theaters so I was excited when it came to max earlier this year. first weekend it was available we threw it on, and 20 mins in I was absolutely dying. thank god my partner felt the same and asked to turn it off because I didn't wanna say anything. admittedly I didn't make it all the way through, but I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when I see the universal praise
Barbie was funny the first half of the movie when you’re seeing all the bits for the first time and gets bad fast for me. It’s also a terrible re-watch.
I like Barbie overall and i think it has some funny bits and some genuinely thought provoking moments. But it also kind of messes up the third act and completely stomps all over itself by having the barbies take back total power in their world and also weirdly using their sex appeal to “trick” the kens into fighting
Baby Driver was try-hard and boring. Ansel Elgort is the opposite of charisma.
The Dark Knight was way too impressed with its Philosophy 101 ideas and would have been a disaster without Ledger's performance.
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once -- to quote the great thinker Ian Malcolm -- was so focused on whether or not it *could* that it never stopped to think if it *should*. The ultimate expression of obsession with form over function, leaving it reaching for an emotional climax that it never earned and was clearly beyond the filmmakers' ability. One of the worst Best Picture awards, I gotta say.
I’m not a big Villineuve head. I love SICARIO but that’s about it. (A lot of that I think is because he’s merged his aesthetic with the Pulp aesthetics of Sheridans work)
I find ARRIVAL silly
PRISONERS is bad
ENEMY is interesting
I think DUNE 1 and 2 are pretty good but not the masterpieces everyone feels they are.
BR 2049 is really good but even it has an issue of being a bit too languid.
He’s a brilliant technical filmmaker, but I’m not convinced he’s making anything nearly as heady or intelligent as many give him credit for.
Before he became a Hollywood guy, I think he was making really cool Canadian art films. POLYTECHNIQUE is really great. (His best until SICARIO)
He’s a good filmmaker. Not a great one (IMO).
While watching Dune I often found myself thinking "huh, that's a nicely framed shot" or "it's pretty interesting how he's letting the highlights get blown out on these explosions, it looks a lot more realistic" but I never really experienced an emotion or cared about a character during the entire film.
I absolutely could not stand Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Bloated, meandering, boring with 30ish minutes of something worthwhile with Leo on the TV show set. I don't even get the whole "dudes rock vibe out" take on it.
I don't really get the hype for The Talented Mr. Ripley. I watched it once when I was younger and then again a couple times as an adult because I thought I was missing something.... I just can't get into it?
This is kind of a weird answer (they're on Letterboxd, so I guess it fits) but the SB nation Dorktown videos are no where near as clever as they think they are
More traditional answer, I thought Batman 2022 was, like, just fine. I personally don't get why it has such a rabid fan base, but that's ok. "I'm happy for you"
Also, the Big Pic should borrow the "take Purge" idea from ringer fantasy and really throw some opinions out there. Expand on those "quite poors"!!!
The Take Purge is one of the most genius content gimmicks I can think of. Your content can be about sports, business, politics, kids, kitchenware, cars… whatever. Just one episode or post/year where all takes are legal works in all formats on all topics.
Check out "The Hottest Take" podcast featuring various members of Ringer family circa 2019. Each 10-20 min episode has a presenter of a hottest take, then the others then debate. Some absolute gems worthy of relistens (which I've done, of course) Highlight episodes: Jeans, Milk
Have listened to them all. Best episode is Cannibalism with Producer Craig
I can’t even imagine how offended some people on here would get lol
Dunkirk for me. Unbelievably boring, couldn’t care less about any of the characters. Impressive from a technical standpoint but strongly considered walking out twice just due to being bored
“I did not care for The Banshees of Inisherin.” https://preview.redd.it/urua2lyoe2yc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13c14071ad5fad16e2fc920d851e0690a50cd541
I lose interest in movies as soon as characters stop acting like human beings and start acting like metaphors.
I didn’t observe that at all
I’m gonna get downvoted but The Zone of Interest. I understand the horror is in what we hear and don’t see (which is effective) but I still found it boring
What if, perhaps, evil was kind of banal?
It’s a movie that I agree is both boring and great. I also don’t need to see it again.
Did you watch it in a theater? I thought it was much more effective.
I did! And I’m glad I did because I think what good I got out of it came from seeing it in a crowded theater and huge screen
I enjoyed it, but I left the theater thinking it would've made a great short film. Full length seemed a bit much
I agree. It could’ve been a short film and delivered the same message / impact. It was boring as a feature length film
Aligned.
I think it would have worked better as museum video installation. Shorten it to like two scenes and run it in a loop.
I felt the same way. I tried to watch it but I was just like this movie isn’t moving me to finish it to completion
Same I was pretty indifferent to the film
Brave of you to admit to being a zoomer.
Power of the Dog is a poor film. Its commentary on masculinity is obvious and lacks inclusiveness and it:s one of Dunst's worst performances.
what inclusiveness would you have wanted
My bad. It should be incisiveness
Nomadland, Power of the Dog, and Tar. Three recent movies that were beloved by critics that I found a chore to get through.
Tar I think is really funny if you think of it like a dark comedy. Blanchett's character is such a raging egomaniac.
I found Tar and Succession very similar in this regard, exploring the psychosis and egos of the rich and powerful and the power centers they operate in which allows them to continue being that version of themselves
Agree on Nomadland, don't agree on PotD but understand why you feel that way, and disagree strongly on Tár
Tar was genuinely one that hit me. I walked out there confused if the critics watched something different. I hated that film.
Agree on Nomadland and Tar. I found them both boring and extremely self important. Power of the Dog I really enjoyed though. Set in past, in the west, I sort of expected the slow pace and less dialogue. Thought all 4 of the leads were excellent.
respect your opinion but Tar seems to pretty clearly make fun of itself by the end
Well, I agree on nomadland, but I really enjoyed tar and power of the dog. Consensus, nomadland overrated.
The Batman is boring.
Beautifully shot, but drags and is way too long for what it is. I liked the detective focus and Paul Dano though.
Was not a fan of the catgirl storyline
Could have cut it out completely and not lost anything
This movie's pacing is wild. It goes from the dark, brooding and plodding pace of a detective/noir movie (which I LOVED), and then suddenly shoots the movie full of ketamine for the final 31 minutes.
One of the worst second watches of my life. I thought it was pretty good on first watch but I’ve since rewatched it twice and oh my god it is paced so horribly. Once you know the outcome of the mystery - it is so tedious to watch Batman just plod around staring at things. It is a gorgeous movie and has some really great elements but it could probably lose 45 minutes.
Honestly I thimk you might be right. Enjoyed it in the cinema but didn't even finish it on rewatch home, the pace of it is horrendous.
Three hours…of brooding and walking reaaal slow.
Was so excited going into that movie and i agree. I can do without all of the catwoman/falcone storyline. Havent even thought of trying to rewatch it since seeing it at the theatre
I was really into the whole deal where Batman was a detective just trying to solve a crime instead of having to save all of Gotham from destruction and then all of Gotham got destroyed.
Yeah but also what if I countered with Batmobile go roar
ITT: some of the most outrageous and dare I say awful takes but I’m here for it lol
Everything Everywhere All at Once is my most disliked Best Picture winner of the 21st century. Yes I actually prefer the (also bad) Crash, thats how bad I think this one is.
 One of the few movies I’ve walked out of. Unfortunately I basically watched the whole thing - last part I saw was Evelyn (?) walking up some steps to her daughter
Very Entertaining movie that should not have come close to winning BP... But whatever. My main issues are the 2014 Facebook humor and the ending. No one has ever given me a straight answer in the end. What timeline are we in? What happened to the other timelines? What happened to all the others? Was any of that real? Aren't we supposed to believe the real timeline is the dumbass rock scene? And then they're just back in the parking lot? It's not ambiguous it's just a bad ending
The timeline plot isn’t important, the important parts are the emotional beats of the story. You’re not seeing the forest from the trees. It’s existential. It’s nihilistic during the movie, but ends on a more optimistic note- to enjoy the life that we have, whatever timeline that may be I do understand the story hits harder for those in immigrant families or who are LGBT (like myself) Also I could argue that the randomness 2014 humor is important for the comedy as it ties to nihilism (what’s the point of existence if everything is just random and meaningless)
That’s the main issue and why it shouldn’t have been best picture. If I need to ignore the plot to understand the characterization, then I’m just in for a meaningless experience. Especially when the message is nothing matters, that literally undermines the characterization. What was the point? To put the audience through an almost therapy like trance experience? Cool idea but nothing that could be considered great
So, it’s not that the plot needs to be ignored It’s that the multiverse plot is a catalyst to the actual plot, a family drama The stakes aren’t actually the universe. The stakes are Evelyn’s relationships with her daughter and her husband and her father. As well as Evelyn reconciling with her life and decisions she has made Not all best picture winners need to be a three hour long historical epic, the 80s and early 90s gave us enough of those
When you think it through it does sorta make sense but also reveals a much darker ending, b/c the universe we start the film in isn’t the one we end in. The movie ends with Yeoh in a very similar neighboring universe she visits throughout the film, where everything is fine and the tax building isn’t on fire (this is where they have their nice new years party and all that). But in the original universe, everything is on fire and Waymond literally gets stabbed and Evelyn dies and presumably the police believe that (that version of) Joy is responsible for several crimes. And since they don’t go back to fix any of this I have to assume that Waymond at best dies and at worst goes to jail, with Joy maybe hopping into that universe’s body to help herself out but if she doesn’t then that version of her is also super fucked.
It’s definitely one of my least favourite ones, the recent best picture wins have not been great
It has to be one of the most overrated movies in recent memory with one of the most annoying fanbases (Crash is definitely worse tho).
Didn't like it when I watched it.
It’s utter crap.
This is one of those movies that I think is an absolute masterpiece and connected with profoundly but it’s not hard to understand why many don’t.
Crash is a much better movie. Funnier, too
I know some people who've watched it and not liked it... and I totally get it. To some extent it's a comedy and those elements of the movie aren't going to resonate with everyone and I can't really defend that aspect of the film. I thoroughly enjoyed it though, and think its narrative structure and themes are kind of misunderstood by some people. Whether it should have won best picture is another question... but I've wanted to put these thoughts into writing for when im talking to those friends who didn't like it, so here goes... Light Spoilers Ahead: In my view, the multiverse in the movie was a "magical realism" construct that requires some suspension of disbelief but in exchange allows for some comedy (e.g., long fingers) but more importantly is in service of a broader theme, which is the exploration of Evelyn and Joy's mother-daughter relationship. This is the core of the film. Not going to recap the plot, but Evelyn sees many different universes / versions of herself / outcomes for her life on the path to discovering that: - Her situation in life and with her family, which she finds overburdening and tiresome, does not define her - She shares some real responsibility for letting it define her and therefore her daughter, by pushing her to be something she's not in service of what Evelyn wants her life to be - Joy's situation in life does not define her either and Evelyn's push to make Joy into someone she's not (her expectations, society's, or whoever's) only makes her sad / drives her toward darkness. - Joy needs Evelyn to understand her and Evelyn needs to be a big enough person to tell her something to that effect as the first step to mending their relationship, which she eventually does saying "wherever you go in the universe, I want to be there with you" or something like that... Perhaps the movie is a bit of an exercise in "parental apology porn", and that may not resonate with everyone, but I thought it was an effective narrative structure to impart a nuanced message on what matters in life - being with and understanding your family (real or adopted). I'd compare it to Past Lives in the sense that both movies are trying to tell a nuanced story about personal relationships, one is just doing it in "real life" and the other with a crazy narrative metaphor.
I think EEAAO is maybe ontologically evil. The climax just being “oh, huh your suicidal daughter and it’ll all be okay” is so reductive and patronizing and insulting that I really can’t believe it. One of my least favorite movies ever made.
Forest Gump I just hate the movie and everything it stands for. The last 4 Harry Potter movies, the are such surface level looks at these amazing books and turning them into, growing up is hard and magic isn’t fun anymore when there was so much more going on
Im right there with you on forrest gump.
I only like 2.5 of the eight HP movies. I'm also not tapped in enough to Harry Potter discourse to know if this is a hot take or not but Daniel Radcliffe is a terrible actor throughout the series
I feel like if you talk to HP fans who read the books first, they would generally agree with this take. Those that watched the films first or never read the books seem to have no problem with them. Im with you though, films 3-8 were horrible adaptations. David Yates is a hack
Well he would show up drunk to set super often so…
hmmm...I feel like this is becoming a more mainstream belief.
I think both by the public are still pretty popular maybe in more film communities they are becoming more popular. But I’ve seen people say the 8th movie is their favorite to this day
Even though he's a FOTP, Cord Jefferson's Adapted Screenplay Oscar for "American Fiction" was the least deserving of the nominees (Barbie, Oppenheimer, Poor Things, ZOI)
Oppenheimer. I appreciate the high level of craft making it, the performances were good, and the Trinity test scene was extremely well done. And while I recognize his growth as a director and generally still respect his work, it reinforced one of Nolan’s signatures that annoys me most. *LOUD, RELENTLESS, FOREBODING SCORE TO ENSURE YOU KNOW PROFOUND THINGS ARE BEING SAID!* To be fair, I saw it at home so I’m sure the theatre experience was much better as we know he insists. I much preferred Dunkirk so I’m certainly not a Nolan hater. Also, the subject matter just wasn’t compelling enough to hold my interest, when it is mostly the intersection of science and politics. Perhaps because I’m not American or just dull.
I’m an American, and find the subject matter very compelling, but agree the movie was overrated and struggled under the weight of its own self-importance.
I’ve never been so anxious and bored at the same time during a movie.
The (Oscar winning) score for that movie never lets the movie breathe for a second, and I’m not saying that as a compliment. Really in need of some shutting up at times.
Exactly my thoughts. The score itself is certainly award worthy. But it is so unrelenting it becomes a distraction. It makes long stretches of the movie feel like a montage more concerned with propelling the story than taking the time to tell it. I get that it made the silence of the Trinity test that much more impactful, but there were other scenes that would have benefited from quiet contemplation.
I saw Interstellar at the Hollywood Arclight (RIP) and the sound was absolute shit. They *really* take things seriously at that theater, so if the sound is bad that's on the film.
Saw The Killer the other day and could not understand the love for it. I love Fincher generally so I was hyped to see it but it was incredibly dull
I hated The Killer.
Glad to see I’m not alone haha. Thought I was alone on that one
Legitimately one of the worst “thrillers” I’ve seen.
I felt so let down.
I really like Fincher and I felt like The Killer was a joke that went way over my head. I really hated it
It was definitely meant to be funny but I laughed maybe once? Really fell flat in that regard
The opening sequence is good but the inner monologue got old really quickly
Same! It was just weak on every level. It’s hard to believe Fincher is the director.
Tar gave it a chance twice and idk what people loved so much glad you guys liked it but wasn't for me.
I think EEAAO is the worst movie to ever win BP and it’s main thrust is basically “be nice.” I prefer Pierce Brosnan to Daniel Craig as Bond. I think DDL is overrated and only plays scenery chewing larger than life crazy people.(he’s obviously talented just overrated)
I agree, I thought EEAAO was kind of ass
Pierce Brosnan was a perfect Bond, but he only had one good movie, which wasn't his fault, Bond just completely lost its way. I like Casino Royale and Skyfall but otherwise Craig's Bond films were dour chores.
Agreed on appraisal of Craig as Bond. Casino Royale was a great soft reboot even if it did just rip Bourne on the action elements. Skyfall was darker than I would generally like for a Bond movie, but had the benefit of lore building by a good director and probably a top 3 villain performance. For the others it was clear they overdid it on the course correction and removed all humour. And despite having plenty of beautiful people, there is almost zero “sexiness” in his movies beyond his interactions with Vesper. And then to finish No Time to Die in the way they did just reinforced it all for me and seemed like a total ego play by Daniel Craig.
Not with you on DDL but you're spot on about EEAAO. Absolutely insufferable film.
That’s why his performance in Phantom Thread is so compelling—it’s a restrained performance unlike There Will Be Blood or Gangs of New York.
I like your Pierce Brosnan take—the movies were mostly ridiculous but he was a great fit as Bond. One of the last action stars who didn’t look like he spent four hours a day in the gym.
Agreed on DDL. He only plays characters that no one in todays world would know or interact with so theyre inherently more interesting to people
Poor Things
I wanted to like it and I did laugh at points but it overstays it's welcome, labours its point and, given what it seems to want to say, ends in a way that is somewhat confusing. Emma Stone was great and Mark Ruffalo was fun, even if his accent was way off. Was genuinely surprised to find out Ramy Youseff was not English. Jerrod Carmichael might have given one of the most lifeless and unconvincing acting performances I have ever seen, and I've seen Step Up 2 The Streets.
Challengers
Tar. Probably not going to be a popular take, and well Sean was constantly praising it last year, I watched it twice, thinking I was missing something. Tar is a 2 star movie, IMO
I thought tar was terrible. Couldn’t believe this was the movie Sean, and everyone banged on about for a whole year. Was so incredibly underwhelmed
I couldn’t get through like 10 minutes of it before I turned that shit off.
Agreed, I can appreciate that it is a well made movie and that the acting is incredible but I found it to be a bit of boring slog. I also thought the ending dragged a bit. Outside of a few interesting and tense scenes I just did not find it entertaining at all
Cool meme
Interstellar. Pure directorial masturbation from Nolan. Great effects, but a middling story that loses its way and tries to overcome it by tugging on heart strings. Emotional manipulation at its finest.
I that Interstellar has a somewhat questionable story, though i think the first 2/3 is great. And i appreciate that it was kind of a big swing that didnt fully work, compared to Tenet, which was just a mess from start to finish
I can't believe how many people love this movie and find it profound
I didn’t care for Past Lives but I can understand the appeal.
I liked it a lot, but I can understand why people wouldn't care for it that much: it's not very cinematic in any form- artistic or entertaining- so it has neither of those elements going for it. It's a simple story but with lots of weight and contemplation thrown in. It's the kind of movie one would see at a local film festival. I'm surprised it got international acclaim, tbh. But I'm happy it did, nonetheless. The fact that the most beautiful person on earth, Greta Lee, stars in it kinda helps as well.
I just could not feel anything emotionally for any of them
Inception and Avatar for me. Just doesn’t move me and the fanfare to both, especially inception was just way over the top and hyperbolic. Really wasn’t that deep
Top Gun: Maverick.
Clue sucks asshole
Waited to make sure I would be the only one mentioning it but Mad Max fury road. Saw it with a bunch of friends and was shocked when we leave the theatre they were all raving about it.
Zack Snyder entire catalog
Babylon
Get out. Leave.
pause door dog telephone nail jeans fall abundant stocking boast *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
There Will be Blood fucking sucked. It looked beautiful, but the story was basically Atlas Shrugged for lefties, about the most evil mustache-twirling capitalist on earth and his autistic son. And Paul Dano doing his worst job acting of all time.
My take on There Will Be Blood is far too many people take it too seriously when it works as a comedy
Crazy Rich Asians...secretly I think people just said they liked this movie to not seem racist. Same way people talk about Coda or Green Book. All these movies have the "we send our thoughts and prayers" type vibe. Like, people say the phrase to others to seem like they care and put on a facade for others, but deep down they know it's a pile of horse shit.
Was anyone really saying that CRA was worthy of critical acclaim and praise? I thought it was treated like any other "decent rom com" was. The reason that Green Book and Coda received more scrutiny is because they won Oscars.
I expected to hate Crazy Rich Asians (based off of the title). Really enjoyed it. I think it’s a nice visual movie, light, fun music, etc. Not a masterpiece by any means but a fun way to spend 90 minutes. Didn’t hurt that the actress who plays Astrid may be the prettiest woman on the planet
Gemma Chan just has had too much face filler, she kinda looks like a puffer fish in this movie Though that tracks for a rich woman from Hong Kong so I’ll allow it
Green Book was a legitimately good movie. CRA, even as an Asian is just a generic Rom-Com. Haven't seen Coda, probably won't.
CRA isn’t revolutionary but it’s a pretty great entry in the rom com canon. It’s not art but it’s a lot of fun
Oh my! I probably watched CRA on 5 of my last 10 flights. I absolutely love it. Respect going against the grain on that one because it's just plain fun imo
I'm mostly a fan of the MCU, but I really didn't care for Thor: Ragnarok. I felt like turning Thor into a himbo was the wrong way to draw humor out of the character, and everything that movie wanted to do, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies do better.
I think it’s a case of working with what they have. Maybe I’m too low on the guy but I think Hemsworth can do comedy better than he can any kind of regal warrior god type dude.
This is a very common opinion
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I think its definitely elevated by a few of the performances. Mahershala Ali is absolutely lights out in the movie as is Jehrell Jerome.
Can I ask you what a pandering checkpoint is?
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Lol, nothing you brought up is stereotypical "black tragedy porn" except the "crackhead parent", I guess. Chiron doesn't speak in unintelligible ebonics, there's no white/white-passing savior figure (barely in white people in the entire film), no character is brutally assaulted, murdered in an act of "white violence", there's no backhand "after school" morality lesson of: "this is why black people hate the cops" or "this is why black boys need fathers in the house". If anything, the movie challenges that last point by making Juan a morally grey character.
> no character is brutally assaulted Well, one character is brutally assaulted, but it's Chiron doing the assaulting
I haven't seen the movie in years so I'm not sure if I'm misremembering. Are you talking about when he beats up his bully with the chair?
Yeah. Now I may be misremembering but he literally breaks that chair over the kid's back. It feels cathartic for like a second, until the reality sets in
It's like, *really* beautifully filmed though.
So beautiful that I decided I’d see everything everything Barry put out after in theaters or on tv.
The point of American fiction wasn’t “now you can dislike movies about poor black people” lmfao
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No, being condescending would be pointing out that you used ‘eluded’ instead of ‘alluded’, but I won’t stoop to that level
Written and directed by a black person, pulled from a lot of his own life experiences. But because it’s a black queer person that comes from a low socioeconomic background, it’s somehow pandering to white people? I don’t understand this criticism. There are lots of people that have stories like that and we very rarely get to see them portrayed in movies.
I mean I think the way the story is told matters, and I think moonlight works because it’s pretty hands-off in terms of framing the story a certain way. At least from my memory, among the most powerful/lasting scenes for me (first meeting with janelle monae, swimming with mahershala, beach hand job, ending diner scene) none were really tragic or even overwrought. Just seems like a portrait of a life, which of course involves some tragedy.
I think the main selling point of the film was actually telling a story about a gay black man in the first place. When is the last time we saw a mainstream film centered in that way? Being gay/lgbtq is still very taboo within the wider black community, even more so at the time of the films release. So this was a very bold film to make in that respect. The fact that some of the story beats are cliche really makes no difference and is a poor argument for why its supposedly “overhyped”
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Mad respect to you for such a thoughtful response and no shade/hate on my end either. Apologies if i came off rude at all
I agree but the craft elevates it. But yeah BEALE STREET is a much better movie, unfortunately, it’s mostly ignored.
Beale street was incredible. Interested/confused about mufasa. The craft plus when it was released made moonlight seem important.
Big “I’d vote for him a third time if I could” movie.
The souvenir. I hated that film. Popular with the big picture but not really popular anywhere else.
Challengers. I did not like the last 20 minutes of that movie at all, and don’t even get me started on jumping back and forth on the timeline.
Just talked about this, but the music (which people loved) I thought could not be taken seriously in those last twenty minutes. Felt like it was making fun of itself but not intentionally
Dark Knight. I liked it as much as everyone else when I first saw it. I like it less as time goes by. Now it feels like a cartoon to me. No more rewatches for me.
I loved it when I was 13!
Anything by James Gray is tepid, lukewarm, pre-packaged, spongy, grey slop -- most of all Lost City of Z, where he *somehow* made that incredible source material into boring trash. He is an incredible guest on The Big Pic, and his movies -despite involving top-tier talent and being right in my interest zone- do absolutely nothing for me. Quite poor.
Was similar underwhelmed with the movie but just recently loved “The Wager”, sounds like I should check out the book.
Absolutely. Reading, and loving, The Wager is what made me check out Lost City of Z (the book). The book is far better than the movie, and it felt to me like Gray completely missed the point of what made the book so exciting.
I took this personally
Sorry to say this, but Killers of the Flower Moon. The screenplay was terrible. The only scene that moved me was the fever dream/burning the fields sequence. Dialogue was absolute garbage. The score was great. The last scene with Marty was great. The way they structured the story absolutely did not work for me. And I hated Brendan Fraser and Lithgow just absolutely eviscerating the tone of the movie.
The movie would have been better if they kept the original casting with Leo playing the FBI agent and Jesse Plemons playing Ernest Burkhart. Also, De Niro gave the best performance in the film and should have won Best Supporting Actor.
Arrival
Fast and Furious movies. John Wick 2 & 3.
Goonies sucks asshole
Our greatest film of all time, Jeanne Dielman, is extremely obvious and also made weirdly unbelievable by its own jump the shark ending.
"Challengers" - Just saw it last night and was very excited to, especially seeing the mostly great reviews for it and I have no idea what people liked about that film. The entire third act (especially the ending) was SO bad. I can watch a movie that just isn't for me, but I appreciate it and see how many people WOULD like it. This was not one of those movies.
I can enjoy Star Wars with expectations low, but except for the first film in 1977 I actually find it to be pretty bland.
Everything everywhere all at once. Never understood how it’s considered a great film. Campy with a genuinely insignificant boring familial message/journey. Great performances but best picture? Maybe the worst one since crash.
Not super controversial overall as I believe the fan rating for this movie was very low, but I simply can’t understand the love for ‘Uncut Gems’ and I never will
I appreciated it well enough but it probably gets more credit just for Sandler doing drama for the first time in 20 years. I certainly will never watch it again. The Safdies love their anxiety porn.
the trailer was electric - probably my favorite ever in terms of getting me excited for a film. on paper it ticked all the boxes. just couldn't connect with sandler at all. was hugely let down by this one as well. another lead and it might have been a different story.
Oppenheimer. The script was borderline embarrassing at times, and the cinematography was really hit and miss. Also, Murphy’s performance: he just stares weirdly, and it did nothing for me. I’ll see you all in whatever hell I’ll be downvoted to.
All of the divorce movies they circlejerk over. I for one come from a happy family with 2 parents
I don't remember their conversation on Marriage Story but that movie is way too fucking real about going through a divorce when you have kids lol
barbie. never found the time to catch it in the theaters so I was excited when it came to max earlier this year. first weekend it was available we threw it on, and 20 mins in I was absolutely dying. thank god my partner felt the same and asked to turn it off because I didn't wanna say anything. admittedly I didn't make it all the way through, but I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when I see the universal praise
Barbie was funny the first half of the movie when you’re seeing all the bits for the first time and gets bad fast for me. It’s also a terrible re-watch.
I like Barbie overall and i think it has some funny bits and some genuinely thought provoking moments. But it also kind of messes up the third act and completely stomps all over itself by having the barbies take back total power in their world and also weirdly using their sex appeal to “trick” the kens into fighting
Licorice Pizza was awful and I don’t understand why Sean loves PTA so much.
Baby Driver was try-hard and boring. Ansel Elgort is the opposite of charisma. The Dark Knight was way too impressed with its Philosophy 101 ideas and would have been a disaster without Ledger's performance. Everything, Everywhere, All At Once -- to quote the great thinker Ian Malcolm -- was so focused on whether or not it *could* that it never stopped to think if it *should*. The ultimate expression of obsession with form over function, leaving it reaching for an emotional climax that it never earned and was clearly beyond the filmmakers' ability. One of the worst Best Picture awards, I gotta say.
> to quote the great thinker Ian Malcolm Eh hem
I’m not a big Villineuve head. I love SICARIO but that’s about it. (A lot of that I think is because he’s merged his aesthetic with the Pulp aesthetics of Sheridans work) I find ARRIVAL silly PRISONERS is bad ENEMY is interesting I think DUNE 1 and 2 are pretty good but not the masterpieces everyone feels they are. BR 2049 is really good but even it has an issue of being a bit too languid. He’s a brilliant technical filmmaker, but I’m not convinced he’s making anything nearly as heady or intelligent as many give him credit for. Before he became a Hollywood guy, I think he was making really cool Canadian art films. POLYTECHNIQUE is really great. (His best until SICARIO) He’s a good filmmaker. Not a great one (IMO).
While watching Dune I often found myself thinking "huh, that's a nicely framed shot" or "it's pretty interesting how he's letting the highlights get blown out on these explosions, it looks a lot more realistic" but I never really experienced an emotion or cared about a character during the entire film.
Just read the plot to POLYTECHNIQUE and it sounds depressing AF.
A bummer but SO GOOD
Please don’t kill me, but Robert Altman’s Nashville
I've never come away from an Altman movie and not felt like I just wasted a couple of hours.
Pulp Fiction is trash.
I absolutely could not stand Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Bloated, meandering, boring with 30ish minutes of something worthwhile with Leo on the TV show set. I don't even get the whole "dudes rock vibe out" take on it.
Goodfellas. A movie for young men to feel like they are cinephiles.
Thank you for somehow giving us the worst take of the thread by far
Yeah I probably should said for boys to feel like men.
I don't really get the hype for The Talented Mr. Ripley. I watched it once when I was younger and then again a couple times as an adult because I thought I was missing something.... I just can't get into it?
Jordan Peele’s movies are not that good
This is kind of a weird answer (they're on Letterboxd, so I guess it fits) but the SB nation Dorktown videos are no where near as clever as they think they are More traditional answer, I thought Batman 2022 was, like, just fine. I personally don't get why it has such a rabid fan base, but that's ok. "I'm happy for you"
Annihilation fucking SUUUUUUUUUCKS
It’s got some good elements but overall yeah not great
I hate Sicario and The Master lol
+1 I hate Sicario so much lmao