More Unpopular Movie Opinions

[Laira]

So I finally got around to watching the classic 1949 movie, The Heiress starring Olivia de Havilland as the mousy, put-upon daughter of an overbearing father, who gets involved with a fortune hunter. I know that we're supposed to identify and feel sympathy for poor Catherine, she's a nice person who wouldn't hurt a fly, kind hearted and all that, but dear lord she's such a drip! Talk about a boring buzzkill of a person. She's as bad as Fanny in Mansfield Park.

[chonies]

I've never seen it, but I love these kinds of movies and without seeing it, I think both Joan and Olivia always managed to play drips. But I forgot Montgomery Clift is in it, and I really don't like him for reasons I can't explain.

[Laira]

I assume you mean Joan Fontaine, not Joan Crawford. Whatever Crawford's flaws, she certainly was never the least bit 'drippy'.

[chonies]

Yes, very much--Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland played lukewarm very well.

[sardonictart]

Apr 23, 2017 23:06:34 GMT -4 Gigiree said:

I searched all 62 pages of the celebrity folder and couldn't find one for Kevin Smith, so I am posting here. It's been 20 years since the release of Smith's film Chasing Amy. This article from Buzzfeed discusses the film:

When Chasing Amy entered wide release, 20 years ago today, both lesbian and mainstream culture were wracked with battles over identity politics and political correctness — battles which, in 2017, are now raging afresh. Questions about how to define different queer identities, the possibilities and limits of sexual fluidity, and what mysterious chemistry drives attraction are as much a part of the contemporary queer conversation as they were in the mid-’90s. Chasing Amy was, in many ways, ahead of its time.

However, then and now there were issues with how the movie depicted lesbianism:

At the time of its release, and in the years since, a number of queer critics and academics have criticized the film for attempting to school its audience of primarily straight nerd-bros in Lesbianism 101 (how sex between women works; virginity as a social construct) only to end up punishing its lesbian character for her sloppy sexual history. It’s much less a lesbian film than it is a clueless bro’s coming-of-age story that just happens to have a lesbian character — and she exists, for the most part, in the service of the straight dude, kickstarting his evolution without getting much in return. Ultimately, the film assumes that a lesbian can go straight, even if just for a little while, as soon as the right guy comes along.

I have not watched this movie in at least 15 years, but I know I really loved it when it was first released and used to own a copy on VHS. (I also developed a crush on Ben Affleck from this film, which died a fiery death about the time he willingly rubbed JLo's ass on a rented yacht...) I am tempted to rewatch it and see if my fondness will hold up or crash and burn like my love for Mr. Affleck.

God, I hated Chasing Amy with the fire of a thousand suns for exactly the reasons expressed above. I liked Clerks so I thought I'd enjoy it since it was Kevin Smith too, but nope. I'm pretty sure that it kick-started my hate for Jason Lee too.

[luminosa]

I randomly watched The Firm for the first time this morning and this will probably get me kicked off the boards, but not only did I really enjoy the movie, but I've come to the conclusion that I really enjoy Tom Cruise movies.

Many apologies.

[chonies]

I knew who Jonathan Demme was but I've never seen any of his movies except half of the Manchurian Candidate re-do. Not even Silence of the Lambs. I did love the episode of Columbo he did, though that was more to do with French lustbomb Louis Jourdan.

[exiled]

Apr 28, 2017 2:10:36 GMT -4 luminosa said:

I randomly watched The Firm for the first time this morning and this will probably get me kicked off the boards, but not only did I really enjoy the movie, but I've come to the conclusion that I really enjoy Tom Cruise movies.

Many apologies.

I agree with your post and will add this: Tom Cruise is one of those stars* that it always takes me at least five years to watch one of their movies--usually as a last resort. There's nothing else on cable or Netflix (or Hulu or Amazon Prime, etc.) and I usually watch their films grudgingly. Yet ... I tend to enjoy them.

Except for Knight and Day. I don't know anyone who enjoyed that vaguely rapey torture film. I still don't know why Cruise or Diaz agreed to it.

*Denzel Washington, Will Smith, and Harrison Ford are included in this list. I'm not attracted to them as stars, but they generally know how to pick projects I don't find too offensive. I just have to be pushed to watch their movies for some reason.

[famvir]

Me and Nick Cage movies. I don't like Nicholas Cage, but I like Nicholas Cage movies. I just came to the same conclusion recently on Tom Cruise. I really like Edge of Tomorrow and Minority Report, and I just saw Magnolia. I guess as long as Cruise is not in my face being weird (same with Cage) I can divorce the man from his films. Except "...the bees! Not the bees..." That Cage movie just sucks.

[trifle]

Tom Cruise's screen persona usually plays off of a certain cocky/dickish quality he gives off, so that makes it easy to like his movies while despising him. And Edge of Tomorrow was really good.
You lost me with Nick Cage, though.