• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Liberal wank movies that the critics loved but you hated

MacReady13

Member
I want to further add to my comments above about MCU films being made for the lowest common denominator... I think there are fine film makers producing MCU films. I actually like the Guardians films and am extremely excited to see Sam Raimi return. But these are guys with strong visual styles and great story telling expertise. Watching the last Avengers films I felt like I was forced to react in certain ways. Almost as if the film makers had to do certain things within the film mandated from people above...
 

GreyHorace

Member
I just can't believe i'm arguing with someone over the merits of a largely forgotten film (Amadeus) over a classic of cinema! Those points you made are fine, but it never helped Stanley Kubrick win a best picture oscar...
MCU is fine if you are into that mindless sort of thing. I don't personally like the films within the MCU, and like many film makers don't really consider them to be "cinema". They are made in a boardroom for the lowest common denominator (no offense to anyone who loves them). Much like the latest Star Wars films and plenty of films released today.

I'm sorry. I've kept out of this discussion for the most part. But to imply that Amadeus is some largely forgotten film is quite frankly, bullshit. Even discounting the Mozart connection or that it was based on a popular stage play, Amadeus remains to this day one of the most popular movies of all time among cinephiles and moviegoers alike. It's been parodied on The Simpsons and Family Guy, and go to any Youtube clip of the movie and there are more than hundreds of comments praising the film for it's acting, music and Milos Forman's direction.

Whether or not it's better than Back to the Future is besides the point. Can't we just appreciate both films for what they are and not denigrate one or the other in some cinematic pissing contest?
 

sol_bad

Member
I just can't believe i'm arguing with someone over the merits of a largely forgotten film (Amadeus) over a classic of cinema! Those points you made are fine, but it never helped Stanley Kubrick win a best picture oscar...
MCU is fine if you are into that mindless sort of thing. I don't personally like the films within the MCU, and like many film makers don't really consider them to be "cinema". They are made in a boardroom for the lowest common denominator (no offense to anyone who loves them). Much like the latest Star Wars films and plenty of films released today.

And there you have your answer as to why the movies you mentioned do and don't get awards. Difference of opinion. I think BTTF is just as mindless as the MCU films but the MCU films have better characterisation and more interesting set ups to their stories.

How do you quantify how good the acting is? Specifically what about the acting in Amadeus makes it better?

For me personally it's acting range, an actor that can show 6-10 different emotions as a single character is far better than an actor who does 2-3 different emotions as a single character.
Michael J Fox is great at doing his over the top exaggerated screaming acting (DOC DOC DOC) but that's all he has going for his character in that film.
F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce have more range and nuance to their action. I mean, yeah, Tom Hulce can be over the top as Mozart but I love how he can change from fun loving to focused and serious in an instance.

2 of my favourite scenes.



Obviously it is all subjective.
Personally, until this thread I had no idea that Amadeus even won awards. My friend who loves film just told me that I need to watch it and gave me the blu ray to watch. After watching it I just knew that it was something special. Looking at the cover now, it says in the bottom right hand corner that it won awards but I never noticed it before.
 

MacReady13

Member
I'm sorry. I've kept out of this discussion for the most part. But to imply that Amadeus is some largely forgotten film is quite frankly, bullshit. Even discounting the Mozart connection or that it was based on a popular stage play, Amadeus remains to this day one of the most popular movies of all time among cinephiles and moviegoers alike. It's been parodied on The Simpsons and Family Guy, and go to any Youtube clip of the movie and there are more than hundreds of comments praising the film for it's acting, music and Milos Forman's direction.

Whether or not it's better than Back to the Future is besides the point. Can't we just appreciate both films for what they are and not denigrate one or the other in some cinematic pissing contest?

With all due respect, i'm willing to bet vital parts of my anatomy to the fact that if you asked 1000 people, most of them would know what BTTF was, yet a small minority would know the film Amadeus. Not taking anything away from the film, but we are talking about what makes it a better film than BTTF. I'm not convinced it is a better film. And I am sure there are MANY more people out there who would argue with me on that! If you would rather pop in the blu ray of Amadeus over BTTF, that is your choice. I'm trying to make the point that I don't believe a film LIKE Amadeus is more worthy of a best picture oscar as opposed to BTTF... And I don't believe BTTF was nominated that year at all! I chose that as 1 example... I have listed MANY more examples. Comment on them!!! Comment on Pulp Fiction (or even Se7en) losing out to Forrest Gump. Star Wars not taking home the best picture oscar. Raging Bull losing. Saving Private Ryan losing. There are plenty of examples out there of BETTER films losing the oscar to an unworthy winner...
 

MacReady13

Member
And there you have your answer as to why the movies you mentioned do and don't get awards. Difference of opinion. I think BTTF is just as mindless as the MCU films but the MCU films have better characterisation and more interesting set ups to their stories.

Wow ok! Opinions really are like assholes!!! Not that i'm comparing you to an asshole!:messenger_beaming:
 

sol_bad

Member
With all due respect, i'm willing to bet vital parts of my anatomy to the fact that if you asked 1000 people, most of them would know what BTTF was, yet a small minority would know the film Amadeus. Not taking anything away from the film, but we are talking about what makes it a better film than BTTF. I'm not convinced it is a better film. And I am sure there are MANY more people out there who would argue with me on that! If you would rather pop in the blu ray of Amadeus over BTTF, that is your choice. I'm trying to make the point that I don't believe a film LIKE Amadeus is more worthy of a best picture oscar as opposed to BTTF... And I don't believe BTTF was nominated that year at all! I chose that as 1 example... I have listed MANY more examples. Comment on them!!! Comment on Pulp Fiction (or even Se7en) losing out to Forrest Gump. Star Wars not taking home the best picture oscar. Raging Bull losing. Saving Private Ryan losing. There are plenty of examples out there of BETTER films losing the oscar to an unworthy winner...

At the end of the day, awards don't matter. As I mentioned, I don't pay attention to them but if I find out that a movie gets one, I can generally understand why. I saw Parasite as soon as it came out at cinemas and thought it was incredible. Then after it started getting these award nominations. Even if it didn't win awards, I would still think it's an incredible film.
Movies, like all art, are subjective. If you like BTTF more than Amadeus, that's A-OK. You don't need it to get an award to justify why you love it so much.
:)
 

GreyHorace

Member
With all due respect, i'm willing to bet vital parts of my anatomy to the fact that if you asked 1000 people, most of them would know what BTTF was, yet a small minority would know the film Amadeus. Not taking anything away from the film, but we are talking about what makes it a better film than BTTF. I'm not convinced it is a better film. And I am sure there are MANY more people out there who would argue with me on that! If you would rather pop in the blu ray of Amadeus over BTTF, that is your choice. I'm trying to make the point that I don't believe a film LIKE Amadeus is more worthy of a best picture oscar as opposed to BTTF... And I don't believe BTTF was nominated that year at all! I chose that as 1 example... I have listed MANY more examples. Comment on them!!! Comment on Pulp Fiction (or even Se7en) losing out to Forrest Gump. Star Wars not taking home the best picture oscar. Raging Bull losing. Saving Private Ryan losing. There are plenty of examples out there of BETTER films losing the oscar to an unworthy winner...

We can argue back and forth whether a film deserved to win the Oscar Best Picture award on this year or that year. But I won't do that. You know why?

I find the Academy Awards largely meaningless and inconsequential now.

I mentioned earlier in this thread how much I despise Crash. That film took home the Best Picture Award for 2005 over Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck and Munich. And just 4 years before that Moulin Rouge won over The Fellowship of the Ring, which pisses me off. And in 1978 the Oscar went to Annie Hall over Star Wars. Etc, etc...

The debates can go on and on over which film deserved the award, and I say, fuck it. Good films that last in the public mindset don't need the validation of an Academy Award. The Awards themselves have a sketchy reputation regarding it's voting system. Need we be reminded how much that rat bastard Harvey Weinstein loved to aggressively campaign for the awards? It's all just a show for the Hollywood people so they can pat themselves on the back for what a great year they've had. It's never been for the ordinary moviegoers like you or me.

I can recall a time when a guy asked me whether I as a fellow geek would celebrate The Return of the King's win at the Oscars. All I thought was, "who the fuck cares?"
 

MacReady13

Member
At the end of the day, awards don't matter. As I mentioned, I don't pay attention to them but if I find out that a movie gets one, I can generally understand why. I saw Parasite as soon as it came out at cinemas and thought it was incredible. Then after it started getting these award nominations. Even if it didn't win awards, I would still think it's an incredible film.
Movies, like all art, are subjective. If you like BTTF more than Amadeus, that's A-OK. You don't need it to get an award to justify why you love it so much.
:)

Agree 100%. No malice in any of this. Just differing opinions. It’s why I love all forms of art (but mainly film, video games and music) so much. What I love some don’t, and I love having conversations to find out alternate opinions.
 
Top Bottom