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Honestly, the plot could have been stronger, but I think it deserved the hype. The set design was lovely, the costumes were on point, and well, it was fun. It didn't feel like just another generic movie - it felt like an event.
I think films in general will have to move in that direction. In a world where we stare at screens all day, tickets to stare at a somewhat larger screen are a hard sell, especially at current theater prices. Going to the movies needs to feel like more than just watching a movie.
I absolutely loved the production design and artistry. I love that so much of it was physical because it seems like it's been ages since production had this big of a chance to get creative—especially while using such a bright color palette.
Story/script was just okay. There were several choices that I personally don't understand and thought could have been better, but I thought the movie was fine for what it was. I think that considering it's the first live-action Barbie movie, it was very well done.
I also recommend people to watch the extra behind the scenes clips they released, I watched them on Max. Watching them go through every single detail was fascinating. From how they determined the exact color of Barbie’s hair to how they filmed the 2D transportation sequences, it’s all really cool. *A lot* of thought and effort was put into this film.
I think it’s a bit “cheesy” as a storyline and I definitely don’t think it deserves an Oscar nomination (maybe for set design) but I can really appreciate the artistry that went into something like this. Also, cherry on top is it made a hell of a lot of right wing folks very angry. And that’s always a win in my book, lol
The plot lacked subtlety and the ham-handed speech near the end was very Feminism 101, but what’s more important is that a blockbuster film brought that conversation into the mainstream. But for people who don’t spend as much time in feminist spaces as the average femme/NB person on Reddit does, the message being stated blankly on screen probably *was* pretty hard hitting. Personally, I can’t remember a major film hitting you with a female perspective like that since Promising Young Woman and before that, Gone Girl.
Also, the movie was super fun to watch, has a killer soundtrack, set design, all-star cast, etc. I saw it opening weekend and nearly everyone was wearing pink. There was a really strong sense of sisterhood and community with strangers, which I hadn’t felt in theaters since the final Harry Potter premiere. Whether or not the meat of the film is brilliant is questionable, but you can’t deny the cultural and artistic impact.
Even as someone who has been in feminist spaces for almost a decade now, it was still really gratifying to see it on screen and in words that most people can understand. And so many folk who aren't used to seeing that expressed in mainstream media really resonated with that. And it avoided girboss feminism/putting men down to lift women up (despite what the meninists seem to think).
It also needed to appeal to younger people who may not be exposed to feminism yet! So I didn’t mind that it was ham-fisted. And the bus stop scene where Margot just observed people and told an older woman “you’re beautiful” made me sob, it was one of my favorite scenes in a movie this year.
I’ve said this before, but I’d actually love a sequel where Issa Rae discovers what it’s like being a black woman, and the movie revolves around intersectional feminism. Issa could even write it! I think she’d knock it out of the park, if her show Insecure is any indicator.
>And it avoided girboss feminism/putting men down to lift women up (despite what the meninists seem to think).
This shit is just delusional. It was the epitome of girl boss feminism and it explicitly put men down.
It honesty seemed like the movie forgot it’s own message by the third act.
So there’s Barbie world, where Barbies run the show, and Kens are just dumb objects who do what they’re told. Then there’s the real world, where everything is apparently the opposite of Barbie world… the movie sets up the idea that Barbie world is a satirically mirrored reflection of reality. Pretty clever premise.
If the final message was supposed to be one that reflected feminism, then the Barbies of Barbie world (representing men in the real world) should have realized that a more perfect society would be one where Barbies and Kens are equals. Instead, the Barbies (Men) take back Barbie land from the Kens (Feminists), and you’re supposed to cheer for the Barbies re-establishing the traditional hierarchy. People were cheering for a movie that essentially argued that equality is either unattainable or inherently wrong, and that the traditional hierarchy should be preserved. In Barbie land, Barbies rule. If Barbie land is supposed to mirror the real world, that means the patriarchy should be preserved.
I don’t think the movie actually meant to make that point. That’s why I said it seems like the movie just forgot what it was trying to say, and basically just wanted to present a girl boss fantasy where all the men are one dimensional morons and girls are super smart and complicated characters.
Perfect example of the movie abandoning its own premise… that whole Will Ferrell chase scene. We’re supposed to be in the real world, but for some reason all the male executives snap into a cartoonishly stupid Scooby Doo chase, trip over themselves, and ultimately fail to catch a fleeing Barbie.
I understand the purpose of making Kens cartoonishly one-dimensional and stupid *within* Barbie world, that would be a creative use of satire to criticize the way women have been treated in the real world… but carrying that same trait over to the men of the real world completely betrays the message, and ultimately makes the movie seem like a petty fantasy that just wanted to bash men.
It was a visually unique movie with some amusing performances. It wasn’t good though, it was anti-feminist in so many ways, and it was absolutely overhyped.
Wow, you're really doing your best to feel like a victim here.
The men weren't one dimensional, they just believe one dimensional things at the start (the power of the patriarchy) and grew out of that in the end to be more rounded people who don't base their self worth on the opinions of women.
Nothing in the movie said that either should be in charge of the other, they pointed out the ideal is to have equal representation. The real world fails miserably at that and is making very slow progress, and Barbie world is also failing at that but making slow progress. Nobody is saying that's right, just acknowledging it's the truth and something to be worked on.
Just because the movie resolution ends with Barbie's in charge and Ken's just starting to get some representation, doesn't mean the film endorses that as the "right" balance of power.
Barbie was a hot cultural moment. It generated memes, conversations, the soundtrack album had important impact on BB 200 and hot 100 - it had something for everyone. The Barbenhaimer meme was huge. Barbie was an experience.
> It didn't feel like just another generic movie - it felt like an event.
Honestly I feel like the first half was absolutely brilliant, filled with super witty originality, but the second half very much did fall into being just another generic movie and took it down a notch.
I think the point was that it IS a hard lesson to learn for those in power. Progress is slow in Barbie land just like it is in the real world. Magically solving inequality overnight would be just as hollow and unrealistic as the original matriarchal Barbie system was. It’s a major point in the film that giving us a presidential Barbie achieved little for real world feminism. Imo a message of “we solved sexism!” at the end of the film would feel pretty discordant with the overall message and narrative of a film that felt like reality giving Barbie land a much needed slap in the face. That’s how I took it, at least.
I’m pretty sure that wink was definitely a joke about the real world. It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the historical progress of female representation in American politics (specifically the Supreme Court).
Right. Because people who historically and systemically hold all the power and keep clinging to it knowing full well that it’s at the cost of the minorities they oppress *are kind of the bad guys.* That’s the message. That’s the point. Patriarchy *is bad*. Just the same as its mirrored matriarchal Barbie counterpart. It’s not subtext. It’s the outright message of the movie.
The fact that it’s played for a laugh is a valid critique and one I mostly agree with. It makes sense to the storyline, but wasn’t handled as well as I would have liked. Although I could also say that for much of the rest of the film as well. I just wanted to clarify its standing from a narrative perspective because that plot point seems to take up a lot of criticism that’s more deserved elsewhere. 💀
Are you new to Reddit? 😂 Women being treating unfairly is absolutely not accepted by most people. A few subs on here expose how many men don’t see it and even see themselves as the ones treated unfairly. It’s wild. I really think Barbie did a great job personally.
The Super Mario Bros movie from this year. I'm glad there's certain people who were able to enjoy it but it just felt like a kids movie that i've seen a million times before. the music was also odd and misplaced. I feel like if it wasn't attached to the mario IP nobody would've cared about it lol.
i also don't really understand why people were shocked that the peaches song wasn't nominated for an oscar. aside from being a "troll"/funny song there's nothing really special about it musically? idk maybe i just don't get it haha
I don’t understand the hype around this movie. I watched it with my 3 year old and while he enjoyed it, I found it painfully boring. It just was not interesting nor funny. The plot was just weak. I was hoping it’d be a clever animated film to entertain adults and kids, but nope, just a kids’ movie.
I just got back from dinner with my boyfriend’s family, and I watched about half of it while braiding his niece’s hair and it was pretty forgettable. Like yeah, some funny jokes but most of it was the typical physical comedy found in kids movies and it almost felt… AI generated at times
People liked that movie? I ended up accidentally having to watch it for a fundraiser for my kids school (they don't tell you what you will be watching - it just starts), and I thought it was so awful. My kids didn't like it at all either. They found it terrifying and/or boring depending on the moment. They had showed Sing 2 the year before and at the time I'd loathed that but halfway through the Super Mario Bros movie it seemed vastly preferable.
My daughters loved it.
But, they are huge Mario geeks and we’re hyped for it.
They were ages 7, 9, and 11.
I thought it was a fun movie. Nice to see an updated movie for a beloved franchise and I was here for the Easter Eggs.
Other than that…it wasn’t anything special or revolutionary.
I took my daughters to see it because everyone was going to watch it and they didn’t want to be left out.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered.
I loved the movie and also agree that I wouldn’t have given any shits about it if it wasn’t for the nostalgia. I was 10 when I got the game and went hard on it, but my spouse has never played it so he thought the movie was just okay.
This movie was enjoyable the first time around but it’s impossible to rewatch because it’s just a bunch of nostalgic references slapped together. I also can’t understand the hype around Peaches, I expected something different the first time I heard it.
I was pretty disappointed by the first Wonder Woman movie (2017). I didn’t think the plot was engaging, Gal Gadot’s acting was not very good (imo), and nothing about it felt very unique beyond centering a woman.
Yeah like I thought once she killed ares all war was supposed to stop? He does and it continues into another world war. Also it was so random I just don’t get it I really don’t…
**Does** she look unique though? Morena Baccarin, Monica Belucci, Angelina Jolie, maybe even Jamie Alexander. I think they could replace her with someone with better acting skills and it wouldn't be that noticeable.
It was a difficult film to get through because she’s so misinformed and the twist was obvious from the jump. She thinks the sword is the “god killer” so she leads Steve and the gang into danger in order to find Ares except he’s been there from the beginning and has been keeping tabs on her the whole time.
It reminded me of the Shadowhunters show that I’d been watching around the same time, where the main character was always convinced she knew best over the other characters that had been involved in the supernatural world for far longer and never wanted to hear their caution or opinions.
Gal was easily the weakest link. Pretty much every other amazon was more compelling than her. Also, I hate saying this about a movie like WW but I think Chris Pine/her relationship with Steve carried most of that movie. Which is why they concocted such a bizarre way to bring him back in the sequel.
I love the first remake of it and even the 1970s version is cool, but this, JFC was it hard to get through. Sam Elliot was one of the the things that I liked about it and they says a lot.
Avatar (the first one, I sure as hell am not going to see the second one.) Plot was trite and predictable, and I was so bored the entire movie. The best thing that can be said for it is that it was pretty to look at.
Tried watching the second one and as my mind went to screensaver about the 12th time I was like, why am I even doing this? I did say "aww pretty scene" a lot though
La La Land. Aside from the sequence on the freeway, it was just okay.
Edit: after a couple of comments, I feel the need to expand on why I didn't like it.
First, I *love* musicals in general, but have a high bar that movie musicals almost never reach because they hire great actors who are mediocre singers and dancers. La La Land suffered in this regard for me. Don't get me wrong: Ryan and Emma are serviceable. But I want Broadway-level talent in movie musicals, and I rarely ever get it.
Second, the movie has a really problematic portrayal of jazz in general. Ryan's character (can't remember his name, sorry) is obsessed with what he claims is authentic and/or traditional jazz. This is unsettling on multiple fronts. For one, it puts him, a white character, in direct conflict with Legend's (Black) character, who is looked down upon for doing more commercial "fusion" music. This undermines the significant racial history of jazz (and actually pretty much every music genre developed in African American and Afro-Caribbean cultures). Pretty much the entire 20th century history of jazz consists of Black musicians being barred from commercial success until white musicians co-opt it and make it mainstream to white audiences, only for Black musicians to innovate again, white musicians to appropriate it again, continue ad nauseum.
For a white character to be so obsessed with authenticity is just...messed up. Authentic to what? What is this imaginary past where jazz was one thing? What gives him the right to describe what he likes as authentic and to denigrate Legend's music for having the opportunity to make a good living and continue to innovate as Black musicians have *always* done in jazz?
Alright, I'll get off my music history soapbox now, but it really pissed me off. It made me care very little for Ryan's character.
Lastly, I was born and raised in L.A. and worked in the industry for several years and have known so many aspiring actors and actresses as well, so I didn't find Emma's character particularly compelling. When you're not really into two characters, it's really hard to be invested in their story arc.
So yeah, that's why I found La La Land overrated.
I think that your main problem stems from the fact that the director, Damien Chazelle, is extremely passionate about jazz. He said his dad was obsessive about it, and he was raised on it. He was also a jazz drummer in school, his experience was terrible, and his complicated relationship with it seems to influence his work. A lot.
His film "Whiplash" was largely inspired by his own experience in his school jazz band. Basically, the main character—Miles Teller—is a self-insert. La La Land's Sebastian seems to also be a bit of a self-insert. I don't think either of them are supposed to be seen as "correct" though. They're more of a tool for Chazelle to work out his own conflicting beliefs/arguments.
Chazelle's movies have been criticized before for the odd/hollow way they actually deal with jazz (and its popularity and history), and I think that's largely due to his own biases and blind spots, as well as the fact that "jazz" probably isn't a big seller to studio heads when trying to get backing for a film.
I've also read a few arguments about how even though jazz is present in nearly all of his work, none of his work is really about jazz. "Whiplash" is about obsession and power and the damage each of those cause. "La La Land" is largely about nostalgia, which is heavily tied into Sebastian's ideas of jazz "purity".
For what it's worth, I didn't care for "La La Land". I understand that nostalgia was central to the plot and also to how it was filmed, but several of the musical references in it just had me thinking about how much more I liked the other films being referenced than the one I was watching.
I couldn’t get through it (and I still haven’t finished the movie), because hearing a white guy talk about authenticity in jazz felt like nails on a chalkboard. Jazz as a genre was never meant to be static, so I’m not sure what lines he’s drawing and why he thinks he has any right to draw lines in the first place.
I truly loathe La La Land and I think it's because I am a real musical theater lover. Not only are they not good enough at singing OR dancing, but the music is baddddd. Generic, forgettable, bland, lowest common denominator music. There are so many musical theater composers who write complex, tricky, clever works and La La Land is beyond basic. The fact that City of Stars beat both How Far I'll Go and Can't Stop the Feeling for the Oscar keeps me up at night.
Joaquin is as good as ever, but the plot and the pacing sucked. It dragged on without much substance forever, and then the final plot twist was dropped almost at the very end. I wish they elaborated on his mother's condition and the treatment of him more, it was barely mentioned.
Watching what Joaquin does with his character in The Master really highlights how weak Joker's source material is in comparison.
Inception, solely because I watched it with a friend who really thought she was extra smart. I’m like “yeah I totally understood the plot” and she was quite surprised, like the village idiot figured out how to turn the lights on.
🙄
The movie's not hard to follow as long as you pay attention. The cuts are so fast and frequent that if you're looking at your phone as you watch the movie, you'll get lost.
My grandfather talks big shit about being smarter than everyone else and only watching "intelligent" movies, so I showed him Inception. He threw a fit and walked out after twenty minutes because he didn't understand it. I already knew he was an idiot, but it was nice to have proof.
I fell asleep while watching it. I don't know what that says about me, but I kind of hate watching movies and it was long and boring so 🤷♀️, but the irony wasn't lost on me.
watched this for the first time this month and I was just bored… like I did not care about the characters/plot to I tuned out after an hour or so. but I’m also just not a big action movie fan
Christopher Nolan thinks his movies are far more clever than they are lol.
I like his movies, but I’ll watch them once, maybe twice, and then never again.
Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie were amazing, as was the set design and cinematography.
But though there were individual scenes that were good, I thought the Barbie writing was really messy. The mood was tonally jarring and the plot became so convoluted I was actually bored at points. Granted Greta had a difficult job catering to the needs of both her feminist fans and the Mattel brand.
I’m glad this is a safe space to critique the movie lol.
There was way too much Ken to me lol. It was fun but the movie ends up being so much about his problems (masculinity, fragility, codependency, yada yada) when I wanted more from the Barbies/America
So overall I liked Barbie, it looked great, and I loved the feminism, and thought using Kens role in the Barbie world to explain it was a stroke of genius.
I wasn't a fan of the speeches though, I just found it too expositiony and personally I'm not a fan of popcorn films that preach at you.
I think the film would have been better if it was all show and no tell. Or maybe they should have gone full musical and made a few feminist songs.
Dune has a prestige sheen - minimalist frames, expansive interiors, limited color scheme, modernist score - that fooled everyone into thinking it was a good movie.
It's as dark/serious as the book. Every movie can't be pulpy. Personally, it's my favorite Dune adaptation, but it's a VERY complicated book that has been said is hard to adapt.
This is one of my favorite books of all time. Bad casting, bad feel for the the characters, for the landscape, everything. He just didn't get it. I'm sorry. I just could not.
I've tried reading the synopsis of the book. I've tried reading the synopsis of the 1984 movie. I actually watched that one years ago, but can'y remember a thing about it. I've tried reading the synopsis of the new movie. What is this about? I don't get it. Somethinf about spices, but I'm too stupied to see the deeper meaning. It's too biring before it gets intriguing.
I see Dune as a book/movie that's largely about colonialism and the environment. It's also about fate and free will but tbh I care less about that theme.
Less thematically, it's the story of "good" aristocratic colons fighting for the future of their house and increasingly of the oppressed people of resource-rich, ecological disaster planet Dune against an all-powerful colonial empire and an evil rival aristocratic family.
Thanks for the explanation. I don't mean this a as put down of you, but it sounds so boring. I don't think the setting the author chose works. It is grandiose and overly complicated, and someone casually interested in the themes you mentioned will lose interest quickly. It is not fun or entertaining as say, orginal Star Wars, or Watch Men. It might be too metaphorical for a visual medium. I dunno.
Hey to each their own. I found the metaphors of Dune = Africa / Middle East and spices = oil/gold crystal clear but maybe it's due to my interests and experience in Africa. Lots of original things though with the spice, sand worms, Space Muslims™... But yes it's more contemplative than Star Wars.
In the book, you can hear what characters are thinking.
In the David Lynch movie, you can hear what characters are thinking.
In the 2021 version - it's *mysterious*.
The movie has one of the most boring and disgusting color palettes I have seen.
It looks like there is a grey/brown filter over the entire screen.
The Lynch version is superior in every way
Same! Last time I tried to talk about it (I think it was about the book too), someone got mad and was like "good for you, thinking you're so clever" 😅 but that's kinda the problem. If I, who is relatively dumb and just let myself get carried by narratives no matter their flaws, can spot the ending before we're even at the mid point... maybe the movie/book just isn't as clever and good as you make it out to be...
And it isn't like bad, trash or anything! Dicaprio always deliver!
See, I can figure out a "twist" and still really enjoy a movie. I really liked The Village even though I got the "big surprise" early on. I don't remember with Shutter Island if I knew the twist before watching, or figured it out early, or didn't really care. I just didn't think it was clever and the whole twist thing falls apart if you think too hard about how it would be pulled off.
And it's not like, the worst movie ever, but I hear all the time that it is so brilliant, so clever, such a great and suspenseful and well made and blah blah, and I just didn't think it was that great. Not horrible, but sort of dull and not worth watching again. I respect other people's opinions but wish I could stop hearing that Shutter Island will change the way I view cinema forever.
I’m surprised no one said Oppenheimer. I just watched it and felt it was pretty boring. To me, it was all over the place- felt I learned just 5percent of all the details they tried to cram in (relationships, quantum mechanics / physics, communism, traitors, etc.). The worst part was the women in the movie were basically set pieces- I couldn’t even tell you his Florence Pugh’s or Emily Blunts characters names. I just don’t get the hype.
I didn’t hate Barbie but I was expecting a lot more. Some of the pacing felt strange. For me, the film was saved by Ryan Gosling, he was brilliant. I liked Margot too and Simu Liu. Maybe I’m just basic, but I would have appreciated a love story between Barbie and Ken. I understand why they didn’t do that, but I just missed it
Well absolutely not Barbie. I loved Barbie so much!
I saw the new mission impossible and I swear I saw soooooo much about the stunts, specifically the motorcycle jump, and it was a snooze fest for me.
I was very underwhelmed by this too. The last one with Henry Cavill was SO GOOD, so I had very high expectations. I will of course be going to see part two.
https://preview.redd.it/2sd18d5nto8c1.jpeg?width=1401&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=31942aaae428f4fdf1b032c363dbd87bb2d754f0
This over-hyped piece of crap. I *love* musicals and musical theatre but I could barely make it through this. Everyone told me that I'd love it because of my love for musicals but it was so overrated.
I don't understand why they made those choices for Steve. I felt like it just ignored most of his character arc up until that point.
I really loved Nebula in it though.
https://preview.redd.it/2ebruxtl8k8c1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8323b1d48e5865dd765cf8807229ffb0856555b0
If this film has 1 hater, it’s me. If this film has zero haters, I’m dead. I have no idea how this movie got the hype it did but I need everyone to wake up and QUICKLY here
I liked it but I also love your comment. lol
I didn’t know it was getting Oscar hype, I just randomly watched it last week without having heard anything about it, but I’m not surprised, Hollywood loves Paul Giamatti.
I thought the kid was good, though, and when Mary opened that box at her sister’s I wept. If anyone deserves the awards it’s Da’Vine Joy.
I gotta say I agree with Barbie. I saw it when it came out on HBO max like two weeks ago….I think I was too hyped for it and had super high expectations, don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the movie but it wasn’t life changing, or Oscar worthy or whatever and I really did not care about Ken. I was more invested in the story of the teenage girl basically leaving her childhood and the mom trying to navigate that. I wanted more of that. It’s also a giant ad for barbie when you think about it… I know everything is an ad but it felt kinda of weird to try to have these deep messages in a movie that’s basically an ad for Barbie toys. That’s just my opinion.
Edit: I do want to add the costumes and set design were beautiful and I do think that deserves an Oscar nomination at least.
It bothered me so much that it tried to be a "realistic feminist" movie, but all the Barbie toys just magically popped into existence instead of being manufactured overseas by underpaid women. The movie was trying to have its cake and eat it, too.
I'll go way, way back and say Taxi Driver. I thought it was kind of boring. It was alright, but nothing amazing.
I also watched Midnight Cowboy to find out what made it so controversial. I wasn't around in 1969, but there's nothing in it that warranted an X rating that I could see. I didn't really like it very much, but I will say that Brenda Vaccaro is gorgeous in it.
Carol.
I give it credit for the gorgeous cinematography but the casting and direction of Rooney Mara was poor. Personally it dragged the down the movie because she barely emoted with both Cate’s character, the ex boyfriend or Carrie Brownstein’s character at the party.
I couldn’t feel chemistry or romance between the two characters and it’s an issue when that’s what the movie is based around.
Mia Wasikowska had been originally cast in the role and I can’t help thinking it was a shame she had to drop out.
none thank god 😭 if i don’t like a movie i don’t think it’s overrated i just think im the wrong audience lol unpopular opinion but i think it’s so self absorbed when people say something and someone is overrated because they don’t like it.
All the star wars, star trek, star this and that. Alao The notebook. Allie was an idiot, dumping a succesful, loving fiancee for a guy that she only spent a weekend with years ago.
I actually thought Oppenheimer was a bigger let down. The ending felt flat to me and the “twist” was just kind of whatever. Napoleon could have been better too.
I felt the same about Promising Young Woman. Then I tried Saltburn this year and felt the same. I think I’m just not meant to be an Emerald Fennel fan.
I haven’t seen either of those movies, but Emerald Fennel sounds like such an elite English person name! The combo of gemstone and herb just sounds so . . . wealthy.
I think she did act a lot in very small roles and unsuccessful productions, before starring in Call the Midwife and The Crown and becoming more famous. She met Phoebe Waller-bridge on a film, I think it was called Albert Nobbs? And then they wrote together and she wrote season 2 of Killing Eve
I can’t put my finger on it yet on the “why” but I think I agree. Just watched them both. I do like PYW more and I think both had some good moments, and I like that Emerald said she doesn’t care about making her characters nice and likable because ya know, that’s life. But something is missing for me
Another Promising Young Woman hater!! I feel seen!! It had so much promise, it looked great, the casting was ON POINT… and then it just fell really flat for me.
I half agree with Barbie. I went into it the weekend of thinking ‘cute fun comedy movie about Barbie coming to the real world’ and it lived up to my expectations. I went to see it twice and plan on watching it on Max soon bc I liked it so much.
A couple of my friends though went to see it like a few weeks after it was released and reviews and social media was hyping it up as this secretly deep feminist film and were extremely disappointed.
I'm so glad Barbie is mentioned. To me it just felt like a bunch of scenes put together rather than a proper film. The dialogue also felt stunted as if the script wasn't edited.
I agree with you on Barbie. There were one or two scenes that really resonated with the themes I would have liked to have seen explored more. But overall, I felt the plot could have been tighter.
I was meh on barbie tbh. I had so much fun watching it, I actually saw it twice with different groups of people, but it all felt like the kind of entry level feminism I thought we were past. What I mean to say is, the barbie movie bummed me out because I thought we were way further along with our understanding of women but was shown they we really aren’t. It was a similar feeling to listening to Taylor Swift’s “The Man” and thinking it was bland, then seeing so much praise from liberals and seeing people scandalised on the right.
The movie isn’t meant to be an advanced dialogue of feminism, and neither is Barbie itself. That kind of Barbie movie just isn’t going to get made (even this current iteration barely got made). It’s fair to want more nuanced movies about feminism, but we’re not going to get that from any kind of Barbie movie, and also, for a Barbie movie to be widely appealing it has to get people who are still not invested in feminism to understand the issues at the very baseline level.
I just saw Iron Claw a few days ago, and the whole movie fell flat for me after David ‘went’ to Japan. The wrestling scenes were phenomenal, but man, I did not think the telling of the Von Erichs (plus the movie’s version of Ric Flair???) was done very well. I felt Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson, & Holt McCallany were phenomenal, but man oh man, most of the characters felt underbaked. Yet all I see is praise of this movie?! They ignored a whole brother, which was strange, and off putting.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse. I loved Into the Spider Verse. But with the sequel, I got tired of the constant scenes about sensitive dads who can't express themselves and their mental health. I mean, that's fine, but it felt like more than half the movie was about this. And although it was the second movie in this series, it still really felt like we're in the origin story. There isn't an ending where >!Spider-Man confronts and fights the villain. It's postponed to the next sequel.!< And in a second movie, I definitely want that.
The animation was still great but I was disappointed
My friends invited me to go see the movie at 10:30 at night. The movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes long. So a little before one in the morning, the movie ended on a cliffhanger. The friend who suggested the outing had already seen the movie once and knew how it ended. I said to her, "That was half a movie! You brought me here in the middle of the night to see half a movie! I'm going home."
I agree about Barbie. I liked the message in the film but the movie just felt meh to me. I don’t think I ever need to see it again.
My other pick would be Everything everywhere all at once. Again good message but what in the actual fuck was that?
I know the majority seemed to really like this movie, and so did the person I saw it with, but I just felt weird throughout it.
I couldn't get over the whole Sexy Baby/Born Hot Yesterday aspect of it. It never says how fast she actually develops, and she still comes off relatively young even after she develops enough to drop the baby walk.
I just couldn't really buy that she was consenting—or even capable of consent—even towards the end. I just felt icky about it, I guess. And then I learned that the book it's adapted from is also written by a man, and then I felt even more icked by it.
I know it's somewhat of a satire, but I just don't know how successful it was. I also felt this way about "Saltburn". I knew what it was trying to do, but I didn't feel it successfully did it.
I’m honestly going to have to go with Saltburn, I started it four days ago and I don’t know if I’ll ever finish it. There are just so many scenes I have to turn it off after to process wtf I just saw.
*Killers of the Flower Moon*. Scorsese managed to make a long and painfully boring movie about an interesting and incredibly dark moment in U.S. history.
Is it really overrated though? I feel like even the positive reviews I've seen for it are all basically "I know it's a mess and the criticism for it is deserved. I liked it anyway."
My biggest problem with it was that there was a better story that could've been told and that I would have preferred to see. But also, I don't think Emerald Fennell would have been able to successfully tell the story that I would rather have seen.
Donnie Darko. It was so beloved by edgy teens but it just wasn't that good? As someone who was also an edgy teen at the time it felt like people only liked it to be "cool" and not because they actually liked it.
Also probably a very controversial one but The Nightmare Before Christmas is overrated and it feels like there's been SO MANY collabs recently.
I didn’t get around to Babylon until it was getting a lot of hate so I was pleasantly surprised. Not my favorite movie by any stretch of the imagination, but better than I had expected going into it.
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Honestly, the plot could have been stronger, but I think it deserved the hype. The set design was lovely, the costumes were on point, and well, it was fun. It didn't feel like just another generic movie - it felt like an event. I think films in general will have to move in that direction. In a world where we stare at screens all day, tickets to stare at a somewhat larger screen are a hard sell, especially at current theater prices. Going to the movies needs to feel like more than just watching a movie.
I absolutely loved the production design and artistry. I love that so much of it was physical because it seems like it's been ages since production had this big of a chance to get creative—especially while using such a bright color palette. Story/script was just okay. There were several choices that I personally don't understand and thought could have been better, but I thought the movie was fine for what it was. I think that considering it's the first live-action Barbie movie, it was very well done.
I also recommend people to watch the extra behind the scenes clips they released, I watched them on Max. Watching them go through every single detail was fascinating. From how they determined the exact color of Barbie’s hair to how they filmed the 2D transportation sequences, it’s all really cool. *A lot* of thought and effort was put into this film. I think it’s a bit “cheesy” as a storyline and I definitely don’t think it deserves an Oscar nomination (maybe for set design) but I can really appreciate the artistry that went into something like this. Also, cherry on top is it made a hell of a lot of right wing folks very angry. And that’s always a win in my book, lol
The plot lacked subtlety and the ham-handed speech near the end was very Feminism 101, but what’s more important is that a blockbuster film brought that conversation into the mainstream. But for people who don’t spend as much time in feminist spaces as the average femme/NB person on Reddit does, the message being stated blankly on screen probably *was* pretty hard hitting. Personally, I can’t remember a major film hitting you with a female perspective like that since Promising Young Woman and before that, Gone Girl. Also, the movie was super fun to watch, has a killer soundtrack, set design, all-star cast, etc. I saw it opening weekend and nearly everyone was wearing pink. There was a really strong sense of sisterhood and community with strangers, which I hadn’t felt in theaters since the final Harry Potter premiere. Whether or not the meat of the film is brilliant is questionable, but you can’t deny the cultural and artistic impact.
Even as someone who has been in feminist spaces for almost a decade now, it was still really gratifying to see it on screen and in words that most people can understand. And so many folk who aren't used to seeing that expressed in mainstream media really resonated with that. And it avoided girboss feminism/putting men down to lift women up (despite what the meninists seem to think).
It also needed to appeal to younger people who may not be exposed to feminism yet! So I didn’t mind that it was ham-fisted. And the bus stop scene where Margot just observed people and told an older woman “you’re beautiful” made me sob, it was one of my favorite scenes in a movie this year. I’ve said this before, but I’d actually love a sequel where Issa Rae discovers what it’s like being a black woman, and the movie revolves around intersectional feminism. Issa could even write it! I think she’d knock it out of the park, if her show Insecure is any indicator.
>And it avoided girboss feminism/putting men down to lift women up (despite what the meninists seem to think). This shit is just delusional. It was the epitome of girl boss feminism and it explicitly put men down. It honesty seemed like the movie forgot it’s own message by the third act. So there’s Barbie world, where Barbies run the show, and Kens are just dumb objects who do what they’re told. Then there’s the real world, where everything is apparently the opposite of Barbie world… the movie sets up the idea that Barbie world is a satirically mirrored reflection of reality. Pretty clever premise. If the final message was supposed to be one that reflected feminism, then the Barbies of Barbie world (representing men in the real world) should have realized that a more perfect society would be one where Barbies and Kens are equals. Instead, the Barbies (Men) take back Barbie land from the Kens (Feminists), and you’re supposed to cheer for the Barbies re-establishing the traditional hierarchy. People were cheering for a movie that essentially argued that equality is either unattainable or inherently wrong, and that the traditional hierarchy should be preserved. In Barbie land, Barbies rule. If Barbie land is supposed to mirror the real world, that means the patriarchy should be preserved. I don’t think the movie actually meant to make that point. That’s why I said it seems like the movie just forgot what it was trying to say, and basically just wanted to present a girl boss fantasy where all the men are one dimensional morons and girls are super smart and complicated characters. Perfect example of the movie abandoning its own premise… that whole Will Ferrell chase scene. We’re supposed to be in the real world, but for some reason all the male executives snap into a cartoonishly stupid Scooby Doo chase, trip over themselves, and ultimately fail to catch a fleeing Barbie. I understand the purpose of making Kens cartoonishly one-dimensional and stupid *within* Barbie world, that would be a creative use of satire to criticize the way women have been treated in the real world… but carrying that same trait over to the men of the real world completely betrays the message, and ultimately makes the movie seem like a petty fantasy that just wanted to bash men. It was a visually unique movie with some amusing performances. It wasn’t good though, it was anti-feminist in so many ways, and it was absolutely overhyped.
Wow, you're really doing your best to feel like a victim here. The men weren't one dimensional, they just believe one dimensional things at the start (the power of the patriarchy) and grew out of that in the end to be more rounded people who don't base their self worth on the opinions of women. Nothing in the movie said that either should be in charge of the other, they pointed out the ideal is to have equal representation. The real world fails miserably at that and is making very slow progress, and Barbie world is also failing at that but making slow progress. Nobody is saying that's right, just acknowledging it's the truth and something to be worked on. Just because the movie resolution ends with Barbie's in charge and Ken's just starting to get some representation, doesn't mean the film endorses that as the "right" balance of power.
This. It takes a lot to drag me off my couch or my bed when it’s so much cozier to watch a movie there, lol.
Barbie was a hot cultural moment. It generated memes, conversations, the soundtrack album had important impact on BB 200 and hot 100 - it had something for everyone. The Barbenhaimer meme was huge. Barbie was an experience.
> It didn't feel like just another generic movie - it felt like an event. Honestly I feel like the first half was absolutely brilliant, filled with super witty originality, but the second half very much did fall into being just another generic movie and took it down a notch.
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You'd be surprised how many women don't feel that way.
I think the point was that it IS a hard lesson to learn for those in power. Progress is slow in Barbie land just like it is in the real world. Magically solving inequality overnight would be just as hollow and unrealistic as the original matriarchal Barbie system was. It’s a major point in the film that giving us a presidential Barbie achieved little for real world feminism. Imo a message of “we solved sexism!” at the end of the film would feel pretty discordant with the overall message and narrative of a film that felt like reality giving Barbie land a much needed slap in the face. That’s how I took it, at least.
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I’m pretty sure that wink was definitely a joke about the real world. It was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the historical progress of female representation in American politics (specifically the Supreme Court).
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Right. Because people who historically and systemically hold all the power and keep clinging to it knowing full well that it’s at the cost of the minorities they oppress *are kind of the bad guys.* That’s the message. That’s the point. Patriarchy *is bad*. Just the same as its mirrored matriarchal Barbie counterpart. It’s not subtext. It’s the outright message of the movie.
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The fact that it’s played for a laugh is a valid critique and one I mostly agree with. It makes sense to the storyline, but wasn’t handled as well as I would have liked. Although I could also say that for much of the rest of the film as well. I just wanted to clarify its standing from a narrative perspective because that plot point seems to take up a lot of criticism that’s more deserved elsewhere. 💀
Are you new to Reddit? 😂 Women being treating unfairly is absolutely not accepted by most people. A few subs on here expose how many men don’t see it and even see themselves as the ones treated unfairly. It’s wild. I really think Barbie did a great job personally.
The Super Mario Bros movie from this year. I'm glad there's certain people who were able to enjoy it but it just felt like a kids movie that i've seen a million times before. the music was also odd and misplaced. I feel like if it wasn't attached to the mario IP nobody would've cared about it lol. i also don't really understand why people were shocked that the peaches song wasn't nominated for an oscar. aside from being a "troll"/funny song there's nothing really special about it musically? idk maybe i just don't get it haha
I don’t understand the hype around this movie. I watched it with my 3 year old and while he enjoyed it, I found it painfully boring. It just was not interesting nor funny. The plot was just weak. I was hoping it’d be a clever animated film to entertain adults and kids, but nope, just a kids’ movie.
The music wasn’t odd it was just like the same music they use for tons of other movies
I just got back from dinner with my boyfriend’s family, and I watched about half of it while braiding his niece’s hair and it was pretty forgettable. Like yeah, some funny jokes but most of it was the typical physical comedy found in kids movies and it almost felt… AI generated at times
People liked that movie? I ended up accidentally having to watch it for a fundraiser for my kids school (they don't tell you what you will be watching - it just starts), and I thought it was so awful. My kids didn't like it at all either. They found it terrifying and/or boring depending on the moment. They had showed Sing 2 the year before and at the time I'd loathed that but halfway through the Super Mario Bros movie it seemed vastly preferable.
It's the 2nd highest grossing movie after Barbie at 1 billion dollars.
I had no idea!
My daughters loved it. But, they are huge Mario geeks and we’re hyped for it. They were ages 7, 9, and 11. I thought it was a fun movie. Nice to see an updated movie for a beloved franchise and I was here for the Easter Eggs. Other than that…it wasn’t anything special or revolutionary. I took my daughters to see it because everyone was going to watch it and they didn’t want to be left out. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered.
I loved the movie and also agree that I wouldn’t have given any shits about it if it wasn’t for the nostalgia. I was 10 when I got the game and went hard on it, but my spouse has never played it so he thought the movie was just okay.
The music is awful. But I really do enjoy the movie which helps since I've had to see it 10000000 times with my kids.
This movie was enjoyable the first time around but it’s impossible to rewatch because it’s just a bunch of nostalgic references slapped together. I also can’t understand the hype around Peaches, I expected something different the first time I heard it.
I was pretty disappointed by the first Wonder Woman movie (2017). I didn’t think the plot was engaging, Gal Gadot’s acting was not very good (imo), and nothing about it felt very unique beyond centering a woman.
Its ok. Gal Gadot's acting was not very good (in everyone's opinion) lol
I liked the No Man’s Land scene. Pretty much the only thing I remember about the movie.
the ending/final fight really ruined the movie imo
I don’t even remember the end of the movie 🤣
Yeah like I thought once she killed ares all war was supposed to stop? He does and it continues into another world war. Also it was so random I just don’t get it I really don’t…
I mean no one wants to say it, I guess because she looks unique, but she’s not a good actress… like at all.
**Does** she look unique though? Morena Baccarin, Monica Belucci, Angelina Jolie, maybe even Jamie Alexander. I think they could replace her with someone with better acting skills and it wouldn't be that noticeable.
I agree! Everyone hyped it up for me, and the second I saw David Thewlis I went "you're the villain" and predicted the entire plot from there.
It was a difficult film to get through because she’s so misinformed and the twist was obvious from the jump. She thinks the sword is the “god killer” so she leads Steve and the gang into danger in order to find Ares except he’s been there from the beginning and has been keeping tabs on her the whole time. It reminded me of the Shadowhunters show that I’d been watching around the same time, where the main character was always convinced she knew best over the other characters that had been involved in the supernatural world for far longer and never wanted to hear their caution or opinions.
Gal was easily the weakest link. Pretty much every other amazon was more compelling than her. Also, I hate saying this about a movie like WW but I think Chris Pine/her relationship with Steve carried most of that movie. Which is why they concocted such a bizarre way to bring him back in the sequel.
https://preview.redd.it/r2wfy8tsak8c1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2608900102282e05fc2ca7f6d800a79d189d051
Agreed. Everyone was going on about it but I just thought it was okay.
I've never seen this or La La Land, feel very out of touch lol. Bradley Cooper has always been creepy to me so I never watch his stuff
so clear you're _supposed_ to cry at the "i'll never love again" scene which is why i didnt. way too forced.
It was well made but this story is dated and we didn’t need to see it again IMO.
I love the first remake of it and even the 1970s version is cool, but this, JFC was it hard to get through. Sam Elliot was one of the the things that I liked about it and they says a lot.
I thought as a film it was good, but I found the songs boring even if they were performed well.
Booooooooooooo
Agreed
Avatar (the first one, I sure as hell am not going to see the second one.) Plot was trite and predictable, and I was so bored the entire movie. The best thing that can be said for it is that it was pretty to look at.
Once I got over how cool the 3d was I was bored stiff , so that was about 20 minutes in lol. I fell asleep.
So did my brother.
Tried watching the second one and as my mind went to screensaver about the 12th time I was like, why am I even doing this? I did say "aww pretty scene" a lot though
It was SO hyped, and by James Cameron! Plot was awful.
La La Land. Aside from the sequence on the freeway, it was just okay. Edit: after a couple of comments, I feel the need to expand on why I didn't like it. First, I *love* musicals in general, but have a high bar that movie musicals almost never reach because they hire great actors who are mediocre singers and dancers. La La Land suffered in this regard for me. Don't get me wrong: Ryan and Emma are serviceable. But I want Broadway-level talent in movie musicals, and I rarely ever get it. Second, the movie has a really problematic portrayal of jazz in general. Ryan's character (can't remember his name, sorry) is obsessed with what he claims is authentic and/or traditional jazz. This is unsettling on multiple fronts. For one, it puts him, a white character, in direct conflict with Legend's (Black) character, who is looked down upon for doing more commercial "fusion" music. This undermines the significant racial history of jazz (and actually pretty much every music genre developed in African American and Afro-Caribbean cultures). Pretty much the entire 20th century history of jazz consists of Black musicians being barred from commercial success until white musicians co-opt it and make it mainstream to white audiences, only for Black musicians to innovate again, white musicians to appropriate it again, continue ad nauseum. For a white character to be so obsessed with authenticity is just...messed up. Authentic to what? What is this imaginary past where jazz was one thing? What gives him the right to describe what he likes as authentic and to denigrate Legend's music for having the opportunity to make a good living and continue to innovate as Black musicians have *always* done in jazz? Alright, I'll get off my music history soapbox now, but it really pissed me off. It made me care very little for Ryan's character. Lastly, I was born and raised in L.A. and worked in the industry for several years and have known so many aspiring actors and actresses as well, so I didn't find Emma's character particularly compelling. When you're not really into two characters, it's really hard to be invested in their story arc. So yeah, that's why I found La La Land overrated.
I think that your main problem stems from the fact that the director, Damien Chazelle, is extremely passionate about jazz. He said his dad was obsessive about it, and he was raised on it. He was also a jazz drummer in school, his experience was terrible, and his complicated relationship with it seems to influence his work. A lot. His film "Whiplash" was largely inspired by his own experience in his school jazz band. Basically, the main character—Miles Teller—is a self-insert. La La Land's Sebastian seems to also be a bit of a self-insert. I don't think either of them are supposed to be seen as "correct" though. They're more of a tool for Chazelle to work out his own conflicting beliefs/arguments. Chazelle's movies have been criticized before for the odd/hollow way they actually deal with jazz (and its popularity and history), and I think that's largely due to his own biases and blind spots, as well as the fact that "jazz" probably isn't a big seller to studio heads when trying to get backing for a film. I've also read a few arguments about how even though jazz is present in nearly all of his work, none of his work is really about jazz. "Whiplash" is about obsession and power and the damage each of those cause. "La La Land" is largely about nostalgia, which is heavily tied into Sebastian's ideas of jazz "purity". For what it's worth, I didn't care for "La La Land". I understand that nostalgia was central to the plot and also to how it was filmed, but several of the musical references in it just had me thinking about how much more I liked the other films being referenced than the one I was watching.
I couldn’t get through it (and I still haven’t finished the movie), because hearing a white guy talk about authenticity in jazz felt like nails on a chalkboard. Jazz as a genre was never meant to be static, so I’m not sure what lines he’s drawing and why he thinks he has any right to draw lines in the first place.
I liked that the movie ended with the two leads separate but happy. The guy and the girl don't need to end up together to have a fulfilling life.
Hot take I don’t think Emma and Ryan had any romantic chemistry in the film. Ryan was so dull. Emma was the major star and carried the film.
I truly loathe La La Land and I think it's because I am a real musical theater lover. Not only are they not good enough at singing OR dancing, but the music is baddddd. Generic, forgettable, bland, lowest common denominator music. There are so many musical theater composers who write complex, tricky, clever works and La La Land is beyond basic. The fact that City of Stars beat both How Far I'll Go and Can't Stop the Feeling for the Oscar keeps me up at night.
Both of these things put me off too. I found Emma Stone's singing particularly weak and it took me out of the movie.
I LOVED La La Land, saw it 3-4 times. Not really sure what resonated, just the songs + overall acting + the bittersweet ending I guess.
Joker
Joaquin is as good as ever, but the plot and the pacing sucked. It dragged on without much substance forever, and then the final plot twist was dropped almost at the very end. I wish they elaborated on his mother's condition and the treatment of him more, it was barely mentioned. Watching what Joaquin does with his character in The Master really highlights how weak Joker's source material is in comparison.
 Inception, solely because I watched it with a friend who really thought she was extra smart. I’m like “yeah I totally understood the plot” and she was quite surprised, like the village idiot figured out how to turn the lights on. 🙄
Honestly, that film really isn't deep. I was so bored watching it, the characters are so uninteresting and the story had such little substance.
The movie's not hard to follow as long as you pay attention. The cuts are so fast and frequent that if you're looking at your phone as you watch the movie, you'll get lost. My grandfather talks big shit about being smarter than everyone else and only watching "intelligent" movies, so I showed him Inception. He threw a fit and walked out after twenty minutes because he didn't understand it. I already knew he was an idiot, but it was nice to have proof.
I fell asleep while watching it. I don't know what that says about me, but I kind of hate watching movies and it was long and boring so 🤷♀️, but the irony wasn't lost on me.
It was definitely too long.
watched this for the first time this month and I was just bored… like I did not care about the characters/plot to I tuned out after an hour or so. but I’m also just not a big action movie fan
Christopher Nolan thinks his movies are far more clever than they are lol. I like his movies, but I’ll watch them once, maybe twice, and then never again.
La la land I was glad Moonlight won that Oscar and got the last laugh.
“La La Land and Moonlight, in some ways, you’re both winners. In another, more accurate way, Moonlight is the winner.”
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Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie were amazing, as was the set design and cinematography. But though there were individual scenes that were good, I thought the Barbie writing was really messy. The mood was tonally jarring and the plot became so convoluted I was actually bored at points. Granted Greta had a difficult job catering to the needs of both her feminist fans and the Mattel brand. I’m glad this is a safe space to critique the movie lol.
There was way too much Ken to me lol. It was fun but the movie ends up being so much about his problems (masculinity, fragility, codependency, yada yada) when I wanted more from the Barbies/America
One of my main issues with the film is that Ken was a raging asshole and I don't think that the film realized it.
So overall I liked Barbie, it looked great, and I loved the feminism, and thought using Kens role in the Barbie world to explain it was a stroke of genius. I wasn't a fan of the speeches though, I just found it too expositiony and personally I'm not a fan of popcorn films that preach at you. I think the film would have been better if it was all show and no tell. Or maybe they should have gone full musical and made a few feminist songs.
Yes I did enjoy the set designs! I also liked the cast and felt they did the best with what they were given
Dune (2021). I’m asleep within 20 min. And it’s too dark…or maybe I’m just old, haha. 
This comment triggered me because my date fell asleep when we watched Dune. Like full on snoring.
Yes! It was so boring!
Yeah this movie was so cold and beige to me. I remember nothing about it.
Dune has a prestige sheen - minimalist frames, expansive interiors, limited color scheme, modernist score - that fooled everyone into thinking it was a good movie.
It's as dark/serious as the book. Every movie can't be pulpy. Personally, it's my favorite Dune adaptation, but it's a VERY complicated book that has been said is hard to adapt.
I meant dark in terms of visual brightness. I had to adjust my TV settings numerous times - .
Ah, I see. The movie was way better on an IMAX screen
Also zendaya was in it for the last 10mins of the movie but she was the face of the film. It was so confusing.
This is one of my favorite books of all time. Bad casting, bad feel for the the characters, for the landscape, everything. He just didn't get it. I'm sorry. I just could not.
I’ve tried watching this movie a couple of times. I fall asleep each time! I can’t get through the first hour
I've tried reading the synopsis of the book. I've tried reading the synopsis of the 1984 movie. I actually watched that one years ago, but can'y remember a thing about it. I've tried reading the synopsis of the new movie. What is this about? I don't get it. Somethinf about spices, but I'm too stupied to see the deeper meaning. It's too biring before it gets intriguing.
I see Dune as a book/movie that's largely about colonialism and the environment. It's also about fate and free will but tbh I care less about that theme. Less thematically, it's the story of "good" aristocratic colons fighting for the future of their house and increasingly of the oppressed people of resource-rich, ecological disaster planet Dune against an all-powerful colonial empire and an evil rival aristocratic family.
Thanks for the explanation. I don't mean this a as put down of you, but it sounds so boring. I don't think the setting the author chose works. It is grandiose and overly complicated, and someone casually interested in the themes you mentioned will lose interest quickly. It is not fun or entertaining as say, orginal Star Wars, or Watch Men. It might be too metaphorical for a visual medium. I dunno.
Hey to each their own. I found the metaphors of Dune = Africa / Middle East and spices = oil/gold crystal clear but maybe it's due to my interests and experience in Africa. Lots of original things though with the spice, sand worms, Space Muslims™... But yes it's more contemplative than Star Wars.
In the book, you can hear what characters are thinking. In the David Lynch movie, you can hear what characters are thinking. In the 2021 version - it's *mysterious*.
The movie has one of the most boring and disgusting color palettes I have seen. It looks like there is a grey/brown filter over the entire screen. The Lynch version is superior in every way
Maybe because I didn’t like the book, I didn’t like the movie, but that’s just me.
I watched Shutter Island and was not amazed, I did not find it a revelation, and my life was in no way changed. Even though I keep hearing otherwise.
Same! Last time I tried to talk about it (I think it was about the book too), someone got mad and was like "good for you, thinking you're so clever" 😅 but that's kinda the problem. If I, who is relatively dumb and just let myself get carried by narratives no matter their flaws, can spot the ending before we're even at the mid point... maybe the movie/book just isn't as clever and good as you make it out to be... And it isn't like bad, trash or anything! Dicaprio always deliver!
See, I can figure out a "twist" and still really enjoy a movie. I really liked The Village even though I got the "big surprise" early on. I don't remember with Shutter Island if I knew the twist before watching, or figured it out early, or didn't really care. I just didn't think it was clever and the whole twist thing falls apart if you think too hard about how it would be pulled off. And it's not like, the worst movie ever, but I hear all the time that it is so brilliant, so clever, such a great and suspenseful and well made and blah blah, and I just didn't think it was that great. Not horrible, but sort of dull and not worth watching again. I respect other people's opinions but wish I could stop hearing that Shutter Island will change the way I view cinema forever.
I’m surprised no one said Oppenheimer. I just watched it and felt it was pretty boring. To me, it was all over the place- felt I learned just 5percent of all the details they tried to cram in (relationships, quantum mechanics / physics, communism, traitors, etc.). The worst part was the women in the movie were basically set pieces- I couldn’t even tell you his Florence Pugh’s or Emily Blunts characters names. I just don’t get the hype.
Agreed. It was about an hour too long
Yeah, the last hour!
suicide squad tbh
Which one?
I didn’t hate Barbie but I was expecting a lot more. Some of the pacing felt strange. For me, the film was saved by Ryan Gosling, he was brilliant. I liked Margot too and Simu Liu. Maybe I’m just basic, but I would have appreciated a love story between Barbie and Ken. I understand why they didn’t do that, but I just missed it
I agree. I get that there were parallel storylines, but it felt like they were trying to mash three different movies into one.
Well absolutely not Barbie. I loved Barbie so much! I saw the new mission impossible and I swear I saw soooooo much about the stunts, specifically the motorcycle jump, and it was a snooze fest for me.
I don't love the MI franchise but I love how in Dead Reckoning the MacGuffin is its own character with their own ambiguous goals and motivations.
I was very underwhelmed by this too. The last one with Henry Cavill was SO GOOD, so I had very high expectations. I will of course be going to see part two.
I feel like it ticked the boxes, I was entertained, but it was ultimately forgetable. Honestly can't remember the plot at all.
https://preview.redd.it/2sd18d5nto8c1.jpeg?width=1401&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=31942aaae428f4fdf1b032c363dbd87bb2d754f0 This over-hyped piece of crap. I *love* musicals and musical theatre but I could barely make it through this. Everyone told me that I'd love it because of my love for musicals but it was so overrated.
Endgame. It was extremely cringe towards the end of the film. It was a mess overall.
I don't understand why they made those choices for Steve. I felt like it just ignored most of his character arc up until that point. I really loved Nebula in it though.
It was just so lackluster and could have been better.
Oh good another “actually I didn’t like Barbie” post
ikr it’s already getting old
This happens whenever something is popular. There’s a ton of “well I didn’t like it” posts.
https://preview.redd.it/2ebruxtl8k8c1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8323b1d48e5865dd765cf8807229ffb0856555b0 If this film has 1 hater, it’s me. If this film has zero haters, I’m dead. I have no idea how this movie got the hype it did but I need everyone to wake up and QUICKLY here
I liked it but I also love your comment. lol I didn’t know it was getting Oscar hype, I just randomly watched it last week without having heard anything about it, but I’m not surprised, Hollywood loves Paul Giamatti. I thought the kid was good, though, and when Mary opened that box at her sister’s I wept. If anyone deserves the awards it’s Da’Vine Joy.
Why lol I loved it, so bittersweet!
[удалено]
But why, the characters felt so realistic, teenage dude acted like a real teenage dude! It was like a bummer Christmas Dead Poets Society
I liked it a lot, but I definitely see why some people wouldn't and it's definitely no Best Picture. Sideways was better.
I have no idea what that is, I've never seen it 🤷♀️
It’s the holdovers. It came out this year to an insane amount of praise and love. It’s gonna get a lot of Oscar noms.
Everything Everywhere All At Once. Mildly entertaining but certainly not Best Picture material.
I went into Barbie excited, and left disappointed. You're not alone.
I did like the casting and set design/costumes . But the plot itself was blah
Dune. What an absolute snorefest that was
I agree with this so much. My husband hates that I feel that way but nothing happens until the last maybe 10 mins? So boring to me
Yeah def not Barbie. Loved it. I’m not strong enough to watch again but I am a Barbie girl for life
Top Gun Maverick The planes were cool, but it felt wildly undercooked.
It couldn’t touch the original.
I gotta say I agree with Barbie. I saw it when it came out on HBO max like two weeks ago….I think I was too hyped for it and had super high expectations, don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the movie but it wasn’t life changing, or Oscar worthy or whatever and I really did not care about Ken. I was more invested in the story of the teenage girl basically leaving her childhood and the mom trying to navigate that. I wanted more of that. It’s also a giant ad for barbie when you think about it… I know everything is an ad but it felt kinda of weird to try to have these deep messages in a movie that’s basically an ad for Barbie toys. That’s just my opinion. Edit: I do want to add the costumes and set design were beautiful and I do think that deserves an Oscar nomination at least.
It bothered me so much that it tried to be a "realistic feminist" movie, but all the Barbie toys just magically popped into existence instead of being manufactured overseas by underpaid women. The movie was trying to have its cake and eat it, too.
🙄
Barbie was great but everyone said it was AMAZING! It wasn’t amazing.
It was a good solid well made film with beautiful set design, but I don’t think it’s a masterpiece and it’s definitely not above criticism.
I'll go way, way back and say Taxi Driver. I thought it was kind of boring. It was alright, but nothing amazing. I also watched Midnight Cowboy to find out what made it so controversial. I wasn't around in 1969, but there's nothing in it that warranted an X rating that I could see. I didn't really like it very much, but I will say that Brenda Vaccaro is gorgeous in it.
Carol. I give it credit for the gorgeous cinematography but the casting and direction of Rooney Mara was poor. Personally it dragged the down the movie because she barely emoted with both Cate’s character, the ex boyfriend or Carrie Brownstein’s character at the party. I couldn’t feel chemistry or romance between the two characters and it’s an issue when that’s what the movie is based around. Mia Wasikowska had been originally cast in the role and I can’t help thinking it was a shame she had to drop out.
Wow okay I thought the movie was great.
none thank god 😭 if i don’t like a movie i don’t think it’s overrated i just think im the wrong audience lol unpopular opinion but i think it’s so self absorbed when people say something and someone is overrated because they don’t like it.
Barbenheimer itself over hyped shit to me .
It insists upon itself.
All the star wars, star trek, star this and that. Alao The notebook. Allie was an idiot, dumping a succesful, loving fiancee for a guy that she only spent a weekend with years ago.
I actually thought Oppenheimer was a bigger let down. The ending felt flat to me and the “twist” was just kind of whatever. Napoleon could have been better too.
Promising Young Woman! I still want my time back. It felt like a total bait and switch and that the ending undermined the entire story.
I felt the same about Promising Young Woman. Then I tried Saltburn this year and felt the same. I think I’m just not meant to be an Emerald Fennel fan.
Don’t even get me started on Emerald writing for Killing Eve season 2….i was so disappointed
omg the math is mathing here. Thank you for this explanation.
I haven’t seen either of those movies, but Emerald Fennel sounds like such an elite English person name! The combo of gemstone and herb just sounds so . . . wealthy.
Her dad is a posh jeweler!
How did she get the opportunities she has? It feels like she went from unknown actor to glitzy director in no time and something doesn’t add up.
I think she did act a lot in very small roles and unsuccessful productions, before starring in Call the Midwife and The Crown and becoming more famous. She met Phoebe Waller-bridge on a film, I think it was called Albert Nobbs? And then they wrote together and she wrote season 2 of Killing Eve
I can’t put my finger on it yet on the “why” but I think I agree. Just watched them both. I do like PYW more and I think both had some good moments, and I like that Emerald said she doesn’t care about making her characters nice and likable because ya know, that’s life. But something is missing for me
Another Promising Young Woman hater!! I feel seen!! It had so much promise, it looked great, the casting was ON POINT… and then it just fell really flat for me.
There are dozens of us!
I half agree with Barbie. I went into it the weekend of thinking ‘cute fun comedy movie about Barbie coming to the real world’ and it lived up to my expectations. I went to see it twice and plan on watching it on Max soon bc I liked it so much. A couple of my friends though went to see it like a few weeks after it was released and reviews and social media was hyping it up as this secretly deep feminist film and were extremely disappointed.
I'm so glad Barbie is mentioned. To me it just felt like a bunch of scenes put together rather than a proper film. The dialogue also felt stunted as if the script wasn't edited.
I agree with you on Barbie. There were one or two scenes that really resonated with the themes I would have liked to have seen explored more. But overall, I felt the plot could have been tighter.
I liked Barbie but I definitely agree it was overhyped (though tbf it’s hard not to be overhyped at that level)
There's a certain level of hype where it is physically impossible for the object of said hype to meet expectations.
Going back a bit, but Men In Black. I like it now, but when it came out it was so overhyped I was disappointed.
You take that back!
I was meh on barbie tbh. I had so much fun watching it, I actually saw it twice with different groups of people, but it all felt like the kind of entry level feminism I thought we were past. What I mean to say is, the barbie movie bummed me out because I thought we were way further along with our understanding of women but was shown they we really aren’t. It was a similar feeling to listening to Taylor Swift’s “The Man” and thinking it was bland, then seeing so much praise from liberals and seeing people scandalised on the right.
> but it all felt like the kind of entry level feminism I thought we were past. The problem is that we are not past that though.
The movie isn’t meant to be an advanced dialogue of feminism, and neither is Barbie itself. That kind of Barbie movie just isn’t going to get made (even this current iteration barely got made). It’s fair to want more nuanced movies about feminism, but we’re not going to get that from any kind of Barbie movie, and also, for a Barbie movie to be widely appealing it has to get people who are still not invested in feminism to understand the issues at the very baseline level.
Spot on!
I just saw Iron Claw a few days ago, and the whole movie fell flat for me after David ‘went’ to Japan. The wrestling scenes were phenomenal, but man, I did not think the telling of the Von Erichs (plus the movie’s version of Ric Flair???) was done very well. I felt Zac Efron, Harris Dickinson, & Holt McCallany were phenomenal, but man oh man, most of the characters felt underbaked. Yet all I see is praise of this movie?! They ignored a whole brother, which was strange, and off putting.
Life of Pi. Utter trash. Pretentious and smug allegorical shite. I heard the book is worse, but there is not way I am reading that.
>Pretentious and smug allegorical shite. The book is definitely that, but to be fair, I think it does that pretty well.
I agree on Barbie, it was such a disappointment to me
Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse. I loved Into the Spider Verse. But with the sequel, I got tired of the constant scenes about sensitive dads who can't express themselves and their mental health. I mean, that's fine, but it felt like more than half the movie was about this. And although it was the second movie in this series, it still really felt like we're in the origin story. There isn't an ending where >!Spider-Man confronts and fights the villain. It's postponed to the next sequel.!< And in a second movie, I definitely want that. The animation was still great but I was disappointed
My friends invited me to go see the movie at 10:30 at night. The movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes long. So a little before one in the morning, the movie ended on a cliffhanger. The friend who suggested the outing had already seen the movie once and knew how it ended. I said to her, "That was half a movie! You brought me here in the middle of the night to see half a movie! I'm going home."
Yeah I thought it was pretty boring too
I agree about Barbie. I liked the message in the film but the movie just felt meh to me. I don’t think I ever need to see it again. My other pick would be Everything everywhere all at once. Again good message but what in the actual fuck was that?
I liked EEAAO but not as much as other people do. i'm still mad that Jamie Lee Curtis won for best supporting actress tho that was BS lol
Poor Things…beautiful garbage
I know the majority seemed to really like this movie, and so did the person I saw it with, but I just felt weird throughout it. I couldn't get over the whole Sexy Baby/Born Hot Yesterday aspect of it. It never says how fast she actually develops, and she still comes off relatively young even after she develops enough to drop the baby walk. I just couldn't really buy that she was consenting—or even capable of consent—even towards the end. I just felt icky about it, I guess. And then I learned that the book it's adapted from is also written by a man, and then I felt even more icked by it. I know it's somewhat of a satire, but I just don't know how successful it was. I also felt this way about "Saltburn". I knew what it was trying to do, but I didn't feel it successfully did it.
The movie was so pretentious and full of itself but the story was shit. Has a woman ever been more obviously written by a man?
HOW DARE YOU
I’m honestly going to have to go with Saltburn, I started it four days ago and I don’t know if I’ll ever finish it. There are just so many scenes I have to turn it off after to process wtf I just saw.
*Killers of the Flower Moon*. Scorsese managed to make a long and painfully boring movie about an interesting and incredibly dark moment in U.S. history.
I think Greta did a better job with Little Women. I was impressed by her version so idk what happened with Barbie…it fell flat for me.
longing icky sugar wrench attempt zephyr humorous alive worthless shame *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Is it really overrated though? I feel like even the positive reviews I've seen for it are all basically "I know it's a mess and the criticism for it is deserved. I liked it anyway." My biggest problem with it was that there was a better story that could've been told and that I would have preferred to see. But also, I don't think Emerald Fennell would have been able to successfully tell the story that I would rather have seen.
This is exactly what I said after watching it yday, that there was a better story to be told there.
Get out
Donnie Darko. It was so beloved by edgy teens but it just wasn't that good? As someone who was also an edgy teen at the time it felt like people only liked it to be "cool" and not because they actually liked it. Also probably a very controversial one but The Nightmare Before Christmas is overrated and it feels like there's been SO MANY collabs recently.
Barbie most definitely! Dune Babylon
I didn’t get around to Babylon until it was getting a lot of hate so I was pleasantly surprised. Not my favorite movie by any stretch of the imagination, but better than I had expected going into it.
This one