Bad Moments in Great Films

[microbet]

At the end of Unforgiven when Clint comes back to town for his revenge. That scene is awesome except for every single instant that writer character is onscreen.

Clint is making a point about seeing the real thing through the eyes of the writer but there's a time and a place and Clint's being a badass in that scene shouldn't be interrupted for a second.

Their conversation after the killing is a big downer in spite of the cool line about Clint only knowing who he will kill last if the writer doesn't leave.

Also,

Obi-wan: "Who's the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows it?"

Not a good line.

[BretWeir]

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Am I the only one who doesn't consider "The Departed" a great film?
It was reasonably good, but got more attention than it should've because of who was involved.
The plot had more holes in it than any decent film in recent memory.
The acting was respectable, but not spectacular.

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I enjoyed The Departed, but it was far from a great film. The last scene almost ruined it for me -- "Look, it's a RAT out on the balcony! Get it, Matt Damon was a RAT! It's SYMBOLISM!" How more heavy-handed can you get?

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Apparently not heavy-handed enough, because it wasn't pointing out that Matt Damon was a rat.

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Yeah, I know, Leo DiCaprio was the rat for the cops, but Matt Damon was also a "rat" for Jack Nicholson. Same difference, equally stupid, as far as I'm concerned.

Or is there some much subtler rodent analogy going on here that was completely over my head?

[ClassicBob]

The closing shot was of the Massachusetts State House, with the rat crawling into the shot. The message seems to be that the real corruption and rats lies in the political realm.

[BretWeir]

I think you're reading too much into the Statehouse. If you're right, then the closing "message" didn't have much to do with the film, which didn't touch on political corruption any more than any other run-of-the-mill mob movie. (Like someone mentioned earlier, it would have been more interesting if they had made it more of a straight-up life of Whitey Bulger movie, which maybe would have validated the political corruption message.)

And if this is the message, the scene is even dumber than with my interpretation -- "Ooh, politicians are bad -- they're rats too!" Way to make a bold statement, Marty -- especially when it has next to nothing to do with the two-and-a-half hours of film I just sat through.

[RikkiDee]

I'm surprised no one mentioned any scenes from The Matrix - although I realize it probably isn't considered a "great" movie anymore due to its sequels and over-saturation in pop culture. But in my books this is still a great movie.

However, it isn't without its cringe-worthy moments. In fact I'd say it probably has the highest bad moment / film rating (imdb has it at 8.6) ratio of any movie in existence.

I cringe at pretty much everything that Mouse and Tank say. Tanks acting in its entirety bothers me. Morpheus has some ridiculously cheezy lines but they generally work. Trinity is fine throughout most of the movie until the end where she professes her love for Neo. The line comes out of no where and is way too forced. And then theres Keanu who obviously sucks, but is tolerable throughout most of the movie.

One visual part that always bothered me too was when agent smith and neo are fighting in the subway and neo tries to punch smith, gets blocked then does that stupid flick the throat move. Yes, that will surely kill him!

[ClassicBob]

Bret,

I agree that it is a dumb shot with either interpretation.

[microbet]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm surprised no one mentioned any scenes from The Matrix - although I realize it probably isn't considered a "great" movie anymore due to its sequels and over-saturation in pop culture. But in my books this is still a great movie.

However, it isn't without its cringe-worthy moments. In fact I'd say it probably has the highest bad moment / film rating (imdb has it at 8.6) ratio of any movie in existence.

I cringe at pretty much everything that Mouse and Tank say. Tanks acting in its entirety bothers me. Morpheus has some ridiculously cheezy lines but they generally work. Trinity is fine throughout most of the movie until the end where she professes her love for Neo. The line comes out of no where and is way too forced. And then theres Keanu who obviously sucks, but is tolerable throughout most of the movie.

One visual part that always bothered me too was when agent smith and neo are fighting in the subway and neo tries to punch smith, gets blocked then does that stupid flick the throat move. Yes, that will surely kill him!

[/ QUOTE ]

The battery scene (plot) is incredibly stupid and it would have been very easy to come up with a much better explanation there.

[microbet]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Am I the only one who doesn't consider "The Departed" a great film?
It was reasonably good, but got more attention than it should've because of who was involved.
The plot had more holes in it than any decent film in recent memory.
The acting was respectable, but not spectacular.

[/ QUOTE ]

I enjoyed The Departed, but it was far from a great film. The last scene almost ruined it for me -- "Look, it's a RAT out on the balcony! Get it, Matt Damon was a RAT! It's SYMBOLISM!" How more heavy-handed can you get?

[/ QUOTE ]

Apparently not heavy-handed enough, because it wasn't pointing out that Matt Damon was a rat.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I know, Leo DiCaprio was the rat for the cops, but Matt Damon was also a "rat" for Jack Nicholson. Same difference, equally stupid, as far as I'm concerned.

Or is there some much subtler rodent analogy going on here that was completely over my head?

[/ QUOTE ]

"Being the first sign of the Chinese zodiac, rats are leaders, pioneers and conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking. Rat people are endowed with great leadership skills and are perhaps the most organized and systematic of the twelve signs. Intelligent and cunning at the same time, rats are highly ambitious and strong-willed people who are keen and unapologetic promoters of their own agendas, which often include money and power."

<font color="white"> j/k </font>

[drewjustdrew]

True Lies - The end of the bridge scene forward kept this from being a great film.

Color of Money - Vince's cocky antics while "hustling".

[Rushmore]

Yeah, the scene where Vince is dancing around with the cue and stuff is really bad, but..................

The Color of Money's not a great movie.

And True Lies isn't even good.

Now, The Hustler IS a great movie, and thinking a bit about it...

Eddie: "You're a small-time Charlie!"

Not good.

Of course, it's more than made up for by such gems as this exchange:

Eddie: "We really put the knife in her."

Fats: "Shoot pool, Fast Eddie."

Eddie: "I am shooting pool, Fats. When I miss, you can shoot."

And my favorite, with Paul Newman really delivering:

Eddie: "Boy, you better, you tell your boys they better kill me, Bert. They better go all the way with me, 'cause if they just bust me up, I'll put all those pieces back together again, then so help me... So help me God, Bert, I'm gonna come back here and I'm gonna kill you."

Brrrr. Seriously.