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Whether it’s a friend, coworker, or a member of my own family, some people in my life can’t stand my taste in certain films. To this day, I’ve never been able to change their minds (or vice versa) about any of these movies and all we ever end up doing is arguing over them. Am I so wrong?
5. District 9
Why They Hated It: My brother is — well, to put it mildly — a simple minded moviegoer. He loves his explosions, and he loves his chases and firefights. If a movie has one or two, or even, god forbid, all three of those things in it (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, anyone?), then he can die a happy man. In my opinion, he went into District 9 with the completely wrong mindset. He expected a movie like Independence Day. Aliens come, stuff gets real, humans win (‘Merica!). He instead got a sci-fi film with more brain and heart than brawn. That had to have stained his experience a little bit. I mean, if I went into The Hobbit expecting a vampire love triangle, I would have been a bit irritated, too.
Why I Loved It: Where do I start? Sharlto Copley gave an impassioned performance as the movie’s protagonist, Wikus Van De Merwe. District 9 crafted a great world that I bought into right away. It presented a subtle enough metaphor about how vicious humans can be towards something we deem “different” that didn’t feel forced or like it was being crammed down my throat. The climax of the film had me gripping my pillow and nearly in tears, all within a five minute span. There is nothing I had to complain about. It’s the best sci-fi film I’ve seen in years, and I just wish my poor brother felt the same. That’s family for you, what are you gonna do?
4. The Dark Knight Rises
Why They Hated It: You know those guys that don’t just want comic book movies to be exactly like the comic book, but need them to be? Well, I just so happen to work with one of those guys, and it’s the worst. He feels Bane should have been a pseudo-Brazilian hulking figure that pumped a steroid-on-steroids directly into his body. He feels Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman wasn’t sexual enough, that the ending was too convenient, and the opposite of how Bruce Wayne’s character is portrayed in original canon. These shortcomings and incongruities are so relevant to him that he discounts the movie as a whole. And in my opinion, he misses the point entirely.
Why I Loved It: The film had a villain that scared you with basically just his eyeballs (okay, his triceps, too). Anne Hathaway gave a more than Oscar-worthy performance, and this was easily Christian Bale’s best performance as Bruce Wayne, the man. Its action set pieces amped it up a few notches compared to it’s predecessor and I can’t think of one less-than-stellar performance. Now this may seem like I’m saying this film is perfect, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Whether it’s the obvious leaps of faith the plot takes (magic back curing rope?), the fact that Joseph Gordon-Levitt couldn’t carry the film through a dragging second act, or the fact that it (SPOILER ALERT) killed its two villains off unceremoniously., this film had its issues. But those issues are what I base my judgments of the film on. I’ve just always felt judging a film based on its canon was redundant and that comic book movies should be judged on their actual quality and not their ability to cut and paste plot points. And that is the point I feel my dear coworker is missing.
3. Kick-Ass
Why They Hated It: The next person is a very dear friend of mine. He’s somewhat of a mentor of mine when it comes to cinema and he’s awesome for it. He’s taught me a lot of invaluable things about direction and film history. Yet, the first film we ever disagreed on was and is one of my favorite films. He felt Kick-Ass was too campy. That is the only term or explanation he’s ever given for disliking the film, and it has always left me unsatisfied. I’ve heard the term “campy” used in both positive and negative ways. I’ve heard it used to describe everything from Wes Anderson films to Without a Paddle. That has left this poor amateur movie buff very confused. What’s wrong with a film being campy? Why can’t a film let you know right off the bat what it is and go from there? My friend is a very intellectual man (when sober), and yet, his explanation has always reeked of the opposite.
Why I Loved It: I was pulled in almost immediately by every nerd’s nerd, Dave Lizewski. Chloë Moretz’s performance as Hit-Girl stole the show in a way a child usually only does in dramatic roles. She instead stole the show by slicing through a room full of drug dealers with the ease of Vin Diesel mixed with Tom Cruise. And well, Nicolas Cage wasn’t Nic Cage for once. I think what I loved most about the film is its great pacing. There wasn’t a scene that dragged, faltered, or swayed from the swift storytelling. The film also had a lot of style that hasn’t really been matched in the genre since, and that style compounded with the witty and grounded narration made this film extremely enjoyable.
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2. Blair Witch Project
Why They Hated It: It’s time to examine another workplace relationship. My supervisor is a really nice guy. He makes my job less crappy in a lot of ways, but if there’s one thing he lacks, it’s imagination. And that is the one thing that you need to enjoy a found footage film. He simply can’t pretend everything happening is real and he ends up taking this film (and all films like it) at face value. And at face value, they’re poorly acted, overly dramatic, night vision heavy films that use too much of the dreaded “shaky-cam”. When you look at the film like that, it’s god awful. When you sit back and view it from my perspective, it was quite the experience.
Why I Loved It: The Blair Witch Project scared the crap out of me. It stayed in my head and dreams for weeks. The sounds in the woods nearly scarred me for life. Every random camera confession was so heart wrenching I was on the verge of, what I like to call, “fear-tears.” And although in actuality, the last scene was a terribly shot cliffhanger, in my mind, it was a brilliantly suspenseful climax that left me startled as all hell. These types of films ask you to suspend disbelief and go with it. Some people just can’t do it.
1. Drive
Why They Hated It: An art-house film with an unbelievably awkward protagonist, Tarantino-like violence, and an electro soundtrack? What’s wrong with people? Drive is the only movie that not only more than one person I know hated, but it’s one that I probably would have too if I had any expectations going in. The action never really picks up. Every death in the movie is so realistic and/or brutal I feel like I’m watching a really dark episode of Gangland (or a normal episode of Mob Wives). Ryan Gosling shares about 19 lines of dialogue with the audience and the pacing was so slow at times I had time to time to check my phone for a few minutes before anything of interest happened. And with all being said, I effing loved this movie and all of its beautiful awkwardness.
Why I Loved It: It’s just so darn cool. Everything from the Kavinsky assisted opening to the man-with-a-plan monologue just fed my excitement. It was truly unheard of to have a protagonist be so awkwardly uncomfortable with his surroundings and still maintain near complete control of his rapidly deteriorating situation. I had this strange smile on my face through most of it that I haven’t really received from watching a movie. It created the ember that sparked the flame that is my man crush for Ryan Gosling, and created an unhealthy obsession with the music artist, College. For those things, I am very thankful.
Do you have any beloved films that other people can’t stand? Let us know in the comments below!
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