great_badir
Posts: 4172
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: A breaking rope bridge in the middle of the jungle
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Actually, a good topic this. Hopefully it doesn't descend into "your unpopular opinion" pettiness.
Citizen Kane is no blind spot for me – I outright hate it. Whilst part (but ONLY part) of that hate is down to the occasional snobbery that surrounds it and the faux complexities that have been plastered on it down the years (which admittedly is not its fault - as others have said, it’s actually a really simple and easy going film and it never pretends not to be), my main reasons for hating it are the acting (I’ve never fathomed how anyone thinks the acting, other than the performance given by Welles himself, is any good – also cf. The Magnificent Ambersons, which features one of the all-time bad performances courtesy of Joseph Cotton) and the fact that Welles acted in, wrote and directed loads of much much better films (I’m not, as some people are, a Welles hater). But I’ve said this a lot on the forum over the years.
My general dislike of Tarantino has also been discussed to death in other threads.
RE Caddyshack, whilst I absolutely love it, the sum does not equal its parts – let’s be honest, what’s REALLY good about the film? What is it that we all like about it? Of course, it’s all the bits in between the main story of Danny and his love life/college worries (yawn). And that main story totally detracts from the comedy of the film. Like Animal House (and, on a completely different track, the original Get Carter), it will never be as good as we all like to think it is, but it is still good.
And Chris - completely with you on both Potemkin and Blue Velvet. Potemkin, the longest and most excruciating 66 minutes ever put on film and, just like the millions of people whose hands hover over both Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven for a few seconds before grabbing the latter, I would much rather watch The Untouchables. Blue Velvet – mainly for the acting. Hopper isn’t the only one who puts in a panto dame performance (and, as many on the forum know, I’m VERY down on over the top performances which are better suited to the stage). I could also include most of Lynch's films from Lost Highway on.
Back on point, my own main blind spots:
Withnail & I - I’ve tried, REALLY tried over the years, even attending a special (and expensive) screening in Bristol that was followed by a Q&A with Bruce Robinson in the hope that some wise words from the man himself would open my eyes. Sadly, despite Robinson being a great interview subject (and, happily, he spent quite a lot of time talking about Shadow Makers), it didn’t help. I just can’t connect with it on any level – it doesn’t make me laugh, it doesn’t tug on my heart strings and I can’t get involved with the film. I’ve seen it, probably, about fifteen times now and every time I just clock watch. I’ve given up now.
Chaplin and Keaton – this is NOT a dislike of black and white or silent films. I love me some Laurel and Hardy and Harold Lloyd. I think Murnau was a great director and Nosferatu is, probably, the greatest screen version of Dracula (closely followed by Herzog’s impressively sympathetic remake, and the great BBC series with Louis Jourdan as the Count [I’m also a fan of John Badham’s attempt with Frank Langella]). I like Pabst, Lang and Wiene, and I think Haxan is a work of genius which is still way ahead of its time. But I’ve never got on with any Chaplin or Keaton. Like Withnail & I, I just can’t connect with them.
Most of Hitchcock’s films (and I have seen most of them, even his early British ones) – easier for me to list the ones I DO like. North By Northwest, Torn Curtain, Marnie and I don’t mind Rear Window. And that is, literally, it. Vertigo the greatest film ever made???? What?!?!?!?! And no, I’m no fan of Psycho either.
Stalker and Ivan’s Childhood – the only Tarkovsky films I can’t bear to watch. Ivan’s Childhood bores the shit out of me (and I can watch Solyaris and Andrei Rublev til the cows come home) and Stalker plays out like a stereotypical Russian bit of pointless visual weirdness with only the matte coloured claymation missing.
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What's Your Classic Movie Blind Spot? - 
), but what really struck me was how fast paced and modern it all felt. 
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