Movies you find to be self-indulgent

[Pink Ranger]

Many people would argue that Tim Burton has pretty much been stuck in this stage for a good 8 years now. I don't necessarily agree, but a case can be made.

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I like Tim's more recent work, but his Batman films were all about Tim wanting to make a Tim film that just happened to star some random pre-existing pulp hero he didn't really care about.

 

[Big Green]

Any movies Oliver Stone makes is self-indulgent. Alexander was a great idea for a movie, and was totally mishandled by a dimwit. He ruined Tarantino's Natural Born Killers.

 

[Raoul Duke]

i liked natural born killers. loved the way it was edited and harrellson and sizemore give amazing performances. but yes, oliver stone's films are generally the very definition of self indulgent. i can still enjoy aspects of them though. and any given sunday is one of my favorite films ever.

 

[redhawk23]

Any movies Oliver Stone makes is self-indulgent. Alexander was a great idea for a movie, and was totally mishandled by a dimwit. He ruined Tarantino's Natural Born Killers.

Yeah he ruined Tarantinos Natural Born Killers and just made Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, which isn't really that bad when taken as its own thing.

 

[Big Green]

Yeah he ruined Tarantinos Natural Born Killers and just made Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, which isn't really that bad when taken as its own thing.

I liked NBK don't get me wrong, but I would have liked to have see QT's version of it. I read an interview where Q pretty much said he walked away after seeing Stone's final product.

 

[BuddhaWasABat]

I agree with most of what has already been mentioned (especially about King Kong). I would also add The Matrix Sequels (more specifically Revolutions, but also Reloaded to an extent)

 

[TheDreamMaster]

I agree with most of what has already been mentioned (especially about King Kong). I would also add The Matrix Sequels (more specifically Revolutions, but also Reloaded to an extent)

I think Reloaded wasn't indulgent enough, only because it sort is there to...exist. Like it is the definition of a middle film, and wasn't as engaging as the first film, while also not really moving the story too far forward. I agree Revolutions was way over though, and they clearly didn't have enough time to do everything they wanted right.

 

[BuddhaWasABat]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned The Tree of Life yet. Allow me...

 

[Raoul Duke]

i think del toro got a little self indulgent with hellboy 2. but it was so beautiful i don't mind him getting a bit carried away!

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned The Tree of Life yet. Allow me...

It was the first post after the OP.

 

[DorneyDave]

The Hobbit seemed like it to me. It was like a Peter Jackson love letter to his own movies but then he was forced to tell another story to.

 

[DACrowe]

King f****** Kong (2005).

First movie that came to mind. There is absolutely NO REASON a movie about a giant ape fighting dinosaurs and climbing the Empire State Building had to be 3 hours. It could have easily been trimmed down 30 minutes and maybe more. It actually is a good movie in a lot of ways, but I haven't watched it in at least five years because it is way too long for its story. There is absolutely no reason the Jimmy character was even needed.

I also imagine that The Hobbit will be more of the same because PJ has taken a roughly 250 page book and turned it into 9 HOURS of movie. That is absurd. But I'll know for sure when I finally see the first third of that.

While I liked the movie, I found Death Proof to be over indulgent in Tarantino style. The movie basically is a simple car chase movie that has literally 30 minutes of banal set-up that relies solely on cool Tarantino dialogue with no real plot or mounting tension. I enjoy Tarantino's dialogue, but it seemed so pointless and tiresome at even 100 minutes here. Kill Bill is also probably self-indulgent, but I enjoyed both movies so I don't care.

I am not sure Titanic is self-indulgent, but it is overly manipulative in trying to pull the audience's heart strings. The scene where Billy Zane starts shooting at Jack and Rose WHILE THE SHIP IS SINKING is the worst offender in being stupid and pointless and somewhat trivializing the real tragedy of the story.

If anyone saw Hyde Park on the Hudson this year, that would certainly be a contender.

Dark Shadows was a hot mess because nobody bothered to see if the screenplay worked.

I think pretty much most of Kenneth Branagh's 1990s films, including the wonderful Shakespeares, were. Still, I enjoyed most of them.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

ANY film by Terrence Malick

 

[BuddhaWasABat]

It was the first post after the OP.

Lol I just saw. Don't see how I missed it either.

 

[dude stannis]

Avatar. The film has a thread bare story, a ham fisted environmental message and a very poorly written, unrealistic romance, all as an excuse for James Cameron to jerk off all over the screen.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

Batman Returns comes to mind. Burton got too trigger happy with his expanded creative control.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Avatar. The film has a thread bare story, a ham fisted environmental message and a very poorly written, unrealistic romance, all as an excuse for James Cameron to jerk off all over the screen.

I saw a Ken Russell film once that could be described like that, except not metaphorically ...

 

[747]

Avatar. The film has a thread bare story, a ham fisted environmental message and a very poorly written, unrealistic romance, all as an excuse for James Cameron to jerk off all over the screen.

Luckily, I think Cameron jerking off is great!

 

[hopefuldreamer]

Sucker Punch - I love Snyder, and I know there was a point he was trying to make buried in there... But it got buried pretty hard by Snyder's love of making things look and feel surreal.

Superman Returns - a film made entirely based on what Singer wanted to do as a Donner fan, with almost no regard for what might work in creating a new modern Superman franchise for general audiences.

 

[Mrs. Sawyer]

^ Agreed for both x100000

 

[DarkSovereignty]

I find a lot of Stanley Kubrick's more famous movies to be a little self-indulgent.

 

[Jack Napier]

I like "Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou", but I think it's a tad bit self-indulgent.

 

[Boom]

Two that immediately come to mind are both Peter Jackson films:

King Kong
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

 

[Visualiza]

Sucker Punch - I love Snyder, and I know there was a point he was trying to make buried in there... But it got buried pretty hard by Snyder's love of making things look and feel surreal.

Superman Returns - a film made entirely based on what Singer wanted to do as a Donner fan, with almost no regard for what might work in creating a new modern Superman franchise for general audiences.

Gotta agree with Sucker Punch here. Snyder really hammed it up with this movie, and the trailer got me hook, line, and sinker. Seemed like that entire boring journey...dream, adventure, or whatever you'd like to call it was an elaborate excuse for him to execute his "Sucker Punch" to the audience with that boring, neutered ending.