What is the most pretentious movie you ever saw?

[Space Moose]

Crash is pretty high on my list. I grew up in the South and still live in the South. I don't need Hollywood telling me their cliched ideas about race relations when I can simply see the actual problems for myself.

Or a rich white guy. It was obvious he was just making oscar bait and wanted to find a 'touchy issue'. I'm guesing he boiled it down to racism and the holocaust.

 

[mclay18]

Not half the film Cars was, but naturally gets best animated film thanks to it being a liberal soapbox.

As preachy Happy Feet may be, it was at least more diverting than Cars. Cars is, tied with A Bug's Life, the worst film in Pixar's canon. It's bewildering to see this (and Happy Feet) get sequels in the next two years -- they're pretty self-contained IMO.

 

[dude stannis]

No I'm not joking.

You'll have to excuse me, I don't bow down to it as God's gift to humanity.

The film, while entertaining, is just way to full of itself. Case in point: The Joker's plan is so well thought out it included the stuff Gordon and Bats planned out that he didn't know about.

Well said sir.

It takes itself way too damn seriously, trying to be the next Heat, some of it's dialogue is really self important too.

EDIT: Disclaimer, I loved The Dark Knight, it's my second best film of 2008. I consider it a flawed classic.

 

[WeaponXProject]

I won't pretend to understand The Fountain, because I don't. I mean, the kung fu in space ****? Yeah? What I do know is that it was very entertaining and full of fantastic performances from everyone involved. Hugh Jackman was a beast in it.

The reason I love it though, is for Clint Mansell's score. It's so beautiful, I listen to it till this day. My favorite score to any film.

I don't want to try to explain the movie but it was essentially three stories about how death is inevitable. Definitely has some pretentious qualities through out.

The two Matrix sequels. Or maybe the Da Vinci Code.

Easily the best picks so far in my opinion. I would also say.

American Beauty I would have to put up there...I don't know...some of this is starting to be "Oh, I just hate that movie" crap rather than definitive points. I would throw Brave Heart in there but I really like that film.

Edit: Ew...can't believe I forgot about Crash.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

Juno.

 

[WeaponXProject]

I'll probably get sh** for this but I thought Tsotsi was pretentious as hell...may just be me...

 

[cerealkiller182]

As preachy Happy Feet may be, it was at least more diverting than Cars. Cars is, tied with A Bug's Life, the worst film in Pixar's canon. It's bewildering to see this (and Happy Feet) get sequels in the next two years -- they're pretty self-contained IMO.

Cars was Pixars easiest to merchandise movie. Made a bazillion car toys when there was a demand for a gazillion. This is called "George Lucas filmmaking" and I would think that would be beneath Pixar.

I dont like the word pretentious. I like preachy more. Pretentious is used far too much on what should be simply classified as "intelligent" movies, or movies that try to be really creative and unique. And people cop out responses like "this is too creative for its own good." Gotta hate that creativity . Preachy implies a more specific action that i hate when films do, and what I think most people want to imply in this thread. Crash is a good example.

Into the Wild just plain sucks. Its probably my hatred towards the main character who such an ass the whole movie. "Sorry, I cant stay. I cant stand the hollow shell you call your life even though you are pretty cool." And all those people were cool, even the old dude who also kinda had a creepy pedo vibe. I bet he had some cool stories. But no you went into the woods on what most people in that area call "vacation" and died because your a dumbass who thought he was better than everyone else. "Happiness only real when shared. " NO ****! Im overweight, unemployed sitting my ass at my computer wasting time, and I could have told you that life is better when shared with good people.

 

[K.B.]

Also, the first Clerks movie is up there. Even Smith has come out and said it's bad and that no 21 year old would ever or has ever talked like that.

 

[cerealkiller182]

Part of the charm IMO

 

[That-Guy]

Into the Wild just plain sucks. Its probably my hatred towards the main character who such an ass the whole movie. "Sorry, I cant stay. I cant stand the hollow shell you call your life even though you are pretty cool." And all those people were cool, even the old dude who also kinda had a creepy pedo vibe. I bet he had some cool stories. But no you went into the woods on what most people in that area call "vacation" and died because your a dumbass who thought he was better than everyone else. "Happiness only real when shared. " NO ****! Im overweight, unemployed sitting my ass at my computer wasting time, and I could have told you that life is better when shared with good people.

My thoughts exactly. F**k Into the Wild.

 

[flickchick85]

Oh, GOD YES! It's like halfway through making the script for this corny, kiddie, penguin movie, the writers decided to throw in every political cliche they could think of. "Oh, the enviroment! Oh, it's ok to be different!". The film was blown WAY out of proportion into something it wasn't. And it's CGI-penguin-movie cousin Surf's Up wasn't exactly a masterpiece, but it never tried to be anything other than a kid's movie about penguins surfing. And it was still better (imo).

I'm not too into this topic because "pretentious" is getting thrown around like mad here (I loved Lost in Translation!), but I just wanted to pop in an say, ITA, much to my surprise, Surf's Up was SO the better penguin movie. Mainly for the reason that it's the exact opposite of pretentious - it was the most unassuming, genuinely likable animated family movie NOT made by Pixar in years, imo. I liked that it wasn't trying to be grand or epic or push any kind of message on us - just tell an intimate little tale about something the filmmakers clearly had a passion for (surfing), and did it well with enjoyable characters and pretty animation. Also, I liked that they did their own thing, with the whole mockumentary shooting style (has that ever been done with a CGI movie before?), improvised conversational dialogue, and random use of the 90's music I was listening to in junior high, which made me smile. It was unique and cute and didn't aspire to be anything it wasn't. I paid to see Happy Feet on IMAX and instantly regretted it, and when I Netflixed Surf's Up a few months ago, I thought, "wow, I totally paid for the wrong penguin flick."

Sorry for the tangent. I was just shocked at how much I liked it, and its one of those movies no one ever talks about, lol.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

No I'm not joking.

You'll have to excuse me, I don't bow down to it as God's gift to humanity.

The film, while entertaining, is just way to full of itself. Case in point: The Joker's plan is so well thought out it included the stuff Gordon and Bats planned out that he didn't know about.

Oh okay. I think that the movie is overrated so I'm no huge defender of it's flaws.

 

[Ghostvirus]

I don't like Crash simply because, I think we as a society need to stop feeling guilty about what our fathers, & their fathers before them did. Most people in this generation aren't like that. & the few that are, are hopefully dieing out.

 

[Rac]

Apollo 13
A Beautiful Mind
The Da Vinci Code
Cinderella Man

Almost anything by Ron Howard. Frost/Nixon was a real surprise to me, 'cause I thought it was one of the best films of 2008. He should make more films like that and less those Angels & Pretentious Demons ****.

 

[dude stannis]

There Will Be Blood. Nothing happens for the whole running time. That's not intelligent, it's boring and pretentious. It starts with DDL being a normal guy, and all of a sudden he's a *****ebag for no reason and without transition. Hell, all DDL did was his best Vince McMahon impression.

 

[K.B.]

I agree with that Dude Love. And awesome point of "his best McMahon impression".

 

[That-Guy]

There Will Be Blood. Nothing happens for the whole running time. That's not intelligent, it's boring and pretentious. It starts with DDL being a normal guy, and all of a sudden he's a *****ebag for no reason and without transition. Hell, all DDL did was his best Vince McMahon impression.

Have to disagree with you there. He was never a "normal" guy. He was a man driven by greed and ambition... it was evident from the start of the film when he was mining for gold (or maybe it was silver) all by himself and breaks his leg. Then later, when the preacher's twin brother comes and tells him of the hidden oil field, he basically threatens to find him and kill him if he's lying.

It's pretty obvious from the get-go that he hates the preacher and the situation will eventually come to a head... it happens much later than I expected, but you know, sometimes that's how it happens. In his case, I think that in Plainview's old age he realized just how alone he truly was, and therefore any restraint that he once had went right out the window. That's why we see him destroy his relationship with his son, and then of course, we have the infamous bowling sequence. Of course, he had also killed his fake brother earlier in the film, but don't forget that they were out in the middle of nowhere and he did what he could to cover it up. When he kills the preacher... as he says "I'm finished." He's obviously not going to get away with it, and most likely died shortly thereafter in prison.

Pretentious? Perhaps. But I think there are plenty of signs that Plainview is mentally ill, borderline sociopathic, and misanthropic (which he admits halfway through the film).

 

[chamber-music]

The Matrix sequels hands down especially reloaded where the dialogue consisted of little more than dime store philosophy answer a question with a question speak between action scenes.
The praise the Wachowski's got from The Matrix went to their heads.

 

[PWN3R]

There Will Be Blood. Nothing happens for the whole running time. That's not intelligent, it's boring and pretentious. It starts with DDL being a normal guy, and all of a sudden he's a *****ebag for no reason and without transition. Hell, all DDL did was his best Vince McMahon impression.

That's damn hilarious.

I love Paul Thomas Anderson, he's one of my fave directors, but yeah you have a point. All his films have a pretentious flair about them, but TWBB doesn't beat you over the head or anything.


So some kind of pretentiousness can be good. Especially when they know they're doing it. I love Escape From LA because Carpenter was asking these serious questions about the world with that ending, and to me, that's what makes it so funny/awesome.

 

[Carmine Falcone]

There Will Be Blood. Nothing happens for the whole running time. That's not intelligent, it's boring and pretentious. It starts with DDL being a normal guy, and all of a sudden he's a *****ebag for no reason and without transition. Hell, all DDL did was his best Vince McMahon impression.

This just shows that you did not understand that movie for one bit, which is the reason for you calling it pretentious. Nothing happens for the whole running time? Seriously? Maybe you should watch it again, it is really worth it. It's a very subtle film that really asks something of the viewer. Mainly to pay attention, especially to the insanely brilliant performance of Daniel Day Lewis.

But anayway, it's obvious that people just like to bag popular films (like The Dark Knight, The Wrestler and There Will Be Blood) and say they are pretentious, just because they don't like the films. It's like Doctor Jones said some pages ago this just turned into a hate thread. Like most threads do.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

There will be Blood is great, people who don't like it are philistines!!!

 

[Brian Braddock]

Pretentious?

Most Merchant Ivory films.

 

[Figs]

This just shows that you did not understand that movie for one bit, which is the reason for you calling it pretentious. Nothing happens for the whole running time? Seriously? Maybe you should watch it again, it is really worth it. It's a very subtle film that really asks something of the viewer. Mainly to pay attention, especially to the insanely brilliant performance of Daniel Day Lewis.

But anayway, it's obvious that people just like to bag popular films (like The Dark Knight, The Wrestler and There Will Be Blood) and say they are pretentious, just because they don't like the films. It's like Doctor Jones said some pages ago this just turned into a hate thread. Like most threads do.

I fully agree.

I'm so bored at the moment that I've been going through numerous threads to keep me busy but I keep forgetting to avoid this one due to how much fail is in here.

People...look up and study the word pretentious so you don't look ignorant when calling a film you dislike pretentious when in most cases...it really isn't.

 

[Evil Twin]

I fully agree.

I'm so bored at the moment that I've been going through numerous threads to keep me busy but I keep forgetting to avoid this one due to how much fail is in here.

People...look up and study the word pretentious so you don't look ignorant when calling a film you dislike pretentious when in most cases...it really isn't.

It would really help if people would at least make an argument for what pretentions these films actually have, in order to call them pretentious. If you can't do that, then you shouldn't use the word as a criticism.

Frankly, this thread is full of pretentions that people understand what "pretentious" means.

 

[redhawk23]

Diary of the Dead: "I have to keep filming, I have too keep watching, We're a Society of People Watching a Car Wreck"

that movie was such and absoulte let down i was diggin at first despite the terrible acting, but the ending is just abosultly atroctious, crazy old amish dude impaling himself with a sytch was pretty swee though, and when they kill the zombie with the aed, but truly the "message" was just terrible. Usually Romero's more subtle in his preaching ways.