Do we have to like every movie that's considered good?

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I love watching movies but only the movies that tickle my fancy. But there are some movies that are considered the best that don't really interest me and yet I get the feeling that people want me to watch them. For example at this moment right now while I'm typing this up my family is watching a film called No Country for Old Men. I have never seen nor know what it is really about. All I know is that it was a critical success and I think it won some oscars and despite all that I'm not really interested. Maybe I should be regreting not seeing a so called "great movie" and I may literately be judging a book by it's cover and maybe I'm just acting immature and deep down inside I'm just saying "no no I don't wanna watch this stupid movie I wanna watch something that I like" but I'm just not really interested in the type of film that NCFOM is. I mean I hear it's suppose to be a film where a lot of people are shot to death and it's suppose to be dramatic and while there are a lot of movies that I absolutly love and have those things in it I'm still not really that interested. I like superheroes, sci fi, action, comedy and animation and when it comes to drama only when it's usually in those genres. I hear the new Godzilla movie is suppose to have a bit of drama to it and I hope it works because it looks like the type of film to me. Plus despite those genres I wouldn't say I'm intereted in every movie of those genres old and new. I just wanna see the movies that I'm interested in and NCFOM doesn't interest me. So just because a movies brings in alot of Oscars doesn't mean I should go see it or buy it. I'm just not interested.

I thought "Out of Africa" was a yawning bore. You could sleep through all three hours of the film and not miss a thing.

"Avatar" was torturous for me so sit through and I saw about 95% of it.

"Titanic" was also a meh film. How it became so popular is a mystery to me.

Yes. If it has received popular or critical acclaim it is illegal to dislike it.

Nah, I couldn't pretend to like movies to please anyone. I really can't be interested in movies.

Sorry didn't fully read your post.

Last edited by thewrll on 16 Oct 2013, 10:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I thought Apollo 13 was kick ass!

Hmm, you should look into the works of Malcolm Gladwell and Thorstein Veblen for an explanation of the peer-pressure phenomenon in this case, caused by Oscar/award-nominations.

At the end of the day, taste is a highly subjective medium and whatever works for one person bores another; I fell asleep through Gladiator and the King's Speech myself, but I could understand why they in the (non-representational of the wider cinema-watching audience) judging committee awarded each respective film.

Anyway, ignore the unspoken rule of having to like Oscar-nominated films and watch the films that work for you; after all, variety is the spice of life.

Here are some movies that won the Academy Award for Best Picture which I generally consider mediocre:

1990 - Dances With Wolves - Won against: Awakenings, Ghost, Godfather 3 and Goodfellas
1997 - Titanic - Won against: As Good As It Gets, The Full Monty, Good Will Hunting and L.A. Confidential
1999 - American Beauty - Won against: The Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, The Insider and The Sixth Sense
2000 - Gladiator - Won against: Chocolat, Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich and Traffic
2003 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Won against: Lost In Translation, Master & Commander, Mystic River and Seabiscuit
2005 - Crash - Won against: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night, and Good Luck, Munich

I think that American Beauty and Gladiator are especially overrated compared to the movies they competed against, but hey... your mileage may vary...

That's true. These are movies that are considered good that I saw and didn't care for:

West Side Story
Rebel Without A Cause
The Graduate

Most of Steven Spielberg's stuff tends to practically put me to sleep with boredom.

The first two of the original Spiderman Trilogy.

There are many films that are good. There are good dramas, good action films, good anime, good super hero films and even films so bad they are good. And there are many different kinds of people who want to watch movies. Some like dramas. Some like action. Some like long, slow, boring films. There are many good films that only appeal to a very small audience. There is nothing wrong in that. And there is nothing wrong in liking films that generally don't win awards.

It's a good idea to keep an open mind and occasionally watch things you normally wouldn't watch, but there is no law that says you have to.

Watch what you enjoy. Try to be a good person most of the time. Get some exercise on occasion. Don't get too worked up about what other people tell you you should be doing.

As long as it isnt about "US love comedies with Sandra Bullock and Adam Sandler" and similar stuff, at least I give films a chance. So no, you are not forced ^^ to watch films of a genre you normally dont like, but by doing so if they are on television accidentally, I found some really good, cool films, that I wouldnt have expected, as well as some really horrible films. Giving the twilight stuff its chance, was definitely not worth it for me. And Matrix: I never made it...every time again I start to fall asleep. XD

Forcing yourself seeing certain films, because of them told to be good, makes no sense. But if you dont have better plans today, dont doom them automatically, according to their genre. As long as it isnt about US love comedy films. XD And "The seapigeon Jonathan". ^^

I've always taken entertainment award shows like these, whether they involve film, theatre, music, or literature, with a grain of salt. All too often, the award festivals boil down to comparing apples and oranges. If you have the Oscars, and they're pitting an introverted drama against this summer's action blockbuster, then you potentially have two films that are both the most splendid in their respective genres this year, but each obviously on their own separate strengths and merits that are not present in the other film. When you're watching The Full Monty, you're not going to get the same thing out of that movie as when you go to see LA Confidential.

Last night, I opted to see Batman Begins on TV over Shawshank Redemption which aired at the same time. Immediately prior to seeing the movie, I was debating on whether to see Shawshank anyway, for not having seen it yet and knowing what raving reviews it has gotten. But I chose not to: I was more in the mood for an action flick last night. I didn't pick Batman Begins because I thought it was a better movie or even because I thought I'd like it better; I chose Batman Begins because I assumed it was the 'simpler' movie, and that it would better address my desire for diversion at that time. And in the bargain, I still got Morgan Freeman. Who put out a great performance in a supporting role as Lucius Fox. Everybody happy!

Movies that everyone raves about and considers great that I saw and i didn't care for are....

2001: A Space Odyssey
Dances With Wolves
Lost in Translation
There Will Be Blood
Kill Bill
The entire Harry Potter franchise
Clerks

I think Schindler's List (released in 1993, winning in 1994) was a well-deserved Academy Award winner,

helped enormously by the fact that it is based on a true story.

. . although generally not the kind of film I'd want to watch by myself.