People who hate movies because they are popular

redmgar

The sort of people who hate a particular movie just to be different.
Like the losers who loved that band before they "sold out".

Thoughts?

El Duda

There's a lot of this sort of thing on #FilmTwitter

People on there seem to all share the same contrary opinions, like how everyone always seems to bang on about how great La La Land is. I've seen pile ons against anyone who dares to tweet negatively about it.

rtron

I think what is worse is people hating a Movie because everyone else hates it or it gets bad reviews. Then people who say they enjoyed it, get piled on.

redmgar

El Duda wrote: »

There's a lot of this sort of thing on #FilmTwitter

People on there seem to all share the same contrary opinions, like how everyone always seems to bang on about how great La La Land is. I've seen pile ons against anyone who dares to tweet negatively about it.

I meant more the type of people who wont even bother to go and see a movie as its popular.

I wouldn't watch a superhero movie as its not my kind of thing rather than the fact its popular.

RocketRaccoon

Snobs, they're in every walk of life unfortunately.

pixelburp

I'm confused, who the hell are we even talking about here? Cos I've never read a single critic or passionate amateur who has expressed an explicit opinion along the lines of "I hate X because it's popular". And if this is aimed at Twitter, well then more fool you for wading into that ocean & complaining it's full of sharks.

If an contrary opinion can be expressed in an interesting or thoughtful, expansive way then that's perfectly valid.

mikhail

Sometimes, I am turned off a movie by unrelenting marketing and gushing fans. Or by unrelenting marketing and furious fans. I generally get around to them later, when the hype has moved on and I can enjoy or hate it on its own terms.

Ipso

I preferred your earlier threads.

redmgar

I mean the sort who wont watch Forrest Gump because its popular.

pixelburp

redmgar wrote: »

I mean the sort who wont watch Forrest Gump because its popular.

I've never met this kind of person, so either I'm sheltered or you're reading the wrong parts of the internet.

Del2005

Just because a film is popular doesn't make it good and even the most popular films are only seen by a tiny minority of people.

Basq

I wouldn't consider myself a film snob.. but I will admit I am often liable to be disappointed by a movie when I hear nothing but gushing reviews!

e.g Joker - performance aside by Joaquin Phoenix, I found it incredibly patchy with a good 30 minutes in the middle where I was just downright bored!

I wouldn't say I hated it.. but I will say I don't think it was worthy of the acclaim pushed onto it.

Ideally I'd love to go into a movie cold - without heeding reviews from critics / the general public / social media - but it's nigh on impossible nowadays!

s7ryf3925pivug

Basq wrote: »

I wouldn't consider myself a film snob.. but I will admit I am often liable to be disappointed by a movie when I hear nothing but gushing reviews!

e.g Joker - performance aside by Joaquin Phoenix, I found it incredibly patchy with a good 30 minutes in the middle where I was just downright bored!

I wouldn't say I hated it.. but I will say I don't think it was worthy of the acclaim pushed onto it.

Ideally I'd love to go into a movie cold - without heeding reviews from critics / the general public / social media - but it's nigh on impossible nowadays!

Yeah I was going to make the same point - but Joker was excellent imo.

For me an example of the same thing would be the last two Avengers movies. I was expecting to experience some sort of awe or thrills. I did not so I was disappointed. If I approached them hoping to be mildly entertained they would have been fine.

It's also more worthy of remark if your opinion contrasts with the consensus.

s7ryf3925pivug

spurious

Much worse are the ones who don't like a movie and they haven't even seen it.

Gwanoman

I absolutely hated the last jedi from the moment I saw it..

I wouldn't even talk to my girlfriend walking out of the cinema...

Critics like it.. fans generally don't..

Sorry if it is a bit off topic

pixelburp

I don't even know what the topic is meant to be.

"Some people don't like popular movies", but it might be because they're famous. It's unclear who we're meant to be annoyed at.

S.M.B.

I'll hold my hands up and say that my taste, in both movies, TV and music, over the years has developed in a way where I get a lot of pleasure from moments, tropes, flourishes, choices etc that are often at odds with what would be normally considered optimal for mass popularity.

That's very different to "I don't like popular movies" though.

is_that_so

redmgar wrote: »

I mean the sort who wont watch Forrest Gump because its popular.

I wouldn't watch Forrest Gump in its entirety because I think it's far too long.

lawred2

redmgar wrote: »

I mean the sort who wont watch Forrest Gump because its popular.

Do they exist?

_Brian

redmgar wrote: »

The sort of people who hate a particular movie just to be different.
Like the losers who loved that band before they "sold out".

Thoughts?

Maybe their interests are just outside the norm.

I know much of what I dislike on tv would be considered “essential” watching but I hate it. Reality tv shows, Mrs Brown, mcGreggor fights, anything celeb based, that’s all trash entertainment to me, not because others like it, but because I hate it.

redmgar

spurious wrote: »

Much worse are the ones who don't like a movie and they haven't even seen it.

Yep that's the ones I'm talking about

redmgar

pixelburp wrote: »

I don't even know what the topic is meant to be.

"Some people don't like popular movies", but it might be because they're famous. It's unclear who we're meant to be annoyed at.

Its OK not to know things, and you don't need to be annoyed.

redmgar

I'm not saying popularity is a sign of quality, often its not.
But pre-judge a movie because its popular is the issue.

pixelburp

redmgar wrote: »

Its OK not to know things, and you don't need to be annoyed.

You started the thread dude, I'm just confused who, or what outlet, you're venting about that you feel you can claim they're doing it "just to be different". Not exactly a concept easily pinned down.

If you just mean people who avoid movies because of hype, then as another poster already mentioned there's nothing wrong with that, as inevitably hype can cause disappointment. Nor anything wrong with possessing a contrary opinion to a popular film if it's genuinely held and expressed authentically.

Plenty of popular films I've not liked, but not because they're popular, because I just didn't like them (and am always happen to explain in a thread / chat).

Unearthly

Whenever a film is popular it will attract a large audience with word of mouth. It would be impossible for everyone to all like the same film.

Some people probably go over board with the disappointment if it doesn't meet their own expectation.

redmgar

Maybe I am not explaining it properly.
Have you seen the movie This is the end?
There is a scene were Craig Robinson says "I'll bet you hate movies that are universally loved"

Its more of a movie hipster thing, You dislike commercial movies just to be different.
Again popularity is not a sign of quality, but some people would be too much of a snob to like a movie as its successful.

pixelburp

redmgar wrote: »

Maybe I am not explaining it properly.
Have you seen the movie This is the end?
There is a scene were Craig Robinson says "I'll bet you hate movies that are universally loved"

Its more of a movie hipster thing, You dislike commercial movies just to be different.
Again popularity is not a sign of quality, but some people would be too much of a snob to like a movie as its successful.

I understand you completely, I just don't believe the people you are talking about genuinely exist nor exist outside of Twitter, which as mentioned, is a clogged drain of cognitive sludge. Some folks are just born contrarians, but as the saying goes, there's nowt so queer as folk. Maybe you'd get some outlets that'd spin intentionally extreme opinions for clickbait purposes, but that's a cynical motivation, not a "hipster" one.

Disliking commercial movies (or rather, mainstream Hollywood which I presume you mean, as movies are commercial entities) is reductionist but it's not without some justification. I'm finding myself jaded by the Hollywood system and so ... yeah, would start to back off from overly hyped, marketed films. Then equally, I get sucked into a hype spiral and experience disappoint so 🤷 And certainly coming to a movie after near breathless, universal praise is always setting things up for disappointment.

Except for Paddington 2 of course.

Acosta

I don't think this really applies to movies, especially nowadays. The cool art house underground stuff is nearly all on TV now anyway.

Sad Professor

Acosta wrote: »

I don't think this really applies to movies, especially nowadays. The cool art house underground stuff is nearly all on TV now anyway.

Can you give an example?

johnny_ultimate

Acosta wrote: »

I don't think this really applies to movies, especially nowadays. The cool art house underground stuff is nearly all on TV now anyway.

Nah, this isn’t true. Lots and lots of great arthouse film from around the world still being released.

TV, largely down to its innately commercial nature, is actually quite unfriendly for independent, experimental and arthouse type storytelling - whereas there are a lot of financing models in place for ‘non-commercial’ cinema. Which is not to say there isn’t great TV being made in a lot of different countries - just the ‘independent’ TV scene is small and low-profile compared to the systems long in place to fund, release and exhibit arthouse film.

Lily_Aldrin7

I have a few colleagues who won’t watch movies if somebody very famous stars in them. Almost all of them refused to watch A Star is Born because of Lady Gaga and because the movie was way too commercial. I remember when I was a teen the cool kids were saying they don’t like Linkin Park cause they’re way too commercial. I guess it’s a thing

Fysh

For the sake of conversation, let's take as a given the idea that there are people who dislike films (without having seen them) purely because they are popular (as opposed to e.g. having an aversion to the director/specific members of the cast, or not being interested by the trailer).

....

What was the rest of the conversation supposed to be? Is it just "those people are tedious"? Because...yes, yes they are, so don't waste your time and attention on them

It's the type of person who says they don't like the Shawshank Redemption because it's AWFUL (as opposed to not being to their taste)

The cynic in me would make me wonder if they would like it if they discovered it on their own

Sad Professor

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Nah, this isn’t true. Lots and lots of great arthouse film from around the world still being released.

TV, largely down to its innately commercial nature, is actually quite unfriendly for independent, experimental and arthouse type storytelling - whereas there are a lot of financing models in place for ‘non-commercial’ cinema. Which is not to say there isn’t great TV being made in a lot of different countries - just the ‘independent’ TV scene is small and low-profile compared to the systems long in place to fund, release and exhibit arthouse film.

Agreed. TV has almost totally replaced the mainstream mid budget film that most of us grew up watching and like those films it's very commercial (with a few exceptions like Twin Peaks etc). Where as I think we're in a golden age for indie and arthouse cinema. That's really where the best films are right now. But most of them aren't getting much mainstream attention and there's a lot to sift through.

Miss Elizabeth

I know what you mean op but sometimes it is just they know they won't like the film and nothing to do with trying to paint an image.

Like I never had any interest in Sex and the City. I genuinely did try to watch that show once or twice when nothing else was on but didn't take to it so I had no desire to watch the movie despite my aunt and loads of people telling me how much I would love it.

Some people do say they dislike things because they think it will make them appear cooler and to be different but that's hardly isolated to films.

Acosta

Sad Professor wrote: »

Can you give an example?

Most far out, weird, complex, slow burner type stuff seems to be on TV now. Shows like Black Mirror, Watchmen, Twin Peaks all on recently was great. Since the turn of the century the quality of tv shows has gone way up. Before then most tv shows were episodic and had to stretch a budget over 24 episodes. Since all these cable channels started making shows with 10-14 episode seasons the production looks so much better and it's much more interesting watching shows with a season or series long arcs. Succession and The Crown were also fantastic this year. All these are of course big shows so calling it art house was probably a mistake(although David Lynch seems to think so), but every year there's less and less I want to see in the cinema and more I'm watching on TV.

I'm a complete film snob..

pixelburp

TV is still 90% sludge, especially American output, the difference is that Irish (and UK) audiences get to pick the cream or the crop & whatever gets the column inches of praise. So from the outside, Watchmen, Twin Peaks Legion and the myriad of other borderline art house material makes TV look very creative, but there's still a metric tonne of trash we simply aren't exposed to.

johnny_ultimate

The thing about TV is that the interesting things happen almost exclusively within the confines of commercial genre fare. Even Twin Peaks started as a murder mystery thriller: Watchmen is an adaptation of a hugely popular superhero series; The Wire at its most basic is a police procedural. These shows are wonderful, don’t get me wrong. But they’re broadly accessible and not exactly ‘arthouse’ in the traditional sense (although then again a lot of ****e French mainstream fare gets peddled as arthouse fare here :pac:). I love shows like Atlanta for pushing against expectations and playing with form - equally, I can see why a commercial station would be so keen to fund another few seasons of a hit, buzzy comedy.

To me the sort of things you see happening in the wide spectrum of arthouse and independent cinema are still in a different league to prestige television. You don’t get shows as aesthetically rigorous as a Wes Anderson film (not to say there aren’t some great looking shows). You don’t get series as completely uncompromising as a Godard film. You don’t get TV seasons as slow-burning as Bela Tarr or Claire Denis or Tsai Ming-Liang films. The divisions remain clear - certainly TV can capably compete against a certain level of endangered, mid-budget American cinema, but the broader breadth, depth and variety isn’t there. Television has morphed into its own, extremely worthwhile and mature thing - but for me there are still typically limitations when it comes to the niche, experimental fare that’s being produced for cinema (even if many won’t make much of a wider impact outside the festival scene or a MUBI run).

I think one of the reasons a lot of cinephiles had such an ecstatic reaction to Twin Peaks: The Return is that suddenly you had a prestige TV show that was shattering expectations with this utterly uncompromising thing - in the same way they’ve come to expect from great cinema. It’s the true, rare crossover between arthouse film and long-form TV drama you typically don’t get (exceptions like the Dekalog and Berlin Alexanderplatz aside). But hey, even that was a follow-up to a hit murder mystery show :pac: