Movies you just really didn't get

INCEPTION left me scratching my head.
 
 

A Serious Man.
 
I'm sure it was one of those movies that reflects symbolism of this and that of American society and classes and this and government that or this or random that....
 
....but seriously. What? I mean, I enjoyed it. But it ended and I literally put my hands up and said ".....what?".

No Country for Old Men. 
 
Reaaaaally don't get it. I'll always give this movie the benefit of the doubt, as every movie critic out there praised this film to death. But I did not get it at all. The movie was over and I my mind went: ".............................................................."
 
Seriously, was there something to "get" from this movie?

Just watched Blue Velvet the other day.  Another David Lynch movie.  It was like Dennis Hopper was playing a caricature of his over the top persona.
 
Generally, it seems like a lot of movies are based on people making poor decisions that no rational person would make.
 
Similarly, I can't figure out why we're supposed to care about the characters in Sons of Anarchy.  (Admittedly, I'm pretty new to the show.)  Bad people doing horrible things to each other.  And what doctor is going to go for a guy in a motorcycle gang.  Great acting, but most of the time I'm wondering why I'm watching it.

pan's labyrith - not that i didn't understatnd it but it was just like 2 different movies which didn't work together at all and then forcibly joined. brutaly overrated imho.

Raymitox


No Country for Old Men. 

Reaaaaally don't get it. I'll always give this movie the benefit of the doubt, as every movie critic out there praised this film to death. But I did not get it at all. The movie was over and I my mind went: ".............................................................."

Seriously, was there something to "get" from this movie?

I got two things out of the film, which kinda tie in together.  The first is summed up by the title, and by the opening monologue:
I was sheriff of this county when I was twenty-five years old. Hard to believe. My grandfather was a lawman; father too. Me and him was sheriffs at the same time; him up in Plano and me out here. I think he's pretty proud of that. I know I was. Some of the old time sheriffs never even wore a gun. A lotta folks find that hard to believe. Jim Scarborough'd never carried one; that's the younger Jim. Gaston Boykins wouldn't wear one up in Comanche County. I always liked to hear about the oldtimers. Never missed a chance to do so. You can't help but compare yourself against the oldtimers. Can't help but wonder how they would have operated these times. There was this boy I sent to the 'lectric chair at Huntsville Hill here a while back. My arrest and my testimony. He killt a fourteen-year-old girl. Papers said it was a crime of passion but he told me there wasn't any passion to it. Told me that he'd been planning to kill somebody for about as long as he could remember. Said that if they turned him out he'd do it again. Said he knew he was going to hell. "Be there in about fifteen minutes". I don't know what to make of that. I sure don't. The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But, I don't want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don't understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He'd have to say, "O.K., I'll be part of this world."
I'm not the best with words, so I apologize for using the monologue to explain it as opposed to my own words; I like to think I can understand it better than I can explain it.
 
(SPOILERS)
As for the second thing, what I got was that, it's basically how various people react in the face of death (Chigurh).  Sometimes meaningless, sometimes random, death.  My favorite example of this is the famous coin toss scene - When in the gas station, Chigurh asks the man if he knows what year is on the coin.  When the man says he doesn't know, Chigurh replies (something to the effect of) "1958.  It's been traveling 22 years to get here, and now it's here.  And you have to call it: heads or tails." 
When Llewelyn Moss faces death, his greed and pride (perhaps ego?) get the best of him.  He knows everyone is after the money, but he never loses sight of it.  When Chigurh calls him and gives him the chance to save his wife, he hangs up and tries to save himself.  I found stuff like this to underlie the majority of the interactions.
 
 

LIVESTRONG


pan's labyrith - not that i didn't understatnd it but it was just like 2 different movies which didn't work together at all and then forcibly joined. brutaly overrated imho.

I loved the stark contrast and thought it worked quite well.  I guess you could say similar to how Opeth manages to join opposites together to create pure awesomeness.

Unbelievable21

LIVESTRONG


pan's labyrith - not that i didn't understatnd it but it was just like 2 different movies which didn't work together at all and then forcibly joined. brutaly overrated imho.

I loved the stark contrast and thought it worked quite well.  I guess you could say similar to how Opeth manages to join opposites together to create pure awesomeness.

Haha I totally always thought of that movie as "Opeth in movie form."
 
I get a lot of backlash for this, but I really don't get how people like "Shaun of the Dead."  I mean, it's supposed to be like a satirical comedy, right?  I found it horrendously depressing, personally.  People often scream at me for having "no comedic taste" and being "a stupid American who only laughs at fart jokes" when I bring that up... I just don't get it.  It depresses me.

Frunobulax

Unbelievable21

LIVESTRONG


pan's labyrith - not that i didn't understatnd it but it was just like 2 different movies which didn't work together at all and then forcibly joined. brutaly overrated imho.

I loved the stark contrast and thought it worked quite well.  I guess you could say similar to how Opeth manages to join opposites together to create pure awesomeness.

Haha I totally always thought of that movie as "Opeth in movie form."

I get a lot of backlash for this, but I really don't get how people like "Shaun of the Dead."  I mean, it's supposed to be like a satirical comedy, right?  I found it horrendously depressing, personally.  People often scream at me for having "no comedic taste" and being "a stupid American who only laughs at fart jokes" when I bring that up... I just don't get it.  It depresses me.

I think SOTD is very amusing until (if my memory serves me correctly) they reach the Pub. From that point onwards I thought the film took quite a 'serious' turn, and became more of a life or death/horror piece of fiction rather than comedy. 
 
I think the film is overrated anyway. 'Hot Fuzz' is much better.

I think SotD is an AMAZING film.   The brilliance of it truly lies in the subtle nods to the fact that whether zombies or not...people *do not* notice what's going on around them.  So...who are the zombies really???  That's the aspect of it that I think puts it above and beyond any other film in the genre.    *BRILLIANT* parallels.   
 
One movie that I started off "not getting" and almost shut it off half way through....but which then tied together and turned out BRILLIANTLY was Magnolia.  

Movies such as "Final Destination" (any of them), or "Human Centipede", or any movie that glorifies human beings dying and suffering in horrendous ways.  Maybe Im a bit overly sensitive, but I certainly don't get why people enjoy them so much.

Im simply too high-brow *arrogant snort*

Im gonna take a stand and say Donnie Darko....wtf.
 
Seen it 10 times, still don't get it.

02T


Similarly, I can't figure out why we're supposed to care about the characters in Sons of Anarchy.  (Admittedly, I'm pretty new to the show.)  Bad people doing horrible things to each other.  And what doctor is going to go for a guy in a motorcycle gang.  Great acting, but most of the time I'm wondering why I'm watching it.

Well, on one level, you either care or you don't, but - and it depends on when and where you are in the story arc - it's a lot more complex than "bad people doing horrible things to each other".   It is asking some pretty cool, deep questions about how humans balance the bigger picture of "what/who do I want to be?" versus "who am I when the rubber hits the road?" (no pun intended).   It's also about how people intereact with each other when dealing with these issues, and how sometimes the lines between "good" and "evil" blur when these issues don't fit together nicely.
 
In my opinoin, Clay is one of the most complex characters on TV today.  In season one, you kinda knew he had the capacity for bad shit in him, but you didn't quite know what that capacity was.  Well, you're seeing it in this most recent season, as he wrestles with the desperation of seeing all that he wanted to be, all that he aspired to be, being brought down by people who, in his mind, didn't see the big picture. 
 
As for Tara (the doctor), it makes perfect sense.  She has gone a little farther down the path of acheiving "who I want to be", but she is who she is, and she sees a lot of that ability to overcome your roots in Jax.  The problem is best illustrated with the Federal agent Kohn, though I won't ruin the surprise. 
 
Otto is another good example of this.
 
I don't know; my take only, but it is a lot more than bad people doing bad things.

Synecdoche, New York. I tried to make sense of it but no dice.

Bails


Well, I have to disagree, JeffV.  If I don't "get" or understand a movie, there's no way that I can enjoy it.  I don't feel like my intelligence was insulted, I just don't like it.  Generally, I don't enjoy "cryptic" movies.  I know what you're saying about "holding your hand," but the best movies are able to tell a story without requiring a Phd in "what was the director thinking?"

This is how I feel.  If I watch a movie it is because I want to relax, laugh, etc...  There are some movies like that, that I enjoy, but for the most part, if a movie makes you think too hard about what's going on, then it usually does not hold my interest.  And it has nothing to do with intelligence, I just don't enjoy those types of moives.

jammindude


I think SotD is an AMAZING film.   The brilliance of it truly lies in the subtle nods to the fact that whether zombies or not...people *do not* notice what's going on around them.  So...who are the zombies really???  That's the aspect of it that I think puts it above and beyond any other film in the genre.    *BRILLIANT* parallels.   

Ya, I got that.  I just don't get what's supposed to amusing about it or why it's so brilliant.  No disrespect to your opinion, of course.  It's just that the film was marketed as a comedy, and I just found the entire thing extremely depressing.  Maybe I was just disappointed because I was expecting to be amused.

"The Box"
 
What the bloody f--- was that supposed to be???

DT2003


This is how I feel.  If I watch a movie it is because I want to relax, laugh, etc...  There are some movies like that, that I enjoy, but for the most part, if a movie makes you think too hard about what's going on, then it usually does not hold my interest.  And it has nothing to do with intelligence, I just don't enjoy those types of moives.

...and thus the appeal of Britney Spears and Lady Gaga.   I don't mean that as a dig or a criticism or a negative, but merely as observation.  That is the mindset that relegates King Crimson to cult status.

marck


"The Box"

What the bloody f--- was that supposed to be???

Great call!  That movie was nothing like what I thought it was going to be.  I've never read the story - I'd be interested in knowing how much the movie deviated from the story.

Everything Must Go had some WTF moments, but was enjoyable overall. Seemed more designed as a vehicle for Will Ferrell to make the transition into dramatic roles more than anything else.

Dune... scratched my head the whole time wondering how this was so raved about... movie seriously blew harder than a 2 dollar..... vacuum cleaner. 
 
( bet ya thought I was goin somewhere else with that one ) 

after 8 episodes of Boardwalk Empire I still don't get it... I should hang on till the season finale.

Inception
 
'twas advertised as the thinking man's movie but I nearly walked out due to how dumb it was. It had all these ridiculously zany concepts that would have been fine if it weren't for the fact that the film took itself so seriously only to result in you finding logical errors and plot holes at every 'hurdle'.
 
The whole first half of the movie was just there to explain the rules over and over again to what they must have thought would be the dumbest audience ever because their movie was so smart. These rules were forced down your throat with a patronising 'are you sure you have it?........... No?.......... Well let me take it from the top again' attitude, only to allow for action sequences and set pieces later on in the movie to exist in the mundane world they'd created.
 
Most of Zimmer's score was a monotone drone that became infuriating to sit through. Bleh, I hated the hyped up piece of @£$%. I'd sum it up by saying that it was a stupid/stuck up its own arse movie that garnered a lot of by praise making thick people feel smart for a couple of hours.
 
God i'd love to be a movie critic! ha

DougMasters


Dune... scratched my head the whole time wondering how this was so raved about... movie seriously blew harder than a 2 dollar..... vacuum cleaner. 

( bet ya thought I was goin somewhere else with that one ) 

Show me where that movie was raved about...
 
I saw it in the theater when it was released and I think it pretty much got 1-2 stars across the board...complete flop.
 
Dune fans have turned it into a sortof "cult classic"...but even they are divided as to whether or not the changes are in any way true to the original spirit of the story.  

jammindude

DougMasters


Dune... scratched my head the whole time wondering how this was so raved about... movie seriously blew harder than a 2 dollar..... vacuum cleaner. 

( bet ya thought I was goin somewhere else with that one ) 

Show me where that movie was raved about...

I saw it in the theater when it was released and I think it pretty much got 1-2 stars across the board...complete flop.

Dune fans have turned it into a sortof "cult classic"...but even they are divided as to whether or not the changes are in any way true to the original spirit of the story.  

I can't show you anything cause i'm going off of what people I know throughout my life have said about it. I know a lot of people who rant and rave about the movie... so that is where I am drawing my reference. I've met one person who's seen it and said it sucked, everyone else ive met whos seen it said it was awesome. That's all. 

Syriana
 
It may be simply because I'm not into politics, but I really did not give a damn about anything that happened in that movie.