Not my kind of movie
- Schindler's List
- Saving Private Ryan
- Any horror movie
- Clockwork Orange
- One flew over the cuckoo's nest
- Dead Man Walking
- Silence of the Lambs
- The Shawshank Redemption
- The Sixth Sense
- The Shining
I go to movies (and read books) for entertainment -- as an escape from the Real World, which is plenty serious/depressing/frightening/disgusting/etc. as it is. I don't need to pay $8 for more of it.
As for Schindler's List (and other such movies), I have a personal reminder in the form of my dad (and my grandparents and aunts, whom I never got to meet.)
Monsters, ghosts, and the like don't scare me (racism, fanaticism, and selfishness do) so your average horror movies don't interest me in the least. Being startled doesn't do it for me, and there is plenty out on the streets to gross me out for free, if I were into that.
I've changed the title to better reflect what this list is about. Some of these I have seen, all or in part, but did not enjoy the experience. Mind you, most of them are excellent films, from what I've heard, and from what I've seen, they're just not the type of movie that I enjoy.
Even based on your reasoning, you might want to reconsider One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It is uplifting in the same way Cool Hand Luke is.
<SPOILER - highlight to read>
Both follow the forumla: "hero bucks system/savors life, system kills hero, hero inspires associates to similar action." Sure, they are depressing if you only consider the hero, but uplifting if you focus on the big picture. Sure, they are still depressing, but no unredeemingly so, and they are quite entertaining until the going gets rough.
</SPOILER>
Actually, I've seen most of Cuckoo's Nest. Some great acting, of course. Yes, I know in the long run it's uplifting and all, but it's a lesson I know extremely well, and don't want the unpleasantness of Cuckoo's reminder.
Like I said, there's plenty of that in the Real World available for free. (In the Channukah show at the nursing home where my dad is, there was a guy who sang a song -- standing up. When my dad first got there, he was in a wheelchair.)
What is so wrong about "Clockwork Orange"? Could it be the theory that every person has the right to choose between good and evil? What is so bad about moral choice?
I think you're making a big mistake if you don't see "Clockwork Orange". This movie is far from depressing or pesimistic.
There is nothing wrong with the moral, or even the story, of Clockwork Orange. It is instead the way that Kubrick presents it -- a little too extreme, if you will, for my tastes. I did have the unhappy experience of seeing part of it -- the scene where the main character(s) break in and rape an older woman (or something like that). It was distinctly unpleasant. I'd rather not see the rest of it, even if that was the worst part.
Again, the Real World has plenty of gray; I like my entertainment -- my escape from the Real World -- black and white.
As to the right to choose between good and evil, you couldn't find a stronger proponent than I. If it were up to me, I would make all of the currently illegal recreational drugs legal. Not because I use them; on the contrary, I think those who do are idiots and morons. However, I strongly believe that they should have the right to do (and believe, while we're at it) any stupid thing they want to -- with the extremely strong caveat that it must be only so long as it doesn't hurt or adversely affect another. (See the quote by Lincoln on my web page.)
Kubrick was actually not as harsh as he could've been. The book was a lot more graphic.
i disagree somewhat. however, to be fair, i'll admit that a book can work both ways--it can either amplify graphic things or distance you from them...
with a clockwork orange, i found the book to be much less offensive/graphic. i saw the movie first (and didn't really have a fond memory of it) and then a friend of mine talked me into reading the book by piquing my interest in the language burgess created for his droogs. i ended up writing a linguistics paper on it and enjoying the story *much* more. --just another perspective
The thing about books is that they make you the director of the movie in your mind. For me, that is often worse than what hollywood can come up with -- It is more vivid, realistic, and personal. Heroes always look the way heroes should look, beautiful women always fit my idea of beauty, and scary stuff is always what's scariest to me. With a book, you never have to try and imagine that Ted (Keanu Reeves) is an action hero.
So I fear books even more than movies -- I only made it through the first page of Jaws the book. (But eventually saw most of the movie.)
Every movie you NAMED is a masterpiece. If you do not watch them you are depriving yourself of not only great entertainment, but possibly personal insight about facets of life that we may not be ready to confront but ultimatly we have to. Please reconsider. Something tells me you won't be dissapointed.Word.
I understand what you're saying, but again, I feel aware enough of the issues presented in most of these that I don't think I need to see them. Examples:
Schindler's List: I live with a reminder of this every day as I pass the site of the Jewish Orphanage where my Dad grew up on the way to visit him -- My grandparents and two aunts all perished in a concentration camp, and my Dad (who made it out) grew up alone, with nothing.
Saving Private Ryan: I've met one of the guys who was actually there, but more importantly, I am all too aware of the horrors of war, and the incredible behaviours it can elicit from ordinary people. (Again, from my dad's experiences and other friends who suffered in that and other wars.)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest: I grew up in San Francisco, where people have been going up against the establishment for eons.
As for great entertainment, to me they are not entertaining at all. Just as some people like football (my wife), others (like me) find it quite boring. And some people love Opera (my Dad), while others are into showtunes (my wife), and a few like it all (me). While you might find these entertaining, the ones that I have seen, even partially, were not entertaining to me.
I think you're just a scaredy-cat. :-)
Aren't we all? 8^)
It's just that we each have our own personal set of fears. (The trick is to know and face them.)
I respect your opinion on this issue. Basically what, I think, you are saying is that to you movies are just entertainment. If you want to learn about something you'd rather learn it in the real world from someone you know. I respect that. I think many, many people watch movies for entertainment value alone.
For me it's different. I do watch some movies for straight-ahead entertainment but I also watch some for sheer interest in the craft of movie making. Sometimes the craft and the entertainment overlap. Sometimes it doesn't.
I don't think either way of approaching movies is better than the other. Like everything in life it's a matter of choice; choice in how you spend your time and what you get out of it.