Movees wrote:
I'll jump in on a few small things here... I am not sure why anyone would view the plot of A Clockwork Orange as genius without having first read the novel. I think most of the appeal is from young viewers who just like violence and don't realize that the point of the book/film is based on socioeconomic problems in a near dystopian future... The film on its own is kind of kitschy.
I think Forrest Gump has aged terribly. It was a force when it came out, but is so ridiculously stupid when viewed by today's standards.
Most of the Coen Brothers films require multiple viewings. I thought the Big Lebowski was awful when I first saw it. One summer, a few teammates and I stayed in a crappy mountain cabin for a week to train. We ran twice a day and spent the rest of the time lounging around and eating. The only entertainment we had was a DVD of The Big Lebowski. We watched it every single night. This was before smart phones and everyone having a laptop, so entertainment wasn't as ubiquitous as it is now. It was either TBL, music from a boom box or one of the broadcast channels. It is now one of my favorite movies. A similar thing happened with O Brother, Where Art Thou? after I forced myself to watch it a few times. You begin to get to know the characters and it makes the viewing a much, much richer and nuanced experience.
The only thing about Birdman that was cool were the single-camera shots that must have been really tough to choreograph. I felt like Keaton did a good job, but most of the praise was due to Hollywood shunning him for 25 years after he left the Batman franchise. I mean, wasn't that a major theme in the film anyway?
I like almost all Coen Bros movies (especially Blood Simple), except for Lebowski and Hudsucker Proxy. I like scenes in each of those two but overall they just never worked for me. I watched Lebowski three different times over different years and the only thing that changed was that I knew the parts I already liked so it wasn't as good. I don't know...
A lot of hate for Birdman. I liked it, but maybe I was sucked in by the ostentatious camerawork. I'm pretty easy to please and I enjoy stuff like that.