"Critically acclaimed movies that are boring" Topic

It's as simple as this. "They" like it. They love it!
But it puts you to sleep.
No other criterion than that. No wrong answers.
Just that the Critics have to like it. And that it's a "serious" movie. Heck, they would even call it a "film"!

Citizen Kane

Play it as it Lays

Never pay attention to the critics

You sure do spend a lot of time mulling over stuff you don't like!

One immediately comes to mind, "Nashville". I walked out of the theater just part way through.

But there are many that the critics acclaim, that are not even watchable, especially recently.

I can't even name nominated movies anymore.

Pay for view, like Netflix, Prime and more, are nearly unwatchable the last 2 years.

Tried to watch "Mickey 17" on Prime yesterday. "Tried" is the operative word. Didn't make it.

Another movie channel pt 2 of Oscar Winners
And David doesn't think some deserved it
m.imdb.com/title/tt7391452

The English Patient

Titanic

Out of Africa

The Thin Red Line

You sure do spend a lot of time mulling over stuff you don't like!

Yeah, but if he gave that up, he might actually have to talk about miniature gaming …

The Brutalist… it had me wishing it would say more about architecture…

Room with a View?

Out of Africa?

The Fifth Element.

Braveheart.

Th Hobbit trilogy. Definitely.

I'm just getting started.

I was not aware that Braveheart was critically acclaimed.
Or the Hobbit trilogy, for that matter. 😄

The English Patient. Just die already!

Citizen Kane. Rather watch Snakes on a Plane.

Recently, all of them.

Fight Club and Kill Bill 2, the only two films I've walked out of. The latter when Uma got buried as I figured that was as an good ending as I could think of.

I am not a lover of movies. I suspect my answer will 'be all of the above'.

x42

I was not aware that Braveheart was critically acclaimed.

At the time it had an overwhelmingly positive response from critics, in addition to winning several Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. Some people have cooled on it but it is still well-regarded. I view it as the film equivalent of the local renaissance festival.

For me it's "Dr. Strangelove" and "2001". I just can't. Kubrick fanboys slobber over these but neglect the beauty and majesty of "Barry Lyndon".

Braveheart is many things, but it is *not* boring.

To this say I think the original M*A*S*H* is neither funny nor watchable. If ever a movie was lauded solely because of its politics, it's this one.
To this day, I've failed to enjoy *any* Altman film. I consider him vasty over-rated as a director.

The English Patient
Out of Africa

Have to agree with both, especially the Patient. Could not finish either one.

I have to say, I have never been a MASH fan – either movie or show

Out of Africa for sure

One that has not been mentioned, an old James Caan Western – Another Man, Another Chance – probably not critically acclaimed

The first Star Trek movie- although also probably not critically acclaimed

Sophie's Choice

Gandhi. My land that movie was boring.
Just talk, talk, talk. By the end of this movie
about peace I wanted someone to just hit someone!

Above: "To this say…" should of course be "To this day…"

I blame gremlins.

The movie "Interiors".

It is fabulously filmed, an artistic masterpiece. However, it is worse than watching paint dry.

I blame gremlins.

I LOVE "Citizen Kane," but it's become holy celluloid to the pseudo-intellectuals that deified it. I know film buffs who can't bring themselves to watch it for fear they'll not "understand it." Hogwash.

Meanwhile, another darling of the Left was the film "Z." Saw it when new and the only "Z" that connected was the soporific sound of its self-righteous tone and the clear belief of its makers that THEY were geniuses.

Better than a handful of Tylenol PM….

TVAG

Poor Things (2023) -- 4 Oscars and many other awards but I didn't find it really watchable.

I'm actually a huge fan of many of the films noted above -- Citizen Kane, Barry Lyndon, The Brutalist, The Fifth Element -- despite their critical acclaim.

Braveheart boring? It may not have been historically accurate but it was a fun movie and definitely not boring.

Gods and Generals put me to sleep. I really liked MASH and Citizen Kane.

I am glad that I have only seen a few of the movies listed above, and avoided all the others.
One of the movies, Citizen Kane, I had to watch in a film appreciation class while I was in college. The class focused on the technical and the directing aspects of the film. Not the plot or acting.

A LOT of movies anymore are overindulgent slop. A lot of Avant garde directors are to blame.

Inglorious Basterds is garbage. I saw it PPV at a friend's house. When it ended I looked over at him and mused aloud was that!? Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is an adolescent fantasy about averting Helter Skelter.

Don't get me started on Wes Anderson or Terrance Malick.

"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is an adolescent fantasy about averting Helter Skelter"

Whereas I thought it was a brilliant pastiche of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Who wouldn't want to watch "Bounty Law"?

These things are all a matter of personal taste of course. I find many "action" films incredibly dull as it is all shouting and shooting and little plot or character, although some are quite funny.

My recent hate was the utterly dreadful remake of All Quiet on the Western Front, which completely missed the point of the book yet was bizarrely popular. It may even have been critically acclaimed.

From AI:

"While "bad" is subjective, these critically acclaimed films are frequently cited for having a significant disconnect between high critical scores and widespread audience or community dislike.
The "Critics Love, Audiences Hate" Club
These movies hold high professional ratings (Rotten Tomatoes "Certified Fresh") but are often criticized by viewers for being boring, pretentious, or frustratingly slow.

Crash (2005): Despite winning Best Picture at the Oscars, it is widely reconsidered by audiences as a heavy-handed and "comically outlandish" take on racial tensions.

The Tree of Life (2011): Critics praised its visual poetry, but many viewers found it to be a "three-hour emotional montage" with "random dinosaurs" that felt like watching paint dry.

The Shape of Water (2017): This Best Picture winner is frequently listed as "mediocre at best" by audiences who found the central romance bizarre or underwhelming.

La La Land (2016): While a critical darling, it polarized audiences, with many finding it over-hyped and lacking the depth suggested by its acclaim.

Nomadland (2020): Heavily awarded, yet many viewers described it as "long meaningless shots" with very little narrative progression.
Reddit
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+6

Acclaimed But "Problematic" or Boring

American Beauty (1999): Once a massive awards sweep, it is now often dismissed as a "forgettable wannabe-classic" that has aged poorly for modern viewers.

Joker (2019): A box office juggernaut and award winner, though many argue its screenplay is shallow and its psychological themes aren't as deep as they appear.

Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975): Recently voted the "Greatest Film of All Time" by Sight & Sound, many viewers find its 3.5-hour runtime focused on domestic chores to be one of the most tedious experiences in cinema.
Reddit
Reddit
+2

Technical "Masterpieces" That Fail the Fun Test

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): Frequently cited as a masterpiece of direction, it is just as often called "literally just boring" by general audiences.

Blade Runner (1982): Despite its status as a sci-fi essential, many find its pacing severely underdeveloped and its characters unengaging compared to its visual influence.
Reddit
Reddit
+4"

American Beauty also has a Kevin Spacey pedo and pervert problem. It's even the crux of the script!
Obviously before Me2. 🙄
Back then it was celebrated. I've never seen Lolita, so I'll withhold comment on that.

I've seen "Joker"… 🤢🤮

"2001", good special effects for the time, but slow and disjointed.

I liked "Blade Runner". Weird, but watchable.

The rest on the AI list I've never watched, or will.

I'd rather watch 2001 any day over Blade Runner. I have *never* understood the fascination with the latter. Visually evocative (at first— the "it rains all the time and ads are in Chinese" thing gets old quickly), and Harrison Ford is suitably gritty and the character is operating on the thin edge of his own competence, but in the end I really don't care what is going on, and I'm not moved by Rutger Hauer's speech. Nor do I care if anyone else is a Replicant or not. Bloated nonsense, and too damn dark (as in "could we have some more light on the set, please?"). The original Dick novella is actually stranger, and therefore better (I guess; not my cuppa, either), but I only read that for the first time very recently— last year, I think.

Here's one from my college film class: La règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game). Beloved by critics (and my professor, whose tastes I otherwise agreed with), this thing is inexplicable… or at least French. Maybe its appearance in 1939 on the cusp of WWII and the fall of France affected how later critics saw the thing (initially it was derided by critics and audiences). The government of France banned it in October of that year, but not for being boring. (Really, they probably just should have ignored it.) Banning something always gets the artsy folks to decide it must be brilliant. In any case, the banning didn't help the war effort. To this day I still don't know what the film was about.

I've read that "My Dinner with Andre" is brilliant. But I've never been tempted to waste my time. Some reviews by brilliant critics should serve as a warning. In fact, those brilliant critics themselves should be a warning.
So, perhaps this doesn't meet the criteria above. 😄

I'm looking forward to the heated discussion when Balde Runner is up in the Poll.
I liked it, but could never see the genius behind it. Not in the theatrical release, the Director's Cut, the Cashing In on the Notoriety Cut, the Hobbit animated release…
You had to be a fanatic to notice any differences. I saw the Director's Cut maybe 6 years after I saw the original version. So much time had passed.
By the way, what's the point of the origami unicorn? Or was it a dragon?
I guess I'm just a Philistine. 🤷
The critics see nuance and subtlety where I … do not. Am I alone in this?

I must be some sort of uncouth type of rogue, the only movie I've seen that anyone mentioned was Braveheart, and I thought it was pretty good.

I like Braveheart. Historically inaccurate as hel#. But a fun watch. Got me reading up on Wallace and Bruce again.

No one has brought up the critically acclaimed " Brokeback Mountain". I assume, like myself, you have never watched it either. 🙂

Nor "The Bridges of Madison County". Only seen trailers. Clint how could you!?
What next, costar with an orangutan?!🦧 😱

I've never seen Brokeback Mountain , The Shape of Water or The Tree of life and certainly not The Notebook or The Piano and I believe my life is a bit better having skipped them. I wish I could say the same thing about One Thing After Another but that wasted 2.5+ hours of my life that could have been better spent getting a root canal or repeatedly banging my head against a wall.

Meryl Streep is always good for an overblown cinematic snoozefest which the critics drool over.

My wife suggested Happy Feet featuring a dancing penguin who lectures the viewers about the evils of oil companies.

I've seen every film on the AI list apart from the Jeanne Dielman one (although it was recently recommended to me). I like films.

I also thought Shape of Water was bizarrely overrated, and so forgettable, I clearly forgot it. La La Land had the odd good but but was vomit inducingly sentimental.

American Beauty was quite haunting though, still is.

Wouldn't it be quicker and easier to list the ones that are worth watching, John?

For me, Gods and Generals due to the dialogue.

Was Gods and Generals ever "critically acclaimed"? 🤔
My friends and I attended an afternoon matinee. There was one other person in the theatre. 🤷
It was long. Too long.
I joked that Stonewall Jackson spent 20 minutes praying with his wife, so for equal time they gave Chamberlain 15.
Oh, lots not forget Shirley Temple dying of consumption.

And "they" cut out many crucial battle scenes.

Your right it isn't critically acclaimed but it is boring.

Sophie's Choice