Movies (And TV Shows) You've Never Seen, Won't See, But Probably Should See

[Superfluous J]

I don't know from what part of my brain this thought came, but I've got several movies that are well liked or at least well respected, that I've personally decided to just skip on. I wonder if anybody else has similar movies they just wanna "Nope" out of.

No need to explain why but by all means feel free to if you want.

Here's my list:

• Oppenheimer - I heard it was a 3-hour recap of his Wikipedia page and that was all I needed to know.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - I've heard it's fantastic. I've heard it's garbage. I just don't care enough to check it out.
• Schindler's List - I know it's considered great but I just can't.
• Trainspotting - If it was actually about spotting trains maybe.
• Good Will Hunting - I truthfully think I'd fall asleep in like 10 seconds.
• The Social Network - Maybe if I had ever used Facebook for anything other than seeing pictures of my extended family I'd care one little bit about this.

I reserve the right to post more later.

Edited July 11 by Superfluous J

[Spikemaster]

Tenet. It was impossible to understand.

Edited May 20 by Spikemaster

[AstroWolfie]

Any of the Star Wars Sequels. I never even watched them cause they’re so bad.

[Jacke]

 

On 5/20/2024 at 3:44 AM, Superfluous J said:

I don't know from what part of my brain this thought came, but I've got several movies that are well liked or at least well respected, that I've personally decided to just skip on. I wonder if anybody else has similar movies they just wanna "Nope" out of.

No need to explain why but by all means feel free to if you want.

Okay.  I'll play.   Hmmm, just not in the mood to think up new ones, so I'll look at everyone else's lists.

 

On 5/20/2024 at 3:44 AM, Superfluous J said:

Here's my list:

• Oppenheimer - Sure, I know the story.  Haven't seen it so far.  Will likely watch it once.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender - If I'm going to watch it, I'll watch the animé.
• Schindler's List - Saw it.  Don't need to ever see it again.  This is a case where if you know the story (or not), it's just best not to see it.

One thing to know there's evil in the world.  Watching it reported or recreated makes you realise Nietzsche was right about that staring into the Abyss....

• Trainspotting - "If it was actually about spotting trains maybe."  Exactly.  Knowing a bit about what's it about means I'll pass on this one.
• Good Will Hunting - Saw it.  Kind of interesting.  Would maybe watch it again.  But there's a lot of other films I'd put before it.
• The Social Network - I know a bit about what's it about.  I have no desire to see any film about hothouse billionaire techbros.

 

23 hours ago, Spikemaster said:

Tenet. It was impossible to understand.

I've heard a bit about it.  I have no desire to tackle it at all.  I don't want to try to understand it.

 

16 hours ago, AstroWolfie said:

Any of the Star Wars Sequels. I never even watched them cause they’re so bad.

I've seen them all (it was a train-wreck I had to see to the end).  The only one that came close to being worth it was "Rogue One".  For the telly shows, "Andor" is bloody amazing.  The rest (besides some of the animated ones), no better than meh.

[AstroWolfie]

I thought bad batch was good.

[ColdJ]

On 5/20/2024 at 5:36 PM, Spikemaster said:

Tenet. It was impossible to understand.

Easy to understand, hard to believe if you have a rational grasp on the nature of time.

 

Imagine a long loop railtrack. There are 2 identical trains, that each start at opposite ends to each other. They pass each other in the middle and when they reach the end of the loop they head back in the other direction to do it all again.

Now imagine that the 2 trains are actually the same train. It is a paradox. The old " What I went through caused me to go back in time to the start, just to put in motion the events that caused me to go through what I went through that caused me to go back in time."

[BA-Forums]

50 minutes ago, ColdJ said:

Easy to understand, hard to believe if you have a rational grasp on the nature of time.

 

Imagine a long loop railtrack. There are 2 identical trains, that each start at opposite ends to each other. They pass each other in the middle and when they reach the end of the loop they head back in the other direction to do it all again.

Now imagine that the 2 trains are actually the same train. It is a paradox. The old " What I went through caused me to go back in time to the start, just to put in motion the events that caused me to go through what I went through that caused me to go back in time."

A lot of Nolan movies are about time. I can see time loop sorta in Interstellar. 

[Nuke]

lets see:
 

death race 2000 - the movie carmageddon was based on
zardoz - sean connery doing something completely different
beneath the planet of the apes - where are the mutants in all the remakes?
primer - best time travel story with the least budget.
the siege of firebase gloria - r lee ermy being awesome during the tet offensive.
titus - anthony hopkins doing titus andronicus
the killing fields - a cautionary tale about certain kinds of government
outland - sean connery doing space stuff
heavy metal - the 5th element before the 5th element.
the boys from brazil - attack of the clones.

my playlists are generally not for the squeamish.

Edited May 22 by Nuke

[cubinator]

On 5/20/2024 at 2:36 AM, Spikemaster said:

Tenet. It was impossible to understand.

I could follow the time travel well enough, it was the rich people sending others to fight and destroying the world on a whim I couldn't understand.

[adsii1970]

On 5/20/2024 at 9:18 AM, AstroWolfie said:

Any of the Star Wars Sequels. I never even watched them cause they’re so bad.

Ugh, yeah, 7, 8, and 9 were bad. Rogue One was fabulous. I will say that.

 

[kerbiloid]

Ten to twenty HDD of them, downloaded by occasion, but most of them probably never having chance to be watched.

[AlamoVampire]

On 5/22/2024 at 11:17 AM, adsii1970 said:

Ugh, yeah, 7, 8, and 9 were bad. Rogue One was fabulous. I will say that.

 

7,8,&9 HAD potential but they squandered it badly. Rumor has it 7-9 are no longer prime canon and are being remade. Solo was an ok movie but didnt need to be made tbh.
 

A movie i should see but likely wont is Schindlers list. Im just too lazy to either buy it or find it streaming.

040005242024

 

[cubinator]

3 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

7,8,&9 HAD potential but they squandered it badly. Rumor has it 7-9 are no longer prime canon and are being remade. Solo was an ok movie but didnt need to be made tbh.

I think they lost basically all credibility to me when they decided to tell the same story that had already been concluded years ago. "Somehow, the Empire is the big bad again and our heroes, who very conclusively won as far as the story has been told, are underdogs fighting a rebellion a second time." The reason to make more Star Wars was not to tell a new story, it was very clearly "to make more Star Wars". 

There has constantly been rumor that the sequels are to be thrown out and remade, I don't count on it. I just pick and choose which parts are interesting to me and that I actually want to think about, and chuckle at the messy enormity of the story threads they're constantly tying together arbitrarily to tell a story that absurdly is ALWAYS centered on "Luke and Anakin Skywalker and their immediate acquaintances".

[AlamoVampire]

@cubinator 7-9 had they not been fixated on the skywalker family (or even being gross with the return of palpatine or making rey his family ugh) and just found a new storyline (even turning the empire into a rag tag gorilla force trying to reclaim power) it could have been great. But instead we got a fever dream turned nightmare turned cash grab….

091605242024

[Nuke]

On 5/24/2024 at 1:00 AM, AlamoVampire said:

7,8,&9 HAD potential but they squandered it badly. Rumor has it 7-9 are no longer prime canon and are being remade. Solo was an ok movie but didnt need to be made tbh.
 

A movie i should see but likely wont is Schindlers list. Im just too lazy to either buy it or find it streaming.

040005242024

 

ive seen schindler's list twice. totally worth it.

[Nuke]

On 5/24/2024 at 6:16 AM, AlamoVampire said:

@cubinator 7-9 had they not been fixated on the skywalker family (or even being gross with the return of palpatine or making rey his family ugh) and just found a new storyline (even turning the empire into a rag tag gorilla force trying to reclaim power) it could have been great. But instead we got a fever dream turned nightmare turned cash grab….

091605242024

sometimes i wish extended franchises would actually extend the franchises rather than refleshing old ideas. this is probably why andor and rogue one turned out so good. star trek also has the problem where they either want to do something with the enterprise or established characters. deep space nine is still star trek at its finest (and it was a blatant b5 ripoff). id rather watch a show about zephram cochrain in a borg-augmented warp 3 delta in a rock'n'roll and tequila trek through the stars, doing what enterprise should have been from the get go. you just need to take a break from the same old heros and hero ships for a change.

Edited May 28 by Nuke

[AlamoVampire]

@Nuke believe it or not B5 came AFTER DS9 came out. Even JMS commented on the myth DS9 being a rip. It (DS9) isnt a rip.

143205282024

[Nuke]

Just now, AlamoVampire said:

@Nuke believe it or not B5 came AFTER DS9 came out. Even JMS commented on the myth DS9 being a rip. It (DS9) isnt a rip.

143205282024

it doesnt really matter. good artists create, great artists steal. this is why we got 2 of the best shows of the '90s.

[AlamoVampire]

@Nuke ive the full box sets of DS9, STTNG, VOYAGER and B5 with Crusade teehee. Ive even met a guy who was a background extra on DS9 episode Fascination (the juggler doing contact juggling shortly after the young girl hitting the gong near the start of the episode. Great guy he his). B5 aged as well as DS9.

144005282024

[Superfluous J]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:33 AM, Nuke said:

lets see:
 

death race 2000 - the movie carmageddon was based on
zardoz - sean connery doing something completely different
beneath the planet of the apes - where are the mutants in all the remakes?
primer - best time travel story with the least budget.
the siege of firebase gloria - r lee ermy being awesome during the tet offensive.
titus - anthony hopkins doing titus andronicus
the killing fields - a cautionary tale about certain kinds of government
outland - sean connery doing space stuff
heavy metal - the 5th element before the 5th element.
the boys from brazil - attack of the clones.

my playlists are generally not for the squeamish.

I won't comment on which ones, but a couple of those are really bad movies that are really good BECAUSE they're really bad.

I will comment on Primer though. I found it really really boring. The time travel stuff was good because it was so thought out, and the plot was good too, but the actual minute-by-minute watching was never actually enjoyable.

2 hours ago, Nuke said:

star trek also has the problem where they either want to do something with the enterprise or established characters. deep space nine is still star trek at its finest (and it was a blatant b5 ripoff). id rather watch a show about zephram cochrain in a borg-augmented warp 3 delta in a rock'n'roll and tequila trek through the stars, doing what enterprise should have been from the get go. you just need to take a break from the same old heros and hero ships for a change.

While I agree with this almost entirely, if that means I lose Strange New Worlds all bets are off. I'll watch Discovery over again in its entirety (even if it means I'll need a bucket in front of me) if it means they make another season of SNW.

2 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

@Nuke believe it or not B5 came AFTER DS9 came out. Even JMS commented on the myth DS9 being a rip. It (DS9) isnt a rip.

143205282024

JMS pitched B9 to ... whoever was doing Trek. They turned him down, then "coincidentally" came up with this "entirely different" show called Deep Space 9 in the Star Trek Universe. Frankly I think he just doesn't want to burn any bridges.

[Nuke]

3 hours ago, AlamoVampire said:

@Nuke ive the full box sets of DS9, STTNG, VOYAGER and B5 with Crusade teehee. Ive even met a guy who was a background extra on DS9 episode Fascination (the juggler doing contact juggling shortly after the young girl hitting the gong near the start of the episode. Great guy he his). B5 aged as well as DS9.

144005282024

i remember watching them all during their original run, but i dont think i got into star trek until around season 4 or 5 of tng.

also i met the actors that play garak, rom, and bashir. i had their autographs somewhere but i think i misplaced them during a move.

Edited May 28 by Nuke

[Nuke]

2 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

I won't comment on which ones, but a couple of those are really bad movies that are really good BECAUSE they're really bad.

I will comment on Primer though. I found it really really boring. The time travel stuff was good because it was so thought out, and the plot was good too, but the actual minute-by-minute watching was never actually enjoyable.

While I agree with this almost entirely, if that means I lose Strange New Worlds all bets are off. I'll watch Discovery over again in its entirety (even if it means I'll need a bucket in front of me) if it means they make another season of SNW.

JMS pitched B9 to ... whoever was doing Trek. They turned him down, then "coincidentally" came up with this "entirely different" show called Deep Space 9 in the Star Trek Universe. Frankly I think he just doesn't want to burn any bridges.

did i forget to put ice pirates on there?

primer was ok considering their budget was like $6000.

im not sure i like snw that much, i think its only "good" because its not discovery. the animated treks are watchable and picard redeemed itself in the end.  not really interested in any of the ideas they have been kicking around. for more series. and star wars is in that boat too. i think im gonna finish the bad batch and call it done (unless they dont cancel andor).

ive heard jms interviews both confirming and denying the ripoff hypothesis. i dont think he wants to step on any toes of anyone who might fund his projects. also that was over 20 years ago so he had a lot of time to cool off about it. i actually hope history repeats itself and we get the b5 reboot and a ds9 continuation.

Edited May 29 by Nuke

[TheSaint]

I went to Joe Strazynski's talks at San Diego Comic Con back in the 90s, when it was all still fresh. Trust me, he believed that DS9 was a ripoff, even if he had no intention of doing anything about it.

On 5/28/2024 at 11:23 AM, Nuke said:

ive seen schindler's list twice. totally worth it.

Schindler's List was important, if only because it brought the Holocaust back into the vision of a generation that was beginning to forget that it happened. Apparently we need another Schindler's List. But I digress.

Movies that I should see that I'm not going to? I don't know. I don't do much that I'm "supposed to", so there is that. Looking at the original list:

• I didn't see Oppenheimer in the theater, might catch it on streaming at some point. I like Christopher Nolan, but I'm not a huge fan of biopics, so I'm not in any rush.
• The Last Airbender? Important? Really? Did I miss something?
• Trainspotting. I read the summary when it was in the theaters and had no urge to see it then. Still have no urge to see it now. Your bad choices do not make your life story compelling to me. To be perfectly honest, I've never understood what anyone has seen in anything Danny Boyle has ever made. YMMV.
• Good Will Hunting. I saw it in the theaters. It didn't totally suck. I always believed that Robin Williams deserved more dramatic roles, this was one of them. Insomnia was better. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were...serviceable. It's worth watching, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.
• The Social Network. I watched it on streaming one night. And by "watched" I mean, "My wife watched it while I played KSP next to her." The only thing I really remember about it was looking up at one point and saying, "Oh, hey, that's Justin Timberlake!" Completely forgettable. It probably won a bunch of awards.

Trying to think of movies I've seen that everyone raved about that I thought were overrated. (Essentially what we're talking about here.)

• Forrest Gump. It wasn't a bad movie. I just didn't think it was as good a movie as everyone thought it was. Tom Hanks and Gary Sinese turned in decent performances, but you probably can't remember anyone else in the movie off the top of your head. And it didn't really have anything to say, other than, "We have no control over our lives, everything is just random chance." Which is a pretty nihilistic theme for a movie which was, for the most part, a comedy. It just didn't impress me. (An amusing aside: As a result of several random social and romantic engagements, Forrest Gump holds the record for the movie I have seen in the theater more than any other, at four. Star Wars holds second place at three and a half.)
• Avatar. The special effects were stunning. Everything else about it was mediocre at best. James Cameron wanted us to believe it was his magnum opus, when in fact, if you strip out the special effects, it was one of the worst movies he's ever made. It certainly did not create any urge in me to cover my body with blue paint and go running around in the woods.
• And, hey, can't have a list without mentioning my all-time favorite: Annie Hall! The best movie of 1977!

[Superfluous J]

  

1 hour ago, TheSaint said:

The Last Airbender? Important? Really? Did I miss something?

I never said anything about the movies being important to see. Just that a significant portion of people, if you mention you haven't seen it, will say you should.

1 hour ago, TheSaint said:

Schindler's List was important

Schindler's List was the movie that started this whole thing in my head.

1 hour ago, TheSaint said:

Forrest Gump. It wasn't a bad movie. I just didn't think it was as good a movie as everyone thought it was. Tom Hanks and Gary Sinese turned in decent performances, but you probably can't remember anyone else in the movie off the top of your head.

Jenny was Princess Buttercup. Er I mean Robin Wright.

Most everybody else in the movie was background so of course nobody remembers them. Except the "real" people but I don't think you'll give me credit for remembering that both Kennedy and Nixon were in it

1 hour ago, TheSaint said:

And it didn't really have anything to say

I thought that was the point. It was a fun movie with lots of pop culture references.

1 hour ago, TheSaint said:

Avatar

Ferngully in space. I could add the water one after it because there's no way I'll waste a 2nd set of 3 hours in that IP.

 

Edited May 30 by Superfluous J

[Jacke]

2 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

[Avatar]  Ferngully in space. I could add the water one after it because there's no way I'll waste a 2nd set of 3 hours in that IP.

I compared Avatar (2009) to a much darker precedent: The Birth of a Nation (1915).  Technically amazing, horrendous story.  Birth was much worse.  But Avatar was creative drivel and except for James Cameron's name attached to it and its technical features would be complete forgettable.  No way I'd waste 3 more minutes on a sequel.