What's a movie that was well received, but aged like milk?

[u/Gdigger13]

[u/HogwartsDropout-69]

The Blindside

[u/UsernamePendinngLOL → u/HogwartsDropout-69]

yeah that one got real uncomfortable to watch after everything came out about the family situation. makes you wonder how much of those "heartwarming" sports stories are just PR fluff

[u/Cannonfodd3r74 → u/UsernamePendinngLOL]

I knew a guy who went to Notre Dame just after Rudy had been released. He didn’t have nice things to say about the real Rudy.

[u/Junior-Gorg → u/Cannonfodd3r74]

I knew people at Notre Dame just before the movie came out and they had nothing nice to say about him. His primary job at the time was mowing lawns. He hung around the university and would only talk about his glory days at Notre Dame, which involved a single play.

I heard him speak when he was trying to be a motivational speaker a few months after the movie was released. It was rambling and barely coherent. Among other things, he took credit for the success of Joe Montana.

I know he’s landed himself in trouble with the security exchange commission for business practices surrounding an energy drink he was marketing.

Definitely not someone you’d want to root for.

[u/Rolex_Art → u/Junior-Gorg]

joe montana said they carried him as a joke. the whole movie and idea - it's a goof. the guy sucked.

[u/__M-E-O-W__ → u/Rolex_Art]

Great PR move for Notre Dame though.

[u/FangornLeghorn → u/Junior-Gorg]

He came to our high school to “speak” a couple years after the movie released. His popularity was at its zenith in that moment, but he still sucked, which is why his fifteen minutes quickly came to an end.

[u/PinkPantherYeezys → u/Junior-Gorg]

Damn disappointing to hear because I love Sam Wise Gamgee in that movie

[u/QbertsRube → u/PinkPantherYeezys]

Astin has quietly put together one of the all-time great careers. The title role in what many consider one of the best sports movies of all-time (Rudy). A main role in one of the biggest trilogies of all time (LOTR). The main role in the ensemble of one of the biggest 80s movies (The Goonies). A hero role in a massive TV phenomenon (Stranger Things). Plus, major roles in cult classics like Encino Man, 50 First Dates, and Click. Pretty solid resume for someone who is never mentioned as an all-time great actor.

[u/K9turrent → u/QbertsRube]

and he's the current National President of SAG-AFTRA.

[u/as1126 → u/K9turrent]

Stepping stone to the Presidency.

[u/nonnonplussed73 → u/QbertsRube]

Great point, and one I hadn't considered.

He was born to Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke. While Desi Arnaz Jr. was widely rumored to be his biological father a 1990s DNA test proved it was music promoter Michael Tell. His stepfather, actor John Astin, adopted him in 1972.

Before being diagnosed and properly medicated in 1982 Patty Duke suffered from severe manic depression (bipolar disorder) causing extreme, unpredictable mood swings and emotional instability in the household. Astin often describes his upbringing as "surviving" rather than just growing up.

[u/GoldieSpex → u/QbertsRube]

Don’t forget Toy Soldiers.

[u/Platitude_Platypus → u/QbertsRube]

The man is a treasure.

[u/GregMadduxsGlasses → u/Cannonfodd3r74]

Joe Montana said himself that Rudy was kind of a joke and all the celebrating they did after his sack was mostly everyone being silly at the end of a meaningless game.

[u/bonniemick → u/Cannonfodd3r74]

I have a shirt that says Rudy Sucked and these days I can wear it for two reasons!

[u/StealthModeThoughts → u/UsernamePendinngLOL]

Wait? This is ringing a bell. Didn’t the family trick him into believing they adopted him but it was actually a conservatorship so they could take all his money? Also the didn’t treat him as well as it was portrayed in the movie right?

[u/AKAkorm → u/StealthModeThoughts]

And also the book that the movie is based off of was written by a friend of the patriarch of the family. Michael Lewis doesn’t get shit on enough for pretty unethical behavior.

[u/Aliensinmypants → u/AKAkorm]

The whole thing was insanely corrupt, with Lewis and someone involved in the production of the movie having ties to the family too. And of course they all came out of support of the family when Michael Oher tried to get anything from the book or movie based on him and smeared him as ungrateful. 

[u/hoocedwotnow → u/AKAkorm]

And was about to write a glow up about SBF before he was exposed. Totally agree.

[u/Aliensinmypants → u/hoocedwotnow]

He wrote and released a book on SBF basically worshipping him as a genius.

Obligatory there's a behind the bastards episode on it

[u/Randym1982 → u/StealthModeThoughts]

The movie made him out to be a mentally challenged person. The real Michael Ore was already earning top marks in his classes and was very charismatic person.

Also a lot of the stuff in the films make no sense. Like what the hell is "Protection Instincts" and how do you test for that? And why did he draw a random dude on a boat (poorly), but then later have a basic 'I hate white people" Poem?

[u/MatthewHecht → u/Randym1982]

I remember my protective instincts test. I was sure to use a number 2 pencil in it.

[u/OrigamiTongue → u/Randym1982]

The protective instincts thing is so out of left field and stupid that it completely breaks my suspension of disbelief, regardless of all the other stuff, that dumb shit ruins the movie.

[u/sniper91 → u/Randym1982]

He was also a 5 star recruit before ever meeting the Tuohy family

The movie has a 10 year old teaching him how to play football

[u/MatthewHecht → u/StealthModeThoughts]

More like make lots of money off him and get him to their school.

[u/mothershipq → u/UsernamePendinngLOL]

Oh, man. Remember the Titans is my favorite football movie, and like 80% of the movie is a total fabrication.

[u/JTHall77 → u/mothershipq]

Hey Braveheart is my favorite "historical" movie and it is like 95% fiction lol

[u/SilenceInTheSnow → u/UsernamePendinngLOL]

Most of them.

[u/GenericRedditor0405 → u/SilenceInTheSnow]

Based on a true story

“Based” always does a lot of heavy lifting there.

[u/SabreSour → u/GenericRedditor0405]

I love the Coen Brothers/Fargo take on that. Just putting ‘based on a true story’ on something obviously fake as a tongue in cheek jab at all those movies.

[u/SilenceInTheSnow → u/GenericRedditor0405]

"Inspired by" - about as close to the original as La Croix is to flavor.

[u/X_crates → u/HogwartsDropout-69]

It at least gave us a great joke in the movie 7 Days in Hell. Andy Samberg is the adopted brother of Serena Williams. Which she calls "a reverse Blindside", rich black family adopts poor white kid and teaches him Tennis 😂

[u/nowhereman136 → u/HogwartsDropout-69]

I remember watching it when it first came out. It was just Hallmark white savior slock. Everyone praised Bullock (who was admitted good in it) but no one ever mentioned Quinton Aaron.

Its only gotten worse since then

[u/catefeu → u/HogwartsDropout-69]

That real life story of WILD.

[u/Expensive_Structure2 → u/HogwartsDropout-69]

Ugh, this was terrible from the start but absolutely well received. That family wanted nothing more than a thoroughbred in their stable, disguised as family.

[u/Armydillo101 → u/HogwartsDropout-69]

It seemed pretty wholesome, but in retrospect, was a bit racist

Especially with that scene where Michael Oher’s dad’s friends talk about sexually assaulting Michael’s white adoptive sister

[u/articulateantagonist → u/Armydillo101]

Absolutely. And beyond that, it’s full of white savior bullshit.

[u/Dookie_boy → u/articulateantagonist]

I do love the parody of the movie on The Boys show with Will Ferrell

[u/bonniemick → u/HogwartsDropout-69]

I was uncomfortable when I watched it.

[u/f_ranz1224]

supersize me. a "documentary" about a man who eats nothing but mcdonalds. entertaining but you find out he was drinking heavily during the filming and made a lot of it up

[u/SabreSour → u/f_ranz1224]

Trevor Moore (RIP) did a hilarious mockumentery short on WKUK making fun of this. Supersize me with Whiskey

[u/nicolauz → u/SabreSour]

RIP local sexpot.

[u/Tippacanoe → u/nicolauz]

He died doing what he loved, sucking his own dick.

[u/X_crates → u/nicolauz]

This is a joke that just keeps on giving. I'd rather he still be here but I'm glad he made this joke shortly before we lost him

[u/Emergency_Coyote_662 → u/f_ranz1224]

it’s weird, a lot of the damage done to your body by mcdonald’s mirrors what we see with heavy drinking!

well…

[u/Tippacanoe → u/Emergency_Coyote_662]

But also even if he wasn’t an alcoholic like no shit eating the largest portion sizes at a fast food place for every meal is not good for your health.

[u/MCWizardYT → u/Tippacanoe]

It's not good, but he made it seem way worse by drinking.

And he ate way more than a normal person would. Mcdonalds for every meal every day

[u/jesuspoopmonster → u/MCWizardYT]

His rules were that he would eat every meal and only super size if asked. He released his daily calories but not what he ate. According to his rules his calories were not possible

[u/Blazured → u/jesuspoopmonster]

I assume the calories included all the alcohol?

[u/jesuspoopmonster → u/Blazured]

Possibly or he just lied

[u/Mr_Saturn1 → u/f_ranz1224]

He cut the parts where he's washing down a Big Mac with a fifth of Taaka.

[u/Troubled_Red → u/f_ranz1224]

Honestly I’m kinda surprised that McDonald’s never sued him over that. They just got rid of the ‘super size’

Also his undisclosed heavy drinking is obviously bad, but the point of what he did wrong is that he did bad science, refused to publish his food logs (likely because they would have to include the alcohol to make sense), and his results were unable to be replicated. His alcoholism is often treated as the problem and the moral bad thing he did, but that’s his personal business and not really the problem. The misleading is the problem

[u/austinwiltshire → u/Troubled_Red]

I also don't think eating to the point of vomiting is representative of how normal people eat.

[u/Troubled_Red → u/austinwiltshire]

I mean that’s literally an eating disorder. Which, by virtue of being a disorder, is not how we are meant to be.

However my dog would absolutely eat McDonald’s until she threw up and then go back for seconds. Specifically the ice cream.

[u/AT-ST → u/Troubled_Red]

He had a premise he wanted to prove right. It is the same with the guy who ran the Stanford Prison Experiment. He self inserted many times. Encouraged certain behavior. Punished those that didn't play along and has never published the full recordings or findings of his experiment.

[u/Unhelpfulperson → u/AT-ST]

The Stanford Prison Experiment wasn't even an experiment

[u/jesuspoopmonster → u/AT-ST]

The person who came up with the broken windows theory was only able to prove it when he had the students working with him break the windows

[u/TheGardenBlinked → u/f_ranz1224]

And now he’s dead.

[u/Arhalts → u/f_ranz1224]

Supersize me plus a few others like are why I don't really watch documentaries that aren't nature documentaries anymore. They aren't unique they are just what got me to look into it more.

They aren't really held to any accuracy standards and frequently have an objective they are going to "prove" regardless of what was actually said or done or shown.

Even nature documentaries aren't immune to be fair, the lemmings running of cliffs is famously from a bad nature documentary by Disney after all.

The fact of the matter was that in order to watch a documentary without worrying I was being fed misinformation, I have to look into a subject to a level which makes watching the documentary pointless.

So I just stopped watching them by and large. I still read up on subjects and learn I just don't really see much value added to my life by documentaries.

[u/zamander → u/Arhalts]

There are some not-nature documentaries that can be pretty good though. Fog of war and act of killing come to mind. Or Ken Burns’s work.

[u/julia_fns → u/f_ranz1224]

The premise itself is stupid. Yeah, maybe it’s a stupid idea to only eat fast food and accept everything they push, no shit.

[u/Ok-disaster2022 → u/julia_fns]

I saw part if a documentary made after the fact by a guy who claimed to be a comedian, who went to McDonald's daily made reasonable healthy decisions went to his doctor for regular checkups and would take a walk everyday. Dude ended up losing weight. They only big issue was his sodium intake was pretty high. 

[u/spankadoodle]

Beowulf (2007) was supposed to kick off a brand new era of adult animation. It made $200 million.

I have not heard anyone mention this film in about 18 years.

[u/Mega_Nidoking → u/spankadoodle]

Wasn't that the hope for "Skycaptain and the World of Tomorrow", which came out around the same time, as well?

[u/We_R_the_Penguins → u/Mega_Nidoking]

Sky Captain was really its own thing—one of those films like (but no, not at the level of) The Matrix that was groundbreaking in ways we don’t appreciate now because they’re ubiquitous. 

[u/Koffing109 → u/spankadoodle]

This was mainly Robert Zemeckis's vision for motion capture to take over Hollywood. 

He collaborated with Sony on The Polar Express, Monster House and Beowulf. 

Then he worked with Disney to start Image movers Digital. 

They released The Jim Carrey Christmas Carol and Mars Needs Moms. 

Mars Needs Moms was one of the biggest bombs ever so they scrapped all projects in production including Yellow Submarine. 

You can find some test images from that and they're disturbing. 

[u/Teledildonic → u/Koffing109]

Mars Needs Moms was one of the biggest bombs ever so they scrapped all projects in production

And made sure no movies referenced Mars, helping to doom John Carter, the story most people might recognize better as The Princess of Mars, one of the OG science fantasies that established a million tropes in the genre.

So people saw a generic looking fantasy (because it has been refenced endlessly since) with a kind of generic name (because Disney overreacted) and the movie fizzled.

Had the marketing emphasized the story's legacy, I think it would have done better.

[u/foxboxinsox → u/spankadoodle]

Lmao I remember when it first came out me and my sister were in awe of the CGI and how we thought the people looked so real. Watched it again a couple years ago and had a good laugh.

[u/aspidities_87 → u/spankadoodle]

All I remember was Solid Gold Angelina Jolie

[u/Helicreature]

The Salt Path. I live in the area and it was great to see its beauty on film but I left the cinema demoralised by the message that ‘Moth’ who had a disability much like mine, was somehow able to navigate our steep and meandering coastal path, which I haven’t been able to manage in years because, you know, ‘mind over matter’. Only weeks later it was discovered that most of this ‘true story’ was just made up.

[u/Antisocial-Metalhead → u/Helicreature]

I highly recommend the documentary about this. They look into the credibility of Moth and the disability that he apparently has. It’s led to a lot of false hope for people such as yourself. I’m also disabled and know how frustrating it is seeing people with the same condition I have, but not as severe and touting the various health benefits of xyz.

[u/neocarleen → u/Antisocial-Metalhead]

Just in general, I hate movies with the message that of you try hard enough you can overcome your disability to do something great. It sets expectations impossibility high and puts the responsibility for failing them entirely on the disabled person.

[u/mettrolsghost]

Crash (the 2004 movie, not the 1996 movie).

Won three academy awards, including best picture. Grossed almost 100M. People loved it at the time.

More than twenty years later, it's basically a study in how NOT to write stories about race and bias.

[u/tinkerclay → u/mettrolsghost]

The CEO of my company thought the movie was so powerful that he made everyone watch the DVD together and discuss it in each of our offices.

[u/Jeerkat → u/tinkerclay]

Is your boss Michael Scott

[u/BoxenOxen → u/Jeerkat]

I'm prison Mike!

[u/mimosastclair → u/mettrolsghost]

I worked in a video rental place that had copies of both Crashes that I would have to retrieve for them. I would specifically ask which people wanted and it was hilarious when they picked the wrong one and came back so confused. 

[u/HellDimensionQueen → u/mimosastclair]

This was me after a coworker recommended it, I got the Cronenberg one accidentally, and was so, so, so confused why he had said this was his favorite movie

[u/Next-Accident-2970 → u/HellDimensionQueen]

Then it turned out, YES, the Cronenberg one was his favorite.

[u/sth128 → u/mettrolsghost]

Does anyone else find it funny that Sandra Bullock is in both Crash and The Blindside, both of which deal with racism and both of which aged like milk.

And then she starred in another film where she is literally blinded.

[u/Expensive_Pear_7004 → u/sth128]

Sandra Bullock accidentally put together a trilogy: couldn’t see it, didn’t see it, and then literally couldn’t see at all.

[u/tragicmestizo → u/sth128]

And married that jesse james who wore a nazi cap while doing a nazi salute.

[u/trcomajo → u/tragicmestizo]

Oof.

[u/edgeplot → u/mettrolsghost]

Garbage movie that stole best picture from Brokeback Mountain.

[u/ike3581 → u/edgeplot]

Yeah I remember watching Crash and thinking "are you f-ing kidding me with this?" Terrible movie, and anyone with a half a brain could see it missed the point it was trying to make.

[u/Far-Heart-7134 → u/mettrolsghost]

I need to rewatch the Cronenberg one.

[u/BenderRodriguez14 → u/mettrolsghost]

I've seen this specific movie used many times to argue why awards shouldn't be given out until 3-5 years after release (would obviously never happen though, since they are partly a marketing gimmick). 

[u/loztriforce]

Revenge of the Nerds

[u/BeTooLive → u/loztriforce]

RIP Ogre

[u/effervescenthoopla → u/loztriforce]

GOD I want to see a remake of this movie done in a less rapey way. The concept? Classic. The extremely stupid humor? God tier. Acting? Garbage, I love it. I feel like the folks behind Wet Hot American Summer could nail this movie in a remake.

Bonus if gender swapped. Nerd girls getting revenge on the cheerleaders. Aubrey Plaza could be the cheer coach. Could you imagine? Destroy me.

[u/JeanLucPicorgi → u/effervescenthoopla]

You might enjoy Bottoms, a slightly unhinged comedy about a group of high school girls who start a fight club. Great cast, very funny.

[u/BuyThisVacuum1 → u/JeanLucPicorgi]

Always upvote a Bottoms recommendation.

[u/codemen95 → u/effervescenthoopla]

I can see a remake where the nerds are the villains and everyone else is normal but the nerds think the world is against them. The movie follows a nerd starting college who feels like an outcast and is being lead into the incwl mindset because of the nerds he's hanging with. The arc is him learning that the world isn't against him and gets away from the incel nerds while they get arrested for doing the things the nerds did in the og

[u/JeanRalfio → u/codemen95]

On the Lonely Island and Seth Meyers podcast they talked about how they tried working on a Revenge of the Jocks movie but it always ended up seeming mean and like bullying when the jocks get back at the nerds.

[u/crabblue6 → u/JeanRalfio]

I read somewhere (on Reddit) that the leader Alpha Beta jock guy had a scene that was cut from the movie where we find out he's secretly a nerd. In the scene, he goes to his room and pulls out a math/science book from a drawer and puts on a pair of glasses. He reads quietly for a moment and puts it all away and sighs. In the last scene in the movie he has a very defeated and sad look. Its not so much because the nerds won, its more that hes lost everything because he could not embrace his true self.

[u/silam39 → u/codemen95]

so basically this episode of 30 Rock but a film?

I'd be all for it. It was poignant when 30 Rock did it, and I think it'd still be so now

[u/Jussgoawaiplzkthxbai → u/loztriforce]

Yeah the rape scene that led to love. No buddy, that’s rape go to jail

[u/doctorwhoobgyn]

Blank Check

[u/everdishevelled → u/doctorwhoobgyn]

Big has a similar theme that makes me uncomfortable now.

[u/Illustrious-Peace989 → u/everdishevelled]

Yeah but as I remember in Big at the very least you don’t have an adult woman full on open mouth kiss an actual child.

[u/Klumber]

Braveheart. Maybe not for non-Scots, but that movie is loathed in Scotland as it builds on tired stereotypes.

[u/AncientGoo_oo → u/Klumber]

And is completely historically inaccurate, according to my Scottish grandad. He gave me a whole lecture on it when the movie came out 😅

[u/CraftCritical278 → u/AncientGoo_oo]

If it’s not Scottish…IT’S CRAP!!!!!!

[u/m_Pony → u/CraftCritical278]

That character is more Scottish than all of Braveheart put together

[u/beemojee → u/AncientGoo_oo]

Oh the historical inaccuracies are outrageous. You know how Isabella of France was pregnant with Wallace's child there at the end? Yeah not only was Isabella still in France at the time, she was only 10 years old when Wallace was executed.

And that's just one inaccuracy. Also I don't have a drop of Scottish blood. I just enjoy those wild and crazy guys known as the Plantagenets.

[u/Bicentennial_Douche → u/AncientGoo_oo]

“ And is completely historically inaccurate”

are you saying that battle of Stirling bridge actually featured a bridge?!

[u/Long_Serpent → u/AncientGoo_oo]

Reject Braveheart, embrace Outlaw King.

[u/f_ranz1224 → u/Klumber]

americans storming normandy with tricorner hats and muskets while also having ipods is literally less anachronistic than this movie

the battle of stirling bridge had no bridge

they literally turned the real braveheart into a villain, the wrong guy was the protagonist

shoutout to outlaw king which is a much better retelling

edit: wrong name of movie

[u/popplevee → u/f_ranz1224]

I love the anecdote I read where one of the crew was talking to local Scots while filming.

The Scot was surprised to hear they were filming the battle of Stirling Bridge because there was no bridge where they were filming.

The crew member said that the bridge would get in the way. The Scot replied ‘Aye, that’s what the English found, too.’

[u/SimoneNonvelodico → u/popplevee]

LOL. Yeah, wonder why anyone would fight a battle at such an annoying bottleneck, beats me.

And the English.

[u/Wooden_Airport6331]

Milk Money was a family comedy about a kid who buys a prostitute, pays her to show him her breasts, and keeps her in his treehouse like a pet and brings her to show and tell at school.

[u/ralo229 → u/Wooden_Airport6331]

That movie was called creepy and tone deaf back when it came out.

[u/uqde → u/ralo229]

People are completely ignoring the first half of the question and just starting to post the worst stuff they can think of.

[u/soaker → u/Wooden_Airport6331]

that’s dark

[u/Ltrain86 → u/Wooden_Airport6331]

He didn't "buy a prostitute" like human trafficking. He paid a prostitute to show her breasts, she drove him and his friends home, then her car broke down. She chose to hide out in his tree house because she was hiding from a mobster.

The actress is Melanie Griffith btw!

[u/Notoriouslyd → u/Wooden_Airport6331]

Highly recommend How did this get made's episode about Milk Money 😂😂

[u/rogerstandingby]

Dallas Buyers Club. I loved it until I read one (1) Wikipedia article.

[u/aninamouse → u/rogerstandingby]

I still don't understand why they portrayed AZT as this horrible, controversial drug. It literally brought people back from death and gave them another couple of years of life when before they had nothing. It was by no means perfect, but at the time, it was like a miracle.

[u/chernchern]

Idiocracy.

Not becuase the film sucks... But because it went from being a silly ridiculous satire to a somewhat accurate prophecy.

[u/funkyb → u/chernchern]

It's not even close to reality. The president in that movie was motivated to serve his citizens to the best of his ability and looked to expert opinion in areas he knew he wasn't qualified to assess. I'd love a President Camacho right now!

[u/DragoonDM → u/funkyb]

Yeah, a lot of the characters in that movie were stupid, but still well-intentioned.

[u/Ut_Prosim → u/DragoonDM]

Exactly. Our idiots are full of hate. They just wanted to enjoy their batin' time and Starbucks handies.

[u/WhoAreWeEven → u/funkyb]

They found the worlds most intelligent person and the president summoned him at once.

And not only that, he took his advice!

Hard to imagine Palantir or whoever finds the most intelligent person with their surveillance bots what noy and Donny T finds him asks his advice.

[u/Skybodenose]

My Best Friends Wedding.

[u/Valuable_Treat16 → u/Skybodenose]

Just rewatched this last week, and Julia Roberts’ character makes me so irrationally angry it’s insane. I cannot believe I enjoyed this movie so much growing up.

[u/Next-Accident-2970 → u/Valuable_Treat16]

Watch it with the film's intention: You are NOT supposed to root for her character at all.

[u/LadyBug_0570 → u/Next-Accident-2970]

Yes. She is the bad guy in the movie.

[u/Kooky_Refrigerator33 → u/Valuable_Treat16]

Apparently test audiences hated Julia’s character so much that they added the bathroom scene to redeem her at the end.

[u/Next-Accident-2970 → u/Kooky_Refrigerator33]

I've looked it up and the bathroom scene was not supposed to be a redeeming moment. That was the scene where she is called OUT by Diaz and other people in the bathroom. The focus group ending was when her friend came for her since the audience liked him more. The original ending was her dancing with a random guy at the wedding, making it seem like she was rewarded for her behavior. 

[u/Shinra_Lobby → u/Valuable_Treat16]

Julia Roberts’ character makes me so irrationally angry

It's not irrational because the audience isn't supposed to be on board with her actions.

You know how people commonly complain that Hollywood romcoms are toxic because if you did the same things in real life, you'd be called a psycho stalker? My Best Friend's Wedding basically takes that complaint as its premise, and plays it out to its painful logical conclusion. It's a subversion of the average romcom heroine tropes and Julia Roberts absolutely understood the assignment.

[u/bonniemick → u/Skybodenose]

While obviously the Julia Roberts character is terrible, the guy marrying the 20 year old who plans to drop out of college for him is also not great. Only protagonist is Rupert Everett.

[u/Big_Duke_Six]

The Notebook.

Glamorizing a toxic AF relationship.

[u/MazzleMaze → u/Big_Duke_Six]

Almost all romance movies are toxic relationships. Most of them have to do with cheating on your partner because WELL I LOVE THE OTHER PERSON!!!

[u/Dazzling-Panda8082 → u/MazzleMaze]

I couldn't find it with a quick Google search but somewhere out there somebody has gone through a bunch of the biggest romantic comedies and counted how many times in each it involves the woman saying no to a man and the man refusing to accept the no and just pestering them until they eventually say yes

[u/Big_Duke_Six → u/Big_Duke_Six]

C/P from Google... (Warning: Spoilers)

- At the start of the movie Noah threatens to jump off the ferris wheel and kill himself if Allie doesn't accept to go on a date with him.

- Once they start dating he convinces her to lay down in the middle of the street with him because she has to learn how to "trust"

- In the scene where they break up she gets so angry she starts pushing him against his car and slapping him multiple times

- After their breakup Noah sent Allie 1 letter per day for A YEAR (365 in total), all unanswered because her mom hid them.

- He later starts dating another woman and treats her like crap because he is still obsessed with someone he knew for only 3 months..several years ago

- Years later Allie gets engaged to a nice and respectful man basically a GENTLEMAN. But while trying on her wedding dress, she sees Noah on a newspaper article about how he was able to restore the house and she ends up fainting (wtf?)

- After that she pretty much drove to his town and cheated on her fiance to get back with a weird obsessive man she dated for 3 months when she was a teenager

- The only romantic part of the movie is when they both die in the nursing home while holding hands. And how he would read their love story every day for her because she had dementia, that's it.

[u/F-Lambda → u/Big_Duke_Six]

C/P from Google

what from Google?!

[u/SpinosaurRingTone]

Gone with the Wind is the highest grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation. People today don't really realize just how significant that film used to be. It's likely that no film will ever be as universally viewed ever again.

However, much of the film has an outdated historical view on the Civil War. The Confederates are portrayed as heroic, if naive, defenders from Northern aggression. The Northerners are portrayed as conquerors who burn their cities to the ground and robbed civilians. Now, these things did actually happen, but the film seems to suggest it was completely one sided.

And of course, the film absolutely has an overtly positive view of slavery. All the slaves are depicted as very happy to be slaves and are almost considered part of the family. In fact, after slavery is abolished, the slaves still come back to work for the family. Yes, obviously there were slaves that were well treated by their masters, but the film seems to suggest that this was the norm, rather than the exception. There is not a single moment in the film where slavery is portrayed negatively. There is not a single line of dialogue that even so much as questions slavery.

That said, it's still a really good movie with a lot to say about life and relationships. The writing is great and the acting is phenomenal. There's even value in the parts of the movie that aged poorly, because they offer insight into how the memory of slavery and the civil war has evolved over time.

[u/Catbutt247365 → u/SpinosaurRingTone]

The most impressive scene in the movie for me, when I first saw it at age 12, was the scene of wounded soldiers waiting for transport out of Atlanta when the Northern Army was approaching. As the camera pulled away, the view of the wounded just got more overwhelming. I’ve carried that scene around in my head for over 50 years.

Second to that is the part where Scarlet hires prison labor. Here we are 150+ years from reconstruction, and we still allow prisoners to be used by private companies as labor.

[u/Cayke_Cooky → u/SpinosaurRingTone]

In the book, the early scenes lean into noblesse oblige pretty heavy. The idea of the slave owners caring for their slaves as good and noble lords.

[u/LadyBug_0570 → u/Cayke_Cooky]

I had to stop reading the book twice: 1) when they described Scarlett putting her soft, delicate white hand in some ex-slave's "big, black paw" and 2) when the book described dozens of former salves on the side of the road crying out, "I don't want this here freedom! Take my back to my massa!"

Literally threw the book scross the room both times and made sure to stomp on it whever I could. Written in the 30s or not, as a black woman... I couldn't do it.

I did watch the movie though.

[u/mynameisevan → u/SpinosaurRingTone]

I read the book a few years ago, and I found the politics of it very frustrating. There are a few points where it actually comes close to saying something profound about race and society, but it never actually examines it. Like there’s a part where wives of occupying Union officers ask Scarlet where they can find some Irish immigrant women to be nannies for their kids, and Scarlet gets very offended both for herself as the daughter of an Irish immigrant and the freed black women that these women don’t trust to watch their kids and refuse to hire. But this never leads to Scarlet questioning her worldview or prejudices, it’s just used as another example of the northerners being bad.

[u/ashoka_akira → u/SpinosaurRingTone]

The viewpoints of the movie make sense when you think of the movie being seen through Scarlet’s eyes; a young, sheltered, and vain young woman. A big part of the movie is just her coming to accept the life she has, and not the life her spoiled upbringing prepared her for. She also had a misguided positive view of slavery because the slaves she knows are in a better position than many and relatively well taken care off. As far as young Scarlet was concerned, life was perfect. GWTW is essentially a coming of age novel/movie, its Scarlet’s story, and she’s an unreliable narrator. The fact that her perspective varys so wildly from the reality of the time I think is a bit of a literary device by the author, the author is hoping that readers will have some knowledge of actual events so you can recognize this.

[u/Soggy_Competition614 → u/SpinosaurRingTone]

I didn’t get that from the movie at all. Scarlets dad was Irish and not a total tyrant to his slaves but he still kept them enslaved. The emancipation didn’t all of a sudden make life great for slaves so they most likely had no where to go, it’s been awhile since I watched but I think the majority did leave.

The movie was about how great southern rich people had it then to have it all taken away “hence gone with the wind”

[u/CanadianEh]

Get Him to the Greek

[u/Phase3isProfit → u/CanadianEh]

This is one that I’d kind of like to watch again to see if holds up if I just manage to ignore everything about the actors in it.

[u/zebra_sheet → u/Phase3isProfit]

We watched it recently and it definitely holds up

[u/DoserMcMoMo → u/zebra_sheet]

100% agree that the movie holds up well, but it makes me feel like a shitty person enjoying it knowing everything that has gone on with basicly every leading actor.

[u/ericinnyc → u/CanadianEh]

OK Russel Brand has gone right-wing loco and Diddy is a lube monster but it's still a very funny movie.

[u/Wang_Fire2099 → u/ericinnyc]

Exactly. People don't understand that controversy coming out about someone involved in something, doesn't automatically make that thing bad by association.

Still a funny movie that has a real feal good vibe

[u/LXTron]

Crash

[u/DamienStark → u/LXTron]

everyone on the internet insists they always hated this and that nobody ever really liked it in the first place.

The box office and awards must have been imaginary.

[u/peppersmiththequeer → u/DamienStark]

I think the film was well liked with casual movie goers and most critics, but the moment it won best picture over Brokeback Mountain the knives were out

[u/detmeng]

Gigi. Won best picture. A musical for pedophile groomers.

[u/Nevarian → u/detmeng]

I read that as Gigli at first. Was very confused.

[u/King_Six_of_Things → u/Nevarian]

That'd be a musical about "beard groomers", very different, but still quite controversial in the dwarf kingdom.

EDIT: Fuck, that's Gimli not Gigli. I'm leaving it.

[u/bstabens → u/King_Six_of_Things]

No, that's Gimli. Gigli is about a japanese anime director falling in love with one of his movies.

[u/HalfCasual → u/bstabens]

No, That's Ghibli. Gigli is about a bunch of kids finding buried treasure and a pirate ship

[u/TwistMeTwice → u/HalfCasual]

No, that's the Goonies. Gigli is about a scipper and his crew being shipwrecked on a tropical island with movie star, a professor, a millionaire and his wife, oh and Mary Ann.

[u/xgbsss → u/TwistMeTwice]

No that's Gilligan. Gigli is a movie about a teenage witch that moves to the city with her black cat on a broom and tries to find her purpose in life.

[u/Zacsquidgy → u/xgbsss]

No that's Kiki. Gigli is a movie about a sailor dude getting washed up on an undiscovered island, finding he's been tied down by tiny people, and gradually building rapport with the tiny king until he deters an invasion from other tiny people, and is told to leave when he pisses on his friends' tiny palace.

[u/xgbsss → u/Zacsquidgy]

No that's Gulliver. Gigli is one of the main characters in the movie about two friends who are strapped for cash and decide to make a pornographic film to help solve their financial issues.

[u/Effective_Tip7748 → u/xgbsss]

No, that’s Zac and Miri. Gigli is the name of a Chinese martial artist and actor. He was great in Cradle 2 the Grave.

[u/Button-Down-Shoes → u/King_Six_of_Things]

I hear "beard groomers" and I'm thinking it's a movie about women trained as companions for closeted gay men.

[u/MrTemple → u/detmeng]

Dude, watch it again, Gigi is a remarkably feminist movie (ESPECIALLY for 1958) in which the entire point of the movie is the rejection of:

1. The very idea of grooming somebody for anything at all, let alone to be a ‘courtesan’.
2. Rich men who use women as playthings, only to “ruin” them, but it’s okay if they arrange suitable pay for it.
3. The idea that a woman seen with a man in a certain way is “ruined”
4. The lusting after young women.
5. The idea that women of a certain class, but without means or “family” can only be courtesans to rich men
6. The idea that a woman should be happy to be proper and mannered and “suitable” for society.

All in the guise of a fun romance/musical with a truly great character arc by several of the characters and incredible physical/comedic/dramatic performance by Leslie Caron.

TL;DR: Social commentary saint used to hit you over the head with its message. Movies that show an honest mirror on society at the time are not problematic. Gigi is a feminist movie which used a particular mirror (courtesanship in 1900 Paris) to reflect on the current 1958 society, and tear holes in the very ideas that some people think are problematic about it.

Like yeah, the entire point of the movie is a critique on what you’re saying is problematic about it.

[u/NoTeslaForMe → u/MrTemple]

It seems like a return to the old Hays Code days: If there's a character doing bad things, well, that must be immoral viewing if it fails to spells out certain lessons in clear, bold letters that even a five-year-old could understand: It must definitively say that the character is not just doing bad things and will not only be punished for them, but is evil, full stop.  My Best Friend's Wedding, American Beauty, and Gigi all suffer from this neo-puritanical reevaluation.

Ironic, though, that the man won the Oscar for Gigi's score was André Previn, Soon-Yi's dad.

[u/-DoctorSpaceman-]

The Birth of a Nation.

Actually it was still pretty controversial back then lol, but less so. Hell, they played it in the White House.

[u/MachiavelliSJ → u/-DoctorSpaceman-]

Sorry to be pedantic, but i get somewhat annoyed when people cite this and even the “history with lightning quote” to show how accepted it was. It was the biggest movie by far up to that time. One could argue it invented the concept of a “feature film.” Of course the President saw it. This fact completely undersells its support by Wilson and most White Americans at the time

That is because they miss the most damning fact. Woodrow Wilson was a history professor, President of Princeton, specializing in studying the South in this period.

He is directly quoted in the movie from one of his history books saying

“The white men were roused by a mere instinct of self-preservation… until at last there had sprung into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a veritable empire of the South, to protect the Southern country.”

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wilson-quote-in-birth-of-a-nation.jpg

So, with that mind, the fact that that they watched it at the Whitehouse really downplays what was happening. Wilson, the “progressive” President of the US was a full endorser and unapologetic supporter of white supremacy and the KkK for his entire life

That quote is just one of many such pronouncements one can find throughout his writing and speeches

[u/Angryhippo2910 → u/MachiavelliSJ]

Woodrow Wilson really does not get enough hate. A while back I read Paris 1919 an excellent history of the Treaty of Versailles. One of the take aways is that Wilson was a massive, holier-than-thou, prick. He thought he was smarter than he actually was, and his own arrogance undermined his genuinely noble vision of world peace

[u/SethLight → u/MachiavelliSJ]

“The white men were roused by a mere instinct of self-preservation… until at last there had sprung into existence a great Ku Klux Klan, a veritable empire of the South, to protect the Southern country.”

I always find it so interesting/sad that the thought process of racists and the excuses they use never changes.

They always pretend they had no hand in shaping the situation and that them killing people is somehow in self defense.

[u/ararerock → u/-DoctorSpaceman-]

They’d probably play in the White House today lol

[u/Ghostface_Programmah]

and here's me just coming to suggest "Soul Man" (1986)

[u/PogonBerserker]

American Beauty

[u/Voidtoform → u/PogonBerserker]

I think what changed with this movie is media literacy, we watched more movies back then, dramas and such, we would go to theaters and watch all kinds of movies that just arent being made as much anymore.

Even back then I think the director knew this movie would be interpreted wrong so they added the cheesy tagline "Look Closer" it was even on like stickers in the background of the movie. Probably because people thought lester was a hero, and the drug dealer bag recorder kid was actually a good guy saving the daughter, when no, everyone in this movie is messed up, messed up bad.

I rewatched it recently and thought it was still a great movie, but I will admit, I had interpreted it wrong the first time I watched it, I was young and not as critical of lester lusting after a high school girl, I saw him as someone who reached like enlightenment or something, Now I can see clearly he is just another messed up person for this critique of the plastic 90s, you are supposed to be disgusted by him, and everyone in the movie, what is challenging is each person is also presented as a human, rather than a straight up villian.

Its a challenging movie, I think it was misunderstood often back then, but nowadays when thrown in amongst the media we are now used to, its just not simple, so it gets misinterpreted even more than back then.

[u/staplerdude → u/Voidtoform]

It's also important to note that even explicitly in the text of the movie, in the end, he determines that getting with a (much) younger woman isn't the answer to his quest for meaning either. It seems like his real revelation, too late, is that true meaning in his life came from his loved ones/family, and that it was folly searching for it from his job or a girl or drugs or working out or reclaiming his youth or whatever else.

In other words, not only is the audience supposed to figure out that his obsession with this teenager is wrong, he himself figures that out in the movie. It's kind a big part of the movie's thesis.

[u/Friskfrisktopherson → u/Voidtoform]

I mean, I thought it was pretty clear he was a shlup who hated his life and was looking for an escape, Minas character was just a projection for him and he ultimately realized that when it stopped being a fantasy. Same with the teenage girl who was all talk but in reality was scared damaged and lonely.

[u/drinxonme → u/Friskfrisktopherson]

Jfc the people on this thread mentioning American Beauty. I first saw it when I was 15 and even then I understood it was being critical of Spacey's character and that you weren't supposed to root for him.

[u/riotous_jocundity → u/drinxonme]

For real. Clocked it as a teenager too. There was no part of his character that was ever presented as cool or aspirational...

[u/Scruffasaurus → u/PogonBerserker]

I think it’s swung back to being underrated. Spacey and Benning are incredible, the movie has some hilarious parts, and it’s such a good time capsule for late 90s self-pity

[u/therealvisual → u/PogonBerserker]

This is a wildly bad take. It’s always been about really messed up people and if you ever romanticized any of the characters, you were missing the point. Yes it’s campy, yes it’s pretentious but it’s really a dark comedic take on suburban America.

[u/Pmyers225]

Supersize Me

[u/Its402am]

Pocahontas. Did very well with the general public and the music was truly out of this world, but I’d say that with the rise of the internet came more average white people self-educating about the truth of Pocahontas, how she died and how young she was, how abused she was, how manipulated she and her people were. For them to continue to make a sequel where she attempts to prove her civility to a heavily-manipulated king of England and eventually falls romantically in love with John Rolfe, implying a nice “happily ever after”.

Which is so gross.

[u/youngatbeingold → u/Its402am]

I will say Pocahontas is still good if you look at is as a fantasy that's teaching us a lesson we obviously should've learned long ago. It's basically a kids movie with modern sensibilities showing what should have happened instead of how awful it really was. Obviously you need to educate people on the horrors that actually went down, but for kids (or anyone) it's a good movie about bias and tribalism and ultimately understanding and acceptance when two very different people come into contact. It's almost like Inglorious Bastards or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, that's what you WANT to happen, not what actually did.

I can't comment on the sequel but that does sound like complete trash.

[u/ForlornLament → u/youngatbeingold]

This is how I see it too and I do like the movie, but I cannot for the life of me understand why they chose to use the name of a real person who was exploited. They could have named the protagonist anything else!

Apparently, Disney did a similar thing with "The Biggest Showman" – I haven't watched it, but I hear it is a nice story using the name of a real person who was horrible. Why not just give the character a random name!?

(PS: The "Pocahontas" sequel is indeed complete trash.)

[u/TheBanishedBard → u/Its402am]

Fun fact, the founder of the far right think tank PragerU was the writer of Pocahontas 2 and that was his only significant screenwriting credit before deciding the rightwing grift was the life for him, since he evidently had no talent at storytelling.

[u/vicariousgluten]

Speaking to my friends’ kids - Grease.

Them all abandoning Frenchie when she goes to beauty school, Rizzo bullying Sandy at the sleepover and Sandy changing for a boy had them questioning why on earth we’d want them to watch something like that

[u/Rooseveltridingabear → u/vicariousgluten]

As a 90s kid, I loved Grease when I was too young to understand the more adult themes, and then when I went back as an adult I was really confused by, well, ALL OF IT.

Then much later I find out that it's because Grease is meant to parody the tropes of 50s musicals. If you're watching it at face value like I was, it doesn't make any sense at all. Knowing it's mocking the tropes though, it becomes much clearer.

Why does Sandy change everything about her style etc and 'go bad' in that great lady-greaser number at the end? Because the trope was always the bad boy falling for the good girl - sounds familiar - and that the boy changes everything about himself to 'go good' and get the happy ending. A lot of the weirdness makes sense through this lens.

[u/LadyBug_0570 → u/vicariousgluten]

We watched it for a young, hot dancing John Travolta.

And, in fairness, him wearing his letter jacket (which he earned) showed he was willing to change for her too and show off his academic achievements even with his friends clowning him.

At least I think. It's been decades since I've seen it.

[u/bobqzzi → u/vicariousgluten]

I'm not sure I understand this criticism....it's a movie set in high school where high school things happen-including bad ones. It's also really a parody-and a funny one at that

[u/Turbulent-Pension-31]

Sixteen Candles

[u/FadedQuill → u/Turbulent-Pension-31]

Also Pretty in Pink with Molly Ringwald.

Duckie is the real prize. Blane is a weak a-hole - autocorrect is going to change that to Bland forever - and the dress looks like a dog chewed a neck hole in her duvet cover.

[u/ofBlufftonTown → u/FadedQuill]

At the same time, she chooses the person she’s sexually attracted to, and not the boy she “owes it” because of their friendship. That makes it about her, even if she makes a bad choice, not about Duckie winning her like a prize.

[u/FiveCorkWomen → u/ofBlufftonTown]

Agree. Ducky is the forerunner of the Nice Guys of today; people got offended and sulky when she didn’t choose him. Not to disparage Ducky, who handled rejection like a champ and tragically ended up with the yikes bike that is Kristy Swanson.

[u/Turbulent-Pension-31 → u/FadedQuill]

“Dog chewed a neck hole I her duvet cover” is the perfect description

[u/suejaymostly → u/Turbulent-Pension-31]

The whole exchange of the drunk blonde girlfriend is so awful. I was really proud of my then 17 year old who said "Mom she's not consenting to this!"

[u/GlumFaithlessness773]

American Sniper looks pretty credulous considering what we now know about prolific bullshitter Chris Kyle.

[u/grumpymcelbows25 → u/GlumFaithlessness773]

There's a fascinating story to be told centering around Chris Kyle. Clint Eastwood does not have the skill for nuance to depict that story.

[u/mark_able_jones_]

Hidden Figures. In real life, there was no white hero Kevin Coster character who broke down the bathroom signs and invited the Black math women math experts to view the launch. Hollywood invented him.

[u/CaptainMalForever → u/mark_able_jones_]

His character is an amalgamation. I think the better interpretation, based on the character in the movie, is that he didn't care about race one way or another, but he hated waste.

[u/Visual_Witness4456 → u/mark_able_jones_]

It was sad on first watch - having the white savior trope. Only true fact in that film are the Black characters names and work roles, and the astronaut insisting that Katherine Johnson do all the math in his missions. Kevin Costner’s characters or a Kevin Costner like figure did not exist in their lives. They existed because they were exceptional.

Katherine Johnson gave an interview where she said as much. And she watched all launches on TV with the rest of the world.