Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote:Makes me want to list my most hated movies:
Titanic
Star Wars (all of them)
Lord of the Rings (ditto)
Harry Potter (ditto) ... a bit of a theme building here
Finding Nemo
Alien Resurrection (in stark contrast to the first three of the series)
Lion King II (God, noooooooo....)
Lion King III (Gaaaah!)
anything with Adam Sandler
anything with Ben Stiller
etc.!
I've always kept a healthy distance from 'grown-ups' who get shiny-eyed about Star Wars, the same way that, on the train, I would rather stand up than sit next to someone over the age of 15 reading a Harry Potter book.
I know that Potter-readers are 'making a statement' about what well-rounded people they perceive themselves to be, but it cuts no ice with me.
I read the first book (in the privacy of my own home) and thought it really very badly written. People tell me that they got better after that but well, there seemed to be better things to do with my reading time than to test that view. I saw the first 2 (or 3?) HP films and found myself admiring the technical skills but -- very much like the book -- was left utterly cold when it came to convincing me that this world was real, that these characters were real, and that any of them were worth bothering about.
As for Star Wars, I'm not a big sci-fi fan. Again, I can rarely suspend my disbelief that far. The one thing I'd say in favour of SW (I saw only the first film) was that it didn't seem to take itself too seriously. It all seemed a bit camp and tongue-in-cheek, unlike the Harry Potter industry.
Finding Nemo I thought was good for its genre. I enjoyed it.
Lord of the Rings? I read it when I should have been revising for my O'levels, so I'd have been 15. The perfect age to fall under the Tolkien spell. I thought it was brilliant then, and would prefer not to spoil my memories by re-reading it now. The films were OK I thought, getting better as they went on. I wouldn't bother seeing any of them a second time unless I had to, but they were entertaining, whereas the Potter films are just annoying.
My most hated movies? Hmm....
I'm not sure I have any. There are genres that I avoid, like teen flicks, most rom coms, most cine-sci-fi, most "must-see" blockbusters... most sports fims... but because I don't go to see them, I don't really hate them. Why should I hate a bunch of 16 year old girls going off to see a movie aimed at teenage girls? (Rhetorical question.)
I'd probably feel different if I had kids, and had to sit through some of these things.
