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The movie "Daylight" came up in another thread. Sylvester Stallone, people trapped in a tunnel and about to drown. Exciting stuff. The first time I watched it, I enjoyed it. But I discovered that it really (for me, anyway) doesn't hold up under subsequent viewings.
The first time I watched it, I was focused on questions like "How are they going to get out of this?" and "Is that guy going to die?" and "Will so-and-so be reunited with his true love?"
The second time I watched it I knew the answers to all those questions, so I watched it differently, and discovered something that I hadn't really noticed the first time...the dialogue is cheesy, and the acting is horribly wooden. In places it's bad enough to make me cringe.
So, have you seen any movies like that? Movies that - in your opinion - should be added to the OVO Club (One Viewing Only Club)?
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Some movies are only funny once -- "Anchorman" is one that comes to mind. Other movies are still funny the ten billionth time, such as Monty Python.
Thriller movies you can only watch once -- "The Lives of Others" for example. It's an absolutely incredible movie, but I have to wait until I forget what happens to watch it again.
P.S. Another category is movies that you only HAVE to watch once -- they leave such an impact on you that you remember them forever. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was one such movie for me, as well as "Juno."
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quote:Another category is movies that you only HAVE to watch once...
The Sixth Sense
The second time I saw it, it was in an entirely different light. It just wasn't the same as the first time and experiencing the "holy crap" conclusion.
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Tara: Another category is movies that you only HAVE to watch once -- they leave such an impact on you that you remember them forever.
I think Pan's Labyrinth is one of those, for me. It was an amazing movie, and very well done, but I don't know that I could stand to watch it again. Maybe in a few more years.
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No Country For Old Men. I really enjoyed that film, but once was definitely enough. I can't say more without spoiling the story, though. On a lighter note, The Lake House is one that I wouldn't watch more than once because of the truck-wide plot holes which become apparent at the end.
I would have enjoyed The Sixth Sense even if there had been no twist ending at all, so the lack of a surprise every time doesn't bother me. Though I love watching it with people who don't know what happens - yes, they still exist - for the vicarious shock.
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Lone Star is one that comes to my mind. It's one of those with so many twists and turns that a second viewing just doesn't have the same impact.
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Bad movies are the "once only" club, like "the beach". Movies with a twist tend to be "twice only," because the second time through, I want to look to see if the twist is consistent with the story. Or if I could have predicted the twist from what was shown to me. My memory just isn't good enough for me to watch something like "Memento," or "Sixth Sense," once, and be satisfied.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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quote:I would have enjoyed The Sixth Sense even if there had been no twist ending at all, so the lack of a surprise every time doesn't bother me.
I love the Sixth Sense too, and not just for the ending. Good psychology (and I am talking the profession) is hard to do in entertainment. Psychologists are either comically over the top, cheesy, mystical, or poorly understood. I can judge just about every psychologist from Twin Peaks to Dr. Phil in entertainment that harshly.
Child psychology is even harder to capture. Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment nailed that relationship. Everything from the physical interaction to the intellectual and emotional interaction was just beautiful.
Being able to pull that off while also maintaining the integrity of Bruce Willis's condition was just phenomenal to me.
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Normally if a movie has plot holes (that I don't notice on the first viewing) a second viewing will kill the movie for me. The glaring exception to that is "Conspiracy Theory." The more I watch that movie, the more I realize there simply is no coherent story that adequately explains everything that happens.
Nevertheless, every time I watch it, I love it more than the previous viewing. Posts: 324 | Registered: Mar 2008
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"The Passion of the Christ". I think it worked as a movie because it was so intense, and horrifying: it brought back the passion to the usually badly performed passion play I have seen at church, making the point that Jesus was executed feel more relevant, but I didn't get pleasure from watching it, and hence have little desire to do so again. I think if I still believed in God and the Catholic church, I might watch it every Good Friday out of some sort of holy masochism.
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Xanadu. Just to enjoy that bizarre transitional period from the 70s to the 80s, in all it's gaudy indulgence.
Then never watch it again. There was no Xanadu, and it -certainly- wasn't the last major Hollywood film of the legendary Gene Kelly.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: There was no Xanadu, and it -certainly- wasn't the last major Hollywood film of the legendary Gene Kelly.
Oh dear, you're right. I never knew that! It's sad to see so many good actors die shortly after the worst movies they ever made... I'm always reminded of how Street Fighter was so bad it killed Raul Julia.
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When Mystery Science Theater 3000 did Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, they were uncertain how to handle Raul Julia's presence. He was the star, but he was still recently deceased, and beloved to boot. They eventually took the tact that he was a good actor trapped in some really cruddy movies.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Tara: Another category is movies that you only HAVE to watch once -- they leave such an impact on you that you remember them forever.
I'd put Once Were Warriors in this category. It's an incredible movie, but way too emotionally painful for me to want to watch it again.
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Freejack. First time was kind of cool and funny and exciting (not to mention allowing us to see some pretty good actors in unusual roles, and Mick Jagger play an antihero bounty hunter.) Second time, the b-movie nature of the premise and visual design comes through, and there aren't any surprises to distract you from them.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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The second and third movies in the Matrix trilogy. Watching them the first time is fine, because the special effects and fight scenes are pretty awesome. The second time through you've seen the special effects, and have time to let the bad acting (or non-acting in the case of dear Keanu) and worse plot sink in.
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Serenity is another movie I never, ever wanted to watch again, even though it was quite good. But somehow I ended up watching it again anyway...But I left to go to the bathroom fifteen minutes before the end and never came back.
What about those movies that for some reason you missed the ending of, and then didn't feel like going to Blockbuster and getting? For example what happened in the last hour of Pretty Women? Or the last fifteen minutes of Angels in America?
Posts: 930 | Registered: Dec 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Tara: What about those movies that for some reason you missed the ending of, and then didn't feel like going to Blockbuster and getting? For example what happened in the last hour of Pretty Women? Or the last fifteen minutes of Angels in America?
I never finished Titanic. I just regret that first couple of hours I gave to it.
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So from my family: Matthew: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Olivia: Wall-E Me: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan: I'd put Once Were Warriors in this category. It's an incredible movie, but way too emotionally painful for me to want to watch it again.
I would put Blow and Crash in this category.
Posts: 1080 | Registered: Apr 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan: I'd put Once Were Warriors in this category. It's an incredible movie, but way too emotionally painful for me to want to watch it again.
I would put Blow and Crash in this category.
This type of movie is the only kind that keeps me from watching it again if I enjoyed it the first time - where a repeat viewing is beyond masochistic.
Requiem for a Dream. Pursuit of Happyness. Happiness. Crash. Irréversible.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Tara: Another category is movies that you only HAVE to watch once -- they leave such an impact on you that you remember them forever.
I'd put Once Were Warriors in this category. It's an incredible movie, but way too emotionally painful for me to want to watch it again.
So true. Along with Requiem for a Dream, way too depressing. I had no intention of ever doing drugs anyway. Happiness That version of Crash with these people who want to have sex with cars. I hate that movie. It's stupid. Magnolia, because it got worse with the next viewing. So much miserable drama, one could drown in the sea of unhappy people. Welcome to the Dollhouse. Palidromes because it was just so frustrating Last Exit to Brooklin because it just makes a person want to bury themselves alive. Ghost Rider, because it's really just terrible...
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I feel this way about The Elephant Man, but because I was so much younger when I watched it the adult part of me wants to give it another shot just in case I missed something important the first time.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Synesthesia: Along with Requiem for a Dream, way too depressing.
I watched that one with a girlfriend who was (is?) doing drugs. She thought it was "cool". o_O I was freaked out and saddened as hell (by the movie).
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Tara: What about those movies that for some reason you missed the ending of, and then didn't feel like going to Blockbuster and getting? For example what happened in the last hour of Pretty Women?
You really want to know? Richard Gere's character let it out of the bag to his attorney (?)friend (George from Seinfeld, whose real life name I can't recall at the moment) that Julia Roberts was a protistute. So, "George" stops by the hotel suite after Gere's character decides NOT to be ruthless in taking over that nice old man's ship building company to 'get some of that' that apparently reshaped Gere as a man. He basically tries to rape her, but Gere gets there in time to throw some punches, admit to telling "George" about her profession, and get some stealy glares from Julia. She demands payment and leaves.
End scene: He finds her before she's able to flee and head back home (I think), climbs the fire escape to the window and they make up. The End.
Pretty Woman was my one college roommate's favorite movie for some strange reason.
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quote:Originally posted by Synesthesia: Along with Requiem for a Dream, way too depressing.
I watched that one with a girlfriend who was (is?) doing drugs. She thought it was "cool". o_O I was freaked out and saddened as hell (by the movie).
I'm not sure if it's the same movie. Requiem for a dream has a simply TRAUMATIZING scene. Well, several of them, but this was the worse one. EURRRRRRGH!
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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It was the same movie. And no, she didn't think that scene was cool (I definitely know which one), but she did think it of others.
Edit: We're talking about a girl who even though she had strange reactions to marijuana (freaking out out of nowhere, impossibility to concentrate on simple tasks, etc) was still interested in doing stronger drugs. It was an alien way of thinking to me.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Corwin: It was the same movie. And no, she didn't think that scene was cool (I definitely know which one), but she did think it of others.
Edit: We're talking about a girl who even though she had strange reactions to marijuana (freaking out out of nowhere, impossibility to concentrate on simple tasks, etc) was still interested in doing stronger drugs. It was an alien way of thinking to me.
Weird. I'm reminded of a guy who wanted to try heroin after watching Trainspotting. The whole point of that movie seems to be heroin is kind of bad, don't do it, but perhaps he got something different out of the movie. I got a strong desire to never do heroin ever. Plus I have like no visual veins anyway.
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