Obviously there’s lots of weird trash in the direct to VHS/DVD/streaming ecosystems, but when it comes to something that actually got a first run theater release, what is your strangest?
For me, it’s Southland Tales. I actually kind of love this movie but it’s difficult to recommend because people you recommend it to might not look at you the same afterwards. The cast is positively stacked with big names, the movie looks great, and there’s a fantastic and really sad musical number half way through. This is the only movie that has truly captured the vibe of reading the biblical book of Revelation in that it’s making you go “wait, what?” every five minutes as it spirals into either intensely meaningful imagery or schizophrenia manifest on 35mm.
2001: A space Odyssey.
Probably the weirdest mainstream movie I’ve seen. It was bloody awful, too. Perhaps it’s not fair, because I watched it on an airplane, because apparently some people like it. It’s an absolute trip, about 5 lines of dialogue in the whole thing and about 90 minutes of content that should have stayed on the cutting room floor.
I’m sure there’s other movies that are weird (and many that are bad) that I’ve seen but this one sticks in my memory.
The look of the film is amazing. However, even as someone who loves sci-fi, it’s way too long. I know, it’s slow on purpose. It makes you feel more like you’re there. However, fuck that. I can waste my time in a lot more enjoyable ways.
I feel the same about the original Blade Runner. It had an incredible impact on the look of a sci-fi dystopia, especially Cyberpunk, but man is it slow. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the inspiration, treads most of the same ground, and even has things that aren’t included in the movie, in the format of a short story. BR is drawn out just to be drawn out.
I appreciate what these movies did, and the messages they are trying to tell. I think they’re very flawed though, with particular emphasis on them being long but not doing anything with that time. I don’t want action sequences or anything. I just don’t want to sit around effectively watching people do nothing.
I genuinely can’t think of a worse movie to try and watch on an airplane.
Snakes on a Plane? Alive?
Along this thread, Flight.
My partner will never forgive me for showing her the inversion scene a week before we had 13 h of flying to do to get home from one of the Gulf States.
I consider this part of a genre of cynically made movies that rely on a great poster and catchy premise to get butts in seats, and then the movie itself is just sort of slapped together. It’s what I imagine has dudebros telling eachother is “Dude this movie is soooo crazy.”
Aye, I’ve never actually seen it, because as you say, it’s essentially a title and a poster. I can’t imagine the movie is able to do anything particularly unexpected or interesting beyond that.
Similarly, I’ve not seen The Human Centipede, because I know what the gist of it is from the title alone. Perhaps I’m wrong, but it seems unlikely that it’s going to really get to the core of helping us to understand the human condition. Unless you happen to be a human who’s been surgically attached to the anus of another human.
See, to me, “thems fightin’ words.”
Well… Not actually. More, like, I’ll plead a case.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968!) will always be one of my favourite film experiences because it is epic AND subtle. Arrival (2016) comes close, as do Her (2013) and Advantageous (2009).
It spans eons, megaparsecs, and bends the concept of reality itself. Meanwhile, it’s also two guys on a ship with a talking computer. Some neat camera tricks and big scale sets. Some very creative storytelling and a reminder that we’re sophisticated monkeys compared to a, potentially, cosmic-level intelligence.
Imagine Bezos or Musk digging up a 4 billion year old alien data center on the moon — one that pointed to Jupiter. What would follow would be, exactly, 2001. Everyone involved in a slipshod attempt to fly to Jupiter would die. Everyone. The AI would kill them all.
Also, note: the sheer impact a single secret has on an Artificial Intelligence system. And to top it off, a single, poorly told lie.
This film made me love film.
For me, the movie is a prime example that, just because something is a classic, that doesn’t mean it is universally enjoyable. It left me with an overwhelming sense of “what did I just watch?” And not in a good way
It’s made to be artsy more than it’s made to be entertaining. I think that’s what makes it a polarizing film.
Those bits that should have “stayed on the cutting room floor” are all shot and framed in a spectacularly consistent and artistically pleasing way. If you’re the type that enjoys video essays on blocking, you probably love 2001. If not, it’s likely not your movie.
I’ve made a concerted effort to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey two or three times and I have yet to successfully make it through the entire opening scene let alone the entire move.
It gets way better after the opening sequence with the apes
People love it so much - I think I’ve only once made it past the first 25 minutes until the first spoken dialogue without falling asleep…
I fell asleep and woke up 20 min later nothing had happened. I know this because the poor sod in front of me was also watching it, about 45 min behind and I glanced over a few times to see if I’d missed anything.