What was a movie you didn't like that everyone else enjoyed?

Your favourite movie is absolute garbage and is only liked by tasteless philistines. The plot is obvious, the actors are hamming it, the direction is bland, and everything looks fake and pompous.

My favourite movie, on the other hand, is a masterpiece with a clever scenario, excellent and subtle acting, a work of genius by the director and the technical team. And one of the best soundtracks, too (it's Universal Soldier)

You really have to love the fact that people are getting downvoted in this thread for their own fucking opinion...
Dude I've all but forgotten about this. For whatever reason, I loved this movie when I was younger. I also got it constantly mixed up with another similar movie that came out around the same time like Hollywood enjoys doing, but enjoyed Universal Soldier more.

Barbie.

I'm a woman and a feminist. I'm a fan of Greta, and of everyone they cast in that movie.

I was bored for most of it. The parts that were meant to be poignant, I thought completely missed the mark. It was a waste of an opportunity.

I don't understand the hype. Margot is a gem, one of our exports I'm actually impressed by, and I think her unfailing charm won a lot of people over to this. I think most of us would happily watch Margot read the phone book.

But I found the movie to be dull and shallow in its attempts for depth.

I feel bad because most of my female friends really hold it up as something I don't think it is. I keep my mouth shut.

I was in the same page as you, but I think I understood it at the very end, literally at the last scene. I understood that the message is something along the lines of "women should be allowed to be just women, without anything remarkable about them". It kinda just tries to make that point, right? Women are just people. They are not objects, nor super heroes. They don't need to be special.
The main goal of feminism is equality right? Well, women today are asked to be a lot of things that men are not asked to, to be exceptional, to break their chains, and fight. To be better than they are now, to change and fight back. And all that is exhausting, sometimes you just need to go to your ginecologist, not change the world. And that brings you happiness and fulfillment. Leave women to be whatever they want to be, don't put on them YOUR expectations, let them be free. Stop telling women how they should live their lives, let them pick whatever they want. They are just humans. Men are allowed to be regular humans with flaws and virtue, women are not.
I think that's the message, or I completely missed the point there lol. I don't think it's not deep. You could argue that maybe it's a message a little dangerous, sure. A very individualistic message, even alienating, but what would you expect from something financed by capitalists. The revolution will not be televised. Personally, I found it a little refreshing, sometimes it feels like we are changing one social mandate for another, but in the end we cannot choose freely anyways, just obey. I gave me one or two thing to think about.
- Those messages came through to a degree (good write up by the way) but to my mind they didn't go far enough. Then the comedy was so light touch too.
  It all just felt like a first draft of something that might have been hilarious, entertaining and thought provoking. But didn't land any of those things well. So I thought, couldn't it have picked one of the 3 and done then well?
  When the credits rolled I just said 'k'. Because I didn't really take anything away from it. Even without the hype for months, my expectation was built more by the cast and director. So I was just disappointed. I wasn't even entertained.
I'm not sure if was meant to be "deep", I think it was meant to be a bit satirical and a lot of tongue in cheek. I don't think they were setting out to make a masterpiece, but a sharp take on mid life crisis and societys demands of women, including the monotinization of their escapism driven by corporate (men) stooges.
I'm not sure what opportunity was missed in a movie about capitalism utopia as portrayed by glamour dolls.
- I’m not sure what opportunity was missed in a movie about capitalism utopia as portrayed by glamour dolls.
  Set ups for the punchlines that seemed to come out of nowhere, even a hint as to why having Barbieland go back to a matriarchy was better than something balanced to follow up on the whole Kens being second class citizens. Not that I wanted to spend more time on the Kens, just like a line or two that addresses the weird situation that they explicitly set up.
It had some good parts, but the ending kinda felt like everyone just boxing up their genders again as the status quo instead of being a society that valued people for more than just their genitals. I kept waiting for the part where they realized equality was what they should strive for to help lead the human world in the best direction.
The queer-coded Allen felt a bit on the nose for 2023, too. I liked parts of it, but it felt very...20th-century feminist and straight to appeal to larger audiences.
I think the part with Margot and the grandmotherly lady at the bus stop was my favorite part. Peaceful, sweet, and exactly where the movie felt like it was heading in a good direction (in addition to the heaven and tearoom scenes). The musical parts were a great reminder of the movies from long ago, and also a great step in the right direction.
- I liked Allen so much. Only cool character that isnt overacting
The movie became a culture war wedge issue, you just couldn't have an intelligent discourse about it in movie critic terms.
I'm a man but have the same take, excited about everyone involved and the themes and the style, but it just kind of limped its way through the stereotypical story with a lot of preaching at the audience. My wife actively hated it and didn't even finish it, bailing out when the mom went on her rant about how unfair everything is which was true but executed really badly.
I did really enjoy Kate's Crazy Barbie or whatever. If the rest of the film had that kind of nuance and comedic timing it would have been fantastic.

Superhero films

I'm a massive fan of suspending my disbelief in a fantastic fantasy world, still have no interest in superhero films.

They're so incredibly predictable, I can get the same from the trailer as watching the film.

I want a marvel movie where the entire movie is just an insurance adjuster's life in superhero NYC where the entire city gets destroyed every 1.5 years due to alien sea turtles and two men punching each other through buildings and such.
The insurance premiums would be insane. The insurance agencies would have to be massive and get constantly bailed out. People would deliberately try and live in the ugliest places they could to avoid the carnage (and later lawsuits).
- Maybe the superheroes should be required to get public liability insurance to cover the impact of their adventures.
  Or
  Maybe this accounts for their popularity, the greatest fantasy is a world not defined by capitalist considerations!

Oh boy.

Everything everywhere all at once.

And I did like it to a point but absolutely don't see it as the phenomenon that was presented as. I saw it as a good film that lacked nuance and subtlety, instead of leaving stuff for the viewer to discern it rather just loudly announcing with bright signs 'This is profound, we are very artistic'. While the quirkiness and comedy were fun, it always felt to me like if marvel had suddenly decided to make an indie film, with all the good and bad that carried.

Obviously I was shunned by everybody else so what the hell do I know lol.

Very good take. I wached it based on the hype. It is ok
Same! For me, it was an ok action/fighting movie. There is a message there, but the message itself is not as deep as people want it to be, and nothing new. It was just OK.
Thank youuuuuu. Totally agree. It was a fun contemporary king fu movie with some great visual effects. Everyone I spoke to about it thought it was a groundbreaking masterpiece.
I think that Hollywood wanted that film to be really popular because they were tired of Marvel movies being all over the box offices.
I agree that it was...like okay, but I think most of the Marvel movies were like okay.
Very good take. I wached it based on the hype. It is ok

Skyfall. The whole film rests on a basically omniscient villain, which made it boring as fuck.

I hate it when a big franchise or series ends up making the entire story revolve around the personal life of the protagonist.
For me the appeal of Bond was this unknown secret agent uncovering some big bad plot from some bad guy we knew little about art the start. I want it to be about uncovering the conspiracy and finding a way to stop it against all odds.
I do not want it to be able Bond's relationship with his mother (or mother figure).
- imho the best Bond script was 'From Russia, With Love." Other movies have better stunts and action, but FRWL is the only one that manages to make Bond a person without getting maudlin.

A Quiet Place

It is so full of holes and strange decisions I could barely get through it and was shocked it was so well reviewed.

I enjoyed it. But man, get yourself some condoms.
Also, he totally didn't need to die. Unnecessary.
Oh man. This movie. I can handle some plot holes. But I cannot believe that the entirety of the world (or, let’s just say the entire United States of America) didn’t once think, ”Hey, these things can hear SUPER FUCKING GOOD, maybe we can somehow use that against them?”
And that nail in the stairs? Come on.
never even heard of it

Napoleon Dynamite. Tried watching it a few times with friends who insisted it was funny. I just found it more annoying than funny.

That’s fair. My experience with the movie when I was watching it was similar. When it was over my wife and I looked at each other and we both were like, “what the fuck did we just watch?”
The next day we found ourselves quoting the movie and laughing our asses off about it. It seems that we needed time to process it in order to appreciate it.
- I watched it once to give it a chance and eh, I probably chuckled a few times. It just wasn't my humor and felt boring. The dance was the best part but honestly it was more how Jon Heder played it so earnestly, which I get was sort of the point. I still didn't really find that funny necessarily, just more entertaining in general.
  With that said, I still occasionally quote it to my SO because I know they liked the movie and the quotes are pretty memorable.
I don't really like the awkward genre. The Office is similar; I can see why people like it but it's not really for me.
- I can't watch awkward humour. My wife understands when I simply leave the room.

Lord of the rings. Over the years i tried watching it again and again but i either fall asleep of stop caring and do something else halfway through.

Not to be that guy, but are you watching the extended editions? I used to also not enjoy the movies until I gave the extended editions a chance. Much better pacing
- I always thought the theatrical editions would be easier for first-timers, but I've never tested that theory. Interesting to hear that you felt the opposite.
- Just saw the extended edition. I can't see what people enjoy about it. The dialogue is sharp but the story is abysmal.
Thoughts on the books? (if you’ve read them)
I've tried reading the books twice and watching the films once. They're just so fucking long.
(I've read lots of books with a similar number of pages without thinking they're too long, and smaller books that I've also got bored of)

OPPENHEIMER

I liked it. But I'm surprised it's gotten all of the accolades that it has.
Turned it off after 45 minutes, it felt so artificial and pretentious. I mostly enjoyed his other films.
Honestly this is pretty much every Christopher Nolan movie for me. I’ve seen most of them and they range from meh to okay. I’m extremely confused as to why he’s so popular and respected.
- He tends to make the audience feel clever (even though you dont need to be) and he makes studios a ton of money.
Oh god same! I genuinely don't understand all of the hype it's gotten!
Yup, also I laughed at the scene near the end where Einstein just appeard on the lawn with a book in his pajamas. No one else laughed. So that wasn't awkward or anything.
The longer I wait to see it the more likely it is to actually be good, I just can't imagine it being good.

Gangs of New York.

I love Scorsese and I usually don't mind how long his films are, case in point Killers of the Flower Moon. But Gangs of New York is not only too long and weirdly self indulgent, but whatever Cameron Diaz is doing in her role is... Not great and makes me sad every time.

Edit: I realize I inverted flowers and killer in Killers of the Flower Moon.

That movie has so much interesting history stuff like the gangs controlling the fire brigades and the city being rebuilt time and again but it's at odds with the weird cartoon vibe of the characters and story.
- Well at least we know what it would look like if Scorsese did a live action One Piece adaptation.

Citizen Kane is a horrible, boring movie.

It was his sled. It was his sled from when he was a kid. There, I just saved you two, long, boobless hours.
- I get this reference
I don’t think that’s a particularly new take. Lots of people find it boring, but recognize its importance because it’s the first place you ever see a ton of filmmaking techniques that are considered standard today. Welles basically invented modern filmmaking with Citizen Kane.
- That's the thing. Citizen Kane was a fantastic, groundbreaking film. So innovative that bits and pieces were copied and remixed over and over until they became trite and predictable. Now it just seems trite and predictable.
I agree. I had to watch it for a film class in college. So boring. It maybe was good in its time, but terrible in the early 2000s.

Tropic Thunder.

I liked the RDJ gimmick, but the rest was really dumb. Everyone else likes it but i even bought a copy based on terrific reviews and ended up giving it away. So it was pricy too.

This is definitely going to be an unpopular opinion. I salute you for your bravery! Now get ready to embrace downvote hell.
Edit: a few hours later, I guess I was wrong.
Ya, I'm one of your upvotes on this one.
Guess I'll be joining you with the downvotes.
Same. Also hated tom cruise and I really cannot believe anybody would find it funny
- I hate Tom Cruise generaly. But he was funny in his 2 min scene

The Big Lebowski. It's got a perfect combination of plodding, boring plot and insufferably obnoxious characters that makes it a physically painful watching experience.

It genuinely confuses me that people like The Fifth Element. The plot is just batshit insane, and it suffers from obnoxious character syndrome just as much as Lebowski does.

Thor: Ragnarok is by far the worst Thor movie, and is in the top 3 worst Marvel movies. It's an absolute travesty of a film that not only ruined the character of the Hulk to the point where he had to be effectively erased as a character going forward, but turned Thor himself into a Gimli-esque laughingstock, and is also just neither funny nor entertaining. But, then again, neither is anything I've seen by Taika. Edit: Actually, that's not quite true. Here's a really hot take for y'all: Love and Thunder is the good Taika Thor movie. It wasn't great, but it was miles better than Ragnarok.

On that note, any movie (or show) where the entire second arc/B-plot is a useless side quest that either fails or does nothing but waste the audience's time. See, for example: Thor Ragnarok, The Last Jedi, Andor.

Tarantino movies are really overrated, but I wouldn't say I dislike them.

Edit: Ooh, thought of another one. O Brother Where Art Thou would have been an enjoyable movie if it hadn't tried to act like it's an adaptation of the Odyssey. As someone who's pretty familiar with Homer, it just infuriates me every time I try to watch it.

Edit2: Someone mentioned Skyfall, which has now reminded me that as a huge James Bond fan, I hate all of Craig's Bond films (except Casino Royale) with a fiery passion, to the extent that I don't even consider them James Bond movies (they're "James Bourne" movies at best), and I don't ever include them in my rankings of the series.

Both The Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou are directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and and it sounds like you might not like their style.
I'm upvoting you for sharing your opinion even though I disagree 100% as all three movies you mentioned are fantastic at what they set out to do, but not for everyone.
That was a hard upvote. Tarantino is my favorite director. I've only been lukewarm on one of his movies. And even then, I didn't dislike it. Respect your opinion though.
Also, my two favorite movies are Pulp Fiction and The Fifth Element.
Question: How do you feel about Edgar Wright? Specifically Hot Fuzz and Baby Driver if you've seen those.
- I haven't seen Baby Driver, but I've never seen a Simon Pegg film that I enjoyed (which have been two so far: Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).
  I swear that there are tons of critically acclaimed movies that I like, including most of the movies people are mentioning in their top-level comments. Also, I actively like Kill Bill, so that's one Tarantino movie that I do enjoy!
  It seems that we may just have complementary tastes. ¯(ツ)_/¯
  Edit: I love Final Fantasy VIII, so we have that in common!
The Big Lebowski may be more fun if you're already into stoner comedies and classic cinema, because it's one parodying the other. The cliche in detective novels was a private eye chasing wrong leads but advancing the plot regardless.
but I’ve never seen a Simon Pegg film that I enjoyed (which have been two so far: Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).
... are you maybe just immune to the meta? Like, if you don't enjoy Airplane!, I am gonna say this is a you problem.
- I liked Airplane!, so I don't think it's that I just dislike meta movies. I really enjoyed Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, for example, but maybe that's more of a subversion movie than a meta movie? I also enjoy movies like Spaceballs, but maybe that's more of a spoof? I dunno...
  I think I get the intention of Lebowski, and I've often enjoyed the "protag accidentally bumbling his way into success" trope otherwise, so maybe it's the stoner movie side of things that messes it up for me, since I only rarely enjoy stoner movies.
  I think in both cases, Simon Pegg and Lebowski, it might be the characters that get under my skin most.
  Either way, I appreciate your help in trying to figure this out.
I reject most of what you've said, but I'm still up voting because I agree entirely about the big lebowski.
I'm sorry, you're trolling MCU/super hero movie fans if you think Thor Ragnarok is worse than Thor 2. Your opinion is opinion, but it's factually incorrect and I think You're here to troll/hate on the director who you call out by name.
- Funnily enough, I watched Thor 2 two weeks ago during my most recent Marvel watch-through, and other than a slightly lackluster final battle, I literally can't understand what people have against it. Great characterization and development for Loki, Thor, Odin, and Jane, a truly crushing moment with the death of Thor's mom, Christopher Eccleston's excellent villain, and a great cliff-hanger ending with Loki replacing Odin - I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here. It's not amazing, but it's definitely in the top half of Marvel movies. Much better than crap like Iron Man 3 and Captain Marvel.
  If you're this bothered by someone having a different opinion than yours, maybe a thread about people disliking popular movies isn't for you.

The fifth element,i really cant understand its popularity.Plus it makes me want to punch Chris tucker in the throat.

Plus it makes me want to punch Chris tucker in the throat.
That's the point.

No Country for Old Men. I was just bored through the whole movie.

My theory is that people who found No Country boring are only familiar with straight forward plots. It takes thoughtfulness to enjoy the film, and the people I know who disliked it lack that.
The movie doesn't hold your hand. John Wick requires lots flashy action because the average viewer would benefit from a close caption that says "feel excited now," while No Country is boring unless you're brain is actively participating.
What are your thoughts on this generalization?
- This sounds like the rick and morty copypasta.
- I don't really think it's accurate. I love when the main plot is deeper than just what you can see. I just watched The Green Knight and I was constantly trying to find the deeper meaning to whatever was happening and how it related to the overall plot in a more symbolic way.
  My favorite movies are Pulp Fiction and The Fifth Element which both have multiple storylines. Although for The Fifth Element, the overall plot is straightforward.
  I just didn't find this movie interesting and the "intense" scenes didn't really land for me.

The new Dune is so artificially slow and full of itself. The old one with Picard and Mr. Mayor is so much more watchable for me and I genuinely love it. The new Blade Runner did the same thing, being slow for the sake of being slow does not make it deep or philosophical it just makes it boring

I felt the complete opposite. I've read all the Frank Herbert books multiple times and loved how in-depth they were. Dune part one was much better than part two because the first part spent so long setting up the universe and exploring different factions which I found really cool. Part two was like "well, all the hard work is done now so we can just have all of the action". No! The action is the worst part! I'd much rather 70% world building 30% plot.
As an aside, I also like how the technology was very rarely explained. Just the shields and the stillsuits I think. It makes it feel so much more natural and realistic because these characters live all their lives with weird floaty lamps and ornithopters and lazbeams, so why would they explain any of it to us?
I feel the same way, having just left Dune 2 an hour ago. It feels every bit a long as its four hour run time.
Oddly, I enjoy Lawrence of Arabia despite it also having long shots of desert.
- Jesus. Part two is FOUR HOURS? That’s bonkers.

Godfather. Omg so boring. I fell asleep every time i tried to watch it

I never understood the boring argument, and I've read it quite a bit online. Every scene has a ton going on.
It starts with a banger wedding outside while the don hears about somebody's daughter being savagely raped. Theres also a short conversation about Fontaine and the movie exec being a dick. Bam, hagen is in Hollywood. You wonder what the family has up their sleeve, bam horse decapitated head in the bed.
Business meeting about drugs, sonny goofs, wonder how that will go - assassination attempt. Hagen held captive. Luca sleeps with the fishes. Don in hospital, another assassination attempt thwarted, scene full of tension the entire time.
Michael decides he's in the business now, they plan the attack, then bam middle of the movie you have an incredibly long tense scene of a drive and dinner that you know is going to end in violence.
I mean all of that is just in the first half of the movie. It's buildup action buildup action repeat. This is not some slow character study alone... It's a master class of character study with plot plot plot.
It's almost ridiculous how much plot there is to be honest. After all of the above there's Carlo abusing Connie and sonny beating the shit out of him. There's Carlo doing it a second time as a trap and sonny getting fucking annihilated by gunfire. Michael escapes to Sicily, gets married, and his wife is murdered in a car bomb meant for him.
The cherry on top is Michael murdering the heads of the other families in one of the best climaxes of all time
Sorry for the rant. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. I just don't understand the boring argument, this is not a slow movie lol
I feel the same way about the Bourne Supremacy (or whatever the second Bourne movie was). I paid to see it in theatre twice and both times I fell asleep about halfway through. Tried watching it at home much later when it was on HBO or something and fell asleep at the same part. It literally just puts me to sleep 🤷🏻‍♂️

Not a movie, but I really couldn't get the hype around Evangelion.
The end credit music was fantastic though

Shame the end credits aren't on any streaming or Blu-ray releases any longer. The rights were to expensive.

Dunkirk. Extreme boredom

This is me with literally any war movie.

Spider-Man Across the Spider Verse.

It was too long with too much going on. I thought it was about to end twice. But no, it kept on going... I loved Into the Spider Verse though.

It's not even a movie by itself, it's an episode
Totally agreed, the pacing was awful. Everything else was good like the first one but it was very hard to get invested because of this problem, and then it just kind of... ended.

The Lighthouse

There’s a difference between being subtle, metaphorical, and artistic vs. being boring, confusing and inexplicable. Also, the dripping cum was just gross.

It’s like a few influential “smart” people claimed to like it, and everyone else just jumped on the bandwagon.

I enjoyed it for its ferocity. I think there was a parallel to be drawn with lighthouses - as the viewer you're being assailed by relentless waves breaking against you.
Not everyone's cup of tea no doubt. But I thought it was good. Muttered wtf a few times while watching it but I think I'll probably watch it again.

WALL-E. I just found it boring. Nothing really happened.

A truly unpopular opinion.
Honestly for me I don't think it's necessarily about anything really happening in the movie, it's just cute watching 2 robots fall in love n save the planet and everything. Also WALL-E is just a silly lil guy you can't not root for him
- The shopping cart scene kills me every time.
Right. Plus I find it quite offensive on the fat people on the station

Barbarian

I feel like it got so hyped up by the kind of people I usually agree with and the way everyone kept saying "Don't look up anything, just go in blind" had my hopes up for something really unique and interesting with twists in all the right ways.

In the end I felt like it was just random and dumb... Good acting though.

I liked the idea of two people ending up in the same AirBnB in a bad neighborhood (and even the tunnels parts), but the actual execution and horror elements weren't really great. When the fake boobs got whipped out, I actually giggled. Spoiler It boils down to a special needs person with a kink
Which kinda seems a bit...eh. Would have been better if it was some sort of carniverous fungus that the airbnb owner was experimenting with or tunneling spider the size of a large pumpkin or something.
- Yes, I feel like the initial premise was interesting, and the atmosphere of discomfort at the start was really well done, then fake boob got whipped out and it just got more and more random.

M3gan and Cocaine Bear

I found cocaine bear interesting on a vfx level, otherwise dumb comedy, nothing really in terms of story
I really wanted those movies to be stupider.

The Dark Knight

You didn't get it... It was about sending a message

Not for movies but for books

The Alchemist

Winter's Bone

Absolutely hate them. I hate the characters. I hate hate hate hate.

The only clever thing from "the Alchemist" was the end reveal. And it was invented by J.L.Borges in the "story of the two dreamers" And the story itself come from the arabian night, as akwnoleded by Borges.
Of course Cohello never akwnoledge both of his source.

I think I got about 2 minutes into Forrest Gump before I had to turn it off. Cannot stand that fake accent Tom Hanks has in that movie. And yes, that's a hill I will die on.

Same here .... as a story it also feeds that false mentality of "you can do anything as long as you try"
It's a work of fiction that everyone knows is fiction but they really really really want it to be true, even though it is so far removed from reality.
Forrest Gump is super racist revisionist history, where a low-IQ white male accidentally causes all sorts of large political and social historical events that were actually initiated by black people in real life. Plus there's a ton of other messed up sexist/racist portrayals throughout the film. It's a pretty awful film. And it stole the Oscar from Shawshank Redemption!
- I thought it was pretty great, and still do. But Shawshank was better, no argument from me. A great year of movies.

Donnie darko

Fifth element

Inter stellar

Don't look up

Can't stand any of them, I'm pretty sure there's a connective thread, but it's a bit winding and knotted.

Poor Things

Had you seen any of his other films? Lanthimos is an odd one you kind of have to take film to film. I liked lobster, thought the favorite was okay, kinda low key hate sacred deer while admiring some things about it, and loved poor things. I’ve never experienced that type of roller coaster with a director that has such a consistent style and voice.
- Lanthimos is an odd one you kind of have to take film to film.
  What does this mean?
Disappointing film. We enjoyed The Killing of a Sacred Deer.

Wiplash. Wiplash is to jazz what Grey's Anatomy is to medicine.

A big book?
- The book is "Gray's".

I do not give a shit about David Lynch. I respect some of what he's going for, and the people who like his work, but it always feels like alien commentary on pop culture, for pop culture I wasn't paying attention to in the first place. Gorlax really nails those Kardashians! Mulholland Drive... sure is a sequence of images!

Even twin peaks?
- Haven't seen it, probably won't. I've heard enough to respect that he was taking a swing at high melodrama as overpriced soap operas, but I don't want to watch a satire any more than I'd want to watch the real thing. I find it fascinating that Japan adored his comically heightened view of small-town Americana, but King Of The Hill has a similar distinction, and I don't watch that either.
  I liked Dune. Completely ridiculous, and an absolute tragedy we didn't get Jodorowsky's version, but he understood just how bizarre and uncomfortable the story got, and had a reasonable level of disrespect for his audience. I've had family express confusion over the Villienenneuuve version and unironically recommended the Lynch version as a low-intensity explainer with crazier character design.

Lord of the Rings 2 and 3 I found to be quite meh.

I really loved Fellowship of the Ring, the other two sequels were just 90% large-scale NPC army battles that got really old really fast.

Also Rashomon (1950) sucks.

AI. I found it hollow and depressing.

The series Schitt's Creek is like this. It's not knee slapping hilarious about it just memorable characters and subtle humor

Molly's Game. I feel like it had a massive case of unintentionally unreliable narrator with none of the upside of intentionally doing that.

Birdman. I found it irritatingly self-important and boring.

Godzilla Minus One. A live action cartoon I'll never watch again. Can't believe we got sucked into thinking this was going to be a serious film.

Have you watched any other j-drama's?
- Like?

Pretty much every popular movie from the mid to late 1960s and basically all the 1970s.

Dark Knight. It was really long and it kept going past several points I felt like it hit a natural conclusion. It initiated my life long disdain for Christopher Nolan, a blowhard who enjoys sucking his own dick and making movies that are torturous metaphors for their own creation.

Arrival

Selfish sack of shit sees into the future, where her and that Marvel dude have a kid, only for her (the kid) to die slowly of cancer. "BuT i HaVe ThE mEmOrIeS!¡", and you tortured an innocent child who didn't have to exist because YOU FUCKING KNEW SHE WAS GOING TO DIE OF CANCER, YOU BITCH!

The movie uses the bootstrap paradox model of time travel: there is only one timeline, and events can’t be changed, because any attempt to change the timeline had already happened. She only was able to see her child’s future because the child was born. If she had made a different decision in the future, she would never have seen the visions in the past.
See also: Terminator 1 (not the sequels,) Predestination, 12 Monkeys, Tenet
- The ending to 12 Monkeys is my favorite time travel movie ending ever.
I thought the point was the inevitability of it all. She could see it, but couldn't change a thing. At least that's how I perceived it at the time. Wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
- There was a line towards the end: D: "Why did Dad leave?" M: "He said I 'made the wrong choice'"
  My interpretation was that she could have prevented it, but chose not to.
I have the same objections, but I still think it’s an excellent movie. I like how they made first contact feel authentically weird, and didn’t try to turn it into a special effects extravaganza.
Strongly suggest you read the "story of your life", it's freely available on the Internet (or check it out from your local library!)
It doesn't add terribly much, but there is a little bit of clarity/another perspective on the mechanics of the aliens, it's similar to certain characters from dirk gentlys holistic detective agency.