Ruining movies for other people… it’s fun for the whole family!
July 10th, 2007 · 64 Comments
So I finally saw The Fugitive last night.
http://cinemaslave.wordpress.com/20...or-other-people-its-fun-for-the-whole-family/
Yeah, I know… you’ve just lost any lingering trace of respect you may have had for me. But hear me out, friends — it’s been a conscious choice on my part to avoid the film until now.
Why, you ask? Because even though I’d never seen the movie, I felt like it had become overly familiar to me, thanks to all the parodies I’d seen over the years (The Simpsons, etc.). I just didn’t want to watch a movie that I felt would contain no surprises for me. And sure enough, while I found The Fugitive to be a solidly crafted thriller, I knew all the best bits in advance. It kinda ruined my enjoyment of it, I have to confess.
Along the same lines, a friend of mine recently watched Casablanca for the first time, a film he’d actively avoided for years because of cultural overexposure. He had the same reaction to it as I had to The Fugitive: it would have been a pretty decent film, if he hadn’t known the whole story in advance.
My question to you is: are there movies you’ve put off watching because other people have ruined them for you? I can think of a few more:
1) The Crying Game. I know the big gender revelation, so why watch the movie?
2) The Usual Suspects. I’ve owned the DVD for years, but because numerous people have revealed Keyser Soze’s identity to me, I can’t bring myself to actually sit down and look at the thing.
3) Jacob’s Ladder. I know all about the ending, and it sounds cheap and manipulative. No thanks.
I saw (and loved) The Truman Show during its original theatrical run… but I can’t help wondering how much better it would have been if all the trailers hadn’t given away the big twist ahead of time. Likewise, the ads for Cast Away told us in advance that Tom Hanks gets off the island, which killed the suspense. And a special curse upon the head of every person who gave away the big secret of The Sixth Sense. Jerks.
What films were ruined for you by other people, and what movies have you never bothered to see as a result?
-CSJ
July 10th, 2007 · 64 Comments
So I finally saw The Fugitive last night.
http://cinemaslave.wordpress.com/20...or-other-people-its-fun-for-the-whole-family/
Yeah, I know… you’ve just lost any lingering trace of respect you may have had for me. But hear me out, friends — it’s been a conscious choice on my part to avoid the film until now.
Why, you ask? Because even though I’d never seen the movie, I felt like it had become overly familiar to me, thanks to all the parodies I’d seen over the years (The Simpsons, etc.). I just didn’t want to watch a movie that I felt would contain no surprises for me. And sure enough, while I found The Fugitive to be a solidly crafted thriller, I knew all the best bits in advance. It kinda ruined my enjoyment of it, I have to confess.
Along the same lines, a friend of mine recently watched Casablanca for the first time, a film he’d actively avoided for years because of cultural overexposure. He had the same reaction to it as I had to The Fugitive: it would have been a pretty decent film, if he hadn’t known the whole story in advance.
My question to you is: are there movies you’ve put off watching because other people have ruined them for you? I can think of a few more:
1) The Crying Game. I know the big gender revelation, so why watch the movie?
2) The Usual Suspects. I’ve owned the DVD for years, but because numerous people have revealed Keyser Soze’s identity to me, I can’t bring myself to actually sit down and look at the thing.
3) Jacob’s Ladder. I know all about the ending, and it sounds cheap and manipulative. No thanks.
I saw (and loved) The Truman Show during its original theatrical run… but I can’t help wondering how much better it would have been if all the trailers hadn’t given away the big twist ahead of time. Likewise, the ads for Cast Away told us in advance that Tom Hanks gets off the island, which killed the suspense. And a special curse upon the head of every person who gave away the big secret of The Sixth Sense. Jerks.
What films were ruined for you by other people, and what movies have you never bothered to see as a result?
-CSJ
