The Godfather, Kubrick and Nolan: the masterpieces many viewers never finish
The Godfather, Kubrick, Nolan and Blade Runner top the list of acclaimed classics that many viewers fail to finish. The gap between critics and audiences.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
The Godfather, Kubrick and Nolan: the classics many viewers can't sit through
How many times have you pretended to enjoy a film you actually found a slog? The question is not rhetorical. In a discussion with over 300 replies and nearly six months online, cinema considered untouchable has been knocked off its pedestal by sheer honesty: The Godfather and its sequel, Apocalypse Now, 2001, Akira, City of God, Blade Runner and Taxi Driver come up again and again as films critics hail but ordinary viewers don't always finish.
The starting point makes it clear: some films get abandoned half an hour in, while others hold up. The dividing line is not technical quality, but something far harder to measure. And that's where the trouble begins.
The Godfather: from masterpiece to unbearable slog
What half the world considers the pinnacle of cinema is, for others, an exercise in patience. The first film is described as a contemplative portrait of mafia life, more interested in weddings and family ceremonies than in action. The second, however, gets even harsher treatment: the flashbacks about Vito Corleone's origins break the pace of Michael's storyline and add little, according to this camp. The third is simply dismissed as an unnecessary crime.
There are those who defend the opposite tooth and nail. For some, the first film is one of those that leaves you speechless, and so does the second. There is no middle ground: either you surrender to Coppola or you mentally bin him. A matter of principle, some say.
Kubrick, Nolan and the cinema you admire but don't enjoy
The catalogue of illustrious disappointments is long. 2001: A Space Odyssey is dismissed as weak within Kubrick's filmography, with a promise to rewatch it to confirm. Solaris is described as a romance with an alien that feels like a gun-free James Bond, with soundstage sets and leather coats. Nothing like, they say, the immersion of Interstellar.
And that's where Nolan comes in. His entire filmography ranks among the most singled out. The argument is that his films carry a veneer of pretentiousness that works as bait: when someone watches Interstellar, they feel clever for understanding it, but it was made precisely for that. The same pattern applies to The Dark Knight or The Shawshank Redemption: entertaining, crowd-pleasing and carrying that air of importance that inflates ratings.
The timing factor: watching Blade Runner in the 80s isn't watching it today
One of the sharpest points in the discussion comes down to age and life stage. Discovering Blade Runner or Akira in the eighties, when visual science fiction was scarce, is not the same as watching them today, when the genre has been mined to exhaustion. The same goes for Taxi Driver: a theme that has since been filmed and explained better a handful of times.
The estimulante ilegal of today's consumption also weighs in. With YouTube and TikTok firing stimuli every few seconds, the brain gets used to a different pace, and slower classic cinema becomes an uphill struggle. Decades ago, people went to the video store a couple of times a week, and a glance, a plot twist or a sarracena was enough to leave satisfied.
From Your Name to Ben-Hur: what does get a pass
It's not all complaints. Your Name (2016) is recommended without reservations over boring classic anime. Ben-Hur, in its remastered edition, gets the nod as a cult classic that isn't a drag. The Seventh Seal surprises: people expected a metaphysical bore and found it entertaining, even funny at times. The Return of the King escapes the burning of the trilogy.
At the other extreme, Life of Brian is dismissed as having jokes worse than a bad TV comedian's, La Grande Bellezza amounts to an effective tragicomedy and little more, and The Tree of Life is flatly described as boring crap. The films of Spanish director Mario Camus' contemporary José Luis Garci? An immense bore. Even Cinema Paradiso takes hits: its love story feels like filler, and a great film should have no filler.
In the end, the conclusion is uncomfortable for both sides. Tastes are subjective, but cinematic quality is not, and that's where nobody agrees. You may prefer a pop song to a Mozart composition, and Mozart's musical quality will still be superior. Which doesn't stop many people, when they hit play, from choosing the pop song.
How many times have you pretended to enjoy a film you actually found a slog? The question is not rhetorical. In a discussion with over 300 replies and nearly six months online, cinema considered untouchable has been knocked off its pedestal by sheer honesty: The Godfather and its sequel, Apocalypse Now, 2001, Akira, City of God, Blade Runner and Taxi Driver come up again and again as films critics hail but ordinary viewers don't always finish.
The starting point makes it clear: some films get abandoned half an hour in, while others hold up. The dividing line is not technical quality, but something far harder to measure. And that's where the trouble begins.
The Godfather: from masterpiece to unbearable slog
What half the world considers the pinnacle of cinema is, for others, an exercise in patience. The first film is described as a contemplative portrait of mafia life, more interested in weddings and family ceremonies than in action. The second, however, gets even harsher treatment: the flashbacks about Vito Corleone's origins break the pace of Michael's storyline and add little, according to this camp. The third is simply dismissed as an unnecessary crime.
There are those who defend the opposite tooth and nail. For some, the first film is one of those that leaves you speechless, and so does the second. There is no middle ground: either you surrender to Coppola or you mentally bin him. A matter of principle, some say.
Kubrick, Nolan and the cinema you admire but don't enjoy
The catalogue of illustrious disappointments is long. 2001: A Space Odyssey is dismissed as weak within Kubrick's filmography, with a promise to rewatch it to confirm. Solaris is described as a romance with an alien that feels like a gun-free James Bond, with soundstage sets and leather coats. Nothing like, they say, the immersion of Interstellar.
And that's where Nolan comes in. His entire filmography ranks among the most singled out. The argument is that his films carry a veneer of pretentiousness that works as bait: when someone watches Interstellar, they feel clever for understanding it, but it was made precisely for that. The same pattern applies to The Dark Knight or The Shawshank Redemption: entertaining, crowd-pleasing and carrying that air of importance that inflates ratings.
The timing factor: watching Blade Runner in the 80s isn't watching it today
One of the sharpest points in the discussion comes down to age and life stage. Discovering Blade Runner or Akira in the eighties, when visual science fiction was scarce, is not the same as watching them today, when the genre has been mined to exhaustion. The same goes for Taxi Driver: a theme that has since been filmed and explained better a handful of times.
The estimulante ilegal of today's consumption also weighs in. With YouTube and TikTok firing stimuli every few seconds, the brain gets used to a different pace, and slower classic cinema becomes an uphill struggle. Decades ago, people went to the video store a couple of times a week, and a glance, a plot twist or a sarracena was enough to leave satisfied.
From Your Name to Ben-Hur: what does get a pass
It's not all complaints. Your Name (2016) is recommended without reservations over boring classic anime. Ben-Hur, in its remastered edition, gets the nod as a cult classic that isn't a drag. The Seventh Seal surprises: people expected a metaphysical bore and found it entertaining, even funny at times. The Return of the King escapes the burning of the trilogy.
At the other extreme, Life of Brian is dismissed as having jokes worse than a bad TV comedian's, La Grande Bellezza amounts to an effective tragicomedy and little more, and The Tree of Life is flatly described as boring crap. The films of Spanish director Mario Camus' contemporary José Luis Garci? An immense bore. Even Cinema Paradiso takes hits: its love story feels like filler, and a great film should have no filler.
In the end, the conclusion is uncomfortable for both sides. Tastes are subjective, but cinematic quality is not, and that's where nobody agrees. You may prefer a pop song to a Mozart composition, and Mozart's musical quality will still be superior. Which doesn't stop many people, when they hit play, from choosing the pop song.
Also available in: Deutsch
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (305 replies).
More summaries
-
2001 vs Barry Lyndon: Kubrick's Final Divides Fans
2001: A Space Odyssey leads as favorite against Barry Lyndon in the best film ever final. Kubrick's sole Oscar was for…
-
Blade Runner tops list of best 1980s films
Blade Runner, The Empire Strikes Back and Back to the Future lead polls for the best movies of the 1980s. Spanish cinema and gore also feature.
-
Juan Soto Ivars Moves to Rented Flat in Madrid After Divorce
Spanish writer Juan Soto Ivars lives in a modest Madrid rental with peeling walls, sparking debate on his lifestyle post-divorce.
-
Inheritance and living together: why so many siblings stop speaking
Inheritance and sharing a home are the main triggers of rifts between siblings. Indifference and distance take over once respect is gone.
-
A day in the life of a burbujo: coffee, irony and a pending contest
A burbujo's day starts with coffee and two neighbors aged 83 and 89, moves on to irony and memes, and ends with a call for another big contest.
-
Tarot won't fix your mortgage: the property lottery
With a down payment of over 24,000 euros, the problem isn't the mortgage amount: it's the ten-year term and a monthly payment stretched like chewing gum.