Ask Lemmy

Dune (1984)

I love The Polar Express.

The most widely hated thing about it is the mocap. Not much to say here, I'm just straight-up not bothered by it. I think it looks fine. It's not incredibly expressive like a stylized animated film could be, but it doesn't look actively bad to me in any way.

The way the titular express inexplicably gains and loses rolling stock scene by scene and behaves in absurd ways like bending around the mountain are a common punchline. "BuT iT's A mAgIc TrAiN!!!" doesn't really solve it for me either. But on a casual viewing it's mostly inoffensive. A silly curiosity.

Some say the plot of the film spends too much time aimlessly noodling around and throwing in needless filler scenes. Meh. If you ask me that's where all the meat of the film is. The actual plot of the film has nothing interesting to say. "Kid doesn't believe in Santa. Magic Christmas hijinks ensue. Kid believes in Santa now. The end." Riveting. Nah, the so-called "filler" is absolutely the meal here.

The fact that the film literally has five named characters, and the main character isn't one of them is hilarious. To even get to that number you have to count both the Scrooge puppet and the kid who the elves were monitoring in a single scene as characters, and after that, one of the remaining three is Santa Claus. Just more weight to my point that the story doesn't matter, lmao.

Say what you will about the animation, but the cinematography is incredible. So many dynamic long-track camera shots from interesting angles. Especially whenever the steam locomotive is on screen. God, steam locomotives are so fucking cool. I don't even care that it's full of inaccuracies if you actually look up close. They put a lot of effort into it and that effort shows. It's quite the treat.

The set design of the North Pole is fantastic. It's admittedly kinda fucked that it's modeled after a real world Pullman company town, but I guess it's appropriate as a joke about the whole Santa's workshop thing while also incorporating a neat little nod to real life railroad lore. Beyond that, it's blindingly radiant of all that Victorian-era charm that most of the modern secular Christmas tradition is born from. The serene night snow amidst the rustic red brickwork illuminated by glowing amber gaslamps... augh, it's so aggressively cozy!

All the pneumatic and other steampunk-adjacent elf tech is a treat as well. The film is certainly no slouch in breathing its own unique spin of whimsy into Santa's toy factory. It's not the most whimsical out there, but it's definitely putting in work.

Alan Silvestri's score is phenomenal. It's all delightfully extra. Every single song in the film that's an original composition is a banger and every song that isn't an original composition for the film is part of that time-tested canon of hits from the 50s and 60s. I think a lot of people are fed up sick of the latter but, I dunno, I grew up listening to them on my Now That's What I Call Christmas CD, and to me their sound is synonymous with that warm, nostalgic holiday cheer I get from the season. Even if I don't get around to actually watching the movie, you know damn well I'm putting The Polar Express's soundtrack in my December shuffle.

Genuine S tier Christmas film. Well worth every single fault.

So many movies but let's go with: Ghostbusters 2016. I had an absolute blast watching it and Chris played one of the best himbos of all time

I personally liked Jamie Fox as Electro.

Cats (2019). The story is good, the music is good, the casting is good. People made it a huge meme cause of the CGI, but even that is pretty well done. It has a beautiful story, and if you're a pet lover like me, it really makes you emotional. Its also fucking insane. The entire time you watch it, you just go "people spent years of their life and millions to make this". Its a very surreal experience. I've also haven't met a person who has watched the movie and didn't like it.

To be fair, I haven't met anyone who has watched the movie

Freddie Got Fingered was completely panned when it came out, but I absolutely loved it! It was so ahead of its time, Tim and Eric-style comedy.

This is kind of a cheat, as it's been significantly re-evaluated since its release, so I'm not alone, but IMO Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is a masterpiece - it was HATED when it came out though, and even now I suspect there's a lot of people who would say the same.

Joker: Folie à Deux

If you’re not a Joker fanboy and have an open mind, this is a damn good film.

i always thought the last jedi was one of the best star wars films

I like Ad Astra. People hate it because they view it as a shitty scifi with lots of plot holes, but I view it from the perspective of brad pitt is actually in therapy in hypnosis or whatever to address the issues he has with his father, and the movie is really the journey through his mind and all the roadblocks and barriers he's built up internally. Then the plot holes seem reasonable and less relevant.

Trap - Absolutely ridiculous movie with an insane plot. Basically a promo for the director's daughter to launch a pop star career IRL. It should be distasteful, and it is, however it was such dumb fun I'm ignoring all of those bad points.

Crystal Skull

It's not hated, it's squarely in the middle of 'video game movies' (so probably lower than middle to the general public) but one of my favorite movies, far and away my favorite video game movie, is 'Rampage' with Dwayne Johnson and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

I can't fathom how anyone could not enjoy that flick.

I also genuinely enjoyed 'the crew' (2002?) which most people seem to dislike (it was around 15% on rotten tomatoes last I checked)

Freddy Got Fingered! I laughed until my sides hurt. I don't even care for Tom Green's street material all that much, but that movie is hilarious and I will defend it.

It's batshit insane, the bits are infectious, and every scene is memorable as fuck. The soundtrack is insanely good as well. There's a theory that he didn't want to make this movie, and it's a giant middle finger to the studio. Not only do I believe this, but I think Tom Green really carried that bit all the way, making one of the most ridiculous comedies of all time.

So many. For an example, the Star Wars Sequels (and Prequels). I think they were fine. Okay, 8 dropped a bit and had a lot of bad moments, but altogether, they were enjoyable. I had fun watching them.

Are they Oscar worthy? No. Not at all, not by a long shot, but I had fun.

I think we as a society are way too polar, it's either good or bad, trash or perfect. I think we've lost sight that things can simply be good, or fun. I had fun watching those movies. I don't think Rise of Skywalker wasted my time. Could it have been better? Of course. Was the writing lazy? Definitely at times. Did I enjoy watching it? Yes.