Unpopular opinions

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Stuff you like that others hate, stuff you hate that others like, or stuff you think are okay but overrated. My list below happens to include only movies, but all kinds of fiction are welcome.

Stuff I like that others hate

The Matrix sequels. Sure, they're not as good as the original movie. But I still like 'em, especially Reloaded. It has great action scenes and the scene near the end, with the Architect... I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but it sent shivers down my spine. I thought the ending of Revolutions was clever. The rest of that film not so much, though.

Stuff that I think is overrated (but still okay)

Pirates of the Carribean. All three of 'em. Sure, I like them, but really, are they that fantastic? Is Johnny Depp's performance as captain Jack Sparrow that awesome? I say no, but I do still enjoy them.

Stuff I hate that others like

James Bond. Let me be clear: I have never read the original novels. I have seen movies starring Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. I haven't seen the new Daniel Craig movies.
I understand that James Bond is supposed to be the ultimate male fantasy: he has the cool gadgets and cars, gets to go to fancy parties and sleeps around with lots of beautiful women. But none of these things particularly appeal to me, not even in an escapist way. (Concerning the women: no, I'm not gay. I'm just really, really, really hardwired towards monogamy.)

['thul]

these beings hate the sport called soccer. It is boring. One simple change that would make it interesting is to implement a "black card". Death sentence, on the spot, immediately.

These beings do not mind most other stuff.

These beings do enjoy low temperatures, strange humor and various other things.

They have not seen any of the latest James bond films.

[redchild]

^`thul, I feel the same way towards American football....and most team sports anyway. So I guess I would say I don't like sports as much as everyone else does. Too much chest-thumping and fanatic hype for people who make way too much money for what they do. However I do acknowledge that sports are a necessary element in society, otherwise we'd all be bashing each other bloody and that wouldn't be very nice.

I really like the Daniel Craig as Bond movies. They're quite a departure from the previous Bond's. The character is more introverted, less playboyish/womanizing, and I think, more three-dimensional. After Casino Royale and Quantum, the older Bond movies seem so corny and cliche. I highly recommend you give Casino Royale a shot.

I don't like Jane Austen books as much as everyone else. They all seem the same to me.

I like the classic/Renaissance Disney films. Even with the bastardization of various fairy tales, I still think they're great. Neither do I believe them to be just movies for kids to watch so the parents can get some peace. If people actually paid attention to them, they might find that they are passing over really high-quality stuff. I think Pixar has pretty much taken over Disney's legacy and has really changed the way people look at animated cartoon films.

I hate shopping. Especially clothes shopping. I only like book shopping.

While I like her music, I think Lady Gaga's really pushing it in terms of her image and stage persona. People will only be fascinated with a freak show for so long before they get bored and avert their attention to another freak show.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

I have to agree with you guys on sports. I can understand playing a sport, but watching it? And paying those guys millions of dollars/euros/whatever?

I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End yesterday. I said that I think the PotC movies are overrated but okay, but I might actually hate this one. The thing that bothers me most is the whole Pirate Council business...

Spoiler

Suddenly, there's this a mystical, centuries old, international brotherhood of pirates. No hint of this has been given in the first two films. And then both Jack Sparrow and Barbossa turn out to be pirate lords. No hint had been given about that. I like it when movies surprise me, but this is a whole lot of stuff coming out of friggin' nowhere. And then Elizabeth Swann becomes pirate king and gives a big speech about how freedom is what being a pirate is all about. Wait a minute... so being a pirate no longer means robbing and killing people on sea, but being part of an ancient organisation of freedom fighters?

And just what is Beckett's evil plan? Controlling the seas to make it safe for trade? Getting rid of pirates? Sure, his methods are questionable, but his goal is evil how exactly?

So yeah, that's the main thing that really annoyed me. And on another note:

Movies by Quentin Tarantino. I can't abide them. All style but no substance.

['thul]

Tarantino movies are a bit odd.

anyways, 'thul has a reply for your spoiler.

Spoiler

The lack of hints of such is pretty odd, but still, why should they bother about it? A group of pirates that cannot agree on anything (except doing what they always do). Its a fairly common thing for pirates and other forms of criminals to bind together into organizations in order to be more effective (and for many law-holders to deny that possibility). It is natural for the most effective pirates to be considered "lords". sparrow for his tricking that ship out of the locker and various other things, and Barbarossa for stealing that ship from jack.
As for the pirates valuing freedom, that is actually true. They valued freedom from crowns and such first, and used that as excuse to plunder, steal and generally being a nuisance. Freedom to do what they want, not what the crown wants.

Becketts plan is evil because the pirates are the "good guys" and it is for his profit, not for the profit of the people.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

[spoiler=Yet more arguing about Pirates of the Caribbean]I can see your point. Sure, pirates have valued freedom. That doesn't mean that they used it for good things. What we get in the movie is freedom loving pirates fighting against tyranny. It's a far cry from a more nuanced depiction like in Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders.

Sure, it makes sense for pirates to organise themselves and for some to have a big reputation among other pirates. But an organisation like we see in the movies? We saw English, French, Chinese and Singaporsese pirates and wherever those black pirates came from. It goes back centuries, it has magical communication coins, it can bind and free a goddess. And nobody but the pirates knows of its existence. I could have stomached all this if we had had some hints beforehand. The idea is kinda cool, I have to admit. Instead, it comes out of nowhwere.[/spoiler]

[redchild]

The answer to that is, yes they really did pull all that stuff out of their ass because POTC was supposed to be a standalone. I didn't care for the sequels at all (yes, I have watched them. I don't find them memorable.)

So that brings me to another thing I generally don't like: movie sequels. THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM I'M DROWNING AHHHH!!! Very few directors/productions can pull off good sequels. Right now I can only think of James Cameron (who I think tends to make better sequels than originals- fancy that) and Pixar. The difficulty of sequels is in the continuity, and that's very difficult especially considering how money, production crew, and actors get shuffled around all the time, combined with a screenplay that is as well developed as the original's, as well as fleshing out new territory from the original source.

I also don't like well done meat. Or people who ask for well done meat at restaurants. Yes, go ahead and char all the flavor out of that meat just to kill off a few germs! Gees. I've heard restaurants keep the lousiest, oldest cuts of meat reserved for people who want their meat well done. Serves them right, fufufufu. Most of all antibiotic production (80%!) actually ends up being fed to livestock than humans. This brings up an issue of harming the animals' natural resistance to new strains of bacteria, as well as short-sighted actions stemming from agro-business greed, but I highly doubt a super killer new strain of bacteria/virus is hiding in the pink meat of a steak.

[joost]

"Stuff I like that most people don't like". I think that describes most of my music collection. Limited issues of 100 copies which still aren't sold out after a few years should give you an idea .

There are a few sports that I like watching (biathlon, langlaufing, snooker, occasionally cycling), but most of the stuff leaves me indifferent.

But to be honest, I don't really consider popularity before seeing if I like something. If I like it, I like it. If I don't, I don't.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Yeah, but it can be pretty annoying to have everyone go wild over soccer while I just can't bring myself to care. Or people gushing about Johnny Depp's performance as Jack Sparrow which I didn't find all that interesting. Speaking of which...

While it is true that PotC was originally intended as a standalone, I don't think that excuses the pirate council coming out of nowhere. The reason: the second and third films were always conceived of as one story. Part of At World's End was even filmed simultaneously with Dead Man's Chest. They could have put some foreshadowing in the second film, like having some characters converse legends about a pirate council or something like that.

[spoiler=Instead, we get something really, really obtuse...]Remember the scene at the beginning of Dead Man's Chest where a tribe of cannibals believe Jack Sparrow is a deity trapped in human form? Apparently, that was supposed to foreshadow the fact that Tia Dalma would turn out to be Calypso imprisoned in human form.[/spoiler]


Congratulations to anyone who caught on to that one.

So yeah, movie sequels are difficult. However, they can be done right. The Back to the Future sequels are pretty good.

[Farseer]

James Bond? I am so with you, AR. I detest the movies and just turn off as soon as I hear anything James Bond-related! Sorry, but I feel the same way about the Matrix, and Star Trek, and Aliens, and…!

I agree with you redchild re shopping, especially for clothes. I even had a man get really upset with me a few times in one conversation recently, and he even went so far as to question my femininity (!!), because I declared that I hated shopping! I go to a shop to buy what I need to buy and I get out. If I can do it, I’ll order it from town and have my mailman bring it out rather than have to go into town and shop for it myself! Shopping for books though, is a whole different thing altogether.

I also love Disney and/or Pixar movies and am pretty certain I could say with a clear conscience that I’ve watched (and our family owns) every one ever made! It’s good stuff!

As for sport, well, I can’t say too much without completely contradicting myself here!! I hate the chest-thumping, too much money etc side of things, not to mention the rubbish that happens off the field, but I also enjoy playing and watching sport. I have to add that this is the case MOST of the time but there are also a lot of times when I just can’t tolerate it, like I’ve had my fill or something? As with most TV though, I rarely watch it unless it’s something ‘important’, like, the grand final or the last game of the tournament etc and even then it’s more of a stop and look/listen for a bit then watch some more as I walk past the next time, rather than that I’ll sit down from beginning to end.

I do have to say though, as much as I used to watch it when I was young, and as much as I could watch the 'Phar Lap' movie even now, the Melbourne Cup and any horse racing annoys me no end. I don't stop for "the race that stops the nation". There, I've said it! I'll be deported tomorrow...

The reason why I’ve been away the last few days is because my son has been competing in a public speaking/youth competition where there are a number of elements in the judging process. He is representing his school and now, after having won the last two rounds, will represent the entire zone at district finals but, to be honest, I hate the whole idea of young people competing to see who the year’s best youth is in the first place. You don’t need an award to tell you that you are a worthy person…okay, some people do but hopefully you know what I mean?! Do we really need to have our kids competing for such a stupid title?! Does the fact that my son has won this far into the comp REALLY make him a ‘better’ youth than someone he has beaten, or someone who didn’t bother to enter? No, of course not…it’s more that those particular judges could connect with his personality or that he spoke well during his impromptu speeches on that given day etc.

Okay, notch that up to things I hate that others like…titles and competitions like ‘Mum of the Year’ etc. Even movie and books awards annoy me (despite the fact that I happily voted for RH’s books in a recent comp !). Why do we have to be told we are "the best"?!

Back to sport…one aspect of the youth competition involves giving a prepared speech on any topic…my son chose rugby league and the need to dispel the stereotype of the ‘dumb footballer’. It is a subject important to him because he a) is a high-achieving academic who also involves himself in a very broad range of other extra-curricular activities such as music, dance, debating etc and he is also a b) person who loves to play football and lots of other sport for the sheer joy of it, to balance his studies. In this, I guess I see sport more from his perspective. He said something along the lines of, “Loving embroidery does not define a person, as does loving fishing, so why should loving rugby league?”

For many people there is only sport but for just as many, sport is a small facet of who they are. Maybe I’ve just been around too many sports-mad people all my life…no doubt living in Australia has much to do with it also…if you don’t watch or play sport, your level of patriotism or right to be in our country is severely questioned!!

I've added hardly anything new of my own but I have a feeling that this thread and I will be seeing a lot of each other...great idea, AR!

Oh, and Johnny Depp? I can't sit through a movie he's in, no matter what it is! I think I am the only female on the planet who feels that way!

Oh, oh, and well done meat? I can't eat it any other way, though germs have nothing to do with it...I just prefer it that way, a bit like how I prefer strawberry milk over chocolate? As for restaurants, I eat so much red meat here that I always order seafood when I get an opportunity to eat out!

On food though, I hate sauce, especially when someone smothers it over the top of a meal I have prepared!!! I also can't stand buying food from Maccas, KFC etc, etc. What the real attraction is there, I have no clue...and, yet, if I hear of another cooking (or singing, or dancing) TV show I will go totally mental!

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"Stuff I like that most people don't like". I think that describes most of my music collection. Limited issues of 100 copies which still aren't sold out after a few years should give you an idea .

langlaufing

I had to Google this!