Monday, February 25, 2013

I Wish I Could UN-See That Movie!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Well, the Oscars were last night, and (fill in the blank) was awesome, and what a surprise about (fill in the blank) and didn't(fill in the blank) look incredible? (Fill in the blank) was such a disappointment, and (fill in the blank) was so inarticulate. And could you believe the...well, you get the point. You don't need US to talk about the Academy Awards, and all the  movies and stars that were honored.

(We're happy to discuss it, of course!)

But let's do the opposite. Let's talk about movies we hate. Not so-bad-they're good movies, like Plan Nine from Outer Space and Point Break, but ones that were disappointments, or ridiculous, or absurd, or over-hyped, or just--unbearably awful.

My most un-favorite? THE VANISHING.   SPOORLOOS in Dutch, but it had subtitles. That was the creepiest movie I've ever seen, and actually, I wish I could UNsee it. (There's a  American verison, but I'm talking about the original.)  A young couple stops at a highway rest stop. The girl goes inside to the bathroom,and never comes out. And the guy spends the rest of the movie looking for her. Completely and totally obsessed.

(This isn't a spoiler.) So eventually, he gets asked--"You can find out what happened to her, but the same thing will happen to you. Do you wanna know?"  

I can't even write about it. It was SO disturbing. How about you? Any movies you wish you could UNsee?

LUCY BURDETTE: I am getting better at not going to movies I'd like to unsee later. But I did see the live-action shorts. And I wish I could unsee the first one, called DEATH of a SHADOW. A man had to kill 1000 people and then he could be released from his own death. Isn't that a creepy premise? At least we didn't have to slump through all 1000 deaths.

The funny thing is, the film that won this category last year was funny and quirky and upbeat, and yet all the offerings for 2012 were downers, with harsh settings (Somalia and Afghanistan, for example) and grim characters. I guess it's a sign of the times?

RHYS BOWEN: I don't do disturbing movies any more. When I was young I'd go to dark and violent foreign films and sit drinking wine dissecting them afterward. Now I can't handle too much darkness. I like my movies to be well-written and great human dramas (or comedies). My major beef recently with movie theaters is the sound level. Saw the Hobbit in Imax and the sound during the previews was so loud it actually hurt my ears. I haven't seen any movies I hate recently because I only go now on recommendations from friends and good reviewers. Movies like Quartet and Marigold Hotel--that's my speed. The one movie remember absolutely hating after it received so much praise was Raging Bull, every second word was a four letter one. We walked out.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I agree with you, Rhys. I'm fine with the f-bomb once in a while, as necessary, but I've never had much tolerance for being carpet-bombed. You can't convince me that the original 1962 CAPE FEAR with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum was less scary than the more graphically violent and obscenity-laden remake with Robert DeNiro and Nick Nolte.

Graphic violence usually turns it into a can't-see flick for me. The only film I can remember walking out of is SAVAGES. I like Don Winslow's books, but I can stomach a lot more on the printed page than I can onscreen. I lasted until the "heroes" are forced to help torture a guy before I couldn't take it anymore. Caught the last half hour of THE AVENGERS instead.

A movie that I just hated? In theaters now. A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD stunk like a fish left out in the sun for three days. And I LOVE the DIE HARD series. Plot holes so gaping, Ross, the Boy and I were turning to each other in the theater and asking each other, "But wouldn't he..?" Afterwards, Ross said, "I wish we had seen that in a foreign language. Without subtitles. It would have hung together better."

HALLIE EPHRON: Like Rhys, I stick to movies I've read about and won't make me feel like I stepped in it. So I've got to go back... to A Clockwork Orange. Gleefully torture and maim, tra la. Ick and double ick. Masterpiece schmassterpiece.

The good thing about watching movies at home is FAST FORWARD and the ever handy MUTE button.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: This is a hard one.  I've been disappointed in a lot of movies but UNSEE really raises - or is it lowers - the bar.  There's only one I REALLY wish I'd never seen, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Don't ask me to explain.

For the record I love Plan 9 From Outer Space, 2000 Maniacs, Eeegah!, Valley of Gwangi and a lot of movies many people think are dreadful. I just bought a copy of Frogs! This is a film I've never seen but have mentioned many times in my talk Mischief and Mayhem in the Garden. It stars Oscar winner Ray Milland and carries the memorable taglines "They're not the ones who croak!" and "First the pond - then the world!" I can't wait to watch it.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Because at our house, Friday night is At Home Movie Date Night, and Rick often chooses, I watch all sorts of things. He does make an effort to find things I'll like, so the stinkers are more often my choices. Like Syriana. Hated that movie. And very recently, Flight. I won't say I hated it--good performance by Denzel Washington--but it was pretty much a case of suffering through it. Nice ending, but SO depressing getting there. And SO long.
Movies I wish I could unsee? I think I'm with Hallie on Clockwork Orange. I did my best to erase it from my memory files.

But my current "wish I could unsee" is a TV show, the new series called The Following with James Purefoy and Kevin Bacon, two fine actors. I watched ten minutes of the pilot, thought it was awful, turned it off. Then last week, in a hotel room, the second episode came on and I watched the whole thing in a sort of numb state of shock.  It's not only vile, but BAD. As in bad acting, bad dialogue, unbelievable characters... Just dreadful. Do not be tempted to watch this or you'll want to take a memory-erase pill!

HANK: See? And this is why the world goes round. I loved Clockwork Orange. And I LOVED Raging Bull.  And Ro, I am still laughing over "They're not the onlly ones who croak!" Classic. But you'd never want to unsee it. As for The Following, I have to say, I kind of like it. But it is incredibly violent.  And I just don't like to take up room in my head with that. Which reminds me of a scene in the otherwise-fabulous Game of Thrones I wish I hadn't seen.  Eeessh.

So ,Reds--whats the movie that makes your brain crawl? That you wish you could unsee? And to celebrate Debs wonderful new THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS--the oppoite of unsee!--we're giving away a copy to one lucky commenter!

89 comments:

  1. I dislike remakes in general . . . mostly because they're never as good as the original. My biggest gripe? Changing the premise or the character in some way so that it's no longer recognizable . . . no longer the story we have come to expect . . . like the original "Mission: Impossible" which, in its transformation from the television series to the big screen, had the good guy turn out to be a bad guy --- totally out of character for what fans of the original show expected.

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  2. Hallie, I feel so validated with my reaction to A Clockwork Orange! Thank you. When those kids started marching down that corridor... and when they started their kick fest, I stopped watching. It's a good thing Steve and I were already married, because I'm certain we never would have been had he known I possessed such a weenie film intellect.

    Whenever I go to Heathrow and start the long trek through its indoor corridor, I have A Clockwork Orange flashbacks.

    I could not finish reading the first page of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and avoided discussing going to see the film when Steve heard it was coming out. I started having A Clockwork Orange flashbacks and tried to interest him in other films.

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  3. Oh Debs! Thank you too for validating my unsee wish of A clockwork Orange. You just can't unsee these things. It's awful. The visuals will not go away.

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  4. I don't like violent films either. I am trying to remember the title of my unsee film. It was violent and I have put it waaaay back in my mind. Win or not I am looking forward to The Sound of Broken Glass. Dee

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  5. DARK PASSAGE stars Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, is based on the novel of the same name by David Goodis, and is so badly done, it's laughable in many spots. We show it regularly at a writer's conference I attend. Near the end, the villain concludes her badness by tripping and falling backward out the apartment window. It's a scream.

    Also glad to hear I'm not the only one who hated Clockwork Orange.

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  6. Our local Screening Room usually has 100%-win offerings. But we watched a movie several years ago about the Irish revolutionaries where they showed the Brits pulling a man's fingernails out one by one. Wish I could unsee that one!

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  7. I didn't care for The Girl...Dragon Tatoo, but my wife 1)read the book, 2)saw the American version, 3)saw the European version, 4)loved them all. She went to Catholic school.

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  8. Wish I could unsee? Hmm... Really hated LES MIZ, but I can't say I wish I could unsee it, mostly since I was asleep for so much of that movie, it's hard to say I saw it in the first place. I do sort of wish I could unsee the most recent, JJ Abrams version of STAR TREK, since it essentially erased everything that had happened in the series up to that point, which is annoying. But really wish I could erase from my memory? That would have to go to WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE, which disturbed the hell out of me when I was 10 or so. (And by the way, Jack, if you hated the end of DARK PASSAGE, you must have REALLY hated the end of MARATHON MAN!)

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  9. Agreed, Jeff Cohen - Marathon Man gets the award for Dental Excess.

    This is so interesting... I was always afraid to admit how much I hated A Clockwork. And I'm not a wimpy movie goer -- LOVED Silence of the Lambs, adored Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill.

    Wondering if anyone's seen Django Unchained and can comment.

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  10. One recent film I wish I could UNsee was a little indie film called Compliance. It was based on a true story of this fast-food manager who was convinced by a prank caller (pretending to be a policeman) that she need to strip search an employee. The "compliance" goes so much further and knowing that it actually happened (not only to this girl, but in other repeat cases) was more than I could handle.

    The film is well made, but I don't think I will ever be able to forget the horrors that girl had to face and how easily her boss was swayed. Chilling!

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  11. Seven. Or 7. Can't remember which way they titled it. Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin spacey, Gwyneth Paltrow. Great cast. Horrible, sick, disturbing movie.

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  12. Thank goodness I never had to see A Clockwork Orange (although my husband and his twin brother still quote bits from it now and then), but another Stanley Kubrik film gave me nightmares for years: Straw Dogs.

    The other movie that creeped me out for ages, and almost put me off sex, was Andy Warhol's Frankenstein. Yikes. So sick.

    Those were movies dates took me to, dates who presumably were hoping for a much different end to the evening than they got. My husband, thank heavens, feels the same as I do about film violence and general creepiness.

    Debs, I'm SO excited about this next installment of Duncan's and Gemma's story. Best of luck.

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  13. I should have said that my husband and his brother read the book, A Clockwork Orange. I doubt Steve ever saw the movie. Books are different, although these days I'm much less likely to enjoy any with that level of violence.

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  14. Seven...yeah, pretty creepy, but as far as serial killer movies go, one of my faves.

    Funny about Clockwork. It's as if people are coming out of the closet about it. Haven't seen it for years, not inspired to add to netflix.

    Jeff, really?? After last night's Oscars I want to see it again. I've seen Les Miz more than any other play, but didn't love Hugh as Jean. Think I'll give it another chance.

    Glad the annoying little girl with the weird name didn't win. She'd have been insufferable for the next two decades until she went into rehab.

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  15. Finishing Hank's intro:

    Well, the Oscars were last night, and (Daniel Day Lewis) was awesome, and what a surprise about (Life of Pi) and didn't(Nicole Kidman) look incredible? (Seth MacFarlane) was such a disappointment, and (Kristen Stewart) was so inarticulate (she looked stoned).

    PS: FLOTUS's bangs are definitely a mistake.

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  16. THE USUAL SUSPECTS. We watched it, were totally confused, watched it AGAIN (it was a DVD), and were still lost. Who in heck WAS Kaiser Socze? Molly Campbell

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  17. I'll play! Well, the Oscars were last night, and (Daniel Day Lewis) was awesome, and what a surprise about (Lincloln not winning more) and didn't(Michelle Obama and Halle Berry) look incredible? (Kristin Chenoweth) was such a disappointment, and (that woman from Bridesmaids) was so inarticulate (or maybe she jsut had bad writers.).

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  18. Tarantino makes me queasy every time. I want to like his movies because he's so clever. I loved "Death-Proof," which is the last half of "Grindhouse" because the women in that movie kick some major ass. But I have to watch most of his movies with my hands over my eyes, peeking out through my fingers when I think it's safe.

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  19. MARATHAN MAN! NO, no, holding my ears. I STILL think about that! EEsh. Think how dentists feel.

    And yes, I didnt see Comlpiance, (happily) but one of the things that makes stories so scary is that it COULD happen. Step by step.

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  20. Me too on Clockwork Orange. I saw it, what, 30 plus years ago? and still have some awful scenes stuck in my head.

    Hallie, I would not go see SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. I read it, because then I could control my reactions more easily. Though I wouldn't read it a second time. or anything else involving flaying of skin...

    So glad that the short action film CURFEW won last night. It does begin with a very disturbing image of a man in a bathtub about to slit his wrists. But gradually the light comes on and it's funny too. If you get a chance, see it.

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  21. THE USUAL SUSPECTs-- oh, I loved it. Afterward. And I'd love to see it again, without the bafflement.

    I think there's a thing that happens thta someitmes I spend too much time saying--huh? Huh? WHen I shod just watch it.

    And yes, PJ, we can always tell that the bad part is coming, and I cover my eyes. And ears. And sometimes I say na nan na so I don't hear. AS you can imgaine, I'm a barrel of laughs to watch movies with.

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  22. Oh, LUcy, Silence of the Lambs is realy good.

    SOmehow, the creepiness is okay. Others who like it--why do you think that is?

    I mean--I could watch that movie a million times, but if I NEVER saw --oh, that movie HAllie and I were talking about the toher night. The one with Jeremy Irons as the twin gynecologists? Ahhhh. FORGET ABOUT IT.

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  23. I vaguely remember seeing Clockwork so just looked it up. I think that is one of the few movies that I walked out of. Who is this Seth MacFarland and why is he NOT funny? And why do so many of the presenters try to be funny and usually fail? I'd like the Oscars so much more if the presenters would dress beautifully, announce the candidates and then - drumroll, please - the winner! This would eliminate all those embarrassing moments and about 2 hours of an overly long show.

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  24. I absolutely hate to see vomiting onscreen, although I've gotten pretty good at anticipating it and looking away (or I ask my sons to see it first and let me know when the throwing up starts). Much as I enjoyed "Car Wash," that was one where the vomiting was so realistic, and I didn't have time to look away. Yecch!

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  25. I not only wish I could unsee Twilight, I'd love to have that two hours or so back again.

    xo greg herren

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  26. Thanks for the tip about THE FOLLOWING, Debs. I was planning on streaming it, because Kevin Bacon is such an excellent actor. I could watch it if, as advertised, it's "dark and disturbing." But badly written and performed? I'll pass.

    Thought of another wish-I-could-unsee-it movie. The second Pirates of the Caribbean. I mildly enjoyed the first and the kids had loved it, so we all trooped off for the sequel... to sit through 2+ hours of incoherent story, bad lighting and scenery chewing. Then it ended with no resolution whatsoever, the most blatant sequel-bait I've ever experienced. Did NOT see the third.

    Though I suppose that's more like a 3-hours-of-my-life-I-wish-I-had-back flick.

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  27. Pulp Fiction. I really hated it. As you can see, I am not a Tarantino fan. My plan is never to see another of his movies.

    I think I HAVE erased clockwork Orange, cause I don't remember much about it.

    I saw Batman Begins 2x, not by choice. A good job, and some favorite actors, making a movie I really, really did not like.

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  28. Margie B,that's funny, you need a puke patrol to go to the movies with you:). I'm like Hank, cover eyes and ears...

    I just finished a scene the other day in which a woman is seasick and throws up over the side of the boat. (Yes, I am familiar with this:). I asked my writers group--do you want to see fish nibbling at bits of scrambled eggs?

    They said yes! TMI? what do you think?

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  29. Lucy, from the fish's POV?

    SOrry.

    ANd you know, yeah, I think it makes it realistic. In fact, I'm feeling a little queasy just considering it, so it works!

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  30. So Hank's been holding a public speaking class on the Guppies chapter discussion list, and the timing was perfect! I don't usually watch the Oscars b/c I haven't seen the movies (saw 3 this year -- a record!), but watched and got to see so many of her lessons in action! You're Meryl and you step on your dress -- say so, laugh, and move on! Even (---) or (---) can flub a simple line. And cute dimples don't make up for dumb jokes.

    Unsee? Luis Bunuel's Un Chien Andalou. If you've seen it, you know why; if you haven't, I don't want to tell you.

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  31. Unsee: movie version of Pink Floyd's
    The Wall. Loved the album. Hated the movie. Turned me off of music videos forever. Also, any movie version of Dune. Great sci fi novel that apparently just doesn't translate to movies or TV, no matter who directs or stars.

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  32. Stay away from Grimm Love. I liked it, but it gets... messy.

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  33. OH, LEslie, Un Chien Andalou. Saw it. Sadly.

    As for the Oscars, I was thinking the SAME thing! And was about to post that!

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  34. I love the book DUNE. Adore and worship it.

    The movie...a visual travesty. And we saw it on opening day, but we were late, so we had to sit in row 5 or 6. DUNE is not a movie you want all up in your face. I am still traumatized.

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  35. Molly -- Did you not have the "aha" moment at the end, when the policeman looks at the bulletin board behind him and sees items that were the basis of the Kevin Spacey's character's entire story? I still wasn't sure, but then the Spacey character loses his limp as he walks away. The End.

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  36. Yes. Jack, that moment was AMAZING!
    Fabulous. (And yes, youre right..sigh. Terrific. And interesting that it would be very diffiuclt to so that in a book, you know?)

    ANd Ramona, with ya. LOVE Dune.
    But the movie--yikes.

    They wrecked The Golden Compass, too.

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  37. I'm just going to ignore my typos. Really. And I hope you will, too.

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  38. Funny where we draw the line. MacGuyver (my cutesy writer name for my husband) and I are big Tarantino fans, but we stopped watching THE FOLLOWING because we couldn't unsee some things. For good or ill, the show is getting great numbers, so we're liable to see more of that kind of thing on non-cable TV. Likewise, the only Law & Order show still in production, is the one we stopped watching because it left yucky images in our minds.

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  39. Oh, if we're going to TV... I find Criminal Minds unwatchable. Invariably they go for torturing women in every imaginable way.

    Oh, I JUST remembered (that is I had to find the title -- Googled Marlon Brando and butter and up it came -- Last Tango in Paris. Boring AND icky.

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  40. I'll play! Well, the Oscars were last night, and (Ben Affleck) was awesome, and what a surprise about (Ang Lee) and didn't(Charlize Theron, George Clooney) look incredible? (Kristin Chenoweth) was such a disappointment, and (that woman from Bridesmaids) was so inarticulate (or maybe she just had bad writers.).

    The Jeremy Irons film was called Dead Ringers dirr. by David Cronenberg. Big eeeww factor based on a true story. Bigger eeww.

    LOVED Usual Suspects and whenever I'm writing and need a name I look at my bulletin board which I've covered with stuff to inspire.

    Caught a few minutes of Following, seemed preposterous, but dang if that James Purefoy isn't a cutie. Loved the little-seen Vanity Fair with Reese Witherspoon, she was wonderful and he played her husband. Yum. can he please be lady mary's new love interest on that other show...?

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  41. Oh Hallie, when I was very young, I saw LAST TANGO IN PARIS. And, because I thought it was soooo good, I went a second time.

    Only this time I took my FATHER.

    what was I thinking??????

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  42. I totally agree with Ramona about DUNE. It was simply dreadful.

    I'm ambivalent about WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE ~ it wasn't that good, but I was lucky enough to have lunch with Bette Davis right after the movie wrapped, so I went to see it.

    Got up and left TREMORS - those worms reminded me too much of DUNE.

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  43. There are a couple of very well made dramas that were well-regarded, that I even respected, but I wish I hadn't seem them because some of the images have stuck with me:

    Requiem for a Dream
    The War Zone (directed by Tim Roth)


    I can handle gratuitous violence better than scenes that are gritty and harrowing in a real-life way.

    A movie whose very premise I wish I could undo in my head? The Human Centipede. Never saw it, of course--I wish I'd never heard of it!

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  44. Very few movies come to mind in the "unsee" category - not that I've loved all of them, just that I don't really see ones I wish I could "unsee" - some where I wish I had that 2 hours of my life back though.

    But unsee? Right now the BBC's reboot of the Arturian legend "Merlin." It went from the "so campy it's kind of cute" category to "let's fast forward because we know exactly what's going to happen and why do we care about these people anyway?" category. Ugh.

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  45. Lucy, I will be laughing for the rest of the day. Thank you for that story!!

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  46. I deliberately avoid movies that contain a lot of violence. Sometimes the violence level in a movie is misstated in the ratings, and I end up seeing it and regretting it. The worst of these for me was Gone Baby Gone. It gave me nightmares for four consecutive days. Also, I was a little annoyed with the person who recommended it to me for not saying anything about the mass slaughter in that movie.

    I mistakenly thought that Mission Impossible 2 would be merely an updated version of the old TV program. The car chases and the explosions that made up so much of the movie were at least better than the scene where the man's finger is chopped off. Ugh.

    I would rather sit through a movie that is too silly than one with lots of violence. Even implied violence happening off screen gives me nightmares!

    And then there's the remake of a movie from the fifties; the name escapes me but the original was highly acclaimed. In the version I saw, there were discrepancies in the story AND the final scene dragged out a man's bloody death for about fifteen minutes. That is, fifteen minutes of watching the blood pool up, fifteen minutes of shots of the blood from all different angles, just watching it pour away. Not for me. I am on the brink of not allowing myself to see movies that get R ratings due to violence. Like I said, I will put up with silliness, and never see the silly movie again. Unfortunately, I "see" violent movies over and over again in my nightmares.

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  47. Oh, I walked out of Waterloo. It was just everyone getting killed, and everyone wore red white and blue. They'd introduce you to a lovely person, then make him a solder for one side or the other, impossible to tell which, then BLAM.

    It ws so sad and so heartwrenching, I went out and waited in the lobby.

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  48. Oh,DebRo. I liked Gone Baby GOne. And kind of intersting--I dont remember violence at all.

    I did see The Departed this weekend, again, by chance, not the whole thing..and I had forgotten how violent that was, too.

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  49. Really hideous movies I manage to forget, unless someone reminds me. I really liked Trainspotting when I saw it, but there are two scenes (and you know which they are) I could happily not have seen. Fortunately time has blurred the details for me.

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  50. I'm with Hallie & Deb on Clockwork
    Orange. I've never been able to get rid of all of it! And what it did to Beethoven. Works TV ever that I wish I'd never seen - an episode of Twilight Zone called "To Serve Mankind". I think I was only 9 and that's a LOOOONG time ago.
    Katherine

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  51. Ro, I've liked James Purefoy for a long time. He was, in fact, one of choices for a potential "Duncan." Maybe that's one reason I find this show so unwatchable.

    As for the Oscars, I was out to dinner in SF, no DVR, missed the whole thing.

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  52. And another thing. . . War movies. I can squirm through most, if they're good. But I cannot watch Vietnam war movies. Couldn't get past the first scene in Apocolypse Now. Never will.

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  53. Pat D, with ya. Band of Brothers, no way.

    Katherine! To Serve Mankind! I remmber it well...And hilariously, one of my husband's legal organizations has an apron that says "To serve our clients" which I couldn't stop laughing when I saw.

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  54. After walking out of the theater in Manhattan where we had just seen "Water World" (the Kevin Costner flick), I exclaimed to my friends that if Hollywood had taken the actual pile of money they spent on making that utter mess and set it on fire in the parking lot, it would have been infinitely more entertaining than sitting through the movie was. Ugh. More than two hours of my life I will never get back.

    --Marjorie of Connecticut

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  55. Water World! Classically Bad!

    But I hear Ishtar is having somewhat of a cult revival..

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  56. Oh Hank, do they wear a chef's tocque with that apron?!! Just the though makes me laugh.

    Katherine

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  57. By the by, Debs, I do love the Duncan and Gemma books and am looking forward to this new one. I've been collecting them from the very first in paperback!
    Katherine

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  58. This is probably going to sound weird, but Tom Cruise films tend to freak me out. Even when they're not supposed to. Something about his intensity level just makes my blood pressure go up. I saw Minority Report when I was eight months pregnant. The combination of disturbing visual images, high speed, Cruise's intensity, and my hormone levels....not good! It gave me nightmares!

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  59. No contest; didn't have to think even a nano second after seeing "Un-See" in the blog title. So which movie is it that I would like to "Un-See"? Eyes Wide Shut --- absolutely HORRIBLE. As one movie reviewer stated (I'm paraphrasing), "I'll have to watch "Jerry McGuire 26 times to get "Eyes Wide Shut" out of my head."

    Ugh, now I need to go watch Jerry McGuire again just thinking about un-seeing "Eyes Wide Shut."

    ~Tricia

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  60. Hank ... yes... really, yes. "...Silence of the Lambs is realy good. SOmehow, the creepiness is okay. Others who like it--why do you think that is?"

    Silence of the Lambs... so good. I loved it. I think because it was scary, but the scariness was contained. I don't recall seeing any violence. It was talked about some, but it was... ahhh--protected, somehow. Maybe it was the room, all that glass and gear. He was dangerous. We knew that, but we mostly saw him as a captive with very cautious keepers. And yet...

    And Clarice. So brave. Intelligent. Charming. Facing the beast. You wanted to be brave right there with her. Jody Foster. Perfect.

    That's why I like it.

    What is difficult is the memory of my father trying to scare me with his rendition of the fava beans and chianti dialogue.

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  61. I wish I could unsee:

    The Talented Mr. Ripley - I have never felt the same way about Matt Damon since.

    War of the Worlds - TC version. Ugh. All of the scenes in the basement w/Tim Robbins - and looking out the window, watching the aliens...
    So gross and disturbing.

    Criminal Minds. I love the premise of following The BAU as they profile criminals, but I can't stand watching the criminals in action. There are still episodes that come to mind -- usually in the middle of the night when I hear a strange noise in the house.

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  62. Because its adaptation of the fantastic book by Joseph Kanon is so horrible, I wish I could unsee the movie "The Good German."

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  63. Resevoir Dogs would be my pick--in many ways, a great film, but with some pretty intense disturbing violence. I agree with someone up thread about the movie Dune, too. Just awful, when the book is so rich.

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  64. My ex-husband used to drag me to horror movies and I really don't like them. The one that I really really didn't like and would like to unsee was called The Ring. It was terrible! I had bad dreams for weeks!

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  65. The recent Oscar-nominated movie that I wish I could un-see is "The Master." My sister, the art house movie lover, took me to it, and we agreed: No point. The characters are the same at the end as at the beginning, and the rambling, gratuitous female flesh-flashing footage in between, was a snooze.

    A very different awful movie was "Thomas and the Magic Railroad" with Alec Baldwin as Mr. Conductor. We loved "Shining Time Station" on TV, but this movie was bad, bad, bad.

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  66. I'm sorry..I am laughing too hard to catch up. I am thinking about having to watch JerryMaguire over and over..

    I am thinking about having an allergic reaction to Tom Cruise.

    I am thinking I had NO IDEA what Eyes Wide Shut was about. Or Inception, either. Was there also..Yellow...something?

    And I am imagining Mo wathcing Thomas and the Magic Railroad.

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  67. The RING.Joan...is that about watching a movie? I know, we won't discuss it...

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  68. I'd love to unsee Tarantino's INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. I don't find Tarantino talented, really, but I was sort of forced to see it by a dear friend. Uggh!

    MAD MAX and any other movie where terrible violence is visited on children. I grew up with violence and always have nightmares after those, so simply won't watch any longer.

    I can take violent books and film if it's not absolutely gratuitous an overboard. When it moves into torture porn territory, I'll pass.

    And just for hideousness of what they did to a great series of books--DUNE! And for sheer awful waste of a great cast, AMERICAN BEAUTY!

    Red Julia, did you know that you were on Salon today for your tweet about The Onion's disgusting comment on the 9-year-old nominee last night?

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  69. Well, I started watching Inglorious..and hated it.HATED. Then somnoe told me, oh, keep watching. And I did, and I love it. LOVED it! SO that's interesting.

    And LInda, you make me realize I've never seen MAd Max. Huh. NOw I won't.

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  70. Haven't seen Clockwork Orange, so I can't comment on it.

    Loved Inglorious Basterds, The Usual Suspects and Silence of the Lambs.

    Couldn't get through much of Dead Ringers. That was just too much.

    I also found The Following disturbing. And I don't get the James Purfoy thing. He's okay, imo, but not hubba hubba.

    Trying to think of the name of the movie with Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Frances MacDormand. Pitt and MacDormand were co-workers in a gym. That was a really stupid movie. And such a shame, because I like all the actors in it. I'd like get those 2hrs back.
    ~Kimberly

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  71. The Good Shepherd. Slow, dull, and then came some good old-fashioned torture. We left.

    And now I will mark myself as a real film philistine and say that I would rather chew broken glass than ever see another Woody Allen movie.

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  72. Oh, yeah, that was a TRULY STUPID movie. Brad Pitt in like an 80's get up? What WAS that?

    And is James Purfoy the bad guy? Meh. But Kevin Bacon is very cool. I like that show--I just close my eyes.

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  73. Someone once asked me the question, "What movies make you cry?"

    I thought a moment and replied, "MOONRAKER. And THE SAINT with Val Kilmer."

    Based on the look I got, I don't think that's the answer they were after....:)

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  74. Vikingwhistler, I am with you on Woody Allen. Pass the glass.

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  75. So, did they have Michelle Obama announce the award because of the nominees' subject matter? Been wondering since. I adore her--just trying to make the connection.

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  76. WIlliam Simon, you are so funny...

    And remember when Woody Allen movies were SO good??

    Reine, good question!

    "Slow, dull, and then came some good old-fashioned torture. " HA HA HA (What a wonderful day this has beocne..you all are so terrific.....)

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  77. And I'm just glad I haven't seen most of these.

    Now when John is asking for Netflix queue ideas, I can say: not that one, not that one, not that one, not that one....

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  78. Delighted to be of service, Roberta/Lucy!

    But also funny that there are LOVE and HATE of the same movie! It's kind of...reassuring...

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  79. I am the odd man out who thought Silence of the Lambs was completely dumb. I did not for one second believe in the Hannibal Lechter character and spent most of the movie rolling my eyes. I also didn't like Saving Private Ryan, so I guess it is just me.

    Band of Brothers was really excellent, but it almost killed me emotionally a few times. Add that it was a true story, and sobbity sob sob.

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  80. Yea, Ramona. Forget about it. I just don't want to be that sad.

    But Silence of the Lambs> Hmm. I loved it. Again, I think it's so instructive how people can be so divided. I really...am reassured.

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  81. CreepShow by Stephen King. There are scenes in that film that still give me the willies! Haven't watched any of his other movies, too dark for me. Except for The Stand, which I have seen several times, enjoying seeing Good triumph over evil. In CreepShow, evil is overcome by other evil, over and over... Ugh!

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  82. "2001 A Space Odyssey" was not for me. It gives me the creeps. "Hello, Dave." Ewwww.

    I feel the same way about "A Clockwork Orange." I can't see Malcolm McDowell in anything else without thinking of him in Clockwork Orange. Creepy.

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  83. I'm counting myself as very fortunate right now! Many of the movies mentioned, from Clockwork to the remake of Cape Fear, are ones I took a pass on for exactly the reasons mentioned. I'm not averse to all violence, and love the catharsis of the early Die Hard flicks ("Yippee kai yay…"). But movies that I see as simply vehicles for someone's sadomasochistic fantasies involving women are not my idea of entertainment.

    I read select reviews (Roger Ebert is someone I trust) and listen to friends, then decide whether or not I'll see a film. But last year I did go to a movie in spite of my better judgement. I took my six year old great-niece to see The Lorax and spent the entire 95 minutes in pain. The sound level was so outrageously high that I had to give my niece earplugs. I realized later I should've gone to the manager and had it turned down. Hindsight and all that. The other pain was from being unrelentingly bludgeoned with the movie's Message: We need our trees, protect our Earth!! Now, I'm an aging hippie/liberal who's been living that way for decades, but by the end of the movie I seriously wanted to go out and buy water in a plastic bottle, then not recycle it. Fortunately we went out for ice cream instead, and the feeling passed.

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  84. My very first date with my husband(then boyfriend) was Nightmare on Elm Street! We had been dating about two weeks, and I had seen maybe three movies up until that time. After 10 minutes, I got up and left the movie, and waited ion the lobby until he noticed I wasn't coming back. He forgave me! I couldn't even listen to the music of scary movies as a child. I really love movies now, but still shy away from Horror flicks!

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  85. Chose not to see Clockwork Orange once I had heard a bit about it. I've only walked out of a few movies in my many years. Reservoir Dogs and Inglourious Basterds were two of them. I got stuck watching Pulp Fiction at home and would like to "unsee it," were that possible. Clearly, Tarentino movies aren't for me. I do love mysteries, but can't stand that kind of violence. Debs' books are wonderful and would make excellent films. Hallie, I have the same reaction to Criminal Minds you do -- just no longer watchable for me. Gail in Texas

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  86. Susan Pence, LOVE The Stand. . (But the book si better, right?)

    I remember falling asleep in 2001--but that was in college so who knows.

    And the winner of Deb Crombies THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS IS: vikingwhistler ! EMail me at h ryan at whdh dot com and tell me your address!

    And thank you all for a wonderful day!

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  87. How did Hallie even THINK of Googling Brando and butter? Yes, I know about the scene. As long as we're on the..topic..there is a "back door" scene in Body Heat, with Wm. Hurt engaging(shall we say)Kathleen Turner.Next scene, they're sitting in a hot bath and HE says he's very sore. Lotta nerve, that guy. Great film, though.

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  88. Movies I would like to un-see.
    Well, that would have to be 'The Snake Pit', a 1948 movie with Olivia de Havilland about a young woman who is sent to a State Insane Asylum. I saw this in our local movie house as a young boy and the scenes I recall still gives me chills. Her performance scared the hell out of me.

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