750 Excellent Hearing.

You know how sometimes everyone tells you that you should see a movie, but either you don’t like the people, or don’t like the hype, or the look of the film in question? So you don’t see it for years and years and people are always shocked that you haven’t seen it? The Big Lebowski was one of those movies for me. I went for all this time being told that I needed to see it because it reminded people of me. After having seen it I’m almost insulted by the comparison. Which is not to say that it’s a bad movie. It’s kind of fun in its way. Dom Irrera is even in it briefly. Perhaps I’m just sour because there’s no way any movie could have lived up to 12 years of hype. In any event I didn’t feel like I had wasted hours of my life that I’d never get back after having seen it, so that’s something.

What movies are like this for you guys? Are there still movies you “should” have seen by now? Like, have you never seen The Godfather and people always gasp audibly when you say so? Or maybe Star Wars, and you’re a nerd, so you don’t have that key point of reference in social situations. Tell me your tales.

58 Comments

I “should’ve” seen Guardians of Gahool but everything about it made me never want to ever see it, but then everyone said it was good, but I refuse.

Also, I continue to love Brooksie in this arc. Also, if Brooksie wants to be naked I say you do so

I have not seen the original Star Wars Trilogy, The Godfather, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, or most other movies people tend to quote or compare everything else to.

Serenity… Hell, you could probably put anything Joss Whedon has ever done into this category.

This happens to me more with video games than movies: The God of War and Final Fantasy series come to mind.

Well, that completely blows her ‘shy’ routine… B{)}

Back in the ’80s, my gang at the nuke plant and I read a book with a plot and style remarkably similar to The Big Lebowski. When I first heard about the movie, I thought it was a film version of the novel, but no, the Coen brothers made the flick from whole cloth, as it were. Anyway, on slow weekend evenings, the team would stage elaborate readings of said book (the title now lost to the sands of time, dammit.) Uh, did I mention it was a bore-ass job?

–Perfesser

If you’re working at a nuclear plant, I’d really prefer that your job remain as boring as possible. ’cause “nuke” and “excitement” are not words I really want to hear in the same sentence.

Proud to say I’ve seen most of the “Big” ones so far. Not a lot of foreign movies, but enough to hold my own in a lot of critical conversations.

Only gaps in my “big” movies are (To my knowledge) Lawrence of Arabia and Gone wih the Wind. I know they’re good, but I’ve never really gotten around to sitting down with them.

My wife has not seen Star Wars, so alot of what i say gets lost on her. i dont like to see “popular” movies like avatar or other things i have to be exited by a story to see a movie not that thats been a boon to my movie going experiances but still.

Inception. I saw it yesterday, and now I wish I saw it in theaters. Godfather was never really a story/movie I could really get into. Same with Scarface.

Off the top of my head, movies my friends would be shocked to hear I haven’t seen:

Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Apocalypse Now… and a ton more. To be honest, I’m more of a fan of lesser-known, more challenging films. I like being entertained, but I like thinking about what I’m watching more.

HA Brooksie you are adorable I love you, but I am very much like Brooksie I love movies adn always will I think but I think its those no brainer movies that you you know your probly not going to like but go to the theater anyways cuz you wanna get out of the house for a while and it turns out to be a really great movie, suckerpunch was that for me went in not expecting very much and was sruprized at how much I really enjoyed it the more me and my father thought about it the more we liked it the same went for battle of LA and being the film buff that i am you know I rather dislike people who say that they wont watch a movie cuz its sucks, um hey have you seen it no? then how about you watch it first then form and opinion my sister is one of these people and i hate her for thus just would not absolutely refused to watch starwars a new hope because adn i qoute ” it deals with sci fi and fnatasy bullshit and i dont like that crap” yet the umb bitch watches adn loves the twilight series of so sparkily vampires and hunky werewolves is more realistic then talking robots and 7 foot walking carpets

HAHAHA Brooksie you are awesome. We’ve known for a while she has the chops to use her feminine wiles when she wants to. Dropping a bombshell like that is like asking John to ask her out. IT would also be an invitation to Thomas, but he’s taken, even if nobody knows.

It took me forever to see The Big Labowski. It was an okay movie but there were some memorable quotes. “This aggression will not stand, man!” I use that one wherever it fits.

Anyway, I haven’t seen The Godfather, which is interesting because I have access to it but whenever I think about it I don’t. One thing I was slightly pissed about never having seen was Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.

For me, I don’t not watch movies because I don’t think I’ll like them (heck, I was even willing to give Twilight a try), but there are a lot of movies I just haven’t gotten around to seeing. For one thing, I’ve never even heard of The Big Lebowski, or many of the movies people are mentioning in the comments here. Furthermore, there are some movies (Inception in particular) that I really want to see and haven’t yet that will have to be really good to live up to my high expectations of them. On the subject of finally getting around to seeing movies and being disappointed, all I have to say is this: Wane’s World. I had heard a lot of good things about it, but when I finally saw it … well, let’s just say it is now my second least favorite movie that I’ve seen (the absolute worst being Super Troopers); I’m surprised I even sat through it all.

I hated the Big Lebowski the first time I saw it, but then I thought it was incredibly funny the second time. I don’t know what changed in between, but it’s just as funny every time I see it now. Not necessarily recommending that you watch it again on purpose, but if it’s on sometime at a friend’s house, maybe give it another shot.

I have a friend who went gaga over Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes (turns out she just really loves Robert Downey Jr.). I skipped Iron Man because I dislike Tony Stark and Sherlock Holmes was mostly a disappointment if you’ve read any of the books, although I appreciated that they did bring it back to the chemistry in the end a little.

Maybe the Big Lebowski is like smoking weed for the first time. You don’t really feel anything, just a weird buzz. then the second time, because you’re expecting it, you get higher than kites. At least that’s how i’ve had several people describe it to me.

i actually really enjoyed the big lebowski, i mean the movie never went anywhere but by god it was funny. it took me ages to get around to seeing it, pulp fiction and ive still never seen kill bill, the godfather, or scarface or rocky. also i actually kind of hated napoleon dynamite, some of the qoutes are funny out of context but in general the movie sucked bloody hard. “YOU’RE OUT OF YOUR ELEMENT DONNY!!!” and the greatest line to have ever punched a hole in someones face “ENGLISH MOTHERFUCKER!!! DO YOU SPEAK IT!!!”

For me, the movie was Casablanca. Avoided it for years just because of the hype – I knew I was going to be disappointed. Finally caught it on broadcast TV a few years back, but I missed the opening few minutes so did not know what I was watching! By the time I realized what it was, I was hooked! And you know what? It really was as good as the hype!!

A friend was just too young for Star Wars the first time around, and still hadn’t seen it with the 20th anniversary kicking off, so we all sat down to watch it that night, sure that the innate awesomeness of A New Hope would work its magic. The reaction? “That movie sucked, it is nothing but tired cliche after tired cliche, every line is a bad quote…”. How do you explain that this is origin of so many of those SF/gaming cliches, and all the bad quotes – that this was an original masterpiece in its day??!!! Turns out Star Wars loses its magic if you weren’t there in the 70s! (Or at least the 80s).

I haven’t seen The Godfather, but I read the book. Even upon being told that they removed the WTF subplot involving reconstructive vagina surgery in the movie version, I really didn’t have any interest after reading the book.

I haven’t watched anything related to Joss Whedon, nor am I interested in doing so. At this point, watching his shows would have to cure cancer in order for him to live up to his hype.

Wow, I thought I was alone in the world but pretty much all the movies all the movies I haven’t seen have been mentioned already. I know enough off them through clues and reading that I would get the gist of any reference but I haven’t experience them as a whole so if no one asks they might think I have seen them but they would be in for a big shock.
There’s: Pulp Fiction, Original Star Wars, Any of Indiana Jones, Any of the Godfather movies, Inception, The Big Lebowski, I’ve only seen bits of Wayne’s World, and I saw Fight Club for the first time last year (awesome movie) and who knows what else I’ve missed.
Loved Manos The Hands of Fate on MST3K
And Avatar suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked.

There’s a lot of movies I haven’t watched because honestly live-action doesn’t hold my attention as well as animation does. I’ve never seen any of the Godfather movies, I saw Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as well as Pulp Fiction only partway through, and I never bothered watching Inception. I also spend a lot of time on sites like TV Tropes, so even movies I haven’t seen I can get a good idea of their content from their trope pages.

I can definitely relate to Thomas on the lesbian thing. I even dated a closeted lesbian in high school, and before that I had a major crush on a girl who turned out to be one.

I have had movies like that. There was a movie from 2001 that EVERYONE saw it seemed, everyone talked about it. People quoted it, all my classmates seem to know all the best parts. It took me 10 years to watch a movie that made me want to swallow Potassium Cyanide

Is this the part where Thomas does something extremely stupid and causes his relationship with Carol to be revealed when she finds out?

It’s looking a lot like the build up to that…

Or him cheating on her.

This is, of course, provided she didn’t mean that towards John… Considering they were all talking about Thomas’ relationships with women, it could be concluded she meant that for him.

i cant say as i have this problem, there are movies i will refuse to see, i am resisting green hornet despite what i have seen seems awesome as a whole i think i will dislike it, and i will do irreparable bodily harm to anyone who suggests to me to see the twilight movies the previews alone show them to be shite, and bad shite at that.
a film that must be seen for its pure balls out insanity is fear and loathing in las vegas “WE CAN’T STOP HERE! THIS IS BAT COUNTRY!”

Funny you mention Godfather, ’cause that’s one of mine. Never seen any of them; not even a small part. I have, however, seen a million references to it in other movies, TV shows, and cartoons, so I know the basic premise. I KNOW Avatar is going to be one of those movies for years to come, ’cause I saw it and it was only okay. It’s going to be disappointing people for a long time, I think.

I’ve also never seen a Rambo or Rocky movie (which never fails to get a gasp or two) and I’ve only seen a tiny part of one of the Die Hard movies and a little of the last Lethal Weapon. All movies I probably should have watched and enjoyed by now, but never got around to it.

P_larker, you should check out redlettermedia’s channel on youtube. Look for his reviews on the new Star Wars trilogy. It will tell you all about them, including everything George did wrong! It hilairous, and worth the watch.

I am the guy that gleefully pushes movies on people so there isn’t a whole lot that I haven’t seen. But to add to that, I usually sit down with them and pop in the movie so it is watched just then instead of people waiting forever to see it. That is of course, if I am not distracted.

Ahh, I suppose most horror movies because the only thing interesting is the way people die or finding out who lives. I like a little more plot. Though, when I watched Jeepers Creepers with a friend, I got to see him try to athletically run over a van and get hit by the van instead. That, in my mind was comic gold.

I suspect that 5-10 years from now I will have seen NONE of the movies that people will be talking about. My brain shut off in the 70s with the “Herbie does Dallas” series, leaving me with scarred optic nerve tissue and a strange fondness for VW Beetles.

Not really. I’ve seen most everything. Not Brooksie levels of seen everything, but I’ve seen a lot of little known and cult films and big blockbusters and the likes. Usually when people ask me if I’ve seen something the answer is either yes or I’d never heard of it before.

Speaking of Brooksie, that third panel is the epitome of awkward. It’s so perfect. Illusion of innocent little blue-haired girl: shattered.

The true gentleman of the world would never be caught quite so offguard about someone illustrating his point that he could not take it in stride.

I think that everyone is reading too much into who is in the car. She is just saying that she’d like a little from time to time like anyone else.

For me, it’s TV shows. I don’t watch any CSI NSCI, or ASCII crime shows. I also don’t know who Dr. McDreamy is and I’ve only recently learned just who Sheldon is. LOL

I’ve always (so far) seen Brooksie as the little sister everyone wants to protect. Of course this attitude may have had unintentional effects on her sex life. Even now I have a hard time imagining Brooksie having sex with anyone (or at least the characters shown so far).
As far as we know Brooksie might be a one-night-stand bandit. It’s funny to imagine this string of guys (or girls) now wondering though life, never able to find anyone that can compare to one night with her.
Scary thought.

Hmm, Thomas just described my entire plight of women. It’s not often that I get to basically see a, I dunno, a “reflection” of myself in a webcomic.

Maybe I should take John’s advice…

Too much extended hype and I am sometimes repelled. Push me too hard and it’s the last thing I’ll do. It’s not even “nothing could be this good”. It’s just straight pushback. The more society itself demands I see some transitory bit of media fluff, the more I’m outta here. This happens more with TV.

I am proud of not having seen any Lost, American Idol and no more than an hour total of Survivor.

Movies, I’ve never seen an Indy Jones film through. Just bits and pieces. Or a lot of the same films on Crave’s list as it happens.

Gattaca – successfully avoided it for about ten years, but had to agree to watch it a while back. I have an aversion to the pseudo cool angst 90’s mindset

Gattaca – successfully avoided it for about ten years, but had to agree to watch it a while back. Wants to be smart but is stupid.

“Dances With Wolves”, “Avatar”, uh… that about covers it. I had the same thing about Fight Club and Moulin Rouge, but eventually remedied that and, good holy fuck, I’m glad I did…
Tell people you haven’t seen Avatar and they’re either like, “OMG! Best film EVAR! You have to see it!” or, “Probably a good decision…” Tell people you haven’t seen Dances and people are like, “… why not?…” It just kind of never manifested… same with Avatar. Honestly, I will watch whatever crap you put in front o me it’s just that … I think I was grounded or something when Dances With Wolves was rented when I was a kid and I never bothered to try again. Avatar, we hadn’t decided whether to watch it or not when it came out and there was all this talk about it being a rip-off of various other things. We still planned to watch it eventually. I think “eventually” has just become “whenever it airs on NBC” or something.
What was insulting to me was, “Oh, you haven’t seen Family Guy? You would probably love it.” Oh, would I? WOULD I, YOU ASSHOLE?!? And this was back when it was linear (which I consider to be the inferior episodes; not that the show is a bastion of … anything… )… Just because it’s a cartoon doesn’t mean I’m going to like it. It means I will watch it, yes, but I watch a lot of crap I don’t enjoy. Just like I read a lot of crap I don’t enjoy.
“Oh, you like vampire books? You should read Twilight. You would love it.” You have me wrong, sir or madam. You have me very wrong.

manekochan: Maybe instead of calling people asshole for going off of the information you give them, you could try not consuming so much material that you dislike.

You know who is like this? Listen to the Simpson’s commentary (or Futurama) and find out what Matt Groening has never seen. If I recall, this is a list of such things.

Anything Star Trek (although he apparently has seen the first movie now)
Titanic
Three’s Company
Love Boat

Crap… I used to know more, but I can only think of the ones from that one Futurama episode…

Leave a Reply to pappenheimer Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.