What Classic Movie Do You Hate? - Today's Debate
No amount of Oscars can make you good.
Have you ever sat through a classic movie and found yourself completely dumbfounded as to what all the fuss was about? Did you finally get round to watching Citizen Kane and end up wondering how on earth anyone could consider it the greatest movie of all time?
Classic movies earn the accolade for a number of reasons, whether it's universal critical acclaim, sweeping up a collection of awards, representing a landmark in the way cinema functions or simply proving to be hugely popular with the general public. In short, they are films which for one reason or another are considered to be so great that they will stand the test of time.
As with most things movie-related not everyone sees eye to eye, and one person's much-loved cinematic treasure can be seen as completely overrated by someone else.
For my part I've always found the intense love from many for James Cameron's Titanic to be totally unwarranted, a reflection of successful populist cinema at its most commercial and formulaic. While clearly Cameron was intentionally making an epic film in the mould of classic Hollywood, the components for me felt entirely artificial, the atrocious dialogue and tacked on love story a cynical move to create bland mass appeal.
WhatCulture's Alex Leadbeater has his own take on this argument: "most of the time you can see why a classic is viewed as one, if not fully getting that on a personal level. It's rare to find a classic you can't grasp why it was popular." Although that doesn't stop him having a different take on the much-loved classic Ghostbusters, the reboot for which has been generating well-publicised controversy in recent weeks. Leadbeater describes the film as "one where affection is motivated almost entirely by childhood nostalgia (and thus find the recent hissy fit being thrown about the remake ridiculous)."
We'd love to hear what you guys think about your hated classic movies. Do you share mine and Alex's position on Titanic and Ghostbusters? Are there any particular classic movies which really rub you up the wrong way?
Fire off in the comments with your thoughts and get the discussion going.