The Monday Question: Exit!
Each year hundreds of movies are released. Unfortunately not all of them are good movies. As a moviegoer you usually try to only see the good ones, but sometimes you think you are going to see a movie and will be utterly disappointed. A movie could be so bad that you can’t bear seeing the ending of it. This week’s Monday question: Which movies have you walked out of or were close to walking out of?
| As far as I can remember there only was one movie I ever walked out of. It was during the European football championship in either 1988 or 1992. At the time the cinema had this ticket which would allow you to watch a movie every day that there was a game on. As I’m not really into football it was a great opportunity to see lots of movies for a small price. After a while though I had seen a lot of movies and went to some unknown movie. I actually can’t remember the name, but it was an Eastern European movie about some gypsies where a kid was growing up. It was too weird for my taste and decided to leave the movie. | |
| Tree of Life (2011)
Although I did finish watching this movie I must admit that I really thought about leaving the cinema. This movie was way too slow for my taste and my mind wondered off way too much. Visually and aurally stunning, but it wasn’t just something I could get into. |
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| Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)
This movie I just had to see as it was pushing the envelope when it came to almost photorealistic computer generated characters. I must admit that it did look stunning at moments, but towards the end I did think about leaving as the story really seemed to be written for a Japanese market, as spirits did play a very big role. |
Which movies did you walk out of or almost did?
Yes ‘tree of life’ is not for everyone. I might try to watch it again. I rarely want to walk out from the cinema, but from DVD there’s bunch of films, the ones I remember now is ‘across the universe’ and ‘mr.nobody’. I did almost walk out when watching ‘Biutiful’ and ‘Another Year’. ‘Biutiful’ is pretty much the movie that makes me want to walk out the cinema the most.
Mr.Nobody is one of my all time favorites although I know it is not for everyone with the way it is told. It can be very disorienting. I just love the whole concept of it and it deals with a subject I’ve always been interested in.
Have not seen the other movies you mentioned so can’t comment on those.
HAHA Good Question.
The last film I have turned off because I thought it was so bad was Year One…I can’t stand Poop jokes… Especially eating Poop!!
That was a very bad movie. I remember finishing it, but gave it something like 3/10….
I have never walked out of or turned off a film. I have a friend who turned off ENTER THE VOID when I gave him my copy, which is understandable because it is fucked up.
I turned off A SERBIAN FILM when I saw it, but watched the rest of it a few days later. The same with Pasolini’s SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM. Both VERY unpleasant movies I do not recommend.
I can understand someone turning off Enter the Void as it will be too weird an experience for some!
Heard about A Serbian Film, which supposedly has some really horrible things in it. It’s not something I will ever watch…it’s not what I search for in movies. If those other two also are something like that I know I have to avoid them.
Hi. There have been a couple of Indian movies I have walked out of, but normally if I go to the theater I sit through the film since I’ve paid for it. On TV obviously things are a lot easier and there must be 100s that I have abandoned in-between.
On TV it’s understandable as there is so much to watch. What was the reason you walked out of the Indian movies? They were not interesting? Or were they too long?
The only film I’ve ever walked out of was She’s the One. Something with Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz, and a lot of chat about vibrators in the first 20 minutes I think. After that I fell asleep, and when I awoke a bunch of us walked out. I have had to turn off Never Say Never Again and Casino Royale (1967), I thought both were really unwatchable.
Yeah, I vaguely remember that movie although I only saw a part of it and can completely understand that! 🙂
I fell asleep a couple of times in the cinema, I remember doing so when I went out to see Cats & Dogs and Shutter Island.
Haven’t seen those Bond movies…
I didn’t walk out, but last night I was at a screening of Bladerunner and two guys walked out. Did they not realise what they were going to see?
I guess not…I would love to see that movie on the big screen!
It was great. It was screened as part of a local 2-week science festival and was part of the Science of the Silver Screen events. I’m partly ashamed to say that previously I never really “got” Bladerunner, but it was brilliant! Definitely worth seeing on a big screen.
Good question, Nostra! I remember walking out of 2005’s House of Wax. Why I spent my money on a film with Paris Hilton I don’t know! Awful, awful film.
Hahaha, that’s something you will never do again I guess! 😉
I never walked out of a movie but the closest I came to doing so was during The Expendables which was absolutely atrocious, most particularly any scene involving Jason Statham and Charisma Carpenter. I wanted to run into a wall!
So you aren’t a big fan of Statham then? I’m in the opposite camp…almost watch anything he’s in. Expected a bit more from The Expendables, but it was enjoyable…
I don’t mind Statham but that attempt at romance was pathetic and I just thought the entire movie was below average, never capturing that 80’s action feel it was trying so hard to bask in.
I don’t think I have ever walked out of a movie, but I have turned off a DVD a couple times. The most recent time that I remember was during Year One. What a debacle that was.
With DVD’s it’s a lot easier. Year One was indeed not very good…
There’s Something About Mary (if you can believe I’d actually pay to see it) is the only film I’ve walked out on. Cronenberg’s Crash came close, but I just nodded off instead. Since writing, I’ve turned off hundreds before the finish, though.
…oh, and Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, which I bought on DVD, ! watched once and smashed it into a thousand little pieces afterwards.
I have seen There’s Something About Mary, but can not remember much of it anymore. Crash I thought was quite good, but I know a lot of people do not like it.
Never saw Bamboozled and by the sounds of it I should keep it that way!
Hundreds? That really is a surprise. Why so many since writing?
because I try lots and lots of films. If I wrote about all of them I’d have no life at all. I tend to not bother writing about the truly awful non-American ones.
I see, must say that I usually do finish the movies that I start but usually also check in advance if it has got a decent score on IMDB. Still I watch way more movies than I review…
Ooh ooh! Pick Me! Pick Me! haha
1. Splice http://wp.me/pWaTa-1m
2. Skyline http://wp.me/pWaTa-uR
3. Catfish http://wp.me/pWaTa-ry
4. Tree of Life http://wp.me/pWaTa-1jl
While I stayed to finish each of them, I did not enjoy watching them. BUT I did, however, HIGHLY enjoy writing my reviews for each! They are some of my absolute favorite reviews on my site! Especially #3! haha
Check them out if you wish!
Great segment!
^ I meant, “Especially #2!!”
that is one of my most favorite reviews of all on my page! (sorry for the mix up, it’s too bad wordpress won’t allow commenters to edit their comment after the fact.
Hahaha, of those movies I’ve seen both number 2 and 4 and understand why. I didn’t like Skyline either. As for the other two I just wasn’t interested in seeing them.
Yeah, it’s so much fun writing reviews of movies which you don’t like! Nice feeling to vent all those negative thoughts about it or make fun of them!
I’ve never walked out of a movie, but I almost did twice. Once was for A Sound of Thunder, a terrible sci-fi movie with Ed Burns and Ben Kingsley. I generally even like bad movies, but this one was too much.
The other one was Manderlay, which was incredibly slow and lost me about 30 minutes into it. I respect what Lars van Trier is trying to do, but this one was a very tough two hours.
These are both movies I have never seen or even heard of! These are now memorised as movies to avoid 😉
I’ve never walked out of a film under my own power…(when I was young my mother pulled me out of ‘Cable Guy’…can’t blame her for that, it was terrible). I guess you could count the third Underworld film as a film I walked out on, but that was more because I have a phobia of blood and that film was covered in it.
I guess most of the ones I would’ve ever walked out of was when I was younger and couldn’t handle the material. ‘Tree of Life’ did almost put me to sleep, but I was determined to see it.
Can’t remember much of Cable Guy. Have never seen any of the Underworld movies, but that’s because of the whole gothic vibe of it. It’s something which I’m just not interested in.
Tree of Life is not a surprising one to be named…like you I was also determined to finish it, just to be able to form my own opinion on it and being able to say why I didn’t like it.
Wish it was playing over here…very envious now 😉
I recently saw “How do you know” with Reese Witherspoon and Owen Wilson and I thought about leaving the theatre about 3 times, but I didn’t!
Also, it might sound weird and awful for some of you, but I didn’t like “All that jazz”, especially the last part of the movie. I was bored, but I saw it until the end!
Not a big Witherspoon fan, but don’t think I’ve missed anything with that one then 🙂
Also haven’t seen All That Jazz yet….
Sad to admit this but I walked out of Wild At Heart. I was probably 18 at the time and my girlfriend at the time was horrified and dragged me out. I have seent the film several times since and love it.
Really enjoyed checking out your blog by the way
Well, some movies you might not like when you are younger 🙂
Thanks, hope to see you here often!