However you end up describing your experience of the film you will end up using subjective criteria. In the end your dislike of transformers will hinge on your highlighting of something which doesn't appeal to you but does to some of those who enjoy those movies. It doesn't matter what term you use or how you break it down it will still be you expressing an opinion which others will disagree with and not understand. "Boring" may not be particularly descriptive or informative but it does at least have the virtue of being succinct.

jesus christ you act like im a paid movie reviewer. i just posted a paragraph on a stupid dvd forum. why cant i find a movie to be boring? nothing bores you in life? the movie bored me at times, whats so hard to understand?

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...202110301/1023

he calls a clockwork orange "boring and talky". what do i win?

anyone know if he still feels that way? Ebert that is.

This is kind of a dumb thread to start.

If you don't like a movie then post your feelings in a thread someone else started on the film.

No sense in making yourself look foolish by being an attention whore and starting a thread calling a classic film "overrated."

I just watched this again last night. It's really thought-provoking, well-directed, well-acted and has a good script.


Anyone who thinks it's boring, keep watching and maybe you'll get it at some point.

I think the reason he started the thread is because it is considered a classic, and like myself, I feel the movie is overrated. I don't think he would have started a thread "I Know What you Did Last Summer Is Overrated", but for a movie that's in the Top 100 All-Time Movie lists, it is a legit topic. I am always fascinated when a movie is beloved by the masses, and then there is a section of fans who don't like it.

I love Scorcese movies, but this is the one movie I can't stand. I have watched it many times simply because it is so well praised, and wonder what I am missing?

Again, it's just an opinion, as you and I are not right or wrong.

I watched Taxi Driver for the first time last year, and I was a little disappointed.

Yeah, it's a good movie. I would defninitely agree with that. But great? One of the all time best? No way. There just isn't a lot of substance in the movie beyond the acting and the character's descent. Not a lot happens. This isn't about the movie being slow, it's about a lot of time spent on very little happening. There is some very good acting going on, and there are some great moments (Scorsese in the cab is a classic moment), but there are also some moments where there just isn't much going on. The story is so simple it could have been told in 70 minutes. (Hollywood used to routinely churn out good to very good 75-80 minute movies in the 40's that had more plot points than Taxi Driver.)

Again, don't get me wrong - I liked the movie and thought it was good. I just don't think it's a Top 100 all time movie. The movie isn't quite as good (IMO) as it's reputation would lead a viewer to believe it is.

name 100 movies better than TAXI DRIVER...

After watching the gorgeous BD of the film the other night, I couldn't possibly disagree with the OP more. I've loved TD for years, and it just keeps getting better upon each subsequent viewing. I think I'd have a hard time naming 10 movies better than it.

I think a lot of the critical reputation surrounding TAXI DRIVER had to do with the zeitgeist in 1976 when the film came out and Times Square looked like that and crime was high in New York and politicians were extremely ineffectual. (E.g. the new president elected that year was a Southern version of the empty platitude-spewing candidate in the film.) De Niro's Bickle expressed something that a lot of young men were feeling and I suspect that it proved cathartic for a lot of borderline nutcases who might have been moved to "act out" without it, although one would-be assassin was allegedly inspired by this film to attempt to assassinate Reagan five years later. (I have long had problems with that story, esp. when I learned that Hinckley's dad was good friends with Reagan's scheming VP, Bush, but that's another story.)

In any event, audience reaction was a key part of TAXI DRIVER's appeal and audiences reacted quite vocally at the screenings I attended in 1976, esp. one Friday night at a packed Manhattan "dollar theater." Nowadays, no one reacts to movies anymore on that level. When I saw TD recently during its revival at Manhattan's Film Forum, the audience hardly reacted at all.

So I see it as more of a snapshot of its era than anything else.

But that applies to pretty much every popular film ever. Get on the IMDb Top 250 - nearly every film on there has had a thread calling it "overrated." Look at Amazon reviews for any of the famous films on the They Shoot Pictures Don't They or AFI lists and if there are more than a dozen or so reviews you'll likely find at least a few negative ones calling it "overrated."

Most of us probably already know that there are people out there who don't like any given film, no matter how popular and well liked. And it is, of course, absolutely fine that they don't like it (there are a number of popular and critically acclaimed films I don't like, and I'm sure the same can be said of anybody here.) I just don't think that we need to see a thread about it. Posting the negative response within the thread for the film itself seems like the best idea. Otherwise we might start getting an endless parade of "famous and popular film _______ is overrated" threads.

-"Casablanca" is overrated
-"The Seven Samurai" is overrated
-"The Godfather" is overrated
-"Aguirre, the Wrath of God" is overrated
-"The Passion of Joan of Arc" is overrated
-"The 400 Blows" is overrated
-"Tokyo Story" is overrated
-"M" is overrated
-"The Best Years of Our Lives" is overrated
-"Los Olvidados" is overrated
-"Repast" is overrated
-"Roundhay Garden Scene" is overrated

^ It happens with all older movies where people who saw it originally has a different appreciation for it.
Then seeing it now after hearing all the hype or years, no movie can ever live up to that.

And of course because they don't like it, then all the critics must be wrong and thus it is overrated.

If the consensus of most critics is that a particular film is a classic, then I would trust their opinion over some random DVDTalk poster, especially if their username is hapgilmore.

touché

Fixed

How about if the criticize it as just "bad"?

Why should he?
Seriously, who gives a crap that someone doesn't love 'Taxi Driver'. Do you love every single movie on IMDb's top 250?

Life get's much easier when you learn to accept that not everyone agrees with you.

I'm guessing, from your immature putdown, that you must be an Adam Sandler Fan.

Why do people bump five year old threads rather than begin new ones??

i just watched taxi driver and did a search here. i saw that thread and added to it. my post didnt warrant enough discussion for a new thread when it fit in with this thread.

people complain when you start a new thread that has been discussed before and they complain when you bump an old thread. you just cant win here.

Even though everyone has a right to an opinion, etc. etc., there are some opinions that expose the opinion-holder as, let us say, having a less-educated set of opinions.

Calling Taxi Driver a boring movie would be one of those.

Because there are always forum Nazi's out there who search for an old thread and post it in the new one.

Sorry, no offense intended. You have every right to find a film boring, just like everyone else does. I just find it a lot more interesting and helpful when people offer a more thought-out analysis than merely the fact that a movie must be bad because they personally found it slow and boring. My point was that that isn't too helpful in a review since it's such a subjective thing that can't really be backed up with any evidence.

I'm surprised at Ebert using that criticism, although it is a 30-year-old review. Hopefully he's learned better by now. And I had a feeling someone would dig up a "boring" quote from him when I mentioned it.

No I just think it's a douche thing to do to imply that his opinion is invalid just because he likes 'Happy Gilmore'.

I thought this over some more, weighing each side exhaustively over the course of the last 2 days and I have decided that I would still rather trust the opinion of the majority of the critical community over a random poster who feels the critical community is wrong and his enamored of a film I dislike so intensely, it rivals my dislike of your post.

i never said it was a bad movie. i actually said it was a good movie. i just found it boring at times and didnt think it was a great movie. i dont even think i would call it overrated. i just saw this thread where someone didnt like it and thought i would chime in quickly.

I love Taxi Driver. It's one of my favorites, but it does drag in a few areas. Anytime Travis isn't onscreen, it's an utter bore: those two useless Albert Brooks standup comedy scenes, the Iris/Sport scene.

In the audio commentary, Schrader recalls balking at having to write any scenes where Bickle wasn't present because it all had to be inside his head. But Scorsese insisted on the Iris/Sport scene, so they cut in a shot at the beginning of the scene of Bickle in his cab looking up (taken from elsewhere in the shoot) as if to hint that even this scene could be inside Bickle's head.