I just watched "The Grudge 2". I thought I read somewhere that it was ok. I saw the first and didn't really dig it, but wanted to give this a chance.

All I saw was a bunch of scenes strung together that all ended the same way...with a sickly girl or sickly boy coming out of nowhere.

I kept watching thinking there has to be some point and yes, they explained the appearances, but it was so rambling and logic-less that there was nothing to it but clips of scared people.

I don't think I have seen anything like this in awhile where it didn't begin, run its course or climax at the end. It was just totally and astonshingly absurd.

So what other theatrical releases follow this pattern where there was no story whatsoever and just strung together for would-be enjoyment of film? List good ones and bad ones...

David Lynch - Good ones

Lucio Fulci horror films like The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, and House by the Cemetery. He has admitted they are just a bunch of set-pieces strung together. I like them all.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Return of the King

Most of Godard's work from the 80's and 90's. I'm especially thinking of Nouvelle Vague and Helas Pour Moi, both of which I couldn't even begin to figure out anything related to a plot after I finished watching them.

Well, there's no real plot to A Hard Day's Night. We just follow a bunch of guys around for a little while.

Casablanca first comes to mind

Fellini's stuff seems to meander quite a bit with no real point. Amarcord especially.

Clerks and Mallrats don't really have much of a plot, just characters rambling on and on, and yet we find it amusing.

The Big Sleep is a great movie mystery with crackling dialogue, although the plot isn't exactly its strong suit.

You could also argue that movies such as Pulp Fiction and Crash don't have an overarching plot line, but they do have decent subplots for each story/character.

Goodfellas doesn't really have a plot. As Scorsese said about The Departed during his DGA acceptance speech: "This is the first film I've done with a plot".

Two horrible, recent releases that I could not follow, nor did I want to:

Smokin' Aces
Black Dahlia

Get Carter

Definitely one of the top 3 worst movies I have ever seen. I STILL don't know what it's about.

Be Cool

There's two ways to go with this - I'm sure the makers of the Grudge 2 wanted to give you plot and probably believe that they did.

Then there's movies where the lack of a plot isn't a sign bad filmmaking, but by design. But just like the above example, just because its by design, doesn't mean its automatically good.

David Lynch is the first person that comes to mind but, although I am in the minority (if not completely alone), the only film of his that I like is Lost Highway.

Dellamorte Dellamore (a.k.a. Cemetery Man) is a tough nut to crack (though I've read some good theories) but is one my all time favourite films.

Another bad example would be Crank. I still don't get why they wanted him dead.

The worst movie in years, Napoleon Dynamite

A lot of good character driven movies are plot-less (Before Sunrise, Dazed & Confused, Kicking and Screaming)

It's not always a bad thing.

Yes, there times coherent but be just are intentional effective some can movies that don't plots have other right sometimes that's downright and be its in very own while at it can confusing.

I had a hard time finding a plot in Dario Argento's Inferno.

Was going to mention these as well.

And although I loved it, add Harsh Times to the list. It's an interesting character study, but there's no coherent story-line to speak of.

date movie
epic movie
scary movies

I really hope you're talking about the remake, and not the original with Michael Caine.

Antonioni's Blow-Up