Pop Culture

Things We Saw Today: Gail Simone Asked What Movie You Hate That Everyone Else Loves and the Answers Are Illuminating

Sigourney Weaver in 'Ghostbusters'

Comics legend Gail Simone is also a masterful Twitter user, and she often sparks excellent conversations and wide-ranging debates. It was particularly intriguing to see the responses to the recent question that she posed: what are the movies that everyone seems to wax rhapsodic about, but you can’t stand?

Simone kicked things off with The Breakfast Club, which is a great jumping-off point. The John Hughes movie is widely adored and considered a classic. But how much is rose-tinged nostalgia from watching it in youth? Does The Breakfast Club hold up today? Or did it just always rub some people the wrong way?

Others agreed with Simone and took issue with the movie’s simplistic resolutions for the troubled teens.

The deeply-held affection that many of us feel for many of the films in the Twitter thread means that it’s almost a knee-jerk fight reaction to see them mentions. Which, of course, makes this question so interesting. Here are some responses that jumped out from the many thousands of replies Simone received:

(A point of contention for many—but I agree. I hated Love, Actually.)

(To be fair, I do not think that Watchmen the movie is anywhere near universally beloved.)

I keep adding more and more of these because … I mostly agree?? It’s a relief to know that you’re not alone in your dissent over films that critics and many movie-goers have set on a pedestal. OK, a few more:

Of course, part of what’s happening here is that we are all different people with wildly different personalities and tastes. When my sister and I saw the Star Wars: A New Hope in theaters as young adults, she fell asleep while I had the equivalent of a religious conversion experience. To each their own! If you enjoy the movies named here, it doesn’t mean that you’re wrong—but other viewers can also have valid criticisms that sometimes get brushed aside when the nostalgia and acclaim for a property are overwhelming.

My answers to Simone’s question are Ghostbusters (it’s not as good as you remember, I promise, and it really, really hates the Environmental Protection Agency), and 2001: A Space Odyssey, which has some brilliant scenes and some others I couldn’t tell you about because I was fast asleep due to mind-numbing boredom. I know these are fighting words, but they’re mine. Other Mary Sue staff answers are Blade Runner, Joker, Under the Skin, The Shining, and AI. What movies do you hate that everyone else seems to love?

(Check out the whole thread on Twitter, image: Columbia Pictures)

What else did we see today? Thanks for asking!

  • “When I Left My Faith, I Went to Comic Con” (via Esquire)
  • A new poll suggests Trump’s wrong-side-of-history response to the Black Lives Matter protests could cost him the 2020 election. (via Vanity Fair)
  • Sad and weird: the White House is denying that Trump aide Stephen Miller’s grandmother died of coronavirus (via HuffPo)
  • The opening scene from New Mutants can be viewed from SDCC 2020! (via CNET)

And finally:

It’s the weekend! What did you see today?

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