La Dolce Vita, The Searchers, Schindler's List … some movies are so universally acclaimed, you just can't slag them off. Or can you? I'd like to begin, not with the customary introduction, but by asking forgiveness – because given the passion that cineastes nurture for the films they love, this peice might be seen as a malicious provocation. But it is merely, for me, a clearing of the air – a personal catharsis to shake off the years of tolerating, or even pretending to admire films that, in reality, I profoundly dislike. What follows isn't so much an objective article as a personal caprice – the "outing" of a number of films that are claimed by those in the know to be not merely good but "great". This is the story of why those films leave me cold, bored and searching desperately for the eject button. Is there anybody today,... [read full story]
