8 Films that Seemed Good When We Were Young and Impressionable

While I agree most of these are overrated, I still think all of them are good movies, save one: Garden State. That movie is garbage. I'd say Amelie is the best of the bunch.

hmm. seems like you don't think these films are terrible, you're just using them to give us your own more obscure recommendations.

I call bullshit. Yes, many films seem “so awesome!” when you first see them, and fade in luster with time.. but you're giving some very good movies a severe treatment. I think much of this is motivated by backlash for films that were cool because they were relatively unknown, and then become very well known, and thus became cool to many. Now they are institutions, so the “new cool films” are your recommendations.

And I agree, “The Game” is terribly underrated.

You have got to be kidding. A majority of films on this list don't deserve this treatment.

u sound like someone who is stuck in the past….always saying, “its already been done, same themes, the old version r better, ect.” News flash: close to 75 % of the movies that come out are either remakes, sequels, mostly non original ideas or screenplay..and it doesnt help the rest are just adaptations from the same themes that were used years ago and forever and or frm novels.

I agree with most of this list, and would add Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to the Fight Club/Donnie Dark/Requiem “pretentious teen” shortlist of films for our generation.

But just saying that you like the French New Wave doesn't prove anything. It's just another superficial layer of film hipsterdom, of which there are many.

People shouldn't have to feel bad about pointing out that some shit twee movie everyone is drooling over was done (better) 50 years ago. It happens. Whatever.

What might have been a good piece about how and why certain movies don't age well came out like a fountain of haterade.

All these films were garbage, especially Donny Darko.

most of the movies listed here are some of my favorite films [besides 'garden state', i hated that movie]

i'll say this about aronofsky: it seems that most of his movies are just stylized really well. he has great cinematography but lacks the depth to really push his films into classic territory. i loved 'black swan' & 'pi' but 'requiem for a dream' left me really underwhelmed.

I actually probably like 3 of the films listed here.
apart from that, this whole thing just really seems like an excuse for “i want to trash all the films that are really popular”
although most never made an impression on me when I was younger so I'm seeing a totally different view here.

WHOA WHOA WHOA the difference between the darjeeling limited and every other live action film anderson has done is that Adrian Brody is in it WHOOAAAA

Typical Dan hoffman bashing

i always hated the darjeeling limited and aside from the royal tenenbaums, i think wes andersen is a bore. but on another note, i totally understand your feelings on fight club and think they are completely valid, but i would recommend reading “rant” by chuck palahniuk (author of fight club). while it's weird and fucked up and makes minimal sense in the beginning, it evolves into a strange boy-man masterpiece. check it out.

I've officially decided to never again read anything you post on this website. It's not that I take issue with all of your claims about these movies, but the way you articulate it gives off the feeling of an 8th grader attempting to seem more alternative via shallow and unfounded criticisms of films that fall into the “alternative canon”.

Possibly watching a movie is like a drug. The first time is awesome, like the first time you see a movie and feel the catharsis. But after the fifth time, it's just whatever, like drinking water or whatever. You like it, but its not the same. Like all the 80's movies, seen them a 100 times and they lose all their luster.

Don't hate me bro!

Haters gonna hate.

Kevin Smith films (for arguments sake, we're going to pretend Cop Out never happen, which is easily done, since nobody saw it) are still funny. Don't Care. He writes amazing dialogue.
American Beauty is still a beautifully crafted film, even if the themes aren't new…and, yes, the plastic bag scene is eye-roll inducing
Garden State is much better if you assume, as I did when I first saw it, that Natalie Portman's character actually has downsyndrome, and that Zach Braff is so up his own ass that he mistakes it for quirkiness and that the whole thing is actually a statement on how one-dimensional the manic pixie dream girl archetype is…..though that isn't actually why garden state was made.

You sound like a typical film school snob….and it's okay, because I am too.
Go on thinking you're the shit for worshiping Godard and Trufaut, heaven forbid you find yourself enjoying a summer blockbuster.

The only one I agree with here is Garden State… so self indulgent, feat. manic pixie dream girl, it's just jerk off material for hipsters who have a fascination with beautiful girls with mental illness. 'Oh, you're a compulsive liar? That's so adorable! I think I love you.'

I think the only thing that's changed is that you've become more pretentious.

The title of this should be “8 films that I secretly like but decided to hate on because there are more obscure versions elsewhere.” You're taking one element of each film and calling it stupid (plastic bag scene in American Beauty, writing in Fight Club) adding another element that was at some point done in another film and judging the entire thing despite the fact that a few of these films were gamechangers in some way or another.

None of these films are epoch making or say something new, they're mostly just clever fun relaxing films bashing them because they are what they are isn't really worth an article.

Some I kind of agree with, but some you're totally off base, it has nothing to do with your age, just your taste. ESPECIALLY Fight Club. You hated it when you first saw it? Well there you go right there.

Also, The Game is hardly a comprable example of youthfull angsty rebellion. Perhaps rebellion in some form, but still…..

Anyway Fight Club certainly still holds up today, and some of your other movies, while less insulting to imply they may have faded a little, still seems like a gross misapropriation of criticism.

ok, garden state was very obviously sentimental and made for a certain demographic of emotional teenagers, but this post is annoyingly pretentious. not every movie can be totally original and without flaws. these films are good for a lot of good reasons, despite their shortcomings and slight overwrought-ness. you just sound like an obnoxious film major discrediting well-liked movies.