Well, you can't please everyone

[thehod]

A nice little article in todays Guardian revolving around the fact that despite the fact that some books, music and art are critically acclaimed and popularly considered classics, there are still those that can't stand them, and say so via the review part of Amazon.

Some of them are rather amusing, and its a nice reminder that we all have different tastes and different views on things....

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Even the most sacred cows are fair game for a (badly spelled) kicking from Amazon's army of amateur critics. Johnny Dee picks his favourite one-star reviews

Sgt Pepper, The Catcher In The Rye and Citizen Kane really that good? For decades, in countless polls and surveys, no critic or expert had a bad word to say about them or any of the many sacred cows of popular culture. Today no artist, film-maker or novelist can convince themselves that everybody loves their work. No matter how pleasing the reviews or exciting the sales figures, just one visit to Amazon and the remorseless world of the Customer Review will bring them down to earth. In the internet era one simple truth rings clear: no matter how brilliant a book/CD/movie is there will be an unhappy shopper who doesn't care what everyone else thinks and reckons it sucks. Even though five stars may appear next to a title at Amazon.com and co.uk, scroll down and you will inevitably discover someone (usually "anonymous") who has awarded a work of acknowledged genius one paltry yellow mark - and if they could they'd have given it zero ...

The Graduate
"I was 21 when this came out, it was pointless then and still is. Hoffman was no actor and still is not ... as for the ending, well, I was so glad the movie was over, I kinda liked it. Maybe because it reminded me of an episode on The Simpsons."

The Catcher In The Rye, JD Salinger
"This book is pathetic. Many people called it a 'classic'. It's the book that killed John Lennon. Oswald had a copy. So I thought 'What the heck?' I then embarked on four hours of my life spent reading this complete testacle sack of a book."

Alien
"What do people see in this film? I am not one for horror films, though I do like this alien stuff. Nothing happens in the film. Nothing. We spent most of the time waiting and waiting for something to happen. This movie could have been cut to half an hour, easy."

The Queen Is Dead, The Smiths
"The 80s produced some great artists like Rick Astley, Milli Vanilli, Culture Club, etc. Then this horrible Smiths abomination comes along and makes this cringe-inducing album."

The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
"This is not the Beach Boys. It can't be. Why? No beach songs!"

The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
"Couple of good songs, lots of attitude, nothing much more."

2001: A Space Odyssey
"This is easily the worst movie of all time. It's a bunch of spaceships and special effects, but there's NO coherent plot."

Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
"This is an appalling record. Somewhere along the line Dylan forgot to how to write lyrics."

The Wizard Of Oz
"the wort movie ive ever seen .I mean they clorized once color tv came out and there special effects are lame ,the costumes are ugly the props are ugly so never buy this film!!!!"

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
"My teacher always talks about the Beatles but they have no lyrical skills, my cousin Rodney is a better song writer than these clowns. I think they should remix these songs with 50 Cent or Snoop, then they'd really get some fans behind them."

GoodFellas
"This movie is worthless, for one thing the violence scenes that portraits the maffia like some ordinary screw ups, is what I think, not correct. You dont shot some body in the foot just because his acting stupid ... Don't get this film. There is no positive message whatsoever."

Citizen Kane
"I found it to be incredibly boring ... if your looking for an entertaining classic, I'd try Ben Hur or Cool Hand Luke ...it had no color and was uterly depressing."

This Is Spinal Tap
"If you're going to make such an excellent documentary, why make it about about a band that nobody has ever heard of?"

Moby Dick, Herman Melville
"Too nautical for me."

The Shawshank Redemption
"The escape through the sewer is an obvious symbol for anal sex"

Airplane!
"This is nothing more than slap stick slop. There is no acting. There is no plot and no theme."

Anyone seen anymore, and do you agree with any of them?

[Michael P]

One hopes that the "This Is Spinal Tap" review is someone playing along.

Also, link to the full article?

[thehod]

Originally Posted by Michael P

Also, link to the full article?

Here you go.

I notice that he mentions a blog that covers this stuff too, and there are some classics on there as well.

[friginator]

Stuff like the Beatles is overrated. Most people, including myself, think that it's still very, very good, but it's still vastly overrated. It's not like any of those things are perfect, at least beyond the realm of someone's personal opinion. Just because someone was brought up being taight "The Beatles are the best rock band ever" doesn't make it true.

[Corrina]

The Graduate:
The movie that teaches men that sleeping with your girlfriend's mother and then interrupting the girlfriend's mother is the way to true love.

Best ever is always a matter of taste. :)

But Airplane! is utter, complete genius. No contest. :)

[Cam63]

Well... it's no cold beer on a hot day, but it'll do.

[friginator]

I love Airplane. In my opinion it's the best comedy ever made.

[jamesfreeman]

Finally someone has the courage to say Citizen Kane sucked. I can see why Orson Welles ate his fatass to death.

[Cam63]

He did his best.

[Infra-Man]

The Catcher In The Rye, JD Salinger
"This book is pathetic. Many people called it a 'classic'. It's the book that killed John Lennon. Oswald had a copy. So I thought 'What the heck?' I then embarked on four hours of my life spent reading this complete testacle sack of a book."

Citizen Kane
"I found it to be incredibly boring ... if your looking for an entertaining classic, I'd try Ben Hur or Cool Hand Luke ...it had no color and was uterly depressing."

The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
"This is not the Beach Boys. It can't be. Why? No beach songs!"

This Is Spinal Tap
"If you're going to make such an excellent documentary, why make it about about a band that nobody has ever heard of?"

Moby Dick, Herman Melville
"Too nautical for me."

C'mon, can you take any of these guys seriously, though?

At least let's talk about critical gadflies who've at least seen more than 20 movies, read more than 12 books, and listened to more than 20 albums (e.g., like love-to-hate film critic Armond White).

[Hybrid2]

Blade Runner

So boring i fell asleep.
I did'nt even get the plot.

And the Beetles.songs are just bad.

[Pinball]

The Shawshank Redemption
"The escape through the sewer is an obvious symbol for anal sex"

Yeah, well, what isn't?

[scout1279]

"Too nautical for me" has got to be the best review I have ever read.

[Charles RB]

Originally Posted by thehod

its a nice reminder that we all have different tastes and different views on things....

Is that code for "wow, some people are dumb!"? Cos that Spinal Tap one...

(Also Alien, because yes stuff happened in it. Lots of stuff.)

[section 8]

I had always assumed that, given it's popularity, "The Catcher in the Rye" either went over my head, or was targeted at a different audience than myself.

Glad to know someone else out there was unimpressed with it too.