Monday, June 13, 2011

Monday Movie Meme - Somebody Better Do Some 'Splainin'

Happy Monday Morning!  I am pleased to announce that for the next three weeks, I will be providing the topics for Monday Movie Meme.  While this does give Molly and Andy a much-needed break in their Meme-ish duties, I had an ulterior motive.  Since I am currently away in Poland, I wanted to be able to pre-schedule these posts, and the best way to do that is to come up with the topics myself.  The perk to all of this is that I get first dibs on the good movies!

So this week, I thought it would be fun to talk about those times when we sit for a couple of hours watching a movie, then walk out of the theater, or turn off the DVD player, and say "I have NO IDEA what that was all about".  These aren't the movies with twists, but are the ones with plots so complicated, I would bet even the director couldn't fully summarize it.  In most cases, we like these types of movies because they mess with your brain and give it a workout, and often we are compelled to see the movie again.  But other times...not so much.  Here are a few that left us scratching our heads:

1.  Inception - I knew going into this movie that it was...complex.  So I read the synopsis to my kids to give us all a head start.  My son and I left the theater with a general idea of what was going on.  I'm not sure about the rest of my party.  I loved its cleverness though.  This one definitely requires multiple viewings, and gets better with each one.

2. Pirates of the Carribbean 3:  At World's End - I was clueless from beginning to end of this movie.  I decided about a half hour into it, and feeling extremely frustrated, to just sit back and enjoy the effects and Johnny Depp.  That was enough for me, but I never watched it again.

3.  Memento - A favorite here a my place.  The plot revolves around a man with short-term memory issues, and a story that runs backwards in time, versus forwards.  Warning:  don't watch when you've had a glass of wine or two.  I made that mistake once.

4.  Donnie Darko - This movie has turned into a cult hit because of its surreal plot threads, it symbolism, and its tragic themes.  But beyond that, it is extremely unique, the acting is entertaining, I love the song Mad World, and I'd watch it over and over again.  Even if I'm not sure what is going on with that deranged rabbit.

5.  Mulholland Drive - I have no idea what this movie was about.  I think I was entertained.


So which movies left you wondering what you just watched?
  

17 comments:

christina said...

I am so glad that someone else had no idea what was going on in Pirates. Waaaay too much going on and I just felt overwhelmed and stoopid because I couldn't keep up with the plot.

bermudaonion said...

Inception for sure. The first movie that popped into my head was 2001: A Space Odyssey. I saw it at the theater after other people raved about it and still think "What the heck?" when I see it or think about it.

rhapsodyinbooks said...

Memento was definitely that way for me. Mulholland Drive as well. I know these movies are supposed to be artsy, but give me an understandable plot any time!!!

raych said...

'Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?'

'Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?'

John Braine said...

4 & 5 are my all time favourite movies. Maybe I like to be confused.

The plot of Mullholland drive isn't much more complex than the Wizard of Oz.

Zibilee said...

I agree with all the movies you chose for this post, especially Inception, Donnie Darko, and the new Pirates movie. When I saw that movie, I knew there was much too much going on with all the plot threads, but just kind of let it all wash over me.

Unknown said...

I got Donnie Darko but Mulholland Drive, oh my. Inland Empire was even weirder, better two, but you just had to accept it all as random pretty pictures. I've no idea what was going on.

kayerj said...

I would include all of the pirate movies. If it wasn't for the cast I would never have gone to the first one. Enjoy your stay in Poland. Kaye—the road goes ever ever on

caite said...

Loved Memento...whatever it was about..I loved the look of it. I even loved saying, repeatedly, "Huh?"

I think a lack of confusion is over rated.

Heidenkind said...

I LOVED Inception. And Momento. :)

Teacher/Learner said...

I definitely agree with including Inception and Memento. Love them both but boy do they get the brain pumping. 2001: A Space Odyssey...yeah, I won't go into that one :P Hmmm...can't think of any more right now.

Kathleen said...

Memento tops my list. Sad to say I still haven't seen Inception!

Jenners said...

I "studied" before watching Inception too. And Memento was fantastic but I was barely hanging on throughout.

The Bumbles said...

We put The Good Shepherd on our list - in fact, it was the only thing on our list this week. Confuzzled me for sure!

Nicole said...

I'll be watching Memento and Inception sometime this summer and hope that they are entertaining. I am surprised that Pirates of the Caribbean was on the list of confusing movies but then again, I've only watched the first one, so maybe I'll understand why when I get around to getting through the rest of the films in that franchise, lol.

The Madlab Post

Alyce said...

The first one that came to my mind was Duplicity. I saw that with some friends and a few people in our group walked out having no clue what had happened. I thought it was an okay movie though.

I also thought of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension. Quite possibly one of the worst movies ever made.

Alice said...

I've been wanting to watch "Inception" for ages. Got to get it off my to-watch list.