Million Dollar Baby

What Great Films Can’t You Bear to Watch Again? Here Are My Top Three

Million Dollar BabyI happened across a great Web series called “Film vs. Film,” and it’s basically four film aficionados sitting around a table talking film stuff. My kind of guys. One that caught my eye was “Great Films We Can’t Bear to Watch,” because I’ve been ruminating on this for a while now.

You know the ones … excellent films with great casting and production, but so heartwrenching that you can only bear to watch them once. And sometimes even once is too much.

Here are my top three “Great Films I Can’t Bear to Watch”:

1. “Million Dollar Baby.” Dang it, Clint Eastwood. Why must you be such a great filmmaker whose films are so depressing, I can’t bear to watch them again. “Million Dollar Baby” stars Hilary Swank as a girl who has basically nothing in her life, but discovers boxing and starts working with a hardened trainer (Eastwood) to become a professional.

I’ll try not to give too much away here, but Lord almighty, the end scene had me gasping for air because I was weeping so profusely. Thanks for that, Eastwood. Oh, and while I’m at it, thanks for making me cry through “Mystic River,” “Flags of Our Fathers,” “Letters from Iwo Jima,”  “The Bridges of Madison County” and “Unforgiven.”

2. “Up.” There was so much sniffling and nose-blowing through the opening scenes of this movie that I could barely hear my own sniffling and nose-blowing. I guarantee that every single adult in the theater was crying either mildly or outright blubbering. Why, oh why, didn’t Carl’s wife live long enough to fulfill their lifelong dream of traveling the world? It’s just sad, sad, sad.

Things start to look up, however, when young Wilderness Explorer Russell stows away in Carl’s home as they float off to South America, thanks to the thousands of balloons Carl ties to his house. Where the heck does director Pete Docter come up with these brilliant ideas (which I only need to see once, thank you very much, lest I sink into a deep depression I’m unable to pull myself out of )?

3. “Marley and Me.” Again with the weeping and blubbering at the end of this otherwise sweet and funny movie. No, no, no, I refuse to watch Marley die all over again, watch Owen Wilson tearfully take him to the vet to be put down, watch the traumatized kids toss things into Marley’s grave before they cover him up with dirt. Not gonna do it, no way, no how.

What great films can’t you bear to watch ever again? Leave comments below!

Here are the guys’ picks from Film Versus Film, and watch online show series at Blip.tv.

Comments

One response to “What Great Films Can’t You Bear to Watch Again? Here Are My Top Three”

  1. Jeanne Avatar
    Jeanne

    Beaches, Dancer in the Dark, Stella (damn you, Bette Midler!), Million Dollar Baby… man, I feel like I am missing something obvious. Good post!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *