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Jack Nevada

What is 'pretentious'?

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Now take a film like the Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. That's also a movie that some would call boring, but I happen to really like it. 2001 is the only Kubrick film I find boring. I think Eyes Wide Shut is just a bad movie and never saw Barry Lyndon or Lolita. But everything else I'm a fan. And I should correct Tree of Life to say all of Terrence Malick movies bore me.

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I guess I'd go by the standard definition, that is; affecting importance where none exists, or should not exist and then having a negative reaction to that.

Bingo. Movies that think they are oh so smart and have something profound to say whereas they are stupid and have nothing to say that we didn`t know before are pretentious. In short, Prometheus.
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Pretentious is a vile word. People misuse it all the time. Usually people mean esoteric or ostentatious. But really the word means when people are reaching for merit that is undeserved. Like when someone does what someone else did without really understanding why they did it.

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I really do hate the use of this word when associated with movies. Most of the time, it's a quick way to knock a film when somebody just doesn't like it. If it doesn't entertain or satisfy them in the way they want.

If I could like this 50 times I would. In the case of movies, what is or isn't pretentious is entirely subjective. Whenever I see that word in critic reviews, I usually just stop reading. Fuck off.A good example would be Lemire's review of Cloud Atlas. Edited by Shpongle
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from I gather from the use of the term "pretentious" online, people mostly use it to describe artsy movies that they don't quite understand. for me personally, on the personal cinema side, I'd say Angelopoulos is more often than not pretentious with his long take, contriving to be artsy.on the mainstream side, Inception is pretentious as Nolan deploys overly convoluting narrative and flashy visuals to convey very simple concepts.

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A pretentious movie (or book, or any piece of art, really), to me, is something that pretends it's saying more than it actually does, or places more weight and importance on its subject than the subject warrants. It's definitely an overused word in online community, but I do believe it can be used appropriately and I don't shy away from using it when it's really the best way to describe how I feel. Of course, I also explain why exactly I feel that way; different movies can be made in exactly the same way, but in one case it will be justified, and in other case it won't. In that sense, it's most definitely wrong to describe as "pretentious" all movies that are slow-paced or all movies that have open endings.

In the case of movies, what is or isn't pretentious is entirely subjective.

In the case of movies, or any other art form, everything is subjective.
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I don't know how one could call (for example) Lincoln pretentious when the subject matter is about as important as one can get for U.S. history. You may find it dull or plodding, but calling it pretentious is 100% un-be-fucking-lieveable.

Edited by 4815162342
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