This movie itself is a 'Ghost Cat' it's a beautiful story that doesn't ask for attention but has a powerful message… Rotten Tomatoes and the negative critics are just wrong.
I use to religiously listen to critics.... Theyre irrelevant. I now watch a movie and if it resonates with me ill look at how others responded to it. Critics are not the arbiters of good movies, they're just like us. We really shouldn't be putting them on a pedestal. I absolutely loved this movie. I watched it 10 years too late because i never knew what it was about... Its about life😊.
I don't think the second half of the film would work as well if not for the extended and obvious unrealness of his daydreams through the first half. It's him going out and living instead of the fantasising he's been doing. The film has to set up the daydreaming as an actual escape, something significant in his life rather than just him contemplating a dream for a moment, something he fully gets lost in, otherwise the reality he's in doesn't hit as hard.
People who don’t like this movie usually miss what’s so exceptional about it. They were looking for something more “obvious” in its presence, maybe more “traditional” stiller dumb comedy (which I don’t usually like). The things that make this movie amazing are: - cinematography - the writing (yes that.) every huge moment is underplayed and quiet. And that’s THE POINT. (Like when his mom tells him she saved his wallet, and he just have a huge reaction.) - the message of live life, like you said - the relatability of the Walter There’s more nuanced points but that’s enough for now. This may be my favorite film of Stiller’s, just like Good Will Hunting might be my favorite film of Robin Williams. In both cases a comedian didn’t do a comedy. So underrated.
This is absolutely my favorite Ben Stiller movie as well. Great comment. I could feel that I saw into Ben's soul as a creator with this film and I really appreciated how that made me feel. Tropic Thunder or whatever might be his comedic "masterpiece" but this is the best film he ever made imo.
To add to the list of great, serious movies starring traditionally comedic actors - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a fantastic Jim Carrey film.
Whats funny is the second half needed those daydream sequences Its the point where Walter gets on that helicopter that the daydreams stop. Its when he truly has become the master of his life Without those daydreams, it loses its impact immensely
This is the movie that made me fall in love with Ben Stiller as an actor, maybe because my 40+ years on the planet I have been like Walter in the first half of the movie and I hope that one day that will change.
The ending puts the daydreamer and the adventurer as what we all are. The true heroes are everyday hard working people,who never gets seen, much less appreciated.
I took it to mean that the "ordinary" (the ignored, or unobserved nature) is just as important and special as the "extraordinary" (the appreciated, or observed nature). It also highlights the importance of photography as an art. I think the above message only hits Walter when he sees himself on the front page of Life. He sees himself as a snow leopard like Sean does, as a part of Life's environment, naturally hiding in his surroundings but special and rare.
Sean’s line about being in the moment and not looking through the perspective of a camera was one of the lines that really stuck with me for years. I’m no photographer, but whenever I do wanna take a photo of something, I try to remind myself to appreciate the moment and not focus too much on looking at my phone’s screen to take a picture or video.
Honestly, this easily makes my top 50. I probably put it in my top 10. I love this film. It may not be an obvious masterpiece, but I think it's a sneaker that will be appreciated with time.
Sean Penn appears briefly just as the "GHOST cat", synchronicity, communication... that is what this actually is when you are perceiving it from a deeper understanding within oneself. This is the entire plotline of the film that many CRITICS, the word speaks volumes, could not comprehend and reflected their within through their analysis of the film. So grateful to have had this film introduced to me by a friend and found the meaning within through it. LOVE IT.
I enjoyed this movie so incredibly much but one of my first thoughts after it was over was something like "well i don't have the money to travel to Greenland and Iceland". But then I quickly realised that's not the point. The point is just to try. If the movie was super realistic about it and Walter Mitty just cycled through some bit of nature in New York the movie would be boring. I don't even think it's wrong to blame politicians and billionaires for your lack of opportunities in life. You can do that and also still try to live like Walter Mitty in the movie. Trying your best will still get you 1000 times further than not trying at all. Just taking a hike through a bit of nature near where you live will make you feel so much more alive than just staying inside. Anyway, great video. I love seeing people finally recognize how good this movie really is.
I think this is in part a problem with rotten tomatoes in general. A movie can broadly considered to be “good but not excellent” and have a high rotten tomato score. Another movie may be polarizing but have a solid base of passionate fans and have a low to average rotten tomato score.
This movie is on the top till date in my list, I'm trying hard and even I compared it with Interstellar but NO, from story to direction to cinematography, everything seemed so perfectly articulated. The host made few points to criticize even I don't have one. it's just perfect.
Thank you for your video. I’m in. When I first saw the trailer, I decided not to watch the movie. And I realized years later that the trailer didn’t pay tribute to the movie itself. I watched The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty and I liked it very much. I regretted not having watched this movie on a huge screen of a cinema. Oh, BTW I’m a photographer 😉
Goodness, this is a spicy take. But I kinda think it's spot-on. I remember first watching Walter Mitty and being surprised by its appeal. I think it occupies that somewhat rare space of being a movie with tremendous ambition and vision, that falls flat occasionally when it falls back on safe routines. The Benjamin Button sequence felt like one of those, a Stiller Show type classic skit that kinda didn't fit into the much more mature flavor of the film. And the occasional cheesiness that undercut the very message it was trying to convey. I think to some extent, the mismatch of the goofy Benjamin Button sequence may have been the main problem. Sometimes, a single bad decision can derail an otherwise excellent piece of art. Some old-school filmmaker whose name I can't remember once said that his films were never finished till he cut his favorite scene. I think this might have been the one scene that confused critics into thinking they were going to get a wacky Zoolander type project. But this also speaks to the limits of professional film criticism. Critics see so many films a year that they lose the ability to really attend to each one. They want the film to just stay in its lane, so they can categorize and judge it as they're taking it in. So they prefer films that announce what they are immediately and stay that all the way through. Walter Mitty does the opposite. After all, it's a film about transformation, so of course, it transforms. But in doing so, the critics assessing its merits as a light comedy about hilarious daydreams gone wrong weren't ready for its dramatic redirection. Critics are only half playing attention anyway, spending much of their time writing notes. It may be a necessary part of the job, but analyzing a film by necessity takes you out of it. And Walter Mitty by its nature actually calls into question that very approach, to art, and to life. "Be here, and see this," it demands. "Stop taking pictures of life, and be present for what it's showing you." I think it may have made a lot of critics feel self-conscious about the way they experience films. Bottom line, I think you hit the nail on the head with these criticisms. They don't criticize the movie itself, they complain that it wasn't a different kind of movie. Which is just plain bad criticism. "This fish is terrible at climbing trees. Fail!"
I know you have your gripes but for me this is one of my favorite movies. I usually go for dark and bittersweet endings but this one is so hopeful and inspiring. I may not get to do half of the adventures i dream about doing, but there's a different kind of adventure trying to be a Ghost Cat in where i currently am.
To be honest, i have never seen a daydream being depicted so accurately in a movie before. I mean what happens at a daydream? You think about the most ridiculous stuff, it feels like an eternity and as you snap back into reality, you realize it was just a blink of an eye.
This is why critics ultimately don't matter in any medium of artistic expression. People are free to interpret it as they wish, and critics will latch onto the negativity and roll with it since a scathing review is louder than a positive review with complements. You see it in food, movies, literature, everything. If you like the art, that's all that should matter to you.
Actually really liked this movie. It's about dreamers and their fears. I love chasing my dreams. I have anxiety and depression so I tend to feel blocked from those dreams quite a lot since sometimes just existing is too heavy a weight to even get out of bed. On my good days, I'm collecting my stories and writing and drawing them out because creating comic books and cartoons bring me joy and I like to think it brought joy to the people who read my work. Sadly the world is in a downward spiral of maladaptive progress. We're the most productive people in history but also feel the most trapped and constrained by having to pay to exist so that we can't even live past a weekend without being financially decrepit. We all long for our secret lives because our actual lives are kept behind a paywall.
The contrast of whimsy with depth speaks to a level of integration walter undertakes during his transformation. You could also speak to the repetition of the absurd in his day dreams that are inspired by vain tropes driven by materialism vs an emergent more authentic behavior based more on realism and presented in a rather romantic way.
This movie itself is a 'Ghost Cat' it's a beautiful story that doesn't ask for attention but has a powerful message… Rotten Tomatoes and the negative critics are just wrong.
I use to religiously listen to critics.... Theyre irrelevant. I now watch a movie and if it resonates with me ill look at how others responded to it. Critics are not the arbiters of good movies, they're just like us. We really shouldn't be putting them on a pedestal. I absolutely loved this movie. I watched it 10 years too late because i never knew what it was about... Its about life😊.
I don't think the second half of the film would work as well if not for the extended and obvious unrealness of his daydreams through the first half. It's him going out and living instead of the fantasising he's been doing. The film has to set up the daydreaming as an actual escape, something significant in his life rather than just him contemplating a dream for a moment, something he fully gets lost in, otherwise the reality he's in doesn't hit as hard.
People who don’t like this movie usually miss what’s so exceptional about it. They were looking for something more “obvious” in its presence, maybe more “traditional” stiller dumb comedy (which I don’t usually like).
The things that make this movie amazing are:
- cinematography
- the writing (yes that.) every huge moment is underplayed and quiet. And that’s THE POINT. (Like when his mom tells him she saved his wallet, and he just have a huge reaction.)
- the message of live life, like you said
- the relatability of the Walter
There’s more nuanced points but that’s enough for now.
This may be my favorite film of Stiller’s, just like Good Will Hunting might be my favorite film of Robin Williams. In both cases a comedian didn’t do a comedy.
So underrated.
This is absolutely my favorite Ben Stiller movie as well. Great comment. I could feel that I saw into Ben's soul as a creator with this film and I really appreciated how that made me feel. Tropic Thunder or whatever might be his comedic "masterpiece" but this is the best film he ever made imo.
To add to the list of great, serious movies starring traditionally comedic actors - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a fantastic Jim Carrey film.
Whats funny is the second half needed those daydream sequences
Its the point where Walter gets on that helicopter that the daydreams stop. Its when he truly has become the master of his life
Without those daydreams, it loses its impact immensely
All builds up to the shark scene Where you get even Walter questioning himself is this real?
I agree with pretty much everything u said. Shame some people couldn't enjoy the
movie and i hope ben Stiller knows he made an incredible film
Same Annalee. We need more movies like this!!
Yes Tom!! ❤ It was a good movie!!
Far too often forgotten about!
This is the movie that made me fall in love with Ben Stiller as an actor, maybe because my 40+ years on the planet I have been like Walter in the first half of the movie and I hope that one day that will change.
The ending puts the daydreamer and the adventurer as what we all are. The true heroes are everyday hard working people,who never gets seen, much less appreciated.
I took it to mean that the "ordinary" (the ignored, or unobserved nature) is just as important and special as the "extraordinary" (the appreciated, or observed nature).
It also highlights the importance of photography as an art. I think the above message only hits Walter when he sees himself on the front page of Life. He sees himself as a snow leopard like Sean does, as a part of Life's environment, naturally hiding in his surroundings but special and rare.
@@tticusFinch well put.
Sean’s line about being in the moment and not looking through the perspective of a camera was one of the lines that really stuck with me for years. I’m no photographer, but whenever I do wanna take a photo of something, I try to remind myself to appreciate the moment and not focus too much on looking at my phone’s screen to take a picture or video.
Honestly, this easily makes my top 50. I probably put it in my top 10. I love this film. It may not be an obvious masterpiece, but I think it's a sneaker that will be appreciated with time.
Sean Penn appears briefly just as the "GHOST cat", synchronicity, communication... that is what this actually is when you are perceiving it from a deeper understanding within oneself. This is the entire plotline of the film that many CRITICS, the word speaks volumes, could not comprehend and reflected their within through their analysis of the film. So grateful to have had this film introduced to me by a friend and found the meaning within through it. LOVE IT.
I really enjoy your review of movie narratives, but I wanted to comment because, well, that is a dope shirt.
Haha thank you!! Next video will be an in-depth breakdown of DUNE Part 1! Hope you like it + thanks so much for watching! :)
I enjoyed this movie so incredibly much but one of my first thoughts after it was over was something like "well i don't have the money to travel to Greenland and Iceland". But then I quickly realised that's not the point. The point is just to try. If the movie was super realistic about it and Walter Mitty just cycled through some bit of nature in New York the movie would be boring.
I don't even think it's wrong to blame politicians and billionaires for your lack of opportunities in life. You can do that and also still try to live like Walter Mitty in the movie. Trying your best will still get you 1000 times further than not trying at all. Just taking a hike through a bit of nature near where you live will make you feel so much more alive than just staying inside. Anyway, great video. I love seeing people finally recognize how good this movie really is.
Critics are sad, limitless people,
I think this is in part a problem with rotten tomatoes in general. A movie can broadly considered to be “good but not excellent” and have a high rotten tomato score. Another movie may be polarizing but have a solid base of passionate fans and have a low to average rotten tomato score.
It is you who's underrated🥰
Wow that's super kind thank you! 😊
This movie is on the top till date in my list, I'm trying hard and even I compared it with Interstellar but NO, from story to direction to cinematography, everything seemed so perfectly articulated. The host made few points to criticize even I don't have one. it's just perfect.
Thank you for your video. I’m in. When I first saw the trailer, I decided not to watch the movie. And I realized years later that the trailer didn’t pay tribute to the movie itself. I watched The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty and I liked it very much. I regretted not having watched this movie on a huge screen of a cinema. Oh, BTW I’m a photographer 😉
I think this movie is actually the perfect (or prime) example of Dan Harmon’s story circle
Great insight. Keep going with the channel.. you're good at it
Well that move is like old Whisky
52% ain't really abysmal lol.
Goodness, this is a spicy take. But I kinda think it's spot-on.
I remember first watching Walter Mitty and being surprised by its appeal. I think it occupies that somewhat rare space of being a movie with tremendous ambition and vision, that falls flat occasionally when it falls back on safe routines. The Benjamin Button sequence felt like one of those, a Stiller Show type classic skit that kinda didn't fit into the much more mature flavor of the film. And the occasional cheesiness that undercut the very message it was trying to convey.
I think to some extent, the mismatch of the goofy Benjamin Button sequence may have been the main problem. Sometimes, a single bad decision can derail an otherwise excellent piece of art. Some old-school filmmaker whose name I can't remember once said that his films were never finished till he cut his favorite scene. I think this might have been the one scene that confused critics into thinking they were going to get a wacky Zoolander type project.
But this also speaks to the limits of professional film criticism. Critics see so many films a year that they lose the ability to really attend to each one. They want the film to just stay in its lane, so they can categorize and judge it as they're taking it in. So they prefer films that announce what they are immediately and stay that all the way through.
Walter Mitty does the opposite. After all, it's a film about transformation, so of course, it transforms. But in doing so, the critics assessing its merits as a light comedy about hilarious daydreams gone wrong weren't ready for its dramatic redirection. Critics are only half playing attention anyway, spending much of their time writing notes. It may be a necessary part of the job, but analyzing a film by necessity takes you out of it. And Walter Mitty by its nature actually calls into question that very approach, to art, and to life. "Be here, and see this," it demands. "Stop taking pictures of life, and be present for what it's showing you." I think it may have made a lot of critics feel self-conscious about the way they experience films.
Bottom line, I think you hit the nail on the head with these criticisms. They don't criticize the movie itself, they complain that it wasn't a different kind of movie. Which is just plain bad criticism. "This fish is terrible at climbing trees. Fail!"
Boy howdy, though, that scene with Sean O'Connell talking about being present for the moment instead of capturing it on film, that gets me every time.
I love this movie, the whole thing. I identified so heavily with Walter.
I know you have your gripes but for me this is one of my favorite movies. I usually go for dark and bittersweet endings but this one is so hopeful and inspiring. I may not get to do half of the adventures i dream about doing, but there's a different kind of adventure trying to be a Ghost Cat in where i currently am.
I like Walter Mitty it's one of my favorite film, i agree with everything you said Ashton Kutcher.
To be honest, i have never seen a daydream being depicted so accurately in a movie before. I mean what happens at a daydream? You think about the most ridiculous stuff, it feels like an eternity and as you snap back into reality, you realize it was just a blink of an eye.
This is why critics ultimately don't matter in any medium of artistic expression. People are free to interpret it as they wish, and critics will latch onto the negativity and roll with it since a scathing review is louder than a positive review with complements. You see it in food, movies, literature, everything. If you like the art, that's all that should matter to you.
I also liked the movie a lot. 👍
I rewatched it recently with my wife and she loved it. First time seeing it for her as well!
underrated channel, watched this movie yesterday and i even teared up in the end.
Actually really liked this movie. It's about dreamers and their fears. I love chasing my dreams. I have anxiety and depression so I tend to feel blocked from those dreams quite a lot since sometimes just existing is too heavy a weight to even get out of bed. On my good days, I'm collecting my stories and writing and drawing them out because creating comic books and cartoons bring me joy and I like to think it brought joy to the people who read my work.
Sadly the world is in a downward spiral of maladaptive progress. We're the most productive people in history but also feel the most trapped and constrained by having to pay to exist so that we can't even live past a weekend without being financially decrepit. We all long for our secret lives because our actual lives are kept behind a paywall.
The contrast of whimsy with depth speaks to a level of integration walter undertakes during his transformation. You could also speak to the repetition of the absurd in his day dreams that are inspired by vain tropes driven by materialism vs an emergent more authentic behavior based more on realism and presented in a rather romantic way.
I needed every moment that this artist displayed...everything. super under-rated
Dude... top 50?.... This is my TOP 10 favorite movies.
I actually hate Ben Stiller as comedian... but I love him in this one.
Love this
No gay characters. It was destined to be trashed by Rotten Tomatoes. It refused to cooperate with the social engineering.
this movie was great. the critics too corporate and party poopers.
Its the best movie ever. PERIOD.
I love this movie!
Love this movie!
This is a great movie! Pffffftt!