PM_ME_UR_FEET_69 t1_je9sw22 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 1:37 PM

The word is most of the time heavily misused

Pretentious - attempting to impress by affecting greater importance or merit than is actually possessed

People basically just say this word to sound smart rather than say, "This movie sucks!", "Affecting greater importance than is actually possessed" is usually a matter of opinion.

stumpcity t1_jea89px wrote on March 30, 2023 at 3:29 PM

>People basically just say this word to sound smart

Which is, itself, pretentious. I've always thought that was hilarious.

NoEmu2398 t1_jecjhjt wrote on March 31, 2023 at 12:40 AM

You pretentious redditor! Trying to sound smart and all!

WilsonEnthusiast t1_je9w9ki wrote on March 30, 2023 at 2:01 PM

Any review of a movie is an opinion.

I've always taken pretentious in this context to mean that it's an overly stylized and ultimately shallow story.

Typical_Humanoid t1_je9uubv wrote on March 30, 2023 at 1:51 PM

Nobody has sufficiently explained to me how you can possibly verify a movie is pretentious.

People focus much more on the first part than the "than is actually possessed" criteria but everything a movie is is on the screen. Pretension implies some sort of trickery or hidden depths of true inadequacy but a movie can't hide if it's actually plain bad. Directors are pretentious, actors are pretentious. People, with layers. Not a film.

BlakRainbow1991 t1_je9xlya wrote on March 30, 2023 at 2:11 PM

I mean alot of Oscar bait feels very pretentious. It assigns greater merit than it actually possesses.

Typical_Humanoid t1_je9ygsk wrote on March 30, 2023 at 2:18 PM

I don't really like using Oscar bait as a criticism either. There are characteristics certain movies have that make them obvious Oscar bait, but these can still be good movies. Deserving over movies that aren't Oscar bait, usually not, but saying a movie is bad because it compares badly to another isn't looking at it for what it is.

Whenever I look at "pretentious movie" lists I see a ton of movies that aren't trying to be anything other than what they are, be it genuinely albeit unintentionally bad or movies that I personally feel flew over people's heads. But none I would call this. I don't get that "Oh this is so full of shit" feeling like I do when I hear a pretentious director's interview. I need more info than any movie can provide to make this determination. But that's just me.