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Typical_Humanoid t1_je9uubv wrote

Reply to comment by PM_ME_UR_FEET_69 in How can you tell that a movie is pretentious? by Chemical-Contest-150

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.

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BlakRainbow1991 t1_je9xlya wrote

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

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Typical_Humanoid t1_je9ygsk wrote

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.

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