MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > I hate when a movie title is someone's n...

I hate when a movie title is someone's name.

posted 5 years ago by samoanjoes (56726)
78 replies | jump to latest

All these titles suck equally:

John Carter
Patch Adams
Michael Clayton
Ned Kelly
Charley Varrick
Billy Elliot
Corky Romano
Harry Brown
Jerry Maguire
Bob Roberts
Barton Fink
Donnie Brasco
Alex Cross
Jack Frost
Vera Drake
Billy Madison
Wyatt Earp
Donnie Darko
John Wick
Annie Hall
Simon Birch
Charlie Bartlett
Jack Reacher

Then you have the single names:

Ray
Hanna
Anna
Rebecca
Victoria
Logan
Rambo
Amelie

These titles are so damn lazy. It's like they're trying to make a character popular. And when they use a first and last name, I can't tell if it's based on an actual person and they're expecting me to know it, or if it's one completely made up.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77423) 5 years ago

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy!

[–] samoanjoes (56726) 5 years ago

And it's sequel: Tutti Frutti: Rudy 2

[–] ShogunofYonkers (77423) 5 years ago

How could I forget that cult gem?!?

[–] kukuxu (5409) 5 years ago

'Amelie' is not the real title. It's the English one.

The french original title is 'Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain' (The amazing destiny of Amelie Poulain)

[–] samoanjoes (56726) 5 years ago

Good point. I completely forgot.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

You may be right about it being light on imagination but damn, there’s some fine films in that list of yours. Harry Brown, Barton Fink, Annie Hall, Logan and Amelie in particular are favourites of mine and honestly I can’t imagine any of them with different titles. I don’t really think a more descriptive title would make any of those films more memorable than they already are either.

Good thread though 👍

[–] samoanjoes (56726) 5 years ago

Amadeus is another one. But that's a better title than "Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart."

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

lol

How do you feel about Mary Poppins?

[–] samoanjoes (56726) 5 years ago

Meh.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Well yeah, I agree, but would The Magical Cleaning Nanny have had the same impact? I guess we’ll never know.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21466) 5 years ago

It doesn’t bother me at all when a film’s title is a persons name but I thought these great blaxploitation films are worth a mention:

Shaft
Cleopatra Jones
Coffy
Hammer
Jackie Brown
Truck Turner
Willie Dynamite
Dolemite
Mandingo
Petey Wheatstraw

[–] Adam60z (3766) 5 years ago

I would make the point that films with titles like this tend to be no good. Of the list you gave the only exceptions are Ray and Rambo, and Annie Hall. In general one word titles mean the film's overcommercial junk. The reasoning is the masses are so dumb they can't remember titles of more than one word.

[–] degree7 (821) 5 years ago

Michael Clayton was awesome doe

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I was just thinking... you must consider Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron-Man, Thor, etc. just as lazy. Yes? And Superman II twice as lazy.

Also... the original title for Amelie is "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain". The literal translation is "Amelie Poulain's Fabulous Destiny" so on this, I have no choice but give it to you... the translators REALLY got lazy !

[–] samoanjoes (56726) 5 years ago

Those superheroes are based on comics so they probably wanted to keep the name for advertising purposes.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Then we can assume the same thing for Logan (Wolverine's first name), John Carter (comics), Jack Reacher (novels) and Alex Cross (novels).

[–] samoanjoes (56726) 5 years ago

I didn't know John Carter was a comic. I forgot Alex Cross and Jack Reacher were novels.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

If I remember correctly, John Carter was a Marvel comic, then a book (or the other way around) and then a movie.