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What’s your opinion on movies that have narration

Posted on 5/5/23 at 6:56 am
Posted by upgrade
Member since Jul 2011
15011 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 6:56 am
I listen to many of the rewatchables podcasts, and every time they review a movie that features narration, they always have the opinion that they generally hate narration but for this movie it works. I’ve heard people say that it’s a crutch for a poor script, but I actually have trouble thinking of a movie that features narration that I actually dislike.

Forest Gump
Shawshank Redemption
Goodfellas
Stand by Me
Dances with Wolves
The Sandlot
Apocalypse Now
A Christmas Story
The Wolf of Wallstreet
Princess Bride
Clueless
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Brave heart
The Age of Adaline

Many of these make the list of some of my favorites of all time.
It seems like every movie I’ve watched that features narration, I enjoy.
Posted by GetCocky11
Calgary, AB
Member since Oct 2012
53509 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 7:29 am to
Seabiscuit with the David McCullough narration was good

"In the end, it wasn't the dams, or the roads...or the bridges or the parks. Or the tunnels or thousands of other public works projects that were built in those years. It was more invisible than that. Men who were broken only a year before suddenly felt restored...men who were shattered suddenly found their voice."

With that cool groove music underneath.

Pretty neat.
This post was edited on 5/5/23 at 7:54 am
Posted by jlovel7
NOT Louisiana
Member since Aug 2014
24065 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 7:37 am to
quote:

but I actually have trouble thinking of a movie that features narration that I actually dislike.


Probably because to you those movies are just not memorable.

ETA: I love the rewatchables but they need to crawl out of their own butthole sometimes with some of their “this was a complete travesty of justice” opinions they throw in there sometime.

Bill Simmons and the gang mocking the older private Ryan breaking down after reliving his WWII experience was horrible. They just totally didn’t get it and basically derided it when I’m sure it’s something many WWII veterans grappled with in reality.
This post was edited on 5/5/23 at 7:40 am
Posted by gameovergt
Orange Park, FL via Stevenson, AL
Member since Nov 2010
1963 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 7:42 am to
Fight Club is awesome.
Posted by GetCocky11
Calgary, AB
Member since Oct 2012
53509 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 7:51 am to
quote:

ETA: I love the rewatchables but they need to crawl out of their own butthole sometimes with some of their “this was a complete travesty of justice” opinions they throw in there sometime.

Bill Simmons and the gang mocking the older private Ryan breaking down after reliving his WWII experience was horrible. They just totally didn’t get it and basically derided it when I’m sure it’s something many WWII veterans grappled with in reality.


I love that you posted this because that is the worst take on The Rewatchable that will always stick in my mind when listening to their podcast (that I enjoy), and they have plenty of bad takes to choose from. Simmons wouldn't shut up about how the old man parts of SPR were "bad" and should have been cut. I mean, what a white hot take.
Posted by DMagic
#ChowderPosse
Member since Aug 2010
50365 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 7:54 am to
My favorite Wes Anderson movie has narration throughout and I’m pretty sure the rewatchable pussies like it too
Posted by jlovel7
NOT Louisiana
Member since Aug 2014
24065 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 7:58 am to
Also a lot of Tarantino movies have some narration and I think that always crushes it.
Posted by upgrade
Member since Jul 2011
15011 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 8:03 am to
quote:

Bill Simmons and the gang mocking the older private Ryan breaking down after reliving his WWII experience was horrible. They just totally didn’t get it and basically derided it when I’m sure it’s something many WWII veterans grappled with in reality.


This X 10,000

He’s there with his family, thinking about all of the men that died saving his life, not to mention he lost 4 brothers in the war. Why did I get to live and have children and grandchildren when all these men didn’t? Was my life worth more than any one of theirs?
Posted by rebelrouser
Columbia, SC
Member since Feb 2013
13197 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 8:05 am to
I generally don't like it. It worked for Goodfellas because those were actual quotes from the book that helped Hill explain the mafia to an outsider (which he was) and Princess Bride was a bed time story fairy tale. Apocalypse Now kind of worked as an inner dialogue/philosophy of Willard. Should have kept it out of the other movies you listed.
Posted by TygerTyger
Houston
Member since Oct 2010
11064 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 8:42 am to
In the summer of 1982 a friend and I went to Cinema 8 in Cortana Mall and watched The Thing.

Then we snuck in to Blade Runner just as the lights went down and watched the whole thing.

At the time I was just jazzed that I was getting to see two movies for the price of one.

Little did I realize I'd just watched two of the best movies of that summer, and that was a summer PACKED with good movies.

I say all that to say I'm a Blade Runner purist. I saw it in the theater with its original voiceover. And I loved it. It's still the "real" Blade Runner to me. I don't care about the Director's Cut, Final Cut, etc.

The bored, hopeless tone of Ford's voice over makes the movie. I'll never be convinced otherwise.
Posted by VinegarStrokes
Georgia
Member since Oct 2015
14174 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 8:44 am to
Casino is like 75% narration lol
Posted by Fewer Kilometers
Baton Rouge
Member since Dec 2007
38373 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 9:11 am to
quote:

Forest Gump
Shawshank Redemption
Goodfellas
Stand by Me
Dances with Wolves
The Sandlot
Apocalypse Now
A Christmas Story
The Wolf of Wallstreet
Princess Bride
Clueless
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Brave heart
The Age of Adaline


You forgot Dragnet with Aykroyd's narration.
Posted by highanklesprain20
501
Member since Mar 2023
116 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 9:28 am to
Trainspotting has great use of narration, but it uses it to get the viewer more into the headspace of the character, less so for exposition.

Blade Runner has famously awful tacked-on narration.
Posted by alajones
Huntsvegas
Member since Oct 2005
35906 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 9:34 am to
quote:

Forest Gump Shawshank Redemption Goodfellas Stand by Me Dances with Wolves The Sandlot Apocalypse Now A Christmas Story The Wolf of Wallstreet Princess Bride Clueless The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Brave heart
I’ve seen all of these.

Some of them, the narrator is required because that’s the only thing holding a thread of vignettes together, like Christmas Story, Forrest Gump, Stand By Me, and Shawshank.

In Princess Bride, the Grandpa and kid are major characters.

Most of those I barely even recall the narration. Those movies could probably ditch the narrator pretty quickly and not be any less of a movie.
This post was edited on 5/5/23 at 9:38 am
Posted by SammyTiger
Baton Rouge, LA
Member since Feb 2009
79350 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 9:40 am to
If it’s a good movie with narration I like It

If it’s a bad movie with narration I hate It

Narration itself doesn’t move it either way for me. It’s a tool like any other cinematic device and Evan be used really well
This post was edited on 5/5/23 at 9:41 am
Posted by upgrade
Member since Jul 2011
15011 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 9:47 am to
quote:

You forgot Dragnet


Another great one
Posted by Locoguan0
St. George, LA
Member since Nov 2017
7270 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 9:49 am to
A River Runs Through It. Redford knows how to tell a story.
Posted by Summerchild
On top of the world.
Member since Dec 2022
382 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 10:27 am to
His voice is made for narration. The cadence is everything.

I find that a lot of Stephen King movies—Shawshank, Stand By Me—benefit from narration because use of his prose is beneficial, if not critical, to the story. That is the case with a lot of movies based on books.

Posted by Summerchild
On top of the world.
Member since Dec 2022
382 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 10:27 am to
The Royal Tennenbaums would suffer without Alec Baldwins narration, imo.
This post was edited on 5/5/23 at 10:29 am
Posted by brewhan davey
Audubon Place
Member since Sep 2010
33349 posts
Posted on 5/5/23 at 10:37 am to
Ice T narrates The Other Guys
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