Snoozing in the cinema

Meet Joe Black? 2001: A Space Odyssey? Boring!? Surely not. A new survey revealing the 20 “most boring” films of all time was always going to be controversial. After all, films on the list like French romantic comedy, The Artist, and groundbreaking drama Brokeback Mountain won a string of awards.

But Hollywood likes to pat itself on the back quite a lot and, by and large, we play along, the usual game being “name your top five films”, not the ones you hated most.

So perhaps there is a place for “most boring” lists. It may help to sharpen the focus of filmmakers used to receiving only praise. And that could mean better films for us all to enjoy. But even if a film has legions of adoring fans – the Star Wars franchise has an entry at number three on the list – that doesn’t mean that everyone has to find it fascinating.

And, likewise, sometimes we need to grudgingly sit through an hour-and-a-half or two of tedium to placate one of our nearest and dearest. Or just hand over the remote and seek refuge in a book or doing the dishes – or anything else really.