What genre or type of movie do you usually avoid and why?

I steer away from westerns and sci fi. I have not even seen most of the great classic westerns like Red River, Cheyenne Autumn, films by great directors with great scripts and casts. We were inundated with westerns when I was a kid, especially on tv , and I played frontier family with cap guns, rode horses etc. So I don’t know why I don’t watch westerns. 

Sci fi - I like science fiction writing, and I enjoy action and fantasy. If the film has a powerful allegory and good acting, and especially if it has a John Collier- esque twist, I could get interested. I like Day the Earth stood Still. 

There are honorable exceptions in each category, but I generally avoid:

-- westerns
-- musicals
-- love stories
-- comedies other than black comedies
-- comedy/crime hybrids
-- animal movies (especially dogs)
-- animated
-- children's movies
-- movies predominantly featuring children or teenagers
-- biopics (except when set in some remote era when fabrication is unavoidable. I may be the only poster here to have somewhat enjoyed Oliver Stone's 'Alexander')
-- religious pictures
-- supernatural and fantasy
-- sci-fi
-- horror
-- sport (the only sport I like is soccer but there are no good movies about it)
-- medical (not for ideological reasons but because I am squeamish)
-- any movie made before 1941 (many major exceptions here)

Maybe quicker to list what I do like

My real Kryptonite is sentimentality. That can pop up and mar any category of movie, so not easily avoided, but some categories are obviously more susceptible, such as US movies, animal pictures and family movies. Interestingly, some of my favorite movies are those that teeter on the edge of sentimentality yet somehow manage to avoid falling into it.

What might be more interesting (at least, to me) are examples of the exceptions which I referred to in my opening paragraph.

There are things in each of these replies with which I can readily identify. Although I don't have many hard-and-fast rules and there are almost always exceptions, there are some subjects and genres to which I'm just not naturally attracted, and examples of which I'll have to prod myself before watching. 

Those prison films lune7000 mentioned. Why? I generally find them unrelentingly dreary and with scant elements to connect with as a viewer. About 20 or so years ago, my younger brother raved about The Shawshank Redemption and, during a visit, insisted I had to see it. I remember little of it and can't say there was anything about it which especially moved me, and I've no idea why it appealed to him so much. Ironically, he was released only a year ago after eight years in a federal pen for...well, never mind what for. But he'd always been  - or seemed - such a by-the-rules, straight-arrow kind of guy, and for the first half-century-plus of his life, his existence reflected that to all appearances. But about even the people you know best, there are things you just can't tell from observation.

marshamae 's westerns. I will admit I've had better luck with some of these than with other genres to which I'm resistant, but even the best of them can be so chock-full of B.S. mythology and macho posturing that there are too few aspects to which I can connect: The Magnificent Seven (1960 version) is a case in point. I goaded myself into finally seeing it a few years back and, while it was well-made, I found it rather drawn-out and I was "meh" about the whole affair. I haven't yet been able to make it through Red River after several tries. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence: mostly flat (and full of that macho B.S.). One of them really has to get off the well-trodden trails and show me something others don't offer: Shane, the original 3:10 To Yuma (both with Van Heflin; I wonder what that means) and The Wild Bunch are ones that offered that something extra. And there are a couple much lighter ones that are reliable, watch-anytime fare: Destry Rides Again and Support Your Local Sheriff.

I'm okay with some sci-fi, but it has to offer some genuine human interest or be of the undemanding, just-for-fun, kiddie-matinee type so popular in the '50s to hold my attention. But as elaborate special-effects extravaganzas: {{yawn}}. Likewise with so-called "action" movies, replete with copious gunplay, ridiculous hand-to-hand fights, physics-defying chases, outsized explosions and frenetic camera work and editing. Borrrrring.

Anything to do with mythical worlds. Again, always exceptions: the Harry Potter films displayed charm and wit. But those grim Lord Of the Rings/Hobbit or Dune-type and whatnot epics? They confuse the hell outta me. I can't keep track of the backstory legends and curses and princesses and feuds and grudges, and furthermore, I just don't care.

"Mob" stories. Goodfellas; Casino; the various Godfathers and so on. Well-crafted, one and all. And I never care to see any of them again. I simply can't find any point at which to connect with or care about the characters and events such films depict.

lune7000 , you ask the most interesting questions. I do like inquisitive minds.        




  

       

As strange as it may seem, realistic drama—indeed, anything in which realism is the order of the day—is a turnoff for me.

Of course there are exceptions; what I mean is I’d almost always rather seek out a comedy, musical, thriller, horror, mystery, allegory, etc., than a drama.

I could say the reason is that I need some kind of distance from emotion or something like that, but the real reason is just that realism tends to bore me (again, a gross oversimplification, but there it is).

That’s probably one reason for my general dislike for, say, biopics, non-mystery/thriller crime movies, and sports movies. (But then I think of, say, the first Godfather, which I find tons of fun, or The Natural, which I love. Sigh.)

Musicals (I find them boring)
Romantic Comedies (these kind of comedies just aren't funny to me)
Science Fiction (just not my cup of tea, but there are some exceptions)

I'll give most genres a go but these genres usually slip past me with no regrets

Operetta 
Kung Fu
Anything involving plucky migrants overcoming adversity or inspiring teachers educating slum kids to like Beethoven.

Why?  Not sure - Nelson Eddy has a pasty face - Kung Fu bores me after 2 minutes - plucky/inspiring doesn't float my boat.

My three top genres are amnesia, assumed identities and flashbacks (definitely a genre).

Back when the only way to watch a movie was in a theater or heavily edited on broadcast TV, I, like you, tried to watch everything and anything. When my town first got cable in the mid-1980s, I subscribed to two premium networks and watched any damn thing they could throw at me (The Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf, Trancers 4). But as the years went by and I saw so many films, branching out into foreign language and obscure indie pics, the more narrow my focus has become. At this point, it would be easier to list what I do watch rather than what I avoid.

london777 had posted:
Plagiarist!

I don't hate them so much, but the only silent films I've ever really enjoyed have been comedies. Dramas seem even more overwrought than ever in this genre.

Also, not a fan of reliving 9/11 through movies. Mostly avoided all the documentary stuff that was on recently too. It's so dark.