I think I may have mentioned this in another thread but I thought Magnolia sucked. I probably just didn’t get it but that’s my opinion. I also was bored out of my mind during the Blair Witch Project.
In defense of Explosion moives,(Independence Day, Arrmageddon(sp?) and so on) I really enjoy most of them. They are not made to be moving or revolutionary but they are made for mindless entertainment and I think they produce that well. I am a huge beliver that originality in movies does not make them good movies. I think Shawshank is the greatest movie of all time, but I can’t think of anything all that original except for the script.
So many movies I’d forgotten…but now recall, you finks.
I don’t mind crappy. Crappy can be good. It’s crappy and pretentious that makes my gorge rise.
Beaches should have been a TV movie. Forrest Gump was a techno-whirl version of idiot-savant wisdom. Peter Sellers as Chance was the genuine article. Independence Day was a bomb for the same reason all the recent Arnie flicks have bombed: lotsa things blowing up can be fun but don’t make a damned cult out of it, okay? Batman after the first: the dialogue was hokey, but face it; it was based on a comic book! The first was a deft homage w/ some genuinely good character spins along with the atmosphere. Dances with wolves: woulda/coulda been a great flick if it hadn’t had Kevin Costner drizzling his unctuous ego all over it. Dustin Hoffman came close in the scenery-chewing in Little Big Man but the ensemble, script and directing saved it. Paved the way for Lonesome Dove and all the “revisionist history” oaters that followed.
(Mini-rant: Costner was genuinely good in Silverado, a funky, under-rated little gem of its kind. Why did no one throw a muzzle and choke-collar over that ego of his?)
The English Patient: no, I don’t have to have a happy ending. But it wasn’t a tragedy, just plain dreary. No catharsis, no wisdom gained, no knowledge hard earned from pain; just Beaches bathos with a few college courses behind it. Pretty woman: maybe Billie Holliday coulda carried it off. As it was, the glitz and hype couldn’t hide underlying stink. No wit, no grace, just slightly distasteful dreck. Flashdance: I’m sorry, I hated this movie and I’m not sure why. The premise and soundtrack weren’t any more instantly dated than Ruby Keeler flicks, but somehow plucky Ruby didn’t seem as mock-deserving and opportuntistic.
Sorry for the rant; didn’t know that many movies annoy me.
To those who didn’t like Event Horizon: (1) are you into h. P. Lovecraft at all? The movie is very Lovecraftian. 920 have you seen The Cell, and did it scare you?
Awful but popular movies: me, Myself and irene. ick! (i liked Liar, liar, BTW.)
Anyone here see Stuart little and hate it like I did?
I will second anything with julia roberts. what a no-talent hack she is.
BTW, Payback was a novel long before pulp fiction was ever remotely conceived, and Pulp Fiction is a good movie.
Sailor moon, akira, Dirty Pair, and Dragonball Z are all popular, and bad. Good anime: princess mononoke, Card captor sakura (NOT the US version!!!), magic knight rayearth…
the Batman movies didn’t begin sucking till Schumacher (sp?) got his paws on them and made it camp.
What’s wrong with sleepy Hollow??! And Xmen? XMen had ONE bad line; you’re going to condemn the whole movie for that?
Nah. Even the first Batman sucked. Great visuals, lousy script. Sample line: “Are we gonna try to love each other?” (wince)
I don’t think Nicholson’s performance helped at all.
In the old Bob Kane Batman stories (early 40’s) the Joker was a very dark character. And it worked. The fact that he looked like a clown was ironic. I thought Nicholson played the role far too broadly and comically.
I thought that Breaking the Waves was awful and that Me, Myself and Irene was the worst movie of the year.
I don’t remember if it was successful or not, but Hoffa with Jack Nicholson was another terrible mess. And what about those Eddie Murphy concert tapes (Raw and Delirious) that everyone used to rave about? They’re terrible! Chris Rock or Andrew Dice Clay, who nobody admits to liking, are much better at stand-up than him.
Can’t believe someone hasn’t mentioned Bridges Of Madison County.
My wife drug me to this turbid takeoff on the book. The scenes with Clint Eastwood and Whats-her-name dancing for 20 minutes in the living room where just excruciatingly painful to watch.
I have unreserved hatred for the witless and logic-deprived music video known as Armageddon. The stupidities of that movie are too numerous to list, but equally annoying was the rapid-fire ADHD-style editing (I doubt there’s a single cut lasting more than ten seconds) and the gaping problems with logic and common sense. Why, oh why, is there a Criterion Collection DVD version of this movie? Have the people at Criterion lost their minds?
Loathed The English Patient. I saw absolutely no point in this movie. Two-plus hours stolen from my life. If you’re going to make a downer out of a romantic movie, you’d better include an actual point* to the whole exercise, or at least give me a reason to care for the characters.
Recently saw on a borrowed DVD the alleged science-fiction classic The Planet of the Apes, starring Charlton Heston. Some nice ideas, but there were too many problems with the movie that drove me crazy. Very disappointing.
Stargate is a science-fiction cinematic abortion. Hated it.
I thought Patch Adams, a movie that did surprisingly well at the box office, was an unspeakably vile ball of preachy sentimentality and schmaltz.
Only if playing Alone in the Dark counts, heh…I haven’t read any Lovecraft, though I have a general idea of what his stuff is like from what I hear. I’m not a big horror fan, but I like to get freaked out once in a while (Event Horizon just didn’t do it for me).
Word from others was divided between those that thought The Cell being complete crap purely attempting to make money off it’s star (for the life of me, I can’t remember who it is right now), and those that thought it was a great movie. I was inclined to believe the former, as it seems to happen more often. Maybe I’ll rent it, though it looked kind of hokey to me.
Maybe I’m just jaded or something, but shots of “Hell” and such don’t really freak me out, nor does seeing, say, someone with no eyes. I mean, it’s gross, but not scary to me. Now the clown from It, THAT’s scary…I used to cover my ears and close my eyes when I was a kid and my parents were watching it. I’ve only seen slight clips from it and I had nightmares forever…There is NOTHING more evil than a clown.
Haven’t watched The Exorcist either…I’ve seen clips of the little girl during the crazy scenes and that freaks the hell out of me, more than just seeing blood and guts, heh.
Oh, and I’m with KJ on the Pulp Fiction thing (though I wouldn’t say WORST movie…). I rented it recently to see what it was all about and while it was an interesting movie, and there was probably some brilliance in it somewhere, I didn’t really see it…The whole interlacing plot deal I’ve seen a lot by now, so maybe it’s just that I should have rented it back when it was newer to appreciate it?
Ramble ramble ramble…must pull fingers away from keyboard…
Bette Midler has done a lot for highway beautification out here, but I’m not sure it will redeem her in the afterlife for ruining what had been one of my favorite weepy songs. The late Grover Washington Jr. originated that song. His version made me cry the first time I heard it, and almost every time after that. Bette’s version is like audio Thomas Kinkade.
I think some people are using the wrong scale to judge movies. “Forrest Gump” was not supposed to have a message, be artsy, or whatnot. It was supposed to be entertaining and heartwarming, which it was. And for movies like “Citizen Kane” and “Pulp Fiction”, entertainment was not it’s first priority. Originality and innovation was (I think).
Also, I won’t name names, but i don’t like the “i don’t understand it, so it sucks” attitude some people seem to have.