Last Action Hero. To this day, I can’t understand why it’s so maligned. I think part of the problem is that it was marketed as just your standard, blow-shit-up-real-good, action flick when it was in fact a parody of genre, and a pretty good one at that.
The right column adjusts for inflation.
I am surprised that Waterworld is not on this list, I guess it didn’t do as bad as people thought. I think it was just due to its budget.
Baron Munchausen is great. Really though, what Gilliam film is not disappointing from a financial standpoint. The Postman isn’t that bad, just very slow. I liked Hudson Hawk okay, but I was very young when I saw it so I’ll reserve judgment. I bet the 13th Warrior would’ve done better if they kept the original title, and it’s on my queue.
I never understood the hate for Cutthroat Island - I mean, as a simple “popcorn film” with adventure and sets and action, it was decent. Certainly no worse than a lot of other summer adventure films - but I suppose the inflated cost of producing it lead to greater expectations - still; for mindless adventure, it was not all that bad.
**Waterworld **actually turned a profit. Not a huge profit, to be sure, but it wasn’t a flop.
I really liked Town and Country and had no idea what was so “terrible” about it. It was unapologetically geared toward an older audience and so was much more fun than your typical comedy that tries to please everyone.
*The Adventures of Baron Munchausen *is one of my favorite films. I think it is brilliant and beautiful, chock full of memorable imagery. And Uma Thermon.
*Cutthroat Island *is a ton of fun.
One not on the list is Eyes Wide Shut, which I enjoyed a lot. I believe it was poorly marketed and people went into it expecting something that it wasn’t.
Eyes Wide Shut creeped me right the hell out, and I loved it. Haven’t seen it in awhile, I should rent it again.
My favorite box office failure is probably Newsies. Good movie? Eh, not really. But it’s a helluva lot of fun, and has cute boys. Christian Bale apparently thought it was a terrible idea to make it into a musical, and he’s probably right, but I still own and enjoy the soundtrack.
I had no idea that Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within cost US$167M to make, but I love this movie. Sure, the plot is all new-agey and shit, and somehow you end up looking up at what looks like Ben Affleck, even tho it’s not, but the voice acting and the animation/artwork are excellent. This was one of my first BR purchases, even tho I already had it on DVD, and it looks GREAT.
I also like the movie Red Planet quite a bit. I know I’ve watched it over 10 times, and it’s still an engaging and well-made flick. For the most part they seem to have gotten their science right (or at least right enough not to jerk me out of the film). The zero-G fire is awesome, for instance.
I don’t know if the Coen Brothers’ Miller’s Crossing qualifies as a major box office bomb–I can’t imagine that anyone thought it was going to be the hit movie of the year–but it definitely tanked, recouping less than half of its production budget. This is too bad, because not only is it a great convoluted story of the A Fistful of Dollars/Yojimbo mold, but the performances are career-making and the cinematography and direction is unparalleled; in terms of the hewed down construction of the movie, only O’ Brother Where Art Though and maybe The Hudsucker Proxy comes close in the Coens’ canon. Scorsese and company were lucky it was so overlooked as the film and performances are as good as Goodfellas with which it should have been in competition.
Stranger
Hmm…
Cutthroat Island, great popcorn flick.
The Adventures of Pluto Nash, another fun popcorn flick. THe freeze dried dogs and the maid are fun.
The 13th Warrior, again, fun popcorn flick. I liked the way he gradually learned to speak viking - that is how someone would learn to speak a strange language.
Soldier - interesting to watch. I see it from a ‘Tommy by Kipling’ point of view sort of. All cheers when they need you, go the fuck away when they dont.
Hudson Hawk, another popcorn flick.
Adventures of Baron Munchausen - popcorn flick, never unhappy with a gilliam flick.
The Majestic - a mostly non comedy by Jim Carry, workmanlike performance by martin Landau.
Why was Scorsese lucky that it was overlooked? It’s not like Goodfellas won any of the big Oscars or Golden Globes that year. Do you mean in terms of box office draw rather than awards/recognition?
Goodfellas won a bunch of other awards, which were well-deserved, but in my mind Miller’s Crossing was as good (if a very different, more stylized film, more film noir than gangster.)
Stranger
I liked these:
#1 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - Should have been the Best Picture of 1990
#2 Hudson Hawk - Pure doog
#3 Cutthroat Island - Fun
#4 Soldier - Mediocre, but impressive for Kurt Russel’s acting in spite of having practically no dialogue
Meh:
Man on the Moon - Not great, but still basically watchable
::reads over the wiki article linked in the OP::
Timeline. I saw it in the theaters and several times since. Paul Walker and Gerard Butler are both in it, that’s worth the price of admission alone.
Easily Adventures of Baron Munchhausen
I love that movie.
I am not qualified. I liked" Howard the Duck" and “Heavens Gate”. I was embarrassed for the actors in “Ishtar”.
I see three movies I like on that list.
The 13th Warrior is an excellent movie.
Sahara and The Postman are worthwhile movies.
Another vote for Adventures of Baron Munchausen; it was fun. I haven’t seen most of the others.
I really like Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and I saw it at the theater. I was disappointed when it bombed and when Square Pictures went bankrupt.
I also like Hart’s War pretty well. Red Planet is dated, but still watchable.
Another vote here for “Soldier,” again because Kurt Russell delivers a sensational performance. His work in that picture was worth the price of admission.
I liked some of the other films on that list but “Soldier” was the highest ranked one that I really liked.