IMDb Top 250 you think are TRULY crap

Cafe Society
21

[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner]
There are a couple of things about the IMDb Top 250 list which it’s useful to know before you judge how good the list is. The first is that you should ignore the ratings of any film any more recent than, say, 1998. It takes at least five or ten years for a film to “settle down” in its popular and critical ratings. I’ve been looking at the ratings of films in the IMDb list for years now, and, quite consistently, popular films get high ratings when they come out and slowly drift down the list as time goes on. More rarely, a film doesn’t get appreciated when it was first distributed and rises a little in the ratings. Even more rarely, an old film (from pre-IMDb days) gets rediscovered and eventually makes it into the Top 250 list. You should consider any film on the list made since 1998 as being a recent film that hasn’t been around long enough yet to be judged against other films. This is about 20% to 25% of the films on the Top 250 list.
[/QUOTE]

There’s that, and the fact that the “idiot” vote seems to have taken ascendancy for
just about any recent release (votes of 10 or 1). Truly regrettable that films get
votes there not for their artistic merit, but because certain people get a bug up their
butts about various issues which in many cases have little or nothing to do with
the film itself.

My personal “Isn’t awful but doesn’t belong in the top 250” would include the
aforementioned QT films (incl. Pulp Fiction), but I also would throw in
Forrest Gump, Finding Nemo (better than Toy Story AND Shrek?), and
(dare I say it) the original Star Wars films (which I loathed when they came
out but have come to appreciate since, but they aren’t in my top 250).

22

I don’t watch enough movies to have too many opinions on the topic, but I did see a few that were either ridiculously overrated or just didn’t suit my tastes, namely LoTR (especially #2, which just wasn’t a very good film), It’s a Wonderful Life (don’t hate it, but not that fond of it either), Finding Nemo, Children of Men (that’ll get me into trouble :)), The Grapes of Wrath, (better than the book, but I despised the book), and I’m sure I could add more if I read more closely.

Then there are three that I simply despise. Namely:
2001: A Space Odyssey Why do people actually like this junk? It has poor pacing, it’s incoherent, it just generally sucks. So it got some details right in space. Who cares?
The Elephant Man Another movie trying to make a big statement that flops for lack of care about the movie itself.
Last but not least, The Wizard of Oz, which I haven’t watched since I was about five, and I simply despise on behalf of all Kansans.

Then again, there were several foreign films or other surprise contenders that did better than I would have expected (Der Untergang, for one), so I really can’t complain. One thing, though: The Triplets of Belleville deserves to be on the list.

23

[QUOTE=straight man]

2001: A Space Odyssey Why do people actually like this junk? It has poor pacing, it’s incoherent, it just generally sucks. So it got some details right in space. Who cares?
[/QUOTE]

It’s a disservice to say it merely got “some details right.”

As for why people like it: It’s brilliant, the pacing is amazing, and the story is mesmerizing. Oh, and I gotta give a nod to the special fx which still hold up today.

24

The OP is dead-on about the 1983 Scarface- it’s a joke. Over the top cartoonish dialogue, acting and violence. The original Scarface, though, with Paul Muni, is a friggin classic. Probably the only film that old with funny lines that are still funny (It’s kind of gaudy isn’t it? Yeah! Glad you like it), great tracking shots, cool violence, etc.

Also note that IMDB ratings are available not only to the serious film buff, but to anyone with an internet connection. Note how every film lately that has bad word of mouth automatically becomes one of the bottom 100 worst ever, and good new films with big bases (LOTR, etc.) automatically go top 20 or so. Read some of the comments and questions if you have doubt.

25

There are quite a few films on the list, that I consider being unworthy of being among the top 250. However, if I list total crap, meaning a waste of celuloid, the time of all the people involved in making it and the time everyone wasted watching it, then I come up with these:

Schindler’s List. Manipulative, Oscar bait garbage. Speilberg protrayed Nazis better i Indy I&III.

Braveheart. I started disliking MG movies when I realized how many of them had Revenge as a major theme. And always violent revenge.

Ben-Hur. Heavyhanded, bloated.

Spartacus. The same as Ben-Hur. Tecnicolor xtravaganza does nota good film make.

The Thing. I kida like Carpenter, but this remake as totally necessary and excelled in stupid gore.

26

Just saying here, but without some sort of clue as to what the OP or contributers think constitutes crapness in film, this isn’t the most useful of threads. Simply saying “It’s crap because it sucks”, or “I’ve always hated this film”, or “total snoozefest”, provides no information other than some vague statement about one’s personal preferences. Several posters seem to be calling consensus great films crap simply because they’ve been overexposed on television, or because one has no knowledge of the technical limitations or social mores inherent to the time when they were made.

I went over the IMDB list and of the films I’ve seen (maybe 60% of the total), I can’t say that there were any that I could call utter rubbish (no, not even the de Palma Scarface), in the sense that they were somehow more incompetently filmed, directed or acted than the general average. There were certainly some that I don’t personally care for and feel should not be on the list, that had pretentious or banal themes or cliche’d stories, but that doesn’t, on its own, make them truly crap. I will make some allowances if the film in question at least beats one over the head with some sort of extremely banal moral lesson; in that case a number of films (some mentioned below) qualify. If one simply does not get what the film is after, or completely rejects the technical or stylistic breakthroughs achieved by a given film, which clearly happens a lot with 2001, A Space Odyssey, well, that’s not my problem.

I’d tend to agree with Wendell Wagner that recent films really don’t count and I’d go so far as to say that films less than ten years old should not be on the list. Of the older films listed, the only one I personally can’t stand is Gone With the Wind, and that is really more due to a personal aversion to banal melodrama than anything else. The film itself is very well made, however. For It’s a Wonderful Life, firstly, I think a lot of people simply have somehow missed the emotional harshness and darkness of much of the film, and James Stewart’s brilliant performance therein. I also think one has to consider the times in which it was made, the general expectations audiences had of a “Capra film”, and the tyranny of the Hollywood happy ending, which in this case (for me at least) does little to mitigate the despair evident in most of the film. Oh, well, if you still hate it, no problem; after all, it apparently was less than well received at the time of release.

Of more recent films, I have no particular appreciation for David Fincher’s movies in general, American Beauty for its heavy-handedness, American History X mainly because the director has apparently disavowed the release version, Forrest Gump because I find its theme repellent, Unforgiven because there’s nothing particularly original in it, Gladiator for the same reason, and just in case anyone thinks I’m one of those Kubrick-fellators, The Shining for being all style and no substance. All of these films, however, are more or less competently made and most of them have some redeeming merits, regardless of my personal opinion of them.

27

Regarding DePalma’s Scarface:

I’ll admit, I kind of like it. It’s the kind of filthy language and gory violence that appeals to kids, and that’s when I first saw it. That said, it’s not a great film by any stretch of the imagination - and I very clearly remember when such was reflected on IMDb. Several years ago it had something in the neighborhood of a 7/10 and wasn’t in the top 250. When every rapper started singing its praises and rebellious young nerds started wearing Scarface tshirts and calling each other fucking cocharoaches it gained a point and is now among the likes of Citizen Kane and Once Upon a Time in the West.

At least we know who voted for it.

28

  1. L.A. Confidential- Ever get the feeling you watched a copy of the rough cut of the film instead of the actual film? That’s how I felt about this movie. I thought it completely sucked, and Kim Basinger should be sentenced to give head to every member of the Academy, over and over again until she gets permanent lockjaw, for giving her an Oscar for that “performance”. Ugh.

  2. Ed Wood- this is one of the 250 best films? Oh, for pete’s sake. It was terrible (risking El_Kabong’s wrath by not elaborating why).

  3. Harold and Maude- the whole time I was waiting for the really good part. After a while, I realized there wouldn’t be one really good part, but when it ended I’d probably “get it”. It ended and I was angry at myself for wasting 90 minutes of my life.

Other than those, of the films on the list that I’ve seen I more or less agree that they were pretty good, but those three really stand out as being crap.

29

[QUOTE=Kat]
I thought I was the only one.
[/QUOTE]

Oh my, no. I hate this movie for the reasons that Want2know stated. I also hate Jimmy Stewart in everything. I’m sure I just one-upped you on that statement!

-Cem

30

I enjoyed every single film that’s been mentioned so far in this thread (except for two or three which I havent seen). I’m wouldn’t count them all amonst the “best 250” but I liked watching every one of them. And why I’m not the pickiest movie-goer in the world, I do hate a good number of films that I’d include as really bad. I guess I should go look at that list for movie suggestions.

No other point, just saying…

31

#16 - Raiders of the Lost Ark - Shallow protagonist with attractive female co-star escapes death by the skin of his teeth approximately 28,562 times in two hours. The innumerable parodies in popular culture of famous scenes from this movie are far more entertaining than the actual film.

#32 - Fight Club - The sheer boredom I felt from this piece of crap was almost as bad as the incessant praise I heard from its fanboys who divined some sort of deep meaning from it, and therefore never shut up about it.

#34 - The Matrix - See #32

#59 - Hotel Rwanda - Okay, it wasn’t a total piece of crap, but it’s not even close to Top 250 status in my mind. If you’re looking for a film about the Rwandan genocide, Shooting Dogs is the far superior option.

32

Not to be insulting, but you have just about the worst taste in movies I have ever come across!

33

Thanks. Posts like that add valuable and pointed insight to this thread. :rolleyes:

34

[Quote=McNew]
193. Ed Wood- this is one of the 250 best films? Oh, for pete’s sake. It was terrible (risking El_Kabong’s wrath by not elaborating why).
[/Quote]

I’m not wrathful. I’m not even very aggressive. I’ve seen that film (although it’s been a while), however, and in my view it wasn’t terrible. Without your giving the slightest hint as to what you found terrible about it, I would therefore have to discount your opinion. Sorry.

35

[QUOTE=El_Kabong]
I’m not wrathful. I’m not even very aggressive. I’ve seen that film (although it’s been a while), however, and in my view it wasn’t terrible. Without your giving the slightest hint as to what you found terrible about it, I would therefore have to discount your opinion. Sorry.
[/QUOTE]

Well, unfortunately I can’t elaborate because it failed to capture my interest in the slightest. When it ended I remarked “well, that sucked”, and haven’t felt the need to ruminate on *what * about it I didn’t like or why I felt it sucked, because I felt it just wasn’t worthy of any more of my time. You may discount my opinion if you wish. You don’t even need to be sorry about it :wink: .

That’s the thing, though- I find it much easier to expound on why something was good or enjoyable, because I (like, I suspect, many others) tend to spend more time remembering scenes or portions of movies I like, than to speak eloquently about something that failed to register as enjoyable to me.

36

I thought Ed Wood was one of the best films of the '90s, and Martin Landau gave a performance worth 3 or 4 Oscars.

neutron star - you must not have realized that, like Star Wars, Indiana Jones is an homage to the serials of the director’s youth. It supposed to be cliched and over the top.

37

[QUOTE=Cisco]
I thought Ed Wood was one of the best films of the '90s, and Martin Landau gave a performance worth 3 or 4 Oscars.

neutron star - you must not have realized that, like Star Wars, Indiana Jones is an homage to the serials of the director’s youth. It supposed to be cliched and over the top.
[/QUOTE]

Another Ed Wood fan here. I could probably quote the whole thing by now.

38

Going down the list, I see a few films I didn’t care for (and a whole lot I never saw), but ones that struck me negatively:

  1. American Beauty
  2. Se7en
  3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  4. Braveheart
  5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
  6. Blade Runner (special case - I dislike the director’s cut and prefer the original)
  7. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
  8. Annie Hall (strongly)
  9. Gladiator
  10. Children of Men (strongly)
  11. Shrek
    Aside from 123 and 150, nothing I’d describe as “crap”.
39

None of the films I’ve seen from the top 250 strike me as “Total Crap.” Plenty of unworthies, but the closest to total crap for me is

  1. 7.9 Trainspotting (1996)

Really boring and pointless, ugly…very close to total crap

These were bad :

  1. 8.2 Life is Beautiful (1997) - My teeth still hurt.
  2. 8.1 Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) - Volume 1 was great, volume 2 was not so good…
  3. 8.0 Gladiator (2000) - Come on, really?
  4. 8.0 The African Queen (1951) - Bad performances, unrealistic - this is a classic?

If Breathless (the original) were on the list - and at an 8.0 rating, why isn’t it? - I’d have my total crap movie for sure.

Joe

40

Let’s see, going through the list there were a lot that were just overrated, which I usually expect in these ‘top whatever’ lists. The ones that get me, though, are the ones that people will absolutely rave about that just left me totally cold:

  1. Million Dollar Baby - Why? This felt like the director/screenwriter just tried to lump misery onto a few characters and pass it off as important.

  2. Donnie Darko - The amount of time people have spent trying to figure this one out baffles me. What isn’t made painfully obvious by the end seems pretty apparent to me as sloppy writing, not some greater mystery. Yawn.

  3. Crash - See Million Dollar Baby, only with more characters and less characterization!

  4. Kill Bill Vol. 2 - Couldn’t this have been just one movie, Quentin? During the editing process, don’t you think you could have, you know, edited? Rather than shooting a ton more filler and self-important garbage to round out part 2?

  5. The Graduate - Wow, a spoiled rich kid trying to cope with the travails of… what exactly?

  6. Gladiator - In retrospect, I especially hate this one for starting the whole ‘epic movie’ craze. I remember the drama of my race to make it to the washroom at the end more vividly than anything that happened in the film.

  7. Big Fish - This was so flat, predictable and dull I can hardly bring myself to snipe it. Colour me nonplussed.

  8. Walk the Line - Ohmygosh he’s going for the PILLS again! Duh duh duhhhh! I wanted to see him take a multivitamin, just to satisfy my curiousity as to whether the sinister music played every time he touched anything in tablet form.

  9. Scarface - Ok, now I have a special brand of hate for this one, ever since I was kept up for a mysterious SIX HOURS in an airport waiting area by this abrasive and unlikeable load of crap. Is this film really that long? It was playing from 11pm straight through until 5am, but all I remember are repetitive fight sequences, gunshots, and lots of swearing, misogyny and histrionics. Yay!