“Congo” is the first that comes to mind. I remember reading the book, a real page turner, thinking “this would make an awesome movie !”. “Disappointment” doesn’t even begin to express my reaction to the film…waste of film.
“Prometheus” Not only did it suck as a movie overall, but as a “prequel” to “Alien” it was SO unsatisfying.
It’s the kind of movie where the protagonists make every single mistake one could possibly make given that situation. The “found footage” style and the incredibly annoying running commentary by TJ Miller’s character certainly didn’t help either.
Nice.
Contact would have been a much more fulfilling experience had they kept the same ending as the book (at least philosophically, if not plot-wise.)
For me, I thought the misfit-ness of the characters was diminished by the world’s setting. Had they been in a real-world vibe, their humor and quirks would have contrasted to greater effect (like, say, Kick Ass). Instead, by dropping them in a Schumacher-Batman world, they seemed watered down.
Plus, does Eddie Izzard have a clause written into his every contract that says “under-utilize me!”
The only movies I’ve seen Ryan Reynolds in are The Proposal and Green Lantern. I didn’t think he was bad, or particularly smarmy, in either of them.
Even though it is one of my all-time favorite movies, I think that The Shawshank Redemption would be even better if it ended like the story does -
with just the words “I hope” - while showing Red on the bus at the border to Mexico. And NOT showing him walking down a beach to shake Andy’s hand, as he just said he hopes to do. The story should end continue the theme of using the anticipation inherent in hope as a driver for living one’s life, not showing its fulfillment.
As it is, I prefer the POV that the ending is a “dream sequence” of Red’s imagination, but I’m sure most people assume it’s What Subsequently Happened.
(ETA: spoiler’ed the movie’s ending, just in case someone still hasn’t seen this classic movie yet!)
**Stripes **would be better without the weird second-half plot.
I always thought The Notebook (don’t laugh, stay with me) had potential to be a much better story if they would have revealed at the end that Garner’s character was not actually the person being written about in the diary (and played by Gosling) and that it would have been cooler if he was a newer, different love that recognized how much Gosling meant to his wife and that he still read her the stories because he knew they really made her happy. I was disappointed to find out that it was more straight-forward than that.
That film not only would depress a hyena, but would drive it to suicide after putting out it’s eyes to try and forget what it saw. Gawd it looked so good in the previews but was so horrible IRL. Dudes, if you have not yet seen this, do NOT, it cannot be unseen.
Better than the source material which was boring *and *depressing. Not to mention a travesty.
Avatar. I realize a lot of people think it’s already very good, but they’re wrong.
I understand the reasoning, but I couldn’t disagree more. Not every film needs to leave us to our own interpretations, sometimes it is just plain fulfilling to give a little closure, and the ending of Shawshank is just so heartwarming it would actually be a shame to not have it end the way it does.
One of the most beautiful movies ever.
Too bad it had a crappy plot. Not to mention the sell out to Big Tobacco. :mad:
"Show some balls, man! "
“I think it’s too late to try and impress them.”
Starship Troopers, Sucker Punch and Prometheus were all movies I should have loved.
I would have loved Starship Troopers if it was either true to the book instead of being a moron’s critique, or if the creators just said “Forget it” and made a big, fun movie. If you’re going to have both female space marines and gratuitous nudity of said female space marines, it takes a special sort of incompetence to still make it a movie I hate.
I would have loved Sucker Punch if it had lived up to the trailers and been about the women journeying to various fantastic worlds on some awesome quest, instead of tricking people into watching an ugly story about a rape victim being institutionalised and lobotomised.
And I would have loved Prometheus if everyone wasn’t all idiot, all the time. Character flaws are fine but don’t make me feel contempt for everyone, especially that bastard Lindelof.
Avatar made wonderful use of the spectacle of an alien world, and was beautiful in 3D in the cinema, but it was too reliant on that to be rewatchable. It succeeded where others failed, and failed where others succeeded.
You know, I agree with you for the first time viewer - I remember walking out of the theater feeling very glad of the final shot. But after re-watching it N times (with a very large value for N) and also having read the source story (after seeing the film), I think the “key takeaway” from the movie is about anticipation and hope.
But yeah - if one were to think of it in terms of a film that only gets seen once, my “director’s cut” ending would be a little like smelling a steak broiling but never getting to taste it.
I really liked the M. Night Shamalayan movie Signs right up until the last 20 minutes or so, when I was all like, Really? All that built up to THIS?
Eyes Wide Shut. This really should have been a great film. I mean, Kubrick, a good, if not great, story, Kubrick’s usual unerring ear for the right music for the right scene, all of that.
But. . . Tom Cruise? Not credible in his role. Nicole Kidman was at least acceptable. Really, she wasn’t bad.
And the sets (the fake exteriors of New York City) were awful. It amazes me to this day that Kubrick would do that. I keep wondering if he was trying to make some kind of point by using really obvious studio sets rather than the actual streets of New York (or even believeable studio sets), but I can’t figure what that point might have been.
That’s a good call. I remember being very vaguely creeped out and anxious, which is good for a quasi-thriller, and then he took a dump on us. All I really had to be anxious over was a stupid climax and denouement. [Chandler Bing] Allergic to water? Did they look at the planet? [/CB]