I was surprised lots of people didn’t like White House Down. No, it’s wasn’t a future Oscar winner, but it was still a fun action movie. I think it was hurt because it came out at the same time and after Olympus Has Fallen, which IMHO was a weaker movie.
Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Sure it’s a long movie but it’s meticulously made and looks incredible. Classic story well told.
Gladiator. Okay, so it probably didn’t deseve a best picture oscar and maybe Russell Crowe is an ass, bit it is an awesome epic action movie.
ooh ooh this one: Night of the Comet
It helps if you have a bit of a post-apocalyptic thing.
Look, it wasn’t Kevin Smith’s fault that Gigli was crap and was released before JG was ready. And it wasn’t his fault that “Bennifer” imploded just about the time Gigli went into the shitter. I still thought it was a good, entertaining film. Sure, a bit out of character for Smith, but he wanted to move away from the Askewniverse of Jay and Silent Bob.
Dances With Wolves
Agree with Divergent/Insurgent - I’m actually surprised how rewatchable the first two are - Right up there with the entire Hunger Games series - which also surprised me since I am so far out of the target demographic I had to get a visa and a passport to watch them.
I also agree that Lone Ranger - is much better than people give it credit for - when the William Tell Overture starts at the beginning of the train scene - just perfect.
I’ll add San Andreas - its fun, its over the top, its an EarthQuake movie with the Rock. Yeah, there are definitely a number of ‘taht would never work that way’ scenes - but who cares = its an Earthquake Movie with the Rock - it’s not a freakin’ documentary.
The other day I watched the Bradley Cooper vehicle Burnt.
29% at Rotten Tomatoes. 29. These are Adam Sandler numbers. Bad Adam Sandler numbers.
Now, admittedly, the movie was far from perfect. The biggest issue I have with it is how it saves all the drama for the workplace scenes (and even then the objective is a tad petty- he’s not fighting to save an orphanage or anything, he just wants his third star immediately and he’s not waiting any longer, that’s the whole plot) and eschews some perfectly good chances for having scenes about good old fashioned human interaction.
But the movie is entertaining. It just is. The pacing is fast, the actors are solid, the director goes through great lengths to make cooking look like some sort of competitive sport. That’s at least a 60% movie.
I don’t hate Signs because it’s cool to hate it. I had no idea it was cool to hate it. I hate it because the premise is that there’s no point in trying to do anything for yourself, everything is just what God wants, so fuck it.
David Cronenberg’s Crash or Paul Haggis’s Crash? (Or both?) 
It’s one of my favorite Kevin Smith films. The school musical scene was wonderful.
If dissing means “disregarding” as well as “disrespecting,” I’m going to nominate 1966s Casino Royale.
Some people are so disrespectful of this, the greatest Bond film of them all, that they don’t even mention it when compiling lists of Bond films. That’s WAY unfair.
I didn’t get that message from it at all. The message seemed to be that things happen for a reason, so don’t let bad things happening to you destroy your faith and hope for the future.
I came into this thread to suggest AI. On top of all the things you listed, it’s one of the most thought provoking movies I know. I remember having a very enjoyable and lengthy debate on what it means to be alive with my friends after we saw the movie.
I can’t think of any other movie that has ever sparked such a debate.
I’m also a big fan of Natural Born Killers. Most people seem to think this movie was a giant heap of pretentious crap. I thought it was very meta and loved the hell out of it. I also remember walking away from that movie thinking: “Who knew Woody Harrelson had such range and talent.?” He made an excellent bad guy. A far cry from his character on Cheers.
I also like the Lone Ranger, and both the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and all the Hobbit movies. Peter Jackson and Gore Verbinski are my jam.
I like Pixar’s Cars movies. They really get shat on a lot, yet I think they’re just delightful. Though I didn’t like Inside Out, so that might tell you something about me.
I also like Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland, and Joe Johnston’s Jurassic Park III.
Last year’s Fantastic Four wasn’t that bad. It was a B- or C+ of a movie. And that’s because the third act was a trash fire. The first two acts were…fine. Somehow it became a favorite target for over-the-top declarations of its awfulness.
Spielberg’s The War of the Worlds, a great movie that gets stupidly dissed because he cast a 12yo girl to act as a 12yo girl would act if her life got destroyed. :rolleyes:
I’ll agree with Lone Ranger – it’s the first version that knew what the hell to do with Tonto (and which took his name as significant). It’s not a great flick, and it had cringe-worthy moments, but overall much better than most people think.
I agree wholeheartedly about Jackson’s King Kong. I think Jackson and I were brought up the same way about it, because that film hit a sweet spot for me – I loved the re-interpretations, like Jackson I lusted to see the Spider Pit sequence from the original (and liked both how he did it, and the way he re-created the 1933 version independently). And his setting the New York scenes in the winter were precisely what I would have done. And excellent film, especially in the Director’s Cut, with all the extra scenes. That people don’t like this strikes me as absurd.
Of the above films I’ll agree that Unbreakable and A.I. were very good films, although I personally don’t care much for them. I was unaware that people were dissing them – I thought they were considered very good films.
I’ve said before that Shyamalan is really an excellent filmmmaker in most respects (not least of which is getting films made ). But I’m one of those who hated and still do hate Signs. I also didn’t like The Village, although there is much to love about it. Sorry. De Gustibus and all.
Hudson Hawk!
This is a film favorite of a friend of mine. I still haven’t seen it.
I’ll agree with you on Daredevil until the day I die—I actually haven’t seen the others in the OP, yet.