# Movies whose reputation \*wrongly\* decayed over time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2015, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120 "2015-10-01T08:40:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/101 "2015-10-02T11:53:06Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Seriously? Most people I know thought it was the worst of the three. Wait a minute, Marko killed Uncle Ben? They put in a plot point predicated on the idea that the audience didn’t see the first Spider-Man movie so they could build up tension between Pete and Sandman. Then we have some mysterious butler who we’ve never seen before that suddenly decides to tell Harry that Spider-Man wasn’t responsible for his father’s death. It was just all around terrible writing To be fair, time they could’ve used on the story went to having Kirsten Dunst sing. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/102 "2015-10-02T11:59:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And rich girls like Cher and Dionne would have been wearing designer fashions. But _Clueless_ had a relatively modest budget. The costume department couldn’t afford to buy all those designer outfits. So the wardrobe people just bought clothes at a local mall and wrote it into the movie that the characters wore bargain clothes because it was their style. I don’t remember the script talking about any of the characters wearing bargain clothes. Unless you consider Calvin Klein or Alaia bargain? Cher also [wears](http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/06/clueless-clothes) Jimmy Choos. You’re right about the wardrobe people on a budget, but I don’t think the characters were supposed to be wearing bargain clothes–if so, Tai would have been a lot more stylin’ when she first walked in. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/103 "2015-10-02T12:11:07Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I don’t remember the script talking about any of the characters wearing bargain clothes. Unless you consider Calvin Klein or Alaia bargain? Cher also [wears](http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/06/clueless-clothes) Jimmy Choos. You’re right about the wardrobe people on a budget, but I don’t think the characters were supposed to be wearing bargain clothes–if so, Tai would have been a lot more stylin’ when she first walked in. My working assumption with Clueless was that they were trying to establish their version of reality for rich-girl Beverly Hills. They would have their own look, their own catchphrases, etc. So Heckerling borrowed from current but made her own thing, and since that world felt so internally consistent within the movie, it worked. So it wasn’t attempting to be some faithful rendition of the real BH and would become dated. It was a stylized version and successful at creating its own world and it stands today. Great movie that stands up to repeated viewings to this day - it and Mean Girls are going to be ones that last. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/104 "2015-10-02T13:20:18Z")
With a Metacritic score of 59 and an IMDb score of 6.2, **Spider-Man 3** was deemed mediocre in the aggregate when it came out, and I think that’s probably where it still stands. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/105 "2015-10-02T13:31:59Z")
> [@JKilez](#): > > I think he is referring to the 12-year-old **Really Not All That Bright**. Naw, I was just kidding. 🙂 I was only two when the first one came out. I think I saw 3 or 4 first anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/106 "2015-10-02T14:07:48Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Like how everyone thought _Police Academy_ was a great film, but by the time _Police Academy 6_ came out its reputation was in tatters. > > Or possibly not quite like that. Homer: When I first heard that Marge was joining the police academy, I thought it would be fun and zany, like that movie “Spaceballs.” But instead it was dark and disturbing, like that movie “Police Academy.” ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/107 "2015-10-02T16:43:29Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I didn’t say that the movie showed you how to live, I said it showed what life is like. A box of chocolates? ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/108 "2015-10-02T16:51:42Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > You may be remembering through a haze of nostalgia. Even at the time, the third Star Wars movie was a bit disappointing. The Ewoks were overly cute and seemed like a blatant merchandising ploy. But from a story telling perspective, the Vader turning his back on the dark side and getting a smiling ghostly redemption seemed bogus. Vader was a monster who tortured and killed people and participated in the blowing up of planets. But he and his kid hug so all is forgiven? Even at the time, this seemed lame and contrived. Not to mention the Luke and Leia being brother and sister. **And the retread plot – oh, look, it’s another Death Star.** I’m not really taking (much) exception to your critique, but the original idea behind Star Wars was Lucas’ fondness for the Saturday Matinee “Serials,” and his concept was to take _that_ concept “big time” to the big screen, with state-of-the-art special effects. The “retread” plot of The Bad Guys building a new (replacement) super weapon is well in keeping with that. In fact, many of the criticisms of Star Wars (not counting the TPM; I have no defense of that) seems to forget the core concept behind the entire franchise, and seem to think of it as LOTR (In _SPACE!_), or the entire Dune saga. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/109 "2015-10-02T17:15:06Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Seriously? Most people I know thought it was the worst of the three. Wait a minute, Marko killed Uncle Ben? They put in a plot point predicated on the idea that the audience didn’t see the first Spider-Man movie so they could build up tension between Pete and Sandman. Then we have some mysterious butler who we’ve never seen before that suddenly decides to tell Harry that Spider-Man wasn’t responsible for his father’s death. It was just all around terrible writing and I recognized it at the time. I could be wrong about how well it was received. Yes, the things you mention are quite stupid. There’s plenty in the movie I love, however. Harry taking a bite of pie and saying, “So good,” etc. etc. My favorite of the movies is the first by far. Two and three are good in my book, however. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/110 "2015-10-02T17:16:33Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > My working assumption with Clueless was that they were trying to establish their versionIt was a stylized version and successful at creating its own world and it stands today. Great movie that stands up to repeated viewings to this day - it and Mean Girls are going to be ones that last. I agree. Both movies are great. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/111 "2015-10-02T17:29:48Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Homer: When I first heard that Marge was joining the police academy, I thought it would be fun and zany, like that movie “Spaceballs.” But instead it was dark and disturbing, like that movie “Police Academy.” Homer: Stealing! How could you? Why do you think I took you to see all those “Police Academy” movies, for fun? I didn’t hear anyone laughing, did you? ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/112 "2015-10-02T18:06:07Z")
I’d noted that _Heathers_ plays very differently now than it did when I first saw it, particularly in that early scene where the jock bullies give Christian Slater a hard time, and he stands up, pulls out a gun, and shoots them. We find out in the next scene that the gun was loaded with blanks, but I remember a time when this was laff laff funny haw haw guffaw stuff. It seems considerable darker now than it once did… I’m not sure if I’d say the movie’s “decayed” or not, but while it has not changed, the society around it certainly has. Well, that, and it’s far from safe to shoot someone at point blank range, even with blanks. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/113 "2015-10-02T20:48:37Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > I’d noted that _Heathers_ plays very differently now than it did when I first saw it, particularly in that early scene where the jock bullies give Christian Slater a hard time, and he stands up, pulls out a gun, and shoots them. > > We find out in the next scene that the gun was loaded with blanks, but I remember a time when this was laff laff funny haw haw guffaw stuff. It seems considerable darker now than it once did… I’m not sure if I’d say the movie’s “decayed” or not, but while it has not changed, the society around it certainly has. > > Well, that, and it’s far from safe to shoot someone at point blank range, even with blanks. They don’t play “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun” very much these days either. As with **Network** , society caught up with satire. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/114 "2015-10-05T01:33:16Z")
Everyone hated the Ewoks, yet somehow they were popular enough that The Ewok Adventure TV movie got made. And somehow, that was successful enough that it got a sequel Ewoks: Battle for Endor. Yeah, no one like them at all, no siree bob, they totally ruined Jedi for everyone at the time, oh yes they did, you know it. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/115 "2015-10-05T15:27:22Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Everyone hated the Ewoks, yet somehow they were popular enough that The Ewok Adventure TV movie got made. And somehow, that was successful enough that it got a sequel Ewoks: Battle for Endor. Yeah, no one like them at all, no siree bob, they totally ruined Jedi for everyone at the time, oh yes they did, you know it. Don’t forget the cartoon series. But yeah, George Lucas flat out said that all he wanted to do was make a new Flash Gordon type thing. It was after that that the merchandising demon possessed him… ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/116 "2015-10-05T16:41:10Z")
[Here](http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE7DB113FF93AA25751C1A961958260) is the original review of **Titanic** in the New York Times, written before it became the highest grossing film of all time, before it won all the academy awards, and before it became fashionable to hate it. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/117 "2015-10-05T16:46:15Z")
Had a conversation recently in which I am told that \*Jaws \*has not aged well, and wouldn’t be considered all that scary now, and even was compared to a SyFy Original Movie. I disagreed. I felt the characters were interesting and well done by the actors, and that Spielberg made the right call in his use of malfunctioning robot sharks – that is, as little as possible. If the movie were made today, the shark would be CGI, three times as big, and would have jumped out of the water to tap dance across the deck, juggling mackerel or something… not because it needed to, but simply because it COULD. And I find myself wondering if my judgment is skewed by the fact that I’m old enough to have seen that movie in a theatre. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/118 "2015-10-05T17:22:08Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > If the movie were made today, the shark would be CGI, three times as big, and would have jumped out of the water to tap dance across the deck, juggling mackerel or something… not because it needed to, but simply because it COULD. I love Jaws and consider it one of the greatest movies of all time, but even Spielberg couldn’t stop the shark from leaping out of the water at the very end. Of course, the hokiness of the effects are immediately rendered moot by the sheer badassery of “Smile, you son of a bitch!” ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/119 "2015-10-05T17:25:47Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I love Jaws and consider it one of the greatest movies of all time, but even Spielberg couldn’t stop the shark from leaping out of the water at the very end. > > Of course, the hokiness of the effects are immediately rendered moot by the sheer badassery of “Smile, you son of a bitch!” Well, yeah, gotta have a biff bang boffo ending, particularly after not seeing a whole lot of shark for the last two hours. But if it’d been CGI, shark woulda had his own musical number… (I’m sorry, but I’ve seen way too many awful movies with CGI critters who have more screen time than the humans do…) ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-whose-reputation-wrongly-decayed-over-time/733120/120 "2015-10-05T18:04:48Z")
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