I tend to see a lot of movies, and every once in awhile come across something that seems quite good, but which critics and audiences seem to hate. For instance:
Ishtar. A very funny film that suffered because of its very high (for the time) pricetag. Yet parts of it are extremely funny: the arms auction scene, and especially the hilariously bad lyrics of the Rogers and Clark songs. Not a deep film, and certainly too much money for what’s on the screen, but if you review the movie and not its price tag, it’s pretty good entertainment.
Return to Oz – The rap on this film was that it wasn’t anything like The Wizard of Oz. So? It’s a very dark version, with no songs, but works as a fantastic adventure.
A Midsummer’s Night Sex Comedy. Critics got faked out by the title, which made them assume the film was a comedy. Ultimately, it is not. It deals with great gravity about the impermience of relationships. The end (and Jose Ferrer’s fate) is derided as being silly, but the point is that it is no more silly than all the other resolutions in the movie.
I am almost loathe to answer this as it may damage the fledgling reputation that I’m struggling to build as a newbie on this board, but I…really…liked…the Phantom Menace. I thought it was fun, I thought Jake Lloyd was cute as a button and I really dug Darth Maul. The 'sword’fight at the end was fantastical and I went to see it in the theatres twice. only later, when reading the many thousands of criticisms did I realize that it was expected of “cool people” to hate it. So I don’t even talk about it any more.
But I also loved Dead Again, which is a love/hate movie, and the Disney live action musical Newsies, but only because I’m in love with Christian Bale.
All flops at the box office. I get so much grief for these from some of my friends…
Xanadu Olivia Newton-John, some guy who’s name escapes me at the moment, and Fred Astair. Despite the disco influence, there’s still some wonderful music in this movie. Besides, how can you not like something that has Fred Astair dancing in it?
Zorro, the Gay Blade George Hamilton in a duel role of Don Diego and his twin brother “Bunny Wigglesworth”, formerly known as Ramon. Their father sent him off to the British Navy to make a man out of him and he changed his name to Bunny. It’s hysterical.
Victor/Victoria Julie Andrews, Robert Preston, James Garner. A woman, pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman. The “shows” where Victoria is doing her act are wonderful and the songs beatifully showcase Julie Andrew’s voice in all its former glory.
I think the the movie Krull kicks total ass. All my friends make fun of it (I forced them to watch) but it utilizes my favourite type of plotline. Lone man sets out on quest, acquires one companion there, two more over there, and in the end it’s a big 'ol fun party! Until Liam Neeson dies. (which he does in the movie.)
Has he ever played a character that lives? (he must have. I have only seen a very small amount of his movies, so who am I to talk?)
Liam Neeson survives in Rob Roy. Gets his butt kicked a couple of times, but he survives. He also makes it to the end of High Spirits. Okay, he’s a ghost. But he stil makes it through to the end.
I think Hudson Hawk is hilarious. A movie I’ll watch over and over again ('cause I think I’m one of about 12 people who cheerfully spent money to buy the video). It’s just a pip from beginning to end. How could the critics not have liked this?
Directed by Stanley Donen; semi-musical comedy-drama about rumrunning with the bizarre combination of Burt Reynolds, Liza Minelli and Gene Hackman. A big, sprawling mess, it was univerally reviled by critics and I’ve seen it called “the Ishtar of its day”, but I have a soft spot for it nontheless. The actors do a great job and there are a a couple of exciting set-pieces involving old planes, boats and explosions.
Hero, At Large. Silly little film with John Ritter, Burt Convy, and Anne Archer. Ritter is an actor who starts actually fighting crime in his Captain Avenger costume. I just like the way that no one in New York believes anyone would really risk their lives for others, but he does it anyway. In the end, the city saves him.
Delphica, I must be one of the 12 as well. I love Hudson Hawk. It’s great from beginning to end. I own the movie and (gasp!) the soundtrack. Although, I did have a bit of an unhealthy affinity for all things Bruce Willis. I am THE only person who owns BOTH of his albums. The version that he and Danny Aiello do of “Swingin’ on a Star” is one of the best I’ve ever heard.
I thought I was the only person who could relate to **Hero at Large **. Saltire, I actually saw it in the theater. I was a kid so, I can’t say I like the movie, but I do know of it.
One of my good friends from college and I would go on for hours quoting Odd Jobs. It was a movie that was (I think) made for TV, well we saw it one Summer on HBO, at least. It stars Paul Reiser, Robert Townsend, Paul Provenza, Jake (Body by Jake) Steinfeld, Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver), Julianne Phillips (Springsteen’s ex), and a cameo by Don Imus. It must have been made before any of these stars made it big. I found the video at a flea market and bought it for $5. Can’t beat it.
I’m also a big fan of The Burbs. Tom Hanks before he got so huge and Corey Feldman when he could still get work.
Well I’ll back up Arden Ranger in liking Zorro, the Gay Blade. At least I liked it when I was ten years old, the last time I saw it, but it still seems funny in retrospect.
I agree with Jarbabyj about Dead Again, although I didn’t know it could be classified as a movie that everybody hates. Can’t go with you on The Phantom Menace, though - I concede that the climactic lightsaber duel was fantastic, but the story and the dialogue leading up to it were just painful.
The most hated movie I have ever loved is probably Branagh’sFrankenstein. I never yet met a Branagh-directed movie that I didn’t love.
I also greatly enjoyed Mission to Mars, which evidently flopped both with the critics and the audiences. Better-than-average science, good acting, an interesting story.
Goldeneye is hilarious good fun in my opinion, but it has a reputation as one of the worst Bond movies ever. For me, the obligatory scene with Q was the best of any Bond movie, and the scene with Tcheky Karyo as the Russian intelligence officer interrogating Bond is an absolute classic.
I’m also a great admirer of Saul Bakshi’s much-despised The Lord of the Rings. Too bad he couldn’t finish it; with any luck, Peter Jackson will be able to do the story justice.
Point Break. I think it’s the ultimate Guy Movie (although it was directed by a woman). It has surfing, gunfights, skydiving, car chases, fistfights, foot chases, babes, football, bank robberies, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and zen. At one point, Patrick Swayze picks up a pit bull and throws it at a guy. At another, Keanu Reeves grabs the worlds largest revolver and jumps out of a plane without a parachute. It doesn’t get any better than that.
BTW, Ranger - that was Gene Kelly, not Fred Astaire.
MG, be proud of your like of Road House. It is simply the finest guy movie ever made. It has:
Drinkin’, lots of drinkin.
Fightin’, lots of fightin.
Hi Opal!
Rock and Roll! (Great stuff from The Jeff Healy Band.)
Nekkid chicks, lots of nekkid chicks.
Monster Trucks. Well, just 1 monster truck, but it’s still there.
Explosions.
Guns.
Sam Elliot. Whenever he shows up in a movie, you know someone’s gonna get their ass kicked.
It furthers the belief that, even though you have a philosophy degree from NYU, you can still be tough enough to be at the top of the speed-dial of every bouncer placement agency around. (Dalton gets brought to the Double Douce for an undisclosed amount. He has a really awesome Mercedes so, you assume that it’s not a small amount. I’m obviously in the wrong business.)
A fight ending in one of the two getting his throat ripped out. His throat ripped out! That never happens in real life. (“When a man pulls a gun on you, you got two choises. You die, or you rip out his f**king throat.” Oooh, it’s even got a little heavyhanded foreshadowing.)
and
I’m not going to add this to the list, but it assures that your girlfriend won’t mind seeing it because it offers just enough of Patrick Swayze nekkidness to keep the ladies happy.
I should have mentioned Frankenstein. I also loved Branagh’s Love’s Labour’s Lost.
I also tend to like Arnold Schwartzeneggar’s comedies – Twins, Junior, Kindergarten Cop (but not Jingle All the Way. I was a fan of The Last Action Hero, too, but I’m a sucker for metafiction.
Xanadu was Gene Kelly - not Fred Astaire - and I hated it because it was painful to see such a great, amazing actor/dancer/performer reduced to that that toward the end of his glorious career.
Joe vs. the Volcano
Or at least the first two thirds of Joe vs. the Volcano. Every time I watch it, I see something new in it. It is brilliant, the acting is wonderful, the script is great, the attention to detail in the lighting and background and props is amazing. It has one of the best soundtracks ever (and every song works its way into the plot beautifully). It is one of the most perfect movies ever made.
Some good choices mentioned…The Burbs is a cracking film (and was actually pretty well received by the critics here in the UK).
My favourite films are A Life Less Ordinary, which seems to be a love/hate film for most people, and True Stories, which most people don’t seem to have heard of. I also think Goldeneye was one of the very best Bond films, IMHO.