Closely related to this thread (“Actors I can’t stand”), and will probably generate a lot of the same names, what names of actors, directors, producers, etc. make you automatically write off a movie upon seeing them appear in trailers, for whatever reason? Even if the movie’s subject matter interests you and looks great?
Good examples would be “From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan…” or anything indicating Michael Bay was involved in any way. I’ve been burned way too many times and finally learned my lesson. Roland Emmerich (ID4, Day After Tomorrow, Godzilla) is a total hack too. I don’t really have any actors that jump out at me, although Nic Cage is usually not a good sign. The Julia Roberts and Meg Ryans of the world would qualify for me, but that’s just because I don’t like the kinds of movies they’ve built their careers on, I don’t necessarily have anything against them.
If Woody Allen is associated with a picture in any way, I won’t be going to see it. It’s a shame, really, because the quirky kind of humor he’s purported to use would seem to be the kind I would enjoy, but I just don’t. His disgusting personal behavior in later life was just icing on the cake.
I don’t normally boycott things because I have something personal against performers, but I’ll never pay money to see anything with Mel Gibson again. He’s just pushed it too far, too many times.
The ‘major comic actors’ like Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Kevin James, usually don’t do anything for me, but I judge all that on a case-by-case basis.
Oh, one more: Tyler Perry. He won’t be seeing any of my money. How the hell is he still making movies?
What a revelation. I see about 50 movies a year in cinemas and have written many movie reviews for our work magazine. I have never heard of Tyler Perry or ever seen one of his movies on release at any place I have ever been, or even seen a DVD.
Although, checking out IMDB, that is no surprise as none of them appear to have been release here. Praise the lord.
I’m not sure how Boll does it, but it is an incredible gift that he posesses. I saw Bloodrayne years ago and I marveled at how unsexy the sex scene with Kristina Loken actually was. It got to the point where I was looking at my watch waiting for the movie to get back to Michael Madsen shooting something.
I am almost tempted to see Postal just to see how bad it actually is. It’s got naked Dave Foley, so that’s something to consider.
I can’t automatically rule out anyone. Some actors I dislike have made good movies and things can change very quickly. I hated Adam Sandler, for instance, but he was well worth watching in Spanglish. I thought Ridley Scott was an uninteresting hack until I saw Thelma and Louise. Nicholas Cage is clearly on a downswing now, but he did some great work in films like Honeymoon in Vegas, Moonstruck, Peggy Sue Got Married, It Could Happen to You, and Leaving Las Vegas. Eventually, he may stop going for the quick bucks and go back to that.
I read the reviews and then decide on whether to see a movie. It’s limiting to automatically disqualify an actor or director before finding out something about their latest.
Postal is actually watchable. It’s the one film he’s made where it’s very clear he knows about his reputation. I’m not saying it’s a good movie. It’s not. But it is fun to see Vince Desideiro scream “What have you done to my game?” and attack said director.
This is very close to my own response to the basic issue. However, I try not to read reviews before seeing a film, since reviewers have missed some real jewels that I wouldn’t have seen if I had followed their lead(s). Ebert especially!
And there are those people whose involvement is now off-limits for me, but only after I had seen at least one effort of theirs that left me more than cold. Hello, Jim Carrey.
I have even violated my own rules on rare occasions when the talk or trailers have foreced me to give so-and-so one more chance. Sandra Bullock for one.
However, in the spirit of the thread, I do feel comfortable mentioning these red flags, some of whom have already been exposed:
Pauly Shore
Carrot Top
Rob Schneider (I could go ahead and list all the SNL alumni since Eddie Murphy and even Eddie Murphy’s recent schlock turns me off)
M. Night Shyamalan
Lindsay Lohan
Paris Hilton
any Kardashian
anybody whose only claim to fame is having been on American Idol or some other reality show where acting wasn’t a requirement.
There have to be hundreds more whose very name appearing in the blurb or promo for a movie on TV is a signal to look elsewhere. But, all in all, I’m willing to have a look at almost anybody’s serious efforts. Some are just harder to make the exception for.
I must say that I have yet to have any real quarrel with other posts in the thread!
M. Night Shyamalan is public enemy #1 for me. I was going to rent Devil until I saw his name on the back cover. I never heard if it was good or bad but just know he was involved in some capacity turned me right off.