Posted on 06/24/2007 1:35:27 AM PDT by Caipirabob
“Patch Adams”? I’ve got an even worse suggestion: “Open Water” (2003). Supposedly based on a true story (though how anybody could know the true story I can’t figure, since no one was left to tell it); it has a laughable script, amateurish cinematography and college-drama-class performances. Worse yet, the jerk of a writer/director found 2 unknown actors who were desperate enough to be filmed in the ocean, surrounded by sharks, while chum was thrown in the water to get the sharks excited. Of course waivers were signed in advance so that the actors couldn’t sue if harmed. Bad? Try Unforgivable.
Mrs. Hugin actually liked DTATW. Must be a chick thing.
I think they feel obligated to put Titanic on the list because it made such a ludicrous amount of money.
Count me as someone who prefers older movies to new ones. Most movies today are inferior remakes of films that were done better the first time, endless sequels, or festivals of gore and/or political correctness. I live in fear that some nitwit will want to remake Casablanca with Tom Cruise in the Bogart role, Sandra Bullock as Ingrid Bergman, and John Travolta as Claude Rains.
I remember being home from work with the flu one night back in the nineties. I decided to watch a PPV movie. I checked the schedule and Village of the Damned was showing. It was the nineties’ version, Christopher Reeves’ last film before his terrible injury. I’d always loved the original 1960 version. It had a low budget, and only one well-known star (George Sanders), but it was a very well done, creepy sci-fi thriller. So I took a chance and watched the re-make. It was awful. Yes, it had big stars, grandiose special effects, and wide-screen color. But it was so politically correct that it killed the entire idea of the movie, which was that the invading aliens were super intelligent, but since they lacked consciences they were mere automatons. To fit the PC template, they had to make the lead alien kid a girl (it was a boy in the original), they had to make the American military look sinister, they had to mock the idea of a young girl remaining a virgin (the only one in town was a half-crazy girl who was tormented by her Christian fanatic father), they had to recap every evil the white man has ever committed, and they even threw in a lecture for legalized abortion. Cap it off with ridiculous levels of pointless violence and the film was pure trash. I’m not someone who knee-jerk objects to all violence in films. Certain types of films, such as war or crime pictures, require such material. But showing people getting killed in gruesome ways for no other reason than because it’s “cool” indicates a lack of talent on the part of the filmmakers.
Not all movies today are bad. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is excellent. I even liked National Treasure. It isn’t a great film but it was good, clean fun and (for a change) treated American history with reverence. Secondhand Lions, Master & Commander, and some other modern films are very good. But there’s also an unbelievable amount of garbage today. Insulting garbage, rather than old-fashioned harmless schlock.
There may never be another era like the Golden Age. I’ve amassed a big collection of DVDs from that era. I can watch a film like Gunga Din, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Song of Bernadette, Pride of the Yankees, or the original Frankenstein over and over and not get tired of them. And check out classic Japanese cinema, such as the works of Kurosawa, Ozu, and others. It’s well worth your time!
See #24...
Hollywood has focused on making money by pitching formula movies to exactly that education level. The quality's down because the money-paying audience is looking for cheap thrills, not elevation.
Movies as an art form are wonderful but the average Joe out there wouldn't be able to sit still through a really good movie. All you have to do is read the comments so far and you get the idea..
I might have gone to maybe 20 movies in the last ten years.
(went to at least two, sometimes four a week for many years prior to that.)
The only ones of the last decade I really remember are the 3 LOTR films. I went to see some others that starred some ‘major league babes’. Couldn’t tell you what those movies were about, but the ladies were nice to look at.
I agree with you about The Thing. The eighties’ version is visually sickening but it’s a CREEPY movie that stands as one of those rare cases where a re-make worked. Of course, it was sufficiently different from the original 1951 Howard Hawks version that it was almost a new movie, rather than a pure re-make. It’s kind of ironic that John Carpenter did such a great job with The Thing but when he re-made Village of the Damned a decade later he botched it completely.
In the original version of The Thing, the alien entity was a living vegetable rather than an entity capable of duplicating other life forms. It was played by James Arness, dressed up like a giant piece of veggie matter!
Awesome!
LOL! OK, I have watched "Dawn of the dead" and the other Zombie movies. Those are shear apocalyptic horror features, though. End of the world and "hell on Earth" themes are again, a slightly different category than pure butchery. I don't think saying I "enjoy" is as accurate them as much as I find them morbidly fascinating, it plays against all of our Western cultural values regarding death and the dead. They are a "massive nightmare come true." From that perspective, this is legitimate "graphic" entertainment. Man, those movies gave me such nightmares as a teenager...
Here I was complaining about the murder films but I'm thinking now that my selections of Sci-Fi and Fantasy are just a bloody. Oh well...: )
When the dead walk the Earth, don't rely on the government to save you...
Oh, I meant to add:
The last year or so, I have been downloading and watching old Public Domain movies from
http://www.archive.org/details/feature_films
Mostly stuff from the 40s, some earlier, a few later.
I was struck by the realization that the acting, writing and just about everything but special effects is generally better in those old things that no one ever cared enough about to copyright in the first place, (or at least renew the copyrights), than most main-stream, big budget, ones of the last several years.
LMAO on some of those comparisons. Others, not funny, but uncannily appropriate.
Good job.
A lot of movies fall into the “so bad they’re good” category. This is particularly true of a lot of old horror or sci-fi films. Ed Wood’s films, obviously. And check out MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE for a movie that’s so horrendously bad that it’s actually a laugh riot!
I went from three / week, to none in the early 80’s. Partly, I admit, due to a divorce from a movie fanatic. After a decade or so, I tried one again and UGH, never again. The few I’ve seen either on Netflix, or the boobtube, I’ve turned off after fifteen minutes or so. I’m not entertained by four letter words and inane scripts. And the acting. . . posing is more the word. I’ll stick to oldies which are the only thing worthy of being called art.
Well, I happened to really like the LotR trilogy, but you remind me of the Star Wars/Lord of the Rings "debate" from "Clerks II." If you're looking for classy dialog and a meaningful story, I'm afraid that Clerks II probably isn't for you. But the "SW/LotR" "debate" is a hoot!
Randal Graves: Oh, I'm crazy? Those f****n' hobbit movies were boring as hell. All it was, was a bunch of people walking, three movies of people walking to a f*****g volcano.
Randal Graves: [describing the Lord of the Rings Trilogy] Here's the first movie.
[walks a few steps, staring blankly]
Randal Graves: And here's the second movie.
[walks a few steps again, pretends to trip]
Hobbit Lover: He is way off, loser.
Randal Graves: You ready for the third movie?
[walks yet again, stops, pretends to throw the ring into the volcano. Shrugs his shoulders and turns around]
Randal Graves: Even the trees walked in those f****n' movies.
Mark
Not surprisingly... a few of the choices tickle my fancy or leave me scratching my head...
Raging Bull at #4? I found it to be one of my least favorite of Scorsese’s stable. I think he is overrated as a director and championed way too by the Hollywood elites, but I did really enjoy his take on Howard Hughes in The Aviator. The musical score and staging was par excellent! His Goodfellows and The Departed are two keepers even if I thought the ending of Departed was forced and trite.
Vertigo at #9? Of all of Hitchcock’s thrillers, this is one of the poorest IMHO. To Catch a Thief, North by Northwest, Rear Window, Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder, Notorious, Psycho... Even The Trouble with Harry are better films than Vertigo.
City Light at #11 (up 65 spots from 1997) and The General (New on the list) at #18 leave me wondering why these silent films should make such a jump up in their ranking when the current crop of young film-goers (Who BTW cannot read, write or spell) I hear whining all the time that ‘old’ flick are “...not even in color!”
The Searchers at #12 up from 96 ten years ago. This is a welcome rise as it is one of my favorite John Ford works and one of the best pieces of acting in John Wayne's career eclipsed only by his work in The Shootist which did not even make the list.
Speaking of under rated Westerns, was happy to see Shane rise 24 spots to 69, but it deserved to be much higher.
A Clockwork Orange at #70 better than Saving Private Ryan newly arrived at #71? Who’s six day drunk got this approved... Clockwork would not be on my list of the 10,000 best films and Saving deserves to be higher than 71.
Was glad to see newcomers Cabaret make the list at #63, The Last Picture Show at #95 and Bladerunner at #97.
Well, the old Sandman has come back and I shall heed his advice and stretch out shortly for an early morning nap.
Gadzooks, these garage sales really take it our of an old fud like me!
LOL I thought the pic of Gore was great, til I got to Edwards! hahaha
How did Titanic get on the list and Braveheart not?
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