Most awful movies (in celebration of Hollywood's fourth declining revenue year in a row)

9/28/05 | ltn72

[rlmorel]

There are three excellent war movies I saw recently, one has become one of my all time favorites:

"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946)
If you haven't seen it, you should. It won best picture that year. Right after the war, you can see why.

"The Enemy Below" (1957)
Never been a big Robert Mitchum fan, but...a great portrayal of anti-sub warfare in WWII.

"To End All Wars" (2001)
Recommended to me by a Freeper...an extraordinarily underrated movie. I thought this came close to portraying the barbarity of the Japanese soldiers as never before. I lived in Japan and the Phillipines, and the history is not as forgotten there as it is here.

[Central Scrutiniser]

I know, but he permeates the film, in fact, he doesn't even appear until a good 40+ minutes into it, he steals the movie before even being revealed, by a trick of light.

As for Carol Reed, did you know, his daughter is in Dr. Strangelove? She is the leggy girl in the bikini in bed with George C. Scott.

[Central Scrutiniser]

I tried to watch Primer, but I didn't care for it, never grabbed me.

[SoothingDave]

Unlikely in the sense that you would never guess from a film like 'Ghost World' or HOV that it came from a graphic novel. They've been an unsually fruitful source for very good films

Ghost World, with Steve Buscemi and that dorky girl was from a comic book? Saw it on IFC and never would have guessed.

SD

[Central Scrutiniser]

Ghost World was an amazing film, I loved it! I really loved Enid's Don Knotts photo.

[T Minus Four]

I guess yeah, I'm crazy :-) I thought it was booooooooring.

[Borges]

I loved it. There are all sorts of subtleties in there.

[Busywhiskers]

I thought UHF was one of the great films of all time.

[Siena Dreaming]

Worst movies in recent years:

American Beauty

Cider House Rules

Million Dollar Baby

[discostu]

I guess if you're not big into the graphic novel world that makes sense. Comics haven't just been for kids for a while (really since Miller resurected Batman with Darknight), it is a pretty fertile ground, but one that's been going largely unnoticed by the non-geek crowd until recently. When Spiderman and X-Men made all that fat cash though it sent the Hollywood guys running to the comic book store in a desperate search for more licenses to print money though. IMHO a good thing, overall I think the comic book movies have been of pretty solid quality (with a few glaring exceptions).

[Borges]

Oh I know! In the case of Ghost World and HOV the framing was adjusted just so to make it seem cinematic. Very well done.

[Allan]

I don't go to movies
except when I take my 5 year old son
nonetheless I feel sufficiently informed
to nominate
as the most awful movie
all the movies made in Hollywood
during the past 10 (perhaps 20) years
because they all are but scenes
in one neverending awful movie.

The last movie I attended
not under duress
was "Good Will Hunting"
which got good reviews
and was recommended by a friend
and supposedly was about a prodigy mathematician
at MIT.

I made the mistake of taking my mother.

The film really was
about the use of unbelievably foul and vile language
from start to finish.

I cowered in my seat with embarrassment.

(Furthermore it was filmed not at MIT
but the University of Toronto
which bears no resemblance
whatsoever
to my alma mater)

I vowed then
never to attend a movie
ever again.

Unfortunately
having a 5 year old makes the vow impossible.

However children's movies basically are
at the same intellectual level
as 'adult' movies
(perhaps even slightly higher
and certainly more amusing).

[rlmorel]

It was not academy award, but of all the Batman movies; it entertained me.

[rjp2005]

Hollywood has lost the subtle touch - love is reduced to bodyparts, courage denigrated to beating the crap out of everybody, and the selfish anti-"hero" is the star. There are no more quality teen/pre-teen flicks that are modest - everything is basically soft porn pushing the hardcore boundaries.

[uncbob]

If there was ever a movie that demonstrated that Hollywood knows nothing about the military, its A Few Good Men.

True
It was consistent in showing that they are Anti Military--Anti White Male-Anti Christian and Pro Black and Pro Woman

[Sensei Ern]

"What was I thinking?" Yea ... I had a moment like that when I saw "Animal House" last summer for the first time in 20 years.
That was the 1st thing that popped into my mind when I saw the question. I know I used to think it was funny, but I when it replayed this summer I couldn't believe how utterly stupid that whole movie is.




Except for: "Can you guess what I am now?"

[Sensei Ern]

See the restored version of "The Big Red One", one of the best war movies ever.

"That's why God gave you two of them."

[Sensei Ern]

Speaking of comic book stinker movies:
Punisher - The Dolph Lungren one, the newer was pretty good.

Dare Devil - DD stands for Double Disappointment

Catwoman - I think Halle used 8 lives in that one

Superman (after the first couple)

[discostu]

I liked the first Punisher movie for only one reason: brass. It's one of the only shoot em movies I know where they actually have brass casings flying around and tinkling on the floor as something other than a plot point. Other than that it was crap.

I liked DD, very true to the Frank Miller version of the character (very dark and not particularly sane).

Catwoman was horrid in pretty much every possible way.

The first Superman was kitche fun but not really that good, then they stopped being kitche fun but still maintained not being really good.

Don't forget how the Batman series went downhill fast (crap by halfway through the second movie).

[Twinkie]

"Lemony Snickets - A Series of Unfortunate Events"