I thought of a couple more while I've been brooding at work today: Focus: Bio-Dome, (or any Pauly Shore movie). Yes they get hate, any why shouldn't they? He was a fucking MTV VJ for christ sake and has the most annoying vocal inflection of all time. However, I still enjoy Bio-Dome and can't tear myself away whenever it's on. It's such a retarded premise, I hate myself for enjoying it. Anti-Focus: Zoolander. It's not funny, don't bother telling me why it is. Where's KIMaster on this thread? This topic is his bread and butter.
Along these lines, I can't sit through more than 30 minutes of The Godfather without drifting off into la-la land and dreaming about boobies, beer, and hitting stuff. I've tried multiple times, it just can't hold my attention. I was wondering that myself. At first I thought it was a massive troll thread aimed directly at him. On second thought, he's probably 1. Busy composing a list of why the top 100 movies of all time sucked and why we suck for watching them 2. Compiling a list of the top 100 films (foreign, of course) with budgets of less than $500,000 that no one has ever seen and why we suck for never seeing them 3. Broken his keyboard in a fit of rage over our infantile cinematic commentary 4. All of the above
He's been typing his response for the last two hours. ANd I have a feeling it will take another few days to compile a comprehensive list.
I second Death Proof. I thought it was 10 times better than Planet Terror. Although, I think it's because I like gore with a purpose, which Death Proof had a lot more of. Focus: All About Steve I thought this movie was really sweet. It had some funny moments, and Sandra Bullock's character was not as annoying as everyone seems to think.
Focus: The "Fast and the Furious" movies. Yes, I completely realize that they're not good movies. I still love each and every one of them. I get such a shit-eating grin on my face whenever "Tokyo Drift" or "Fast and Furious" comes on. It's actually kind of pathetic.
Idiocracy I've heard nothing but good things about this movie. I know I've heard people rave about it on this board (err...maybe it was the RMMB), and I seem to get that as a recommendation whenever I enquire about a good comedy from the workers at Blockbuster (yes, until a couple months ago I still went to Blockbuster). But christ it is a bad fucking movie. In all fairness I've never seen the entire thing, but that is only because the three times I've tried watching it I can't stand it for more than half an hour. It's just that fucking awful to me. I get that it's supposed to be some sort of satire on the future direction of our society, but it's just poorly executed in every single facet. And isn't the main actor that guy Jax (or something similar) who was Ashton Kutcher's henchman in Punk'd? Yea, I'll pass. On second thought, I'll have to check Rotten Tomatoes, because there is no fucking way that movie gets positive ratings from the general public and critics alike. A couple movies I've seen mentioned in this thread: The Watchmen, Kill Bill, and Apocalypse Now. I love all three, and I've never heard anything bad about Apocalypse Now, very little about Kill Bill, and some bad about The Watchmen. And I would have to very strongly argue against anyone who disliked those movies.
Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, Last Samurai, Fern Gully, etc: White dude from advanced society sides with less advanced natives after falling in love with one of them, and fights to stop the evil actions of his own people. Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, etc: Two teenagers from rival factions fall in love, neither switches sides, and someone tragically dies at the end. Avatar is as much a Romeo and Juliet analog as is Stranger Than Fiction. Now, can we please get back to the focus and agree that Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was a god awful monstrosity? The only good thing it did was draw a clear line between Alice fans, and Alice fanboys, thus sparking a mass purge of Facebook friends.
Focus: Deep Blue Sea is probably one of my favorite movies. Stellan Skarsgard, LL Cool J, Tom Jane, talking parrots, bad CGI sharks with brains the size of a flat-head V8 engine and no natural predators, said sharks getting stabbed in the eye with a cross, and Samuel L. Bad Ass Motherfucker Jackson. Fuck you if you don't like Deep Blue Sea, because it's awesome.
Focus I enjoyed Last Action Hero. I have friends that liked it too. It's got some great satire and wink-winks in it, and Arnold gives one of his most charismatic performances. I can see why people don't like it as well (the script shows serious post-production tampering), but I have nothing really bad to say about it. Roadhouse is as stupid as it is (I once knew a bouncer I worked with that would watch it before every shift), but a roller coaster ride of braindead guilty pleasures. Endless 80's style one-liners and the greatest use of hairspray ever in film. Borderline exploitation and retarded fun all the way. Anti Idiocracy is a shit film in my eyes seemingly written by a sixteen-year-old in four hours. This film really could have been something if some care and a little bit more cash was floated in it's direction. Look, people. It's a stupid film. It's not razor-sharp satire, it's shit a half-assed comedian talks about on an open mic night. To add more, it's really cheap looking. I couldn't watch it after about the hour mark. There's a reason is went straight to video, and I give it my lowest rating possible. It felches a dead baboon's ass. Billy Madison was Adam Sandler's starring role, became a hit and his character is sharpened fingernails dragging across a chalkboard inside Hell for 90 straight minutes. Aside from a couple of fleeting laughs, this film is as grating as that voice Sandler does that he seems to be convinced is SOOOOOOOOOOO goddamn funny.
I agree completely with the Idiocracy commentary. The concept is decent but the execution is fucking awful. The talk of Idiocracy brought another somewhat similar movie to mind: Wall-E. Yes, I know it's cute and all but if you're going to make a movie about robots why anthropomorphize them to the point where the only robotic thing about them is their special ability. Aside from that, the robots are basically 13 year old children who can't communicate well. Also, the theme of the movie is every marginally intelligent person's pseudo-intellectual wet dream. I guess some of these concerns are kind of nerdy considering I object to them because they are not in the least bit realistic, but don't give me that shit that it is a kids movie. Bullshit. Yes, it had certain elements that are typical of kids movies but it also had plenty that are geared at adults. Pixar and Dreamworks have been doing this for years with a great deal of success. But if you want to see this done well, see Up, which manages to straddle that line perfectly. The adult themes are deep and the jokes are of the type that appeal to all audiences. Wall-E's adult themes are bogus because they create the premise that this could be our future, when it is almost certainly not the case. I know Up isn't the least bit realistic, but it doesn't try to make a sociological statement; it is simply a deeply moving story and one of the best expositions of love I've ever seen. The exposition of love in Wall-E is completely childish. Sorry if that was a little rambling...I couldn't quite find a good structure for what I had to say. edit: I bet the overlap between people who found Wall-E and Avatar intellectually engaging is huge.
Im with you on this one. The satire of loud 80's Schwarzenegger films was razor sharp. The kids story was kind of weak and the actor was annoying, but it was a solid film. A much better take on over the top action films than fucking Crank II. I also enjoyed Waterworld. Dennis Hopper was great in it.
Focus: FUCK YEAH GIANT SPIDER ROBOT!!! I saw it in theatres when I was in grade 6 or so. As soon as it ended I remember starting to go off to my friends about how it was so awesome and then being confused when everybody around me in the theatre started talking about how stupid it was. I'm sure they just didn't grasp the subtleties of the plot. Or maybe they didn't see the GIANT SPIDER ROBOT?! Fuck yeah. Anti-Focus: I have never been able to sit through any of the Lord of the Rings movies. I've seen the whole first one over the course of about 20 different viewings, and I remember there's a sweet battle in one of the later ones. Otherwise, I was never too horribly interested in the story and my attention span always runs out after half an hour of hobbits running around talking about rings or whatever it is they do.
Focus: I absolutely love everything and anything Will Smith has ever done. My first Blu-Ray purchase was Independence Day (greatest movie ever in my eyes due to the fact I watched it 100 times as a kid.) Still haven't seen Ali, and that is his best work according to the film critics. Kinda-Focus: I watched Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever that has been voted the worst movie of the last 10 years in various articles and I didn't think it was a complete pile of shit. I didn't mind it really. I think Stealth was 100 times worse. Anti-Focus: Napoleon Dynamite. I don't know what to say about Idiocracy, I think I saw it before people really caught on to it and I thought it was a solid movie. But I can see how people could rage against it after hearing a ton of hype about it.
Pure summer-style entertainment. Kevin Costner's hero is mean-spirited and cruel (and does his own impressive stuntwork), the production is astounding (his catamaran is up there with the General Lee for cool vehicles), and has some incredible cinematography. Okay, it may not live up to its infamous budget, but I find it to be a fun movie all the way through. That "speech" the little girl gives near the end about Costner's character could drive a person into suicide, though.
I loathed The Blind Side, I found it to be incredibly racist. Seems most people that I talk to find it moving, touching, uplifting. I found it offensive. Despite the fact that it is based on a true story (as everybody reminds me when I say I hate it)
Even my kids think that Pirates of the Carribean sucked. Speaking of Romeo and Juliet, I actually really like that movie. Maybe it's the soundtrack. Almost Famous was considered so awesome by everyone I knew, I was bored to tears. I prefer to see Kate Hudson getting dismembered to make up for those chipmunk cheeks and Matthew McFaggot romantic comedies. I loved The Crazies and no one has even heard of it. I like the zombies flicks though...
Tropic Thunder, Meet the Parents and Zoolander were hilarious, other than that - Anything involving Ben Stillar can suck it. He's always plays the uptight, shy, easily-frustrated, whiny, clumsy idiot that somehow ends up dating all of these hot broads. Excluding the above exceptions, all Ben Stiller movies are the same to me. Shitty. His cameo in Happy Gilmore was awesome though.
Focus: The first Matrix movie was great, I think most people can agree on that. The second and third Matrix movies, however, seem to be bet with general distaste. I don't think they were near as great as the first, and I'm not saying they are great movies, but I still thoroughly enjoyed them.
Clash of the Titans wasn't that bad for a time burner. I remember being entertained. Anti-focus: I fucking hate Avatar. Part of it is definitely from the ridiculous hype that surrounds it but mostly because it's just a shitty movie with some neato effects.