this thread makes me think of the time I went to see "Secret Window" with an ex, and I loved the movie, he never did shut up after the fact talking about how terrible it was.

as for some of the others in here, I quite liked Four Feathers when I saw it , although it's been a good long while, I may not like it now.

quote:

The Village.
I've already said a lot about it on these forums. I know there are others, but this is all I can think of right now.

oh but I remember this movie being hyped, and thinking it would be THE most terrifying thing to see EVAR !!! not. However, I love it for nothing else but to be able to use the phrase "those of which we do not speak" in regular daily conversation

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Originally posted by animalcollectivist:
Lost Highway
Sympathy for the Devil

Maybe I will watch them later.

Quite possibly the six most underrated movies ever:

1. The Women (2008) - I honestly don't see what's wrong with it. The acting is great, and so is the plot... did all the critics just compare it to the 1938 version?
2. Battle for Terra - This one deserves a lot more merit than it did IMO. I like the idea of humans invading an alien planet instead of vice versa...
3. Adventureland - People just walk out of this because the trailer and the fact that it's by the creators of Superbad lead them to believe it's a frat-boy comedy... but it's not.
4. Be Kind Rewind - I can't believe this bombed. It's a nice throwback to the VHS days, and had more of a plot than I was expecting.
5. 12 Rounds - Yeah, it's an action movie, but I honestly don't see what's wrong with it. I think some of the hate this movie merited came from blind hate for John Cena.
6. Material Girls - Well, it's not Emmy material, but again, I think it's just blind hate for the Duff sisters (I used to be like that, going along with the crowd and my hatred for Lizzie McGuire) that it gets slammed so bad. I don't think it deserves THAT kind of panning.

There's also a bunch of other movies that are just guilty pleasures of mine.

Miss March
Fired Up!
What Happens in Vegas
Crank: High Voltage
Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie: Pyramid of Light
Pokémon: The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back

I don't exactly recommend those to anyone, unless under given circumstances. I also would call Observe and Report and The House Bunny guilty pleasures, but they seem to have larger fanbases.

I have to say Waterworld, at least what I´ve heard it is not appreciated at all. A great movie, as most others by Costner.

Secondly the Last Samurai. I know this is not considered a straight out bad movie, but I think it is simply brilliant, in most ways perfect with lenght, action, drama and pretty pictures, althought I was in the ideal mood for the film, which probably brought it up a bit in my eyes.

third would be The Fountain, another which I consider one of the best fantasy movies so far in this century.

EDIT: Now that I remember I have to ad Max Payne, which I found a compelling movie with a great atmosphere taking the main focus from the mediocre story. effects were excellent the little there were, and action worked, although again there could have been more. Not as bad as the critics claim it is.

as a side note, yeah Dances with Wolves is another movie with the same pros as Last Samurai, and it is great too. Also I might throw around a bit too much superlatives and praise words, I know this, but it´s just better that way for me.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Dertanius,

quote:

Dertanius
Slacker
Posted 22 June 2009 11:38 AM Hide Post
I have to say Waterworld, at least what I´ve heard it is not appreciated at all. A great movie, as most others by Costner.

Secondly the Last Samurai. I know this is not considered a straight out bad movie, but I think it is simply brilliant, in most ways perfect with lenght, action, drama and pretty pictures.

third would be The Fountain, another which I consider one of the best fantasy movies so far in this century.

Split decision. While I can understand your opinion of THE FOUNTAIN (2006) and I would admit to its fresh and innovative film-making, I personally found it confusing and slow in a number of places (but I was tired and slept through part of it). From what I've heard, this movie really wasn't panned outright and it did receive some good reviews and positive popular audience support.

What I am really excited is your opinion about WATER WORLD (1995) which is considered one of the biggest blockbuster flops of all time along with GODZILLA (1998). WATERWORLD dealt with strong adult themes and was presented in epic fashion and I feel was under-rated. Kevin Costner has had a difficult time with his persona on screen.

As for THE LAST SAMURAI (2003), I also have positive feelings towards this historical epic movie that is presented in the same format as DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990).

Starship Troopers. Some people are coming around on this movie. None of these people are my friends. I still catch shit for liking this movie.

Versus. It's cheesy with terrible pacing, questionable dialogue, has c-grade make-up, and is about 45 minutes too long and I love it. There's a lot of people out there who will never forgive me for making them sit through it.

David Lynch's Dune. Despite the obvious dissimilarity from Herbert's book, it was still classic Lynch, but awesomely sci-fi.

For that matter, most of the David Lynch catalog...Most people dont get why Im such a fanatic. Hope theres somebody who feels me here.

quote:

abstrax
Slacker First Class
Posted 03 July 2009 12:00 AM Hide Post
David Lynch's Dune. Despite the obvious dissimilarity from Herbert's book, it was still classic Lynch, but awesomely sci-fi.

For that matter, most of the David Lynch catalog...Most people dont get why Im such a fanatic. Hope theres somebody who feels me here.

quote:

abstrax
Slacker First Class
Posted 03 July 2009 12:00 AM Hide Post
David Lynch's Dune. Despite the obvious dissimilarity from Herbert's book, it was still classic Lynch, but awesomely sci-fi.

For that matter, most of the David Lynch catalog...Most people dont get why Im such a fanatic. Hope theres somebody who feels me here.

Dune (1984) easily considered among the best of sci fi movies presented an epic tale of political dynastic immensity in addition to the atmospherics of eerie alien life forms, alien planetary ecology, and a retro-looking Royal treatment that is both old and super-modern in its set and costume design.

Hahahaha well as much as I hate to admit it but I loved "My Bloody Valentine" and well, thought is was a good old school horror flick

Another one for the archives is "Piranha 2:The Spawning"- Don't ask

"Freddy Got Fingered" ...

star wars episodes 1-3. yep all three of them

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mcgunslinger
Slacker
Posted 19 September 2009 04:28 PM Hide Post
star wars episodes 1-3. yep all three of them

As a sci fi fan who went to see the original three episodes that came out in the 70s, standing in long lines, once in the rain, the comparison between the original trilogy and the later modernistic STAR WAR prequels (circa. 1977) makes it really difficult. I would speculate that there may be hundreds of thousands of fans out there that didn't have the baggage of the past movies to carry with them. The entire STAR WARS series all, six movies were never my favorite sci fi subgenre to begin with as I was caught up with other sci fi movies from that period that held my interest:

ALIEN (1979)
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979)
TIME AFTER TIME (1979)

And now, All About Steve and Love Happens.

quote:

Posts: 1431 | Location: Utah, United States | Registered: 22 July 2005

Ignored post by tabuno posted 19 September 2009 05:40 PM Show Post

Bonkfast
Participant
Posted 20 September 2009 04:23 PM Hide Post
And now, All About Steve and Love Happens.

ALL ABOUT STEVE get high marks from me because it really offers up a difficult character portrayal that likely reflects a more common experience in real life than most people are likely to admit. Sandra Bullock as producer has brought to the screen this insightful and well performed character piece.

quote:

Originally posted by tabuno:

quote:

Posts: 1431 | Location: Utah, United States | Registered: 22 July 2005

Ignored post by tabuno posted 19 September 2009 05:40 PM Show Post

Bonkfast
Participant
Posted 20 September 2009 04:23 PM Hide Post
And now, All About Steve and Love Happens.

ALL ABOUT STEVE get high marks from me because it really offers up a difficult character portrayal that likely reflects a more common experience in real life than most people are likely to admit. Sandra Bullock as producer has brought to the screen this insightful and well performed character piece.

My thoughts exactly. It was so true in some ways - life is like a crossword puzzle in some ways, and the parts with the deaf kids and the three-legged baby spoke to me. I really don't see why the reviews were so terrible - in fact, out of all the films I liked that no one else did, it is probably the second worst reviewed (behind Material Girls with a 15) of all the semi-big ones.

(Sure, Miss March got a 7 and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie got a 15 as opposed to All About Steve's 17, but to put things in perspective, Miss March and Yu-Gi-Oh! are 90-minute semi-blatant advertisements for Playboy magazine and children's trading card games that do not star big Hollywood names (except maybe Craig Robinson, he is sort of big), whereas All About Steve is not some big 90-minute commercial, nor is it some blatantly crap teen sex comedy or film adaptation of a semi-toyetic children's cartoon, and has big names like Sandra Bullock and Thomas Haden Church).

quote:

Posts: 1432 | Location: Utah, United States | Registered: 22 July 2005

Ignored post by tabuno posted 20 September 2009 05:51 PM Show Post

Bonkfast
Participant
Posted 21 September 2009 04:30 PM Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by tabuno:

quote:
Posts: 1431 | Location: Utah, United States | Registered: 22 July 2005

Ignored post by tabuno posted 19 September 2009 05:40 PM Show Post

Bonkfast
Participant
Posted 20 September 2009 04:23 PM Hide Post
And now, All About Steve and Love Happens.


ALL ABOUT STEVE get high marks from me because it really offers up a difficult character portrayal that likely reflects a more common experience in real life than most people are likely to admit. Sandra Bullock as producer has brought to the screen this insightful and well performed character piece.


My thoughts exactly. It was so true in some ways - life is like a crossword puzzle in some ways, and the parts with the deaf kids and the three-legged baby spoke to me. I really don't see why the reviews were so terrible - in fact, out of all the films I liked that no one else did, it is probably the second worst reviewed (behind Material Girls with a 15) of all the semi-big ones.

(Sure, Miss March got a 7 and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Movie got a 15 as opposed to All About Steve's 17, but to put things in perspective, Miss March and Yu-Gi-Oh! are 90-minute semi-blatant advertisements for Playboy magazine and children's trading card games that do not star big Hollywood names (except maybe Craig Robinson, he is sort of big), whereas All About Steve is not some big 90-minute commercial, nor is it some blatantly crap teen sex comedy or film adaptation of a semi-toyetic children's cartoon, and has big names like Sandra Bullock and Thomas Haden Church).

Sandra Bullock relatively speaking has never been a BIG name at least in terms of critically respected actresses go. The closest she's ever come to being recognized as a good actress is her ensemble role in CRASH (2004). Most of her other roles have been supposedly light-weight roles, many comedy (which most people overlook the fact that comedy is the more difficult genre to perform). Sandra's performance in 28 DAYS (2000) is a standard drug and alcohol theatrical release used a number of real treatment programs. Perhaps she's really never been able to get past her innocent, naive but ever so appealing role in SPEED (1994). Perhaps her dramatic role in THE BLIND SIDE (2009) will be her break out movie of her career when its released this November 20. One can always hope.

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Sandra Bullock relatively speaking has never been a BIG name at least in terms of critically respected actresses go. The closest she's ever come to being recognized as a good actress is her ensemble role in CRASH (2004). Most of her other roles have been supposedly light-weight roles, many comedy (which most people overlook the fact that comedy is the more difficult genre to perform). Sandra's performance in 28 DAYS (2000) is a standard drug and alcohol theatrical release used a number of real treatment programs. Perhaps she's really never been able to get past her innocent, naive but ever so appealing role in SPEED (1994). Perhaps her dramatic role in THE BLIND SIDE (2009) will be her break out movie of her career when its released this November 20. One can always hope.

I actually haven't seen many Sandra Bullock films besides THE PROPOSAL (2009) and ALL ABOUT STEVE (2009) from this year, but I saw some trailers and I am looking forward to THE BLIND SIDE (2009). I'd also like to see DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD (2002) and the MISS CONGENIALITY films (2000 and 2005), and maybe TWO WEEKS NOTICE (2002).

However, she is a much bigger name than "The Whitest Kids U' Know" (Zach Cregger, Trevor Moore) from MISS MARCH (2009) or the C-list voice actors (Dan Green, Eric Stuart, etc.) from YU-GI-OH! THE MOVIE: PYRAMID OF LIGHT (2004). (Though I heard Eric Stuart is a singer too.)

Although, upon further research, I found out that the guys from MISS MARCH are actually from an IFC series known as The Whitest Kids U' Know and MISS MARCH is basically "The Whitest Kids U' Know: The Movie".

Still, they're not that big, and when I say "big name" I mean a name you'd probably recognize if someone said it. Only fans of WKUK know who Trevor Moore and Zach Cregger are, and only anime fans know who Dan Green and Eric Stuart are. I knew who Sandra Bullock was before I started really getting into movies.

What I meant was, ALL ABOUT STEVE didn't look like some blatantly crap film about Playboy mags or card games that was inspired by a television show with nobodies, and thus, is probably the second worst reviewed film of the semi-big films I like that no one else does.

SANDRA BULLOCK in THE DEMOLITION MAN (1993) as Lt. Lenina Huxley that starred Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, even including Benjamin Bratt (who co-starred with Sandra Bullock in the MISS CONGENIALITY movies) had the delicious science fiction role that offered up some of the most creative speculative sci fi futurist English language/phrases in movie history. It's almost just worth seeing the movie because of this innovative script play on the English language even though most people and critics really didn't see much more than a typical futuristic action thriller.

Allow me to start with a quote, excellently sourced by Metacritic. Here we have Stephanie Zacharek summing up her appraisal of "All About Steve", the second romcom from the Bullock stable this year:

"Just when you think your jaw can't drop any lower in appalled amazement, comes a romantic comedy so lunkheaded and ill-conceived that it makes your average, idiotic Kate Hudson-Matthew McConaughey outing look like the reincarnation of Hepburn and Grant."

We can safely say that Zacharek is not holding back. Furthermore, we can safely say that the critical fraternity is not keeping its guns holstered on this one. Reading the vitriolic consensus on this flick is like watching a trussed Osama Bin Laden being thrown into a cell with Dick Cheney and a minigun. I haven't seen bloodletting like this since the reviews of "Gamer" what, all of a fortnight ago?

Here we come to the crux of the issue: the embarassing abundance of bad films at the cinema these days. I tell ya, reading the excerpts from reviews of bad films on Metacritic is a great spectator sport. It's like watching some vastly superior boxer beat up a nobody in the ring whilst quipping things like, "What are you waving that red flag at me for? Oh, that towel was white a minute ago."

Brutal stuff. If you think the META average is bad, head over to see the almost unprecedented 7% (out of 91 reviews -yes, 91!) on R0ttent0mat0es which "All About Steve" has garnered across the USA. Can a film possibly be this bad? If so, maybe "Plan 9 From Outer Space" will finally be supplanted from the pedestal it has (unfairly) occupied for so long.

Me, I think the critics doth protest too much. They know BULLOCK, and I know SANDRA BULLOCK. Most of us like and/or harbour great fondness for the BULLOCK. Just her surname has all the robustness of well fed livestock, just as she possesses great robustness in her femininity and humanity that endears her to men and women alike. This endearing quality transcends her acting talent in that, like Keanu Reeves, she retains her charm even when her performances are a little off. Like Keanu, the BULLOCK is sometimes wayward in her performances, only her likability shines through at all times. It's a rare trait, this innate kind of charm. And it is with this special power (read: unfair advantage! Philip Seymour Hofman has to work harder than this...) in mind that the critics have singled "All About Steve" out. Okay, it's a terrible film (I walked out of it, which I NEVER do), but the journos have insisted on its badness a little more than they would have were they not so very, very aware of the preternatural pull that the BULLOCK exerts on audiences. They've had to compensate for her superpowers by making a bad film out to be worse than "Gamer" -a feat which, it should be said, is virtually impossible.

Secondly, and mercifully lastly, the critics are just trying to keep themselves in the job. I haven't done a statistical survey, but reading Metacritic over the years I'm left with the impression that the overwhelming majority of mainstream movies are just not worth viewing. My own viewing experiences have backed this up. Perhaps 5 out of every 7 releases are mediocre or worse. But as sorry as this situation is, the critics exaggerate it. They position themselves as the gatekeepers of the vestiges of good filmmaking, the sentinels of a dying seventh art. For every negative reception you read, you're bullied into thinking that the cinema is nigh-on extinct. Not so! We just have to try harder to find the good films, of which there are hundreds, and in the internet age we have no excuse not to seek them out.

But "All About Steve", in all its average badness, is another scapegoat for the critics' transparent ploy: keeping themselves in the job. By placing themselves as the gatekeepers, they exalt their profession into a realm of questionable importance. But I understand, most need to scramble to keep food on the table these days, and if that means stripping the flesh off the bones of an egregious picture like "All About Steve", then so be it.

What I'm finding is that the average quality of films continue to increase significantly and that standard for quality films at the top tier is probably getting more and more difficult. Like gymnastics, the 6.0 perfect scores have had to make way for 9.0 to 10.0 scores. As for ALL ABOUT STEVE, it's still my favorite movie of the year which makes me quite consistent in putting my imprint on this thread ("A Movie that you liked but, apparently, nobody else did," a movie that even Forge walked out on, thus me thinks how his comments risk being stretched in their reasoning on this thread - Forge didn't like this movie thus I wonder well...then...hopefully someone gets my drift here).

I wonder what SANDRA BULLOCK would do, in her capacity as producer on "All About Steve", if she were allowed to police the internet for a fortnight. Why, I can imagine her clamping down on the movie blogosphere and on all forums talking about cinema. Perhaps all negative comments about her picture would be wiped and all naysayers temporarily banned. No, I don't see some tyrant streak in her make-up, but as a producer you sometimes have to be more cut-throat than some actors, and I think the BULLOCK could make some ruthless decisions if needed. In lieu of this alternative reality, the BULLOCK will have to make do with the smattering of online supporters willing to fight her corner (I hope some around here get what I'm getting at, *nudge nudge nudge* *wink-wink* *nudge* *wink* *nudge nudge*).

That's the great thing about the internet, you can be assured of a diversity of opinions. Take the execrable "Gamer", a flick that gives video games a bad name. Type in the search string 'Gamer is a great movie' to our favourite search engine and, amusingly, you will yield 4 exact matches. Do the same thing for "All About Steve", and you get 1. I encourage all fans (all one of you) of the film to likewise opine that 'All About Steve is a great movie' on a blog, forum, or other virtual public space. Just don't do it at your local square.

For my part, in my partial defence of Bullock's celluloid folly, I fear that in future I might feel I was too lenient. For now, I'm content with asserting that it eludes the pantheon of the very very worst films ever made. But if it was promoted to merely the worst films ever made, I might not disagree with that.