Couldn’t agree more about Crash and Juno, films that seem to have been made for the sole purpose of appearing important or precious. Juno is the worse offender, acting like an indie slice-o’-life but sounding so forced and fake that it grates on this viewer’s last nerve.
I have noticed year over year a desire to not see films that were labelled as excellent at year’s end due to a perception they were made for award and importance reasons over art and storytelling. Milk, Rachel Getting Married, Doubt all smack of something just kind of wrongheaded.
On the other side, I will say I believe Zodiac is an excellent film and will only gain over the years. And The Departed is definitely not Goodfellas or Casino, but that’s kind of the point. I see it as the most fun Scorsese film yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s one of his best.
I do not think “cute” is a word I ever would have used to describe SM. I thought it was quite good, one of the better films this year, and to compare it to LMS seems wrongheaded. They are very different kinds of film. The only thing I would fault SM for is it’s simplistic “chapter” system…ask a question, get a flashback, repeat. However, as films went this year, that was a minor flaw in my opinion.
I just haven’t cared for anything he has done, but I just saw Mister Lonely and the inserted subplot about the falling nuns was brilliant, and deserved a far better film to frame it.
Is entertainment not included in this site? Many films can be entertaining without being of high artistic value. Perhaps it would be better to ask “how many ’art films” have you seen with gratuitous sex, violence, poor plotting and non-acting".
Lachlan, just to play devil’s advocate, you shouldn’t think someone is a good critic just because you agree with them. And giving due to Ebert, even when he gives a good review to films that seem awful, he is at least honest and thoughtful in his appraisals. When he goes, I really think it will just be a nation of bookmarks.
More often, superhero/comic book movie adaptations are satisfying films, if not occasionally great films. There are exceptions. The Fantastic Four films were bland attempts, and the third Blade film was completely unecessary. But frequently you get solid action/adventure films that work on that level. Then you get the occasional Dark Knight that elevates everything out of the simple comic adaptation into a realm of purer drama.
Of course, you get your share of downright stinkers, too. The Spirit was amazingly bad, and I’ll go back as far as Howard The Duck and say, well, not every one hits the mark.
But just because there were a dozen comic adaptations in a year of hundreds of films, to quote the Joker, why so serious?
“But there’s a bright side to this, and a moral. I think morals are good for you; I love morals. And the moral of this story is: if you’re walkin’ on eggs, don’t hop.”
Rodney – “get on the tits of the indy crowd”…priceless!
This list brings to mind the reverse and its inherent problems…distinguishing between “great” and “good” films. Here you have to distinguish between flawed and truly wrongheaded films. Rambo, In The Name Of The King, Doomsday and 21 may be derivative, dull, overdone or flat, but they aren’t awful films. The truly misguided were films like:
Meet The Spartans – unfunny (with one exception…I love that Spears bit), gross-out stupid, and interminable for a film barely 80 minutes long.
Jumper – a one-note thriller with a lead we couldn’t possibly be expected to like, root for or care about. And that kid is really an awful actor.
Speed Racer – vomiting candy colors non-stop and inciting grande-mal seizures is no way to go through life, son.
The Happening – possibly the worst film of the year, and I go in wanting to like each and every one of MNS’s films. I even sort of liked Lady. Forgive me. But this was a non-event. And Wahlberg was not the guy for that role. Actually he was perfect for that role, but I think you know what I mean.
The Onion Movie – a little direct-to-DVD action. This was insulting and unfunny.
The Love Guru – unfunny (what is it with comedies this year?), pandering, petulant third-grade humor.
Bangkok Dangerous – Flat in every sense: color, tone, acting, narrative; across the board a failure.
War Inc. – wait a minute, The Happening has some competition. Unfunny and dull and cheap-looking, like someone’s kids put the sets together. Just bad, awful.
Righteous Kill – a nonsensical mess.
The Spirit – Never before have my wife and I looked at each other as the credits of a film started rolling and said, at the exact same moment, “That stunk.” But we did at The Spirit!
Non-2008 films I watched that I disliked:
DULL DULL DULL
Day Night Day Night
The World
Goodbye Dragon Inn
Great World of Sound
Pulp
The Situation
Summer Palace
Music Within
Boarding Gate
Vince Vaughan’s Wild West Thing
The Tiger and The Snow
The Wizard of Gore
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
TRULY AWFUL
Slipstream
Charlie Bartlett
Smiley Face
Branching off yet again…to examine elements of very good films could have made them great if changed.
Perfect example: Gran Torino. Two things really stood out. 1) It was quite funny, but that humor was almost exclusively demeaning or racist content, and there is a discomfort tied to laughing at those lines that makes you second guess your reactions. 2) Several major roles are played by people that don’t seem to have ever acted before, and it really shows. I mean, there are some BAD line readings in the film. Not sure why Eastwood decided to go that way. But I am a fan of the film overall despite these things.
I thought Elite Squad was quite good, despite its debatable politics. But since we’re talking about film and not politics, I would recommend it. Did not expect to enjoy Slumdog but found it highly satisfying despite a major narrative structure element I thought was wrong. Thought Tell No One and A Girl Cut In Two were both excellent. And I thought Chrysalis and Captain Abu raed were very good.
I have Reprise in my Netflix Instant Watch Queue and Bashir comes out locally sometime in January, I think.
The reason for remakes is likely money, which is why it amazes me that bigger names like Will Smith/Steve Speilberg would be involved in remaking a known, critically-received film. They don’t need the money. Remakes speak to a degradation of creative thought…why come up with an original story when you can re-tool another? So most remakes are unnecessary from the word go. I agree with everyone that The Fly was original enough and effective enough that it was well worth seeing. But proposed remakes of films like Robocop, The Thing (I mean the remake of Carpenter’s version), Escape from New York (I don’t know what the deal with Carpenter’s catalog is…), and Oldboy seem so wrongheaded that they can only be driven by a purely cash-driven motive. In the last few years we’ve also seen a string of horror remakes (some of classics, some of questionable origins) that can’t be due to any artistic need. Surely it isn’t THAT hard to come up with a viable (original) horror script?
Now, I see that in the coming month we will get a 3D remake of My Bloody Valentine…and I’m not sure what seems sadder, that they made a remake of a relatively obscure horror flcik from the 80s that was actually a grisly little piece of fun on its own terms, or that they felt compelled to make it 3D to bring in some bizarro demographic. Seems wrong on a number of levels.
And here I loved Cook/Thief/Wife/Lover, but hated The Falls, which was a test of endurance.
As for walking out of a theater, I cannot remember too many times – I’m a stickler for seeing it through, even if I know it’s subpar, because I hold out for that one gem of a moment, whether a performance or a joke. I walked out of So I Married An Axe Murderer because I thought it was so unfunny and it was late and I was tired, didn’t want to waste any more time. I walked out of Kingdom of Heaven about one hour in because I felt ill. I don’t think it was the film, but hey, I never went back either.
Now I should have walked out on Sleepaway Camp, because that one left me a little shell-shocked, like those Canadian PSAs on accidents in the workplace (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t seek them out). And I could have done without Meet The Spartans, but my wife and son were with me and it was one of those dinner and a movie joints, and we were hungry. But wow, what a POS.
DVDs? Totally different. If a film hasn’t really engaged me by the 20-30 minute mark, it’s done.
-An empty cinema, and someone comes and sits in the same row as you. (I would add: uncomfortably close to you)
-Audiences reading subtitles
I can block out chewing but talking annoys the s**t out of me. And a poorly lit or out-of-whack frame is inexcusable. That’s the core of their business.
I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I just didn’t understand what was going on. Later I read an essay that explained all the details of what was happening and I thought, you shouldn’t have to read external materials to “get” a film. I think it’s very overrated.
Underrated / overrated over 3 years ago
Couldn’t agree more about Crash and Juno, films that seem to have been made for the sole purpose of appearing important or precious. Juno is the worse offender, acting like an indie slice-o’-life but sounding so forced and fake that it grates on this viewer’s last nerve.
I have noticed year over year a desire to not see films that were labelled as excellent at year’s end due to a perception they were made for award and importance reasons over art and storytelling. Milk, Rachel Getting Married, Doubt all smack of something just kind of wrongheaded.
On the other side, I will say I believe Zodiac is an excellent film and will only gain over the years. And The Departed is definitely not Goodfellas or Casino, but that’s kind of the point. I see it as the most fun Scorsese film yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s one of his best.
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Challenging Films over 3 years ago
El Topo
Werckmeister Harmonies
Love them both, just don’t get them. Rather, I assume there is a lot more to them than what I took away…
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Challenging Films over 3 years ago
Oh, and Tulse Luper Suitcases…it was far too dense for my little, mortal brain.
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The most beautiful films? over 3 years ago
Tony Takitani
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Slumdog Millionaire Overrated Film of the Year over 3 years ago
I do not think “cute” is a word I ever would have used to describe SM. I thought it was quite good, one of the better films this year, and to compare it to LMS seems wrongheaded. They are very different kinds of film. The only thing I would fault SM for is it’s simplistic “chapter” system…ask a question, get a flashback, repeat. However, as films went this year, that was a minor flaw in my opinion.
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List the most exemplary acting performance(s) over 3 years ago
Daniel Day Lewis in anything, but There Will Be Blood specifically
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Harmony Korine over 3 years ago
I just haven’t cared for anything he has done, but I just saw Mister Lonely and the inserted subplot about the falling nuns was brilliant, and deserved a far better film to frame it.
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List the most exemplary acting performance(s) over 3 years ago
Yes, definitely Duvall in Tender Mercies.
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Any Cool Xmas Presents? over 3 years ago
DVDs?
The Dark Knight
The Anderson Tapes
Mishima (Criterion)
Belly of An Architect
Cook/Thief/Wife/Lover
Cool Hand Luke
It’s All Gone Pete Tong
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Can Objective Criticism Exist? over 3 years ago
I’m confused by your first item. You say there are no boring films and then admit to being bored by many films. ???
Of course there are boring films. Far too many considering the time and money taken to make the damn things.
And yes, it’s subjective, but everything is subjective.
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Do exploitation films have value? over 3 years ago
Is entertainment not included in this site? Many films can be entertaining without being of high artistic value. Perhaps it would be better to ask “how many ’art films” have you seen with gratuitous sex, violence, poor plotting and non-acting".
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Film critics over 3 years ago
Lachlan, just to play devil’s advocate, you shouldn’t think someone is a good critic just because you agree with them. And giving due to Ebert, even when he gives a good review to films that seem awful, he is at least honest and thoughtful in his appraisals. When he goes, I really think it will just be a nation of bookmarks.
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2008: The Year That Comic Movies Went Too Far over 3 years ago
More often, superhero/comic book movie adaptations are satisfying films, if not occasionally great films. There are exceptions. The Fantastic Four films were bland attempts, and the third Blade film was completely unecessary. But frequently you get solid action/adventure films that work on that level. Then you get the occasional Dark Knight that elevates everything out of the simple comic adaptation into a realm of purer drama.
Of course, you get your share of downright stinkers, too. The Spirit was amazingly bad, and I’ll go back as far as Howard The Duck and say, well, not every one hits the mark.
But just because there were a dozen comic adaptations in a year of hundreds of films, to quote the Joker, why so serious?
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Film quotes you love over 3 years ago
“But there’s a bright side to this, and a moral. I think morals are good for you; I love morals. And the moral of this story is: if you’re walkin’ on eggs, don’t hop.”
Braddock (Warren Oates), in Blue Thunder
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The Worst Films of 2008 over 3 years ago
Rodney – “get on the tits of the indy crowd”…priceless!
This list brings to mind the reverse and its inherent problems…distinguishing between “great” and “good” films. Here you have to distinguish between flawed and truly wrongheaded films. Rambo, In The Name Of The King, Doomsday and 21 may be derivative, dull, overdone or flat, but they aren’t awful films. The truly misguided were films like:
Meet The Spartans – unfunny (with one exception…I love that Spears bit), gross-out stupid, and interminable for a film barely 80 minutes long.
Jumper – a one-note thriller with a lead we couldn’t possibly be expected to like, root for or care about. And that kid is really an awful actor.
Speed Racer – vomiting candy colors non-stop and inciting grande-mal seizures is no way to go through life, son.
The Happening – possibly the worst film of the year, and I go in wanting to like each and every one of MNS’s films. I even sort of liked Lady. Forgive me. But this was a non-event. And Wahlberg was not the guy for that role. Actually he was perfect for that role, but I think you know what I mean.
The Onion Movie – a little direct-to-DVD action. This was insulting and unfunny.
The Love Guru – unfunny (what is it with comedies this year?), pandering, petulant third-grade humor.
Bangkok Dangerous – Flat in every sense: color, tone, acting, narrative; across the board a failure.
War Inc. – wait a minute, The Happening has some competition. Unfunny and dull and cheap-looking, like someone’s kids put the sets together. Just bad, awful.
Righteous Kill – a nonsensical mess.
The Spirit – Never before have my wife and I looked at each other as the credits of a film started rolling and said, at the exact same moment, “That stunk.” But we did at The Spirit!
Non-2008 films I watched that I disliked:
DULL DULL DULL
Day Night Day Night
The World
Goodbye Dragon Inn
Great World of Sound
Pulp
The Situation
Summer Palace
Music Within
Boarding Gate
Vince Vaughan’s Wild West Thing
The Tiger and The Snow
The Wizard of Gore
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies
TRULY AWFUL
Slipstream
Charlie Bartlett
Smiley Face
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The Worst Films of 2008 over 3 years ago
Branching off yet again…to examine elements of very good films could have made them great if changed.
Perfect example: Gran Torino. Two things really stood out. 1) It was quite funny, but that humor was almost exclusively demeaning or racist content, and there is a discomfort tied to laughing at those lines that makes you second guess your reactions. 2) Several major roles are played by people that don’t seem to have ever acted before, and it really shows. I mean, there are some BAD line readings in the film. Not sure why Eastwood decided to go that way. But I am a fan of the film overall despite these things.
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Which of the following should I purchase? over 3 years ago
Are these the only choices? :-)
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Obscure recommendations over 3 years ago
Maybe I know more than I thought, but there are a lot of films mentioned so far that I would never have labelled “obscure”.
I’ll try a few though: Survive Style 5+, The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob, What Is It?, Candy Mountain, Minotaur
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CONTENDERS FOR BEST FOREIGN FILM 2009 over 3 years ago
I thought Elite Squad was quite good, despite its debatable politics. But since we’re talking about film and not politics, I would recommend it. Did not expect to enjoy Slumdog but found it highly satisfying despite a major narrative structure element I thought was wrong. Thought Tell No One and A Girl Cut In Two were both excellent. And I thought Chrysalis and Captain Abu raed were very good.
I have Reprise in my Netflix Instant Watch Queue and Bashir comes out locally sometime in January, I think.
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Remakes over 3 years ago
The reason for remakes is likely money, which is why it amazes me that bigger names like Will Smith/Steve Speilberg would be involved in remaking a known, critically-received film. They don’t need the money. Remakes speak to a degradation of creative thought…why come up with an original story when you can re-tool another? So most remakes are unnecessary from the word go. I agree with everyone that The Fly was original enough and effective enough that it was well worth seeing. But proposed remakes of films like Robocop, The Thing (I mean the remake of Carpenter’s version), Escape from New York (I don’t know what the deal with Carpenter’s catalog is…), and Oldboy seem so wrongheaded that they can only be driven by a purely cash-driven motive. In the last few years we’ve also seen a string of horror remakes (some of classics, some of questionable origins) that can’t be due to any artistic need. Surely it isn’t THAT hard to come up with a viable (original) horror script?
Now, I see that in the coming month we will get a 3D remake of My Bloody Valentine…and I’m not sure what seems sadder, that they made a remake of a relatively obscure horror flcik from the 80s that was actually a grisly little piece of fun on its own terms, or that they felt compelled to make it 3D to bring in some bizarro demographic. Seems wrong on a number of levels.
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Most Memorable Villain over 3 years ago
All you’ve mentioned are great. I do like Oldman’s performance in Leon. Quite good.
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Who do you think the most overrated director is? over 3 years ago
Kevin Smith and Tim Burton. I just watched Clerks and Batman again and they both sucked.
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Which Movies Have You Walked Out On? over 3 years ago
And here I loved Cook/Thief/Wife/Lover, but hated The Falls, which was a test of endurance.
As for walking out of a theater, I cannot remember too many times – I’m a stickler for seeing it through, even if I know it’s subpar, because I hold out for that one gem of a moment, whether a performance or a joke. I walked out of So I Married An Axe Murderer because I thought it was so unfunny and it was late and I was tired, didn’t want to waste any more time. I walked out of Kingdom of Heaven about one hour in because I felt ill. I don’t think it was the film, but hey, I never went back either.
Now I should have walked out on Sleepaway Camp, because that one left me a little shell-shocked, like those Canadian PSAs on accidents in the workplace (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t seek them out). And I could have done without Meet The Spartans, but my wife and son were with me and it was one of those dinner and a movie joints, and we were hungry. But wow, what a POS.
DVDs? Totally different. If a film hasn’t really engaged me by the 20-30 minute mark, it’s done.
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What Is "Movie Hell" For You? over 3 years ago
Andrew, I agree heartily on these:
-Films out of focus, not framed correctly.
-An empty cinema, and someone comes and sits in the same row as you. (I would add: uncomfortably close to you)
-Audiences reading subtitles
I can block out chewing but talking annoys the s**t out of me. And a poorly lit or out-of-whack frame is inexcusable. That’s the core of their business.
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What great films do you violently hate for no other reason than because you're a total idiot? over 3 years ago
I don’t violently hate any movies, but I do find that most films “everyone” says are great are suspect. And that doesn’t make me an idiot.
But since this has become somewhat of an “I hated E.T.” thread, I’ll jump on and simply say I found it to be okay, no great shakes.
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Your Favorite Michel Gondry Film? over 3 years ago
Gondry belongs in that “overrated” thread. Eternal Sunshine is a great film; everything else is awful.
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Thoughts on 'Donnie Darko' over 3 years ago
I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but I just didn’t understand what was going on. Later I read an essay that explained all the details of what was happening and I thought, you shouldn’t have to read external materials to “get” a film. I think it’s very overrated.
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Thoughts on 'Donnie Darko' over 3 years ago
Let me rephrase that…I’m not the dumbest guy in the world…
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Books over 3 years ago
What is this “books” of which you speak?
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favorite funniest movie over 3 years ago
Older: Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Newer: Super Troopers
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