Originally Posted by
Udaman
Trying to break up the monotony of work...so I was thinking about movies that I'm almost embarrassed to admit I liked, and movies that I know a ton of people love, but I just never could get there. Here are some thoughts:
Guilty Pleasures:
Waterworld. I saw it after all the terrible reviews. I was pleasantly surprised. Thought the story was OK. Thought the acting was OK (if not overdone). I kind of had fun throughout all of it.
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Kind of like Waterworld. I enjoyed this. Yeah it was cheesy...but it was entertaining throughout, and I walked out with a smile on my face.
John Carter. Again, saw it after the bad reviews. Not a great movie. But not a bad 2 hours at the box office.
Battleship. It's the Taylor Kitsch two-fer. I'm not sure why this movie has done as poorly as it did. Sure there's is some awful dialogue, and completely unreal parts (like a retired battleship suddenly able to fire live ammunition)...but there was in Independence Day as well, and it made $200M. I thought Kitsch was OK in this as well...the opening 5 minutes with his burrito search was great (too bad the rest of the movie wasn't like that).
Armageddon. I know this one did OK at the box office, but most of my friends hated it. I remember watching it the weekend it came out (4th of July) with a bunch of friends and we we walked out they all said, "God that was awful" and I was stunned. Again, cheesy...but funny, and at least enjoyable. Much, much better than Deep Impact. It was on a few weeks back (HBO or something), and I still enjoyed it.
Overrated:
Blade Runner: For me this tops the list. I just don't get it. Don't get the hype. Don't get the story. It was long. It was boring. They crammed the theme down our throats over and over again. Just blech, to me.
The Deer Hunter: OK, the russian roulette is brutal...but the wedding scene lasts about half the movie and was so, so, so, so boring. And the hunting at the beginning...just boring. Don't get it.
The Godfather, Part 2: I loved the DiNiro part...but the rest...with Fredo, and Michael, and the Florida mob...just wasn't that compelling to me.
Blue Velvet: Finally saw it about 6 months ago and when it was over all I could say was, "That's it? This movie got all that hype for this?" Again, just don't get it.
Twister: Still stunned this did as well as it did. Look, if you are going to make a movie where things happen that could never happen, you have to be able to wink at the audience about it. Independence Day did that. Lots of movies do. Twister wanted you to believe this could happen. Even the opening scene, where the dad gets killed - why the hell would he hold on to the door? You are in a cellar. Let the door go...hell, everyone else in the cellar still lived. The movie lost me right there and never, ever, ever got me back (yes, I'm bitter about this one).
The English Patient. Should have been called The English "Try Your" Patience. Boring. I fell asleep in it. More than once.
OK, have at it. I'm sure some of you will read my "guilty pleasures" and say "how could you like that?" and others will read the overrated and say, "I LOVED that movie." Let the discussion (and other lists) begin.