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Ged
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Re: A spectacular movie, and a terrible movie

Post by Ged »

Wade Garrett wrote: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a great flick
I really liked this, however I think the BBC miniseries with Sir Alec Guinness as George Smiley was an even better presentation of the same material.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by Kalo »

Even though I've now watched it too many times and can't really enjoy it much any more, I thought that Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal and Sandy Dennis was great.

I like dialog, so a lot of the movies I've liked over the years have been based on plays. So two other great ones, Night of the Iguana (also starring Richard Burton, and Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr and Sue Lyon) and Harvey (James Stewart). I also still watch It's a Wonderful Life nearly every year at Christmas. I'm not as old as one would think from this list, but maybe my heart is.

Most movies I see are bad. There are too many to pick from.

I do agree about Crash. I did not know about the movie until it had won the Oscar, so of course I have reasonably high expectations (silly now that I think of it). Did not like it one darn bit. Seemed very clumsy with no redeeming qualities that I can recall.

One other movie I liked, that likely no one has heard of, is The Snow Walker with Barry Pepper. There's a scene in it where he's basically on his own in the wild, and you can really feel how it must have been. Also it's sweet about how he learns from the young Eskimo woman he's trying to help.

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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by joe8d »

"The Girl ".It just came out on DVD.Watch that movie is all I'll say.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by gkaplan »

Spectacular movie: Casablanca

Terrible Movie: Blue City
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by boomergeneration »

I love the trilogy Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight. In the first movie, 2 people meet on a train while vacationing in Europe and spend the night walking around getting to know each other. The next movie is about 10 years later when they meet up again in Paris and the last movie takes place about 10 years after that.

Worst movie: Anything with Adam Sandler in it.
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Re: A spectacular movie, and a terrible movie

Post by White Coat Investor »

Imperabo wrote:
nisiprius wrote:
One of the big unresolved mysteries to me is the whether we believe movies, fiction, etc. to the point of being dangerous... for example, action-movie physics

There's no doubt in my mind that lives have been lost because of how movies portray cars exploding. Some people are afraid to approach a car wreck to help the occupants for fear that it will explode like a bomb. I recall a story a few years ago where a car crashed into a house and people died inside from a fire, including children, that could have been saved by the people in the house but as they said later they were afraid of the car exploding. They didn't know it at the time, but the occupants turned out to be family members of the people in the house.

Cars don't explode.
Cars explode, just not very often.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXJPn5TIdKI

http://www.safetyresearch.net/2013/06/0 ... ler-jeeps/

My picks........I gotta admit I love Blockbusters. I'll probably even like Lone Ranger. My threshold for liking a blockbuster is so low I can't remember the last one I didn't like. I guess for "spectacular" I've gotta go with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's rare that I enjoy a movie as much or more than a book. That movie cut out all the dumb parts of the book (Tom Bombadil anyone) and spread out all the great parts so they took forever! It's not just a movie for fantasy lovers, it's a movie that turns people into fantasy lovers.

Worst movie.....I think it was called the Pariah, but it must have been called something else because I can't find the movie I'm looking for under that name. It was about a 20 something kid wandering around the Utah desert endlessly. I was forced to watch it on a hockey trip. I'm sure we lost the game because that movie sucked the life out of us.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by maitrina »

Spectacular - "The Usual Suspects"
Terrible - "Braveheart"

Spectacular is not the best description, but I thought "Division 9" was an exceptionally creative film.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by chw »

I like many movies, but a recent view on Netflix was The Fastest Indian with Anthony Hopkins- excellent movie that is relatively unknown (or was to me). Absolutely terrible movie (though had good reviews): This is the End. Actually walked out halfway thru (which I've never done). One of those movies that goes from bad to worse to terrible. Don't know what the professional critics see in this movie.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by LadyGeek »

maitrina wrote:Spectacular is not the best description, but I thought "Division 9" was an exceptionally creative film.
Do you mean District 9? I thought it was excellent.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by scubadiver »

Good Movie: Man From Earth

You can stream it on Netflix.

Bad Movie: Sharknado

Recently available on the Syfy network, the same network that produced the cinematic wonders "Sharktopus" and "Dinoshark".
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by pennstater2005 »

Great movie: Into the Wild (Great movie based loosely on a true story)

Terrible Movie: Without a Paddle (I bought this and then sold it on ebay for $.99)
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by Lacrocious »

Bad Movie - Judge Dredd (original with Sylvester Stalone)

Good Movie - Shawshank Redemption

- L
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by maitrina »

LadyGeek wrote:
maitrina wrote:Spectacular is not the best description, but I thought "Division 9" was an exceptionally creative film.
Do you mean District 9? I thought it was excellent.
Yes, District 9!
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by LadyGeek »

How about a spectacular first movie, then a terrible sequel?

Spectacular: Slap Shot (a classic if you love hockey)

Terrible: Slap Shot II (They capitalized on the success of the first one. I'm sorry I ever bought it.)
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by market timer »

LadyGeek wrote:How about a spectacular first movie, then a terrible sequel?

Spectacular: Slap Shot (a classic if you love hockey)

Terrible: Slap Shot II (They capitalized on the success of the first one. I'm sorry I ever bought it.)
Matrix 1 vs. 2 and 3.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by Niko »

market timer wrote:Anyone who hates Crash and likes Man on Wire is someone whose opinion in movies I'd trust.
I couldn't agree more.

It's interesting to see the divergence of opinions in this thread from a large group of people who otherwise share so much in common.

I, too, thought Man on Wire was one of the best documentaries I had ever seen.

For those who disliked American Beauty, I might recommend Magnolia instead. Both came out at about the same time. American Beauty won all of the accolades, but I believe Magnolia was the much better film. It is one of those movies that sits with you for a while.

Spectacular:
Little Dieter Needs To Fly
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Motorcycle Diaries
Man on Wire
Donnie Darko
The Shining

Terrible:
Pacific Rim (saw it last night . . . Ugh)
Far and Away
Eyes Wide Shut
I'm sure there's more, but I tend not to dwell on the terrible movies I've seen.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by Niko »

LadyGeek wrote:How about a spectacular first movie, then a terrible sequel?
Jurassic Park vs. the sequels
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by CrossOverGuy »

One of the greatest of all musicals is an early film called "Love Me Tonight" starring Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette McDonald and Myrna Loy, with the first original score for the movies written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, with classic songs like "Isn't It Romantic", "Lover", and "Mimi", with fabulous direction by Rouben Mamoulian, the original stage director of "Oklahoma!" and "Porgy and Bess". It's an absolute delight of a film with innovative use of rhymed dialogue for its musical cues, wonderful supporting performances, and it will make you feel wonderful watching!

A rather terrible one, well just because the male lead is so bad, of that genre is "Monte Carlo", again with Jeanette McDonald. She is great, and the film has a very famous "Beyond the Blue Horizon" number. But the male lead Jack Buchanan is just so lacking in everything Chevalier (or later Nelson Eddy) had opposite McDonald, that the picture sinks every time he is on-screen. He somewhat redeemed himself years later playing in the "Band Wagon" with Fred Astaire and Nanette Fabray as the director who wants to make a serious Faust musical rather than the piece of fluff he was hired to direct.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by bengal22 »

Niko wrote:
LadyGeek wrote:How about a spectacular first movie, then a terrible sequel?
Jurassic Park vs. the sequels

Ben Hur -spectacular
Soylent Green - not so good
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by smiley »

LadyGeek wrote:How about a spectacular first movie, then a terrible sequel?
Rocky vs Rocky II-V

Rambo vs Rambo II-IV
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by Petrocelli »

Two movies that are so bad, that they are good:

1. The Room
2. Glen or Glenda.

The Room now has a cult following among college kids. The guy who made it (Tommy Wiseau) is getting rich for making a horrible movie. It's hard to figure out if he's an idiot or a genius.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by Petrocelli »

Spectacular movie followed by a bad sequel? That's easy: Godfather I and Godfather II, followed by Godfather III.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by Sriracha »

My wife loves John Travolta so I end up seeing most of his movies. Usually I don't mind too much, but - oh boy - Battlefield Earth was pretty horrible.

The Coen brothers are an acquired taste that I don't salivate for across the board, but I really enjoyed Miller's Crossing.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by cjking »

District 9 must be in my top 5 of Science Fiction movies. It's a thriller, with some comedy, even some slapstick, pathos, satire, and it (probably) gives the audience an opportunity to experience the point of view of a visceral racist. (Well, species-ist, anyway.)

A small example of cleverness in making, the movie is at times a supposed documentary of "something" that happened when a squatter camp of Aliens was being relocated, there are street interviews with members of the public who are supposedly being asked about the downsides of living near the Alien camps, and reply with semi-comical answers about being mugged for their running shoes, etc. The interviews are actually real interviews with real people, except that the question (which you don't hear) that these South Africans were responding to was actually about African illegal immigrants.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by Ged »

Good movies followed by bad sequels is too easy.

How about these two categories?

Movies that were better than the books they are based on.

My candidate is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Remakes that are better than the original. (this one is a bit easier).

For this I have two candidates (there are several others).

Bogart's Maltese Falcon (there were two prior attempts at this).
The Coen Brother's True Grit.
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Re: A spectacular movie, and a terrible movie

Post by OnFire »

gerrym51 wrote:spectacular-Sharknado

terrible-
sharknado

time LOVED Sharknado. Check out the glowing review here:

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/07/1 ... sharknado/

For me, the best movies I've seen lately in the "possibly overlooked" category is "Seven Samuri" and "Dr. Strangelove".

Worst over pretentious cliche' flicks were "Warrior" and "Traffic".

I loved The Departed.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by thebogledude »

Ged wrote: Remakes that are better than the original. (this one is a bit easier).

For this I have two candidates (there are several others).

Bogart's Maltese Falcon (there were two prior attempts at this).
The Coen Brother's True Grit.
Heat(1995) was an exact remake of 1989's LA Takedown.

This is an example of the same exact movie remade but if you put in a bigger budget with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, you get a way better movie.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by VictoriaF »

Ged wrote:Remakes that are better than the original. (this one is a bit easier).

For this I have two candidates (there are several others).

Bogart's Maltese Falcon (there were two prior attempts at this).
The Coen Brother's True Grit.
The Thomas Crown Affair.

Victoria
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by bengal22 »

VictoriaF wrote:
Ged wrote:Remakes that are better than the original. (this one is a bit easier).

For this I have two candidates (there are several others).

Bogart's Maltese Falcon (there were two prior attempts at this).
The Coen Brother's True Grit.
The Thomas Crown Affair.

Victoria
?Pierce Brosan and Renee Russo over Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway? Really?
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by VictoriaF »

bengal22 wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:
Ged wrote:Remakes that are better than the original. (this one is a bit easier).

For this I have two candidates (there are several others).

Bogart's Maltese Falcon (there were two prior attempts at this).
The Coen Brother's True Grit.
The Thomas Crown Affair.

Victoria
?Pierce Brosan and Renee Russo over Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway? Really?
Pierce Brosnan is more handsome than Steve McQueen, and thus his affair is more engaging. I also find Renee Russo's character both more professional and sexier(*) than Faye Dunaway's one. Dunaway is overtly seducing Crown, whereas Russo resists the temptation until she is overcome by it--which makes the remake more believable.

It's more difficult to compare the performance of The Windmills of Your Mind. I slightly prefer Noel Harrison's over Sting's.

Victoria

(*) Link to the YouTube video of the dance.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by traumadoc77 »

Do not ever watch 'A Serbian Film' I repeat do not ever...
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by gerrym51 »

VictoriaF wrote:
bengal22 wrote:
VictoriaF wrote:
Ged wrote:Remakes that are better than the original. (this one is a bit easier).

For this I have two candidates (there are several others).

Bogart's Maltese Falcon (there were two prior attempts at this).
The Coen Brother's True Grit.
The Thomas Crown Affair.

Victoria
?Pierce Brosan and Renee Russo over Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway? Really?
Pierce Brosnan is more handsome than Steve McQueen, and thus his affair is more engaging. I also find Renee Russo's character both more professional and sexier(*) than Faye Dunaway's one. Dunaway is overtly seducing Crown, whereas Russo resists the temptation until she is overcome by it--which makes the remake more believable.

It's more difficult to compare the performance of The Windmills of Your Mind. I slightly prefer Noel Harrison's over Sting's.

Victoria

(*) Link to the YouTube video of the dance.

Pierce may be better looking but Steve was cooler.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by Default User BR »

gerrym51 wrote:Pierce may be better looking but Steve was cooler.
He was the Cooler King!


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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by MoonOrb »

My "spectacular" movies list are movies that I think are just slightly below the radar, or somewhat undervalued. My "terrible" movies list are movies that I feel are vastly overvalued--in other words the list is limited to major studio releases, not direct to video B-movie type films. For the spectacular list I tried to include about one film from many genres. Frame of reference: I loved Man on Wire. Crash I thought was okay. Certainly not "best picture" quality, but otherwise watchable. Had it not been Best Picture I probably wouldn't think much about it, but I didn't hate it when I watched it.

Spectacular--not a list of my all-time favorite movies, or movies that I think are "best of all time," but in every case each movie was way better than I expected it to be and left a lasting impression with me:

Action: Ronin (John Frankenheimer, 1996);
Animated: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, 2009);
Comedy: Paper Moon (Peter Bogdonavich, 1973);
Documentary: Hoop Dreams (1994);
Drama: Lone Star (John Sayles dir., 1996);
Horror: The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982);
Mystery: Gosford Park (Robert Altman, 2001);
Political Drama: Syriana (starring George Clooney, 2005);
SciFi: They Live, (John Carpenter, 1986);

Terrible movies--it's true there may be worse movies, but these movies were so, so, so much worse than they had a right to be given the budget, cast, director, etc, etc, etc:

Deadfall: 1993--Nicolas Cage, James Coburn, Michael Biehn, and others. This is really one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It *almost* succeeds as campy fun in the "so bad it's good" variety, but the effect is more of horrified fascination rather than laugh along and say the lines out loud. I dare you to watch this movie.

Revolver: 2005--Guy Richie directs Jason Statham, Ray Liotta. Incomprehensible psychological thriller/crime movie that made me sad that Jason Statham was involved.

Caligula: 1979--Somehow Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Malcolm McDowell signed on for this epic schlockfest. I would say you have to see it to believe it, but then you'd have to see it, and I wouldn't want that for you.

The Expendables: 2010--Sylvester Stallone, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren, etc. I guess this is what happens when Sylvester Stallone directs something. You would think it would have a sense of humor about itself, but it's just so...earnest. Very unfortunate. My expectations were low, but this missed them by a mile.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by bengal22 »

Default User BR wrote:
gerrym51 wrote:Pierce may be better looking but Steve was cooler.
He was the Cooler King!


Brian
Pierce Brosan is pure vanilla where Steve McQueen is the epitome of cool. I got tired of Renee Russo silly laugh during the TC Affair.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by khollister »

Great movies:

Moonstruck
It's Complicated
North By Northwest
Skyfall
Hitchcock


Bad movies:

The American
most things with Will Ferrell
Rhinestone
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by gkaplan »

Victoria, Victoria, if they were to remake The Great Escape, who would you want to play the Steve McQueen character? Your answer should be no one, because no one could play that character but Steve McQueen, which is probably why they have never made a remake of the movie.
Last edited by gkaplan on Mon Jul 15, 2013 10:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by LazyNihilist »

Great Films: There will be Blood/No Country for Old Men/Shawshank Redemption/Memento/Seven Samurai/The Good the Bad and the Ugly/One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest/Silence of the Lambs/City of God/The Usual Suspects/Apocalypse Now/Apocalypto/On the Waterfront/Dr. Strangelove/Clockwork Orange/2001 a space odyssey/Shining/Citizen Kane/12 Angry Men/Treasure of Sierra Madre/Annie Hall/Husbands and Wives/Being John Malkovic/Last of the Mohicans/Taxi Driver/Godfather/Goodfellas/Wall E/The Prestige/Requeim for a Dream/Brazil/Monty Python Holy Grail/Life of Brian/Rashomon/Batman Begins/Pulp Fiction/Blade Runner/Withnail & I/The Big Lebowski/Terminator 2/Jurassic Park/The Untouchables/Clerks/Rocky Horror/Lives of others/Das Boot/Billy Elliot/Once were Warriors/The Crying Game/Matrix/The Royal Affair/Groundhog Day/Color of Money.

Great Documentary: The Fog of War/Man on Wire/Taxi to the Dark Side/Thin Blue Line/Farenheit 911.
* Spinal Tap - Special Mention

Great TV: The Wire/Seinfeld/Curb.../Game of Thrones/Simpsons(Early seasons),Futurama.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by VictoriaF »

gkaplan wrote:Victoria, Victoria, if they were to remake The Great Escape, who would you want to play the Steve McQueen character? Your answer should be no one, because no one could play that character but Steve McQueen, which is probably why they have never made a remake of the movie.
Gordon, what can I tell you? There are probably actors who could be wonderful in a remake of The Great Escape, but those who are used to admiring Steve McQueen would never accept a newcomer however great he may be.

Victoria
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by cjking »

"In Bruges" must be one of the best movies made in the last ten years.
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by cjking »

"The Quiet American" (the 2002 version) is another movie that deserves to be on the quality list.
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Re: A spectacular movie, and a terrible movie

Post by William4u »

rmelvey wrote:I thought Crash was very terrible as well. The worst part is that I was telling my sociology professor how bad the acting and premise was.. turns out she loved it! :|
What was bizarre was that Crash won best picture that year, and Brokeback Mountain (a vastly superior film) did not...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/78th_Acade ... st_Picture
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by MoonOrb »

LadyGeek wrote:How about a spectacular first movie, then a terrible sequel?

Spectacular: Slap Shot (a classic if you love hockey)

Terrible: Slap Shot II (They capitalized on the success of the first one. I'm sorry I ever bought it.)
That's almost every sequel of a great movie ever made (with the exception of trilogies like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings which were conceptualized as part of a 3 movie arc)!

What's much, much harder is finding even a decent movie and then finding a sequel that is its equal or superior. I think the canonical example here is The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II, where the second installment is arguably better than the first.

There might be some mediocre movies out there where the sequel is about as good as the original--for some reason Lethal Weapon and Lethal Weapon 2 come to mind--but it's hard in my opinion to find a movie that started out as "good" or better and then had a sequel that even lived up to the original.

Other candidates: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as a sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark. The Color of Money as a sequel to The Hustler. Toy Story and Toy Story 3.

Two movies by James Cameron that came close: Terminator 2 and Aliens.
tylerherman
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by tylerherman »

Same Genre

Good: Kill BIll
Bad: Man With The Iron Fists
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letsgobobby
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by letsgobobby »

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ursineogre
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by ursineogre »

I've never seen Man on Wire, but am slightly interested now. I'll start with the Bad:

Bad (worst one first)
Catwoman (my friends and I almost walked out and couldn't stop laughing during the movie)
Barton FInk and No Country for Old Men (nothing was resolved at the ending...life is like this and I want movies to wrap up)


Good
Primer - you can watch this for free on Youtube; the tagilne is that if you can understand the science in one viewing you are a savant or a liar
The World's Fastest Indian - I too enjoyed this movie; the interview withe the real guy was pretty cool and it just seemed a story about a genuinely decent human being...who urinated on a lemon tree, daily
District 9 - this one felt like a documentary and was so real it felt disturbing to me...I felt really bad for the aliens

Unimpressed but AFI likes them
Citizen Kane - must have been good years ago, but when I saw it in 2007 I fell asleep
Tron - again, must have been seminal in the early 80s but felt like it was missing something
MoonOrb
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by MoonOrb »

letsgobobby wrote: Empire Strikes Back vs Star Wars - arguable.
In my mind this falls outside the discussion since the first Star Wars trilogy is one entire story told in three parts, not a story that was later created after the first movie was made.

The Bourne movies are another example of movies that I think are average/enjoyable movies with the sequels being of roughly the same quality.
Bob.Beeman

Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by Bob.Beeman »

Spectacular: The Best Years of Our Lives http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036868/

Terrible: Howard the Duck http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091225/

- Bob Beeman
DoWahDaddy
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Re: [Can you recommend]A spectacular movie, and a terrible m

Post by DoWahDaddy »

Terrible movie: Dirty Dancing
Worse movie: Teen Wolf
Spectacular movie: Dances with Wolves

There's something to be said for synergy.
"I've worked in the private sector. They expect results." - Dr. Raymond Stantz
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