Post by brownstones on Aug 25, 2018 22:47:40 GMT
We’ve done one of these before, but here are a few of mine:
Airplane! is weird, obnoxious, and (aside from “Shirley”) dreadfully unfunny.
I can’t get into The African Queen. I feel that I should love it like crazy—I love the actors, the shots of Africa, the concept, the design of the boat—but I find it extraordinarily dull.
2001: A Space Odyssey is atrocious.
Christopher Nolan combines tedium and pretentiousness in a way I have not seen since—well, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Kubrick.
M. Night Shyamalan and Tim Burton are two of the most fascinating stylists to work in the movies today, and in many ways we’re so critical of them both now only because they were overpraised to begin with. But each man’s talent is staggering.
Shyamalan’s best works are Signs and The Village (not The Sixth Sense); Burton’s best works are Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, and Batman Returns.
Willie and Short Round aren’t too annoying in Temple of Doom (which, for another unpopular opinion, is my favorite Indy flick after Raiders).
Tarantino is awful.
Pleasantville is a hypocritical, mean-spirited mess.
The Avengers (2012) is a very weak movie; in many ways, The Avengers (1998) is more interesting.
The Haunting (1999) is not at all bad and in fact manages an effective, eerie mood for its first act. The film on which it is based is effective as well, albeit hindered by Julie Harris's histrionic monologues.
Congo (1995) is an marvellous film, a full-throated and very funny camp-take on the jungle-adventure picture. A Walk in the Woods (2015) and Allied (2016) are also superb.
The English-language version of Dracula ’31 is superior to its Spanish-language counterpart.
The Horror of Dracula ’58 is as dull as dishwater; the only Hammer films that stand up to repeat viewings are The Brides of Dracula ’60, The Kiss of the Vampire ’63, and Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed ’68.
Freaks is a just plain bad movie.
Batman and Robin, while not very good, is superior to the execrable Batman Forever.
On Stranger Tides is the best Pirates of the Caribbean movie after the first.
Kenneth Branagh, Joe Johnston, Andrew Davis, Robert Zemeckis, Tim Burton, David Mamet, and Steven Spielberg are the best directorial talents working today.
The Rocketeer and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow are art-deco masterpieces.
Napoleon Dynamite is one of the worst things I’ve ever had the displeasure of being forced to watch. Probably still have nightmares from it.
A Series of Unfortunate Events (the movie, with Jim Carrey) was excellent, far better than Potter—as was the wondrous The Golden Compass. So, of course, neither series caught on, while Potter walked away with the honors. Ho-hum…
Iron Man 3 was very good indeed.
Double Jeopardy is not only a very good thriller but also one of the few genuinely Hitchcockian thrillers to come out in the last 30 years or so, far more so than the pseudo-Hitchcockian entries from DePalma (Dressed to Kill, Sisters, Body Double) or Zemeckis (What Lies Beneath). Dressed to Kill and What Lies Beneath are still very good, though.
Other excellent thrillers: Knowing (’09), Unknown (’11), Andrew Davis’s Hitchcockian take on The Fugitive (’93).
Joss Whedon is an atrocious filmmaker. I haven’t liked a single movie or television series he has helmed, and his bastardization of the Bard’s Much Ado would warrant his being flogged in a decent society.
The Usual Suspects is a boring mess of a movie. Only Spacey gives an excellent performance, and even there I cannot feel for his or any other character. As Ebert put it: “To the degree that I do understand, I don’t care.” Same for the sadistic Fight Club.
John Carpenter is, plain and simple, not a good director.
Superman Returns is one of the best superhero movies, far superior to Superman II, though not to the original.
I.... I don't know if we can be friends anymore..........