I guess this doesn't just have to be a 90's film-based topic but I was just getting to wonder about certain movies that I was looking forward to at one point or another that turned out to be a load of rubbish - I recall in particular in the early 90's, in the wake of TERMINATOR 2, I thought we were gonna be treated to a whole slew of uber-blockbusters; ALIEN 3, BRAM STOKER's DRACULA, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, ROBOCOP 3, THE FANTASTIC FOUR (Roger Corman version)... any others?
Posted by Stitchgroover (Member # 2895) on :
Good topic!
Men in Black was a massive disappointment for me, as were The Silence of the Lambs, American Beauty, Random Hearts, Toy Story 2 and The Nightmare before Christmas.
Posted by The Mod Formerly Known as PaulS (Member # 1022) on :
Oh, American Beauty sucked big time! I still can't see what was supposedly so 'special' about it.....
Posted by Stitchgroover (Member # 2895) on :
Thanks Paul, I feel vindicated now, knowing I'm not the only one.
Posted by Ali_with_an_i (Member # 27) on :
Yeah American Beauty did suck but Silence of the Lambs? I LOVE that movie. I thought HAnnibal was more of a dissapointment.
Posted by raggedyman (Member # 4065) on :
wow. I'm stunned. I thought I was the only person on the planet who thought AMERICAN BEAUTY was a lame movie! tell you what though, Sam Mendes' second feature, ROAD TO PERDITION, was excellent! as for SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, I didn't enjoy that either; I think it's 'cos I saw SEVEN before I saw 'Lambs' and people were constantly comparing the two films - I found it pretty tame and Jodie Foster is always, at best, a pretty average actress, I'm yet to see her give a memorable performance. Most Disappointing Film so far for 2004? MADAGASCAR, no question! what a load of rubbish! I usually love animated films but this was just kack.
Posted by Ali_with_an_i (Member # 27) on :
Jodie Foster average? I think she is extremly talented! From Taxi Driver to The Accused and Silence of the Lambs, I think she is awesome!
Seven was good because of Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt is useless in my book.
Never saw Madagascar, heard it was not worth the money.
Posted by Ronnie (Member # 465) on :
nah, i ALSO hated american beauty. there was good acting in it though. and ya, madagascar was blah. i didn't really care for SEVEN. i know a lot of ppl liked the movie but i didn't care for it. ppl seemed to love goodfellas (well, most guys i know). and i thought it was just ok.
Posted by StevenHW (Member # 509) on :
One of the most overrated movies of the 90's are: The Blair Witch Project Forrest Gump Magnolia (Tom Cruise is great in it, though!) As Good as It Gets Titanic The Player The Matrix (well made but what the hell was it about?)
Posted by Hordak (Member # 1772) on :
American Beauty? Quality film thanks to that man Spacey, tho perhaps not quite as exceptional as it was made out to be I'll grant.
Agree wholeheartedly about the post-T2 blockbusters turning out disappointing for the most part (quite enjoyed Alien 3 actually, and Lawnmower Man was interesting (read: sinister), but after that... ).
But THE most disappointing, IMO? Without a shadow of a doubt, by far:
Star Wars Episode 1 - The Phantom Wretch
What the HELL was Lucas thinking?!? Power-tripping control freak, no wonder this sucked so bad
(No fault of Neeson, McGreggor, Portman et al, as they'd already proven their abilities; nothing good could possibly have been achieved with that script. UTTER vomitization)
[ 29. July 2005, 13:27: Message edited by: Hordak ]
Posted by Ali_with_an_i (Member # 27) on :
Steven! Foreset Gump was great!
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
I hated Forrest Gump...and I made it through American Beauty and I didn't like it at all.
I think the only real movie I ever thought Jodie Foster was good in was The Accused. I don't like her as an actress.
I hated Road to Perdition, but I loved Toy Story 2.
One of the totally over rated movies to me is The Fast and the Furious...we were at the Drive-In on that one, and drove out in the middle...but I did love Paul Walker in Joyride.
I hated Independance Day, Armageddon, Con Air- ick.. "Face off" was awful...I couldn't get past 15 minutes of "Seven".
I thought I would like Gladiator and didn't, I liked Braveheart instead.
I think it came out in the 90's...but to me one of the biggest disappointments to me was The Last of the Mohicans...I thought I would like it...I am part American Indian...my mother and my Aunt love it, but I can hardly even remember it, I just remember I thought it stunk when I saw it.
I didn't like the Scooby Doo movie and I was hoping too.
There's tons...if I actually gave it some thought .....that I thought were majorly disappointing.
Lethal Weapon 4- I thought I would like...I don't like Renee Russo either as an actress and when they added her in ...it just stunk...I liked seeing Mel Gibson be single and kind of a loner...it made him sexier ...I hated the girl in part 2 that they paired him up with , but at least he didn't marry her.
Posted by Brode (Member # 3732) on :
Forrest Gump and As Good As It Gets are two of my all-time favorite movies... let's see ... disappointments... Pushing Tin looked like it was going to be good, a good mixture of crazy ATC and male competition... but then it just went into Suckville and never turned back. And The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou... Wes Anderson has stopped making movies and is now spending millions of dollars on things he thinks is cool.
Posted by Stitchgroover (Member # 2895) on :
Isis, thankyou - I'd forgotten Fast and Furious, I found it extremely disappointing, as well as Gone in 60 seconds.
I can understand why you didn't like FaceOff or Se7en, I know they are not you're kind of movie, but I loved them. At the time I was sure that FaceOff deserved some Oscar recognition. In hindsight, having watched it recently, it's a fair bet to say I had overestimated the film a tad.
Posted by Jessie the Sunflower Goddess (Member # 1877) on :
Some of these I am surprised at I loved Magnolia, Armageddon, Forrest Gump, and yes, American Beauty. AB, was not one of my favorites nor do I watch it whenever it is on or anything, but Kevin Spacey was absolutely awesome in it. He seems to nail the dialogue of any movie that he is in, anyone see The Ref, hilarious!!
I actually am a fan of Con Air and Face Off as well. Maybe because they are big action I a really not sure.
I feel that way about some movies, but not a lot about the ones that are mentioned here. I'll have to think of some and then get back to you on ones that I just thought tanked in my book.........
Posted by Kash (Member # 297) on :
1993-96 were pretty dismal years movie wise (‘Fair Game’, Barb Wire’, ‘True Lies’, ‘Biodome’, ‘The Real McCoy’, ‘Last Action Hero’ ‘Waterworld’ etc) with some of the highlights being Scorcese’s ‘Casino’, ‘Swimming With Sharks’, ‘Dusk Till Dawn’ ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘The Usual Suspects’ and ‘Leaving Las Vegas’ (not that many over a three year period) The independent scene at the time didn’t seem as popular either, and you had to really try and seek out some diamonds in the rough (e.g. ‘Living In Oblivion’, 'The Brave' ‘Clerks’ etc) things began to pick up in 97 though (‘Con Air’—yes, I like this movie, ‘Face/ Off’, ‘Scream’, ‘Donnie Brasco’, ‘Swingers’, ‘Chasing Amy’ etc)
As I’m a Spacey fan, I rate ‘American Beauty’, the reason some people went OTT praising this, was probably because it was a studio film with an independent / art house feel (which felt a bit forced at times, as if to say ‘look at us, we’re edgy’ (worth owning if only for Spacey’s faux job reapplication).
Posted by StevenHW (Member # 509) on :
I saw "Magnolia" just once, in the theaters, when it came out in 1999. At the time, some people were leaving the theater before the movie ended, especially after the "rain of frogs" scene.
I was frustrated and puzzled at the same time about the movie. There were certain individual scenes that I thought went very well, and great acting performances, but my initial reaction was that the movie was too muddled and too long (it runs 3 hours!). I just thought at the time, the movie was far too esoteric for me.
But I'm going to rent it again, and will give it another chance.
I have a hunch that this movie is one of those movies that probably deserves another viewing, because there is something you may have missed the first time around, and that it might get "better" with repeated viewings.
Posted by Duckie Dale Winton (Member # 3419) on :
One word......
CRASH
Good cast? Yeah Quality director?? Yeah Lots of hype??? Yeah
.....worthless cr*p??? YEAH, YEAH and thrice YEAH!
Posted by Hordak (Member # 1772) on :
Crash..... is by far one of my fave movies of all time
Never mind
@StevenHW - Yes Magnolia definitely does improve with repeat viewings (tho I did enjoy it to begin with).
Posted by MotleyRulz (Member # 3598) on :
I thought Crash was an excellent movie as well. I also liked Seven and American Beauty. To me, the big downers were:
Titanic Star Wars Episode 1: A Waste of Talent
Posted by fairytayle_17 (Member # 4041) on :
i thought titanic was a really bad film, the first time i thought it was average, the second time i saw it i hated it! and havn't been able to watch it since!
i tried to watch american beauty twice too, and i just couldnt get into it, i think i will try and give it another chance but i don't think its the sort of film i would enjoy.
Posted by Fat (Member # 2334) on :
The following 3 movies are not bad movies. They were simply put on pedestals and were touted as being "God status." Therefore, when I start hearing this, I am going to immediately transform into a 23 year old version of Ebert. Anytime I start hearing "OMG that was the best movie of all time!" Then you'd better be expecting me to drop the hammer and give you a slice of reality. That being said, here are my 3 I felt did not live up to expectations...
1. Fight Club - This movie has a massive cult following amongst the male species. Being a male myself, it makes me ashamed that my kind would ever pick a mediocre movie like this one to represent itself. Was this a decent movie? Yes. Did it have a semi original plot? Yes. Is it a classic? No.
2. Donnie Darko - Yet another cult shindig of a movie. I'm convinced that 3/4 of the people that love this movie scored less than a 1000 on their SAT's. The funniest thing about the Darko-worshippers is if you ask them what they loved about the movie they all give you a blank faced: "uhm, I don't know, it was just so....I mean....it was...the music was just so...and the...it's just a good movie!....yeah..." Bottom line, the movie was good, not by any means a classic.
3. Napolean Dynamite WOW, did I just say that? Yes, believe it. Sensing a pattern here? Cult movie, blown way out of proportion, but a decent movie. Did I chuckle at a few of the scenes? I sure did. Was this movie the "OMG it was the funniest movie I've ever seen!"? It sure wasn't.
Sometimes I feel that people hop on the bandwagon of something just because it's different, eccentric, or quirky. People tend to lower their standards when something is different just because they feel they're obligated to. Things, people, movies, and music don't always deserve rewards for being different. If it's good, it's good. If it's bad, it's bad. Set a rule of precedence for your standards and stick to them. Simple.
[ 05. August 2005, 17:59: Message edited by: Fat ]
Posted by ISIS (Member # 1780) on :
Wow...I like what he said!
I have no desire to see any of them...but some how I feel that what FAT said, is about as close to anything that would come out of my mouth after watching them too...I can't even understand what those movies are suppose to even be about.
Posted by Brode (Member # 3732) on :
Neither can most of their fans ... especially the Darko fans.
Posted by Valley (Member # 1322) on :
The first rule of Fight Club is - you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is - you DO NOT talk about Fight Club. Third rule of Fight Club, someone yells Stop!, goes limp, taps out, the fight is over. Fourth rule, only two guys to a fight. Fifth rule, one fight at a time, fellas. Sixth rule, no shirt, no shoes. Seventh rule, fights will go on as long as they have to. And the eighth and final rule, if this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight.
Seems pretty simple to me. Posted by Fat (Member # 2334) on :
Valley just single handedly summarized this movie in 100 words or less, and saved you 2 hours and 20 minutes which you can now apply to a more productive activity such as; channel surfing, eating cream cheese and bagels, or baking a cake.
[ 06. August 2005, 18:56: Message edited by: Fat ]
Posted by Valley (Member # 1322) on :
Good point Fat. I think most people spend there night rewinding and slo-moing the movie flickers instead of watching Edward Norton beating the crap out of himself in front of his boss.
The people that made "Donnie Darko" can't even explain that movie, but I actually liked it because it took me on a mind trip trying to make up my own conclusions.
Posted by Fat (Member # 2334) on :
I definately thought Darko was a cleverly constructed flick. It did not in my opinion have that "WOW" factor to it though.
Posted by StevenHW (Member # 509) on :
Earlier in this thread, I said that I was very disappointed in "Magnolia", at least, when it first came out in 1999.
But I rented it again last week, and now I must say that I am starting to appreciate the movie a little bit more. Some movies just takes repeated viewing to "get" the nuances that go with a film, and "Magnolia" is one of them.
Posted by StevenHW (Member # 509) on :
I just thought of another 90's movie that definitely falls into the "disappointing" category:
Stanley Kubrick's last film, "Eyes Wide Shut", with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
I truly cannot understand what Kubrick saw in the material to make this movie. And I think too many people and critics gave this film a passing grade, only because Kubrick died shortly after he finished shooting the film.
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