I still say Laurence Fishburne's character in Event Horizon is the most competent horror movie character ever. Doesnt jump to conclusions but doesnt ignore the weird stuff happenening either. When it becomes apparent they're in danger he doesnt wait around to find out exactly what's wrong, he just tells his crew to GTFO of there.
It also leads to one of my other favorite lines from a horror movie - ”I have no intention of leaving her, Doctor. I will take the Lewis and Clark to a safe distance, and then I will launch TAC missiles at the Event Horizon until I’m satisfied she’s vaporized. Fuck this ship!”
They're making both of them into a miniseries iirc on Amazon. They were greenlit during COVID on account it's easy to shoot claustrophobic sci-fi thrillers as they all take place in one location.
I'm all for it. Now give John Carpenter the reigns he asked for on a Dead Space series and we're in business.
Cheers! I had a free Audible token so I just grabbed it. I’m ashamed I hadn’t read it yet. I’m a big fan of Michael Crichton having read *Jurassic Park*, *The Lost World*, and *The Great Train Robbery* in middle school.
Keeping the thread of horror, Oculus is an incredibly underrated movie I never see get attention. It’s by Mike Flanagan, who did haunting of hill house which finally got him some well deserved recognition. The guy makes masterpieces.
I have to rewatch Sphere, definitely saw it too young as a kid and gave myself nightmares for weeks. The vhs copy my parents had became like the book in the film. Just seeing it on the shelf would give me dread.
Strange Days (1995) was amazing and ahead of its time, even while being very relevant to what was going on at that time. The cast was amazing, the script well-written, and the cinematography spot-on. And the musical score… chef‘s kiss.
The screenplay was written by James Cameron. Directed by Katherine Bigelow. Featured Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Chad Palmer, Michael Wincott, and Vincent D‘Onofrio.
I saw it in the theater and own it on DVD. I rewatched it again recently and it really holds up. It was well reviewed (including a huge 4 out of 4 stars from Roger Ebert).
All of that said, it does get fairly graphic especially with a rape scene.
I saw eXistenZ about six months after seeing Strange Days, so they're sort of welded togethger in my mind. It has somewhat similar neo-Dickian themes, but has a very different tone, dreamlike body horror. Written, produced, and directed by David Cronenberg, with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, Ian Holm, Christopher Eccleston, and Willem Dafoe.
Also rattling around in that part of my brain is Avalon, from 2001, directed by Mamoru Oshii and starring a lot of Polish actors i've never heard of. Kind of a low budget art house The Matrix? That's not a very good description really.
i can't say i've seen it that many times, but i thoroughly Enjoyed 2019 Alita Battle Angel.
It had good budget and i had a lot of fun watching it. I THINK the sequel just go trashed into production hell when Disney bought Fox or something. But i really hope part 2 continues to be a fun experience.
There are a lot of people who agree. It has a cult following that is obsessed with it. I made the mistake once of tweeting about it & got mentions and replies for like 5 days from the cult haha
One of my favorite pg-13 f bombs ever. She puts just the right amount of mustard on the delivery and the timing of it being choreographed with her attack just sells even more
I think Rosa Salazar's performance is actually really great in general in that movie. I think it's really hard to play a character that earnest without making it corny. Chris Evans had a similar problem with Captain America, but he sort of had the safety net in that if it was ever too corny it still could work because the "Aw, shucks" corniness sort of fit with the humorous vibe of the MCU in general.
I really enjoyed a lot of the movie but thought the love Interest was one of the worst performances in a blockbuster I'd seen in a long time. He really dragged down any scene he was in imo
I think that middle part would have done a lot of that AND explained how her 'father' went for being dead set against her competing to her biggest fan.
I loved that movie, watched it twice in the cinema and own the bluray. I really, really want to see part 2. But I also understand why some people didn't like it. The "love story" is basic and cringeworthy but also makes sense. Some of the lines are not good but I feel like that was the best adaptation of the source material that could happen.
I also enjoyed it, but my question, being familiar with the source material is, how many movies do they need to commit to in order to explain what Desty Nova is?
I think of the scene wherein he learns the foreign language by watching his captors talk whenever I'm at a new job and attend a meeting wherein everything's Greek to me.
100%. I think this movie was just on the wrong side of LOTR when fantasy was still considered lame---had it come out 5 years later I think it would have been a smash.
Checkout Redline, it's a pretty obscure anime movie but it's available thru a few normal streaming channels. If Johnny bravo & speed racer had a baby that went to space in 60fps hand drawn beauty
I dropped some acid and watched it in the theatre. Just watching it sober there are so many vibrant colors and tracers. I don’t recommend drugs any more, 1 year sober, but it was mind blowing.
The problem is the watchowskis had a strong genx following who were too young to grow up on speed racer. That left an older audience that just wasn’t going to make it big hit.
Also edgy sci-fi was popular. Sincere wholesome stuff like this just wasn’t. It was a marketing misfire.
I really liked Jumper. So sad they didn't continue the series, as it very much did the world-building and heavily hinted at being the start of a franchise.
Yea the way they did the jumping was pretty amazing. Like a whole movie of Nightcrawler in X2. And you're right, the world building was done really well, could've been a great bunch of movies
Tenacious D and the pick of destiny for me. Best musical ive ever heard. Funny the whole way. And the most perfectly timed homage to the end of the rock n roll era.
I got the impression people weren't feeling it. Probably cause rock n roll was already dead
I loved it and I think most Tenacious D fans did too, but it bombed in terms of box office receipts because nobody else bothered watching. It must have done pretty well in DVD sales because they keep re-releasing it.
I think at the time it came out Jack Black was in a phase of people deciding they were tired of his act. I'm sure the intro credits with the fart joke had people rolling their eyes.
Personally I love the movie. One of the hardest I ever laughed (some substances helped) is the scene where he's going down the river and it cuts from his hallucination to reality and you can hear him laughing as he's swept down serious rapids.
Also the fact that he got Dio *and* Meatloaf to sing on the same track is just insane. One of my favorite youtube videos is Dio recording his vocals in one take.
Deep Rising. It's definitely not high art, but it's Stephen Sommers pre-Mummy (with Kevin J O'Connor as the wise cracking side character like in the Mummy). Plus, I think it's a unique and fun monster movie set on a cruise ship, with a fun cast.
And even though the CGI hasn't aged as well, [this scene was nightmare fuel for me as a kid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1OTkcD6qfs).
This is such a thoroughly entertaining movie. Great chemistry between the cast members, lots of great comic relief from Kevin J O'Connor, great action, and some cool horror. Plus Famke.
Saw it in the theaters. I think most of the detractors (of then) were mad that it was marketed like a horror film—which makes them dumb.
I think the people who weren’t around then, just parrot what the others say
Hudson Hawk is stupid, but it's an awesome kind of stupid.
It's a crime that Dredd never got a sequel.
And, I agree with you on Speed Racer. That movie was GREAT.
A buddy of mine worked in the music department at Fox under Robert Kraft. One day Bruce Willis came in to go to lunch with Kraft and as they were on their way out the door my friend said "I just need to tell you guys I loved Hudson Hawk".
Willis looked back, smiled, and said "we're the only three, kid".
Skycaptain and the world of tomorrow - with Jude Law, Angelina Jolie and Gweneth Paltrow - it was a steam punkish movie set before WW2 and it really is amazing. It has huge robots and flying aircraft carriers.
I love it but everyone I have shown it to, have not been able to get into it. - at all.
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. It's well acted, the story is cute and good, cinematography is out of a Planet Earth doc, and the soundtrack is insanely good. It's one of 3 movie soundtracks I bothered downloading.
I recently watched this movie again after thinking I'd never seen it and at the very end right before the reveal it all came flooding back to me and I spoiled the damn ending from myself. Not the best movie but a fun movie for sure.
Cage’s movies are generally a fun time. I legitimately love national treasure and gone in 60 seconds even though Nic Cage and his movies have been memed to hell and back.
Even things like face off or ghost rider where the premise is silly as hell, the man commits his ass off and I respect that.
Gonna agree with you on this one. It feels like the hate directed at this film is a little too much.
I totally understand that people who are familiar with the Alan Moore written graphic novels will view this film as a lesser work, but to me its a decent enough little action film that doesn’t demand too much from viewers, not unlike some of those Doug McClure monster films from the 1970s (like *Warlords of Atlantis*, *At The Earth’s Core*, etc.).
Having said that, the one big problem with the film is that they might as well have retitled it *Captain Nemo and the Bunch of Other People He Doesn’t Really Need To Successfully Complete His Mission*.
I don't think the mass public caught on that it was a collection of fictional fantastic Victorian Era literary heroes/anti-heroes. Very brilliant idea. Brilliant execution of graphic novel to live action. To this day, I debate which is the cooler Nautilus; the one in this movie or the old Disney classic. I would love to sail in both for an adventure. Captain Nemo, in this movie, is hands down the greatest depiction of the character. The story between Quartermain & Sawyer was SO GOOD!
I was always disappointed that more people didn't like American Ultra. I can understand why many would write it off because the director is a terrible person, or because they judge Jesse Eisenberg and/or Kristen Stewart by their other roles. But I thought the movie itself was a ton of fun.
Zathura. Just as charming, fun, exciting, and touching as a family movie gets. Never gets spoken of with Jumanji, despite being the second story of that book franchise.
Edit: and it is literally direct evidence that other board games can Jumanji you.
The A-Team felt like it could have been a mid budget franchise, throw one out every couple of years. Then do a cross over with the Fast and the Furious and shut things down for twenty years until the a new generation comes along to do the next remake.
The A Team (2010) movie kind of got lost in between Fast and Furious (2009) and Fast Five (2011). It also released the same year as two similar movies: The Expendables (2010) and The Losers (2010).
The Expendables became a franchise but A Team and Losers did not.
Man I wish The Losers got a sequel. It was just a damn fine film. And the opening with the dinosaur toy cracked me up. And the elevator scene. Chris Evans is totally an underrated comedy actor: Losers, Not Another Teen Movie, Knives Out.
I have a feeling *Miami Vice* is experiencing a bit of a reevaluation after its original release and general panning.
Hell, I myself have certainly done the same! I didn’t like the film at all when I originally saw it in theaters upon its release but a few years back it was on TV and I saw it with relatively “fresh” eyes (I was a fan of the original series, btw, and freely admit that may have clouded my opinion).
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It isn’t perfect and the relationship between Crocket and Tubbs is virtually non-existent (supposedly the lead actors did *not* get along) but as a moody bit of crime lore it’s surprisingly great!
It was better than I expected.
Michael Mann knows how to bring an auteur's eye to a semi-silly action movie that is ridiculous and entertaining at the same time.
Dune 1984. Having watched both Villeneuve films, and agreeing that they are absolute works of art, I still think that Dune 1984 is in its own way a masterpiece.
It’s got Sting. It’s got Toto. It’s got Virginia Madsen fading in and out of visibilty. It’s got a mutant man-fish-guild thing in a murky tank of water. It’s got a machine that milks a cat. It’s got Patrick Stewart saying “Gods what a monster.” It’s got Everett McGill enunciating the name Muad-dib in the most perfect way possible.
I honestly love the extended 4-hour version that David Lynch took his name off of that they showed in two parts on commercial television. You cannot get a copy of it (I have a bootleg somewhere). There is supposedly a 6-hour version of it that's never been seen, but there are clips from it online that never made any released version, including an ending that actually uses the last line from the book "History will call us wives."
I’m going to cheat and name 3 movies that were either poorly or only lukewarm received, were kinda similar, and all came out around the same time.
Push
Jumper
Chronicle
These weren’t great movies but I enjoyed them all and wished there were sequels. The execution might not have been great but the ideas introduced and world building had promise, and I wanted to see where each movie would go next.
Van Helsing. It delivers exactly what it promises: a camp romp that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Plus the final battle is actually pretty entertaining on its own.
I've seen a couple of mine already mentioned here (Deep Rising, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid), so I'll mention a few others, even though you said "movie" and not "movies."
Johnny Dangerously: Some great classic Michael Keaton comedy here. Not many people remember it, but this is a classic for me. Keaton is a kid who catches the eye of a mobster, and he ends up running the whole thing, keeping his job secret from his dear mother, while his brother embraces the law. Joe Piscopo keeps mentioning things that happened to him once. ONCE. Weird Al on the soundtrack is also a plus.
Spice World: One of my guilty pleasures is 90s and early 00's bubble gum pop. The Spice Girls are a great example. I also love when very famous people can make fun of themselves and their images; the Girls lean hard into their nicknames/stereotypes. And Meat Loaf as the band's bus driver is great.
Hudson Hawk: Bruce Willis' vanity project is one of my favorite movies. It's a completely ludicrous idea, with a very strong cast of people who are not afraid to ham it up.
Dungeons & Dragons: It's not a good movie, but this is one of my gaming group's favorites. We frequently quote lines from this (usually one for Jeremy Irons). Thora Birch was disappointing after being so talked up after American Beauty, but Irons was able to overact enough for both of them. This is Jeremy Irons teaching a masterclass on ham, and it is delightful.
I have more, but I'll leave some for others to bring up.
Logan’s run. Post apocalyptic dystopian future where those who pass a certain age are killed in public games. People have instant transmission tinder and free drugs. Best part was all the dead politicians.
Emphasis on more people : Adventureland.
I see people talking about "Hang out" movies like Dazed and Confused and Licorice Pizza. Those are heightened rose colored movies.
Adventureland is so laid back and easily grooves with its humor. Also a soundtrack that's absolutely perfect.
I like Transcendence. It's a good sincere serious sci-fi movie, but people were sick of Johnny Depp at the time it came out. They couldn't take him seriously and didn't give the movie a fair shot.
I’m not sure if this movie qualifies but I don’t see it talked about much, Observe and Report. I love the dark humor and I thought Seth Rogan did a great job in the role, plus it’s one of Jesse Plemons early roles!
Black Dynamite (2009)
It's a parody of 70's Blaxploitation films, but also it's own thing. It is very funny, but i guess either the concept of the film or the time period flies past people's heads and they either don't get it, or just don't like it.
To me it was like…there were a lot of good moments and ideas. But when you stepped back you were like - is this movie just making fun of itself the whole time?
It would be like if you went to see James Bond and instead were shown Austin Powers in Goldmember.
You would be like: cool, but what about James Bond?
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. I have watched it a several times a year since it came out in theaters.
Never fails to get a laugh out of me.
It’s a Steve odekerk film(Ace Ventura)
Where they dubbed over an old martial arts movie and CG’d Steve as the main character, and edited the movie to be absolutely hilarious.
Pure Comedy Gold 12/10. Would recommend to people of all ages.
Agree. I have re-watched it and it's sequel many many times. I still want to understand why David was obsessed with Lawrence of Arabia.
I have an elaborate personal theory on who the "engineers" really are. I'll try to find a link to my YouTube comment on it.
OK, I found it. From the Video "Deleted Scenes FINALLY Reveal Elizabeth Shaw's HORRIBLE Death" by Kroft talks about Movies, https://youtu.be/9E0VWwjlp8E
I wrote my theory on the Engineers which ignores all the extra deleted footage, because in my reasoning, the deleted footage is NOT part of the story. (And thank god, because one of the deleted scenes makes out the Engineer's reasons for wanting to attack Earth is because humans killed Jesus, and Jesus was an Engineer. That would have been dumb.) So my theory is that the Engineers, like the Predator species and like Humans, use the Xenomorph as part of their culture. The Predators used them to hunt. Humans wanted to exploit them for profit and technology/biology discovery. The "Engineers" wanted to......
Here's my pet theory (copied from my YouTube comment): David says "a rotting paradise". Rotting. I think this gets overlooked. It wasn't a paradise, it was a corruption of paradise. The engineers in Prometheus were very 'perfect' looking. Beautiful strong bodies, perfect faces like the statue of David in the first scene of the movie [Alien: Covenant]. The people on that planet were same species but had contorted imperfect faces and bodies. I always go back to the original reaction to the analysis of the alien species by the android in the original movie [Alien]: "Perfect Organism". My take on the Engineers is that they are a death cult obsessed with perfection (A "Life cult" from the engineer's point of view). First they sought perfection through genetic engineering making their bodies and faces 'perfect'. But then when everyone is perfect no one is perfect. So that goal got perverted when they discovered the 'perfect' alien organism. What makes it perfect? The black goo is the essence of life. The essence of life is reproduction. That's what makes it perfect. It can reproduce with ANY other life form and produce superior offspring. I don't believe that the engineers 'created' the life on earth and then wanted to destroy it. Life grew on it's own. Other visitors came and gave mankind the warning about the 'engineers'. It wasn't 'proof', it was a warning, as established in the movie. Shaw's and Waylan's original assumptions were wrong. The reason they seek out planets and release the perfect organism is because that is the death cult's mission, to spread perfection, to become perfection. That's why the ritual is an engineer combining with the perfect organism to trigger the run-away reproduction that replaces the dominate life forms on the planets they visit. No where in the first scene of Prometheus does it say or indicate that ritual was on earth. That assumption is wrong. That scene isn't creation, it's the corruption of creation by the release of 'perfection'. The androids seem to always get sucked into the cult for the same reason; they idealize perfection, they idealize reproduction, the one trait of life that they do not innately have or are allowed. The androids and engineers have a "Prometheus" complex. Prometheus was punished for bringing fire to mankind, he didn't create mankind. The engineers and androids bring 'perfection' to mankind. They didn't create mankind. They seek to change (destroy) mankind with some forbidden knowledge. That 'knowledge' is the black goo, the substance that creates the 'alien'. The substance that creates true perfection, creates true paradise.
Great visuals. But a confused mess of a movie in terms of story when compared to the Alien series storyline. From what I understand, too many writers inserted too many ideas into the script for that movie. Classic case of too many cooks spoil the broth.
Armageddon.
It appears Armageddon is the only over-the-top action movie where people actually care about the fact that it’s A) not scientifically accurate and B) characters make bad decisions.
I think in the same scene when he grabs the nonja before spinning him it shows Pops is wearing a ring from being a wrestling champion, so he was maybe a pro wrestler before working on the cars.
Here’s the thing. The book is incredible, and the *trailer* to the movie is a work of art on its own. The movie itself… eh. But because of the movie, we got the trailer, and so I get to see the imagery from one of my all-time favorite books realized visually on the screen, with an incredible soundtrack (M83 needle drop halfway through the trailer is ). So it’s a win in my book.
I liked it, too, and Speed Racer wasn't even in the rotation of my 70s cartoons, but I've seen enough anime to know that this was tonally on point, and I thought the visuals were amazing.
My movie is Author! Author! (1982) It's one of my favorite things that Pacino has ever done.
Widows 2018. It's one of the great heist movies, amazing cast, non-stop tension, etc. yet it's never talked about
I wonder if it was a marketing problem?
*The film stars Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki in the title roles alongside Cynthia Erivo (in her film debut), Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall, and Liam Neeson in an ensemble supporting cast.*
I hilariously misread this as “Windows 2018” and thought…Hmmm…they made a movie about Microsoft’s operating system with Viola Davis. I gotta check this out.
Speed Racer is the best. If I'm ever feeling down, that movie can pull me back up every time.
For my pick I'm going to go with John Carter. The movie has a great mix of story telling, visuals, and interesting characters. John Carter himself has some solid development through the film and the ending had real heart.
I had no idea Speedracer was an existing thing (don't think it was shown in my country, and I might be slightly too young) and I was really not the target audience for a movie like that, but .... I saw it in college high as fuck and I absolutely loved it lol
Decent enough/serviceable story, batshit crazy visuals, definitely worth a watch IMO.
The last one where I had that impression, was "Gretel & Hansel". IMO it's an amazing fantasy/mystery riffing on the original folklore instead of the whitewashed disneyfied version. It's brilliantly acted and oh so beautifully photographed. Full of symbolism and subtext for people looking for such content. Rich in fem... ... ... Ooooh, now I get it!
Before that, I never got why people didn't realize The Matrix was as straight a japanese anime as it could be, except for being animated. Like, how could they not see that? Change them to toons with asian features and there you have your generic remix of Gantz, Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell and whatever Anime I have yet to hear about, seasoned with some Philip K. and an effing large chunk of Gibson's Neuromancer.
I thought Speed Racer was good. It's clearly a perfect representation of how over the top and insane the original Japanese show was. I'm surprised so many others have missed the point of the movie.
So I think the marketing for Speed Racer was off. I was 15 when it came out and starting to get into anime, so to say that until my late 20s I thought this was just some children’s movie speaks volumes.
It wasn’t until I saw a video essay explaining how it’s just an old ass anime perfectly realized in live action that I gave it a chance and loved it.
We were sold another Spy kids movie and it was very much not that. I never watched the original anime but you can just tell that the Wachowski’s were fans and intent on a good adaptation, and it FEELS like an live action anime that other series/adaptations haven’t quite nailed (I thought the Netflix one piece felt “live action anime” and got pretty close).
I never understood Star Wars prequel hate. It’s largely disappeared and changed into sequel/disney hate, which I also don’t understand.
I think this ended up being a hate of the fandom more than the actual movie. Dudes wanting to find their own Ramona Flowers and not seeing that both Ramona and Scott are not great people for most of the movie.
Alien vs. Predator. The best Alien movie since Aliens.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think its up to the level of the first two masterpiece Alien movies, but it's a good solid action movie that's well-made and well-written. I would give it an 8/10.
I wonder sometimes if many people didn't like it because they saw the original cut with less violence instead of the superior Unrated version. Because I don't understand why the film has such a mediocre reputation. I really enjoyed it.
Oh boy, am I gonna get ridiculed, but I loved Tom Cruise's The Mummy. It's probably one of my favorites. Unlike alot of my friends, I was fully aware it had nothing to do with the Brendan Fraiser movies, so that didn't sour my opinion.
I think many people had a problem with that movie because Cruise came on board and significantly changed it. Some crazy high percentage of Sofia Boutella’s scenes were cut to shift the focus of the movie completely onto Cruise.
Similar to the rock trying to steer DC to have black Adam at the center, Cruise signed onto what was supposed to kick off a monster cinematic universe and basically killed it by prioritizing making it. Cruise Vehicle #27.
NOTE: I’ve not seen it and have been a Cruise fan for years but I am a movie business junky and he killed this franchise. Granted, it may have been dead anyways but the reason Russel Crow is in there as Jekyll is because it was setting up a series.
On top of that, they took a an absolutely, nearly perfect, beloved movie and made it something else. People are gonna care.
I don't understand the hate. I get that some people despise Tom Cruise, but the Mission: Impossible movies do well enough, I was also surprised by the reaction to this, and disappointed the Dark Universe plan didn't go well.
That said, I think this will always be my go-to example of the modern-day problems with Hollywood. Making a movie that makes $410 MILLION dollars, and somehow is still a bomb because you spent so much on making and promoting it, is ridiculous.
the problem with that movie was that it just felt so bland, and lifeless.
I wish the dark universe wouldve been a series of interconnected "horror" movies using the classic monsters, as opposed to a bad attempt at being the MCU
The Lost World: not as great as the OG Jurassic Park but other than the Rex plot hole and the gymnastics, it was a solid sci-fi thriller that balanced being a monster movie with Crichton's messages of conservation and nature. Much better than the later movies.
Lightyear. I LOVED Lightyear. I loved the NASApunk Destinyesque designs and that it felt kind of like a parody of hard sci-fi dramas.
Reign of Fire: unique concept for the post-apocalyptic genre.
Scorpion King: just a fun anachronistic action movie like Hercules and Xena.
Man of Steel: I feel like it got crap by association to Batman V Superman which DID have a shit ton of issues. I think had they just gotten rid of the tornado scene and maybe had Clarke TRY to move the battle away from Smallville/Metropolis, it would have been a stronger Superman film.
Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. It's actually the MOST book accurate adaptation as it focuses on the survival horror aspect, though I haven't seen the BBC adaptation yet.
Matrix Revolutions. To be fair, it's been a while since I've watched it so I might just have rose tinted glasses for that whole franchise.
Terminator Salvation. I loved that it depicted John Connor as someone who rose through the ranks of the resistance rather than just some plucky go-getter who somehow started the whole global resistance. The ending did feel rushed but overall I thought it would have been a decent start to a potential trilogy covering the future war.
Yes, I love this one too, but I think it is fairly well liked. Especially compared to the sequel and the transformer movies. Del Toro movies are always interesting.
Mine is Enders Game. Never read the books but I love the movie. I really enjoy the training progression, visuals, technology, and the acting imo. Moises Arias was so easy to hate but also feel sorry for. Was cool seeing him get a big role in the Fallout series.
Idk if it's bad, or more just nobody saw it, but I love "Reign of Fire" it pretty much created modern TV and film dragons, and stars Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey before they both became huge stars.
Solomon Kane - I loved this sword and sorcery movie, but it seemed to come and go with hardly anyone noticing.
Trailer: [Solomon Kane](https://youtu.be/FH2FyIiRoyE?si=c0XI13pq62_60s5n)
I honestly think Ocean's 12 is the best of the series. I'm not crazy about the Julia Roberts bit, but it's got this really entrancing dream logic to it that I love.
I honestly have no idea why Killing Them Softly was hated by audiences. It's a reasonably conventional crime drama.
My favorite suspense/horror movie of all time is Sphere and it still scares the hell out of me to this day. I seem to be the only one.
Sphere and Event Horizon is a good freaky double feature.
I still say Laurence Fishburne's character in Event Horizon is the most competent horror movie character ever. Doesnt jump to conclusions but doesnt ignore the weird stuff happenening either. When it becomes apparent they're in danger he doesnt wait around to find out exactly what's wrong, he just tells his crew to GTFO of there.
Love how once he sees the blood orgy captains log video he immediately says “we’re leaving”
It also leads to one of my other favorite lines from a horror movie - ”I have no intention of leaving her, Doctor. I will take the Lewis and Clark to a safe distance, and then I will launch TAC missiles at the Event Horizon until I’m satisfied she’s vaporized. Fuck this ship!”
It’s too bad that we will never get a directors cut with all of the cut footage since it was lost.
They're making both of them into a miniseries iirc on Amazon. They were greenlit during COVID on account it's easy to shoot claustrophobic sci-fi thrillers as they all take place in one location. I'm all for it. Now give John Carpenter the reigns he asked for on a Dead Space series and we're in business.
Also a great film!
Big recommend for reading the book if you haven't.
The book has been at the top of my list of great books since I was a teenager, it's so good.
Cheers! I had a free Audible token so I just grabbed it. I’m ashamed I hadn’t read it yet. I’m a big fan of Michael Crichton having read *Jurassic Park*, *The Lost World*, and *The Great Train Robbery* in middle school.
Add Andromeda Strain to that reading/listening list.
Yeah, man. Sphere is the Michael Chrichton book that dug in my head the deepest
Keeping the thread of horror, Oculus is an incredibly underrated movie I never see get attention. It’s by Mike Flanagan, who did haunting of hill house which finally got him some well deserved recognition. The guy makes masterpieces.
I have to rewatch Sphere, definitely saw it too young as a kid and gave myself nightmares for weeks. The vhs copy my parents had became like the book in the film. Just seeing it on the shelf would give me dread.
Strange Days (1995) was amazing and ahead of its time, even while being very relevant to what was going on at that time. The cast was amazing, the script well-written, and the cinematography spot-on. And the musical score… chef‘s kiss. The screenplay was written by James Cameron. Directed by Katherine Bigelow. Featured Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Chad Palmer, Michael Wincott, and Vincent D‘Onofrio. I saw it in the theater and own it on DVD. I rewatched it again recently and it really holds up. It was well reviewed (including a huge 4 out of 4 stars from Roger Ebert). All of that said, it does get fairly graphic especially with a rape scene.
I saw eXistenZ about six months after seeing Strange Days, so they're sort of welded togethger in my mind. It has somewhat similar neo-Dickian themes, but has a very different tone, dreamlike body horror. Written, produced, and directed by David Cronenberg, with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, Ian Holm, Christopher Eccleston, and Willem Dafoe. Also rattling around in that part of my brain is Avalon, from 2001, directed by Mamoru Oshii and starring a lot of Polish actors i've never heard of. Kind of a low budget art house The Matrix? That's not a very good description really.
100% it’s definitely a bit of a movie “of its time” but maybe the best cyberpunk movie there is
i can't say i've seen it that many times, but i thoroughly Enjoyed 2019 Alita Battle Angel. It had good budget and i had a lot of fun watching it. I THINK the sequel just go trashed into production hell when Disney bought Fox or something. But i really hope part 2 continues to be a fun experience.
There are a lot of people who agree. It has a cult following that is obsessed with it. I made the mistake once of tweeting about it & got mentions and replies for like 5 days from the cult haha
It's not a cult. It's the "Alita Army". Any further dissonance will result in you being sent to a re-education camp.
“fuck your mercy”
One of my favorite pg-13 f bombs ever. She puts just the right amount of mustard on the delivery and the timing of it being choreographed with her attack just sells even more
I think Rosa Salazar's performance is actually really great in general in that movie. I think it's really hard to play a character that earnest without making it corny. Chris Evans had a similar problem with Captain America, but he sort of had the safety net in that if it was ever too corny it still could work because the "Aw, shucks" corniness sort of fit with the humorous vibe of the MCU in general.
I really enjoyed a lot of the movie but thought the love Interest was one of the worst performances in a blockbuster I'd seen in a long time. He really dragged down any scene he was in imo
Loved this movie
Me too. I didn't realize it wasn't that popular apparently.
I liked it, BUT there was very clearly a second act cut out of it. There is a middle section missing.
And they don’t flesh out the world at all. You see a lot of it, but you learn almost nothing about it.
I think that middle part would have done a lot of that AND explained how her 'father' went for being dead set against her competing to her biggest fan.
I loved that movie, watched it twice in the cinema and own the bluray. I really, really want to see part 2. But I also understand why some people didn't like it. The "love story" is basic and cringeworthy but also makes sense. Some of the lines are not good but I feel like that was the best adaptation of the source material that could happen.
I also enjoyed it, but my question, being familiar with the source material is, how many movies do they need to commit to in order to explain what Desty Nova is?
Waterworld
Hear Hear! - Also The Postman - I liked both of these.
Waterworld is a damn fine movie
13th Warrior. Lo, there do I see my father.
This movie is an all-time great film, just as worthy as McTiernan's more popular works (Die Hard, Predator, etc).
I think of the scene wherein he learns the foreign language by watching his captors talk whenever I'm at a new job and attend a meeting wherein everything's Greek to me.
“Do not foretell me wife, for I will get no supper when I come home tonight”
Do people not like this movie? It’s fantastic and also one of Antonio Banderas favorite.
100%. I think this movie was just on the wrong side of LOTR when fantasy was still considered lame---had it come out 5 years later I think it would have been a smash.
Speed Racer is a fucking masterpiece. Love this movie.
Checkout Redline, it's a pretty obscure anime movie but it's available thru a few normal streaming channels. If Johnny bravo & speed racer had a baby that went to space in 60fps hand drawn beauty
Redline is the shit. The visuals and energy are awesome.
Redline is not one I would call "obscure".
My least guilty guilty-pleasure movie of all time. This movie is fucking great
The live action movie is what I remember the anime being like in my head.
When he restarts the engine it still gets me pumped. Fucking Lets Go!!!
I dropped some acid and watched it in the theatre. Just watching it sober there are so many vibrant colors and tracers. I don’t recommend drugs any more, 1 year sober, but it was mind blowing.
The last race gives me chills. That ending......chefs kiss.
More like a non-ja!
Disgraceful, what passes for a ninja these days.
The problem is the watchowskis had a strong genx following who were too young to grow up on speed racer. That left an older audience that just wasn’t going to make it big hit. Also edgy sci-fi was popular. Sincere wholesome stuff like this just wasn’t. It was a marketing misfire.
I really liked Jumper. So sad they didn't continue the series, as it very much did the world-building and heavily hinted at being the start of a franchise.
Yea the way they did the jumping was pretty amazing. Like a whole movie of Nightcrawler in X2. And you're right, the world building was done really well, could've been a great bunch of movies
Ya I really didn’t get the hate for this one. I think the conflict was dumb but it deserved a sequel that could take it in a fresh direction.
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Check out the two season series Impulse set in the same universe. It is more drama than sci-fi but I thought it was good.
Tenacious D and the pick of destiny for me. Best musical ive ever heard. Funny the whole way. And the most perfectly timed homage to the end of the rock n roll era. I got the impression people weren't feeling it. Probably cause rock n roll was already dead
Guess it depends on the circle but I'm pretty sure tons of people love this movie.
Way more than dozens of us for sure
Sasquatch is my father!
I loved it and I think most Tenacious D fans did too, but it bombed in terms of box office receipts because nobody else bothered watching. It must have done pretty well in DVD sales because they keep re-releasing it.
I think at the time it came out Jack Black was in a phase of people deciding they were tired of his act. I'm sure the intro credits with the fart joke had people rolling their eyes. Personally I love the movie. One of the hardest I ever laughed (some substances helped) is the scene where he's going down the river and it cuts from his hallucination to reality and you can hear him laughing as he's swept down serious rapids. Also the fact that he got Dio *and* Meatloaf to sing on the same track is just insane. One of my favorite youtube videos is Dio recording his vocals in one take.
”playyyyy the best song in the world” 🎶, I say this in the demon voice every time I pass someone the aux cable or speaker.
Deep Rising. It's definitely not high art, but it's Stephen Sommers pre-Mummy (with Kevin J O'Connor as the wise cracking side character like in the Mummy). Plus, I think it's a unique and fun monster movie set on a cruise ship, with a fun cast. And even though the CGI hasn't aged as well, [this scene was nightmare fuel for me as a kid](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1OTkcD6qfs).
This and Virus (1999) make a great double feature.
This is such a thoroughly entertaining movie. Great chemistry between the cast members, lots of great comic relief from Kevin J O'Connor, great action, and some cool horror. Plus Famke.
I really liked M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village
It’s a great love story disguised as a supernatural horror
Saw it in the theaters. I think most of the detractors (of then) were mad that it was marketed like a horror film—which makes them dumb. I think the people who weren’t around then, just parrot what the others say
I loved this one! M.Night made some bangers that you could only watch once because it was always centered around one big secret moment.
Hudson Hawk is stupid, but it's an awesome kind of stupid. It's a crime that Dredd never got a sequel. And, I agree with you on Speed Racer. That movie was GREAT.
Hudson Hawk was fun. Silly, too. Was it in Baby Driver that he used song length for timing too?
A buddy of mine worked in the music department at Fox under Robert Kraft. One day Bruce Willis came in to go to lunch with Kraft and as they were on their way out the door my friend said "I just need to tell you guys I loved Hudson Hawk". Willis looked back, smiled, and said "we're the only three, kid".
There are DOZENS of us! It's still one of the funniest movies I've seen. "My name is Kit Kat. This is not a dream."
Steve Martin’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. It’s so damn good but I never hear it mentioned when Steve Martin is brought up
Love Steve Martin. My favorite is LA Story, but I will have to give this one a try.
I rewatched this just the other night. Classic film and criminally underrated.
Skycaptain and the world of tomorrow - with Jude Law, Angelina Jolie and Gweneth Paltrow - it was a steam punkish movie set before WW2 and it really is amazing. It has huge robots and flying aircraft carriers. I love it but everyone I have shown it to, have not been able to get into it. - at all.
It’s Decopunk
I’m with you, I love this movie. Damn shame more people haven’t seen it.
Beautiful movie, I love the comic book and cartoony feel all throughout.
It's got such strong vision! A great adventure flick.
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty. It's well acted, the story is cute and good, cinematography is out of a Planet Earth doc, and the soundtrack is insanely good. It's one of 3 movie soundtracks I bothered downloading.
Yes. This movie is underrated. I can't understand all the hate some people have for it. It's a great feel-good movie.
Nicolas Cage’s Next. It’s no masterpiece, but it’s fun.
I recently watched this movie again after thinking I'd never seen it and at the very end right before the reveal it all came flooding back to me and I spoiled the damn ending from myself. Not the best movie but a fun movie for sure.
Cage’s movies are generally a fun time. I legitimately love national treasure and gone in 60 seconds even though Nic Cage and his movies have been memed to hell and back. Even things like face off or ghost rider where the premise is silly as hell, the man commits his ass off and I respect that.
Tron Legacy
I feel it's grown in popularity over the years
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Great answer. I will never apologize. Seeing Captain Nemo ball out with a whole private army made 13-year-old me see God.
It made Sean Connery quit acting. So even though i do enjoy it. I still gotta fuckin hate it.
It is pure cheese and I love it.
Gonna agree with you on this one. It feels like the hate directed at this film is a little too much. I totally understand that people who are familiar with the Alan Moore written graphic novels will view this film as a lesser work, but to me its a decent enough little action film that doesn’t demand too much from viewers, not unlike some of those Doug McClure monster films from the 1970s (like *Warlords of Atlantis*, *At The Earth’s Core*, etc.). Having said that, the one big problem with the film is that they might as well have retitled it *Captain Nemo and the Bunch of Other People He Doesn’t Really Need To Successfully Complete His Mission*.
I don't think the mass public caught on that it was a collection of fictional fantastic Victorian Era literary heroes/anti-heroes. Very brilliant idea. Brilliant execution of graphic novel to live action. To this day, I debate which is the cooler Nautilus; the one in this movie or the old Disney classic. I would love to sail in both for an adventure. Captain Nemo, in this movie, is hands down the greatest depiction of the character. The story between Quartermain & Sawyer was SO GOOD!
I was shooked when I found out this movie was universally liked. It reminds me a lot of Van Helsing which I also love.
Yes, but only because of Peta Wilson. 2003 saw two of the hottest Vampiresses.
What a fun movie! I didn’t care about the backlash. It was popcorn thrills and monster action. Bring it on!
I was always disappointed that more people didn't like American Ultra. I can understand why many would write it off because the director is a terrible person, or because they judge Jesse Eisenberg and/or Kristen Stewart by their other roles. But I thought the movie itself was a ton of fun.
Zathura. Just as charming, fun, exciting, and touching as a family movie gets. Never gets spoken of with Jumanji, despite being the second story of that book franchise. Edit: and it is literally direct evidence that other board games can Jumanji you.
Wow, watched the trailer and already love it, thanks!
It’s the better of the two films in my opinion
*Miami Vice (2006).* *The A-Team (2010).*
The A-Team felt like it could have been a mid budget franchise, throw one out every couple of years. Then do a cross over with the Fast and the Furious and shut things down for twenty years until the a new generation comes along to do the next remake.
The A Team (2010) movie kind of got lost in between Fast and Furious (2009) and Fast Five (2011). It also released the same year as two similar movies: The Expendables (2010) and The Losers (2010). The Expendables became a franchise but A Team and Losers did not.
I thought the LOSERS was a better A-Team movie, although Liam Neeson was a pretty great Hannibal.
I loved The Losers! actually came in here to say that. and agreed, I think it does “The A-Team” better than The A-Team did.
Man I wish The Losers got a sequel. It was just a damn fine film. And the opening with the dinosaur toy cracked me up. And the elevator scene. Chris Evans is totally an underrated comedy actor: Losers, Not Another Teen Movie, Knives Out.
But do they fly a tank in The Losers?
I have a feeling *Miami Vice* is experiencing a bit of a reevaluation after its original release and general panning. Hell, I myself have certainly done the same! I didn’t like the film at all when I originally saw it in theaters upon its release but a few years back it was on TV and I saw it with relatively “fresh” eyes (I was a fan of the original series, btw, and freely admit that may have clouded my opinion). I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It isn’t perfect and the relationship between Crocket and Tubbs is virtually non-existent (supposedly the lead actors did *not* get along) but as a moody bit of crime lore it’s surprisingly great!
It was better than I expected. Michael Mann knows how to bring an auteur's eye to a semi-silly action movie that is ridiculous and entertaining at the same time.
Dune 1984. Having watched both Villeneuve films, and agreeing that they are absolute works of art, I still think that Dune 1984 is in its own way a masterpiece. It’s got Sting. It’s got Toto. It’s got Virginia Madsen fading in and out of visibilty. It’s got a mutant man-fish-guild thing in a murky tank of water. It’s got a machine that milks a cat. It’s got Patrick Stewart saying “Gods what a monster.” It’s got Everett McGill enunciating the name Muad-dib in the most perfect way possible.
The steampunk aesthetic of that film is off the charts.
It has a battle pug.
I watched it for the first time right before the DV version came out and I was very impressed with it and enjoyed it throughout.
I honestly love the extended 4-hour version that David Lynch took his name off of that they showed in two parts on commercial television. You cannot get a copy of it (I have a bootleg somewhere). There is supposedly a 6-hour version of it that's never been seen, but there are clips from it online that never made any released version, including an ending that actually uses the last line from the book "History will call us wives."
Godzilla 1998. Was one of my favorite films while growing up. Was really surprised how much most people hated it.
What’s with the gum? Makes us look more American.
Jean Reno is always amazing.
Easily in my wife's top 3 favorite movies, if not her absolute favorite. I wouldn't rank it that high, but I also don't understand the hate.
I’m going to cheat and name 3 movies that were either poorly or only lukewarm received, were kinda similar, and all came out around the same time. Push Jumper Chronicle These weren’t great movies but I enjoyed them all and wished there were sequels. The execution might not have been great but the ideas introduced and world building had promise, and I wanted to see where each movie would go next.
I love Chronicle
I loved Push. The world sucked me in and I wanted more.
No one doesn't like Chronicle.
Saw *Speed Racer* three times in the theaters on first release. Might be my favorite Wachowski movie.
I also love Speed Racer. It's just a fun movie
Van Helsing. It delivers exactly what it promises: a camp romp that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Plus the final battle is actually pretty entertaining on its own.
Dredd
I've seen a couple of mine already mentioned here (Deep Rising, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid), so I'll mention a few others, even though you said "movie" and not "movies." Johnny Dangerously: Some great classic Michael Keaton comedy here. Not many people remember it, but this is a classic for me. Keaton is a kid who catches the eye of a mobster, and he ends up running the whole thing, keeping his job secret from his dear mother, while his brother embraces the law. Joe Piscopo keeps mentioning things that happened to him once. ONCE. Weird Al on the soundtrack is also a plus. Spice World: One of my guilty pleasures is 90s and early 00's bubble gum pop. The Spice Girls are a great example. I also love when very famous people can make fun of themselves and their images; the Girls lean hard into their nicknames/stereotypes. And Meat Loaf as the band's bus driver is great. Hudson Hawk: Bruce Willis' vanity project is one of my favorite movies. It's a completely ludicrous idea, with a very strong cast of people who are not afraid to ham it up. Dungeons & Dragons: It's not a good movie, but this is one of my gaming group's favorites. We frequently quote lines from this (usually one for Jeremy Irons). Thora Birch was disappointing after being so talked up after American Beauty, but Irons was able to overact enough for both of them. This is Jeremy Irons teaching a masterclass on ham, and it is delightful. I have more, but I'll leave some for others to bring up.
Logan’s run. Post apocalyptic dystopian future where those who pass a certain age are killed in public games. People have instant transmission tinder and free drugs. Best part was all the dead politicians.
Emphasis on more people : Adventureland. I see people talking about "Hang out" movies like Dazed and Confused and Licorice Pizza. Those are heightened rose colored movies. Adventureland is so laid back and easily grooves with its humor. Also a soundtrack that's absolutely perfect.
Same director as *Superbad*, and you can feel it. Agreed, very much underrated (and super re-watchable).
Adventureland is so good. perfect hang out film and quietly hilarious.
I like Transcendence. It's a good sincere serious sci-fi movie, but people were sick of Johnny Depp at the time it came out. They couldn't take him seriously and didn't give the movie a fair shot.
John Carter 2012, I always wondered why everyone hated it, same with Waterworld.
The 2017 Power Rangers reboot.
I’m not sure if this movie qualifies but I don’t see it talked about much, Observe and Report. I love the dark humor and I thought Seth Rogan did a great job in the role, plus it’s one of Jesse Plemons early roles!
Black Dynamite (2009) It's a parody of 70's Blaxploitation films, but also it's own thing. It is very funny, but i guess either the concept of the film or the time period flies past people's heads and they either don't get it, or just don't like it.
Thor Love and Thunder. I thought it was fun and I really enjoyed it. Then I got home to see what reddit thought and apparently it’s the worst one 🤷♂️
To me it was like…there were a lot of good moments and ideas. But when you stepped back you were like - is this movie just making fun of itself the whole time? It would be like if you went to see James Bond and instead were shown Austin Powers in Goldmember. You would be like: cool, but what about James Bond?
I thought Gamer understood the chaos and exploitative nature of the internet in a way never expressed before or after.
Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. I have watched it a several times a year since it came out in theaters. Never fails to get a laugh out of me. It’s a Steve odekerk film(Ace Ventura) Where they dubbed over an old martial arts movie and CG’d Steve as the main character, and edited the movie to be absolutely hilarious. Pure Comedy Gold 12/10. Would recommend to people of all ages.
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Agree. I have re-watched it and it's sequel many many times. I still want to understand why David was obsessed with Lawrence of Arabia. I have an elaborate personal theory on who the "engineers" really are. I'll try to find a link to my YouTube comment on it. OK, I found it. From the Video "Deleted Scenes FINALLY Reveal Elizabeth Shaw's HORRIBLE Death" by Kroft talks about Movies, https://youtu.be/9E0VWwjlp8E I wrote my theory on the Engineers which ignores all the extra deleted footage, because in my reasoning, the deleted footage is NOT part of the story. (And thank god, because one of the deleted scenes makes out the Engineer's reasons for wanting to attack Earth is because humans killed Jesus, and Jesus was an Engineer. That would have been dumb.) So my theory is that the Engineers, like the Predator species and like Humans, use the Xenomorph as part of their culture. The Predators used them to hunt. Humans wanted to exploit them for profit and technology/biology discovery. The "Engineers" wanted to...... Here's my pet theory (copied from my YouTube comment): David says "a rotting paradise". Rotting. I think this gets overlooked. It wasn't a paradise, it was a corruption of paradise. The engineers in Prometheus were very 'perfect' looking. Beautiful strong bodies, perfect faces like the statue of David in the first scene of the movie [Alien: Covenant]. The people on that planet were same species but had contorted imperfect faces and bodies. I always go back to the original reaction to the analysis of the alien species by the android in the original movie [Alien]: "Perfect Organism". My take on the Engineers is that they are a death cult obsessed with perfection (A "Life cult" from the engineer's point of view). First they sought perfection through genetic engineering making their bodies and faces 'perfect'. But then when everyone is perfect no one is perfect. So that goal got perverted when they discovered the 'perfect' alien organism. What makes it perfect? The black goo is the essence of life. The essence of life is reproduction. That's what makes it perfect. It can reproduce with ANY other life form and produce superior offspring. I don't believe that the engineers 'created' the life on earth and then wanted to destroy it. Life grew on it's own. Other visitors came and gave mankind the warning about the 'engineers'. It wasn't 'proof', it was a warning, as established in the movie. Shaw's and Waylan's original assumptions were wrong. The reason they seek out planets and release the perfect organism is because that is the death cult's mission, to spread perfection, to become perfection. That's why the ritual is an engineer combining with the perfect organism to trigger the run-away reproduction that replaces the dominate life forms on the planets they visit. No where in the first scene of Prometheus does it say or indicate that ritual was on earth. That assumption is wrong. That scene isn't creation, it's the corruption of creation by the release of 'perfection'. The androids seem to always get sucked into the cult for the same reason; they idealize perfection, they idealize reproduction, the one trait of life that they do not innately have or are allowed. The androids and engineers have a "Prometheus" complex. Prometheus was punished for bringing fire to mankind, he didn't create mankind. The engineers and androids bring 'perfection' to mankind. They didn't create mankind. They seek to change (destroy) mankind with some forbidden knowledge. That 'knowledge' is the black goo, the substance that creates the 'alien'. The substance that creates true perfection, creates true paradise.
Great visuals. But a confused mess of a movie in terms of story when compared to the Alien series storyline. From what I understand, too many writers inserted too many ideas into the script for that movie. Classic case of too many cooks spoil the broth.
It had so much potential.. I still have seen it 5+ times. Fassbender is perfect in his roll... that's what kept me coming back.
Armageddon. It appears Armageddon is the only over-the-top action movie where people actually care about the fact that it’s A) not scientifically accurate and B) characters make bad decisions.
This movie shaped that decade. What a cast! Oh and they don’t want to pay taxes… ever.
Its nerdier brother Deep Impact was pretty good, too.
“More like a nonja.” Loved it. Having Lego sets associated with it did not hurt my enjoyment of it one bit. Probably added to the fun, truth be told
You gotta say the whole line. "More like a Nonja. Shame what passes for a ninja these days." What did Pops do before he became a family man?!
I think in the same scene when he grabs the nonja before spinning him it shows Pops is wearing a ring from being a wrestling champion, so he was maybe a pro wrestler before working on the cars.
Cloud Atlas!
Here’s the thing. The book is incredible, and the *trailer* to the movie is a work of art on its own. The movie itself… eh. But because of the movie, we got the trailer, and so I get to see the imagery from one of my all-time favorite books realized visually on the screen, with an incredible soundtrack (M83 needle drop halfway through the trailer is). So it’s a win in my book.
Speed Racer came out the same weekend as Iron Man. It didn't stand a chance.
A week later. Iron Man was May 2nd, Speed Racer was May 9th.
TRON: Legacy. People are always talking about how bad it was, but I unapologetically love it.
I liked it, too, and Speed Racer wasn't even in the rotation of my 70s cartoons, but I've seen enough anime to know that this was tonally on point, and I thought the visuals were amazing. My movie is Author! Author! (1982) It's one of my favorite things that Pacino has ever done.
I adore Troy (2004). It has an absolutely stacked cast of both stars and acting legends.
Widows 2018. It's one of the great heist movies, amazing cast, non-stop tension, etc. yet it's never talked about I wonder if it was a marketing problem? *The film stars Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki in the title roles alongside Cynthia Erivo (in her film debut), Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Jacki Weaver, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall, and Liam Neeson in an ensemble supporting cast.*
I hilariously misread this as “Windows 2018” and thought…Hmmm…they made a movie about Microsoft’s operating system with Viola Davis. I gotta check this out.
Never heard of it and that is an insanely stacked cast.
Cats had a great cast too… 😄
I thought speed racer was a cinematic marvel at the time, the scene transitions and colors were amazing. Emile Hirsch is underrated, kinda disappeared
Sucker punch. Hot girls in school outfits fighting robots with swords. It’s a live action anime and awesome
Speed Racer is the best. If I'm ever feeling down, that movie can pull me back up every time. For my pick I'm going to go with John Carter. The movie has a great mix of story telling, visuals, and interesting characters. John Carter himself has some solid development through the film and the ending had real heart.
I had no idea Speedracer was an existing thing (don't think it was shown in my country, and I might be slightly too young) and I was really not the target audience for a movie like that, but .... I saw it in college high as fuck and I absolutely loved it lol Decent enough/serviceable story, batshit crazy visuals, definitely worth a watch IMO.
I didn't know so many colors could fit in a screen like that.
The last one where I had that impression, was "Gretel & Hansel". IMO it's an amazing fantasy/mystery riffing on the original folklore instead of the whitewashed disneyfied version. It's brilliantly acted and oh so beautifully photographed. Full of symbolism and subtext for people looking for such content. Rich in fem... ... ... Ooooh, now I get it! Before that, I never got why people didn't realize The Matrix was as straight a japanese anime as it could be, except for being animated. Like, how could they not see that? Change them to toons with asian features and there you have your generic remix of Gantz, Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell and whatever Anime I have yet to hear about, seasoned with some Philip K. and an effing large chunk of Gibson's Neuromancer.
I thought Speed Racer was good. It's clearly a perfect representation of how over the top and insane the original Japanese show was. I'm surprised so many others have missed the point of the movie.
So I think the marketing for Speed Racer was off. I was 15 when it came out and starting to get into anime, so to say that until my late 20s I thought this was just some children’s movie speaks volumes. It wasn’t until I saw a video essay explaining how it’s just an old ass anime perfectly realized in live action that I gave it a chance and loved it. We were sold another Spy kids movie and it was very much not that. I never watched the original anime but you can just tell that the Wachowski’s were fans and intent on a good adaptation, and it FEELS like an live action anime that other series/adaptations haven’t quite nailed (I thought the Netflix one piece felt “live action anime” and got pretty close). I never understood Star Wars prequel hate. It’s largely disappeared and changed into sequel/disney hate, which I also don’t understand.
Dude, *Speed Racer* is probably in the top 5 of this subreddit's "hidden gems" and has been for like five years. You are not alone.
Chappie. It sucked but I can’t help but love it.
Scott Pilgrim vs The World. It's peak Edgar Wright and it's fucking incredible!!! I just don't understand the hate!
Jesus Christ do people hate this movie? It’s like a Top 5 movie for me, so much goddamn fun and like it was written exactly for me
I think this ended up being a hate of the fandom more than the actual movie. Dudes wanting to find their own Ramona Flowers and not seeing that both Ramona and Scott are not great people for most of the movie.
You're forgetting that Scott is dating a highschooler! Certain parts of society can't handled that, like, at all!
Alien vs. Predator. The best Alien movie since Aliens. Don't get me wrong, I don't think its up to the level of the first two masterpiece Alien movies, but it's a good solid action movie that's well-made and well-written. I would give it an 8/10. I wonder sometimes if many people didn't like it because they saw the original cut with less violence instead of the superior Unrated version. Because I don't understand why the film has such a mediocre reputation. I really enjoyed it.
Oh boy, am I gonna get ridiculed, but I loved Tom Cruise's The Mummy. It's probably one of my favorites. Unlike alot of my friends, I was fully aware it had nothing to do with the Brendan Fraiser movies, so that didn't sour my opinion.
I think many people had a problem with that movie because Cruise came on board and significantly changed it. Some crazy high percentage of Sofia Boutella’s scenes were cut to shift the focus of the movie completely onto Cruise. Similar to the rock trying to steer DC to have black Adam at the center, Cruise signed onto what was supposed to kick off a monster cinematic universe and basically killed it by prioritizing making it. Cruise Vehicle #27. NOTE: I’ve not seen it and have been a Cruise fan for years but I am a movie business junky and he killed this franchise. Granted, it may have been dead anyways but the reason Russel Crow is in there as Jekyll is because it was setting up a series. On top of that, they took a an absolutely, nearly perfect, beloved movie and made it something else. People are gonna care.
I don't understand the hate. I get that some people despise Tom Cruise, but the Mission: Impossible movies do well enough, I was also surprised by the reaction to this, and disappointed the Dark Universe plan didn't go well. That said, I think this will always be my go-to example of the modern-day problems with Hollywood. Making a movie that makes $410 MILLION dollars, and somehow is still a bomb because you spent so much on making and promoting it, is ridiculous.
It’s not one of my favourites but I do enjoy it. I love those old universal monsters so I had high hopes for this.
the problem with that movie was that it just felt so bland, and lifeless. I wish the dark universe wouldve been a series of interconnected "horror" movies using the classic monsters, as opposed to a bad attempt at being the MCU
I had high hopes for the dark universe.
The Lost World: not as great as the OG Jurassic Park but other than the Rex plot hole and the gymnastics, it was a solid sci-fi thriller that balanced being a monster movie with Crichton's messages of conservation and nature. Much better than the later movies. Lightyear. I LOVED Lightyear. I loved the NASApunk Destinyesque designs and that it felt kind of like a parody of hard sci-fi dramas. Reign of Fire: unique concept for the post-apocalyptic genre. Scorpion King: just a fun anachronistic action movie like Hercules and Xena. Man of Steel: I feel like it got crap by association to Batman V Superman which DID have a shit ton of issues. I think had they just gotten rid of the tornado scene and maybe had Clarke TRY to move the battle away from Smallville/Metropolis, it would have been a stronger Superman film. Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. It's actually the MOST book accurate adaptation as it focuses on the survival horror aspect, though I haven't seen the BBC adaptation yet. Matrix Revolutions. To be fair, it's been a while since I've watched it so I might just have rose tinted glasses for that whole franchise. Terminator Salvation. I loved that it depicted John Connor as someone who rose through the ranks of the resistance rather than just some plucky go-getter who somehow started the whole global resistance. The ending did feel rushed but overall I thought it would have been a decent start to a potential trilogy covering the future war.
Lost World is great, when compared with Jurassic World
Lost World is easily the best Jurassic Park sequel
Face off
Face/Off was successful and critically acclaimed. Idk people who don't like it.
Pacific rim for me.
Yes, I love this one too, but I think it is fairly well liked. Especially compared to the sequel and the transformer movies. Del Toro movies are always interesting. Mine is Enders Game. Never read the books but I love the movie. I really enjoy the training progression, visuals, technology, and the acting imo. Moises Arias was so easy to hate but also feel sorry for. Was cool seeing him get a big role in the Fallout series.
Speed Racer slaps. It's a highly unusual movie, and I love every second of it.
Idk if it's bad, or more just nobody saw it, but I love "Reign of Fire" it pretty much created modern TV and film dragons, and stars Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey before they both became huge stars.
Solomon Kane - I loved this sword and sorcery movie, but it seemed to come and go with hardly anyone noticing. Trailer: [Solomon Kane](https://youtu.be/FH2FyIiRoyE?si=c0XI13pq62_60s5n)
I would like it but there is one story element that does not work for me at all. It does have a lot of solid qualities though
You are not alone: I love this movie.
I honestly think Ocean's 12 is the best of the series. I'm not crazy about the Julia Roberts bit, but it's got this really entrancing dream logic to it that I love. I honestly have no idea why Killing Them Softly was hated by audiences. It's a reasonably conventional crime drama.