Worst movies ever!

[Goddess_Clio]

Originally Posted by Peakes

Hesa Who Must Not Be Named.

Originally Posted by Peakes

Hayden Christensen *shudder* made the other two equally unbearable. Although there was that one scene with Natalie Portman tied up in the arena in that skin-tight....... brb, drooling.

I'm not a fan of the prequel series but there are a couple little moments that I liked like when, in Ep II, Obi Wan and Anakin go into that bar in the begining and Obi Wan comments "You'll be the death of me" and the saber battle between Darth Maul and whatever Liam Neeson's character's name was in Ep I, that was pretty cool and suspenseful. And any part of the movie that prominently featured Ewan McGregor; Episode I was when I became aware of his existence on this fair planet and he officially entered my sphere of teenage girl crushes.

[Yoana]

Originally Posted by Peakes

Don't say the name!

But yes, you're right. Hayden Christensen *shudder* made the other two equally unbearable. Although there was that one scene with Natalie Portman tied up in the arena in that skin-tight....... brb, drooling.

Oh, Hayden Christensen made those films for me. Mmmm.

[Wab]

Originally Posted by SnapesBane

Jar jar only has a large role in Phantom Menace.

Nor was he the most annoying character.

Moving right along, though, Triassic Attack ranks highly among recent duds.

[Midnightsfire]

I have nothing but rants against George Lucas and the Star Wars "prequels," especially after Lucas went full troll on the best movie of the previous trilogy.

The more I learn about how the films were actually made, the more I'm ****** that George Lucas takes total credit for the 70's trillogy. Those films are clearly not "George Lucas" films IMO, they are "George Lucas and a ton of dedicated, creative and ambitious people working together" films.

Episodes 1-3 are more completely George Lucas Films, because he had a lot more control. And we see what that got us; film-ruining manure like Jar Jar and universe-destroying ideas like Midichlorians, which have to be explained away by the fans and ignored by extended canon authors.

p.s. Could have replace Hayden Christiansen with a wooden log and might have been better for it. The dude can't act his way out of a paper bag for anything.

[SnapesBane]

Revenge of the Sith are fine.

[ccollinsmith]

I'm always surprised by the level of hatred some people direct at the prequel trilogy. Yeah, Jar-Jar is annoying, and the midichlorians are stupid, and Lucas could have chosen a better actor to play Anakin.

But strategy is the sweet spot for my personality type, and so Palpatine's incredibly complex and patient strategy for taking over the Republic makes the prequel much more of a win for me. I figured out from the beginning that I needed to direct my attention to Palpatine's plot, not Anakin's passions. And for me, Palpatine's plot did not disappoint (and neither did Ian MacDiarmid's tour-de-force performance).

Of course, your mileage may vary. If watching an INTJ master villain slowly unveil his plot for taking over the galaxy is not your thing, then the prequel trilogy will most likely not be your thing.

As for "worst movies ever made"...

Out of about 270,000 IMDB ratings for Phantom Menace (the low point of the series imo... and on IMDB), only 10% rated the film a 3 or less (my rating scale for a truly terrible movie). The most common rating was 7. If we count only the 40,000 ratings of 10 (highest) and 1 (lowest), roughly 75% of that 40,000 rated the film a 10, while about 25% rated it a 1. My rating would be a 6 (higher minus Binks).

I don't see fan ratings as an objective metric, but I'm pointing out the ratings to illustrate that there's really no consensus around even the most hated film in this trilogy. All we can really say is that some people loathe it, others love it, and most are in between.

Same with the trilogy itself.

[SnapesBane]

The acting isnt much better in the original trigloy either.

[Goddess_Clio]

Originally Posted by SnapesBane

The acting isnt much better in the original trigloy either.

I'd say the acting in the original 3 and the prequel 3 are both touch and go, actually but it's been forever since I've sat through the [original three], or even episodes V and VI; A New Hope gets the most viewings from me.

EDIT: [meant to say prequel three]

[Midnightsfire]

Originally Posted by ccollinsmith

I don't see fan ratings as an objective metric, but I'm pointing out the ratings to illustrate that there's really no consensus around even the most hated film in this trilogy. All we can really say is that some people loathe it, others love it, and most are in between.

As we are talking movies, I don't think "objectivity" has much say here.
Without the fan base, these movies would never have been made.

As Lucas isn't the director, this explains the success of the Clone War series. Or for that matter the previous 3 movies.

[Wab]

Granted, Lucas has serious limitations (the cast has been kvetching about the dialogue since Star Wars), but he understands story.

[ccollinsmith]

Hey guys, it looks like we have a lot to discuss about Star Wars!

I did a search and didn't find a thread devoted to the Star Wars series. If an old thread exists, Wab and Midnightsfire might know of it. If there's not one, I'd be game for creating one.

What do you think?

[jordmundt6]

I wouldn't put any of the Star Wars prequels on a list of "worst movies ever made" but the casting for Anakin Skywalker is famously terrible. Jake Lloyd had serious problems interacting with greenscreen creations (well, he was a little raw dealing with other actors as well). Hayden Christiansen has shown talent in other stuff, but...he didn't have much chemistry with Natalie Portman and there wasn't much spark or fun to be had anywhere in the prequel trilogy. Binks was an attempt to capitalize on Happy Meal commericalism to kids and was just a huge misfire. Palpatine may have been a very patient chameleon and the actor protraying him may be eminently competent, but it was a huge HUGE disappointment to discover just how weak he really was--that he derived all his strength and most of his influence from being able to dupe far stronger people into doing his bidding. It shows him to be a master manipulator--but as an overall archvillain?

As for the parody Spaceballs--The vast majority of Mel Brooks' reputation is still a mystery to me. I remember seeing this for the first time one weekend in college and basically calling the shots on several of the key jokes which was very depressing. Even Young Frankenstein (considered one of his classics) just doesn't sit well with me and the drek that he peddled in the '90s (Robin Hood: Men In Tights; Dracula: Dead and Loving It; etc.) is probably partially responsible for the Scary Movie franchise that just won't die.


Batman and Robin definitely deserves to be on here somewhere. No one gave a committed or remotely believeable performance (except, perhaps Michael Gough--but I don't know if he counts). It's one of the very few times that I saw John Glover try something and fail spectacularly. Frankly, the most entertaining parts of the whole mess were Poison Ivy's first reveal (rising up out of the ground) and her first costumed appearance (at the ball with...an instrumental of the song "Poison Ivy" playing...of course).


Dr. T and the Women is ghastly on several levels (performances, nonsense script-writing, that ending).

For me, the most offensive part was the bogus faux-feminist syndrome that was supposed to cause Mrs. T's breakdown. When I heard the description of her condition by the doctor I thought--"Is that woman a patient pretending to be a doctor like Henry Sikorsky in Dream Team?" Ugh. Just wall-to-wall awful. I truly wish I'd had the courage of my conictions to stand up and walk out halfway through that film. It would have saved me almost an hour of my life and I never would have seen the second cousin to Dorothy Gale's twister.

[Wab]

[staff edit]

Originally Posted by jordmundt6

As for the parody Spaceballs--The vast majority of Mel Brooks' reputation is still a mystery to me.

While Brooks's later movies (with the possible exception of The Producers) have been disappointing, he is brilliant as his Oscar, Grammys, Emmys, Tonys and Olivier Award attest.

He's been in the industry for almost 70 years so is entitled a few duds.

[Goddess_Clio]

Originally Posted by ccollinsmith

Hey guys, it looks like we have a lot to discuss about Star Wars!

I did a search and didn't find a thread devoted to the Star Wars series. If an old thread exists, Wab and Midnightsfire might know of it. If there's not one, I'd be game for creating one.

What do you think?

I don't know how much I'd contribute but it's a travesty that such a thread does not exist!

Originally Posted by Wab

While Brooks's later movies (with the possible exception of The Producers) have been disappointing, he is brilliant as his Oscar, Grammys, Emmys, Tonys and Olivier Award attest.

Medical Student: Isn't it true that Darwin preserved a piece of vermicelli in a glass case until, by some extrordinary means, it actually began to move with voluntary motion?
Dr. Frederick Fronkensteen: Are you speaking of the worm or the spaghetti?

I love that movie.

[Hes]

Thread reopened. If we can't be polite you should either step away or use the report button. Couple of posts deleted and edited.

[AldeberanBlack]

"Birdemic"

Seriously, look it up.

If you thought "The Room" was bad, it is, but "Birdemic" is even worse

[Goddess_Clio]

I don't know if I consider it quite in the category of "worst movies ever" but I just saw Rock of Ages and it was pretty bad.

[Rich]

This wasn't the worst movie in existence (in my opinion) by any means, however, I was really disappointed with Captain America. I've been trying to catch up on superhero movies so I can see The Avengers before it leaves theaters. I just thought the action sequences were poorly done...they are obviously staged, but it seemed too robotic for me.

[Fawkesfan1]

Originally Posted by jordmundt6

As for the parody Spaceballs--The vast majority of Mel Brooks' reputation is still a mystery to me. I remember seeing this for the first time one weekend in college and basically calling the shots on several of the key jokes which was very depressing. Even Young Frankenstein (considered one of his classics) just doesn't sit well with me and the drek that he peddled in the '90s (Robin Hood: Men In Tights; Dracula: Dead and Loving It; etc.) is probably partially responsible for the Scary Movie franchise that just won't die.

Never saw Spaceballs, but I didn't mind Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Found Blazing Saddles to be less funny. Different strokes for different folks I guess. As for the Scary Movie franchise, didn't mind 2 and 4 all that much but I really hated 3. It made fun of people with disabilities (in a bad way, and not in a 'just kidding' one) and it took any of what was good about the movie out of it .

Those movies just rely on bad jokes (for the most part) and distasteful humor. Yes Robin Hood: Men In Tights had some of that, but at least it wasn't as bad as Scary Movie 3 was (imho).

Just saw part of The Tree of Life on HBO recently and couldn't get into it. It was way too esoteric, the plot itself was ok, but the whole useage of images to show the progression of how life on earth developed kind of helped to stray me away from the movie itself. Yes the imagery and direction is nice, but as a movie, not so much. Too bad too, since the plot (from what I saw of it) seemed like it would be an interesting one.

[StaceysChain]

Personally I would consider Andrea Arnold's 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights as one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It was just so appalling! The whole movie was just random shots of landscapes, birds flying, shot of the actors, then blurry shots of more landscape, and more blurry shots of more birds flying, then more shots of the actors again etc. It didn't even try to tell Emily Bronte's fantastic story!

But the absolute worst two, yest that's right, two worst movies I have ever seen (or partially seen) are the Titanic animated movies. As one would already know, they are disgusting and vile insults to the victims, the survivors and their families.