As promised, the Top 12 Movies I Hate But Everyone Else Seems to Love (1 Viewer)

This list is also lifted from my blog found at http://onceuponatimeinmythoughts.blogspot.com. Previously, I revealed films that I like and you all hate so now you get your revenge on me as I list the top 12 films that I hate that everyone else seems to love. Same as before, there are possible spoilers in my comments so if you've never seen the films mentioned, read past the bold titles to avoid spoilers. So we start off this list of hate with the following:
12. Any zombie film ever made. I guess its perhaps due to the success of The Walking Dead tv show, but I will be so happy when this zombie craze goes away. I've never at all understood what was supposed to be scary about zombies. They're not scary and it's not even like the worst horror movies in that they're not so bad that they're funny. Zombie films as a whole are an utter bore and all have the same predictable plot line, usually terrible acting and for that matter, they're really unpleasant to look at. I'm sure that speaks to the job that the makeup people do in these films, but they're just absolutely unpleasant to look at. Even films that are meant to satirize these films, such as Shaun of the Dead are utterly atrocious as well and that's bad because Simon Pegg is not a bad actor in any way. It's just a shame that he was dragged down by a total waste of a film that is neither funny nor scary. Basically that's the best way to describe anything to do with zombies. Not funny, not scary and a complete waste of cinematic time.
11. O Brother Where Art Thou. Everyone loves the Coen Brothers. Dan Le Batard has stated on television that "those guys are incapable of making an uninteresting movie." Well I beg to differ. In fact, the Coen's not only are capable of making an uninteresting movie, they're little more than one hit wonders as far as directors go. For the record here, I have not seen Fargo so I can't comment on that film, but I have seen this one mentioned above, The Big Lebowski, The Ladykillers, True Grit and No Country For Old Men and of all those, No Country For Old Men is the only one of them that even begins to approach "good." But I digress. I guess I should've made this entry about the Coen Brothers entire filmography but I picked the one here that I think is most beloved of the list that I just absolutely hate. The story is a badly executed loose re-telling of Homer's The Odyssey and yet the Coen's have the nerve to insult me by telling me that they've never read the story before. So you guys are not only piss-poor filmmakers, you're also flat liars? A winning combination in my book. But again, I digress. Let's look at the main star of the film, George Clooney. Where did this guy get his popularity from? He's like this generation's Pauly Shore. Okay, maybe not that bad. I mean he has made one good movie and that was the Ocean's 11 remake. And while I'm on the subject, Pauly Shore did at least make one decent movie with In The Army Now. So by my scorecard, they're both even on the scale of decent movies between them. Another major player in this film is John Goodman. My Lord the Coen's have such an ability for wasting this man's talent. O Brother Where Art Thou indeed. That's my exact quote to my television remote whenever this movie comes on tv. It's not funny, it's not heartwarming, it's not even interesting and having George Clooney shoved at me for 2 hours is never a winning proposition.
10. Mortal Kombat (1995). I'm stretching a bit when I say everyone else "loves" this film, but at the same time, when you ask most people what the best video game film adaptation is, usually Mortal Kombat ranks in the top 3 and in many cases, it ranks as the top of the list. The only other film I've ever seen that consistently ranks as high as this one is Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children which, as I understand it, is not an adaptation of the game but more or less a continuation of the game's story line. Why do I hate this movie so much? Simple. It has so very little to do with the actual game itself. Basically the creators took a generic martial arts movie, slapped a few character's names into it, called it Mortal Kombat and there you go. I guess I don't really hate the film for being a bad film per se. It has a good performance by Cary Tagawa as Shang Tsung but other than that, most of the characters are utterly forgettable. I guess my biggest gripe is that the film is EXTREMELY tame. You just can't have Mortal Kombat without violence and blood. We all should've known what would be coming by the first trailers released in 1995 which showed the movie had a PG-13 rating. This movie can't be properly made without an R rating. Beyond that, the movie follows very little of the actual Mortal Kombat tournament itself which should be the focal point of any film based on this franchise. How in the hell does Johnny Cage get to fight Goro simply by asking? He wins one fight and somehow asks to get to Goro when Goro is the last guy you get to before Shang Tsung. And who are all these fighters that none of us have ever seen or heard of? Just a jumbled and total mess of a film that somehow 17 years later is still held in high regard by video game film fans and Mortal Kombat fans.
9. Batman (1966). This one makes the list more because of the television show that it was made from. Prior to Christopher Nolan's masterpiece trilogy, I was not a fan of Batman and to be honest, I still am not a fan outside of Nolan's trilogy. I have seen Keaton's Batman and didn't like it beyond Jack Nicholson as the Joker and none of the sequels to it are any good either. But the worst of all here is the 1960's version of Batman. For the record, I'm referring to the movie and television show since they're basically one and the same. This film/series took Batman towards a campy tone and both are just unwatchable. I like a good satire but this movie/show went beyond satire and was just plain insulting. Even as an 8 year old child seeing this for the first time, it was an experience in which my feelings were literally hurt by seeing it because I just felt dirty and insulted. It was one of the first instances that I can remember feeling the need to take a shower simply after viewing it. There's nothing redeeming whatsoever about anything related to this version of Batman. It basically took Bob Kane's work and made into the butt of a joke and how this version of Batman became popular (AND STILL IS) is something I will never get. In fact, I've heard quite a few people make the statement that this version of Batman is still the best version. I simply can't reply to that because if you truly believe that, you're beyond intelligent discussion.
8. Spiderman Trilogy. This falls under a similar category as Batman in that I don't usually like superheroes. Whereas Chris Nolan made one of the best film trilogies in history with a character that I don't really care too much for, Sam Raimi took a character I didn't care for and simply reinforced that apathy and really turned it from apathy into hatred. Tobey Maguire might actually be a pretty good actor but he certainly wasn't here. In fact there is nothing redeemable about any of the performances in this entire trilogy. The only one of them that resembled "good" was Thomas Haden Church as The Sandman in part 3. Let's talk about part 3 as it is indeed the worst of the worst in this trilogy. A jumbled mess with no real tangible plot line(same can be said for the other 2 as well) as well as apparently a mandate by Marvel to showcase as many villains as possible. Someone a long time ago made the statement about Spiderman 3 which was "too many crooks can spoil the broth" and I'm inclined to agree wholeheartedly although this broth was spoiled and rotten before it even made it to the stockpot. An overhyped, overrated film trilogy that somehow lead to literally billions of dollars in returns. Personally, if you want to see a film that is everything this film wants to be and literally can't be, find 12 Angry Men sometime because that film is the prototype for how you take a wide variety of characters, make them all interesting, and give them all plenty of screen time without making the film an utter waste.
7. It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I will sum up my hatred for this film with a couple of sentences followed by the cast listing for this film straight from Wikipedia. How in the hell can a film with this cast be so boring and not funny? It just doesn't seem possible to me but it's here before my eyes. This film has to be one of the biggest disappointments in my lifetime of watching movies. It isn't the worst I've ever seen but it's certainly up there with most disappointing given all the praise I've read about it over the years. I watched the movie twice and literally never cracked a smile. None of the main characters in it are in anyway redeemable or even likable which is just amazing given some of the people in this cast. One day, I hope to watch Inherit The Wind and Judgment At Nuremberg. Both films directed by Stanley Kramer who also directed this train wreck. I fear for them but perhaps he's better at dramas than he is "comedy" and I use that last term loosely with this film. Anyway, here's the cast list and just remember that NOT ONE of these names turned in anything that was good or even funny in this "comedy."
Main actors
Sid Caesar as Melville Crump
Edie Adams as Monica Crump
Milton Berle as J. Russell Finch
Dorothy Provine as Emmeline Marcus-Finch
Ethel Merman as Mrs. Marcus
Jonathan Winters as Lennie Pike
Mickey Rooney as Dingy Bell
Buddy Hackett as Benjy Benjamin
Spencer Tracy as Captain T. G. Culpeper
Terry-Thomas as Lt. Col. J. Algernon Hawthorne
Phil Silvers as Otto Meyer
Dick Shawn as Sylvester Marcus
Secondary actors
Jim Backus as boozy and rich airplane owner Tyler Fitzgerald
William Demarest as Aloysius, Chief of the Santa Rosita Police Department
Jimmy Durante as "Smiler" Grogan
Peter Falk as a cop-hating cab driver
Eddie "Rochester" Anderson as a cab driver
Paul Ford as Col. Wilberforce
Barrie Chase as Sylvester Marcus' bikini-wearing girlfriend, Mrs. Haliburton (or Halliburton)
Cameo appearances
Jack Benny as a man who drives by in a Maxwell, offering to help, but is put off by Mrs. Marcus
Paul Birch as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
Ben Blue as the vintage biplane pilot
Joe E. Brown as the union official giving a speech at a construction site
Alan Carney as a sergeant with the Santa Rosita Police Department
Chick Chandler as detective outside Chinese laundry
John Clarke as helicopter pilot
Stanley Clements as a local reporter at police station
Lloyd Corrigan as the mayor of Santa Rosita
Howard Da Silva as an airport official
Andy Devine as the Sheriff of Crockett County, California (fictional)
Selma Diamond (voice only) as Ginger Culpeper, Captain Culpeper's wife
Minta Durfee as a crowd extra
Roy Engel as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
Norman Fell as primary detective at the "Smiler" Grogan accident site
James Flavin as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
Stan Freberg as a Crockett County Deputy Sheriff
Nicholas Georgiade as supporting detective at the "Smiler" Grogan accident site
Louise Glenn (voice only) as Billie Sue Culpeper, Captain Culpeper's daughter
Leo Gorcey as a cab driver bringing Melville and Monica to the hardware store
Stacy Harris (voice only) as police radio voice unit F-7
Don C. Harvey as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
Sterling Holloway as a Santa Rosita Fire Department fire captain
Edward Everett Horton as Mr. Dinckler, owner of the hardware store
Allen Jenkins as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
Marvin Kaplan as garage/service station co-owner Irwin
Robert Karnes as Simmy, a Santa Rosita Police Department officer
Buster Keaton as Jimmy the Crook (boatman)
Tom Kennedy as a Santa Rosita Police Department traffic cop
Don Knotts as the nervous motorist
Charles Lane as the airport manager
Harry Lauter as a police dispatcher of the Santa Rosita Police Department
Ben Lessy as George the steward
Bobo Lewis as vintage biplane pilot's wife
Jerry Lewis as the man who runs over Culpeper's hat
Bob Mazurki (presumed) as Eddie, the miner's son
Mike Mazurki as the miner bringing medicine to his wife
Charles McGraw as Lt. Matthews of the Santa Rosita Police Department
Cliff Norton as a reporter
Barbara Pepper as an ice cream counter waitress (scene deleted)
ZaSu Pitts as Gertie, the Santa Rosita Police Department Central Division's switchboard operator
Carl Reiner as the Rancho Conejo airport tower controller
Madlyn Rhue as secretary Schwartz of the Santa Rosita Police Department
Roy Roberts as a Santa Rosita Police Department officer (scene deleted)
Eddie Ryder as Rancho Conejo air traffic control tower staff member
Charles Sherlock as a crowd extra
The Shirelles (voice), singing "31 Flavors" in Sylvester's bachelor pad scene
Eddie Smith as an extra
Arnold Stang as garage/service station co-owner Ray
Nick Stewart as migrant truck driver forced off the road
The Three Stooges (Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe)[2] as Rancho Conejo Airport firemen (they have the shortest cameo appearance; five seconds)
Sammee Tong as a laundryman
Doodles Weaver as a hardware store employee
Jesse White as a Rancho Conejo air traffic controller
6. Michael Bay's Transformers Series. I don't know that I can say much more about these films that hasn't been said already. For the record, I think the first Transformers film from 2007 was actually not a bad movie. It's just lumped into bad company with 2 and 3. It still can't begin to touch the 1986 film however in terms of actually being a good story. The 1986 film as stated previously is the best representation of the Transformers mythology that's yet been made for the screen. The second film, Revenge Of The Fallen, is a disorganized mess of a film that actually rates up there with Battlefield Earth for worst sci-fi themed film ever made. The story line makes little sense, the acting for the most part is atrocious and of course, the waste of space known as Megan Fox takes up more than .5 seconds of screen time which means she has too much screen time. In a film with loads of weaknesses, she may actually be the biggest weak point. She has no acting talent whatsoever and the only reason she's famous is because a bunch of men who never got past puberty enjoy beating off to her. She's the equivalent of Kristen Stewart if Kristen Stewart were more popular among guys. I like beautiful women as much as the next straight man, but they have to bring something besides their looks to the table and Megan Fox does absolutely nothing besides look good. She's acting's version of Rena Mero AKA Sable. Transformers 3, Dark Of The Moon, is a little less of a congealed mess in that it gets rid of Megan Fox but replaces her with a nearly equally useless sidekick in Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. This movie has the same problem that Pirates Of The Caribbean 3 does in that THE MOVIE WILL NOT END! I watched this movie and I had a birthday waiting for it to end. To make it worse, the biggest reason for the length is because the movie takes forever to get started. I swear it's literally over an hour before something remotely interesting finally happens. To make it worse, we're not done with this cinematic fecal storm. I hear there's a Transformers 4 coming that is possibly to be directed by Steven Speilberg himself. Unless this is a reboot with an entirely new cast, save for Peter Cullen and Frank Welker (GIVE HIM BACK THE MEGATRON ROLE YOU BLITHERING CLODS!), there is no hope for redemption with this series.
5. Nightmare On Elm Street (1984). The film that gave Freddy Krueger to the world. I don't see this as a bad film from a production point of view. It's actually about as good as you can expect from a relatively low budget horror film. I just personally believe the story and theme of the movie(and series) is incredibly stupid. I can understand the allure of a guy who only kills you in your dreams and therefore can't be defeated but at the same time, I just don't understand how it got so popular. Robert Englund is also one actor that I've never began to understand why he's so beloved. He seems like a very nice and humble man and I respect him as a man, but I don't think he can act his way out of an unlocked bathroom. This one is actually a little more difficult for me to put into words because again, I just really can't explain my dislike for this film other than I just saw it as so ridiculously far-fetched that I couldn't suspend my disbelief far enough to actually enjoy it. Perhaps had the film been done as a comedy or satire, it might've worked better for me but as a serious horror movie, it sucks. This legacy of Freddy Krueger even crossed into the Mortal Kombat game franchise as the 2009 "reboot" (cough total rehash cough) later included him as a DLC character. Yes folks, an overhyped, overrated joke of a horror icon gets included with an overhyped, overrated joke of a video game release. It's a perfect match really except Mortal Kombat's legacy was far greater than Nightmare On Elm Street's ever tried to be and all this did was kick dirt on to what little was left of Mortal Kombat. But I digress.
4. District 9. It seems that most years recently have had a very highly acclaimed film that I just simply have found intolerable. 2007 had Juno, 2008 had Slumdog Millionaire, 2010 had The Social Network, and 2011 had Hugo. Why did I skip 2009? Because it contained the most offensive of films from those years as far as general popular opinion goes and that was District 9. Really, the concept of this is fantastic. Xenophobia taken to an entirely new level. The biggest problem I have with this film is the tone it takes. It really comes off as extremely righteous and self-important to me. None of the characters in it are likable and the main character, Wikus, just comes across as a complete douche for the entire duration of the film. If anything, I think this movie actually comes closer to convincing people that xenophobia is a good thing rather than a bad one. A friend of mine once referred to this film as "cinematic excrement" and I'm inclined to agree. This film was a chore to finish but I actually did finish it and have been trying ever since to wipe it from my memory.
3. Top Gun. I'm sure it might sound strange that an American male who was born in the 1980's would hate this movie. But not only do I hate it, I simply can't finish watching it. I've watched it in bits and pieces and have seen the whole movie over time but I am incapable of watching it in one sitting. My longest stretch in watching it has been around 43-44 minutes and after that I couldn't take any more without a break. The easiest way to sum up this movie is that it's basically a 2 hour dick measuring contest. The plot is absolutely ridiculous. For that matter, there is no plot. It's basically a bunch of "macho" guys showing off which one is the manliest and the planes merely serve as props in this glorious mission to prove which one has the biggest johnson. How in the blue hell this movie made Tom Cruise a star I will simply never understand. The constant excuse I get from people is that the soundtrack to the movie is extremely good and yes, I will admit it's a pretty good soundtrack. This however doesn't make up for the complete lack of substance in the film itself. I say, avoid the dick-measuring contest, buy the soundtrack, and hire a toddler to write a remake of this film because the toddler certainly could write a better film than the people who made this piece of dick-cheese did.
2. Jurassic Park. At one time, this was the highest grossing film in movie history. I didn't understand why before, and I don't understand it today. I can honestly say I've seen this film several times. I've tried to like it. I've wanted to like it. But guess what? I can't stand it. This hype job was one of the first films that really showed how far CGI had come and what it was capable of. Or so people who are fans of this film would have you believe. If you want the true answer to that question in a film that's not only watchable, but also one of the best American films ever made, look to Terminator 2. But I digress. This film suffers from the same problem that I mentioned with Nightmare on Elm Street which is that I just couldn't suspend disbelief enough. The concept is just incredibly asinine and the idea that people are actually stupid enough to do some of the things in this movie, while not inconceivable by any means, is certainly one that I'd prefer not to see in my entertainment world because God knows we see enough of it in our real lives everyday. I remember having to watch this film for the first time in my 11th grade ELPS class. We watched the film and then did a mock trial. I portrayed the Richard Attenborough character, whom I will refer to as Col. Sanders because frankly it's not worth actually going to Wikipedia to look up the character's name. The idea of the trial was to see whether or not this character was legally liable for the actions of the dinosaurs and the loss of life/property that ensued. In the end, our jury found that the character was not liable. How the hell they managed to come to this verdict I'll never know but in any case, I was not allowed to disagree since I was playing the character and to do so would've been an F for the assignment. I haven't seen the entirety of Steven Spielberg's filmography, but I can safely say that this is the worst film he's made that I've yet seen and the sequels to it are even worse but they're not highly acclaimed and regarded so they don't make this list. In describing this film, I can only use a line that Jeff Goldblum himself used in the film itself: "That is one big pile of shit."
And the number 1 film on my list of hatred is:
1. Finding Nemo. This is not anywhere near the top of my list of worst films I've ever seen. The story line isn't a bad one and it does present a good message to both parents and kids. Kids need to learn their boundaries sometimes while parents sometimes need to loosen the reigns and let the kids fly on their own. However, this movie makes the top of the list because of the films that I truly hate, this one seems to be the most highly thought of by the general population. Why do I hate this film so bad? What could possibly be in this film that just raises my blood pressure to the point of stroke? The answer is Ellen Degeneres. Or more specifically, the way she plays her character in the film, Dory. This character is one of the most unintentionally annoying characters in the history of cinema. By that I mean there are characters that are meant to get on your nerves and invoke that reaction from you. This was not the case here. Everything about her is just aggravating. Her voice, her personality and that WAY BLOODY OVERPLAYED SHORT TERM MEMORY LOSS ISSUE!! Was this supposed to be funny? Was it supposed to mock people with short term memory loss? I don't understand what purpose it serves other than to further a story line that has been told many times before in much better ways without resorting to things like this. Dory singlehandedly ruined this entire film for me. Perhaps had she not been such a focal point later in the film I would've had less of a problem with her but having her be one of the main characters in the film was a literally fatal mistake for this movie. I don't know whether Ellen had any creative input on this character or not so I don't know whether to blame her personally for this abomination or if one of the writers wrote the character this way and instructed Ellen to play her this way. Whichever one made that decision should've gotten 3-5 years for introducing this utterly useless and annoying character that so many people seem to love for some ungodly reason to the world of cinema.
So there we have it. The top 12 films I hate but you love. Thank you for causing the increase in my blood pressure and hardening of my arteries. Oh, one last thing, I must give dishonorable mentions to The Wizard Of Oz, and for that matter, 99% of all musicals ever made, The Indiana Jones series(yes, all 4) and the Back To The Future series. Utter atrocities but they just couldn't crack this top 12 list. If there is ever a "next top 12" list, I'm sure they'll make it near the top.

Just a brief comment, probably post more this weekend, but completely agree with you about Batman. This is actually a movie people love?
I think I first saw it when I was maybe nine or ten years old and absolutely hated it. I guess even at that age I was already a critic but I remember thinking this is the lamest, most worthless piece of crap I'd ever seen in my short life. Certainly earned its spot on your list.

Where to begin with your strike against MAD WORLD? Jonathan Winters not funny? Phil Silvers? I better stop.

What zombie films are you refering to? NIGHT and DAWN (originals) are certain far from bad and I'd say the Italian craze got several titles that are worth watching (with their bad dubbing and performances). Your post actually sounded like something Ebert once said, although he's started to come around (yet always loved DAWN).
MORTAL COMBAT was one of the worst reviewed movies ever so I'm not sure how many people like it. I hated the entire video game mood in the 90s. BATMAN is pretty weak, although I guess the show has fans. TOP GUN is one I never really got. JP was good but I remember seeing this as a double feature with WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT? and thinking old dino wasn't nearly as scary as Fishburn.
TRANSFORMERS are interesting. The first got decent reviews but two and three were HATED yet they still made fifty-two billion dollars. I really don't understand the hate for Bay but why the series kept making money was a mystery to me.

I'm literally referring to what the post says. Every single zombie film ever made. Be it Romero, the Italian zombie films, satire zombie films, whatever else I'm forgetting. If it's got zombies, IMO, it sucks. But again that's just my opinion.
I fully admit that I'm stretching in my statement that "everyone" loves the Mortal Kombat film. In that particular case, I'm referring mostly to folks who like martial arts films as well as people who are/were fans of the video game series. A good majority of these people do in fact like the film. The former I can understand because they may/may not be attached to the characters and mythology of the games. The latter absolutely blows my mind because certainly I'm not the only Mortal Kombat fan in the world who sees the abundance of shortcomings in the film. I will say that if the new MK film we're supposedly getting follows the lines of MK: Rebirth and actually does get its R rating, it will be absolutely spectacular but that's conjecture and remains to be seen.
The biggest reason I dislike Bay so much, and I'm sure many others would cite similar reasons, is his constant, pointless butchering of accepted story line continuity. He has absolutely raped, pillaged and plundered the entire Transformers mythology. Had he stopped with just the first movie, it would've been fine. As I said in the post, the first film isn't a bad movie. Has a lot of pointless changes but overall it's not a bad movie. It's just stuck in terrible company with 2 and 3. If you haven't seen what he plans to do with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, then look that up and you'll see an even better(worse) example of his pointless screwing with continuities that he has no business messing with. Let's certainly not forget how horribly he bungled up Pearl Harbor. That film, if done right, could've been the Pacific version of Saving Private Ryan in terms of being gritty, uber-realistic and just plain down and dirty. But instead, his incompetent direction took what could've been an epic spectacle and turned it into an epic failure for the ages.

I was just curious as to which ones you've actually watched since you're entire post pretty much went to one film. If you hate them that much I'm guessing you haven't gone through many as most people don't like to torture themselves with something they hate. I know people who hate slashers but they pretty much stop before seeing any or at least after one or two.
If dorks agree about what he did to the TRANSFORMERS then it hasn't stopped them from going to the theater and buying the DVDs. As bad as the reviews for 2 were you'd think that people would stay away from a third. As bad as the reviews for three were you'd think they wouldn't bother making a fourth but it's on the way. As for TMNT, I personally don't judge films whle they're still in pre-production but I doubt it'll be worse than parts 2 and 3 of the original series. I'm not sure PEARL HARBOR was trying to be anything other than a dumb action movie. I think RYAN wanted Oscars. PH wanted money, which it did get. Bay had a reputation before PH so I never understood why so many people went into the movie expecting a quality film like they'd get from Spielberg. It's funny but I constantly get people writing me throwing a fit about those movies that air on SyFy. For the life of me I can't understand why people watch this shit each week and "still" they're shocked at how bad the movies are. I mean, do people think SyFy is going to produce the next VERTIGO? It's SyFy so you should expect a certain quality. I've always looked at Bay the same way. BAD BOYS, TRANS 2 and 3. Heck, PH is about the best thing he's done.
Back to your NIGHTMARE review, it's funny that you mention it would have been better as a comedy since many of the sequels went for more laughs than scares. The two Craven directed films were pretty much the only straight horror ones.

"Jurassic Park" is the worst Spielberg film you've seen but you think "JP: Lost World" is worse? So wouldn't THAT be the worst Spielberg film you've seen?

I can't think of 12 films I hate that other people love (BTW, I do love "Finding Nemo" and "MMMMW" and several of your others). But I can think of one: "E.T." I have NEVER liked ET. I find it a poor film. I don't necessarily hate it, but it isn't my bag of tea

Michael Elliott said:

I was just curious as to which ones you've actually watched since you're entire post pretty much went to one film. If you hate them that much I'm guessing you haven't gone through many as most people don't like to torture themselves with something they hate. I know people who hate slashers but they pretty much stop before seeing any or at least after one or two.
If dorks agree about what he did to the TRANSFORMERS then it hasn't stopped them from going to the theater and buying the DVDs. As bad as the reviews for 2 were you'd think that people would stay away from a third. As bad as the reviews for three were you'd think they wouldn't bother making a fourth but it's on the way. As for TMNT, I personally don't judge films whle they're still in pre-production but I doubt it'll be worse than parts 2 and 3 of the original series. I'm not sure PEARL HARBOR was trying to be anything other than a dumb action movie. I think RYAN wanted Oscars. PH wanted money, which it did get. Bay had a reputation before PH so I never understood why so many people went into the movie expecting a quality film like they'd get from Spielberg. It's funny but I constantly get people writing me throwing a fit about those movies that air on SyFy. For the life of me I can't understand why people watch this shit each week and "still" they're shocked at how bad the movies are. I mean, do people think SyFy is going to produce the next VERTIGO? It's SyFy so you should expect a certain quality. I've always looked at Bay the same way. BAD BOYS, TRANS 2 and 3. Heck, PH is about the best thing he's done.
Back to your NIGHTMARE review, it's funny that you mention it would have been better as a comedy since many of the sequels went for more laughs than scares. The two Craven directed films were pretty much the only straight horror ones.

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Colin Jacobson said:

"Jurassic Park" is the worst Spielberg film you've seen but you think "JP: Lost World" is worse?  So wouldn't THAT be the worst Spielberg film you've seen?

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mattCR said:

I can't think of 12 films I hate that other people love (BTW, I do love "Finding Nemo" and "MMMMW" and several of your others).   But I can think of one: "E.T."   I have NEVER liked ET.  I find it a poor film.   I don't necessarily hate it, but it isn't my bag of tea

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Michael, I've seen Dawn Of The Dead (original and remake), Night of the Living Dead (original), Shaun of The Dead, Zombi 2, and some other zombie film Tom Savini did but I don't recall it's name. I don't really know what to tell you other than reasons I've stated that I just simply do not like anything related to zombies. I don't find them scary or even shocking in any way and unlike say, Jason X, the movies aren't so bad that they're funny. TMNT 2 wasn't bad. TMNT 3, well the less said about it the better. I actually read last night where the studio has shelved the next TMNT movie indefinitely. No reason was given but I think anyone with any common sense knows it was due to the nearly unanimous negative reaction to it. If you like Michael Bay, or his movies, then good for you. I don't ask you to agree with what I say, I'm merely presenting my list and reasons for it. You actually bring up a good point which is people who go see his movies. I did see TF 2 in the theater but never bought it on blu-ray. I waited until TF 3 came out on blu-ray and got it through Netflix and likewise, I will never purchase it. Unless it's a total reboot, I will not be seeing TF 4 in any way, shape or form. IMO, Michael Bay is one of the most overhyped hacks in the film business today and it's completely mind-numbing as to how he gets people to see his movies.
Colin, fair point that reveals poor explanation on my part. I think Lost World is a worse film in terms of a production point of view. Same with JP 3. In terms of the story lines, all 3 of them are utterly dreadful but the first one made this list because that's the one that most people like. I guess I shouldn't say it's the "worst" film of Spielberg's I've ever seen but instead, I should say it's the most disappointing film of his I've ever seen given the hype and love so many people show for it.
Matt, E.T. definitely deserves a dishonorable mention here. If there ever is a "next top 12" list on this topic, I'm sure E.T. will join the other dishonorables who didn't quite make this list.

DSmith1984 said:

Let's look at the main star of the film, George Clooney. Where did this guy get his popularity from? He's like this generation's Pauly Shore. Okay, maybe not that bad. I mean he has made one good movie and that was the Ocean's 11 remake.

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Wow, much hate I sense in you, think of your blood pressure you should
There are numerous movies most people like that I don't , but I don' necessarily hate them, mostly I try to ignore them.
But I have to comment on Clooney, seems to me maybe you haven't yet seen Syriana, Michael Clayton or Up In The Air, or even Men Who Stare At Goats...
Clooney is great, and if you think his best performance was in Oceans 11, you probably ought to see more of his films
And not liking The Big Lebowski? SRSLY ?

Mikael Soderholm said:

Wow, much hate I sense in you, think of your blood pressure you should
There are numerous movies most people like that I don't , but I don' necessarily hate them, mostly I try to ignore them.
But I have to comment on Clooney, seems to me maybe you haven't yet seen Syriana, Michael Clayton or Up In The Air, or even Men Who Stare At Goats...
Clooney is great, and if you think his best performance was in Oceans 11, you probably ought to see more of his films
And not liking The Big Lebowski? SRSLY ?

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Believe it or not if I told you that my blood pressure is actually below normal. What makes it even more amazing is that I'm very obese as well(working to correct that, lost 47 pounds so far) and every time a doctor checks my blood pressure, they always have to see if their tool is broken because they find it hard to believe that someone as big as I am has lower than normal blood pressure.
George Clooney is to a lot of people what Eli Wallach is to me in that many people will watch something just because he's in it. I'm not especially fond of How The West Was Won but I watch it solely for Eli Wallach's brief performance in it. As I mentioned in my previous list, he also is one thing that allows me to look past Sofia Coppola's performance in Godfather 3 and still enjoy the movie. George Clooney is not that guy for me and I think truthfully, Ocean's 11 wouldn't have been very good without the supporting cast he had around him. The Pauly Shore comment is in jest because I think both of them have each put out 1 movie that I found entertaining but I don't consider him at the level of Pauly Shore. A fairer comparison to me would be someone like Orlando Bloom. IMO, both are talented actors but they both work much better as supporting characters rather than leading characters. I throughly enjoyed Kingdom of Heaven but I will admit that Bloom was way in over his head in trying to be the lead actor in that film. This same principle applies with Clooney to me. I think when he is the star, he's in over his head and the movies he's in suffer for it. Not a bad actor, just not leading star material IMO.

Well, I have to ask: what is the (apparently) one musical you do like?

I can tolerate the 2007 version of Sweeney Todd but to answer your question, the only musical I've ever seen that I really loved was The Blues Brothers. Honestly, I hesitate to call it a musical because to me the term "musical" is insulting in and of itself. Perhaps I'm the only fan of cinema that detests the Rodgers and Hammerstein classics. The ones I've seen that is. Still haven't seen Sound Of Music. Musicals typically drive me up the wall because they annoy me so much.

Rock N Roll High School is the greatest musical of all time.

I understand your disdain for Finding Nemo, and it too would be on my list. Though for perhaps a different reason I can't quite pinpoint. I actually like Ellen DeGeneres, though her portrayal of Dory was a little annoying. But as much as I disliked Nemo, "Up" is without a doubt my lease favorite Pixar movie that people seem to love. Cars 2 was also bad, but many people actually disliked it. "Up" is a mystery to me why people loved it, and how in the world it could possibly be a children's movie. There are several movies that I really despise that people seem to love.
Here are a few for me, without all the description or trouble you went to.
My two most hated movies everybody seems to love are listed first..
1a. Avatar
1b. The Dark Knight.
I don't think I can quite describe how much I detested both of those movies. Perhaps, because I will never forgive James Cameron for becoming what he has become. I mean.. seriously.. this is the man that gave us Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss. And after a 10+ year hiatus after giving us the trash that was Titanic, the best he could do was fricken Avatar?? Seriously???
The Dark Knight was miserable for me, probably because I've never been a Batman guy, but I truly really enjoyed Batman Begins. And went into TDK with such high expectations, and left almost as angry as I was when Avatar was over.
A few others I can't fathom ever having to sit through again:
Up
Finding Nemo
Blazing Saddles (or really anything Mel Brooks touches)
Dances with Wolves
Inception
Pulp Fiction
A Christmas Story
Titanic

Up
Finding Nemo
Blazing Saddles (or really anything Mel Brooks touches)
Dances with Wolves
Inception
Pulp Fiction
A Christmas Story
Titanic

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Whew. A few of my favorites there. But that's where we hate things we love

I'm not the biggest fan of Finding Nemo but the worst thing I can say about it is that it's Pixar's most 'kiddie' movie. Considering that they make kids movies, that's not a bad thing but as an adult viewer, it's probably the least entertaining of their output for me.

JeremyR said:

I understand your disdain for Finding Nemo, and it too would be on my list. Though for perhaps a different reason I can't quite pinpoint. I actually like Ellen DeGeneres, though her portrayal of Dory was a little annoying. But as much as I disliked Nemo, "Up" is without a doubt my lease favorite Pixar movie that people seem to love. Cars 2 was also bad, but many people actually disliked it. "Up" is a mystery to me why people loved it, and how in the world it could possibly be a children's movie. There are several movies that I really despise that people seem to love.
Here are a few for me, without all the description or trouble you went to.
My two most hated movies everybody seems to love are listed first..
1a. Avatar
1b. The Dark Knight.
I don't think I can quite describe how much I detested both of those movies. Perhaps, because I will never forgive James Cameron for becoming what he has become. I mean.. seriously.. this is the man that gave us Terminator, Aliens, and The Abyss. And after a 10+ year hiatus after giving us the trash that was Titanic, the best he could do was fricken Avatar?? Seriously???
The Dark Knight was miserable for me, probably because I've never been a Batman guy, but I truly really enjoyed Batman Begins. And went into TDK with such high expectations, and left almost as angry as I was when Avatar was over.
A few others I can't fathom ever having to sit through again:
Up
Finding Nemo
Blazing Saddles (or really anything Mel Brooks touches)
Dances with Wolves
Inception
Pulp Fiction
A Christmas Story
Titanic

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Avatar should be this generation's version of Star Wars in terms of how it redefines the way movies are made. I think in time to come people will look back and say that Avatar really was the first film that lead to the next stage of development as far as movie making goes. Honestly, it goes back to my earlier statements about it being trendy to hate James Cameron. I'm not directly saying that you're guilty of this but there are a lot of people who hate him for the simple fact they perceive it to be the trendy thing to do and people love to follow whatever is the trendy thing to do. How do you think something as boring and dirty as the NFL has managed to brainwash so many people in the US?
The Dark Knight, we will not only disagree on, but it will be an immense disagreement. I can't begin to fathom why you would hate the film so much. I'm not at all a Batman fan beyond the Nolan trilogy myself but I am of the opinion that The Dark Knight is the finest American produced film ever made and for me, it ranks 3rd on my all time top 25 behind The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Seven Samurai.

I guess I'd be one of the few who enjoyed THE LOST WORLD much more than JP. I haven't seen either one in ages and plan to revisit them soon but based on my memory of them I really wasn't overly thrilled with JP. I thought it was a good movie but it just never really stuck with me. THE LOST WORLD, on the other hand, was to me Spielberg growing some balls and really making a horror movie. I remember JP being sold as a cute little family movie that thousands of kids were watching. I remember these same kids showing up to TLW and I remember their parents taking them from the theater screaming and crying because this time they were scared of the dinosaurs.
Perhaps my upcoming viewings will change my opinion on them but I liked the fact that Spielberg went for something darker and less kid friendly.

Michael Elliott said:

I guess I'd be one of the few who enjoyed THE LOST WORLD much more than JP. I haven't seen either one in ages and plan to revisit them soon but based on my memory of them I really wasn't overly thrilled with JP.

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I wasn't the biggest fan of Jurassic Park either. I flat out hated The Lost World when I saw it back in the theater but I saw the series again a few months ago and liked both more than I remembered (the sequel has an excellent sequence with the characters stuck in a trailer being attacked by a dinosaur). That being said, The Lost World would still probably my pick as Spielberg's weakest effort. Oddly enough, I enjoyed Jurassic Park III the most.