Apparantly Titanic's the worst film ever... (1 Viewer)

[Mark Kalzer]

At least according to this BBC poll.

I'd actually come closer to calling this poll the worst poll ever, rather than the movie. While I admit that Titanic has it's flaws, I still find love for it. There's a hell of a lot worse movies than Titanic could be.

There's also the placement of AI : Artificial Intelligence at second place which just makes me shake my head in disgust. I know that some people don't like science fiction, I just listened to someone claim that science fiction blows because...'I don't like it. It bores me.' I realize that the third act may have gone too far, (I don't agree with that assumption), but I just get the idea that this is another case of this being a sci-fi flick with no action or explosions, boring so many people.

What is wrong with this poll? It's obvious that it is based purely on people voting specifically for their most hated movie. There's nothing scientific about that at all. It's actually no surprise that Titanic was chosen. The highest grossing box office, all the Oscars it won, means that the people who disliked got really angry, and there's bound to be a lot of them considering how many people saw it. Apparantly, enough to give it the most votes. I'm not saying they're wrong in thinking that way, I'm just showing how that makes Titanicthe worst movie ever, according to this Jonathon Ross.

Also, there's the problem regarding this being based on viewers voting in. The average joe on the whole are not the best of judge as to what is the best or worst film. Obviously they can't have seen every movie ever made. Really, how could anything like Gigli come out on top in this? No one bothered to see it after the reviews came out, certainly not as many as saw Titanic.

The IMDB ratings are far more scientific in that while still coming from random public votes, they balance bad ratings with good ratings, which this poll gives no such opportunity for.

I guess this irks me because it reads like some snobby jounalist, or this host Jonathon Ross, just wanting to continually remind us that "TITANIC SUCKS.", and he uses such baseless methods to back it up with.

[/rant]

 

[Chuck Mayer]

It is the worst movie EVER!

11 Oscars, 1.8 billion worldwide, incredible acclaim and reviews upon release, #1 selling soundtrack.

This guy just knows how the sheep like horrible things.

Here's the proof,
Chuck :rolleyes

 

[george kaplan]

Well Titanic ain't the worst movie ever made, but it is pretty bad. This poll isn't accurate, but it's a hell of a lot better than the one that said Titanic had the best ending ever. Now that's a joke.

You know, big box office doesn't mean a film is good or bad. It's uncorrelated. Some of the best films ever have been big hits, and some complete unknowns. And similarly, some of the worst ever have been big hits, and some unknowns.

If you like Titanic then that's fine, just like those who hate it, but it's big box office is irrelevant either way.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Titanic is pretty lame, but there are many worse films.

It is very fitting that it isn't even in the top 250 at imdb.

It's not in the bottom 100, nor do I think it should be. http://www.imdb.com/bottom_100_films

 

[MartinTeller]

I think most of the disgust with A.I. concerns the fact that Spielberg took what could have been a great Kubrick film and tacked on a horrible corny "heart-warming" typical Spielberg ending. I don't think it has anything to do with it being sci-fi or not enough action.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Besides what George wrote, I would observe that a general poll designed to designate the worst in anything, unless it is designed by people who know what they are doing and unless it is given to a controlled sample will result in reasonably predictable results.

It is predictable that high place finishers in such a poll are films that a lot of people have seen (or know enough about to vote) and about which they have strong opinions. Since Titanic has the biggest box office ever, it follows that more people will have opinions about the film. And since nothing is universally loved, many of them will be negative in terms of gross numbers, even if the percentage of negative opinion is very small.

Even though I did not care for the movie, it has more than enough technical merit to keep it off any ‘worst’ list.

 

[Seth--L]

Exactly.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

I think most of the disgust with A.I. concerns the fact that Spielberg took what could have been a great Kubrick film and tacked on a horrible corny "heart-warming" typical Spielberg ending.

Then that disgust is based on ignorance as the ending of Spielberg's A.I. is virtually the same ending that Kubrick had envisioned to begin with.

Unfortunately, this misconception has been repeated so many times and to this day is still being repeated. :frowning:

~Edwin

 

[Chris]

But Edwin, Kubrick lore alone changes all facets of reality and makes his same ending better then Speilburg's

 

[MartinTeller]

Well, Edwin, that's the first I've heard of it, but some preliminary Googling supports your statement.

I can't imagine Kubrick ending it that way... at least not without a tinge of irony. Certainly not in such a saccharine manner. Of course, the man wasn't perfect (Full Metal Jacket) and maybe he got soft in his old age.

Either way, it doesn't change the fact that the ending is terrible, no matter whose idea it was.

 

[Edwin-S]

It is debatable whether it is a happy ending. The ending could be interpreted several ways.

 

[Ruben Zamora]

Only reason Titanic made so much at the box office was because of the million of junior high girls who couldnt get enough of Leo Decapitated and the lame love story that made what could have been a good movie a crappy love story movie a la Pearl Harbor.

 

[Tino]

I thought the ending (Kubrick's btw) to A.I was perfect!

To those that think it should have ended with David trapped for eternity under the ferris wheel, that may have been a "cool" ending, but pointless in that David's journey to find love would have been incomplete. A.I is a masterpiece.

Regarding Titanic's boxoffice not being indicative of quality, that goes without saying about any film.

What it's boxoffice numbers do say is that it struck a chord with a majority of the moviegoing public WORLDWIDE, and despite the vocal minority here,that majority loved the film.

P.S Ruben
:rolleyes
That tired excuse is old, and of course, incorrect.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Either way, it doesn't change the fact that the ending is terrible, no matter whose idea it was.

Subjectively speaking, of course.

Personally, I felt that introducing the mechas was crucial to resolving the storyline. Considering what the film was really about, a gentle closing tone was a fine aesthetic match to the film's storyline. If A.I. was a disappointment to most folks, it was probably because the general public isn't ready to accept an introspective rumination on the nature of love and creation, within the confines of an SF film. Not when 20 years of Hollywood SF has conditioned them to expect action or fantasy films disguised in the trappings of SF.

Anyway back to the topic at hand - any list that contains Titanic, A. I., and Eyes Wide Shut as 'worst' films is patently absurd. It is no surprise that this type of poll is going to get such mainstream responses, particularly for high profile films for reasons already stated in this thread.

- Walter.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Only reason Titanic made so much at the box office was because of the million of junior high girls who couldnt get enough of Leo Decapitated...

Another misconception that also gets repeated over and over. Again, if that is the case then why didn't these same junior high girls showed up in droves for The Man In The Iron Mask released just 3 months after Titanic.

~Edwin

 

[Ruben Zamora]

I dont know, maybe cuz he had an iron mask throughout the film

 

[MartinTeller]

And journeys are always successfully completed. Hollywood magic!

 

[Hunter P]

The ending to AI was still sad, not happy. The robot punk kid had only one day of happiness but that was it. That's like when I get worked up from a lap dance by a stripper but then going back home to cry myself to sleep because of my boring, pathetic life. (Err, I meant to say "when some guy gets a lap dance..."):b

I think if the ended it with him at the bottom of the sea pleading to the fairy godmother
then it would have been waaay too sad for audiences. IMHO, it would have made the film much more powerful. But it would have made even less money because people love a happy ending. Plus Haley Joel Osment would have been the saddest actor in Hollywood with The Sixth Sense and Pay It Forward already under his belt.

As for the far-fetched quality of the story, I guess people fail to realize that it is supposed to be a modern fairy tale.

 

[Mark Palermo]

The ending of AI is absolutely ironic. If there was no sentiment at the end, it wouldn't be ironic, and people would see how dark everything but the tone of those scenes is. It's a brilliant ending to a brilliant film.

 

[David Williams]

Apparantly Titanic's the worst film ever...

I'd put It's a Wonderful Life before Titanic, but, hey, at least we're in the ballpark. Kudos, BBC Poll!