What motivates people to watch BAD films?? (1 Viewer)

[Scott Weinberg]

Here's a list of movies I saw last year that I'd describe as "bad". It's shockingly long, but heck - That's Hollywood.
Tomb Raider
Monkeybone
Along Came a Spider
Down to Earth
Waking Life
The Last Castle
Ali
The Majestic
15 Minutes
Out Cold
A Knight's Tale
Hardball
3,000 Miles to Graceland
One Night at McCool's
Valentine
Glitter
Summer Catch
Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles
Pootie Tang
American Outlaws
Corky Romano
The One
The Mummy Returns
Serendipity
Hannibal
Ghosts of Mars
What’s the Worst that Could Happen?
Saving Silverman
Swordfish
Rock Star
The Glass House
Behind Enemy Lines
American Pie 2
The Musketeer
Don't Say a Word
Joe Dirt
Head Over Heels
Double Take
Domestic Disturbance
The Wash
Dr. Dolittle 2
Bubble Boy
Hearts in Atlantis
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Sugar & Spice
Shallow Hal
Pearl Harbor
13 Ghosts
Original Sin
Bones
Life as a House
America's Sweethearts
AntiTrust
Planet of the Apes
Rat Race
See Spot Run
I am Sam
The Wedding Planner
Black Knight
Scary Movie 2
Just Visiting
How High
The Forsaken
Texas Rangers
Town and Country
Say It Isn't So
K-PAX
On the Line
Sweet November
Jeepers Creepers
Final Fantasy
Soul Survivors
Tomcats
Curse of the Jade Scorpion
Driven
Rush Hour 2
Two Can Play that Game
Joe Somebody
Angel Eyes
Kate and Leopold
The Fast and the Furious
Freddy Got Fingered
The Animal
Exit Wounds

 

[Terrell]

WOW! Scott, you obviously didn't like much last year. I agree with many on your list, but some I wouldn't consider bad. I personally think you don't judge all films against one another. For instance, you wouldn't compare "Dude Where's My Car," to "Citizen Kane." Two entirely different films. I base each film compared to others in it's genre.

 

[Anthony_D]

you dont know if a movie is bad until after you watch it

 

[Terrell]

So true!!!!

 

[george kaplan]

So Scott, does this mean you're going to go watch Baby Geniuses 2 and hold off judgment on it until after you've seen it?

 

[Mark Schmitt]

Well, I just saw Pearl Harbor so I can definitely relate to this thread.

I saw Pearl Harbor with two friends. One had seen it and liked it and the other two of us knew we were going to hate it (and we did). We had been arguing before about just how much of a hack Michael Bay is and our other friend said that we can't knock Pearl Harbor until we've seen it.

Now I've seen it so I'm gonna knock away.

I saw some of Battlefield Earth on cable. Not all of it, as I couldn't take any more. I had to check it out to see just how bad it is. I had heard that almost every shot was at an angle. I thought, "No way. Not every shot." It was true. Almost every single shot had the camera at an angle. Did the DP have an inner-ear dysfunction? Was the camera mount broken? Was this actually a choice by the director? I laughed my ass off!

So I would say that while the "Ed Wood" quotient is there for some films, there are yet others like Pearl Harbor that are not only bad, but not even unintentionally funny.

-Mark

 

[Terrell]

Anthony is correct in that unless you've seen the film, your opinion is invalid. Now that doesn't mean you'd like the film, or that the film is good. But you can't give a valid opinion on a film you know nothing about, regardless of what the critics say. That's their opinion, not yours.

 

[PhilipG]

Another example for me is the English Patient. This is the kind of movie where people kept saying, "If you don't like this, then you don't appreciate good cinema." Being the pseudo-intellectual snob I am, I wanted to see it and like it. I saw it, but could barely stay awake. I guess I just don't appreciate good cinema.

I looked at that film from the other perspective. I don't consider myself a film snob at all (see my earlier post about liking Battlefield Earth), so I didn't want to see it because a lot of film snobs were saying how fab it was. This was a film by that awfully pretentious Anthony Minghella (who directed my least favourite film, The Talented Mr Ripley). But guess what? When I finally got around to watching it I thoroughly enjoyed it - it's probably even made my top-40 films. Weird.

 

[Jason Seaver]

Well, I saw Battlefield Earth because it was smack-dab in the middle of a 24-hour movie marathon and talking back at the screen was encouraged. But that was a special circumstance.
Personally, I am pretty easy to sell on a movie. If it's got one or two people I like involved, I'll generally give it a chance. I mean, I just saw Impostor today, figuring that something with Gary Sinese, Vincent D'onofrio, Tony Shaloub, and David Twohy involved can't be all bad (and it's not; but it's far from all good). I avoided Pearl Harbor, but on some levels it was killing me not to see Kate Beckinsale's new movie.
Another example would be watching the trailer for Bad Company - the experience was something like this:
Lots of quick-cut scenes ("ugh")
"From Producer Jerry Bruckheimer" ("Not good")
"And Director Joel Schumacher" ("Well, Tigerland got good reviews, but I don't trust him")
The evil, dumb, obnoxious Chris Rock appears ("Nope")
Anthony Hopkins appears, acting suave and witty ("DAMN YOU!! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!")
So, I'll likely see the movie, even though I know it'll probably be pretty lame... And it won't be the first time that's happened (although Tomb Raider for Chris Barrie ain't never happening again).

 

[Bjorn Olav Nyberg]

I must admit to seeing a lot of the bigger budget movies myself, despite if they have a bad reputation. While I can't really come up with a good rationale, I will say there are mainly two reasons though:
I simply seem to be less critical than most movie critics, and second, I am perfectly aware of that. Therefore I am attracted to movies with bad reputation, especially if they have a big budget or a well known cast or director that has directed movies I have liked earlier on. I don't really go in expecting to learn a valuable lesson or gain new insight, I usually just hope to be entertained, how stupid that may sound to many of you.
I will still say it comes down to being a movie fan, except other movie fans obviously have different criteria.
I'd like to borrow an example from soccer. In Norway a few years ago there was a discussion after a boring soccer game between the two commentators. One of them asked a rhetoric question about why we do keep sitting through all of these soccer games even though so many of them turn of to be boring. The other one answered that when you are a soccer fan, you have to sit through a lot of boring games in order to see the really good ones, which makes it all worthwhile. To me, it is the same with movies (although I know I am comparing apples and oranges and that is easier predicting before whether you will enjoy a movie or not)
"Here we are now, entertain us..."

 

[ShaneP]

Whatever movie you pick, someone, somewhere, thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Opinions vary so much (even here) that it is always entertaining - most often more than the movie itself - to read the reviews and debates of them. Occasionally I have been duped into thinking a movie was going to be better than it was. Mostly though, I am part of a group and get out-voted as to what we are going to see. Afterwards I must say that I feel vindicated when discussion ensues. Every once in a while however, I am pleasantly surprised that what I thought was going to be a waste of time and money was actually worth the price of admission. Sometimes you just don't know what you're going to get. And that's part of the fun.

Shane

 

[MikeAlletto]

Bad, good...its all opinion. I don't care how many bad reviews something had, I will have the final say on whether something is bad for me. The best part about movies that aren't very good is the discussions with friends and coworkers over how bad it really was. Its hilarious to find out what movies some people have seen. Its more fun discussing the bad movies than it is the good ones.

 

[Chris]

email me sometime, my address says it all.

MST3k is reason enough.

God bless Joel Robinson.

 

[Tino]

Scott Weinberg
I'm confused. On that list of "bad" films, you list American Pie 2. I distinctly remembered you giving it a lengthy, glowing, great review, so I did a search to be sure, and sure enough you gave it :star: :star: :star: :star:!
I recalled this because till that point, I agreed with your reviews pretty much. I still emnjoy them but DAMN, that review shocked me since I consider AP2 one of the WORST films ever made.
Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad! And then some!
Please tell me you have come to your senses and now realize that it is indeed one of the worst films ever...worse than every film mentioned in this thread...worse than every film that is coming out for at least ten years!
Please tell me that so I can again trust your opinion Scott.:b
Tino
American Pie 2 Hater Club President!
( Apologies to those of you that liked this film....Yikes I called it a "film"!)

 

[SteveGon]

I'm pretty good at avoiding out-and-out turkeys. There are only three films in the last few years that I really didn't like. Armageddon which I saw because my brother-in-law was an extra in it and I wanted to see if I could spot him. Had to force myself to sit through it. Batman & Robin which was playing with a sneak preview of Contact. Of course, they played B & R first and I squirmed all the way through it. I saw Gladiator because I like history and Ridley Scott. Man, was I disappointed! I even gave it a second chance when it came out on dvd, but could only make it through the first thirty minutes.
On the other hand, you have movies like Plan 9 from Outer Space which are terrible, but have entertainment value despite it.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Scott,

Unfortunately I saw all of those films theatrically last year, although I wouldn't consider all of those bad. Call it the critic's penance in having to suffer through some of that garbage.

But it's safe to say, I would not make a point to see the really bad films if I didn't have to do so. (Rather than rely solely on one critic's opinion, I would look for more of a negative consensus opinion, which many of those on Scott's list have.)

 

[Seth Paxton]

You would be proud of me on this subject.
I do avoid films that get blasted by both critics and the public. MAYBE I will someday see it find out I've missed something great, but you know what, with limited resources I prefer to put my time/money investments into safer bets.
This is why I get sick of hearing "DID YOU SEE IT FOR YOURSELF YOU ELITIST BASTARD?" Mainly because EVERY SINGLE PERSON who says this has NOT SEEN half the films I have seen that year, month, whatever. They pick and choose just like "we" do so F*** THEM!
I did cave in earlier this year on Tomb Raider and not cause Jolie (I would have gone to Original Sin if that was the case). I liked the game and was then called out on having not seen it yet speaking of the film as though it was actually bad. That is the last time EVER. Big mistake.
Just yesterday I was going to rent Scary Movie 2 but my g/f had seen some at a friends house and slammed it, I had disliked SM1, and I heard enough of the jokes to decide on passing. I'll wait for cable, thank you.
I borrowed Battlefield Earth for free and saw WWW on HBO. In both cases the actual viewing was the "Just how bad is this" type of viewing. And it turns out people were underestimating the awfulness.
I did rent a few duds this year, but at that point I had seen all there was to see and decided $3 wouldn't break me to look into how bad it was (Freddy, Tomcats, both horrible). Same with Pearl Harbor. If I've rented it everything else or it's on cable.
I will not go to the theater to see a BAD film again. If all market indicators are that the stock is going down, you don't gamble and put your money on it anyway (unless you have more money than brains).
Edit - oh, and I saw The Grinch for free at the HTF meet in 2000 at the premiere thanks to being at Univeral Park in a timely manner. I actually liked it as a Carrey vehicle and don't understand the hatred lobbed at it. Pfeiffer is just nuts is all.

 

[Tom Ryan]

For me, I generally see a lot of bad films in the summer because all my friends want to go to them and I look like an idiot if I say I'd rather stay home. Some bombs I saw this summer:

Tomb Raider. Worst film of the year, but I was somewhat interested in it since I owned the original game on the Sega Saturn.

Final Fantasy. Again, I like the games and the CG was rumored to be amazing. Terrible story, clunky delivery.

Jurassic Park III. Not too terrible, and since I'm a big fan of the first one I saw this one. I must say, it was at least better then The Lost World.

-Tom

 

[Brian Lawrence]

you dont know if a movie is bad until after you watch it

Not entirely true. I would say that 99 out of a hundred times I see a film that I thought would be bad, it turns out to be bad. IMHO 99% is as close to a certianty as you get in this life.

Also You can look at a 2 minute trailer and say, "The only way such and such film can not suck is if those 2 minutes are not in the film"

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

you dont know if a movie is bad until after you watch it

Life is too short for me to find out for myself whether Glitter and Tomcats are really that bad. Besides, when there are for more films with better word of mouth than those two I mentioned above, why even bother proving it for myself?
~Edwin