Join Brian Dobbs and Sam Posten as they talk about titles in their collection that they now wonder why they spent actual money on.
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I wasn't sure we could make a compelling show out of this topic at first but maaaaan we had a lot of fun talking about the stinkers we have in our library and the worst movies we have ever seen. @Brian Dobbs brings out the best in me!
For me the worst movie is Waiting for Guffman. What's the worst thing you've ever seen???
Stickied!
I have a feeling that a lot of Sam's faves would fall into my "stinker" category.
And vice versa. :banana::dancing-banana-04::rock:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for example.
Any guesses whose stinker and whose cherished piles that one goes in?
Stinker for me
…yet I think it's one of the very best movies of the entire decade.
Think I saw some of this, but I can't remember it that well.
I rest my case.
Hey @Brian Dobbs I reviewed Hannibal after our discussion. Now I remember liking it, especially Ray Liotta's stir fry ==)
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/hannibal-uhd-review.362341/#post-4748011
Sweet. I forgot about Gary Oldman being in this movie. Now I want to go back and watch all these, except for Hannibal Rising.
Technically I think he's just a disembodied voice =)
I'm listening to the final cut and I am DYING over here on your cut of 'I drink your milkshake' LMAO
Yeah, it's funny how so many ideas come up during the edit that don't necessarily occur to me while we record.
I don't have the capability of listening to podcasts at this moment, but wanted to comment on the following, which is something I've been thinking a lot about lately:
I think the first question here is, how you define "bad". If "bad" simply means, "title that I get enjoyment from that is not appreciated by critics and/or the general public," I don't see any issue at all. Sometimes we like things that go against the grain.
But if "bad" in this context means, "title I didn't enjoy that I have no desire to revisit," having a digital copy you can't get rid of ends up being more clutter. I've yet to figure out if there's a way to remove an unwanted title from iTunes/Vudu/MoviesAnywhere/Ultraviolet. Over the years, as different services have sprung up and offered different perks for joining, I've gotten a bunch of free titles, and it turns out that I disliked a few of them. I'll never watch them again, and yet, they're still there in my digital locker. On the one hand, it's not taking up and shelf space, but it's just something else to be responsible for and to sort through. It makes browsing through one's digital library a bit clunky, because the titles I don't want are taking up just as much screen real estate as titles I do want. It's cluttered and inelegant, and it can make it harder to choose something to watch when I'm faced with options I'd rather not have in the first place.
But I didn't always think that way. I used to be more along the lines of "the more the merrier" and I felt strongly that I was doing some kind of civic duty all these years by collecting titles (both physically and digitally) that ultimately was more about reflecting what I had seen rather than what I liked, or reflecting that I had knowledge of film history rather than reflecting which historical films were enjoyable to me.
Over the past year or two, it's like a switch has flipped in my head, and I'm no longer interested in being a repository of everything that exists, or everything I've ever come in contact with. I now simply want to collect things that I enjoy and that I might want to revisit. And having a digital collection with titles that don't fall into that category just gets in the way of what I'm trying to do.
(As a sidenote to this, I've been converting a lot of DVDs that I still had to digital formats – when you can go from a non-anamorphic DVD copy of something like Field Of Dreams to a 4K UHD stream for just $5, that's a no-brainer. Major upgrade on the quality of the content, wallet savings, and shelf space saving, that's a clean win. But I've also looked long and hard at DVDs that simply haven't been touched in 10, 15 or even 20 years. Is it really worth buying a digital copy, even if it's only $5, for a movie I haven't touched in 20 years? I've decided in many cases to simply get rid of the DVD, and wait to see if I ever get the urge to see the film again, rather than needing to have the content upgraded before being willing to get rid of the DVD. While I wouldn't call all of these "bad movies," it was a similar dilemma – why pay money now for something I'm not planning to use?)
Right, definitely with you here.
Totally. FoD non-anamorphic DVD sucks!
Me too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_Lives_of_the_Potato_Men
Two very recent stinkers for me:
The Beach Bum
Backdraft 2
Wow, they made a sequel? This reminds me, I need to pick up the original.
You guys mentioned Movie 43 in the podcast – it's on Netflix currently.
A sequel in name only (one of the running themes of the show, right?).
Totes.
Aw man, I listened to an NPR or similar story on the making of this film and I totally wanted to see it. It sounds very avant garde and that's not usually my bag but I was set to give it a chance…
I'm finishing up and have a couple thoughts 🙂
I have viewing regrets: paying money to see Black Mask or Attack of the Clones in the theater.
I don't have shelf regrets as discussed. I'm not a completionist. And if I buy a disc and it's not good, then it's a "viewing regret". 🙂 My only shelf regrets are unwatched purchased discs: those hundred-some DVDs I bought a decade ago on black friday sales that I've never watched. That's just a waste of money. And I'm starting to regret my big bargain blu-ray binge back in 2016 that's sitting there mocking me.
Puzzlements:
How is Rogue One lumped in with the prequels? Rogue One is possibly the best Star Wars movie since Empire. I see a lot of love for it.
How is Wonder Woman lumped in with man of steel and the other bad DC movies? WW is somewhere between quite good and great depending on preferences. It's on par with many of the MCU movies.
Hunger Games…I read the trilogy with my wife back when we read YA lit together. The second and third books had issues. The movies fulfilled the promise of the books. Particularly, the two part finale was great. But I've talked with people who did get into the movies. So, they're wrong. You're wrong. The Hunger Games movies don't deserve to be on this list. But you're allowed to be wrong. 🙂
I agree with Dave on all points. There was a lot of generalization. Rogue One and Wonder Woman truly don't fit, and I think that probably is a fairly wide-spread opinion. I mention those two simply because the criticisms of them have nothing to do with the actual movies. Man of Steel was mind-numbingly bad. I mean, my mind was numb by the end, but that has no bearing on Wonder Woman. The Star Wars prequels were, really, not very good. Their suckiness has no bearing on how good or bad Rogue One is.
Maybe you guys could venture into movies that are, in your opinion, unfairly trashed. It's so easy to dump on stuff, not to mention boringly common. There are movies that get widely trashed, that probably don't deserve it. The trashing starts, and everyone jumps on the bandwagon.
I suggest doing the “Why does everyone love this movie I hate, when I’m obviously right” topic. That’s what we get into when Brian says he doesn’t like Rogue One (or when I say I don’t like Guardians of the Galaxy 2). 🙂
+1
True. But IMO it's an unnecessary movie. It's a story we didn't need and I don't feel I need to rewatch it. I can't help but feel as though it's the best Star Wars fan fiction movie ever made.
Perhaps the DCEU batting average will go up after I see Shazam and Aquaman, which might offer me a different perspective. I agree, it's as good as some of the Marvel movies.
🙂
Fair enough.
True, but my general feeling is the same. Not eager to rewatch, which is a problem if it's taking up shelf space.
Yes, of course!
Hilarious!
Brian and I disagree on this. I think R1 is amazingly good =)
Hilarious and true!
HG Catching Fire is one that I would actually showcase for the IMAX scenes.
I find it to be the best story of the entire SW universe. The unsung heroes who sacrificed themselves to make it possible for the vaunted legends to become vaunted legends. The story is downright Shakespearean.
Ok…by that measure, we don’t need any of the six sequels or R1 or Solo. Or any of the Clone Wars TV shows. Or the upcoming Mandalorian series. Or any of the books. Or the video games. Or the board games. The original trilogy is a complete story and everything after is unnecessary. 🙂
I think a good movie is a good movie. R1 did something remarkable: it did a “war” movie in the Star Wars universe. And it successfully fleshed out the five minutes before the ironing of Star Wars. That could have been a disastrous movie attempt. But somehow despite the production problems it came out well and is for some the Star Wars movie they’ve been waiting for over 40 years.
Which is why I’m interested in the category of “Infinity War” and “End Game” and the other “Avengers” movies are three-stars affairs. I don’t know why all my friends love these obviously so-so movies. 😀
Yes. It is a good movie, just one that doesn't have much replay value for me, and doesn't enhance my enjoyment of the OT.
There's the problem, from my perspective. You're insisting on perceiving it through a tunnel, refusing to view it at all outside that tunnel, then condemning it for the limitations you're placing on it. Plus, I just disagree that it doesn't enhance the OT. The first time I watched R1, I was taken back to when I was 12 years old, hearing that phrase, "Many lives were lost obtaining this information." And it knocked me out. For me, it brings a gravity to the OT that those movies didn't have. It elevates them from a swashbuckling fantasy romp to a genuine fight for existence. Plus, it's just an outstanding movie, all on its own.
Well put! I'll accept that my opinion is in the minority, for sure. I hope you had fun with the rest of the show.
Yeah. There were others you listed that are "Guilty Pleasures" of mine, so I'm not about to argue with you about them. I can't recall exactly which ones, but did you mention Luc Besson's "The Messenger"? That's one I love for it's obvious flaws and audacity, for example. I'll never argue that it's a "good" movie in the conventional sense. I just get a real kick out of it.
Okay, so I have heard of this. It actually looks interesting to me, and I've always wanted to see it. Do you know how accurate it is to real-life?
:rolling-smiley:
There are broad strokes that are actually pretty accurate, but the majority of it is weirdly, almost satirical. How she's treated by France once her value has played out actually seems to be pretty accurate, if exaggerated, and her dismantling of her hearings has a certain accuracy. Watch "The Passion of Joan of Arc" for a more genuine representation of her trials.
The Messenger strikes me as a bit of a lampoon of the worship of Joan. I don't know how to back that up, except that most of the movie comes across as satire.
BTW there is a teaser trailer for it using footage unique to the trailer. No connection to the movie. I always thought it was just a cool trailer.
Great episode; lots of fun.
I dis agree with many of your selections in the "stinker"category; don't agree on Pearl Harbor making the cut, not the greatest movie but worth a look or two.
I have never been a fan of Lucas, Marvel or DC movies and many of your comments have saved me the pain of watching them. Why they remade The Killer Elite is beyond me; the Peckinpah version is a fine film.
I would add the recent A Star Is Born to the mix; I found it truly boring (very happy for the many who liked it).
An idea for an episode would be stinkers from the golden era of cinema; that would be a great debate.
Thanks again for the great podcasts to date.
Thanks Bernard. We all have different tastes which is part of what makes this hobby so fun!
Right, like why do they need to remake everything? Disney remaking all their animated classics into live action? Call me cynical but they're simply a cash grab. OMG, and I think we own Cinderella, so add that to this list.
I tend to agree, however I really like Beauty and the Beast and I think Cinderella is flat out outstanding. I own both.
They've mostly been well-produced movies, just unnecessary IMO.
I guess I see Cinderella a little differently, since the animated movie is so old. Plus Kenneth Branagh did such an outstanding job with it. I think it's an exceptional movie on its own, so I find it to be very worthwhile.
I highly recommend you watch it again with an open mind. Let it stand on its own two feet and just see how good it is. I didn't realize the first time I watched it, but on a later viewing I saw it for what it is. One of the best movies of the year, in my book.
Good point. I'll try, although I don't agree that because the animated movie is old that it means a remake is called for. And honestly, because you could consider it a movie for the family, or more specifically children, they usually don't care how old it is. At least my kids don't.
The thing is, they're very different movies. In fact, I'd say the new one is definitely aimed at adults more than children. I particularly enjoy fantasies geared toward adults, from lighthearted stuff like The Princess Bride, Stardust or even The Age of Adaline, to seriously dark ones like Pan's Labyrinth, so this is right up my alley.
I hear you, and I see what you're saying. I also love TPB and PL!