Critically panned films that are loved by many

CastorTroy wrote: »

And how can the Short Circuit movies also have low ratings?!

Well the first was kinda sappy with two damp squibs for leads.

I remember liking it as a kid. But nowadays, yeh, I think the likes of Siskel and Ebert got it right.

The sequel just had diminishing returns bolted on.

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Masters of the Universe is really interesting.

It's only these days that I realise just how big He-Man was in America. Over here it was just a cartoon after school and some naff toy figures.

In America it was huge. Nearly as big as Star Wars and it was marketed nearly as agressively too. There's people in their 40's still collecting the toys today. While over here, it's largely a forgotten TV show.

I think what a lot of fans felt was poor about the film, was that it largely takes place on Earth and not wherever He-Man was from - "I am Adam, Prince of Eternia..." (Oh yeh, that was it. Funny how you can remember the openings from TV shows from over 30 years ago).

Maybe people were expecting 'Masters of the Universe' to mirror the TV show, but with real peopleand to take place on a planet different to our own. But, what they got was essentially a fish out of water movie that a lot of the fans hated and a lot of non-fans didn't understand.

The main problem was that the filmmakers simply just didn't understand what it was that made to TV show so popular with kids. It's rather like the first attempt at Judge Dredd, with Stalone. Most of the notes are there, they're just not in the right order, so the tune is off.

Strangely enough, they've been trying to get a new version off the ground for donkey's years. They're just dying to try and capture that lightening in a bottle that the old He-Man TV show/toys was. But, they'll never get it. Especially today, when it's mostly adults who buy action figures (Toys R Us can't even make money) and kids TV shows just aren't made of the same content.

Tony EH wrote: »

.

The main problem was that the filmmakers simply just didn't understand what it was that made to TV show so popular with kids. It's rather like the first attempt at Judge Dredd, with Stalone. Most of the notes are there, they're just not in the right order, so the tune is off.

In so far as the visuals of Mega City 1 and the subtle nods to both 2000ad and pop culture yes.
Visually the 1st Dredd was close to bang on. The nods to ABC warriors, The Angel gang visuals, even fergie can be forgiven.

As a movie it is terrible though, it introduces a romance arc, unmasks Dredd when one of the primary points is that he is "Faceless"
His character is to my mind at least the faceless epitome of Justice.

That said, Urban's Dredd in that movie with just a few script tweaks and it would be remembered as a classic rather than a cult "what if".

Tony EH wrote: »

It's only these days that I realise just how big He-Man was in America. Over here it was just a cartoon after school and some naff toy figures.

Strangely enough, they've been trying to get a new version off the ground for donkey's years. They're just dying to try and capture that lightening in a bottle that the old He-Man TV show/toys was. But, they'll never get it. Especially today, when it's mostly adults who buy action figures (Toys R Us can't even make money) and kids TV shows just aren't made of the same content.

There was a reboot in the early 00s, an animated series I mean. Same with Thundercats, also got rebooted. (I think Thundercats was a more popular show over here-that and Gi Joe.)
The MotU movie also came on the end of the MotU tv shows dying popularity.
She-Ra was another strange one-He-mans sister, aimed towards girls.

Cannon films, particularly Menachem Golan, was known to rip pages out of scripts, if he deemed them too expensive to shoot-so you'd get a whole load of plot holes or inconsistencies in their films. You see similar in MotU. Cannon often didn't 'get' cultures in films-so they'd have no clue about say cultural norms or iconic stuff in Western culture.

The Judge Dredd movie-I feel like the first problem was Stallone's weird 'high heels' as Dredd, as well as the shiny cod piece-and it's all downhill from there. It also 'sanitizes' the violence too much-and makes him more a vigilante than a cop. It's such a shame-visually it looks good (the missing half 'x' on the nose-part of the helmet bugs me tho).

There was a great video game of it made for the Super Nintendo and megadrive-much closer to the comics.

BuilderPlumber wrote: »

Would not call these 2 films loved. They are more hated I find and I cannot understand why Kevin Costner went from being a well respected actor and film maker to being shown no respect almost overnight. JFK, Field of Dreams, and especially Dances with Wolves were all very much respected whereas Wyatt Earp only got middling respect and Waterworld, The Postman, etc. none. The more lighthearted comedy Tin Cup is perhaps the only Costner film of the mid to late 1990s to get some love.

Apparently Costner's Earp movie was an ego fest for him-and costs spiralled (similar to DwW). They were also competing with Tombstone, which cost almost 40 million less to make, but made more than twice what Costner's Earp did.
He was considered too old for a part of it-like the beginning of the film he's meant to be in his twenties, so cue dodgy wigs to hide almost 40 year old Costner's age. Won two razzie awards as well, one for Costner.

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

Forgot to mention John Carpenters The Thing previously.

Has been reappraised since and I consider it to be the greatest horror film made.

Love the Thing-speaking of, Carpenter made his own 'Alien come to earth' film called Starman (the studio were offered the script to ET, and Starman-and chose Starman). Got oscar nommed, good reviews, but was mostly overlooked-it's a wonderful film. Saw it as a kid, still love it.

I was surprised Dirty Dancing got very negative reviews on initial release-it's got a massive following, brilliant music, and of course 'Nobody puts baby in the corner'. (Yeah, I like that movie-childhood memories as well). Also has an abortion storyline-in a movie that's rated between 12-15s, depending on re-rating. (All our parents showed us that movie as kids. I remember discussing that with a friend, and she was like 'what were they at showing us that as kids? It's very racy'.)

And part of my Ghost Rider comment got cut off-I was editing and lost it.
I was saying its a shame they didn't do a Bernie Wrigthson inspired Ghost Rider. The late Wrightson was a comic artist who also did concept art for films, such as Ghost Busters, Galaxy Quest, The Mist, and co-created Swamp Thing. He also drew this design of the Rider.

banie01 wrote: »

In so far as the visuals of Mega City 1 and the subtle nods to both 2000ad and pop culture yes.
Visually the 1st Dredd was close to bang on. The nods to ABC warriors, The Angel gang visuals, even fergie can be forgiven.

As a movie it is terrible though, it introduces a romance arc, unmasks Dredd when one of the primary points is that he is "Faceless"
His character is to my mind at least the faceless epitome of Justice.

That said, Urban's Dredd in that movie with just a few script tweaks and it would be remembered as a classic rather than a cult "what if".

That's what I mean with "all the notes are there". There's stuff thrown in like Hammerstein, Hershey, Judge Griffin and the Angel gang and all that. But, it all feels hollow.

It's definitely a what if. But there's too much in there that's unforgivable.

Much perfer Urban's Dredd, even with the problems of a lower budget etc. It's a pity there'll be no sequel. The American's just still don't get it.

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

There was a reboot in the early 00s, an animated series I mean. Same with Thundercats, also got rebooted. (I think Thundercats was a more popular show over here-that and Gi Joe.)
The MotU movie also came on the end of the MotU tv shows dying popularity.
She-Ra was another strange one-He-mans sister, aimed towards girls.

I remember 'She-Ra'. But never really watched too much of it. As far as the reboots are concerned, I was just too old for that kind of nonsense by the 00's. Used to like 'Thundercats' in the 80's though. There was a good Speccy game of it too.

:pac: How quaint! Love that 8bit music.

CastorTroy wrote: »

We're getting the Mega-City One series,

Wait...what?

Switches on the Google machine to check...


fck me, you're right! But, has the potential to be great or rubbish.

Tony EH wrote: »

I remember 'She-Ra'. But never really watched too much of it. As far as the reboots are concerned, I was just too old for that kind of nonsense by the 00's. Used to like 'Thundercats' in the 80's though. There was a good Speccy game of it too.

:pac: How quaint! Love that 8bit music.

Was it released, or was it abandonware? I was still watching cartoons then, tbh I still am.

I never saw many of these shows until recently-Thundercats, He-man etc were not aired by Rte. A darn shame. The toys still sold tho.

titan18 wrote: »

Space Jam was pretty hated but critics but I doubt I'm the only one who loved it. Not just nostalgia either as whilst not as good as when I was a child, I watched it recently and still enjoyed it.

I know a lot of people who love it-I have no idea why. That and Looney Tunes : back in action are just...meh. LT:BIA isn't liked by the director tho. Space Jam is really just an extended advert, inspired by a series of Nike adverts.

I love Who Framed Roger Rabbit-that's why the above do nothing for me. Interestingly, Uli Meyer, who's studio worked on SJ and who himself did Roger Rabbit, was planning his own feature film-The Duck. He did a short, proof of concept film-invested lots of money into it. And it never happened.

Shame, you can see tons of influences in it. Even he admits he made mistakes with it tho.

https://vimeo.com/236624998

Sorry for keeping off topic, but safe to say I watched more He-Man and She-Ra than GI Joe. Don't think I saw much or any of that. Watched Thundercats and was actually kinda disappointed the new series got cancelled. Watched some of the newer He-Man as well. Did not like the New Adventures series which was clearly just for selling all new toys.

Has anyone watched the Untouchables more recently? It's pretty bad.

The music is overblown, the acting is a mixed bag, the lesser knowns doing a better job than the big names. Costner is wooden, and Sean Connery's Irish accent is appalling. (he won an Oscar that year-which is shocking in retrospect).
Btw, Ennio Morricone is a great composer, but someone was messing with his music in the 80s-the sound editor or something-because in the Untouchables,it's often far too loud-the mix is all wrong.

Deleted User wrote: »

Wasn’t ‘interview with the vampire’ panned when it came out ?

I think it’s a great flick.

Not panned-the other one, Queen of the Damned was panned, and quite rightly-it's f***ing terrible. Interview is a wonderful film.

Oprah Winfrey walked out of IwtV. She was squeamish, to say the least. It also won a Razzie for worst screen couple for Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, tho that may be the Razzies' having a laugh. Siskel and Ebert loved it, admitting it had some flaws.



The film all but could have been a massive disaster.
River Phoenix was cast in Christian Slater's role-but he died before shooting began. Daniel Day Lewis was cast as Lestat, he quit. Johnny Depp was then cast, and he quit 3 weeks before shooting, so they hired Tom Cruise.
Brad Pitt tried to get out of the film-but was told he'd have to pay 40 million or so to void his contract. (The makeup and contact lenses were a nightmare-actors had to hang upside for 30 minutes to make the veins in their face pop, and then traced by makeup artists-every day, or before every scene-Pitt hated it, as he was almost blind with the lenses. On the other hand, Tom Cruise made jokes during the process-he was often in the makeup chair for 3 hours, and had some really intensive makeup work).

Anne Rice hated Tom Cruise's casting, (then saw the film and took out an advert calling it a masterpiece)-could all have ended the film, and Jordan's career. Instead, it was the biggest hit of Jordan's CV.

Also an 18s rated movie with a $60 million budget in 1994 was a huge gamble, especially when compared to a family oriented movie like Jurassic Park costing only slightly more at $63 million. It was massively successful, and then some.

I would imagine the Transformers series firmly falls into this category... all 5 movies received extremely poor reviews (and rightly so) and yet its one of the highest grossing franchises of all time... 4.5 billion dollars in box office sales....

https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Transformers#tab=summary