35 praised films that completely disappointed me
TRIANGLE- 1st 15 mins is intriguing, once they hit the ship, tedious does not begin to describe it. A 30 minute twilight zone episode stretched to feature length
Taken (2008/I)- Overrated. See instead MAN ON FIRE (known as FLAMES OF VENGEANCE in the Portuguese poster shown) or DIE HARD LIVE FREE or 16 BLOCKS.
Man on Fire / Out of Time
Man on Fire (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition)
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TAKING OF PELHAM 123 2009- See the original instead
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
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HOSTAGE- fantastic opening credit sequence but goes down hill from there
There Will Be Blood (2007)- despised it. See instead GIANT or NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.
HURT LOCKER- overrated and ultimately empty. See instead GREEN ZONE.
Rogue- Insipid, boring and idiotic crocodile film.
Primevil- Crocodile movie. Mediocre
From Within (2008)- Intriguing beginning that unfortunately paints itself into a haphazard and unsatisfying conclusion. Suicide, religious fundamentalism, witchcraft, and mysterious deaths, intriguing build up that chokes on the ending. See instead THE CHILDREN
Children
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The Abandoned (2006)- looks great, but ultimately pointless and empty. See instead SAUNA
Sauna
PREDATORS- Weak script, weak performances, Adrian Brody is miscast and offers a poor performance. See instead PREDATOR, PREDATOR II, or ENEMY MINE
DOG SOLDIERS- moronic characters, poor writing, uninteresting direction, see instead DESCENT
THE MIST- just overblown acting, and an ending that was drained of any impact. stick to the audio book, it’s far, FAR better. See instead IT.
Stephen King’s It
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REC 2- Awful sequel, that gets wrong everything that worked about the original. See instead REC or ROMANSANTA
Drag Me to Hell (2009)- I found it okay, to a little less than okay. Beginning was very good but It lost me somewhere in the middle and never got me back. The whole seance/possession thing I found completely idiotic. See instead EVIL DEAD 1, EVIL DEAD 2
DARKNESS and NAMELESS- not horrible, quite intense and effective in places, but undermined by too much cliches, stupid character actions and poor endings. In general just poor writing
DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT- This is a very compelling film through most of its run time, but just completely collapses at the end. “Let me show you my abs”? Really??? WTF? That’s your ending?! Made me mad and ruined an otherwise strong film.
KING OF THE HILL (Spanish)- Beautiful looking film, not bad, just not satisfying, and questionable plot contrivances, but not a bad film. But put here because not as great as it has been touted.
RUINS- Tedious
CREEP- brain-dead mutated Subway killer flick
SIN CITY- misogynistic, reductive tripe. Absolute garbage.
NATURAL BORN KILLERS- One of my most disliked films. Right up there with SIN CITY.
SHOOT EM UP- It just bored me
MR. BROOKS- Way underwhelming, bordering on mediocre “serial killer with a twist” flick. See instead the fantastic, but vitually unknown Jeff Goldblum flick, MISTER FROST.
Mr. Frost [VHS]
DISTURBIA- A poor man’s REAR WINDOW, not horrible, just not good.
THE DEVIL’S REJECTS- Stylish and well made, just morally offensive and bankrupt. Zombie’s viewpoint is to sympathize and root for the serial killers rather than the victims or law enforcement. He even does this with HALLOWEEN… not something I buy into,,, ever
BATMAN BEGINS- Interesting beginning, tedious middle, stupid ending. See instead BATMAN (1989) or THE DARK KNIGHT(Only Nolan movie I like)
MACHINIST- Brad Anderson directs intriguing films, that tend to either spin wheels to a telegraphed conclusion (SOUNDS LIKE), or tread water to an empty forgettable conclusion(SESSION 9 and MACHINIST)
BUG- It tries for Cronenberg body horror, but marries that to just an annoying and tedious storyline
Dead Silence (2007)- average to bad, see instead MAGIC or DOLLS
INCEPTION- Don’t get me started, I’ve discussed Nolan and the emperor’s clothes enough
MEMENTO
PRESTIGE
PUNISHER- Thomas Jane version— ugggh, see instead PUNISHER the Lundgren version, reviled by many it’s actually an impressive flick
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10 derided films that I enjoy!
SKELETON KEY- hugely underrated New Orleans Gothic tinged horror film
The Skeleton Key (Widescreen Edition)
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THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL- absolutely adore this movie. One of my favorites.
The House of the Devil [Blu-ray]
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WAR OF THE WORLDS (Remake)- Yeah it’s a fad to bash Tom Cruise. But fads aside he’s a fantastic actor, and this is a strong flick.
HANCOCK- Horrible name for a movie, horrible posters, box art, horrible marketing. But under all this damaging comedy labeling, is actually quite a compelling and strong film, with a great third act. Rename this THE INSURANCE POLICY (OF THE GODS), use some serious marketing and posters, and you could re-release this to DVD and continue to clean up on this film (it made in theaters over 300 million domestically).
TITANIC
PUNISHER- Dolph Lundgren version, and I really like it. Ninjas, brooding anti-heroes, nice action scenes and Louis Gossett Jr, what’s not to like. Big fan.
The Punisher
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FF- I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it, it was nice goofy fun, and enjoyed it a lot more than the dire SIN CITY or BATMAN BEGINS
JUDGE DREDD- everyone agrees the comedy relief, courtesy of so-called comedian Rob Schneider was a horrendously bad idea, but there are some fantastic iconic scenes in this film, the best is Max Von Sydow’s walk into the Cursed Earth. Movie is worth it for that scene alone.
Judge Dredd
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TRANSFORMERS 2- Not great, but definitely good and visually stunning.
PISTOL WHIPPED- I liked this Seagal straight to DVD flick the first time I saw it, but every single time I’ve seen it since, I like it more. Plus a fantastic opening credit sequence, and a solid ending. A lot of fun. “You cremated now MFer!”
Pistol Whipped
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Heroic Times 