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I bring this up because with the holidays I've had a little time to catch a movie here or there between game breaks...

We've all watched movies we've not liked, but every once in awhile, there is a movie that friends have recommended and/or you've read a few reviews which claim it's good combined with trailers which you thought looked interesting, but then you watch it and think it's particularly trash...

The one I just watched was Panic Room and they are apparently remaking it.
76% critics positive on Rotten Tomatoes although only 63% from the audience.

It has a great cast with Jodie Foster and Forest Whitaker, but the plot and story I found just so utterly ridiculous. There were so many "conveniently" bad decisions which kept the thin plot moving along, it was just horrible. One of those movies where the upcoming scene seemed to drive the plot and you could throw real character motivation out the window.

The first positive critic review called it a "thinking-man's women-in-jeopardy picture" but I found that from plot point #1 there was no thinking. Why are the thieves even going through with it after seeing someone is home? Why don't they come back after they leave? And it only gets worse from there. I don't want to go into too much detail to avoid spoilers, but when "911" gets called and "911" puts someone on hold, that was the straw that broke the camel's back...

So what movies have you watched after being told they were particularly good, which you just totally hated?
Or what scenes destroyed a movie for you, like that "911" hold sequence?
Napoleon Dynamite

I hate this movie to this day, and I was recommended it on the basis that it was going to be a funny, awkward comedy about a geeky doofus dork and what I got was the most boring and silent movie I have ever watched in my life. It was just painful for me to watch in the cinema at the time that I nearly fell asleep when watching. I got the jokes, they were just executed in such a way that it was just... dull. Yeah, I do not like this movie at all and am one of the weird ones that actually liked the animated series more since it worked better with the out there nature of the premise than the movie ever hoped to achieve.
Hm most Tarantino movies get recommended but i dislike most of them, same revenge story every time, full of his own tropes that got old right after Pulp Fiction (which i like), also the "homage" to 70s movies just isnt my thing, If i want that i could watch the originals, same with Rob Zombie movies :P


Gravity. Except for the effects i thought this movie was just boring and dull, super thin story, bland characters, just ... not for me ;)

Goodfellas. Probably the best movie out of those here, but damn i was so bored by it, i didnt care for any of the main characters and it just seemed to drag on...
A friend recommended Ex Machina and I'm probably still mad at him for it. Personally, I think it's the hipster equivalent of film.
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ignisferroque: Tarantino movies

Goodfellas.
Agree, I don't care for gangster glorification films. The only gangster film I like is Once Upon a Time in America.
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RWarehall: Or what scenes destroyed a movie for you, like that "911" hold sequence?
Well, I think The Usual Suspects is a waste of time.
Post edited December 28, 2016 by eksasol
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SpooferJahk: Napoleon Dynamite

I hate this movie to this day, and I was recommended it on the basis that it was going to be a funny, awkward comedy about a geeky doofus dork and what I got was the most boring and silent movie I have ever watched in my life. It was just painful for me to watch in the cinema at the time that I nearly fell asleep when watching. I got the jokes, they were just executed in such a way that it was just... dull. Yeah, I do not like this movie at all and am one of the weird ones that actually liked the animated series more since it worked better with the out there nature of the premise than the movie ever hoped to achieve.
When I read the title of this thread my first thought was "Napoleon Dynamite". Everyone around me was raving about that movie, family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, all telling me that I "just had to watch it because it's the funniest movie ever made". I did not laugh, smirk or even smile once during the whole film, it was just so dull. When the movie ended I wondered if there were two movies called Napoleon Dynamite and I had simply rented the wrong one. Fast forward a few months and I rented the Sideways because all these same people were telling me how great that movie was, I have since stopped talking to any of them.



As for scenes that destroyed a movie: I'm gonna go with Batman Begins. Like most people I went into the movie with memories of the Joel Schumacher atrocities and when there were no neon lights, bat nipples or painfully bad puns I walked out of the theater with the feeling that we had a great Batman movie again. It wasn't until I watched the move a second time on home video that I stared to see the flaws. The movie is not terrible in the same way as past Batman films, but it's still a terrible film full of horrible writing and casting. There is too much to go into it all but I'll relay the first scene that really clued me in to the awfulness of Nolans' Batman Begins. It's when Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne are looking at the body armor that will become the Batsuit and Bruce asks:

- Is it Bulletproof?
- Anything but a straight shot.

So in other words it's only "bulletproof" when no one is actually shooting AT you? This is beyond absurd! who designs body armor that doesn't actually protect you from a direct attack? By this rationale my leather jacket is "bulletproof" so long as nobody shoots at me.

Then the very next line in this same scene:

- Why didn't they put it into production?
- Bean counters didn't think a soldier's life was worth 300 grand.

$300,000 and it's not even bulletproof? Where did all that money go? Yeah, those stupid bean counters picked the $600 body armor that actually is bulletproof (even when hit with a direct shot) over the $300,000 body armor that's not; how foolish of them!

Once I saw through the lazy writing of this scene the whole move began to fall apart.
Gotta ditto several of those listed above.

I'll add Mystic River. Ugh.
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Stevedog13: It's when Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne are looking at the body armor that will become the Batsuit and Bruce asks:

- Is it Bulletproof?
- Anything but a straight shot.

So in other words it's only "bulletproof" when no one is actually shooting AT you? This is beyond absurd! who designs body armor that doesn't actually protect you from a direct attack? By this rationale my leather jacket is "bulletproof" so long as nobody shoots at me.
It makes sense. A straight shot meaning something really close to 90 degrees to the surface being hit. But a shot hitting at something like 45 degrees will either ricochet off without piercing the armor, or the armor is effectively thicker when hitting at an angle. Tank armor has worked on that principal for a very long time, allowing for the armor to have an effective capability of, say, 8 inches of steel while being something like 5 or 6 inches of actual thickness. That's why the front of modern tanks are usually angled - mostly for the effective increase in steel thickness, but there's also the potential for a ricochet or glancing shot. Keep in mind that Batman's armor has a lot of angles to it, so it's working on similar ideas. If it were real, that is.
Top Gun. Lots of people loved it but not me. It was terrible. Same with Pretty Woman, but maybe that's a male/female thing.
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HereForTheBeer: Gotta ditto several of those listed above.

I'll add Mystic River. Ugh.
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Stevedog13: It's when Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne are looking at the body armor that will become the Batsuit and Bruce asks:

- Is it Bulletproof?
- Anything but a straight shot.

So in other words it's only "bulletproof" when no one is actually shooting AT you? This is beyond absurd! who designs body armor that doesn't actually protect you from a direct attack? By this rationale my leather jacket is "bulletproof" so long as nobody shoots at me.
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HereForTheBeer: It makes sense. A straight shot meaning something really close to 90 degrees to the surface being hit. But a shot hitting at something like 45 degrees will either ricochet off without piercing the armor, or the armor is effectively thicker when hitting at an angle. Tank armor has worked on that principal for a very long time, allowing for the armor to have an effective capability of, say, 8 inches of steel while being something like 5 or 6 inches of actual thickness. That's why the front of modern tanks are usually angled - mostly for the effective increase in steel thickness, but there's also the potential for a ricochet or glancing shot. Keep in mind that Batman's armor has a lot of angles to it, so it's working on similar ideas. If it were real, that is.
I had thought about that. The suit is bulletproof, but only if you get shot at just the right angle. However that still didn't satisfy my nerdy knowledge of ballistics.
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SpooferJahk: Napoleon Dynamite

I hate this movie to this day, and I was recommended it on the basis that it was going to be a funny, awkward comedy about a geeky doofus dork and what I got was the most boring and silent movie I have ever watched in my life. It was just painful for me to watch in the cinema at the time that I nearly fell asleep when watching. I got the jokes, they were just executed in such a way that it was just... dull. Yeah, I do not like this movie at all and am one of the weird ones that actually liked the animated series more since it worked better with the out there nature of the premise than the movie ever hoped to achieve.
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Stevedog13: When I read the title of this thread my first thought was "Napoleon Dynamite". Everyone around me was raving about that movie, family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, all telling me that I "just had to watch it because it's the funniest movie ever made". I did not laugh, smirk or even smile once during the whole film, it was just so dull. When the movie ended I wondered if there were two movies called Napoleon Dynamite and I had simply rented the wrong one. Fast forward a few months and I rented the Sideways because all these same people were telling me how great that movie was, I have since stopped talking to any of them.

As for scenes that destroyed a movie: I'm gonna go with Batman Begins. Like most people I went into the movie with memories of the Joel Schumacher atrocities and when there were no neon lights, bat nipples or painfully bad puns I walked out of the theater with the feeling that we had a great Batman movie again. It wasn't until I watched the move a second time on home video that I stared to see the flaws. The movie is not terrible in the same way as past Batman films, but it's still a terrible film full of horrible writing and casting. There is too much to go into it all but I'll relay the first scene that really clued me in to the awfulness of Nolans' Batman Begins. It's when Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne are looking at the body armor that will become the Batsuit and Bruce asks:

- Is it Bulletproof?
- Anything but a straight shot.

So in other words it's only "bulletproof" when no one is actually shooting AT you? This is beyond absurd! who designs body armor that doesn't actually protect you from a direct attack? By this rationale my leather jacket is "bulletproof" so long as nobody shoots at me.

Then the very next line in this same scene:

- Why didn't they put it into production?
- Bean counters didn't think a soldier's life was worth 300 grand.

$300,000 and it's not even bulletproof? Where did all that money go? Yeah, those stupid bean counters picked the $600 body armor that actually is bulletproof (even when hit with a direct shot) over the $300,000 body armor that's not; how foolish of them!

Once I saw through the lazy writing of this scene the whole move began to fall apart.
OH MY GOD! I have the same feelings towards Batman Begins too, but this one was hype speaking and I got disappointed thanks to the trailers.

Heresy I know for anyone else reading but hey, Nolan's Batman films did not click with me like Burton's did.
Another thing that has ruined supposedly good movies for me is the "surprise" or "gotcha" endings. Where some guy you trust is suddenly the secret mastermind or things aren't what they seem. Well thought out and it doesn't bother me too much, but most of the time, if you go back and replay the events of the movie, the "gotcha" doesn't make a whole lotta sense. All too often, the "secret big bad guy" had the hero alone in a situation they could have just shot him in the back or fulfilled his evil deed without needing to set up the hero for the fall.

I remember people saying great things about the movie "The Game" with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, but after the big surprise reveal, if you go back in the movie knowing what was revealed in the end, the events make no sense. All variables were under control, my ass. No wonder I was surprised.
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RWarehall: Another thing that has ruined supposedly good movies for me is the "surprise" or "gotcha" endings. Where some guy you trust is suddenly the secret mastermind or things aren't what they seem. Well thought out and it doesn't bother me too much, but most of the time, if you go back and replay the events of the movie, the "gotcha" doesn't make a whole lotta sense.
THIS.
"Grease" and "Fight Club". Never understood what all the fuss was about. Many people swear by them but I've always considered them underwhelming. Then again I think "Waterworld" is actually a good movie so make of that what you will.
American Psycho.

Other than the performance of Bale - which is good - the film is nothing more than murderporn, more akin to Hostel than Falling Down. Oh, and the handwaving at the end, making it just a big old who cares.
batman vs superman

i just don't see what people like about it. it's empty.
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RWarehall: Another thing that has ruined supposedly good movies for me is the "surprise" or "gotcha" endings. Where some guy you trust is suddenly the secret mastermind or things aren't what they seem. Well thought out and it doesn't bother me too much, but most of the time, if you go back and replay the events of the movie, the "gotcha" doesn't make a whole lotta sense. All too often, the "secret big bad guy" had the hero alone in a situation they could have just shot him in the back or fulfilled his evil deed without needing to set up the hero for the fall.

I remember people saying great things about the movie "The Game" with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, but after the big surprise reveal, if you go back in the movie knowing what was revealed in the end, the events make no sense. All variables were under control, my ass. No wonder I was surprised.
Yeah, for me it's TV shows too (crime stuff) that this generally ruins.
You spend the whole series / show trying to figure out who did it and what's going on and then at the end they either introduce an entirely new character ("Hey look, this guy we've never mentioned before did it!") or find some ridiculous clue that wipes away all other evidence and reveals someone who wasn't even in the frame to be the criminal...
It's gotten to the point now that if I watch anything like that as soon as the evidence starts mounting up against someone you know for sure there innocent and it will probably be an inside job by the detective himself or something.

I don't really watch a lot of movies, or ones recommended by other people, so I can't really think of any at the moment myself...