Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Movies that disappointed you!

Okay, most of us have missed a movie when it first came out, heard rave reviews about it, and then, years later watched it only to go "hunh, that was the great "x"?"

Some of mine:

This is Spinal Tap- i had two genuine chuckles in this movie. No real laughs at all. I got it, it just wasn't...funny. What it mocked was funny, i freely admit. But it was like i kept waiting for the real Spinal Tap to show, not this poor attempt. Very disappointing.

The Royal Tannenbaums- I simply cannot say how much i hated to waste the money on this rental. I just can't.

Animal House- lord in heaven. It almost hurt me. Years of hearing about it (almost 20), and it was...well, i liked Porky's better, and Police Academy..heck, i liked police acadamey 5 better.

But, i wouldn't want to be so negative, so...Slither, fun little movie. Serenity, a lot of fun. House 1- i always did love the "the house is a doorway to everywhere" plot. Ang Lee's Hulk, i liked it. I wouldn't pay to see it four times in a row, but i liked it, and didn't think it deserved the hatred it seems to generate. I think a lot of that was disappointment that it wasn't Spider Man huge.

Anyway, just my likes and dislikes. WEll, some of them, anyway.

I saw "Spinal Tap" about a year ago and thought it held up rather well. The humor is an acquired taste--the characters are almost too stupid to be believable--but as a send-up of rock bands, it was very effective. I loved the references and plot points that could be tied to real bands. (E.g., the singer's girlfriend interfering=Yoko Ono.)

"Animal House" . . . When I first saw it, I was 14 or 15, so most of the the college aspects were lost on me. Having spent much of my life since then in college (both as a student and an instructor), I appreciate it better--particularly Donald Sutherland's lit. professor trying to engage students in a discussion about Milton (I think). I still find the finale hilarious: Delta House getting revenge by disrupting the parade. It's the kind of over-the-top "underdogs win" story line that almost always works.

About spinal, i saw a mighty wind and fell out laughing at it. It was genuinely funny. Spinal Tap...i didn't watch it alone and the others that saw it thought it wasn't funny as well. We got it, trust me. I guess it just couldn't live up to the hype. Same for animal house. I thought the parade thing was just...a lame point. I liked Real Genuis better...a lot better.

But, give us some of your disappointments.

Forrest Gump left me with a "eh so what" feeling.

I try to avoid media hype and advertisements about movies I know are coming and want to see (i.e. The Dark Knight) only so I won't get all worked up about it and end up being disappointed.

A movie all my friends raved about but I didn't like at all was Little Shop of Horrors.

Well, picking on "Ghost Rider" is too easy.

One movie that disappointed me was "Bridge to Terabithia." It was billed as a Narnia-type fantasy, but everthing happens in the kids' imagination. While the movie strives to make a point about the value of imagination, it comes off as cloyingly cute and simplistic--and this opinion is from someone who's enjoyed other children's fantasies such as Narnia and "Sky High."

I actually disliked this movie. I remember being enraged that it beat The Shawshank Redemption for the Oscar.

More recent stuff? I finally saw Hostel and thought it was garbage (in fact I didn't watch it to the end).

30 Days of night wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.

I thought "Saving Private Ryan" was one of the most boring movies I have ever seen. I can't believe some people rave about it.

The recent Atonement was so boring that it could cure anyone's insomnia. Then again, I didn't think it would be *that* great.

Hm. Probably the biggest dissapointments for me the last few years are Pirates of the Carribean 2 and then especially PotC 3. I had genuine high hopes after the first one and I thought they were both just down right rubbish. Subseqent re-watches of various scenes only confirm this. Probably my biggest dissapointment of the last decade (considering disspointment means movies I had high hopes for).

Tried to watch Forrest Gump three times only to end up that falling asleep 1/2 way. So never saw the ending at all.

I was like huh? when I saw "I am Legend".

Sorry to hear disappointment about some of these movies that I love -- "Forrest Gump", "Saving Private Ryan", "Animal House", "The Royal Tanenbaums", and "This is Spinal Tap."

Some of the comedies I think might not hold up because of shifting comedic sensibilities or something that was awesome when it came out has been done so many times since then, if you see the movie for the first time years later, the humor falls flat because it's not fresh.

But one disappointment for me was "Citizen Kane". I'm sure it was very innovative at the time and I can appreciate the craft behind it, but when something's been called the "Greatest Movie Of ALL TIME" so many times, it's hard not to be let down.

I am horribly shallow, so almost any movie that is critically acclaimed, I'll find a snoozefest, while stuff like Army of Darkness leaves me with a big ol' grin.

E.T., Close Encounters and 2001: A Space Odyssey are examples of movies that I *wanted* to like, being a fan of sci-fi, but found terribly disappointing.

Give me the option to watch any of those movies, or the Lost in Space remake, and I'll be watching the Lost in Space remake, because it at least had some funny moments.

I can't call Transformers disappointing, because I expected it to be a boring plot-less special effects-fest along the lines of, uh, every other Michael Bay movie, ever.

I am such a masochist. I keep watching Tom Hanks movies, and I haven't been able to *stand* one of them since Splash (and, frankly, I think that the only reason I liked Splash is because Daryl Hannah had her clothes off a lot).

DaVinci Code? Most over-rated book and movie, ever. Freaking 'controversy' that's been around for 1400 years. Oh, he's so edgy, for a freaking coelacanth!

Agreed. It's not that I think it's a bad movie or anything, it's just I could probably easily name 100 movies that think are better than it, so I find it puzzling that so many people consider it the greatest thing ever.

I also didn't think highly of "Citizen Kane," but I absolutely loved "The Third Man." It has the most interesting music - all of which is performed on a zither. Very cool!

Debbie Does Gitmo was low-class, even for porn. Not even worth a Sexflix rental...

But did it really disappoint you?

Perhaps, he disappointed himself, lol.

Other disappointments- the Tom Clancy movie of Jack Ryan with Ben Aflac. (I know, it just that the duck is more entertaining, lol.)

Addams family reunion- but honestly, who expected it to be good?

Elvira's haunted hills- fun for what it was, but i was hoping for something more for her second feature.

By the same token, House II- not much of the charm from the first movie. And man, i never even saw a house three, but there was a house four?

Million Dollar Baby- okay, i like boxing, and i like looking at hot chicks (what straight guy doesn't, lol) but Hillary ain't all that swank, and the movie was kinda...dull.

Small gems- Seraphim Falls, both Pierce and Liam did a great job, on what was obviously not a high budget film. Angelica is still a hottie, even though she is beginning to show her age.

Poodle Springs- yes, i know, it was cable, and it had that really short dude thats supposed to be a tough guy as lead, but any Phillip Marlowe i can get is good phillip marlowe, lol.

Fright Night II- much more fun than one.

Dances with Wolves ~ I saw it when it was already on the "C" circuit at a neat little place called the Brewhouse (a bar/lounge with a movie screen. You sit around tables and order food off a menu and watch the movie)

It was so god-awful boring that we couldn't even drink ourselves into oblivion while waiting for it to end. It's the only movie that I've ever chosen to walk out on.

Oh where do I start? Pretty much anything with a former (post original cast) SNL cast member. I especially loathe Mike Meyers and why anyone finds him funny is completely beyond me. maybe this isn't so much "disappointment: as I more or less expect this class of movies to suck.

One that really sticks out is "Be Cool" a supposed sequel to Get Shorty -a pretty decent film. Be Cool was so horrible I came close to walking out but thought my friend were enjoying it, turns out they felt the same way.

Any movie that you see lots of commercials for will almost inevitably suck (there are a few exceptions, Iron Man was pretty good) so spare yourself the expense and the inevitable disappointment and avoid overly advertised movies.

M Night Shama-lama-ding-dong's The Happening fits in that category, from what I've heard... haven't seen it, nor will I. Shock-gore and environmental preachiness, no thank you!

It'd be funny, though, to make a spoof called "The What's Happening"... just to see a bunch of dancing Reruns jumping off the rooftop... or Rog laying under that industrial lawnmower...

I agree with this assessment. I'd say 95% of this long list of movies is crap.

Forest Gump - man, I loved this movie!

Citizen Kane - I like the film a lot, but agree that I can think of others that are better. My film teacher in college thought this wasn't even Welles' best film and that "A Touch of Evil" was. He made a strong arguement and I think 'Touch' is excellent (but again, its largely ignored by critics while Citizen Kane is so largely trumpeted). On the other hand, I think Casablanca, my favorite movie of all time, deserves 100% of the praise its gotten over the years.

I once walked out on a Leonardo DiCaprio movie about the man in the iron mask in which he plays Louis XIV. Even though I wasn't all that into it I might have been able to stick it out, but then he responded to one of his ministers with a "yuh-huh" and I just couldn't take it anymore.

My partner and I argued about whether to go to a film I wanted to see, Kate and Leopold, or his choice, a Lord of The Rings film. I "won". He picked the next three or four films after that one.

God, I thought the brain cells I lost when I watched that snoozefest were gone forever. But now they're back.

The damn *horse* was the best part of that movie.

And then I watched Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which was pretty cool, and remember thinking that Costner's lifeless bored 'get me out of here' performance really dragged down what could have been the best movie in years.

It was later said that he was 'tired' from working back to back on Polkas with Porcupines and I remember thinking, 'Oh, so because he spent so much time on a movie that *sucked,* a movie that was pretty good suffered?' Ugh.

And as long as I'm bashing Costner. Field of Dreams. Also, Waterworld.

On the other tentacle, No Way Out frikkin' *rocked.*

"Give me the option to watch any of those movies, or the Lost in Space remake, and I'll be watching the Lost in Space remake, because it at least had some funny moments."

HAH!

I saw the LIS film twice... loved it both times, despite its faults.

Along similar lines... I've gone to see ALIEN several times... INCLUDING its reissue not long ago, which I went so I could see the scenes I'd read about so long ago that were cut.

But given a choice of that and something-- heh-- "similar"-- I'll take THE GREEN SLIME!!! (By a mile!)

"Polkas with Porcupines"

You know... that just sounds SO MUCH like it OUGHT to be a movie... or at least, a cartoon short.


"Oh, OUGHT is such a TERRIBLE word!"
--Simon Templar / THE SAINT IN NEW YORK (1938)