Friday, April 27, 2007

Baddest of the Bad

The movie review web site Rotten Tomatoes recently posted a list of the 100 Worst-Reviewed Movies of All Time.

This is a little bit of an anomaly as far as these "100 Lists" go. From a certain point of view it's not subjective. The folks at the site put together a mathematical formula to determine an exact score for a movie, and then presented the 100 worst results. Of course, since this is the aggregate of the opinions of hundreds and hundreds of critics, it's ultimately quite subjective -- these results are just what some people think. And it's just the worst reviewed movies, which is not the same thing as saying they're the worst movies.

Though that said, I feel like the contents of this list are mostly awful. I was somewhat relieved to find that I'd only actually seen 7 of the films. Relieved on two levels, actually. Going in, I expected I might peg the meter pretty high, because I've seen quite a few horror films, and those generally get eviscerated by the critics. And then secondly, when I was going through the list one by one, I found I'd seen three movies ranked in the 80s alone. I figured at that rate, I was hosed!

Fortunately, things tapered off. These were the only entries it turned out I'd actually wasted my time on:

8) Twisted
9) The Master of Disguise
14) Battlefield Earth
57) I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
82) The Skulls
87) Darkness Falls
88) White Noise

Of all these movies, I feel Battlefield Earth deserves a bit of an explanation. Someone I knew was really itching to see this movie, for some reason. I said, "sorry, I have no desire whatsoever to see this movie." He says, "I have no one to go with." I say, "man, I can't do it." He says, "I'll pay for it."

I shouldn't have broken down so easily.

How many of these stinkers have you seen?

14 comments:

  1. I'm guilty on two counts:
    Gods & Generals (which I happened to like quite a bit) and... well... Epic Movie.
    That last one was for the kids who kept insisting... and they regretted it. Really. I don't think I'll get asked to go see another stupid movie for a while.
    :)
    Personally, I'm pretty sure it's the worst movie I've ever seen.

    FKL

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  2. Two, plus about five minutes of the middle of a third one when it was on cable.

    And I'm NOT owning up to which ones they are. :)

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  3. I've seen parts od Juwanna Man and Boss's Daughter on cable but not enough to say that I've actually seen one of them.

    But there were a few that I would like see but maybe watch with the mute on like Catwoman.

    The ebst is the quote up top for Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever: "A film about idiots, made by idiots, for idiots." HA!

    Brad

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  4. Heh. "A Man Apart." I spent a whole three months calling that movie "Amana Parts."

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  5. "And I'm NOT owning up to which ones they are. :) "

    Awww, come on!

    FKL

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  6. I've seen two (and maybe parts of a third).

    I saw The Skulls (actually, for some reason I think I saw it twice). It was a bad movie, but not wholly awful.

    I also saw Boat Trip. That movie was so bad, even the gratuitous nudity they threw in couldn't count as a redeeming feature.

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  7. Ok now...bearing in mind that I've been a projectionist and studio rep for almost 15 years collectively now...I hate my life after reading this list.

    Catwoman
    Taxi
    First Daughter
    Elektra
    Darkness Falls
    Kangaroo Jack
    Man of the House
    Dragonfly
    Surviving Christmas
    Lost Souls
    Chill Factor
    Ultraviolet
    Stay Alive
    The Order
    Yours Mine and ours
    The Forsaken
    The Fog
    Supercross
    Soul Surviivors
    Darkness
    The In Crowd
    Rollerball
    Christmas With The Cranks
    Baby Geniuses
    Battlefield Earth
    Godsend
    Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

    NOW. I've admitted that disaster so there is NO reason y'all can't admit your few indiscretions. ;)

    Kill me.

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  8. Man, Roland.... way to make me not feel so bad about the Battlefield Earth thing. I appreciate it. :-)

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  9. Catwoman - parts of it on TV, I don't want to see any more parts.
    Elektra - I liked it.
    Ultraviolet - I tried to like it, but couldn't.
    Jawbreaker - loved it!
    Bloodrayne - wanted to see it, still do, realize it might be awful, don't care.

    Where is "Be Cool"? The last movie that we walked out in the middle of?

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  10. I'm a little ashamed to say I've seen 16 of them;
    - 1st Daughter
    - Elektra (which wasn't horrible)
    - White Noise (again, not horrible slow, but semi-creepy)
    - Darkness Falls
    - Skulls (ugh)
    - Boss' Daughter
    - Chill Factor (Speed with refrigerators! - double Ugh. Saw it strictly for Hudson Leick, not worth it)
    - Ultraviolet (not bad when taken for what it was)
    - Jawbreaker
    - I still know..yadayada
    - Battlefield Earth
    - Envy
    - Cheaper by the dozen 2
    - In Crowd
    - Master of disguise (ugh, but there was a reason I watched it - Damn you Jason)
    - Ballistic, Ecks v Sever

    Basically I blame boredom and having HBO & Encore. Maybe I should read more...

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  11. shocho -- If you want to see more "parts" of Catwoman, you can watch Swordfish.

    (Don't forget to tip your servers, everybody. Goodnight!)

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  12. I'm looking for the list on RT but it looks like it wants me to click next 99 times. Surely you didn't all do that?

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  13. Thirty, and only that few because I've fallen behind on my Netfilx queue.

    Battlefield Earth
    Bless the Child
    Catwoman
    Darkness
    Darkness Falls
    Dragonfly
    Elektra
    Envy
    Fear Dot Com
    The Forsaken
    Gigli
    Godsend
    Half Past Dead
    House of the Dead
    I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
    Lost Souls
    A Man Apart
    The New Guy
    The Order
    Rollerball
    The Skulls
    Soul Survivors
    A Sound of Thunder
    Swept Away
    Taxi
    Twisted
    Urban Legends: Final Cut
    The Whole Ten Yards

    And the bottom two...
    Alone in the Dark
    Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever

    So, don't feel too bad...

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  14. 89 Elektra
    87 Darkness Falls
    69 The New Guy
    68 Lost Souls
    60 Stay Alive
    57 I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
    31 Soul Survivors

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