Movies Rated Poor - That are worth a look.

[bobbo_the_Pragmatist]

I've been holding off watching "The Ledge" from its tag line and from the One Star Review. But I caught it last night and was thoroughly absorbed by it. The set up is a bit contrived...I mean imagine a psycho born again fundamentalist? So...after that improbable, the plot/theme held together pretty well.

In my youth, I had contact with many quite desirable women....but if they were married or even in a steady positive relationship, I treated them as totally off limits. Polite but not even engaging them. Steady and a bad relationship?...I approached to assess the goods..... found a few.

but in any of those situations, go after another person's significant other.... and you are opening yourself up to the vagaries of the other person. Its a risk.... sometimes ending in more than harsh words....but I found suspicious and accusatory spoused even with my more than pristine standards and conduct.

Spoiler:

I think the guy actually wanted to die....so he took the high road as part of it,

otherwise the existential principle would apply: "you" are not responsible for what other people do. That theme was not examined But a good flick in my opinion.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535970/

[ahhell]

I was entertained by "lady in the water" it was better than "the Village."

Probably because I have a weakness for Sci fi:
I sorta liked battlefield earth, it wasn't good but it was entertaining enough.
Water World and the Postman weren't as bad as claimed. I was entertained by both.
I really love Dune.

I thought the ledge was not nearly as smart as it wanted to be and ended up being quite boring. Also, the atheist vs fundie was kind of shoe horned into the plot.

[bobbo_the_Pragmatist]

I don't know how to assess how smart a movie wishes to be....but boring movies are just that.... doesn't matter what else they are ................well, maybe the photography? some of the best movies can be watched once for the movie/story, again maybe for an actor you enjoy, then again for the photography. My favorite example of that is Ryan Daughter. As to movies that are better than advertised that fit that category......maybe "The Counselor."

I agree with your SF review......so, could be some value in going over our one disagreement?? As in: what is it that is actually not enjoyable or interesting which is what makes it boring? "Love conquers all" or justifies itself is a popular meme. Its just that in life, I think its mostly not true. That holds interest for me.

[Monster]

Zardoz is generally hated, and I love it.

[bobbo_the_Pragmatist]

I've watched the first half of Zardoz several times but the Universe is conspiring against me to ever watch the second half. It keeps getting cut off or missing. A month from now, I plan to join Amazon fire Stick....I've added Zardoz to my bucket list. Now...using my rule, I think I could watch Zardoz simply for Sean wearing underroos?

[ahhell]

I don't know how to assess how smart a movie wishes to be....but boring movies are just
I agree with your SF review......so, could be some value in going over our one disagreement?? As in: what is it that is actually not enjoyable or interesting which is what makes it boring? "Love conquers all" or justifies itself is a popular meme. Its just that in life, I think its mostly not true. That holds interest for me.

Mostly I think there wasn't enough plot to fill a movie, the cop's subplot wan't very relevant to the rest of the movie, and the Atheist vs christian thing didn't matter but it is what was used to sell the move and ate up a lot of screen time.

If it had all been part of some larger plot in say a tv show, it might have worked for me. If say the cops story was part of an ongoing police procedural where I cared about the cop for instance. Or the 3 main characters existed in the context of an ongoing drama based on something else.

It really comes down to me leaving the theater with an underwhelming sense of meh.

Zardoz is a terrible movie but one I can actually watch over decade or so. It left me with an overwhelming sense of, WTF? Which makes it worth watching.

[bobbo_the_Pragmatist]

Leaving the theater? Ok..... this highlights something. MOST movies aren't worth the effort and hassle of going to the theater. Hanging out at home with the bathroom, kitchen and privacy right there is an entirely different thing.

I also tended to tune out when the religious subplot was on screen, but it was kinda necessary to show the motivation of the revenge plot....and right now, I totally blanked on the cop sub-plot. I agree that was filler.

Even now I think if I didn't want to kill myself anyway, I would have said: "Look man, I'm not killing myself. If you decide to kill wifey, thats on you." I've never understood the "I'll kill you or abuse you if you don't love me"...but I've seen enough people act that way........... just like characters in a bad film.

Regarding the theme: was it love, revenge, taking responsibility, .... etc. Quite a few were raised, enough to catch the interest of a few?

[Matthew Ellard]

Zardoz is a terrible movie but one I can actually watch over decade or so. It left me with an overwhelming sense of, WTF? Which makes it worth watching.

Matthew's list of Excellent "WTF is going on?" Science Fiction Movies
* 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968)
* Phase IV (1974) Trailer = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuhgBvOWb_k
* Slaughterhouse Five ( 1972) Trailer = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvlZtlBfCi0
* The Illustrated Man (1969) Trailer = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9uDkTHj6k0
* Zardoz (1974) Trailer = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbGVIdA3dx0
* Stalker (Russian 1979) Trailer (Eng Subt) = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbGVIdA3dx0
* Solaris ( Russian 1972) Trailer (Eng Subt) = https://vimeo.com/89159669
* The Prisoner TV Series (1967) Trailer = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFX6M-t1NTI

( The trailers are old and look terrible, however the movies themselves are generally high quality )

[ahhell]

2001 is super overrated
Slaughterhouse Five is ok, I think time hasn't treated it well, in a way too good a movie.
Illustrated man, meh, an anthology that is more than a little dated with some portions that are quite good.
The Prisoner was all right. I think its fans are a bit to....enthusiastic.

Haven't seen the rest.

Everything about Zardoz was crazy. A big part of my WTF? is How the F#@$ did this get made. What producer read the script and said, "I'm putting my money on this!" Where, the rest of your list that I've seen, I can at least see what they were trying to do. Zardoz, they must have gotten high and brainstormed the plot and spent a pretty good budget bringing it to life.

[Matthew Ellard]

Everything about Zardoz was crazy. A big part of my WTF? is How the F#@$ did this get made. What producer read the script and said, "I'm putting my money on this!" Where, the rest of your list that I've seen, I can at least see what they were trying to do. Zardoz, they must have gotten high and brainstormed the plot and spent a pretty good budget bringing it to life.

John Boorman, the director had just had a very lucrative hit with "Deliverance". He filmed Zardoz around his own country home and paid Sean Connery US$200K for a film that's total production cost was US$1.5million.

If you look at some of the "Exterminators" in the background wide shots, you will notice they are wearing red swimming trunks and the red sashes are painted onto them. It really was quite a cheap movie.

Boorman went on the direct "Excalibur" which is also a pretty weird film.

Excalibur.jpg

[ahhell]

A few people that eventually became famous in Excalibur
Liam Neeson
Patrick Stewart
Helen Mirren
Gabriel Byrne

speaking of Patrick Stewart, Lifeforce, another just strange film that's worth a watch.

[Monster]

Some more underrated movies:

Strange Brew
Monty Python's Life of Brian
The 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies
Alien 3

I don't understand people's dislike of Alien 3, or the latter two Matrix movies. All three of those movies are fine. Sure, the 3rd Matrix movie is somewhat underwhelming, but it definitely doesn't suck. None of those movies suck.

And I'll continue.
Lady in the Water. Yes, really. I see absolutely nothing wrong with this movie. I'm not saying it's wonderful, but it doesn't suck. I don't understand the hatred that this movie gets.

Robocop 2. Sure, it's not a great movie, but it's still a lot of fun to watch, in the same way that I find Starship Troopers and Transformers 2 fun to watch.

[ahhell]

I think the reason the Matrix sequels are so hated is because folks thought the Matrix was super deep and meaningful where it was really just vague and cool looking. Then the sequels filled out the mythology and it was kinda lame and really burst the balloon.

Alien 3, because Alien and Aliens were truly great movies and Alien 3 was just ok.

[ElectricMonk]

1941

hilarious WW2 persiflage with John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and others.

Best Steven Spielberg of all times in my book.

[Gord]

Alien 3

I don't believe Alien³ is rated "poor". IMDb gives it 6.4 out of 10. It won the 1993 Golden Reel Awards for "Best Sound Editing: Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Film" okay that sounded more impressive in my head

[Matthew Ellard]

A few people that eventually became famous in Excalibur .......Helen Mirren

Ahhhh, this is the advantage of being an Australian. Helen Mironov (Mirrem) made her teenage nude debut in an Australian film called "Age of consent. (1969)"

helen mirrem.jpg

Every Australian male, over 50 has very fondle fond memories of Helen Mirrem.

[Major Malfunction]

I dated a Chiko Roll model.

[Jeffk 1970]

I think the reason the Matrix sequels are so hated is because folks thought the Matrix was super deep and meaningful where it was really just vague and cool looking. Then the sequels filled out the mythology and it was kinda lame and really burst the balloon.

Alien 3, because Alien and Aliens were truly great movies and Alien 3 was just ok.

It depends on the version you see. The Director's Cut (or Assembly Line Version) is very good, watching it made me change my mind on how I view it.

[Jeffk 1970]

1941

hilarious WW2 persiflage with John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and others.

Best Steven Spielberg of all times in my book.

I liked it, too. Very funny and really underrated.

[Jeffk 1970]

A few people that eventually became famous in Excalibur
Liam Neeson
Patrick Stewart
Helen Mirren
Gabriel Byrne

speaking of Patrick Stewart, Lifeforce, another just strange film that's worth a watch.

Lifeforce came out when I was 15 years old. I somehow persuaded my mother to buy a ticket for me and a friend.

This actress, named Mathilda May:


Spent most of the movie wandering around naked. Needless to say this was one of my favorite movies as a teenager.