Hello all,
This list might be tougher then the last because I fully acknowledge that some of the following movies have serious flaws, but aren't anywhere near as terrible as most people think. If you read the last post and were like "how can he hate on those movies?" then you have your virtual revenge and laugh at my taste here. As always, I realize this is super subjective. I also am going to try and list more 'known' movies... I'll save my "7 movies that no one saw yet are still really good" for another time.
7. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
This was a toughest addition to the list, because I really love all parts of this movie and a number of my friends do as well. I think the musical satire is really cleverly done, integrating a lot of musical history to go along with the more specific parodies of Walk the Line and Ray.
The biggest problem this movie had was the inexplicable December 21 release date, effectively burying it against the following releases the same or the preceding weekend: National Treasure 2, Alvin and the Chipmunks, I am Legend, Sweeney Todd, and the Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts vehicle Charlie Wilson's War. As a result, it ended up with only a 20 M gross on a 35 M budget, although brisk DVD sales enable the movie to break even.
I'm not sure if the movie was disliked or just lost in the shuffle, but I think its one of the better comedies so it opens the list.
6. Little Nicky
Adam Sandler definitely has a mixed bag, and to me it depends on how "normal" his character is: Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and the Waterboy are pretty good while Grownups, Big Daddy, and Mr. Deeds leave some to be desired. Little Nicky is a throwback in tone to the epic screwball comedies with the cast stuffed to the gills with celebrities and comedians. Yes, Sandler's Nicky voice gets grating and yes, the love story is very terrible. Pretty much every Sandler buddy gets to cash a paycheck, however, I feel like the scattershot nature of the movie makes the array of cameos easier to handle then more serious movies (Walk Hard also did a nice job balancing the cameos with the story).
However, some of the sight and throwaway gags make me laugh so much. Bill Walton's hair on fire, Dan Marino's frustrations with the Devil, Rodney Dangerfield as Lucifer getting no respect, and the inevitable Rob Schneider appearance all provide a ton of comedy. The movie is so silly and ridiculous that Sandler plays a sort of "straight" character who acts as a plot moving vehicle to get from set piece to set piece. Yes, I realize that not all the jokes work and the plot makes no sense, but the point of comedies is to make someone laugh. Its totally subjective, but a lot of people hated/hate Little Nicky... Timeless classic no, but not as completely awful as the popular opinion.
5. Return to Oz
This one is tough because it might be more of underrated or unknown movie then hated. I guess I'm going at this one from the critic's point of view in that Return to Oz just wasn't that good. Siskel and Ebert put it on their "worst of the year" list and the movie bombed theatrically grossing only 11 M on a 25 M budget. When people talk about 80s fantasy movies, nostalgic or otherwise, I usually hear mention of Labryinth, Neverending Story, Time Bandits, Conan, or Legend but rarely Return to Oz.
The biggest problem the movie had is that its the first live action "Oz" movie since the original Wizard of Oz, the charming, colorful, and immensely popular 1939 musical (an aside - this is weird in part because Frank Baum wrote over a dozen Oz books and only 2 have been made into live action movies and I dont count The Wiz. With all the remakes and sequels floating around, I'd love to see Tim Burton, Spike Jonze, Tarsem, or another visually dynamic filmmaker take a crack at an Oz movie). Return to Oz has a much darker tone, closer to the books, although it still has that pulsing surreal whimsy of the original movie.
Ironically, the thing that most people remember about Return to Oz is the scare factor. Between the demented Wheelers, the creepy stop motion gnomes, and the desert that turns all living matter that touches it into sand, its definitely intense. However, the wicked witch from Return to Oz is one of the more terrifying villains in any movie and the level of peril actually makes Dorothy's adventures a little more engaging. Unlike the sunny original, the characters are in varying degrees of peril throughout the movie, making the exciting climax more satisfying. Sort of a cult movie now, its definitely worth a watch if you like dark fantasy.
4. The Thin Red Line
I really debated putting this movie on this list, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and a lot of critical love back when it released back in 1998. The problem the Thin Red Line had was getting constantly compared to a little WW2 movie called Saving Private Ryan that was unfortunately released in the same year.
Thin Red Line was the return to directing by the great and somewhat reclusive Terrance Malick, his first movie at that point in 20 years. This might be the most beautiful non documentary movie I've ever seen, which is interesting because its in part about the bloody battle of Guadacanal. Malick treats the natural environment as a supporting character, using a natural perspective to show the effects of war along with the stresses on the different soldiers.
I'll admit that the movie is long (just under 3 hours), the pace is often slow and a lot of people were lost amongst the vast multitude of characters... In other words, this is a movie that you don't want to turn on at midnight. Its also a movie that you really need to see more than once because its a little hard to understand all the different character arcs the first time. I know they look similar, but Jim Caviezel's character goes AWOL and back to nature, while Ben Chaplin's character is the one with the flashbacks about his wife. I mention this because the actors look somewhat similar and some critics even confused these 2 main characters with each other.
One criticism I've heard is the amount of famous actors in glorified cameos, but almost everyone plays their part extremely well (John Travolta with a horrid mustache possible the lone exception) and the disjointed nature of the cast works well with the chaotic nature of wartime military. With hard hitting dramatic veterans like Nick Nolte, Elias Koteas, Sean Penn, John Cusack, and John C. Reilly all performing well, the movie was completely stolen by Jim Caviezel who I think deserved an Oscar nomination for his intensely introspective performance (Its sad to me that Caviezel's career seemed to peak with his portrayal of Jesus in Passion of the Christ).
3. Jersey Girl
Its not a View Askew movie (no Jay or Silent Bob), it features Jennifer Lopez in a small supporting part, and Liv Tyler falls in love with Ben Affleck... again. Jersey Girl is a comedy with a lot of heart and isnt the awful bomb it was billed to be at all. Its a romantic comedy with a lot of actual comedy to go with the romance (Kate Hudson, Katherine Heigl, take note of that) including a hilarious elementary school rendition of Sweeney Todd.
Beyond the unfair negative criticism the casting of Jennifer Lopez brought, the fact that the movie was a distinct departure from Smith's normal screwball comedies almost doomed it to failure. Smith's core audience didn't get the sex humor and pop culture jokes while mainstream audiences didn't come out to see a movie from the notoriously risque Smith. The DVD cover confirms this confused identity as Smith's face is up on the top right corner, despite the fact that he doesn't appear onscreen, as a way to say "hey, remember this funny guy, he was involved in the movie, go see it!"
Jersey Girl has a lot of heart and emotion and to me resembles a Cameron Crowe film more then a Smith one (with Liv Tyler playing a manic pixie dream girl type). Surprisingly, Ben Affleck and George Carlin make a believable family unit. The movie is stolen completely by ten year old Raquel Castro who plays Affleck's daughter and manages to act like a 10 year, avoiding the child actor cliches of being cloyingly cutesy or overtly mature and adult. In the end, a lot of the trashing of the stars of the movie clouded how good and genuine the actual movie is.
2. Soldier
This is the other movie that I debated about putting in it because its almost completely forgotten and unknown. I think I'm the only person I've met who really loves this movie, so I can't even call it a cult classic. I really love Kurt Russell as an actor: hes been in some utterly terrible movies like 3,000 Miles to Graceland and Overboard but he also starred in the amazing remake of The Thing as well as Escape from New York Tombstone, and Backdraft.
The main plot of Soldier: a soldier raised from birth to be a killing machine becomes obsolete after the next generation of soldiers are genetically constructed to be better physical specimens... The classic balance of physical power against smarts and tactics. The movie keeps it simple and on an emotional level, Kurt Russell makes it all happen. He has extremely minimal dialogue throughout, but his wounded eyes and body language convey more than a three-page monologue. The main character thread propels the movie the whole way; his search for purpose after being denied what he is.
The actual action is bloody and intense and reminded me of the better parts of 80s action fests like Rambo and Commando. In fact, the whole movie has a great retro vibe and is definitely the best work of Paul Anderson (who also directed all the Resident Evil movies as well as the Mortal Kombat movie) The supporting cast is also able, with the criminally underused Sean Pertwee as the human dad, Jason Isaacs bringing the evil, Jason Scott Lee being mucho ripped and intense as the next gen soldier, and even a fun extended cameo by Gary Busey of all people. Soldier was dismissed as being derivative and is often lumped in with Anderson's other terrible movies, but I find it a super fun and engaging 80s style action fest. Bonus points because the screenwriter also worked on Blade Runner and made Soldier to exist in the same universe (some of the same technology is present in both movies).
1. Lady in the Water
Yep, M. Night Shymalan is a walking punchline now, with the appearance of his name in the Devil trailer causing the whole theater I saw the movie in to erupt with laughter. Yep, Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Happening were both completely dreadful cinematic abortions. No, Lady in the Water isn't perfect. But to almost everyone, it gets lumped in with those 2 terrible movies instead of being put with Unbreakable, Signs, and the 6th Sense where I think it belongs.
Shymalan's better movies involve him making a "mature" version of a very simple, archetypal story. Thus, 6th Sense is his "ghost" movie, Unbreakable is the "superhero", Signs is the "alien invasion", and Lady in the Water is his "fairytale/fantasy". The movie has a definite meta awareness with a lot of the usual fairytale cliches being inverted and the twist at the ending plays on the audience's expectations. There's even a character whos a film critic who comments and lampshades the various plot devices of fairytales within the movie.
The best subversion involves the schlubby Paul Giamatti in the "handsome prince" role and he puts on a nuanced, interesting performance opposite the ethereal Bryce Dallas Howard (who I like a lot better here than in the Village). The trademark Shymalan suspense shows up as the shapeshifting wolflike villain is actually fairly frightening while kept in the shadows/background. Critics that hated the movie treated the plot far too literally while forgetting that its basically a fairytale. A lot of what makes fairytales fantastical and magical doesn't make much sense and over analyzing the plots are silly.
Lady in the Water does have some dodgy supporting acting, the dialogue isnt perfect, but I really love the spirit, tone, and look of the movie and don't think that it deserved to buried in a similar grave to Shymalan's recent terribleness.
I think my next post will be my favorites of 2010 (I've now seen all 10 Oscar best pic nominees and the only popular movies I haven't seen are Tangled and Tron Legacy). Since I don't work at a video store anymore and don't have unlimited access to all movies, the format will change. I won't do a separate top and bottom 7, but a top and bottom 3 in the same post with some favorite moments from movies that didn't make the cut included. So that's whats in the works next. Anything specific anyone wants to know, speak up... I know lists are a cop out, but Id rather write a little about a bunch of movies rather then a bunch about a few.
Till next time
Patrick
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