Movies that are not as good as you remembered | The Boneyard

Movies that are not as good as you remembered

nelsonmuntz

nelsonmuntz

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Watched the end of Scent of a Woman yesterday. I can not figure out why I thought this was a really good movie. The Thanksgiving scene was excellent, but after that, I am not clear what the message of the movie is other than "stop snitching". This movie also marks the beginning of Pacino's scenery chewing era.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
Watched the end of Scent of a Woman yesterday. I can not figure out why I thought this was a really good movie. The Thanksgiving scene was excellent, but after that, I am not clear what the message of the movie is other than "stop snitching". This movie also marks the beginning of Pacino's scenery chewing era.
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Its worth it just the the Tango with that chick.
 
Most Quentin Tarantino movies.

I usually like them on first pass and then wonder what the hell I was thinking when I see them again.

I make an exception for The Hateful Eight which was awful the first and second time through.

From way back...Stripes.

That movie was idiotic. I think most of us remember the few Army scenes as being funny and forget the part where they take the RV into Eastern Europe.
 
Comedies are tough, because they are usually making cultural references that don't make sense 10 or 20 years later. That fact highlights the brilliance of Caddyshack and Airplane, which are still hilarious 30+ years later.

I am also willing to give older movies a pass on special effects, to a point.

More:

Towering Inferno - this POS was nominated for 8 freaking Oscars, including Best Picture? This movie is what would happen if you set the Love Boat on fire, except the Love Boat is less cheesy. The movie also rips off the Poseiden Adventure. It is just freaking terrible.

Broadcast News - saw this in high school, and I thought it was so deep and insightful. I also immediately identified with the Albert Brooks character and thought Holly Hunter was adorable. The movie is still OK, and maybe even worthy of some of its Oscar nominations, but not an all time great. Holly Hunter is annoying and chews the scenery, and Albert Brooks character is just a Spartacus-hole. Why is Hunter even conflicted over Brooks? Finally, the William Hurt character seems much more appealing in hindsight. He tries to help Brooks even though Brooks is mean to him, and he is basically just a nice guy throughout the film. Finally, the big turning point, doing a cutaway reaction shot and fake crying, seems quaint by today's news standards.

Forrest Gump - How the Spartacus did this film beat out Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction for an Oscar? Forrest is a fun, feel good movie and Hanks does a great job, but the movie is emotionally manipulative, Jenny is just a terrible person which creates plot problems for everyone's motivations (wouldn't Forrest's over protective mother have slit Jenny's throat before letting that succubus near her son?), and a big part of why the movie won a statue was the special effect of splicing Hanks into scenes with historic people, something that every high school AV department could do within about 5 years of that movie coming out. Pulp Fiction and Shawshank are two of the best movies of all time, and a case could be made that even Quiz Show was more Oscar worthy.
 
August_West said:
She raped a disabled person and then gave him the Hivvy.

She is very Sansa stark in her evil ways.
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The Sansa obsession bleeds into another thread. Just once we need a thread without Sansa or Arbys.
 
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Fishy said:
Most Quentin Tarantino movies.

I usually like them on first pass and then wonder what the hell I was thinking when I see them again.

I make an exception for The Hateful Eight which was awful the first and second time through.

From way back...Stripes.

That movie was idiotic. I think most of us remember the few Army scenes as being funny and forget the part where they take the RV into Eastern Europe.
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Stripes is hilarious, John Candy beating up all the mud wrestlers with Rubberband man playing in the background is one of the greatest scenes in cinematic history.
 
Not all movies stand the test of time, and many don't hold up to re-watching at all. As noted, comedies struggle with this, except the very best of them, most Monty Python, the Blues Brothers, Animal House, Young Frankenstein etc. The Simon Pegg/Nick Frost movies seem very re-watchable.

I'm with Fishy on Tarantino movies. Others that don't hold up, campy cult classics. Highlander, Conan the Barbarian, and dare I say it, the Evil Dead series. Army of Darkness has some great quotes, but it's otherwise pretty boring, and it's the best one.
 
Fishy said:
Most Quentin Tarantino movies.
From way back...Stripes.

That movie was idiotic. I think most of us remember the few Army scenes as being funny and forget the part where they take the RV into Eastern Europe.
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Stripes was always 2 movies, funny thru the graduation scene, inane farce with the RV in Eastern Europe. I only watch it thru the graduation.

I thought Teen Wolf was a 'good bad movie' as amusing ridiculousness on cable, but I tried watching it with my 12-year old recently and it was just plain bad & littered with high school cliché
 
Body Heat. It seems like revisionist history now. Not sure what we all saw in Kathleen Turner, but she turned frumpy shortly thereafter. Hard to watch this thinking she was ever a siren.

Fatal Attraction, pretty much same reason - now gives the heebie jeebies as who in hell would ever want Glenn Close in the first place.

Big Chill. With age, it hasn't ripened, it's rotted. Really brings home the message that a whole lot of us boomers were shallow buttwipes.

I agree with both views of Stripes. It is moronic. But who hasn't had a chick sit on the stove while you attack her with a spatula? "Who's your friend, who's your buddy?" Now Meatballs... that's a can't watch these days.
 
I grew up thinking Clash of the Titans had great special effects. Watching it now, I think Gumby claymation was better.
 
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Django and Basterds are easily two of the most re-watchable movies for me.

I actually saw Hateful 8 twice in theaters. Liked it the first time, fell asleep the 2nd.
 
walker11 said:
Django and Basterds are easily two of the most re-watchable movies for me.

I actually saw Hateful 8 twice in theaters. Liked it the first time, fell asleep the 2nd.
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The first two....eh, okay.

Hateful Eight...I don't know what part of it could be considered good.
 
Not a movie, but SNL. Watching reruns is brutal. In the full show there's maybe one or two bits that were funny.
 
storrsroars said:
Body Heat. It seems like revisionist history now. Not sure what we all saw in Kathleen Turner, but she turned frumpy shortly thereafter. Hard to watch this thinking she was ever a siren.

Fatal Attraction, pretty much same reason - now gives the heebie jeebies as who in hell would ever want Glenn Close in the first place.

Big Chill. With age, it hasn't ripened, it's rotted. Really brings home the message that a whole lot of us boomers were shallow buttwipes.

I agree with both views of Stripes. It is moronic. But who hasn't had a chick sit on the stove while you attack her with a spatula? "Who's your friend, who's your buddy?" Now Meatballs... that's a can't watch these days.
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I never got Body Heat, but was a bit too young. Agree on Fatal Attraction although the stupidity of Michael D plays even stronger, Glenn Close was coming directly via wholesome image from The Natural - hard to recreate that.
Big Chill has always had its soundtrack and pretentious detractors, I say doesn't matter still a movie that captures its generation well and is entertaining if you don't take it as cannon/seriously.
Meatballs - 1000% agree, like Stripes it always had the look-away parts of the Woody-the-wabbit character, but unlike Stripes he's littered throughout the movie and upon re-watching there's nothing entertaining about any of it, maybe it was always a teenage movie and you have to have fresh remembrances of awkward stage?

P.S. Revisionist History is a great podcast!!
 
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It is worth its own thread, but I think that teenage sex movies went through a huge transformation in the late 90's. Meatballs is terrible, and the Porky's franchise is not only terrible, but offensive. That movie grossed $105 million in 1981, which shows how stupid people were back then. Hot Dog, Ski School, and the idiotic Private Resort (one of Johnny Depp's first starring roles) are all pretty bad too.

American Pie started the improvement, which continued through Road Trip, Not Another Teen Movie, and The Girl Next Door, all of which were excellent although TGND was a little heavy at times for the genre. The pinnacle of the genre is EuroTrip, which didn't do that well at the box office but is a virtually perfect teen sex comedy. The writer deserves a mic drop for that movie.
 
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temery said:
Not a movie, but SNL. Watching reruns is brutal. In the full show there's maybe one or two bits that were funny.
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Agree. The old SNL had better actors and worse writers. I also think that TV was so god awful back then, 1970's SNL still was a huge improvement on everything else.
 
huskypantz said:
I grew up thinking Clash of the Titans had great special effects. Watching it now, I think Gumby claymation was better.
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Interestingly, Flash Gordon's special effects are terrible and the movie is ridiculous, yet it seems to get better with age. It is just a fun, stupid movie.
 
Relating the SNL comments back to movies where consensus is old comedies don't hold up conclusion is comedy often captures the moment & zeitgeist, very challenging for it to endure. So SNL re-watchability is typically less than a year and comedic movies have maybe a 10-year lifespan. Certain types of humor do endure, I think Monty Python holds up pretty well in both movie and skit form.
 
Dogdeacon said:
Relating the SNL comments back to movies where consensus is old comedies don't hold up conclusion is comedy often captures the moment & zeitgeist, very challenging for it to endure. So SNL re-watchability is typically less than a year and comedic movies have maybe a 10-year lifespan. Certain types of humor do endure, I think Monty Python holds up pretty well in both movie and skit form.
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SNL has always leaned more topical, whereas Monty Python is more classic and timeless. Benny Hill, too, from what I recall. I loved that show as a kid.
 
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nelsonmuntz said:
It is worth its own thread, but I think that teenage sex movies went through a huge transformation in the late 90's. Meatballs is terrible, and the Porky's franchise is not only terrible, but offensive. That movie grossed $105 million in 1981, which shows how stupid people were back then. Hot Dog, Ski School, and the idiotic Private Resort (one of Johnny Depp's first starring roles) are all pretty bad too.

American Pie started the improvement, which continued through Road Trip, Not Another Teen Movie, and The Girl Next Door, all of which were excellent although TGND was a little heavy at times for the genre. The pinnacle of the genre is EuroTrip, which didn't do that well at the box office but is a virtually perfect teen sex comedy. The writer deserves a mic drop for that movie.
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Never saw any of your so called improvements in the theater and admittedly hold curmudgeonly view that American Pie is wayyy overrated. However, I do think Superbad is excellent and very funny, where does that fit in your view/ratings?
 
Dogdeacon said:
Never saw any of your so called improvements in the theater and admittedly hold curmudgeonly view that American Pie is wayyy overrated. However, I do think Superbad is excellent and very funny, where does that fit in your view/ratings?
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I love Superbad. One that I will always stop on while channel surfing.

Agree with you on American Pie.
 
Dogdeacon said:
Never saw any of your so called improvements in the theater and admittedly hold curmudgeonly view that American Pie is wayyy overrated. However, I do think Superbad is excellent and very funny, where does that fit in your view/ratings?
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There is no T or A in Superbad, so it is not a teenage sex comedy.
 
Any movie with a big plot reveal; i.e. The Sixth Sense

Slumdog Millionaire -- Oh my god it's boring the second time through . . .
 
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8893 said:
What about the McLovin bed scene?
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I believe the actress is still wearing a top in that scene.

To be a teenage sex comedy, there has to be gratuitous nudity and strong sexual content. I actually can't even figure out why Superbad got an R rating other than the producers wanted one.
 
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