Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jan 6, 2015 19:49:11 GMT -5
The Top Twenty Worst Films I Watched in 2014Not trying to steal anyone else's thunder, but I enjoyed making these lists last year and have been working on my 2014 lists for a while now. Like last year I'm going to be departing from convention and including 2014 movies on this list (my best of list will not). Also note that I'm not in the habit of wasting my time with any truly dreadful movies so being on this list (especially in the first couple of slots) doesn't necessarily mean a movie is terrible so much as "relatively poor." 20. Mimic (1997): Watched on blu-ray on 10/12/2014  I actually blind-bought this thing out of blind loyalty to Guillermo del Toro. Needless to say, I kind of regret the decision. There are a couple of good ideas to be found here, but the execution is really botched in a number of ways. The thing is kind of corny at times. 19. The Imitation Game (2014): Watched theatrically on 12/28/2014  There were definitely worse movies this year, but none of them really pissed me off quite the way this one did. It’s a highly calculated movie that distorts history in a number of ways that feel incredibly phony in its mission to aggressively pander to its genteel middle aged audience who want to be “inspired” by movies like this. 18. Enemy (2014): Watched on DVD via Netflix on 7/17/2014  I’ve seen videos on the internet that make a good case for this movie, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that it feels very poorly written when it’s taken at face value. The behavior of the characters just does not make sense in execution, and no psychological reading changes that.
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on Jan 6, 2015 19:54:22 GMT -5
Heh. Mimic.
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Jan 6, 2015 19:57:19 GMT -5
I think Enemy is an interesting little movie with some cool visuals, even if it isn't as smart as it thinks it is. I also don't think The Imitation Game is really worthy of listing here.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Jan 6, 2015 20:03:11 GMT -5
Dracula can't let Cooper have the spotlight.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2015 20:36:06 GMT -5
Enemy looked pretty interesting.
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frankyt
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Post by frankyt on Jan 6, 2015 20:46:25 GMT -5
Yea I was looking forward to watching it... I heard it was pretentious... but I'll still give it a shot sometime. I like the director.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jan 6, 2015 20:52:21 GMT -5
Enemy is a movie that works in theory better than in practice. There is a way to interpret it that is interesting, but if you take it at face value its characters' behavior is peculiar to the point of distraction and it doesn't work at all. IMO, movies like that need to work on both levels, others disagree.
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Jibbs
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Post by Jibbs on Jan 6, 2015 23:01:33 GMT -5
#1 is going to be Interstellar.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jan 6, 2015 23:09:40 GMT -5
#1 is going to be Interstellar.  No, that obviously won't be on the list given that I was within an inch of giving that movie a full on recommendation. Spoiler, but The Imitation Game is going to be the only movie on the list that I saw theatrically. |
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Post by Jibbs on Jan 7, 2015 0:38:39 GMT -5
I was kidding. I was channeling my inner Neverending.
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Doomsday
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Post by Doomsday on Jan 7, 2015 1:52:14 GMT -5
#1 is going to be Baby Mama.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 10:09:58 GMT -5
Baby Mama had so much promise though.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jan 7, 2015 10:12:25 GMT -5
This should be the end of the "otherwise well liked movies that irked me" section of the list. The real crap starts piling up in the next section.17. Dogville (2003): Watched on DVD via Netflix on 7/4/2014  I’m generally respectful of Lars Von Treir’s work even when he’s way off on the wrong track, and I think he is indeed way off on the wrong track with this one. A lot of people like this thing, but I think it’s mostly just long and ridiculous experiment leading up to a snide joke in the closing credits. 16. Only God Forgives (2013): Watched on Blu-Ray via Netflix on 1/2/2014  I was never the biggest fan of Drive, but as clichéd as that movie was beneath it’s stylish touches, it at least made sense. That’s more than I can say about Winding Refn’s follow-up, which at times feels like a really bad acid trip. 15. Where the Wild Things Are (2009): Watched on Blu-Ray via Netflix on 1/5/2014  Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are is exquisitely made and also incredibly boring. The movie tries to place itself in the mind of a child, succeeds at doing this, but never stops to ask if that’s a good idea in the first place (it isn’t). Looking back I remember the filmmaking flourishes fondly, but actually sitting through it was a fucking ordeal.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 10:17:37 GMT -5
I love Only God Forgives.
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Jan 7, 2015 10:29:44 GMT -5
The movie tries to place itself in the mind of a child A very disturbed child. |
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Jan 7, 2015 11:08:50 GMT -5
I like Only God Forgives, but it's not the kind of movie I need to jump up and defend.
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iverdawg
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Post by iverdawg on Jan 7, 2015 11:16:56 GMT -5
Where the Wild Things Are is amazing.
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SnoBorderZero
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Post by SnoBorderZero on Jan 7, 2015 11:41:00 GMT -5
I'm with you on "Dogville" Drac, I generally enjoy (probably the wrong word) von Trier's work and I liked the premise of the film being acted out entirely on a stage, but at 3 hours that novelty wears off fast and the story itself isn't very interesting. I had seen "Breaking the Waves" and "Dancer in the Dark" beforehand, and the plot of "Dogville" was essentially a retread of "female lead gets punished for basically nothing".
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 11:54:00 GMT -5
Lars is terrible with dialogue too. I remember cringing at some of the stupidity spoken by the characters in Nymphomaniac.
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jan 7, 2015 11:56:39 GMT -5
I'm with you on "Dogville" Drac, I generally enjoy (probably the wrong word) von Trier's work and I liked the premise of the film being acted out entirely on a stage, but at 3 hours that novelty wears off fast and the story itself isn't very interesting. I had seen "Breaking the Waves" and "Dancer in the Dark" beforehand, and the plot of "Dogville" was essentially a retread of "female lead gets punished for basically nothing". Yeah, I've been liking him a lot more now that he's out of his "insanely naively innocent female protagonist" phase. |
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SnoBorderZero
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Post by SnoBorderZero on Jan 7, 2015 15:25:45 GMT -5
I'm with you on "Dogville" Drac, I generally enjoy (probably the wrong word) von Trier's work and I liked the premise of the film being acted out entirely on a stage, but at 3 hours that novelty wears off fast and the story itself isn't very interesting. I had seen "Breaking the Waves" and "Dancer in the Dark" beforehand, and the plot of "Dogville" was essentially a retread of "female lead gets punished for basically nothing". Yeah, I've been liking him a lot more now that he's out of his "insanely naively innocent female protagonist" phase. Same here, I'm going to watch the two Nymphomaniac films in the next couple weeks. I'm going in hoping I'll like it (again, probably the wrong word) as much as "Antichrist" and "Melancholia", but we shall see. |
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Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jan 7, 2015 15:30:54 GMT -5
Yeah, I've been liking him a lot more now that he's out of his "insanely naively innocent female protagonist" phase. Same here, I'm going to watch the two Nymphomaniac films in the next couple weeks. I'm going in hoping I'll like it (again, probably the wrong word) as much as "Antichrist" and "Melancholia", but we shall see. Nymphomaniac is actually one of his most entertaining movies and (graphic sex aside) one of his most (relatively) accessible. It's more of a dark comedy than his last two films. |
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Post by SnoBorderZero on Jan 7, 2015 15:51:56 GMT -5
Same here, I'm going to watch the two Nymphomaniac films in the next couple weeks. I'm going in hoping I'll like it (again, probably the wrong word) as much as "Antichrist" and "Melancholia", but we shall see. Nymphomaniac is actually one of his most entertaining movies and (graphic sex aside) one of his most (relatively) accessible. It's more of a dark comedy than his last two films. Interesting, I'm looking forward to it. Say what you want about the guy, but he always delivers you a helluva cinematic ride. |
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PG Cooper
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Post by PG Cooper on Jan 7, 2015 19:15:40 GMT -5
All I've seen from the dude is Nymphomaniac, which I thought was pretty damn good.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 19:26:47 GMT -5
Melancholia was better, IMO.
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No, that obviously won't be on the list given that I was within an inch of giving that movie a full on recommendation. Spoiler, but The Imitation Game is going to be the only movie on the list that I saw theatrically.
