Monday, July 20, 2009

Monday Movie Meme - Hated it!


This week's Monday Movie Meme from the Bumbles had to happen. We spend so much time here talking about intriguing movies, movies we love, movies that make us cry, etc. Well, what about the ones we couldn't get through (or wish we hadn't)? I am a pretty tolerant person, and can usually find good in just about anything. I'm also very careful about reading reviews and avoiding the ones poorly rated. A few snuck in and caught me unawares though. Don't you wish you could have this part of your life back?

The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl - Hey, if I have to go see a kid movie in order to go to the movies at all, so be it. I check reviews generally, and at least try to see respectable ones. But now and again, on rainy days or moments of sheer boredom, I am forced to see something like this. It was even 3D, and it was horrible. Painful even.

The Black Dahlia - The book was wonderful, so I rushed out and order it on Netflix. I turned it off about half way through. Pretty pathetic for a movie about a serial murderer! Directed by Brian De Palma, and starring Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank, it really caused me to question what the hell happened.

Planet of the Apes (2001 version) - Yes, perhaps I had had a couple glasses of wine, but that shouldn't have caused me to fall asleep during the entire movie. Again, directed by Tim Burton and starring Mark Wahlberg (yeah baby!), you would think something could have held my attention.

Jaws 3 and Jaws 4 - I can always manage to slip in reference to Jaws. My daughter, at some point, became obsessed with Jaws, and requested that I order all of the sequels, against my grave warnings of potential disenchantment. In the end, I gave in. The girl has to learn her lesson sometime. These movies were so bad. You can tell which actors were struggling to pay their mortgages these years, Dennis Quaid being one of them.

Night at the Museum: The Battle of the Smithsonian - Got caught up on my naps with this one. The reviews were middling, and it had Amy Adams, so I didn't think the risk of disappointment was that high. Wrong. The jokes and tricks just aren't that funny when they are recycled. Luckily, this was a summertime double feature, and our second movie was Up.

Nacho Libre - I like Jack Black. You basically know what you are getting with him. And I will admit that I may have just not been in the right frame of mind, but this movie irritated the hell out of me. My family would be horrified at the inclusion of this movie on the Hated List. They loved it...they belly-laughed through the entire movie.

Barbie movies (Mariposa, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Thumbelina, Fairytopia, etc.) - Do yourself and your daughter a favor, and don't even go there.


So which bad movies were you bamboozled into watching?

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

oops...I love the Barbie movies, all of them. I even own DVD's of a couple. Now please dont judge me :)

Unknown said...

For once I am proud to say I haven't watched any of the ones you mention!

PS. Have you seen the comments section on my 'How to decide the best book blog' post?

Susan said...

The Barbie books are just as bad and so are the fairy ones. Bleh!

Hated Rambo: First Blood. Watching Stallone stitch up his own arm. Double bleh.

Anything with William Hurt. He annoys the hell out of me. Reminds of some smarmy snake-oil salesman. However, he usually has top-notch, A-1 leading ladies. So, I'll give him 1 star for that.

National Lampoon's European Vacation and all the ones after that. Loved the first two and they should have left it there. Chevy never knows when to say when.

I know there are lots more, but it's still early.

Kaye said...

Princess Bride! I hated that movie, yech! Yet it seems a lot of people can watch it over and over. Sigh . . maybe it's just me.

Lauren said...

Oohh - I'm glad you warned me off the 2nd Night at the Museum. I, too, was interested in seeing it (esp because Amy Adams was in it!) but haven't yet. Maybe i'll pass on it now... :)

Terry Kate said...

Naaaaaachoooo!
No offense but as a highly educated film person, I could teach college level classes on Nacho Libre.

It is shear genius in the way it breaks tons of the film making rules and is all the funnier for it.

I am truly saddened you did not enjoy it. I love a movie full of amazingly timed fart humor.

I wish you happy movie watching in future.

Terry Kate
My List is Here

Sandy Nawrot said...

Violet - I would never judge you! Actually, I find the fact that you like these movies endearing and sweet!

Jackie - I just revisited your post...wow! I think that is the most comments you've ever gotten! It is very kind of you to say something nice about my incessant need to "talk" on everyone's blogs!

Susan - Ha! Hurt is a bit smarmy, and I don't find him the least bit attractive, but I guess maybe that is his method technique! My family loves all the Vacations, except maybe the Vegas one. We're all about stupid.

Kaye - You know, I've never seen that movie! I guess maybe I'm glad.

Lauren - I guess my advice would be to rent it. It is not worthy of your cinema dollar, despite cute little Amy.

Terry - yeah, well, I'm not all that educated in the cinematic arts, so maybe that is the issue! We are all about dumb movies in our family...Good Lord, we OWN Dumb & Dumber, for crying out loud. Nacho just caught me on the wrong night!

The Gal Herself said...

I stayed away from The Black Dahlia because there's just something about Scarlett Johanssen that annoys me. Thanks for making me confident I made the right choice!

Iliana said...

Barbie movies? You can tell I don't have children :)

I have walked out of some Jim Carrey movies and I can't remember the title but it was a Richard Gere movie where he was a knight or something like that. Bleh.

Lulu said...

I like Jaws, the first one... I haven't seen the rest though... I haven't seen most of the movies you mentioned... so I am SPARED lol

Beth F said...

Thank goodness I never had to watch a Barbie movie! And Black Dahlia was very bad -- like you I got rented it after reading the book.

Sandy Nawrot said...

The Gal - There IS something about her that is trampy. The guys don't seem to mind her though. Unfortunately, I love Woody Allen movies and he seems to have taken her in...

Iliana - I'm not a huge fan of Carrey overall. I have avoided his last few movies.

Lulu - oh those sequels are just BAD. Bad acting, bad plot, the whole thing. My daughter, who is not the least bit critical, hated them too!

Beth - It somehow makes me feel better to know it wasn't just me. I couldn't even get through it!

Heidenkind said...

I haven't seen any of those movies, which is probably a good thing.

Must Love Dogs was a movie that was pretty terrible for me. I love John Cusak (one of my life goals is to see every John Cusak movie ever made), but MLD was soooooooo freaking boring. I left 1/2 way through to do the dishes, and that was way more fun that watching the movie. Not a winner.

Melody said...

My daughter loves Barbie movies! She could watch them again and again and again, LOL.

For me, I'd name M Shyamalan's Signs. I just find the plot absurb.

Lynn said...

Most of these are fine with me especially Black Dahlia but I don't know why I can't seem to finish Nacho Libre. But I like him. My husband and my daughter never tire watching this movie.

Sandy Nawrot said...

Heidenkind - I think I took the advice of some reviews and avoided MLD. I like Cusak, but he isn't so wonderful that he can save a bad movie. I loved a couple of M. Night's movies, but again, with the reviews big and stinky, I avoided most of the recent ones.

Melody - I was go glad to sell those damn Barbie movies at the garage sale! My sister, who is a movie critic, mentioned that she wished she would have walked out of The Happening. Two hours wasted, she says.

Lynn - I really like School of Rock and Be Kind Rewind, as well as others, but this one didn't cut it for me either. I personally feel you didn't miss much by not finishing it...

Melissa said...

I couldn't get through the Black Dahlia either, but I don't think I've seen any of your other mentions.

Unknown said...

One of my favorite short stories ever is "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov. So I was very excited when a film version came out and dragged three friends to see the first Saturday matinee. The ticket seller actually warned us that the movie was so bad they had to give out over 100 refunds the previous night.

My good friend said, "Well we have to see it now." About halfway through I turned to her and said, "I'm going to get some popcorn do you want any? How about a Soda? Some Candy? Maybe a magazine?"

It's a sad day at the movies when the best thing there is a snarky comment from the audience.

Literary Feline said...

I think I've seen a couple of the movies you mention at least. Planet of the Apes and Black Dahlia. I don't remember much about them, but I must not have disliked them because I would at least have remembered that much. :-)

There have been a couple of movies my husband really liked that I didn't and vice versa, I'm sure. I wouldn't say I have ever hated a movie though. Disappointed is more like it.

The Bumbles said...

OK - I'm with Susan on the Rambo First Blood comment. I caught that on late night weekend viewing recently and was absolutely blown away by how terrible it was. The acting, the "plot" - everything. I can't believe I loved it when I first saw it. *hanging head in shame*

As for Kaye's warning against The Princess Bride - I think she is in the minority and I would bet that you would get a total kick out of that one. Rent it with your kids ASAP.

Unknown said...

Did you see CBJames mention he was nominating you too?