I’m going to try and watch every box-office bomb just for the heck of it. This idea came to me because I discovered I’d already seen 38 out of the 136 listed in the Wikipedia article.
Why is this a good idea? Well it probably isn’t
There are probably worse ideas though. Financial success doesn’t make a movie bad or good. Sometimes there are marketing issues, other times the budget just got out of control. Another way to label this list would be, “Movies that cost way too much to make.”
Anyway, who’s in?
UPDATE: If a director’s cut is available that is supposed to improve the movie, I’m watching that instead. This is supposed to be for fun, not suffering.
Here is the Watched list so far with my personal ratings
Title
Score out of 10
Notes
47 Ronin
4.5
Disappointing, unfinished
Battlefield Earth
7.5
Hilariously bad
Battleship
5.0
Transformers at home
Black Adam
6.5
Strong start, weak finish, fun action/spectacle
Blade Runner 2049
9.0
Gorgeous world-building, engaging story and concepts
Cowboys & Aliens
6.0
Better than I remembered on a rewatch
Ghost in the Shell
6.0
Misses the point of the og, still ok on it’s own merits
Gods of Egypt
6.6
Dumb fun, spectacle, tasty cheese
Green Lantern
5.5
Makes Green Lantern powers seem lame
Jack the Giant Slayer
5.5
Light entertainment, not terrible
John Carter
7.5
Frank Frazetta flavored visuals, HG Wells time machine vibes on setup
Jupiter Ascending
5.0
Bad, saw this one in theaters unfortunately
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
6.5
I liked what we got despite the shortcomings, wish it got a sequel
Missing Link
4.0
Nice animation, that’s about it
Mortal Engines
3.0
Fumbled
Onward
4.0
Meh
R.I.P.D.
4.0
Bleh
Rise of the Guardians
6.8
Surprisingly awesome, hard to market
Sahara
5.0
Romancing the Stone lite, not too great
Seventh Son
6.0
Fun schlock, what was going on with Jeff Bridge’s voice though?
Have fun, I guess, and make sure you’re not paying extra to watch them…I’m sure some of them tanked for political reasons, and might actually be decent.
If I can find any way to watch the worst ones for free, I’ll be doing it. I’ve actively avoided some of them due to word-of-mouth.
There is a silver lining for the truly awful movies, the people who say you can’t know something is bad unless you’ve seen it will have no ammunition. Plus, I’ve already seen some of the stinkers.
And there is a category of film that bombs that’s just so off-the-wall it just might be hilarious. Like, what the heck is “Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever”? Probably hilariously bad.
I just love the world-building in that movie and Cara is easy on the eyes for sure.
Do you agree that pairing her with Dane DeHaan was a mistake though? Not only do they look semi-related, I just don’t think DeHaan has the charisma or screen presence to pull off the swashbuckling womanizer type he was supposed to be playing.
I was perhaps overly harsh on 47 Ronin because I really wanted to like it. I just remember thinking that it was missing crucial elements as if a lot of scenes were not included in the final cut. And I didn’t think the ending felt earned.
Why didn’t you like BR 2049? I am due for a rewatch on that one actually. Did you like the original Blade Runner? And if so which cut?
You missed two: Snow White (why Disney, why?) And Waterworld was a huge failure. Super expensive and Kevin Costner almost drowned.
There’s also Labyrinth, which was a failure at the time, but became a cult classic with a huge followng later on. That movie was a brilliant example of art and theatre at their best, bit at the time didn’t get the recognition it deserved necause everyone in Hollywood was fixated on Sci-Fi and AA movies.
Everything in that Valerian movie looks as if Cara Delevigne is baby sitting Dane DeHaan.
The body’s, the (lack of) chemistry, and even the script.
Bladerunner 2049 has too much twists. They appear out of the blue.
The original Bladerunner has hardly any twist, but a lot of sub-plots that become more and more obvious.
I have only seen the first version of it, several times. Is there a better good/bad-boy than Rutger Hauer?
Snow White is still in theaters so maybe that’s why it hasn’t been added to the article. I’m gonna take that omission and run with it because I really don’t want to support the live-action remakes in general, and that one in particular looks pretty bad.
Waterworld apparently got bumped off the list due to bigger bombs coming out and the fact that it made back it’s money over time through other revenue streams. IDK if the math checks out but that’s what the article says. I’ve seen Waterworld and found it pretty enjoyable. I’d give it at least a 7.5/10 and I have only seen the Theatrical cut. Apparently there is another longer cut that is supposed to be even better.
I’ve seen Labyrinth. It’s pretty weird but I liked it. I don’t think it lost as much money as any in the article I’m going off of.
Foreshadowing makes for good storytelling and keeps the reader engaged…plot twists without reasoning are usually due to lazy storytelling and because it WOULD have been cool to happen but they didn’t have the time…
Yes, I am familiar with the value of foreshadowing. (the more subtle the better) I just don’t remember how the twists play out in BR2049. It’s been a few years since I saw it; I space out re-watches specifically so that I won’t remember every detail when I get back to it. Please don’t discuss reference the details here because I will be re-watching it this year
I have not watched it in a while either. I just remember coming away with a positive feeling on the movie. But, then, I am not very analytical when watching movie. It seem to be too much work. If I become involved in a movie and come away feeling as though I was entertained, and not thinking I had wasted my time, I call it a good movie. Of course, there are degrees, but in general it is that simple for me.
Well, I love to analyze but a good enough movie draws me in so the analysis happens later.
Movies that aren’t working for me leave my mind with nothing to do but nitpick and then then I really go crazy with the nitpicking lol. I had a notebook out and was taking notes during Rise of Skywalker (don’t worry I was not in a theater)
In Return of the Jedi, Luke chooses not to strike down Vader because in doing so he would fall to the Dark Side. This has to do with giving in to fear and anger. Even though Vader was a literal war criminal and an enemy combatant Luke couldn’t strike him down.
In The Rise of Skywalker, Rey loses her temper and murders a transport full of people with Force Lightning and…nothing? Clearly the writers did not know or care for the series.
please add Videodrome.
it was the only movie i walked out on.
quote:
Cronenberg stated that Videodrome
“wasn’t an exploitation sell,
and it wasn’t an art sell.
I don’t know what it was.”
I guess that Videodrome is a cult classic now. I’ve noticed the Criterion Blu-ray gets shown off in a lot of haul posts. I haven’t seen it yet but I do plan to check it out at some point.
You’re right, I rated them rather quickly going on gut and without really looking at all the comparisons. Sinbad has a complete working narrative where the characters actually have chemistry and the acting is good. I will probably adjust Sinbad and/or Valerian.
Titan AE I like in concept but I feel it is not executed as well as it could have been. I believe 6 is an accurate expression of where I place the movie personally. To me 6 means good, good enough to rewatch because the movie offers something I can’t get elsewhere, but it has flaws that keep it from being a personal favorite.
