The Big Picture: MovieBob's Worst of 2013
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I'll be the one to go out on a limb. Of the pre-reboot movies, First Contact is the best one. It's not great. It gets mired down in the Earth-Cochran timeline. However, it's Patrick Stewart getting to take Captain Ahab and give it a go on screen in a Star Trek movie and that's worth the price. Also, Alice Krige getting to be Alice Krige. Evil.Duffeknol said:
Of the rest?
Star Trek: The Motion Picture: Bleh. No, really. Bleh.
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan: I think part of the reason that people liked this movie, or convinced themselves that they did is 1) they missed Trek a lot, and the first movie was not a return, this one sorta was; 2) they liked the Khan idea that never really got fleshed out to a proper extent in the show; 3) err... ear slugs? Maybe? I saw Khan in the theater when it came out and could never really understand the draw. Ricardo Montalban wearing a plastic chest and hamming it up almost as bad as Shatner and spouting lines (again, we can reference Moby Dick) that he simply quotes from other, smarter people and, damning for me, not once did he display any act of working "genius." Yet, we are supposed to buy that he's a genius, super human. Most of the cast sorta milled around staying out of the way of Shat and Montalban and fell into the background. The only real stand out was Leonard Nimoy... which is no real surprise. Maybe my lack of blind love for TOS (I prefer TNG) doesn't make me look at this movie with rose colored glasses so, clearly, I'm missing what so many people like about this one. It's probably the best of the TOS movies, but that's not a stretch.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon. Spock coming back from the dead on a genesis planet and growing at an accelerated rate. Can I stop now? This movie was boring, at best.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Dumb. Typical time traveling (Oh look, the USS Enterprise, nudge nudge) shtick alongside the "save the whales" and other '80s cliches. Can't we have a Star Trek that takes place in space again? Please?
Star Trek V: The Travesty: Yeah. Do I need to discuss this one?
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: Well, it should have been called the undiscovered failure. Not because it was a failure or bad movie. It's that they didn't know that there was one major fault that dropped this movie down from being the best one to date: Shatner. That whole Rura Penthe (sp) section with Shatner again hamming it up like the joke of an actor that he is, culminating with a painful argument/fight with a shapeshifter disguised as himself completely hamstrings this movie. It was otherwise a good premise, story, and execution. If we could have just left the whole movie to Spock and Sulu it might have been fantastic.
Star Trek: Generations: GAH. Here's Malcolm McDowell, one of the best villains ever. Let's make him boring and his movie kinda awful. Let's also kill Kirk (yay!), in a really dull way (boo!).
Star Trek: First Contact: Discussed above.
Star Trek: Insurrection and Nemesis: I put these two together because I saw them both, thought "not good, not particularly horrid" and then promptly completely forgot everything about them. They were that compelling, apparently.
So, I really never get all the "untouchable" status of the TOS and it's movies (which were almost all bad) and the Trek fans' (Trekker/Trekkie/Spokker/whatever) negative reaction to the reboot. I found that the reboot consistently delivered something that most of the Trek movies and series' forgot: Fun. I know that that wasn't part of Roddenberry's purpose and that each show had to have a point/moral, but sometimes fun is a bit more important. Our movies have been mired down so much in dark/gritty/moralistic lately (see Nolan's Batman series) that that entire take on entertainment is starting to get exhausted and exhausting. I still haven't watched Elysium solely because I'm afraid (and probably wrong) that it will remind me of District 9 too much, which I enjoyed but never wanted to watch again. Is there a problem with the Pacific Rim take on movies? Fun is fun. Dumb is ok, if it's done well and fun. Not every movie needs to be Schindler's List and, most certainly, Trek doesn't. I enjoy some TOS, I enjoy most TNG and find a lot of good points in DS9, Voyager, and even Enterprise. The new Trek reboot really doesn't step all over those, it just gives a more fun-focused take on the universe and that, to me, is a good thing. Oh, and Benedict Cumberbatch actually pulled off Khan, for me, finally, giving the character some real believability and menace, unlike watching Trek II and waiting for Tattoo to show up at any moment.
Too much lens flare though. Agreed on that point.
My biggest problem with Man of Steel is that I was just...bored. It's not a feeling I can say I usually exhibit during movies, but that's how I felt during Man of Steel. I was just bored. It was like flipping through a mediocre comic book in a Dentist's waiting room. Not necessarily BAD just...boring.
I expected man of steel to make the list after you said that your opinions changed , but I didn?t expect it to be number 1.
Only God Forgives is a pinnacle of cinema that's only described as 'bad' by plebs who don't understand the first thing about cinema.Bittersteel said:
I'd say this if I was a total snob, which I'm not. I fully understand why people hated it. I saw it in a cinema and pretty much everyone booed. I fucking LOVED it, though. I understood it. This doesn't make me feel better than anyone, don't worry. But the movie doesn't deserve to be called 'bad', because it was simply too well made for that. It might've not been your (or anyone's) thing, but objectively, it wasn't bad. It was fucking great. Just so awkward and different that no one got it or could appreciate it.
I recently watched Man of Steel again and while i hated it when i saw it a the cinema i gotta say watching it again it wasn't that bad.
Unfortunately, it's really hard to listen to much of those videos without wanting to pull out my own tongue and eat it. However, the one complaint I heard about First Contact was that it was dumbed down and lacked a complicated plot. Hmm. The Borg show up. Let's kill the Borg. Is that really an problem? Data gets tempted, Picard gets to be Ahab. Alice Krige out-acts most of the people who've ever acted in a Trek show or movie. I fail to see the problem here.Duffeknol said:
Left 4 Dead is one of my top games in the last 10 years. It's plot, I believe Yahtzee states "Here are some zombies."
I agree with a lot of the comments on the other movies, and even some of the ones about First Contact, but overall, sometimes we just need to look for enjoyment in entertainment. If it's not entertaining, then what's the point?
I spend half my reading time on H.P. Lovecraft lately. Extremely strong English writing. Very thought provoking. The rest of the time I've been reading "simple and fun," which, lately, has been Glen Cook's The Black Company series or Illona Andrews' Kate Daniels books. If I spent all my time reading Lovecraft, I'd probably end up stabbing myself in the spleen.
So, Bob still hates Man of Steel, even after his opening about being a human whose opinions change. In other news, birds go tweet, cows go moo, and farts still stink. And I see that there's a flame war a-comin' and for once I am not saving a good seat and fixing popcorn, but about to hide under my desk.
Also, American Hustle is a comedy? It's funny if you think about David O. Russell screaming at people on set and eating a knuckle sandwich from Christian Bale, just like with George Clooney and Three Kings.
Also, American Hustle is a comedy? It's funny if you think about David O. Russell screaming at people on set and eating a knuckle sandwich from Christian Bale, just like with George Clooney and Three Kings.
I think we actually see more eye to eye than we both might think. I really enjoy the Star Trek reboot because of the fact that they're fun, and they can be dumb all they want. They're fun action adventure films. But that's the exact reason why I don't like the TNG films, because TNG shouldn't be dumb. If you're going to have a TNG movie, make it like TNG. If you're going to do a reboot, you can do whatever you want. Which is what JJ did.Alarien said:
I mostly agree with this list, although I would have taken You're Next (which took two years to find a release for a reason) from your "Best of" list and swapped it with Star Trek Into Darkness on this one. But ho hum, subjectivity etc.
I'm surprised World War Z didn't make the list. Arguably it was one of the 'obvious' travesties, but given the source material, it is far and away the biggest disappointment of the year. There have been bad superman films before, and will be again, it's not a big deal. But WWZ had the opportunity to do something interesting with zombies and breath some life into the genre, and they just didn't.
Oh wow, I completely forgot that Die Hard 5 (no, I'm not calling it that other name) came out this year. I love the original trilogy, but I find it so hard to care about anything that happens in that movie. It's so hard to believe that the same McClane that had a major injury running on glass barefoot is the same McClane that gets thrown through a window from an out of control helicopter with hardly a scratch on him.
Called it (not here).
Well, that is Moviebob's Worst after all. What can you do.
I will say that I am genuinely still surprised at how much people can hate such an awesome movie like Man of Steel, and just not get that there are great reasons to love it. Kind of like Nostalgia Critic said, but whatever I guess.
I shouldn't be though. Bob's reaction to Man of Steel ever since the trailers was more like "I hope this doesn't suck", so I just knew he would not like it at all.
"There is a lot to hate in man of steel when superman drinks a beer and no one cares." he says.
Sigh...
Well, that is Moviebob's Worst after all. What can you do.
I will say that I am genuinely still surprised at how much people can hate such an awesome movie like Man of Steel, and just not get that there are great reasons to love it. Kind of like Nostalgia Critic said, but whatever I guess.
I shouldn't be though. Bob's reaction to Man of Steel ever since the trailers was more like "I hope this doesn't suck", so I just knew he would not like it at all.
"There is a lot to hate in man of steel when superman drinks a beer and no one cares." he says.
Sigh...
Interesting list. I only have two points to discuss:
* Star Trek - Into Darkness: I really don't know how to feel about this one. There are times in the movie where I feel like it is actual Star Trek (like the opening sequence) and there are times where I feel like it's a poorly-hidden remake of Wrath of Khan where Abrams expects a pass because he's winking at the audience the whole time. I should hate it more. But after watching it a second time with my expectations in check, I decided that it's still entertaining enough not to warrant a bad rating. But I can't say I have much enthusiasm for further sequels.
* Man of Steel: Despite the fact that Bob has talked about Man of Steel at length, I was still surprised that it was #1. And yet... I'm not that surprised, as Bob's attitude mirrors mine. I have come to realize that MoS was, in fact, the movie that I was most looking forward to this year (I was cautiously optimistic about Pacific Rim, which turned out to be a fun film, but I wasn't expecting much either), and it turned out the most disappointing. Having watched it again a few weeks ago, it's only gotten worse for me, to the point where I really don't care if there's a sequel or if Ben Affleck is Batman. Just dump the whole thing - the well has been poisoned.
There are infinitely worse films this year... but none have been so divisive and so disappointing.
* Star Trek - Into Darkness: I really don't know how to feel about this one. There are times in the movie where I feel like it is actual Star Trek (like the opening sequence) and there are times where I feel like it's a poorly-hidden remake of Wrath of Khan where Abrams expects a pass because he's winking at the audience the whole time. I should hate it more. But after watching it a second time with my expectations in check, I decided that it's still entertaining enough not to warrant a bad rating. But I can't say I have much enthusiasm for further sequels.
* Man of Steel: Despite the fact that Bob has talked about Man of Steel at length, I was still surprised that it was #1. And yet... I'm not that surprised, as Bob's attitude mirrors mine. I have come to realize that MoS was, in fact, the movie that I was most looking forward to this year (I was cautiously optimistic about Pacific Rim, which turned out to be a fun film, but I wasn't expecting much either), and it turned out the most disappointing. Having watched it again a few weeks ago, it's only gotten worse for me, to the point where I really don't care if there's a sequel or if Ben Affleck is Batman. Just dump the whole thing - the well has been poisoned.
There are infinitely worse films this year... but none have been so divisive and so disappointing.