These days Hollywood's biggest films are either reboots, sequels, or comic book adaptations. These movies are often shelled out as a more certain way to make money. I don't have a problem with this, even though I want more original ideas to become big, but if these movies are bad, then that could ruin a franchise.
In this post, I've decided to take a break from my original movie reviews to rank what I think are the worst scenes from these types of movies. These are all my personal opinion. I realize that not everyone may agree with everything I write about, but I think that most people could agree with at least one thing on the list.
10. Godzilla (1998)- Velociraptors
I was going to post a video of parts of this scene here, but I couldn't find anything on YouTube.
Anyway, the 1998 reboot of the Godzilla franchise was not very well received by critics or fans. People complained that it changed the monster too much, and many saw it as a way to cash in on the success of the success of Jurassic Park. But those reasons are not more evident than in the climax of the movie. In it, Godzilla (if he could even be called that, since he was changed so much) lays eggs in Madison Square Garden, which hatch into his offspring, which look very much like velociraptors, which chase the heroes around the stadium. Not only do I not think that has ever happened in the original movies, but it seemed to be a complete rip-off of the climax from Jurassic Park. To be fair, this scene is still entertaining, but its just difficult to watch it without thinking of velociraptors in the kitchen.
To avoid any confusion, I would like to say that unlike every other movie on this list, I found The Amazing Spider-man to be an OK movie, despite it being an unnecessary reboot of a franchise that wasn't even very old. However, I do not think that they handled the death of Uncle Ben very well. In the original Spider-man, Uncle Ben dies because Peter Parker doesn't stop somebody who robbed a man who ripped him off of 3,000 dollars. The robber than shoots Uncle Ben, and Peter learns a lesson about responsibility. In this version, Uncle Ben dies, because Peter doesn't stop a convenience store robbery because the clerk refused to sell him a milk carton, because he didn't have enough money. I mean it's not like it's the clerks fault.
And isn't it a coincidence that Uncle Ben came at the right moment for him to get shot right in front of Peter.
Now, I do not read a lot of comic books, but recently I have heard a lot about a character named Deadpool, who sounds like an interesting character. So I was angered when I saw his poorly done appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. His cameo drains him of everything that made him interesting; he isn't even wearing his outfit. It just shows him wordlessly fighting Wolverine in a battle sequence ripe with poor special effects.
7. Iron Man 3- Spoilers Ahead (Don't read if you are planning to see this movie.)
When it was announced that the Mandarin, one of the most beloved villains in the Marvel Universe was going to be in Iron Man 3, comic book fans were excited. However, there was a loud outcry from fans after seeing the end of the movie. In the end, it is revealed that the Mandarin was not a real person, but a propaganda symbol, played by a ridiculously non-threatening actor. I remember being in the movie theater when this happened, and I thought to myself "Is that really how he is in the comics? This can't be right."
And sure enough that wasn't in the comics.
What makes this scene awful is how beloved the real Mandarin is. Since I saw the movie, I've heard a lot about him, and he sounds like there could be a really good movie with him as a villain. But sadly, we can't see it.
The film adaptation of the popular cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbenderwas met with universally negative opinions from critics and especially fans of the show. The disrespect to the show is evident in this one scene. In the series, people can use the elements to their advantage and it is very powerful. But in this version it apparently takes around seven men to throw a boulder that isn't even that big. I think it would be quicker and require less men if they threw actually threw it with their hands.
In the third installment of the original trilogy, there are many plot-lines happening at the same time, and for the most part, I didn't think they worked well together. But the story that I felt could have been the best part of the movie is when an alien force takes over Peter Parker. His Spider-man suit turns black, and his actions become more sinister. This is an interesting plot-line, and the black-suit Spider-man is entertaining to watch. However, when he's Peter Parker, he is borderline unbearable. He develops an emo fashion, starts random dance numbers, and seems very full of himself. I'm pretty sure he was supposed to be a jerk for these parts, but they took it too far and made him annoying.
There are a lot of scenes from this infamously bad film that I could have used. However, I decided to pick the scene where Batman takes out a credit card with a bat symbol on it. Not only is this stupid, but it also raises the question of why he would feel the need to get a bat credit card anyway.
This scene is the king of stupid stunts. Recently, the phrase "nuking the fridge" has been adopted to describe when a movie does something so bad, it ruins the rest of the film. Kind of like "jumping the shark" for movies. And it was started by this scene from the disappointing, unnecessary fourth movie in the Indiana Jones franchise. In it, Indiana Jones finds himself in a nuclear bomb testing facility, and hides in a refrigerator, which somehow fully protects him from the blast. Um...what? And yes, he also survives the radiation afterward. The average viewer can only suspend his or her disbelief so much. You would think that a scene that actually started an expression for bad movie scenes would be number one, but I think that there are two more scenes that are actually worse. Like...
I personally don't hate the first and third Transformers movies as much as a lot of other people do (I haven't seen the fourth one, so I can't say whether I liked it or not). But the second movie, Revenge of the Fallen... yeah that was terrible. However, no part in the movie, even with the two annoying sidekick Transformers, could match the uncomfortableness contained within these few seconds. It starts out with one of the characters below one of the Decepticons, and there are two balls hanging around the crotch area of the Decepticon. At first, I didn't think much of this, (it was less subtle than how I described it) until only a few seconds later, the human said "I'm directly below enemy scrotum". Um... (throws up). This scene was obviously meant to be a joke, but it evoked more disgust than laughter (except for maybe uncomfortable laughter). If you've ever played with Transformers, and you imagined them with genitals, than you probably need help. There's a reason why even Michael Bay admitted this movie was bad.
I could not imagine putting anything else as number one here. Star Wars Episode I probably disappointed more people than any movie that I've heard of, and the worst parts come from this side character. Jar-Jar Binks was meant to be a comic relief character, and he turned into probably the most annoying character in movie. He has an incredibly annoying voice, and he acts like an idiot the whole movie. Therefore, he ruined every scene he was in. The name Jar-Jar will live in infamy among Star Wars fans forever.
This concludes my list of what I think are the worst scenes in blockbuster films since the late '90s. Hopefully, we see less of these scenes in the future.
Today, I was on Netflix, and found a documentary which I thought would be interesting, and decided to review it. It was called Best Worst Movie (I realize that the title of the review may be confusing, but the word "Movie" does belong to the title), and I found it to be very entertaining though also very flawed.
This documentary is about the cult favorite so-bad-it's-good movie Troll 2. Troll 2 was an Italian horror film. It was written in English, despite the fact that neither the writer nor director spoke fluent English, and it was filmed in Utah with American actors who had little to no acting experience. So as you would expect it was initially panned by critics and audiences. However, it had still gained a cult following as one of the worst movies of all time.
The documentary is directed by Michael Stephenson, who was a child actor in that film.
Going into this movie, I was expecting a movie about the production of Troll 2 and how it grew to be so famous. The description of it read "Most people don't set out to produce a horrible film, so how exactly does it happen? This documentary attempts to answer that question." However, it discusses the history of the movie very little, and does not attempt to answer the question in the description. It mainly shows where many of the stars of the movie are, and how big of a following it has.
It follows one of the Troll 2's stars, George Hardy, as he goes on tour showing up at screening of his movie, along with other people who were involved in the production, including the director. Though I have never seen the movie, it was intriguing to see these people who have become so popular for being in such a bad movie. It was also very interesting to see the fan-base, which is larger than I anticipated.
However, I feel like it should have focused more on the history of the movie in question. It would have been interesting to hear more stories of what happened behind the scenes, or, like the misleading Netflix description might suggest, an analysis of what went wrong.
However, what I did get was pretty entertaining. It is funny at times, and mainly intriguing. If you have Netflix, I would recommend Best Worst Movie if this sounds interesting to you.
This is my first review of a film that was not in theaters at the time. The people at my college were having a screening downstairs from my dorm, and I decided to join in. Since I haven't written anything since I said I'll focus on reviews, I decided that I would review this. So here are my thoughts on Divergent
This movie is based on the first book in a young adult series, and fits into the stream of adaptations of young adult novels that have been released since The Hunger Games. It seems to fit a certain formula used in many of these movies, and while it isn't a bad film, it is a pretty forgettable one.
The movie is about a future in which everybody is sorted into factions based on their personalities, and must live and work in those factions. The plot centers around a girl who figures out that she doesn't fit into any of the factions, and is thereby viewed as a threat to society.
This movie has a feel that is very similar to The Hunger Games. It has teenagers in a dystopian future trying to change the system, a strong heroine, and a budding romance. There isn't really much, at least in the film version, that feels fresh, and it seems to be spending too much time imitating The Hunger Games. Maybe the book is better (I don't know because I haven't read it), but I found the film to be kind of dull.
However, Divergent does have an interesting concept, and a decent story. It's just that at times it just feels like I've seen it many times before. While I wouldn't consider it bad, I don't think it will stand out among other young adult adaptations released around this time. Which is kind of ironic for a film about standing out.
Hello there. I'm here to announce some changes to the format of this blog.
For those of you who haven't seen this blog before, (which is everyone, according to its stats) I have been doing movie reviews and movie news. However, school is preventing me from doing the news at what I think is an appropriate time. Also, I'm not sure if I'm really interested in giving news. So, I have decided to simply focus on reviews from now on.
Also, I am expanding what I review. At first, I only reviewed movies that were in theaters, but now I will write on movies on Redbox and Netflix as well.
I am excited for the future of this blog, and I look forward to writing more reviews that probably nobody will read.
This news has actually been out for a few days now, but I have been to busy with schoolwork to write about it. So even though it's belated...
Last Wednesday, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has revealed on Twitter that he will be playing the role of the villain, Black Adam, in the upcoming superhero film, Shazam. He has been attached to the project for some time, but nobody knew whether he would play the hero, Shazam or the villain, Black Adam.
It is also believed that his character will be treated as an anti-hero instead of a villain. However, there is still not much known about this movie.
Shazam is just one movie in a group of superhero films by DC comics, set for release over the next few years. The purpose of these films may be so that DC can create a cinematic universe similar to that of Marvel.
