In My Opinion: Top Ten Biggest Disappointments of 2009
The films that just didn't live up to expectations
This year I've decided I'm not going to write a "Worst of 2009" list. What's the point? If you must you can visit the review archives for 2009, sort by grade and find my reviews of Fanboys, The Last House on the Left, All About Steve and I Love You Beth Cooper and then fill in six of your choosing from the "D" section and be done with it. Instead, I'm going back to what I've done only one other time and going to take a look back at the films that ended up disappointing me on one lever or another.
This way I don't have to talk about The Marc Pease Experience or Bride Wars. Year One and Whiteout don't need further dicussion and neither does G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra of Fighting. Instead I can add a few titles that actually earned as high as a "B" rating from me when I reviewed them. After all, expectations are the thing that hold the most power over your final opinion.
Before I get to my list of ten I first wanted to make sure to cover one film that just missed the list, John Hillcoat's The Road. This was a film I covered to a great degree on this site and went from "highly anticipating" to simply "wanting to see," just to see how it turned out. Trailers and consistent delays of the release date all but destroyed my expectations and as it turned out the film never managed to move me anymore than I assumed it would. This is the reason it didn't make my final list of ten seeing how it didn't necessarily disappoint me as much as it ultimately lived up to my lowered expectations. However, it is one of the few films from this year I am still anticipating a second viewing in hopes it may change my opinion. We'll see.
Now, for the ten. And remember, these are the most disappointing, not a worst of list — an important distinction.
 | District 9 |
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| You are going to notice a trend when it comes to the first three films on this list, and that's the fact all three were previewed and hyped to such a massive extent by the online masses, and unfortunately I allowed that hype to cloud my expectations. Things began for District 9 at Comic Con in San Diego, an event I have since decided I will no longer be attending. Movies are about more than just avenues for marketing fodder and that's exactly the trend Comic Con encourages and is starting to take over online film coverage. District 9 had its first full audience screening at the comic book convention this past summer and afterward several of the online outlets sat down with producer Peter Jackson and then attended an after party and had a few drinks with him and I believe director Neill Blomkamp was in attendance but I can't be so sure. Now, I'm not saying the circumstances affected these people's opinions of the film, but I have a hard time believing it didn't amplify the experience. District 9 has since earned plenty of kudos and during this awards season it has made a few top ten lists and even been awarded for its screenplay, so people obviously like it and it has stuck with them. Good for them, but after watching it again on Blu-ray over the weekend it's appeal has even lessened for me since giving it a "B" when I reviewed it theatrically. I'm not sure I will ever return to watch it again and that "B" is one of the few grades I handed out this year I am beginning to regret. | |
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 | Terminator Salvation |
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| This one was also previewed at Comic Con and if you just go back and read my report from the Comic Con panel you can tell how excited I was after watching the presentation. Then the movie was released and what a disappointment all around. I will admit the film works much better at home where there are no expectations and you can occupy your mind with other things while it is playing, but this one was a real bummer. | |
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 | The Final Destination |
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| And here we have the third film in a row that never managed to live up to its Comic Con appearance. Warner Bros/New Line put together a five minute 3-D presentation of The Final Destination at the convention and it was a gory romp of entertainment. It seemed like so much fun, in fact, I began to wonder if all the good parts had been shown… They had. The final product was nothing more than the five minutes I saw at Comic Con surrounded by another 77 minutes of tedium. Perhaps the main lesson to learn is to lower expectations on all films previewed at Comic Con. Other than notable exceptions such as Iron Man and Avatar, what has really come out of the convention and managed to really impress? 300? Even that film has lessened its appeal over the years. Oh, I will say Pixar's films have been received well, so that is definitely an exception. | |
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Precious
Great list, i really agree with you in many of your choices Brad.
There is my list of top ten biggest disappointing of 2009:
1: Watchmen
2: Duplicity
3: X-Men Origins – Wolverine
4: Transformers 2
5: Bruno
6: Julie & Julia
7: Terminator Salvation
8: The Final Destination 4
9: Night At The Museum 2
10: Second Life (Portuguese movie, with a big hype on the sites and televisions of Portugal, but when it came out, was considered one of the worst movies of all time)
@David Frank: I can understand at this point, but care to explain further?
Would have liked to see more expansion on the reasons why you felt they were disappointing. Explanations were a bit basic in my mind. Other than that, since they are your opinions, it is difficult to argue the list itself.
I'm on the 10-8 page now, and I predict that Up will be on this list. I'm surprised about District 9 though, I loved the movie myself. But to each their own of course.
Just read the whole list, and I was wrong about UP, good to know :-) lol. I agree with most except for D-9 as I said earlier, but pretty good list.
hurt locker
@William: Yeah, Up has actually improved in my eyes as time has gone on. It still doesn't beat Fantastic Mr. Fox for me though.
@Matt: That I can understand as well, it's been built up pretty big.
Brad, I'm with you on District 9. I saw it in the theater, thought it was well made, but expected it to be so much better based on all the hype surrounding it. I also have no real desire to want to see it again.
I'm also with you on Watchmen. I saw it in theaters, didn't love it. I gave it another shot by watching the director's cut when it came out on DVD over the summer, but still felt underwhelmed. The problem with that movie is I felt like I was just observing what was going on. With a film like The Dark Knight, I felt immersed and captivated by the story and characters, and actually gave a damn about them. Watchmen I felt the total opposite about.
Terminator Salvation… well, I can see where people would be disappointed with that. I wasn't expecting it to be a great movie or better (or even anywhere as good) as the first two, but I did enjoy it on the terms of being a mindless summer popcorn movie.
X-Men Origins
Adventureland (YES I SAID IT)
G.I. JOE
Bruno
i couldnt dissagree more with your choice of watchmen as one of the most dissapointing movies of the year. i think zack snyder did an amazing job with a graphic novel that has so much content. it was the truest adaptation that i think we could of expected. i think it is one of the best films of the year. the cinematography and set design are awesome. the music is very good and i think besides mediocre performances by night owl II and ozymandias the casting was spot on. i think it is a film that gets better and better with repeated viewings and i think it was a bright spot in 2009
I would definitely recommend giving The Road another shot. It's one of my favorites from 2009. In addition, I implore you to keep giving Watchmen another chance. I know you have seen it multiple times, but I really enjoyed that film and would be surprised if it didn't grow on you a little bit.
Adventureland
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Goodbye Solo
I Love You, Man
In the Loop
and An Education underwhelmed me, although I wouldn't consider it a disappointment
Totally agree with you on watchmen and Invention on Lying (as I am a big Gervais fan as well). Still a bit baffled by the Bright Star hate, especially the lack of love for Cornish, who I though was excellent.
One of my biggest disappointments that hasn't been mentioned is The Boat That Rocked/Pirate Radio. Was really looking forward to it, but man the story was all over that place, and they really beat some unfunny jokes into the ground. Although I did see the U.K. version, so maybe its worth giving the US version a chance, since I hear it has been edited.
@Danny King: @ez6:
Were you guys disappointed by Adventureland because it wasn't in the same vein as Superbad?
My Five…based on a quality to hype ratio
1.) Avatar – a very solid movie, but for a quality-to-hype ratio it's really low
2.) Moon – one of my favorites of the year, but it wasn't very bold given the genre
3.) The Hangover – Funny, but not 270 million funny
4.) Fast and Furious – just a bad movie
– the hype here was my own, Tokyo Drift is classic to me
5.) Paranormal Activity – a painfully redundant 90 minutes
@Ted: I wasn't disappointed by Adventureland because I don't think it was trying to be another Superbad. It was a much more sincere romantic comedy, and I enjoyed it very much. Eisenberg and Stewart gave very effective performances and I thought the soundtrack fit very well. I can definitely say that it wasn't as funny as Superbad, but it excelled in terms of emotional impact.
@John-PT: No. I liked Duplicity more than a lot of people because I thought it was smartly-crafted. But I DEFINITELY agree with you on Transformers.
How is Jennifer's Body not on your list, Brad!?
@John-PT: yeah what was up with wolverine??? i think they completely missed the tone set in X2 about the character. very disapointing
Land of the Lost was the worst movie I saw all year, so I guess I would have to go with that. I wasn't expecting much, but I thought it would be somewhat funny since it had Danny McBride in it.
my top 10 most disappointing movies
1. Wolverine (i have nothing to say. whatta joke)
2. Terminator Salvation
3. Watchmen (while i think this and terminator were good they coulda been SO much better)
4. Jennifers Body (even megan fox couldnt save this one)
5. Extract (shoulda stuck with office space)
6. Land of the Lost (WHERE IS THE FERREL OF OLD???)
7. Public Enemies (the trailer looked good, but waaaaayyyy to long)
8. District 9 (dont get me wrong this was a good movie but like wolverine and terminator it should have and COULD have been alot better)
9. Men Who Stare At Goats (ewan mccregor? seriously?)
10. Bruno (well its hard to do it again ill say that)
Yeah District 9 was a film that I failed to bond with. It was pretty much a shoot-em up ET with south African accents and Peter Jacksons name attached to it. The problem I had was that I felt virtually no connection to those characters and as time wore on I became more and more detached from them, which isn't a great thing given the films subject matter. And frankly it's documentary-film stlyle didn't always work and they became too reliant on the films technical aspects and again just not enough in the emotional level. On top of that my detachment grew so far that the film makers took an enormous political and humanitarian issue and managed to make me not give a shit about it by the films end.
Watchmen and Terminator Salvation for me, even though I should've known better not to trust McG.
1. Paranormal activity waay overhyped, I guess if you watch it alone by yourself at night it would be scary. Watching it with an audience ruined the atmosphere for me.
2. The Princess and the Frog- Blaand, blaand and more bland.
3. 500 Days of Summer- I liked JGL, but it was trying to be a bit too hip for it's own good. What was the purpose of Summer again????Exactly!
4. The Hangover- um what was so funny about this?? It was just another slapstick comedy that was entirely overrated.
5. An Education- Not bad, but not anything special, I'll have to see it again.
6. Zombieland- Perfectly average, it wasn't bad, but not as good as people said it was.
7. Adventureland- See above.
8.Coraline- Sorry, it was visually beautiful, but utterly boring. I really wanted to like this.
9. Nine -with the exception of Marion and Fergie's song, it was forgettable.
10. District 9- It was okay, maybe I need to watch it again, but I preferred Moon.
I don't think Brad was eagerly anticipating Jennifer's Body, but since MY anticipations weren't that high, I kind of liked it.
I don't agree with your choice of District 9 or Watchmen, but everything else I agree with. I didn't like Terminator: Salvation at all.
I, Unfortunately, didn't get to seen as many movies this year as I normally do… But I do have to agree on Watchman being dissapointing. I've never read the graphic novel, so I didn't have that initial excitement for the movie like a lot of people did. It took a little while for me to get excited for the movie and i have to say I really liked it when i was watching it in the theatre, I loved Rorsharch… The Comedian, loved that character, a flawed super hero who had lost his way (could make a good flick following just the exploits of him alone). But the last 30 or 40 minutes of it KILLED it for me. Now, never having read the graphic novel I do not know how faithful the ending of the movie is, but I understand Zack Snyder tried to be as faithful as he could.
The other movie that was dissapointing, but I enjoyed it anyway was, surprise surprise, Terminator Salvation… and it really upsets me that I can't find the directors cut on standard DVD. I'll soon make the jump to Blue-Ray, just haven't had the extra money to go get a Blue-Ray player yet…
Other than those two, no other movie that I was anticipating to see dissapointed me really…
Most disappointing…sheesh, hard to think of, but I'll give it a try. Here are a couple of my picks, and exactly why I didn't like them.
"The Informant!"- Matt Damon, Steven Soderbergh, a tongue-in-cheek satire of business fraud based on a true story, what could go wrong? To me, it was extremely, painfully boring. The script focused way too much on explaining the events that are being played out in front of us, without much focus on situations or characters which would actually make the movie…funny. Unfortunately, this one messed up badly.
"Extract"- "Office Space" is a classic, and "Idiocracy", while a step down from Judge's best work, is growing on me and has plenty of laugh out loud moments. This one had one big laugh from me and that was it. The characters are dumb, unlikable, and do things that defy logic. However, defying logic and being ridiculous does not automatically make someone funny.
"Terminator Salvation"- I'll let that one speak for itself, but i didn't think it was horrible or anything. I did see "X-Men Origins" and liked it, so it's not a disappointment in my eyes, mostly because I thought it was going to be a piece of s*** and was surprised that it was extremely dumb but otherwise entertaining popcorn entertainment. "Transformers" looked like crap, and so it ended up being crap. My worst film of the year, but it was in line with my expectations. Also, "New Moon" is technically a better film (better cinematography, CGI, etc), but it lost a lot of what make the first film entertaining (the "cheesy-ness" if you will).
My biggest disappointment however…
"9". WOW. This absolutely defines the word "disappointment". Tell me that when you saw the trailers you weren't excited for a CGI movie that was finally "adult". No fart jokes, no pop culture references, no Donkeys or Wall-E's. The animation was creative and looked phenomenal, especially considering the small budget. The whole "rag doll meets steampunk" mis-en-scene absolutely worked in the film. It's just that the film itself was painful to sit through. Horrible dialogue straight out of the Michael Bay School of "Exposition + bad jokes= a script", and the story was non-existent. The absolute biggest disappointment this year in movies, for sure. This could've been the advent of more creative, more risk-taking in animated films. Now we're gonna get even more "Madagascar" and "Cars" sequels.
@m1: He probably didn't include Jennifer's Body because it lived up to its expectations. It looked like shit, it was a piece of shit film. =P
My number one for this year – The Hurt Locker. Good film, but I wouldn't put it in my top 5, let alone best of the year (seriously, just about everyone on the planet? This was the best of 2009? It's 2005 all over again….)
@David Frank: I totally agree with you on Precious. just before seeing this movie, I joked with my roommate that we wouldn't agree on a movie from this point on. So far that's been true. He really liked this movie, but I thought it was horrible. I just never connected with Precious. Like, I didn't care what happened to her, and that was the entire point of the movie.
I think Terminator Salvation is going to turn into a guilty pleasure for me. I had it pretty far down on my list until I saw it again, when it moved pretty far up. Not top ten or anything, but alot higher than it was. I absolutely loved the long take helicopter scene *spoilers* or seemingly long take, as McG explained in the Maximum Movie mode. i could see coming back to this one many times.
I would say Taken was my most disappointing of the year. Everything I heard about it just made it sound awesome. I mean, it was Liam Neeson kicking ass, what wasn't there to like? So I went out, bought the movie and hated it. This movie made me stop blind-buying movies, barring me buying movies to complete a director's set or the like.
All in all, fun list. I enjoying reading lists at this time of the year, because you can really get into one's head and see what he/she is thinking at this moment, knowing that tastes can change over time. Hell, I may end up liking Precious in a few years. ;)
Precious. It felt like a Tyler Perry movie with better production values. Same weak script.
@chewbaca69: harsh, but i see where ur coming from
I'm ashamed to say Terminator was my # 1… what a bummer that movie turned out to be. Loved Watchmen though! Oh well :)
@chewbaca69:
You obviously have never seen a Tyler Perry movie. There would have been a happy ending.
@Brad: I usually find myself agreeing with you on most things, but your #10 spot has blown my mind. District 9 was amazing and one of the best films of the year in my opinion.
The story was great, as was the acting, and Jackson and Neil did a great job on such a small budget. The film deserves to be applauded.
As for the rest of the list, I agree with you. Havent seen Nine yet and I am not going to let this list affect my feelings about the film.
Now, I hated Wolverine and Revenge of the Fallen, but I wouldn't exactly call them disappointments since I hadn't expected anything great in the first place. When it comes to actually disappointing films, so far I've got two: The Brothers Bloom and The White Ribbon. I've already written about TBB in the "What You Watched" section, and to say it again in short, it's got absolutely brilliant first hour and absolutely terrible last 30 minutes. So, go figure. The White Ribbon, which I watched last evening, just had no point to it. I mean, about 20 minutes in I started to wonder: what the hell is this movie about? And there was never an answer. It didn't drag, the actors were fine and I enjoyed the B&W cinematography, but overall it quite simply had no point, and was very pretentious on top of that. No real deep characters, no drama, no thriller, and bad ending. I didn't hate this film, but I seriously disliked it and am never going to watch it again.
As for your list, wow. I enjoyed Salvation a bit (though overall it was worse than I expected), but I consider both Watchmen and District 9 pretty damn amazing.
Wolverine and Terminator are the only movies I recall being disapointed by this year. Oh, and Slumdog Millionaire (I know it's a 2008 movie, but I saw it this year), I thought it was a incredibly mediocre movie, no way an Oscar contender – let alone a 9 awards winner.
Other than that… Most movies were exactly as good or as bad as I thought they would be. ;-)
And I wasn't disapointed with Watchmen, even with all the hype. It's one this years best films, in my opinion. I don't agree the story is buried under the visuals, I actually think this movies gives you a lot to elaborate, may not be as powerfull as the comic book, but it's definitely strong. Both times I saw it, I kept thinking about it for days!
Reasonable list. I did not see all these myself, so I can't say for sure what I would jettison to make room for "2012", which IMHO was even more disappointing than D-9. I actually had to apologize to my son for taking him to that when he wanted to see "Old Dogs" (? i think that was his choice, anyway).
I thought The Princess and the Frog was brilliant, though not as good as up (thankfully that's not anywhere to be found on this list). Most of these films I didn't go to see, so I can't judge, but the main reason I didn't want to see them is because they looked like they would be overhyped disappointments.
btw, Brad, Up has gotten better for me with repeated viewings as well. It's on my Christmas list. =)
This whole year has been a dissappointment for me movie wise. I have a pretty good movie collection at home and this year I have only added 2 movies to it. Most of everything I have seen this year have been good one time watchers and that is it. Star Trek, District 9 and Zombieland are the top 3 movies for me this year (although I have not seen avatar yet) and I have a feeling that I will not enjoy disrict 9 and zombieland as much a second time around. Here is hoping that 2010 has a better selection.
The movie that comes to my mind now is "The Hangover". You know when everybody at the movie theater is laughing 10x more than you? It happened to me. I thought it was ok, average, but nowhere as funny as people said it was. The best part were the photos at the end.
I understand being disappointed by Bright Star. I was looking forward to it, and after doing a semester's work on the correspondence of John Keats, I felt pretty much obligated to see it. But I think its historical accuracy is its undoing. The problem is that Keats' life really was that melodramatic. If you read his letters, especially those written to Fanny, he comes out as the original emo boy. Very little in the film was exaggerated or dramatized; that's honestly how it happened.
I went in feeling that my English degree obligated me to see it, and I came out feeling that the degree was required in order to understand it. I was able to keep track of all the tertiary characters and seemingly random plot developments from my studies, but my fiance had less luck.
@Aerin: It's funny, another critic asked me if I had read and/or studied Keats's poems. I haven't, and perhaps those that have will have a greater understanding of the film than I do, such as what you point out. Of course, whenever the source material is necessary for a film to be enjoyed/understood a majority of the audience is bound to be left in the dark.
From what I've been told (by an actual credible source, not a rabid fan) Twilight: New Moon was the same way and I personally think seeing Nine is helped if you've seen Fellini's 8 1/2, even though that film still made this list. Perhaps Marshall needs to give it a second watch. :)
Sometimes a filmmaker's dedication to the source material messes up their final vision. Thanks for your comment!
I agree somewhat with this list (Watchmen) but disagree with some (Princess and the Frog?? Really? Everyone knows this wasn't going to resuscitate the 2-D cartoon feature film, but the general consensus was that it was a good movie and well-received. I wouldn't call it a disappointement of the year, it seems to be a bit harsh to put it on the same list as The Invention of Lying lol)
Here are my disappointments:
Watchmen – I really wanted to like this movie, despite the negativity surrounding it, but man it was rough. It was hard to appreciate this movie because it seems like it was solely made to please the hardcore fans who read the comic. Very disappointing.
Year One – Wow. Epic fail. The teaser had me looking forward to it, but the outcome was such a letdown. It had the potential to be truly funny but it turned out to be painful to watch.
Wolverine – Now, expectations were extremely low for this one. But this was at times just laughable. It's not that we didn't need a Wolverine origins story, it's that it should have been made better, period. Overall it just wasn't a great movie.
Adventureland – Yeah, this could have been AWESOME. At times it was just too serious. The movie had a weird vibe throughout.
From your list Brad, I would include Extract, Watchmen, and The Invention of Lying. I still loved Watchmen, but it wasn't nearly as grand as I was expecting. After seeing the trailers and Office Space and Idiocracy, one would expect Extract to be great. Instead, it was simply decent. Being a fan of Gervais and Ghost Town, The Invention of Lying was a huge disappointment.
Other movies I would consider disappointments would be Transformers 2, Year One, and Monsters vs. Aliens. After loving the first Transformers, I totally expected the second one to be awesome. While there were some awesome fight scenes, there were so many parts to hate as well. I first heard about Year One in summer 2008, and I thought "wow, with the talent behind this, it could be really funny." To say the least, Harold Ramis really let me down. I still enjoyed Monsters vs. Aliens, but the humor just seemed a bit choppy, which made it harder to laugh consistently. I probably have a few other disappointments this year, I just can't think of them of the top of my head.
I just remembered my biggest disappointment of the year (it was released in Brazil only in 2009): Gran Torino. I don't get all the excitement around this film. I thought the first half was amazing, truly hilarious – the way Clint's character was constantly calling the neighbors names, his dog-like faces, it was quite amusing. But when the movie became more serious on the second half, I lost interest. The oriental actors were so awful, I can't believe Clint Eastwood thought it was decent acting. They completely ruined the suspense and drama of the movie. In my opinion, it's the worst movie he directed in a long time.
I agree with most about Watchmen, but for a different reason. I was amazed after watching it that the movie was actually for adults! I would have liked a film geared towards adults to be better so we can get more of them. How many more "coming of age" movies can we watch?
I was really exited by Repo Men for next April. Buy body organs on credit, and then fail to make the payments! This could have been an awesome film, but has turned out to be an opportunity squandered. Remake anyone?
Up and Terminator Salvation are two of my biggest disappointments of all time. When the credits finished rolling and I walked out, I shook my head and asked myself "what the fuck was I thinking?".
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Funny People. Did everyone think it was going to be bad? I enjoyed it. I personally wasn't disappointed by it, but I know a lot of people were.
Many of the movies you've mentioned didn't disappoint me because I saw the trailers/commercials for them and knew they'd be tremendous wastes of time. So, let me save you some time and say Don't go see Sherlock Holmes!
I did go see Angels and Demons which was a hideous waste of time (and I generaly like Tom Hanks). But I had no belief going in that it would be any good.
Adventureland wasn't particularly hyped. I really enjoyed it.
While The Road was flawed, it had such stunning acting and visuals that the sloppy editing didn't kill it for me.
I enjoyed most of these films to some degree but I felt a bit let down given the amount of Buzz that each one generated.
01. District 9 – I admired this film but the heavy handed social commentary and tired action-movie conclusion derail what could have been a thought provoking Sci-Fi classic.
02. Avatar – I don’t think any film could live up to the hype that was piled onto Avatar before its release. The experience of seeing this in 3D is unmatched in terms of the “wow” factor. But the clichéd story, juvenile dialogue and questionable ethics really hurt the experience. I can’t imagine ever watching this film again.
03. The Hangover – I’m not sure what is wrong with me but I can’t get into any of the current crop of comedy hits. I consider Caddyshack and Boogie Nights (yes Boogie Nights!) to rank among the pinnacle of comedic accomplishments. I should have loved this film. I did not.
04. Terminator Salvation – Unnecessary.
05. I Love You Man – Paul Rudd’s artificial shtick and predictable humor is growing a bit old. I didn’t laugh once.
06. In The Loop – I heard that this was one of the best comedies of the year. I shut it off after 30 minutes.
07. Moon – I was expecting more of a mind bender. The “twist”, which I saw coming right away, was revealed too early and couldn’t support the remaining 40 tedious minutes. Sam Rockwell gives a bravura performance.
08. Precious – Subtle this overwrought melodrama is not. The film makers kept piling on the tragedy and heart ache to the point where I lost the ability to empathize with the main character.
09. Zombieland – Inventive first act but the film ran out of steam and just fell apart in the last half hour. It almost seems as if another person directed the aimless third act.
10. Star Trek – Explosive FX, weak villain, shallow story. This isn’t Star Trek.
Oh, the endless bridge between silly hopes / expectations and the cold reality. Why not stop expecting masterstrokes from just about everybody and just watch the damn thing? Life is too short to speculate endlessly about things that are NOT there.
How can anyone going into "The Final Destination" with expectations? First one was okey, but after that…
Do you know what disappointment you guys are forgetting? AMELIA! How can a biopic starring Hillary Swank fail?!
Since you won't do a worst of 2009, I've decided to make my own, Brad. As for the others, comment if you please:
1.Transfomers 2-WOW. I never knew plots could be this uninteresting.
2.Knowing-Two words: over-seriousness.
3.X-Men Origins: Wolverine-There wasn't particularly wrong with it, but there wasn't anything interesting either.
4.The Proposal-Yes, you read that correctly. This movie just got bumpier along the way and wasn't funny enough.
5.Angels & Demons-The ending and plot twist pretty much sealed the deal. It wasn't bad, but I started to run out of failures to put on this list.
More could be added, so hang on!
Dishonorable mention:
(New #3).The Ugly Truth-Disgusting, implausible, barely entertaining, and not even funny!
@Gavi: Since when can Megan Fox save ANYTHING?
But I have something opposite to a list of disappointments. A list of SURPRISES (I haven't seen all of them; grades will appear for ones I have seen):
State of Play-This looked like a solid Oscar contender, but was barely able to keep up with its stride. I was surprised at how the cast handled the material, and the film avoided being plodding.(B)
Duplicity-I wanted to see it in theaters, but when I finally did, I was impressed that it wasn't a rip off of the Ocean's movies.(B+)
Bandslam-Does anyone remember this? Anyone? It got an 80% on RT. But it never even hit the top 10.
Drag Me to Hell-Yes, this was BEFORE I knew Sam Raimi had skill with horror. Though it didn't have the effect it might've had on me in theaters, it was much more engaging and fun than other horror films. (B+)
A Perfect Getaway-This seemed like a typical thriller. But I was surprised at the solid reviews of the plot twist at the end.
The Blind Side-Seeing the backlash Bullock's other movies got, I wasn't expecting something she would get Oscar buzz on.
If you didn't like Watchmen, then why is there Watchmen decorations on every page for comments?
Megan Fox on Jennifers body is just beautiful and very hot girl _
I think I can safely speak on behalf of everyone that Eyelet Curtains brings up an amazing point. Thank you, thank you friend!
I kind of agree with some of these choices. District 9 I thought was alright but outstanding? No. Everyone keeps putting it on their top 10 best films lists and I just didn't feel it was worthy of that. Can't say The Final Destination disappointed me though. After the previous 2, I was expecting crap and got just that.
As for TPATF- If this was way back when I first saw the film, I would be shooting my mouth off, but after having watched the film again a number of times on DVD, I am starting to see where the disappointment comes from. I still think it's a good return to hand-drawn animations, but I almost feel those praising it as the best thing ever are just die-hard nostalgics who can't help but orgasm over the fact that it's a hand-drawn musical. It seems as if Disney was so excited to go back to the ways of the 90's while also throwing in a princess who could be a role model that they forgot to completely flesh out Naveen and Tiana and while I still kinda like the songs, the background music I must admit feels more like cartoon jazz than, well, actual jazz, and that shouldn't be the case as usually in Disney films, the music is similar to what you'd hear in real life. While I still like it, I'll admit, I don't like it quite as much as I did when I first saw it.
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