Biggest let-downs in recent cinema... what's yours?

Not that recent, I'm still getting over Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Whiteout. I really wanted to like it -- it looked intriguing: a mystery set in Antarctica, with Kate Beckinsale?

alleycat said:

Not that recent, I'm still getting over Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

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I didn't even see it. I knew it was going to be horrifying. And now with another one? Just let. it. go.

The last movie I was disappointed with ... I think Benjamin Button. I still liked it well enough, but it wasn't nearly on the scale I wanted it to be.

Probably 'The Spirit.' Frank Miller directing Gabriel Macht, ScarJo, Eva Mendes, etc. in an adaptation of Will Eisner's classic should have been a great film.

Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace.

Seriously, I'm like Tim in Spaced. I will never recover.

I wanted so much to love The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I tried HARD.

Let's see...

Spider-Man 3
Superman Returns
Attack of the Clones
Funny People
X-Men 3
X-Men Origins
Deathproof

Oh god, Spider-man 3. You made me remember.

Wow. This thread made me realize my expectations for movies have dropped so low that I haven't really been let down in a long time. Only mildly surprised on the rare occasion it's better than I expected.

Burn After Reading.

It had everything I was looking for. The Coen Brothers at the helm. A plot with real potential. Great casting.

Instead, I had only one real out-loud laugh (the augmented rocking chair) and not so much as a chuckle before or after that. It was a huge disappointment.

alleycat said:

Not that recent, I'm still getting over Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

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No way I will see this movie. How can you top the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

I mean, take the hint, it's called THE LAST CRUSADE. In the words of Paris Hilton, "Duh"

katiemac said:

The last movie I was disappointed with ... I think Benjamin Button. I still liked it well enough, but it wasn't nearly on the scale I wanted it to be.

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Yes, the trailer made the movie look EPIC, like the movie event of the century. And at best, the movie was "meh". I feel it could have been so much more, but they didn't really adequately use the time flow aspect IMO.

KCathy said:

I wanted so much to love The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I tried HARD.

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Probably one of the few movies where the B rated TV series is better. THey missed on so many levels with this movie. But IMO, there are some books that simply cannot be made into movies and this is definitely one of them.

The most recent severe let down for me was Terminator 4.

I mean, seriously, the story of John Connor. We've been waiting for that for like a decade and a half. And what do they give us? Another version of T-2 but set in the future. Geez-us. What a waste.

T-4 should have had zero to do with a 'good' terminator. They should have gave us the 100% story of John Connor building the resistance and the robots kicking are ass.

What a complete waste of potential.

Mel...

If you think Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was that bad, then you need to watch it again. It is NOT that bad. I liked it a lot more the second time around. It's just hard to live up to one of the greatest film trilogies of all time.

Anyway, back on topic...

Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Okay, I knew it wasn't going to be good, but I was expecting it to at least be entertaining...I wasn't expecting complete poop. I saw that at midnight, too. D:

I'm gonna say Transformers 2 as well, cause the first one was at least watchable, if you turned your brain off.

But this!?

THIS!?

See, here's how Trans-2 effected me...a few hours later, I finally got home from the worst bachelor party ever (which included Trans-2 and a trip...TO APPLE BEES! How exciting!) and I watched The Rocketeer.

And it was POISON was being sucked from a wound! It was like...

"YES! A GOOD MOVIE! One that has craft, and care, and real effort behind it! Music that is good, and action you can see, and characters you FUCKING CARE ABOUT!"

It felt...so...so good after that 2 and a half hour long TORTURE SESSION.

Aaaaaaaarrrghaghsa

As a critic of mine said, "Transformers 1, shame on Michal Bay. Transformers 2, FUCK YOU ASSHOLES!"

I was all for a mindless popcorn flick, but Transformers 2 made me unable to tell which robot was fighting which other robot. I couldn't root for anybody in the entire film.

Except Megan Fox.

Miguelito said:

Burn After Reading.

It had everything I was looking for. The Coen Brothers at the helm. A plot with real potential. Great casting.

Instead, I had only one real out-loud laugh (the augmented rocking chair) and not so much as a chuckle before or after that. It was a huge disappointment.

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You've got to watch it more than once. I felt the same way the first time around, but then the jokes sort of grow on you.

Snow White and the Three Stooges. I hate Curly Joe.

Pretty much every movie I've seen since 2004 (or whenever LOTR:ROTK came out). I can't remember all the ones we willingly went to see lately, but I was highly disappointed in all of them that I remember:

Star Trek
That movie with the chick cursed by the old Gypsy woman

Can't recall any other movies so they obviously made no impressions on me.

30 Days of Night.

It wasn't a vampire movie. It was a George Romero movie with vampires instead of zombies.

God, it sucked!

Superman Returns hurt. I mean, the scene with the plane was worth the ticket price (and the DVD price), but still, Bryan Singer single-handedly ruined the Superman franchise in it's return. Superman's a dead-beat dad. Not my Big Blue Boy Scout.

Cybernaught said:

You've got to watch it more than once. I felt the same way the first time around, but then the jokes sort of grow on you.

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I'm the opposite. I loved it when I saw it. Wanted to see it again right away. Didn't like it as much the second time I saw it.

I hate to say it, but the 'trash' they have put out in the last several years has made me stay away from the movies for the most part. I use to love going to the moves....but not any more. I think the powers that be have forgotten what their jobs/goals are.

IMHO

Let's see, my last really major let down was Matrix Revolutions. The second one had the series teetering. The third one buried it. Such potential completely destroyed.

Since then I have not really looked forward to any one movie like I was that. It seems most of the main movies anymore are big tentpole features where they've upped the CGI and forgotten about characters, story, the good stuff.

Though I have to say I absolutely loved Iron Man. I think they really captured Tony Stark.

CACTUSWENDY said:

I hate to say it, but the 'trash' they have put out in the last several years has made me stay away from the movies for the most part. I use to love going to the moves....but not any more. I think the powers that be have forgotten what their jobs/goals are.

IMHO

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Don't knock everything, though. There are still very good movies, some even great, out; you just have to look for them instead of blindly go where the crowd goes. There are always going to be trash (*cough*Transformers*cough), some even achieve super blockbuster status, but it doesn't mean we have to embrace them. Many great independent films need our support -- because without audiences, they will not get the green light in the future... I am a staunch supporter of indie films and I wish more people are, too.

Moon with Sam Rockwell, for example, was excellent. I really adored (500) Days of Summer. And the Hurt Locker was outstanding. There's nothing quite like going to the movies at the theater no matter how great your home theater is... you just need to pick a good one.