Ricochet Movie Fight Club: Question 18

 

Last week Brian Watt came out of his corner raging for a Page One knockout. Philo’s Page Three uppercut sent him reeling and Brian ended up clinging to the ropes, eying the clock but still upright when the final bell sounded. His jaw may be a little sore today, but not too sore to ask: What is the worst movie (not a made-for-TV movie) ever made?

From Brian:

It should be a movie shown in a movie theater produced or distributed by a major studio (MGM, Universal, United Artists, 20th Century Fox, Columbia, RKO, Warner Brothers, Disney, etc.); a movie that others may have raved about which prompted you to see it; that was so bad, you may have walked out or griped about it and felt cheated for wasting your money on it; so bad that you may have even heckled it or made catcalls at the screen in the theater while watching it; and so bad that you may actually think less of others’ taste in movies – whether critics, celebrities, or friends — who actually hold this awful film in high regard.

Of course, the more comprehensive your answer on why the movie is so awful, the more persuasive your answer will be.

The Rules:

  • Post your answer as a comment. Make it clear that this is your official answer, one per member.
  • Defend your answer in the comments and fight it out with other Ricochet member answers for the rest of the week.
  • Whoever gets the most likes on their official answer comment (and only that comment) by Friday night wins the fight.
  • The winner gets the honor of posting the next question on Saturday.
  • In the case of a tie, the member who posted the question will decide the winner.

Notes:

  • Only movies will qualify (no TV shows) however films that air on television (BBC films, a stand-alone mini-series) will qualify.
  • Your answer can be as off-the-wall or controversial as you’d like. It will be up to you to defend it and win people to your side.
  • Fight it out.

Special thanks to Arahant for compiling a list of previous questions.

Movie Fight Club Questions by Week:

  1. What is the best film portrayal of a book character? Winner: Charlotte with 18 likes for Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies.
  2. What is the best motion picture comedy of the 21st century? Winner: split decision. In an exemplary display of genuine sportsmanship, Randy Webster conceded the fight to Marjorie Reynolds’ pick Team America: World Police.
  3. What film provides the most evocative use of location? Winner: Taras with 21 likes for Lawrence of Arabia. Wasn’t even close.
  4. What is the best film that utilizes or is inspired by a work of William Shakespeare? Winner: Dr. Bastiat with five likes for The Lion King, a film inspired by Hamlet
  5. Which movie has the best surprise ending, or unexpected plot twist? Winner: Repmodad with 18 likes for The Sixth Sense
  6. What pre-1970s black-and-white movie would be most enjoyed by a modern 18-to 25-year-old audience? Winner: E J Hill with 9 likes for a Casablanca. (He didn’t exactly designate it his official answer, and most of the likes may have been for the modern Casablanca trailer rather than for it as an answer to the question, but nobody seemed to dispute it on those grounds, so that’s how the cookie crumbles.)
  7. What movie did you go to based on the trailer, only to have felt cheated? (i.e., the trailer was 10x better than the movie?) Winner: Back to back wins by E J Hill with 9 likes for Something to Talk About.
  8. Name the worst movie portrayal of your profession (where applicable.) Winner: LC with 8 likes for Denise Richards’ Dr. Christmas Jones in The World is Not Enough.
  9. What is the worst movie that claims to be based or inspired by a true story? Winner: Tex929rr with 16 likes for the, “…terrible acting, and countless deviations from history,” in Pearl Harbor.
  10. What is your favorite little known movie? Winner: A last-minute rally for Tremors made the difference as Songwriter took the week 10 win! 
  11. What is the best movie that you never want to watch again? Winner: Hitler Charlotte with 15 likes for Schindler’s List. Sorry, Richard Oshea but Jesus won the real fight. 

    Week 11.5 Exhibition Match (as a make-up of sorts, since Songwriter didn’t get the week 11 question submitted in time)
    Name the best movie theme song ever? No winner declared but I’m pretty sure it was I.M. Fine with “Moon River.”
  12. Name the best animated feature-length movie of all time. Winner: I.M. Fine with 10 likes for Pinocchio, and justice for I.M. Fine prevailed.
  13. What is the worst acting performance in an otherwise good film? Winner: In one of the most brutal fights we’ve seen yet Repmodad fended off a furious 12th-round onslaught by Gary McVey to give Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves the win with 20 likes.
  14. What is the quintessential American movie? Winner: Miffed White Male pulled off the comeback with 20 likes for The Right Stuff.  There was a two-way tie at 19 for second place as well. 
  15. What’s the most entertaining movie set during WWII? Winner: Arahant clearly won with Casablanca’s walloping 30 likes despite the withering onslaught by Sisyphus on the final day.
  16. What is the best movie love story? Winner: Songwriter with 20 likes for The Princess Bride with 20 likes. Up managed to make a strong showing and Dr. Bastiat is still conducting recounts trying to “find” some uncounted votes. 
  17. What’s the best’ buddy’ movie? Winner: Brian Watt wins with 12 likes for The Man Who Would be King.

 

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  1. LC Member
    LC
    @LidensCheng

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    LC (View Comment):

    Reading through the comments, some people here have a really different take on terrible movies than I do. When I think of godawful bad movies, I think of Battlefield Earth, The Room, Gigli, Zaat, and various Adam Sandler movies. But Zoolander, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, Spaceballs? Man, this is a tough crowd. Either that or you guys don’t sit around and watch really really bad movies and do your own version of MST3K like I do.

    The trouble is, this is way too broad a question, and impossible to answer. There are way too many bad movies out there, each bad in it’s own way. And frankly, for every one mentioned here, I can name a worse film:

    Is How Stella Got Her Groove Back any worse than Eat Pray Love?

    Is The Exorcist II really better than the original?

    Is Adam Sandler’s lazy self-indulgence worse than Kevin Costner’s, Pauly Shore’s, or George Lucas’?

    You don’t like Taxi Driver? What about the other boring grim dreck that came out at the same time, like Nashville or The Deer Hunter?

    Battlefield Earth? What about Zardoz? The Postman? The Last Jedi (Green milk, anyone?)?

    Brooks’ remake To Be Or Not To Be is in every way worse than Spaceballs. (Personal note: I won two tickets to a showing of To Be Or Not To Be when it first came out. My wife and I were the only people in the audience. We didn’t buy popcorn.) And neither of them are as bad as any of the solid waste in the Scary Movie franchise.

    While Who’s That Girl and Shanghai Surprise are both worse than Gigli, they are not even close to being the worst Madonna films.

    Yes, From Justin to Kelly is dreck. It’s not worse than Crossroads, Xanadu, Grease II, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beach Blanket Bingo, or, the magnum opus, Breakin’ 2, Electric Boogaloo.

    The Room is awful, but nowhere near matches the (low) quality of any of the films in the Neil Breen oeuvre.

    So, here’s my official answer: They’re all bad, but there’s a movie that’s worse.

    Oh, I agree. I will say that Neil Breen’s 5-film retrospective is like the greatest thing ever recorded.

    I didn’t even bother nominating any of his movies since they’re so obscure and out there.

    • #151
  2. JosePluma Coolidge
    JosePluma
    @JosePluma

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    LC (View Comment):

    Reading through the comments, some people here have a really different take on terrible movies than I do. When I think of godawful bad movies, I think of Battlefield Earth, The Room, Gigli, Zaat, and various Adam Sandler movies. But Zoolander, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, Spaceballs? Man, this is a tough crowd. Either that or you guys don’t sit around and watch really really bad movies and do your own version of MST3K like I do.

    The trouble is, this is way too broad a question, and impossible to answer. There are way too many bad movies out there, each bad in it’s own way. And frankly, for every one mentioned here, I can name a worse film:

    Is How Stella Got Her Groove Back any worse than Eat Pray Love?

    Is The Exorcist II really better than the original?

    Is Adam Sandler’s lazy self-indulgence worse than Kevin Costner’s, Pauly Shore’s, or George Lucas’?

    You don’t like Taxi Driver? What about the other boring grim dreck that came out at the same time, like Nashville or The Deer Hunter?

    Battlefield Earth? What about Zardoz? The Postman? The Last Jedi (Green milk, anyone?)?

    Brooks’ remake To Be Or Not To Be is in every way worse than Spaceballs. (Personal note: I won two tickets to a showing of To Be Or Not To Be when it first came out. My wife and I were the only people in the audience. We didn’t buy popcorn.) And neither of them are as bad as any of the solid waste in the Scary Movie franchise.

    While Who’s That Girl and Shanghai Surprise are both worse than Gigli, they are not even close to being the worst Madonna films.

    Yes, From Justin to Kelly is dreck. It’s not worse than Crossroads, Xanadu, Grease II, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beach Blanket Bingo, or, the magnum opus, Breakin’ 2, Electric Boogaloo.

    The Room is awful, but nowhere near matches the (low) quality of any of the films in the Neil Breen oeuvre.

    So, here’s my official answer: They’re all bad, but there’s a movie that’s worse.

    As others can attest, I will fight to the death for Nashville!

    You and me both.  The most boring heap of pretentious garbage I have ever seen.

    • #152
  3. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    J. D. Fitzpatrick (View Comment):
    (Part of the problem here is that most people have seen all the movies nominated as good, whereas bad movies attract fewer viewers. I never saw Stella or The English Patient, so I can’t vote for either.)

    And the steadfast voter who undertakes to view all contenders out of fairness assumes a risk of cognitive damage out of all proportion to the seriousness of the event.

    So just vote for Exodus: Gods and Kings and call it a day.

    • #153
  4. LC Member
    LC
    @LidensCheng

    J. D. Fitzpatrick (View Comment):

    I think for a movie to be bad, it can’t possibly be treated as simply silly. This rules out Zoolander and Bolero, for example, and perhaps Barbarella, as well as a whole lot of other movies with comically bad special effects.

    A bad movie is a movie that takes itself absolutely seriously but somehow fails to bring its audience along.

    My vote is for Children of Men. Pretentious, lacking any characters of interest, with coded leftist messages about immigration. One reviewer compared it to Blade-Runner. Please. I left midway through.

    Why you should vote for Children of Men: while it received fewer awards than The English Patient, it billed itself as a more serious movie with a more important message. The English Patient could reasonably be considered escapist romantic fare. So the gap between ambition and delivery is greater for Children of Men, making it a worse movie.

    (Part of the problem here is that most people have seen all the movies nominated as good, whereas bad movies attract fewer viewers. I never saw Stella or The English Patient, so I can’t vote for either.)

    Yah see it’s too hard to choose best movie or worst movie. You just nominated one of my favorite movies made after 2000, that isn’t made by Christopher Nolan. 

    Though, clearly this is a question everyone wants to chime in on, given the number of comments already. 

    • #154
  5. JosePluma Coolidge
    JosePluma
    @JosePluma

    LC (View Comment):

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    LC (View Comment):

    Reading through the comments, some people here have a really different take on terrible movies than I do. When I think of godawful bad movies, I think of Battlefield Earth, The Room, Gigli, Zaat, and various Adam Sandler movies. But Zoolander, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, Spaceballs? Man, this is a tough crowd. Either that or you guys don’t sit around and watch really really bad movies and do your own version of MST3K like I do.

    The trouble is, this is way too broad a question, and impossible to answer. There are way too many bad movies out there, each bad in it’s own way. And frankly, for every one mentioned here, I can name a worse film:

    Is How Stella Got Her Groove Back any worse than Eat Pray Love?

    Is The Exorcist II really better than the original?

    Is Adam Sandler’s lazy self-indulgence worse than Kevin Costner’s, Pauly Shore’s, or George Lucas’?

    You don’t like Taxi Driver? What about the other boring grim dreck that came out at the same time, like Nashville or The Deer Hunter?

    Battlefield Earth? What about Zardoz? The Postman? The Last Jedi (Green milk, anyone?)?

    Brooks’ remake To Be Or Not To Be is in every way worse than Spaceballs. (Personal note: I won two tickets to a showing of To Be Or Not To Be when it first came out. My wife and I were the only people in the audience. We didn’t buy popcorn.) And neither of them are as bad as any of the solid waste in the Scary Movie franchise.

    While Who’s That Girl and Shanghai Surprise are both worse than Gigli, they are not even close to being the worst Madonna films.

    Yes, From Justin to Kelly is dreck. It’s not worse than Crossroads, Xanadu, Grease II, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beach Blanket Bingo, or, the magnum opus, Breakin’ 2, Electric Boogaloo.

    The Room is awful, but nowhere near matches the (low) quality of any of the films in the Neil Breen oeuvre.

    So, here’s my official answer: They’re all bad, but there’s a movie that’s worse.

    Oh, I agree. I will say that Neil Breen’s 5-film retrospective is like the greatest thing ever recorded.

    I didn’t even bother nominating any of his movies since they’re so obscure and out there.

    I haven’t seen any of them all the way through, but. . .Red Letter Media.  ‘Nuff said.

    • #155
  6. LC Member
    LC
    @LidensCheng

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    LC (View Comment):

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    LC (View Comment):

    Reading through the comments, some people here have a really different take on terrible movies than I do. When I think of godawful bad movies, I think of Battlefield Earth, The Room, Gigli, Zaat, and various Adam Sandler movies. But Zoolander, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, Spaceballs? Man, this is a tough crowd. Either that or you guys don’t sit around and watch really really bad movies and do your own version of MST3K like I do.

    The trouble is, this is way too broad a question, and impossible to answer. There are way too many bad movies out there, each bad in it’s own way. And frankly, for every one mentioned here, I can name a worse film:

    Is How Stella Got Her Groove Back any worse than Eat Pray Love?

    Is The Exorcist II really better than the original?

    Is Adam Sandler’s lazy self-indulgence worse than Kevin Costner’s, Pauly Shore’s, or George Lucas’?

    You don’t like Taxi Driver? What about the other boring grim dreck that came out at the same time, like Nashville or The Deer Hunter?

    Battlefield Earth? What about Zardoz? The Postman? The Last Jedi (Green milk, anyone?)?

    Brooks’ remake To Be Or Not To Be is in every way worse than Spaceballs. (Personal note: I won two tickets to a showing of To Be Or Not To Be when it first came out. My wife and I were the only people in the audience. We didn’t buy popcorn.) And neither of them are as bad as any of the solid waste in the Scary Movie franchise.

    While Who’s That Girl and Shanghai Surprise are both worse than Gigli, they are not even close to being the worst Madonna films.

    Yes, From Justin to Kelly is dreck. It’s not worse than Crossroads, Xanadu, Grease II, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beach Blanket Bingo, or, the magnum opus, Breakin’ 2, Electric Boogaloo.

    The Room is awful, but nowhere near matches the (low) quality of any of the films in the Neil Breen oeuvre.

    So, here’s my official answer: They’re all bad, but there’s a movie that’s worse.

    Oh, I agree. I will say that Neil Breen’s 5-film retrospective is like the greatest thing ever recorded.

    I didn’t even bother nominating any of his movies since they’re so obscure and out there.

    I haven’t seen any of them all the way through, but. . .Red Letter Media. ‘Nuff said.

    Yup, RLM is how I found out about the genius of Neil Breen.

    • #156
  7. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    LC (View Comment):

    Reading through the comments, some people here have a really different take on terrible movies than I do. When I think of godawful bad movies, I think of Battlefield Earth, The Room, Gigli, Zaat, and various Adam Sandler movies. But Zoolander, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, Spaceballs? Man, this is a tough crowd. Either that or you guys don’t sit around and watch really really bad movies and do your own version of MST3K like I do.

    The trouble is, this is way too broad a question, and impossible to answer. There are way too many bad movies out there, each bad in it’s own way. And frankly, for every one mentioned here, I can name a worse film:

    Is How Stella Got Her Groove Back any worse than Eat Pray Love?

    Is The Exorcist II really better than the original?

    Is Adam Sandler’s lazy self-indulgence worse than Kevin Costner’s, Pauly Shore’s, or George Lucas’?

    You don’t like Taxi Driver? What about the other boring grim dreck that came out at the same time, like Nashville or The Deer Hunter?

    Battlefield Earth? What about Zardoz? The Postman? The Last Jedi (Green milk, anyone?)?

    Brooks’ remake To Be Or Not To Be is in every way worse than Spaceballs. (Personal note: I won two tickets to a showing of To Be Or Not To Be when it first came out. My wife and I were the only people in the audience. We didn’t buy popcorn.) And neither of them are as bad as any of the solid waste in the Scary Movie franchise.

    While Who’s That Girl and Shanghai Surprise are both worse than Gigli, they are not even close to being the worst Madonna films.

    Yes, From Justin to Kelly is dreck. It’s not worse than Crossroads, Xanadu, Grease II, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beach Blanket Bingo, or, the magnum opus, Breakin’ 2, Electric Boogaloo.

    The Room is awful, but nowhere near matches the (low) quality of any of the films in the Neil Breen oeuvre.

    So, here’s my official answer: They’re all bad, but there’s a movie that’s worse.

    As others can attest, I will fight to the death for Nashville!

    You and me both. The most boring heap of pretentious garbage I have ever seen.

    😱

    Its a great movie by the best of the Catholic directors. It’s about user politicos (or at least Michael Murphy’s character) who have come to a Southern city in order to recruit local celebrities to the cause. The lack of plot was Altman’s style, he was always busy looking into the stories of seemingly minor players. 

    The movie requires a bit of patience, but I thought it as engrossing as cinema can be – perhaps being a southerner makes it more palatable, but I doubt it. A movie about about saints (Ronee Blakely) and devils (Kieth Carradine) and all of us in between. 

    • #157
  8. LC Member
    LC
    @LidensCheng

    Kevin Creighton (View Comment):

    The Five Worst Movies I’ve Seen, from worst to really worst.

    1. Bolero
    2. Highlander 2
    3. Ishtar
    4. Superman IV: The Quest For Peace
    5. Nothing But Trouble

    Ishtar’s trailer tells you everything you need to know about the movie. No surprise it flopped so badly. 

    • #158
  9. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    LC (View Comment):

    Reading through the comments, some people here have a really different take on terrible movies than I do. When I think of godawful bad movies, I think of Battlefield Earth, The Room, Gigli, Zaat, and various Adam Sandler movies. But Zoolander, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, Spaceballs? Man, this is a tough crowd. Either that or you guys don’t sit around and watch really really bad movies and do your own version of MST3K like I do.

    The trouble is, this is way too broad a question, and impossible to answer. There are way too many bad movies out there, each bad in it’s own way. 

    There will be a winner and that winner will be right and the rest of us will bow to them because history rewards the victor.

    But to your larger point, of course you’re right, the subjective nature of art guarantees it. Is Battlefield Earth worse than The Exorcist? On some levels, yes. On others, no. If I showed 100 people 2001: A Space Odyssey I guarantee you at least 50 of them would be yawning or looking at their phones even before the stargate sequence despite the Film Intelligencia’s erroneous assertions of its perfection. And I would fight to the death anyone who tried to force me to rewatch Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (one of only two movies I ever walked out on).

    There may be no hope of defeating the vile masses who adore The Hobbit, but we will fight them nonetheless. 

     

     

     

    • #159
  10. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):
    If I showed 100 people 2001: A Space Odyssey I guarantee you at least 50 of them would be yawning or looking at their phones even before the stargate sequence despite the Film Intelligencia’s erroneous assertions of its perfection.

    The consensus on 2001 is that it is the best 1st act and worst 3 act ever melded into one movie. I saw it when it came out while the adults snored. At an afternoon matinee. I guess I haven’t actually been exposed to the intelligencia, then. Darn.

    • #160
  11. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    KirkianWanderer (View Comment):

    As an honorable mention, Airport 1975. I can’t say much about the acting or the filmography, but I can distinctly remember my mom, for whatever reason, borrowing it from the library one Friday night for us to watch, and her and my dad promptly falling asleep like 15 minutes into the film. I was 10 or 11 years old, and sat there to continue watching, because I thought it was so special to get to watch a grown up movie. That stupid thing traumatized me for years; I had never even seen a plane in person before and watching people get sucked out of one, fall from one, have shrapnel come through the windows, the crew die, etc., when the whole thing was quite dark visually and had ominous music besides, was terrifying. I’m pretty sure I started seeing Charlton Heston in my nightmares.

    After you have seen “Airplane!”, the “Airport” movies are MUCH more enjoyable.

    • #161
  12. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):

    KirkianWanderer (View Comment):

    As an honorable mention, Airport 1975. I can’t say much about the acting or the filmography, but I can distinctly remember my mom, for whatever reason, borrowing it from the library one Friday night for us to watch, and her and my dad promptly falling asleep like 15 minutes into the film. I was 10 or 11 years old, and sat there to continue watching, because I thought it was so special to get to watch a grown up movie. That stupid thing traumatized me for years; I had never even seen a plane in person before and watching people get sucked out of one, fall from one, have shrapnel come through the windows, the crew die, etc., when the whole thing was quite dark visually and had ominous music besides, was terrifying. I’m pretty sure I started seeing Charlton Heston in my nightmares.

    After you have seen “Airplane!”, the “Airport” movies are MUCH more enjoyable.

    Switching to autopilot will never be the same again.

    • #162
  13. JosePluma Coolidge
    JosePluma
    @JosePluma

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    JosePluma (View Comment):

    LC (View Comment):

    Reading through the comments, some people here have a really different take on terrible movies than I do. When I think of godawful bad movies, I think of Battlefield Earth, The Room, Gigli, Zaat, and various Adam Sandler movies. But Zoolander, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, Spaceballs? Man, this is a tough crowd. Either that or you guys don’t sit around and watch really really bad movies and do your own version of MST3K like I do.

    The trouble is, this is way too broad a question, and impossible to answer. There are way too many bad movies out there, each bad in it’s own way. And frankly, for every one mentioned here, I can name a worse film:

    Is How Stella Got Her Groove Back any worse than Eat Pray Love?

    Is The Exorcist II really better than the original?

    Is Adam Sandler’s lazy self-indulgence worse than Kevin Costner’s, Pauly Shore’s, or George Lucas’?

    You don’t like Taxi Driver? What about the other boring grim dreck that came out at the same time, like Nashville or The Deer Hunter?

    Battlefield Earth? What about Zardoz? The Postman? The Last Jedi (Green milk, anyone?)?

    Brooks’ remake To Be Or Not To Be is in every way worse than Spaceballs. (Personal note: I won two tickets to a showing of To Be Or Not To Be when it first came out. My wife and I were the only people in the audience. We didn’t buy popcorn.) And neither of them are as bad as any of the solid waste in the Scary Movie franchise.

    While Who’s That Girl and Shanghai Surprise are both worse than Gigli, they are not even close to being the worst Madonna films.

    Yes, From Justin to Kelly is dreck. It’s not worse than Crossroads, Xanadu, Grease II, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beach Blanket Bingo, or, the magnum opus, Breakin’ 2, Electric Boogaloo.

    The Room is awful, but nowhere near matches the (low) quality of any of the films in the Neil Breen oeuvre.

    So, here’s my official answer: They’re all bad, but there’s a movie that’s worse.

    As others can attest, I will fight to the death for Nashville!

    You and me both. The most boring heap of pretentious garbage I have ever seen.

    😱

    Its a great movie by the best of the Catholic directors. It’s about user politicos (or at least Michael Murphy’s character) who have come to a Southern city in order to recruit local celebrities to the cause. The lack of plot was Altman’s style, he was always busy looking into the stories of seemingly minor players.

    The movie requires a bit of patience, but I thought it as engrossing as cinema can be – perhaps being a southerner makes it more palatable, but I doubt it. A movie about about saints (Ronee Blakely) and devils (Kieth Carradine) and all of us in between.

    Sadly, I don’t see any of that.  We’ll just have to agree to disagree.  I’m sure there’s stuff I like that you don’t.

    • #163
  14. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    I am only mentioning movies I have actually seen in the theater.  That means that for me at least there is a bottom rung with many movies beneath by feet.  But I think I have a third candidate.  The Devil’s Rain with Bill Shatner.  I waited for an hour and a half for the movie to start, and then I realized it was over, and Shatner ended up trapped for eternity in the rain bottle, or something.

    • #164
  15. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    Flicker (View Comment):

    I am only mentioning movies I have actually seen in the theater. That means that for me at least there is a bottom rung with many movies beneath by feet. But I think I have a third candidate. The Devil’s Rain with Bill Shatner. I waited for an hour and a half for the movie to start, and then I realized it was over, and Shatner ended up in the trapped for eternity in rain bottle, or something.

    Shatner’s “White Comanche” is another strong candidate.

    • #165
  16. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    I am only mentioning movies I have actually seen in the theater. That means that for me at least there is a bottom rung with many movies beneath by feet. But I think I have a third candidate. The Devil’s Rain with Bill Shatner. I waited for an hour and a half for the movie to start, and then I realized it was over, and Shatner ended up in the trapped for eternity in rain bottle, or something.

    Shatner’s “White Comanche” is another strong candidate.

    I never realized he did non-Trek movies. I am lapsing into shock merely contemplating the possibilities. 

    • #166
  17. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Richard O'Shea (View Comment):
    Unless the Irishman qualifies….

    Why would The Irishman not qualify?

    • #167
  18. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    The worst movie ever made? I probably haven’t seen it. Of the movies I’ve seen, I would have to nominate Manos: The  Hands of Fate, if it qualifies. Was it ever theatrically released? If  not, I will stay in the same genre and nominate The Incredible Melting Man as worst movie ever made. I know that saw theatrical release. 

    Dishonorable mentions: Shanghai Knights 2  and Rush Hour 2. Note both star Jackie Chan and are sequels to much better  buddy/cop/sheriff comedies.  

    • #168
  19. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    B. W. Wooster (View Comment):

    Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit. He took a simple adventure story that was beloved to millions and gave us an overblown, ridiculous revisioning that may have ruined the book for an entire generation. Official answer.

    Is that in reference the  three  films as a unit or just An Unexepected Journey? I found that film uneven but not awful. The second falls in the “three hours of my life I  want back”  category and the third- I did not make it the bad community theater production of Laketown: The Aftermath before shutting it off.  

    • #169
  20. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    It’s been decades since I’ve seen it but I remember thinking that Rhinestone was the worst big name movie I had ever seen.  Dolly Parton plays a country musician who bets someone (her agent, maybe?) that she can turn any lout into a country music star.  She picks a cab driver played by Silvester Stallone and coaches him on how to look and act like a hick.  I probably wouldn’t have found the movie to be so offensive if Dolly Parton weren’t in it.  I love Dolly Parton’s music, and for her to be a star in a movie that portrayed country music fans as a bunch of rubes that will fall in love with someone with no talent just because he walks and dresses a certain way was an insult.  Perhaps if I saw it again I would be less harsh, but we’ll never know.

    Official answer.

    • #170
  21. James Hageman Coolidge
    James Hageman
    @JamesHageman

    Ishtar. Official answer.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbcje5NRcc8

    • #171
  22. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    By the way, I bet everyone of y’all could put together the start of a conversation on this month’s Group Writing Theme: Reeling in the Summer. You love movies? Go sign-up. Some of you have already mentioned movie discussions that could be their own conversations. So, why not do it?

    • #172
  23. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    I am only mentioning movies I have actually seen in the theater. That means that for me at least there is a bottom rung with many movies beneath by feet. But I think I have a third candidate. The Devil’s Rain with Bill Shatner. I waited for an hour and a half for the movie to start, and then I realized it was over, and Shatner ended up in the trapped for eternity in rain bottle, or something.

    Shatner’s “White Comanche” is another strong candidate.

    I never realized he did non-Trek movies. I am lapsing into shock merely contemplating the possibilities.

    Shatner as both a cowboy AND his half Comanche nemesis. Are you imagining the possibilities of THAT?

    • #173
  24. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):
    Shatner as both a cowboy AND his half Comanche nemesis. Are you imagining the possibilities of THAT?

    Sort of “Mirror Mirror” all over again.

    • #174
  25. KirkianWanderer Inactive
    KirkianWanderer
    @KirkianWanderer

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):
    Shatner as both a cowboy AND his half Comanche nemesis. Are you imagining the possibilities of THAT?

    Sort of “Mirror Mirror” all over again.

    I was just going to say that. I wonder if his more evil half was slathered with a ridiculous amount of eye liner, as in “The Enemy Within.” 

    • #175
  26. KirkianWanderer Inactive
    KirkianWanderer
    @KirkianWanderer

    Dotorimuk (View Comment):

    KirkianWanderer (View Comment):

    As an honorable mention, Airport 1975. I can’t say much about the acting or the filmography, but I can distinctly remember my mom, for whatever reason, borrowing it from the library one Friday night for us to watch, and her and my dad promptly falling asleep like 15 minutes into the film. I was 10 or 11 years old, and sat there to continue watching, because I thought it was so special to get to watch a grown up movie. That stupid thing traumatized me for years; I had never even seen a plane in person before and watching people get sucked out of one, fall from one, have shrapnel come through the windows, the crew die, etc., when the whole thing was quite dark visually and had ominous music besides, was terrifying. I’m pretty sure I started seeing Charlton Heston in my nightmares.

    After you have seen “Airplane!”, the “Airport” movies are MUCH more enjoyable.

    I’ve seen “Airplane!”, and loved it, but I still have no desire to watch that movie again. It’s probably not nearly so bad now that I’m not a 10 year old alone at 9 at night, but I’ll pass. The one good thing I can say about that experience is that, while I was scared to get on a plane the first time (17), I actually like them and don’t find flying scary. 

    • #176
  27. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    J. D. Fitzpatrick (View Comment):
    One reviewer compared it to Blade-Runner.

    Oooh, I forgot about Blade Runner. That one should be in my sweet spot for enjoyability, but after several late night attempts at a viewing and finally two successful complete  viewings without falling asleep I realized that I was falling asleep because it was boring.

    • #177
  28. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    KirkianWanderer (View Comment):
    The one good thing I can say about that experience is that, while I was scared to get on a plane the first time (17), I actually like them and don’t find flying scary. 

    Yeah, but do you shout, “Yeeehaaaa!” on takeoffs?

    • #178
  29. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    Ooh. If this series keeps going, “Best Halloween movie?” can be the topic in, um, . . . about 9 weeks.

    • #179
  30. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    It’s been decades since I’ve seen it but I remember thinking that Rhinestone was the worst big name movie I had ever seen. Dolly Parton plays a country musician who bets someone (her agent, maybe?) that she can turn any lout into a country music star. She picks a cab driver played by Silvester Stallone and coaches him on how to look and act like a hick. I probably wouldn’t have found the movie to be so offensive if Dolly Parton weren’t in it. I love Dolly Parton’s music, and for her to be a star in a movie that portrayed country music fans as a bunch of rubes that will fall in love with someone with no talent just because he walks and dresses a certain way was an insult. Perhaps if I saw it again I would be less harsh, but we’ll never know.

    Official answer.

    I can’t think of any examples at the moment but I feel like the premise of talentless performer being propelled to the heights via hype has been done for other genres and even other arts. It’s a comment on people, not just on country music fans. I seem to remember the movie being enjoyable, and I also think it came out at a time when Rhinestonification was a problem more generally. Disco, hair metal, glam rock, punk – these all had real versions of style over substance that were wildly popular.

    • #180
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