ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[MaineWriter]

==comment==

from IMDb:

Unexpectedly sensitive movie, structured in a series of flashbacks from different points-of-view, about the destinies of a series of residents of a large hotel in Nazi Germany and immediately after 1945. This is much less romantic than what Hollywood would have produced on the same subject, but the character of Nelly, the Jewish actress who's had to divorce her stage star non-Jewish husband, is extremely well-drawn and memorable in her dignity and elegance. Well-worth seeing.

[MaineWriter]

Time for another special round, I think...

This one...

So Bad It's Good!

Yes, all those movies that were SO BAD they actually became good in your memory. Or, maybe they are still bad and will never become good. Whatever, this is your round to pick those movies the critics said were awful or you personally thought were awful. Here's your chance to scrape the bottom of the barrel and come up with those turkeys that should never have seen the light of day...

All the usual rules apply:

1) No previously played movies (check the archive, please!)
2) Any movie from 1947 to the present is fair game.
3) "Bad" is subjective...I am not going to be checking movie reviews but the idea is to come up with something that was either 1) panned by critics; 2) maybe was a good movie once but has not withstood the test of time; 3) you personally detested (even if the critics or other folks liked it). For any posting, give a little explanation of why it is BAD.

Questions yada yada yada...you know me, send me a message.

Leslie
GameMistress, now cracking her whip....

[oilgun]

Man, this round is going to be tough! 
I tend to avoid bad movies and it seems unfair to pick one that I haven't watched.  I was first  going to go with The Astronaut's Wife which includes one of the few mediocre Johnny Depp performances I've seen.  And then I thought, what about Airport 1975?  But I actually liked that movie, Karen Black was so good in it, "I'm the flight attendant, I can't fly this plane!" (I'm paraphrasing).  Then I thought, there's always The Avengers with Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes, which was universally reviled, but I never saw it, so I went with this stinker, which I have seen.  It was good for a few laughs.




This quote pretty much explains why I think it's bad:
www.qwipster.net/anaconda.htm

Either a terrible A-list movie or a great B-movie, depending on your point of view, Anaconda is by all accounts one of the schlockiest large budget releases to ever come from a major studio.  Even taken on its own terms though, it's a failure, as the anacondas featured in the film evoke absolutely no scares, and the only pleasures to be found come from the cheese factor, some laughable lines, and one hell of an over-the-top performance by scene-stealer Jon Voight (Mission: Impossible, Tomb Raider).  Although Voight does little to save Anaconda from collapsing from its own stupidity, at least he makes a knowingly bad film almost tolerable, with a tongue-in-cheek performance that lets you know that he's aware that he's in a crappy movie, and he's going to do whatever he can to entertain you in the interim.

Oh and the cherry on this pile of pooh?: Jennifer I-know-I-can't-act-but-they-keep-offering-me-these-roles-so-what-am-I-gonna-do-say-no? Lopez

 

[Ellemeno]

Is everybody not posting a B for the same reason I'm not?  I'm waiting for C! 

[Meryl]

So am I! 

[Ellemeno]

As one IMDb user commented, "This film has put me off moving to America and/or having children."  I'm pretty sure I would hate it.

[Meryl]

In addition to the obvious reason any true Brokie has to dislike this film, this is the best description I've seen of why it deserves to be in this round: http://www.pajiba.com/2006-oscars.htm

[dot-matrix]

Demon Island, also called Piñata: Survival Island, is a 2002 horror film that stars Nicholas Brendon and Jaime Pressley It's the story of Teens/Sorority girls  trapped on an island who are haunted by a demon hidden inside...a pinata

[MaineWriter]

On the special rounds, please remember to add the year (in parens) after the movie title on the subject line. It makes it easier for the archivist!

Thanks,

Leslie
GM

[oilgun]

I lost a lot of respect for Laura Linney, Campbell Scott and Tom Wilkinson after seeing this exploitational propaganda piece for the religious right.



Some comments from IMDb users that I agree with:

Like most pictures dealing with the subject, this film actually treats demonic possession as real and thus depicts the practice of exorcism not only as viable but as a necessary tool against the forces of evil. This generally makes exorcism pictures propaganda material for a rather medieval method still covered by today's catholic doctrine. Now, it's not that I generally oppose the catholic faith, but this particular practice is despicable. While most pictures of this horror sub-genre go more for simple scares than philosophical discussion, this film takes a stance for exorcism by putting the conflict in a court room.
[...]
It is beyond me why such brilliant actors as Laura Linney, Campbell Scott (two of my absolute favorite actors) and Tom Wilkinson would have participated in this horribly, ill-conceived borefest. After all, they have been known to usually star in intelligent, independent-minded films. This is just a clumsy exploitation flick pandering to the religious right (who made this cheap movie a box office-success). It saddens me to think they did it for the money, but it saddens me even more to think that they actually believed this film to be a project of integrity.

and

This is properly one the most disgusting films ever made.

In the mid-70th a German girl was killed by a Catholic priest and her deeply religious parents. The murder took place in the form of an exorcism performed because of the girl's epilepsy and borderline personality.

I could have accepted the concept of plain horror movie based on that story, but to turn this sad event into a defence for cold religious fanatics that killed in the name of God - and for two of them even their own daughter - makes me wanna p***.

From http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404032/usercomments?filter=hate