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The Worst "Summer Blockbuster" Movie?

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The Worst "Summer Blockbuster" Movie?

Old 06-19-03, 08:41 PM
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The Worst "Summer Blockbuster" Movie?

There's been a ton of them in the last 8-10 years...which one summer blockbsuter movie was the worst? Which one did you go into totally excited and came out even more dissapointed?

For me, it's Pearl Harbor...I see it on sale all the time (a good DVD I hear) but can't get myself to buy it. It's just pure
Old 06-19-03, 09:17 PM
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From every summer ever? I'll get back to you on that. We might have a few strong contenders this year.
Old 06-19-03, 09:20 PM
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Batman & Robin was the most blatantly awful, and Godzilla was the most disappointing based on the hype, but Deep Impact is my least favorite overall.
Old 06-19-03, 09:38 PM
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Last Action Hero?
Old 06-19-03, 09:49 PM
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Last Action Hero is pretty lousy. I recently rewatched it for a film class -- time has not been kind. It's even worse than I remembered it.

But I wouldn't say it's the worst summer blockbuster ever. There are simply too many.

But if I had to choose one that offended me on a near metaphysical level... hmm... Congo, maybe. What an abortion. Wild Wild West is also a contender; when you combine Jon Peters with Barry Sonnenfeld, two "talents" who should never go near a movie camera again, you get four times as much spooge. Tomb Raider is garbage. Batman and Robin is so horrifically awful that you can actually rewatch the damn thing and partake of its horror again and again.

Ah!

Got it!

Young Einstein. Warner Brothers hyped the living crap out of this "Yahoo Serious" turdburger in 1989. You couldn't go to the movies without seeing a trailer for this wretched little monkey. Blecch.
Old 06-19-03, 09:57 PM
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Batman and Robin is one of the worst "blockbuster" of the past several years. Hard for a movie to have zero redeeming qualities, but we have a winner.

To me, Pearl Harbor was a failed blockbuster, it tried to do too much and ending up doing it all bad....except for the spectacular attack sequence, where it delivers in spades, so I wouldn't right it off on that count.

I would say "The Avengers" but WB realized it had a stinker and it dumped it in the (former) death month, August. Although that one was so bad, its become fun bad (to me at least)
Old 06-19-03, 11:00 PM
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There are many that don't live up to the hype but the ones below are just god awful:
ID4, MIB, Godzilla, Wild Wild West just for a few.
Old 06-19-03, 11:20 PM
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I would have to say that ID4 was without a doubt the worst, and don't give me your "it's a turn your brain off popcorn flick". On this board, that phrase has become the excuse people use for liking insultingly bad action movies.
Old 06-19-03, 11:24 PM
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Batman & Robin is the only one that I can think of which was truly aggressively bad. Most of the other flicks mentioned are merely boring or uninspired. Generally they still have some good points to them (the action scenes in Godzilla were brilliantly executed. Some of the shots were just incredible)
Old 06-19-03, 11:45 PM
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Men in Black II - simply awful.
Old 06-19-03, 11:48 PM
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xXx
Old 06-20-03, 12:13 AM
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The Haunting (1999) - proof positive that "scary" special effects don't make for a scary movie
Speed 2: Cruise Control

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Old 06-20-03, 12:33 AM
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Seeing the title made me think of "Tomb Raider", which has to be the worst photographed and made 100 million dollar budget film ever(the studio should have turned it in for insurance money or sued the director and D.P. for negligence). But "Congo" certainly jangles some unpleasant memories, I wonder what possessed the studio to give this turd a push given the laughable, almost spooflike ape effects, no name cast, and awful story(and I"m shocked to do an IMDB search and see this thing made over 80 mil domestically and 71 mil internationally!!!!) So I suppose this is a double hate, since this thing's success probably made "Anaconda" possible. But Ernie Hudson is great as always in this one.

And Millheiser also has a good recall on the retchid, as Wild Wild West was good for only one thing, unburdening the public at large of Will Smith's mug. It was good for six months or so while it lasted. But this is really a horrific film, just zero chemsitry with Kline, who's also out of place here. Why did they make this?

And of the other contenders, I haven't seen Con Air, Godzilla, MIB II, Last Action Hero, xXx, The Fast and the Furious, Battlefield Earth so I can't condemn nor praise.

Rollerball was a pretty lame big launch, I think intended for summer, but held off for winter???

Aramageddon was a total disgrace in my book and I was laughing at the serious parts and cringing during the jokey moments, a personal film I hated

Gone in 60 seconds was a particularly heinous brand of film that seemed to spawn the Fast and Furious.

And as for Deep Impact, Pearl Harbor and ID4, they were passable for what they were, both had a moment or two of redemption in my book, but are largely fast food films, garbage in, garbage out, two hours out of the cold in some air conditioning in the summertime.

But when you get right down to it, there are two real offenders in my book. The 2nd worst blockbuster of the summer or ANY time has to be the often mentioned, much maligned, "Batman and Robin". Unspeakably bad. It was fun because I went with a group of friends on opening weekend, lads I don't consider to be "film savy"( they love them some action). I can appreciate anything, but about 45 minutes into this, my group, and basically every group in the audience were turning to each other and asking what the hell was going on, and how bad is this movie, etc. The low rumbling grew to outright heckling out of pure hatred by the climax of the movie, and I remember a few drinks hitting the screen. Between this and Godzilla the next year, it seemed like the Hollywood Blockbuster boom that was revitalized by T2 in 1991 had fizzled.

But the most agregious offender has to be "Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World" or whatever the hell it's official title is. Probably the worst studio film I"ve ever seen, and obviously ipso facto the worst Steven Speilberg film since he was blowing up his toy soliders with an 8mm camera. I really wish I was somehow a part of this to see how much Speilberg was a part of this, because I truly believe he could make an Ed Wood script watchable. This had to be completely in the hands of 2nd unit hacks, and rumor has it that Spielberg directed this via videoconfrencing from the set of "Amistad", which is so shocking I've refused to believe it. From the complete neutering, butchering and exploiting of Jeff Goldblum's mystical character from JP1, to the counfounding, halfhearted rehashing of the first story, to the act III butchery of having the dinosaurs getting loose on the mainland(either that's a big plot point or it isn't, it's not some afterthought tacked on the end of the film!) it's so bad on so many levels, it's not fresh enough in my head for me to provide a through dissection and tongue lashing. Suffice to say, I"ve never seen the third film of the trilogy nor have I revisited the first two following this carwreck. About the only thing that would convince me would be an IMAX release for JP1, but that's a whole other thread.
Old 06-20-03, 12:44 AM
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JAWS

JAWS 1975 people after seeing that movie stopped going into the ocean, that's when Atantic City started thinking Casinos. Man where have you been? LOL


P.S. True story people became obsessed with the movie stating true facts that most shark attacks occur in shallow water. They aparently looked it for proof and found out the movie was telling correct facts.


The only change was that the rogue Great white acted like the devils demon, which in reality it acts like a normal fish.
JAWS put more Jersey and Calfornia motels and Hotels in the red ink. Go ahead check out my post, then you won't go in the ocean bathing either.


Man that was a easy for me I was around in 1975, 28 years ago.
Old 06-20-03, 01:06 AM
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Armageddon
Old 06-20-03, 01:11 AM
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I have to say Men In Black 2: a 88 minute movie that felt like 2 and a half hours.

Man that was torture. I also blame that film for causing my to take a chunk out of my foot later on in the day.
Old 06-20-03, 01:18 AM
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Gotta agree with Gone in 60 Seconds. Wasn't terrible, but God damn that movie had so much more potential.
Seeing the title made me think of "Tomb Raider", which has to be the worst photographed and made 100 million dollar budget film ever
Which begs the question, why the hell is Tomb Raider 2 coming out? That movie is gonna tank like no other.
Old 06-20-03, 01:42 AM
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If I must only pick the worst, MiB 2 gets my vote, too.
Old 06-20-03, 07:20 AM
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Gone in 60 Seconds
Old 06-20-03, 07:32 AM
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Here are a few (some already mentioned):

Wild Wild West
Godzilla
Hudson Hawk
Ghostbusters II
Batman & Robin
Howard The Duck
Battlefield Earth
Ishtar
Waterworld

Oh, and I'll go to my grave saying that ID4 was a GREAT piece of summer popcorn entertainment. I saw it like six times that summer!

Last edited by Spooky; 06-20-03 at 07:35 AM.
Old 06-20-03, 07:37 AM
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1) Pearl Harbor
2) Armageddon
3) The Rock
Old 06-20-03, 08:21 AM
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Originally posted by Spooky
Oh, and I'll go to my grave saying that ID4 was a GREAT piece of summer popcorn entertainment.
Can I get an adjacent lot?

Oh ye ID4 haters, where were thou when it made a gazillion dollars at the box office?
Old 06-20-03, 08:37 AM
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The list is almost too big of terrible summer blockbusters, but my personal list is as follows:

Tomb Raider
The Mummy Returns
Gone In 60 Seconds
The Haunting

I hated all of these movies with a passion and will probably never watch any of them again. The sad thing is these are all from the past few summers, and I don't see the quality of these so-called "blockbusters" getting much better.
Old 06-20-03, 08:38 AM
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wow, this is a tough one.

Batman and Robin--- one of the worst films ever made, which has to put it on top here.

Other horrible ones:

Jurassic Park 2 and 3
Godzilla
Armageddon
Wild Wild West
Old 06-20-03, 08:39 AM
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Originally posted by rennervision

Oh ye ID4 haters, where were thou when it made a gazillion dollars at the box office? [/B]
well, Titanic sucked donkey b***s, and that made a lot of money. so i would say the boxoffice isn't a real good indicator.

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