Worst Films of the Decade

[Martini Girl]

I saw a screener of NINE last night, and I'm adding it to the list. Blech!

I FF'd through 80% of it-- save for the musical numbers. I think what sent me over the edge is ALL THAT JAZZ is one of my favorite films, and this was trying to be like that, and failing on every level.

Nicole has a nice singing voice, but when she spoke, her accent was all over the place. I didn't think Kate did a bad job singing, but her acting was atrocious. Judi, Sophia and Daniel can't sing, and I find that problematic for a musical. Javier Bardem would have been better, and I hate Javier! Sigh....

I'll be pissed if Harvey is able to buy any awards for this steaming piece of crap.

[Carolinian]

I submit Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

[Hamatron]

Jan 4, 2010 0:04:27 GMT -4 @dguzpy said:

Jan 2, 2010 18:22:55 GMT -4 Hamatron said:

No, you are right. I should have made that more clear. Once I figured out that it was based on a novel (a friend of mine had read it and said it stuck to the book pretty well), I was annoyed, but gave it some slack.

But some of the PR out there at the time for the movie made it sound like it was striving to present factual events with reasonable accurately. The statements that the director and cast made in the documentary on the making of the movie also implies this. I think this is part of my frustration with the movie. Also, I think the director was totally out of line with his statements on his intentions with the movie versus the reality of the film he made.

Idi Amin did have white British doctors working for him. Also, the book's author conflated those men with Bob Astles, a British soldier who was one of Amin's trusted aides. The Garrigan character in the movie was not invented out of whole cloth.

But did he give crucial advice to Amin on how to charm the foreign press? Did he have an affair with Amin's wife then help her get an abortion? It almost seemed like the doctor in the movie was the one making the light bulb go off in Amin's head, like Amin was some sort of dumb, mean, suggestible bully, which from what I have read, is very far from the reality and undermines the reality of real person, who did horrible things. I just had a big eye roll for that movie, and I found the director's statements on why he wanted to make the movie pretty offensive, decent acting aside.

Here's
an interesting article about the movie, if anyone is interested.

[tamaradixon]

Since I just saw The Soloist and hated it, I'll add it to this list. Boooooring! Jamie Foxx was so trying for an Oscar nom that the fact that it bombed is a bit gratifying.

[Deleted]

But did he give crucial advice to Amin on how to charm the foreign press? Did he have an affair with Amin's wife then help her get an abortion? It almost seemed like the doctor in the movie was the one making the light bulb go off in Amin's head, like Amin was some sort of dumb, mean, suggestible bully, which from what I have read, is very far from the reality and undermines the reality of real person, who did horrible things. I just had a big eye roll for that movie, and I found the director's statements on why he wanted to make the movie pretty offensive, decent acting aside.

Well, that's where the conflating comes in. Bob Astles presumably would've given Amin advice and Kay Amin did get pregnant by a doctor and is thought to have died as a result of the abortion. The film merged this characters together.

But I actually don't remember scenes with the Nicholas Garrigan character giving Idi Amin lots of advice, actually. When did this happen? I remember the scene where he pleads with Amin not to expel the Asians but that's about it. I thought Nicholas was portrayed as more of a partyer and wastrel than a sage advice-giver. It was the one thing that made the film differ from other films about white people in Africa - instead of being a do-gooder and a saviour, Nicholas only cared about his own good time.

[Deleted]

Jan 6, 2010 8:34:39 GMT -4 @ronette said:

But did he give crucial advice to Amin on how to charm the foreign press? Did he have an affair with Amin's wife then help her get an abortion? It almost seemed like the doctor in the movie was the one making the light bulb go off in Amin's head, like Amin was some sort of dumb, mean, suggestible bully, which from what I have read, is very far from the reality and undermines the reality of real person, who did horrible things. I just had a big eye roll for that movie, and I found the director's statements on why he wanted to make the movie pretty offensive, decent acting aside.

Well, that's where the conflating comes in. Bob Astles presumably would've given Amin advice and Kay Amin did get pregnant by a doctor and is thought to have died as a result of the abortion. The film merged this characters together.

But I actually don't remember scenes with the Nicholas Garrigan character giving Idi Amin lots of advice, actually. When did this happen? I remember the scene where he pleads with Amin not to expel the Asians but that's about it. I thought Nicholas was portrayed as more of a partyer and wastrel than a sage advice-giver. It was the one thing that made the film differ from other films about white people in Africa - instead of being a do-gooder and a saviour, Nicholas only cared about his own good time.

I agree, Nicholas wasn't like the other white-person-inserted-into-black-history characters. He had zero nobility and I'm guessing a large percentage of the audience wanted him to get his just desserts. He (in my opinion) was a symbol of British arrogance in the developing world. He came in for adventure, nookie, and parties and really didn't care about whose lives he was helping to destroy. And I strongly disagree that Amin was depicted as dumb. The first scene with him giving the speech in the village, Forest Whittaker did a great job of showing how charismatic and cunning the guy was. In contrast, Nicholas was an idiot.

[Hamatron]

Yeah. I am just not going to like the movie. It's fine if you do, I just don't. It annoyed the hell out of me, I had problems with some statements the director made, and I thought inserting a character that was sort of but not really based on several real people took the focus off of what made the movie more interesting. YMMV. I haven't seen it since it came out, so I can't really speak as well against it as I used to be able to because I actively try not to remember it unless it comes up in conversation.

I don't this one has been brought up yet, so I will offer it up for one of the worst of the decade: Pearl Harbor. My Dad put this on one Christmas eve. My mom and I waited for him to fall asleep in front of the TV. We then shut it off and watched the Iron Chef. Apparently we were three minutes away from the dramatic conclusion.

[bklynred]

I would seriously have to handle this like a homework assignment to rack up all the terrible movies I've seen in the past ten years. I'd say 30% of the movies I've seen have been home runs, another 10% were ok but forgettable, and 60% either didn't need to be made, had no plot, actors who couldn't act, were simply miscast or had no chemisty, or involved dialogue that the director's cousin's 15 year old intern wrote.

[Mutagen]

Oh, I just remembered another one. Now I love Jackie Chan and it truly pains me to say this, but The Medallion was an absolute shitstorm. And I say this as a fan of martial arts/Hong Kong action movies - I've seen some schlocky, cheaply-produced ones but if there are good fights and the barest hint of a plot, I'm there. This just had excruciatingly bad comedy, bad special effects, bad female characters, bad story, and only one memorable stunt. Truly one of the few movies where I've been tempted to ask for my money back from the theater.

[Casino Bride]

Jan 6, 2010 22:12:25 GMT -4 Hamatron said:

I don't this one has been brought up yet, so I will offer it up for one of the worst of the decade: Pearl Harbor.

Oh, jeebus, yes! That was so, so laughingly awful. During the big bombing scene, I only cared about the little dog surviving.