More Unpopular Movie Opinions

[huntergrayson]

I've only seen one of the Avengers films - and it was Captain America. (Hunger Games was/is awesome, though.) I'm excited because of Whedon but, man, enough superheroes already. Plus, pretty much all my superhero movie opinions are the unpopular ones.

I maintain that Burton's Batman films are fantastic - and are among the few Burton films that I genuinely love. Batman Begins was great, the next one not so much. Raimi's Spiderman series never did much for me, though I liked Dunst as Mary Jane when the fanboys seem to hate her.

I think Constantine, Hellboy, Watchmen > TDK and Spiderman and a lot of others.

Non-superhero-y: but Hanna was one of the most underrated films of last year. View From the Top was not nearly as bad as Fishstick and everyone else makes it out to be. The Departed is the least interesting film Scorsese has made in the last 12 years. There was something almost offensive, to me, about that being his eventual Oscar win. Like "here, you made a gangster movie that's half as great as all your others, but stick to that, kid."

[Deleted]

Hanna is a fantastic movie. Great cast (Bana, Blanchett and Saorsie), great story, and good action. I don't know why it didn't do better business.

[xyzzy]

I haven't seen Hanna yet, but I intend to. In terms of box office returns, I posit that female-led action movies without the sexpot factor attract smaller audiences.

[Deleted]

Apr 7, 2012 4:25:39 GMT -4 xyzzy said:

I haven't seen Hanna yet, but I intend to. In terms of box office returns, I posit that female-led action movies without the sexpot factor attract smaller audiences.

That's probably it. Sad, but true.

[huntergrayson]

While I don't doubt that there are gender factors, in fairness, we're not just talking about a female-led action film, we're talking about one that is led by a 15-year old girl who is a total unknown to most people. And it actually did okay at first - came in 2nd the first week but then dropped away.

I think having a random April release without decent promotion didn't help. I think studios would be smarter to save these kind of small, kinda artsy actioners like Hanna or Red or Haywire for late summer when people have big-budget blockbuster burn-out but still are craving escapism.

[Deleted]

I wonder if it had had Liam Neeson in Bana's role if it would have done better. Might have pulled in some of the Liam Neeson action movie fans... I love Bana though. The friendship stuff with Hanna and the English girl was so damn funny too: love that slice of the movie.

ETA to add my unpopular movie opinion: I love love LOVE Troy. Yes, it's a cheese-fest, but it looks good and it's OTT and entertaining. Orlando Bloom is fantastic as Paris, Sean Bean makes a great Odysseus, and yes, I even liked Pitt's Achilles. The movie could have been better for sure with a director who was better at the big battle scenes stuff and with some better dialogue maybe, but it is hugely entertaining.

I also love Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven the Director's Cut (NOT theatrical cut). Orlando Bloom can act. There, I said it!

[Babycakes]

U HP fandom O: I liked the first two Harry Potter movies. They were the most faithful to the book, and I don't know why that is such a bad thing. #3 is the one I liked the least. It was in that movie that someone got the idea to make Ron a coward, and Hermione the main character/Harry's girlfriend, and that decision practically derailed the rest of the series. I don't think Cuaron is/was a genius. He made an okay film with some slick movie touches, but he fucked up one of the best books in the series.

[Shalamar]

Pitt was awesome in that! "Imagine a king who fought his own battles. Wouldn't that be a sight?"

[MrsCatHead]

mimmilina, I agree! I loved the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven. I thought Bloom was at his best.

Babycakes, I like that the first two HP films are faithful to the books. However, I feel like it's barely directed, if that makes sense. I think he could have gotten more out of the kids but for some reason decided not to. As if he wanted them more natural but natural wasn't good in this case.

Still, I don't like that the first two films have taken such a beating. They aren't as bad as everyone says! I think they are charming.

[huntergrayson]

Alfonso didn't write it, though. Admittedly, I still haven't read the books so that may be why I liked Prisoner more than the first. (I don't know why I skipped the 2nd film). I actually just rewatched his gorgeous A Little Princess last night because I found out it was streaming. It is so tear-jerking!