Failed movies with potential

Started by Esau Cairn3 pages

Originally posted by marwash22
Superbad, Hangover and Pineapple Express weren't funny?...

"You got period blood on yer pants." -INSERT LAUGH TRACK

"Where did that tiger come from!?!" -INSERT LAUGH TRACK

"OH We're sooooo stoned!"- INSERT LAUGH TRACK

Originally posted by Esau Cairn
"You got period blood on yer pants." -INSERT LAUGH TRACK

"Where did that tiger come from!?!" -INSERT LAUGH TRACK

"OH We're sooooo stoned!"- INSERT LAUGH TRACK


I'm with you on Superbad, but the other two were great. Not Anchorman quality mind you, but still solid.
My number one movie let down would probably be "The Last Airbender" though, with other most other shitty movies I knew they would be shitty, M. Night tricked me into thinking it would be great.

Kickass. This is my opinion mind you, most would probably disagree.

The first half was pretty good: funny and entertaining. It was an at times affectionate and at times downright vicious satire of the superhero genre as a whole and a mostly faithful homage to the original comic.

But the second half failed because it totally lost its self-awareness and became a rather straight superhero/action movie with a lot of the tired action movie tropes. Additionally it deviated greatly from the comic.

The level of realism in the first half makes it difficult to willingly suspend disbelief when Hitgirl starts kicking ass or when

Spoiler:
Kickass arrives to save the day with the jetpack
.

Both of those things are difficult to explain in a world that seems to strive so hard for some semblance of realism. Hitgirl in particular. Are we to believe that a ten year old girl can become a one-person army simply by training for a while with an (admittedly quite skilled) ex-police officer? Hitgirl in the comic was actually semi believable because she didn't just gun down a small army of goons singlehandedly while hopping from place to place like Spider-Man Lite.

My views

-Superman Returns
-Ang Lee's Hulk
-Quantum of Solace
-Sunshine
-The Beach
-The Game
-Death Proof
-The Wolfman (2010)
-The Lovely Bones
-Hannibal

I think that The Town is a good example of a failed movie with potential that it failed to live up to. Since I've already posted a couple of posts on the reasons why, I won't go into it here, however.

Originally posted by 0mega Spawn
nothing was wrong with the matrix sequels -_-

EVERYTHING was wrong with the Matrix sequels.

I argee ^ Hollywood is making way too much sequels which ruins alot of movies and you get tired of it after awhile. I know I am.

Originally posted by Mr. Rhythmic
EVERYTHING was wrong with the Matrix sequels.

Reloaded is good, Revolutions is a bit 'meh', but I can still watch it sometimes. I just love the martial arts from all the movies - really good choreography.

Though every time I see the Zion battle from Revolutions I sit there in a confused daze as to why there's no armour protecting the humans inside the mechs.

😕

Dragonball Z: Evolution.

Probably the worst movie I have watched to date.
It's like the writer just watched a few Dragonball episodes and didn't bother to know more about the whole story.
I mean, Shenron was Piccolo's pet? ROFLWTF!

I AM LEGEND.

The movie's first half was excellent. However, the film was too short, and as a result, the final third had to be horribly rushed to a half-@ss conclusion.

Another hour would have made that movie very good.

By definition, this category only applies to films that were box office failures or flops, because that takes away any hope of sequels continuing the story and establishing a franchise, which is generally the goal. Almost always, critical failure is part of it.
Fans can argue all day and long about the merits of films like Spider Man 3 and X-Men 3 - claiming they didn't realize their 'potential' - but both were the highest grossing films in their series, so that trumps everything. Same for the useless arguing about Michael Bay's Transformers series - $2.5 billion in worldwide box office can't be ignored.
Not realizing potential means missed opportunities. That means films like Dune in 1984, Judge Dredd in 1995 (Sly Stallone himself now calls that films a missed opportunity) and Green Lantern this year.

Others:

The Matrix Revolutions - failed to wrap up the series in a way that made fans and critics happy (lowest grossing one too.)

Heaven's Gate (1980) - while some swear there is a masterpiece buried in there, it can't be ignored as the disaster that brought down a studio.

Chronicles Of Riddick (2004) - supersizing Riddick from a cult film (Pitch Black) backfired big time.

And two popular Marvel Comics characters that can't seem to get figured out for the big screen - Hulk and Punisher.

Originally posted by super pr*xy
superman returns and transformers.. hey, michael bay, do you know what made the transformers animated movie good? it was about the f*cking robots, not a teenager with relationship problems..

Highlander. The fist movie is okay, but the concept is much stronger then any of the movies / television shows based off of it.

Originally posted by Esau Cairn
"You got period blood on yer pants." -INSERT LAUGH TRACK

"Where did that tiger come from!?!" -INSERT LAUGH TRACK

"OH We're sooooo stoned!"- INSERT LAUGH TRACK

From the hangover

-It's not illegal it's frowned upon like....masturbating on an airplane
-Pretty sure thats illegal to
-Yeah maybe after 9/11 when everybody go so sensitive....thanks a lot Bin Laden

Personally that was the funniest part of the movie for me with the rest also being funny, Hangover is one of the best and funniest movies ever. Sure not all of it was, like the tiger part that you just mentioned but it was still a great movie.

To each their own eh...I'm actually more annoyed at falling for the marketing hype & wondering why I'm constantly disappointed.

Originally posted by roughrider
And two popular Marvel Comics characters that can't seem to get figured out for the big screen - Hulk and Punisher.

With Hulk, I think it's the transformation angle/actor ego combination that either gives one or the other more screen time which then unbalances the film and the character.

With Punisher I think it's because there is nothing really to set him apart from a generic action character but his iconic look and so its a case of 'seen it all before'.

Thats how I see it.

Originally posted by Lord Shadow Z

With Punisher I think it's because there is nothing really to set him apart from a generic action character but his iconic look and so its a case of 'seen it all before'.

Thats how I see it.

It's not so much Punisher being a generic action character but more to the point that he's one of the most violent characters that marvel has.

How do you make a movie that's loyal & faithful to the amount of violence he portrays that kids wouldn't be allowed to see & THEN market a range of toys & merchandise to the younger comic book fan base?

Originally posted by Esau Cairn
It's not so much Punisher being a generic action character but more to the point that he's one of the most violent characters that marvel has.

How do you make a movie that's loyal & faithful to the amount of violence he portrays that kids wouldn't be allowed to see & THEN market a range of toys & merchandise to the younger comic book fan base?

Not sure, because there are a lot of violent characters out there that kids go nuts over so his violent nature I don't think it is holding him back. His story is fairly generic though (not meaning to cause offence to Punisher fans) and is somewhat of a staple among action characters who just walk around avenging a wrong committed in their past.

That of course could be said of a lot of heroes, including Batman but most of the others have a lot of eccentricities (looks, abilities, rules etc.) which might serve to make them more interesting, or palatable. There's no denying that the Punisher is iconic, but how do you make a movie with him that doesn't appear to be similar to a standard actioner?

I think any of the movies that went longer then three or six of them failed since it is like beating a dead horse.

Originally posted by Lord Shadow Z
Not sure, because there are a lot of violent characters out there that kids go nuts over so his violent nature I don't think it is holding him back. His story is fairly generic though (not meaning to cause offence to Punisher fans) and is somewhat of a staple among action characters who just walk around avenging a wrong committed in their past.

That of course could be said of a lot of heroes, including Batman but most of the others have a lot of eccentricities (looks, abilities, rules etc.) which might serve to make them more interesting, or palatable. There's no denying that the Punisher is iconic, but how do you make a movie with him that doesn't appear to be similar to a standard actioner?

What I'm talking about is the spin-of of merchandise, aimed at children.

It's one thing buying your kid a Batman or Superman costume to dress up in...but would you buy a Punisher outfit complete with a (fake) gun & knife?

Considering the cost of one toy can be equivalent to the cost of 3 movie tickets or more...the obvious profit would be in the merchandise.
I simply think that The Punisher is one marvel character that doesn't lend itself to be marketed to children. Even the comp games have an Adult rating to them.