When you see as many movies as I do you don’t always agree with the critical consensus around a film. I’m a unique person and I have my own unique thoughts. Especially with some very artistic films I may not respond to the risks taken the way others do.
So here is my list of movies others loved that I either thought were meh or didn’t like at all.
Denial- 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. I wonder if people are applauding the real life story and not the movie itself. I thought the screenplay was very poor at building the case, creating tension and making Deborah a likable character I could root for.
My ranking 111/143
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot- 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again- I don’t get Tina Fey. I don’t think she’s funny and her movies outside of Mean Girls have been terrible. Here is another. I didn’t believe any of the characters, some are in brown face and it’s a bunch of entitled white guys partying in Afghanistan without any insight beyond you can be a jerk anywhere.
My ranking 123/143
Swiss Army Man- 68% on Rotten Tomatoes but I’ve seen it on a lot of top 10 lists. I appreciate artistic risk but the screenplay was very poor. Instead of insight I got lots of bodily humor and the same supposedly enlightened ideas repeated over and over again. Not for me.
My ranking 113/143
Lights Out- 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’d heard great things about this horror movie but I was very underwhelmed by it. It wasn’t scary and was so predictable. The actors try but only for schlocky horror fans
My ranking 109/143
Little Prince- 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. This is a watchable movie but is by nowhere near a 93% in quality. It was boring and preachy and didn’t do anything interesting until the end when it became weird and dystopian. It looks pretty but for most of it I thought it was lame
My ranking 105/143
The Lobster- 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. The problem with this movie is it takes a Twilight Zone episode and stretches it to 2 hours. It’s clever premise became extremely frustrating for me as the message is repeated over and over again. I get it. Human beings are lonely and yet society is built on relationships; thereby ostracizing single people. You’d think I’d love that message being single but I became exhausted with the film after a while. I also felt when it ran out of ways to say the same thing it shocked you with sensuality. I really didn’t like it
My ranking 106/143
Jackie- 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. I guess I am a traditionalist when it comes to biopics. I didn’t like the way they turned Jackie into a robot. I felt disconnected from her which made the film feel extremely heavy handed. I know they are Camelot. Do we really need to hear the song played twice over montages of her drinking and trying on clothes? I guess others found this insightful. Not me, which is frustrating because I think she’s probably a very insightful person.
My ranking 91/143
Hail Cesear- 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’m sorry but I think we have director bias here. I love the Coen Brothers but this film was a mess. The plot was all over the place and a lot of the comedic sequences weren’t funny like a long scene where Channing Tatum delivers a speech on a submarine? That wasn’t funny. Pretty much only part I liked was the Alden Ehrenreich segments.
My ranking 101/143
Other movies that I liked, sometimes quite a bit, but not as much as most people- La La Land (23/143), Arrival (45/143), Edge of 17 (49/143), Nice Guys (73/143), Nocturnal Animals (64/143), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (84/143), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (85/143), Eye in the Sky (89/143).
Movies I thought were ok to great that others hated – Assassin’s Creed (94/143), Ghostbusters (77/143), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (69/143), Magnificent 7 (67/143), Allied (74/143), Miracles from Heaven (80/143), The Mermaid (81/143), Ratchet and Clank (98/143), Snowtime (92/143), Hologram for the King (95/143), RACE (99/143) and Star Trek Beyond (24/143)
I also didn’t think The Wild Life (122/143), Ben Hur (108/143), The Boss (107/143) or The Angry Birds Movie (102/143) were that bad; although they certainly had big problems.
So there you have it. What are your contrarian opinions on 2016 movies? What do you think is overpraised? What did you feel differently than most of your friends?
I really enjoyed Denial. It gave me exactly what I was looking for. I knew the film wasn’t going to be just about how they prepared the court case, but more of a drama along the lines of Bridge of Spies which I also liked and I know you didn’t.
I also enjoyed Hail, Caesar. It wasn’t amazing, but wasn’t bad. It was again what I expected of it.
What do you mean by a traditionalist view on biopics?
I thought you liked La La Land more than that?
And I dunno about my picks. I mean I definitely am on the side of those who enjoyed watching Suicide Squad even though I don’t think it’s good. I definitely don’t like The Secret Life of Pets as much as everyone else seems to.
Cool. Thanks for sharing your views. What I mean by traditionalist in biopics is Jackie takes a lot of artistic risks in the way it portrays her where I like a more traditional story about the life of the person portrayed. I didnt really like Steve Jobs or Social Network which took some artistic risks but none of them portrayed their character in a compelling way.
La La Land has sunk a little for me since I saw it. I haven’t thought about the songs once and I think that’s a problem. It’s still 23/143 so pretty high. The hyperbole has been through the roof on it. Some saying it is the best musical in last 50 years. I said in my original review I didnt think it was as good as Sing Street or Moana
But yeah I thought Denial was really poorly written and put together. Hail Cesear was a mess and more boring than funny to me
Fair. To each, his/her own.
86% of critics agree with you :). I must admit Secret Life of Pets worsened on rewatch
These are critical favs, not popular ones, but I completely agree. Wasn’t crazy about any of these films (although I never use the word “overrated” in my writing).
True, it is kind of an over-used term and you’re right these were mostly critical darlings not popular favorites although they certainly got a lot of love amongst my blogging/youtube friends