Recently I put 2 movies in my bottom 10 of the year that other people seemed to enjoy- Glass Castle and Dark Tower. Since doing so I heard from a number of people say something to the effect of “how can you have The Emoji Movie ahead of them”. My rankings move and flow so they may end up above Emoji but placing them below it is completely valid. I also have Lady Macbeth in my bottom 10 which I’ve gotten some flack for. Thing is there are a lot of ways a movie can be bad. A movie can be offensive, lazily made, boring, poorly written or acted to name a few reasons.
Recently a critic I follow did a video criticizing Jeremy Jahns for liking Suicide Squad but disliking Dunkirk. I don’t agree with Jeremy on either film but the argument is complete nonsense. He says in the video that if the character development in Dunkirk is a problem for Jeremy than maybe he’d like character explanation like in Suicide Squad. The two films are completely different in totally separate genres and can’t be compared. What works for a person in a comic book movie is not going to work for a gritty war movie. It’s ridiculous. Implying that the same exact criteria makes a good movie for all genres is nonsensical and I’m sure he knows that. It’s just a quick way to take a cheap shot at someone with a different opinion. I’m sure he has reviews you could say “how could you like ….but dislike…”
Someone might say to me ‘how could you give a higher grade to a Smurfs movie than Lady Macbeth? The two movies are completely different for different audiences. Smurfs Lost Village has flaws but it is beautifully animated and had some nice heart to it. I think it is worthy of my B-. Lady Macbeth looks pretty but there is no chemistry which is essential in this type of gothic romance. It’s like having Wuthering Heights with no chemistry or connection between Heathcliff and Catherine. That would be awful. Because they have no chemistry their choices are increasingly idiotic, which then makes the thriller part of the movie not very thrilling. Smurfs mostly succeeds at being what it is trying to be where Lady Macbeth in my opinion doesn’t.
Same is true with Glass Castle and Me Before You. Both movies are trying to be inspirational stories with hashtags like #liveboldly but the way they tell their stories ends up offending me rather than inspiring. It’s not like I am going to say ‘well your movie greatly offended me but the acting was good so I forgive it.” That makes no sense.
Let me go over my bottom 10 from 2016 and explain to you the various reasons they stunk for me
10. Mothers Day- Terrible unfunny script that doesn’t celebrate Mothers or Motherhood
9. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2- the worst kind of sequel. Thinks let’s do everything from original but twice as big
8. Nine Lives- can laugh at how bad it is but still poorly made and he’s not a bad Dad and doesn’t deserve to be turned into a cat.
7. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children- one scene of exposition after another creating a real snoozefest.
6. Alice Through the Looking Glass- same as Miss Peregrine’s but more annoying.
5. Me Before You- morally offensive film that thinks manic pixie dream girl can fix all of life’s problems
4. Batman: the Killing Joke- a movie that believes a woman is a tool for the screenwriters to victimize and animation sucks
3. Warcraft- some neat special effects can’t save a movie that was so confusing my head hurts just thinking about it
2. Norm of the North- incompetently made in every facet. Animation, voice acting, comedy, story, villain all are awful.
1 Do Over- an excuse for Adam Sandler and buddies to go on vacation. Racist, sexist, homophobic all in one.
So do you get the idea? You can dislike movies for lots of reasons and just because a movie is well made doesn’t mean it can’t suck and be on my worst of the year list. It’s my list and I decide what I do or do not like.
Great article! The thing is people want different things from movies, take different things from movie, and come from different upbringings and schools of thought that cause them to have different reactions to the message or point of a movie. There’s no right or wrong. And what’s funny about the ‘well-made’ argument is even that’s incredibly subjective. I’ll be less hot on a more acclaimed movie and people will be like ‘but at least it’s well made’ and I’ll sometimes wonder ‘okay, then why do I have these issues with stuff like a performance or two or lighting or other things that fall into the ‘well-made’ category?’ lol
That’s very true. In the end with any film it’s which flaws are you willing to ignore and go along for the ride!
Heck, I’ve spent a lot of my recent videos on the original Power Rangers show going ‘wow this is so cheesy and silly but my goodness I love so much!’ Yet I tried to watch the BBC show Misfits a few months ago, which is widely praised and did have some quality stuff to it, but I tired of the kind of obnoxious characters so much and got annoyed but certain choices which I found just gross, rude, or disrespectful for the sake of being gross, rude, or disrespectful, plus while some shows can mix comedy with drama, it wasn’t mixing the tones well enough for me that I gave up after the season 3 premiere after I was just utterly bored by it. So yes, I’m the person with intense fandom for the cheesiest 90’s kids show and will keep going back to it, yet I willingly gave up on an acclaimed BBC show! lol So that’s a bizarre way of giving an example where I proved your point for me personally but whatever works! lol
I always felt that there is a huge difference between the overall quality of a movie and not liking a movie. There are a number of movies I objectively know are not particularly good, but which I enjoy. There are also a number of movies which I understand are master pieces, but don’t enjoy at all.
Thus said, worst or best lists are always based on personal taste and they do pit movies against each other which are very, very different anyway. It is not worth to go all angry about one.
Yeah I guess I’m just passionate about these things but I agree with you. There are a few masterpieces that arent my taste even if well made
I dunno if I’ve ever been offended by a film before.
I wish I could say the same
Are there any movies that other people seemed to hate and you liked? 😊
I really liked the Night at the Museum trilogy but reviews were harsh on that.
Sometimes I think people go into movies with a closed and critical mind because NATM, I thought, was a enjoyable trilogy that had really fun moments and laugh out loud scenes
I was disappointed in the last NATM but I enjoyed the other 2. There are lots of movies others hate that I like. I enjoy a lot of romcoms that people hate on but I liked Ratchet and Clank and that got tortured in reviews. I also liked Smurfs Lost Village which got bad reviews so it happens
war craft was really horrible. I forget that i actually liked dunkirk i think it was good but way overrated.Did not like bigfatgreekwedding2.enjoyed mrs peregrines though.