Worst Movies of 2005, thus far:

[MICKEYMOUSE]

Lazario has this as the list.

Worst Movies of 2005, thus far:
1. The Dukes of Hazzard
2. Jarhead
3. Stealth
4. Crash
5. Mr. & Mrs. Smith
6. Be Cool
7. Waiting
8. Madagascar
9. Get Rich or Die Tryin'
10. King Kong

(list subject to changes)

Everybody has their opinions. But I have a few questions. Did you already see King Kong? How do you have Crash so high, in fact why even in the list? I could name 2-3 movies that were bust. Crash in my opinion was an awsome movie. Out of the 10 you listed, I have seen 5 of the movies, and will see KING KONG on Dec. 14th. 1. 2. and 3. I never saw nor do I ever want to see. But I am suprized Sealth is there just because Jamie Fox is in that movie. Be Cool was I guess I little stupid, but I LOVE UMA TURMAN!! People what are your top 10 2005 busts?

[Disney-Fan]

How do you have Crash so high, in fact why even in the list?

Crash, in my opinion, is a piece of mainstream junk. It tries so hard to be deep and thoughtful, that eventually it ends up shallow such as the likes of American Pie. I really couldn't see why this movie was so hyped with the critics.

[MICKEYMOUSE]

Shallow?? I have lived in L.A. all my life, and i don't think this movie is shallow one bit. Can you please decribe to me how it is shallow?

[castleinthesky]

How do you have Crash so high, in fact why even in the list?

Crash, in my opinion, is a piece of mainstream junk. It tries so hard to be deep and thoughtful, that eventually it ends up shallow such as the likes of American Pie. I really couldn't see why this movie was so hyped with the critics.

I would have to agree with you disneyfan

[Prince Eric]

Shallow?? I have lived in L.A. all my life, and i don't think this movie is shallow one bit. Can you please decribe to me how it is shallow?

Yeah, I agree, Crash is anything but shallow. The scenarios seem very implausible and its very melodramatic for most of its running time, but this stuff happens every day. It's strength is in its performances, which is enough to keep off any worst list. When I think of a worst list, I think of movies with absolutely no redeeming qualities, and even then I'd be grasping for straws.

[The Little Merman]

Worst Movies of 2005, thus far:
1. The Dukes of Hazzard - STRONGLY AGREE. Easily, IMHO, one of the worst films ever made.
2. Jarhead - STRONGLY DISAGREE. I loved Jarhead. Swofford's memoir is much better, but the film was great.
3. Stealth - AGREE
4. Crash - DISAGREE. Crash was tremendous, but, mainly because of it's tremendous cast.
5. Mr. & Mrs. Smith - AGREE
6. Be Cool - STRONGLY DISAGREE. Should be higher on the list!
7. Waiting n/a
8. Madagascar - STRONGLY DISAGREE. Highly enjoyable, I thought, but not Top 10 material.
9. Get Rich or Die Tryin' n/a
10. King Kong n/a (However, almost every critic finds the film wonderful)

*tlm

[dvdjunkie]

Lazario probably is one of those people who believes that if it coesn't have subtitles and isn't made by a director whose name you can't pronounce, it is junk. I got a PM from him that mame not sense at all.

That being said:

Those films that DON'T belong on a worst films list are:

Jarhead

Stealth

Crash

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Madagascar

King Kong



I have seen "King Kong" and I believe that it will be a front runner along with "Chronicles of Narnia" in the Academy Award race this year.

I will post my list of Top Ten Worst of 2005 later.

[castleinthesky]

My worst 5 movies of 2005:

5)Chicken Little

4)Robots

3)War of the Worlds

2)The Ring Two

1)Elektra

*The only horribly bad movies on this list however are Elektra and The Ring Two* This list is only of movies I've watched, if it was of all movies, I doubt Chicken Little or Robots would be in the worst 20* Subject to change

[Knight42092]

My worst 5 movies of 2005:

5)Chicken Little

4)Robots

3)War of the Worlds

2)The Ring Two

1)Elektra

*The only horribly bad movies on this list however are Elektra and The Ring Two* This list is only of movies I've watched, if it was of all movies, I doubt Chicken Little or Robots would be in the worst 20* Subject to change

A lot of the movies on your list are masterpieces.

[Prince Eric]

DVDjunkie - If you want to say you disagree with Lazario's worst of year choices, then it would help to validate your responses with actual reasons why you think so, instead of just listing what you feel should not be on his list. And your little opening line just highlights you ignorance. Of course, it's not like anyone would take someone seriously who went to go see Chicken Little five times because it was a "great" movie.

Anyway...I don't know how Lazario got to see King Kong in advance, but I have heard nothing but gushing praise for the movie, not that I'm surprised. Peter Jackson is the new hot director in Hollywood and producers and studios are investing A LOT of money in his movies. He makes the most of every million dollar they give him, which is why I think his movies are so good. He also has the brains to stay committed to his two writing partners (and long-time friends). That trio writes some of the most organic and humane scene in genre cinema I have every seen.

As for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, I'm sure it's a good movie, but I've already X'd it out for the major Academy Awards. For one, it floundered at the Golden Satallite nominations, not even placing a Best Picture Drama nomination, and I doubt the major critics organizations will have the love for it they did with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. 2 genre movies making it in for Best Picture? That has never happened before. And it's not like this is a weak year for good movies. I only see this movie getting nominations in Make-Up, Visual Effects, and Sound Effects.

[Escapay]

Guys, can we PLEASE stop picking on Lazario and his list? It seems every thread Laz replies in, someone's gotta chime in saying "I can't believe you think (insert title) was a bad movie!". He has his own opinions, you guys have your own, be prepared to disagree with them. Just because you disagree with his opinions doesn't mean his opinions are wrong, nor does it mean your opinions are better and more informed/intelligent.

For example, I did not seem impressed with trailers and reviews for Jarhead, but then again I'm not a big fan of war movies anyway. Would I call it one of the top 10 worst movies this year? No. But I'm pretty sure I may not enjoy the movie simply because what I've seen doesn't appeal to my tastes, perhaps the way that it didn't appeal to Lazario's tastes.

So I'm just gonna say this once, and hopefully we can concentrate on what each of us think is the 10 worst movies this year, instead of criticizing someone else's choices:

TO EACH HIS OWN.

As for me, I haven't seen enough movies in theaters or seen enough trailers/reviews for other movies to post a top 10 worst list, but here's the movies I've seen in theaters this year, ranking from best to least best (not worst since there were movies I refused to see because they didn't appeal to me).

Batman Begins ****
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ***1/2
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith *** 1/2
Sin City ***
Mr. and Mrs. Smith ***
Guess Who ** 1/2
Bewitched **
Meet the Fockers (it was either very late December or very early January, I don't remember) **
Kicking and Screaming **

Escapay

[Loomis]

As for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, I'm sure it's a good movie, but I've already X'd it out for the major Academy Awards. For one, it floundered at the Golden Satallite nominations, not even placing a Best Picture Drama nomination, and I doubt the major critics organizations will have the love for it they did with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. 2 genre movies making it in for Best Picture? That has never happened before. And it's not like this is a weak year for good movies. I only see this movie getting nominations in Make-Up, Visual Effects, and Sound Effects.

While I agree that LWW will probably not score the Academy Award (although I am yet to see it, so my opinion is based purely on speculation), there seems to be a contradiction there. Is it the 'Best Picture' or the 'Political Favourite' that will win? Why can't two genre pictures win? This is not an attack on you, but in film contests and lists generally. I agree that the Academy is unlikely to choose two genre film two years in a row, but I think there is an injustice there. If a film is a good film, it should stand up on its own feet, not because it is a good genre film.

That is why I dislike 'best' and 'worst' lists. We've had this discussion ad nauseum before, but it seems that in order to have a worthy opinion on a film, you either have to be in the circle or not. You mentioned the Golden Satallite nominations being an indication of how a certain film will perform at the Oscars, and generally speaking, you can see a pattern emerging from the lead-up to the Oscars. Which again begs the question: are these the best films or just the ones that a certain group of people have agreed upon?

As a consequence, I don't think DVDJunkie's opening line "highlights [his] ignorance", as you so politely put it, but rather is a move against this very mentality I speak of. There are a lot of people who are major critics or deciding votes in these major awards who have lived and breathed so long that they have a very particular idea of "what a good film is". I know people who are very much of the opinion that there haven't been any good films in English since Nineteen Hundred and Dickety Six. (That was a really long-winded way of responding to that line, but I needed to justify my opinions of course )

I do have a personal list of 'least favourite' films this year, but it light of what I've just said, it is probably silly to post them. *cough* 9 Songs *cough*

[memnv]

I think it is funny what some of you are putting down as worst movie.
Mr and Mrs SMith
War of the Worlds
Madagascar
King Kong
Chicken Little
Robots
Jarhead- have not seen but here good things.

I think all these movies where good.

I would like to add to the worst movies

Shark Boy and Lava Girl
and
Deuce Bigelo - European Gigalo- had some funny parts but overall was not that good.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

Could this thread get a nomination for the "Most Controversial thread of the Year" award at the UD awards?

Personally I don't know how anyone can have a worst of 2005 without these awful movies:

1. White Noise 0/10
2. The Wedding Crashers 0/10
3. Bewitched 2/10
4. Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous 5/10
5. Sky High 5/10

I also give Hitch on honorary mention for having no jokes except for the ones from the trailer!

[Prince Eric]

Loomis - Read DVDJunkie's first line in his post regarding his assumptions of Lazario's movie tastes. That's what I was criticizing, not his take on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. If that isn't ignorant, I don't know what is.

I agree with you, if a genre film is good, then it's good. But you have to ask yourself: Is genre film, forms of cinema that are based on past formulas, really the BEST? I would say yes, they could be, but that's not what the Academy thinks, and when I make comments about them, I am espousing the facts I draw from their voting record.

I don't think you or anyone puts BEST PICTURE into context. They look at all 500+ releases in a given year, not just the major titles that everyone knows. King Kong and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe maybe really good movies, but why would anyone limit themselves to those two when there are lots of other critically praised films to choose from, not to mention those not even released that are generating tons of buzz. I'll try and name all the majors that are "still in the game" for you in: Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, Brokeback Mountain, Munich, Match Point, The New World, Pride & Prejudice, Memoirs of a Geisha, Walk the Line, Cinderella Man, A History of Violence, and Mrs. Henderson Presents. Then there's the independents that will take a lot of the major minor awards (supporting acting, screenplays) such as The Squid and the Whale, Junebug, and Me, And You, And Everyone We Know. Now let's see, there's five slots. Now you tell me, if all of these movies listed plus the two genre favorites of this board, are considered "good" movies, is it reasonable to think that both of them will squeeze into five nominations amidst so much competition? No, as a matter of fact, I'd say they both have a touch climb independently. That's not politics, that's just logistics.

[Loomis]

I understand all of that, the only point I was really trying to make - if I was trying to make one at all and not just ramble on pointlessly without any pointy points - was that if there is a TYPE of film that is generally considered 'Oscar worthy' or 'Award material', then can the label "Best" really be applied? To me, the Oscars have never been an all-ecompassing awards ceremony. Logistics aside, you can usually predict the Oscar favourites before the film is out.

As far as Junkie's comment - which I will leave for him to defend/not defend for himself - I guess I just read it differently. To me, Junkie was balking at the 'boys club' attitude to film. That is, either you meet the cut, or you aren't worthy of consideration. Which brings me back to the whole 'Oscar worthy' rant I guess.

Sure, I take your point about the Oscars having to accommodate a large spread of films from different genres, and not every film can make it in there. Some categories baffle me though (Special Effects, for example, usually only has 3 nominations when there must be dozens of worthy titles to choose from in this CGI obsessed world).

[Prince Eric]

Loomis -

Visual Effects, Sound Effects, and Make-up go through a preliminary bake-ff compeition. Any film that thinks it is worthy in the above categories goes to a small convention and sets up a display indicating its merit. Sort of like a science fair. Judges in specialized categories come up with a list of films that are deemed "worthy," or of high merit. This list only consists of 12 movies, and in recent years only eight have made it through the master list. In fact, in 2002, only Frida and The Time Machine were considered of exceptional merit for Make-up, thus automaticallly putting them on the final ballot. So I guess there may be dozens of films that employ CGI, but there's only a few that score high enough marks to even be eligible. Thus, the three nominations. Five nominations is too high a number when there's only 10-12 movies in contention. Then half of the eligible films would be nominated!

In regards to the DVDjunkie comment, why can he assume that Lazario is of that thinking? Just becasue he doesn't like Branjelina?

[Spottedfeather]

Fantastic Four - this pile of garbage didn't have anything to do with the comic. Dr. Doom's costume didn't look like it's supposed to, Invisible Woman is supposed to be thin and white, Mr. Fantastic in the movie wasn't as old as he was supposed to be, and Thing.....good lord, who thought his costume was in any way correct looking ? He's supposed to have a neanderthal-like brow ridge. In the movie, he just looks like a horrible burn victim. Ugh. Dr. Doom did not have any superpowers whatsoever in the comic. And is it just me, or isn't Dr. Doom supposed to be from some foreign country ? And he and Reed are not supposed to be co-workers/friends.

Dukes Of Hazzard - oh....my....lord. How worthless do you have to be to like this "movie" ? There are a millions things wrong with this crap. One, Jessica Simpson as Daisy ? No, no, no. Daisy was not blonde, a slut, or a moron. Whenever Jessica is on, the dumb just oozes through the screen. Everytime she opens her mouth, I get a brain tumor. And I don't recall Bo and Luke being that retarded on the REAL Dukes Of Hazzard, do you ? Man. Whoever thought that people would want to waste their hard earned money on this travesty of celluloid use should be strapped down and forced to listen to a 7 day marathon of Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, Barry Mannilow, John Tesh, Pussycat Dolls, and Britney Spears cds. They should also be forced to watch a slew of bad movies (and not the good bad movies. Movie fans will know what I mean by that) such as Hulk, Daredevil, the spiderman movies, Catwoman, and tv shows such as Angel, Survivor, Fear Factor...all reality show, really, and the Nick and Jessica Christmas special. Or better yet, forced to stare at, with the aid of a machine in Clockwork Orange, photos of Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff in the last year and a half. That would do 'em in.

[Robin Hood]

Dukes Of Hazzard - oh....my....lord. How worthless do you have to be to like this "movie" ? There are a millions things wrong with this crap. One, Jessica Simpson as Daisy ? No, no, no. Daisy was not blonde, a slut, or a moron.

You just made my day.

[MICKEYMOUSE]

Yeah Duke of hazzard look really dumb, thank god I didn't see it, waste of time, and a waste to even put on DVD.