Underrated Movies

[Drtooth]

Burton's entire introduction of the Joker was incorrect and Nicholson admitted that he let the makeup do most of the performance for him. I suppose that's why it was more surface-oriented. The Joker really isn't supposed to even have one particular origin nor are we ever to know his real name. But if he did have an origin, it was not as the man who killed Bruce's parents.

I wonder if that was a case of truncation. Like sorta how they changed a bunch of things from the comics, while still using them as a base for the first TMNT movie. They had to keep April's cartoon job as a reporter because, well... if they used her scientist persona, We probably wouldn't have seen her till the second movie, end of the first at the latest. And to do her story, we'd have to have Henson manufacutr hundreds of little Mousers. Plus, for dramatic effect, Raph was the one who got knocked unconcious in the film, but Leo in the comics, leading Don to be Casey Jones's best friend... stuff like that. I half expect comic book movies to just wing it anyway. The Joker became Joe Chill for the sake of the story, seems like.

The superhero film that was over-hyped, underperformed and therefore is now underrated was last year's Watchmen. It wasn't perfect, but it is a beautiful piece of cinema that few audience members could really appreciate.

I blame comic book guy types for that. "No no no! That wasn't supposed to be an "an" it was supposed to be a "the" in Manhattan's speech!" Really. Batman and Spider-man movies ARE easier to make. So many people have worked on these characters, and there are so many different ways to interpret them. When you take a single graphic novel made by a single person, you pretty much have little or no room for interpretation. Especially since they tried to get things as close to the actual novel as possible, sacrificing a couple things because they fit better with the plot and time constraints.

The film did seem to resonate with casual people, however. They weren't the prejudice comic fan types that wanted to pick out every flaw if they thought not seeing it, or hating it outright did Alan Moore a service. Sure, I never like the idea of a company going over the head of the creator of something (Underdog was a prime example, and they do it with musicians all the time), and I understand other adaptions of his work were meh at best (and Extraordinary at worst, if you get the reference)... but this film was pretty good. And I saw it on a crappy television.

Oh, and Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon buffs.... during a war room scene, Gary Chalk (voice of Grounder among others) is one of the generals. He gets a live action speaking cameo.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

One movie that came out last year that was really overrated was the new Star Trek movie, or Star Trek 11. I finally saw the film months after it came out and I wasn't that impressed. Perhaps I need to see it again.

I felt the movie was the overhyped, all gung-ho special effects, film with the typical one liners that seem to be in a Michael Bay film. And I am a big Star Trek fan....

Special effects are fine, but I need a story and some well written characters. The latest Star Trek film suffered from what's been going on with a lot of movies as of late, the "dumbing down effect" to appeal to the mass audience (those who could care less about Star Trek to begin with).

 

[ZeppoAndFriends]

Doug's First(and apparently only) Movie- Now, I get the whole Nick Doug > Disney Doug... but I'm one of the few people that actually liked Disney Doug, albeit to a lesser extent... but not that lesser. Anyway, it manages to spend the movie resolving a running theme in the (Disney) series, the Monster of Lucky Duck lake. And of course, they managed to fit Quayleman into the film... and that's major points with me.

I thought that was a good one, too. Even though it was just a DTV release that they bumped to theatrical status in some convoluted plot to cash in on the popularity of The Rugrats Movie. (Still prefer Nick's Doug, though)

Back on point:

Dracula: Dead and Loving It - Sure it was no Young Frankenstein, but it was a darn good effort on Mel Brooks' part. The cast was great (Peter MacNicol, in particular, was a wonderfully demented Renfield) and Mel was still in top form, in both directing (making it look like it had a much bigger budget than it actually did) and writing (there are points in this that I laughed harder than I did watching Blazing Saddles or Spaceballs).

I just don't get why more people don't like it. (However, I've always been the kind of person that liked movies that most people have forgotten. So I guess that I shouldn't be so surprised)

 

[Drtooth]

I thought that was a good one, too. Even though it was just a DTV release that they bumped to theatrical status in some convoluted plot to cash in on the popularity of The Rugrats Movie. (Still prefer Nick's Doug, though)

It was a formula I WISH they found sooner. Much MUCH sooner. Releasing these smaller DTV things theatrically during winter vacation got them a small period where the film would do good enough. Imagine if they came to that after Ducktales didn't do as well as they wanted it to do. Why, we would have actually HAD the Rescue Rangers movie. Darkwing Duck surely deserved a theatrical ending to the series. But at least we got Recess and Teacher's Pet (both fine films). I DEMAND a Phineas and Ferb movie, though. A Theatrical one. No DTV stuff.

Dracula: Dead and Loving It - Sure it was no Young Frankenstein, but it was a darn good effort on Mel Brooks' part. The cast was great (Peter MacNicol, in particular, was a wonderfully demented Renfield) and Mel was still in top form, in both directing (making it look like it had a much bigger budget than it actually did) and writing (there are points in this that I laughed harder than I did watching Blazing Saddles or Spaceballs).

After years of wanting to see it, I got the chance several years aog... maybe even a decade ago to see it on TV, and while I enjoyed it, I was a little disappointed by it. It tried too hard to recreate the formula of playing it as straight as possible while managing to mock it as well... but it didn't get it quite right. Spaceballs and Men in Tights were 100% joke fests, everything was a joke, there wasn't a somber moment or dull moment in them... and while they were funny, Men in Tights suffered from joke overload (Spaceballs is still my second favorite after Young Frankenstein and just before both versions of The Producers). So basically it needed to have more humor and wackiness in it, but not too much more. It's one of those films that really should have had one more rewrite, but didn't. Still... it was great seeing Naked Gun's Leslie Neilsen AND Mel Brooks make a film together.

 

[ZeppoAndFriends]

It was a formula I WISH they found sooner. Much MUCH sooner. Releasing these smaller DTV things theatrically during winter vacation got them a small period where the film would do good enough. Imagine if they came to that after Ducktales didn't do as well as they wanted it to do. Why, we would have actually HAD the Rescue Rangers movie. Darkwing Duck surely deserved a theatrical ending to the series. But at least we got Recess and Teacher's Pet (both fine films).

I liked Recess: School's Out and Teacher's Pet, too (The only opportunity I had to watch Legend of the Lost Lamp, however, was soiled by a power outage (still can't find it on DVD)).

I DEMAND a Phineas and Ferb movie, though. A Theatrical one. No DTV stuff.

They ARE making a P&F movie, though, unfortunately, the financial failure of other similar movies has ensured that it would only be a typical DCOM affair (not that there's anything typical about Phineas & Ferb), with a DVD release following some time later (if at all). *Still need a Boober sigh smiley*

 

[Drtooth]

I liked Recess: School's Out and Teacher's Pet, too (The only opportunity I had to watch Legend of the Lost Lamp, however, was soiled by a power outage (still can't find it on DVD)).

Sigh... to get the DVD you'd have to have joined the super collector club or something (some dumb Disney movie collection thing) as it was an exclusive. Yet, all the OTHER collector club exclusives DID manage to pop onto general retail.

They ARE making a P&F movie, though, unfortunately, the financial failure of other similar movies has ensured that it would only be a typical DCOM affair (not that there's anything typical about Phineas & Ferb), with a DVD release following some time later (if at all).

That is VERY disappointing considering the popularity of the show. it is, and I'm not making this up, the ONLY thing on store shelves that isn't a cartoon based on a movie based off a comic book based off a toy line based off another comic book. And it's insanely popular. I haven't seen Disney aggressively market an animated series since Adventures of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command... and not even this intense. You'd have to go back to Disney Afternoon for that sort of thing.

Though, the Doug thing WAS last moment, and it would really manage to make a little amount of money in a limited release. it WILL be on DVD, since Disney's REALLY good with movie releases of current stuff currently on TV, but it really COULD stand a theatrical push.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Dracula: Dead and Loving It - Sure it was no Young Frankenstein, but it was a darn good effort on Mel Brooks' part. The cast was great (Peter MacNicol, in particular, was a wonderfully demented Renfield) and Mel was still in top form, in both directing (making it look like it had a much bigger budget than it actually did) and writing (there are points in this that I laughed harder than I did watching Blazing Saddles or Spaceballs).

I just don't get why more people don't like it. (However, I've always been the kind of person that liked movies that most people have forgotten. So I guess that I shouldn't be so surprised)

I'm going to have to disagree with this one. I actually just watched this one the other day and while there were some chuckle worthy moments it seems like everybody but Leslie Nielsen got the memo that this movie was supposed to be a comedy. It drags on too long and the comedic moments are too far and inbetween and come so often within the drab moments they are barely funny. Sorry but this is Mel Brook's weakest movie.

 

[ryhoyarbie]

I actually wanted to watch Pleasantville last week and watch it in it's entirety thanks to whoever uploaded in on youtube and I have to say it was a pretty good movie about change and how the older folks in that fictional town from the 50's didn't want it and couldn't really accept it, especially the mayor.

 

[ZeppoAndFriends]

Sigh... to get the DVD you'd have to have joined the super collector club or something (some dumb Disney movie collection thing) as it was an exclusive. Yet, all the OTHER collector club exclusives DID manage to pop onto general retail.

I signed up for that yesterday (hoping that I had enough point codes to get Legend) and discovered that it's only available in a two pack with a DVD that's already in general retail (Donald in Mathmagic Land)! It irks me, but I'm not entirely sure why.

That is VERY disappointing considering the popularity of the show. it is, and I'm not making this up, the ONLY thing on store shelves that isn't a cartoon based on a movie based off a comic book based off a toy line based off another comic book. And it's insanely popular.

Though, the Doug thing WAS last moment, and it would really manage to make a little amount of money in a limited release. it WILL be on DVD, since Disney's REALLY good with movie releases of current stuff currently on TV, but it really COULD stand a theatrical push.

I remember seeing it's Wikipedia article, shortly after it GOT a Wikipedia article, and was so excited that it said there was going to be a theatrical release.

Then, I read that it was supposedly being written/directed by Don Bluth, with an impossible list of guest stars and a Christmas 2010 release date.

I hate web vandals.

P.S. Maybe if we're lucky, it will get a theatrical push. I mean, it seems like it was being made to release theatrically, right down to the title which make fun of the "big" releases that are all in 3-D.

 

[BobThePizzaBoy]

I declare this thread resurrected! Mostly because I just thought of another.

The Incredibles. This might just be me, but even though this movie was a big hit, it seems to get lost in the Pixar shuffle nowadays. Granted, all the movies Pixar's made since then [excluding Cars] have exceeded the quality of The Incredibles but it still deserves a lot more praise nowadays than it gets.

The Prince of Egypt, we had to watch this one in 9th grade global studies class. This movie simply proves what a spectacular start DreamWorks was off to. Distinct from Disney's formulas in some ways and some ways not, I find The Prince of Egypt a great film, one of DreamWorks' top 10 in my opinion. Besides, how can you go wrong with a song sung by Steve Martin and Martin Short where they're all "You're playing with the big boys now!" (come to think of it, what happened to those two guys after Rameses screamed at them during the plagues? Did they just like decide to eat pizza in their trailer for the rest of the movie? )