Controversial movie/TV opinions

[EVA]

The 2nd Ghost Rider is one of the ugliest movies I've ever seen.

[Reed]

It's not a patch on the first one obviously, but I don't think Grease 2 is the disaster its made out to be. The main problem is the lead guy had all the charisma and personality of a mannequin, but apart from that it's good. I liked that it tried to do its own thing (was darkier, edgier) and wasn't just a carbon copy of the first.

 

Songs are very solid too.

[Jingus]

The only one that's better on that list is Rise Of The Silver Surfer.

The only one on that list that isn't fucking awful is Hatchet 2.

You've mentioned your hatred for AVP2 before, Brian; why?  I don't see how it's not a huge step up from the first one in every category.  We're back down to one Predator, which is much better than "one badass predator and his two loser sidekicks".  The predator doesn't do any of that nonsense of bonding with the humans; yeah, I know that was a fun idea in the comics with Mariko Noguchi, but the first movie totally fumbled that part and almost played it like Sanaa Lathan was gonna KISS the damn thing at times.  This time, the predator was basically The Wolf from Pulp Fiction, coming in to clean up an unsalvageable situation.  The film rightfully ran right the hell away from the first AVP's idiotic PG-13 rating, amping up the nasty kills and gore and even slaughtering people you really didn't expect to die; heck, they kill off a little kid in the first ten minutes, which always gets bonus-for-balls points with me.  The movie did far less pissing in the fanbases' faces with bullshit retcon changes to how/why the different critters worked, with only the mutant hybrid boss thingy being a stretch; and even that was basically making the best of a bad situation and playing damage control with the stupid twist ending that the first movie foisted off on us.  And I liked the setting and characters a hell of a lot more; regular people in a regular town is way easier for me to believe (and way scarier for aliens to invade) than having a bunch of bullshit Matrix-wannabe mercenaries playing around in a stupid frozen Antarctic ripoff of an Indiana Jones temple.  It kinda felt like that one good Resident Evil movie that we always wanted and never got, with the Rocky Mountain setting; didn't it feel like Raccoon City to you?  Yeah, the movie had its flaws: cheap amateur actors, some bad dialogue here and there, and too many scenes that were filmed in near-total-fucking-darkness as if this was The Descent or some damn thing.  But I'll take those cons any day over all the unspeakable bullshit which Paul WS Anderson shoveled onto us with the first Versus movie, which was easily the worst film in both franchises by a huge margin.  Even poor Lance Henrikson had better work to do in Alien 3 than he did in his meaningless tossed-off "hey guys, remember when this dude played a much better character with the same name in a much better movie?" pandering role, fer chrissakes.  

 

And I don't see how Hatchet 2 ain't a step up from the first one, and the best movie in the trilogy.  I mean, it replaced Some Anonymous Chick and "the wimpy sidekick dude in Avatar" with freakin' Danielle Harris and Tony Todd for our lead characters.  The kills were way more brutal, nearly to the point of being legitimately disturbing, but never quiiiite tipping over the nihilistic edge (like the arm-rip-then-suffocate kill from part 3, for example).  And the first movie made no damn sense with what Victor Crowley IS, but the second one actually pointed out the fact that these "killers keep coming back no matter what" characters make no sense and had the characters engage in fanboy arguments over basically "But what if you cut off Jason's head, wouldn't THAT really kill him?" type of debates.  

 

I kinda sorta liked Ghost Rider 2, it had much better action scenes than the first film; tell me the part where the Rider possesses that gigantic earthmoving vehicle with the industrial-sized chainsaw wasn't badass.  Nic Cage's goofy overacting was more restrained than usual, being channeled and kept simmering for the few moments that it really counted; and the movie actually dealt with the idea that the Rider may be a supernatural spirit of vengeance, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily good and it might go all Dark Hulk and make brutal decisions that Johnny Blaze wouldn't agree with.  And the first movie had maybe the lamest Marvel villain EVER with frigging Wes Bentley sleepwalking through the part of Blackheart, it made a slightly-disappointing Ciarin Hinds as a dimestore devil look so much better in comparison.   Finally: how could anyone not howl with laughter at that one Twinkie joke?

[Brian Fowler]

It's the worst lit movie I've ever seen, the acting is terrible, and the script is abysmal.

[Burgundy LaRue]

I think the biggest difference between the first two Hatchet films (I haven't seen the third yet) is the original was about developing the mythology of Victor Crowley, while the second created a world in which Crowley could actually exist.  The first one was funnier in how it handled the typical horror tropes, but the second had more of a sense of dread and doom.

[Buy Me a Burrito]

• Kevin Smith is a bad director and writer. 

Joss Whedon is Aaron Sorkin for twenty and thirtysomethings -- overrated. 

Stallone's movie Oscar was criminally under appreciated. 

[nate]

No complaints on the first one from me. I remain convinced that:

1) He manufactured the bullshit "death threats from Catholics" thing in an effort to drum up interest in Dogma, because it was a piece of shit.

2) He's not even convinced that he's a good any-of-those-things. You should really try to find his pandering post to his legions of fans when J&SBSB was released, where he begged them to go see the film a second time, because he wanted the film to "win thd weekend," saying that he had "one more thing" he had in mind for his little one-note characters .... this, after having stated that he was putting those characters to rest. Dixie Carter learned about integrity from Kevin Smith.

3) Ah, while I'm on it, I used to actually enjoy Chasing Amy ... until I watched it with the commentary on and learned what an enabler Smith was to his best pal Jay, and what a simp* Joey Lauren Adams turned Smith into. Now I can't stand to even listen to one of my favorite songs, Run DMC's "Run's House," because it's in the film.

*Sucker idolizing mediocre poon

[BurningBeard]

Kevin Smith's entire legacy is built on the fact that he championed geek culture back before it was cool to be a geek. He was the voice of the voiceless, albeit an untalented hack. But hell, he took advantage of that small niche and milked it and had them believing he was a god so good on him

[Bustronaut]

Kevin Smith is the Guy Fieri of the motion picture industry.  Quentin Tarantino is the Gordon Ramsey

[Burgundy LaRue]

Tarantino calls his producers fecking donkeys?

[nate]

Tarantino calls his producers fecking donkeys?

Probably. Or the n-word.

Oh, and ...

Kevin Smith is the Guy Fieri of the motion picture industry. Quentin Tarantino is the Gordon Ramsey

N.E.L.

[Elsalvajeloco]

 

Tarantino calls his producers fecking donkeys?

Probably. Or the n-word.

 

 

He did go batshit insane on Don Murphy about 17 years back and caught an assault case.

[Reed]

Donnie is the superior Wahlberg brother.

 

I find him less obnoxious and he's never apologized to a plastic plant on-screen.

[J.T.]

Donnie is the superior Wahlberg brother.

 

I find him less obnoxious and he's never apologized to a plastic plant on-screen.

 

Markie Mark's performances are hit or miss, but when he is on point it is unbelievable.

 

Donnie is able to maintain admirably consistant levels of good performance and his characters are very believable, but he has never had any Dirk Diggler or Dingham from The Departed moments of absolute brilliance.

[Tabe]

Donnie is the superior Wahlberg brother.

I find him less obnoxious and he's never apologized to a plastic plant on-screen.

I like Donnie but Marky Mark is the man.

[Buy Me a Burrito]

Fuck Saved by the Bell.

 

Also Boy Meets World.

[Craig H]

Marky Mark was only good in The Fighter...and MAYBE The Departed.

 

I also find The Exorcist to be completely and totally overrated. It's boring, not scary, and plods along to a silly finish. I cringe when I see people list it as a top 5 horror movie. It's complete and total garbage. 

[Craig H]

Fuck Saved by the Bell.

 

Also Boy Meets World.

 

[DangerMark]

Here's one that gets me some funny looks in the real world: Matthew McConnaughy [or however you spell it,] is actually a good actor who has made some appalling career choices until fairly recently.

[EVA]

Um...That's pretty much the consensus opinion on him these days.

[DangerMark]

See, that's what I thought. I guess I just find people who aren't willing to give some of his good recent stuff a chance.

[Reed]

Tank Girl is a great movie.

[Spritenaut 32]

Tank Girl is a great movie.

 

That would be a controversial opinion if you could find a few people who cared enough to argue the dissenting position with you.   Good luck with that.

[J.T.]

I care!

 

I was a huge fan of the comic strip, so I hate the Tank Girl movie.   It should've been released as an animated feature rather than live action.

 

It has been all but disowned by Martin and Hewlett and Naomi Watts pretty much denies ever being Jet Girl.

 

The soundtrack kicks ass though.   I love Devo's re-release of Girl U Want and the studio had the common sense to include Army of Me by Bjork as incidental music.

 

- Orphan Black is better than Doctor Who.

 

- Jack Nicholson's version of The Joker is just as impressive as Heath Ledger's.

[DangerMark]

I remember reading an article in the run up to Heath Ledger being the Joker, and he said something to the effect of: "I'd hate to follow Jack Nicholson anywhere, except maybe into a strip club."