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I didn't see a thread like this on here, so I guess I'll toss my hat in the ring since I need to get this off my chest...



I was explaining Escape From New York to a young soldier who had never seen it, so we made it a movie night thing with the unit. I had forgotten about how absolutely horrid the character Johnny was in that movie, and how absolutely awful the actor was. So much so that when the character's "arc resolved" his acting spoiled what should have been the most satisfying moment of the movie for me.

I'll get the easy answer out of the way.

"I don't like sand, it's coarse, it's rough, it's irritating and it gets everywhere."

Develop a movie trilogy, completely screw up the writing and dialogue for the most important character, throughout *two* different actors.

A lot of films would be just... better, if it weren't for random comic relief sidekick that got shoehorned in. I guess Shortround is possibly one of the biggest examples of this.

 Compel wrote:
I'll get the easy answer out of the way.

"I don't like sand, it's coarse, it's rough, it's irritating and it gets everywhere."

There is definitely an (I think) valid, longstanding criticism of Hollywood that they too often choose actors for their looks over their acting ability.
But it's arguable that not even Laurence Olivier could have done much with that line!

Walken could have elevated it.

I would nominate Jake Lloyd’s portrayal of Anakin. But, given he was just a kid, I don’t think that’s terribly fair or just.

And the rest is predominantly dodgy script and wonky directing.

Now. An actual nomination, but it’s tv.

Carla Delaveigne in Carnival Row. Specifically, her awful, unconvincing “ Oirish” accent.

Not only is it distractingly bad, but none of the other Fae have such an accent, making me wonder why she bothered.

Seriously, I can’t watch that show because of it. I’m like Manny in Black Books looking at the subutteo figure in the blokes hair. I completely tune out because of it.

Anything with Michelle Rodriguez in it.
She can ruin any show, movie or character just by being present.

The infamous Depp performance in the Lone Ranger comes to mind.

I don't blame anyone's acting in the prequel movies. Given how many actually great actors there are in those films bumbling out clunky lines left and right, I think its pretty clearly a fault of the script and directing.

Jesse Eisenberg in Batman vs Superman

His Loopy Lex Joker Wannabee was toe curlingly awful in every single scene in the film. And the worst thing is they are still using him in DC :(

I like him in other stuff - but that was total gak from start to end.

Jared Leto in Bladerunner 2049. Everyone else gave top notch performances, then the camera would cut to Leto and the movie would lose all steam. If the film was a bubbling jacuzzi of success, Leto was the guy deucing into the jet stream.

I got a few
Captain Marvel was completely ruined by Brie Larson and Captain Marvel. I saw Brie Larson act before and she is a great emotional actor. IDK why they gave the emotionless character to her?
The Sequel Trilogy was honestly worse off for Finn, he wasn't an interesting character and Johnny Boyega played him to whimsically to make it believable to be a former stormtrooper.
The Main guy from godzilla(2014) made it worse. I understand the need to have human characters in a monster movie. But he wasnt that good. He was kind of bland and his only motivation was "Get back to my family", His father was a better character.

Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was the worst casting of any character that comes to mind in recent history. As Mr. Morden said, I like the actor just fine, but he was absolutely atrocious.

I mean, it didn't ruin the movie, because it wasn't a very good movie to begin with? But it sure didn't make it better.

A lot of these are better examples of bad directing - Captain Marvel in general is a nice window into an alternate universe where someone other than James Gunn tries to make Guardians of the Galaxy, and Hayden Christensen is a better, more complete Anakin Skywalker in Life as a House than he ever was in any Star Wars movie.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Carla Delaveigne in Carnival Row. Specifically, her awful, unconvincing “ Oirish” accent.

Not only is it distractingly bad, but none of the other Fae have such an accent, making me wonder why she bothered..

The main elf girl in Dragon Prince hit me the exact same way (except its theoretically a Scottish accent, though it, uh, wanders...), I stalled on the show because of it.
What's worse is her bio says she's actually Scottish (or at least born in Scotland), so the accent shouldn't be as horribly grating as it is.

The fact that she's a writer for the show and voices the lead (at least lead non-child character) is a big warning sign.

hotsauceman1 wrote:Captain Marvel was completely ruined by Brie Larson and Captain Marvel. I saw Brie Larson act before and she is a great emotional actor. IDK why they gave the emotionless character to her?
The Sequel Trilogy was honestly worse off for Finn, he wasn't an interesting character and Johnny Boyega played him to whimsically to make it believable to be a former stormtrooper.

I actually liked Larson's performance. It felt more like real emotional reactions than the typically overwrought melodrama that passes for emotion in film (especially when accompanied by musical shifts so the audience Gets It).
There was never a point I was lost as to what she was feeling, and it almost always felt genuine.

Finn is a weird story. Not sure if its the actor or the writing, but he slid down to 'joke character' status really quick, after what should have been a serious introduction. It should have been a struggle to come to terms with the real world outside his brainwashing and conditioning, instead he's cracking jokes and being a goofball in minutes. It amuses me that the She-Ra reboot did essentially the same character backstory, but so much better, even while keeping the humorous reactions (though ditching the 'cringe comedy' of movie 2).

I actually liked Larson's performance. It felt more like real emotional reactions than the typically overwrought melodrama that passes for emotion in film (especially when accompanied by musical shifts so the audience Gets It).
There was never a point I was lost as to what she was feeling, and it almost always felt genuine.

Agreed - never understood the hate for her or that film - my firends and I really enjoyed all of it.

Fergee, Judge Dredd.

Oh Lordy. Whilst I do have a new found appreciation for that film (it is ultimately loads of fun), Fergee is still nothing more than an irritation.

Is it Rob Schneider, or the direction? Maybe a little of column A, little of column B.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

Is it Rob Schneider, or the direction? Maybe a little of column A, little of column B.

Rob Schneider is that irritating in everything he does, though. It wasn't the directing, other than for saying 'Let's put Rob Schneider in there, playing Rob Schneider's character!'

I also thought Brie Larsen was fine. Not amazing, not bad, just a very middle-of-the-road performance in a likeable middle-of-the-road movie.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Fergee, Judge Dredd.

Oh Lordy. Whilst I do have a new found appreciation for that film (it is ultimately loads of fun), Fergee is still nothing more than an irritation.

Is it Rob Schneider, or the direction? Maybe a little of column A, little of column B.

It might be that Rob Schneider was doing a fantastic job in the role of Guy You Want to Punch. I just rewatched Surf Ninjas, and I think that was the point where Schneider was typecast. Before then, he was enjoyable to watch on SNL, and in various small roles. He was really funny as a stand up comedian.

I think he actually did a good job in Judge Dredd, leavening the story until the movie could finally get Stallone and Assante together, their powers combined, into Hamtron.

Voss wrote:

Finn is a weird story. Not sure if its the actor or the writing, but he slid down to 'joke character' status really quick, after what should have been a serious introduction. It should have been a struggle to come to terms with the real world outside his brainwashing and conditioning, instead he's cracking jokes and being a goofball in minutes. It amuses me that the She-Ra reboot did essentially the same character backstory, but so much better, even while keeping the humorous reactions (though ditching the 'cringe comedy' of movie 2).

She-Ra does a lot of the things the Sequel Trilogy tried to do, but blatantly better.

In part is the advantage of having an unified creative vision under Noelle Stevenson, in part is having the time of a tv show instead of only 3 movies.

 Mr Morden wrote:

I actually liked Larson's performance. It felt more like real emotional reactions than the typically overwrought melodrama that passes for emotion in film (especially when accompanied by musical shifts so the audience Gets It).
There was never a point I was lost as to what she was feeling, and it almost always felt genuine.

Agreed - never understood the hate for her or that film - my firends and I really enjoyed all of it.

A lot of the hate was directed at her because of a few political statements she made combined with the fact that she was said to be "the most powerful ever" that rubbed certain... people, the wrong way.

I'm gonna third Jessie Eisenberg as Lex Luthor BTW, that was an AWEFUL casting choice. IMHO they should have made Lex an older jaded busniessman who in his mide had made metropolis and the world his lfies work, who was the darling of the world etc. only to in his mind be swept aside like yesterdays garbage in favor of superman.

ben afleck as batman and whoever the kid was that palyed the flash.. and the lex luthor. All terrible..
But i don't know how much of that is directors fault.

Henry cavil and gadot carried the entire cast..

Also, the newest peter parker... God... that's the worse spider man/peter parker we had. And I'm talking worse then mcquire bad in spiderman 3...

What is wrong with Tom Holland?

 Tyran wrote:
What is wrong with Tom Holland?

Well, dunno if its Argive's issue, but I turned off the first new Spiderfilm after about 5-10 minutes just because I couldn't stand the constant social media phone babble coming out of his mouth. Just non-stop verbal diarrhea.
I had little desire to sit through yet another spiderman coming of age film in the first place, but the frantic, non-stop yammering just stopped me cold.

That's why the recent game is the best, he is an adult.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
That's why the recent game is the best, he is an adult.

ya know I'll agree with this, I'm getting a little tired of how every spidy movie is "Spidy as a teenage kid" hell Peter B Parker in Spiderverse was a refreshing take on him because he was a tired jaded vet.

Yeah I dont get why he has to be a teenager in anything.

In the OG 90s cartoon parker was at university studying serious science with a side gig of being a photographer. And he is jacked adult. And hes more mature in the that cartoon that the live action people are capable of presenting..

And I will just put it out there but I don't mind Toby Mcquires spiderman. Just not buff enough..

Because Spider-man was in high school in its original incarnation and is at its hearth a coming of age story.

Spiderverse works because it is a Miles Morales story, not a Peter Parker one.

But in the original comics he was a very mature 17 year old.. Who looked 30...

I'll name one many won't have thought of: Rosie O'Donnell as Betty Rubble in the live action Flintstones movie. Regardless of what you might think of the movie as a whole (I know I'm in the minority since I love it), the casting was otherwise pretty solid. John Goodman was literally born to play Fred Flintstone, Rick Moranis made a great Barney Rubble, and Elizabeth Perkins was pretty good as Wilma. But Rosie was absolutely awful. And not just because her looks didn't match the old cartoon; her acting didn't fit the character either, and she wasn't really funny. And I'm not just a hater of Rosie O'Donnell, either; I liked her in A League Of Their Own reasonably well. She was just a poor casting choice for The Flintstones.