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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






How do!

So this thread is intended for us to be loud, proud and unashamed of enjoying movies which, at best, got a mixed reaction. Because we all consume vast quantities of media. Every now and then, we watch something often derided, and just don’t get the poor reputation.

Now I’m opening this to the whole gamut of “universally slated” to “rather mixed reviews”. And I would ask folk to refrain from dunking on the films which pop up. The dunking may or may not be justified, but it’s not for this thread.

As ever, I’ll kick off.

Terminator Dark Fate

I effing love this film. It’s a proper, honest to goodness sequel to the first two. And frankly it’s got a lot going for it. Excellent performances by the cast, interesting takes on the wider trope, whilst doing something kinda new.

It doesn’t exactly reinvent its wheel, but it’s bloody good fun all along. Sure some bits remain cringeworthy (Carl the Draper), but overall it’s still easily the third best Terminator movie, and by a decent furlong (do you see what I did there?).

If you’ve not watched it? I urge you to set aside your prejudices as best you can, and just watch it for what it is. It doesn’t detract from the first two movies, and follows them up nicely.

Ghostbusters 2016

I really, really enjoy this movie. Sure it’s missing something the originals had, but it’s still a fun watch. I again challenge people to set aside their prejudices and just watch the movie. I can’t guarantee you’ll have as positive an opinion as I? But I suspect most will enjoy it all the same.

   
Made in gb
Executing Exarch





Daredevil

The Bennifer one, yeah it has its problems even with the directors cut but I still enjoy it, plus the Good Jen of the South saved Ben from playing with Kev and his batting average went way up under her stern wifeying, tragically no Jen rules forever...

Dark City

Got squashed under the Matrix bullet-time train but its on par and has a much better cast, nudges ahead if you include the Matrix sequels

Master and Commander

A Trek film but on water with the French as the Klingons

"AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED." 
   
Made in de
Boom! Leman Russ Commander






As a teenager I watched conan the barbarian once or twice every year and found it quite hilarious and enjoyable. It's been quite a while... maybe it's time again

~6550 build and painted
819 build and painted
830 
   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

Battle Los Angeles

This is one of the greatest satires ever made. It's the encapsulation of every film ever made to blow the American military before the public and anyone who isn't laughing at how stupid and dumb this movie, its characters, and everything about it is, has missed the only thing worthwhile about watching it.

The fact that the people making it didn't intend it to be a satire is irrelevant.Even hacks can make a masterpiece if they hate what they're doing enough to make an entire military porn flick that provides every reason we should hate military porn flicks.

I'd actually list the Red Dawn Remake, virtually everything made by Michael Bay, and Battleship as the same kind of movies. They're most enjoyable when you accept then as nothing more than ego trips showcasing all the things wrong with the military-entertainment complex.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/19 17:40:54


   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

Gremlins 2 is better than Gremlins.

Short Circuit 2 is better than Short Circuit.

Hudson Hawk and The Last Action Hero are both brilliant.

The Blair Witch Project as a fantastic horror movie.

Godzilla Final Wars is one of the best/most fun Godzilla movies, if not the most.

Space Cop is actually pretty good.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Pyroalchi wrote:
As a teenager I watched conan the barbarian once or twice every year and found it quite hilarious and enjoyable. It's been quite a while... maybe it's time again


Check out Conan the Destroyer. It’s hilarious and enjoyable for different reasons.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/19 17:45:02


   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Battleship is a supreme slice of nonsense.

But for all it’s abject nonsense and dodgy acting? You simply cannot whack The Old Boys having a great time in getting the USS Missouri ready for combat. And….when the Big Guns give it some dakka? Just….just *Chef’s Kiss.

I think I’d rate it above Independence Day in terms of overall cool silliness.

I mean….come on. If this isn’t the Largest Richard’d Scene in all of cinema, you’re just plain old wrong! It’s like a scene almost entirely comprised of Stan Lee cameos of awesome. And a bit of AC/DC rarely hurts.

There’s a proper “you’re going home in a space aged ambulance” feel.

Sorry for the multiple edits, but I’d forgotten how much I love this scene. It’s basically the cinema equivalent of Thunderchild from Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds.


This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2021/09/19 17:50:32


   
Made in us
Courageous Questing Knight





Texas

I too thoroughly enjoyed 'Battleship' and I will even suspend every nugget I belief I own to accept they still had the 200lb silk bags of gunpowder and shells just sitting in the armory to fire the guns of a decommissioned museum piece...

My guilty movie...STARSHIP TROOPERS!!

I had not heard of it much when it was in the theaters, but rented one night and after it was over, I pushed back up my jaw to close my awe-inspired gaping mouth and immediately rewound the VHS tape and watched it again!

My Novella Collection is available on Amazon - Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi - https://www.amazon.com/Three-Roads-Dreamt-Michael-Leonard/dp/1505716993/

 
   
Made in us
Member of the Ethereal Council






Predator 1 is boring and predator 2 is infinitly better and has better humor, characters and action

5000pts 6000pts 3000pts
 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

Starship Troopers is (now) a highly regarded satire, a “perfect” film that achieves what it sets out to without any obvious flaws. When it came out, a surprising number of critics just didn’t get it.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Predator 1 is boring and predator 2 is infinitly better and has better humor, characters and action


But Predator 1 is so much more quotable.

   
Made in de
Boom! Leman Russ Commander






 BobtheInquisitor wrote:



Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Pyroalchi wrote:
As a teenager I watched conan the barbarian once or twice every year and found it quite hilarious and enjoyable. It's been quite a while... maybe it's time again


Check out Conan the Destroyer. It’s hilarious and enjoyable for different reasons.


Sounds fun, thanks for the tip

~6550 build and painted
819 build and painted
830 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

Cowboys and Aliens - one of those films that came and went and no one seems to remember it, yet its a great bit of western alien action!

 Pyroalchi wrote:
 BobtheInquisitor wrote:



Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Pyroalchi wrote:
As a teenager I watched conan the barbarian once or twice every year and found it quite hilarious and enjoyable. It's been quite a while... maybe it's time again


Check out Conan the Destroyer. It’s hilarious and enjoyable for different reasons.


Sounds fun, thanks for the tip





A Blog in Miniature

3D Printing, hobbying and model fun! 
   
Made in au
[MOD]
Making Stuff






Under the couch

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
Starship Troopers is (now) a highly regarded satire, a “perfect” film that achieves what it sets out to without any obvious flaws. When it came out, a surprising number of critics just didn’t get it.

A lot of the criticism also centered around the fact that it was nothing at all like the book. But taken as a completely separate thing, it's a fantastic movie, and was amazing at the cinema.


I'll second Dark City as an under-regarded gem.

 
   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




 Overread wrote:
Cowboys and Aliens - one of those films that came and went and no one seems to remember it, yet its a great bit of western alien action!

 Pyroalchi wrote:
 BobtheInquisitor wrote:



Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Pyroalchi wrote:
As a teenager I watched conan the barbarian once or twice every year and found it quite hilarious and enjoyable. It's been quite a while... maybe it's time again


Check out Conan the Destroyer. It’s hilarious and enjoyable for different reasons.


Sounds fun, thanks for the tip






Its odd, but after all these years, that's the first time I've ever seen or known the princess' name.

It was simply never relevant. Most of the other's I can vaguely remember from dialogue, but not her. Though I admittedly still mostly think of Zula as Grace Jones (and vaguely suspect she isn't really acting, just having a good time doing the sort of things she just does in her down time).

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/20 00:22:03


Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in ca
Dipping With Wood Stain






Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

My son just loves it, and after watching it with him so many times, I get it.

Pacific Rim: Uprising

See above.

These are both movies that are made for the 12 year old in us, and out there. These are both under rated and really fun films.

I’ll also second Cowboys and Aliens as another good popcorn flick.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/09/20 00:26:22


 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

 Ghool wrote:
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army


Hellboy 1 and 2 under Del Toro are 100% fun films. He's also great are mixing in some darker themes and serious bits and at making some very beautiful elements. If you watch Pan's Labyrinth you can even see some subtle connections and similar underlaying story themes in the 2nd Hellboy.


A Blog in Miniature

3D Printing, hobbying and model fun! 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter





SoCal

I will third Dark City. It would be great even without the twist, but it really sticks the landing at the end.

 Ghool wrote:
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

My son just loves it, and after watching it with him so many times, I get it.

Pacific Rim: Uprising

See above.

These are both movies that are made for the 12 year old in us, and out there. These are both under rated and really fun films.

I’ll also second Cowboys and Aliens as another good popcorn flick.


I will also second Pacific Rim Uprising. It had the goofy fun feeling of Showa era 2nd rate Kaiju show.

The Hellboy movies are worth it just for the art direction/production value.

I do not third Cowboys and Aliens.

   
Made in us
Ork Boy Hangin' off a Trukk





Almost Heroes
Chris Farley's last movie. IMHO, I put this above Black Sheep and below Tommy Boy. This movie makes me laugh every time I watch it.
   
Made in au
Anti-Armour Swiss Guard






Newcastle, OZ

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Predator 1 is boring and predator 2 is infinitly better and has better humor, characters and action


Predator 2 has one of the greatest tag-lines on the posters ...

" ... He's in town, with a few days to kill ... "

I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.

That is not dead which can eternal lie ...

... and yet, with strange aeons, even death may die.
 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

Last Action Hero - Remains my fav Arnold film to this day.

Starship Troopers - Reasons already discussed above.

Sucker Punch - Yes. I really like Sucker Punch. It has an outrageously incredible soundtrack (the song mixes are phenomenal), great action, and tells a very interesting story.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in gb
[DCM]
Fireknife Shas'el





Leicester

I get the impression that Starship Troopers was better received here in the UK, apart from the (valid) “nothing like the book” criticism. Still, probably one of my most watched films of all time, Clancy Brown being the best on screen drill instructor after R Lee Emery

Battle Los Angeles is one of my guilty pleasure films; it’s an achievement being able to construct a script entirely from other military film tropes, but they managed it?! One of the things I genuinely give it credit for is at the start, when the officers and NCOs get brought in for their field briefing, there’s no confusion or “what could it be”, it’s “these objects are manoeuvring, therefore aliens and the only reason to land all along our coastline near major cities is invasion. Get to it.” Also, from a 40K point of view, it always makes me think of something somewhere between a Marine drop-pod assault and a Tau invasion.

Hellboy 2 is a wonderful demonstration of how Guillermo Del Toro really gets old world fairy tales, how they were before Disney cutesification. Prince Nuada is a great character, brilliantly executed.

For my own suggestion, John Carter of Mars; it seemed to be fashionable for critics to absolutely slate it and I have no idea why. It’s not perfect; it relies too heavily on exposition and gets a bit bogged down in world building for (never made) future films, rather than concentrating on it’s own plot, but it has a good cast (some great supporting actors) great production design and effects and it has some really fun scenes. I’d give it a solid 6/10 and recommend anyone who skipped because of the critics give it a try.

DS:80+S+GM+B+I+Pw40k08D+A++WD355R+T(M)DM+
 Zed wrote:
*All statements reflect my opinion at this moment. if some sort of pretty new model gets released (or if I change my mind at random) I reserve the right to jump on any bandwagon at will.
 
   
Made in it
Waaagh! Ork Warboss




Italy

Terminator Salvation: I like it more than T2, which I know it sound heresy for many people But I've always wanted to see a Terminator which is entirely set into the future and that's the only movie in which the protagonist isn't Sarah or John. Honestly I love everything about Terminator Salvation.

Starship Troopers is a masterpiece! I love both the movie and the novel.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/09/20 06:59:29


 
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

I too love Battle: Los Angeles. And not because it "showcases everything wrong with the military-entertainment complex" or any gak like that, but rather because instead of being like Independence Day where we see the overall situation and know the aliens' likely end goal, we are seeing the invasion from the POV of the grunts on the ground. We know what they know, etc. That's kind of an interesting perspective for an alien invasion movie, a trope which has been done to death by Hollywood (with varying degrees of success).

Someone mentioned John Carter; that is an amazing movie, for the visuals if nothing else. Of course the best visuals were any scenes with Lynn Collins in them.

Another one mentioned was Conan the Destroyer; while it doesn't hold a candle to the first one it's still a fun adventure movie if you're willing to just switch your brain off and be entertained.

Heck, a lot of the movies mentioned in here are ones I truly love. I'll go ahead and add a couple that nobody has mentioned yet.

-Street Fighter. Yes, it's a dumb B-grade action movie tangentially related to a beat-em-up video game. But honestly it's one of my favorite stupid movies of all time, and my brother and I quote it to each other all the time.

-Avatar. Seems like this is the movie everyone's hobby is to rip on, saying how it's just Dances With Wolves in space, etc. But it's actually one of my favorite movies, for the visual effects and the cool vehicle designs if nothing else. Seeing it in theaters in full 3D blew my mind at the time; so much so that I actually went to see it like three times, which is something I almost never do for any movie.

My armies (re-counted and updated on 11/1/23, including modeled wargear options):
Dark Angels: ~15000 Astra Militarum: ~1200 | Adeptus Custodes: ~1900 | Imperial Knights: ~2000 | Sisters of Battle: ~3500 | Leagues of Votann: ~1200 | Tyranids: ~2600 | Stormcast Eternals: ~5000
Check out my P&M Blogs: ZergSmasher's P&M Blog | Imperial Knights blog | Board Games blog | Total models painted in 2023: 40 | Total models painted in 2024: 7 | Current main painting project: Dark Angels
 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





Oxfordshire

Godzilla (1998), The Mummy (2017), John Carter

None of these movies are great, but they're perfectly satisfactory and I do not understand the universal slating they receive.
   
Made in gb
Using Inks and Washes





Worryingly, a lot of films I really like have already been mentioned.

But here's one that hasn't, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It's just a fun little adventure movie and (IMO) better than the source material.
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran



South East London

Doomsday 2008 starring Rhona Mitra and Bob Hoskins. I love this movie, and I watched it again during COVID lockdown and it doesn't seem quite so silly any more.....

"Dig in and wait for Winter" 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut






Dark City is a masterpiece. It is made even more spectacular by the fact that everything Alex Proyas made after it has been extremely unspectacular.

Ernest Saves Christmas is a phenomenal Christmas movie.
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

 aku-chan wrote:
Worryingly, a lot of films I really like have already been mentioned.



A good many of them are big popular films from their day, even if niche in their day, but just not put on the christmas film listings or just aren't really talked about much outside of geeky groups today.

A Blog in Miniature

3D Printing, hobbying and model fun! 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut



London

Dark City - at least one other person loves the film - the guy making Delaque for GW!

Labyrinth - my extended families number one film by consensus (followed by Dark Crystal and then Stardust), I was shocked to discover it was a flop and unpopular in the US. What is wrong with you all! And while I am at it, Flash Gordan as well? You lot have no taste. Those two don't belong on this list clearly because they are legends in the UK. Like Legend. Tim Curry I sincerely hope is the Devil in real life and was trolling us all by showing how we will get to meet him after we pop our clogs...

John Carter of Mars - Brilliant film, don't understand why it wasn't liked...

Starship troopers - we loved it in the UK. But I guess in the US the book is more revered and is on the reading list of the US Army, Navy and Marines (plus I guess cost guard?) and is the only science fiction novel on the reading list at four of the five United States military academies. Though really they should have added the forever war back in the 90's. I and my friends immediately appreciated it as a faithful reproduction of a fascist propaganda film. Online it seems reviled as being nothing like the book.

Ghostbusters remake - I wanted to like it, but I think one comedian friend identified the main problem - all 4 leads were the funny one. In the original the straight characters to play the jokes off were vital.

Ator the invincible (unwatchable)/The Blade Master in the US. Truly truly awful. All film students should have to watch it. Also the credits hint at another entirely separate film that doesn't seem to exist! Must have watched it half a dozen times over the years... "Thong, the fish is ready!"
   
Made in gb
[DCM]
Fireknife Shas'el





Leicester

There’s a few things I like in Ghostbusters 2016, particularly the role reversal of Chris Hemsworth playing the stereotypical hot, dumb, blonde receptionist. The biggest problem from my point of view was they couldn’t seem to decide whether they were doing a sequel, a remake or a homage. If they’d picked one and stuck to it it probably would have worked better.

DS:80+S+GM+B+I+Pw40k08D+A++WD355R+T(M)DM+
 Zed wrote:
*All statements reflect my opinion at this moment. if some sort of pretty new model gets released (or if I change my mind at random) I reserve the right to jump on any bandwagon at will.
 
   
Made in us
Sure Space Wolves Land Raider Pilot






The Nightmare Before Christmas! I've watched it every year since it came out. Everyone I've talked to thinks I'm a weirdo and it's a "creepy" movie.

I'll 10th or whatever number we're at Starship Troopers. I'd argue the movie nailed the theme of the book and I don't know how much the gorilla jumping suits would have drastically changed the plot of the movie. I need to go back and reread the book and rewatch the movie.
   
 
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