OK Movies That Could Have Been Great

[raj]

Demolition Man.  I liked it an all, but I just thought there could have been something more there (and get rid of the awkward "now all restaurants are Taco Bell" product placement.)
Maybe a few more jokes or social commentary.

[Doc Daneeka]

Yeah that Blockbuster coulda' been a blockbuster, but no, only applies to rewards card members...

[BeyondTheGrave]

The Island (2005) could haven been great but Micheal Bay just ruined it. Besides a drawn out story that had potential instead it was just their to show the next action scene,it had so much product placement from Budweiser to X-Box to name a few. It was VERY distracting and drove me up a wall.

[Zapranoth]

Damn, "Gigli" coulda been sooooooooooo gooooood.

I mean, all the star potential it had!   But it just wasn't written good, and look how it turned out.

(Sorry Scott!)

[Yaddo 42]

Demolition Man needed smarter jokes and social commentary (or maybe it was just too much LA-based humor for me to relate to), not just Dennis Leary doing one of his stand-up routines right in the middle of the movie. He was hard to believe as a revolutionary leader to begin with, but that just shut down the movie. The Taco Bell thing didn't bother me, since I was just glad it wasn't a burger joint, especially one of the big names. And Sting should never be allowed to remake or remix his own songs or old Police tunes, he always screws them up, not just in this movie.

While we're talking Sly movies, make Judge Dredd like the first 15 minutes and don't take his helmet off, and you have a cool comic-book movie that resembles the comic. Also kill Rob Schneider's character early on in a completely brutal and coldly ironic way to set the tone. Or just kill Rob Schneider on general principle and save us from many lousy unfunny films and dumb cameos in Sandler films to follow.

[Mr. DS]

I just watched this the other day on DVD and while it was decent, it could've been so much better.
I thought Brandon Routh was good as Superman and I especially liked Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane...even though just about every other film critic and Superman fans have trashed her performance.
Couldn't take my eyes off her.  In fact...she was the only character I really cared about in the entire film.
Thought Spacey's performance as Lex Luthor and everyone else's was just OK.

Just watched it over the weekend...in total agreement.  Thought the cinematogrophy was excellent but the script/plot seemed chucked together.  Even Spacey couldn't do much with the script.  Everything has such a "just go with it" feel plot wise from why Superman left for five years to Lois's son. 

[clockworkcanary]

Queen of the Damned...well, sure it doesn't even qualify as "ok" but then neither does the American version of Godzilla.   Queen of the Damned might have been an ok sci-fi channel flick, but it was a rolling pile of feces of a movie.  First of all, it had little in common with the atmosphere of Interview, which was a good flick IMO.  Secondly, they kinda forgot a book in between there, Lestat's life story, which IMO was a greater story anyway, and finally, they butchered QOTD so badly that fans of the book would hate it and non fans would be, at the least, totally confused.  I could write an essay on what else is wrong with that one, but I don't want to put more work into it than the people who created the movie.  At any rate, due to its pathetic-ness, we can forget about seeing any kind of movie version of The Body Thief, which is the best of the Vampire Chronicle stories.

And next is the two joke-of-a-movie Dungeons and Dragons movies.  The first was a total abomination, the second was only mildly better, but at least they tried for a real D&D experience.  Good call about going straight to Sci-fi channel.

My proposal for a halfway decent D&D movie is as follows, and this is something Kevin Smith could probably pull off, although I'm not a huge fan of his -seems to be up his alley:

They need to make a D&D movie from the players' perspective ... show the group of players getting together around the table, dealing with the antics of trying to play a game and then intercut it with animated sections of the gameplay/adventure itself. 

This way, they could insert a lot of comedy - you know, show the guy who always shows up to the game late, the other guy who's girlfriend keeps calling and interrupting the game, the guy who always seems to get killed/ko'd, etc.,  And they could showcase each type of player as well: the manly man/real man, the brainac puzzle solver, the thespian who tries to talk to every npc, the loon, and the munchie.  They need to showcase the best elements of the game - players making fun of each other, throwing cheezy puffs at one another, etc.,

[Him]

They need to make a D&D movie from the players' perspective ... show the group of players getting together around the table, dealing with the antics of trying to play a game and then intercut it with animated sections of the gameplay/adventure itself. 

You mean like Jumungi and Zathura.

I would like a D&D live action movie based off the 1980s cartoon series.

[The Fro Man]

Hey, just signed up.  But I have been a fan of bad Movies for a loooooong tim, so I am not a newcomer, if you catch my drift.

Anyways, try Pirates Of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest.  Now, I loved the first one.  And the second one was......fun at times.  But it pales greatly in comparison to the first one.  Obviously they didn't use that 300 mill budget to have Johnny Depp act like he did in the first one oh so well.  The stupid love triangle was pointless, and it was long.  It was just a big ass let down from the first.  Still, it had its moments.  Davey Jones was great, and the Kraken was pretty cool, though not original by any means.

[Zapranoth]

They need to make a D&D movie from the players' perspective ... show the group of players getting together around the table, dealing with the antics of trying to play a game and then intercut it with animated sections of the gameplay/adventure itself. 

You mean like Jumungi and Zathura.

I would like a D&D live action movie based off the 1980s cartoon series.

Complete with the Frank Welker-voiced little kick unicorn?   

[Andrew]

Welcome aboard Fro Man.  You mentioning "Pirates Of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest" reminds me that I have yet to see that movie.  A bunch of things have been impacting my movie viewing for several months.  I like to get two or three under my belt every week, but I have been averaging less than one.  Doing a bit better of late, mostly by staying up late. 

Complete with the Frank Welker-voiced little kick unicorn?

Jeepers, I used to watch the D&D cartoon and can dimly remember a little unicorn.  The memory is so vague, it could even be a cross-wiring with something else.

[Him]

Jeepers, I used to watch the D&D cartoon and can dimly remember a little unicorn.  The memory is so vague, it could even be a cross-wiring with something else.

The series was released on DVD last week. I rented the first disc from Netflix, and it arrived yesterday. I watched a few episodes. The show holds up pretty well for me. I hadn't seen it in 20 years. Yes, there is a baby unicorn on the show. I didn't remember it either, but it's there.

[akiratubo]

The 2005 King Kong.  It's just too long but, when it was good, it was really good.  When I got the DVD I ripped it to my HD and edited it down to around an hour and forty minutes just so I could have a version I enjoy.  I don't think it lost anything at all, except a lot of flab.

(NOTE: I'm not selling it or making it available to download.  It is strictly for my own enjoyment.  If you work for Peter Jackson, don't sue me.)

[Flangepart]

the american version of GODZILLA-WHY WHY WHHHYYY???????

Oh, god yes. What an utter disappointment. I still bought the bloody thing on DVD, but it in no way lived up to all that tremendous hype.

Sir, i am proud...PROUD to say, i have never seen "Deanzilla". If they had called it by another name, maby...but Roland and Dean, i knew Godzilla, and that sirs, is NO Godzilla!

Running from the Army...Arghh! Godzilla don't run from nobody!
Baka!

[Andrew]

Ralph Bakshi's "Lord of The Rings" could have done a lot more -- And "OOps!!", here we have Peter Jackson's version!!

Bakshi's version was actually a lot better than the Peter Jackson films. Not even close to the quality of the book, though, but a great film nonetheless.

I have to disagree on that point.  Bakshi's animation is interesting and I think it helped make Wizards a memorable film, because the animation is a style and it worked well with the script.  His style also did good for "Fire and Ice."  I like the way the characters move in "Fire and Ice," especially when running - that looks quite good.  In "Lord of the Rings," it all seemed wrong, as if they were missing the right tempo by a full beat.  Also, the Bakshi style animation was not what my mind would accept for "Lord of the Rings." 

I'd like to see Bakshi do some more movies, though I know "Cool World" put a pretty big dent in him.  He needs to find the right subject and run with it.  After seeing his work on "Fire and Ice," I would have liked to see him team up with Frazetta again (though the artist is, last I knew, in poor health) and do an animated Conan.  Also, and this is an interesting thought, what about Bakshi doing something like "Dawn of the Dead," but animated?  That or something based on the War in Heaven, with angels against devils.  He does good with surreal, serious images, but character development is not a strong point.  Give him a template, an already known character (or type) to work with and create a story around the character's adventures.