And the reason they hurt so much was because, at the time, I was a young, innocent lover of film, naive to the ways of Hollywood with its slapdash sequels, soulless reboots, and godawful adaptations. These were movies a fresh, ingenuous Joe looked forward to, counting down the days to their release. I expected great things. I got:
HOWARD THE DUCK
I mean, come on! One of my favorite comic book characters brought to the big screen by the creator of Star Wars. Star Wars! How could it possibly fail?! I recall trying to convince a dubious friend that a movie about a talking duck could, nay, WOULD actually be good. Oh, how wrong I was. The scene where Howard rocks out on stage with Lea Thompson still haunts my dreams. Yes, it was directed by George Lucas, the man behind Star Wars. Also, the man behind…
RETURN OF THE JEDI
This third installment in the original Star Wars trilogy was the equivalent of meeting a beautiful girl and having her invite you back to her place where you enjoy a few drinks, partake in a little romance – halfway through which her partners in crime kick in the door, beat the shit out of you, and steal your wallet. In the case of Return of the Jedi, that wallet held about five bucks – and my wide-eyed faith in my big screen heroes. What was so maddening was the bait and switch, how the movie suckered you in with a cool first half and then suddenly, inexplicably, horrifyingly, morphed into The Intergalactic Teddy Bear Picnic Movie. I still haven’t forgiven George Lucas.
BATMAN (1989)
In retrospect, it’s not a terrible movie and certainly blazed a trail for future great superhero movies to follow but, for a kid who grew up reading Detective Comics and the work of Frank Miller, it was nothing less than an astounding disappointment. Michael Keaton was a milquetoast Bruce Wayne and a stiff and emotionally unengaging Batman. Worse, he’s completely unheroic during the anticlimactic battle with the Joker, simply beating the crap out of the overmatched lunatic. And speaking of the Joker – I still cringe whenever I envision the hitherto terrifying Clown Prince of Crime prancing around to Prince.
INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM
Oh, you enjoyed the action and high-flying adventure of the first Indiana Jones movie? Great. Have some more. And more! AND MORE! Try not to choke on the never-ending barrage of frenzied action scenes that follow one after another after another until, by the time those final credits roll, you’ve become so desensitized to the spectacle of it all that you swear off Indiana Jones forever.
JURASSIC PARK: THE LOST WORLD
This was the movie that pulled back the veil, stripping away the filmic fun and fancy trappings to reveal the Spiebergian formula in its basest form: Over-the-top adventure + precocious kids = Not much in the way of jeopardy or a satisfying movie, but box office gold. In one of the most contrived moments in movie history, one of the kids, who happens to be a gymnast who happens to be trapped in a room with some high parallel bars just happens to save herself by executing a flawless gymnastic routine. What are the chances? In a Spielberg movie, I eventually realized, pretty good.
So, let’s hear ’em. What were your most painful filmic disappointments?
G’day Joe
So agree with Howard The Duck. Could not even sit through all of it, yes I left the theatre, well technically a Drive-in.
Most of the Star Trek movies with The Next Generation crew. Now I totally love STTNG, but the movies became the Picard and Data show. There were other characters played by great actors.
Y’know, I forgave Return of the Jedi, managing to bury the Teddy Bears in Luke and Vader’s final fight and redemption. But, Phantom Menace, now… oy! From the clueless, over-cute moppet squawking “Yippee!” when he’s released from chores, to the endless jaw-dropping hairdos on Amidala, to same clueless moppet defeating an entire invasion… I could forgive Jar Jar Binks as comic relief, but not the plastic kid.
From your list of movies I can surmise:
* Stay away from Lucas and Spielberg. They’re overrated.
* Sequels of awesome movies are always disappointing.
Which doesn’t explain Batman but then, I quite liked the first Batman movie.
As for my most painful filmic disappointments?
That’s a tricky one. I’m quite easygoing and cut movies a lot of slack.
The Fabulous Baker Boys is my all-time worst movie ever. Not that I was expecting much. It was a date movie and not one I would normally go and see. By the end of it I just wanted to claw my eyes out.
The War Of The Roses goes on the list as well. I was expecting an enjoyable comedy like Romancing The Stone but instead got nearly two hours of people arguing. My friend, whose parents were going through a divorce at the time, thought it was hilarious so I guess I just didn’t understand a lot of the humour.
Speaking of Romancing The Stone its sequel, The Jewel Of The Nile would need to be included as a painful disappointment. After the awesomeness of the first movie to have this turd of a sequel thrust upon us was insulting.
I’m sure there are more. I’ll have to think about it.
I have only walked out on one film…and I can’t even remember the name.
I’m sorry…but I guess my head is still full of loathing of the “Grey’s Anatomy” Season Premiere. I can’t even speak of it…drives me nuts.
Movies…I don’t need a happily-ever-after ending but I enjoy endings that match the quality of the story. I often walk out feeling like writers just get tired and say “Let’s just end this and save a few bucks.” Some endings make absolutely no sense. If I had my quick mind I could rattle off a list for you.
I will tell you this…Hulu is running a wonderfully written and acted movie called “The Promise”. Easier to point to a good one.
It is easy to know a good movie for me…I think about it for day’s after. But I will also obsess over others and purchase the DVD to watch them many times over.
Die Hard 2. Predator 2. Sure it’s easy to go after sequels but the first in each of those series were among my most favourite films of all time. I was totally hooked to see the next instalments. Godfather 3 was pretty disheartening. Favourite sequels BTW are Terminator 2 and Aliens. Huh, both James Cameron. But on my disappointment list has to be True Lies. Lot of people I know liked it. I didn’t get it. As far as Jedi you know how I feel. Come on, Joe, I’ll give you the Ewoks were silly but more than just the beginning was cool. The end showdown between Luke, Vader and the emperor was awesome!
I’d have to agree with you about Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It’s why I haven’t suggested Raiders of the Lost Ark to my kids. No point in going down that road …
The only movie I ever walked out of was Weird Science. I just couldn’t take any more. Not that I had high expectations for it. Come to think of it, I’m not really sure why I was there at all … now that we are old folks and have kids and limited income, we get to the movie theater about once a year. Thank goodness for Netflix!
Huge disappointment was The Shining, with Jack Nicholson. Awesome book… I was looking forward to the movie, thinking it was great casting. And then they ruined it – killed off someone who should have lived and changed the ending for “better” shock value. I hated it. And the 2nd Indiana Jones movie was really terrible – except the opening scene. It went downhill fast from there.
I agree, the movies you mention didn’t thrill me, LoL. While my friends liked the movie “Dune”, I couldn’t stand it. Loved the original first three Star Wars movies (Return Of The Jedi was a bit too cute though), next three were ok, next two I didn’t like and never even watched the final Star Wars, LoL. “Barbarella” with the traitor Jane Fonda is horrendous. 🙂
Here’s a new recall:
Kasel Associated Industries of Denver, CO is voluntarily recalling its NATURE’S DELI CHICKEN JERKY DOG TREATS product because it may be contaminated with Salmonella.
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm322471.htm?source=govdelivery
Star Trek Insurection, Star Trek Nemesis. Paramount could have saved a fortune by just not hiring anyone but Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner. No one had anything else to do 🙁
Now I know why I like you. Someone else who read and liked Howard the Duck! Luckily, while I had hoped for a good movie, I had not really expected it to deliver. But RotJ though, well, THAT I had expected a great payoff for the buildup from the last two movies. But I new we were in trouble as early as Bobba Fett’s last scene. Come on, you GOT to let the hero face and kill him intentionally, not use the baddies as a joke! Then the woks defeating an Imperial legion, and worst of all, Vader’s face….horrible.
One of the biggest let downs for me though was the Matrix. Watching and enjoying the effects, buying into the story, then the final reveal. Machines using humans as an ENERGY SOURCE? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Such a numbingly STUPID explanation that I have yet to watch the sequels, or even rewatch the original. I will not let my admittedly modest intellect be insulted that badly.
My other disappointment would be the last Star trek movie. this one I went in with reservations, which I found totally justified. I can by rebooting the series by creating an AU. But good gods, come ON! At least try to make the script make a little sense. The bad guy has a huge excess amount of the goop that makes planets into black holes? Starfleet Command has no trouble booting a freaking CADET up to Captain? Sure, he saved Earth, but come on! That should have bought him a commission as a junior officer, and maybe a berth on a ship with a captain tough enough to handle him, but really? Command of his own ship, and the power to select his own crew? Too AU for me, sorry. Which is a shame. With a bit of tweaking, this movie could have been great. I enjoyed or accepted every other character’s revision, but they blew it with Kirk.
Looking forward to seeing some of the other regulars’ picks.
No matter what I put, how can I beat Howard the Duck? Wonder what sort of cigar the director to that nonsense was smoking? A Cuban tobacco Special?
How about He-Man with Dolph Lundgren? Talk about ruining a childhood hero. He-man was never the same after that, more like Wee-Man! Even She-Ra could’ve done better!
I didn’t mind Jedi that much at first. But the more I re-watched it over the years, the more I hated the Ewoks. I played Star Wars Galaxies for a few years, and took every opportunity to kill the little digital bastards. A shame we didn’t know way back then that the Ewoks were simply the appetizer for the main course of annoyance that would be Jar-Jar Binks…
Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom is to this day, the only Indy film I will not re-watch. Absolutely freaking horrible. “Kali maa!” SHUT THE F*** UP!
Thanks for mentioning Howard the Duck. Now I’ll have the theme song stuck in my head for the rest of the day. ┌∩┐(◣◢)┌∩┐Must. Drink. Bleach.
Here’s an interesting bit of trivia on HtD: “According to reports at the time of the movie’s release, George Lucas was heavily in debt (having just built the $50-million Skywalker Ranch complex) and was counting on this film to get him back in the black. When it bombed, he was forced to start selling off assets to stay afloat. His friend Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple Computer, offered to help by buying Lucasfilm’s newly-launched CGI animation division for a price well above market value, and Lucas, in desperate straits and thankful for the assistance, agreed. That division eventually became Pixar Animation Studios. “ IMDB.
The Punisher with Thomas Jane was a huge disappointment. They almost tried to follow the true story line. Almost. Actually all of the Punisher films have pretty well sucked, with the exception of War Zone with Ray Stevenson. I think that one was closest to the real Frank Castle. As a life long Punisher fan, that one felt like a gift.
Just off the top of my head … (Not in any particular order)
1. Star Trek: Nemesis
Killing Data – boring, contrived and a stupid idea introducing B-4. Incredibly bad movie and a COMPLETE waste of my time and money.
2. Harry Potter and the order of the Phoenix.
Fantastic book – really great read, which they destroyed at the cinema. I know they can’t include everything … but they lost vital content due to ridiculously over-the-top editing. The transitions in the movie were too choppy – it should’ve been split into two parts, anything else didn’t do justice to the original material.
3. Simon Pegg as Scotty in Star Trek (2009)
Yes, it should’ve been Paul McGillion. Okay, I know I’m biased but this isn’t the ONLY reason. Pegg’s diabolical accent is painful while his comic relief performance becomes increasingly bloody annoying at the film progresses. *Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE this film!!!
4. X-Men: The Last Stand.
Killing off characters needlessly whilst continuing with the Logan/Jean storyline … yet again, throughout the whole movie are a few, just a few reasons why I can’t stand this film. The Dark Phoenix saga portrayed in (The Last Stand) is boring and inaccurate – it should’ve been Apocalypse!
5. X-Men: First Class.
This one is simple: First Class didn’t follow the cannon of the other films and the comic books themselves. I mean, Moira MacTaggert is a Scottish doctor on Muir Island, not an American CIA Officer!
I’m sure there are many, many more, but I’ll keep the ranting to a minimum. 🙂
“Temple of Doom” was my favourite Indiana Jones movie when I was a kid. I was kind of obsessed wth it and would catch every single rerun if possible.
My favourite scene was the one with the ape brain on ice (I know, but this whole scene is still kind of awesome).
But well, I’m older and hopefully wiser now and have decided that it’s not necessary to watch it again in the near and far future.
There’s nothing worse than Avatar Legend of Aang (Live Action), everything was twisted and became a torture seeing every second of that movie.
Thank you for the dog treat information yesterday. Your research might save a canine life out there.
I’ll check out Frozen Sky, looks very cool!
BTW, Loved the picture of Jelly!
Yes, I have to agree with most of the movies you selected. The only exceptions to me, Indiana Jones. I loved that movie. It came at a bad time in my life and this film lifted me up. It was just so much fun. Like a good thrill ride. Jurassic Park: the book was so good but the movie slipped. My hubby (computer guy) kept poo-pooing all the computer references “Who is their computer consultant? He should be shot!” That is a direct quote from my hubby.
As for my list of disappointing movies: Who framed Rodger Rabbit, Shark Boy Lava Girl, Blade (hubby’s selection), Bridesmaid, and the last three Star Wars movies. That whole romance with Anakin (no relation to Deni’s grandchild) was so farfetched to me. Anakin showed signs of mental instability and this accomplished, beautiful, older but still young woman falls for him? I kept saying “Run Padme, he’s bipolar.” They never listen 🙁 .
My list is a bit different from yours…as usual. 😉 I liked both Batman and Jedi, and didn’t see Temple until after the third one, so it really didn’t matter much to me that it wasn’t that great (besides, it’s 1000x better than the last one).
My most disappointing movies:
The Phantom Menace – Ugh. UGH! What were they thinking??! Jar-Jar? REALLY? That character alone nearly ruined the entire first three movies for me. In fact, Jar-Jar, and the bad taste he left in my mouth, is all I remember from that movie. It was just horrible.
Dances With Wolves – Touted as the best portrayal of Native Americans in film, this movie was anything but. Sure, it showed that Native Americans have sex in their lodges. Whoopie. But with its focus on Costner’s character and romance and the wanton killing of animals, it did little to educate anyone about anything. It was an overly romanticized view of Indians spawned by the New Age movement (imho), and a film that purposely played on emotion for dramatic effect. This is the only movie I have ever walked out on in my entire life.
If you want to watch a movie that gives good insight into Native American life, I suggest Little Big Man starring Dustin Hoffman. Sure, it’s not perfect (it is a satire afterall), but it gives insight into aspects of pre-20th century Indian life few films – if any – ever touch on, such as contraries (clowns). And though taking artistic liberties, it does portray some events fairly accurately (the Sand Creek Massacre, for instance – though it may be renamed in the movie). Like Dances, it tends to be sympathetic to Native Americans, and you can read much social commentary into the movie, but the bottom line is that it is fairly accurate in its portray of Indian life, and death.
Another decent Native American film is a surprising one, a family flick called Windwalker. The film is spoken in the Cheyenne and Crow languages, with English subtitles (not sure how accurately the languages are spoken, but I consider any attempt at using native tongues for an entire movie as counting for something). The biggest plus to this film is that there are no ‘white men’. Instead, it portrays members (some just children) of two enemy tribes in a life or death struggle in the dead of winter, while the dying patriarch of the family tells the story of his life, and his love. My biggest complaint with most of these films is that not all actors are Indian, or even part Indian. I have no problem with actors who are part Native American portraying Indians – such as Johnny Depp as Tonto in the upcoming Lone Ranger movie – or those who are of native ancestry though not always acknowledged as such, such as native Mexicans. But when most of the ‘native’ cast are Italian, or Irish, I feel a bit cheated.
I also give a slight nod to A Man Called Horse, too. Although I have some issues with it (and the sequel just plain sucks), it does handle some aspects of tribal life accurately (there has been criticism, but I suspect some of that is because it does not romanticize Indians as many other films do). However, I have not seen this movie in over 25 years, so my opinion may change if I get a chance to watch it again.
And for insight into modern Indian life, I highly recommend Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals. Excellent film! There is another film out there – Skins – that I understand gives painful insight into life on the rez, but I cannot say as I have not seen it.
Okay, off my soapbox. See what my hatred for Dances made me do?! (Besides miss breakfast and piddle away my morning and stuff. 😛 )
Batman Begins/The Dark Knight – I’ll just lump these two together. The biggest disappointment? Bale. What a wooden actor! He does nothing to connect with the audience. Okay, I take that back. There is one scene in the second movie (maybe when he’s stitching himself up) when he gives a little flirtatious smile, or something, and that almost worked. But then the Joker ruined the rest of the film for me (as did the subliminal political commentary, esp. towards the end).
Yes, I HATED the Joker. I know it’s not right to speak ill of the dead, but it’s my opinion that Ledger stole his performance right from Andy Robinson, ‘Scorpio’ in Dirty Harry (okay, maybe he didn’t, but it sure felt that way). Robinson actually did a far better job in creating a multidimensional villain, something that Ledger failed to do in his very one-dimensional Joker. The Joker was just plain boring. Both of these Batman films have been such a letdown that I doubt I’ll see the third.
Now, in TDK’s defense, I will acknowledge two things: Just a week or so prior to this film’s release I saw Hellboy II, and fell instantly ‘in love’ with the villain, Prince Nuada. I found him a very sympathetic character, almost an ‘antivillain’, in that he had a passion and was fighting for a just cause, only he went about it in all the wrong ways, his reason blinded by hate. Still, he wasn’t killing for the fun of it, but because he saw himself as the last warrior fighting for what was rightfully his. He was a thought-provoking villain, something that was not the case with the Joker. He was just evil for the sake of being evil, killing for pleasure without any insight into what made him tick.
And this leads me to the other reason I hated this movie. Again, just prior to seeing it, the mother and niece of a friend of mine were viciously stabbed and beaten to death by his brother, who suffered from untreated schizophrenia. It was a horrible crime, and the movie just reminded me all the more of it, and made me question why I would want to be entertained by a character who kills just for the fun of it.
Okay, off of soapbox #2. 😛
Better get to work! And breakfast!!
das
Easy: Greenberg.
Saw the preview and thought it looked like a great emotional journey of a guy who feels lost and somewhat alone, like life has passed him by. He’s become cynical, bitter, but he has a soft heart that he keeps guarded until a girl comes along and breaks right through his hardend exterior. This was one of the best previews for a movie I had seen for a while, at the time. I remember feeling how badly I wanted to see this movie.
IT SUCKED. HARD. These are characters with no redeeming values whatsoever. They are devoid of all morality, decency, and integrity. I found no good in them whatsoever. The story was boring, dragging, and had no clear direction. It was just a constant stream of crap. I had to turn it off after a while because it was getting worse and worse. The part of me that wants to finish watching it just for the sake of completion is at odds with the part of me that doesn’t want to be subjected to all that ugly all over again. Thankfully, the latter is prevailing. It’s almost as if the writer and director just wanted to put things on screen in some devilish plot just to illicit reactions from the viewers, regardless of story content. They sit at home, joyful at knowing that regular, everyday, middle America is retching at the things they are seeing and hearing.
I think that’s the point of most movies that are official “selections” or get “awards” from the film festivals like Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto. Hell, South Park nailed it when they made fun of Sundance(or the “Aspen Film Festival”) years before Brokeback Mountain came out by saying that the film festival was just a bunch of gay cowboy movies. These indie flicks just keep trying to push the envelope further and further for the sake of “the gasp”, as I call it. When does it end? How far is too far?
Every once in a long while, a good one slips through, though. Those movies are usually the ones that champion the human spirit in one form or another. Funny how that works out like that.
-Mike A.
“Under the Tuscan Sun” was such a fabulous read, but the movie was horrible. Horrible. Horrible.
“Solaris”. WTF was that about? Oh yeah, the other Clooney movie, the one about the band of brothers (was that the title?), horrible. Only redeeming thing was some of the music.
I did like Return of the Jedi, though!
My poor daughter’s in a mess with her back/pinched nerve. It’s been over 3 weeks of constant pain, chiropractors, doctors, etc. and nothing is helping, at least not for more than an hour or two. I called her obstetrician last night and he told her to take 1 or 2 hydrocodone/acetaminophen tabs, they did NOTHING. She was up all night in tears, so I’ve been up all night, as well. Ice packs, cold packs, dry heat, wet heat, muscle relaxers, Tylenol, blah blah blah, nothing works. So now, they want her to take Ambien. All this shit when she’s pregnant can’t be good, but she’s starting to lose it, so we have no choice. Of course, I read the Ambien literature and wonder what her doctor is thinking. It’s not insomnia, it’s pain! He told her not to get up for 8 hours, but uh, pregnant women need to pee at night! We’ll see what happens tonight, but for now, if I can get Riley and Cody to stop playing and take a nap, I’m going with them!
I’m not sure if this fits into a complete filmic disappointment, but I had very much been looking forward to seeing Sliding Doors. When I finally saw it, I enjoyed it up until the ending. I understood the message the filmmaker was trying to make with the ending, but I did not want to go there.
Nothing can compare to the disappointment of the last three Star Wars movies considering how long we waited for them.
The Phantom Menace? I can’t even say what the plot was. Was it that trope that’s so bad we hardly ever see it in even a bad series: get stranded on a planet and somehow have to win a game to get un-stranded?
I’m pretty sure the plot wasn’t about that douche who would run by and try to smack them – the Phantom Menace. That guy should have been cut from the film.
Then, I think it was the next movie that was extended scenes of political speeches and trade negotiations. Were the costumes and flying podiums supposed to make that okay?
—
And only Lucas can make a movie worse later. Han shot first, dammit.
@Frances Burnett
@Star Trek Insurrection
This was explained though. Captain Picard was violating the prime directive to save the people on the planet and to make sure they came to no harm. So he had to order Riker to take the Enterprise back outside the what do you call it and contact Starfleet to reason with them, leaving just himself and a few of his senior officers(His friends) on the planet with him tasked with doing the right thing.
An alternate example of this would be like in the Season 1 finale of Stargate SG1 when Jack, Sam, Teal’c, Jackson went through the Stargate despite being ordered not too. When characters of importance are breaking the rules, they typically only involve those most trusted to them.
Joe – I chuckle any time anyone brings up Howard The Duck. I saw it in a mostly empty theater on a double date. When Howard and Lea Thompson were rolling around on the bed I yelled “Duck her! Duck her brains out!” and I got a bigger response from the audience than any part of the movie.
As for disillusioning movies, it was Ghostbusters 2 that turned me cynical. I don’t know if I was more disappointed that they felt a need to have a baby involved (or at least if they had one it should have been the result of the Keymatser/Gatekeeper coupling), that Venkman and Dana had split up (much less Dana having been married again), or that they had been put out of business by the government because of the damage caused while they saved the city in the first movie. Oh – and the writing sucked.
If anyone is interested in a good George Lucas movie that you’ve probably never heard of, try Radioland Murders. As a “what can go wrong next” comedy, it’s sets a new standard.
The only 2 films I ever walked out on were “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes” (1984) and “Alien” (1979). I lasted about 30 minutes into the Tarzan movie, when I had to leave due to uncontrollable laughing at the acting exloits of Christopher Lambert. OMG, he was bad… I got a lot of nasty looks as I left too. Diehard ape man fans I guess.
As for Aliens, I lasted until the infamous scene where the alien burst forth from John Hurt’s stomach. I literally ran from my seat, hoping not to retch as I passed other horrified viewers. That was rough. Refused to see any of the sequels to this day, never saw the end of the first one. I’m not into horror. “The Shining” still gives me nightmares. Cannot even read Stephen King as he gets into and under the skin.
I liked Return of the Jedi AND the Ewoks!
2cats
@2cats – Alien was my motivation to handle a bit of horror and violence – I think I was about nine when I saw it. I’ve been really sensitive about fictional violence and especially horror even into adulthood. Catching the wrong movie trailer could freak me out for a long time. I recently had an epiphany that cured me of it. But for Alien and other stuff that good, it was worth being disturbed for a year or two.
Agree with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. However, the last Indiana Jones movie (the Kingdom of the Skull) has it beat hands down for worst IJ movie. It took much self control to not scream “Nooooo!” at the screen when the aliens showed up.
I personally liked Return of the Jedi, but the next three (first 3?) Star Wars movies are not good.
However, I have to reserve worst movie to Pirates of the Caribbean: Worlds End. Just awful, from the entirely too long “Jack on the ship in the desert” scene to the unspeakably unsatisfying and disappointing ending of leaving Will forever as the captain of the Davey Jones and only able to see Elizabeth and their son once every 7 years.
Hi everyone,
We gave Mum a most wonderful send off to her next journey yesterday. The sun was shining, there was a great gathering of family and friends and so much love in the room. She would have loved it.
Thanks to everyone for your kind words and virtual hugs. My Mum, who was 79 and a big Stargate fan, had suffered ill health for many years and was mostly housebound. About a month ago she had a fall at home and dislocated her elbow. After a couple of hospital stays she passed away peacefully Saturday night. Although I feel the loss, I take great comfort that she’s not sick or in any pain.
Thanks in particular to:
Joe (I’d show Mum photos from your blog of the meals you’d eat and the chocolate parties in particular)
Tam Dixon (I’m doing OK thanks…I have a little cry every now & then),
For The Love of Beckett (apart from discharging her with a dislocated elbow the hospital were awesome. The staff were so caring…she suffered many illnesses)
PBMom
Airelle
Deborah Rose
sg1efc
Ponytail (I had commented, then found out my sisters kids hadn’t been told yet so I asked Joe to hold off posting for a few hours)
Paloosa
gforce
Janet
BMc (Good thoughts & wishes always help)
BiloBella&Kasper
noellam
LJ
JeffW (I’m sorry to hear *hugs*)
Dasndanger
gilder
sylvia
Sisi
I hope I haven’t missed anyone, but if I have thank-you so much for your kindness
Chev
I love Temple of Doom, it’s my favourite of the Indy movies. My film disappointment is Dark Knight Rises. I actually fell asleep for a few minutes watching it. The action scenes were incredibly disappointing.
Chev
@das
A great movie that has a great portrayal of Native Americans is the animated movie SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMMARON. Yes, Spirit (the horse) is the star of the movie, but it gives a really great insight to how life was like during that era for the Native Americans ..plus John Fusco had a hand in its creation.
I actually enjoyed Insurrection. Nemesis, however, not so much. Shinzon and his lisp just pissed me off, and trying to pass him off as a Picard clone was dumb (musta had a REALLY rough time down in those mines…). Killing Data was pointless and left a bad taste in my mouth, and B4 didn’t do anything to help that. The music at the very end, when Picard walks out of the room and leaves B4 singing, was excellent.
The last Star Trek movie was ok, but I had too many WTFs. Spock and Uhura doing the horizontal tango simply didn’t compute. Didn’t like Scotty (then again, nobody would have made me happy there), Bones was great, and was really really really happy to see the “real” Spock instead of Quinto. The bad guy (what was his name?) was waaaay to much like Shinzon, too. Still, an enjoyable flick. 🙂
“Where the Wild Things Are.” Oh my! Went in expecting a happy romp through my childhood and came out thoroughly depressed and somewhat perplexed. My kids were bored out of their minds (and I have to admit, so was I). The effects were cool, but all the joy of the book was sucked out of it.
And, as someone else mentioned, I hate it when the ending makes no sense–like a writer/producer/PTB went, “Ya’ know…I’m kind of tired of this story. Let’s end it…now!” They try to pawn it off as shock value or a brilliant twist, but it’s just lazy, imo.
LJ
to ruffles; i agree that indiana jones #4 was terrible. where i nearly shouted “NO!” was when i thought the kid was going to put on the hat. i can’t stand “the beef” (labeouf) & am convinced that if he wasn’t a “hot” actor of the moment, he wouldn’t have been in it. in the DVD extras spielberg said at one point they had a great, indiana jones style adventure script, but lucas didn’t want to use that one <_<. another thing lucas has to answer for.
and speaking of things lucas has to answer for, i have just 3 words: star wars prequels.
@archersangel – *silently weeps over the Star Wars prequels* Why? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy??!!
@Chev – Maryanne (@imwebgurl)
“Hi everyone,
We gave Mum a most wonderful send off to her next journey yesterday. The sun was shining, there was a great gathering of family and friends and so much love in the room. She would have loved it.”
Reminds me of when we had my mom’s send off. Was a cloudy winter day, but at the cemetery it started to snow, not too heavy and not too light, was just right. Made the experience surprisingly and unexpectedly pretty. 🙂
Jaws was great! All the Jaw’es that came after it sucked!
Welcome back Chev! (that explains it)
I have a hard time naming movies that disappointed. I can only name one I walked out of, TWILIGHT ZONE (1983?) and that was because I feared nightmares. I’d had them after seing POLTERGEIST shortly before.
No arguments from me re Howard the Duck and Return of the Jedi. The Duck – just an awful, awful movie from beginning to end. Jedi – yeah, it was the Ewoks that killed it for me. Hand me an air-rifle, quick! I think I see one in the garden…
I walked out of Being There, I know that it was a critic fav, but boring as hell, and that line “I like to watch” still creeps me out. I laughed through The Exorcist; a friend and I had gone to see Murder by Decree the same night, and then snuk into the Exorcist. I found Murder By Decree frightening, you can imagine a government using torture to extract information, but someones head spining aound 360 dgrees and then spewing out pee soup that’ s silly! I still chuckle when I see an ad for the movie showing Regan going spider like up the stairs. Loved Indy one and three, but Indiana Jones and the temple of doom came across as racist, white man saves poor brown people…. Liked Indiana Jones and the crystal skull right up until the aliens showed up, but yeah Marion, loved her character. Loved ST:TNG, but the only good movie was First Contact, killing Picards nephew and then Data was pointless. And why kill Data only to bring him back, it had none of the poignancy of the Wrath of Kahn, which I thnk they were trying to riff off. Very mixed feelings about Star Trek 2009, on the one hand yippee Star Trek, on the other hand what fool cast Chris Pine (could he at least have worn brown contact lenses) as a smarmy Kirk, oh that would be the same fool who cast Simon Pegg, who I normally like, as Scotty, you know, if they weren’t going to cast PMcG as Scotty, Scotland does actually produce some very fine actors with authentic accents. Still I liked Bones, Urban nailed the character’s angst. But Plot Holes you could drive a fleet of Star Ships through. And as another poster said, Kirk would never have been promoted from cadet on report to Captain of a starship, certainly not the flagship of what remained of the fleet. A book came out at the same time, Star Trek Academy: Collision Course co-written by Shatner and the Reeve-Stevens team; now this would have made an excellent reboot. And it kept the time line, i.e. we still hadn’t met the Romulins yet and had no clue about their dialects. It also had charecter development, something JJA doesn’t seem to believe to be essential if there are enough explosions.
I liked the beginning and most of the end of Return of the Jedi. Could have done without the Ewoks. Was Lucas trying to evoke a War of the Worlds vibe, you know where the Martians are brought done by viruses, not technology(or Tom Cruse) I didn’t mind Jar Jar Binks in the Phantom Menace, he wasn’t half as annoying as the introduction of midi-chlorians into the story, and I feel sorry for Jake Lloyd, the boy who played Anakin, even a more experienced actor would have floundered with the material he was given.
Most historical dramas leave me queasy, I’m a history major, and this revisionistcrap, of inserting modern mores and morals into stories that is popular at the moment can get tiresome to say the least, but, I ABSOLUTELY HATE ‘historical’ drama done by Mel Gibson, his Brave Heart and and the Patriot are so full of Historical inaccuracies, hell lets call a spade here, Lies, that they are unwatchable and shame on any English actor who participates, The man is such an Anglophobe I am only suprised that in his mind it wasn’t the English who crucified Christ in The Passion.
Three movies immediately come to mind: Man of The Year with Robin Williams. Troy — I waited 6 months for that movie, followed all the behind-the-news scenes, sat down in the movie theater with Jeff and fell asleep. Also I loved Daniel Craig as the new Bond, but the second movie we also both fell asleep in the movie. And then we tried watching it at home–ASLEEP. Quantum of Solace.
I always felt like the acting was terrible from Mark Hamil and Carrie Fisher in Return of the Jedi, especially the scene in the Ewok Village when she says she says, “Why must you confront him.?” And when we discover in the 2nd movie that she is Luke’s sister, it made the kiss in New Hope awkward and I had trouble getting that incestuous moment out of my mind. Blech.
@Chevron7/imwebgurl XXOO