Most disappointing films.

In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to my
surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I was
expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists. And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

I agree with Dune. LOTR (b) I saw when I was 12, haven't seen it since, so
cannot say. I like 1. On my list are all the new star wars movies.
Absolutely horrible! They should have let the original 3 stand, and not
produce prequels that dishonored the memory of hte original. =(

William Hyde

2025-02-17 22:20:27 UTC

Post by William Hyde
In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to
my surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I
was expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists. And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

I agree with Dune. LOTR (b) I saw when I was 12, haven't seen it since,
so cannot say. I like 1. On my list are all the new star wars movies.
Absolutely horrible! They should have let the original 3 stand, and not
produce prequels that dishonored the memory of hte original. =(

Yes, but those are not disappointments. They were expected to be bad,
and fulfilled expectations perfectly.

William Hyde

2025-02-18 09:24:52 UTC

In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to my
surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I was
expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists.Â And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

Yes, but those are not disappointments. They were expected to be bad, and
fulfilled expectations perfectly.
William Hyde

;)

Ted Nolan <tednolan>

2025-02-17 23:26:26 UTC

In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to my
surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I was
expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists. And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

Rogue One is pretty good.

I actually quite enjoyed TFA, but then I didn't believe Han was
actually dead (I was pretty sure that with the big build-up on Maz,
her connection with the Force and having gotten a light saber
possibly through teleportational menas that she was going to pull
some mojo that would be revealed later. TMF me.)

--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

2025-02-18 09:30:37 UTC

In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to my
surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I was
expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists. And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

Rogue One is pretty good.

Maybe I shall have to look into Rogue one. Andor is pretty good. Maybe
Rogue one is too?

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
I actually quite enjoyed TFA, but then I didn't believe Han was
actually dead (I was pretty sure that with the big build-up on Maz,
her connection with the Force and having gotten a light saber
possibly through teleportational menas that she was going to pull
some mojo that would be revealed later. TMF me.)

Lynn McGuire

2025-02-19 01:59:32 UTC

In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to my
surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I was
expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists. And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

Rogue One is pretty good.

Maybe I shall have to look into Rogue one. Andor is pretty good. Maybe
Rogue one is too?

"Rogue One" is awesome. It is based on the single line in the Star Wars
IV movie (the first one), "Many Bothans ??? gave up their lives for this
information.".

Lynn

2025-02-19 08:58:09 UTC

In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to my
surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I was
expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists.Â And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

Rogue One is pretty good.

Maybe I shall have to look into Rogue one. Andor is pretty good. Maybe
Rogue one is too?

"Rogue One" is awesome. It is based on the single line in the Star Wars IV
movie (the first one), "Many Bothans ??? gave up their lives for this
information.".
Lynn

Excellent! I shall have to look into this. Thank you!

Cryptoengineer

2025-02-20 15:53:35 UTC

In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to my
surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I was
expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists. And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

Rogue One is pretty good.

Maybe I shall have to look into Rogue one. Andor is pretty good.
Maybe Rogue one is too?

"Rogue One" is awesome. It is based on the single line in the Star
Wars IV movie (the first one), "Many Bothans ??? gave up their lives
for this information.".
Lynn

Excellent! I shall have to look into this. Thank you!

Andor is the backstory for Rogue One, and both are excellent.

pt

2025-02-20 22:33:37 UTC

Post by Cryptoengineer

In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to my
surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I was
expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists.Â And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

Rogue One is pretty good.

Maybe I shall have to look into Rogue one. Andor is pretty good. Maybe
Rogue one is too?

"Rogue One" is awesome.Â It is based on the single line in the Star Wars
IV movie (the first one), "Many Bothans ??? gave up their lives for this
information.".
Lynn

Excellent! I shall have to look into this. Thank you!

Andor is the backstory for Rogue One, and both are excellent.
pt

I think there will be new Andor episodes this year. That would be great
too! =)

William Hyde

2025-02-18 18:06:58 UTC

In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to my
surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I was
expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists. And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

Rogue One is pretty good.

I don't subscribe to the SF channel, but they were on for free over the
holidays and I taped a pile of Star Wars films. So I was able to watch
Rogue one last night, and agree that it is better than most of the
others. Not a disappointment.

But it was just jam-packed with stupidity, which can work with a light
hearted space opera like Empire, but not in this case. It's nice that
the moral landscape of the characters is more complex, but that requires
a concomitant improvement in plotting to have any real effect.

Still, I enjoyed the first half of the movie. The second half I found
to be dreadful.

I didn't realize that there's an actor out there whose entire career
seems to be as zombie Peter Cushing.

That I have yet to see.

William Hyde

Ted Nolan <tednolan>

2025-02-18 18:15:10 UTC

In a conversation the other day I came up with a list of these, and to my
surprise they were all SF/F.
(1) The Return of the Jedi
(2) The Lord of the Rings (Bakshi version)
(3) Dune (Lynch version).
Not that I haven't seen far worse movies, but in each of these cases I was
expecting something better.
Of course other people may have different lists. And I did like Dune
somewhat more the second time I saw it.
William Hyde

Rogue One is pretty good.

I don't subscribe to the SF channel, but they were on for free over the
holidays and I taped a pile of Star Wars films. So I was able to watch
Rogue one last night, and agree that it is better than most of the
others. Not a disappointment.
But it was just jam-packed with stupidity, which can work with a light
hearted space opera like Empire, but not in this case. It's nice that
the moral landscape of the characters is more complex, but that requires
a concomitant improvement in plotting to have any real effect.
Still, I enjoyed the first half of the movie. The second half I found
to be dreadful.
I didn't realize that there's an actor out there whose entire career
seems to be as zombie Peter Cushing.

That I have yet to see.

It is retroactively harder to like now given we know what came next.

At the time though, as I said above, I was very pleased:

http://columbiaclosings.com/wordpress/?p=10982

so naive...

--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

Jay Morris

2025-02-19 00:57:21 UTC

Post by William Hyde
I didn't realize that there's an actor out there whose entire career
seems to be as zombie Peter Cushing.

Yes. Can't remember his name but I believe his initials are CGI.

Paul S Person

2025-02-19 17:52:44 UTC

On Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:06:58 -0500, William Hyde
<snippo>

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
Rogue One is pretty good.

I don't subscribe to the SF channel, but they were on for free over the
holidays and I taped a pile of Star Wars films. So I was able to watch
Rogue one last night, and agree that it is better than most of the
others. Not a disappointment.
But it was just jam-packed with stupidity, which can work with a light
hearted space opera like Empire, but not in this case. It's nice that
the moral landscape of the characters is more complex, but that requires
a concomitant improvement in plotting to have any real effect.
Still, I enjoyed the first half of the movie. The second half I found
to be dreadful.

Yes, it /does/ rather resemble The Last Act of Hamlet, doesn't it.
Kind of a downer, especially the first time one sees it.

It came up in my daily rotation on Monday. I enjoyed it, as I always
do. So much that I didn't even /notice/ any "stupidity".

Post by William Hyde
I didn't realize that there's an actor out there whose entire career
seems to be as zombie Peter Cushing.

As has been pointed out, this was CGI. As such, it's not half bad.

The real question is how did they get the Princess Leia from Episode
IV back on-screen at the end? More (and perhaps better) CGI? A double?
A ton of makeup?

--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

Dimensional Traveler

2025-02-20 01:55:03 UTC

Post by Paul S Person
On Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:06:58 -0500, William Hyde
<snippo>

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
Rogue One is pretty good.

I don't subscribe to the SF channel, but they were on for free over the
holidays and I taped a pile of Star Wars films. So I was able to watch
Rogue one last night, and agree that it is better than most of the
others. Not a disappointment.
But it was just jam-packed with stupidity, which can work with a light
hearted space opera like Empire, but not in this case. It's nice that
the moral landscape of the characters is more complex, but that requires
a concomitant improvement in plotting to have any real effect.
Still, I enjoyed the first half of the movie. The second half I found
to be dreadful.

Yes, it /does/ rather resemble The Last Act of Hamlet, doesn't it.
Kind of a downer, especially the first time one sees it.
It came up in my daily rotation on Monday. I enjoyed it, as I always
do. So much that I didn't even /notice/ any "stupidity".

Post by William Hyde
I didn't realize that there's an actor out there whose entire career
seems to be as zombie Peter Cushing.

As has been pointed out, this was CGI. As such, it's not half bad.
The real question is how did they get the Princess Leia from Episode
IV back on-screen at the end? More (and perhaps better) CGI? A double?
A ton of makeup?

CGI.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

Lynn McGuire

2025-02-20 02:06:34 UTC

Post by Paul S Person
On Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:06:58 -0500, William Hyde
<snippo>

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>
Rogue One is pretty good.

I don't subscribe to the SF channel, but they were on for free over the
holidays and I taped a pile of Star Wars films. So I was able to watch
Rogue one last night, and agree that it is better than most of the
others. Not a disappointment.
But it was just jam-packed with stupidity, which can work with a light
hearted space opera like Empire, but not in this case. It's nice that
the moral landscape of the characters is more complex, but that requires
a concomitant improvement in plotting to have any real effect.
Still, I enjoyed the first half of the movie. The second half I found
to be dreadful.

Yes, it /does/ rather resemble The Last Act of Hamlet, doesn't it.
Kind of a downer, especially the first time one sees it.
It came up in my daily rotation on Monday. I enjoyed it, as I always
do. So much that I didn't even /notice/ any "stupidity".

Post by William Hyde
I didn't realize that there's an actor out there whose entire career
seems to be as zombie Peter Cushing.

As has been pointed out, this was CGI. As such, it's not half bad.
The real question is how did they get the Princess Leia from Episode
IV back on-screen at the end? More (and perhaps better) CGI? A double?
A ton of makeup?

Body double with CGI.

Lynn

Bice

2025-02-18 13:18:40 UTC

On Mon, 17 Feb 2025 12:33:36 -0500, William Hyde

For me it's movies that look like they could be decent sci-fi movies
but turn out to be lame horror flicks.

A while back someone on the current films newsgroup was really talking
up the movie "Sunshine", saying what a great science fiction movie it
was. So I found it on DVD and watched it. Started off with a stupid
premise (a mission to re-ignite the sun with a nuclear bomb) and went
downhill from there. Turned into a really bad slasher flick in the
end. Terrible movie.

-- Bob

Scott Dorsey

2025-02-18 15:54:35 UTC

Post by Bice
A while back someone on the current films newsgroup was really talking
up the movie "Sunshine", saying what a great science fiction movie it
was. So I found it on DVD and watched it. Started off with a stupid
premise (a mission to re-ignite the sun with a nuclear bomb) and went
downhill from there. Turned into a really bad slasher flick in the
end. Terrible movie.

Perhaps they were confusing it with "Little Miss Sunshine" which is a very
fine film albeit with little SF content.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Tony Nance

2025-02-18 16:12:05 UTC

Post by Scott Dorsey

Perhaps they were confusing it with "Little Miss Sunshine" which is a very
fine film albeit with little SF content.
--scott

Or "Sunshine", the excellent book by Robin McKinley.
- Tony

Paul S Person

2025-02-18 16:51:46 UTC

Post by Bice
On Mon, 17 Feb 2025 12:33:36 -0500, William Hyde

For me it's movies that look like they could be decent sci-fi movies
but turn out to be lame horror flicks.
A while back someone on the current films newsgroup was really talking
up the movie "Sunshine", saying what a great science fiction movie it
was. So I found it on DVD and watched it. Started off with a stupid
premise (a mission to re-ignite the sun with a nuclear bomb) and went
downhill from there. Turned into a really bad slasher flick in the
end. Terrible movie.

If it's the one I am thinking of, I agree with you.

The version I saw had unfinished CGI right smack dab in the middle.
Does the DVD version have it, or did they fix it? (If you don't know,
then it doesn't -- if it were there you would remember it. It's that
bad.)

--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"

Cryptoengineer

2025-02-20 15:54:31 UTC