Joe Myrick – Taste of Cinema – Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists http://www.tasteofcinema.com taste of cinema Tue, 22 Aug 2017 15:04:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 http://www.tasteofcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/cropped-icon-32x32.jpg Joe Myrick – Taste of Cinema – Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists http://www.tasteofcinema.com 32 32 10 Movies Made To Frustrate Its Audience http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2017/10-movies-made-to-frustrate-its-audience/ http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2017/10-movies-made-to-frustrate-its-audience/#comments Tue, 22 Aug 2017 15:03:50 +0000 https://www.tasteofcinema.com/?p=50408

For as long as full-length film has been available to the public, the goal of the filmmaker was normally to send all of their audiences home happy. Sounds like pandering, yes, but it makes sense.

Viewers dedicate their time to a hard day’s at work and use whatever money they can scour from their check to buy a $10 ticket, some popcorn, and maybe a drink (double all of that if they come with a date, or even a group of friends and/or family) for a movie at the local matinee. People work hard for their dollar and should be rewarded with something satisfying. However, that is not always the case.

A lot of times, to avoid a movie that panders too easily to its crowd, a filmmaker may opt to make the film feel as realistic as possible and as we all know, real life is not all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes, it’s downright depressing. If a filmmaker doesn’t try hard to depress the audience, they might go out of their way to outright insult them, which may be even worse.

Imagine paying your $10 ticket, popcorn, drink, and candy for your lady/man friend and expecting a good time at the movie only for said movie to spit right in your face as you shift uncomfortably in your cozy theater chair. Well, we don’t have to imagine this because many of us have been there. Here are just 10 movies that go out of their way to frustrate their audiences with one big middle finger pointing squarely at them.

 

10. Mulholland Drive

mulholland drive dreams

We could probably place any David Lynch movie from his filmography onto this entry, but we’re going to choose Mulholland Drive because it might be his most confusing film yet. Yes, considering David Lynch’s filmography, that says a lot and to be fair, Inland Empire is arguably a close second Lynch film in that regard. However, Inland Empire at least sticks to its plot for the entirety of the film, to some degree at least.

Compared to Lynch’s other films, Mulholland Drive does a complete 180 plot-wise. Audiences paid their money to see a movie about an actress who loses her memory, and by the end, Lynch manages to turn his own film on its very head.

Mulholland Drive is arguably his most challenging film to date. However, if the viewer is patient with the film and perhaps even willing to come back for more on repeat viewings to dissect exactly what this film is about, they will not be disappointed.

 

9. Magnolia

magnolia

Essentially, Magnolia is a film about coincidences. Bizarre, frank, and rather absurd coincidences. The film opens with a narrator going in depth about a series of coincidences which take place in an apartment building regarding the homicide-suicide of one Sydney Barringer. What follows later in the film is another series of coincidences (the most notable involving raining frogs) that connects a flurry of characters together.

The thought of such remarkable occurrences being shrugged off as mere coincidence can be reasonably frustrating to the average viewer. Don’t get us wrong, Magnolia is still a phenomenal film, but “coincidence” is not an answer which some of us can easily accept.

Much of that has to do with the fact that it sounds too much like real life. Weird, random things happen in real life everyday all the time and we’re forced to just accept them as coincidence with no proof of a higher being or better explanation. We like to blame things more on just “coincidence.” The “coincidences” excuse stinks to use in real life and it is downright frustrating to hear it accepted in a movie like Magnolia.

 

8. Rubber

Rubber (2010)

Rubber is one of the weirdest movies ever made to just be weird for the sake of being weird without any explanation for why it is so damn weird. For those unaware, Rubber is a movie about a living rubber tire named Robert who goes on a rampage across the town thanks to his psychic abilities. He also happens to be smitten with a random woman.

How is the tire alive? Why is it killing people with his psychic powers? How did it get psychic powers? What’s so special about this lady? All of these questions—and more—arise in this movie. None of them are answered.

The closest we get to an actual explanation is when a sheriff says that many things in movies happen for “no reason,” things in life happen for “no reason,” and “this film” is a homage to the “no reason.” Why? No reason. The same people who hate the coincidence explanation from Magnolia are going to flat out loathe the “no reason” explanation in Rubber, especially when the questions that Rubber forces us to ask are too damn juicy not to have a proper explanation.

 

7. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

monty python and holy grail

This has more to do with the ending of Monty Python and the Holy Grail than the film itself. Before the ending, Monty Python and the Holy Grail was well on its way to being one of the greatest, funniest movies ever made. Even with the ending aside, a lot of people are still willing to put this film on that pedestal. It most certainly is the best Monty Python film ever made. (Sorry, Life of Brian. You were close.)

Still, the ending was enough to sour people on Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Just to refresh everyone’s memories on the ending in question, just before the big army is ready to charge at the castle, the modern day police storm the scene and arrest everybody.

Then the film just…ends. It feels like a cop-out of an actual ending rather than a random, funny conclusion. As if the writers were stuck on how to end the movie and decided to just…end the movie. In the most unsatisfying way possible to boot.

 

6. Brazil

brazil

Again, this one is more frustrating due to its ending rather than because of the film as a whole. Apparently, the Monty Python alumni are just bad at writing endings. Jonathan Pryce spends the majority of Brazil dreaming about a damsel in distress while working for a totalitarian government and then, later on, on the run from that same government. When he finally meets the damsel (who turns out not to be much of a damsel after all) in real life, we like Pryce’s character so much that we can’t help but root for him to hook up with her so they can have their own happy ending.

Watching the movie, we thought the happy ending was achieved when the two essentially rode off into the sunset together by leaving the city. Except those last few minutes of the movie were all a dream and in reality, Jonathan Pryce’s character was lobotomized.

Director Terry Gilliam gave us a happy ending and then immediately swept the rug from underneath us. If this ending doesn’t frustrate you for depriving you of a satisfying conclusion, then at least admit that the ending just deflates whatever joy you get from seeing two characters you grew to like seemingly ride off into the sunset scot-free.

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10 Great Movies That Are Made from Dumb Premises http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2017/10-great-movies-that-are-made-from-dumb-premises/ http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2017/10-great-movies-that-are-made-from-dumb-premises/#comments Fri, 04 Aug 2017 15:40:03 +0000 https://www.tasteofcinema.com/?p=49879

This past weekend, The Emoji Movie opened in theaters to rave reviews. And by rave reviews, we mean alarmingly negative reviews from stark raving mad critics. With a surprisingly generous 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Emoji Movie is perhaps the most universally hated movie in recent memory. It is certainly the most critically hated film to come out this year so far. The sad part is that despite its wacky and dumb premise, it actually had some potential.

Look, before you say anything and start shaking your head, think about it for a second. Despite what popular belief may think, every single movie in the metaphysical cinematic stratosphere within this world has potential to be a great one. Yes, we all groaned in heavy unison the moment that The Emoji Movie was announced and it turns out we were all in the right to write this movie off immediately. However, that is not so easily the case with every movie riddled with a stupid synopsis.

There are several movies out there which have been released over the years that opened up to low expectations because their plot sounded bad, but managed to exceed expectations because the execution of those films were so well done. No matter how bad a movie may sound on paper, it is bound to make for a good film if it has an exceptional cast and crew working behind it.

There are numerous examples of such films that fit this criteria throughout movie history, but for the sake of time and convenience, we are going to stick to talking about 10 just for this list. Without further ado, here are 10 dumb movie premises that surprisingly made for great movies.

 

10. Snakes on a Plane

snakes-on-a-plane-2006

No list about dumb, fun movies is complete without Snakes on a Plane. Snakes on a Plane is the epitome of dumb popcorn entertainment. A premise which only exists because some guy in a board room figured out that snake and plane rhyme together and would make kind of a sweet title.

The lucky thing about this movie is that it fully embraces and commits to its awful premise. A movie with a plot like this can only embrace it, but the fact that the movie is more than willing to indulge in how ridiculous it is, right down to Samuel L. Jackson spewing his infamous line, that just makes it loads of fun.

 

9. Weekend at Bernie’s

For more than 90 minutes, two dumb schmucks carry around the dead carcass of Terry Kiser and pass him off as if he is still alive. There is no way or reason that this should have worked as a feature length movie. Maybe as a 5-minute Saturday Night Live skit, but not as a whole movie.

And yet, there is something downright hilarious about Weekend at Bernie’s that has cemented it as a comedy classic. It is like watching an 80’s version of Abbot & Costello with some black humor dashed across. Anyone who can forgive the film for how dumb it’s premise is and just suspend some disbelief will be in for a wildly funny ride.

 

8. Face/Off

Face Off

Ok, Face/Off is a blast of fun. No one is denying that. But we are lying if we do not point out just how dumb the premise sounds. Two guys get their faces ripped off and replaced on each other’s bodies; chaos ensues. In all honesty, it can be argued that a film as ridiculous as Face/Off should not work so well.

The only reason that it does work so well is because of the stellar swapped performances of John Travolta and especially Nicholas Cage. The latter of which is clearly having fun and taking the piss with the script. A goofy script combined with John Woo’s over the top visuals (let’s not act like the guy does not have an unhealthy obsession with doves in his movies) should have made this dire project, but because Travolta and Cage manage to pull of some stupendous performances and impressions of each other, it manages to be a fun action epic.

 

7. Sunshine

sunshine

For a film masquerading as a smart sci-fi film, there is something dumb about a premise focusing on a space crew trying to, essentially, nuke the sun. It’s more or less the same premise as Deep Impact and everyone said that movie was dumb. Gotta call a spade a spade and call Sunshine dumb by default. At its core, Sunshine is a stupid more filled with ludicrous pseudoscience passing off as intelligent, plausible science by means of techno-babble which half of its audience won’t be likely to understand. Still, once you get passed that and put away your science degree, the movie is fantastic.

In a manner of moments, the film goes from a visual stunning sci-fi film to a thrilling and truly terrifying horror movie. The transition appears so seamless that it’s easy not to notice. Backed up by some tremendous performances from the likes of Cillian Murphy and Chris Evans, as well as exceptional filmmaking from Danny Boyle who also manages to bring some remarkable cinematography to the table, Sunshine is truly a bright gem despite having a premise which could have easily failed if it were helmed in less than capable hands.

 

6. Mrs. Doubtfire

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

Mrs. Doubtfire is another one of those movies that sound better on paper as a short SNL sketch than a full length movie. It is no easy task to try to suspend disbelief long enough to believe that a grown man could get away with seeing his kids and divorced wife while under the guise of an elderly nanny. Especially when one realizes just how long Robin Williams’ character is able to keep up the act before he gets caught. Plus, the movie is a little over 2 hours long, which for most comedies is like a kiss of death; any comedy over 90 minutes usually winds up being overlong and basically crap.

Surprisingly, Mrs. Doubtfire was neither. Maybe it’s because there was a surprising amount of heart at the center of the film which managed to warm even the hardest of cynic’s hearts. Maybe it’s because Robin Williams gives a genuinely great performance both on the comedic side and the dramatic side. Whatever the reason is, it proves to be one of Williams’ best and a classic comedy that continues to withstand the test of time.

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