If you visit MovieBuzzers, it probably means you’re like us: you eagerly anticipate upcoming films. However, as we’ve all learned as film fans, not all of those films we wait for are going to be winners — in fact, some of them will give us that horrible punched-in-the-gut feeling as we leave the theater, knowing that our $10 had just been wasted. So, what films did I find to be the most disappointing in 2010? Please keep in mind that these films aren’t necessarily the worst of 2010 — we’d have to include Vampires Suck on that list — but this a list of films that may not necessarily be bad, but coulda, shoulda, and woulda been better… if only… Hit more to see my list!
Honorable Mention: Sex and the City 2
Sex and the City 2 is the only film I haven’t seen on this list, hence the honorable mention. But when a sequel to a wildly popular franchise makes less than two-thirds of the original, there’s something definitely wrong. Since this one isn’t on my must-see list, I’ll take the advice my fellow MovieBuzzer writer Alissa, who told us that Sex and the City 2 is “only worth seeing for the clothes.” Ouch!
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
I’ve picked up a Scott Pilgrim graphic novel before and found it unique and entertaining stuff — so I was incredibly disappointed when I saw the big screen adaptation of Scott Pilgrim starring Michael Cera and quickly realized that I wasn’t watching a unique, entertaining adaptation, I was watching a typical Michael Cera film. Unfortunately, Michael Cera has gone to the same school of comedy as his Year One co-star Jack Black — the one that must teach that you need to play the same basic character in every film. As a result, Michael Cera‘s Scott Pilgrim is awkward and unlikable, and it makes it hard to root for him as a “heroic” character when you just want him to stop being a quivering whiner. It makes it hard to root for him. In fact, the film is totally devoid of any likable characters — all of them are either too-young-adult-smug or too obsessed with their own quirkiness to make you want to see them succeed. Shovel on a ton of hipster slang (heck, I live outside of New York City — if I wanted to listen to hipsters, I’d visit Williamsburg, Brooklyn) and Scott Pilgrim is far less entertaining than it could have been. Since the film bombed at the box office, I couldn’t be the only one who felt this way.
Cop Out
Kevin Smith used to be considered a cult comedy genius, but he’s never directed a film outside of his “View Askew” film series up to that level. Cop Out is yet another example of that, the first film Smith directed from a script he didn’t write. You would think that if you threw Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan together in a buddy cop comedy, they would be able to overcome bad material. Cop Out proves that wrong, since it’s one of those unfortunate comedies where all the funny bits are in the trailer. Six months later, fellow SNL alum Will Ferrell spoofed the buddy cop genre in The Other Guys, with much better results.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
I get that Oliver Stone wanted to express his views on the financial sector’s role in the recent economic crisis, because that’s what Stone does — comment on controversy. And I understand that Stone wanted to use one of his most famous characters, Gordon Gekko, to do so. But the result was a predictable, paint-by-numbers film that didn’t do any of the actors in it favors. I always thought that the worst type of sequel was the kind that just seemed like bad, reheated leftovers of the first film, and Stone & Co. seemed to have rushed into the sequel without adding anything new to the mix. Considering the immense amount of talent in this film, it should’ve been a lot better. Audiences seemed to agree — when adjusted for inflation, Wall Street 2 made far less money at the box office than Stone’s more influential original.
Machete
Remember those 70s grindhouse films that were thinly-disguised political commentaries? Me neither. I obviously have no problem with political films, but it’s a bit of a stretch to try and use a movie in which Danny Trejo uses a man’s intestines to rappel out a window to provide serious commentary on immigration law. In fact, I can’t be the only one who thought Robert Rodriguez actually weakened his support for immigration reform by filling Machete with potentially hurtful Mexican stereotypes, can I? Rodriguez would have been better off following the Sylvester Stallone “give the people what they want” style of filmmaking. The action sequences in Machete were awesome — so why shoehorn poorly conceived — and poorly expressed — arguments that already date the film? Considering Trejo‘s character in the film didn’t care about immigration at all, it seems like he is a grindhouse character shoved into a political thriller — like sticking David Carradine in an Oliver Stone film. So while I can give Trejo an A+ for the role he was born to play, I can’t say the same for the filmmakers.
Jonah Hex
In the interest of full disclosure, Jonah Hex is not just one of my favorite comic book characters, but one of my favorite characters in all of fiction. Now that I have established this, I feel comfortable with saying that Jonah Hex might be the worst comic book film since Batman & Robin. It’s a shame that Josh Brolin and John Malkovich — who are excellent as Hex and nemesis Quentin Turnbull, respectively — had their excellent performances surrounded by such a terrible film. Why did the filmmakers decide to imbue Hex with supernatural powers? Why revolve the plot around a scientifically impossible super weapon? Why did they have to include that embarrassing last scene? And why, oh why, would anyone cast Megan Fox in a role that actually required acting? Leaving the theater after seeing Jonah Hex was like getting off the ground after getting my ass kicked. Jonah Hex could have easily been an instant grim-and-gritty western classic like 3:10 to Yuma or True Grit, but I guess since it came from a comic book series the filmmakers felt it had to be somewhat goofy. I guess my only remaining question would be… why bother?
What about you, readers? What were some of the most disappointed movies of 2010 that I didn’t mention? Let us know your thoughts!
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