Not As Bad As Advertised

Which flick is not as bad as advertised? With all the talk and attention, this didn’t live up to the hype. Might be big or small. What missed the mark?

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John Carter, Waterworld, and Ishtar. Nowhere near as bad as advertised.

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Waterworld (1995) falls somewhere in the middle. Not great, not bad, closer to so-so or okay for most of it. Kevin Costner and Dennis Hopper elevate it by being there. The debate on those three involved their budgets as well. Underdelivering quality and money wise contributed to their legends. Disappointment settled into perceived badness that wasn’t really there.

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I think it was the negative hype before the movies even came out that caused the movies to flop. In the case of John Carter, there was an internal battle between two executives that lead to a lot of negative press including a horrible marketing campaign.

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Existing hostility prior to release mixed with the realization they weren’t matching expectations mashed into a perception of mediocrity unrequited by the movies themselves when watched later.

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The 13th Warrior. Delayed, horribly over-budget, rewritten, reshot and re-edited, barely advertised, thoroughly trashed by the early reviews, and utterly shunned by movie audiences.

And despite all of that, very watchable and clearly the best Dungeons & Dragons movie ever made.

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Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Yes, the pacing is all over the place, Kid Vader is annoying at best, and the less said about — and by — one Jar Jar Binks the better. But with a bit of judicious post-release editing (something George Lucas is hardly in a position to complain about), we have…

Star Wars: Episode I.II - The Phantom Edit

…which revealed within lay a coherent story that established just how involved and far-reaching the planning of a certain Sith Lord went. Something that Dave Filoni subsequently picked up and ran with in four related series — and counting.

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I have to second your Ishtar. I saw it repeatedly on cable while skipping classes in college and I thought it was goofy fun.

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Heaven’s Gate isn’t bad. It’s a long movie but engaging and very pretty. It was a massive act of hubris on an old-Hollywood scale, and all that effort and torched budget do come across on screen.

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One of the things I find irritating is this idea is out there that "“bomb” (i.e. weak box office) = “bad.” I think this is true of all three of these films, although I understand John Carter made money overseas. For my part, I don’t care how much money a movie makes. Titanic raked in huge money , but I didn’t care for it. Buckaroo Banzai was a box office “flop,” but I love it so.

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I’m a huge fan of 13th Warrior.

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Waterworld is essentially Mad Max at sea. A lot of similar movies don’t get near the grief that Waterworld gets, despite being clearly worse and not having Dennis Hopper.

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I think my favorite part is how Antonio Banderas almost nails his natural accent. That and how the two directors, as well as the infinite monkeys with typewriters credited as screenwriters, all worked so seamlessly together to create an almost incomprehensible plot.

But I, too, am a huge fan. It’s not particularly cerebral, but it is good, action-y, fun.

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It was also hampered by inexplicable decision to release it under the cryptic name “John Carter,” which did nothing to alert the potential audience what kind of film it was.

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I liked John Carter enough to pick up and start* to read A Princess of Mars (public domain, so free). I thought it was a fun and interesting film, and the visuals were quite good. It’s weird, but so is the source material. I like weird.

*I rarely finish anything I start. :roll_eyes:

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The Postman is a perfectly watchable post-apoc flick with some nice world building touches. I find it less indulgent than Waterworld even though it was made by Costner at his peak of self love.

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All they needed to do for marketing was to sell it like this:

AND NOW FINALLY COMING TO THE SCREEN
THE EPIC FANTASY THAT STARTED IT ALL
THIS SUMMER LEAVE YOUR WORLD BEHIND
JOHN CARTER
WARLORD OF MARS

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The Postman - (8% at Rotten Tomatoes) It held my interest to the end, I was into the story, the world building as was mentioned. I’m not calling it a masterpiece, but it deserved better than an 8%

Factory Girl (2006) - Only seen it once, but was pleasantly surprised that I liked it, since it had a 20% at RT.

The Good German (34% at RT) - A classic Hollywood type drama given a modern spin. Is it perfect, no, but as critic Geoff Andrew wrote in response to nitpicking reviewers, “Why emphasize flaws in a film of such overall ambition and expertise?” Yeah, why do they do they do that, nit on some, but give a pass to others that, if scrutinized, can just as easily be torn down. Why the double standard? Why not give credit where credit is due? The Good German had a lot that was worthwhile.

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I remember liking Surrogates and wondering why I was the only one in a 1000 mile radius that saw it.

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Agreed about the marketing campaign. What makes it worse is that in the early marketing, the movie was still named John Carter of Mars — it had a nifty logo and everything:

For some reason I’ll never understand, the “…of Mars” part of the title was dropped along with the nifty logo.

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