Name one movie you saw as a kid (we'll be loose with age range) that you thought was the best movie EVAH!!!11... only to revisit it and find that it's pretty terrible.
Also, what else have you seen recently?
81 thoughts on “Third Monday Movie Day: Awkward Reunions”
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I haven't seen it since, but I'm guessing Howard The Duck doesn't hold up.
Sounds like a valid opinion that wouldn't need confirmation. But it sucked then, too.
What about Hudson Hawk?
Can't discuss movies no one has seen.
Ah geez, I loved it as a kid.
This just reminds me of the dozens of times I watched Striking Distance on TBS in my friend's basement in high school.
My cousin loved it and talked me into seeing it as a kid. I hated it and wondered if there was something broken in me. Turns out it's level twenty awful and there's something broken in me. Everybody wins!
Runner daughter watched Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets ... well, no, she gave up part way in. On the other hand, I didn't find it that horrible. It tried to be The Fifth Element and had some pretty great CGI, but man did it wander.
I made it through Funky Forest: The First Contact so you won't have to. Yep, it's really weird.
Venture Bros. (season 7) is finally back! But Adventure Time! is coming to a close soon. 🙁
Slightly related, The Professional was much worse (and waaaaaay ickier) than I remember. Even TFE has lost some of its charm, but that could be that I've seen it too many times.
I heard bad, bad things about Valerian, but I gave it a try on streaming video anyhow. The plot had some shades of The Fifth Element, but with no chemistry between the leads and unbelievably stilted dialogue, it was nearly unwatchable. I fell asleep part way through, and didn't bother going back and watching what I thankfully missed.
You just described my experience watching The Fifth Element
And many others. More than any movie besides maybe Empire Records, I don't get the love.
Oh, lord- well, Mortal Kombat isn't as good as teenager me thought it was.
On the other hand, the original Predator holds up pretty well.
We watched Predator last month, and I was surprised at how much I liked it as an adult.
My best high school friend and I went to Mortal Kombat. He played the game constantly on the machine in the video store where I worked. We both laughed out loud at several bad CGI moments and pieces of dialogue, so I guess you could say we had fun.
Sounds a lot like my viewing. We knew it was crap, but had fun with it anyway.
I thought MacGuyver and The A Team were the pinnacle of television as a kid. I was wrong.
The new Mission: Impossible movie, on the other hand? Yeah, that was pretty fantastic
I remember thinking that the Emmys were a joke since everyone knew the A Team was the best show but it never got nominated.
Man, MacGyver might be the perfect answer for me. I was just the right age where it seemed brilliant and exciting, and now it pretty clearly comes off as saturated, formulaic network action. But when one is nine years old, that seems pretty fine.
I tried to watch Buckaroo Bansai over the weekend. Was that ever good? It definitely isn't good now.
Oh man, dude, you're dead to me
I got your back, Rhu.
The 12 y.o. wanted to watch it because they referenced it in Ready Player One. Neither of us could handle over 15 minutes of it.
Hey, hey, now, you don't have to be mean.
Buckaroo Banzaii is easily the Pinnacle achievement of American cinema.
So it was another movie that had, as a major plot device, a tyrannical figure's love for his boyhood sled?
Hah!
Yes, yes it is! Sort of.
Spoiler that, man!
I can't believe you'd ruin the end of Hope Floats like that.
Hope Floats never ends, dude
I haven't actually rewatched it, but I feel pretty confident 3 Ninjas would be my answer.
I haven't watched a ton of movies lately. I did finish the first season of Better Call Saul and have started on season 2. I'm also all caught up on my Voltron: Legendary Defender watching. I recently started watching Cheers now that its on Netflix. Man, what a great show that was. (I never really watched it back in the day. No idea why.)
Oh, I also a watched Infinity Warwhich I thought was quite good. It was a bit bloated, which was unavoidable, but it was still very entertaining. I loved the entire sequence in the forge with giant Peter Dinklage, although Thor is way more fun under Taika Watiti's direction.
I refuse to watch Adventures in Babysitting because I'm sure I'd hate it now. Patch Adams (I was 19 when I first saw it) might be the best example. I still am quite fond of most of the movies I loved as a kid, even if they're not objectively great. For example, Karate Kid Part 2.
Girl on the Train: Bleck. I identified the killer and motive about 25 minutes in and then just watched everyone else slowly figure it out. No subtlety here.
Happy Death Day: Stupid, gleeful, fun. Several holes and not the world's best acting, but I'll watch any Groundhog Day inspired movie.
Adventures was still pretty good last year.
I watched Adventures in Babysitting last year as well, and it really isn't that bad.
Went to a pool party this weekend where the featured activity (besides Adult Beverages and conversation) was a screening of Jaws. Which I thought held up really well.
And Robert Shaw, OMG. He should have gotten ALL THE OSCARS.
Yes. Jaws is soooo good.
Liking the new Matt Groening series on Netflix, Disenchanted through 2 episodes.
Liking is too strong a word for my tastes. I think the plot is getting in the way, and it's really heavy-handed. I've laughed out loud a number of times, but almost always at surprise physical gags, and I don't think ever at a good line.
Saw the pilot, and I'm with you. Most of the lines were obvious and dull, but the sight gags were fantastic.
Yup, it's a fun show but the storyline is getting a bit tiresome. They did get a raftload of vocal talent.
Figure it'll hit its stride after it gets set up further.
I've got two episodes left and it's pretty good for semi-distracted comedy. I don't know if I applaud or question the decision to have all three of the lead characters be generally bad "people." Then again, Futurama primarily had unlikable characters too, so whatever.
As others said, lots of great animation gags.
I got to the end of the season and now there's plot intrigue!
At least ten more episodes are coming.
And I notice I had the wrong name of the program... Disenchantment.
The two movies I loved the most as a kid, Splash and Short Circuit I have not seen in close to 30 years. The reveal of the "twist" in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective has not aged well. I watched Mallrats a lot of times in high school and... boy oh boy watching that one again recently was rough. I'm a bit more sensitive to things like this now that I'm no longer a teenage edge lord.
Eighth Grade: I cringed so hard I wanted to curl up into a ball and fly out of the theater. In other words, I absolutely loved it. Things in this movie are Extremely Relatable and I basically loved everything about it. The truth or dare scene is probably the most difficult thing I've sat through in the theater in many, many years (and I went to The Witch and Hereditary in the theater). Gucci/10.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout: As nibs noted above, this was fantastic. Tom Cruise being a smarmy, unpredictable dickhead in real life basically makes him the perfect Ethan Hunt. I went to it twice and I have no regrets.
Grave of the Fireflies: Yeah, I'd actually never seen this before last week. It was very good, obviously. I was too mad at everyone (characters in the film and the folks who made the film) to cry. I went with my friend who had her first kid a little under a year and a half ago; she was not too mad to cry.
I also started watching The Sopranos pretty recently. I'm six episodes into season 2. It's good. I clench my jaw a lot at the rampant misogyny, racism, and homophobia (I understand why and stuff, but I still don't love it) but I stick around for the surprisingly nuanced views of toxic masculinity.
Short Circuit definitely popped into my head as well. I suspect the Police Academy movies could be in the conversation as well (maybe Steve Guttenberg was not so good.)
Oh, what was that one movie with him... High Spirits? I remember liking that for some reason. That's probably pretty terrible, right?
Never seen it, but I watched the trailer just now and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it is terrible.
Rewatched Short Circuit not all that long ago with the kids. It wasn't as good as I remembered, and it's very much an 80's movie in all respects, but it's also not something I'd bring into this conversation. I was actually pleasantly surprised with how it held up.
MUCH better than Electric Dreams, whitewashing or no. Sheesh.
When I saw Mallrats I remember thinking: maybe Kevin Smith is just a really bad director.
We didn't have FOX in Blue Earth growing up, and as such, a lot of people in my hometown - an abnormal percentage, no doubt - just loathed Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. There was no familiarity with Jim Carrey's brand of overacting, so we were left wondering what the draw was to this movie. I cringed at the last gag even at the time. I'm actually not sure why I watched the entire thing. It seems like something I'd bail on partway through. I must have watched with a close friend who was certain I'd like it...?
I remember when the second one came out, some who loved the first decried it because it was "so dumb." Ummmm...
Just saw your bit on The Sopranos. Yeah, that show has a lot more in store for you, believe me, about toxic masculinity and its consequences. I keep thinking I might watch it again, but I don't want to bump any first-time viewings of stuff.
We also watched revenge of the nerds recently, and who, boy is that one problematic movie. Yeah, so many things wrong with it.
It's a huge bummer, because the movie has some pretty great jokes peppered in, but almost every major plot point has aged as poorly as one can imagine. I remember thinking the "do it on the moon" scene was really, really gross, but never said anything because my friends thought it was hilarious. Otherwise, though, I was totally into the whole thing. I watched it two or three years ago and was pretty saddened.
We went to see BlacKKKlansman last weekend. I'm generally a fan of Spike's work (and once had him call me white boy in New Orleans, but that's a story for later), but I'm not really thrilled with being beaten over the head at the end of this one.
Sounds like Bamboozled.
I took the 15 y.o. to RBG. It was great. I didn't know much about her background and prior law career.
I saw The Blair Witch Project at the Uptown Theatre during the summer of ‘99 when it was still a limited release. I thought it was brilliant. I have not seen it since, but I imagine it wouldn’t hold up.
EAR and I saw that at the Redwing theatre while camping at Frotenac S.P. She wasn't very amused by me the rest of the weekend. TBH, those kids were 100% stupid and not fit to go into the woods.
This is both an amusing anecdote and a spot-on accurate take.
I went to it with my girlfriend at the time. We were ten minutes late and missed the setup scenes talking about the history of the Blair Witch, which is probably the only thing that could have made it palatable for me. I hated the thing, but a large part of that was because of the acting. Also, nothing happens until the one guy throws away the map.
I ended up working with Kevin Foxe, an executive producer on the movie, on a regional TV special in 2011. He was a really nice guy, but in working as a grip on the show, I was blown away by what takes he thought had brilliant, emotional acting in them. It really explained a lot. I read a blurb about him in Variety a couple of years later that said he was penniless and living on friends' couches. I just glanced at IMDb and it appears he's still making stuff. Would love to see him bounce back somehow.
Goonies held up pretty good in my opinion. Also, 16 Candles and Better Off Dead still made me laugh.
Yup, yup, uh-huh!
I guess I really didn't follow instructions from the post above. Superman was the first time I saw a comic book hero on the big screen. Back then, I thought it was pretty good. Saw it a few months back and it was just plain bad.
I still watch The Goonies about once a year and love the experience. I'm almost completely bereft of the nostalgia gene but this movie is a huge exception. Better Off Dead is a great piece of absurdity. A friend of mine, Peter Ellenstein, is one of Stalin's goons in the movie and has talked to me at length about the actors he worked with. I particularly remember what he said about Stalin: "It's hard to explain. He's exactly Stalin, except a really nice guy."
I haven't rewatched it, but I'm guessing What Dreams May Come isn't nearly as brilliant as I thought it was in high school.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies are waaaaay worse than I recalled.
I mentioned it last month, but Mama Mia was also much worse than I remembered. And not just Pierce Brosnan.
Though, as you say, probably not as brilliant as you felt it was back then, Dreams is still pretty amazing.
i read the book right before and which ruined the movie for me.
I actually enjoy What Dreams May Come, flaws and all.
Hmm. With multiple positive reactions here, I might have to rewatch it someday.
That's specifically one of the things I was thinking of in thinking it might not be so great.
There were at least three instances, and that's one of the things I actually enjoyed about the movie.
I remember, even when I first saw and loved the movie, that that part stuck out to me as being something that probably worked way better in the book than it did in the movie, but having never read the book I don't actually know.
What Dreams May Come was probably going to be my addition to the conversation, although I have misgivings there. For all of its flaws - chief among them the saccharine, maudlin tone that pervaded almost every Robin Williams movie at the time - it is a joy to look at.
Finally got around to watching Hail, Caesar!. What did everyone else think? I had... mixed feelings.
Did nothing for Mrs. Runner; did little for me.
It's been a while, and I've largely forgotten it. I recall enjoying it, but feeling like it left something on the table.
I’m no cinephile, but following my viewing, I could not offer much of anything positive about it when asked.
Saw BlacKkKlansman on Sunday. Have I mentioned? Quality flick. Funny, suspenseful, excellent performances, and a gutpunch ending.
I have somehow managed to see three movies this week.
The Death of Stalin - from Armando Iannuchi (The Thick of It, Veep). Very much his style and very enjoyable.
Baby Driver - also great. I don't know if I've ever seem an Edgar Wright movie I didn't love, or at least really like. The soundtrack was superb.
Ready Player One - a thoroughly mediocre movie based on a throughly mediocre book. I think the movie was better than the book, but I'm not sure.