Films that disappointed you

Sunshine did take an odd turn, but I still really enjoyed it. Great cast, as you say.

I'm afraid I gave up on this half-way through, started to feel so silly. That church scene ... I know we're not supposed to "care" because of the views of the congregation, but it was still a pointless massacre presented as entertainment. Plus why does Samuel L Jackson have that lisp? Felt a bit aimed at the younger male audience, I feel.

I agree about American Beauty -- seemed to go on for ages, and not have much meaning at all. I suppose they seem longer when you don't enjoy....

Bought Water for Elephants on DVD because we missed it when it came out --- what a disappointment that was. Talk about being written by a computer code! Dreadfully badly told story, and weak acting, plus the kind of lingering looks between the two lovebirds which would have been done in the Black & White days of cinema.

Most of the ones I go to the cinema to see, I enjoy. Usually because I do my homework carefully beforehand, as I am not a fan of Bash, Crash, Violence and Car Crashes!!

Goodness, I'll have to go and get the DVD of it now. I was away on hols when it came out and wanted to see it then.

Agreed.  I really couldn't see what the fuss was about.  On a similar note, having heard 2001: A Space Odyssey praised to the sky so often I watched it recently.  The section with HAL going wrong was decent, but the rest ranged from utter tedium to pretentious rubbish (and occasionally both at the same time).  Saving Private Ryan, too.  Extremely well filmed, certainly, but the characters were clichéd, the dialogue not particularly good, and the ending so corny I hooted with laughter instead of tearing up.

A more obscure one was Barbarossa: Siege Lord, a medieval epic starring Rutger Hauer as the real life Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.  I bought it on a whim after seeing it at an airport HMV.  The cover art promised decent historical accuracy and the blurb on the back suggested a good film.  It was badly directed, badly written, the costuming etc promised none of the accuracy promised by the cover (whoever was responsible for the cover had evidently never seen the film!), badly plotted and the acting was mind bogglingly bad, even from Mr Hauer.

I really agree with your assessment of 2001. I like science fiction, but it did seem to be a bit of the Emperor's new clothes as far as I was concerned. Kubrick can do no wrong ... Really?

If you want the story, read the book. That's all I can say. The film is trash.

Part of the problem is that people read too much into it, and in the end make something which, in its separate parts is reasonable, but is, when put together in a film, long-winded.