Saturday 12 July 2014

Against the Crowd Blogathon


There's a really cool blogathon going on over at Dell on Movies right now - it's all about going against the crowd, and declaring your love/hate for a film that everyone else seems to either love/hate. Follow me so far?

Okay, so here is how it works...
  1. Pick one movie that "everyone" loves (the more iconic, the better). That movie must have a score of at least 80% on rottentomatoes.com. Tell us why you hate it.
  2.  Pick one movie that "everyone" hates (the more notorious, the better). That movie must have a score of less than 30% on rottentomatoes.com. Tell us why you love it.
  3. Include the tomato meter scores of both movies.
Without further ado, here are my picks...

Movie that I hated: Avatar (2009)




Okay, maybe calling Avatar a movie that 'everyone loved' is a bit of a stretch (this movie certainly has its share of haters), but it was without a doubt the first thing that sprang to mind when the topic of 'popular movies that I hate' was floated by Dell on Movies.

With a Tomato Score of 83% and a worldwide box-office gross in excess of $2.7 billion, it's hard to deny the film is both critically-acclaimed and immensely, ridiculously popular to a degree that is scarcely-imaginable. Currently, it's hard to imagine a film surpassing that kind of number in the foreseeable future.

Anyway, numbers aside, what is it about Avatar that makes me glaze over? First of all, the story. Yeah, I know you've heard it all before but let's be honest and just say it; the story is super dull. I know that this criticism is a cliché in itself, but it essentially is just Pocahontas in space.

Second of all - Sam Worthington. For about 12 months, the dude was absolutely everywhere (Clash of the Titans, Terminator: Salvation) and now he's slipped away a bit. Thank. God. For the lead actor in the biggest film of all time, he sure is wooden. If you wanna be harsh, you could say he's more emotive as a Na'vi...

Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi and Michelle Rodriguez save it a little, but they're all pretty cookie-cutter characters also. The worst of all is Stephen Lang as the most gung-ho and clichéd army colonel EVAR. For a someone like Cameron, who directed Aliens and Terminator 2, two of the best sci-fi films of all time, Avatar just reeks of mediocrity on a storytelling level.

Now, I'm not going to be a dick about it - I can recognise that Avatar is a visually stunning movie. Technically, it's brilliant and drenched in luscious VFX that captured audiences imaginations like never before. Admittedly, I'll confess to sitting jaw-agape during the 'mountains in the sky' scene. But gorgeous VFX don't automatically make a film the most brilliant ever. Essentially, it's the hype machine that made this movie the highest-grossing film of all time that I hate, rather than the movie itself.

It's all style and little substance.


Movie that I loved: Need for Speed (2014)




There are quite a few movies that fall into this category (Tron: Legacy, The Lone Ranger) but I think the most notable is a really recent film that got absolutely trashed by critics: Need for Speed, starring Aaron Paul, Imogen Poots and Dominic Cooper.

Wait, come back! Let me try and explain.

It might be super goofy, but Need For Speed was one of my favourite racing games growing up. Duelling it out with Razor in the original Most Wanted was seriously hard stuff. Shame it got shat on by some crappy remake...

Anyway, getting sidetracked. The 2014 movie version of Need for Speed didn't pretend to be anything more than an equally goofy racing movie in the mould of Fast and Furious. It was cast in same mould as the games - over-the-top, unrealistic and downright fun to watch. Which is why it worked.

Probably the best part of Need for Speed were the stunts - going in with the foreknowledge that all the stunts were pieced together with as little VFX as possible made the whole movie even more exciting. It was like a bad version of Bullitt, with Aaron Paul cast in the role of Clint Eastwood.

I know it's flashy and the dialogue is stilted, but at its core Need for Speed was unashamedly fun. It's a film based on a video game with next to no plot for crying out loud! Trying to hate on it is hard, so just admit it; it's pretty cool. It even has Michael Keaton!


So that's that! Thanks for reading my entry into the Against the Crowd blogathon, and thanks for Dell on Movies for hosting the whole shebang. Be sure to let me know your thoughts below!


16 comments:

  1. I had a feeling someone would go after Avatar. I liked it, didn't love it because you're right about the story. It's a movie that pushed the envelope visually, but lacked elsewhere. I'm going to have to check out Need for Speed. Thanks for taking part in my little blogathon.

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    1. My pleasure Wendell! :) Avatar was probably too obvious a target, but heck, if the shoe fits. Need for Speed might not be for everyone, but fans of the games will get a kick out of the little winks and nods thrown in. Thanks for commenting!

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  2. I've heard a lot of praise for Need For Speed. I hate Fast and Furious, so I expect I will hate it as well, but glad to hear of another person who enjoyed it!

    Although I'm not a huge fan of Avatar, I thought it was alright, and, of course, that 3D was epic!

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    1. Why the hate for Fast and Furious?! :O Understandably, the movies are ridiculous, but goofy fun nevertheless. Need for Speed is very similar in that regard. Thanks for commenting Tanner :)

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  3. I couldn't agree more with Avatar. I absolutely hated that movie, and the fact that it got so much acclaim was kind of mind boggling. Aside from the CGI, it was so basic.

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    1. I think that the movie was just marketed immensely well, and arrived at the right time. Just as 3D was becoming a thing again, there was this huge, exciting movie from James Cameron for everyone to get excited about :) Thanks for commenting Brittani!

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  4. Nice picks, especially Need for Speed. SO unfairly hated on, and I don't understand a lick of the hatred geared towards it! Also agree on Tron: Legacy and The Lone Ranger, for that matter.

    As for Avatar, I actually did love it quite a bit when I saw it in theaters, though it's one that really doesn't hold up AT ALL on subsequent viewings, to the point where I do sorta consider it just a very mediocre film. So I'm not necessarily opposed to that here, either, haha. :P

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    1. So hard to understand the hate for the Lone Ranger! It must just be because of Depp and his wacky Jack Sparrow schtick. Fingers crossed for a sequel to both that and Need for Speed? Slim probably haha, but still awesome movies :) Thanks for commenting Chris.

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  5. I am so glad that I didn't have a blog when Avatar was released, because I LOVED that movie. Then I saw it again...without the 3D glasses. And all of a sudden...it was bad. Really bad. Glad you called it out, though I'm shocked it's rating actually let it even qualify. I thought, at this point, no one would vouch for it anymore. Oh well.

    As for Need for Speed, not gonna lie, but the preview looked terrible. But, I can look beyond that and will definitely check it out when I get the chance! Sweet post!

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    1. I never got to see Avatar in 3D so I can't attest to the awesomeness haha - I remember sorta enjoying it the first time (except it went FOREVER) and only really realising how generic the plot is second time round. Thanks for commenting! :)

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  6. I am so happy to see you picked Need for Speed too! Maybe we're the majority after all :D
    I remember seeing Avatar in IMAX and loving it, but I have never seen it since, nor do I have any pressing urge to see it again soon, so maybe deep down I didn't enjoy it as much as I think I did?
    - Allie

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    1. That must be it - subconsciously, you hate Avatar just as much as me :P

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  7. It's an interesting choice. I would have thought it would be going against the crowd to try and defend Avatar at this point given how much of an insane hatedom it has. I don't mean to criticize anyone for liking it, I just find it weird how big a thing it was when it first came out and then suddenly it became "cool" to hate it. Then again, given the score it has on Rotten Tomatoes and that it currently has a 7.9 rating on IMDB I do wonder how much of the hatedom is people legitimately not liking the film and how much is people jumping on the bandwagon to be cool.

    Okay, now that's all out of the way. I do, however, feel I should point this out because I've discussed this before. I wouldn't say it's "Pocahontas in Space". For on thing it's technically not really in space so much as it is on an alien planet, and second when you break down the plot it's actually a lot closer to The Mission. I did a comparison of the two back in February:

    http://hitchcocksworld.blogspot.ca/2014/03/avatar-is-not-pocahontas-or-dances-with.html

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    1. Awesome comment mate, I think you summed it up pretty nicely there. There certainly is a bandwagon of hate for Avatar which goes completely against the success it enjoyed. I think I'm guilty as charged there, but it's such an obvious target to go after for "popular movie I hate". Haven't seen the Mission but I'll certainly check out your post and give it a read :) Thanks for commenting Hitch :)

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  8. My pick was for Avatar as well. The story didn't interest me enough to watch it in the theaters. And when I finally saw it on DVD, I was right, the story was just too dull that even the visuals could not save it for me.

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    1. Fair enough! :) I think the movie's most impressive was how it was marketed to audiences at exactly the same time 3D was becoming a big thing. But yeah, on the whole a very average movie. Thanks for commenting!

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