Opinions: What is a movie you genuinely like, that is rated below 60% on rotten tomatoes?
Opinions: What is a movie you genuinely like, that is rated below 60% on rotten tomatoes?
Inspired by the linked XKCD. Using 60% instead of 50% because that's an easy filter to apply on rottentomatoes.
I'll go first: I think "Sherlock Holmes: A game of Shadows" was awesome, from the plot to the characters ,and especially how they used screen-play to highlight how Sherlocks head works in these absurd ways.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is way better than anyone gives it credit for. It's a really fun movie.
I also really like Vanilla Sky even though critics hate it. It's a weird but good movie.
How Equilibrium has a 40% RT rating is beyond me. It's amazing.
Kung Pow only has a 13% critic rating and I love that movie. 69% audience score though so that might disqualify it.
I remember quite liking Slackers when I saw it (haven't rewatched it though, so my opinion might have changed). I think if this movie every time I hear the song "She'll be comin' 'round the mountain".
The Big Hit
Movies I saw 20 years ago it seems when maybe my tastes (and me too let's face it) were a little immature. Still love Kung Pow though
Hook (29% TomatoMeter).
But it was released in 1991, so it wouldn't count for the XKCD version. Also the audience score is 76%, so not really an unpopular opinion I guess.
I, Robot, especially after reading the books. It functions as a combo of the books, but set roughly where the first book took place in, using a variant of the protagonist from the sequels. The robots taking over as they did, though, wasn't really accurate, even just regarding the laws of robotics, but it worked for the movie's conflict. In the books, they get a larger hold on humanity, but to help them go past Earth to become an intragalactic society. For a one-off, though, I can see the directions the movie took to give it that close-ended feeling. Also, the implications of robots and humans, and Spooner as a chracter were pretty faithful to the source material, IMO.
I really enjoyed the concept and story of In Time, which apparently has a 37% tomato meter and 51% audience score. That was probably the first less than 60% one I saw I particularly liked.
Edit: I take it back, I choose Elysium. It has a 59% audience meter and I frickin LOVE that movie, all the way down to the villain being super crazy and virtually unintelligible.
Don't know if it quite qualifies, since it's sitting at a 61% audience score, but my favorite horror film Event Horizon has only a 33% critic score. I find a lot of good horror movies sit at or below the 60% mark on Rotten Tomatoes though. If a horror movie is too well rated, it's probably not very scary and not interesting to me.
Okay, so I hit rotten tomatoes, checked movies that were both critics rotten AND audience rotten, and started perusing titles for stuff I thought rocked.
abraham lincoln: vampire hunter
waterworld
hellboy (how is this in here? I thought this was universally loved)
mars attacks! (56 and 53, I also feel like this shouldn't be on the list. It's too good, and not in a bad way)
x-men origins: wolverine (again, is this not considered awesome? I thought it was great)
daredevil/elektra (I enjoyed both movies)
and now for stuff I've watched at least five times:
the ninth gate
planet of the apes (2001)
avp
prince of persia
green lantern
van helsing
I'm dead serious, I was looking forward to MORE green lantern movies along the lines of that first one. I bought it on amazon having heard nothing about it (I was in a societal black hole for a few years there), watched it, loved it, and was like "sweet, when's the sequel coming out? I wanna see sinestro do his thing...wow, this did not do well. Fuck."
I wasn't super happy with ALL of the writing, but that's comic stuff in general and I thought the whole thing was still quite enjoyable. Like, multiple rewatches enjoyable. Seeing Hal Jordan on screen and having Ryan Reynolds do it was great.
Passengers is a pretty cool sci-fi movie. I like the first half in particular, the way it shows how "dumb" A.I. will be the bane of our existence feels very accurate as far as futuristic predictions go. I'm also a sucker for "lost on an island" stories, which this ultimately is. I will never understand how so much was made about the decision the main male character makes at a certain point, because the movie very clearly shows that a) he really struggles with the decision for a long time, knowing it's wrong and b) finally does it after almost killing himself and being heavily intoxicated, immediately regretting it. The only real gripe I have with the movie is that Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence have zero chemistry, which kind of kills the whole romantic element of the film.
Hook with it's 29% tomatometer rating. Dustin Hoffman—sexual misconduct allegations aside—fucking nailed it as Hook, and I think the general concept of an adult Peter Pan returning was pretty cool. Also, who doesn't love Robin Williams? It was a movie I loved in my childhood so I am absolutely biased, but 29% seems absurd. I still find the "Don't try to stop me, Smee" scene hilarious to this day.
I enjoyed Waterworld (I know it's 90s, but I feel it gets too much hate). The premise and aspects of the screenplay were ridiculous, but the set design and effects were fascinating, and I was surprisingly invested in the characters. Kevin Costner and the kid had good chemistry. Dennis Hopper was a campy joy to watch as the villain as expected.
Reign of Fire only has a 42% (Critics), 49% (Audience) rating on RT, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. The visuals and sets create a nice moody post-apocalyptic vibe, and the actors deliver decent performances imo.
Sucker Punch (2011) (technically not made in my 'adult' life, since I was still a teenager, but semantics)
I genuinely love this movie and don't understand how it's rated so poorly. Sure it's got that Zack Snyder-flair (but I think it actually works for this??) and it can seem a little gratuitous. but even then to me it seems like it's done to make a point instead of just 'hehehe hot girls in short skirts'. The action is awesome, the sets are cool af, the soundtrack is phenomenal, the cast is great, the plot is interesting, (and sure, maybe me being a mega gay means I'm giving this a higher rating then I otherwise might have) - it's just overall a great movie to me. I do wonder how much of the ratings is a symptom that all women lead films suffer from review bombs by some upsetti-spaghetti men, but even I think this movie is not generally liked by most.
The Matrix Revolutions.
Released in the same year as Reloaded, which I don't think a movie series of that caliber has been done in a long time or since. But we got two Matrix sequels in one year. Reloaded has gotten a little more accepted as time went on but people are still divided on Revolutions. I quite frankly, thought the mainline series couldn't have ended on more of a note than it did. A lot of the content has gone over everyone's heads, even at the time, because it was all techy-techy stuff and had biblical themes in it as well. But if you look at the entire Matrix series as you would TRON, it makes a little more sense.
Jingle All the Way (the original, not the abomination with Larry the cable guy). 19% RT.
I think most people think it's too "weird", but I genuinely love it. It's got all the great 90s tropes, a cartoony core in a live action movie, an anti-consumerism message in a Christmas movie, and Phil Hartman. What's not to love?
I just watched Cowboys & Aliens (2011) for the first time earlier today and really enjoyed it.
Lots of famous faces in front of the camera and lots of well known names involved behind the scenes.
Producers include Steven Spielberg, Jon Favreau, & Ron Howard.
Actors include Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, & Olivia Wilde.
Seems like a really stupid idea for a plot but I found myself about halfway through thinking "this isn't really that different from a Star Wars type movie... That's basically already alien cowboys .."
Oh yeah... Forgot to mention that Steve Oedekirk (from Kung Pow fame) was also involved .. he was one of three writers
Jupiter Ascending was a bit of a mess, but overall I liked it. I would contrast with Valerian, which is also a mess, and which I came close to liking, but in the end I just couldn't sell myself on it. The rest of the movie channels its influences and feels like 5th Element meets Star Wars, but DeHaan and Delavigne spend the whole movie acting like they're in a high school production of Blade Runner.
EDIT TO ADD MY OTHER COMMENT: Conversely, for all the bee gloop and DNA dynasty and flying rollerblades and other extremely weird shit that was sort of half-assedly put together in Jupiter Ascending, Tatum and Kunis had me more invested.
Terminator Salvation.
It did not deserve the hate it got, and could have a been a great reboot for the series.
I thought they pulled off the “early future war” aspect pretty well. Conner is still young and not the brilliant general as he would be in 2029, the machines are still recovering from the nuclear exchange so their reach and power is limited as compared to the lines of tanks we see in the opening of T2, and the technology, feel, and atmosphere feels realistic and fresh.
I wanted to see more in the universe, but people whined that it wasn’t a masterpiece like T2, and there was no Arnold, so instead we got the flaming dogshit that was Genysis and whatever the newest one is called.
I unironically enjoy both the 2005 and 2007 Fantastic Four movies. Were they cheesy as hell? Yep, but damn sure the source material is just as cheesy sometimes. Could the MCU do them better now? Almost certainly. Still fun movies, except for making Galactus the Glow Cloud (all hail). They fucked up a lot of Doom's backstory, but I like Julian McMahon (even if this also wasn't the best role for him).
Also, Chris Evans exiting the shower. Damn.
Sherlock Holmes: A game of Shadows
AFAIK the intention was to build a franchise and now Robert Downey Jr has finished with Marvel they're all keen to pick it back up again (he's also pushing for Jonny Depp to join the franchise.)
Alien vs Predator. It got horrible reviews but it has everything I like in it.
Hackers
Josie and the Pussycats.
It was so far ahead of its time that critics just didn't get it because the world they were satirizing was still about a decade away. (Instagram, fame, product placement, fanboyism...)
Also, bonus answer. The Big Hit. Because fuck it. Lou Diamond Phillips knew exactly what kind of shclock movie he was in and chewed the scenery fantastically.
Suicide Squad.
Ok since no movie critic of comic book movies actually reads comics or ever bothered to read the Wikipedia articles summarizing I present to you their issues and why they are wrong. Also including is generic movie information..
The prison has people with no powers! Yes, exactly like the comic books. It was the most dangerous not the most powerful. Harley is dangerous because of nothing else her connection to the Joker. Deadshot is dangerous because people want to hire him. Angry powerful people.
The movie had modern music in it! Movies tend to do this. Be not alarmed.
The pacing was off in the middle! Agreed but the same can be said about everything Kubrick made and I don't hear you complaining.
Harley and Joker have a toxic relationship! Yes, they are villains.
There wasn't enough time spent on character backstory! Use your glowing rectangle.
They caused the problem they were supposed to be solving! Yes, like the comics. It was a metaphor for the CIA. Fidel Castro, Iraq, that dictator in Panama, the Taliban....Got it?
Harley should have better weapons! Have someone scream at you and run at you waving a baseball bat and tell me that you are okay with the situation.
I was honestly a little shocked to find The Fountain rated so low, Tomatometer (fuck the tomatometer anyway, audience score is where it's usually at) was 52% with scathing reviews, the audience score fortunately remedied the situation with 74% cause I was seriously starting to look for another site.
And for it's opposite: The Blair Witch Project is 86% vs 56%. I haven't seen it in ages, have been planning to, but it was one of my favorite movies for a while.
As above, So Below
Let me preface this with I also love most of the Paranormal Activity movies and Cloverfield, that found footage format when it came out to the mainstream was just really gripping to me and I try to vacuum up as much of them as I can.
As above, So Below really stuck with me, despite the opinion being somewhat mixed. I'll also say, for some reason - I really like caves/subterranea. Minecraft, Deep Rock, 7 Days to Die mining, Runescape. I think I must of been a dwarf in a past life/dimension or some shit.
It just felt really desperate and the tunnel/horror aspect just kept going, those guys were fucked basically and it kept getting weirder.
Dylatov pass was a similarly cool but kinda shitty movie too, it has another name too Devil's pass or something. I like that for similar reasons too, kinda dumb but equally hopeless feeling.
I don't remember the name because it ALSO had two release names [regionally] for some reason. But it was two english ghost hunters who stayed in a church, there was a weird priest every now and then, and no spoilers - they found an underground basement and it...went from there he he he. That was good too and probably lower than 50% . Anyone know the name?? Found footage of course.
Mars Attacks
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets - The opening sequence is pretty amazing actually.
Sex Drive (esp the directors cut)
This is harder than I thought it would be. I was also surprised at the ratings for Mars Attacks and Sex Drive. Mars Attacks is a legit great movie but admittedly very odd. Sex Drive is just stupid fun.. Kinda peak teen sex comedy. Not perfect but funny in it's own way.
I actually Enjoy The Lost World: Jurassic Park, a lot, and though it's not as good as the original, it is definitely the only other good movie in the series afaic.
I also don't hate the 1998 Mathew Brodrick Godzilla Movie, and it was actually that movie that kickstarted my interest into Godzilla. I still watch it from time to time. Not as a Godzilla movie, but as a decent late 90s disaster movie.
I like Star Wars Episode 1: the Phantom Menace, but I'll admit it is purely for nostalgia. I remember the ad campaign from the time, and watching the movie warps me instantly back to 1999, eating Taco Bell and playing Pod Racing on the N64. It's not a good movie, but it brings me happiness.
Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a fun movie to watch. Sure it is insane and unrealistic, but it has some of my favorite Harrison Ford Quotes in the series, and for as CG heavy as they are, I do enjoy the action scenes. I definitely like it better than Temple of Doom, so for me, it's the 3rd best movie out of the 5.
The live action Super Mario Movie is legit a great movie if you understand that it is a way different thing from its source material. The movie has a great sense of humor, Bob Hopskins and Dennis Hopper are brilliant in their roles as Mario and Koopa, The set design is legit cool, and gives me heavy Blade Runner Vibes. And it has the best version of the Walk the Dinosaur song.
If we are going by Critical score instead of Audience: Godzilla King of the Monsters 2019. I was so hyped for that movie, and it delivered everything I ever wanted out of a Godzilla film. Much more Godzilla screen time than the 2014 movie, great fights dressed in great locations. Rodan popping out of the volcano was one of the most hype scenes I've seen in a G film. and my boy King Ghidorah! THEY. MADE. HIM. LOOK. AWESOME! The whole fight over DC was one of my favorite fights in the franchise, and me and my friend were so hyped, we were shouting up and down during our screening. Thank god no one was in the theatre with us lol. Yeah it was a dumb movie with a dumb hollow earth plot, but IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST MONSTER SMACK DOWNS EVER PUT TO FILM!
Wild Wild West is a dumb but fun Will Smith movie, and my favorite part about it is all the steam punk technology scattered throughout the film. Steam Punk is already an underserved genre, but especially so for live action films.
I like the Han Solo Movie. They fucking NAILED the character, and they took a LOT of inspiration from legends, and it shows! I think the only reason people dislike the movie is because Han Solo himself wasn't played by Harrison Ford, which uh, duh, of course he wasn't. He doesn't even like the character!
Oblivion . Didn’t know anything about it going in, went to go see it with the attitude that if it was going to be worth watching the theater experience would help it.
Not saying it’s in my top 50, or likely even top 100, but it’s a perfectly serviceable afternoon nap movie.
Street Fighter has 11%.
It's glorious. It's a comedy that only Raul Julia is in on. Everyone else playing it dead serious, but a super hammy scenery chewing villain, with some genuinely great lines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDRnVPlRzag
It's what modern movies are missing. Especially the recent MCU fare. Jonathan Majors and Josh Brolin may well be great actors, but they're not great villains. They're a better fit for mumbling their way through a 3 hour Chris Nolan epic.
Think Tim Curry or Alan Rickman in practically anything they were ever in. The earlier movies had this spark with Jeff Bridges and Tom Hiddleston, but they've lost it now. These things live and die by their choice of villain. They are after all the reason for the movie to exist.
‘Screamers’, the 1995 scifi movie starring Peter Weller (of Robocop fame).
It’s just this great, kind of depressing scifi war movie that has a tone that really appeals to me. Two exhausted groups of soldiers who slowly realize that high command has stopped bothering to even check up on them try to broker a peace, while killer machines created by one side have gotten out of control and become a hazard to everyone.
It’s so much better than the atrocious 29% on RottenTomatoes.
Three Amigos (45% / 67%)
If we are doing just critic score, The Boondock Saints. I've lost count of how many times I have seen it.
I already loved the movie, but I went to a Q&A with Sean Patrick Flanery. Norman Reedus was held up, so missed the Q&A and only did pictures later on. I was disappointed at first, but it ended up being one of the most hilarious and entertaining 1-2 hours I've ever seen. I wish I could remember specific details, but I do remember telling him it was an amazing Q&A when I got my pic with them.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
57% on RT but its probably one of my favourite Wes Anderson films.
The day after tomorrow is my guilty pleasure.
I really loved the og ghost rider movie
Transformers : Dark of the Moon - easily the best transformers movie. They let transformers just beat up on transformers for the last hour and half. Score was excellent by Steve Jablonsky, action was great and was a nice end to the first trilogy where there was at least a little effort to keep the story consistent.
Man of Steel - beautiful score and cinematography. The closest thing we will get to a high budget dragon ball Z movie. Still the best visualization of Kryptonian strength and speed .
Battle LA - Fun little alien invasion military movie. Eckhart gives a nice performance.
Tron: Legacy - visuals and soundtrack carry the movie hard. Imagine it as a very long Daft Punk music video.
The Greatest Showman - Amazing soundtrack here as well. Hugh Jackman’s acting was also great.
We’re the Millers - comedies might be cheating but had to highlight this one which I really enjoyed. Great chemistry with the entire cast
The Fountain is a great movie that you have to watch at least twice. Also watch it stoned for bonus points.
I have no clue how it's sitting at 52% critic score on RT...
What? XXX hasn't been mentioned yet?!?
The first part was a brilliant persiflage of all the boring James Bond movies (Pierce Brosnan at that time) with awesome action scenes, a lot of fun and mostly a killer OST. To this day I don't understand that most people didn't get the persiflage part, although the James Bond agent gets killed within the first minutes of the movie...
...howard the duck is my standard-bearer for an unconditionally good movie which gets everything right, but it only rates 14% with critics and 38% with audiences: i'm absolutely convinced that a minority of those ratings are from folks who just didn't get it at the time and the majority are folks who've since dogpiled-on because they believe they're supposed think it's bad...
...it's not-at-all a bad movie; it's solidly entertaining from start to finish, masterfully-produced, and i love it more every time i watch it...
Venom (2018). I thought the action was exciting, it had a great sense of humor (I even liked some of the gross jokes), and I liked all of the character dynamics. Honestly, most of the complaints I hear about it boil down to "this movie isn't for me", or "this doesn't fit my interpretation of the character". Which are fine opinions to have, but I'm not sure it's fair to call the movie bad because of it. Then again, that's just the complaints I've heard. I'm sure there are people out there who hate it for fairer reasons, and I've just never met them.
Knight and Day is a light feel-good action comedy.
What's up with RT ratings though? A lot of movies I'd deem okayish have ratings < 50%.
Scary movie, Scary movie 2 and Scary movie 3. I find those movies hilarious despite what people say.
The 13th Warrior.
Yes, it doesn't follow the book 100%. Yes, there are some goofy or cheesy moments. For a 90s viking adventure though, I think it's fun.
People might take issue with Banderas playing a Muslim, but Spain was once part of the caliphate that conquered northern Africa. Having a viking who speaks Greek, considering the Kievan Rus had explored the Mediterranean and fought for the Byzantines by now, added to the historical aspects of the story.
Even the original manuscripts get a bit fantasy, so I like to think of it as the movie reeled it back to a more historically accurate story over the greater fantasy on the book.
Doesn't break 60 as it has 63, but I think it still counts. Ang Lee's The Hulk. Ok listen, Abomination isn't great, and the hulk stuff is a snoozer. But I think it's the first and only movie with the Hulk in it that actually GOT the hulk. It's more a cerebral picture about Bruce Banner dealing with all of this, rather than an action movie. The Hulk is Bruce's failure, not his super hero. Edward Norton did a great job with the role, and honestly it really is worth a watch, just focus on the Bruce more than the Hulk and you'll see what I'm talking about.
Edit: Lol. Both replies are right, Louis Leterrier's Hulk Movie. Which sits at... . 67. The post remains!
I personally like Doom (2015). I understand the hate but I got a special edition dvd
XKCD Alt-Text:
I wasn't a big fan of 3 or Salvation, so I'm trying to resist getting my hopes up too much for Dark Fate, but it's hard. I'm just a sucker for humans and robots traveling through time to try to drive trucks into each other, apparently.
Cube Zero (2004)
That's right, the prequel to the 1997 horror film Cube. Where people are trapped inside a cube that keeps killing them.
I feel like I'm cheating because it got some positive reviews, just not enough to even have a critic score. Audience score is in the 20's. I don't know why! It's a great follow up. Much better than the sequel, Hypercube. It gives us some much needed backstory on why the cubes exist and what their purpose is.
From Paris With Love. It's fast-paced, has funny quotes.
Warcraft - I loved that movie and hoped it would become a new franchise. The weirdest thing is there was a huge anti-campaign, like the "critics" gave it 29%, while audience gave it 76%. I still don't understand what exactly happened here.
Also if I can just flip the question a bit, one movie I didn't expect to love as much as I did (though it got deservedly good tomato ratings) was:
- Prey (2022)
I expected another in a long line of good action movies. Not the best, probably even just mediocre relative to the rest of the collection.
But I've found myself rewatching that one more than any other Alien/Predator movie, it's a truly great film.
One of if not the best Alien/Predator films ever made imo.
For me it's:
- Terminator 3 with 46% audience score and 70% tomatometer
- Gone in sixty seconds with 25% tomatometer and 77% audience score
Æon Flux, from 2005. 9% on RT. I'm not sure if it's nostalgia from seeing it as a teen or if the masses weren't ready for it or what, but it was just so unique and had such a cool vibe.
I love the Underworld movies, and was very shocked to see they had less than 40% on rotten tomatoes.
This was way easier than I thought it'd be. I really like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It's Rotten Tomatoes score is 44%.
Solo (Star Wars) comes close at 69%. It was absolutely a story that didn't need to be told and I really didn't like them trying to explain everything like, "Here's how Han got his trusty gun, here's how Han got the name "Han Solo", here's how..." blah blah blah, like I really didn't need any of that stuff, BUT I actually liked the movie regardless. It was a low-stakes movie that barely had a hint of any Sith or Jedi, it was just underworld business people doing underworld business things, it was great. Young Harrison Ford was always going to be a huge stretch for anyone, but I thought Alden Ehrenreich carried it well, and Paul Bettany was awesome in his role.
Also, Primer only having a 73% is a goddamn travesty.
Dreamcatcher (2003)
Hold My Beer.
Silent Hill sits at 32%. I've watched it tons of times. I understand why it's not popular, in terms of its mediocre raw quality. But I love it unironically and not in an Evil Dead 2 kind of way.
Half the issue with finding movies <50% that I liked is how hard it is to just get a list of movies by year... and yeah, the year range. The Toy is only 3% and I LOVED it growing up, but yeah it breaks the post-2000 rule.
Actually, hell. I apparently only have to jump into superhero movies. I thought Black Adam was the best DC movie we've had... sub-50. I liked Quantumania...sub-50. I enjoyed Shazam 2... sub-50. I REALLY liked Eternals... sub-50. Venom is sub-50 and has an honorary place in my family's marvel marathons... Boy, this is easier than I thought! I must have a terrible sense of taste!
Still going just on recent "rotten". I liked Gray Man... Sub-50. Suicide Squad...they gave it 26%???
Yeah, I'm out :)... And I think ya'll drank my beer.
Ha ha, Battleship (RT score of 33%/54%AS). Stupid, yes. But any movie with Thunderstruck blasting when the s*** is gonna hit the fan has got me. Again, lots of stupidity in it, but there were other aspects that hit a resonance: "Mick Canales" (Gregory D. Gadson) one-on-one with the alien, the sliding turn and broadside, etc. Great art? Nope. Enjoyed it, and have seen it several times. I find it interesting that certain kinds of "emotional chain-yanking" are deemed socially acceptable, but others are derided.
The live action Super Mario Bros movie.
I know it doesn't meet the "post 2000's" rule, but I saw it for the first time a couple years ago, so I think it still counts. I don't think it was a very good Mario movie since it took A LOT of creative liberties with the source material (tbf, there wasn't a lot to work with in 1993), but as its own thing, I enjoyed it for what it was. Definitely expected a lot worse when going into it.
Yellowbeard (1983) sort of qualifies with 22% tomatometer but 64% audience score.
Critics (and John Cleese) didn't like the movie at all but my friends and I all love it! Hard to dislike a stupid comedy stuffed with an incredible array of comedians; Cheech and Chong, Most of the cast of Monty Python, Peter Boyle and Marty Feldman, Peter Cook, and many other well known comedians of the 1960s and 70s. We still quote lines from the movie!
I remember liking Paycheck when I saw it in theaters.
Fast X - 57% Momoa is a DELIGHT.
Quantumania - 46% Shame about the Kang problem.
Bullet Train - 54% - You shut your whore mouth!
Uncharted - 40% - Better than it has any right being.
The King's Man - 41% digging the spy comedy but not spy parody genre.I would have put Shazam and Black Adam, they were enjoyable enough, but the Skittles product placement in Shazam killed it for me, and Black Adam has that whole final act that's completely un-necessary.
Sorted by rotten and newest, some of these justapositions are just hilarious to me. "Into the Deep" and "Out of the Blue" side by side? That's intentional, right?
WTF is with this movie poster? I kind of want to see it now. Description reminds me of Dead Calm with Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt15208692/mediaviewer/rm1511980289/?ref_=tt_ov_i
Holy crap, there's a live action Asterix and Obelisk? And what appears to be the worst iteration of Marmaduke ever invented.
Sad to see so many crappy movies with Bruce Willis. I know they were trying to pad the bank account while they could, but it still seems borderline abusive. :(
Post-2000? I'd have to say probably Reign of Fire... or Bad Boys II. All time? The Man in the Iron Mask.
I didn’t fully expect Uncut Gems to be so low. A realization I had about myself is I like cheesy jungle/archaeology movies that others may hate.
Pootie Tang is one of my favorite movies of all time and it’s got a 27% score on Rotten Tomatoes. It was made by Chris Rock and (pre-sex-pervert era) Louis CK and has cameos from tons of comedians. It’s objectively funny people being objectively funny if you ask me. But when it came out, film critics really did not get any of the jokes and thought it was all comedians being “random.”
A fair criticism of it is that it was a comedy sketch stretched way too far. A lot of movies are like that, obviously, but I’ve never seen one just bewilder critics like Pootie Tang. (It came out in 2001 when adults barely used internet, much less fledgling social media. Culture just wasn’t as mixed together back then and “pop” and “urban” music were on separate radio stations with little cross-over. So, I totally understand why Ebert didn’t get the jokes. But if you did or do now, it was a classic.)
I'm 24 so my options are slim for "released during my adult life" but I really like The Greatest Showman and it's got a 57%. Yes, it's wildly inaccurate but dang the music and visuals are great.
My favorite movie of all time is A Goofy Movie from 1995 and just eeked out of the running with a 61%. Seriously, the movie is better than you remember it since you start to empathize with the dad as you grow up. I really recommend it.
The A Team for me. Just scrapes in at 48% rotten tomatoes. Wish they'd made a sequel.
Green Lantern. I think too many people had the expectation of that Green Lantern powers would be something more serious. They were always cartoonish, and Hal Jordan was always a bit of a dick. Ryan Reynolds was probably not the best choice, he's a bit too pretty for the role, but he had the right attitude. Still overall a fun movie.
Scorpion King.
Dumb fun and i love it.
Also as someone else said already, Equilibrium and Prince of Persia.
Transcendence 19% I'm a sucker for sci-fi with a cool concept like mind uploading
Green Hornet 44% It's funny and the fight choreography is cool
Too many to list, but I take Tomato scores with a grain of salt unless they're unusually low. I don't know if I just have a high tolerance for crappy movies or scores are too intolerant there. I've also seen a good number with high scores I thought should be low. Sometimes they rate movies highly just for being unusual or for having some kind of social message, but that hardly ever means better.
I unabashedly love the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie, On Stranger Tides. It's my second favorite after the first. I guess I just never liked the Turner/Swann story lines so ditching them was refreshing. It's just a fun and silly adventure with beautiful visuals and cool supernatural stuff. Only has 57% audience rating but whatever I appreciate it.
I really like Brother Bear. I read some "rotten" reviews and I genuinely don't understand them; I can't find anything bad mentioned.
Small Apartments - 30%
It seems like almost no one has even seen this movie. An ex-partner of mine rented it from RedBox one night. I thought it looked dumb, but I watched it anyway. It is rather dumb, but it's also amazing. An incredibly dark comedy. My love of that movie has long outlasted that relationship.
Matt Lucas, James Marsden, Peter Stormare, Dolph Lundgren, Johnny Knoxville, James Caan, Billy Crystal, Juno Temple, Rebel Wilson, Saffron Burrows, Rosie Perez, and Amanda Plummer; An amazing, eclectic cast who deliver an idiosyncratic script expertly, managing to give us an ought-to-be cult classic that's more than the sum of its parts.
The highest upvote comments really didn't understand the assignment.
Southland Tales
Arq (2016) has a 43% rating. I loved it.
Just watched it the other night, 2013 RIPD. It was crazy, out there, pretty funny and just enjoyable to watch. 12% on rotten tomatoes
I too liked Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and as someone else mentioned National Treasure and Transcendence.
This took a few tries, so here is everything I found.
I got Cowboys & Aliens, but technically that doesn't work for the xkcd rules because that movie came out the month before my 18th birthday. Very close though. And I guess it's kind of a case of so bad it's good, for most people, but for me, it's the James Bond / Indiana Jones crossover I always wanted and it's probably the closest thing I'll ever get.
I enjoyed Aladdin (2019), Don't Look Up, and Don't Worry Darling but I wouldn't say they are among my favorite films. They only meet the requirement for reviewer score though. And I think audience score is where it's at for this challenge. Suicide Squad works for this version of the challenge, but not for xkcd on audience score. Anyone can like a film that did poorly with critics.
This is probably going to end poorly for me, but for the rules as written xkcd challenge, I got Pixels. It's an Adam Sandler movie, and I know some people don't like those. I'm not crazy about Adam Sandler films, but this one was about video games and I really enjoyed it. I think Sandler did it justice. His experience with video games seemed to be primarily from arcades, but I think that is a valid perspective.
I watched it with my roommate during college. I guess some people hate it because they feel the original vision wasn't done justice for the short film it was based on. I might have seen some of that original short film, I can't rule that out for certain. But based on the version I found on youtube while writing this I clearly hadn't. The controversy didn't detract from my enjoyment of Pixels.
Hexed, a 1993 comedy starring Arye Gross.
9% Rottentomatoes, 36% Audience.
It's really, really dumb. I recently rented and rewatched it with my wife, who had never seen it and enjoyed it.
The lead character works in a hotel and is a serial liar / conman who meets up with the supermodel he keeps insisting is his girlfriend.
Zardoz. 49% at RT. I genuinely love it. It's insane and weird and doesn't make sense and it's wonderful. I even have an original poster framed in my house.
Southland Tales - 41%
mother! by Darren Aronofsky. It has average scores, but I consider it to be a cinematic masterpiece.
I really like the City of Ember movie, even tho it was a major flop.
Probably Elizabethtown - Cameron Crowe movie from 2005.
and it has Christoph Waltz
I would go with In the Mouth of Madness, one of my faves but it's pre 2000
Another is Jingle all the Way. I think it's a perfect Christmas Movie but again pre 2000
I'm Thinking of Ending Things. I love how bizarre it is, watched it like 3 or 4 times. I was surprised to see it has 50% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
I just checked, The Colony is only rated 54% on rotten tomatoes, wtf!? I admit it isn't flawless, but it's a welcome addition to the sci-fi genre. Your could sum it up with : "Avatar but the Na'vi are the humans the privileged left on the devastated Earth". The old colonist routine is even more uneasy to watch when it's against your own kind.
Waiting is a fantastic movie. Hilarious, especially towards the end with the new hire. 30% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It’s a smidge over the threshold (63% reviewer score and 29% audience score) but I like this one more than the Ed Norton one (and the thought of him shifting based on heartrate is so fucking dumb) and I’m just kinda meh about Ruffalo’s Hulk.
The Cheap Detective (1978) by Neil Simon with Peter Falk. Laugh out loud funny. I love Falk in comic roles. I thought The Cheap Detective was much better than Murder by Death (1976), but I seem to be in the minority there.
Next (2007), starring the One True God, alongside Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel.
It's a brilliant movie (loosely) based on a Philip K Dick short story. It's been nominated and won actual awards (Worst Actor and Worst Supporting Actress from the prestigious Razzie Awards, Worst Foreign Actor from the Yoga Awards), and it stands the test of time comfortably at 28% on the tomatometer.
I wish I was kidding. I've watched this over a dozen times. I can't stop. Send help.
I Come In Peace / Dark Angel (1990) - campy sci-fi action with a really interesting premise.
I watched it as a kid on VHS in the early nineties, then spent 20 something years trying to remember its name.
Legend(2015) has an audience score of 59% for some bizarre reason. I'd think anyone that was onboard for the permise enough to watch it in the first place would enjoy it a lot. I know I did, great movie.
The little mermaid: Return to the sea
Rated 45% https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_little_mermaid_2_return_to_the_sea
I like it because there's not many movies that just concentrate on swimming around in the ocean. I genuinely like it when I'm sick or background noise.
Hellraiser: Inferno. Producers should not have latched on to the Hellraiser franchise (I think it was a script rewritten for the purpose), but it has this cool premise of a guy entering an alternate, surreal reality.
I love the Hellraiser franchise and don’t really consider this part of it but I do rewatch this movie every few years for the cool daily-life-twisted feel.
Speed 2: cruise control
I know its likely unpopular, even for a list like this, but i find myself genuinely enjoying putting it on. Quite often.
It is an action movie, but it isnt all dark & gloomy like so many in the genre. Instead, its bright and sunny. The scenarios genuinely make no sense (ex, door handles apparently dont exist) but the movie still feels fun and entertaining.
Bunraku, and despite the title it's an english movie with Woody Harrelson and Ron Perlman. Its setting stands out the most as it's made as a giant paper popup book with a sin city ambiance sprinkled with some cartoony humor.
Although the movie tone is pretty serious ala Sin City, it's not a serious movie at all. And I believe a lot of dont-take-it-so-serious movies got unjustly canned a lot in '00s & '10s by critics. I'm glad to see that's changing a bit over last few years.
Apollo 18. It just has the atmosphere, sense of isolaton and impending doom.
Also Life which is thematically similar, but higher production value.
And in the same vein, Europa Report, though it has critic score of 80. One of the best hard sci-fi films ever.
Almost forgot Pandorum—that one was decent, too.
As was Prometheus (I know biologists and geologists IRL, studied biology myself—the films depiction of these folks is spot on!).
For people with Letterboxd I found some lists where it's easier to compare with your watched movies (by hovering):
https://letterboxd.com/23warnecol/list/good-movies-with-bad-rotten-tomatoes-scores/
https://letterboxd.com/poisonivies/list/good-ratings-on-letterboxd-bad-ratings-on/
https://letterboxd.com/pakejanek/list/good-movies-with-bad-rotten-tomatoes-scores/
Now personally I've watched very few of the movies in those lists and almost all of those I've given very bad scores or have abstained to. The best one was 3/5 for Star Wars Episode I, which I though was fine.
Eli, was a fun scary movie. Not sure where all the hate comes from
Ditto, I genuinely enjoyed watching that
Both from 1991: Hudson Hawk and Nothing But Trouble
https://imdb.com/title/tt1161418/ Gentlemen Broncos
Halloween Ends (2022)
I watched it in theaters when it came out and really liked it. Interesting slasher movie with good scenes and a good plot. Yes, I wish they would have let Cory keep the spirit of Michael alive, but it is probably better to let the character die in peace.
But then i saw all the Michael Myers fans hating on it afterwards and never understood why. 40% on rotten tomatoes.
Batman v Superman is great, it just doesn't fit the usual super hero movie tropes in my opinion. The ultimate edition is awesome
Bench warmers
I love Ishtar, fuck the haters
I humbly submit First Monday in October.
Genuinely good writing, good discussion about political and legal base principles, censorship, government interference in economic matters, and doesn't characterise either (american political) side as evil.
It's also kinda funny that the movie came out just about at the same time as Ruth Bader-Ginsburg was appointed to the supreme court (without being inspired by it), considering the main characters are pretty much gender swapped Ginsburg and Scalia.
I’d like to see lists where both the tomato meter score and audience score are below 60
I've got 3:
Spy Kids 2, (audience score of 39%), for not only the amazing creature design, but for also being a surprisingly philosophical movie
Sky High, (audience score of 57%). Good superhero comedy where Bruce Campbell is a gym teacher. He's not the main character, but certainly the most memorable
Looney Tunes Back in Action, (Tomatometer of 57%, audience score of 50%). This was my Roger Rabbit. Seeing the cartoons interacting so well with the humans was amazing to me when I was younger, and I still remember some of the more Looney moments. Plus it has Casey Kasem's Shaggy threatening to beat up Matthew Lilard after his performance in the live action Scooby Doo.
A lot of movies I like aren't scored well on RT. I'm convinced it's just filled with the kind of people that want suggestion
When i was younger (teen) i watched the cat in the hat w/ mike myres and LOVED it. Wasnt untill years later i found it was rated so bad. Still i guinuinly like it.
I loved that movie! It got below 60%?!? Wtf
Inside (2023) has a 63%, but I find it pretty original and way above that mark
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
If it doesn't have to be post-2000 like the comic...North 1994. Rated 4.5, I think it's a magic realism masterpiece and I like it better than "The Alchemist", there I said it.
Looney Tunes: Back in Action barely scraped in at 57%.
I unironically love the entire movie.
Mosquito (1995) was so terrible that you almost cant even pirate it but its so camp that I cant help but still enjoy its B movie qualities
Chicken fucking Little
That movie slaps and no one can convince me otherwise
That's my Boy. I like dumb comedies.
How about TV shows? I kinda liked Velma, lol. And we know how well that went doen with everyone.
So I thnk I win this contest.
Battlefield Earth
The Punisher (2004)
Hidalgo. It's nothing special but it's a fun story. I don't know how I ended up with the DVD but for a few years it was my go to sick day movie. Its probably been over a decade since I last saw it, it might not hold up.
I actually really enjoyed In the Name of the King
Bangkok Dangerous
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (31% @ RT)
Spun
ITT: A bunch of great, underrated movies.
Bushwick. For one, I'm a huge Aesop Rock fan. For two, I thought it was a fun little 'what if' flick.
The Rediculous 6. I thought it was awesome goofy fun.
Not rotten tomatoes, but the Untouchables has a metacritic score of 57, which blows my mind cause I really enjoyed it.
Just looked and the original Fast and Furious is the lowest rated somehow? That movie rules
Xanadu (1980)
Featuring the ultimate power couple: Sandy from Grease and Swan from The Warriors!
Underworld is 31%, but 79% audience score? So apparently quite a few people like it, could've fooled me. I might edit this if I find something else.
2004's Van Helsing stands at 24%. It is silly but it is fun.
I saw Prince of Persia mentioned a few times, so I checked it out. It was better than I was expecting. The whole cast did a good job, the story itself was interesting, the cape scene was pretty cool, I like the ostriches, and the fights were alright. The rewind effect was good looking and not overused. The assassins had some nifty weaponry.
As said, nothing to get blown away by, but a pretty fun time overall. I thought of it as an Aladdin action movie. Having seen almost all the other movies in this thread, I was glad to find something good I'd ignored. This was definitely an ok movie.
The Cell 45% critic / 57% audience
The aesthetic alone is worth the watch.
Maximum Overdrive
Civil War. I don't know the rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but I do know that it is a recent movie, and 196 sent me here lol
I am pretty sure every movie I really like is under 60% on RT.
Pulse (2006) horror/sci-fi/thriller by Jim Sonzero director.
Lock Up (1989).
Yes it's a generic prison movie with quite a few standard tropes, but I've always liked it.The Room (25%)
Fight me.
Maximum Overdrive (1986): 14%
It's dumb as shit, and I will always love it for that reason.
Battlefield Earth, I like it
Adult life I could probably do, but I don't know about post-2000
Drop Dead Gorgeous is an amazing dark comedy with a 47% score from critics.
I really liked M. Night Shyamalan's Old. I've watched it a few times and I just feel like he finally made a movie that was cohesive enough and had a good ending to be scored better.
Driven it was a racing movie with Stallone. The race scenes were so much fun. The quarter thing was great, and the man whole cover flying off was so bad ass.