Avoid These Movies At All Costs!

[Sparrow]

That's interesting, Parson, I've always thought that the StarWars idea of religion was a bit of a mockery in itself. Not that it set out to mock religion, but Lucas used a sort of convoluted mix of buddhism and New Age gobbledygook to arrive at the Force. Complete with ghosts and voices from beyond the veil, that guide our young hero along his journey.

 

[thepaladin]

I never belived (and still don't) that the Star Wars take on "the Force" was in any way a mockery of religeon. I think he was just going for a sort of geneic working faith. The way he structured it it didn't really insult any given religeon, Christanity, Buddhism. Hinduism, evn Toaists could look at at and say well it's "close". As long as you don't go to Star wars and look for actual theological vendication it's fairly "nondenominational".

Yes there are religeons that have no room for tolerance but anything would insult them. other than that...well, see above.

 

[clovis-man]

Yes there are religeons that have no room for tolerance but anything would insult them. other than that...well, see above.

Hey, for some good old-fashioned religion bashing, see The Golden Compass. Actually, I thought they tempered it down quite a bit in the movie. It came our just as mild Catholic bashing. But if you read the entire trilogy (Pullman: His Dark Materials), you'll get a different emphasis. I understand that there will not be a second film anytime soon because of such sensitive issues, although I may have missed a fine point somewhere in that statement.

To stay marginally on topic, I would say that TGC is not a movie to avoid, but that the entire written cycle can be somewhat soporific.

 

[Sparrow]

I liked how the Dark Materials books dealt with god and religion.

It did piss me off to find out the American editions have some passages missing, to do with Lyra's burgeoning sexuality and whatnot. Pretty crazy though, there were some parent groups and some religious organizations demanding the Harry Potter books be removed from school libraries, and nary a mention of Pullman's work, which should of been much more troubling to those sort of people.

And yeah, I don't know how they make the second movie without showing all their cards. It took me surprisingly long before I had that, "oh, I get what's going on here", moment. Followed by, "wow, they market this to young adults".

 

[Connavar]

Hey, for some good old-fashioned religion bashing, see The Golden Compass. Actually, I thought they tempered it down quite a bit in the movie. It came our just as mild Catholic bashing. But if you read the entire trilogy (Pullman: His Dark Materials), you'll get a different emphasis. I understand that there will not be a second film anytime soon because of such sensitive issues, although I may have missed a fine point somewhere in that statement.

To stay marginally on topic, I would say that TGC is not a movie to avoid, but that the entire written cycle can be somewhat soporific.

What you are hailing the dumbed down,edited movie and dissing a well written,thought provoking books for a YA Fantasy series ?

His take on religion or not those books are good for their field. Not feed the YA readers HP heroics only.....

 

[Parson]

That's interesting, Parson, I've always thought that the StarWars idea of religion was a bit of a mockery in itself. Not that it set out to mock religion, but Lucas used a sort of convoluted mix of buddhism and New Age gobbledygook to arrive at the Force. Complete with ghosts and voices from beyond the veil, that guide our young hero along his journey.

This is all true. There were any number of fellow evangelicals who thought that the popularity of Star Wars was clear indication of the work of Satan. Does it have Christianity (or any other religion for that matter) right. Absolutely not! Are there weird occult ideas? Yes. But in most Hollywood movies you would not even get a hint that most humans have a religious side to their lives, and for some very good people a very religious side. For me that was part of the breath of Fresh Air from Star Wars.

 

[clovis-man]

What you are hailing the dumbed down,edited movie and dissing a well written,thought provoking books for a YA Fantasy series ?

His take on religion or not those books are good for their field. Not feed the YA readers HP heroics only.....

Conn, I think I was trying to say that the religion issue in the movie was soft-pedaled: An attempt to tell the story without enraging thin-skinned critics. On a simple story-telling level, it seemed to succeed.

The books, OTOH, get into deeper issues and certainly portray Pullman's themes without much flinching. I certainly don't begrudge him his POV, but even I had to wonder how this was intended for middle school aged young people. At the end of the third book, I found that he became, ironically, a little "preachy".

Back to the original point: I don't see Star Wars as being in the least involved with religious issues, even peripherally. The Golden Compass was, even though it really just amounted to tip-toeing through it.

 

[Connavar]

It seemed to succeed to disgust me and make warn everyone about the movie

You can get a bit preachy but i think the children need to think about those issues in YA book. Why cant a YA fantasy be though provoking about religion issues or whatever ?


Back on topic i didn't see any religion in SW either. I think people tend to overrate it because it was an early popular sf film. Only thing i remember fondly about those films is Han Solo,the different worlds,the iconic villain.

The force i thought was really lame,they overdid it. It could have been smarter,like how Dune deals with religion,Messiah issue.

 

[clovis-man]

The force i thought was really lame,they overdid it. It could have been smarter,like how Dune deals with religion,Messiah issue.

Maybe it should have been done like Mel Brooks suggested in Space Balls (two seperate quotes):

Lone Starr: I still don't understand how I'm going to lift that big statue with this little ring.
Yogurt: Never underestimate the power of the Schwartz!

Colonel Sandurz: [in reference to not wanting to attack Yogurt's lair] But sir, your ring! Don't you have the schwartz too?
Dark Helmet: Nah, he got the upside, I got the downside. See there's two sides to every Schwartz.

 

[Prototype]

Watchmen and The Knowing compete in my mind as two of the most awful sci-fi films ever.

Both too dreadful for words. One's up its own **** and the other doesn't know if it wants to be an alien film or a religious film.

 

[Harry Kilmer]

Just rewatched Watchmen. Read all the critiscms of the film, and they may be right. But I still think its a fun film.

But then I also like League of Extraordanairy Gentlemen.

 

[Daisy-Boo]

My Sister's Keeper - just watched it and basically its horse doody.

Not Forgotten - I'd watch Simon Baker read the phone book but he is horribly miscast in this film. A disappointing film in just about every respect.

Matrix 2 & 3 - I liked the first film but the sequels...I still can't figure out what the heck happened in both movies.

Pirates of the Caribbean - No. 1 had a few funny moments but otherwise didn't make much of an impression on me. Technically, I saw no. 2 because I was in the room when it was playing but I didn't bother paying any attention to it.

Anything with Jean-Claude van Damme (except for Kickboxer), Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris. They can't laugh at themselves. Ok maybe Chuck can just a little.

Harry Potter and the Enchanted Toilet Duck - ok I know that's not a real film title but I can't be bothered to remember the individual book/film names. I saw the first movie and frankly I wish the bespectacled little twit had been offed by a Quidditch ball right there and then.

 

[Interference]

E.T.

A.I.

Anything with Woody Harrelson in it.

Anything with Sean Connery doing an accent.

In fact, anything with unconvincing accents except Mary Poppins, which is just brilliant.

Every remake of every classic film ever made with the possible exception of -- no, actually, I wouldn't bother with it, either.

 

[Harry Kilmer]

Every remake of every classic film ever made with the possible exception of -- no, actually, I wouldn't bother with it, either.

I'd put the 70's version of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers above the original - just. But thats a whole other thread

 

[thepaladin]

No offense here but....you like the remake of Bodysnatchers????? Amazing. It just goes to show that the old saying 'to each their own" is true. I hated that version, and I mean that deeply and truely...

I'd also avoid the remake of The Thing. Sorry Kurt, but I'll stick with the original.

Avoid any of the Alien movies beyond #2.

 

[Harry Kilmer]

I'm with you on the Alien films - 2 is a very different film to the first, but great in its own right - much like Terminator 1 & 2. Don't think I've ever seem the original "The Thing", must add it to my ever growing to watch list.

And the 70's version of Bodysnatchers creeped the hell out of me.

 

[blacknorth]

Another fan of 'Re-invasion' of the Bodysnatchers signing in. I particularly liked all the extraneous chase sequences - seemed to belong to a whole different film going on somewhere else.

All depends on which film you watched.

A couple of SFF films you want to avoid like the plague are:

The 27th Day. Ugh, just ugh.

The Flight That Disappeared (though I think Edmund Cooper might have seen this and salvaged a few genuinely good ideas).

 

[thepaladin]

I think the offical name of the first The Thing movie is (or was) The Thing from Another World made in 1951. The words "The Thing" were simply larger in the credits and it came to be called "The Thing".

Off the top of my head I can't think of a remake that I like. There may be one, but I can't think of it.

 

[clovis-man]

I'd also avoid the remake of The Thing. Sorry Kurt, but I'll stick with the original.

The original "original", of course was John W. Campbell's story, Who Goes There? from 1938. The first film, The Thing From Another World, was likely directed by Howard Hawks. Some of his cinematic trademarks, e.g., everybody in the scene talking at the same time are hard to miss. I think it's a great movie, although the monster-as-vegetable waters down the basic premise of the story.

John Carpenter's version (I won't call it a remake), The Thing, is really a much more faithful realization of Campbell's original novella. The crittur is creepy to the Nth degree. You never know where it will pop up next or in what form.

So I choose to like both movies and think each has its own special appeal.

 

[thepaladin]

I wasn't going back to the story as this was a movie thread. I simply don't like the "remake"...actually I hate it (to each their own).