The worst film of all time

[Mightymosy]

And then you post to make sure it lives longer?

[Mokèlé-mbèmbé]

{Scrubbed}

[theMycon]

{Scrubbed}

Every day I pray someone will come up with a candidate for Worst Film Ever I haven't seen.

At least you aren't alone in your pain.

[Mightymosy]

Three minuts longer, man, three minutes longer

Sorry, the last minute is on me

[The Glyphstone]

No one is forcing you to keep posting in it. You can just ignore it and go about your life (with a recommended stop by the Forum Rules for a refresher, just to the safe.)

[Mokèlé-mbèmbé]

{Scrubbed}

[Mightymosy]

Well, my thread was "locked for review", and that "review" will go on until everyone has forgotten it ever existed, if I were to guess.

Wanna trade threads?

[The Glyphstone]

{Scrubbed}

Except it's not your thread. You started it, but the OP of a thread has no claim to ownership.

Specifically, the portion of the forum rules you might want to re-read is the section about Trolling, and where threadcrapping is defined as Trolling. Hint, Hint..

[Mokèlé-mbèmbé]

{Scrubbed}

[Tvtyrant]

I think there is also a whole category of "movies so good they are bad." Burn After Reading, There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men were all highly polished and well done, but I would watch dreck like Piranha before rewatching them.

[Celestia]

Movies are entertainment, and, thus, the worst movie ever would be one that fails to entertain. Poorly made or stupid movies can still be fun to watch, especially with friends riffing it. In my life, I have watched hundreds of movies (possibly even over a thousand), and only one has been so mind-numbingly boring that it actually pit me to sleep. I dont remember what it was called, but it was a documentary about haunted buildings in Wisconsin. To me, that's the worst movie ever.

[joggler45]

I think there is also a whole category of "movies so good they are bad." Burn After Reading, There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men were all highly polished and well done, but I would watch dreck like Piranha before rewatching them.

No Country for Old Men turn to be a great movie indeed.

[Knaight]

I think there is also a whole category of "movies so good they are bad." Burn After Reading, There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men were all highly polished and well done, but I would watch dreck like Piranha before rewatching them.

I suspect two of these are less so good they're bad and more a matter of you not liking a particular director - that's two Coen Brothers' movies in there, including the deeply enjoyable masterpiece Burn After Reading.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I dont remember what it was called, but it was a documentary about haunted buildings in Wisconsin. To me, that's the worst movie ever.

Either you haven't seen Barbarian (2003) or I really need to avoid watching that documentary some time.

[Tvtyrant]

No Country for Old Men turn to be a great movie indeed.

I suspect two of these are less so good they're bad and more a matter of you not liking a particular director - that's two Coen Brothers' movies in there, including the deeply enjoyable masterpiece Burn After Reading.

Saying you enjoyed it doesn't invalidate my point. I love a lot of Coen Brothers films, Burn After Reading felt like a very stylish retread. Plot consisting of misunderstandings, anti-climactic none ending, nostalgia for the cold war ("Why would she go to the Russians?" "Blowback. There's a lesson in here somewhere.")

[Razade]

I think there is also a whole category of "movies so good they are bad." Burn After Reading, There Will be Blood and No Country for Old Men were all highly polished and well done, but I would watch dreck like Piranha before rewatching them.

I'd watch those before watching Piranha. There Will be Blood was so amazing, so well put together, I go back and watch the scenes at the church and the end scene at least once a week. Just...wow.

Huh. Netflix had it listed as episode #1.

That doesn't mean its the pilot.

Movies are entertainment, and, thus, the worst movie ever would be one that fails to entertain. Poorly made or stupid movies can still be fun to watch, especially with friends riffing it. In my life, I have watched hundreds of movies (possibly even over a thousand), and only one has been so mind-numbingly boring that it actually pit me to sleep. I dont remember what it was called, but it was a documentary about haunted buildings in Wisconsin. To me, that's the worst movie ever.

Some of my favorite movies were ones I was not entertained by. Movies aren't just entertainment, that reduces them to a basal thing. Movies are movies, and some are enjoyable and others aren't. That doesn't mean they're bad.

[Tvtyrant]

I'd watch those before watching Piranha. There Will be Blood was so amazing, so well put together, I go back and watch the scenes at the church and the end scene at least once a week. Just...wow.

I can't tell if that is exaggeration or you are the biggest Daniel Day Lewis fan of all time.

I definitely thought the acting was good in all of the movies I listed, and they were well put together. They all shared the quality of matching a script I felt like I had watched before, where even the shocking parts were timed where you expected something shocking to happen. I came out feeling like I had seen that exact movie before, nearly beat for beat.

At least with bad movies they miss their timing from time to time. Like listening to classic music and sometimes it is harmonically perfect but also formulaic, while bad music can be surprising. I don't know that I am making my point very articulately.

[Aedilred]

I do know what TVTyrant means, I think. I felt this about Gosford Park and Blade Runner 2049 as well as a few others that slip my mind. The film is so polished and well-executed that it doesn't quite hook you and you spend the whole time admiring it rather than enjoying it. It stands up to dispassionate critical observation but doesn't prompt the visceral emotional response that I think art should, on at least some level.

That said, I would never place No Country for Old Men in that category. The structure and formula of that is almost deliberately subversive to the point that if it feels like it's hitting familiar beats it's only because it's subsequently been imitated (not sure to what extent it has been, though?) Major characters die off-screen or out of shot; the fate of major characters is left unclear; there's only the most token of resolutions, and the moral of the story as monologued at the end amounts to little more than "You know what? Everything is terrible".

I can understand why people wouldn't like it but predictable it was not.

Nor for that matter would I say it about There Will Be Blood: the magnetism of Daniel Day-Lewis's performance is enough to punch through any veneer of over-perfection.

I don't like Burn After Reading as much as I feel I ought to. I like black comedy (I loved The Death of Stalin). I like absurdist and screwball and even fairly crude comedy when done well. Two of my favourite films - not just comedies - are Amélie and South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut. While there are bits in Burn After Reading that I enjoyed it felt just a little too arch, I think, and seemed to threaten punchlines that never quite arrived.

I know it makes me a philistine but my favourite Coen Brothers comedy is still Intolerable Cruelty, which is the one film of theirs everyone seems to hate.

[Celestia]

Some of my favorite movies were ones I was not entertained by. Movies aren't just entertainment, that reduces them to a basal thing. Movies are movies, and some are enjoyable and others aren't. That doesn't mean they're bad.

Movies are exactly entertainment. There's no point in watching a movie if it doesn't entertain you. Perhaps you just don't understand what I mean by that. I'm not saying that all movies should be action-packed spectacles or anything like that. There are many ways that movies can be entertaining, and what counts as entertainment varies from person to person. One thing for sure, though, is that if you liked a movie, then it entertained you in some capacity. Unless, of course, you're a masochist who likes being bored, but then, that would still be some form of entertainment, wouldn't it? Liking a movie and not being entertained by it is an oxymoron.

[Cikomyr]

Either you haven't seen Barbarian (2003) or I really need to avoid watching that documentary some time.

Oh man, that was one of the best bad movies i have ever seen.

[joggler45]

Oh man, that was one of the best bad movies i have ever seen.

This movie is one on my top list of bad movies I've seen.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Oh man, that was one of the best bad movies i have ever seen.

I can see that for some parts, like to some people maybe the off-brand ewok sidekick specialized in healing humans is silly rather than super annoying, and the practice scenes consisting of a single sort of cool sword move again and again because apparently teaching this guy sword fighting was harder than they thought are also kind of comical. It just didn't work for me, no fun at all. The orchestrated mass rape scene about halfway in depicted as something fun, even if concocted by the evil king, finished it off. Yet I kept watching, awed by the horror that was a product people had genuinely tried to make fun failing at every step. Fascinated by its badness in an unfun way.

I mean, I didn't like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, so I'm probably not the best judge of so bad that they're good movies. But still, this one managed to do worse than simply not impressing and boring me.

(It didn't help that I saw it from a second hand DVD 3-movie pack which also contained a serious movie about soldiers trapped by the enemy waiting to be bombarded. That didn't really put me in the mood for this film somehow, even though that one was a rather bland movie itself.)

[Razade]

I can't tell if that is exaggeration or you are the biggest Daniel Day Lewis fan of all time.

It's...a level of exaggeration. I watch the scenes a lot. They're masterpieces and I actually find a lot of inspiration for Tabletop games from watching just how they're acted out. Really good for villains. Gets me in the mindset.

Movies are exactly entertainment. There's no point in watching a movie if it doesn't entertain you. Perhaps you just don't understand what I mean by that. I'm not saying that all movies should be action-packed spectacles or anything like that. There are many ways that movies can be entertaining, and what counts as entertainment varies from person to person. One thing for sure, though, is that if you liked a movie, then it entertained you in some capacity. Unless, of course, you're a masochist who likes being bored, but then, that would still be some form of entertainment, wouldn't it?

So...whew...so much to unpack here. Aside from the condescension because of course if I don't agree with you I just don't get what you're saying. Like, what kind of idiot am I right?

I never even quantified how a movie has to be entertaining. I've already expressed a deep love for There Will Be Blood and there's no action packed spectacle there. I have a deep appreciation for an anime series called Mushi Shi and I wouldn't call it a romp by any means. All very human stories really, with very human levels of action. But I wouldn't say I was entertained by either of those examples. Because Entertainment = Enjoyment. Entertainment, mind, is certainly made to be enjoyed. They go hand and hand but I enjoy lots of things that aren't entertainment. Cooking isn't entertaiment and I enjoy that.

Now. If you had said "Movies are made to be enjoyed" we'd have no argument here..or less of one I guess. I'd say there are movies I like that I didn't enjoy (see TvTyrant's point). But you said they are entertainment, full stop. I wasn't entertained by The Grave of Fireflies. Or Schindler's List. Arrival, Contact, Dead Poet's Society, Pan's Labyrinthine (especially when the dude was being beaten to death by a wine bottle), Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Fargo, the list goes on. But you so cavalierly stated, objectively, that if I enjoyed these films I had to be entertained by them.

This just isn't the case. Those movies, I think most will agree, are dark and challenging and they raise questions and feelings that absolutely are not entertaining. Because, again, Entertainment isn't the same as Enjoyment.

Liking a movie and not being entertained by it is an oxymoron.

Yeah...no. See above for why your blanket, objective, black and white narrative is absurd.

[BeerMug Paladin]

It's hard to figure out what is the worst film I've seen. If I were to seriously consider it, it would have to share two qualities. I didn't enjoy it, and I don't remember it very well. I consider each of those to be fairly good indicators of "bad", but by their unique interplay, it's not likely to be a film that I could recall on the spot. Or even realize I have already seen if I was looking right at it.

The only thing that otherwise springs to my mind is 2001: A Space Odyssey, which thoroughly fails my usual metrics for quality. (I tend to judge movies' quality by considering whether or not I could recommend it to anyone, recommend it to few, not recommend it to anyone or recommend avoiding it. I can't picture even a hypothetical person I could recommend watch that "movie".)

Now. If you had said "Movies are made to be enjoyed" we'd have no argument here..or less of one I guess. I'd say there are movies I like that I didn't enjoy (see TvTyrant's point). But you said they are entertainment, full stop. I wasn't entertained by The Grave of Fireflies. Or Schindler's List. Arrival, Contact, Dead Poet's Society, Pan's Labyrinthine (especially when the dude was being beaten to death by a wine bottle), Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Fargo, the list goes on. But you so cavalierly stated, objectively, that if I enjoyed these films I had to be entertained by them.

This just isn't the case. Those movies, I think most will agree, are dark and challenging and they raise questions and feelings that absolutely are not entertaining. Because, again, Entertainment isn't the same as Enjoyment.

I think you and I may consider these words to have different definitions. I would much rather watch any of these listed movies for fun and entertainment purposes than any Marvel movie. Also, you forgot about Requiem For A Dream.

[Cikomyr]

I can see that for some parts, like to some people maybe the off-brand ewok sidekick specialized in healing humans is silly rather than super annoying, and the practice scenes consisting of a single sort of cool sword move again and again because apparently teaching this guy sword fighting was harder than they thought are also kind of comical. It just didn't work for me, no fun at all. The orchestrated mass rape scene about halfway in depicted as something fun, even if concocted by the evil king, finished it off. Yet I kept watching, awed by the horror that was a product people had genuinely tried to make fun failing at every step. Fascinated by its badness in an unfun way.

Oh man. I am so sorry.

I confused that movie with the 1987 Barbarians movie. That is one of the best bad movie i have ever seen.

Its glorious. In every fiber of its steroid-infused musclebound homoerotic bones.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I'll take your word for it, that one goes on the watch list.

[Celestia]

It's...a level of exaggeration. I watch the scenes a lot. They're masterpieces and I actually find a lot of inspiration for Tabletop games from watching just how they're acted out. Really good for villains. Gets me in the mindset.



So...whew...so much to unpack here. Aside from the condescension because of course if I don't agree with you I just don't get what you're saying. Like, what kind of idiot am I right?

I never even quantified how a movie has to be entertaining. I've already expressed a deep love for There Will Be Blood and there's no action packed spectacle there. I have a deep appreciation for an anime series called Mushi Shi and I wouldn't call it a romp by any means. All very human stories really, with very human levels of action. But I wouldn't say I was entertained by either of those examples. Because Entertainment = Enjoyment. Entertainment, mind, is certainly made to be enjoyed. They go hand and hand but I enjoy lots of things that aren't entertainment. Cooking isn't entertaiment and I enjoy that.

Now. If you had said "Movies are made to be enjoyed" we'd have no argument here..or less of one I guess. I'd say there are movies I like that I didn't enjoy (see TvTyrant's point). But you said they are entertainment, full stop. I wasn't entertained by The Grave of Fireflies. Or Schindler's List. Arrival, Contact, Dead Poet's Society, Pan's Labyrinthine (especially when the dude was being beaten to death by a wine bottle), Silence of the Lambs, Seven, Fargo, the list goes on. But you so cavalierly stated, objectively, that if I enjoyed these films I had to be entertained by them.

This just isn't the case. Those movies, I think most will agree, are dark and challenging and they raise questions and feelings that absolutely are not entertaining. Because, again, Entertainment isn't the same as Enjoyment.



Yeah...no. See above for why your blanket, objective, black and white narrative is absurd.

You're literally just debating semantics and acting like your argument is somehow more profound and meaningful. You even admit as such with the bold comment. I already declared that the word entertainment means different things to different people, but you just brushed right past that because it would have let all the air out of your one and only point.

I haven't seen everything you've listed in this post, but the ones I have seen I would, in fact, call entertaining. Yes, they're dark and sometimes depressing, but that can be enjoyable, too. Not all movies are meant to be fun; some are meant to be emotional experiences. That can be a form of entertainment, too.

You're intentionally looking at one very restrictive meaning of the word that doesn't fit and then declaring that I must be wrong because it doesn't fit. No, that's on you.

[Razade]

Enjoyment and entertainment can mean the same thing, sure. Entertainment is often a category while the former are feelings however and while you might think that's semantic wank...language is used to understand people. I'm not here to quibble over labels, especially when you did not at all make it clear you were using the two interchangeably. That's on you. I can like something (and you can too!) and it not be Entertainment or enjoyable/entertaining. I can like something and not enjoy it. Working in a kitchen comes to mind. I like cooking but I don't enjoy it. Especially doing dishes.

[Cikomyr]

I'll take your word for it, that one goes on the watch list.

Dude. Here a picture of the dragon that appears in the movie. Its in spoilers, because its borderline NSFW

Spoiler

Show

I swear to you i am not making stuff up. Thats the dragon.

[sktarq]

I do know what TVTyrant means, I think. I felt this about Gosford Park and Blade Runner 2049 as well as a few others that slip my mind. The film is so polished and well-executed that it doesn't quite hook you and you spend the whole time admiring it rather than enjoying it. It stands up to dispassionate critical observation but doesn't prompt the visceral emotional response that I think art should, on at least some level.

That said, I would never place No Country for Old Men in that category. ...

I know it makes me a philistine but my favourite Coen Brothers comedy is still Intolerable Cruelty, which is the one film of theirs everyone seems to hate.

and this is why "worst film of all time" is always going to be a useless phrase. A fair part of its quality has to do with reaction it draws from the viewer. And different people have different reactions. Like for me Gosford Park is one of those movies I rewatch when I want something I know will connect. I find it a laugh riot. That said I found Death to Smoochie (which will always be linked to Gosford park for me due a double header date night on the big screen....VERY awkward date), Burn after Reading (why? why does anyone consider this funny? Why did friends who should know better put me though this), and South Park (I suppose it takes all kinds) to be painfully unfunny.
That doesn't mean they were bad movies per se (a lot of people really enjoyed them) but they certainly were bad movies for me to go to. Waste of bloody time...FOR ME.
What for some other person is a visual torture fest is quite possibly a deeply touching effecting work of high art reflecting on the human condition for me. ... see Wit for example.

Bad depends on the person