What is the Worst movie ever made?

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

LOVE Galaxy Quest!

I am so mixed about Galaxy Quest. I love it... but when we all went to see it back in the day... You remember the scene at the convention when the one geek goes up to the table and starts going into the continuity errors with some finer point of technical minutia? All my friends who were there with me turned and looked very pointedly at me. I had already been feeling a little attacked by the character, but that squared and cubed it.

 

[Psab keel]

I'll have to revisit it again soon.

 

[Prop Collector]

When considering the worst movie, it is also important to consider the context of the film. Sure, you could name something obvious, like The Room, but that film was insignificant in the context of the zeitgeist. As such, the worst movie should be part of a larger franchise with huge expectations. Can you guess what I'm getting at?

The Last Jedi is, doubtless, the worst movie ever made.

 

[HMSwolfe]

When considering the worst movie, it is also important to consider the context of the film. Sure, you could name something obvious, like The Room, but that film was insignificant in the context of the zeitgeist. As such, the worst movie should be part of a larger franchise with huge expectations. Can you guess what I'm getting at?

The Last Jedi is, doubtless, the worst movie ever made.

A divisive movie is not the same thing as a terrible movie. Just putting the word “doubtless” in your opinion doesn’t make it a fact. If anything, TROS is a far worse film, because it hardly qualifies as a movie. The prequels are also arguably worse films as well. Not liking how things turned out is not the same as a film being bad. That doesn’t mean I think it doesn’t have any faults, but sheesh. It’s been two years. There are plenty of terrible films out there, and plenty of worse Star Wars media…like virtually every SW book ever written…the prequels didn’t even make people this blindly furious. It’s crazy.

 

[Psab keel]

The worst movie can be a stand alone film or part of a huge series so I don't think it's really a factor. It would only make a difference in how you critique whether or not it worked as a movie because you are judging each one by different criteria.

 

[HMSwolfe]

The worst movie can be a stand alone film or part of a huge series so I don't think it's really a factor. It would only make a difference in how you critique whether or not it worked as a movie because you are judging each one by different criteria.

Like, I’ll agree with the fact that TLJ is a bad middle film for a trilogy. Had (practically) the same film been done as a stand-alone film, not attached to all these “precious” characters, it wouldn’t have been nearly as divisive. And yeah, there are definitely moments where it comes across that Rian Johnson likes subverting expectations almost to a fault. (Kind of makes me think of another director who just loooooves mystery boxes…or maybe just not writing endings…)

But it doesn’t take that much to see that, regardless of personal opinion on the film (which is always valid, art is subjective and the personal response you have to a film isn’t necessarily always quantifiable), Rian Johnson isn’t just some “hack fraud”. Knives Out did well in theaters and Solo flopped. If audiences had really been that angry, they still would have seen Solo (which had nothing to do with RJ) and would’ve boycotted Knives Out.

 

[Psab keel]

I don't think Rian is as much of an imitator (aka unoriginal copycat) as JJ is. I just think he comes across as a contrarian egoist when it comes to his films. There is a smugness that comes through his work and certainly in interviews about his work. I can't speak for him as a person because I don't know the guy so I'm speaking about how he presents himself through his work. JJ is just a sycophant of a director who is so eager to please fans that he lacks originality and consequently seems unwilling to take any true risks. Even though I despise The Last Jedi, I can in some small way admire the balls it took for Rian to try and upend Star Wars. Love him or hate him, that took brass ones! Though his efforts sucked in the end, I do have to at the least give him credit for that.

Then again, I don't really want to delve into the ST anymore than we already have. It's a tired subject and one where everyone's opinions have been cemented so what's the point in rehashing old arguments? There are other movies I would rather discuss/ debate the merits of their success than those ones.

Honestly I have been more impressed with streaming/ television series than I have with films for the last few years. There is something about the long form of storytelling that has really grabbed me more recently. Or perhaps it's the fact that the content coming from movie studios is so bland and uninteresting that I've searched elsewhere for my entertainment.

 

[HMSwolfe]

Now if we want to talk about baffling films…

The Brothers Grimm-
Maybe not the worst film, definitely some genuinely good creepy imagery that sticks with me. The mud “gingerbread man”, the demon horse, the unusual and painful looking werewolf transformation. But the dialogue in this movie is like cursed or something. I’d hear each word, it would go into my brain, and two seconds later I’d have no idea what anyone just said.

Escape From New York-
I watched this on a recommendation from RedLetterMedia, as Jay mentions multiple times it’s his favorite Carpenter film. Couldn’t get twenty minutes in. So slow.

Elysium-
Just dumb. Again, couldn’t even finish it.

Maybe not contenders for “worst movie ever”, but still. Anything to drag the conversation away from the corpse of SW.

 

[HanSolo2187]

My mind went straight to a long list of MST3K movies (Manos Hands of Fate, etc), but saw the comment about B-movies not included...

As far as big-budget movies in recent times - for me, it was Transformers: Age of Extinction. Awful dialogue; probably the worst editing I've ever seen in a movie (scenes would bounce from daylight, to night, and back to daylight in the same scene); and a plot that was probably written by an executive at Paramount. I remember walking out and watched Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

 

[PumpkinKing]

When considering the worst movie, it is also important to consider the context of the film. Sure, you could name something obvious, like The Room, but that film was insignificant in the context of the zeitgeist. As such, the worst movie should be part of a larger franchise with huge expectations. Can you guess what I'm getting at?

The Last Jedi is, doubtless, the worst movie ever made.

The worst SW movie could be a completely different thread

 

[Psab keel]

There have been multiple threads about it and while I happen to agree with Prop Collector, I would rather we steer clear of Star Wars in this thread if we can.

Taken 2 was pretty awful. The showdown at the end was laughable. In fact I was literally laughing when I saw it in the theater. Not that it was my first choice when going out but it was something for me and my Dad to do one afternoon.

 

[HMSwolfe]

There have been multiple threads about it and while I happen to agree with Prop Collector, I would rather we steer clear of Star Wars in this thread if we can.

Taken 2 was pretty awful. The showdown at the end was laughable. In fact I was literally laughing when I saw it in the theater. Not that it was my first choice when going out but it was something for me and my Dad to do one afternoon.

I thought the first Taken wasn’t great…Liam Neeson’s character comes across as kind of an a-hole not helping those other trafficked girls when he had the opportunity.

 

[astroboy]

I don't think Rian is as much of an imitator (aka unoriginal copycat) as JJ is. I just think he comes across as a contrarian egoist when it comes to his films. There is a smugness that comes through his work and certainly in interviews about his work. I can't speak for him as a person because I don't know the guy so I'm speaking about how he presents himself through his work. JJ is just a sycophant of a director who is so eager to please fans that he lacks originality and consequently seems unwilling to take any true risks. Even though I despise The Last Jedi, I can in some small way admire the balls it took for Rian to try and upend Star Wars. Love him or hate him, that took brass ones! Though his efforts sucked in the end, I do have to at the least give him credit for that.

Then again, I don't really want to delve into the ST anymore than we already have. It's a tired subject and one where everyone's opinions have been cemented so what's the point in rehashing old arguments? There are other movies I would rather discuss/ debate the merits of their success than those ones.

Honestly I have been more impressed with streaming/ television series than I have with films for the last few years. There is something about the long form of storytelling that has really grabbed me more recently. Or perhaps it's the fact that the content coming from movie studios is so bland and uninteresting that I've searched elsewhere for my entertainment.

I do not understand how a guy who made TLJ could go on to make a movie as flawless as Knives out. Holy smokes that movie was tight

 

[el toro]

I wanted to explain why I included TLJ and TROS as worst movies, as it seems we all have differing definitions of what constitutes the worst movies.

I’ve always admired Rian’s originality and appreciated most of his films outside TLJ and the brothers bloom. However, when Rian decided to produce TLJ, he explicitly rewrote the established infrastructure in place for the Skywalker saga. In that sense, he tampered with a beloved mythology, which the older fan base had already internalized and whole heartedly accepted as part of their childhood and beyond. Essentially, the OT belongs (in a spiritual but not legal sense) to all fans, and not to just one fan who wished to subvert expectations. So, Rian’s work felt like a betrayal to these fans of all the goodwill, which had been laid down by Lucasfilm for over 40 years. Accordingly, Rian essentially broke the social contract between Star Wars and its older fan base. By intentionally breaking this social contract, Disney and Rian should not have been surprised by the divisive backlash by fans.

After watching TLJ, I felt like Marty McFly in BTTF II when he returns to a dystopian future where his father has been killed. It seems silly for a kids’ movie to elicit such a strong reaction out of me, but I had certain indelible childhood memories which were wiped out in 2.5 hours.

anyway, Disney’s goal was to revive fans’ love of Star Wars. instead, Disney drew the ire of a significant portion of the fan base. Such divisiveness (when viewed from the perspective of Disney’s original goal) can only be seen as a failure.

I would have preferred that Rian have created a completely new Star Wars saga out of whole cloth. Instead we’re left with a contentious debate that will likely survive as long as star wars features prominently in our culture.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

My mind went straight to a long list of MST3K movies (Manos Hands of Fate, etc), but saw the comment about B-movies not included...

Not so much not included... More like not automatically contenders because of low budget or simplistic or weird story. It can be a B movie (or lower) and still be arguably "good", especially if it accomplished what it set out to do.

As far as big-budget movies in recent times - for me, it was Transformers: Age of Extinction. Awful dialogue; probably the worst editing I've ever seen in a movie (scenes would bounce from daylight, to night, and back to daylight in the same scene); and a plot that was probably written by an executive at Paramount. I remember walking out and watched Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

That whole movie series is high up on my list, despite some good moments and dialogue here and there and generally liking Bumblebee... From the very first one on, it got proved to me over and over Hasbro paid no attention to the lore being created to advertise their "giant robots from space" toys that they licensed from the original Japanese makers. Neither comics nor cartoons. And Michael Bay made it worse by rejecting all of the advanced technology and science on display in those media. Subspace, malleable/memory metals, non-carbon-based life forms, and all that. And he set the tone for all that would follow, even though Bumblebee tried hard to walk the damage done back. It felt more like Transformers than anything prior, even though it still fell short.

Taken 2 was pretty awful. The showdown at the end was laughable. In fact I was literally laughing when I saw it in the theater. Not that it was my first choice when going out but it was something for me and my Dad to do one afternoon.

My favorite review of that series was someone saying, "Tak3n made Taken 2 look like Taken".

 

[Psab keel]

I like Liam Neeson but he never struck me as the Jason Statham type. He seems much more dignified than that. The guy played Oscar Schindler.

 

[Bigdaddy]

Flash Gordon: LOVED it as a kid, tried to show it to my daughter when she was 10, twenty minutes in she looked at me and said "Do I HAVE to watch this?"
It's spectacularly bad!

I mentioned this thread when I got home last night and as soon as I said "worst movie ever" my daughter blurted "Flash Gordon!" without even looking up from her iPad!
It's been 7 years but the scar remains.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

The Last Jedi is, doubtless, the worst movie ever made.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is feeling horribly neglected, over the past couple of years, and wants another shot at the franchise title....

 

[CT1138]

If we're talking movies in general, I think there's hundreds of movies that I could list before I even got to any of the Star Wars ones.

Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" and "Birdemic" are two I could name. "Zardoz," another. Like I said, there's a great, great many movies that are just slapped together and released into an unwarned public that is left wondering, "WHAT was being smoked when this was written? How did this get through so many hands without ANYONE questioning their sanity?"

 

[PumpkinKing]

If we're talking movies in general, I think there's hundreds of movies that I could list before I even got to any of the Star Wars ones.

Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" and "Birdemic" are two I could name. "Zardoz," another. Like I said, there's a great, great many movies that are just slapped together and released into an unwarned public that is left wondering, "WHAT was being smoked when this was written? How did this get through so many hands without ANYONE questioning their sanity?"

If we’re including B movie types Birdemic may be the worst movie ever conceived