Your Biggest Disappointments of 2004 - A LIST Thread

[modage]

it seems like the more movies i see the more disappointment i suffer.  and i cant figure out if my taste is getting more selective or if movies are getting worse.  but either way this year has been a lot of heartache for me and its not to say that all of these were terrible, actually some of these are still my favorite films of the year, its just in most cases i expected more from who was involved and the film didnt deliver on my expectations. so here are some of my biggest letdowns...

1. Kill Bill: Volume II
oh what happened here?  the first one blew my mind and i had nary a doubt that the second part of the film would do the same.  it wasnt a sequel, he filmed it / imagined it at the same time, how could it POSSIBLY not live up to the first half?!?!  because, it never should've been split up in the first place.  volume two is full of scenes that while cool scenes, are really just time-waster to fill up the length of a second movie.  how quickly she manages to finally track down bill was a joke.  and what happens when she gets there is worse.  after SIX FUCKING MONTHS of waiting, what would've worked great as a neat rug-pull at the halfway mark is the biggest goddamn letdown of the year.  this movie makes me upset, but whats worse is its still in my top 5.  

2. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
even though my disappointment for the film was minor, because of my anticipation (see thread for details), its huge.  for wes anderson to deliver an imperfect film with visible flaws is a shock.  for this to not be my favorite film of the year....i had no idea it could happen.  now, nothing is sacred.

3. Spider-Man 2
a good film, but the hype was 'best superhero film of all time'.  not by a long shot.  some really big mistakes were made here and despite its intentions to focus more on the characters, i felt less for them in this one.  despite a few ridiculous scenes, i still prefer the first one for handling the story/characters better.  

4. I Heart Huckabees
expected this to be right up my alley, the initial denial was proof of how much i wanted to love this.  but i just couldnt.  at first i thought it was a disappointment for a Russell film, but then i realized even as a film from a nobody director, i still wouldnt have liked it.

5. A Very Long Engagement
amelie is probably one of my favorite films ever.  it was a total surprise and it made me love every second of it.  it was a reminder of why i love movies in the first place.  this was just a good movie.  in a sane world, this would've come first.  

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
the adult Harry Potter from the cool director.  i liked it, i didnt love it.  the plot just didnt engross me and so i wasnt totally satisfied.  the only one i've loved was the first because it took its time introducing you to the world of HP, which was where the magic was for me.  when the films are left to rely on plots, theres just not as much there.

7. The Terminal
as mentioned in the 05 thread, spielbergs only slipup for me in 7 years.  a neat experiment that didnt totally pan out.  he was on a roll too...

8. Oceans 12
i sort of counted on this to be really fun like the first one and i thought it was an utter disaster.  embarrassing.

9. The Ladykillers
the coens were some of my favorite filmmakers (in that rung 2 with crowe) and i loved everything they did until O Brother which i felt was 1/2 great.  intolerable cruelty was a steaming pile, and one i hoped would be soon left behind them.  it was because they 're-wrote' someones bad script, right?  THATS why it sucked, and they would quickly redeem themselves with this silly movie. they didnt, and it may have even sucked worse.  i'm now worried they may never return to greatness.  and thats a huge disappointment.

10. Van Helsing
i thought the mummy movies were a lot of fun and the premise for this alone was enough for me to have a full geek-out, but for anyone who witnessed it personally knows it was a bomb of Batman and Robin proportions.

11. Spanglish
james l. brooks, WHY?!?!  i still have to see I'll Do Anything, but from what i've heard its as mixed as spanglish was.  so i guess when he hits, he hits, and when he misses, he misses.  i dont know how batting averages work but it looks like he's 3 for 5.

[Gamblour.]

Ocean's 12 - Just didn't have all the cool and slickness that the first one had.

The Aviator - It's still one of my favorites of this year, but was too damn long

Shaun of the Dead - HILARIOUS until it went all drab and fucking serious, that really ruined it.

[Sal]

1. sky captain and the world of tomorrow - heralding a new age of computer animated film, its style was a desperately anxious hole to fill in contemporary film.  what we get is a mess on paper that no beautifully rendered image can fix.  the performances feel depressingly over-the-counter while the story inexplicably fails to draw the viewer in amid its gunfights and amazing scenery.  a crashcourse for a new filmmaker even if it lets through occasional flashes of brilliance.

2. the aviator - the hughes biopic spent years in development before one of our most revered filmmakers took on the task to adapt his life story to theaters.  the effort is epic and ambitious, but also excessive and over-the-top.  heavyhanded, it lacks subtlety.  cut too quickly, it can't afford the fluid performances we expect from scorsese.  this combination only gives us the tops of the peaks and the bottoms of the valleys.  

3. the terminal - speilberg works in efficiency and strong storytelling--see catch me if you can as a recent example.  with the terminal, it's a problem bag filled with an uncharismatic (albeit attractive) zeta-jones, humor that tries a bit too hard, and subplots that go overboard in screwing with the general tone of the film.  it's a knot that could use a few tugs.  

4. the polar express - van allsburg assisted the animators in matching the look of his amazing book as closely as possible--to great effect.  visually the film pays off its initial cost of potentially ruining a belovedly drawn story.  even the eyes of the characters have a unique quality to them...and everything is definitely improved with 3-D, which is bottom line: really cool.  less "in your face" than finally realizing space and depth within a frame, the film uses the technology well.  unfortunately, it takes its liberties out on expanding allsburg's initial story and adding subplots that are tied by the benchmark scenes from the book.  spotting the adapted pictures from the book becomes thrilling when they work, and depressing when they don't.  adding a cheesy musical number harmed it enough to prevent me from ever really embracing it like i embraced the book as a child.

5. clifford's really big movie - what can be said about clifford the big red dog?  he's fuckin pwn.  they totally ruined it.  ASSHOLES.

just kidding.  

5. (for real this time) the passion of the christ - forget matt and trey; gibson's the one that gets the "biggest balls" award this year.  the concept was nuts, no one wanted to front the money, so he paid for it himself.  that's dedication.  gibson also gets "best independent filmmaker" award because his spirit in making the film completely reflected that.  it was a dissapointment to find that the film's ending was more of a sell-off towards his favored audience rather than an attempt at honest filmmaking.  for all of his balls, gibson remained inside the text throughout the film and never dared to venture out into the unknown territories that audiences would have found so engrossing and captivating.  it's jesus; make the most of a character audiences will be receptive towards.

dishonorable mentions:
- fahrenheit 911,  
- secret window,
- finding neverland
- garden state
- kill bill volume 2

[Dtm115300]

1. Van Helsing- I really didn't like this movie. I was looking forward to seeing it for such a long time. I remeber seeing the trailer during superbowl half time and freaking out, but the movie was pretty terrible. You can see when watching it that they had no idea how to fit Dracula, wolfman and Frank in to one story. The story was just plan old bad.

2.Troy- I didn't hate it, but i didn't see anything special about this movie. I was expecting alot more.

3. Alien vs Preditor- I have to admit going in to this movie i knew it was going to suck big time. But as a fan of both franchises i thought i would enjoy it alittle, but i was wrong.

[Ghostboy]

I don't think anything disappointed me this year. There were plenty of films I wish were better (Alexander, The Ladykillers, among others), but I've been too distracted by all the other brilliant films that are out to give them too much thought.

[edison]

Garden State: way overhyped, i really wanted to love it but it just wasnt going to work, good soundtrack though

The Terminal: People just dont want to watch something set in an airport, ex: t.v.'s LAX. I have always liked Stevens work but he lost it on this one, im really hoping for a smash with WOTW

The Ladykillers: An example of how not to listen to the trailers, the Coens really need to get their stuff together, i miss the old Coens

Undertow: Another overparised flick al la Garden State

Also:
The Village
The Clearing
Napoleon Dynamite
Shrek 2

[Gamblour.]

I forgot

Garden State This movie was just a forum to play Braff's favorite songs and then release the soundtrack

[Weird. Oh]

I forgot

Garden State This movie was just a forum to play Braff's favorite songs and then release the soundtrack

Well for anyone who loves the soundtrack can just go to www.pitchforkmedia.com ...I mean they've been raving about the shins for a long time now. Braff was late...

[pete]

house of flying daggers
undertow (but still a favorite)
garden state and napoleon dynamite both had amazing trailers
goodbye lenin
monsieur ibrahim
oldboy

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

There weren't too many letdowns to me this year.  What seemed good was good, what seemed shitty was shitty.

Some didn't live up to my expectations, but letdown seems a bit derogatory.  Those movies would be...

Napolean Dynamite

Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Passion of the Christ

Garden State

... I can't think of too many others, but it crossed my mind that there should be an entirely new category for lists.  It'd be a good way to make and finds lists and browse them.

... or not.

[abuck1220]

i just watched the manchurian candidate tonight, and boy, was it shitty. not that i had real high hopes for it, but geez. all the politics stuff reminded me of a really crappy sports movie...not telling which political parties were involved and using lame fake news channels (cmn!)reminded me of when they don't show professional sports teams' logos. and the political rally stuff was just awful, awful stuff. looked like the production of a junior high girls basketball pep rally.

[The Silver Bullet]

Ocean's 12 and The Bourne Supremacy. Unlike those two, I didn't expect anything from Kill Bill Vol. 2, but I didn't like it either.

[modage]

i just watched the manchurian candidate tonight, and boy, was it shitty. not that i had real high hopes for it, but geez.

then it doesnt belong in this thread.  in order for something to be disappointing you must have had expectations for it in the first place.  it could go here...

http://www.xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=1286

[Tictacbk]

Garden State-because the trailer was so awesome but the movie wasn't

F911- becuase Bush is still in office

I Heart Huckabees- because the cast and idea seemed so great but it just didn't deliever.

[Pozer]

I don't think anything disappointed me this year. There were plenty of films I wish were better (Alexander, The Ladykillers, among others), but I've been too distracted by all the other brilliant films that are out to give them too much thought.

Here, Here!