Conference bookie::movies

Here are Gene and Roger's "Worst Films of '92"

Both agreed on the worst film of the year (in fact, they had to flip a coin
to see which of them got to announce it)
	Frozen Assets	(starring Corbin Bersen and Shelley Long)
And they both hated
	Shining Through	(starring Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith)

In no particular order, they identified the following as "bad films"
	The Babe		(John Goodman)
	Toys			(Robin Williams, Joan Cusak)
	Whispers in the Dark	(Alan Alda)
	Medicine Man		(Sean Connery & Elaine(?) Bracco)
	Folks			(Tom Selleck & Don Ameche)
	Stop or my mom will shoot (Sylvester Stallone and Estelle Gettys)
	Shadows and Fog		(Woody Allen)
	Christopher Columbus: the discovery
				(some french actor, Tom Selleck, Marlon Brando)
				(The presence of *this* Columbus film kept
				 '1492' off the list.)

In contrast to the best films of this year, the worst were almost all American.
(There would have been more, but I made a point of not attending the "obvious
stinkers" :-)

Really Bad:  (in no particular order)
	Ruby
	Sleepwalkers
	Dracula
	Year of the Comet
	Raising Cain

Just Regular Bad:
	Article 99
	Muppet Christmas Carol
	Shadows and Fog
	Passed Away
	Lethal Weapon 3	(Written solely for the pyrotechnicals on staff.)
	Alien 3		(I admired its lack of blazing guns. What restraint!)
	Buffy the Vampire Slayer
	Captain Ron	(How does Martin Short continue to get jobs ?)
	1492		(I didn't see the 'other' Columbus movie.)
	Split Second	(Well, it had one good line anyway :-)
	Night and the City	(A rare DeNiro dud.)

Should have been better:
	Leap of Faith	(I didn't buy Steve Martin.  The opening was good.)
	Forever Young	(Didn't measure up to last year's "Late for Dinner".)
	Wayne's World	(A few good laughs, but not sustained for a whole movie.)
	Batman Returns	(Pfeiffer was good, the rest was excess.)
	Consenting Adults
	A Few Good Men	(Nicholson was excellent, but the rest ?  Ho Hum.)
	Night on Earth(US/FR/IT/SW)
			(Interesting offbeat concept, but only 25% worked.)

Forgettable:
	Used People
	Far and Away
	The Playboys (UK)
	Man Trouble
	Single White Female
	Wind
	Toys		(Dazzling but aimless)
	Trespass
	Howard's End	(Best of those films about an utterly dreary subject)

    I thought the worst movie I saw all year was:
    
    Twin Peaks (Fire Walk With Me)
    
    I thought it had one of the stupidest endings I've ever seen.
    
    Lorna
    

Re: .1

>	Christopher Columbus: the discovery

Gerard Depardieu  was the "some french actor".

    re.-1
    I think you're wrong. 
    G.Depardieu was in the other Columbus film "1492". The movie ment in .1
    (with Brando, Selleck) was starring a rather unknown British (?) actor
    with a Greek name, which I do not remember.
    
    Andrea

>    I think you're wrong. 

Oh, OK....I haven't seen any of the 3 and when .1 linked a Columbus film with a 
French actor....that was the name that cropped up !

In fact, come to think of it, I don't think I've even seen clips of that 
"discovery" one...

The worst potboiler I've ever seen.  

    Does anybody kow when "Bloodmatch" was filmed? It *has* to be the worst
    film of *some* year!
    
    Ken

    Re: .6
    
    Gerard Depardieu was in 1492, the Ridley Scott movie.  The Salkind(?)
    movie had George Corraface.

    Bingo !
    That's the name. It's not Greek at all, so I do not know why 
    made this connection.
    Andrea            

    I was in a video rental place the other day and was reminded that Stay
    Tuned, starring John Ritter, was the worst movie I saw last year.  It
    was even worse than Fire Walk With Me, which I also hated.  Stay Tuned
    was very poorly done, stupid plot, bad acting, corny, trivial,
    meaningless drivel.
    
    Lorna
    

    re: -.1
    
    Yer kiddin ...  ;^)  Actually, my family pretty much stays away from
    theaters nowadays and tend to rent oldies more than the new stuff. 
    Mostly because most of the new stuff is just plain awful.  But, we
    rented Stay Tuned and loved it.  Sure, it has flaws.  But, we liked it
    anyway and enjoyed it all the way through the closing credits ...
    which ended with several promos for shows on the 666 channels the last
    of which was "The David Dukes of Hazard" ...
    
    Steve

    re .12, no, I'm not kidding.  I meant what I said about it.  I thought
    it was poorly done drivel.
    
    On the other hand, I disagree with your statement that there are not
    many well done movies these days.  I think that a lot of excellent
    movies were released last year such as, The Crying Game, Howards End, A
    River Runs THrough It, Malcolm X and Of Mice and Men.
    
    Lorna
    

    Worst: "Noises Off."

    I may be in the wrong year but the worst movie ever that I saw 
    within last two years was the "peter pan" one.  I can't even remember
    the name of it, It had Julia Roberts playing a fairy or some kind of 
    overgrown elf.   Also, Robin Williams was in it too.

  Julia Roberts was playing Tinkerbell. That's the same as the little animated
character that you use to see flying around at the beginning of every Walt
Disney program. 

  Peter Pan seems to be one of those movies that people either loved or hated
and I expect it depends on whether or not you saw the Disney version as a kid.
I did and I liked it a lot. 

  By the way, except for a cameo in the Player, Peter Pan was the last thing
that Julia Roberts did. People mag had a cover story speculating, among other
things, that she left movies at the peak of her career because she was burned
out. 

  Anyway, I believe that movie was one of last year's films.
  George 

    The movie was "Hook", directed by Steven Spielberg.
    
    - Dave

    RE: .16  by 25415::MAIEWSKI 
    
    >By the way, except for a cameo in the Player, Peter Pan was the last
    >thing that Julia Roberts did. People mag had a cover story speculating,
    >among other things, that she left movies at the peak of her career
    >because she was burned out. 

    I thought it was cuz after they shrunk her for "Hook", she couldn't get
    any "big" roles.
    

    According to Entertainment Tonight she had to many person problem and
    the press was hounder so much she took time off and recovered. She has
    signed a deal to star in a new movie starting shooting in April.
                        Jeff Peters 

    I liked Hook!  I thought Julie Roberts was pretty bad as Tinkerbell and
    her personal problems were obvious in the way she took on her roll, but
    I love Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman and thought the settings were
    great!
    
    Leslie

    
    	I hated "Noises Off" too ... the ads for this movie made it out
    	to be the funniest thing ever made, but it wasn't even close.
    	The same with "Once Upon a Crime", to a lesser degree ... but I
    	thought that had some funny parts.
    
    							GTI
    

    What about movie name "Turtle Beach"?? Movie didn't last long. I wanted
    to see it but it was history. I don't think it was even released on
    Video tape. Has anybody seen it?? If yes, how was it??
    
    Bharat

    Personally I thought Noises Off was hysterical... I used to work stage
    crew for the local little theater in Cleveland Heights, and also in
    high school.... and you wouldn't believe how accurate a lot of the
    movie's silliness was!!!!

    My daughter thought it was great ... so I rented it and I became
    fidgety almost to the point of anger.  I called her and asked when the
    funny parts were going to start; she asked how long I had been watching
    it and I said 45 minutes!  It was so painful and so annoying that I
    stopped watching it 15 minutes before it ended (and every minute was
    excruciating) and when she came home she said "but that was the best
    part!"
    
    I hated it.  HATED it!!!
    
    Leslie

    I thought Noises Off was funny and entertaining.  Nothing special, but
    it made me laugh out loud a few times.
    
    Lorna
    

    Just goes to show you can't please everyone.
    
    Me, I loved Hook, hated "Batman Returns" and "Fred Saberhagen's Thorn"
    (a miserable movie released under the name of "Bram Stoker's Dracula),
    liked (slightly) "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and tolerated "Noises Off"
    
    tom

I really disliked "Single White Female."  But it was the 3rd violent American
flick i'd seen that week (the others being "Unforgiven" and "Fire Walk With
Me".)  I was alone in a strange city, spending evenings at the movies.  The 
ugliness and inanity of it all was getting to me, I suppose.  It probably was 
no worse than lots of other movies.

-Stephen

    
    	I fell asleep twice trying to watch "Beauty of the Beast".  Not
    	saying it wasn't good, though ... the animation was good, but I
    	guess it wasn't my favorite kind of movie.
    
    	So this would be my vote for "Worst of 1992".  Then again, I'd
    	have a hard time naming even 10 movies I saw that came out last
    	year.
    
    							GTI
    

The worst movie in 92: 

           Alien 3

    The movie that made me most actively regret having spent good money for
    it was (brace yourself, Dave, I know you're out there reading this)
    "Under Seige."
    
    It wasn't truly bad (well, it kinda was) but it was certainly the most
    disappointing movie of '93 that I saw.
    
    
    kim

    I thought Highlander 1 was great but 
    Highlander 2 and now The Gathering,well
    they are among the prize TURKEYS
    
    Pure **** , bury him for god sake.!!
    
    

    
  I agree 100%. Highlander 2 was not only the worst movie of the year but
  it may be the worst movie of all time. 

	Keith

    re .32, no, the worst movie of all time is Arthur 2.  Sorry.  :-)
    
    Course I never saw Highlander 2, but it couldn't be worse!
    
    (Then again, Eric The Viking was pretty bad, too.)
    
    Lorna
    

    The worst movie of '92 was definetly 'People Under the Stairs' and it
    may indeed tie for worst movie ever with 'Fresh Horses'!
                                                            Natalie

    Never saw Fresh Horses, but A Man Called Horse, with Richard Harris,
    was pretty bad.
    
    Lorna
    

    Speaking of horses and worst movies of all time, anybody remember "They
    Shoot Horses, Don't They?"  As I recall, Jane Fonda and someone else.
    Phuuut!
    
    Steve

    What was the Melanie Griffith movie I just saw on tape last week,
    where she is the tough New York cop falling in love with the Jewish 
    rabbi-to-be guy?
    
    It was horrible, just horrible.
    
    Yuck.

    re .37, oh, I enjoyed that movie quite a bit.  I thought it was quite
    romantic.
    
    Lorna
    

Yeah, horrible is definitely a matter of taste.  While "They Shoot Horses,
Don't They?" was certainly a painful movie, I have a hard time calling it
horrible. I thought it was excellent in fact.  Yeah, I also liked "A Stranger 
Among Us" too.  

On the "other" hand, Disney's "Black Hole" was pathetic.  Considering that
the crowd booed during the closing credits, I guess I wasn't the only one...

		Bob  

    Two of the worst movies I saw in '92
    were both with Melanie Griffith..is
    she really that bad an actress...
    
    They were "Shining Through", a most
    implausible story of a young first
    generation German/Jewish woman who during
    WWII goes to work for some business man,
    Michael Douglas, figures out he's an
    American spy, and ends up going to
    Germany to spy herself.  It was laughable.
    
    And why, will someone tell me is Michael
    Douglas such a heart throb?  That's another
    note.
    
    The other one was "A Stranger Among Us"..
    there she plays a NYC police officer who
    goes undercover in the orthdox (forgive
    my ignorance, but I forget the correct name)
    Jewish section to figure out who murdered
    one of their young men.
    
    I think a really good actress may have
    pulled off both roles; I find her acting
    ability to be woefully lacking.
    
    One of the worst movies I have ever seen
    was out a few years ago...Darkman....I laughed
    through most of what was supposed to be
    a dark, serious mystery.  God, the dialogue
    was ridiculous.

    re .41, I loved "Shining Through."  I saw it 3 times.  I thought it was
    both romantic and humorous.  I loved the scene in the club.  I loved
    the 40's feel of the movie.  I thought there was great chemistry
    between Griffith and Douglas.
    
    Also, Melanie Griffith is one of my favorite actresses.  Not only do I
    think she's beautiful, but I always find her characters believable,
    and usually likeable and charming (if they are supposed to be).
    
    So, each to their own, but I couldn't disagree with you more.
    
    Lorna
    

>    was out a few years ago...Darkman....I laughed
>    through most of what was supposed to be
>    a dark, serious mystery.  God, the dialogue
>    was ridiculous.
    
    I'm not the biggest Sam Raimi fan I know, but I can assure you the
    guy's never made a serious movie in his life and probably never will.
    
    Ray

    Well, regarding Melanie...
    
    You're right, to each HER
    own in this case...
    
    Have you seen her new movie
    with John Goodman?
    
    You can let me know what you
    think since I won't go see it.
    
    I must tell you, though, that
    I did like her in Working Girl.
    I found her charming and gutsy
    in that movie.  I think, though,
    that she seems to play the same 
    kind of role all of the time.
    
    Oh, other bad movies from my
    perspective...Basic Instinct
    and Final Analysis (was that a '91
    movie)
    

  "Shinning Through" generates strong feelings for and against. 

  Personally I liked it a lot. I thought it was a 1st class spy drama set in
Nazi Germany. I thought that the main characters were great, the story was
great, and so forth. I'm really surprised that so many people thought it was a
turkey. 

  Funny thing is that I just can't understand why people hated it. I liked Star
Trek VI, Batman II and Twin Peaks which were also movies people hated but those
had obvious flaws. I liked them for very special reasons and I can see why some
would hate those movies. 

  But Shinning Through came across as a great movie. In my book it rated the
same as Scent of a Woman and higher than the other 4 movies nominated for
best picture.

  It does make the top of my list for "Title having nothing to do with the
movie" and the flash forward part was a bit awkward, but the main part of
the movie, the flash back, was great.

  George

    After reading the book shining through I was more disappointed with
    the movie as compared to the book then with the actress and actors.

  That may be it. Often if someone writes a great book and the movie comes up
short, it gets criticized more than if it were an original screen play. 

  I never buy that criticism. I think a movie should be judged only on how good
it was as a movie, not on how it did or did not compare to the book. 

  What was that movie where the giant plant in the pet store kept wanting more
and more food until it started eating people? I remember that movie got beat up
horribly because it was based on a popular play and they changed the ending. 

  Also, Ragtime got beat up for not following the book. It was a box office
success but the critics hated it. I remember Gene Shalet beating up other
critics because the book itself was based on a real event and the author of the
book had taken great liberties changing the story himself. 

  Each work, be it book, play, movie, etc, should be judged on it's own.

  George

    > What was that movie where the giant plant in the pet store kept wanting
    > more and more food until it started eating people? ...
    
    "Little Shop of Horrors"
    

    For me one of the worst movies of'92 was the movie with Sean Young
    playing an attorney and the guy from "Sleeping with the enemy" as 
    a perverse photographer - I don't remember the title.
     
    But I liked "Shining Trough", too.
    Andrea
    

    Put me in the anti-Shining Through group.
    
    I find Melanie Griffith interesting-looking but not especially
    attractive (like a Kim Basinger or Michelle Pfieffer).  Her acting
    range is limited, and she does not do well when she has to be a
    completely different character rather than an extension of herself.
    In her two best movies, "Cherry 2000" and "Working Girl", she was
    essentially being herself in a role.  In "Shining Through", I didn't
    believe her for a minute.
    
    NAZZ

    RE: .41  by VAXWRK::STHILAIRE 
    
    >Also, Melanie Griffith is one of my favorite actresses.  Not only do I
    >think she's beautiful, but I always find her characters believable,
    >and usually likeable and charming (if they are supposed to be).
    
    Did you see her in "Night Moves" with Gene Hackman?
    

    re .51, no, Gene Hackman bores me.  Why?  Bad?  
    
    Lorna
    

    I'll try this again...
    
    One of the worst movies of 1992..
    I just rented it this weekend..
    was "Whispers in the Dark" with
    a bunch of people I didn't know,
    except for Alan Alda and Jill
    Clayburgh.
    
    The movie is a would be thriller
    about a female psychiatrist who
    falls in love with one of her
    patient's lovers/boyfriends...
    and then the patient ends up dead.
    
    The psychiatrist, a very young looking
    and very stupid woman, in my opinion,
    becomes one of the suspects along with
    a host of other people.
    
    The acting is particularly bad, the dialogue
    is worse, and the plot twists are not
    believable....
    
    Spoiler Alert:
    
    (Did I do this spoiler alert correctly?)
    
    The one big plot twist has Alan Alda,
    her mentor and psychiatrist, as the one who
    did the dirty deed....a very bad denouement..
    for some stupid reason which is not even
    hinted at throughout the movie.
    
    Anyone else seen this movie???
    
    What did you think?

    
    	Gene Hackman is great!!  How can he be boring?
    
    
    							GTI
    

       re .54:
       
       Because he's intelligent, balding, over 25, and doesn't play a
       guitar?

    re .55, no, I admit those are negatives for any man, but that's not it. 
    :-)     
    
    Besides, I absolutely *adore* Woody Allen, (sided with him immediately
    in the Mia thing even tho I consider myself a feminist), and Woody is
    intelligent, balding, over 25, and doesn't play a guitar.  (Actually,
    now that I think about it my best friend is intelligent, balding, over
    25 and doesn't play a guitar.)  :-)
    
    No, I think it's just that Gene Hackman is usually in movies that don't
    interest me, and usually plays characters that don't appeal to me, sort
    bla, boring types.  His characters seem overly intense and serious too
    me, also.  I like men who make me laugh (which is why I *always* read
    Mr. Topaz' notes).
    
    Lorna
      
    
     

       Flattery is deeply and warmly appreciated (and buys you nothing).

    It's enough that you deeply and warmly appreciated it.  I could wish
    for nothing more.
    
    Lorna
    

    
    	Get a room!!
    

    We watched a Blockbuster movie starring James Belushi, the title was
    "Red (something or whatnot)".
    
    Belushi was a Florida detective trying to find out whos killing his
    chicks, blah, blah, blah...
    
    Really baaaaaaad.
    
    ick.

    The movie was TRACES OF RED and, even tho' I'm a James Belushi fan, the
    tape ejecting after it rewound woke me up. I can't recall watching even 20
    minutes of the movie.
    
    He was also in THE PALERMO CONNECTION ---> same outcome.
    
    
    Another baddie:
    
    BODY OF EVIDENCE with Madonna. Even Willem Dafoe couldn't save this
    one.
    
    
    Catherine
    

    
      As one t.v. add on the box over here would say There's so much to 
      choose from. So here's a few that spring to mind....
    
      Cool World...a poor mans Roger Rabbit,Basinger should have been taken
                   to court for this and not boxing helena.
    
      Groundhog Day...what a really boring movie,a whole new meaning to the 
                      saying same sh** different day.
    
      Toys...yet again another flop for Mr Williams,has this man made a
             good movie.
    
      Reservoir Dogs...a lot of shouting,a lot of swearing,a lot of s***.
                      I mean what human being is going to bleed for 2hrs
               after a gun shot like that,then come back to his sences to
                fire a gun at someone else.
     
     Patriot Games...the book was bad enough,the movie was even worse
                     very corny,very boring.
    
    Grand Canyon...if you've got bother sleeping at night this will solve
                    it.
    
    Hellrasier 3...once again a movie that spent all its buget on effects,&
                   then wrote the script on the back of a postage stamp.
    
    Sister Act...I waited in a Q for 30mins to see this movie,once i was in 
                 i watched 20mins then joined the Q to get back out.
    
    Hook...surprise,suprise,yet another Robin Williams disaster.
    
    Dracula...on the poster it said Love Never Dies,it never said that the 
              movie it's self died a death after 20mins
    
    The list is endless but thats a few that spring to mind.
    
     
                        

    I've moved the Robin Williams discussion to a new topic; see note
    210.*. I did it on purpose, so that all the "Re .nnn:" numbers would be
    wrong. Ha, ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!
    
    -b-the-immoderator

    You know Beth, sometimes I worry about you - the way you get perverse
    pleasure from the most minescule acts.  Have you seen anyone for this?
    
    A concerned noter

    RE: .64  by TNPUBS::NAZZARO 
    
    >You know Beth, sometimes I worry about you - the way you get perverse
    >pleasure from the most minescule acts.  Have you seen anyone for this?
    
    >A concerned noter
    
    At least she doesn't arbitrarily delete them without telling anybody.
    

    	Far and away, I consider the WORST movie in recent memory
    to be a real peeve, something worse than most, starring,
    you guessed it, John Travolta, and sa the 'beast', Jamie
    Lee Curtis. Yep. Perfect, the only movie whose content
    is the multiplicative inverse of it's title.
    
    	Menacing pelvises. Insightful dialog about "Emersonian America".
    Travolta saying the F-word a lot. Even Joe Bob Briggs frowns on this
    killer.