FILM: 3 great flops, 3 terrible hits

Regardless of critical merit, there are some films I feel the critics simply got wrong. Equally, there are plenty of terrible films that enjoyed critical success. In my humble opinion here is a good representation of each. First, 3 flops I think are superb…

Cable Guy (1996) – It got dreadful reviews yet I think it’s perhaps Jim Carrey’s greatest performance to date. Even if it weren’t a great film throughout, it’s worth watching for two classic scenes alone (the basketball scene and Medieval Knights fight sequence). One of the most underrated dark comedies of recent times. It even has a terrific cameo from Owen Wilson…

Wyatt Earp (1994) – Beautiful cinematography, exquisite attention to detail and a thorough portrait of a man. With this film, Lawrence Kasdan, writer of two of my favourite childhood films (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Empire Strikes Back) has written and directed a film of individual vision. A rare thing in modern studio film making. Costner turns in a nicely downplayed performance, Gene Hackman is in there too plus the always underrated Dennis Quaid is utterly compelling as Doc Holliday too…

Midnight Run – (1988) – Comic genius. Screenplay by George Gallo that simply crackles with quips and one liners. Ultimately, I just don’t get how people don’t get this film. Every character in it is spot on and the exchanges between Charles Groddin and Robert DeNiro are simply impeccable. It’s the sort of film, like ‘Groundhog Day’, that just never gets tired.

And now for some absolute stinkers everyone got worked up about…

King Kong (2005) – Peter Jackson’s skills as a film maker are irrefutable. However, despite critics bumming the pants off it (“the kind of romantic action spectacle that makes the big screen silver and provides box-office gold. Puts the prime in primate.” Empire) this is absolute turgid pap. Even the best set piece between the Trex and Kong feels a little ‘been there, done that’ thanks to Mr Spielberg’s earlier dinosaur based efforts (more on him shortly). And as for shooting giant bugs off people’s backs with a Tommy gun – I just give up… This is slow, indulgent and I’m quite certain will be reappraised as the woeful film it is in years to come.

Moulin Rouge (2001) – This film is ‘camper’ than a row of pink tents… Nauseatingly irritating – I confess I didn’t make it past the first 40 mins and I rarely switch films off, regardless of how bad they are (if proof were needed I even endured ‘Snakes On A Plane’). Seriously, what does anyone see in this film? Yet, here’s what Empire had to say, “A breathtaking baroque film that marries the best of theatre, opera and cinematic technique.” Garbage I tell you…

Munich – Oscar nomination? Are they smoking crystals? This film is a farce. If Spielberg doesn’t have the cajhones to fall on either side of the fence he shouldn’t try and climb it in the first place. It’s so transparent in its ‘right-on’ message it’s repulsive. Awful scenes that attempt to show both sides of the conflict are criminally shoe-horned in (such as the dreadful ‘crux of the matter’ scene on the stair well). If that isn’t enough to convince you this film is horribly overrated what about the laugh out loud stupidity of the ‘Police Squad’ style shoot out either end of the same car? Or the risible sniper sequence when they are about three foot from the target? Completely overrated.