Hi Valois, long time no see! Camelot...now I've got the song in my head!
I agreed with Das Boot, what a horrid film!
I mean if you see half the films that the French export as being representative of their film industry, and they totally alienate anyone who without being a total Philistine, wouldn't mind seeing something comprehensible in French, well you've seen the worst half.
As an American teacher of French I'd escort students to the French film festivals and they'd be totally turned off!
The ones the Americans like are taken over by the Americans like the Cage aux Folles = Bird Cage, Trois hommes et un couffin=three men and a baby, and le fugitif = fugitive. Too bad as they aren't that bad!
"Tenue de soirée" has to be one of the oddest films out there, even the French public thinks it is weird when it airs on tv and yet they acted like it was the best thing since sliced bread!
I'm thinking and I can't come up with many I liked, perhaps Diva or Nikita.
Trust me, they make decent stories, they just think that the highbrow stuff has to be boring that's all!

Hi Bruyere:

Thanks for the welcome ... I've had some serious family illnes problems, thus my 'disappearance' for a while.

One of the best French fims I've ever seen (though it's very sad) is "Ponette." It's the story of how a four-year-old deals with the death of her mother.The performances are superb, especially from the chld that plays Ponette.

This is a four tissue movie, but at the same time it's inspirational. Its sadness is made bearable through the innocence of the child. It's emotions are pure and simple and, therefore, quite beautiful.

Try to see it...it's worth it!

Hi, valois, it's great to see you back here.

"Ponette" is an extrodinary, heart-rending film--about as deeply moving as a film can get. But, valois, this topic is about the worst films we've seen, not the best ones.
I agree with you that the child in "Ponette" was just fantastic--and very natural. She really carried that marvelous movie. And you do need an ample supply of tissues when you watch it. Several cartons in fact.

I think that "Beloved" was one of the worst films I've ever seen. I made three attempts and never managed to see it all the way through.

Other films, like "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes" and "The Man With Two Heads", were so bad that they were actually funny. In fact the latter film really stopped taking itself seriously about halfway through and seemed to embrace it's absurdly funny premise by adding more and more obviously funny dialogue.
A film that's so bad that it's funny can often be quite enjoyable.

[ 04-30-2002, 08:09 AM: Message edited by: chelseabelle ]

Add another "welcome back - I missed you!" for Valois. I'm glad you've returned to us. Don't stay away so long again, ok?

There are so many bad movies out there, it's hard to choose!

I walked out on "The 'Burbs" - Tom, Tom, Tom, how could you have done such a bad movie?!

"Mr. T and the Women" was horrible. Another one where you had a promising star who chose a bad script.

AND, MEL! My darling Mel! What was with that "What Women Want" thing? Oh, sweetheart. THAT was NOT what women want. I rented this one and turned it off after about 30 minutes. And, trust me, 30 minutes was quite an accomplishment.

I've heard very interesting things about "Ponette" myself, but I have this moratorium on one Kleenex box films, I try to limit myself to one per year. I saw Billy Elliott and cried like a baby when his mother's letter was read, uh oh, got goosebumps just thinking about it. But if Ponette is like oh darnit, the most important war era film there..."jeux interdits", with the kids and their little graveyard, I don't know if I can take it!

My daughter purchased a film on dance in New York, and the mother dies in the beginning while trying to make it to the Juillard audition because she "promised". I watched that much, choked up then left the room.

I had tears streaming down my cheeks with the Sixth Sense too, so Ponette, I'm wondering if I can take it!

I saw one in the plane home, with a young woman suffering from Alzheimer's and her co patient who decided to try and let her live a normal life outside an institution. SHeesh! It was more frustrating really. It was French though.

Castaway was the most torture I saw this past year. I don't understand why they have to do these tour de force things without any gallows humour and comic relief besides the basketball thing. I heard the people in the audience laughing really loud at the Wilson stuff too!
The breakup was about the worst thing I've seen in years. I mean, I don't expect a Hollywood happy ending but this was torture.

It's nice to see you again Valois and Chelseabelle gracing the movies section with her presence.

Bruyere:

Just an example from "Ponette"...one of her playmates tells Ponette about how Jesus rose from the dead after 3 days, so Ponette sits by her mother's grave waiting for the same thing to happen.

Where'd I put those damn tissues?

Hey Valois just twist the knife!
I'm a sucker for a hungry kitten these days, even our cat is playing it up bigtime pretending he hasn't eaten in two days.

But seriously I'd rather see the Killer Tomatoes one in this mood!
I'm on a steady diet of MOnty Python DVDs and nothing mushy is gonna get me!

I just saw Mel maligned up there on that list! Was that Linda? Hon, let me tell you, if you had a choice between Mel acting funny and understanding women's thoughts and a really two Kleenex box French film, which would you choose?

Me I go for Mel and the music was divine! How many films can you see that have those tunes?
Not many!
Sorry but Pinhead knows my tastes.
I did not see Braveheart though. I hear it was terrible.

Thanks for the warm welcome, Bruyere. I haven't made it to this Forum too often of late.

Linda1, I couldn't agree more about "Dr T And His Women" and "What Women Want". I thought that both those films were just dreadful. Just shows you what junk big stars will do for big money.

Bruyere, I'd prefer to see "Ponette" any day over the two above named movies. I don't mind a good cry. A very poignant film can be every bit as distracting and "entertaining" as any other movie--it takes your mind off your own troubles while you're watching it, and a good cry is very cathartic and can leave one feeling relieved of a lot of tension.
Although a confirmed Mel Gibson fan, I found "Braveheart" overly long and quite boring.

(Just a little sidenote, because I saw this movie mentioned above.)

The name of the Tom Hanks' movie is "Cast Away" - it's two words. There's a reason for that; it's a play on words to show that he was "cast away" from his old life and his old way of thinking.

Just thought you'd like to know! There really was a method to the madness on this one!

OOOps! I'm sorry, I saw it in France and they didn't give the American title! We were lucky it was in English with subtitles too.

Don't get me wrong, I can get into the catharsis of a good cry, like Billy Elliott, but I limit my consumption of those to about once a year, and since I hate dubbed films, that limits me more.

I guess I'm a sucker for Mel, huh? Go figure!

Bruyere, I live just outside Toronto, so one night I was channel surfing and came across the CBC French channel. They were featuring "Dents du mer" which was the American movie "Jaws". I absolutely bust a gut laughing! Doesn't that translate to "teeth of the sea"?

I'm sorry thapanut, but I am going to have to express my vehement disagreement about 'Final Fantasy'.

Not only would I not rank this anywhere near the bottom of a film list, I would include it in my personal top ten--not so much for its plot (which I agree was somewhat lacking), but for its importance to film history. It marked the first time that computer technology succeeded in providing depictions of humans that could truly be mistaken for filmed reality.

A lot of critics agree with you, but I feel they missed the point. I believe this technology will revolutionize film, creating worlds and creatures limited only by imagination.

When I saw this in the theatre, it was the first time in my memory that an audience remained hushed for the duration of a film. Perhaps some of them shared your assessment of the movie's worth, and had fallen asleep, but I suspect many more were mesmerized with the level of technological achievement humans have been able to reach in such a short segment of history.

I imagine, for many, watching the film was similar to the experience of those who witnessed the first film, or the first colour film, or the first film with sound. In any case, I predict this movie will go down in history as one of the few that changed the way we look at the world, and consequently, how we shape it.

Just my thoughts.

For all of you Mel Gibson fans...have you seen "Tim" which I believe was his first starring role in a film? He co-stars with Piper Laurie (he's about 19 years old), and plays a mentally-challenged youth who falls in love with an older woman.

It's along the sames lines as "Tea and Sympathy" (another great flick).

I saw that one, V. It's been a long time, but I liked it.

It was remade a few years ago into a movie called "Mary and Tim." Starred Candice Bergen. Was replayed on tv last year.

Mel Mel? Where? Now that I'm across the ocean from a decent video shop?
I'm still watching that silly thing where the toilet blows up just to catch him!

Les Dents de la mer is indeed what it's called! Isn't that a kick? Take Liz's quiz on what movies are called in Spanish if you want a good laugh! I loved it.
I was visiting Paramount studios many years ago, and this little Hispanic girl saw that old Jaws thing pop out and scare us all on the train, and she kept on saying "Mira Papy, El senor Jaws, Mira!"
It still cracks me up to no end! That and the Frisky catfood commercial with a can can line.
I'm easily amused though, I can't even appreciate Tom Hanks.

Oh, didn't anyone get Dumb and Dumber? Jim Carey is, like Jerry Lewis, pretty popular here. But actually, I CONFESS I lauged at dumb and dumber, at the very end especially!

OK,how come no one's said a word about "Mars Attack"? That movie was....oh my gosh,there are no words!! But,yeah,it was bad!

Spice World

The worst movie I have ever seen would have to be Drive In. It's the one where the mentally disabled kid goes no a killing spree after 18 years straight of watching nothing but troma films

I would have to say the remake of Psycho with Anne Heche was so awful that I took the video back to the shop and got a refund!!
One of the best has to be Gone In 60 Seconds....hmmm.....Nicholas Cage!

The worst movie, huh? Hmmmm! So many contenders, so little time to list them all!

How about anything with John Wayne in it? (Maynooth will kill me for that ).

American Pie is definitely in the top ten.

I went to see "Something About Mary" because all my friends said how funny it was. I know loads of people will probably post in to say they thought it was hilarious. Sorry, but it wasn't!

I never bothered with "The Talented Mr Ripley" because I had read the book first. After the book, not even Brad Pitt could persuade me to watch the movie.

When I was in my early teens we used to always go and see movies like "Xanadu" and "You Can't Stop the Music"...Ouch! 20+ years and it's still painful to own up to!
The only movie I've ever fallen asleep in the middle of (at the cinema) was Miller's Crossing - but I might have just been tired.
Totally unrelated comment... all this talk of the "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" reminds me of my 'Come as a Movie Star' 21st birthday party - my housemate was a huge killer tomato, with 2 wine cask bladders sewn into the costume in handy locations white on one-side, red on the other. The perfect host!

"The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, Her Lover, Their Uncle's Neighbor, The Guy Down The Block Who Never Mows His Lawn, etc." WHAT WAS THAT????? I think they cleared the theatre completely in about half an hour with that bomb.

Any teen film made in the past few years. Anything with Ben Stiller, Keanu Reeves, singer turned actress or vice versa (two bad talents don't make a good one) people that fall into that category are Madonna, Cher, Whitney, Big A.....rrrr J-Lo, remakes of classic movies and finally but not least.....anything by action kickboxers.

"The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" was meant to be a "bad' movie! And taken in that light, I enjoyed it.

I never go to the movies any more, since upwards of 95% of the movies I see disappoint me. Just too picky, I guess. I wait until they're out on video---or even on TV---so I feel no guilt if I turn 'em off half-way through.

The worst movie I ever saw was "Popeye" with Robin Williams, and any movie with Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Farley and the other SNL idiots, they are the most juvenile movies that exist. I won't even let my niece and nephew watch that **edited for profanity**.