07 September 2006

Worst Movies Ever

The Poor Man Institute blog is listing the 100 worst movies. Since I brought it up, here's the movie I advise you to never see: Blow Up.

You might have heard of the movie. It's from the 60s. You might have even seen it on some "Best Movies" lists, like the NYTimes best 1000 movies. That's where I saw it, and that's why I rented it.

Let me be clear: this movie is bad. Very, very bad. It made me want to do something more fun, like coat my tongue with quinine.

The "plot" (I'll explain the quotation marks in a moment) is as follows: a photographer takes some pictures in a park, and when he develops the pictures, he notices something unusual and thinks he may have photographed a murder.

Sounds intruiging, doesn't it? And it would be, if the plot actually developed. But it doesn't. Not at all. There is no mystery, no suspense, no culprit, no motive-- nothing. I am not making this up. This movie goes nowhere.

Here is the entire storyline of this movie: a few days in the life of an unlikeable character in the 1960s.

Even that makes it sound more interesting that it actually is. Do not see Blow Up.

(So why is it on "Best Movies" lists, you ask? Apparently, critics like its portrayal of 1960s society-- sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll. I guess it was cool at the time.)

3 comments:

K. said...

speaking of bad movies...

i saw the Nicholas Cage debacle, "The Wicker Man" when i was home at my parents this weekend. (the options were very very limited) it was the worst acting, worst plot, probably worst movie i've seen in years.

avoid it...

Anonymous said...

The sixties get their own list. "Elvira Madigan" was a big art house hit, but Pauline Kael (I think) summed it up. "Two stupid people getting exactly what they deserved."
In recent years "Carrington" was especially mindnumbingly awful.

WestEnder said...

Two other bigscreen boners: Ghostbusters II and JFK. The only 2 movies I've ever walked out of.

Technically I didn't walk out of My Own Private Idaho because I rented it, but is was so god awful I couldn't watch more than about half.