TV & Film What are some surprisingly underwhelming movies you've seen lately?

[SCSaya06]

It doesn't have to be a movie released in recent years; it just has to be something you saw recently. Of course, expect lots and lots of spoilers on my list.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) takes my number one spot. Granted, the film is in no way a bad film and in some ways, I can see it as a decent summer entry point and it's at least better in terms of structure than some of the others in this list. However, I'm placing it first because it had a lot of hype with the marketing even touting the fact that the source material was banned. So with that much hype, my expectations were high. It...under-delivered on the horror premise. The 'scary stories' were campy; I have read r/nosleep stories much more terrifying than these stories. The CGI was terrible and the characters were a lot on the cliche side. I don't know. Maybe I'm not the target audience anymore. I think the retro setting killed it for me. What was scary then just isn't terrifying now in the modern age.

Rise of Skywalker (2019) comes next. I'm not like the biggest Star Wars fan but it is a franchise I can put on as background noise for some mindless fun action. This movie though...was just a mess. Excessive Easter Eggs, very little thought on plot. The villain is weak and lines were cheesy. I suppose its predecessor set a high hook to aim for at that movie's conclusion but RoS isn't something I'll be putting on even as background noise.

The Cleansing Hour (2019) was just bland. Okay, it is a horror that at least tries to get on with the modern era. But it was bad for me. The girl's acting was a bit creepy but the CGI shenanigans killed it for me. Actually, the whole moment where the "demon" emerges is the part where my eyes rolled. Look, unless you're going for apocalypse style action like Constantine or Supernatural, keep your demons confined in the other plane. Showing them in the open is not scary. We're not dumb. We understand that stuff is the work of a demon in the movie without having to see an infernal, horned CGI monster on the screen. Exorcism of Emily Rose showed us a black shadow and black streaks on icons. The original Exorcist had just the flash of a face but otherwise relied only on imagery.

Brightburn (2019). I may have seen way too many horror titles. XD Anyway, the idea of the story had a lot of promise. What if Superman was bad is an interesting what if to ponder about. Unfortunately, this movie is less interested in its own premise and much more interested in showing violent scenes. Characterization is weak and there was practically no suspense which I think is crucial for this genre. The earlier Chronicle (2012) is a much better execution of this premise for me.

So how about you guys? Any underwhelming films you've seen lately?

 

[CrowOuttaHell]

cracks knuckles
You don't know how long I've been waiting to vent. (As a small disclaimer, it's been a while since I watched the movies and it has also been a while since I played the WFC games and studied the lore. If I get things wrong, just take my words with a grain of salt.)

The entirety of the Michael Bay Transformers line of films from Dark of the Moon to The Last Knight. Let me just say this. It's comparable to a trainwreck. It's horrible, but you cannot look away. It's so bad.

I won't discredit the first two movies. Transformers original? Good shit. Favorite film to watch as a kid. When Revenge of the Fallen rolled around, it was pretty...meh when I looked back at it but when I was young, I remember wanting a Devastator figure. I like how their Devastator kind of looks like Trypticon from the War for Cybertron games, and if that was the intended purpose then kudos. ...There's also the fact that Devastator seems to be the only colored Decepticon.

But Dark of the Moon and everything else? Hoo boy.

I vividly remember the ride back home from Dark of the Moon. I went to watch it with my family and we were so confused. My mom was going like, "Why was Sentinel like that? What was he trying to do?" And I was just confusedly trying to make sense of the entire thing. They bring up the Matrix of Leadership, so I thought we were gonna get an idea about what happened to Cybertron. No! All we hear about it is that Megatron is trying to transport Cybertron to the Solar System! Also Megatron is alive again. I know Transformers just wouldn't be Transformers without the eternal rivalry between Megatron and Optimus, but good god seeing Megatron come back every single movie is just...nngh.

So, Dark of the Moon. Things started going downhill from here. Admittedly, I did like the scene where Optimus is just so done with Sentinel and he blasts him to bits. But this was where things started to go downhill. They had this random "Prime" show up from out of nowhere and then just straight up murder Ironhide, a beloved Autobot character and one crucial member of the Autobots in the first place. The fact that they threw in more recognizable Decepticons (Soundwave and his little pets Lazerbeak and Ravage, along with Shockwave) wasn't even enough because they ended up dying in the movie too, along with Starscream-- you know, the one villain the audience was counting on for a good comeback because of the foreshadowing in the credits of the first movie?

Age of Extinction was next. Despite my misgivings about the past movie, I was drawn in by the fact that they were including the Dinobots. Dinobots! Grimlock and his crew! What's not to love?

Apparently, everything. We're treated to yet another beloved Autobot character, Ratchet, pretty much dying a dog's death at the hands of the military and yet another random fucking villain! Lockdown, is, hands-down, the most pointless character I've ever seen. He's literally running off the star power of the fact that he's a Lamborghini Aventador. But everything else he does is pointless. They also made yet another background story for the Transformers, with the idea of the "Seeds" being planted on Earth. At this point, the All-Spark just seems like a speck of dust compared to all these other backgrounds.

I also disliked the fact that they pretty much eliminated the transforming gimmick with the new Decepticons because all they do is break into pixels and turn into their other form. What's even the point? The point of Transformers is, when you convert them to toy form, it's fun to transform them back and forth and it's doubly fun to watch the transformation sequences on the big screen.

And then, when the Dinobots come out...fine, they have good designs. I won't begrudge them that. But they stripped the Dinobots of character. Grimlock was beloved not only for the fact that he literally transforms into a T-Rex, but he was beloved for how much of a meathead goofball he was in the original series. He had a big role in the G1 movie! G1 aside, almost every other adaptation keeps his personality- in WFC he wouldn't even help the Autobots until the Decepticons kidnapped his subordinate Swoop.

Oh yeah. None of that matters either because they couldn't be arsed to remember the Dinobots' names aside from Grimlock.

By the time The Last Knight came out, I was done. I didn't want to see the butchering of a franchise that I loved to bits. When we did watch it on our own TV, I just felt numb. They tried to incorporate Nemesis Prime and somehow, somehow changed the backstory fucking again by introducing some random chick named Quintessa who, for whatever reason, turns Optimus into Nemesis Prime. God even knows why exactly they even bothered to put Nemesis Prime in the movie. Sure, they made a callback to the time in G1 where Optimus was affected by brainwashing and Bumblebee snapped him out of it but there was just...no impact. They tried introducing new characters like Drift and Hound to get us to care, but it just didn't work. They already killed off most of the recognizable cast and was relying solely on Megatron/Galvatron for Decepticon star power (not that they ever had any considering they had very...bland designs.)

When I heard that Michael Bay was quitting the franchise, I heaved the biggest sigh of relief in my life.

TLDR: Michael Bay Transformers is a disappointment to any Transformers fan who loves their lore.

 

[still watching fma]

I dont watch very many movies, but aquaman was boring

 

[bad wolf]

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
The trailer had me in tears. It was gorgeous! Mothra was stunning. But the movie was sooo incredibly underwhelming. The human characters were lack luster and absurd. It had the same thing going as Michael Bay's Transformer movies. The only thing remotely interesting about them were the monsters. Their human counterparts were just ridiculous. The acting/writing wasn't on par and I couldn't feel any sort of emotional connection with them and their stories. The only reason I'd go back and watch it again is for the monsters. I'd fast forward through the rest.

 

[Abendrot]

tbh I found most of the MCU to be pretty meh on average. Besides Thor: Ragnarok, which was fun, I just think the appeal of these movies is lost on me. Most are overly long, have generic plots and always end with confusing forty five minute action sequences. Everyone that I know just loves them and I just cannot get the appeal. They could be so much more interesting, but the filmmakers seem set on the formula.

 

[Crayons]

Seconding the MCU movies.

Also Wonder Woman. Underwhelming even though I was not expecting much, so boring I had to stop watching.

Frozen 2 XD would recommend just watching Frozen again a few more times.

On the other hand, watching some cheesy 80s movies (Flash Gordon, The Running Man) and enjoying them way more than I thought.

 

[SCSaya06]

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
The trailer had me in tears. It was gorgeous! Mothra was stunning. But the movie was sooo incredibly underwhelming. The human characters were lack luster and absurd. It had the same thing going as Michael Bay's Transformer movies. The only thing remotely interesting about them were the monsters. Their human counterparts were just ridiculous. The acting/writing wasn't on par and I couldn't feel any sort of emotional connection with them and their stories. The only reason I'd go back and watch it again is for the monsters. I'd fast forward through the rest.

I enjoyed King of Monsters since I grew up seeing Godzilla but I agree that some parts felt underwhelming. They could've thrown away the human conflict in general and the film would have worked fine in my opinion. Like with M.Bay's Transformers, I don't understand why they think these films won't work if they don't introduce human conflict of some kind. They're not the main draw of these franchises.

tbh I found most of the MCU to be pretty meh on average. Besides Thor: Ragnarok, which was fun, I just think the appeal of these movies is lost on me. Most are overly long, have generic plots and always end with confusing forty five minute action sequences. Everyone that I know just loves them and I just cannot get the appeal. They could be so much more interesting, but the filmmakers seem set on the formula.

Got nothing against the MCU as well but I usually just watch the first movie for each respective hero and barely bothered with the rest. Only sequels I watched were Iron Man 2, Winter Soldier, Civil War and everything Avengers.

Seconding the MCU movies.

Also Wonder Woman. Underwhelming even though I was not expecting much, so boring I had to stop watching.

Frozen 2 XD would recommend just watching Frozen again a few more times.

On the other hand, watching some cheesy 80s movies (Flash Gordon, The Running Man) and enjoying them way more than I thought.

Never watched even the first Frozen actually haha! Never saw the big deal about it. Cheesy 80's films are fun but there's always something about the way they recorded audio and dialogue that puts me off from rewatching them. XD

 

[Cassie Lang]

I finally had a chance to watch the original Red Dawn yesterday. I have seen the newer remake, but never had the ability to see the original up until now. And honestly? It kind of sucked. The first hour or so was pretty good, but by the second hour neared, it really flopped for me. It's like the script writers had no idea what they wanted to do, especially with the cuts made to the movie. Various elements are brought up and then almost forgotten, while other elements are added randomly for the sake of plot. I did think it was funny that the Spetsnaz dude was complaining about the Geneva convention when he was about to be executed, though. Like, you guys were just mowing groups of civilians down left and right earlier. Yeah, they're about to commit a war crime (executing a surrendered soldier), but it felt hypocritical to point out the GC when they were executing civilians in reprisal for the students' actions days earlier.

 

[Kazami42]

Recent time relatively:
Pretty much everything. My exception to 1917, dunkirk, the WWI wonder woman primarily for the action scenes, and last Jedi. Last Jedi is faaaar worse than underwhelming. There's only few scenes that were logical, and I liked. The hyper-smite ATAT scene and just brushing it off is the only highest quality scene there and it lasts under three or so minutes.

Scary stories in the dark. I just find older age horror comedic.

Aquaman fuckin' blows seahorse balls.

The mortal kombat movies but I'm pretty okay with them.

Force awakening was okay because it was just trying to get people back drawn to non-comic Star Wars. Though I miss buying those toys that came with a free comic book. I get more out of it.

IT, OG. I actually thought it was meant to be a scary story but ended up looking like it was more intentionally trying to be a comedy.

The Shining. You know exactly which version I'm talking about.

Tom Cruise's war of the worlds. Not directed by Tom Cruise but I'd like to see that. I was cool with everything but the kids being punks that are incapable of learning of shutting the hell up. Sure at the beginning that is how you might react, but later on you'd adapt unless you literally were unfit for self decision. It is the same reason why the dumb student archetype in horror movies annoy me. They just act like morons when they would know better, but in this movie there was many options to keep progression if they actually acted like a normal human being.

Pluto Nash. I already expected what I was getting into but damn.

The silent hill movie. I just wish there was a bit more silent hilly things going on. Just having the fog, being attacked by pyramid head, and super demon fuckery ain't good enough. What about dedicated scenery like how in the first game you could also see some pretty bad stuff going on, and in the alley you get metaphorically waffled by demon kids or something with all the fences and all. That was JUST the beginning and most tame. You get people crying blood, drug talk, and super deformed and mangled corpses everywhere. The movie in comparison just pales spectacularly. Don't even get me started on games beyond that which sometimes one ups everything before it in one swift stroke.

The main animated dead space movie. I just feel there's something missing here...

Every single transformers movie. No exceptions.

And the new blade runner. I really liked it but similarly to one above, I just felt there was one critical element that was left too vague or missing entirely, making viewer interpretation more difficult by the end. Besides that it pretty much fit the bill of what I want to question myself. But that one thing makes me question myself in unintended ways by it's creator.

 

[SCSaya06]

Recent time relatively:
Pretty much everything. My exception to 1917, dunkirk, the WWI wonder woman primarily for the action scenes, and last Jedi. Last Jedi is faaaar worse than underwhelming. There's only few scenes that were logical, and I liked. The hyper-smite ATAT scene and just brushing it off is the only highest quality scene there and it lasts under three or so minutes.

Scary stories in the dark. I just find older age horror comedic.

Aquaman fuckin' blows seahorse balls.

The mortal kombat movies but I'm pretty okay with them.

Force awakening was okay because it was just trying to get people back drawn to non-comic Star Wars. Though I miss buying those toys that came with a free comic book. I get more out of it.

IT, OG. I actually thought it was meant to be a scary story but ended up looking like it was more intentionally trying to be a comedy.

The Shining. You know exactly which version I'm talking about.

Tom Cruise's war of the worlds. Not directed by Tom Cruise but I'd like to see that. I was cool with everything but the kids being punks that are incapable of learning of shutting the hell up. Sure at the beginning that is how you might react, but later on you'd adapt unless you literally were unfit for self decision. It is the same reason why the dumb student archetype in horror movies annoy me. They just act like morons when they would know better, but in this movie there was many options to keep progression if they actually acted like a normal human being.

Pluto Nash. I already expected what I was getting into but damn.

The silent hill movie. I just wish there was a bit more silent hilly things going on. Just having the fog, being attacked by pyramid head, and super demon fuckery ain't good enough. What about dedicated scenery like how in the first game you could also see some pretty bad stuff going on, and in the alley you get metaphorically waffled by demon kids or something with all the fences and all. That was JUST the beginning and most tame. You get people crying blood, drug talk, and super deformed and mangled corpses everywhere. The movie in comparison just pales spectacularly. Don't even get me started on games beyond that which sometimes one ups everything before it in one swift stroke.

The main animated dead space movie. I just feel there's something missing here...

Every single transformers movie. No exceptions.

And the new blade runner. I really liked it but similarly to one above, I just felt there was one critical element that was left too vague or missing entirely, making viewer interpretation more difficult by the end. Besides that it pretty much fit the bill of what I want to question myself. But that one thing makes me question myself in unintended ways by it's creator.

Not gonna lie, I actually saw the Silent Hill movie first before any exposure to the games. (Movies cost cheaper than games where I live, if you know where to look) At the time, it seemed okay. When I finally got the chance to play one of the games...yeah. Movie looks bad now. They made a sequel as well and yeah, that was also bad.

My thoughts on OG IT are...mixed. I like Tim Curry's Pennywise but everything else was...sub-par. I actually prefer the new one nowadays. Much better story structure though the scares aren't as effective now.

I enjoyed War of the Worlds myself. My main criticism of that film is that the ending felt rushed and random and I never really understood the son character's motivations in the end. It's like, the story realized how annoying he was so they decided to find a way to take him out of the story without killing him off. The scene where Tom Cruise had to kill the other survivor was pretty solid in my opinion. To each their own though.

 

[Kazami42]

Not gonna lie, I actually saw the Silent Hill movie first before any exposure to the games. (Movies cost cheaper than games where I live, if you know where to look) At the time, it seemed okay. When I finally got the chance to play one of the games...yeah. Movie looks bad now. They made a sequel as well and yeah, that was also bad.

My thoughts on OG IT are...mixed. I like Tim Curry's Pennywise but everything else was...sub-par. I actually prefer the new one nowadays. Much better story structure though the scares aren't as effective now.

I enjoyed War of the Worlds myself. My main criticism of that film is that the ending felt rushed and random and I never really understood the son character's motivations in the end. It's like, the story realized how annoying he was so they decided to find a way to take him out of the story without killing him off. The scene where Tom Cruise had to kill the other survivor was pretty solid in my opinion. To each their own though.

I would primarily like to probe that character's mind and see just what was going on. Especially the I believe earlier scene of WotW, where they were just by the side of the road. They just came from practically hell itself, see a motorized version of a death march rolling back, and this guy thinks it is a great idea to try figuratively hitching a ride. I just assume he mentally broke or hasn't processed everything due to some sort of super denial, and became a sudden disguised pessimist. Then when that scene happens, I think the whole gimmick was along the lines of just watching the world burn. Quite bizarre there. I can also agree with that one following, as you don't want to give your position away behind enemy lines. Even if the enemy practically just look at it then leave. If he wasn't snuffed out of the picture, it is pretty much certain they'd all be killed or captured sooner than later.

I wasn't aware that a new SH movie was a thing though. Based on it's own merits [like what most do with the resident evil films. One and two is varyingly fine - okay.], would you actually recommend that?

Some of the scares I'd personally say were alright. Better in chapter 2 to varying extents. While I liked that one too, it more so seems like a you either love it or hate it type film. Most of everyone comes back and roflstomps pennywise. Which that in of itself wasn't a spoiler since it is generally the beginning plot, and foreshadowed in the predecessor.

 

[SCSaya06]

I would primarily like to probe that character's mind and see just what was going on. Especially the I believe earlier scene of WotW, where they were just by the side of the road. They just came from practically hell itself, see a motorized version of a death march rolling back, and this guy thinks it is a great idea to try figuratively hitching a ride. I just assume he mentally broke or hasn't processed everything due to some sort of super denial, and became a sudden disguised pessimist. Then when that scene happens, I think the whole gimmick was along the lines of just watching the world burn. Quite bizarre there. I can also agree with that one following, as you don't want to give your position away behind enemy lines. Even if the enemy practically just look at it then leave. If he wasn't snuffed out of the picture, it is pretty much certain they'd all be killed or captured sooner than later.

I wasn't aware that a new SH movie was a thing though. Based on it's own merits [like what most do with the resident evil films. One and two is varyingly fine - okay.], would you actually recommend that?

Some of the scares I'd personally say were alright. Better in chapter 2 to varying extents. While I liked that one too, it more so seems like a you either love it or hate it type film. Most of everyone comes back and roflstomps pennywise. Which that in of itself wasn't a spoiler since it is generally the beginning plot, and foreshadowed in the predecessor.

It's called Silent Hill: Revelation. It now follows the girl in the first film but she's a teen now who's been on the run from a so-called Order for a while. They pretty much doubled down on the prophecy elements so it just got weird for me. Especially when the protagonist is now able to use Pyramid Head to protect her for some reason. I don't recommend it since excessive reliance on occultish prophecies ruin the horror mood for me. In horror, some things are best left mysterious and hidden in my opinion.

I don't think Pennywise is the issue in Chapter 2 though. Bill Skarsgard did his best. The problem is that the pacing was a bit too long for something that was ultimately meaningless. But as a whole, it was okay. The ending was way, way better than the original IT miniseries. At least Pennywise was not a low-budget rubber spider. The ending with Mike and the flashbacks to the kid characters are much better than the OG IT with Bill and Audra. The decision to remove Audra from the film completely was a wise move to be honest. She was just distracting in the original.

 

[Kazami42]

It's called Silent Hill: Revelation. It now follows the girl in the first film but she's a teen now who's been on the run from a so-called Order for a while. They pretty much doubled down on the prophecy elements so it just got weird for me. Especially when the protagonist is now able to use Pyramid Head to protect her for some reason. I don't recommend it since excessive reliance on occultish prophecies ruin the horror mood for me. In horror, some things are best left mysterious and hidden in my opinion.

I don't think Pennywise is the issue in Chapter 2 though. Bill Skarsgard did his best. The problem is that the pacing was a bit too long for something that was ultimately meaningless. But as a whole, it was okay. The ending was way, way better than the original IT miniseries. At least Pennywise was not a low-budget rubber spider. The ending with Mike and the flashbacks to the kid characters are much better than the OG IT with Bill and Audra. The decision to remove Audra from the film completely was a wise move to be honest. She was just distracting in the original.

Oh. Well then. They practically massacred the point of silent hill now haven't they? And even though I am intrigued by the whole idea around pyramid, how the hell is he there without James or Alex being up and about? Since Silent hill recycled/conjured up an executioner for physical symbolism for JS. Then by the theory of Alex [forgot his last name] potentially related to Marie or something, Pyramid head gets a pass for being in homecoming as the cool muscle flexer again. But this is just getting too absurd.

All I can say on the IT part of the conversation at this moment is "Indeed."

 

[Moonshine]

Not a particularly bad movie per se, but I feel like it didn't do the book justice -

Warm Bodies.

Don't get me wrong. I actually really like the film, but imagine this-
You go buy a car and then you realize it's missing the speakers. No way to listen to any music while driving.
Its not necessary, but it would be more fun if the speakers were where they belong.

Issac Marion has such a beautiful way of writing.
R's thoughts and emotion during the entire book are written so vividly and described so beautifully it feels like a melody is evolving from his sentences.
You know what I mean?

The film also covers some of R's thoughts but it seems to be missing the point, the core of his personality.
The film makes it sound rather funny, and yes, there are funny parts in the book, but the film portrays a meadow without flowers, basically.

Its happened before, hasn't it?
Thanks to bad acting, a script that just doesn't work of whatever other reasons.
Its hard to fit an entire book into the 2 hours of a film X3

 

[JackKetch]

Oh gosh, I think the movie "Escape Room" was incredibly underwhelming. It kinda felt like a really lackluster version of Cube but like, really dumb protagonists. The upside room bar was cool at least.

 

[natasha.]

for me, probably the rise of skywalker. everyone's got different opinions about it but i was pretty disappointed with it.