The "It wasn't as bad as people said it was" thread.

[Soubhagya]

I can't contribute much to this thread.

I see relatively few films. So, its very probable that i haven't seen that film because of poor word of mouth.

Batman v Superman. I did not watch it in theaters even when i was so hyped for it. Initial response was very bad. And when i heard that Batman kills, i had no interest. A few months later i caught a clip on Youtube. The Knightmare sequence. And it was so beautifully shot. It looked epic. And some people mentioned that Ultimate Edition is a very superior movie. So, i watched it. It was not exactly a good film. But it wasn't terrible.

Spider-man 3. That was before i used to check for reviews, etc. The first two were stellar films. And this looked spectacular during the lead up. I remember feeling letdown as it wasn't as marvelous as the previous films. But i still liked it. And i like it to this day. The film is kind of 'overcooked'. So many things are happening that its not as immersive as the previous entries. But its still good. Till this date i am unable to understand the hatred to Peter's dancing. I find it amusing. It still brings me a smile on my face. Peter was kind of uptight through all the entries. It was nice to see him having fun. He wasn't supposed to be likeable here. Or even cool. Its awkward because the uncool kid is trying to play cool. I love those scenes. Of course, the best scene and among the best scenes in any superhero film is the birth of Sandman. That was a masterclass in film. Something worthy to be in a Citizen Kane or a Godfather.

[anyajenkins]

I mean, that's the situation Johnson was handed. But pretty much everything else he did was about changing things. He smashed Abrams's stupid mystery boxes (which lead to his television shows meandering into incoherence) and decided instead of telling a story about a special family and a battle between black-and-white good and evil, we'd go with the idea that anyone can make a difference and things are more complicated than the rebels make out.

(And while I understand if someone doesn't like that because the idea of Star Wars being a simple morality tale in an ocean of navel-gazing grey was a core draw for them, The Force Awakens had the new trilogy on track to just rehash everything.)

But he didn’t really do that? Rey was still the ‘chosen one’, she wasn’t a Skywalker, but she was still the very special, chosen by the force itself, like Anakin was. And shades of gray...meh...Luke has one bad thought or the rebels use shady arms dealers...still doesn’t compare to ‘killed five billion people to literally enslave the galaxy’ It’s not even close really.

Other movies, I also confess to thinking Wolverine Origins wasn’t that bad, dumb fun. When I finally saw John Carter (on DVD) is wasn’t bad at all, a little cheesy in spot, but still fun.

[David Walton]

Batman v Superman. I did not watch it in theaters even when i was so hyped for it. Initial response was very bad. And when i heard that Batman kills, i had no interest. A few months later i caught a clip on Youtube. The Knightmare sequence. And it was so beautifully shot. It looked epic. And some people mentioned that Ultimate Edition is a very superior movie. So, i watched it. It was not exactly a good film. But it wasn't terrible.

I don't like the premise or the characterization in BvS, yet I find the film itself hypnotizing. It is beautifully done even if I don't buy into the concept.

Spider-man 3. That was before i used to check for reviews, etc. The first two were stellar films. And this looked spectacular during the lead up. I remember feeling letdown as it wasn't as marvelous as the previous films. But i still liked it. And i like it to this day. The film is kind of 'overcooked'. So many things are happening that its not as immersive as the previous entries. But its still good. Till this date i am unable to understand the hatred to Peter's dancing. I find it amusing. It still brings me a smile on my face. Peter was kind of uptight through all the entries. It was nice to see him having fun. He wasn't supposed to be likeable here. Or even cool. Its awkward because the uncool kid is trying to play cool. I love those scenes. Of course, the best scene and among the best scenes in any superhero film is the birth of Sandman. That was a masterclass in film. Something worthy to be in a Citizen Kane or a Godfather.

Agreed. I think it's a good film whose greatest sin is not living up to the standards set by SM2.

[Tuck]

And shades of gray...meh...Luke has one bad thought or the rebels use shady arms dealers...still doesn’t compare to ‘killed five billion people to literally enslave the galaxy’ It’s not even close really

By discarding Snoke, Kylo becomes the antagonist of the new trilogy, and his ideas clearly are more grey.

[Divine Spark]

Justice League.

[TheCape]

Predator 2, i never really understood why people hated it so much, i thougth that it was a decent sequel.

[KOSLOX]

I actually thought Solo was pretty good.

[Surf]

I actually thought Solo was pretty good.

Shoutout to Mario Van Peebles who had the only Solo movie I knew the last 25 years.

[Cyke]

Predator 2, i never really understood why people hated it so much, i thougth that it was a decent sequel.

Only because Predator 1 was so great. Even if the sequel is a lesser movie, that doesn't mean it's a bad movie. I liked Predator 2 as well.

[Divine Spark]

I don’t think Venom was Fan4stic and Catwoman level like some people said it was. Though it was average.

[Kusanagi]

Only because Predator 1 was so great. Even if the sequel is a lesser movie, that doesn't mean it's a bad movie. I liked Predator 2 as well.

I'll add in the love for Predator 2. Really it suffered because it was only comparable to the original, I think since the sequels it's respectability has jumped.

[SuperiorIronman]

Predator 2, i never really understood why people hated it so much, i thougth that it was a decent sequel.

When it comes to the franchise you have to wait about 5-10 years before people warm up to them. It's weird but that's just the way this franchise is. An even worse offender is AVP-R and people only started warming up to it because of Wolf. It's like a cockroach, you think the studio killed it but 5-10 years later it shows up again like nothing ever happened. I'm not saying some critiques are wrong, it's just the weird way this franchise is. I've been a fan since I was a kid and seriously, the whole franchise is like this. You should see the people finding out about the 2010 AVP game. It's probably for the best they weren't their at launch but to the noobs it's like Christmas.

Actually what's weird to me was that Predators (2010) was fairly well received and hardly hear anybody talking about that one.

[Zero Hunter]

Finally go around to watching Venom. It was not that bad. Ii was not great by any means, but it was not horrible. The thing is with how close Spider-Man and Venom are linked in my head this felt like a sequel to a Spider Man movie we never got to me. Oh and Tom Hardy needs to stop doing american accents. Him talking was just laughable. It sounded like what an american sounds like when they try and do a bad british accent.

[TomServofan]

Ghostbusters 2: I will continue to defend this sequel and don't get all the hate it gets, if you dislike it then to each his own, personally i thought this was a fun sequel! i mean it may not live up to the first movie which was a masterpiece and it's not the same movie as the first, i mean bullshit on that as it does different things as i feel Viggo is a bigger threat than Gozer despite Gozer is a great villain, plus some different ideas like mood slime and it's better than the original GB 2 idea of fairies and stuff. It does have neat ideas like the statue of liberty, that awesome courtroom sequence of the ghosts and a few laughs even that memorable quote about talking about what to have for lunch. I saw this 3 times in theaters when i was 8 years old as i've been waiting for a second one since it was announced in 1987 in starlog and i enjoyed it as much as the original. Yes i know it has the GB 2 logo in the movie which was a bad idea and pairing Janine/Louis even making Janine look like her cartoon counterpart and the Slimer cameos which were pointless even the idea of the city suing GB for damage in the original film when it should had been they retired as there were no more ghosts afterwards for years which could had made it better.

It's the last GB film worth watching and better than Stinkbusters 2016.

[Soubhagya]

I was looking over videos and articles from people about why they hated "The Last Jedi" and I think that, by and large, they have legitimate complaints. I liked it on a fun level as simply a decent action movie but I realize it ignores established facts and continuity of the SW universe as well as having other faults.

I stumbled onto an article about why critics and audiences so often disagree, an article that seemed to be about "The Last Jedi" but was really just using it a springboard for the critics vs audiences discussion.

I think one of the biggest differences is that professional reviewers are trained to believe that possibly the greatest sin a reviewer can ever commit is to judge a work by outside standards rather than on it's own merits. Unfortunately, they tend to consider even other movies in the same series to be outside standards. Judging a work as bad because that's not how you wanted the story to go would be another false standard, the argument of personal preference.

Of course, there are endless problems with "The Last Jedi". Hyperspace doesn't work the way it worked in all previous Star Wars movies. Instead of going into another dimension, now it's suddenly just going really fast so now a ship can ram another ship by going to hyper-speed. Wow, they should have just had some automated droids in ships go to hyper-speed and ram the Death Star back in the first movie.

Sneaking in endless social messages, some very forced and badly presented.

Pointless subplots that took up a half hour and ended up being meaningless (Finn and Rose's little trip where they met the Collector, I mean Benito del Toro who I cannot believe was ever, for one nano-second, considered for the role of Khan Noonien Singh).

Nauseating speeches about love coming from someone who prevented a heroic sacrifice and herself caused the deaths of numerous fellow soldiers by doing so.

Constant three ring circus surprises done simply for the shock value and because they were unexpected with no regard whatsoever for whether they made any sense or were dramatically fulfilling. In fact, in most cases, they were surprises specifically because they made no sense.

Characters being there and some being killed with no background or explanation for who they were to begin with (I'm thinking about Snoke).

Jedi suddenly having powers quantum leaps beyond anything they ever had before and even "Force Ghosts" being able to do things vastly beyond what they ever could before.

And, of course, that thirty years later, the Empire (oh, sorry, I mean the Black Order) is still around and it's all just a rehash of the original trilogy.

Oh man! I am just tired. I better give up defending The Last Jedi. I think i have answered or tried to answer to all these criticisms. I love The Last Jedi. Its the best Star Wars movie since Return of The Jedi. Legitimately one of the best big budget blockbuster films i have seen in recent years. But its a film which divided Star Wars fanbase completely. Oh those were the days when the biggest gripe was that Rey happened to be a Mary Sue.

Perhaps you are right about taking a film as a series or as its own. And i respect the way you put your post.