Worst film ever made?

[zekko]

I would say Chaplain’s “City Lights” was his crowning achievement.

My three favorites are City Lights, Modern Times, and The Gold Rush. It's hard to say which of those I like best, but City Lights is up there.
His movies are such a great blend of intelligence, humor, and heart.

Barnaby, lol. Something about that guy always reminded me of a hippie. Maybe more the actor than the character.

 

[Atom Smasher]

Yes, it’s funny how the guy who plays Barnaby shows up in so many of those old movies in the thirties. Same with “Old Cap” from the Little Rascals. He’s in one of the “baby Spanky” Rascals, where he and his nasty wife own an orphanage and he’s waiting for his pension. That old coot makes his way into several films of the era. I find it amusing to spot them.

 

[zekko]

Speaking of Stan and Ollie, I watched a 10 minute "sneak preview" of it on cable today. I'd seen the trailer before, but I can't believe I didn't notice that Oliver Hardy was played by John C. Reilly. I didn't even recognize him lol.

 

[Atom Smasher]

Yes. Apparently he did a good job with the role.

I caught the Ed Wood movie last night. It was surprisingly good. I thought Martin Landau was brilliant as Bella Lugosi. There’s a good YouTube channel (I’ll have to find it and post it here) where these guys talk about films, and they did an interesting treatment of this one.

I did some research on Lugosi and in his heyday he was a brilliant actor. He used to play a lot of Arabian kings and princes and such. I think I’m terms of his acceptance in America, his heavy accent did him in. Too cliched, and too strongly associated with Dracula. After the 30s, the concept of Dracula and vampires became rather comical in the public eye, unlike Frankenstein and the like, who always naintajned that sense of horror even though he was overexposed as the quintessential monster.

 

[zekko]

I caught the Ed Wood movie last night. It was surprisingly good. I thought Martin Landau was brilliant as Bella Lugosi.

Oh, you watched it, very cool. Glad you liked it. It's my favorite Tim Burton film, and my favorite Johnny Depp movie (for what that's worth). Landau's portrayal of Lugosi is my favorite part of the film. He won an Oscar for it.

There's a bit of a sad story about him collecting his Oscar. The Academy was cracking down on speeches running too long, and at the end of his they started the music to play him off. He was clearly rattled and said "No, wait!", because he wanted to finish with "This one's for Bela". That was a disappointment for him.

Lugosi was an underrated actor. It was unfortunate that he never did a sequel to Dracula, no one else could touch him in that role IMO. When Universal did make more Dracula movies, they replaced him with John Carradine. Lugosi was overshadowed by Boris Karloff - Karloff became more of a priority for them. They made quite a few movies together. If you've ever seen Universal's Frankenstein movies, Lugosi plays Ygor in Son of Frankenstein and Ghost of Frankenstein, and steals the show both times.

He only played Dracula in the movies twice, in the original Dracula, and in Abbot and Costello meets Frankenstein. Amazing since he's so closely associated with that character.

 

[Dash Riprock]

There are some movies that try to try to be bad and don't care (Santa vs Martians, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes) and then there are those that are made with good intentions and turn out really bad. A few I've seen that come to mind:

Annihilation (2018)- Saw this about a year ago in a theater. Four (yes f-o-u-r) people sitting in there, 6 with me and gf at time. Absolutely, abominably horrible, despite Natalie Portman playing lead. I want the two hours of my life back.

The English Patient (mid-90's) - Was up for many awards. Found it horrible. L-o-n-g. No drama, suspense, endless harangues of long-winded blithering by a half-dead man. HORRIBLE.

Rocky V (late 90's)- I'm a HUGE Rocky movie fan but this one was really bad on many levels. Regarded as far and away he weakest movie in the franchise. Thankfully, Stallone redeemed the brand with Rocky Balboa and Creed I and II.

The Nun (2018)- Poor follow up (prequel actually) to The Conjuring franchise. Bad.

I'll post a few more if I think of them.

 

[zekko]

There are some movies that try to try to be bad and don't care (Santa vs Martians, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes) and then there are those that are made with good intentions and turn out really bad.

The latter type are the kind that are really bad, IMO. Movies that try to be bad can at least be entertaining in their own way. Sometimes.

Annihilation (2018)- Saw this about a year ago in a theater. Four (yes f-o-u-r) people sitting in there, 6 with me and gf at time.

I intentionally try to go to the theater when the crowd is likely to be the lightest. Like 10 in the morning on a weekday, say, late in a movie's run. I've been to the moves several times when my girlfriend and I were the only ones there. It's nice, it's like having your own private theater.

 

[zekko]

I was also considering Stan & Ollie when it comes out in late March.

I finally got to see Stan and Ollie today. I had pretty high expectations for it, but I wasn't disappointed. I liked it even more than I thought I would. I've always been a sucker for aging comics, especially partners. There's something poignant about it.

At the end, when they run some facts in text on the screen, there was one I thought was particularly interesting. Hardy died in '57 and Laurel died in '65. Laurel never took another partner, but he continued to work on Laurel and Hardy material until his own death. It also said the film was based on a book called Laurel and Hardy: The British Tours. They have used versions on Amazon but they want over $100 apiece for them, so they must be pretty rare or are in demand because of the movie.

I also noted a credit thanking Larry Harmon (best known for Bozo the Clown), because Harmon bought the license for Laurel and Hardy's image. He put out some Laurel and Hardy cartoons back in the '60s, and performed the Stan voice.

 

[zekko]

That's interesting. Did you see it in the theater or streaming?

Neither, good old fashioned cable lol. It's currently available on Starz.

As for Bozo, yeah I thought pretty much the same when I was younger. I also grew up with the WGN Chicago Bozo. The one I mainly remember was Bob Bell.

They had that Grand Prize Game where you threw ping pong balls in buckets. I remember one day they had some very tall kid on, and he had developed this skill of being able to put his feet behind the line, but could lean forward very far to closer to the buckets. I don't remember if he won or if he missed on the last one, but for some reason that has stuck in my mind, because it looked so bizarre the way he could lean over like that.

 

[Plinco]

 

[zekko]

That was the longest 1:07 of my life.

 

[Atom Smasher]

LOL pretty funny.

I'm going to try to track down Stan and Ollie tonight. I only use a Fire Stick for TV as I'm not much of a media guy, but I should be able to find it.

I watched Carnival of Souls in color last night and it really drove home something I've always thought: Black and white creates a dream world that is a strange, dreamy shadow of our own world, but not quite our own.

Carnival of Souls is an excellent, creepy movie made in 1962 by Herk Harvey, a business film guy. He decided to try his hand with a horror feature. It has a creepy vibe all the way through, and it seems like some kind of remote dream of a world that is kind of like ours, but really isnt'. But when you watch it in color, the people seem less creepy and more accessible. The clothing looks more real, and the lush green trees and shrubbery too. The color itself wrenches the shadow out of dream-world and brings it into our world, thereby monumentally changing its tone and the viewers' interpretation.

Even with non-creepy movies and TV shows, black and white is still perceived as other-worldly on a subconscious level.

 

[zekko]

Have you ever seen people who paint in black and white? You can buy paints that are monochrome, different shades of black, white, and gray (and of course you can mix them further). Artists are well acquainted with values, and in black and white, that's all they have to worry about, they don't have to pay attention to colors.

I've seen Carnival of Souls, but it's been quite a few years. I had to look it up to remember what it was about.
Freaks is an interesting old horror movie. The Ramones got their "Gabba Gabba Hey" chant from it, lol.