Moves that are great... until they're not

[The Borgified Corpse]

Die Another Day.

Yeah, a lot of Bond movies could end up on this list.

I agree about Die Another Day. The 1st half would put it amidst my all-time favorite Bond films. I love the North Korea stuff, James Bond getting captured & tortured, and the big sword fight. But once it gets to the ice hotel, the movie starts sucking hard & fast. They simply pile on too many rediculous gadgets at once, with the invisible car, all the lasers, a giant space-laser, and that weird mechanical suit that the bad guy is wearing at the end.

Casino Royale is also a very uneven film. The beginning is excellent and it occasionally peaks back into excellent territory. However, whenever they go back to the poker table, the movie grinds to an excruciating halt. The film also has nearly as many endings as The Return of the King.

What a timely topic. I just suffered thru The Bader-Meinhof Complex.

Ahhh. Needs more Bader, less Meinhof I guess?

 

[Gepard]

I personally feel that "Alien" is far more interesting before the adult creature shows up and starts knocking off the crew one by one.

I can actually understand this. I love the film, but when I think about it, the implied worldbuilding and characterization of the setup is what pops to mind; everything after is fairly standard haunted-house stuff.

My nominees:

Bicentennial Man.
I really liked this film the first time I saw it, but I rewatched it last night and realized that Roger Ebert was exactly right when he said:

Strange, how definitely the film goes wrong. At the 60-minute mark, I was really enjoying it. Then it slowly abandons its most promising themes and paradoxes, and turned into a series of slow, soppy scenes involving love and death. And since the beloved woman is essentially always the same person (played by Davidtz) the movie begins to seem very long and very slow, and by the end, when Andrew hopefully says, "See you soon," we hope he is destined for Home Appliance Heaven.

A pity, because it had a good premise and some strong ideas. Plus cool future robots.

Star Trek (2009).
I quote myself on this:

I'd say that a development of themes was lacking. The story offered several in the beginning – a rehash of the "no win" idea, the idea of working hard to improve oneself, some thoughts on choosing one's path in life, and the notion of emotional pain, loss and grief, having to face a conflicted nature, and, by the writers' own admission, a theme about having to change what you know.

Which might be part of the problem, actually. The script had so many thematic balls in the air at once with no clear sense of how they related to each other beyond that they were happening to a bunch of people at the same time that it came across as lacking focus. Again, as setup, that's fine--I'd rather see a story be ambitious and try to tackle a lot of themes rather than too few; but it's when we got to the end of the story and it didn't do anything to pull all those threads together into a cohesive whole that the movie retroactively fell apart.

Signs.
It starts as a creepy atmosphereic piece about loss and mystery...and ends with aliens defeated by water. Because God loves us. Do I need to say more?

I'm sure there's more, but that's what leaps to mind right now.

 

[Andrew_Kearley]

Moonraker's a good example as well.

That's Moonraker, very nearly the best Bond movie ever.

Apart from the Jaws comedy moments,

Granted, those can be a bit juvenile - still very funny though...

it's a pretty decent Moore-era Bond flick until they go into space.

I'll just say that again: they GO INTO SPACE!!!! A brilliant movie just gets better!!!!!

 

[Roger Wilco]

I thought As Good As It Gets was great in the first half until it got overly corny.

 

[Broccoli]

The Illusionist was great, until they revealed the various twists which made no sense whatsoever and felt incredibly tacked on.

 

[Kegg]

Atonement's first act was magnificient. The follow-up acts, not so much.

 

[Gaith]

I thought As Good As It Gets was great in the first half until it got overly corny.

Ooh, good one! I agree; seeing the two characters interact was a lot of fun, but the romance just didn't work.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Moonraker's a good example as well.

That's Moonraker, very nearly the best Bond movie ever.

Apart from the Jaws comedy moments,

Granted, those can be a bit juvenile - still very funny though...

it's a pretty decent Moore-era Bond flick until they go into space.

I'll just say that again: they GO INTO SPACE!!!! A brilliant movie just gets better!!!!!

This post disqualifies you from ever speaking of a Bond movie again.

 

[Aragorn]

Star Trek: Insurrection. Seemed pretty interesting until they starting singing during the shuttlepod chase. Then the rest of the movie seemed to go in that direction.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I personally feel that "Alien" is far more interesting before the adult creature shows up and starts knocking off the crew one by one.

I can actually understand this. I love the film, but when I think about it, the implied worldbuilding and characterization of the setup is what pops to mind; everything after is fairly standard haunted-house stuff.

[...]

Star Trek (2009).
I quote myself on this:

I'd say that a development of themes was lacking. The story offered several in the beginning – a rehash of the "no win" idea, the idea of working hard to improve oneself, some thoughts on choosing one's path in life, and the notion of emotional pain, loss and grief, having to face a conflicted nature, and, by the writers' own admission, a theme about having to change what you know.

Which might be part of the problem, actually. The script had so many thematic balls in the air at once with no clear sense of how they related to each other beyond that they were happening to a bunch of people at the same time that it came across as lacking focus. Again, as setup, that's fine--I'd rather see a story be ambitious and try to tackle a lot of themes rather than too few; but it's when we got to the end of the story and it didn't do anything to pull all those threads together into a cohesive whole that the movie retroactively fell apart.

I'd put both Alien & Star Trek (2009) in this same category. They both have some great characters and some strong performances but the actual story in each is kinda weak.

And since we're mentioning Alien, I feel the need to emphasize this fact: Yaphet Kotto rocks!!!!

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I thought As Good As It Gets was great in the first half until it got overly corny.

I thought As Good As It Gets was one of the most ridiculous films ever made. Not because it was a bad film or anything, but just because I am supposed to buy the most ridiculous romantic pairing in the history of romance. Put aside the fact that Nicholson is like 80 years older than her, he was also a completely unlikable character. A mentally ill racist? Yeah that's a good guy to have in her kids life. If Hollywood actually had a sense of irony I would say this film was a parody showing how absolutely absurd romantic comedies had gotten, but we all know Hollywood has no irony.

 

[Broccoli]

I thought As Good As It Gets was great in the first half until it got overly corny.

I thought As Good As It Gets was one of the most ridiculous films ever made. Not because it was a bad film or anything, but just because I am supposed to buy the most ridiculous romantic pairing in the history of romance. Put aside the fact that Nicholson is like 80 years older than her, he was also a completely unlikable character. A mentally ill racist? Yeah that's a good guy to have in her kids life. If Hollywood actually had a sense of irony I would say this film was a parody showing how absolutely absurd romantic comedies had gotten, but we all know Hollywood has no irony.

Unless your name is Ben Stiller and you want to make a war movie.

 

[Avalon]

MISSION TO MARS. Really excellent...until they actually get to Mars.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^^
I agree with that one...

Some others:

Sphere-Strong acting, then just gets plain stupid...

The Mist-I already made a thread about this film...lol

 

[Gaith]

The Mist is awesome from beginning to end.

 

[Gepard]

^True dat.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

The Mist is awesome from beginning to end.

^True dat.

Gaith and Gep, I'm sorry...but haven't we met before concerning the same subject....?

I would actually watch it again to see if I missed anything, but certain parts are a little gruesome (or just plan 'Ewww') for me.

That's cool, though. As I probably mentioned in The Mist thread, that is what films are about: Different opinions coming from different people...

Dick Tracy has a rating of like 'five point something' on IMDB, but I thought it was a fun, cool film with a story that works better than some films with higher ratings.

Anywho, some others:

*Posse-I saw this awhile back; it's interesting to watch (especially for drop-dead sexy Salli Richardson) but the 'story' doesn't just hold. There are things that date the film as a 90s film; and, certain things don't work...but I guess I see it as a guilty pleasure.

It starts off interesting, but it turns into another film midway.

*Red Planet-It starts of with an interesting premise of trying to find life on Mars, but turns into the 'mad robot' film, as well as 'evil planet' film, IIRC.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Live Free Or Die Hard is decent, then derails when they get to Kevin Smith's house. Later we have John McClane vs. F22's and shit.

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, the kids...I still like the movie on some level and understand Max regaining his humanity theme aspect...but....

Dawn of the Dead (remake), the baby arrives and then its let's leave the safety of the mall and all die!

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Live Free Or Die Hard is decent, then derails when they get to Kevin Smith's house. Later we have John McClane vs. F22's and shit.

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, the kids...I still like the movie on some level and understand Max regaining his humanity theme aspect...but....

Dawn of the Dead (remake), the baby arrives and then its let's leave the safety of the mall and all die!

Good choices...!

 

[CorporalClegg]

Live Free Or Die Hard is decent, then derails when they get to Kevin Smith's house. Later we have John McClane vs. F22's and shit.

For the record, it was an F-35 and a highly exaggerated display of its VTOL capability.