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50 Least Influential Movies
radagast writes "Gamepro.com has an awesome story up now listing the 50 Least Influential Movies ever - although I have to say The Garbage Pail Kids movie and Mac & Me both had a profound impact on my childhood. Check out the 10 Least influential TV list too.
"
I still remember the night I saw The Wizard. Being a little Nintendo freak (Sega sucks!) how could I miss it? That was the day I realized that there were adults out there who would do anything to get a few $ from anyone. Just slap a popular brand name on anything no matter how much it stinks, as long as it gets the $ from the kiddies. I still have my free little Nintendo Power mag that they gave out for free to get kids to subscribe.
Mr. T's motivational video "Be Somebody, Or Be Somebody's Fool" should probably be in that list somewhere.
I don't think there was an afternoon between May and September of 1985 that this movie didn't get played on HBO. This Dave Speed guy made the Green Lantern look like a kick-ass superhero by comparison.
Yes, but his lameness was what made him so endearing. That and his wierd accent. Or was it that they had him re-dub all his lines with no lip sync whatsoever? Maybe that was it. And with that kind of airplay, you can learn to love almost any bad movie. Must be related to that hostage syndrome (Stockholm syndrome?)
I actually would pay to have this one on DVD. Well, 10 bucks anyhow. And if you have a problem with that, some friends of mine are nuts about Thundercats, which I thought was pretty uninfluential myself. (Though I've heard its last season wasn't so bad, when the series was left to die, and the writers were left alone and wrote scripts that weren't aimed at six year olds.)
Which brings up the idea of variations on this theme. Certainly there should be an uninfluential TV series list. And then another one specifically for kids TV series.
I nominate Quark, staring Richard Benjamin, (which I was nuts about back in 1979) for the regular TV series list. Ah, the wonderful adventures of the United Galaxy Space Patrol. And Battlestar Galactica '80, which I absolutely hated, because it used the very same premise (they find Earth, but it's Earth in 1980) that had appeared six months earlier as a parody in Cracked magazine.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
OK! So you dared comparing the Holy Grail with American comedies? Bring forth the executioner.
What? Let's look here... the first comparison was with "Reckless Kelly" (Austrailian), the next was "Strange Brew" (Canadian, SCTV spinoff), and finally "Kentucky Fried Movie", which, though American, is a abberant case of a funny American Comedy.
The first film by the Zemekis (sp) Brothers, it was done before they were under studio influence (Airplane was great as well, but after that, they started going downhill. They do get points for casting William Shattner in the second best spoof of his Star Trek career). If you've seen this on the Comedy Channel, you haven't seen it. If you remember "Catholic High School Girls in Trouble", with a long shot of breasts pressed against a glass shower door, then you've watched the real thing.
Actually, I think the great American comedies are things like "Blues Brothers". But "Reckless Kelly" was the topic, and it's brand of humor is different, much closer to the movies I listed.
So yes, I did compare MP's QftHG to three movies, one of which was American. The movie I picked, however, is a shining example of similar humor - something that is consistently funny, varied surreal fun on a few different levels (slapstick to cultural references), and appeals to a variety of people.
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Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is"
Vidi, Vici, Veni
I take it you have HBO? Several years ago when I had cable, they managed to scoop up all the bad straight-to-video movies, as well as duds featured on the list.
I kinda liked Runaway's robots, but the movie wasn't that interesting.
I remember watching Superfuzz hundreds of times when we first got HBO(not cable, JUST HBO for starters), as well as Midnight Madness, starring Michael J Fox.
I must have seen the boxcovers to ALL these movies at least a hundred times. Working at a video store, you can't avoid it.
Wow, even when she was a kid, she was cute -- see the cast photo for Misfits of Science Nice wheels, Court. :o)
"How many light bulbs does it take to change a person?" --BMcC-->
I know I am too late for this to be read, let alone moderated, but I must protest!
Am I the only geek in the world (ok, maybe those German sites know something) who watched and enjoyed Riptide as a youth (beat out Miami Vice in my book)? Am I the only geek who owns a copy of K-Power with the Riptide stars on the cover (actually, that may be true!).
I loved the orange robot! It had guns, chase sequences, a robot and a nerd/geek/programmer for crying out loud! Between this and Whiz Kids, what young geek could want more???
I support the EFF - do you?
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
I can't believe there are THAT many posts about Midnight Madness and Superfuzz being played HOURLY on HBO's earlier days.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with those childhood horrors of cable TV.
The film nearly achieved immortality after being played repeatedly on cable during the mid-80s, but faded into obscurity after Ernest Borgnine himself is rumored to have found the movie "a bit lacking."
For those of you who may not have seen this movie, this is a bit like Satan showing up on your doorstep and telling you that your "a little bit too evil" in his view.
I don't think there was an afternoon between May and September of 1985 that this movie didn't get played on HBO. This Dave Speed guy made the Green Lantern look like a kick-ass superhero by comparison.
On a more serious not, I'd like to know where the hell Pizza Man is? Surely any movie with Bill Maher and the phrase "Exploding Sausage" deserves to be top 20 at least!
Well the movies seem to be predominantly crap and from the USA...
Can we have favourite East European motorbikes next week?
#25, Teen Wolf Too: "Apparently the original Teen Wolf just didn't say everything that needed to be said about the joys and tough life lessons of being both a teen and a wolf. Only instead of featuring a basketball-playing Michael J. Fox, the producers of Teen Wolf Too dragged out one of the Bateman kids (Jason) to play Fox's cousin as a wrestler or a boxer or some sort of wrestler/boxer. Bonus points are awarded because the filmmakers were inspired enough to include a frog-fight in the science lab, but the film's most touching and glorious moment comes when Teen Wolf Too, faced with sudden and unexplained popularity, sings and dances and jumps on a trampoline at a mansion pool party."
#46, The Wizard: "Fred Savage has an autistic friend who's also a video gaming savant, so they drag him to the Grand Video Game Championships and force him to perform for the ravenous Nintendo-loving crowd. It's like The Who's Tommy for the video game generation, except without the music, social consciousness, or thinly veiled drug metaphors. Oh, and The Wizard doesn't become a demi-god, either. A useless movie when it was released, this one gets even better with age because its big draw is a sneak preview of Super Mario Brothers 3. I tell ya, even after all those years... seeing that Tanooki Suit still makes me cry." (Go check out the memorable quotes on us.imdb.com)
I'm terribly ashamed I know this... but on the Garbage Pales Kids writeup, they mention one of the characters as "Fat Matt..." it was "Fat Pat..." (at least in card form). There was even a Garbage Pale the Kids TV Series. Tee hee!
Too funny, too funny...
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
Are you sure? It looks like he gave it the most prestigious department...
"from the dept."
Which department? The department.
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
A 95 minute commercial...
From the user comments on us.imdb.com:
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
Small Wonder. The show was pretty terrible...
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
I can't believe BioDome didn't make it... I usually make it a point not to see Pauly Shore movies, but my friends dragged me to this one... the only movie I've left in the middle (although I had very strong urges to walk out of Space Cowboys last weekend...
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
Not only was there a movie, but there was also a TV series... and collectors cards, I acutally bought a couple of packs when I was a kid...
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
Okay, I really love Heartbeeps. It's a great movie in my eyes... sort of a deconstructed Blade Runner crossed with Max Max and produced by Troma with a crew of SubGenius. Not only that, but Bernadette Peters (who is scorchingly hot normally) plays a Soriyama style Gynoid.
Okay... so I can understand people who don't "get it". That's fine - I own the video and my significant other loves it as well. But don't you dare say that "Reckless Kelly" isn't great.
Oh, sure, I'll buy "little influence", but it's a classic like "Kentucky Fried Movie", "Strange Brew" or "Monty Python and Quest for the Holy Grail". Haul it out every once in awhile with a group of people - it's pretty much guarenteed to appeal to most everyone. Over the top humor, (Nuns in lingere, gun phones, "Big Mac-Beth", a character quoting Shakespeare while chowing on a burger and playing a bagpipe) that hits at many levels (okay, mostly low humor) makes Reckless Kelly a wide appeal film.
At the *very* least, you get to see Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith from the Matrix) in his full, Austrailian accented glory, partner up with fellow bad guy Alexei Sayle (the Balowski family from the BBC's "Young Ones").
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
OK, this is a very funny link, but I do take issue with a few things:
#33 - I loved masters of the universe when I was a kid. I had all the action figures. Maybe he's right and in reality the movie did suck, but I don't appreciate my childish fantasy world being broken.
#32 - Yes, this movie sucked, but I think the reviewer missed the point with the "trapped in a world he never made" tagline. This is a direct quote from the "Howard the Duck" comic book, which is nothing less than one of the most brilliant humor books ever published. The "real" comic book howard was witty, satirical, biting, and nothing at all like the horrible mis-representation that is his movie version. The tagline is not intended to make sense.
#24 - This is actually one of my favorite movies. It was way underrated when it came out, but its actually an incredibly funny comedy which is also somewhat touching. Al Franken is great as Stuart (I love his work in general), and the scenes with his family being dysfunctional are really rolling-in-the-ailes quality. I don't see what he has against this movie. Am I crazy here? Does anyone agree with me?
#20 - Wow. Is this a joke? I have never, ever heard of anything like this before. A live action Garbage Pail Kids movie. I'm really glad I never watched this.
#3 - Sidekicks. How could this not be #1?
There you have my rantings. Take them for what they're worth. Keep in mind its 3am.'
-W.W.
"Well it should be obvious to even the most dim-witted individual who holds an advanced degree in hyperbolic topology...
Anybody else remember paying $8.00 to see the Star Wars Episode I trailer and then sticking around for a 2 hour movie that should have been more appropriately titled "The Search for the Medic?"
Seriously, The movie had everything! Bad acting! Bad plot! Bad 3D graphics! Come on --you can see the seams in the texture maps if you look carefully.
I simply refuse to accept the fact they ignored "Cool As Ice", Vanila Ice's motion picture debut! What a classic.
Heh! I thought the movie was related to Half-Life game hehe.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
But it influenced the writers of GURPS Cyberpunk into listing it in the 'Inspirational Watching/Reading' section of their book. It might have been crap, but it had some influence.
While I'm earning my (-1, Offtopic), I'd like to mention a movie that had entirely too much influence in the sense that it managed to get funding for at least four sequels:
Witchboard 1-5. These movies are seriously the most terrible, heinous excrement I have ever had the misfortune to witness. If someone is compiling a list of "Top 50 Movies That Would Make Visiting Aliens Doubt Human Sentience", Witchboard should be at the top.
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Well at least one of the turkeys I worked on made it on the list (#12 Carpool). I am partly responsible for bringing this travesty to the big screen in a one-of-the-little-people sort of way. I even got my name in the credits. Unfortunately they don't let crew members remove their names from movies like directors can. (Yes, I used to be an MPAA stooge, but I'm feeling much better now.)
David Paymer is a good guy and I have a lot of respect for him, but people like Tom Arnold should never be allow anywhere near a film set. One of the highlights of the whole experience was putting Tom and Rod Steiger in the same room and watching the battle of the egos. No contest. At least Rod earned his ego and has a golden statue or two to back it up.
The real tragedy was that before Carpool made it to the theatres and proved to the world that Tom had no business starring in movies, they let him make The Stupids and McHale's Navy. All three made the top ten list of that years least profitable films.
Trickster Coyote
Illusions are real.
Ideology is for ideots.
I'm afraid that's not quite true. Spirit of '76 had a stupendously small budget, opened to no fanfare, and then basically went straight to the Rep joints and video stores. Something like The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is more what you're describing. Frankly, I'm not sure why the Spirit of '76 makes this list at all, since it actually has some decent scenes, and didn't aim high enough to have failed expectations.
One other bizarre inclusion on this list is Zardoz. Now, Zardoz isn't "a masterpiece" as some weirdos have believed, but it is one of the most hilarious movies ever made. Oh, wait: I forgot that it wasn't supposed to be a comedy. Never mind. :-)
Two movies not on this list which should be, though, were the early 70s remake of Lost Horizon and the first picture that Joan Rivers directed, Rabbit Test. The fact that you just said "Huh?" twice is strong evidence for my position. :-)
Babar
My moderation results said that I moderated this as +1 (Normal). And sure enough, it gained the point. How bizarre. Anyway, I'm posting this to undo that random act of moderation.
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No more e-mail address game - see my user info. Time for revenge.
Win dain a lotica, en vai tu ri silota
"Cadillac Man" wasn't by any means a great film, but it really wasn't bad, either. Williams' character was fairly interesting and entertaing ("God, I love to sell!"), and Tim Robbins played his old-style Dumb White Guy part well. The only lost points I saw in it were from letting Fran Drescher have an opportunity to speak on the big screen - I hate that voice!
Anyhow, it wasn't that bad - worth a rainy night rental.
How could they have put "Cadillac Man" on the list when there are dozens of overlooked Kevin Costner movies to choose from?
- -Josh Turiel
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
Am I the only person that got screwed and actually paid to see "River of Death" (w/ the ever shakespearean Michael Dudikoff), "Eve of Destruction" (Greegory Hines & some cyborg chick), or "Blind Fury" (I worshipped Rutger Hauer until I saw this nightmare).
I have to confess renting "Spaced Invaders", having seen it in the theatres. Yes, I did enjoy it a little.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
Could it have been the "Movie that the kids put in the garbage paid?"
Fight Spammers!
Pfft. This is a clear rip-off of The Onion's Least Essential Albums of the 90's.
Now THOSE were useless.
-jay
Check out Leisure Town. It's funny.
Oh hehe. Sorry :).
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Is that the movies listed aren't just obscure movies, they are movies that had reasonably large budgets and which were well hyped in advertisements when they came out, but flopped horribly. People really expected "Heartbeeps" to do well when it came out in 1981. But it not only flopped, it practically deleted itself from the collective subconscious. Sure some low-budget grade Z movies are more obscure, but they had no chance of not being obscure.
Anyway:
The point I was trying to make in my oh, so iconoclastic (clumsy?) way was that only the superficial elements of the story were influential... the actual theme of the movie was not, because no one seems to have gotten the point. E.g. It could very well be that Fargo wouldn't of happened without Pulp Fiction, but that doesn't really mean very much, because Fargo also has nothing of any importance in common with Pulp Fiction.I dunno, maybe I didn't put this very well:
This story has absolutely nothing to do with Napster, Linux or software licensing issues, and provides practically /no/ trolling potential.
I am apalled.
Ohmagod! I can't believe someone remembers Mac and Me! I must of been 7 years old when that came out (1989, right?) that movie was the shit even at such a young age, I was struck by the magnitude of what I was seeing.
Capturing up aliens with vacum cleaners! Strange hippie orphan girls living alone in tents on the edge of town! It was something to be remembered.
However, Mac and Me has been lost to history....how sad....we really need a Mac and Me Special Edition.