Posts By Justin Gunterman
2018 has treated us kindly with big-budget releases like Deadpool 2, Black Panther, and Mission: Impossible – Fallout. It’s even more impressive to see more modestly budgeted movies performing exceptionally well at the box office. Movies like Crazy Rich Asians and A Quiet Place don’t seem like guaranteed successes, but they have managed to make quite a splash following their… Read more »
The term “overrated” is tough for writers because it’s hard to define what makes a movie overrated. If a movie is critically acclaimed but commercially under-the-radar, can it be considered overrated? Similarly, if a movie is a smash hit with everyone besides critics, can we define it as overrated? Because of this loose definition, the following list may be inconsistent… Read more »
Whew, now that the disappointing movies are out of the way it’s time to talk about the opposite of disappointing movies. Sometimes movies look really really bad and turn out to be really really good. Sometimes movies like kinda-sorta bad and turn out to be kinda-sorta good. Not everyone is an expert at predicting the quality of movies. Let’s be… Read more »
Since this has become somewhat customary, it appears that now is the time for another mid-year list of big disappointments. As much as Taste of Cinema readers love reading lists about recommendations, it’s worth exploring movies that may be better left avoided. It’s particularly important to talk about these movies because, in theory, they seemed like they could be very… Read more »
Contrary to popular belief, Oscar bait is a pretty new phenomenon. Back in the day, studios had vague ideas about what voters were looking for, but the 2000’s were really when everyone started to specifically target awards season voters. They noticed patterns pertaining to the preferred genre, release date, and cast members. This allowed them to take advantage of voters… Read more »
Let’s get one thing out of the way: this particular list isn’t meant to be pompous. Just because somebody doesn’t like a movie doesn’t mean they don’t understand it. That being said, there are some movies that fail to gain recognition because they’re too complicated. This doesn’t mean that people exclusively hate The Fountain because they don’t understand it. Rather,… Read more »
Even the best directors make mistakes. It’s not like Ridley Scott expected Alien: Covenant to gross a lousy $74 million domestically. Sometimes the most successful directors fail to drawn in a crowd. Whether that’s because of poor reviews, bad marketing, lack of interest, or some combination of the three, it’s hard for any director to deliver slam dunk after slam… Read more »
As fun as it is to talk about movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Gattaca, movie lovers can’t ignore the fact Hollywood loves release sci-fi flicks that are borderline unwatchable. For every Blade Runner, there are five movies on par with something like Battle Los Angeles. The good news is that the excellent sci-fi movies make the bad sci-fi… Read more »
The movies listed below are the most hated, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the worst. They just have a history of being cinematic punching bags. Critics hate them, regular filmgoers hate them, everyone hates them. For the most part, the hate is warranted. Though it is fair to say that some of these movies don’t deserve quite as much… Read more »
Let’s get one thing out of the way: not everyone understands Rotten Tomatoes. It’s easy to lump it in with IMDb and Metacritic when in reality it’s an aggregator that solely exists to say whether a movie deserves a thumbs up or a thumbs down. It doesn’t seek to tell people the degree of excellence or ineptitude. Rather, it seeks… Read more »
The Internet Movie Database allows any ol’ person to hop on their browser and rate a movie they’ve seen. Unlike Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic, the scores come straight from the registered members. Sure, the aforementioned sites allow user ratings, but they’re not the primary purpose of the website. Contrarily, IMDb thrives on user ratings. Some of the more popular movies… Read more »
It’s always great to see a movie with a stellar ensemble cast. Movies like The Help, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, and American Hustle benefit from excellent casts that eventually led them to being awards favorites. It’s less great to see a movie waste a talented cast. Contrary to popular belief, that actually happens far more than the average person… Read more »
Every year, the same performances are praised by the same group of people for everyone around the world to see. Everyone has heard about how wonderful Frances McDormand is in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Nobody would be surprised to learn that Daniel Day Lewis delivered another knockout performance in Phantom Thread. We all know who the critics and award… Read more »
Another year has passed, which means Taste of Cinema once again needs to look back at every great performance that has come along. Based on the competitive nature of this year’s awards season, it’s safe to say that 2017 has been one for the books. There will always be people who claim that a given year is a major letdown,… Read more »
What makes a good movie score? Is it how effectively the music pairs with the movie? Is it how easy the songs are to listen to by themselves? Determining what makes an effective score is a tricky task. Truthfully, it’s a combination of several elements. All of those elements were taken into account when compiling this list of the best… Read more »
Not every movie can rake in money like Wonder Woman or Beauty and the Beast. Every year, studios take big risks by putting too much hope in a project that ultimately fails. Sometimes, the box office failure can be seen from a mile away, as was the case for last year’s Gods of Egypt. Other times, an otherwise promising movie… Read more »
