Film Was it THAT bad?

Have you ever watched a movie that was panned by critics or fans, maybe even both, but you saw it and think it's gotten a worse rep than it actually deserves, and has some good in it. This is a place where you can share your appreciation for a movie that you enjoyed. A positive thread for movies that get little love. It might make an edition for TV and literature later, there's already a guilty pleasure music thread I see.

I'll be brave, and admit that I kinda like Dracula Untold. I have read reviews make rather vague criticisms that it's dull, the characters aren't complicated enough and the battles were too easy, but I think it's about as entertaining as many similar vampire titles were that were well-received honestly.

I thought the movie was visually stylish, and also an interesting take to portray Dracula as not a charismatic villain again, but instead the hero of the story. The 1992 Dracula directed by Francis Ford Coppola had a cool prologue that introduced Dracula as this passionate warrior, fiercely devoted to his wife and his church, and shows how his personal loss of both drives him to become a monster. I liked that part, a lot of people do, but it's literally just the first few minutes, before the story jumps ahead 400 years. So I appreciated that this one was a movie entirely about a Dracula fighting for a greater good. In this adaptation he is not evil, but simply a strong and practical ruler who was living in an evil age, and did what he had to do to ensure the welfare of his kingdom and family, probably not so different than many medieval monarchs.

I think Luke Evans, who stars as the titular character, played the part well, and would say the supporting cast overall was pretty good too like Sarah Gadon and Art Parkinson, and think the riveting performance of Charles Dance in particular has gotten overlooked. The only one I thought was miscast perhaps was Dominic Cooper, the accent was a little forced and he wasn't that scary as an antagonist, but it could have been far worse, I still know the guy's a decent actor.

Overall I'd probably give the movie 3 1/2 stars maybe. I thought it was decent.

What are your picks?

Interesting question! This will be one to come back to again and again as the memory allows!

There are a lot of films that fit the bill. I will start with James Bond.

For a very long time, On Her Majesty's Secret Service was literally a joke. George Lazenby was also a common punchline in the entertainment world.

I always loved this movie, it's easily my favourite 007 film, other's don't even come close for me. George is also my favourite Bond. He had a rawness and vulnerability that just felt so natural.

Thankfully, recent years have been much kinder to OHMSS and most Bond fans will now have it amongst their top few films, a lot of them even have it at number 1 like me!

Nothing came to mind so I've been scrolling through lists of what people consider bad movies. I'd say I've not even seen like 95% of these xD

Anyway, these are ones I recognized on the list and know I've seen:
-Nine Lives:

-Replicas:

-Reprisal:

-Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters:

I remember the Blind Side only get 2.5 stars out of five in my local newspaper review. I remember watching it in theaters with my grandmother, and loving it. So, tbh, my newspaper was wrong. Other than that, I can't think of any others atm that were panned by critics that I liked.