What is the first immediate sign that a movie is going to suck?

5 months ago by TheImpressiveX to c/movies

IWW4 33 points 5 months ago

Unfortunately for too long now: “A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away”

Directed by:

  • Uwe Boll
  • Michael Bay

If you see this logo:

The company is the king of what used to be called Direct To Video. Now it is all Direct to Streaming.

path: 0 23818800, hotness: undefined, score: 33, children: 3
cheat700000007 10 points 5 months ago

Don't forget Adam Sandler

path: 0 23818800 23823729, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 2
statler_waldorf 10 points 5 months ago

Only if it's a Happy Gilmore production. If he's acting in someone else's movie, he can be a great actor.

path: 0 23818800 23823729 23826078, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 0
Maestro 2 points 5 months ago

Ehhh..... "Spaceman" was pretty good actually

path: 0 23818800 23823729 23824955, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
aeronmelon 30 points 5 months ago

Two character immediately infordumping to each other as if that’s how humans normally communicate.

“Are you ready? This is going to be a hard job. As you know, they’ve tightened security but we got a man on the inside. As long as does his job then it’s smooth sailing.”

“I was born ready. Eveeything will be fine as long as the shipment is on time. As you know, we put a tracker on the lead car and I can watch exactly where it is from this device in real-time.”

path: 0 23821723, hotness: undefined, score: 30, children: 12
mlg 11 points 5 months ago

Compare this to the bank robbery opening in Dark Knight haha.

I've never seen Heat, but I've also never seen any newer movies top that scene since.

path: 0 23821723 23822033, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 8
DagwoodIII 9 points 5 months ago

Heat is as good as people have been telling you.

There's also a novel, Heat 2, written by the movie's director that serves as a prequel and sequel.

path: 0 23821723 23822033 23825033, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 6
passenger 4 points 5 months ago

And I hear soon there is Heat 2 the movie

path: 0 23821723 23822033 23825033 23828792, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 2
DagwoodIII 2 points 5 months ago

I hope they use younger actors. 'Space Cowboys' had younger actors lip synching Eastwood and Jones for the early scenes. Either that or do it an an animation, the way they brought back Adam West to do a final Batman movie.

I hate deaging.

path: 0 23821723 23822033 23825033 23828792 23833716, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 1
SharkWeek 2 points 5 months ago
path: 0 23821723 23822033 23825033 23829346, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 2
harmbugler 5 points 5 months ago

The cat & mouse between the protagonists and the unfolding similarity of their drives and subsequent impact on their personal lives.

path: 0 23821723 23822033 23825033 23829346 23829906, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 1
HarkMahlberg 2 points 5 months ago

Oh, please watch Heat if for no other reason than the sound work. Nobody tell him what I mean by that.

path: 0 23821723 23822033 23841167, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
mnemonicmonkeys 9 points 5 months ago

Two character immediately infordumping to each other as if that’s how humans normally communicate.

How dare you besmirch The Princess Bride!

path: 0 23821723 23827291, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 0
db0 2 points 5 months ago

Classic film made for people doomscrolling their phones

path: 0 23821723 23825614, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
voxthefox 1 point 5 months ago

Agreed, this reads to me like the whole introduction hit the cutting room floor

path: 0 23821723 23835454, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
voxthefox 28 points 5 months ago

Oversaturated marketing campaign and overly bloated cast are the two big red flags for me.

Both are indicative that the budget for the movie was not put towards the actual content of the film but about trying to pull in the largest demographics of people.

path: 0 23818713, hotness: undefined, score: 28, children: 1
scrubbles 9 points 5 months ago path: 0 23818713 23819612, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 0
Notyou 21 points 5 months ago

Directed by JJ Abrams

path: 0 23820537, hotness: undefined, score: 21, children: 0
gasgiant 18 points 5 months ago

Wow first one to say Jared Leto.

Unless I've missed morbin time suddenly becoming popular?

path: 0 23824617, hotness: undefined, score: 18, children: 0
wyldrstallyns 12 points 5 months ago

Jared Leto

path: 0 23831889, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 3
LadyButterfly 5 points 5 months ago

This is a 100% accurate statement

path: 0 23831889 23838385, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
SaveTheTuaHawk -1 points 5 months ago

I see your Jared Leto, and raise you an Adam Driver.

path: 0 23831889 23839262, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 1
wyldrstallyns 2 points 5 months ago

You see my FIFA and raise an orange slice? 😅

path: 0 23831889 23839262 23839415, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
A_norny_mousse 12 points 5 months ago

If it's a comedy: the first joke.

But there's always exceptions to any rule. I recently watched Spaceballs (yes, first time) and it would normally fall under "suck", but it got increasingly better as it went along.

path: 0 23818736, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 0
B0NK3RS 11 points 5 months ago
  • Camera cuts

It sucks for me because once they start with the unnecessary cuts it pulls me right out and I'll probably stop watching.

path: 0 23820507, hotness: undefined, score: 11, children: 0
Senal 10 points 5 months ago

these logo's:

Though i will say the production value on the latest daily wire show was really high, probably the absolute fuck-tonne of money they spent on it.

path: 0 23821059, hotness: undefined, score: 10, children: 4
IWW4 5 points 5 months ago

What the hell is Angel. I am seeing that company logo all over. Are they a distribution house or are they some sort of religious shit?

path: 0 23821059 23822315, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 2
A_norny_mousse 4 points 5 months ago

Definitely the latter, but also MAGA, the whole shebang. They recently made full proper movie versions of Q-Anon "documentaries". One of my favorite podcasters grudgingly had to admit that the production is more than just OK.

They popped up on fascist grifters podcasts, but are going more mainstream now.
They are clearly benefiting from the current political currents in the USA.

Also, Jim Caviezel 🤮

path: 0 23821059 23822315 23830078, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
Senal 4 points 5 months ago

I think they are kind of like a production house with an additional kickstarter backing thing, or small individual investors of some other kind, i'm not sure.

Here is the wiki

Their programming is pretty faithy, have a look at the lineup and you'll see from the titles.

I don't care much for that genre, but i don't see it as that much different than any other genre, it's just not for me.

What i will say is that their productions are the faith based equivalent of straight to vhs action movies.

It's generic dross with meh writing and some reasonable production values.

but that's just my opinion, perhaps it's worth a shot if you're into that kind of genre.

path: 0 23821059 23822315 23822695, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
corsicanguppy 1 point 5 months ago

logo's

logos? Like regular pluralization?

path: 0 23821059 23839362, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Mycatiskai 9 points 5 months ago

Starring Mark Wahlberg.

The only exception is The Other Guys.

path: 0 23828533, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 1
mech 9 points 5 months ago

Pain & Gain is a goddamn masterpiece, and I'm willing to die on this hill.

path: 0 23828533 23829263, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 0
iagomago 9 points 5 months ago
  • Netflix lighting
  • Generic, Zimmer-stolen OST
  • Franchises
  • Standard blocking
  • Overexposition
  • Whedonisms
  • More broadly, anything that's been big budget Hollywood for the last 30 years or so.
path: 0 23829170, hotness: undefined, score: 9, children: 3
corsicanguppy 3 points 5 months ago

Whedonisms

What the heck is that? I liked buffy and firefly, so use those as an example if you could.

path: 0 23829170 23839258, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 2
sibannac 1 point 5 months ago

Yeah, do they mean pre- or post- marvel?

path: 0 23829170 23839258 23841983, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1
iagomago 2 points 5 months ago

Never watched Buffy but anything that's been flogged to death by Marvel movies, yes.

path: 0 23829170 23839258 23841983 23847014, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
PeculiarGoat 8 points 5 months ago

When the trailer is just a highlights reel of the entire plot. If the movie was worth watching they would let it speak for itself.

path: 0 23831555, hotness: undefined, score: 8, children: 0
nonentity 7 points 5 months ago

This is a very lazy observation, but for a US production, if it’s released in the US first it’s often a sign they’re trying to get the opening weekend without many reviews available to dissuade attendance.

If it’s actually a good film, it’ll open in a foreign region a week or two before the US so they can use those reviews in promotion.

path: 0 23825310, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0
bigbangdangler 7 points 5 months ago

Pacing that feels more like an Instagram reel than a feature film.

Excessive use of poor effects or artificial camera shake.

path: 0 23821122, hotness: undefined, score: 7, children: 0
CmdrShepard49 6 points 5 months ago

Typically things I look for are a movie that's pushed like its a big budget film but doesn't have any actors I've ever heard of.

Too much expositional dialogue at the beginning of the movie especially when its so foreign to the way people talk in real life.

In the new Star Wars movie, the "can you hear me now?" "joke" in the first 5 minutes.

Unnecessary sequels to a completed story.

I'm sure there are others but my break is over and this is all I could think of.

path: 0 23818820, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
DagwoodIII 6 points 5 months ago

More than five 'executive producers.'

path: 0 23825059, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
snooggums 6 points 5 months ago

A lot of directors and actors/actresses are massive red flags based on the projects that they take on. If they are also working with a star studded cast then it is going to suck so much. The Rock and Chris Pratt have earned their current association with bland movies that suck for example. I still like some older Rock movies from before he became bland action hero who can't show weakness for any reason. Pratt is fun as Starlord, but his other roles are mediocre.

Bland marketing is often a bad sign, where it is hard to tell the thing is different than a bunch of other similar movies. Bland action movies are a great example of this, if they can't pull of a unique impression from the trailers it is most likely going to suck.

path: 0 23821233, hotness: undefined, score: 6, children: 0
BarneyPiccolo 5 points 5 months ago

Voiceover

path: 0 23819272, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
mlg 5 points 5 months ago

Detailed CGI in sci fi that's been lense or motioned blurred into oblivion.

Doesn't even matter if the CGI was subpar because now the whole thing looks like RGB vommit.

It's especially painful coming from gaming where you get to see crisp visual quality at every angle even on games as old as Halo CE.

path: 0 23822136, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
SharkWeek 5 points 5 months ago
path: 0 23829425, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
Janx 5 points 5 months ago

For comedies, none of the jokes in the trailer are that funny or make you laugh.

path: 0 23819745, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
Krudler 5 points 5 months ago

Promoted in media, then suddenly disappears and not heard of again for 4-8 months.

It went horribly with test audiences, then got sent for a focus-group-based reworking. Always trash.

path: 0 23820722, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
Frenchgeek 5 points 5 months ago

When you can't escape the ads for it.

path: 0 23842329, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
buliarous 5 points 5 months ago

exposition in the form of character monologue at a length longer than 30 seconds that is required for the rest of the movie to make sense.

path: 0 23823299, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 2
statler_waldorf 3 points 5 months ago

I'd say any bad exposition, no matter how short. I was marginally interested in watching Shang-Chi after watching Wonder Man since I heard Trevor was in it too.

Right after the intro sequence, they jump to the present to introduce him and his friend and she immediately says something like "we've been friends for 10 years" and it was just so forced that I turned it off.

path: 0 23823299 23826065, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
Focal 3 points 5 months ago

Two come to mind here, neither are bad.

Dune and The Lord of the Rings.

I suspect these two to be exceptions to the rule of thumb you're proposing though, but I can't actually think of any that does this poorly.

Got any examples?

path: 0 23823299 23826142, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
lichtmetzger 5 points 5 months ago

Movies funded by Germany.

It's always the same type of movie. Either we get some boomer vs. youth plot, a family (+child) with relationship problems or something about the second world war. It's the most boring slop for our aging population you can imagine.

path: 0 23838057, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
roofuskit 4 points 5 months ago

Typically the impression I get from the trailer. I have seen so many trailers and so many movies I usually can't even tell you why anymore.

path: 0 23818133, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
schroedingersKoala 4 points 5 months ago

Directed by: Uwe Boll

path: 0 23820158, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
LovableSidekick 3 points 5 months ago

In a world...

path: 0 23830325, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
Mr_Wobble 1 point 5 months ago
path: 0 23830325 23847531, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
DarrinBrunner 3 points 5 months ago

The first three minutes is a mish-mash string of production company logos, and half of them you've never heard of before.

path: 0 23837039, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
Cherry 3 points 5 months ago

Anything where the poster/promo has a man and woman apart but kinda the same each other (grumpy or lustfully). Relationship waffle made into movies is the most boring looking crap. It usually has a 3-5 word little like ‘you said forever’ or ‘beneath the elderflower moon’

path: 0 23830263, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 2
corsicanguppy 1 point 5 months ago

"you've got mail"?

"When Harry met Sally"?

path: 0 23830263 23839073, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1
Cherry 1 point 5 months ago

It’s more the newer stuff. Netflix style stuff.

path: 0 23830263 23839073 23839340, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
MrNesser 3 points 5 months ago

budget blown in the first 5 minutes followed by 85 minutes of people in random uniforms in blank rooms with crappy laptops

path: 0 23836705, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
whotookkarl 3 points 5 months ago

It opens with a talking head news reporter monologuing a voiceover of some bullshit

path: 0 23826397, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 1
NigelFrobisher 5 points 5 months ago

Fucking news reports playing straight to screen without any characters reacting to them are a pox on storytelling. You can spot the exact moment where Sam Raimi mentally checks out of Spider-man 3 when this happens - the bit the studio made him do because they wanted Venom in the movie (not the Emo Parker bits, which are intentionally cringe and awesome).

path: 0 23826397 23830123, hotness: undefined, score: 5, children: 0
yessikg 3 points 5 months ago

If it's a movie about a woman and it's written and directed by a man

path: 0 23822521, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 2
statler_waldorf 12 points 5 months ago

Aliens

path: 0 23822521 23826160, hotness: undefined, score: 12, children: 1
yessikg 4 points 5 months ago

There are always exceptions but 99% of the time the movie ends up being misogynistic garbage

path: 0 23822521 23826160 23828163, hotness: undefined, score: 4, children: 0
jimmy90 2 points 5 months ago

the cast are doing an awful lot of press

path: 0 23830521, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
Inucune 2 points 5 months ago

If you have a character singing and dancing in the first 5 minutes and it is not produced by Disney, or a musical.

path: 0 23837224, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
PillBugTheGreat 2 points 5 months ago

Trailer blitzes

path: 0 23826465, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
pumpupthejam 1 point 5 months ago

Every minute over 90 minutes adds to how much a movie sucks exponentially.

path: 0 23836151, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 1
corsicanguppy 3 points 5 months ago

I watched Lord of the Rings, which seems to be one long movie broken into pieces, and I don't think it sucks as much as the formula suggests for a 720-min runtime.

path: 0 23836151 23839040, hotness: undefined, score: 3, children: 0
jet 1 point 5 months ago

If the only thing promoting the movie is it's politics, or controversy over its politics, that means the rest of the movie isn't very interesting, otherwise that's what people would be talking about.

path: 0 23830695, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
Notamoosen 1 point 5 months ago

There's a mysterious person/killer, that only the protagonist can see.

path: 0 23855434, hotness: undefined, score: 1, children: 0
SaveTheTuaHawk -1 points 5 months ago

Adam Driver.

path: 0 23839291, hotness: undefined, score: -1, children: 0
movies
movies

@piefed.social

login for more options
4008
3371
3011

A community about movies and cinema.

Related communities:

Rules

  1. Be civil
  2. No discrimination or prejudice of any kind
  3. Do not spam
  4. Stay on topic
  5. These rules will evolve as this community grows

No posts or comments will be removed without an explanation from mods.

go to feed...