movie oddities

"HORRIBLE" MOVIES...THAT AREN'T
The machinery of public perception are a funny thing. As Twain said, a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its pants. Couple that with our sheep-like willingness to let other people do our thinking for us, and you have a formula for millions of people agreeing that something is "good" or "bad" without even experiencing it firsthand.
1) ISHTAR
This movie quickly became a cultural punchline, synonymous with big-budget, career-ending disaster (anyone been to an Elaine May film festival lately?). The negative reaction was certainly far too immediate for people to have judged the film on its own merits. I think perhaps this film was a victim of the need for mythological archetypes. We need cautionary tales, we need sometimes to build something up and just as quickly tear it down. I've heard other theories for why this movie was villified so, and this makes as much sense as any. The truth is, and i'm a little ashamed to admit this...when i first saw it, i agreed that it was bad. Had the power of popular perception affected even me, the champion of free thinking? When i saw it the second time (convinced to give it one more chance), i smiled a little. The third time, i quietly laughed. The fourth time i was guffawing, and a comedic legend was a-bornin'. The movie, ranked in 2008 as the 42nd greatest film of all time (by me, you peabrains) gained access to that rarefied place normally reserved for phenomenons like Python or Rocky Horror, where lines became catchphrases. I'm still not sure whether i didn't like it at first because i had bought into the popular perception, or because you need to see it a couple times before you appreciate it.
2) HEAD
The Monkees only feature film, released as their popularity was beginning to wane. It was soundly trashed at the box office. The style of the film, which was reportedly a result of the band's own insistence, was radically different from the TV show. The film is an absolute psychedelic head trip. And as such, it is fucking brilliant. Fans of the TV show hated it because it wasn't like the show, and the psychedelic-minded folk who would have loved it stayed away because it was the Monkees.
3) INVASION IOWA
Okay, it's not a movie, it's a reality TV mini-series. But it's ridiculously appropriate to this category. Why was this little piece of brilliance ignored even by Trek fans? It's one of the most devious, wide-ranging, committed practical jokes in the history of history. The set-up: William Shatner and a Hollywood film crew descend on a small Iowa town (the "birthplace" of Captain Kirk) to film a sci fi movie. They recruit townsfolk as actors and crew. But none of it's real: the dialogue and situations are over-the-top ridiculous, and the behavior of the L.A. cast/crew is an exaggeration of every Hollywood cliche. Simply brilliant.

"GREAT" FILMS...THAT AREN'T
People can be suckered into believing that a brilliant film is crap. The reverse may or may not be true, but people can certainly be suckered into believing that a good film is great.
1) THE GODFATHER
A good film. But not great. I offer no room for debate on this one. Whoever has done PR on this film since its release, deserves a bonus that comes in a truck. Any sentiment I could express is trumped by the Godfather segment from "The Family Guy".
2) LOTR: RETURN OF THE KING
Academy award?! Maybe the first film in the trilogy deserved honors. But the only award this film deserved is "greatest practical joke of an unending denouement", or "most intense gay porn scene in a mainstream film".
3) SPIDERMAN
Fine acting and production values, but it's a second rate kids' film.

THE SOUNDTRACK IS A GREATER ARTISTIC TRIUMPH THAN THE MOVIE
The films in this category are not bad. On the contrary, they're quite good, easily 7 or 8 stars. But the soundtracks, in and of themselves, are absolute, 10-star gems.
1) TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE
The satiric brilliance of these songs is almost entirely lost when watching the film, in which the songs are background and abbreviated. The full versions on the soundtrack are funnier by far than this funny movie.
2) A MIGHTY WIND
The comedic brilliance of these songs is not, for the most part, lost when watching the movie. As the songs are central to the plot, they receive much attention. Yet the songs are the more brilliant product, including and especially the Folksmen cover of a Rolling Stones ditty. Kum bay ya.