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Grover-21
Reviews
Graveyard Shift (1990)
Oh, Rats
Seeing a certain overrated Oscar-winning film recently made me think about making a list of the worst films I've ever seen. This one is Number One. There is absolutely nothing good about this movie. Hideously unappealing characters stumble about in the dark until they're killed by bad special effects. I saw it in a theater in Philly in 1990. People were actually talking back to the screen, and the audience seemed to be enjoying their comments more than the film! Unfortunately, this wouldn't have worked on the real Mystery Science Theater 3000: it's far too dull. I love horror movies, but the only horror here was mine at being stuck watching this disaster. Avoid this film at all costs.
American Beauty (1999)
What Is Up With This Film?
What Is Everyone Talking About?
I saw this film on the recommendation of people whose opinions I trusted. They said it was a masterpiece. I feel like I saw a different movie. American Beauty was one of the biggest turkeys I've ever seen. I very nearly walked out on it, which is something I don't do. I found the plot contrived and predictable and the characters cartoonish. The suburban schlub Dad? The frustrated wife? The brooding teenager? The closeted gay psychopath? These aren't characters, they're cliches. Spacey and Benning were good, as they always are, but no actor can rescue a script this far down in the trash. The scene with the bag blowing in the wind was the single most brainless thing I've ever seen in a movie, except in Z-grade sci fi or horror (and it gives some of those films a run for their money.) This pic would be perfect for MST3K if it weren't so brain-deadeningly dull. I came expecting intelligent, engaging drama. All I got was overwrought, amateurish nonsense.