Sometimes, less is more! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we’re looking at movies whose efforts outweighed their results.
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00:00Who did you write the letter to I?
00:05Wrote the letter to death welcome to watch mojo and today
00:09We're looking at movies whose efforts outweighed their results out this time of night
00:15Do you know where it's kind of a matter of life and death?
00:19Number 20
00:21natural-born killers as a filmmaker Oliver Stone is known for being
00:26Provocative in his commentary on modern society, but if there was ever a time to reign him in it was here
00:43Natural-born killers stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as murderous lovers who become folk heroes
00:50Thanks to the sensationalist media while there is validity to the point about the dangers of celebrity culture and the bloodthirsty
00:58Pursuit of ratings. It's delivered. So ham-fisted ly they killed every customer in the place with that hesitation
01:05It certainly doesn't help that the visual presentation is purposefully disorienting
01:10Making what could have been a meaningful examination of society turn into a two-hour headache
01:17I'm a natural-born killer
01:20Thor love and thunder
01:22Thor Ragnarok the third film headlined by Chris Hemsworth's hammer-wielding superhero is
01:29Widely considered to be the best of its series. Oh
01:32Stop just for once in your life. Don't smash
01:37big monster
01:38Much of this can be credited to director Taika Waititi
01:42Successfully bringing a lighter touch to the MCU
01:46Unfortunately that didn't work nearly as well for the follow-up
01:50Really have to stop beating like this
01:53Call the axe when you called the dentist the plotline involving a villain known as gore the God butcher and Thor's ex
02:00Jane Foster's cancer diagnosis is far too serious for the pervasely
02:07Jokey tone Waititi employs we sneak our way towards Stormbreaker being very careful not to bump into any of those big shadow monsters
02:15We
02:18Don't think this movie should be completely humorless, but the balance is so skewered. It's hard to care about the actual stakes
02:27That's a necro sword. That's cool. I've only ever read about it in stories
02:41Number 18
02:43mother
02:44Darren Aronofsky's go-for-broke directing style serves him well for some projects and not so well for others
02:52mother is
02:53squarely in the latter category
02:55Yes, one of those pictures of you in his luggage
02:59What were you doing in their luggage?
03:02Using the biblical story of creation as inspiration for a psychological horror film mother does have some
03:10Genuinely unnerving moments, but the harder Aronofsky tries to overwhelm and shock the less he delivers
03:20Those stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem are as good as ever to get lost in the midst of the Arthurs
03:28misguided ambition mother
03:30Exclamation point and all is a movie that demands your attention
03:34Instead of earning it. You know what life doesn't always work out the way you want it to
03:40You're right
03:42Mine certainly didn't number 17 the lovely bones
03:47After successfully bringing the Lord of the Rings to life
03:50It might seem fair to assume that Peter Jackson could handle any literary adaptation
03:56That was disproven by his take on Alice Sebald's novel about a 14 year old girl
04:02narrating from the afterlife after her death at the hands of her sadistic neighbor I
04:08Have to go I
04:11Want to leave to say the least this requires a delicate hand and
04:17Jackson's take on this very sensitive material is far too sentimental
04:22Depicting the afterlife with a plethora of special effects
04:25He loses the sensitive tone of the source material and ends up with something rather distasteful
04:32You're dead Susie. You have to leave
04:37I have to go home
04:39Though Saoirse Ronan delivers a typically excellent performance
04:44She along with the rest of the talented cast can't save the lovely bones from Jackson's miscalculations
04:50What are you waiting for you're free
05:00Almost
05:01number 16
05:03Malcolm and Marie
05:04How can you make a movie with two actors in one setting feel like it's trying way too hard ask Sam Levinson?
05:12I promise you it's not a good idea. Let's just talk tomorrow, but you're upset with me
05:16It's not that big of a deal. I can't go to bed knowing that you're angry Malcolm. I promise you
05:21Nothing productive is going to be said to me the euphoria creators attempt at an intimate drama falls flat
05:28Thanks to his apparent allergy to subtlety made in secret during the kovat 19 lockdowns
05:33It stars John David Washington and Zendaya as a director and his girlfriend who stay up all night
05:41arguing and revealing
05:43Uncomfortable truths not only to reveal that in the end. You're just jealous
05:49Yes, you are
05:51Of course you are
05:53It's
05:55Melodrama with a capital M and though Levinson's knack for visuals is apparent. He's betrayed by his scripts
06:03Specifically, it's the overwrought dialogue that turns his characters into mouthpieces rather than people
06:09We'd honestly rather just watch a hundred and six minutes of Washington and Zendaya just talking then this pretentious mess
06:16You know what Malcolm? I
06:19I
06:21Feel like once you know someone is there for you and once you know, they love you
06:25You never actually think of them again
06:29That's not true number 15
06:32crash
06:33Arguably winning best picture backfired tremendously for crash as it put a magnifying glass in the film and its flaws
06:41That said you don't have to look too hard to see why it rubbed so many the wrong way
06:46Why do these guys have to be black?
06:48I mean why telling a series of intersecting stories about race relations in Los Angeles?
06:55It's self-important to a false while also drastically simplifying an incredibly complicated topic
07:01You know Maria just once I would like to wake up and find these dishes in the cabinet
07:06It would be unreasonable to expect a movie literally called crash to not get at least a little messy
07:14But throwing so many elements together and leaving out the nuance results in a movie that feels more like a ham-fisted
07:21Lecture than a work of arts. Do you understand me? You want something from me number 14?
07:29Southland tales
07:31How did Richard Kelly follow up the cult success of his mind-bending Donnie Darko with this which defies description
07:40Scientists are saying the future is going to be far more futuristic than they originally predicted
07:46Set in a dystopian u.s
07:48Southland tales mashes together an array of eccentric characters in a plot. That's impossible to pin down
07:56It's so confusing that even one of its stars Justin Timberlake emitted years later in an interview
08:03That he still didn't know what it was about
08:09But while many great films are purposefully abstract this one suffers due to Kelly not knowing when to say when
08:16Like its predecessor Southland tales found an audience after flopping in theaters
08:22But even its defenders would have to admit it's decidedly extra the ocean is in control
08:28number 13
08:30Zoolander 2
08:32Zoolander is a modern comedy classic with lovable characters and hilarious quotes
08:38What is this?
08:44A center for ants
08:47A center for ants
08:50Its sequel is
08:52well
08:53Something of a dumpster fire released more than a decade later
08:57Zoolander 2 brings back Ben Stiller and much of the original cast but not the same humor and hearts
09:04Oh, come on, Hansel. Stop. You got this
09:08A major issue is the amount of celebrity cameos with everyone from Katy Perry to Neil deGrasse Tyson in the mix
09:15Neil I gotta say you're totally blowing my mind right now
09:20That's what I do
09:21I'm, Neil deGrasse Tyson, bitch
09:24It's bigger, but definitely not better and for every well executed gag
09:30There are so many that miss the mark if there's ever a Zoolander 3 we hope Stiller scales things back considerably
09:38Think about it, man. This could be a sign
09:40What if it's a stop sign Billy?
09:43number 12
09:44Joker
09:45Joaquin Phoenix earned a long overdue best actor oscar for his portrayal of Arthur Fleck
09:51A mentally ill man who will become the criminal mastermind known as the Joker
10:04Though it takes place in the Batman universe Todd Phillips's film is far more indebted to the work of Martin Scorsese
10:12Specifically taxi driver and the king of comedy
10:16But whereas most masterpieces went deep into their characters and their disturbances
10:21Joker is surface level in its depiction of mental health crime and just about everything else. No
10:28I feel good
10:30That's not taking my medication. It might impress someone who hasn't seen its inspirations
10:36But if you have it's painfully clear where it falls short of what it's aiming for
10:41Someone was killed today because of what you did. I know
10:46number 11
10:47vanilla sky
10:49five years after Jerry Maguire
10:51Cameron Crowe re-teamed with Tom Cruise for a decidedly different kind of movie. I tried to see you but your people wouldn't let me
11:00I didn't want to see me
11:01Okay based on a spanish film vanilla sky is a surreal psychological thriller about a man whose sense of reality
11:09Unravels following a car crash
11:12Decidedly uncommercial for a mainstream film starring a superstar. It's admirable in some regards
11:19Particularly for its visuals and Cameron Diaz's standout supporting performance
11:24I'm Sofia
11:25Whatever
11:26Okay, we're gonna be together again
11:29You're gonna forget about Juliana and we're gonna be together
11:33I'm not gonna be afraid of you anymore
11:35But when it doesn't work, it's pompous to the level of self-parody
11:40Perhaps the best way to describe vanilla sky is a dream one. You can't wake up from soon enough
11:47And what is any life if not the pursuit of a dream number 10?
11:52passengers chris pratt jennifer lawrence and space exploration
11:57Sounds like a recipe for cinematic gold and a stellar film, right?
12:01Do you know what's going on?
12:03Nobody else from my row woke up
12:07Same for me. So what could go wrong in passengers case?
12:11It's not so much about going wrong as it is about falling flat
12:16While audiences had mixed responses to passengers most agreed that the story seemed too formulaic
12:23Evening, what can I get for you? I'll have a manhattan, please
12:28Uh
12:29whiskey rocks coming up meanwhile the acting well not bad just seemed bland and it had an overall feel of
12:37Been there seen that add to this the fact that the flick was pretty much a box office flop in north america
12:43Earning just a little over a hundred million dollars on a reported 110 million dollar budget and this was one potentially explosive film
12:52That was just a big bomb
12:54open country
12:56Room to grow now you're back to slogans
12:58Can't slogans be true number nine
13:01The cell beauty is only skin deep or in the case of this psychological thriller
13:08Screen deep. Do you believe there's a part of yourself?
13:12That you don't show anybody
13:15I think everybody has that side of themselves
13:17While many agree that the cell was visually unique and stunning the same cannot be said for the script
13:23The premise of this movie is intriguing a child psychologist goes into a serial killer's mind to help find a kidnapped victim
13:32But the execution of the story took a backseat to the imagery. You sound like your father
13:41He was nothing
13:44He is nothing
13:47Maybe the visuals were meant to be a bit too over the top
13:50To help mask the plot holes and poor casting decisions that critics felt plagued the movie
13:55But in the end it was too much show not enough tell
14:00four and twenty blackbirds
14:03Hey, do you love pie?
14:06number eight
14:07pirates of the caribbean
14:09At world's end if any company knows how to extend expand and exploit a franchise. It's disney
14:16Now we're being followed by rocks
14:18Never heard that before
14:19Oh
14:23We aren't saying disney doesn't make great movies
14:27They do but many felt that at world's end was just not one of the better ones
14:34You will listen to me
14:36listen
14:38While it was 2007's most commercially successful flick
14:42There were just too many extra characters too much emphasis on jack sparrow's quirky antics
14:49Too many seemingly repetitive fight scenes and let's not forget the confusing plot twist
14:54all of which had audiences thinking the third installment of the pirate series might have been best left at world's end or
15:02Maybe pushed over it, you know the problem
15:05With being the last of anything
15:08By and by there have been none left at all
15:12Sometimes things come back mate
15:15We live in proof you and me number seven
15:18the green inferno
15:19Many directors try to push the envelope with their films either by doubling down on the shock value
15:26Increasing the intensity of visuals or broaching sensitive topic areas. 100. What is this? Why are they doing this?
15:34They think we're the enemy
15:37There's nothing we can do eli roth
15:39All of that in the green inferno
15:42And the result was too much of all three with many saying it missed the mark when it comes to being scary
15:49Inferno instead placed all of its eggs in the gore basket and those eggs were then broken into a bloody mess
15:56How long till they get here?
15:58Probably three days three days
16:01How long that's three minutes most agree?
16:03There was an overabundance of carnage and macabre too much shock and not enough awe all of which diluted
16:10Instead of emphasizing the film's social commentary disturbing intent and impactful imagery. You think the war on drugs is something real?
16:21You think our plane wasn't sabotaged number six
16:25the tree of life
16:26the exploration of human existence the place of faith and the role that relationships and
16:32Experience have in shaping our identity aren't new themes for films to explore
16:38except being slighted
16:40forgotten
16:41disliked
16:42however, this drama from visionary director terrence malick had people saying it relied too heavily on the
16:49Philosophical and shocking which in turn made the flick more convoluted than poignant you make yourself what you are
16:56You
17:01Have control of your own destiny
17:04the tree of life was well acted and for many
17:07Offered thought-provoking questions about life and the understanding of oneself
17:12But for others the almost two and a half hour runtime exploring nature and nurture was just plain boring and tedious
17:19Always you wrestle inside me
17:27Oh
17:29Number five
17:30extremely loud and incredibly close
17:33Real life tragedies have long since found their way onto the screen
17:37Usually in the form of a heartwarming drama or emotional action film. My father died at 9 11
17:46After he died I wouldn't go into his room for a year because it was too hard and always made me want to cry
17:51In the case of this pic
17:53The plot revolves around a young autistic boy who sets out on a quest to find the lock
17:58That matched the key that belonged to his father who died in the world trade center on 9 11
18:03They were able to determine that the note must have been written
18:08In the sixth borough, what did it say?
18:12What a fantastic question
18:14Let's find out the film adaptation of jonathan safran foer's novel tells a unique story
18:20But seems to focus too strongly on capitalizing on tragedy and using emotion to sway audiences
18:27The end result is a film that many felt lacks sincerity and connection to the subject matter. Why do you want to come in?
18:39To tell you that I love you number four
18:42cloud atlas
18:43While we considered placing the 2015 space opera jupiter ascending here
18:49We ultimately went with another wachowski directed sci-fi
18:532012's cloud atlas which looks at how the cause and effect of one's actions can impact the future our lives
19:01Are not our own
19:04From womb to tomb we are bound to others
19:09Past and present
19:12With multiple switching timelines the events from each rippling into the others
19:17As well as a message of how kindness or crime can impact everything the movie is definitely complex
19:24And what if no one believes this truth?
19:30Someone already does however for many it appeared to be too complex
19:36Originally adapted from a 2004 novel by david mitchell cloud atlas shows that what works on paper
19:43Doesn't always work on screen making a little over 27 million dollars at the u.s. Box office on an estimated
19:51128 million dollar budget no matter what you do. It will never amount to anything more than a single drop in a limitless ocean
20:01What is an ocean
20:02But a multitude of drops number three the hateful eight
20:07When it comes to tarantino films people can expect three things
20:11Extreme violence dark humor and a healthy dose of fast-paced action now throw out your pistol
20:19Talk to bed
20:24Eddie got another
20:27Now throw out your other
20:29Pistol I got another pistol the hateful eight offered two of the three
20:34Choosing to emphasize over-the-top violence and humor
20:37It also decided to include long monotonous conversations between characters at the expense of action. Like I said friend
20:46You got me at a bit of a disadvantage keeping you out of disadvantages an advantage. I intend to keep
20:52Additionally many felt the flick was trying too hard to recreate past successes
20:57And that less effort was made for an original and engaging storyline
21:01Not to mention the fact that the movie hits an approximately three hour runtime which had people thinking it was a whole lot of the same
21:08whole thing
21:10Precautions must be taken because life is too sweet to lose number two
21:15Collateral beauty many people wish they could communicate with or understand different parts of the universe
21:22I know you don't believe me, but you have to trust me trust you
21:26Trust you. Yes, I did trust you
21:29So it's no surprise to come across a film that tackles what would happen if love
21:35Time and death were able to answer you back
21:39The movie was set up to give emotional insight into how beauty can come from turmoil and how people can learn lessons
21:45They never expected while striving for another goal
21:49Hello
21:51Hi
21:53In concept collateral beauty is great
21:56But in reality it was cheesy and had so much schmaltz that audiences could barely choke it down
22:02The plot seemed contrived and came across more as a movie of the week than a tale for the ages
22:09I got it. I got it
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22:28Number one
22:30Suicide squad this much awaited flick was loud flashy and went for all-out mayhem
22:36Maybe a little too much mayhem all things considered. Love your perfume. What is that the scent of death?
22:43Well, the movie did satisfy the cravings of some especially the harley quinn fanbase many others found it hollow
22:51Unevenly paced graphically displeasing and devoid of the essence of the squad from comics
22:58Would you die for me?
23:03Yes, that's too easy will you
23:10Would you live for me
23:12Hmm
23:15Meanwhile the story seemed erratic and lacking at the same time
23:18Oh, and this wasn't the first dc flick that didn't live up to the hype
23:23We're looking at you batman versus superman with a heavy emphasis on one-liners
23:28music video-esque scenes and hit or miss performances from the cast
23:33Suicide squad would likely have benefited from a little less style and a lot more substance. We weren't picked to succeed on that, right?
23:42We're all chosen to fail
23:44Yeah, I know that
23:45Worst part of it is they're gonna blame us for the whole thing. What movie do you think needed some serious scaling back?
23:52Let us know in the comments
23:53Admit it
23:55Even you've thought about it
23:58Did you enjoy this video?
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24:12You