Seven Movies that Unintentionally Ruined Movies

Okay, let me explain the title.

I'm not saying these movies are bad movies; however, the movies on this list caused a certain degree of change (or damage) to the film industry. I'm taking Michael Bay off the table because that's too easy. If there was a franchise, I attached it when necessary. Also, there is one tie on the list.

I posted this question in the Silent Film Saturday and Blockbuster Beach Bum group and Movie Nights Facebook page, and got some great responses. Some of them even made it on the list.

7. The Jazz Singer

Credit goes to Michael for sharing this one.

This film really did change the industry. The Jazz Singer was not the first sound film ever released. Other filmmakers and producers experimented with sound many years before 1927, but did not have
quite the impact The Jazz Singer had.

In my opinion, the period between 1924 and 1929 featured some of the greatest silent films ever. Films like The General, The Last Laugh, The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Gold Rush, and The Thief of Bagdad. After the arrival of sound, the visual look of movies suffered for a period of time. Sure there were some cool camera tricks and special effects here and there, but some of the early talkies are really slow and uninteresting to watch.

I put this film so low on the list because the arrival of sound was more of a temporary setback than an actual detriment to the overall movie experience. Still, this film really helped change things, and it set film back a bit, just when the silent film medium was at its peak artistically.

6. Avatar 

If everyone hates modern 3D, why is it still around?

This movie, that's why.

The highest-grossing movie of all time, Avatar seems to be one of the few movies where people actually enjoyed the 3D component. Hell, I even liked the 3D in Avatar. Also, I said 3D component, not story.

Sadly, the average film does not know how to use 3D the way Cameron did with Avatar. Now, every animated movie or summer action blockbuster is screened in 2D and 3D, inflating the box office and aggravating moviegoers everywhere. Part of the blame also goes to the foreign marketplace, where countries like Russia crave 3D.

5. Batman Begins

Shout out to Mike for pointing this one out.

Christopher Nolan's first film in his Batman trilogy may not be the first "reboot," but it's certainly the most famous. What separates this from lesser reboots, is its ability to distance itself from the then recently dormant Burton and Schumacher Batman franchise. This is something that other reboots don't understand. Man of Steel and The Amazing Spider-Man are basically the same thing as their predecessors, but with less personality, and a darker feel.

It worked incredibly well with Batman, but the Nolan Batman formula just doesn't work for everyone. This doesn't stop studios from replicating the Batman Begins or Dark Knight formula, even when they don't understand it.

Some people suggested The Dark Knight for this list, but I honestly feel that it was Batman Begins plus the unprecedented success of its sequel that made mediocre superhero films look even worse by comparison.

4. The Harry Potter Franchise

Ironically, the tagline on this poster says "IT ALL ENDS," but  7/15/2011 certainly was not the end of young adult adaptations.

Can't say I ever really got into this one, but I'll give it a fair chance in the near future.

This and Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy are some of Warner Brother's highest-grossing movies, and this franchise surpassed James Bond as the highest-grossing movie franchise of all-time.

The series was based on J.K. Rowling's books, and each movie was based on a book in the series, with the final book "The Deathly Hallows" split into two movies for story integrity (arguably) and (most definitely) box office gold. 

While this and The Hunger Games stand as respectable young adult movies with sci-fi or fantasy elements, other ripoffs and failed attempts have cluttered our cinemas almost as much as superhero films.

Examples include Twilight (a hit, but a much-hated one), The Host, Vampire Academy, Divergent, Percy Jackson, Ender's Game, Beautiful Creatures, and The Mortal Instruments. 

Worse still, the ones that are successful have followed Harry Potter into the "we're gonna split the final book into two movies to reap the profits." This is happened to Twilight, and will happen to Divergent and The Hunger Games franchises. Well, we'll see how that goes.

3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Have to give credit to Dan from the Hitless Wonder Movie Blog for this one.

At the time of its release, PG-13 did not exist. This seems pretty shocking today, since almost every major superhero or summer blockbuster is rated PG-13. This movie was given the PG rating, but parents complained about the gruesome nature of the second Indiana Jones film.

So what happened?

Steven Spielberg and others suggested a rating between PG and R. Thus, PG-13 was created in 1984.

Since then, PG-13 has been the bane of of many moviegoer's existence. PG-13 has to cater for the adults who want an intense experience, and the parents who want their kids to see an appropriate movie. The problem is a washy attempt to please everyone, while making everyone upset.

Filmmakers also have the pressure of putting out a marketable, safe product while trying to make a good movie. Some horror films have suffered from this.

Also, PG-13 movies are traditionally allowed one f-bomb. Since the X-Men movies are not run by Disney, the last three films have f-bombs in them. True, mostly adults watch the X-Men movies, but as soon as parents see "superhero" or Marvel on any trailer, and they'll take their kids to see it. Even Dawn of the Planet of the Apes had an f-bomb, and unlike X-Men: Days of Future Past, this movie has a toy line!

2. The Avengers/ Marvel Cinematic Universe

This movie has made me realize something: The Dark Knight  literally did next to nothing for superhero movies, except exist and maybe be a template for future DC movies. Like I wrote earlier, I feel Begins is the more influential film when it comes to this genre.

I kid you not, this was the first movie I thought of when creating this list. The movie itself is fun, but not even close to Marvel's best. Sadly, because of this movie, we have every other studio with a superhero property trying to get to a multi-hero/villain movie. Some examples of this: X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Sinister Six, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League.

Some may argue the problem all started with Bryan Singer's X-Men, but it's not even close to the level of The Avengers. The fear that each movie is a commercial is exemplified in Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a movie with limited character development and story for the sake of setting up the Sinister Six movie set for 2016.

At least with The Avengers, the characters are set up in five solo Marvel movies, opposed to two mediocre movies with too many subplots (The Amazing Spider-Man series) or a solo movie and a team-up movie before the gigantic team-up movie (DC's Cinematic Universe).

I have a bad feeling that Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice will be similar to The Amazing Spider-Man, and become little more than a Justice League prequel. Hopefully, we'll get other solo films of characters that sorely deserve them, but only time will tell.

1. Jaws and Star Wars

These two had to take the top spot.

Both are great films with iconic moments and quotes, but they definitely changed things.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, a period in filmmaking called "New Hollywood" emerged, and  some of the greatest movies of all time were released, particularly because the new filmmakers were among the first to attend film school.

Some of these titles: The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Exorcist, Nashville, and many others. Many of these classic films became part of mainstream cinema, because the studios were so desperate that they were willing to take big risks.

Then, the world changed forever.

Jaws became the first film to reach $100 million at the domestic box office in 1975. Star Wars earned $220 million in its initial run alone, and is one of the most beloved movies of all time.

The studio execs saw all those dollar signs, and since have decided to go for the brass ring, killing the New Hollywood era. Since these two films, the summer season has and always will be crammed with mega-films about doomsday, killing some monster, or saving the universe from evil.

You can blame all of that on a man-eating shark named Bruce and a English dude wearing samurai-esque space armor voiced by Mufasa with a red laser sword.

Some (Dis)honorable mentions:

Batman Tim Burton
Titanic James Cameron
Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson
X-Men Bryan Singer
Christopher Nolan in general


-Joey DeAngelis

My thoughts on Legendary's 'Skull Island' and 'Godzilla 2'

While everyone was going nuts over Ultron, Wonder Woman and Batman at Comic Con, I was reading up on what Legendary Pictures has planned for the future.

Legendary Pictures just ended a successful co-production deal with Warner Brothers that includes The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, 300, The Hangover Trilogy, Man of Steel, and Pacific Rim. Their agreement just expired, and Legendary now has a similar deal with Universal Studios.

At Comic Con, Legendary announced a November 2016 release for Skull Island, a film based on King Kong's place of origin. Kong will play a prominent role in the film, and Universal will co-produce the film.

The last time Kong appeared on the big screen was Peter Jackson's bloated, but respectable 2005 remake. This new film will have nothing to do with the 2005 version.

The other interesting piece of news from Legendary is the announcement of monsters to be featured in Godzilla 2. These monsters include Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidrah, three of Godzilla's most famous adversaries. The film will be co-produced by Warner Brothers, who co-produced Godzilla  with Legendary and will be directed once again by Godzilla Gareth Edwards after he finishes work on his Star Wars spin-off.

I am excited at the prospect of a new incarnation of Kong for modern audiences, as the 1933 original is among my favorite movies of all-time. I have faith mainly because of how much I enjoyed Legendary's Pacific Rim and Godzilla. Both are giant monster movies with very different styles. Pacific Rim goes for a more action-packed anime feel, while Godzilla is a bit more restrained (arguably to its detriment, but not in this blogger's opinion) and comes off as an early Steven Spielberg film like Jaws or Close Encounters of the Third Kind. If they give Skull Island a unique style different from Pacific Rim or Godzilla, then it could end up being a really good movie.

But that's not even the most interesting part.

The most interesting aspect of this announcement is that Legendary is producing Godzilla films and a King Kong reboot. Granted, we don't know if the two monsters will clash on the big screen together like they did in Toho's King Kong Vs. Godzilla, but there is definitely a possibility that these two could cross paths.

The main reason why it may happen is that Kong's movie rights are with Universal, and Godzilla's are with Warner Brothers. Legendary is caught in the middle, co-producing monster movies with both studios.

If Universal and Warner Brothers were to team up with Legendary, this would be a movie of epic proportions.

Literally, Legendary is co-producing movies for the two greatest giant monsters of all-time. This is the equivalent of Warner Brothers acquiring the movie rights of Spider-Man, and throwing Batman and Superman in a potential movie.

Legendary is quickly becoming the studio to produce giant movie monsters. In addition to Godzilla 2 and Skull Island, they're co-producing Pacific Rim 2 with Universal in 2017. Legendary Pictures will be to giant monsters what Marvel Studios is to superhero movies.

Now we need to figure out how a 30 foot gorilla with no superpowers is going to take on a 350 foot lizard with atomic breath, but there's time for that later.

Right now, I'm just so happy to have giant movie monsters on the big screen from a studio that handles them well.

-Joey DeAngelis

Top Five Annoying Distractions at the Movies

You pay anywhere from $9-$20 to get a seat, and a fortune to buy bad snacks to watch something you may or may not like...and then a discourteous moviegoer ruins it.

They are the people that make me seem like a disgruntled old person. I just want a decent experience at the movies.

Today, I'm counting down the top five worst distractions at the movies.

5. Lengthy Applause

I rarely come across this, but it can be really annoying.

While watching Gareth Edwards' Godzilla, there were a few overly excited moviegoers clapping well past an exciting moment. It got really distracting, and they were always accompanied by "SHUSH."

Clap at the end, or even during a cool scene, but just don't clap during an important scene of dialogue or literally 20 seconds after an awesome moment occurs.

4. Reserved Seating

Recently, a friend of mine came across this issue while watching Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and this lasted a few minutes. A couple of minutes doesn't seem like much, but when this distraction occurs at the opening scene, it can throw people off the rest of the movie.

For those of you who are not aware of what I'm talking about, my local AMC Theater recently put reserved seating in their policy. Some people won't care and just sit wherever, but with a packed theater, ushers trying to uphold the reserved seating policy can be a living nightmare.

3. Babies/Kids

I only put kids on the list because it does bother some people, but I had to include it alongside babies.

Parents, if you cannot find a sitter, please stay home.

I know that sounds lame on my part, but wailing babies and Roland Emmerich's 2012 don't mix. Nobody wants to hear a wailing baby while the world is ending, or when dinosaurs are eating people.

I can't blame you if there's a baby crying in the middle of Frozen, that's a movie intended for youngsters. Just keep your baby away from the PG-13 or R-rated listings.

2. Talking

Unfortunately, I'm guilty of this, because I ALWAYS have to explain things going on in the movie. To make matters worse, my mom's boyfriend's son is deaf in one of his ears and always makes a trip to the bathroom during the movie.

He asked me while watching the new Apes movie "what happened?" I shushed him and continued watching the movie.

Some other friends of mine were talking so loud, that I threatened to report them to AMC. I take my movie-going seriously.

1. Cell Phones

I hate cell phones at the movies. They bother me more than anything else in the world.

Every time someone has a cellphone ring at the movies, it's always on the brightness setting and the most obnoxious ringtone at the most important part of a movie. They tell you to turn off your cellphones at the beginning of the movie. Is it so hard to turn your phone off for two hours? If that's the case, I fear for the fate of out attention spans.

If you have a family emergency or really need the cellphone, please put it on vibrate and decrease the brightness, and move yourself from the theater quietly.

I hope you could relate to this list, and if you are someone who does all of these things at the movies, please refrain from performing them.

-Joey DeAngelis

An Introduction

Greetings Movie Fans,

Welcome to my new blog, "Movie Nights." Here, I will explore movie topics, such as the international box office and review some movies along the way.

Some of you may recognize me from my YouTube series "Silent Film Saturday," and while I will certainly discuss older films, I also want to write about topics that pertain to the modern movie-going experience.

If you have a topic or film you would like me to cover, feel free to comment on this blog.

-Joey DeAngelis