5 Terrible Movies & What Makes Them Terrible (to me)

1. The Fountain, directed by Darren Aronofsky
This film is a giant tragic spitwad. Not only does it have some of the worst acting by an already bad actor, Hugh Jackman, but it is so poorly edited and its script so hilariously shallow, the concepts it tries to portray (love and mortality, I suppose) are utterly confused. Well. Maybe that's the point. And maybe with a better cast and a stronger script, the interwoven storylines might've worked. Apparently, the script went through several drafts over several years; perhaps Aronofsky should've worked on it a little more, or perhaps, not quite as much. There are some really pretty scenes though.

2. X-Men III: The Last Stand, directed by Brett Ratner
After Xavier dies there is a scene of his wheelchair in his office or whatever with some sad music playing. I laughed so hard in the theater at this ridiculous moment that, not only did the two friends I was with begin laughing, several rows of people in front of and behind us snickered and giggled as well. That's how bad this movie is.

3. Atonement, directed by Joe Wright
Atonement has an amazing five-minute tracking shot two-thirds of the way into the film. It's a beautiful, moving moment of soldiers on the beach at Dunkirk. Unfortunately, it's really the only thing that's worth watching in this film. Otherwise, I found the film messy and stilted; in particular, the plot and its "twist" at the end were so ridiculous that any sort of meaning or resolution was lost to me.

4. 300, directed by Frank Miller
I haven't counted how many times Gerard Butler screams "Sparta!," but I'm pretty sure it's around 90, which is almost once per minute. The film is historically inaccurate in a lot of ways, not that that always makes a film suck, but add to it the stupid dialogue, the over-the-top special effects and the portrayal of the Persians, and what you have is a trite action-packed film that is unaware of its own ignorance.

5. Garden State, directed by Zach Braff
This film supposedly has all the quirk and charm of an "indie" movie and the sappiness of your typical Hollywood rom-com, which is apparently why it has had such mass appeal. I don't think the film has much of either of these characteristics and, the parts it does emphasize, I found to be grossly amateurish. Granted, it's Braff's first script and he may, if he continues to write and direct, make something less pretentious and less like "a kid who's watched too many indie movies," but until then, this is what we have. And it isn't original or compelling.

Do you agree or disagree with any of these? Why? What movies have you seen that are terrible and why?