The XKCD Unpopular Positive Opinion Challenge

Mars Attacks! is under 50%? :open_mouth: That film is fantastic, back when Tim Burton was Tim Burton and not Tim Burton™

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It’s pre-2000, but I still want to praise Showgirls. I loved this film, and feel certain that Verhoeven meant for it to be funny (and an attack on the entertainment industry).

And Jacques Rivette backs me up!

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Currently at 53%, so disqualified.

(Also from 1996, so double-disqualified)

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A little pre-2000, but I have to mention… Stargate (1994) has a 48%. It had its problems, sure, but for such a classic sci-fi movie…

The Losers (2010) (49%)… worth it for the elevator scene and psychic bullets alone.

XXX (2002) (48%)… serviceable “shut the brain off and enjoy the boom” flick

Now, if I just went with the lowest-rated movie I currently have in my collection that I like the most, ignoring the 2000 limit… I’d probably end up going with Hudson Hawk (1991) (26%).

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About five months too early to make my own list.

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I love that one too! I can almost watch it in my head from memory now. You are going to love Devil’s Carnival and it’s sequel Alleluia! (personally I liked the first better than the sequel, but it was still fun).

We went to the last one when they were doing the theater tour and somewhere I have a picture of my wife on stage being goofy with the guys who made it (they were there answering questions and doing autographs and photos and genuinely having a good time with it). They made us all get up and dance during parts of it. :joy:

Don’t get hopes up for part 3 though, it looks like it might never get made and we’ll never know the origin story. :cry::imp:

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Ooooh, I didn’t know that Devil’s Carnival has a sequel! Sounds terrific!

A couple more…
K-PAX (2001) (41%) - Such an odd, odd movie.
Passengers (2016) (30%) - I can definitely see why people wouldn’t like it, and there are definitely parts of it I strongly dislike, but overall I liked it.
The Way of the Gun (2000) (48%) - Another decent action movie, leaning towards the realistic side in gunfights and tactics.

Having a well-stocked Plex server used by several people makes the exercise a little easier…

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Well, I can’t play because I can’t think of one movie that was released post-2000 that fit all those criteria. I mean…sincerely…

Oh wait…it doesn’t mean I HAD to’ve seen in a theatre, right? So a little Googling to jog my memory and, VOILA!

“The Crew” (2000, 20%)
"Bubble Boy (2001, 30%)
“Juwanna Mann” (2002, 10%)

Anyone else sense a trend here?

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Over-the-top comedies that sound like feature-length South Park episodes?

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Finally thought of one that fits all the criteria that I’m genuinely keen on, Masked and Anonymous, only 25%! It’s a mess, but that’s surely what they intended, and I think it’s a fun dive into Dylan mythology and contemporary social critique.

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And another: Roberto Benigni’s 2002 version of Pinocchio which has a whopping 0% on the TomatoMeter. This is an even better example for me. Masked and Anonymous did get some good reviews and I think it’s a very good movie. Pinocchio apparently got no good reviews* and I think it’s a great movie.

Not that I necessarily blame the reviewers. I gather that practically all of the reviewers that RT focuses on are in the US and they would be reviewing the US theatrical release. I agree, the US Weinstein cut is terrible. It’s been badly edited, greatly harming the flow of the film. And even worse is the dubbing. You’d have to see examples to get the full effect, but I can write a little to give the idea.

In the Italian version, when Jiminy Cricket sees the results of the debauchery on Pleasure Island, he says in very harsh tones (plural, it’s drawn out), “Inferno!” In the English dub, John Cleese says, sounding maybe slightly miffed, “My word.” (Note: At least in the Italian version, I’m fairly certain the terms “Jiminy Cricket” and “Pleasure Island” aren’t used.)

The original Italian version would have probably fared somewhat better with critics, but maybe not audiences. (Although I note that the AudienceMeter gives it 32%.) The subtitles would likely be a problem, but worse is the film’s tone, creepy and disturbing. But that’s just like the original book! Much more faithful than the Disney version.

One thing that is not really brought over from the book is how much of an asshole Pinocchio is. I suspect Benigni doesn’t have it in him to play a convincing asshole. Neither is he convincing as a boy, but I don’t think he’s trying to be convincing. Actually, I suspect this may even help the film (by my standards) as, while he’s mostly not an asshole, his unsuitablility for the role keeps him unlikable until one gets used to him. As one gradually gets used to him, the character also seems to gradually become a better person.

*Not exactly true. I was hipped to it by Jonathan Rosenbaum, a professional reviewer for the Chicago Reader at the time.

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As I do not read Italian, and I have not read the original, I have no way of knowing, but I am led to believe that this comic is a fairly faithful adaptation of the story of Pinocchio:
http://pino.kcgreendotcom.com/comics/ch01.html

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Well, truth be told, I don’t read Italian either, but I have no reason to believe the book I read as a youth wasn’t a reasonably faithful translation.

Thanks for the comic. I’m only at Chapter 2 so far, but it looks fairly correct. All these years later, I still remember that line about teaching the ants their ABCs.

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30 Days of Night (2007) It wasn’t super amazing or anything, but I enjoyed it pretty thoroughly at the time and I do like the soundtrack quite a bit. The composer built some weird electroacoustic instruments for it, and some of them were kind of dangerous (junk spun by a power drill).

Constantine (2005) It wasn’t brilliant, but I liked it more than most of my friends who were more into the comic than I was and decided to hate it because Keanu. I don’t think I’m capable of completely hating a movie with Tilda Swinton in it.

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Reign of Fire (2002), 40%

Some of my fondness might be nostalgia; this was one of the last movies I saw at the drive-in in my hometown before it shut down forever.

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That’s the dragon movie with Mathew McConaughey, right? I liked that, too!

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