Luckily, since I don't watch movies for a living, I manage to avoid watching the really obvious junk like WILD HOGS or ARE WE DONE YET. I can think of three movies from '07 that were really awful, I was bored to tears and could not wait for them to be over: THE NUMBER 23, THE SIMPSONS MOVIE, and STARDUST. All complete garbage.

OK, discounting "Norbit" - easily the most wretched movie of the year, I submit the following in reverse order from, uh, best to worst: "Spider-Man 3," "The Number 23," "The Messengers," "The Hills Have Eyes 2," "Saw IV," "Catch and Release," "Evan Almighty," "Dan in Real Life" (hated, hated, hated that movie and Steve Carell should watch his choices), "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" and "The Condemned."

Other movies that were pretty bad: "Across the Universe," "The Brave One," "Dead Silence," "Fracture," "The Golden Compass," "The Heartbreak Kid," "The Hitcher," "Hostel Part II," "I'm Not There," "The Invasion," "Premonition," "Rocket Science," "Rush Hour 3" and "Slow Burn."

What about the horrible threequels? I think my worst movie going experience of the year was when Peter Parker and Harry/Green Goblin are making up and Harry calls Peter his friend. Peter responded: "best friend."

Also, "Shrek the Third" made me want to cry as Timberlake and Myers turned in the worst voice acting of the year.

eddie, i thought the same thing... until july. transformers may very well be the worst film of the decade, and is certainly among the most insulting.

other contenders... in the land of women, hitman, across the universe, because i said so, bee movie, rendition, evan almighty, feast of love, and live free or die hard

the most disappointing films of the year for me (read: those that could have been good had they not been plagued by horrendous decisions) - into the wild, margot at the wedding, and factory girl.

IN THE LAND OF WOMEN
Atrocious
Did that come out this year? I tried to forget it.


Most movie so much lower than it thinks it is: ATONEMENT
Marcel Carné will never be the same with that stupid walk thru the theatre during the showing of Port of Shadows. What are the odds! Give me a break. And for the self-congratulatory Anthony Minghella cameo. Hissssssssssss. Booooooooooo.

"Transformers may very well be the worst film of the decade, and is certainly among the most insulting."

Uh-oh, I think Don's on his way over here.

Let me pull an actionman and tell all of you that if you actually think TRANFORMERS is one of the worst films of the year/decade, you need to stop going to movies during the summer, period. It had some very stupid moments and was not very fun, but there were far more reprehensible films this year, and few of them were presented with such technical skill.

Most of the summer was quite awful. Spidey 3, Pirates 3, and Transformers were all bad, and even Ocean's 13 was the worst of the three by far. I actually thought Die Hard was one of the better movies of the summer, sadly. It was what it was and was pretty fun.

I too avoided most of the dreck (still saw Norbit for some reason), but the worst movie of the year was easily Spider-Man 3. Awful in every conceivable way. (And I think part 2 might have ended up in my 10 best of 2004).

Spiderman 3 was surely the biggest disappointment among the summer stock -- shockingly bad considering the pedigrees of the other two (and the first was still the best).

Hills Have Eyes 2 was ocular rape and I was paid to see that one. Didn't even buy me a drink first.

I actually dodged a lot of bad movie bullets this year. Thanks, Jeff, I appreciate it.

Oh my God, am I the only one who endured Next? So ugly and boneheaded and cheap-looking. I'll follow Julianne Moore anywhere but this was the limit.

I also loathed Starting Out in the Evening. The "hot 20-something chick is inexplicably attracted to geriatric artistic genius" trope is beyond tired, and it only happens in the diseased fantasies of male authors and screenwriters. The expository dialogue was awful, Lauren Ambrose's character was unbearable, and the entire Lili Taylor storyline was misogynist and painful (plus, who uses a diaphragm in 2007?).

Oh, and License to Wed is as unbearable as the ads would suggest (don't ask why or how I saw it).

I'm with BurmaShave - the plot may be thin but Transformers is big, stoopid fun. I sat in the fifth row of a theatre with digital projection and smiled the whole time.

That's not to say I don't hope they can do a bit more the sequel.

Spidey3 was more of a big MEH than a horrible film. It's just terrible wasted potential. If they'd stuck with Sandman it probably would have been okay but the studio wanted Venom and...well, there you have it.

That sort of "bad movie" should be differentiated from something like Are We There Yet or Norbit which aspires to be nothing more than what it is. Wild Hogs is just a sad effort by all concerned and when someone tries to make a movie, knowing it's sucky but will make money, that strikes me as worse, I think.

Spiderman 3 for sure.

I'll second that Re: NEXT. It looked like a Sci-Fi channel movie.

"Let me pull an actionman and tell all of you that if you actually think TRANFORMERS is one of the worst films of the year/decade, you need to stop going to movies during the summer, period. It had some very stupid moments and was not very fun, but there were far more reprehensible films this year, and few of them were presented with such technical skill."

I completely agree.

The single worst film of the year: PATHFINDER. What a piece of shit. I mean truly; a joyless piece of crap.

Wells--given that you love and appreciate flawless CGI, I expected that you'd at least commend the seamless work Bay and his FX team did with the robots in Transformers; it's the best special effects summer action film of all time as far as I'm concerned (we're talking SOLELY about the effects here, not the overall quality of the story, characters, etc.) Anyone who went to that film in search of a amazing writing and three dimensional characters is out of their element.

Here's my worst of the year picks:

SPIDERMAN 3
LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD
WILD HOGS
PERFECT STRANGER
THE NUMBER 23
THE HITCHER
LICENSE TO WED
I KNOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY
PATHFINDER

And I had little to no use for GRINDHOUSE, HOT FUZZ (most overrated movie of the year), THE NANNY DIARIES, ALPHA DOG, SHOOTER, LUCKY YOU, FRACTURE, BEOWULF (IMAX 3-D), VACANCY
and HOT ROD (though the scene in the woods is pricelss).

Worst of the year:
THE REAPING
I'M NOT THERE
PLANET TERROR (first half of Grindhouse)

I'm Not There? Really?

Death Proof, 300, Fred Claus, and 1408 all really pissed me off. But at the end of the day? I can't help but feel like I'll look back upon JUNO as my absolute least favorite film of this year.

I take it no-one else here saw EPIC MOVIE, which was atrocious in concept (how do you do a parody of Borat and "Lazy Sunday," both already parodies?) and execution -- you have Fred Willard, Jennifer Coolidge, and Crispin Glover in your cast and somehow make them aggressively unfunny.

Runner-up -- HAPPILY N'EVER AFTER, which is sort of like SHREK's stillborn cousin.

I fully expect MEET THE SPARTANS to be one of the worst of '08.

I KNOW WHO KILLED ME.

And yes, anyone who puts "I'm Not There" on a worst-of-the-worst list is out of his/her mind.

I would rather watch Georgia Rule again over I'm Not There.

Currently on my worst movies on the year list:
1. Aqua Teen Hunger Force
2. Halloween
3. Smokin' Aces
4. 30 Days of Night
5. Shrek the Third
6. Saw IV
7. Good Luck Chuck
8. Rendition
9. The Kingdom
10. 300

Wow...300, The Kingdom, and Rendition are all in my top 20. Loved Smokin' Aces, thought it was great trash.

I forgot about Hairspray--that movie sucked balls.

1408 is a good one. Definitely one of my five worst experiences in a movie theater in 2007.

re: transformers being "skilled" trash... all i can say is that the rock is cinematic bliss for me, and i can't help but smile through all 394394 minutes of bad boys 2... but with transformers, never before have i seen the film that felt more like it was only aspiring to be a product.

and actionman... while i couldn't help but appreciate the visceral intensity of the kingdom's last act, the movie was didactic drivel, and don't even get me STARTED on 300... which was a hollow piece of unforgivable shit, the much-discussed visuals of which drained the piece of any vitality. and rendition... that's just bad hollywood 101. reese witherspoon's completely disposable character in that film epitomizes everything that is wrong with hollywood and their dedication to pandering, not to mention that the time-structure of the film is some haggis-level manipulation. i know you're excited for there will be blood, and i can only hope you appreciate it enough to put the massive failings of the aforementioned films in perspective.

unfortunately, if you like "action" movies, actionman... 2007 was a rough year, with only the bourne ultimatum really delivering (unless you lump no country and bits of rescue dawn in there). it's more a heist film than an action film... but you might really enjoy THE AURA. check it out.

"1408 is a good one. Definitely one of my five worst experiences in a movie theater in 2007"

Thank you. I was miserable from about the 60 seconds mark.

"1408 is a good one. Definitely one of my five worst experiences in a movie theater in 2007"

Thank you. I was miserable from about the 60 seconds mark.

Me too, and I only saw the trailer

Aguirre...have seen The Aura and loved it. 1408 was OK I thought, not terrible, not great. I disagree with you completely over Rendition...there was nothing Haggis-esque about it, and the narrative twist at the end was genuinely surprising. Transformers did exactly what I wanted it to do...blow shit up beautifully. The Kingdom was an awesome procedural with intense directing, great cinematography, and stunning, R-rated action sequences. Loved it completely. 300 was a blast from start to finish...sorry that it didn't float your boat

I hope many of you realize that by submitting your lists for "worst film of the year" you are, in fact, admitting that you saw these movies in the first place.

"Transformers, Good Luck Chuck, Wild Hogs, License to Wed were really bad movies, perhaps some of the year's worst."

No shit.

Unless you are a critic or you get paid to see movies why would you even get within 10 miles of something like The Number 23?

While I agree that Spidey was a letdown, Transformers was meh and 3:10 to Yuma had a bad ending, they all are far from the worst of the year.

I've seen 108 so far this year, and these 13, are by far, my most loathed. In reverse order from "best" to worst.

Georgia Rule
Perfect Stranger
Premonition
The Contractor
The Messengers
Norbit
The Number 23
Are We Done Yet?
Because I Said So
Hills Have Eyes II
Primeval
I Know who Killed Me
Epic Movie

Actionman,

I can't speak for everyone on this board, but I don't have a problem admitting I saw terrible movies this year. Most of the movies i saw this year I saw for free, and I think seeing crap is a luxury. I can truly appreciate No Country For Old Men, when I see the crap that Hollywood can put out. Plus it allows me to realize that movies like Transformers and Wild Hogs really aren't that terrible when you consider how much better they are than total shit. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the truly terrible movies can help put everything in perspective.

I'm surprised I Know Who Killed Me has only popped up twice so far. Maybe Jeffrey means bad movies that people actually saw.

And where's the "love" for Southland Tales?

smokin' aces, bratz, happily 'ever after and lions for lambs make alvin and the chipmunks look like citzen kane.

>> And yes, anyone who puts "I'm Not There" on a worst-of-the-worst list is out of his/her mind.

I thought it was fine for about 45 minutes. That was the point at which I fully understood all that Todd Haynes was trying to say and realized there would be 90 more minutes of said idea being run into the ground. Cate Blanchett and Marcus Carl Franklin were fine and all, but by the time giraffes appeared, people with masks started running around and My Morning Jacket - a band I love - arrived in clown makeup, I gave up.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071220/COMMENTARY/176124809

All right, he's lost it.

Not that I would ever be confused for a Spider-man apologist, but the third one was beyond insulting. Definitely the most soulless piece of shit this year.

Man, I can't believe all the BAD movies people on this list have seen.

I mean, I understand going to Spiderman 3 and hoping it won't be bad.

But who is going to see Epic Movie? Or Norbit? Or Georgia Rule?
I simply don't have the time to see movies that are so obviously going to suck and can't even conceive of a personal Top 20 Worst Movies List.

(Oh, and I liked Transformers AND Beowulf. A cinematic experience that can make you say/think HOLY SHIT even once has done something right.)

Damn straight he has. "Juno" at number 1 and "Jesse James" doesn't even crack the top 30 or so films he's listed?

That said, his review of "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" this morning was great.

I'm not going to say that "I'm Not There" was one of the worst movies of the year, but it was by far the most disappointing and one of the worst movies which I saw this year (along with '3:10 to Yuma'). Completely botched. The thing is, I don't see a lot of movies that I expect to be bad. I'm sorry, but if you pay money to go see 'Norbit', you *will* get shown 'Norbit'. That's your own fault.

'Southland Tales' was absolutely the worst directed movie of the year -- one of the worst directed movies I have ever seen, Ed Wood level badly directed -- but it was never as dull as either of those, and at least the fact that nobody in the movie behaved in any recognizably human way seemed deliberate. Nobody hates that movie too strongly because there are so many movies just as badly made also but entirely devoid of ambition.

That said, the worst movie I saw this year was 'Smokin' Aces', which was a piece of shit beginning to end.

I don't have any real probs with Ebert's list though I still have to see a few of those.

He did, however, confuse Maria Bellow and Naomi Watts in talking about Eastern Promises.

Oh, wait....

With all the bad movies everybody here did see, *nobody* saw 'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer'?

That movie was just as badly directed as 'Southland Tales', and badly written in a completely different way.

(And, yes, I blame myself for the fact that I watched it and am, thus, unable to unwatch it.)

I'm in a small minority that really enjoyed "Southland Tales". I have no idea about how well it executes its political/satirical ambitions, but I thought it was one of the most fun movies I've seen in years.

"Unless you are a critic or you get paid to see movies why would you even get within 10 miles of something like The Number 23?"

How about if you manage a movie teatre and see all the movies you want for free?

THE HITCHER made me more and more angry with its stupidity the longer I watched it (and I only made through 40 minutes of the thing). But the worst complete film experience I had this year was Coppola's YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH. I'd rather re-watch SOUTHLAND TALES than sit through even half an hour of that turgid piece of crap again.

Gabe - prior to the scene on the zeppelin, I probably would've agreed (or not argued too strongly against you), but the last 20 minutes of that movie was painful to sit through, I though.

The Wood Harris / Amy Poehler improv argument was one of the funniest scenes I saw in a theater this year, though.

Yeah, The Hitcher was pretty terrible. I hated 300 but it was technically well-made enough to rise above the bottom of the barrel.

For me, the Transformers "E-bay" moment wasn't nearly as eye-rollingly stupid as when, shortly thereafter, Optimus Prime said "My bad". Jesus Christ.

But clearly, none of you people have seen Severe Visibility, the worst movie I saw all year, which is a 90-minute long JFK ripoff about 9/11 being an inside job. Bad on every conceivable level.

Jeff - I will say, that sounds even worse than 'Postal'.

It was a true indie movie.

Jeff - masturbatory and poorly lit?

and (as the IMDB confirms) starring the writer director, of course...

Worst movie of the year that I saw is Knocked Up, a neo-conservative car commercial that suggests the path to enlightenment in this go-nowhere age of aimless, pot-smoking man-children is not actually intelligent self-awareness or personal ambition, but child-rearing and unhappy middle-brow marriage. Talk about the blind leading the blind. And it ain't funny either.

Running close behind: Reign Over Me (9/11 traduced by Adam Sandler's whining and bad classic rock fetishes) and Gone Baby Gone (the dumbest and most offensive movie ever to be taken seriously as a social critique).

Wrong, wrong, and damn wrong.

I thought the worst movie by far was "Spiderman 3".

The first time I saw it I HATED it. The second time I saw it I didn't think it was that bad and I admired what it had to say about the origins of Spiderman's powers, not unlike the comic book's third series, fifth issue of the second edition, "Spiderman Battles the Thought Claw".

The third time I saw it I was let down by the transparent nature of Parker's "obsession" with defeating evil. If it were THAT important to him he never would have spawned an alter-ego, parallel Spiderman.

The forth time I saw it I thought it sucked and the fifth and sixth time I watched it I realized that it was easily the worst movie of the year.

-AICN Rocks!

From most to least putrid:

1. The Hills Have Eyes 2
2. Hostel: Part II
3. Butterfly on a Wheel (technically, a TV-movie)
4. The Hitcher
5. Evan Almighty

Mediocre, but bearable:
300, Blades of Glory, Death Sentence, Mr. Brooks, Reno 911: Miami, Smokin' Aces, Rush Hour 3, Transformers

I've managed to avoid some of the major bombs like Norbit, Are We Done Yet, and Spider Man 3. All in all, though, it's been a pretty good year for film. Out of the 30 or so films I've seen, only the five listed above were completely rank and agonizing to sit through.

Remember guys, p.Vice thinks Nolan is the second biggest hack in hollywood (second only to Ridley Scott).

Beginning to think that his "opinions" are actually contrarian bullshit he decides to throw at this board, then defend as best he can, just to see how others react.

I was really lucky this year and managed to avoid (in the theaters anyway) anything close to being a bomb. I did suffer through three quarters of Turistas on cable though!

Vice - Who in the world is trying to glean social critique out of "Gone Baby Gone" and (aside from maybe Katherine Heigl) "Knocked Up"? The former is a top-notch detective film with moral ambiguity, but it's not trying to say shit about humanity at large. And "Knocked Up" is about how ONE pothead slob is enlightened by his embarking into fatherhood. Sit with your arms folded if you must, but don't assign thematic stigmas that don't apply.

WJ, is BUTTERFLY ON A WHEEL also called SHATTERED? If so, indeed, what the fuck was that?

I just want to know how Knocked Up was a 'car commercial'. I'm sure there was cars in the movie but I don't remember a single one.

Also, p.Vice, you do know "neo-conservative" is a philosophy regarding foreign policy, yes? Probably not.

'were' cars.

WJ, you crossed the line! reno: 911 mediocre?! i've yet to make it through that film without wetting myself. and yet as socially hazardous and prohibitively expensive (adult diapers aren't cheap) an experience viewing that comedic gem has become for me, i can't help but watch it over and over. taste in comedies is certainly a subjective matter, but the masturbation long-take in that film is downright welles-ian. (um, that's orson, not jeff... just sayin,' even though the spelling is different).

"How about if you manage a movie teatre and see all the movies you want for free?"

Read a book.

Let's see here... "Neoconservatism is the political philosophy that emerged in the United States from the rejection of social liberalism and the New Left counter-culture of the 1960s. Irving Kristol, the "god-father" and one of the founders of neoconservatism, stated five basic policies of neoconservatism that distinguish it from other "movements" or "persuasions"

Policy number 3? Traditional Moral Values: "The steady decline in our democratic culture, sinking to new levels of vulgarity, does unite neocons with traditional conservatives". Here Kristol distinguishes between traditional conservatives and libertarian conservatives. He cites the shared interest of Neocons and Religious Conservates in using the government to enforce morality"

Hmm... how could that possibly relate to a movie that enforces its agenda through its main character's awakening from a go-nowhere single lifestyle to much more satisfying child-bearing, marriage, and middle-class consumerism? How could that possibly relate to a movie that considers abortion unspeakable?

Try a little harder to keep up, Burma. I know it's tough but I've got faith you'll make it eventually. A good place to start is to stop thinking in boring quips and actually mount an intelligent argument for a change.

p.Vice, I get the feeling that you are not fun to hang out with.

OddDuck -- You won't know for sure until you give it a chance.

I thankfully can avoid seeing the majority of crap films, though my wife dragged me to see "I know who killed me" and that more than lived up to it's rep as the worst film of the year. Rather than provide my offerings, here are my list of twelve most "over-rated". It doesn't mean I didn't like the films, it just means that for some of the praise given, they didn't add up in my book.

No particular order:

Zodiac- The film we'll remember in 10 years? I don't think so.

Michael Clayton- From Tom Wilkenson's bad american accent to it's "what's the big deal?" lukewarm premise, just not the bang for the buck I was looking for.

I'm Not There- I love pretentious art films. I do. Just not this one. Cate Blanchett- the praise. I don't see it.

Spiderman 3- There were those critics who liked it. This was a total snoozefest and sell out.

I am Legend- I am a boring film with digital creatures who just are not cool nor scary.

The Lookout- Heard it was pretty good. Then I saw it and was pretty disappointed.

Hairspray-This was horrible. And John Travolta's performance was even more horrible.

Simpsons Movie- How did this movie make 1/2 a billion dollars worldwide? It offered nothing to expand this 19 year old franchise which I truly feel lost its edge 9 years ago.

BUG- To me the worst film I saw this year. For those who say "I got it, I get it. It works for me" I say-No. You didn't get it, you don't got it. It doesn't work for anyone. Horid performances with a film that comes off way too stagey.

Paris J'Ataime. 22 talented film makers making 22 bad short films about Paris. If I had never been to Paris before, this film certainly wouldn't add to my desire to go. And how hard to you have to try to make someone 'not' want to go to paris.

American Gangster- I liked this film a lot--in an entertaining way. But if this dares rob one of about 2 dozen other more deserving films of an oscar nod--I'm in outrage mode.

300- I saw this in IMAX and I actually fell asleep at one point. Does that make me less of a man? Maybe. I was pretty tired that night though. Still--I liked Beowulf better. That's just me.

The worst movie I saw this year is Shoot 'Em Up (Ebert and Wells tricked me into going to see it) followed closely by Transformers.

oh, yeah, Bug: maybe it was a decent play but it was a horrible film.

Oh wow, I had totally blocked PRIMEVAL from my memory until reading this thread. A movie promoted as a serial killer movie that's actually a killer crocodile movie that barely even has much of the crocodile in it at all. When you see stuff like that on a regular basis, RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER looks pretty good, because hey, silver guy on a flying surfboard, nicely rendered.

Was AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM this year? That was pretty damn bad, but it's probably Ron Paul's favorite film.

And yes, I do get paid to see the crap.

p.Vice goes to the tape and pwns me, though I would submit that the ethos in practice by such luminaries as his own son, Wolfowitz and Richard Perle is a bastardization of such values and has little to do with KNOCKED UP, regardless. I'd rather quip than find such bizzarely outlandish reasons to hate quality films. I still maintain DARJEELING LIMITED is cryptofascist!

By the way, I meant Irving Kristol's son, not p.Vice's son, which would obviously be an impossibility.

PVice, you're talking your reaction against Conservatism (or Neoconservatism, whatever) to a ridiculous point. Surely it's possible to live a lifestyle that is neither that of an irresponsible pothead slacker nor a brainwashed corporate drone. The movie says that Rogen's character improves his life through a sudden influx of purpose and by being in a healthy (more or less) adult relationship. Unless you're trying to play some kind of rebel/fight the power/anarchist card, I don't see how you can not agree that that's a step in the right direction.

Re DavidF's comment on GEORGIA RULE:
I was curious as to whether Jane Fonda would make a post-comeback film worse than MONSTER-IN-LAW: she didn't, but GEORGIA has its own share of demerits. Maybe it's time for JF to reactivate her production company and hire Katherine Heigl to star in an updated CHINA SYNDROME.

I was lucky enough to avoid most of the titles people have mentioned. Knocked Up (abhorrent message) and Death Sentence (most inept and unoriginal) were the worst features I suffered through...

SHOOT 'EM UP was the first film I walked out on in four years (the last being SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE), and therefore tops my worst list. Right behind it are ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE (funny how Clive Owen went from being in my favorite of last year (CHILDREN OF MEN) to my two least-favorite of this year), SMOKIN' ACES (once you get past the novelty of Alicia Keyes playing a lesbian hitwoman, what was the point?), ANGEL-A (and to think I used to like Luc Besson), and GEORGIA RULE (unfortunately, someone put this on at the video store I work at).

Oh, and I liked SOUTHLAND TALES.

I only caught 60 movies this year, and my personal worst -- a judgment which has nothing to do with the filmmakers' technical competence -- were Catch & Release, Youth Without Youth, Evening, Rendition & I'm Not There, with Across the Universe a very close #6.

Jeff, I completely agree with you that it's possible to live a lifestyle that doesn't get pigeonholed into "slacker" or "drone" and that adult relationships and a sense of purpose are usually a positive direction to find oneself taking. What I take issue with is Knocked Up's depiction of how Rogen's character supposedly attains this enlightenment.

This is not a movie about a character searching for his place in the world who ultimately finds that a wife and child fulfil the missing pieces in his world. (Then it would be The World of Apu.) It is a movie about a character who isn't smart enough to understand himself or have any real perspective on the world who accidentally gets a girl pregnant, then entertains no other possible alternative than marrying her and having the kid (despite statistics that 35% of American women will have an abortion at some point in their life), and only when he comes around and emotionally embraces this "responsibility" does he achieve what the film purports to be a universal kind of happiness. The baby arrives and everything is roses, denying the reality that mother and father don't love each other in the slightest and will probably be divorced in about two years.

It makes no sense that the film has a shit-colored view of marriage but somehow posits that it makes total sense because having the kid will redeem it. The kid is the only reason Heigl even talks to Rogen beyond their first "date". Not to mention Rogen's dad is divorced but says that having kids was the best thing he ever did, while Paul Rudd's marriage is a disaster of suspicion and sexual frustration but that's okay because he can bury his feelings under superficial fixes like trips to Vegas and fantasy baseball instead of facing his misery head-on. At no point are any of the characters given room to question their decisions or discover their sense of purpose by weighing alternatives or searching for a better understanding of the self; instead the film suggests that buying into this rigid family institution is the only way to go, and only by accepting and embracing this path will one be at peace.

What is ultimately galling, however, is the fact that the movie is designed to appeal chiefly to the Rogens in the audience. What does this movie say to the aimless? It doesn't encourage self-awareness. It doesn't encourage education. It doesn't encourage contemplation of your place in the world and discovering the path that makes you happy. What it encourages is submission. Go ahead and bang that drunk bitch you meet at a club, go ahead and ditch the condom, go ahead and get that non-descript corporate job -- you're finally on your way to the American Dream.

Maybe that interpretation showcases my radical tendencies (I've always thought that blindly having kids to fill some "void" in one's life is the worst possible decision a person can make, not just for that person but for the kids who suffer as a result), but I think it's more or less propaganda that the film offers parenthood as the only choice Rogen's character has on his path to adulthood, not to mention the rest of the characters. (Heigl's is the only one allowed career ambition but that still could never take precedence over her childbearing, while Rogen's slacker friends are ultimately left behind because they haven't followed suit.) The movie even seems to acknowledge that none of the characters are really happy, but in its world happiness isn't even an option, so why bother to fight it?

And if you ever take another look at the film, pay close attention to the way Apatow cuts in and out during the early scene where Heigl drives her sister's kids to school, cleverly showcasing the sleek design and spacious interior of that brand new Volkswagen she's driving. The film sells products as just one facet of its overall lifestyle pitch.

hated: Spiderman 3, Southland Tales (smoke pot, get a b.a. and you too can write a movie!)
overrated: Juno, American Gangster
celebrated: No Country, Into the Wild, Knocked Up

PVice, once again I think you're overreaching, and I didn't even like the movie that much.

I think Bug is something close to a classic and a fascinating character study. It's stuck with me more than almost any movie this year. When I went to buy it a stupid high school girl behind the counter said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Everyone hates that movie. There aren't even any bugs in it." Fuck you. It's almost as bad as the employee that told me not to buy Idiocracy. "You love that? It was stupid. There's no way our country will ever end up like that." I should have given her a ride to today in a Delorean and showed her the headline for Jamie Lynn Spears.

Worst movie of the year?

No contest. Hands down. Fred Claus.

Oh, and p.Vice is a miserable asshole.

Shit, this should have been one post. In The Land of Women is the second worst movie of the year.

10. PREMONITION
9. THE NUMBER 23
8. THE REAPING
7. P.S. I LOVE YOU (a late addition and certainly a worthy one)
6. PRIMEVAL
5. REDLINE
4. THR3E
3. ARE WE DONE YET?
2. LICENSE TO WED
1. I KNOW WHO KILLED ME

And NEXT escaped this list by the skin of its teeth: What were Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore thinking?

Rothchild: Your Jamie Lynn comment is right on the mark. Did you see the wire story about the father of her child? He was described as a dirt-bike-ridin', deer-huntin', pipe-layin' 19-year-old from the backwoods. And the reporter seemed surprised! What was he/she expecting? A Rhodes Scholar? A Wall Street wizard? IDIOCRACY is coming soon to a civilization near us, unfortunately.

I'm glad someone gets what I'm saying here. I have an Idiocracy t-shirt that shows all the buttons from the hospital.

Third worst film?

Ghost Rider.

Money is tight for me so I don't pay to see films that I think I will hate, that's just self-cruelty. And at this stage in my life, fiscally irresponsible. My worst film I saw was easily Transformers. I have an explanation for the one-for-the-ages badness that was John Turturro's performance in it: I really believe he was trying to be as bad as possible to see if Bay ever noticed.

But based on the advertising and the trailers I think I would have had a hard time watching License to Wed and not wanting to see Robin Williams' annoying kid sidekick die horribly and slowly, like in Hostel. I read they are making an Ace Ventura prequel with that kid playing a young Ace. That will be the worst movie in history.

p.vice has some points there. I heard Hugh Hewitt and other rightie radio hosts praising the film as conservative. Just sayin.

GHOST RIDER: the most expensive Sam Katzman production that Sam didn't produce.

At this point, someone could offer Nicolas Cage a shot-for-shot remake of FUN IN ACAPULCO and Cage would accept.

The worst movie I saw this year was the trailer for ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. O boy.

Wow, I just saw someone's list and they had to see both I Know Who Killed Me and PS I Love You. I have to second the comment above, 'Read a book.' I don't care if it's free, it is 2 less hours you will be alive, so in the end it really isn't free. And why the hell did you all watch Spiderman 3, or better yet, why were you surprised it was bad? The second one had plenty of warning signs.

Sorry, I am often jealous that I don't have time to see some of the great movies some of you guys see, but this list is making me feel better for the stuff miss.

Mr B I'm curious what you thought the warning signs were in SPIDER-MAN 2? Most of us thought it was at least one of the great comic book movies, and many of us thought it was one of the best films of 2004. Kind of why we were so dissapointed by 3...

I would never watch the following at the theater or even at home, but I caught these dreadful movies on airplanes this year:

License to Wed
The Santa Clause: The Escape Clause
Transformers
The Invasion
Evan Almighty

Some of the most disappointing or mediocre movies I saw:

The Simpsons Movie
Stardust
Evening
No Reservations

And, the most over rated films of 2007 (IMHO, so don't get your panties in a bunch...these films simply did not match the hype and buzz for me):

Into the Wild
American Gangster
I Am Legend
Sicko
Waitress

I wouldn't say that p.vice's interpretation of Knocked Up is 100% insane but it sure puts the most cynical possible spin on every aspect of the movie.

The political analyses this harmless, fun movie has inspired are really riddiculous.

Can we next expect an essay on why Three Men and a Baby is a socialist film because it demands that three succesful professional males sacrifice their lives in the hopes that a child (which may not be their own) can fill an emotional void? What of the American economy? What of THEIR rights? Shouldn't the mother just have had an abortion (after all, 33% of American women do!)?

I'm sure there are people who lead lives of blissful ignorance, trying to develop porn sites with their buds while smoking a lot of pot but I don't think there's anything wrong with suggesting that there might be more to life than that - and that an adult relationship could be part of that.

Just because the pregnancy is a "mistake" does not mean that it cannot be a good thing (nor that suggesting such a thing makes one a Republican.)

On other things p.Vice just seem way off base - the Rudd/Mann relationship makes it clear that kids aren't enough to fill the void and that couples have to make more of an effort to connect with each other; it's a harbinger for Rogen's character, not something to which he aspires.

The only thing that really bugged me in Knocked Up? Rogen keeps going about he (and presumably his family) is from Vancouver and then, suddenly, his dad is in LA when they need to meet for lunch. I guess he could have flown down but it seems awful convenient...either way, Ramis is great in that scene so I don't dwell on it.

Also, I want to note that no one rejects the auteur theory when we're talking about a terrible film. Suddenly it's ' Steve Carr's ARE WE DONE YET? '

I have to ask if you actually saw MR. MAGORIUM'S WONDER EMPORIUM, Jeffrey, because while the trailers did make it look like utter torture, I found the film itself to be quite lovely.

And I have to toss FEAST OF LOVE in as a "worst" contender.

BurmaShave: I think LionsGate ran out of money, so Butterfly on a Wheel was renamed Shattered and was dumped on TNT. I feel bad for Brosnan, who gave an okay performance, but the plot and production values were horrid.

Aguirre: True about differences in sense of humor. But, I didn't think that film gave me my $9 worth of laughter - esp. for something that I could watch for free any night of the week. The Simpsons upped the laugh quotient for their movie.

"(despite statistics that 35% of American women will have an abortion at some point in their life)"

I've heard this criticism before, and it never ceases to amuse me, the idea that people want to watch a light-hearted Judd Apatow comedy suddenly deal with abortion.

It's like hoping that Steve Carrell would lose his virginty via rape.

"I hated the decision to go big and obvious with the giant tentacles in The Mist, but it was interesting enough in the beginning to avoid inclusion."

This quote highlights a big problem with Jeff's criticisms. Namely, that something would be well done for the entire way through and yet still narrowly avoid being included on his list of worst movies of the year due to one thing Jeff didn't like in the movie (there is only one scene which involved giant tentacles [straight out of the book, of course, because most of Darabont's decisions on adapting King are to adapt it straight]).

Burma, I know everyone seems to love Spidey 2 including most of my friends, but for some reason it rubbed me the wrong way and I almost walked out halfway through in the theaters. For me, it was just too obvious and none of the character interactions rung true. I just couldn't believe any of them. I dunno, maybe I'm crazy.

Since I am not a critic, I tend to avoid the really bad ones (Daddy Day Camp, Are we done yet)
but obviously I still ran into some really bad ones.

Shooter (I am surprised no one mentioned this Marky Mark movie, but this is horrible)
Spidey 3 (Biggest disappointment)
Redacted
Hostel 2 (Eli Roth has no talent)
Frontieres (Xavier Gans directed it, he also directed Hitman, which wasn't as bad as that)
Elizabeth 2 (why Cate why?)
Silk (Zzzz...)

Probably miss some, but that's all I could think of so far.