14 DAY TRIAL // Surely, you must be no stranger to that feeling of anger mixed with bitter disappointment and a certain feeling “what just happened” when coming out of the movie theaters. If you know what we're talking about, check out the top 11 most infuriating films of 2011.
Having entered the final week of the year means stopping to take a closer look at what 2011 had in store for us, the best, the worst and the most infuriating – and this is precisely what Moviefone does.
However, if you find a movie that you liked on it doesn't mean it's a bad movie: just that, in some respects, it failed to meet pre-release hype.
This is a point that Moviefone also makes: some of the films on the list actually had a pretty performance at the box office but some of their flaws made them downright infuriating.
Starting off at number 11 is “Tower Heist,” a film that, the aforementioned e-zine believes, was so flawed that it's a wonder so many people turned out to see it.
The “heist” in the title made little sense – most of the plot made little sense. Secondly, this was supposed to be Eddie Murphy's big comeback and, even though the world was rooting for him, he failed to deliver.
Next on the list is “Sanctum,” an average drama / thriller about a team of experts stuck in a cave that's flooding; they must find a way out before it's too late.
The premise for it is wrong, Moviefone says: their leader claims to be the best of the best, yet it's because of his decisions that people die at an incredible speed – and this makes it particularly infuriating.
At number 9 is a film that will also be found on most Best Films lists of the year: Terrence Malick's “Tree of Life.” While the film mostly plays out as a breathtaking, beautiful piece, all scenes with Sean Penn are bound to make one grind one's teeth.
“First of all, there's no way that that young Jack grows up to look like Sean Penn. They look nothing alike. […] I could even excuse that, but the timeline just drove me bonkers,” Moviefone writes.
The result is that all scenes with Sean Penn seem to “interrupt” the story, taking the viewer out of the magical world Malick has gone to such lengths to create.
Also on the list are “Cars 2,” which Moviefone describes as a new version of “Larry the Cable Guy,” and “The Hangover II,” which is just like the original film, only worse.
After all, there's only so many times you can tell a joke before it gets tired.
“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” which came out right before Christmas is another unnecessary sequel and quite a disappointment compared to the first film, which actually managed to set the bar higher.
Because it's a Guy Ritchie movie starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, “Game of Shadows” is infuriating because it had people hoping for something more than a typical Hollywood sequel: and it's precisely what they got.
“The Three Musketeers” is at number 5 (a useless film with good characters and good actors), while “Jack & Jill” takes the fourth spot.
The latter is infuriating because it reminds one of the time when Adam Sandler actually cared about the movies he was putting out: with this one, he confirms he gave up on making good comedy.
“The Sitter” with Jonah Hill opens the top 3, while second spot goes to “Green Lantern,” officially one of the biggest flops of the year.
For the kind of potential it had and the millions of fans left feeling cheated by it, it being a flop is twice as maddening.
“There's a really cool Green Lantern story lurking out there, somewhere – but, my God, this sure wasn't it. Everything is wrong with this movie: from the casting to the story to the CGI costume. Everything,” Moviefone writes.
“As I sit here, I know that there will never be another Green Lantern movie because this one was botched so terribly, and that is infuriating,” the publication further says.
Indeed, rumors about a sequel to “make things right” have been making the rounds even before the original was pulled from cinema screens.
The top position goes to Zack Snyder's “Sucker Punch.” Once considered a visionary director, a genuine artist of the image (he directed “Watchmen” and, most importantly, “300”), Snyder is running out of fans among critics and movie buffs.
“Sucker Punch” did not earn him extra points with them either.
“I loathe this movie with the intensity of one thousand suns,” Moviefone writes, describing it as an “amazing spectacle of bull[expletive]” and entirely nonsensical.
So there you have it: 11 of the most infuriating films to be released in 2011. If you disagree with some of the choices or have better alternatives, let us know in the comments section below.
Here's to a better 2012!
