5. Freddy Got Fingered – Therapy scene
The Movie: Back in the 90s until the early 2000s, MTV was much more intertwined with pop culture than it is now. The advent of the Internet would inevitably take over MTV’s reign in the pop culture sphere. It might still have loyal followers and the yearly popular MTV Movie Awards, but the relevance it once had is long gone.
It produced many celebrities at the time, and some are still working, such as Johnny Knoxville. Some of you might remember the very peculiar comedian who entered the mainstream with his bum out: Tom Green. Thanks to MTV’s efforts at low-brow humor, he found himself an audience.
His comedic antics on his sketch comedy TV show certainly wasn’t for everyone, but he was popular enough to star in a few movies, and would eventually star, write, and direct his own: “Freddy Got Fingered”.
Going even further than he dared in his TV show, “Freddy Got Fingered” was butchered by every critic known to man. It was awarded all the relevant Razzie awards, which Tom Green unashamedly picked up. It has recently received a cult following, but it’s still, unsurprisingly, a very acquired taste.
The Great Moment: The film is anything but tasteful, and some gags are simply revolting. Yet, it’s hard to imagine that anybody couldn’t crack a smile at the silliness of the “therapy scene”, where its lead character (played by Tom Green, of course) falsely accuses his father (played by a very possibly drunk Rip Torn) of molesting his brother.
Naturally, this doesn’t seem funny at all, but the utmost moronic nature of the scene, with the insane outburst, the serious music, the head-statue that gets thrown out of the window, is so awesomely moronic that it’s hard not to laugh. Its fans might have different moments, but to this author, this scene is one of its highlights.
4. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – The warehouse fight
The Movie: “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” introduced some serious controversy from its casting alone, namely Ben Affleck, who seemed unworthy of donning the Batman cape. Zack Snyder, continuing with the DC Universe, was also met with some serious skepticism since “Man of Steel” had been a critical disappointment.
The first few trailers were surprisingly good, and some hype started to grow. Sadly, the final trailer spoiled it all. It not only revealed the final battle, but it also revealed what its many detractors feared: a bloated screenplay.
Affleck actually turned out to be very good in the film – as will be discussed in the film’s greatest moments – but the screenplay itself was a giant mess. Warner Bros., wanting to save a few bucks and not invest in a herd of stand-alone DC films to introduce the characters, used this film to introduce not just the Justice League in lukewarm cameos, but also introduced plotlines that could have served as stand-alone movies.
The internal battle between Superman and Batman is terribly undeveloped. The physical battle is short and silly and not much to talk about. These two icons finally duking it out is something everybody’s been waiting for, and the fact that it received such mixed criticism should say enough about its failures.
It’s worst sin, however, is utterly revamping the Lex Luthor character in a Joker-esque fashion who imbues none of the menace or intelligence of the original character. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is without a doubt, one of the biggest failures in superhero cinema history; it makes interesting choices but almost none of them deliver, and the bad choices overwhelm the eventual product.
The Great Moment: Even though some people critiqued seeing another flashback of Batman’s past, the loyalty to which it is presented (along with Hans Zimmer’s moving musical score) starts the film on a very positive note. Introducing an adult Bruce Wayne running through rubble, looking up at horror as Superman and Zod are fighting each other in the sky, makes for a very interesting opening, and even redeems the senseless action at the end of “Man of Steel”.
The film quickly plummets, however, but every now and then, signs of its original brilliance is shown again, most notably in the final warehouse fight where Batman takes care of a bunch of goons. It’s a sequence every fan of the Arkham games have dreamed about, and solidified Affleck as a Batman we could all be proud of.
3. RoboCop 3 – Detroit cops take a stand
The Movie: The brilliant combination of ultra-violence, satire, and cyberpunk that “RoboCop” delivered has rarely been replicated. Its sequel had its merits but couldn’t find the proper tone. The third one betrayed the edginess of the original in favor of more family friendly action, which broke the heart of its original screenwriter, Frank Miller.
Even though the third one has its moments, it’s a sad affair compared with the first “RoboCop”. It could have been much more, and its message of corporate dictatorship is even more prevalent now. If you wonder what could have been, one should read the comic “RoboCop 3: The Last Stand”, which is a comic adaptation of the original screenplay by Frank Miller himself.
The Great Moment: Even with all its flaws, it is entertaining that some of the original supporting cast of the original “RoboCop” get more to do. Nancy Allen as Lewis sadly doesn’t live long enough in the film to make much of an impact, but desk Sergeant Warren Reed (Robert DoQui) has a particular great moment when he finally takes a stand against the sadistic Paul McDaggett (a very entertaining John Castle) and his team of Urban Rehabilitators.
Paul asks Warren’s assistance to drive people out of their homes and when Warren protests, his pension is threatened: ”Think about your own family.”
”I am,” he replies in awesome fashion, taking out the pin-badge on his chest and dropping it on the floor. ”I think I have to go home and face them.”
He commences to leave and his colleagues follow his example, dropping their badges in a symbolic protests. The music, as with most of these scenes on the list, really add to it. It’s a heroic and crowd-pleasing moment that deserved to be in a better film.
2. Spider-Man 3 – Birth of the Sandman
The Movie: The Spider-Man franchise was in perfect hands and made a lot of money. Unfortunately, a lot of money isn’t enough for Hollywood executives; to them, a lot of money can transform into even more money! Artistic vision be damned, it’s a business after all!
So, in order to sell more toys, they forced director Sam Raimi to add the popular character Venom into the film. At this stage, the film already had enough plot threads to deal with and Raimi himself had no interest in the character (something he clearly shows by giving the character very little development).
Apart from Venom’s superfluous presence, the melodrama involving the relationship between Peter Parker and Mary Jane also became too much for critics and audiences alike. It would not get a sequel and would get instead a derivative reboot. The sequel to this reboot is probably one of the worst superhero films in recent years – and there’s been a lot. Raimi’s last entry in the Spider-Man canon might not have been as satisfactory as hoped, yet compared to “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”, it was a masterpiece.
The Great Moment: Out of all the villains in Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, the Sandman might be one of the best. Venom might have been poorly handled, but it’s obvious that Raimi had a lot of love for this character.
Receiving a sympathetic pathos as the criminal who just wants to save his daughter, naturally by some freak accident, he gets his body fused with sand by some experimental fusion accelerator and then in turn, he is able to control the power of sand. Thomas Haden Church was also an inspired choice for the character, underplaying him in a film that is chock-full of melodrama.
The standout scene, however, has to his transformation as the Sandman. It might even be the best scene in the whole trilogy. Even though he knows he’s become a freak of nature, he barely gives himself time to grieve as the picture of his daughter wakes him up to the realization that he has a job to do and that he can’t let anything stop him.
The beautiful music, amped up when the Sandman rises and takes control of his powers, sends chills down your neck. This scene alone made up for all the bad Peter Parker jazz dancing – which, admittedly, was painful to look at.
1. Blues Brothers 2000 – The legendary blues musicians playing together in the climax
The Movie: The legacy of John Landis is a sadly complicated one; on the one hand, he’s made numerous classics that have made a permanent dent on pop culture; on the other other hand, there’s “Twilight Zone: The Movie”. The tragic accident that cost the lives of Vic Morrow and two children shook Hollywood to the bone and Landis never fully recovered.
Even though he’s done some notable work after, such as “Spies Like Us”, “Three Amigos”, “Coming to America”, and the underrated “Into The Night” and “Innocent Blood”, and his last film even received some decent reviews (“Burke and Hare”), there’s no denying that it tainted his legacy.
The unfortunate sequel to arguably his greatest film, “The Blues Brothers”, certainly didn’t help; all the zaniness that worked in the first film failed miserably in the second. The second mission from God couldn’t reach the heavens this time.
One could blame this on the passing of John Belushi, and having John Goodman as a replacement is an inspired choice, but his character gets none of the magic that made the original Jake so endearing. The humor felt forced and it didn’t have any of the energy that made the first film such an enduring classic.
The Great Moment: There’s an argument to be made that this is more of a tribute than a sequel, but this is a very flimsy argument at best. It seems like a desperate retread, a greedy capitalization on one of the greatest musical comedies in cinema. However you are going to define it, it has none of the humor or spirit, and certainly not the heart, of the original.
If there’s one thing it did get right, it was the damn music. None of that MTV bubblegum trash here; real blues artists crowd the picture. At the end, we have all these legends standing together, such as BB King, Eric Clapton, The Louisiana Gator Boys and more. If only the journey to this wouldn’t be so painful, this would have been a film to fondly remember.
Author Bio: Chris van Dijk is a writer and a self-proclaimed cinematic-connoisseur who started his unhealthy obsession with film at a very young age. He’s famous for being an incredible slob, taking himself way too seriously and getting along brilliantly with anyone who agrees with him.