Worst Movie Ever!

I think I know that one. The kid gets kidnapped, and befriends the guys who kidnapped him, right? Is Danny Aiello in it? Ben Stein? Joe Pantiliano from The Sopranos? Am I thinking of the right film?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

yep
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081145/

Ha! I knew it sounded familiar! Got a pretty low imdb rating.

My "worst movies" list:
THE CEMETERY CLUB (who did they make this for?)
THE FIRE DOWN BELOW (Steven Seagal can't act, yet he keeps making movies, why?)
HANGING UP (self-pitying dreck)
STEPFORD WIVES (remake) (hateful)
WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW (incomprehensible no matter how you watch it)
SURF'S UP (shockingly crude and ultimately dull)

The Prince and Me

Ugh! IMO, the WORST movie of that year. I didn't mind the film being remade, but I LOATHED Matthew Broderick's sudden change of heart towards the end, and the ultimate finale, which was just plain ridiculous. Plus the very end of the film, which was supposedly a comedic twist on the original's...ugh!

The film should have ended with the "Stepfordized" Nicole Kidman shopping for groceries, as in the original...instead of dragging on for another 20 minutes.

I believe this was a troubled production, with Frank Oz having his own vision, and the studio having theirs. I could be wrong, but I swear I remember reading a piece about the film around the time of its release that said it was going to be a straight remake of the 1975 film. Next thing you know, it's become a comedy with a few dramatic moments tossed in. The ending (after the Stepford Wives shopping scene) seems tacked on. It feels like a reshoot (probably was). But this was a really bad film. Not even Christopher Walken or Jon Lovitz could save it.

Stan Lee has made some great comics, but his POW! Entertainment movies have been pretty crummy. Mosaic: It's okay, but a bit too corny/ The Condor: An improvement compared to Mosaic, but too raunchy for my tastes./ Lightspeed: Oh my gosh... incredibly stupid movie. Apparently they thought violence makes a good movie. Don't see this, it's a waste of your time.

I love his superhero series on Scifi channel! It's too much fun!

That makes me sad that you added Howard the Duck to your list.

Personally....I'd add Cannibal the Musical and Prancer to the list.

Well, I guess it's about time I added one of my favorite director's films to this list. Brian De Palma's The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990).

De Palma was strictly a director-for-hire on this project. It didn't originate with him, but he did his best. The film was so notorious upon release, a full book was written on its making, The Devil's Candy, by Julie Salamon, that chronicles the film from its inception to its messy aftermath.

Based on Tom Wolfe's satiric novel about a Wall Street "Master of the Universe" who finds his life crumbling all around him after a supposed hit-and-run, Bonfire was one of the Reagan era's best-selling books. Although the massive novel seemed almost unfilmable, what with the multiple characters and subplots, Warner Bros. scooped up the film rights and hired a screenwriter to boil Wolfe's work into a two hour movie.

By the time De Palma came on board, a cast was already in place, and this was (and still is) one of the most controversial aspects of the movie. Cast in the pivotal role of Sherman McCoy, Wall Street yuppie, was Tom Hanks. Hanks didn't resemble Wolfe's McCoy, nor was he convincing as Wolfe's Master of the Universe. Someone like William Hurt would have been much more appropriate. The book's sleazy tabloid reporter, Peter Fallow, is more of a supporting character, but becomes famous after he writes a book based on McCoy's downfall. In the book, Fallow is British. In the movie, his role is expanded (he narrates the film), is Americanized and is played by Bruce Willis. For the part of Maria, McCoy's Southern-born mistress, Melanie Griffith (who worked with De Palma in Body Double) was cast. Rounding out Wolfe's colorful cast of characters are F. Murray Abraham, Saul Rubineck, Alan King, Albert Hall and Morgan Freeman. The problem is, all of these actors overplay their roles, turning them into over-the-top cartoons, especially Abraham's D.A.

The script retains the basic skeleton of the novel, but it takes the fizz and bite out of Wolfe's satire. Worse, the ending is changed, or Hollywoodized. De Palma shot a slow-motion chase sequence to cap the movie, but it was left on the cutting-room floor. While the chase doesn't appear in the book, it may have been an interesting way to end the film instead of the way it plays out now.

Bonfire was planned as Warners' big Christmas hit, but it was a massive failure at the box office, and quickly disappeared from cinemas. Critics lambasted the film, calling it tasteless, unfunny, racist, miscast and dull. Even longtime De Palma champion Pauline Kael wrote an unflattering review.

Fortunately, De Palma would rebound from this mess. In his filmography, Bonfire is in between the excellent Casualties of War (1989) and the interesting Raising Cain (1992), which was a much more traditional film from the director. He would go on to make the Al Pacino gangster epic Carlito's Way (1993), and the box office smash Mission: Impossible (1996), which, although a popcorn flick, has De Palma's signature all over it.

Bonfire does have a few interesting sequences. The opening is a five-minute, unbroken tracking shot with Bruce Willis. De Palma himself, in costume as a security guard, can briefly be seen from the back, speaking into a walkie-talkie. Although we can't hear a word of what he's saying, he's actually directing the actors and crew to keep things moving. There's a nice overhead shot of Hanks and some of his Wall Street buddies on a speaker phone with their boss; and the scene where McCoy is mobbed outside a courthouse by a throng of umbrella-wielding reporters recalls a similar scene from Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940).

Have some of my postings been deleted for some reason? I've said nothing out of line. Hmm...

I loved HOWARD THE DUCK as a child & I had no idea that Cannibal the Musical had even existed. I would love to see it, even if just to know for my self.

Yeah, and they keep playing that cheap tacked on "Goin' Down to Mexico" song it took them 2 seconds to write during the "climax".... Garbage.

I forgot all about crappy little Prancer. the most cliched of all cliched Christmas movies. Of course he's gonna fly at the end. You can see that all a mile away. We need a cheesy predictable happy ending.

Want my opinion? i think Sony should stay the SHELL away from animated movies. This and Open Season looked horrendous. I'm not even bothering collecting the rest of the Open Season Pez... and I'm anal retentive about collecting Pez. I've said a million times, Pixar is the master of CGI, Dreamworks is a distant second.... Sony and Disney's original studio are alllllll the way at the end. Even though I did like Chicken Little.

I remember a few years back USA Network made a television movie called....Prancer 2! Reminds me of all the Free Willy movies. If the whale's dumb enough to get caught more than once....let him suffer from his own stupidity. If a reindeer's dumb enough to forget how to fly, let get locked up in a zoo.

A few years ago my friends and I were sitting in my room. They were like "How many DVDs do you have?" I was like "315 or something like that." They wanted me to count them so I did. When I was done they're like "What's that between The Powerpuff Girls Movie and Predetor?" They had bought Prancer from a used DVD store and put it in my collection when I wasn't looking.

Cannibal: The Musical was made in the early 90s, and ultimately distributed by Troma. It's notable as an early effort from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who would of course go on to create South Park. Parker directed, co-wrote and co-stars in the film. Stone co-wrote and plays the lead role of Alferd Packer, a real-life 19th-century mountain guide who, with a party, left Utah for Colorado gold country. During the journey, most of Packer's men left him, leaving only Packer and five others. The remaining members were caught in bad weather, and got lost in the Rocky Mountains. With provisions gone, it is here that Packer allegedly killed and ate the five men left in his party.

When Packer was caught and tried, legend has it that the judge said something like, "Packer you depraved Republican! There were only five Democrats in Hinsdale County, and you ate them all!" Packer was imprisoned, but escaped, living the life of a wanted man. He was eventually recaptured and spent the rest of his life in prison, where he became a vegetarian.

Sounds like something that would appeal to the future creators of South Park, eh? And don't forget, the film is a musical! A full-blown, singing and dancing musical!

Troma films... you either like them or hate them. I've only seen one of the Toxic Avenger films and I really want to see more of them. I actually met Lloyd Kaufman at a film seminar he hosted. he even signed my Toxic Crusaders Toxie Poster. One of my most prized acquisitions, along with my Carol Spinny signed memoir, my TMNT DVD cover signed by the Voice of the New leonardo, and my autograph of Kinnikuman cartoon series writer Kenji Terada.

I have been meaning to buy the "Tox Box" which includes the rare "Toxic Crusaders Movie."

Funny story behind that one. Troma made a deal with New Line Cinema to make a kid's live action movie based on the cartoon series (As opposed to the movie), but after a while of problems, they sued New Line and released an animated movie by themselves.

You met Lloyd Kaufman? That's cool! I like the majority of Troma films. When there's nothing on TV, I like to pop one of Kaufman's epics into my DVD player. Troma didn't actually make Cannibal, though. They distributed it after South Park took off. Parker & Stone made the film totally independent. Although Kaufman did suggest they change the title from Alferd Packer: The Musical to Cannibal: The Musical, because he didn't think anyone outside of Colorado would know who Alferd Packer was.

Thanks for the info Sr. now to keep my eye out for it.

Troma. . . Kabukiman. funny stuff, kids, funny stuff. You're right. You love it or hate it. I have yet to meet someone on the fence.