Friday, December 30, 2011

Worst Films of 2011

I can't close out the year without a walk down memory lane of some of the painfuly terrible movies I've had the displeasure of sitting through.  And what qualities make a movie destined to a life of shame on this list?  For me, it's gratuitous violence, phoniness, and pointlessness.

Below are my least favorite, somewhat recognizable movies of the year, beginning with the worst of the worst.  (Note that, for the most part, I'm not including terrible movies from film festivals that nobody's heard of.  What fun is that?)

Worst (Somewhat Recognizable) Films of 2011:
  1. Hobo with a Shotgun
  2. The Thing
  3. The Rite
  4. Final Destination 5
  5. The Sitter
  6. The Rum Diary
  7. Real Steel
  8. Fast Five
  9. Seven Days in Utopia
  10. Happy Feet 2
  11. Something Borrowed
  12. I Am Number 4
  13. Sanctum
  14. The Zookeeper
  15. Larry Crowne
  16. Attack the Block
  17. Bag of Bones (A made for TV mini-series.  Does that still count?)
('Jack and Jill', take note:  You had some laughs, so I'm actually giving you a pass on the official list.  But just barely.  You're on watch, Adam Sandler.)

And how about those movies that boast a great cast, but turn out to be a waste of talent.  These aren't all terrible films, but just poor relative to the quality of the talent attached.  Below they are ranked starting from biggest disappointment:

Biggest Waste of Talent in 2011:
  1. Salvation Boulevard
  2. Larry Crowne
  3. Your Highness
  4. Paul
  5. Horrible Bosses
  6. Bad Teacher
  7. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
  8. Fright Night
  9. The Muppets
  10. New Year's Eve


  1. Fast Five was pretty fun to watch on the big screen. Also, you didn't give Hobo with a Shotgun a chance, it was quite good :)

  2. For me, 'Fast Five' was painful. And I hated, hated, hated 'Hobo'.