While I'm still messing around with my Best of 2006, I'm also coming across my Worst. Here's one that makes that dubious list...
While I was pretty jacked to see this Road to Guantanamo, I was equally as disappointed after I saw it. While it's a tragic story that should be told, I've got one major problem with the film itself:
The blend of documentary, or actual footage, with the re-enactment drama stuff. I understand if the filmmakers' didn't have enough actual footage to make a true documentary. But mixing in the dramatization, only when it serves your desired purpose of gaining sympathy for the viewpoint you are trying to convey, seems a bit self-serving to your point.
Plus, the editing between the docu / and the drama comes off pretty cheesy. Other documentaries have been able to pull this off successfully (see: Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line), but Road fails miserably here.
Most brutal scene of the film shows some high ranking U.S. soldier asking one of the detainees repeatedly, "where's Bin Laden?", while he gets forearmed in the back of the head. Sounds harsh, until you see how terrible the actors are.
I'd rather have seen this story told from a more subjective standpoint, and I think the way the film is manipulated takes away from the tragic journey that these young gentlemen were forced to endure. It's not the filmmakers' fault that actual footage wasn't available, so perhaps this story would be best told as a straight drama.
A little more subjectiveness, ala Jesus Camp, would serve Road better. Of all the films below, it is probably the most critically acclaimed. So others may like it. It's the only one of my WORST that I recommend seeing, because perhaps others will see it differently. I thought it was semi-crap.
OK, for the rest of my WORST of 2006, in no particular order **one note: I try not to waste my time watching bad films, so I'm sure there are a ton out there that are worse than these. I'm not a big blockbuster type-a-guy, hence the reason for the lack of those types of movies (Da Vinci Code, not withstanding):
Prairie Home Companion - so bored with this after 30 minutes, I fell asleep. Woke up 20 minutes later, turned it off, sent back to Netflix unwatched. Garbage.
Brick - when you go for the artsy-farstiness and fail tragically, it comes off as a contrived pile of shit. That's Brick.
Black Dahlia - this one shows I'm not biased. I LUV Brian DePalma. I loathed Dahlia. One of those films where you keep watching the timer on the DVD player because you can't wait for it to end.
Art School Confidential - I remember when previews came out, it looked interesting. It sucked.
Road to Guantanamo - see above.
Da Vinci Code - an expensive pile of junk. May have been a good book, but this was a colossal waste of time.
While I was pretty jacked to see this Road to Guantanamo, I was equally as disappointed after I saw it. While it's a tragic story that should be told, I've got one major problem with the film itself:
The blend of documentary, or actual footage, with the re-enactment drama stuff. I understand if the filmmakers' didn't have enough actual footage to make a true documentary. But mixing in the dramatization, only when it serves your desired purpose of gaining sympathy for the viewpoint you are trying to convey, seems a bit self-serving to your point.
Plus, the editing between the docu / and the drama comes off pretty cheesy. Other documentaries have been able to pull this off successfully (see: Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line), but Road fails miserably here.
Most brutal scene of the film shows some high ranking U.S. soldier asking one of the detainees repeatedly, "where's Bin Laden?", while he gets forearmed in the back of the head. Sounds harsh, until you see how terrible the actors are.
I'd rather have seen this story told from a more subjective standpoint, and I think the way the film is manipulated takes away from the tragic journey that these young gentlemen were forced to endure. It's not the filmmakers' fault that actual footage wasn't available, so perhaps this story would be best told as a straight drama.
A little more subjectiveness, ala Jesus Camp, would serve Road better. Of all the films below, it is probably the most critically acclaimed. So others may like it. It's the only one of my WORST that I recommend seeing, because perhaps others will see it differently. I thought it was semi-crap.
OK, for the rest of my WORST of 2006, in no particular order **one note: I try not to waste my time watching bad films, so I'm sure there are a ton out there that are worse than these. I'm not a big blockbuster type-a-guy, hence the reason for the lack of those types of movies (Da Vinci Code, not withstanding):
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