[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

11 minutes ago, CinemaInternational said:

 

 

But even Battlefield Earth was spared the ignominy of this marquee which the unfortunately titled Screwed had to face.

Some  other bad marquees were featured on a photo gallery. I'm sharing carefully....

These occurred both in 2007 and the bad sense to put Knocked Up in the same theatre with Nancy Drew....

not that Nancy was the only one affected by the Apatow comedy

2013.... a bad idea for a  double feature

2006. DreamWorks and Ridley Scott gone light don't mix

2000. Nor do a blackspotation remake and a Disney film.

2005. Or a documentary about birds and another Apatow comedy....

2001, Spy Kids and Blow do not belong on the same marquee either....

2014, two bad films for the price of one?

2008, what happened to certainty?

1995, sounds like the biggest giveaway horror title.

And finally 2011, and I assume some wished to do so....

[TCM REMEMBERS 2019]

1 minute ago, Hibi said:

Yes, I think they did! I can't remember what exactly transpired. I know Delores Hart's membership hung in the balance. She still voted.

She did appear though in that HBO documentary about her  which was up for an Oscar in 2011 though. That said though, I wonder what Mother Dolores had to think of some of the films up for Oscars over the years if she saw them. 

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

1 minute ago, LawrenceA said:

RottenTomatoes has Playing with Fire at 21%, while Cats is 19%.

Playmobil: The Movie has 16%.

Arctic Dogs has 14%.

Hellboy has 17%.

A Madea Family Funeral has 12%.

Replicas has 9%.

 

I was at Metacritic, which would explain the difference. Neither score is anything to crow about, that's for sure.

On Metacritc, there are actually a few major studio films that got scores less than 10 (gulp). And that's on a weighted average, so double gulp.

Those films were
The 1996 Pauly Shore film Bio-Dome (1) [MGM]

The abysmal Baby Geniuses from 1999 (6) [TriStar]

The luckless sequel Caddyshack 2, from 1988 [WB]

The dismal comedy Screwed from 2000 [7]

Fox's Miss March from 2009 (7)

Fox again with Meet the Spartans from 2009 (9)

Lionsgate with the horror film Awake in the Dark from 2005 (9)

Columbia's Bucky Larson: Born to be A Star from 2011 (9)

Orion's teen film Johnny Be Good from 1988 (9)

AFD's Saturn 3 from 1980 (directed by Stanley Donen!?!) (9)

Anfd the instantly notorious WB sci-fi film Battlefield Earth from 2000 (9)

 

But even Battlefield Earth was spared the ignominy of this marquee which the unfortunately titled Screwed had to face.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

16 minutes ago, UMO1982 said:

Worst reviewed film of the year......

Not quite, but close. Even if you limit yourself to major studio releases, Paramount's Playing with Fire, a kiddy comedy with a WWE star, had a lower score.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

Just now, Hibi said:

GROAN.Enough with the bad cat jokes!

Sorry. Too many puns today. It's too easy a target. Rocky and Bullwinkle would have had fun with it....

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

Just now, speedracer5 said:

Xanadu is an amazing film! Unlike Cats, it does not feature characters that are one Animorphs transformation shy of a real cat.

Exactly. Plus it has a killer soundtrack, a lovely Olivia Newton-John, and Gene Kelly's last great dance number. Plus, its really charming.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

i saw a tweet comparing this to Xadadu. I know Xanadu, and Xanadu just got wronged, honey.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

2 minutes ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michaelblackmon/cats-movie-reviews?origin=web-hf

it used up its 9th life.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

9 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:

This quote was my favorite.  It isn't often you see the word "piffle" used.

Full Review from The guardian, complete with piffle line....

Quote

 

The filming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn’t just one of your holiday games,
Each actor involved here looks mad as a hatter,
When the trailer came out, we were CALLING THEM NAMES.
It began with Cat poems from old TS Eliot,
In the 80s, Lloyd Webber just put them on stage
That was frankly a bit of a gamble for Andrew, but
Coach-loads of punters made Cats all the rage.

Now Cats is on film, with many a lonely puss
Played by performers of A-lister class.
But the number of  m*a*m*m*a*r*i*e*s looks frankly erroneous
And tails that appear to emerge from each arse.
There are lots of big names here, names we see daily,
Names that supposedly give us a lift.
Nothing like Jonathan Pie or Bill Bailey,
But names like James Corden, and – yes – Taylor Swift.
The setting is London, it does look post-nuclear
There aren’t any people, so maybe there were
Bomb blasts – or maybe a bio disaster
Causing cat-human mutants with digital fur.
The twitching of ears on their heads is distracting

As they gaze at the greenscreen and sashay and crawl,
It’s weird to behold them all gurning and acting,
And why do so many resemble Darth Maul?
Did director Tom Hooper intend this appearance?
Did it make him feel happy – or cause him some stress?
We have to assume that he gave it his clearance
But THE MAN HIMSELF KNOWS and will never confess.
These are the Jellicle felines of legend,
All elbows and shoulders and undulant arms.
Each male in the cast looks a bit of a bellend,
And those bizarre whiskers don’t add to their charms.
The Jellicles welcome Victoria: a new cat,
Francesca Hayward’s the thesp with this role,
She’s sleek, unlike Corden – well known for TV chat
But it’s his size that reveals that he’s meant to be droll.
And then Idris Elba comes on as McCavity,
(A boomy-voiced villain in anyone’s book)
There’s a prominent gap in his p*e*n*i*s locality.
I honestly didn’t … well … know where to look.
As Grizabella, Jennifer Hudson will sniffle
Singing Memory, this movie’s moment of truth.

But it’s warbling warbling warbling piffle
From a bag lady drama-queen obsessed with lost youth.
The Jellicles’ leader is Old Deuteronomy
Judi Dench has this part, looking very bemused.
What’s with that extra big fur coat? You’ve got me.
She looks bewildered and (like us) confused.
Obviously, Ian McKellen is in it,
And he’s got a tatty old topcoat as well.
The other cats’ nude state is clearly permitted.
But why? That is something that no cat will tell.
There’s another cat in it, by name Mungojerrie,
Not the 70s pop group who once raised a cheer,
With their Summertime chart hit that really was very
Much better, more catchy, than anything here.

Ray Winstone’s the creepiest cat in this feature
His Growltiger sends a sharp chill down your spine
With his hissing he looks like he’s having a seizure,
It’s scary – like adverts for betting online.
When you notice these cats in profound meditation
With a digitally created frown on their brow
Their minds are engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of what on earth to do now.
“Pretend to be cats!” says a director. They reply …
“Me? How?”

 

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

A CAT Scan might be more entertaining in the long run.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

1 minute ago, Hibi said:

When did this come out? I don't think it even played here.

It came out only in a few big cities in September, before it moved two weeks later to the Netflix streaming service, where it can still be seen.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

Two more notes:

Tom Hooper began the decade winning Best Director and Best Picture at the Oscars. He looks to be closing it by getting the two "top' awards at the Razzies.

Somebody wants to take me to go see this. 🤢 Please, take me to Little Women instead!

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

Just now, Hibi said:

Who is in the WIcked movie?

They ended up pushing it to the back burner before casting it so they could fast-track Cats. Big mistake. Wicked would have been a hit. Stephen Daltry of Billy Elliot, The Reader, and The Hours fame was to have directed it.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

Just now, Hibi said:

What is THE LAUNDROMAT? A new movie coming out? Doesn't sound promising from the title!

It was a dark comedy/crime film done by Steven Soderbergh for Netflix about the giant Panama banking scandal of a few years ago. Streep played the whistle-blower. Gary oldman and Antonio Bandares were the corrupt bankers. Co-starring were Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeffrey Wright, Rosalind Chao, David Schwimmer, Will Forte, James Cromwell, and Sharon Stone.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

Critical quotes from Metacritic:

Is it the worst film of 2019, or simply the most recent misfire of 2019? Reader, I swear on a stack of pancakes: “Cats” cannot be beat for sheer folly and misjudgment and audience-reaction-to-“Springtime for Hitler”-in-“The Producers” stupefaction. -- Chicago Tribune.

The problem is not that Cats makes no sense . . . nor that the performances are mediocre (most of them are quite good). The murder weapon is the galling CGI intended to cover the actors in head-to-toe feline fur. Instead, the animation detracts from the film’s capable performers and inventive surroundings, drawing the eye reluctantly in like the sight of a person vomiting in the middle of an amusement park. It makes for a slow death, so overwhelmingly grotesque that it ceases to be interesting at all. -- The Playlist

The only realistic way to fix Cats would be to spay it, or simply pretend it never happened. Because it's an all-time - a rare and star-spangled calamity. -- The Telegraph

It’s warbling warbling warbling piffle. -- The Guardian

This adaptation gets straight to the heart of the material, which is basically two hours of stray cats introducing themselves. -- Slant

I truly believe our divided nation can be healed and brought together as one by Cats — the musical, the movie, the disaster. In other news, my eyes are burning. -- The Boston Globe

Please wipe this movie from my “Memory.” -- New York Post

Tom Hooper’s jarring fever dream of a spectacle is like something that escaped from Dr. Moreau’s creature laboratory instead of a poet’s and a composer’s feline (uni)verse, an un-catty valley hybrid of physical and digital that unsettles and crashes way more often than it enchants. -- The Wrap

It's almost unfathomable that this one made it through all the preliminary production meetings without someone sensibly calling a halt to the process by saying, "Wait a minute, those kitties are d*** creepy! -- The Hollywood Reporter

Tom Hooper’s outlandishly tacky interpretation seems destined to become one of those once-in-a-blue-moon embarrassments that mars the résumés of great actors (poor Idris Elba, already scarred enough as the villainous Macavity) and trips up the careers of promising newcomers (like ballerina Francesca Hayward, whose wide-eyed, mouth-agape Victoria displays one expression for the entire movie). -- Variety

For the most part, Cats is both a horror and an endurance test, a dispatch from some neon-drenched netherworld where the ghastly is inextricable from the tedious. Every so often it does paws — ahem, pause — to rise to the level of a self-aware hoot. -- Los Angeles Times

Cats is a slick and tedious and weird-looking exercise in self-indulgence. -- Chicago Sun-Times

Of course, Cats has always been ridiculous, just as it has always been ridiculed. (“Cats is a dog,” declared a notorious review of the musical’s Broadway debut.) But Hooper can’t even get camp right. -- AV Club

“Cats” the movie is deeply, deeply weird, and not in a good way. -- The Seattle Times

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

3 minutes ago, LawrenceA said:

Yes, it looks to be the favorite for Worst Picture. I also think John Travolta will "win" for Worst Actor for The Fanatic. Any other Razzie predictions?

Judi Dench will probably take a razzie for Cats, because I noticed at least one singled her out for giving a bizarre performance. It's something I shiver to think of, an actress of her caliber getting one of those. But then again, I've seen some think that Meryl Streep will be razzie nominated for The Laundromat, which is even crazier.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

Just now, Roy Cronin said:

I guess now the movie version of Glenn Close's Sunset Boulevard will be stopped dead in its non existent tracks.  The new death of the movie musical has been announced.

I don't know about that yet. If we hadn't had La La Land, Beauty and the Beast, The Greatest Showman, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star is Born, Mamma Mia Here We Go Again,  Frozen II, The Lion King, Rocketman, Mary Poppins Returns, and Yesterday rake in profits, I might say yes. But all those were hits, some enormously so. Wait and see seems the best approach.

[TCM REMEMBERS 2019]

11 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:

That seems pretty tacky that you have to pay the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences to have them remember you and your contributions to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

And to even be a member of the Academy, you have to be a former nominee/winner or if you aren't, you must have made one movie in the last 10 years. That was put in place as of a few years ago, and that means than now poor Kim Novak is not even an Academy member! She made her last film in 1991; it makes one wonder what will happen years from now when she passes. Will they remember her or not? They didn't even include Dorothy Malone or Carol Channing (a former winner and a former nominee) in their in memorioum sequences.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

Let's face it though, this is the Batman and Robin of its generation. One might say Ishtar (which I liked) or Heaven's Gate, but those films have gone up in reputation over the years. Not sure this will happen here. This is a film where cats, mice, and even cockroaches have human faces, a film which, just like the Broadway show has no discernible story. It's Razzie bait. And, unless there are a lot of people who are morbidly curious, it will go down as one of the biggest loss makers in Universal's history. At one point, they were going to release the musical Wicked as a film this Christmas. If they had remained on that path, i assume things would be much easier for them at the moment.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

It's a cat-astrophe.

[Dayum, CRITICS are SPITTING FIRE over CATS: THE MOVIE]

Seems like it laid a cinematic furball.

[Have you seen these 10 classic films..?]

11 minutes ago, speedracer5 said:

This sounds like something that needs to be seen to be believed. 

The only way it went out the way that it did was because it was released at the precise moment when there was a boycott on films at least in Philadelphia that caused attendance numbers to go down dramatically. Amidst all the hubbub around that, the film slipped out with a quickly appointed approved seal,only because it was finished and because they did not actually take a look at it;  even  by even pre-Code standards, it was too hot to trot. Only two cities, New York and Chicago showed it unedited, and then it was locked up for decades. 

[Have you seen these 10 classic films..?]

1 minute ago, speedracer5 said:

I'll have to add this film to my list.  Not so much for the guy in the shower, but for the description of being one of the "randiest precodes." 

It's way too overkill. i saw it once, and no more. it's not the curt lines really, its the whole gestalt of the film. It involves a group of dubious publishers who lure athletes (including Buster Crabbe and Ida Lupino) and beauty contest winners to add dignity to what is really a precursor of sorts to the Playboy/Playgirl type. The women wear see-through clothing with no bras, the men go around only in short swim trunks (and in one scene nothing at all from the back), and when its all over, it ends with the words The End planted on two men's rear ends. there's also a bizarre scene, a "celebration of beauty" that given the physical types on show, has disturbing Nazi-like parallels. it's weird.

[Have you seen these 10 classic films..?]

7 hours ago, TopBilled said:

Have you seen these classic films:

291.

 Search for Beauty, yes. Very scandalous for the 1930s, and probably one of the randiest of the pre-codes.

292.

 The Corn is Green, yes, Bette Davis was wonderful as ever.

293.

 The Bishop's Wife, haven't seen yet. Maybe in the next few days....

294.

 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, yes, good film.

295.

 Seven Year Itch, only saw part of it.

296.

 Midnight Lace, yes. Doris Day was good as usual.

297.

 Bonnie and Clyde. A personal favorite.

298.

 Live and Let Die. Blah, but Jane Seymour was lovely.

299.

 Down and Out in Beverly hills. Wonderful first half, distressingly flat second half.

300.

 Speed. Solid action cinema, well acted by its quartet of players.

 

[Have you seen these 10 classic films..?]

On 12/13/2019 at 9:17 PM, TopBilled said:

Cheat Sheet:

251. THE SECRET OF DR. KILDARE (1939) with Lew Ayres.

252. THE DARK MIRROR (1946) with Olivia de Havilland & Olivia de Havilland.

253. TO HELL AND BACK (1955) with Audie Murphy.

254. CAPTAIN LIGHTFOOT (1955) with Rock Hudson & Barbara Rush.

255. IN SEARCH OF GREGORY (1969) with Michael Sarrazin & Julie Christie.

256. THE KREMLIN LETTER (1970) with George Sanders in drag.

257. THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE (1974) with Walter Matthau.

258. HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986) with Dianne Wiest, Barbara Hershey & Mia Farrow.

259. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990) with Tantoo Cardinal.

260. JERRY MAGUIRE (1996) with Cuba Gooding Jr. & Tom Cruise.

 

On 12/14/2019 at 3:35 PM, TopBilled said:

Cheat Sheet:

261. IF YOU COULD ONLY COOK (1935) with Herbert Marshall & Jean Arthur.

262. BILLY THE KID (1941) with Robert Taylor.

263. TENDER COMRADE (1943) with Ginger Rogers.

264. ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949) with Broderick Crawford.

265. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) with Vivien Leigh.

266. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) with Joe E. Brown and his significant other.

267. VICTIM (1961) with Dirk Bogarde & Sylvia Syms.

268. OH GOD! (1977) with George Burns.

269. WITNESS (1985) with Harrison Ford & Kelly McGillis.

270. MULAN (1998)

 

On 12/16/2019 at 11:16 PM, TopBilled said:

Cheat Sheet:

271. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) with Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert.

272. SPELLBOUND (1945) with Ingrid Bergman & Gregory Peck.

273. RACHEL AND THE STRANGER (1948) with Loretta Young & William Holden.

274. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) with Karl Malden & Marlon Brando.

275. I WANT TO LIVE! (1958) with Susan Hayward.

276. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1967) with Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton.

277. BARQUERO (1970) with Lee Van Cleef.

278. PLACES IN THE HEART (1984) with Sally Field.

279. TOP GUN (1986) with Tom Cruise.

280. HOWARDS END (1992) with Anthony Hopkins & Emma Thompson.

 

19 hours ago, TopBilled said:

Nice discussion everyone.

Cheat Sheet:

281. THE BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE STREET (1934) with Norma Shearer & Charles Laughton.

282. THE GREAT MAN'S LADY (1942) with Barbara Stanwyck. (Just saw it this week)

283. TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH (1949) with Gregory Peck.

284. GIANT (1956) with Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson & James Dean.

285. THE THREE FACES OF EVE (1957) with Joanne Woodward.

286. A CHILD IS WAITING (1963) with Judy Garland & Burt Lancaster.

287. THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT (1974) with Jeff Bridges & Clint Eastwood.

288. WORKING GIRL (1988) with Melanie Griffith.

289. FALLING DOWN (1993) with Michael Douglas.

290. THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (2007)

I'm a 90s kid, so.... I have to say that Mulan was the first film I ever saw in a movie theatre.