worst movie ever?
oh my.
shareIt's not good, but not the worst
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MovieChat Forums > Zardoz (1974) Discussion > worst movie ever?
Look at little hownos playing the troll and dissing a movie so many of us love despite its ridiculous elements.
shareAnd also because of its ridiculous elements! I really love the insanely fearless "anything goes" audacity that Boorman took here. It's like an eruption from the depths of the Unconscious, seemingly absurd from a logical viewpoint, but somehow emotionally right in the sheer hallucinatory joy of what it's doing.
shareI like that arch, polysyllabic and highly precise language of the Eternals which is always good for quite a few guffaws! Boorman talks about why they talk this way in his commentary.
Boorman does great commentaries on his films, doesn't he?
shareHis Excalibur commentary is fantastic
shareIt's got everything a good commentary should have: technical details, background, juicy tidbits about the actors & the production, acknowledgements of what he wishes he could have done better or differently, personal musings, etc. You can tell just how passionate he is about his films & just how much they mean to him.
shareThumbs up!
shareEverybody hated "Exorcist 2: The Heretic" when it came out in the summer of '77. It's an undeserved flop and Boorman got a lot of flak for making something so obscure even though its meaning is perfectly clear to those who can think on Boorman's wavelength. I was very pleased he not only did commentary for Exorcist 2, but he also addressed what it felt like to be in the center of a storm in which the entire film industry accused him of making a lousy flop though it only superficially looks terrible but actually is quite interesting and thought-provoking, much in the.manner of Zardoz.
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It is enjoyable for that all-in swagger that Boorman brings to the table. That alone makes it a fascinating, entertaining watch.
But it's clearly got some great ideas roiling around. It's talking about sex, death, life, religion, politics, and how societies are fairly and unfairly structured. It's not preaching. We have to figure out our own conclusions.
It's a dense film, not in a "lack of intellect" way, but in a "layers of meaning" way.
Yeah, it does seem to be more intuitive than "left brained", but it's still thoughtful in its wild nature.
Yes, it does have plenty of ideas to mull over, doesn't it? And it does leave the viewers to decide what they want to take from it. And it does all of this with fearless gusto & vivid imagery, while absolutely unconcerned about appearing ridiculous. If Boorman stumbled at time, reaching but not quite catching what he wanted, it's still a pleasure to see his work.
shareI'd rather watch somebody try something spectacular and fail than phone in something mediocre and get it right.
Zardoz is chaotic, complex, and has ups and downs, but it's more than worth watching and it's memorable.
It's not actually possible someone thinks a critical and financial failure of a movie is the worst movie they've ever seen? They just have to be trolling?
sharePauline Kael, the most influential movie critic of that era, was knocked out with admiration for what Boorman managed to accomplish on a low budget. She admired its unique qualities but couldn't help but laugh at its more absurd elements. The film has quite a cult behind it.
shareI don't give a flying fuck what Pauline Kael or you think. This movie bombed. It's not outlandish for someone to think it's an extremely bad movie. Accusing them of trolling simply because you like it just shows how much of a mental midget you are.
shareWow. You sure got your feathers ruffled. Maybe you just didn't understand Zardoz because it confused you. It's OK. Nobody with an IQ below 120 should watch Zardoz.
share"Wow. You sure got your feathers ruffled."
Your first response to a post criticizing a movie you like was to call the OP a troll. Sit down.
Most trash movies have a cult following. In no way does that change the fact that it's trash, which is what this movie is. I can watch it and be entertained, for the same reasons I can watch a car accident. Still trash.
shareAre you a Sean Connery fan? I thought The Offence and The Great Train Robbery were both worse than this.
shareI'm not a fan of any particular actor, per se, but some seem to have a better track record than others. Sean had a LOT of turds on his resume, and no, this is definitely not the worst. I didn't mind TGTR, and haven't seen The Offense. Highlander 2, Medicine Man, The Avengers...these are all equally bad or worse than this.
shareHow sweet of you to give someone the benefit of the doubt because you aren't familiar with their posting habits.
sharethe outfit alone makes it worth 2/10.
shareMaybe you're just disgusted by hairy men running around in a red loincloth.
shareit is definitely not my thing.
shareBefore the South Park/Family Guy mindset came into being, believe it or not, nobody ever laughed at Zed's costume in Zardoz. I've been aware of the movie since I was a pre-teen in the late 70s and I can't recall any laughter about it until about 2005. Personally, I don't really see anything funny about the costume. It's a suitably barbaric uniform for the Exterminators, granting freedom of movement for their killing sprees and colored bloody red. Matched with the blood-dyed masks, it's quite horrifying.
share"Before the South Park/Family Guy mindset came into being, believe it or not, nobody ever laughed at Zed's costume in Zardoz."
LOL, what?
Maybe you can actually backdate that sniggering, puerile teenage boy sense of humor to the "Beavis & Butthead" show. You know, the type of people that would look at a picture of Genghis Khan and their first reaction is "Look, dude! He's got a '70s porn 'stache!" Basically, everything they see is related to modern, sexually oriented pop-culture references and giggled at.
shareThere is a whole side missing to your perception if you cannot see the genius in this movie. It is a movie that operates on many different intellectual level, but it also very sensual, serious, frivolous, tragic and comedic ... that makes for great art. Sorry you didn't see that. It is one of the few actually literary movies.
shareWell said! Boorman has never shied away from grappling with Big Ideas, and the fact that he approaches them with everything he's got, including humor as well as intellect & symbolism & depth psychology, makes them a heady mix indeed. I much rather see him attempt something seemingly impossible, even if he occasionally stumbles at times, than settle for the certainty of something with less potential. If he fails at times, he fails gloriously. And when he succeeds, which is more often the case, he does so with gusto & panache.
shareI saw this as a teen first and liked it for its pop and psychedelic aspects some years after it came out.
Then I saw it again in the theater in the midnight movies and liked it even more.
Then it came to the Fox Theater in Redwood City, CA and went with a group of people who decided to the drop acid, which I had never really done. I took less than half a dose, but that movie really even came alive a lot more that night. It's really one of my favorites.
It's quite unique.
shareAnd by the way, "worst movie" ... this is not even close to being the worst movie ever, there are literally tens of thousands of movies that are worse than this. Not being on the realistic level when discussing this movie shows that you have a some kind of strong unconscious emotional reaction that prevented you from making a more realistic assessment of this movie in my opinion.
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