MovieChat Forums > Starchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985) Discussion > What? No 'worst film ever' topic?

What? No 'worst film ever' topic?

posted 13 years ago by ttaskmaster
11 replies | jump to latest

Lately I've been visiting IMDB a lot after watching all the old classic 80s and 90s films and being very annoyed when I find almost every film board seems to have at least one thread entitled 'worst film ever', wherein the OP rants about the SFX, acting or somesuch. It's making me wonder if ANY film is good enough for these people and, if everything is so awful, why they don't make a better one.

So it's a very pleasant surprise to find this is one film that remains un-slated by the armchair critics!!

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[–] BrainGremlin 13 years ago

"It's making me wonder if ANY film is good enough for these people and, if everything is so awful, why they don't make a better one."

Overused and quite frankly embarrassing arguement. Please stop. Makes it so hard to hear anyone out.

Otherwise I do agree with you. It is a breath of fresh air.

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Oh, kick-€$@&%!-ass! I got a MasterCard!

[–] ttaskmaster 13 years ago

I just find such critique usually comes from peole who know nothing of what it takes to make a film, anyway. But if they can make a better version, then by all means, criticise away! :-D

"None may judge of the craft, but the craftsman"
George Silver, 1598.

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[–] !!!deleted!!! (7282253) 13 years ago

Would people have to know what it takes to make a ice cream to enjoy it?

[–] ttaskmaster 13 years ago

No, but they would need to understand what the point of an ice cream is and the context in which it belongs.

You don't watch a low-budget flick and then compare it to sucesses like Indiana Jones. Such reviewers seem to expect the world's greatest CGI and casting from films that only have a couple-hundred thousand in the budget.

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[–] !!!deleted!!! (7282253) 13 years ago

I see what you mean, a blue moon ago I played 'The Thing' to a cast of mine in prep for a short film we were doing. Their sneers and jeers and poking fun of the movie rubbed me the wrong way, needles to say, I fired them all.

I still don't agree with the sentiment of, "making your own movie" in order to be a valid critic, though. Understanding context and achieving a level of appreciation are different aspects than being knowledgeable in the processes that happen behind the scenes. I don't think it's any obligation for the audience to put themselves in the filmmakers shoes.

[–] ttaskmaster 13 years ago

My remark about "making your own movie" was not about being a valid critic. Almost all opinions and critiques are valid.

It was in response to those who criticise a movie for not being of massive blockbuster level when said film clearly has a very meagre budget by comparison. They cannot afford major actors, great scriptwriters, fancy CGI and massive sets with amazing costumes. These very important (an usually obvious) facts that geatly define the movie seem always overlooked by the "worst movie ever" authors.

You don't have to understand the full ins and outs of ice-cream to apprecate it, but you also shouldn't apply Haagen-Daaz standards to something like Tescos Value cheap ice-cream, either.

Similarly, you can't expect a 1980s straight-to-video film, whose one defining feature is that it stars a vaguely famous porn star, to be on the same level as Star Wars, for example.

But my initial post was actually about how great it was to NOT have to see such threads, for once!!

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[–] Mr-Casket 12 years ago

And not just the classics... almost EVERY movie has a thread like that... There sure are a lot of 'worst movies ever' movies out there :) (my personal one would be Spice World.. yeah I've seen it completely...)

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I used to love her, but I had to kill her. - GNR

[–] ttaskmaster 12 years ago

Spice World isn't that bad... It has Meatloaf in it - His mere presence, like those of Ron Perlman or Lance Henriksen, automatically scores a film at least some points! :-D

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[–] Tubular_Bell 12 years ago

Wait, so if a movie has low budget, then we should expect NOTHING good out of it and be okay with that? Well, you might not know, but there are SEVERAL excellent low budget movies out there.

My guess for why there is no "worst movie ever" thread here is that this movie is so insignificant that people just don't care, or haven't even watched it. For such a suppsedly "classic" movie, I'm surprised that I had never heard of it. In fact, I just came here because the Nostalgia Critic reviewed it yesterday, and I was curious about people's opinion on it.

[–] ttaskmaster 12 years ago

Not quite.
Just that if it has a low budget, it should not be judged by the same standards as a high budget one. It simply isn't capable of the same achievements.

That said, low budget films can be (and often are) built around plot, dialogue and acting, rather than being a special effects spectacle, with a poorly conceived film shoehorned around it. Big budget films have a habit of doing exactly that.

I'm a fan of quite a few low budget films, in fact. I admire a film that achieves much with little far more than a massive budget flick, all glitzy and special-effecty that stars a bunch of famous people yet has no actual engaging plot.

The Legend Of Orin was everywhere when I was a kid. Granted, it did not exactly enter the annuls of history like Star Wars did and it's kinda cheesy-crappy, but it's one of those people remember from their childhood - Significant if you saw it, ignored if you didn't.
Not the worst film ever, though and since I *do* remember it with relative fondness from when it came out, I'm still glad it's not being whined about like everything else.

"Had to have been there to get it" probably sums the film up quite well.

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[–] Blueghost 12 years ago

by ttaskmaster (Fri Apr 1 2011 05:14:49)
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Lately I've been visiting IMDB a lot after watching all the old classic 80s and 90s films and being very annoyed when I find almost every film board seems to have at least one thread entitled 'worst film ever', wherein the OP rants about the SFX, acting or somesuch. It's making me wonder if ANY film is good enough for these people and, if everything is so awful, why they don't make a better one.

So it's a very pleasant surprise to find this is one film that remains un-slated by the armchair critics!!

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Yeah, isn't this a cool flick and BBS to be around?