Top 10 WORST Films of 2018: Part 1 (#10-6)

As the 2019 film season begins, it’s time to once again reflect upon on the year prior to rank the best and worst from the past twelve months. But unlike a lot of people on the internet, I do things a little differently around here by doing the ‘Worst of the Year’ list first BEFORE the ‘Best of the Year’ list. The reason why I do this is simple; why the heck would I want to end the year on a bad note by talking about the worst films that I’ve seen? Now with that said, I’m fully aware that the annual ‘Worst of’ lists always get greater attention online because the internet loves to see people rag on the worst films of the year. But as you might have guessed, I’m just not one of those people. Even in cases where I don’t have particularly high expectations for a film, I always go into every new film that I see hoping for the best because, if you ask me, that’s exactly what a film fan should be. Obviously, though, there will be times where you’ll come across a film that just didn’t work for you, and that’s perfectly okay because film is a subjective medium. As such, do not go into these next two posts expecting any sort of intense rants on the films that will be appearing on this list because I find that I tend not to get that angry anymore when it comes to films that I don’t really like. It’s a lot like a recent situation that actor John Krasinski was in when he met with director Paul Thomas Anderson, who suggested that the word ‘hate’ is too strong a word to use when talking about film, a mindset that I certainly agree with. However, don’t assume that this means that I will be ‘going soft’ on these films as I still intend on addressing their various shortcomings. It’s also worth noting that while I will be delving into a few spoilers here and there, Spoiler Warnings will not be put into effect given that this is the ‘Worst of’ list. Thus, without further ado, it’s time to cover my Top 10 Worst Films of 2018, starting with films #10-6. Before we begin, however, there is one Dishonorable Mention… 

DISHONORABLE MENTION: TOMB RAIDER

When I first reviewed this film back in March, I gave it a 3/5 rating and noted that while it wouldn’t be the one to break the dreaded curse of poorly-received film adaptations of popular video games, at the very least it was one of the genre’s better outings. But while I do still stand by that specific argument, this ultimately became one of the rare instances where my initial opinion of the film changed considerably as time went on. Now to the film’s credit, when it does get into its big action set-pieces, these sequences are well-handled and do a nice job of replicating the thrills of some of the most standout moments of the recent Tomb Raider video games. However, these only occur during the second half of a film that suffers from an extremely slow opening that takes its sweet time when it comes to getting Lara on the mystical island of Yamatai. And even after that, it still runs on a basic ‘origin’ plot that primarily focuses on Lara’s relationship with her long-lost father Richard. Sure, there is some decent emotional depth to come from this, especially once Lara learns that her father is still alive. At the same time, though, the film would’ve benefitted more by adding in some of the characters and plotlines from the 2013 Tomb Raider game, including Lara’s best friend Sam and the other crew members who were on the same ship that Lara was on before she got stranded on Yamatai. It’s a shame, really, because despite some of the pre-release skepticism that revolved around her casting, Alicia Vikander does give it her all as Lara Croft. Unfortunately, though, the film just doesn’t match her commitment to the part. Still, compared to other films in the genre, this one at least tried.

And now we move on to the Top 10, which is always started off by films that I was generally ‘on the fence’ about. In other words, these are the films that were far from being the worst of the year but weren’t necessarily that good, either. And at Number 10, we have a prime example of this in a film that I feel rather bad about when it comes to putting it on here as it was made by a very talented filmmaker. Sadly, though, this was ultimately an underwhelming take on its iconic source material, especially when compared to its Disney counterpart.

10. MOWGLI: LEGEND OF THE JUNGLE

In the early 2010’s, two different live-action adaptations of author Rudyard Kipling’s classic novel The Jungle Book were put into production. The first of these to come out came in 2016 via Disney and director Jon Favreau’s remake of the studio’s 1967 animated classic. However, instead of just being a straight-forward remake of the original film, Favreau combined elements from both the film and the novel to give it its own unique identity. And upon its release, the film was a massive critical and commercial success, grossing over $966 million worldwide and still standing as the most critically-acclaimed installment of Disney’s recent line of live-action remakes. As such, I think it’s safe to say that the success of Favreau’s film ended up having a huge effect on the other live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book that was being developed by Warner Bros and directed by motion-capture icon Andy Serkis. For his adaptation, Serkis promised that it would be a darker and more faithful take on the source material. In other words, there weren’t going to be any musical numbers and the film wouldn’t shy away from the gruesome results of attacks made by either Shere Kahn or a human hunter. However, while the film was initially slated for an October 2018 release date, its theatrical release was ultimately canned when Warner Bros. sold the rights to Netflix, who premiered it online in December. This was reportedly done because Warner Bros feared that the film wouldn’t do so well in theaters. And yet, regardless of how it got released, something about it feels unfinished.

To be clear, the film’s darker tone isn’t its biggest issue. Even when you factor in a sequence where Mowgli comes across the decapitated head of his wolf friend Bhoot (yes, seriously…) and the occasional awkward tonal shift, it does let the film differentiate itself from previous adaptations. Plus, it does do a decent job of setting up Mowgli’s traditional arc of overcoming his status as an ‘outsider’ in the eyes of his jungle brethren, especially through the importance of him having to pass a trial known as ‘the Running’ so that he can officially join the wolf pack. However, once the film sends Mowgli to the man-village, this is where things start to get quite problematic in terms of the writing. Mowgli’s time in the man-village only takes up a small part of the run-time, and the addition of a secondary villain in hunter John Lockwood negatively affects the plot to the point where the notorious Shere Kahn ends up getting severely undermined as an antagonist. And if that wasn’t enough, these two villains are then dealt with quickly in an extremely abrupt and lackluster finale. Ultimately, though, the most disappointing aspect of the film… is that the visual effects aren’t that good. Sure, as one can expect from an Andy Serkis production, the film’s motion-capture effects are generally solid. Unlike Favreau’s film, the use of mo-cap is a lot more prominent to the point where the facial features of the actors playing the primary animal characters are easily recognizable. And yet, this film’s mo-cap work ends up paling in comparison to the effects of the Middle-Earth films and the recent Planet of the Apes films. The film’s CG jungle landscapes are even more lackluster, especially when compared to sequences that were shot on location in South Africa. In conclusion, this film at least deserves credit for its ambition. Despite its narrative flaws, Andy Serkis’ direction is solid and the film sports an excellent cast headlined by Christian Bale as the noble Bagheera, Serkis himself as a far gruffer take on Baloo, and Cate Blanchett as Kaa who, unlike the Disney films, is more in line with the novel by being one of Mowgli’s mentors instead of an antagonist. However, while I’ve tried not to frequently compare this one to the Jon Favreau-directed Disney flick, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle ultimately lacks the visual polish and heart of its Disney counterpart.  

As fate would have it, Number 9 is also a film that was originally intended for a theatrical release before being abandoned by its studio and sold off to Netflix, and this one is even more disappointing compared to Mowgli because it comes from a franchise with a lot of potential.

9. THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX

After years of speculation, a sequel to the 2008 found footage monster flick Cloverfield finally hit theaters in 2016. However, this was not an ordinary sequel. Instead, 10 Cloverfield Lane was a Hitchcockian thriller that was pitched as a ‘spiritual sequel’ to its predecessor after producer J.J. Abrams’ production company Bad Robot reworked a spec script titled The Cellar to connect it to Cloverfield. Upon its release, the film was a solid critical and commercial hit, showcasing the franchise’s newfound potential as an anthology series a la The Twilight Zone. And later that year, another Bad Robot film, then titled God Particle, was confirmed to be the third installment of the franchise. A release date was confirmed for October 2017… before things started to get a lot more complicated. In July of that year, it was announced that the film would be pushed back to February 2018 for undisclosed reasons. In January 2018, the film was pushed back again, this time to April 2018. Once again, no explanation was given for the delay, and just like any J.J. Abrams production, details about the film were minimal to the point where these release date shifts were literally the only bits of news about them. The film continued to remain a secret until February 4^th, 2018, when its first promo was aired during Super Bowl LII. The film was officially renamed The Cloverfield Paradox and it was revealed that it would be debuting on Netflix. The biggest surprise, though, was that the film would premiere that very night after the game. Ultimately, though, this bold marketing strategy was better than the film itself.

Like Universal’s recent remake of The Mummy, this is a film that is clearly more focused on setting up the lore for its franchise rather than ensuring that its own story is solid. The ways in which the film connects to the previous Cloverfield films is fine, for the most part, mainly through the reveal that debris from the film’s main locale, the ‘Cloverfield Station’, was what crashed into the ocean at the end of the first Cloverfield. But as for the main plot itself… it’s just a clone of films like Alien and Sunshine where the crew of a space station find themselves being offed one by one by a mysterious force. Sure, this film does feature some effectively brutal kills, but the story is incredibly predictable and the characters are vastly underdeveloped, wasting a talented ensemble cast that includes Daniel Bruhl, Elizabeth Debicki, and David Oyelowo. One member of the cast does manage to get some decent material to work with, however, and that honor goes to Gugu Mbatha-Raw as main protagonist Ava Hamilton AKA the only character in the film to get any sort of character development through the reveal of a tragic incident where she lost both her kids in a house fire. In short, like Mowgli, it’s been made clear that this film’s fate as a Netflix release was because its studio (in this case, Paramount) wasn’t that confident in the final product. It has been reported that J.J. Abrams had planned on fixing the film in post-production, but he ultimately couldn’t do so due to his commitment to Star Wars: Episode IX. Still, regardless of how it would’ve turned out had J.J. been able to work on it as he had hoped, The Cloverfield Paradox is a sadly underwhelming installment of its promising franchise.

With Number 8, we have a genuine rarity in that this is quite arguably the first film produced under the Disney banner that’s appeared on my annual ‘Worst of’ lists. Usually Disney films end up on the other list, but as many of my peers have pointed out over the years, you won’t like every single film that’s made by your favorite studio.

8. THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS

As I noted in my review for this film back in November, I didn’t necessarily ‘dislike’ this ambitious spin on the classic story of The Nutcracker as there are some genuinely good things about it, mainly in terms of its visuals. While it can be argued that this is another example of CGI overload like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the visual effects in this film are quite solid and they do succeed in bringing the bright and colorful world of the Four Realms to life, especially thanks to some solid cinematography by Damien Chazelle’s go-to DP Linus Sandgren. The film also has some solid performances from those who treat the material seriously, specifically Mackenzie Foy as main protagonist Clara, Helen Mirren as the ‘villainous’ Mother Ginger, and newcomer Jayden Fowora-Knight as the titular Nutcracker. However, this then ties into the film’s biggest issue in that it suffers heavily from severe tonal shifts. While the initial set-up for the story, specifically Clara learning more about her mother Marie’s past as the original ruler of the Four Realms, is treated seriously, almost all the sequences that take place within the Four Realms are incredibly over-the-top in nature. And because the film still tries to have a lot of serious moments over the course of its runtime, these two extremes frequently collide and, simply put, do not gel well. This is especially the case with the film’s biggest twist that revolves around the big reveal of its true main antagonist, the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Right from the get-go, Clara is led to believe that the Four Realms are in danger of being overtaken by Mother Ginger, ruler of the desolate Land of Amusements. To stop her, Clara is told of a special machine that can turn the Four Realms’ inhabitants into toys and vice versa, which is how her mother created the world in the first place. However, after Sugar Plum activates the machine and starts to amass an army of toy soldiers, it’s revealed that Mother Ginger wasn’t the sinister tyrant that she was made out to be. Instead, it’s Sugar Plum who plans on taking over the Four Realms as she blames Marie for abandoning them in favor of living the rest of her life with her family. Now while I’ll admit that I don’t have a lot of experience with The Nutcracker outside of a general awareness of it, I don’t think that I’ve ever come across a version of the story where the Sugar Plum Fairy is an antagonist. Granted, this could’ve worked in theory, but because the film has a short 99-minute runtime and a surprisingly brisk pace once Clara enters the Four Realms, this twist literally comes out of nowhere. To be fair, though, Keira Knightley does deserve some credit for, at the very least, committing to what is easily one of the weirdest performances in recent memory. In conclusion, this is another film that had quite an interesting production. While it was primarily directed by veteran filmmaker Lasse Hallstrom, fellow veteran director Joe Johnston supervised the film’s reshoots when Hallstrom became unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. And because Johnston’s contributions to the film proved to be quite substantial, he and Hallstrom ended up sharing the directorial credit in what is a genuine rarity when it comes to a production of this nature. At this time, there hasn’t been much info on what Johnston added to the film although it has been reported that he primarily buffed up the finale to make it ‘more exciting’. However, regardless of what he added to the final product, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is an underwhelming take on its iconic source material. I mean, at the very least, it’s a harmless family flick, but at the same time, it’s still rather bland.

Say, remember back in May when I did a retrospective on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, the two non-Muppet films directed by Muppets creator Jim Henson? This was primarily done to honor the impending release of his company’s newest film… even though the film wasn’t set to come out until August. To be perfectly frank, the reason why the retrospective was done in May was so that I could have some new material published on this site during a time where the only other posts from that month were reviews of Deadpool 2 and Solo: A Star Wars Story. And then, if that wasn’t enough, I didn’t even end up seeing this new Henson production when it first came out. Having now seen it, it was probably for the best that I didn’t see it in theaters…

7. THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS

The Happytime Murders is a rare adult-oriented outing from the Jim Henson Company and was directed by Jim Henson’s son Brian, who also helmed the beloved Muppet Christmas Carol and the cult classic Muppet Treasure Island. The film focuses on a puppet ex-cop turned private investigator named Phil Phillips who investigates into a string of murders revolving around the cast of an old television sitcom that he has quite a history with. Like any Henson production, the main reason to watch this film is for its impressive puppetry work, as the filmmakers continue to do a great job when it comes to having their puppet characters seamlessly interact with humans. It’s a shame, then, that the story itself is incredibly predictable and goes through all the usual beats of a murder mystery plot, from a traumatic incident from the main character’s past that destroyed his career to a seductive femme fatale with ulterior motives. And while the film may tout itself as an R-rated comedy that’s ‘No Sesame, All Street’ (a tagline that literally got them sued by Sesame Street), it lacks the clever writing of other Henson productions, stranding a talented ensemble cast that includes Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, and Joel McHale. In short, it could be argued that this film’s shortcomings may have been due to it spending a few years in development hell. To put this all into perspective, I remember this film being announced around the time that the 2011 Muppets film was released, and to be perfectly blunt, this does feel like a film that didn’t necessarily evolve much from its initial story pitch.

To close out the first half of this year’s ‘Worst of’ list, we have a film that stars a talented actress and is directed by someone that she’s worked with to great success in the past. Sadly, though, their latest collaboration isn’t quite as good as their previous projects.

6. RED SPARROW

First off, let me make it clear that despite this being the second film of hers in a row to appear on my annual ‘Worst of’ list, I’m still a big fan of Jennifer Lawrence. Despite what I’ve said about last year’s disastrous biblical drama Mother and what I will be saying about this film, none of their shortcomings are her fault as she does give good performances in both. In this instance, she reunites with director Francis Lawrence (again, no relation) after they’d worked together on the last three Hunger Games films. F. Lawrence also brings in a lot of the same crew that they had worked with on those films, so at the very least, this film is well-shot and utilizes its wintry Russian setting to solid effect. Despite this, though, the film suffers from an incredibly slow pace that isn’t helped in the slightest by its hefty 140-minute run-time. And because of this, the film slogs through a very basic spy story that starts out fine enough but then ends up taking some major stumbles as the film goes on. While it has been reported that the ending was changed from its source material (author Jason Matthews’ 2013 novel of the same name) to give it more of a feminist angle, it’s still a generic finale in which the main protagonist makes a critical power move that allows her to get out of her predicament alive. In other words, this film’s a lot like 2017’s similarly-themed spy thriller Atomic Blonde but without the solid pacing. Granted, the dialogue-driven approach that this film takes over the genre’s usual action-oriented perspective is admirable, but it still could’ve benefitted from a few trims here and there as some scenes and plotlines feel quite extraneous. Thus, despite the best efforts of Jennifer Lawrence and a supporting cast that includes Joel Edgerton, Jeremy Irons, and Charlotte Rampling, Red Sparrow is a spy thriller that thoroughly lacks the ‘wow factor’ of the genre’s most iconic films.

And that concludes Part 1 of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s list of my Top 10 Worst Films of 2018. Thanks for following along and be sure to check back in tomorrow for Part 2 of this list, where I’ll be revealing the Top 5.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) review

In 1816, German author E.T.A. Hoffman published The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, which told the story of a young girl named Marie who ends up on a fantastical adventure with the sentient Nutcracker toy that was given to her at Christmas. But when it comes to the most famous interpretation of this story, that distinction goes to the 1892 ballet The Nutcracker, which was based off a revised version of Hoffman’s story written by Alexandre Dumas and featured music from composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. While its initial production did not fare well with critics, it has since gone on to be performed by numerous ballet groups worldwide, with Tchaikovsky’s music now regarded as some of the best and most recognizable melodies of all-time. The Nutcracker has also played a prominent role in the world of film thanks to its prominent use in Disney’s musical anthology film Fantasia and various film adaptations of the ballet that have been made over the years. And now Disney takes another crack at this story with The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, a film that experienced an interesting bit of development during its production. From the get-go, the film was directed by veteran filmmaker Lasse Hallstrom, whose work includes critically-acclaimed projects like 1993’s What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and 1999’s The Cider House Rules. But when it was announced that the film would be undergoing a series of reshoots, it was revealed that Hallstrom was unable to return due to scheduling conflicts. Fellow veteran filmmaker Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Captain America: The First Avenger) was brought in to direct the reshoots, and unlike the other major release this week that experienced a directorial switch-up during its production, Bohemian Rhapsody, Hallstrom and Johnston ended up sharing the film’s final directorial credit. What follows is a film that is truly something to behold when it comes to both its highlights and its shortcomings.

In the bustling city of Victorian-era London, young Clara Stahlbaum (Mackenzie Foy) regularly exhibits her passion for science and inventing, a trait that she’s inherited from her mother Marie. However, since her mother’s passing, Clara has grown emotionally distant from her family, especially her father (Matthew Macfadyen) who has pressured the family to maintain a respectable image amongst their peers in the wake of their recent tragedy. On Christmas Eve, Clara is given one last present from her mother in the form of a porcelain egg-shaped box that she cannot open as she doesn’t have the key for it. In her efforts to try and open it, Clara meets with her godfather Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman), a noted inventor, during his annual Christmas party. And while he doesn’t have the key either, Clara is eventually led on an adventure to find it when she partakes in his annual gift-giving process by following a string through his mansion. This string ends up leading her into a fantastical world that is divided up into Four Realms, including the Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightley), the Land of Flowers, ruled by Hawthorne (Eugenio Derbez), and the Land of Snowflakes, ruled by Shiver (Richard E. Grant). There, she learns that her mother was the queen of this world and helped bring all its inhabitants to life. However, the three main realms have also been in conflict recently with Mother Ginger (Helen Mirren), the ruler of the Fourth Realm, the Land of Amusements, who had previously attempted to take over the whole kingdom. Learning that the key to her porcelain egg also operates a special device that can help them deal with Mother Ginger and her army of mice, Clara finds herself on a quest to retrieve the key so that she can save the Four Realms and gain a greater understanding of her mother’s past.  

Like many other recent live-action Disney films, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms does sport some amazing visuals that help bring the fantastical world of the Nutcracker to life. And sure, just like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland films, sometimes this film goes a bit overboard with its CGI but said CG is generally well-handled and is then bolstered by solid cinematography from Damien Chazelle’s go-to cinematographer Linus Sandgren. Things get a little more complicated, however, when it comes to its story. With no clear indication yet as to what parts of the film were done by Johnston rather than Hallstrom, there’s never really a point in the film where it feels like a direct competition between the visions of its two directors. And yet, there is a noticeable inconsistency when it comes to the film’s overall tone. While some parts of it are more serious in tone to emphasize the dramatic parts of the story (e.g. Clara learning more about her mother’s past), other parts of the film, namely anything that takes place within the Four Realms, are far more over-the-top in nature. These two extremes frequently collide over the course of the film and, simply put, they do not gel well together in the slightest. It also doesn’t help that the film has a very short 100-minute runtime. Once Clara enters the Four Realms, the film then speeds through its story at a break-neck pace. This results in a vastly underdeveloped plot that gives you no time to comprehend its biggest twist halfway through. And because of this, this reveal ends up feeling like it came completely out of nowhere and is easily one of the most substantial deviations from its source material outside of the infamous use of Nazi imagery in the 2010 film adaptation of the ballet (no joke, look it up…).   

This sense of unevenness also applies to the film’s cast, with half of them giving reserved, serious performances and the other half giving unabashedly over-the-top performances, and because of the film’s breezy pace, many of their characters don’t get much to do story-wise. But for the most part, several of them manage to do a good job with their limited material. Of them all, the most prominent standout of the cast is Mackenzie Foy in the lead role of Clara. In a cast that includes multiple Oscar winners and/or nominees, Foy impressively manages to carry the whole film as its sympathetic and smart female lead. She also works quite well with newcomer Jayden Fowora-Knight, who plays the title role of Philip the Nutcracker Soldier, who sticks with her through thick and thin while also being one of the saner characters in this crazy world. Another major standout is Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger who, despite being built up as the film’s main antagonist, ends up benefitting from the previously mentioned plot twist that reveals a bit more to her character than originally anticipated. But the one who is the most affected by this plot twist (and not exactly in as good of a way as Mirren) is Keira Knightley as the Sugar Plum Fairy… though, to her credit, she does commit to this character and all the craziness that comes with it in a performance that can only be seen to be believed. And as for Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer? Well, despite what the marketing for this film suggests, he’s literally in it for about three to five minutes in the beginning and then he doesn’t show up again until the end.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms… is certainly a ‘unique’ film, I’ll give it that. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s as ‘bad’ as some critics are saying it is, but at the same time, it’s not that great, either. In fact, to be perfectly blunt, it’s quite a bit of a mess, though this isn’t entirely because the film ended up crediting two different directors. Ultimately its biggest issue is that it’s incredibly inconsistent with its tone, often going between serious drama and over-the-top kookiness in the blink of an eye. And despite the best efforts of some of its cast members, they’re all waylaid by an undercooked plot that bases itself around a mediocre plot twist in a film that goes by so fast that there’s no time to comprehend what just happened. Now to the film’s credit, it’s well-intentioned, at the very least, given that it’s a big-budget fantasy film that focuses on a young female protagonist who’s easily one of the most proactive iterations of her classic character. And just like other recent live-action Disney films like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful, this film does boast some gorgeous CGI visuals. But as innocuous as it is, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is just… bland, which is a shame given all the work that clearly went into it from a visual standpoint. Had it been given a bit more time to flesh out its story and characters, this could’ve turned out to be a decent new take on the classic story of the Nutcracker that wasn’t primarily based around its music.

Rating: 2/5