The AJ Ratliffs: Movies that Should Have Been Better than They Are

I'm not going to touch on the title. Perhaps it is a low blow, but sometimes the truth hurts. Here we will discuss movies that were disappointing. Not disappointing in the Michael Bay sense, and not disappointing in the cancellation of the greatest show on television way either. You see, these are movies that had one or more elements of greatness. They may have even ended as good movies, but something left me wanting more. They were a tease. They trick you. At one point or another, each of the following movies had me convinced they were going to be better than they were. They are the AJ Ratliffs:

I Am Legend:

This will certainly be a controversial choice, but this movie pissed me off. Look, I love the fresh prince himself. The two snobs themselves, in the flesh, karaoked Wild Wild West to a lucky crowd at Duty's one fateful night last November. It was legendary, although Orange County's own singing Meredith Brooks was far more memorable.

Why was it so upsetting? I got dragged to see this movie. I had little to no interest in seeing this, but decided to donate my street cred to a group of friends and grace them with my presence. Much to my surprise, I was loving the movie. I was certain that this was going to be your average Sci Fi movie. Alas the first two thirds were brilliant. The movie was refreshing, not retreating to the conventions of the genre. Big Willy was brilliant and the movie seemed to be taking the 28 Days Later route and redefining zombies. Throughout the first part of the movie, we are given suggestions that the monsters are intelligent creatures. They even nearly beat Will at his own game and trap him.

But then all of this build up leads to...nothing. All of a sudden, Will goes ballistic on the docks and gets miraculously saved by two people that heard his radio calls. From there on the film is rubbish. Worst of all, IT DIDN'T HAVE TO BE. Had they stuck with the book's ending everything would have been fine. But they have to give something that will please the masses and they sacrifice the tone of the movie and completely flip the film's effect. ARGH.

300:

The trailer was phenomenal. The creative team responsible for Sin City was in tact. Everything seemed to be falling in place. This had to be as good as Sin City, there was no way for it to fail. Alas, it was a disappointment. Entertaining? Sure. It is what it is, a one-dimensional blood bath that made me think it could have been more.

Public Enemies:

It had so many great elements to it. Michael Mann, Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale, bank heists, a rural Indiana (aka the land of milk and honey) setting....how could it go wrong? This one I just can't put my finger on. It had great scenes that showed you it's potential. Ultimately, the sum of its parts was good not great. I guess I was expecting Heat set in the early 1900s and that wasn't fair.

Zoolander:

This is going to get me in trouble, but so be it. I would love to provide reasons why this movie upsets me so much, but I can't finish it. To this day I have not been able to make it more than 30 minutes into the movie before deciding to turn it off and do something more enjoyable like wipe my butt with sandpaper. (Too much?)

Million Dollar Baby:

I must have missed something here. There is nothing in the movie worthy of an Oscar. I'm going to revisit this film in the near future and I hope to see something I missed because I HATE this movie so much. The X-Factor for me was Hilary Swank. She annoyed the hell out of me and I wasn't the least bit upset with her character's fate. I hope I prove myself wrong and enjoy it, because this movie alone is preventing me from putting Eastwood alongside the Scorsese's and PTA's of the world as top directors.

That's all from me folks. Surely there are other movies that have left me wanting more, but I want to hear what you think. Do you disagree with my choices? Do you have your own list of movies that piss you off? Please let me know below. Until we meet again, Nixy out.