67. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
I quite like Dennis Quaid as an actor, I also don't have a problem with Jake Gyllenhaal who is always watchable in any role. However, when I paid to see The Day After Tomorrow, I expected to see destruction and mayhem on an epic scale, after all, that was what the marketing promised. Instead, most of the films 124 minute running time was made up of a slow, boring storyline where Dennis Quiad was searching for his son Gyllenhaal. Admittedly once the natural disaster finally struck, the result was spectacular but it was too late to revive half the audience who was snoozing with their faces in overpriced popcorn.
66. Rocky Balboa (2006)
Rocky 4 and 5 might not be the best films ever made but they are entertaining. That is more than can be said for Rocky's return in 2006's Rocky Balboa. The plot about an aged Rocky coming out of retirement to take on the current world champ Mason "The Line" Dixon is in fairness the only story they could have gone with considering Stallone was 60 at the time of filming. It's just that most of the film is a dull, cheesy nostalgia trip that is great if you fancy a really good nap. And when it's not sending you to sleep, it's making you laugh unintentional. Who didn't piss themselves when Rocky's son shouted UNLOAD ON THIS GUY, DAD!
65. Superman III (1983)
The first two Superman films are highly regarded by critics and fans, that is mainly down to director Richard Donner who treated the source material with the due respect it deserved. But after a well publicized falling out between Donner and producers, the Salkinds, Richard Lester was hired to finish Superman II and make Superman III all his own. The Salkinds always wanted to make Superman more campy and with Donner gone, Lester gave them what they wanted. Richard Pryor was written in as a comedy sideshow and although an accomplished comedian, his scenes were criticised for being unfunny and unnecessary. Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor was out due to being annoyed with the way Richard Donner had been treated and Margot Kidder's role was reportedly reduced for publicly criticising the Sialkinds even though Ilya Salkind denied this on the DVD commentary. This film marked the decline in the Superman films and although it does have some thrilling moments like Superman's turn to the darkside, overall it is a huge let down from the previous films. The decision to dump Donner was a fatal mistake. Talking about Richard Lester's directing, this is what Christopher Reeves had to say;
'' was always looking for a gag - sometimes to the point where the gags involving Richard Pryor went over the top. I mean, I didn't think that his going off the top of a building, on skis with a pink tablecloth around his shoulders, was particularly funny.''
64. Avatar
Terminator, Aliens, True Lies, no one can say that James Cameron doesn't have a pretty decent back catalogue of movies. But starting with Titanic, there was a gradual shift away from the perfect balance of quality story telling and spectacle to cheese and extravaganza. All the ingredients were there for Avatar to be a return to form for James Cameron and regain some credibility after his obsession with the Titanic. Sigourney Weaver, science fiction, exciting effects and an intriguing story that promised, everything was there. But after an interesting start the film quickly turned into a semi-live-action Pocahontas but without the ''Disney Magic.'' Cliched script, cliched characters, a boring love story and overwhelming special effects, it quickly became apparent that this wouldn't be a James Cameron film that sits proudly next to Aliens on your blu-ray shelf. The biggest problem for Avatar was that it was very hard to give a crap about the Na'vi, and if you didn't care about the plight of the film's protagonists, then it made the rest of it pretty much redundant. There were some people who needed therapy because they couldn't handle not living in in the Na'vi home-world, but they are also the type who stalk their exes and have questionable internet search histories. Avatar did make an astonishing amount of money at the box office and it's the highest grossing film of all time, but that is in no way an indicator of quality. People went to see it because of the hype and awards need to be handed to the marketing team who did a stellar job. James Cameron is planning two more sequels and I'm sure they will do just as well at the box office but that doesn't mean that it's not a sad state to witness a once great director become the film worlds version of a professional fire works show. And like a fire works show, you forget about it once the last one has gone off. If you still want to argue that Avatar is an awesome film, then I have one made up word for you... Unobtainium.
63. X-Men: The Last Stand (2003)
Mediocre director Brett Ratner stepped in to fill Bryan Singer's shoes after he left to develop Superman Returns. His job was to wrap up the X-Men film series which so far had been a hit with fans and critics. The Last Stand was a mess that tried to do too much and in turn made a meal of Cyclops's death and Jean's back story that needed much more delicate handling than Ratner gave it. If it wasn't for Ratner being blessed with a high caliber cast that included the likes of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, The Last Stand would have been totally unwatchable.