87. Superman Returns (2006)
Bryan Singer's love for Richard Donner's Superman and Superman 2 is obvious when you watch Superman Returns. The opening credits, a CGI Marlon Brando, the music and a Christopher Reeve lookalike in the main role, Singer's Superman was the perfect example of an update that respects its source which is something that JJ Abrams could have done a bit more when he rebooted Star Trek. But the problem was that with his devotion to making sure Superman Returns looked like and made enough nods to the previous films, he forgot to focus on the story which was lackluster to say the least. Also Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth were both criticised for their acting which appeared to be stuck in neutral. Superman Returns has it's fans and it's an it's not a bad film BUT still disappointing and mostly forgettable.
86. Alexander (2004)
No matter how you feel about Oliver Stone and his body of work which has ranged from writing the screenplay for Scarface to directing the mass-hysteria inducing Natural Born Killers, it can't be denied that he is a marquee director that attracts attention. So there was some intrigue when it was announced that Oliver Stone would be making an all out epic and chronicling the life Alexander The Great with Colin Farrell in the staring role. But even before the film was released, it came under attack form a collective of Greek lawyers who were unhappy with Alexander being portrayed as gay. Stone would later blame fundamentalists making a big issue out of Alexander's sexuality as the reason for the film's failure. Historians were also critical of the inaccuracies and upset that more attention hadn't been paid to important details of Alexander's life. Critics blasted the film for being dull and ponderous. In other words, it sucked. Stone was forced to re-edit the film for it's DVD release where the film's pace was picked up and the running time cut from 175 minutes to 167 minutes. But he went in the opposite direction when he released ''Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut'' and extended the running time to a mind-numbing 3 hours and 45 minutes in an attempt to make the film the bio-pic he originally had in mind. Oliver Stone is a talented director and given the story of Alexander The Great, the potential was there for him to make a true cinematic event, but unfortunately it was a missed opportunity.
85. Miami Vice (2006)
Michael Mann making a feature length, modern version of the 80's TV show that he produced... how could Miami Vice go wrong? Well, if you dump everything that made the TV series exciting (including Miami because this film could be set anywhere) and replace it with dull performances from Collin Farrell and Jamie Fox, a generic plot that we have seen a million times before and a pace that is so slow, it should be used as a cure for insomnia, then I'm afraid your film will suck. And suck it did as the new ultra ''cool'' Crockett and Tubbs mumbled through every scene so that you had no idea what was happening. The visuals were there but that's expected from Michael Mann, its just that all the other elements that made Heat and The Insider so spectacular, seemed to get washed over in Miami Vice. There is only so many time you can watch Collin Farrell react with no emotion apart from a toned down sneer before you start drifting off to sleep. That was the film's problem, like a Tory Party conference it took itself way too seriously and ended up drowning in its own drabness. It also marked the decline in the Michael Mann brand, once the coolest director on the planet, this film and his follow up Public Enemies showed that he can produce stunning imagery but the spark has gone.
84. Super 8 (2011)
Flavor of the moment JJ Abrams teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make this homage to the latter. It had a great marketing campaign and the concept was an interesting one. But unlike ET, the alien in this film was a lot less lovable, especially with all the eating he does. So when it came to the big ET-ripped ending, the emotional impact wasn't there because you were quite happy to see the alien piss off home. The children in Super 8 acted great but you didn't care about their back stories, you didn't care about the adults and you didn't care about the alien and that best sums up the experience of watching Super 8, you just didn't care. J.J Abrams is being touted as a visionary film maker and undoubtedly this is his ''era'' but I'm sure history will judge his films less favorably once the shine on his turds has long since faded.
83. Die Hard 4.0 (2007)
Die Hard 1 and 3 are widely regarded as the best in the franchise and they both happen to be directed by John McTiernan. Die Hard 4.0 or ''Live Free Or Die Hard'' if you live in the States had a silly name and a silly director, the same director who messed up the Total Recall remake, "Mr Kate Beckinsale", Len Wiseman. The action might have ticked the boxes in terms of being over the top and bigger than what we have seen in the previous films but bigger does not always mean better. Plot holes and a family friendly PG-13 rating that even annoyed Bruce Willis, Die Hard 4.0 simply sucked.