13 Disappointing Recent Films That Should've Been Great

What Was Expected

This looked like a successful adaptation of a much-loved novel and it had an acclaimed auteur helming it with Terrence Davies.

What We Actually Got

A frustratingly mediocre work that's visually stunning but otherwise is just another boring indie film that thinks it can get by just because it's not mainstream. If things like this and boring Oscar-bait films are the only blockbuster alternative, of course people are going to go and see the next Transformers film.

This is an art-house movie through and through and it ticks the art-house checklist: gratuitous nudity, pretentious voice-overs, a slow pace, beautiful cinematography, deep themes and a lack of respect for mainstream conventions. But it's ultimately not a great example of an art-house film. There are definitely good bits, but there are many dull ones as well. Similarly, some of the cast is good but Agyness Deyn is awful as Chris, the main character, and murders the Scottish accent.

You know you're in trouble when you're relieved WWI, one of the most horrible events in history, begins because you're waiting for something to happen.

For all its artiness, Sunset Song is only a three-star film at most. The wildly inconsistent script just has too much thematic superficiality, too many inexplicable character decisions and changes, and worst of all too many ghastly voice-overs from Chris, who for some reason describes herself in the third person and speaks some of the most pretentious lines in recent memory.