13 Overlooked Positives About 2015’s Worst Movies

6. Max Landis Might Stop Making Excuses For His Failures - Victor Frankenstein

The Movie: Despite solid work from James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe, this reboot of the classic source material doesn't quite come together, proving too keen to change classic facets of the characters for no other reason than "just because". Plus, the CGI blows and Paul McGuigan's direction is indifferent at best. The Overlooked Positive: Screenwriter Max Landis is one of the most outspoken young talents in Hollywood today: he burst onto the scene with his script for the superb Chronicle, but has thus far proven himself to be a one-trick pony, considering that his three subsequent movies, American Ultra, Mr. Right and Victor Frankenstein, have all been critical failures and, in the case of the former and the latter, huge box office bombs as well. When Ultra bombed over the summer, Landis blamed anything but his script, citing the impenetrability of the Hollywood market and other factors, but the evidence is becoming increasingly compelling that he's just a flash-in-the-pan writer who has interesting ideas but can't often string them together into a coherent and entertaining whole. Perhaps with Frankenstein's failure he might take a look inward and appreciate that he's the problem, not everyone else. Then again, when you're dealing with a legendary ego-maniac of Landis' caliber, perhaps not.