20 Once-Popular Movies Which Are Poorly Regarded These Days

Some movies we have seen in the past have made an indelible mark on our minds and we remember them fondly as masterpieces. However, if you take the time to rewatch some of these films, they don’t quite live up to the hype you’ve built in your mind. 

#1 Idiocracy was a beloved farcical comedy and is now viewed as a dystopian documentary from 3-5 years in the future

Image source: Honeydillzippermerge, JoBlo Movie Clips

#2 I haven’t seen anyone mention Captain Philips yet. Apparently the real life guy was warned to take a much wider berth around the Horn of Africa specifically bc of the threat of pirates, but he wanted to save time and ope! What do you know, there were pirates! Apparently the crew was pissed the movie made him look like such a hero when the situation was basically his fault.

Image source: CatTuff, Sony Pictures Entertainment

#3 Song of the South won Oscars and had one of the most iconic Disney songs in the last half of the 20th Century. Now Disney has more or less scrubbed it completely from availability.

Image source: Cyberhwk, animationscreencaps.com

#4

Image source: Oldspice0493, Star Wars

I want to say The Last Jedi. For the first two weeks after release it was coasting on hype, with lots of critics describing it with the usual buzz-words: that it was “bold” and “creative” (which is why those words have become red-flags nowadays). I saw comments from audiences coming fresh out of the theater claiming that it was “the greatest Star Wars movie ever made, even better than The Empire Strikes Back!”

Then the hype died off fast and those same audiences started realizing they had issues with it. I started to see more and more complaints, things like how the payoffs set up by the Force Awakens were unsatisfying, and it killed off potential storylines for the next film by killing off Snoke before he was explained, killing off Luke before he could really do much, killing off Phasma before her rivalry with Finn could reach its zenith, and leaving the Resistance with only a handful of survivors.

#5 Armageddon was probably the most watched movie from the 90s and everyone hates it because Hollywood magic doesn’t explain science. Screw you guys, that movie is fantastic and I have multiple science degrees that don’t care

Image source: ghenghis_could, Jonathan Jung

#6 Debbie Does Dallas. On reflection, she really didn’t do ALL of Dallas, so I have to ding it for lack of truth in advertising.

Image source: My_Balls_Itch_123, Average Superstar T.V.

#7 American Beauty. I think when it first came out it received a lot of positive attention but these days it’s perceived very differently.

Image source: catefeu, Amblin

#8 For a while there, Bird Box was hot s**t and THE movie that everyone had to see. Now it seems like most everyone thinks it’s stupid

Image source: heycowboy, Netflix

#9 Well, technically a show not a movie, but from what I hear the ending of Game of Thrones basically f****d itself into oblivion and now no one talks about it anymore.

Image source: Pluviophilism, GameofThrones

#10 The Blind Side

Image source: human1023, Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers

#11 Supersize me. That lying piece of s**t.

Image source: toastedninja, JwsoatTV

#12 Shakespeare in Love

Image source: Senepicmar, Miramax

#13 Avatar. I don’t know if would say hated, but I do feel more people are saying it’s overrated today than they did when it came out

Image source: hunterc1310, movie-screencaps.com

#14 Argo pretty much ignores all the backstory US had in Iran and makes Iranians look like a bunch of bloodthirsty people that hate Americans for no good reason and the Americans seem like some innocent bureaucrats caught in a bad situation.

Image source: PrestigiousKey5786, movie-screencaps.com

In reality the US overthrew the Mohammad Mosaddegh government and installed a Shah that they had close relationships with. The US then played a critical role in founding the Shah’s brutal secret police to keep him in power.

In the late 1970s the Iranian Revolution occurred and the Shah was overthrown. This Shah held a grip on power for over 25 years with US backing against the will of the people. As part of the revolution, pro-revolution students stormed the US embassy.

#15 I am speaking for myself here, and don’t know if this view is widely held, but Gravity is an absolute turkey and seems to have got by on the strength of its visuals alone. No real plot and absolutely HONKING script.

Image source: cdrfuzz, Warner Bros. Pictures

#16 Last tango in Paris used to be hailed as a masterpiece until the actress spilled the beans about how scummy Brando and the director were

Image source: Sp1ynX, Ricardo Tapia

#17 I am waiting on Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s a biopic that is 90% made up and none of the critics seem fit to mention this.

Image source: skunk8una, movie-screencaps.com

Freddie Mercury did not leave the band to make a solo record while under the bad influence of some gay Svengali only to get diagnosed with AIDS and get back together with the boys for their stellar Live Aid performance.

The band never broke up before Live Aid. In fact I know someone who seen them tour a couple of months before Live Aid. He wasn’t even the first guy in the band to have a solo record. He didn’t perform at Live Aid knowing he was going to die because he didn’t actually get his diagnosis until almost 2 years later which is also around the time when he got around to firing Paul Prenter.

Also the portrayal of Freddie as a gay man feels like some weird throwback to the 1980s when all gay characters in movies for portrayed as sad, conflicted and persecuted. He was a good looking superstar who by all accounts thoroughly enjoyed his ridiculously opulent hedonistic lifestyle.

This is a movie that in the end genuinely tries to make you believe that Queen alone saved Live Aid and by extension Africa….oh and they also invented overdubbing and audience participation.

#18 The Force Awakens. When it came out, the sentiment was overwhelmingly “Starwars is back” but in hindsight it really doesnt hold up at all

Image source: Expensive_Peach32, Star Wars

#19 Milo & Otis (1986)

At the time, it was the third highest-grossing film *ever* in Japan. It won the 1987 award for Most Popular Film at The Japanese Academy, was released in English in 1989, did well at the box office ($257 million box office in Japan and the United States; over 12 million theater tickets sold worldwide), and received generally favorable reviews.

Then came the animal abuse allegations.

Image source: IAlbatross, Movie Trailer Locker

#20 Crash – the Paul Haggis one.

Image source: Majestic_Ferrett, Screen Themes