While all the action and special effects in Jurassic Park might be the things that stand out the most right away, it’s also a classic because it’s well-written, has memorable characters, and contains some great dialogue. Many of the best lines are spoken by Jeff Goldblum’s character, Dr. Ian Malcom, including the legendary: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should,” which is said regarding the risks that come with effectively resurrecting dinosaurs.
It’s a snippet of dialogue that can be applied to various areas of life, or as a criticism of sorts, and that’s kind of what’s being done here. Some films come out, and if they’re particularly out-there, risky, or strange, they might prompt you to question whether the director was more preoccupied with whether they could fulfill something ambitious, rather than thinking about whether they should. Sometimes, the movie is unwieldy and ridiculous, but has elements that still make it worth watching, while at other times, the resulting film is a disaster comparable to all the dinosaur carnage in Jurassic Park’s back half. It’s tricky and nuanced, so the films below aren’t in any order, and some of them are messy and questionable in good ways, while others are just messy and questionable.
1
‘Megalopolis’ (2024)
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
The rare film that gets harder to describe and discuss the more you think about it, Megalopolis is about as wild and bombastic as self-funded/independent cinema gets. Francis Ford Coppola went big here, to say the least, and while time will tell if this ends up being his final film (this particular text-based existential crisis about Megalopolis is happening in 2025), it would be one hell of a final statement for such a legendary director to make.
Megalopolis is overly simplistic at times, convoluted and surreal at other points, and willing to bounce back and forth between ridiculous/maybe intentional comedy and genuine boredom without warning.
It’s not up to anyone to even judge this movie in the traditional sense, unless they want to be driven mad by watching it 3579 times (at least) to break it all down. It’s overly simplistic at times, convoluted and surreal at other points, and willing to bounce back and forth between ridiculous/maybe intentional comedy and genuine boredom without warning. There’s also a part that breaks the fourth wall, requiring a live participant to do properly, and for seemingly no good reason. It feels like Coppola made the film he wanted to make, but it’s also hard to understand the thought process behind so much of it. It’s Megalopolis.
- Release Date
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September 27, 2024
- Runtime
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138 Minutes
- Director
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Francis Ford Coppola
- Writers
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Francis Ford Coppola
2
‘The Matrix Resurrections’ (2021)
Directed by Lana Wachowski
You can’t rarely accuse a Wachowski movie of playing it safe, even when it’s just Lana Wachowski directing, as was the case with the fourth Matrix movie: The Matrix Resurrections. Much of it feels like an extended middle finger to the sheer idea of making a legacy sequel to The Matrix, and if you approach it in that way, then it’s kind of admirable.
But if you want something that satisfies as an action movie, or does function like a genuine continuation of the story rather than something much more meta and self-reflective, then The Matrix Resurrections can feel frustrating. It’s one of those films where you can understand why some people love it and some people genuinely despise it, and there aren’t many movies on this scale where you could argue that it’s all bad on purpose (it genuinely might be).
3
‘Doctor Sleep’ (2019)
Directed by Mike Flanagan
Thanks to a film adaptation in 2019, Doctor Sleep cannot be counted among the potentially “unadaptable” Stephen King stories out there, but this movie didn’t want to just be an adaptation. Essentially, it wanted to capture much of the book, which was a sequel to The Shining, but it also wanted to be a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of that book, which was very different from the novel version of The Shining.
Mike Flanagan was way out of his element here, not having the same skill as Stanley Kubrick as a director (to be fair, not many do), and, in turn, not really making this a good adaptation of a pretty good King novel, either. He tried to reconcile the two versions of The Shining, since King has spoken out against the Kubrick film, but it was too much to try and do. Doctor Sleep doesn’t work, however you slice it. At least you tried (throws Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep in the trash).
4
‘Beau Is Afraid’ (2023)
Directed by Ari Aster
An endurance test disguised as a film, Beau Is Afraid feels like Ari Aster giving zero damns and making just about the wildest thing he can. It’s sort of a horror movie, kind of an uncomfortable comedy, and also maybe a fantasy/adventure film? All the while, describing it as any of those things feels a bit inaccurate. Oh, and it’s also just a minute shy of three hours long.
That runtime is a big reason for Beau Is Afraid feeling like an endurance test, but the content here is also alarming, and the sense of humor is… uh, unique. Yeah, it can be called unique. Is it even funny? Does it matter? Aster didn’t care, and this feels like a movie he made just to see if he could get away with it, and he did, so good for him. Probably. Maybe.
5
‘Kinds of Kindness’ (2024)
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
For better or worse, Yorgos Lanthimos likes to make his viewers uncomfortable, and Kinds of Kindness potentially sees him at his most unfiltered. There are three main stories told here, all across a lengthy runtime of 164 minutes. A rather strong cast is made up of people who, for the most part, play one role within each different story.
Every story in Kinds of Kindness explores something taboo and/or disturbing, and while the entire thing is technically a comedy, it’s also got a sense of humor that’s probably not going to be funny for at least 90% of people out there. That number is not based on anything, but it’s okay to get chaotic and bold when talking about a movie that’s as unrestrained as this. It’s Lanthimos flexing, getting away with the most insane [REDACTED] after the (somehow) comparatively approachable Poor Things, and that’s that.
6
‘Fateful Findings’ (2013)
Directed by Neil Breen
Since the world lost David Lynch, it’s a commonly held sentiment that no one will ever truly replace him, or be able to make the sorts of distinctive films he made, but Neil Breen – at the risk of sounding sacrilegious – might well come the closest to being the most Lynchian director who’s not Lynch himself. Sure, his movies aren’t really good/great in the ways Lynch’s generally were, but there’s something to them.
Fateful Findings might well be his most out-there, and, as a result, it’s also the hardest to describe. It’s both Breen’s best and worst movie, with particularly high stakes and a massive story all brought to life with what looks like the smallest budget for a feature film ever. Whether Neil Breen is in on the joke or not is genuinely hard to say, but his movies are experiences, and Fateful Findings is Neil Breen at his most Breenian.
Fateful Findings
- Release Date
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May 23, 2013
- Runtime
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100 minutes
7
‘Southland Tales’ (2006)
Directed by Richard Kelly
Richard Kelly is best known for Donnie Darko, which is a good movie, but he also directed Southland Tales, which is another one of these “defying a designation of either good or bad” movies, or a DADOEGOB film, for short. If you want something that feels like the sort of dream you might get while dealing with food poisoning, and find the humor here intentional, then maybe you’ll dig Southland Tales.
It feels like one of the least stable and controlled movies ever made, and there are no words that can be put in any kind of order that will successfully break down what’s happening here narratively, if one can even argue there’s a narrative here to begin with. Southland Tales does its own thing and whatever that thing is, it’s kind of worrying.
8
‘Sausage Party’ (2016)
Directed by Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan
Sausage Party was a feature-length attempt to make the grossest animated movie ever made, or at least doing so without crossing into the realm of what could be legally described as obscene. Some might still find it obscene by their own personal definition, though, and honestly, that’s fair. Calling it all unpleasant and in bad taste doesn’t really begin to describe it.
It’s like Toy Story, but about items of food that come to life instead of toys, and also, they have sex and die graphically throughout, which also sets them apart from the main characters in Toy Story (shock horror). The existence of Sausage Party is just baffling, but it feels like what it was intended to be. The “what” can be defined, but getting to the bottom of the “why” remains a mystery.
9
‘Movie 43’ (2013)
Directed by 12 people, including Elizabeth Banks, Peter Farrelly, and James Gunn
But then here’s Movie 43, which makes Sausage Party look like Citizen Kane. This might well be the most confounding comedy of the 21st century so far, and it can also be deemed one of the worst movies ever made. It’s a series of skits involving some alarmingly famous and talented people, with pretty much every skit being unfunny and intentionally shocking/disturbing/boundary-crossing.
It’s shock for shock’s sake, and maybe that would be forgivable if it was actually funny, or if there was some passion behind it, like was the case with many in-your-face and confronting films directed by John Waters, for example. Movie 43 instead feels strangely lifeless, and its existence just doesn’t seem right, or logical, or comprehensible. Abandon all hope, ye who enter the 43rd movie ever made (crazy to think that there were only 42 movies made before 2013, hey).
10
‘Across the Universe’ (2007)
Directed by Julie Taymor
Jukebox musicals essentially take pre-existing songs and rework them into some kind of narrative, with Mamma Mia maybe being the best-known example, working ABBA songs into a fairly by-the-numbers rom-com. But there was an attempt to do something like that with the songs of the Beatles, in Across the Universe, and… well, at least they tried. It’s another one of those “A for effort” kind of films.
So much of Across the Universe is unbearably corny, though, and it mishandles some of the best songs of all time, making them sound surprisingly bad (though that does depend on the context each is used in, and how they’re covered). If the movie was good, it would be a must-watch for Beatles fans, but because the movie’s not particularly great, it might well be easier to recommend to people who aren’t Beatles fans, weirdly enough.
- Release Date
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September 14, 2007
- Runtime
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133 minutes
- Director
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Julie Taymor
- Writers
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Dick Clement