Peter Travers Chucks ‘After Earth,’ ‘Great Gatsby’ in the Scum Bucket
Summer blockbuster season is upon us! But of course, with all epic tales also comes the scum. Which films served up May’s biggest stinkers? Peter Travers flips the formula in a month packed with poor films, leading off for a change with the very worst movie: The Hangover Part III. “That deserves, like, super boos, so it’s not even in the competition,” Travers says.
Travers next sets his sights on Epic. “Everybody gives a pass to animated movies as if, ‘Oh, they’re good for kids, and so they’re fun!'” Travers says. “It’s crap.” Classic literary source material won’t cut it either, as Travers burns The Great Gatsby. “The soundtrack – does that make a movie?” he asks.
Travers saves two movies opening this weekend for last, first digging into Now You See Me. “Can you believe they’re making a movie about magic, after we just saw The Incredible Burt Wonderstone?” Travers says. “It was awful, and this is worse.” A top-notch cast featuring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine can’t save the film.
And the final film, After Earth, has been driving Travers crazy. “Horrendous. Battlefield Earth looks good compared to this,” he says. “This movie, this is a career-crusher.” The Will and Jaden Smith film earns a few superlatives, though: “The worst special effects I’ve ever seen. The worst direction I’ve ever seen.” Hey, at least that’s something.