Rolling Stone Readers’ Worst Movies of Summer 2012
Peter Travers made his picks for the best and worst movies of summer 2012 – now it's your call. In a summer of giant blockbusters (The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises), all-star comedies (The Watch, The Campaign), supernatural fantasies (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), new version of old tales (Snow White and the Huntsman) and special effects-laden boardgame flicks (Battleship), which were worth the trip to the theater and which did you want a refund for? Read on to find out the kings of the summer Scum Bucket, as voted by you.
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Honorable Mentions: ‘Katy Perry: Part of Me,’ ‘Rock of Ages,’ ‘Savages,’ ‘The Expendables 2’, ‘Magic Mike’
Katy Perry: Part of Me, Rock of Ages, Savages, The Expendables 2 and Magic Mike were all less than stellar in Peter Travers' eyes – and in yours, too. "Savages sucked," Lucas wrote on Facebook, while Lisa called Rock of Ages "appalling" and Diana proclaimed Magic Mike "terrible. Easily the worst movie I have seen this year."
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‘The Avengers’
Even though many of you picked The Avengers over The Dark Knight Rises for best summer blockbuster, enough of you voted for the season's reigning box office king as the worst movie of the summer for it to make this list.
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‘Dark Shadows’
The usually winning team of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton faltered with the movie version of the vampire soap opera. "The pleasures of Dark Shadows are frustratingly hit-and-miss," wrote Travers. "In the end, it all collapses into a spectacularly gorgeous heap." You agreed – despite the nostalgia, the movie headed straight to the Scum Bucket.
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‘Prometheus’
Travers said Michael Fassbender was so good, he owned Ridley Scott's Alien prequel, but it wasn't enough for you. Your descriptions of the sci-fi thriller ranged from "boring" to "terrible," "garbage" and "a disaster."
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‘That’s My Boy’
Travers almost awarded Adam Sandler the Scum Bucket prize last year for his godawful work in Jack & Jill, and Sandler is back again as a cringe-inducing father to Andy Samberg. You didn't bother to name all the ways in which this movie was terrible; you just put it straight into the Scum Bucket.
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‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Travers called it the "King Daddy of summer movie epics" and predicted correctly when he wrote, "Audiences will be arguing forever about director Christopher Nolan's capper to his Batman trilogy." You didn't hate The Dark Knight Rises – but you didn't love it, either, with many of you calling it the summer's biggest disappointment. "For a movie of that caliber, it really was a total let down. So much plot holes and bad breakdowns," wrote Benjamin on Facebook.
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‘The Watch’
"What should have been at least Ghostbusters lite ends up sliming audiences with sloppy seconds," Travers wrote of the alien invasion buddy comedy starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill. Coltsfan18288 spoke for the disillusioned masses: "Not only was it stupid and unfunny, but it had some of Hollywood's best comedians. I'm losing faith in original films . . ."
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‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’
Despite star Benjamin Walker showing promise, this 3D supernatural fantasy took all the fun out of the book it was based on. Travers blamed Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, who "won't leave a good gimmick alone." You were fully disappointed, with Brandon calling the movie "just awful" on Facebook.
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‘Snow White and the Huntsman’
Before the scandal, there was still no happily ever after for this year's second Snow White remake. While Travers said Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron's take had Julia Roberts' Mirror Mirror beat by a mile, the movie was far from perfect. "Snow White and the Huntsman is definitely a missed opportunity," Travers wrote – but you were far less kind. @DaceKay's friends walked out of the theater, while Tony emphasized, "No matter how good this movie looks, there's no denying how incredible [sic] boring it was! I was literally happy at the finish line."
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‘Total Recall’
"It's two hours you'll never get back and every minute is a bad memory," Travers wrote of the Total Recall reboot, adding that the Colin Farrell version doesn't even begin to erase memories of Paul Verhoeven's "kinky, hot-wired original," which memorably starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. And you agreed. As @PhillyVince tweeted, "Total Recall [is the summer's worst movie] by far. At least Battleship didn't desecrate a part of my youth. #scumbucket."
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‘Battleship’
Travers named Battleship one of the worst movies of the year so far in June and the king of his summer Scum Bucket – and he predicted it will continue to reign horrible over the rest of the year's movies through the end of December.
"Battleship is all noise and crashing metal, sinking to the shallows of Bay's Armageddon and then digging to the brain-extinction level of the Transformers trilogy," he wrote – and you wholeheartedly agreed. @EliraTahiri's tweet speaks for the rest of you who let the movie's name alone convey how bad it truly was:
@petertravers Battleship———-> #Scumbucket.
— Elira T. (@EliraTahiri) August 15, 2012