Cinema Lounge, a film discussion group, takes place at 7:00 PM at Barnes and Noble, 555 12th St., NW in Washington, DC (near the Metro Center Metro stop). You do not need to be a member of the Washington DC Film Society to attend.

Cinema Lounge is moderated by Daniel R. Vovak.

Why do bad movies get made?

On May 12, 2008, we discussed "Why do bad movies get made?" The discussion began with a distinction between "fanboys" and "trolls." A term that originates in the comic book culture, fanboys are people who know everything of movies. Trolls are people who automatically dump on movies, complaining at every chance. It should be noted that 'Dragon Ball Z' was cancelled because fans hated it, probably a combination of fanboys and trolls.

Bad movies exist for seven reasons:

1. Bad scripts,

2. Bad Acting,

3. Bad directing and/or video editing,

4. Bad use of money. Roger Corman is known as the "King of the Bs," a reference to his prolific creation of low-budget films. Ed Wood movies are entertaining, but bad.

5. Lack of audience. Unfortunately, that depends on perspective because niche audiences follow every movie. Someone added that "anything with Angela Bassett needs our support." This also leads to the type of people behind movies, like the Tyler Perry movies, which have been financially successful.

6. Studio interference. This reason for bad movies generated a number of random comments. Someone referenced Blade II (2002). X-Men (2000) delivered everything it promised. Spiderman 3 (2007) is an excellent example of studio interference. Anything by Uwe Boll is considered to be bad, a sharp contrast to Pixar's near-flawless history. (Thus, Pixar ever hiring Uwe Boll is impossible.) Michael Bay gives anyone a seizure. Transformers (2007) had zero story. Tie-ins to marketing hurt Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace (1999). Rambo (2008) was disgusting only because it wasn't a video game. All those comments led to the belief that "there is a difference between bad movies and a movie a person doesn't like."

7. How movies are marketed. Within this point are three sub-topics: (a) Some good movies are just not known to the mass audience, (b) trailers are misleading, and (c) deceptive marketing can mislead audiences to not see films they may otherwise enjoy.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) was a good movie, but little known. Sahara (2005) wasn't bad, it just had bad marketing. Movies with deceptive marketing include Bridge to Terabithia (2007) and Black Snake Moan (2006), which were both movies that had misleading trailers and/or posters.

A closing comment was that "Samuel Jackson doesn't need to be in everything." The comment is well-deserved because Samuel L. Jackson has more known movie credits in the modern era than anyone else in the industry.