The 2019 We Blew It Awards For the Year in Unappreciated Movies
I was always told the cream rises to the top. In the world of movies, that is not always true. Every year, great movies come and go, almost completely ignored by the viewing public while other films, buoyed by enormous marketing budgets, generate hundreds of millions of dollars. Life ain’t fair, and neither is cinema.
Back when I co-hosted the Filmspotting: SVU podcast, we used to do an annual awards episode where we gave out eclectic honors to various movies. We changed the categories every year, but always included the “We Didn’t Get It Award” — for films that did extremely well with most critics or audiences that left us cold — and the “They Didn’t Get It Award” — for the movies that should have done well with critics or audience but, for whatever reason, did not.
With the podcast kaput, I thought I’d bring the “They Didn’t Get It Award” back in a slightly new form as the “We Blew It Award” — in honor of a classic scene starring the late, great Peter Fonda, who passed away in August of this year. Near the end of Easy Rider, Billy (Dennis Hopper) is giddy at their financial windfall after a successful drug deal, but Fonda’s Wyatt is despondent. “You know, Billy?” he mutters. “We blew it.”
Today, I’m giving out the first ever We Blew It Awards, honoring ten movies that deserved better than they got from audiences, critics, studios — everyone. May these ten motion pictures find a better reception on home video and streaming, and may we do better for the excellent films of 2020. If we don’t, the We Blew It Award will return next December.
Gallery — Blu-rays and DVDs That Are Still Extremely Valuable:
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