Memento. I definitely enjoyed the movie, but after watching it twice I was left wondering if the movie made sense but was a bit over my head, or if the movie didn't quite make sense. Was it a stupid movie, or am I a stupid movie watcher?

Bladerunner was awesome.

V for Vendetta was pretty borderline for me.

Folks I've talked to either love or hate that film...I'm right on the line.

(And for the record, I don't think the book's that great, either..."Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" REALLY falls flat for me, it comes off as a lot of interesting concepts packaged in C-list, hack writing...I'm sorry, it does--who in their right mind calls a war "World War Terminus?" That sounds so unbelievable and silly...I just can't take it seriously...frankly, it's the same issue I have with "The Hunger Games," some good ideas with a setting/prose style I DO NOT buy...really, all the people in this futuristic society have Roman/Latin-based names, and this whole society goes along with this absurd tribute system? Yeah, I know, she's trying to draw parallels between today and the Roman Empire, and to the Myth of the Minotaur, and it's a commentary on reality TV, and supposedly all these people rose up and rebelled and lost, but just the way it's conveyed isn't believable, real people wouldn't just suddenly all adopt Roman-style names post-mega-war, I STILL argue the whole tribute system is a stretch, and in that same sense, calling it World War Terminus just sounds silly and unrealistic, as does much of the novel. So, sorry, P.K Dick fans...I know it's based on a novel, "Bladerunner," I just don't think it's a very good novel...frankly I think the movie, as borderline as it is, outdoes the novel--though oddly enough, the most memorable part also of that movie for me, the futuristic LA setting, is also one of it's own most unrealistic parts...we're post-mega-war, and instead of everything being irradiated and obliterated like in the novel, we're more built-up mega-corporation-style than ever before? That makes no sense...again, it's putting commentary before common sense, and that just kills me.)

Tough question obi. Hard to remember "borderline" movies. Easy to remember great movies.

Aaaaaaand I'd like to comment on those movies you've all listed...

But I haven't seen any of them. Sorry. :p

The Great Escape... leaning to a sad ending but tough to say for certain.

Gun is right, it's really hard to think of mediocre movies.

Oh, and in defense of PKD. He is a classic SF author. Yeah, the writing is a bit chopping and not everything is hyperrealistic, but he chooses a topic (in his case, the Mind) and does an excellent job analyzing it through his stories.

Huge fan of Bladerunner (even though it has very little on common with Philip K Dick's short story that loosely inspired it...).

Most recent movie that falls in to this category is "The Hobbit"...Ugh....and there's going to be two more?? Fantastic cinematography, of course, and yes, though it has been a long time since I read the book, it follows the story, I think....but oh my god what a long movie. The Dwarves at Bilbo's house went on and on and one...the fight with the Goblins went on and on and one and took on a ridiculously cartoonish quality...stuff like that really diminished the movie for me.

I cam out feeling like they said "Dang...we're gong to make *3* movies??? Huh...better stretch this scene out a bit..."

Huge let down...and yet I'll watch it again someday on the flat screen.

Fyi - Bladerunner is based on "The Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", a short story by PKD.

I thought the Hobbit was pretty decent. Not as good as the LotR, but then again, the books were the same way.

Was there any reason to make it 3 movies? Probably not. Then again, it's nice that they didn't skip things just to make it fit to the standard 2.5 hour movie.

@krellin

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

They didnt' skip thing, agreed, but they drew some stuff out to long. anothe example, whem Bilbo is decided whether or not to lop Golem's head off....zoom on bilbo...zoom on golem...zoom on biblo...zoom on sword...zoom on Bilbo and sword....zoom on golem...pan out to all three...zoom in on golem's big watery eyes...back to bilbo. Damn, I was ready to drop a bolder on the both of them by this point...

BLADERUNNER is one of the most important films ever made. It had a profound influence on every science fiction movie (and I imagine every sci-fi novel) ever made afterwards. Calling it "borderline" is to say that you don't know what a great & important movie looks like.

@Abge - yes, i believe that is the short story from which Bladerunner is inspired.

Yes it is. I'm correcting you on the title.

The dwarves were at Bilbo's house for maybe 15 minutes. Tops. That is not an excessive amount of time considering you're trying to re-introduce Gandalf to a new generation, introduce Thorin, and give insight into the quirkiness and celebratory nature of the Dwarvish race.

I don't know what people that criticize the Hobbit wanted - if you want a short-form telling of the tale, go watch the '70s cartoon.

Several borderline movies for me:

Saving Private Ryan - too long, too pretentious, too much Tom Hanks
Gladiator - Joaquin Phoenix is great, but the rest is meh at best
Inception - Probably lean towards saying this is an allright movie, but once the original concept lost its "new" factor, I realizes the movie was pretty shoddy.

I wanted the chase scene through the goblin mines to be less comical and more like the one in Fellowship.

Other than that I really enjoyed the Hobbit.

@Alderian

Agreed. That scene was over-the-top slapstick. Not sure what was up with that.

Million Dollar Baby immediately comes to mind. Not Eastwood's best, in my opinion, and definitely didn't deserve an Oscar. Good, original, but not *that* good.

I liked Million Dollar Baby, but thinking about it now, I couldn't tell you a damn thing about it. I guess that has "borderline" written all over it.

That's a pretty good definition, abge. I had to look up the plot again and still the only thing I remember is Hilary Swank breaking her neck on the stool, and that's only because I watched the It's Always Sunny parody episode last week.

I did not see greatness in Million Dollar Baby, Gran Torino, or Letters From Iwo Jima (although they were decent (at least) movies). Nothing against Clint Eastwood, but IMHO as a director he's certainly overrated (Unforgiven excepted).

@krellin: I know, I acknowledged it was (loosely) based off the PKD book...I actually critiqued that too, which abgemacht responded too, so

@abgemacht: He DOES think up some very cool ideas and concepts, but I just think he executes them terribly and often sloppily...by contrast, the Asimovs and the Bradburys and Douglas Adamses of the genre do such a better job (not to mention the fact all three develop better characters, and I'd argue character, rather than plot, is nowadays the most important thing when it comes to storytelling...an innovative style helps and a good plot's important, but it's compelling characters that make the difference between your book/play/movie/TV show being a one-and-done reading/viewing or something people come back to again and again, generation after generation...there isn't a single good author or director who hasn't created at least one compelling character--even poems based on nature have a poetic voice for its "speaker character"--and PDK...I dunno...Deckard is easily his most memorable character for me, but he's FAR more interesting in "Bladerunner" than in "Androids,"--possibly because it's Harrison Ford, and HF is nearly always awesome--and even then he's a bit dull, at least until the end.)

The Patriot. If it hadn't been so blatantly like Braveheart it might have been much better.
I saw it in theater and in the opening battle scene when the cannonball flies straight at the camera I ducked under my seat and everyone around me laughed at me. Including my wife and my best friend. Good times.

PKD and Asimov have different objectives. Dealing with the Mind is inherently messy; don't expect his stories to be so clean cut. Also, Adams is a comedy writer, so I'm not sure why you're referring to him at all.

People *have* come back to PKD generation after generation. They just remade Total Recall into a major movie. It was based off of Dick's "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale."

I don't think you understand that PKD is probably the most influential author when it comes to SF in Hollywood.

The original Total Recall. The concept was excellent but it was still an glorified action flick in the end.

Personally, Blade Runner is on my list of all time greats and Great Escape is #2 on my list of WWII movies right behind Tora! Tora! Tora!

Forrest Gump is borderline as well. Hanks performance consists of monotone and some occasional misplaced lilts. It relies way too much on the special effects trickery and forced emotional moments to present a highly unlikely story of a moron attending nearly every major event of the 20th Century.