Ranking Every Sam Raimi Movie Part 1 - re:View

Quick Overview

The hosts rank Sam Raimi's filmography, finding the process difficult because Raimi operates between making personal, signature films like "Drag Me to Hell" and studio projects, with their lowest-ranked films being "Oz the Great and Powerful" and "For Love of the Game," while "Crimewave" is noted for its interesting backstory involving the Coen Brothers.

Key Points: Ranking Sam Raimi's movies proved difficult because the hosts perceive two distinct types of his films: personal "Sam Raimi movies" and "just real movies," making direct comparison challenging. The lowest-ranked film for one host was "Oz the Great and Powerful," while the other ranked "Army of Darkness" very low, leading to immediate disagreement and humorously threatening to cancel the video. Raimi's second film, "Crimewave," co-written with the Coen Brothers, is considered painful to watch but interesting due to studio interference and the perceived failure that may have led to "Evil Dead 2." "For Love of the Game" is ranked low due to perceived insincere schmaltz, a boring central romance involving Kevin Costner, and was apparently edited down from an R-rating to PG-13 after test audiences rejected seeing Kevin Costner's full frontal nudity. The first live-action "Spider-Man" film is ranked relatively low (one host at #13, the other at #11) because one host strongly dislikes Tobey Maguire's quiet, "derp face" portrayal of Peter Parker, contrasting it with the comic character's attitude. Raimi exhibits strong loyalty to actors, evidenced by J.K. Simmons appearing in both "For Love of the Game" and "The Gift," leading to his iconic role as J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man trilogy. Raimi's signature directorial traits identified include the use of "crazy zooms," snap zooms, and old-fashioned montages, which are charming despite looking corny.

Context: Rich and the co-host review and rank the entire filmography of director Sam Raimi, noting that this is timely because Raimi is one of the few directors they have covered (alongside John Carpenter and Joe Dante) who is still actively working, having recently released a new film that feels distinctly like a Raimi picture. The discussion immediately establishes that ranking his diverse output, which swings between horror, studio blockbusters like Spider-Man, and personal projects like "Drag Me to Hell," is exceptionally challenging for them.