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Hollywood is a machine. Every week, every month and every year countless films are released into theatres and not every one is as successful as the studio heads would hope. Sometimes the publicity machine was askew, sometimes the movie targeted an odd demographic, sometimes the release was steamrolled by a much larger movie and occasionally the movie is flat out bad.

But Hollywood's loss is our gain. There is a veritable treasure trove of film out there that you may not have seen. I will be your guide to this veritable wilderness of unwatched film. It will be my job to steer you towards the action, adventure, drama and comedy that may have eluded you, and at the same time, steer you away from some truly unwatchable dreck.

Hopefully we'll stumble across some entertainment that may have slid under your radar. Wish us luck.

Wild Wild West (1999)

For the longest time, Will Smith has been revered as a box office demigod. Hopeful studios bring truckloads of money to his home hoping he will bless them and their picture with his presence. Bloodthirsty producers sacrifice virgin scriptwriters to appease his wrath. Having Will Smith attach his name to your picture is nearly a license to print money. He's pretty much the Michael Jordan of Hollywood at the moment.

And yet, he's far from bulletproof. Will has a number of titles he'd really rather we don't recall. Bagger Vance comes to mind. I am forced (unwillingly) to remember Men in Black II as well. (And what a freaking disaster that film was.) But Will's biggest flop ever was Wild Wild West. Let's take a look at that one, shall we?

At first glance, Wild Wild West doesn't look like a flop. It made almost $200 million. Unfortunately, it cost $170 million to produce and was rapidly blown out of the top slot in theatres in the span of one week, falling from an opening weekend of $36.4 million all the way down to $16.8 million for a drop of 54%. Ouch. The public recognized this one as a stinker right away and stayed away in droves. Only the worldwide totals salvaged this from being an unmitigated disaster and with the marketing campaign this one got, I'm still unsure if this film even actually turned a profit.

Wild Wild West stars Smith as Jim West, Kevin Kline as Artemis Gordon, Salma Hayak as Rita Escobar and Kenneth Branagh as Dr. Arliss Loveless. That's a fairly impressive cast for the time, and actually it would still be impressive today.

Wild Wild West is based loosely (very loosely) on the TV show Wild Wild West, but it should tell you a lot that when the producers offered a part to Robert Conrad (the original James T. West in the TV show), he shot them down because he felt the movie was not respectful to the series on which it was based. Ouch. When a TV actor past his prime turns you down flat, that should be a strong indicator that something has gone drastically wrong somewhere.

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