There are lots of great movies out there. Some leave their mark and some come and go like a gentle breeze only to be discovered by a lucky few. And then there are movies that get way more praise than they ever deserved. Some of those movies even win big awards. Those movies are overrated pieces of poo. Let's call them out right here and right now.
Here are my Top 5 Overrated Movies. In no particular order.
1. Dances With Wolves It beats out Goodfellas for Best Picture. Don't. Get. Me. Started.
2. Crash I ask you, has any other movie been directed or written with such a heavy hand?
3. Rain Man Never understood why everyone loved this movie as much as they did.
4. Juno As a nice little surprise in December, this movie was palatable. As an insightful and witty movie about teen pregnancy deserving of multiple Oscars, it was overrated.
5. A History of Violence This is David Cronenberg trying to channel David Lynch. The critics lauded it. I laughed at it.
Thanks to Brian for this weeks category.
I was about to write "I totally agree with you!" but then I realized out of the 5 I've only seen Crash (and do agree) but the rest I've actually avoided due to the over-hype!
ReplyDeleteSo, I do agree with you - but have proactively chosen not to see the films :)
Agree with all of them.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I probably like RAIN MAN more than you. Not that I love it, just that I liked it when I saw it in theatres, but haven't seen it since.
And I thought I was alone in not loving HISTORY OF VIOLENCE?
Shannon,
ReplyDeleteYou are wise to have avoided them. Too bad about Crash.
Moviezzz,
I thought I was the only one as well. We're brothers in overratedness.
Piper, you weren't laughing at Viggo's dick, were you??
ReplyDeleteWhat ... no TITANIC on here? That might be the biggest shock of all.
Ray,
ReplyDeleteI've given Titanic the week off. No beating up on Titanic this week. But there's going to be severe lashings next week when it comes back all fat and tan.
Oh golly! You could probably have a series of these with all of the stuff I would like to list. Where to start!?!?
ReplyDeleteY Tu Mama Tambien
Million Dollar Baby
City of God
There Will Be Blood
Lost In Translation.....
See, and I adored all of the above. Huh. What does that say about me? A slave to marketing, perhaps.
ReplyDeleteFox,
ReplyDeleteCity of God?
Lost In Translation?
I'm not surprised by There Will Be Blood. Knew that might pop up here.
nayana,
it says you're a terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible person. Wait, I forgot one more terrible. Terrible. There.
Actually, it's okay to like them. I liked Juno. I got through Crash. I just didn't think they were the gems everyone said they were.
I was gonna say Titanic too. I agree 100% on your list, Piper. And I would like to add The English Patient and all the Spiderman movies.
ReplyDeleteI was never so depressed as when I watched The English Patient. I thought the only way one would watch that willingly would be based on some kind of dare.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with you on Spider-man, with the exception of Spider-man 2. I thought that was a very good film.
American Beauty: Self-important, grandiose movie that tells us absolutely nothing about empty upper-middle-class living.
ReplyDeleteEnglish Patient: There's a reason Lawrence of Arabia didn't have a romance in it. Couldn't wait for that damn woman to die.
Crash (Haggis): An NPR essay brought to wooden life by a bunch of crappy B-list actors. Looked like a high school drama project.
Little Miss Sunshine: It sure is easy to make a quirky comedy if you make every single character a smug caricature, and then point your finger at them and make fun of how ridiculous they are. I called it "Meet the Fockers for elitists".
Old School: I still don't see what's so funny. Luke Wilson is his usual somnambulant self, Vince Vaughn is wasted (the earmuffs are funny at least), and Will Ferrell provides a few Belushi-esque high points but not nearly enough.
Piper, I have to disagree with you on A History of Violence, but we are on the same page with the rest. My nomination is Pan's Labyrinth. And I guess I'll be the first one to throw out The Dark Knight. It was good. It's just not the greatest movie I have ever seen.
ReplyDeletePirates of the long name: the first one.: Yeah, it's a good, fun ride featuring an inspired performance by Depp and some quality ham by Rush. But that's where it stops. To think that ANYONE would count this as one of their Top 10 (much less 5) films is a sad, sad, sad (not terrible, though) thought.
ReplyDeleteCasino Royale: Sorry, aside from having a blond dude, a lack of John Cleese and a lack of a sense of humor, how was this different from the Bond we knew? The fact that it tacked on 5 endings and 40 minutes isn't helping, either.
American Gangster: And to think DeNiro and Pacino got trouble for not enough shared screen time in heat. I'm not sure Washington and Crowe even knew they were working on the same film. See also: boring, slow, been there, done that.
Bourne 2 and/or 3: Shaky cam killed them, but they weren't better than the first to begin with. Still good, but the hype is crazy.
GoodFellas - Casino's better. I know it and you know it.
Piper -
ReplyDeleteCity of God = empty sensationalism.
Lost In Translation = empty transcendentalism.
And Fletch just laid it down with the Casino > Good Fellas blast!!! ... and maybe he's right.
Where did that bomb come from that Fletch just dropped?
ReplyDeleteCasino Royale?
Casino better than Goodfellas? Wha, wha, wha? Where's the defib to restart my heart?
Dan E.
You might be right about The Dark Knight. I thought it was good for a Summer Blockbuster, but it wasn't the end all be all. And it's a damn good example of how we've lowered the bar overall for film in general.
You're not with me on the Lynch/Cronenberg thing?
If we're talking Oscar Best Picture winners, here is my list, in no particular order:
ReplyDelete1. Titanic
2. The English Patient
3. Forrest Gump
4. Crash
5. Million Dollar Baby
My Top 5 Overrated Movies:
ReplyDeleteVideodrome - Interesting, but extremely overrated.
Fight Club - I've tried five times to love this movie. I just isn't going to happen.
Heat - Me and one of the Filmspotting guys agree about Heat, other than him, I stand alone.
Scarface - Don't get me started.
The Dark Knight - So many "lackluster" parts that people just aren't talking about.
Elgringo - I had a problem with Fight Club.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are all nuts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Piper, on the first FOUR, but HISTORY OF VIOLENCE was my favorite movie from that year.
GOODFELLAS is worse than CASINO! Are you insane? GOODFELLAS is a masterpiece. CASINO is just an incredibly good copy.
ElGringo. I disagree with every single one of your picks.
Man. I'm disappointed in all of you!
You should take note though, that I tend to love everything...
"I'm the wiz kid donnie smith and I have so much love to give..."
Elgringo, I agree about Heat, but then I feel the same way about every Michael Mann film. Sometimes making a film slow and epic in length only serves to amplify the mundane content.
ReplyDeleteAt first I was kind of appalled with History of Violence. I didn't think it was overrated, just praised when it was quite objectionable in a highly deterministic, sexist way. The more I watch it (I'm writing about it for my thesis) the more I realize it's a pretty brilliant movie. Every shot, every bit of dialogue, every color is perfectly thought out. And every time you think you catch Cronenberg in a mistake, you realize all the mistakes add up to something pretty spectacular.
ReplyDeletebut the rest? I agree completely.
Everything's overrated, let's be honest. No single film can live up to all the bullshit.
ReplyDeleteBut especially:
Lost In Translation
Million Dollar Baby
Heat (and Michael Mann in general, yes)
among those mentioned.
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ReplyDelete