Most overrated movies?

Nobodyman

@The:

Juno. I haaaaaaate that movie. Comedy my ass. I didn't as much as chuckle once, and every time Ellen Page opened her gob to say something "wise cracking", I wanted to reach into the movie and strangle her. "I just think I'll have a one night stand with my best friend who loves me without me returning his feelings, and then shit all over them afterwards" "I'm like, pregnant? Well ok, no big deal I guess. Good thing like, no one in this movie seems to think teen pregnancy is all that bad. Like." "Time for some obscure pop culture references on my Burger phone! Ain't I quirky?"

Uuuuuuuuuurgh

Pretty much my thoughts. I mean, I don't hate it, but I really don't see what the big deal is about it. Oh, and here's an article you may find fairly interesting.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080110/ANSWERMAN/801100302

I love how that Felix Vasquez guy compares it to Tarantino and Kevin Smith's works at the end.

Oh yeah, and "I'm going to go ahead and put up an entire living room set in someone's front yard, because that's what any sane rational human being would do!"

Daz

I forgot about that. It made me cringe with how…unreal this girl was. An alien UFO could land right next to her, and she'd be like unfazed. My first major clash with the movie was when she called her friend to talk about her pregnancy.
"I think I'm pregnant"
"you sure it's not a food baby?"
"Yeah, it's not a food baby"
"Huh"
"yeah"

I just couldn't see if it was supposed to be funny, serious, or whatever. For me, my problems were propably caused because, unlike something like "American Pie" or "the Hangover", Junos characters were not over the top and zany, but "Real People" acting really, really weird and stupid.

And Tarantino never fucking lets his dialogue get uttered by unsufferable teenagers.

city_lights31

@Tokoro:

Platoon wasn't bad. Can't really say it was over or underrated though: considering this was Ollie Stone's masterwork (essentially he wanted to make this movie after seeing nonsense like "The Green Berets" being released during the war while witnessing all the horror), I say it works well. (other than that…well admittedly it's been forever since I've seen "JFK"...though I do want to see either "Midnight Express" or "Natural Born Killers")

Kubrick deserves a lot of credit but sometimes even he can mess up. (I really don't like his version of "Lolita" I admit...sure there were good moments but somehow it just didn't feel like it was a good interpretation of Nabokov's work and did overpush Peter Sellers a bit)

Platoon is one of those films I have owned forever (because I got it for dirt cheap) and still haven't got around to watching it. I'll get there one day (probably within the year as I am trying to finish watching all of IMDb's top 250.)

I agree completely on Lolita - it really wasn't that great. One of Kubrick's more touted works, Barry Lyndon, I also didn't much care for. However I only watched it once and it was some time ago – I'll give it another viewing sooner or later. I also feel that A Clockwork Orange is just a little overrated - though I still really enjoyed it. Beyond that I agree with the general consensus on most of Kubrick's work. 2001 - masterpiece. Eye's Wide Shut - soso. Full Metal Jacket - an uneven yet still great movie. Paths of Glory - a ridiculously overlooked and undervalued master work. The Shining - perhaps the greatest horror thriller ever made. The Killing - solid nior etcetc.

…back to the thread...

-Rosemary's Baby
-Casino
-L.A. Confidential

Rosemary's Baby is solid and well made but I really don't see what all the fuss is about (still very good film). Casino felt just like Scorsese's regurgitating the same formula that he used with Goodfellas. It's a well made film with some memorable moments and very classic Scorsese but ultimately disappointing and a little too by-the-numbers and safe to be as great as some people make it sound (above average film.) I Just got done watching L.A. Confidential - I think a friend of mine hyped it up a bit to much for my liking. I love nior - the film had a great cast and was overall a gem…but not a masterpiece (still excellent.)

Tokoro Ataru

@city_lights31:

Platoon is one of those films I have owned forever (because I got it for dirt cheap) and still haven't got around to watching it. I'll get there one day (probably within the year as I am trying to finish watching all of IMDb's top 250.)

I agree completely on Lolita - it really wasn't that great. One of Kubrick's more touted works, Barry Lyndon, I also didn't much care for. However I only watched it once and it was some time ago – I'll give it another viewing sooner or later. I also feel that A Clockwork Orange is just a little overrated - though I still really enjoyed it. Beyond that I agree with the general consensus on most of Kubrick's work. 2001 - masterpiece. Eye's Wide Shut - soso. Full Metal Jacket - an uneven yet still great movie. Paths of Glory - a ridiculously overlooked and undervalued master work. The Shining - perhaps the greatest horror thriller ever made. The Killing - solid nior etcetc.

…back to the thread...

I admit I do need to see more Kubrick considering all I've seen are 2001 (for some reason my favorite part is some of the stuff with "The Dawn of Man"…that or I just like seeing one of our ancestors randomly get eaten by a leopard and eating bugs), Lolita (though I do admit one good reason to see this is Shelly Winters...she is creepy) and Dr. Strangelove. Sometimes I just have a hard time getting to the movies I do actually see.

It's tough to say that they're "overrated" but I notice I always had a tough time watching caper/heist films because of how many characters and motives and such that go through them. I never really got the big deal about the Italian Job remake so I could say that was overrated. But other ones that I admit were good (just saw "The Asphalt Jungle" yesterday and also admit this about "The Sting") I admit probably may need multiple viewings for me to truly "get" them. Can't quite say overrated as the topic says but I guess it sort of goes along with it. (well except The Italian Job remake...that was overrated)

JERK DISEASE

Platoon is overrated. The first half is masterpiece material, then Oliver Stone stops playing at making a subtle realistic movie and just starts wildly ejaculating cartoony hamfisted melodramatic readings of the politics involved, somewhere around when Willem Dafoe dies (which is a retarded moment, and yet people seem to think of it as amazing and touching and worthy of dvd covers when it's basically the same shit as Darth Vader's "NOOOOO").

zachri

Narnia 2 + 3 - ttly left the plot of the books ; A ;
AND THEY LACKED TUMNUS.

JERK DISEASE

Narnia sucks, the book, the movies, the whole thing.

Toastboy

Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've seen all of them, even rewatched them on TV and yet I can hardly remember a single thing about these movies except how a few characters looked like. Extremely forgettable.

Mr. Luffy

I only semi-agree with the Stanley Kubrick assessment, since it is a stretch to say his whole body of work was overrated. If I recall, Barry Lyndon was given a very lukewarm reception by both audiences and critics particularly dealing with the protagonist's character and motives. Lolita only really got noticed in its day due to it's highly controversial subject matter (the production code still had the influence to block such a release from major studios).

I respect Spartacus, for instance, both as a film and by being incredibly influential in eliminating the Hollywood blacklist by openly hiring blacklisted individuals, most notably writer Dalton Trumbo.

I agree that Paths of Glory is a high quality film that gets overlooked as an early Kubrick film. It is arguably the beginning of his independent streak outside of Hollywood.

It's tough to say that they're "overrated" but I notice I always had a tough time watching caper/heist films because of how many characters and motives and such that go through them. I never really got the big deal about the Italian Job remake so I could say that was overrated. But other ones that I admit were good (just saw "The Asphalt Jungle" yesterday and also admit this about "The Sting") I admit probably may need multiple viewings for me to truly "get" them. Can't quite say overrated as the topic says but I guess it sort of goes along with it. (well except The Italian Job remake…that was overrated)

I do agree with many modern ones, such as Mission Impossible or 16, that try too hard coming up with interesting plot twists in the cat-and-mouse games and focus too little on character motivations and depth. They can be a lot of fun, though, like the original Ocean's 11 and the (first) remake.

I'm not sure its still true now, but I've personally considered Monty Python's The Holy Grail to have been elevated to a monolithic status, at least more than the film deserves. A milestone into more modern British comedy to be sure but, personally, not quite as consistently funny to me.

Nobodyman

@Mr.:

I'm not sure its still true now, but I've personally considered Monty Python's The Holy Grail to have been elevated to a monolithic status, at least more than the film deserves. A milestone into more modern British comedy to be sure but, personally, not quite as consistently funny to me.

The thing about Holy Grail is, when it's funny it's REALLY funny. But yeah, there are a few scenes that aren't that funny and drag a bit.

Fezzik

@Toastboy:

Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've seen all of them, even rewatched them on TV and yet I can hardly remember a single thing about these movies except how a few characters looked like. Extremely forgettable.

…. or more likely a severe case of memory loss. Calling the movie forgettable is the dumbest shit I've heard. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a world within itself where you feel like you're personally journeying with the main characters on their epic quest. The movies had everything action, drama, moments of humour which were all within an excellently told story.

People who jump on the 'Lord of the rings trilogy is sooooooooooo overated, dude' bandwagon don't know what adventure movies are.

Pochipochi

@JERK:

Platoon is overrated. The first half is masterpiece material, then Oliver Stone stops playing at making a subtle realistic movie and just starts wildly ejaculating cartoony hamfisted melodramatic readings of the politics involved, somewhere around when Willem Dafoe dies (which is a retarded moment, and yet people seem to think of it as amazing and touching and worthy of dvd covers when it's basically the same shit as Darth Vader's "NOOOOO").

Haha, earlier today I was talking to my brother about how a lot of the major "war epics" that are fondly remembered in modern cinema history are full of shit piles, or have some really dumb scene/s. The first thing I said was how Platoon was one of the worst in the line.

That era of American takes on war tend to all fall into the same pitfalls too.

Actually, a lot of the films I do like that are considered war films, I would actually steer the genre elsewhere in classifying. As in, a lot of the best "war" films are not war films, if you catch my drift.

This is more of a ~controversial~ subject though. If you think The Thin Red Line and The Big Red One both fall into the genre of war, I can't really say anything otherwise.

JERK DISEASE

Deer Hunter and particularly Apocalypse Now are straight masterpieces though.

Pochipochi

Apocalypse Now especially.

JERK DISEASE

Apocalypse Now is my favorite movie, period.

Havoc

'War' doesn't really exist as homogeneous genre. It's usually a certain genre with war as prominent theme (Saving Private Ryan), an action flick, or even a comedy with war more in the background (e.g. Hogan's Heroes). Of course most movies have genres mixing but with war it's especially evident. Although I prefer this kind of approach, nobody wants to see people just senselessly killing each other.

Sakonosolo

Apocalypse Now is amazing. And it's also an adaptation of a book which makes it even more so. I need to watch that again actually.

JERK DISEASE

It's barely an adaptation.

Sakonosolo

Yeah, it's really loose but it keeps the main plot pretty much. It just moves it to Vietnam .

JERK DISEASE

It keeps the concept.

Bill

In the sense it is an adaption, a great adaption that takes the source material and improves upon it(in my opinion).

The best adaptions are the ones that keep the basic idea's of the source material but takes liberties with the story to fit the medium adapted to it.

Its exactly what I wanted from Zach Synder's 'Watchmen', but ultimately never got….
See my critique on it a few pages back.
He adhered too much to the source material, and he wouldn't be an individual enough with the license. So the final product feels awkward, and pretentious in live-action film.

JERK DISEASE

I've never actually read Heart of Darkness, but my dad, an english teacher, and movie/literature snob hates it, but he loved Apocalypse Now.

Sakonosolo

I read it but I don't think I was paying much attention while I was. I can't remember any of it.

Nobodyman

@JERK:

I've never actually read Heart of Darkness, but my dad, an english teacher, and movie/literature snob hates it, but he loved Apocalypse Now.

I read it in high school. Didn't understand a word of it.

However, I do need to see Apocalypse Now.

Flux

I had a big Movie Marathon this weekend. I watched 'Shawshank Redemption' 'American Psycho' 'The Godfather' 'Groundhog Day' and 'Drunken Master'

The only thing that stopped me watching 'Godfather II' was I didn't have another 3 hours to kill.

Sakonosolo

I personally enjoyed Once Upon a Time in America more than The Godfather.

Bill

@JERK:

I've never actually read Heart of Darkness, but my dad, an english teacher, and movie/literature snob hates it, but he loved Apocalypse Now.

Its a good book, dull introduction but good.
Here's the funny thing, the original story wasn't even about Vietnam it was about the Congo!. You learn something new everyday!
Its an enjoyable book, it exposes a very grim side to European colonization and its effect on Africa. I think you'd be interested in reading it. since you have an interest in Africa.

Sakonosolo

Yeah, it's the guy sailing up a river in the Congo to kill whoever the guy is that Kurtz is based on.

Nobodyman

@Sakonosolo:

Yeah, it's the guy sailing up a river in the Congo to kill whoever the guy is that Kurtz is based on.

Uh, his name is still Kurtz in the novel.

Sakonosolo

I was expecting that but didn't feel like doing any research :ninja: .

JERK DISEASE

@Bill:

Its a good book, dull introduction but good.
Here's the funny thing, the original story wasn't even about Vietnam it was about the Congo!. You learn something new everyday!
Its an enjoyable book, it exposes a very grim side to European colonization and its effect on Africa. I think you'd be interested in reading it. since you have an interest in Africa.

I know about it, I just haven't actually sat down and read it.
Frankly I'd rather read actual Belgian Congo reports and stories, it's reality was far worse then any book could ever hope to capture.

Still is as a matter of fact. The DRC has been gunning for "worst part of the entire world" and winning for upwards of 100 years.

THE SEA

Moving to Vietnam is a good choice:shocked:. I will watch it.:blink:

JERK DISEASE

Apocalypse Now just uses Vietnam as a setting, it's almost entirely an allegory of sorts.

Deer Hunter might be interesting to you as it's kind of an apolitical metaphor for the American civilian experience with the war that actually could and maybe should cut the actual war scenes because it's not at all about the action.

Nobodyman

Speaking of war movies, I saw Letters from Iwo Jima not too long ago. Damn fine war movie if I say so myself. Gives a really good insight into the Japanese mentality of that time.

Oh wait, this thread is about overrated movies, right? Nah, if anything that movie is underrated.

city_lights31

Agreed, it is in my top 5 war movies ever made and is a big reason why I appreciate Eastwood so much.

Back on topic.

The Usual Suspects. Not bad - but nowhere near brillant. Not really all that good even.

Mr. Luffy

One movie I recently watched and would consider fairly over-rated was Castle Keep starring Burt Lancaster and directed by Sydney Pollack. I didn't hate it, but was greatly disappointed by it. It's not because its an anti-war film, or that it was made in a sort of late 60s/70s avant garde style. It's just that the heavily symbolic material was rather poorly, and dialogue is often delivered in a very self-consciously forced, unnatural manner.

The script also does not seem very focused on whether it want to be a satire of war, or a haunting and poetic drama about the futilities and aimlessness and chaos of war. There are quite a few "comedy" moments that seem just bizarre and out of place rather than funny, like the invincible Volkswagen scene, the unseen German in the bushes fixing and playing a soldier's flute, and a lot of the small-talk that should be funny but isn't.

Pollack's earlier effort with Lancaster, The Scalphunters, was a much better comedy/satire, while his non-director collaboration with Burt Lancaster in The Swimmer was a much better poetic drama. The characters in Castle Keep, however, were more symbolic of ant-war Vietnam sentiment than they were human. A shame, since the film is decently acted and very well directed and photographed.

Cyber-Robin

The Dark Knight. I really enjoyed Begins but I've watched Dark Knight three or four times now and it's boring every time ;-;

Flux

@Cyber-Robin:

The Dark Knight. I really enjoyed Begins but I've watched Dark Knight three or four times now and it's boring every time ;-;

Couldn't agree more. Dark Knight is quite boring despite a fantastic performance from Ledger.

Batman Begins is just … what every Superhero movie dreams of being. So thematic and gritty. The Batman/Cargo Hold scene is one of the best scenes from any movie I can recall in recent years and I also really love the "I swear to God I didn't know!" "SWEAR TO ME" scene.

city_lights31

Man, I quite liked TDK. But whatever. Just watched The Big Sleep. Pretty good. Tad overrated.

Also, while we are on the subject of Nolan's stuff I have always felt that Momento is just a smidge overrated (still - really great) and The Prestige is legitimately overrated (it's decent)

Mr. Luffy

@city_lights31:

Just watched The Big Sleep. Pretty good. Tad overrated.

Generally agree, at least in comparison with other Bogart films of the era. Still one of the better Raymond Chandler adaptations.

On the subject of Chandler, I have found The Long Goodbye (the movie) to be a bit overrated, only because it's reputation skyrocketed since being put on Ebert's Great Movies list. Handling Chandler's Marlowe is quite a bit like handling Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, it that there has to be some respect for the universe created by the original author.

Altman takes very heavy creative and poetic license to the character, turning it into a 1970s anti-Hollywood/anti-detective movie. Personally, I didn't think it measured up to either Chinatown or Harper in this respect.

Also, I have found JFK overrated, at least in comparison to 1973's Executive Action dealing with the same assassination subject matter. Executive Action was a more thought provoking look inside the assassination, and combined archival footage in a more interesting way. Plus it has Robert Ryan as a government official!

Bill

Avatar-The same for pretty a lot.

Star Wars series- I'm a monster. I love these films, really in the sense that they were great escapist entertainment, I love the mythology and sound effects, some memorable characters and pure iconoclasm of many its soundtracks. But I actually found the first Star Wars nothing too special, and pretty boring, the second is were things really are hit it off, the third was average and the prequels while critically panned, is still one of the most financial movies in the decade. Certainly the prequels are hated by nearly every major fan of Star Wars but folks spend a shit load of money on them because well its Star Wars, no matter how awful the dialogue no matter how awful the characterization or storytelling is, or Jar Jar Binks it still makes money like new Harry Potter books being sold at midnight.

Cars- Bad film for Pixar, good film on its own.

WarshipArc

Am I a freak for not liking Al Pachino's Scarface?
I wouldn't say its a bad movie, but I just couldn't like any of the characters.
Especially Tony who IMHO is one of the dumbest movie protagonists I've ever seen.

Sakonosolo

I think that's been mentioned in this thread before. It was a lot different then I was expecting it to be before I saw it but I personally liked it.

WarshipArc

I think one of the problems is how much hype Scarface has.
You can't help but go in expecting it to be the greatest crime flick ever.
I did love the "Say good night to the bad-guy" speech near the end though.

OldSnake

@WarshipArc:

I think one of the problems is how much hype Scarface has.
You can't help but go in expecting it to be the greatest crime flick ever.
I did love the "Say good night to the bad-guy" speech near the end though.

Tony actually was pretty smart in the first half of the movie. It was him doing to much coke that caused his demise . Now a sober Tony would of been a beast second half of the movie.

Mr. Luffy

@WarshipArc:

I think one of the problems is how much hype Scarface has.
You can't help but go in expecting it to be the greatest crime flick ever.
I did love the "Say good night to the bad-guy" speech near the end though.

Yeah, it's definitely a style over substance film that seem to have earned its reputation through its violence and language. That part you mentioned is the only part that really stands out–the over the top battle/climax

I personally found it a bit more interesting in retrospect after watching the movie that influenced it (with the same name) starring Paul Muni, since it follows the same plot (sans ending) in just a more blunt, overblown fashion. I pretty much agree with the Pacino character being unlikeable--he comes across as a real psycho compared to Muni, who is just a tough guy trying to get ahead and break out of the Italian slums.

Sonic Youth

Shawshank Redemption and Avatar

KISAME

Everything Nolan has directed….....

Hyperion

Rewatched part of Titanic the other day and man, fuck that flick.

But really, the most overrated movie I've ever seen is Forrest Gump. Everybody likes it but me.

city_lights31

@WarshipArc:

I think one of the problems is how much hype Scarface has.
You can't help but go in expecting it to be the greatest crime flick ever.
I did love the "Say good night to the bad-guy" speech near the end though.

Scarface is a pretty popular movie in this thread. I know I mentioned it earlier. I would place it among the top 5 most overrated films I have ever seen.