Overrated Movies (or "Why Does Everyone Like Tyler Durden?")

Pretty much anything Spielberg's done for the past 5 years.

A.I., Minority Report, The Terminal, War of the Worlds...

BLECH. He could put a still-frame image of elephant dung onscreen for an hour and a half and the critics would give him 4 stars.

(I haven't seen Munich. It looked different than the other tripe he's been doing lately, so maybe it was good.)

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Originally Posted by JazzFlight

A.I., Minority Report, War of the Worlds...

It looks more like that you just don't like his sci-fi work.

While I'm pretty wishy-washy on Minority Report - I think that the first two thirds of War Of The Worlds is amazing and A.I. is flawed genius. I can see why people would disagree with A.I. because its such an unusually paced movie - but WotW? Why did you dislike it?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I don't just hate the Sci-Fi movies (as you can see above, I remembered The Terminal and edited it in).

A.I. spoilers:

A.I. had about 15 false endings, each of them sucked. My friend and I could barely contain our laughter when the "alien-looking robots from the future" came and dug out the kid and gave him his mom back. And the teddy bear climbing onto the bed at the end... it's just this sentimental crap that Spielberg does that annoys me.

WotW spoilers:

WotW was unrealistic in my opinion. Many scenes would not have played out in real life the way they were portrayed in the movie. I mean, the first time the tripod comes out of the ground, everyone's just standing around, even as it's knocking over cars and buildings. I still don't understand why the main character doesn't shout out his window at everyone: "Replace the [electrical thingie] in your car, it'll run then!" I mean, I know most people wouldn't know how to fix that, but at least start spreading the knowledge.

The movie was original in the way it only followed a single person and not the government, but then later on, when the family reached the "crazy guy" house, it fell to complete shit. I mean, why the fuck did he have to kill the guy in cold blood? And it was goofy why he said, "close your eyes" when he went into the other room and closed the door anyway. Also, the lame "Jurassic Park kitchen raptor - esque" scene with a tripod worm camera lasted way too long and wasn't tense at all.

When he blew up the tripod with a grenade, the "basket of humans" looked like a low-budget TV movie set (as it was only close-up shots, and the set barely moved, even though it's on a giant walking machine).

The movie had a rushed ending. Having Morgan Freeman hired to narrate the beginning and ending was cheesy "as soon as the creatures breathed our air and ate our food, they were dooooomed."

Again, sentimental crap that Spielberg has to throw in every movie (the son magically survives).

FELIPE NO

Quote:

WotW was unrealistic in my opinion.

Welcome to science fiction.


I've only seen the film once, but I received the impression from certain parts of the film's photography and imagery that Spielberg injected an environmental message.

How ya doing, buddy?

War of the Worlds was only dissapointing in the ending. That infuriated me, and no I don't mean how the aliens died.

The way the aliens killed humans was pretty damn creepy. Certainly not Spielberg's best, and won't win any awards outside of visual effects. Just an entertaining popcorn flick.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by a_jazzman

WotW spoilers:

WotW was unrealistic in my opinion. Many scenes would not have played out in real life the way they were portrayed in the movie. I mean, the first time the tripod comes out of the ground, everyone's just standing around, even as it's knocking over cars and buildings. I still don't understand why the main character doesn't shout out his window at everyone: "Replace the [electrical thingie] in your car, it'll run then!" I mean, I know most people wouldn't know how to fix that, but at least start spreading the knowledge.

That's exactly what I thought [i]wouldn't happen in real life. These people are transfixed, effectively in shock. Running is a last-second response of the mind. And why on earth would spreading that information be more important to Ray than protecting his family? You really missed the point of that film.

Originally Posted by a_jazzman

WotW spoilers:

The movie had a rushed ending. Having Morgan Freeman hired to narrate the beginning and ending was cheesy "as soon as the creatures breathed our air and ate our food, they were dooooomed."

Rushed? Because from Ray's point of view he's really going to see the slow, eventual destruction of the machines and their operators.
Those lines are from the book, too. They're not cheezy, they're over half a century old.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Quote:

I've never been able to get into anything by Stanley Kubrick. But since I love Pulp Fiction and Lost In Translation, it's probably my taste in films rather than Kubrick being overrated.

Kubrick films are sort of hit or miss in my opinion. I didn't like Eyes Wide Shut (Actually, I have mixed feelings about this one technically/artistically it was good, but I still couldn't "enjoy" it), Barry Lyndon or Lolita. However, I did like Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Full Metal Jacket, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining.

The films I usually think are overrated are Jim Carrey films. He's really good in some stuff, but it seems like he plays the same character over and over again (Yeah, he's good at physical comedy, but it sort of annoys me at the sametime, it's painful to watch). I haven't seen Eternal Sunshine, but everyone tells me it's good, I just can't get over the fear of having to sit through it feeling totally disappointed/uncomfortable watching it. It's totally me, though, I can't explain it but watching him on screen makes me nervous and very uncomfortable.

As far as critically overrated movies, but underappreciated otherwise: the remake of Solaris with George Clooney. Yeah, there's an ass-shot, it's really brief though, get over it. I think one of the big things in this movie for me was how well the soundtrack fit the mood they were trying to convey with the film. Cliff Martinez's best work (Yes, better than the soundtrack to Traffic).

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I haven't seen Munich. It looked different than the other tripe he's been doing lately, so maybe it was good.

Munich was Spielberg doing what he does best. He really redeemed himself in light of A.I. and WotW. Although, I did like Minority Report, myself, but that's mainly because I'm a fan of cyberpunk stuff.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Most overrated movie I can think of off the top of my head is Open Water. I fail to see how it was suspenseful or freaky or anything.

Spoiler:

I mean, it's the same thing dragged out... they're in the water... they're still in the water.... now they're yelling... they're still in the water... still in the water... still in the water.... credits rolling... wanting hours of life back...

Another one I wasn't fond of was The Village. It had a very interesting idea behind it, but it ended abruptly and right when it was finally getting good. I think it's fatal flaw was it was a movie, which have insane time restrictions. It should've been a book or game instead, and thus able to last long enough to pan out into anything great.

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Overrated:
YES, Napoleon Dynamite. I can't believe the hype it got, everyone talked about it for at least a month. They re-quoted everything from that movie. And when I finally got around to watch it I thought it was a terrible movie. Waste of my time, I almost fell asleep too.

The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions - I'm sorry, terrible movies. But The Matrix original one was underrated and amazing. Not only till recently, when they started the production of the next two of the trilogy did the Matrix truly become popular.

Anything Quentin Tarantino - Seriously, finally someone agrees. Everyone where I live thinks Tarantino is god. Pulp Fiction was "okay". Kill Bill was mediocre but the hype it got was definately overboard.

Saw I/II - Bleh. Let's ruin it for you, HE CUTS OFF HIS LEG! I'd have to say the trailers and advertisements for this movie ruined it before I even watched it. Second one was even worse.

Dodgeball/Wedding Crashers - I'm sorry, these movies were bad. I didn't laugh once. Everyone was talking about how funny these movies were. No. Dumb humour doesn't get to me anymore.

Not overrated,
Lost in Translation - I watched this movie 4 times. First 2 times I stopped watching half way through because I thought it was terrible. Then I watched it a third time and laughed constantly. This movie seems more of an aquired taste. And it was not popular at all here.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by splur

The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions - I'm sorry, terrible movies. But The Matrix original one was underrated and amazing. Not only till recently, when they started the production of the next two of the trilogy did the Matrix truly become popular.

Eh? Which universe do you come from? The Matrix was a surprise box-office smash. There wouldn't have been any sequels had it not been so phenomenally successful.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Atomic Duck

Most overrated movie I can think of off the top of my head is Open Water. I fail to see how it was suspenseful or freaky or anything.

Spoiler:

I mean, it's the same thing dragged out... they're in the water... they're still in the water.... now they're yelling... they're still in the water... still in the water... still in the water.... credits rolling... wanting hours of life back...

Agreed. This came right out of Sundance on a wave of praise and it was nothing but a messy piece of crap. Okay, so they're in the middle of the ocean. There may or may not be a shark. No SFX and no flashy gimmicks means more realism thus automatically more tension. No, the reason people liked that was that at the beginning they just had to have some random scene where the female lead was completely naked. She could have been under sheets, you know disorderly sheets so it wouldn't be too "Hollywood" clean, more true to life, but they didn't have to show her completely nude. There was no point except for that it was a small budget and nudity is a big drawing factor so if all else failed, it would be a contingency. Yeah, that failsafe didn't work for me.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by splur

Overrated:
Anything Quentin Tarantino - Seriously, finally someone agrees. Everyone where I live thinks Tarantino is god. Pulp Fiction was "okay". Kill Bill was mediocre but the hype it got was definately overboard.

Not overrated,
Lost in Translation - I watched this movie 4 times. First 2 times I stopped watching half way through because I thought it was terrible. Then I watched it a third time and laughed constantly. This movie seems more of an aquired taste. And it was not popular at all here.

Oh dear. Seems to me that there is a problem with you yourself rather than some of the masterpieces you just mentioned. How the hell can you watch something twice, finding it unfunny to the extent that you stop it half way through, then on the third viewing laugh constantly? Sorry, but that is retarded. Maybe you need to watch Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction 37 times so that you can 'acquire' their taste. May I ask, do you dislike Anime/Spaghetti Westerns/Kung Fu/Samurai/revenge flicks? This is the only logical reason as to why anyone would think Kill Bill is mediocre.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Taterdemalion

For me, the first Lord of the Rings was overrated. It took a while for the story to get going, so the first half was rather boring. But the second and third films were excellent in my opinion.

Limed for great justice! Though, that said, Fellowship was by no means horrible and did the job it was supposed to do. And had the best material for all those LotR animated .gifs going around.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Casual_Otaku

Oh dear. Seems to me that there is a problem with you yourself rather than some of the masterpieces you just mentioned. How the hell can you watch something twice, finding it unfunny to the extent that you stop it half way through, then on the third viewing laugh constantly? Sorry, but that is retarded. Maybe you need to watch Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction 37 times so that you can 'acquire' their taste. May I ask, do you dislike Anime/Spaghetti Westerns/Kung Fu/Samurai/revenge flicks? This is the only logical reason as to why anyone would think Kill Bill is mediocre.

What? It's cool if you think that Kill Bill is super awesome, I liked it myself, but saying that there is only one possible logical reason why someone might dislike it just isn't serious. Don't call people retarded if the only argument you have is 'you probably hate movies in general, why else would you dislike this one specific film?'.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Tarintino is unbelievanly over-rated. Pretty much every character in all of his films are the same. Tarintino movies are movies for the 15 year olds. LoTR was overrated too, I got the feeling that Peter Jackson was laughing at me while I was watching. Bruce Lee films are overrated as well, give me Chan or Stephen Chow over Lee any day.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Aardark

What? It's cool if you think that Kill Bill is super awesome, I liked it myself, but saying that there is only one possible logical reason why someone might dislike it just isn't serious. Don't call people retarded if the only argument you have is 'you probably hate movies in general, why else would you dislike this one specific film?'.

Dude, I didn't say it's retarded to not like Kill Bill, I said that the Lost In Translation scenario was retarded.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Ultimately the problem with War of the Worlds was that it wasn't good science fiction. Science Fiction is supposed to be reasonable fiction, not some fantasy pull-it-out-your-ass bullshit like the situation featured in the movie. It requires that it be based on enough scientific principles, or reasonable circumstances in order to remain plausible in a future or alternative past setting.

Spoiler:

While you could say that nothing in the movie was scientifically unfeasible, the way the aliens invaded Earth make the whole situation an impossibility. Burying machines for God knows how long in anticipation of later invading the planet and then terraforming it implies that the aliens do this sort of thing with some regularity. The idea that these aliens could invade other planets like this and never encounter a deadly micro-organism is highly unlikely. The idea that they also planted the machines on a dead planet (without micro-organisms) in the hopes that there would maybe be life there someday is also unlikely, seeing as how it's not going to be a guaranteed return.

It's that the movie didn't follow the book enough that makes it stupid. I don't know why the aliens couldn't have come from Mars. While we know plenty about Mars's surface, the possibility of there being a civilization living beneath it isn't entirely impossible. The book had already posited the idea that Mars could no longer sustain life. Is it really that unreasonable to present newspaper articles mentioning unusual activity on Mars as in the book?

An intelligent species invading another planet where there is a risk of dying from bacterium has to be presented as a desperate measure in order to remain plausible. That the machines were buried beneath the surface implies that the aliens aren't desperate, and that they have plenty of time to wait.

Like Lehah said, the first 2/3s of the movie was a great experience, but Spielberg gayed it up with a retarded premise, and a feel good everything turns out alright ending.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm not so keen on films being labelled as "overrated". I agree that some films are shoved in your face too much and everyone raving on about the film being absolutely amazing, but when you see if for yourself and it's not as good as it was hyped to be you may feel that the film was overrated. But really, it's all down to a matter of opinion and personal taste.

I try and not read reviews or listen to people when they talk about the latest film of the moment, because that's when the whole overrated thing comes into action. I like to watch a film with an open mind not knowing if it's gonna be good or bad.

But really no one can lump together a list of films and say that these films are overrated end of story, because the chances are there's gonna be people who love those movies and an argument is gonna start.

For me personally I watched some stupid countdown of the scariest films ever made and The Shining made number 1. When I actually saw it, it didn't quite cut it for me, I thought the film was good and it had it's moments but it wasn't the scariest.

As for the Tarantino discussion I read briefly in here, I agree that his films are good but he's not a genius director people make him out to be. Another thing that pisses me off is how his name seems to crop up on films like Hero, so stupid people think that he directed it because it has a "Quentin Tarantino Presents" at the top of the case.

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I would have to say that The Exorcist is the most overrated film I've ever seen. It is often billed as the scariest film of all time yet, when I watched it by myself and in total darkness, I did nothing but laugh. Now, were I to repeat the same act with something like Ju-on: the Grudge I would probably cry like a little girl.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by kinkymagic

Tarintino is unbelievanly over-rated.

This from someone with a Withnail & I avatar. Now that's a movie a don't see the appeal in.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Quote:

This from someone with a Withnail & I avatar. Now that's a movie a don't see the appeal in.

Try being a hard-drinking English student.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by a_brit

As for the Tarantino discussion I read briefly in here, I agree that his films are good but he's not a genius director people make him out to be. Another thing that pisses me off is how his name seems to crop up on films like Hero, so stupid people think that he directed it because it has a "Quentin Tarantino Presents" at the top of the case.

I'm pretty sure the director of the film asks him either to be an executive producer or to provide guidance while the film is being made, at least that was the case with director Eli Roth for Hostile. I think a film with Tarantino's name on it draws people into a movie they wouldn't have checked out otherwise.

I don't think Tarantino actually takes any creative credit for the "Quentin Tarantino presents" films, it seems to me like he's just helping out lesser-known directors. I'm sure plenty of stupid people do go into those films thinking it's written and directed by him, but that's their problem.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

As far as overrated goes: I would say just about any horror movie is overrated. Then again, suspense/thrillers/horror movies never did much of anything for me to begin with. With the exception of Killer Clowns from Outer Space, not because it's actually scary, but because it's a really great comedy. Or, at least I laughed my ass off through the entire thing.

But, seriously, horror movies have never held much entertainment value for me and I can't see why anyone would really like them so much. They aren't scary, and the only ones I've ever liked are only because they're exceptionally gory or there's sort of a cool premise/character. The most recent gore-fest I enjoyed, despite the shallow plot was High Tension, but that may be just because I would have the most awesome, earth-shattering sex with the girl who plays the main character.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I wouldn't consider horror movies overrated due to the fact it doesn't have a large fanbase compared to other genres, a strong fanbase yes but not a BIG one. A lot of people also rip on 80s horror movies "which are the best IMO".

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by kinkymagic

Tarintino is unbelievanly over-rated. Pretty much every character in all of his films are the same. Tarintino movies are movies for the 15 year olds. LoTR was overrated too, I got the feeling that Peter Jackson was laughing at me while I was watching. Bruce Lee films are overrated as well, give me Chan or Stephen Chow over Lee any day.

Shanghai Noon and Shaolin Soccer over Enter the Dragon? Really?

I saw I ♥ Huckabees the other night based on a reccomendation. It was the first movie in a long time that I actually fell asleep in. It seems they were far too occupied including as much existential yammering and imagery to remember to include a plot. It's as if halfway through they just decided to stop actually trying to make a movie, and just "let some stuff happen". The whole thing just screamed pretentious to me.

I mean admittedly, it was 1 AM and I was drunk so there is a good chance that I just didn't "get" it. I might one day rewatch it, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

I was speaking idiomatically.