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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Over-rated movies

  
  

Page: (1)23

 
 
alas
13:14 / 08.01.02
American Beauty.

So shoot me. I don't know anything 'bout it's shooting history, but I'd bet that somebody had that beautiful clip of the plastic bag dancing on air and decided they needed to make a full length movie full of simplistic characters around it to get it on the big screan. I didn't hate the movie but I do find the ending ANNOYING AS HELL.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
13:34 / 08.01.02
Star Wars: Episode I. Just because. Ripping off Ben Hur and creating the most obnoxious sidekick in the universe does not a good film make. And yet it's supposedly brilliant. For god's sake...

I also despised Dead Man Walking. Hammy acting ahoy! I thought the last scenes were pure black comedy; though it seems its a film that one can't exhibit an opinion about because people (well, the people who I told that it sucked, at the time) tend to confuse criticism of a film's technical/creative process with a criticism of the topic of the film. So hence, finding Susan Sarandon a bad performer (in this case) was equivalent to saying "Let's make the whole world like Texas!". Which fucked me off. Not a bad soundtrack, though.

And Zabriskie Point. Landmark film? No. Seemingly-endless hippie wank tedium? Yes.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
13:37 / 08.01.02
quote:Originally posted by The Return Of Rothkoid:
Star Wars: Episode I... it's supposedly brilliant.


Eh? Who sez?
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
13:56 / 08.01.02
Print reviewers, apparently. That and people voting with their arses by seeing it continually. It can hardly be underrated, can it? It got a lot of positive coverage in the press as being pretty whack-o when it came out - not that I believed that - much as LOTR is getting now.

Then again, maybe I should extend that to include "the whole Star Wars cycle. Are they tolerable films? Yes. Are they overrated? You betcha.

[ 08-01-2002: Message edited by: The Return Of Rothkoid ]
 
 
Cherry Bomb
14:16 / 08.01.02
The English Patient. I completely agree with Elaine on "Seinfeld." I don't like the love story, I don't like the main characters, I hate Juliette Binoche, and I am sick to fucking death of WWII being used as a backdrop that means "great dramatic story," 'cuz it doesn't. I thought Ralph Fiennes' character was a prick, and I didn't like Kristen Scott Thomas too much, either. (Did like the husband.)

I did, however, love William Dafoe's character and performance, but then I love him and think he's a marvelous actor so I'm biased.
 
 
T*M*U*M*A
14:22 / 08.01.02
another in the Star Wars? Shmar Wars! camp here..

Episodes 1 and 4 being the worst.

2001: a space oddessy - over blown crap.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
15:01 / 08.01.02
See, I thought that some of 2001 was great, but overall I felt let down - the final sequence (or rather, the bit just before the final sequence) went on for too damn long for my liking. A trip into the beyond? No, a Pink Floyd lightshow that took up too much screentime.

I think, though, that Kubrick as a director is generally probably overrated. He was good, but he ain't the best. (Not that I could name, canonically, a director who's The Best Of All Time, Ever.)

As much as I love it, I have to say that The Shining is pretty overrated: the acting's hammy and it seems to be badly-paced - I say this even though the latter, coupled with the imagery in some scenes (BLOOD!) make it a favourite of mine. I just don't think it's as much of a huge moment in cinema as a lot of people do...

Oh, and based on a viewing the other night: Excalibur takes the cake, as far as overrated flicks go. I've always heard it discussed fairly enthusiastically, and it's only now that I've seen it all the way through. And it was terrible.

[ 08-01-2002: Message edited by: The Return Of Rothkoid ]
 
 
Cop Killer
18:18 / 08.01.02
Dancer in the Dark is one hulking piece of crap. Shoulda known, though, it was recomended to me by this guy that didn't like Warriors cuz it was "too low budget." But yeah, I don't care about the musical perforances, or Bjork's performance, none of it disguises that this movie is complete and utter shit.
 
 
Robot Man Reformed
18:39 / 08.01.02
quote:Originally posted by Cop Killer:
Dancer in the Dark is one hulking piece of crap.

No, it's not.
 
 
The Strobe
18:47 / 08.01.02
Grr. Excalibur is superb, imvho. I loved it - great photography, not-great-acting, but what concept, and pretty good compared to the Malory. Each to his own.

My overrated movie hell, though, is The Shawshank Redemption, which gets a solid 7 to eight out of ten, but is NOT THE BEST FUCKING FILM MADE BY A LONG WAY. God, it's so cheesy. I wish people would stop mistaking sentimentality for serious emotion.

And after last night, I might also add Fellowship of the Ring. Which was very very good, 8.5 out of 10, I guess, but NOT worthy of the unending, undying praise the (sorry) fanboys are giving it. My problem? The plot didn't grab me. I mean, the big-plot does, but FOTR just didn't quite do it. That said, I feel that the next two films could be better, just because the groundwork's there, the great acting and effects are there... and (having not read the books), I feel there's going to be some great stuff to come (plotwise, not cgiwise).

<braces for impact>...
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
09:44 / 09.01.02
quote:Originally posted by Paleface:
and pretty good compared to the Malory.Wash. Your. Fucking. Mouth. Out. I'll bet Malory doesn't stipulate that Merlin's to wear a tinfoil hat, or that Liam Neeson is to be the most ineffectual actor anywhere. Nor does Malory come with inappropriately-nicked blasts of ill-mixed classical music JUST TO INDICATE THAT THERE'S SOME ACTION HAPPENING UP HERE, OK?

I still want to kill Boorman on the strength of this film.
 
 
rizla mission
10:49 / 09.01.02
quote:Originally posted by Paleface:

My overrated movie hell, though, is The Shawshank Redemption, which gets a solid 7 to eight out of ten, but is NOT THE BEST FUCKING FILM MADE BY A LONG WAY. God, it's so cheesy. I wish people would stop mistaking sentimentality for serious emotion.


Yeah!
I'll go you one further and say that Shawshank Redemption is A COMPLETE PILE OF BANAL, CLICHED, OVER-SENTIMENTAL, COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE SUB-TV MOVIE BULLSHIT!

I hate that film, I really do..
 
 
Bear
10:59 / 09.01.02
yeah I think I'll have to go for LOTR aswell, its ok but not worth all the oscars they're going to throw at it.....

Gotta disagree about The Shinning though, I think Jacks great in it, but to each their own and all that
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
11:32 / 09.01.02
quote:Originally posted by cHrOMeO:


No, it's not.

Yes, it is.

Have to agree about American Beauty as well - not a bad film especially, the sub-plot about Thora and Wes is okay, but in no way deserving any of the onanistic acclaim, particularly from the British press - "It takes an English theatre director to make a film that cuts to the heart of American suburbia!" - NO IT DOESN'T YOU COCKS. Plus you don't have to be a raving loony feminazi to detect a misogynistic streak a mile wide in that movie (married woman has affair = bad! married man wants to fuck young girls = good! hot young girl wants to fuck married man = plausible and good! but married man doesn't fuck her = well done!). Oh, and it falls back on some truly lame (and puerile) visual comedy as a plot device, followed by some really dubious and cliched homophobe=repressed homosexual=murderer! schtick, followed by one of the most saccharine, moronic endings in modern cinema.

Plus I heard that the plastic bag bit was nicked off someone else.

Actually, did I say it wasn't a bad film? I lied.

As for The English Patient - when it came out, I'd just read the book and was a bit obsessed with it, so saw it a few times... But with each time realised quite how much Anthony Mingella (spelling? fuck cares) had butchered the most interesting aspects of the novel: so <snip>, there goes Kip as an interesting 3-dimensional character, to be replaced by a forelock-tugging extra from It Ain't Half Hot Mum; <snip> there goes Caravaggio and the Juliette Binoche character's history; <snip>there goes the extent of Almasy's involvement with the Nazis, and the length of time it takes him to get back to the cave (so that the film's chronology doesn't work at all), and the implied necrophilia thereafter; <snip> there goes the stuff about Hiroshima and Kip's reaction to it that forms part of the climax of the book (and is key, I think, to what it's saying about WWII - you get quite a different, much more typical, message from the film).

The film has a couple of good bits - "Just! Give! Me! The FUCKING! Jeep!" - but generally... read the book, kids and especially Cherry. I don't mind film adaptations chopping lots out, as long as the end result is any good (cheers Peter Jackson, again!).

Mendes, Mingella: you Islington fucksters, come round my hood and get pelted with bricks! Grrr.

[ 09-01-2002: Message edited by: Flyboy ]
 
 
sleazenation
12:09 / 09.01.02
fly - agree with you on the english patient-- the adam and joe toy version was more faithful to the themes of the book.

By American beautyascribing moral virtues to the various acts of infidelity-- come on... bloke who doesn't shag young girl is gets shot while woman who has an affair lives-- and personally i think the murder would have been less likely to shoot the bloke if he was having sex with the girl... but thats just my opinion
 
 
that
12:16 / 09.01.02
quote:Originally posted by The Return Of Rothkoid:

Oh, and based on a viewing the other night: Excalibur takes the cake, as far as overrated flicks go. I've always heard it discussed fairly enthusiastically, and it's only now that I've seen it all the way through. And it was terrible.



Was that film for real? I am fairly sure I saw some of it (literally a few minutes), with a vaguely drunken Merlin falling down in streams and suchlike. But I couldn't work out whether or not it was a piss take...and thusly could not stand to watch any more of it. Even as a piss-take, what I saw of it would've been pretty bad...
 
 
Cherry Bomb
12:21 / 09.01.02
Hi, can I put my ignoramus hat on for a moment? There's a BOOK? Did I know this? Hmmm.

Ignoramus hat now off (or not!)

There was a nice little essay in Bitch Magzine online last year about how "American Beauty" was actually a pretty anti-woman film.

quote:Now that American Beauty has actually won the Best Picture Oscar, it's a good time to take another look at it and ask why the Academy voters chose to honor a film that has none of the moral uplift (Schindler's List) or special effects (Titanic­unless the award was for the film's wooden acting and sheer length) of past winners, a film about a suburban loser named Lester who masturbates in the shower and lusts after a teenaged girl; a film that's almost, well, an art film.

***

Lester's wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) is described by both the New York Times' Janet Maslin and Time magazine's Richard Schickel as "frigid." Maybe these two slept through the scene where she bonks Peter Gallagher in a motel room, shouting with pleasure; maybe they thought she was faking it. Or maybe these reviewers feel that when a woman doesn't want to sleep with her husband, it's not a problem with the marriage—it's a problem with her.

***

Much more at the Bitch website. Go there, look in the archives for Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder.
 
 
sleazenation
12:45 / 09.01.02
Cherry not only is the english patient a book by Michael Ondaatje, it also won the Booker prize and was a set text for my degree -

In the book the war is far more than a backdrop its is also integral to the whole notion of post colonial writing. The obsession with of mapping/naming the desert and indoing so owning it (and of course whoever owns the desert owns north africa...). Almasy's unease at this is perhaps also informed by his love for the katherine (who has been named and thus is owned by her husband) ... i could go on...
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
12:47 / 09.01.02
quote:Originally posted by Bear:
Gotta disagree about The Shinning though, I think Jacks great in it, but to each their own and all that He's great, but he's also merely Jack being Jack. And not as well as in Chinatown. Shelley Duvall is particularly awful in the thing, and I think, honestly, that the blame for the shortcomings of the film are entirely Kubrick's - they seem to be ropey directorial choices rather than acting ones.

Cholister: I didn't know how much of Excalibur to put down to the whisky, and how much to put down to bad filmmaking. "Who does the grail serve? Fuck knows - I'm just a knight in my undies." And Merlin's hat, once more.

Fly: I felt that The English Patient got bogged down in the whole "you know, I really want to be David Lean" feel of the film. There's some nice shots in it - I'm quite fond of the shot where the sapper pulls Juliette Binoche up to see the roof of the church, with only a lit flare for light - but they seem to detract from the idea of story. It's very pretty, very long, and sounds like there should be romantic strings behind it at all times. As far as the story goes, I second (third? fourth?) the suggestion that you read the book - it's a quick read, and is much more affecting than the flick.

It's a shame, because I think that Minghella can do good work. The Talented Mr Ripley was, I thought, a rather good film - a bit set up in places, but suitably dark, lush, and fairly reverent towards the Highsmith novel. I found it to be a lot more personable than The English Patient, on the whole.

Dumb trivia: Minghella was a writer on Grange Hill. Sausage!
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
12:47 / 09.01.02
Kubrick is vastly overrated, why do people go on about the tracking shot at the start of 2001 as the bone turns into the spaceship when he doesn't even bother to get his cameraman to keep it in shot as it spirals upwards?

Almost all of his films take scenes far beyond any sense of what is necessary. Take The Shining, those long endless tracking shots along corridors, I can understand holding it a while longer to increase tension but Kubrick takes it way past that to the point where you've lost interest in that.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
12:52 / 09.01.02
quote:Originally posted by Lozt Cause:
Take The Shining, those long endless tracking shots along corridors, I can understand holding it a while longer to increase tension but Kubrick takes it way past that to the point where you've lost interest in that.Something that I think, personally, is done a bit more successfully by Lynch; particularly in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive...
 
 
Bear
12:57 / 09.01.02
The tracking shots in the corridors (or so I've read so don't shoot me) - are there to make you feel like your in the hotel, you know the layout of the hotel - but I'm not going to back down on Jack - "Jack being Jack" exactly but I'm sure most people think of his madness in the Shinning when they think of him, well I do -

2001 is good but not great - HAL is perfect - docking scence is excellent...

But I'm only spewing this all out because my flatmate is the biggest Kubrick fan out there and he's warped my mind, I didn't Kubrick until I lived with him

anyway I'll stop - this is about overated movies - I agree with American Beauty but I've only seen it once and it was very late but it reminded me of a TV movie, you know like nate BBC 1 - father falls for the baby sitter - but maybe thats a little too cruel
 
 
Warrington Minge
19:36 / 10.01.02
Can I add Captain Correllis Mandolin to this. I only went cause I was going with a girl I liked. Man it sucked!! How can Nicholas Cage, someone who I believe is part italian, pull off such an awful italian accent. No characterisation. i didnt care about any of them. Nothing good to say about this at all.

...oh ... and all the luvvies luv it apperently!!

  
 
troy
23:20 / 10.01.02
Two words. Indiana Jones. I just wasn't entertained (yes, I'm talking about all of them, even Raiders). Give me Romancing the Stone any day.

And I actually liked American Beauty. Don't have time to vigorously defend it at the moment, though.
 
 
Knight's Move
10:04 / 11.01.02
I can't believe you don't like Indy Troy?
And as a Malory and general Arthurian student I'd have to agree with the Excalibur bashing. I watches it opn acid once and thought it was dubbed. It just looked like an episode of Monkey, but there you go.

The real prize though has to go to the Gumpster. It is not a heart warming tale. It is a vicious piece of festering right wing propoganda. He is not a lovable momma's boy, he is a Southern redneck braindead fuckwit.
He supposedly invents one of the great counter-culture icons of our time by doing a Shroud of Veronica on it. Oh so Gump is Christ come to save us. Cheers for that. Then he invents one of the great slogans of all time. Shit happens. Both of these note invented for money making purposes. He ignores or avoids all of the most classic moments of the counter culture, of American history, and everything else that happens and becomes a happy millionaire (not that he does anything worthwhile with then money or anything he just goes back to his home town and mows lawns). His girlfriend becomes a hippy and gets AIDS and dies. Warning don't become concerned. He survives Vietnam by accident and then goes to his black friends house and somehow convinces them he's nopt white trash and makes them rich. Isn't he benevolent. The film says stay at home, love your momma, don't get involved, you'll become rich and happy. The American Dream oin action. Anyone no matter how moronic can become rich without having to have any talent or do any work. I hate this film.
But the big one. The darkest moment of them all (except for him mooning Nixon that's good) is when he becomes involved in the throwing of the Vietnam medals back over the White House fence. The greatest anti-war demonstrtaion in American history Hunter S Thompson called it and here's Gump accidentally doing it because all the rest were doing it. SO innocent boys were talked into throwing their medals over the fence by evil hippies who hopefully will all die of AIDS later if the film makers are to be believed. This devalues the single greatest, most poignant statement ever made by people. The only thing worse woiuld have been if Gump and Captain Dan joined the Silent March on the Fontainbleau Hotel (see Born on the Fourth of July).

THIS FILM IS EVIL.

Ahem, sorry. But it is evil and it did win a lot of awards and people think it's twee and nice and it really isn't.
 
 
The Strobe
11:34 / 11.01.02
What?

Indy is FAR better than Romancing the Fucking Stone.

Reasons: Michael Douglas's hair. Dodgier plot. Danny DeVito. Kathleen Turner being really bad. And it's FAR too eighties.

Indy ROCKS. It's so tightly plotted, full of action, has a wonderful black/white morality to it, and best of all, none of the cast notice that it's total bunkum.

Temple of Doom is a bit crap, but surprisingly, the later Last Crusade is pretty fine. Nothing beats Raiders, though.
 
 
The Return Of Rothkoid
12:11 / 11.01.02
Rule of thumb for Indy movies: Nazis in sight? This flick's all-right!

I think the reason that they top the whole Douglas franchise is that they're aping adventure flicks of the '30s, and fairly well, at that. Homage. Whereas the only thing that the Douglas flicks are paying homage to is a) Billy Ocean theme-tunes and b) his hair.
 
 
Cherry Bomb
16:52 / 11.01.02
quote:Originally posted by Knight's Move:
(snipping absolutely gorgeous anti-Forest Gump rant)

THIS FILM IS EVIL.

Ahem, sorry. But it is evil and it did win a lot of awards and people think it's twee and nice and it really isn't.

That was beautiful. I don't have quite the depths of hatred for Gump as you do, but I have always highly resented the characterization of Jenny as some damaged fuckwit who needs somebody apparently even dumber than she is to put her back together after she dares to leave home, party up and have sex, and thus is appropriately punished by nearly killing herself while gopped up on goop, actually killing herself through contracting AIDS, and being sentenced to spend the last of her days on earth with Forest - even AFTER she's properly atoned for her sins by ending her uppity ways, taking a waitress gig and playing The Good Mother.


GGRRRRRRRAWR.

In other news, I'm off to Myopic books tommorrow to see if I can pick up a used copy of "The English Patient" and see what all the fuss is about.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
17:41 / 11.01.02
Must chime in here. I too, saw that some of that strange Excalibur flick. Christ on a cross. Blimey. Crikey. I reread reviews of it, and checked the tv listings as I thought I was watching the wrong film. It was fucking awful. I tried to see some redeeming qualities in it. But, I really don't think there were any. It was complete pap. And if no-one saw it - think of the style of shooting in Blair Witch, with crap costumes. It looked like a (bad) school play shot on location with adults. *shudders*

And the English Patient. Well, I've never read the book, but have been meaning to. But goddamn, that film was terrible. Some nice shots and all, and DaFoe is always good. But... I just didn't care about any of it. Ralph Fiennes just deserved a slap all the way through... and... and... ergh. I just couldn't understand why so many people raved about this. I think it was a complete uncaring of characters which I think (?) we were supposed to be bothered about... Oh, I can't be bothered to express myself properly. I just thought it was a big steaming poo. And it made me want to spit in Ralph's eye and call him silly (why did she even like him? Nyargh.) etc.

I kind of liked American Beauty. It was a bit silly, but fun. Maybe trying to be a bit too much. Never deserved all that praise though, that struck me as terribly queer.
 
 
autopilot disengaged
17:57 / 11.01.02
hmm.

i have to say, i love zabraskie point - though i concede there's some completely self-indulgent sections in there (and looong, too) - but, c'mon - the end sequence? i loooove that. i loooooooove it.

and 2001 cannot be overrated. i know i'm parroting received cineaste wisdom here, but it is one of the most mind-expanding films i've ever ever ever seen and i - am the man - who will fight for its honour...

most films are overrated. it's the nature of the modern media. all hype, no magic.
 
 
troy
17:05 / 12.01.02
Well, I'm not surprised that Indy has plenty of supporters. I guess the bottom line is that I don't enjoy the films Indy's aping, so
I don't enjoy Indy. I just find it boring, that's all.

As for Romancing the Stone, I don't mind Michael's hair one bit. Plus:

1) I thought it was funnier than Indy (and more fun, to boot).

2) The characters evolved more than they did in Indy (and yes, I know that Indy and company are supposed to be more timeless and unchanging, but that just didn't grab me).

And as for it being too 80's...weeell, maybe. But it was GOOD eighties (and yes, there is such a thing). I do agree with the Billy Ocean comment, though. Blech! And I concede that Jewel of the Nile shouldn't have been made, but I still thought its heart was in the right place (though the execution faltered).

And, by the by, I didn't think Star Wars was so shit-hot, either (though I don't have any other space opera film that I can worship in its place). The bad dialogue distracted from the cool special effects.

Inevitably, this will beg the question: What the hell does this guy like (besides Romancing the Stone)?

So, just to prove I do like *some* movies, here are a few that floated my boat:

Twelve Monkeys
Fight Club
Jacob's Ladder
Memento
Pulp Fiction
 
 
troy
17:57 / 12.01.02
Oh, and couple more things about Romancing the Stone.

I know Devito was just continuing his Taxi shtick at that point, but I really thought it worked for this movie. And, as far as I'm concerned, it was one of Kathleen Turner's best roles ever.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Romancing the Stone is a great movie, but it's definitely a good one. A very watchable one. And, for me anyway, far more pleasurable than Indy. Guess I'm a lone voice in the wilderness on this one. Oh well, I'm used to that by now. I rarely enjoy the BIG movies as much as the masses (with the exception of Sixth Sense).
 
 
alas
18:41 / 12.01.02
thanks, cherry, for the the bitch mag american beauty bashing site--and I agree with you and Knight's Move on Gump--absolutely all the right reasons to hate that flick.

The main nail for me in the American Beauty coffin was the fact that the 14-yr-old "slut"s confession of virginity is what stopped him from fucking her. Oh, yeah, if she'd really been having sex with other men, clearly it would have been no problem for her to be fucked by this asshole. After all, once a woman consents to sex with any man outside marriage, she's pretty much announced herself as available to all men.

AND, as to his death in the end--I like what the Bitch article said. They argue it's more of a "transfiguration" than a real death: he gets to be an artist floating in the sky, freed from mortal concerns, and--heroically--bringing us all to a better understanding of Art and Life.

ARRRGGHH!

Romancing the Stone was sort of the cinematic equivalent of Juicyfruit Gum, as I recall it lo these many years ago--sweet for about 2 minutes, then the flavor's gone and you spit it out of your brain. It does not hold any kind of candle to Raiders. No no.

alas.
 
 
Matthew Fluxington
18:50 / 12.01.02
I don't know, when I watch American Beauty thinking of it as a dark comedy with some arty pretensions, I think it stands up really well on those merits. However, if you're watching the movie and expecting a brilliant work of art with a big message, then it crumbles.
 
 
Knight's Move
23:05 / 13.01.02
Romancing...is for the stoners amongst us. Douglas chucks a pile of dope on the fire and breathes in and takes a big lungful. Heroes who smoke pot. (Turner says she's been to college...). Drug dealer who saves them from government. Got to love a film that allows the dealer to be a hero?
 
  

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