None of these films are bad by any means, but I thought all of them were overhyped and rather more shallow than most people seem to think they are. What is your list?
Slumdog Millionaire - Make your characters archetypal, viewers will know what emotions to apply to them; keep the story familiar, perhaps a fallen angle that, against all odds, finds redemption. No matter if the dialog is crap, we know what the archetypes meant to say. It's comfort food, a reaffirmation of cultural myths.
Death in Venice - none of the beauty and depth of the book, and almost no development in the relationship between the boy and the professor is made - the idea to have the film largely devoid of dialogue could have worked, but the acting and directing just isn't good enough to pull it off - there's not enough subtlety. The substitution of Mahler for the author is pointless and adds nothing to the story (why are the flashbacks in here?) It's bloated and dull.
Broke Back Mountain - unconvincing acting, not least the relationship between the two leads. Also somehow the musical score won the oscar!! (Over John Williams' Memoirs of a Geisha which is certainly one of his best. Which leads me onto...)
Memoirs of a Geisha. Dull.
Schindler's list - traumatic but too Hollywoodish (see: the ending) to be really truly powerful.
The Dark Knight - a fun action movie, but there's nothing particularly controversial about making the bad guys more than card board cutouts.
Cinema Paradiso - Sentimental. In every way ersatz.
Crash - story doesn't quite come off as a whole and the message is rather hamfisted and unsubtle (Racism is bad. Erm... yeah we know). Race is the only thing that seems to motivate and matter to people in this movie which just makes it rather one dimensional and uninvolving. Just not as good as everyone thought.
House of Flying Daggers. Overlong, not as as beautiful as Crouching Tiger or Hero. Acting not great.
And I can already feel it coming, but I strongly disagree with anyone who says American beauty!!!
In brief: partial and qualified agreement; partial dissent; and some of them, I just haven't seen.
Pulp Fiction - trashy, dull, not so witty as one might thinks
Сталкер [Stalker] - boring & pretentious like most of Tarkovsky's work
Citizen Kane - all characters in this movie should be lying. instead everyone tells the truth. why is that?
Mulholland Dr. - few nice Fellini like scenes can't challenge the sea of bullshit
Saving Private Ryan, starts out as a very touching film, but the latter part, when the handful of US soldiers defeat a Nazi Panzer division with a hand grenade and an oily rag, reverts to stereotypical Hollywood nonsense.
Casablanca.
Everyone agrees on what overrated means? . . .
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on January 13, 2010, 06:48:19 AM
Everyone agrees on what overrated means? . . .
General consensus holds that it is better than I find it?
There are quite a few, but some that stick out:
Gone With The Wind - Long, bloated, and soporific.
Lawrence of Arabia - Great in parts, bland in others. Still a great film, just not that great.
Titanic - Truly awful.
Crash (the oscar winner, not the Cronenberg film) - Um, why the fuss?
The Hangover - About 15 funny minutes. Maybe. (Okay, not a great film, but shouldn't comedies be funny?)
American Beauty - Slick crap.
A Beautiful Mind - Zzzzzz.
Memento - Lots of praise for a not particularly compelling thriller, or whatever genre it is.
Quote from: Todd on January 13, 2010, 07:09:51 AMGone With The Wind - Long, bloated, and soporific.
Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. Quote from: Todd
American Beauty - Slick crap.
I always 'preferred'
Happiness. :)
Slumdog is an interesting case: it is very much an American/Western movie, not an Indian movie, and its story is quintessentially American, but somehow it gets away with it. Remember, Star Wars is a claptrap assembly of cliches too!
Here is my list:
- Star Wars. I like Slumdog. I don't like George Lucas' dialogue, or Mark Hamill's resolutely charisma-less hero (who, in that respect, is a lot like the film Harry Potter, actually), or the first two prequels, or the underwhelming "climax" of Episode 4. Great soundtrack, of course.
- Lost in Translation. It's like celluloid melatonin. Truly a yawn.
- V for Vendetta. Not that most people rate it that highly, but this is a vote against the people who have deluded themselves into thinking the movie has philosophical depth or a deeper meaning. It doesn't.
- The Matrix. Ditto.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship. This movie made me laugh. All the way through. I just could not stop laughing at how bad it was, how cheesy, how stupid. The group I was watching it with ended up hating me because of all the laughing. Oh, and I loved the books, by the way.
- Annie Hall. Loved the movie, thought it was very warm and very funny, so don't think I'm bashing it. But this was the last comedy to win Best Picture, and (at the time) the first in 17 years (The Apartment, 1960). Is Annie Hall really the best comedy in the last 50 years? Does anybody really believe that?
- West Side Story. The original musical is (in my opinion)
the Great American Work of Art. Too bad the film didn't serve it well. Somebody needs to remake the movie with two compelling lead actors and a cast of Puerto Ricans (and Poles, maybe) with natural accents.
- Moulin Rouge!. You can tell a romance is bad when you don't care whether the lovers get together or not, for even a single second, through the entire movie. I loved Jim Broadbent's work as the impresario, but then, Jim Broadbent is consistently great no matter the quality of the movie he's in.
- Mulholland Drive. Can think of no better description than zorzynek's:
Quote from: zorzynek on January 13, 2010, 06:12:50 AM
sea of bullshit
Loved Slumdog Millionaire, Memoirs of a Geisha, some of the scenes in House of Flying Daggers (film is a visual medium), Pulp Fiction & Citizen Kane (both examples of great inventive film-making), Casablanca (greatest movie ever made!), Lawrence of Arabia, Star Wars (genre buster—you had to see it on release and be old enough to have seen the movie serials that inspired it), The Fellowship of the Ring (the others, especially the last, failed to deliver on this one's promise), Annie Hall (great in its time but it hasn't held up well—still, the scenes with Christopher Walken are priceless!), West Side Story (the music, the color, the choreography).
Liked Death in Venice, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, The Matrix, Moulin Rouge (the color, the flash, the chutzpah!).
And I despised American Beauty for its vicious, self-righteous bigotry. Since it got "Best Picture" it might be a contender for most overrated film of the past 20 years, even worse than Titanic...but hasn't it been forgotten already? Lost in Translation is a strong contender, too—all that acclaim for such sophomoric dreck?
My contenders, though, for most overrated are the fictions by Michael Moore that have won Oscars as documentaries. WTF? Not only are they not documentaries, but they're so horribly, tediously clumsy and disrespectful of the audience's intelligence that they're unwatchably BAD!
Three overrated movies that immediately come to mind:
Doubt
Star Wars
Last Tango in Paris (worst movie I recall ever watching)
Quote- Lost in Translation. It's like celluloid melatonin. Truly a yawn.
I agree here. It was probably just slightly more interesting than watching cement dry. Then again... maybe not.
I absolutely adore American Beauty. It also has maybe the best film soundtrack of the last 20 or so years. Why's it bigoted?
Lost in Translation is getting a bad wrap - really liked that one - similar in a sense to Death in Venice in its slowness and minimal dialogue, but this one has the subtlety and style to pull it off. I understand why people don't like it, but I think its very touching and hugely evocative.
Quote from: Guido on January 13, 2010, 12:06:12 PM
I absolutely adore American Beauty. It also has maybe the best film soundtrack of the last 20 or so years. Why's it bigoted?
Lost in Translation is getting a bad wrap - really liked that one - similar in a sense to Death in Venice in its slowness and minimal dialogue, but this one has the subtlety and style to pull it off. I understand why people don't like it, but I think its very touching and hugely evocative.
American Beauty was very effective propaganda for the standard Hollywood view that suburbanites "got no reason to live". It was well made and acted but left a nasty aftertaste. Curiously, the director made at least partial amends by making
Revolutionary Road, which by Hollywood standards is a quite mature look at the phenomenon of the quasi-bohemians who live in the suburbs, despise their neighbors while dreaming of moving to Paris and doing something
really important like writing a novel. But then the story goes a little....wrong when you learn these people are just phonies with attitude, and then things go really wrong because they realize it, too, and one of them actually grows up. Coming from the film industry this is almost heretical, and certainly not what you'd expect from Sam Mendes.
Lost in Translation depends on the 2 main characters played by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson. There you have the strength and weakness of the film. Scarlett can't carry a film, she's not very interesting. Murray did all the work and then some but that actress is a black hole sucking all the meaning and interest right down the drain.
Quote from: Brian on January 13, 2010, 07:36:06 AM
- Annie Hall. Loved the movie, thought it was very warm and very funny, so don't think I'm bashing it. But this was the last comedy to win Best Picture, and (at the time) the first in 17 years (The Apartment, 1960). Is Annie Hall really the best comedy in the last 50 years? Does anybody really believe that?
I love Annie Hall, too. Wouldn't know about "best comedy in 50 years" but don't really care. It's screaming funny. I mean, who has a house under a roller coaster? ;D
Quote- Mulholland Drive. Can think of no better description than zorzynek's:
I'll add my voice to this one. Total garbage and worse: a waste of my time.
Quote from: DavidRoss on January 13, 2010, 11:04:09 AM
... Annie Hall (great in its time but it hasn't held up well—still, the scenes with Christopher Walken are priceless!)...
Those Walken scenes are indeed priceless...might be some of the finest comedy ever put on film.
Quote from: Dancing Divertimentian on January 13, 2010, 08:29:02 PM
I love Annie Hall, too. Wouldn't know about "best comedy in 50 years" but don't really care. It's screaming funny. I mean, who has a house under a roller coaster? ;D
I love the one-liners. What is it he says - something like, "Sorry I couldn't come; my weasel had hepatitis"?
Add Superbad to the list, which I just finished watching. Complete trash.
Quote from: Brian on January 14, 2010, 12:29:46 PM
I love the one-liners. What is it he says - something like, "Sorry I couldn't come; my weasel had hepatitis"?
Shoot...I forget where that line comes from...oh well, I'm sure the context is funny! ;D
Quote from: zorzynek on January 13, 2010, 06:12:50 AM
Сталкер [Stalker] - boring & pretentious like most of Tarkovsky's work
;)
Quote from: Bulldog on January 13, 2010, 11:54:35 AMLast Tango in Paris (worst movie I recall ever watching)
:'( :'( :'(
Quote from: Greg on January 14, 2010, 07:23:49 PM
Add Superbad to the list, which I just finished watching. Complete trash.
To be overrated a film has to be highly rated to begin with.
Quote from: Bulldog on January 13, 2010, 11:54:35 AMLast Tango in Paris (worst movie I recall ever watching)
You mean you weren't moved by that touching line, "where's the butter?" :-[
The usual suspects - lost interest after five minutes
Raiders of the lost arc - and all the sequels -mindless action films with little to recommend
Star Wars - took my kids to see this and i hated it and they loved it :o
Quote from: Scarpia on January 15, 2010, 07:28:23 AM
You mean you weren't moved by that touching line, "where's the butter?" :-[
No, didn't do anything for me. I prefer a product named Premium Intimacy Glide; it's as good as it sounds.
Quote from: Bulldog on January 15, 2010, 08:36:30 AM
No, didn't do anything for me. I prefer a product named Premium Intimacy Glide; it's as good as it sounds.
:o TMI! ;D
Films are overrated. I prefer books. ;D
Quote from: mn dave on January 15, 2010, 08:54:03 AM
Films are overrated. I prefer books. ;D
Me too, as long as there's some handy lubrication to change the pages.
Quote from: Bulldog on January 15, 2010, 09:02:12 AM
Me too, as long as there's some handy lubrication to change the pages.
What can we expect from someone who would listen to Bach organ music on a pedal harpsichord? :D
Quote from: offbeat on January 15, 2010, 08:21:03 AM
The usual suspects - lost interest after five minutes
Raiders of the lost arc - and all the sequels -mindless action films with little to recommend
Star Wars - took my kids to see this and i hated it and they loved it :o
You just don't know what Lucas' and Spielberg's movies are about. They are brilliant entertainment, popcorn movies if you will.
Quote from: 71 dB on January 15, 2010, 11:37:59 AM
You just don't know what Lucas' and Spielberg's movies are about. They are brilliant entertainment, popcorn movies if you will.
In some ways yeah, but they don't (or didn't) know when to stop. The first Star Wars was great, likewise with the first Indiana Jones. They should have stopped at a far earlier stage though; just like The Rolling Stones.
Quote from: erato on January 15, 2010, 11:41:36 AM
In some ways yeah, but they don't (or didn't) know when to stop. The first Star Wars was great, likewise with the first Indiana Jones. They should have stopped at a far earlier stage though; just like The Rolling Stones.
Why stop when you have something great going on?
The Empire Strikes Back is generally considered
better than
A New Hope.
Quote from: 71 dB on January 15, 2010, 11:57:16 AM
Why stop when you have something great going on? The Empire Strikes Back is generally considered better than A New Hope.
Yes, I agree with that. That's the best movie. I could do without the rest of them.
Quote from: Beethovenian on January 15, 2010, 12:01:05 PM
Yes, I agree with that. That's the best movie. I could do without the rest of them.
I couldn't...Star Wars is my life.
Quote from: 71 dB on January 15, 2010, 01:12:30 PM
I couldn't...Star Wars is my life.
I hope you're just kidding.
Quote from: 71 dB on January 15, 2010, 01:12:30 PM
I couldn't...Star Wars is my life.
Do you read the fiction?
Quote from: Bulldog on January 15, 2010, 01:30:03 PM
I hope you're just kidding.
Why? Movies are supposed to be memorable experiences that enrich our lifes. Ever heard of the phrase "larger than life film"?
Quote from: Beethovenian on January 15, 2010, 01:31:50 PM
Do you read the fiction?
I read many science fiction books as a teenager if that's what you mean.
Quote from: 71 dB on January 15, 2010, 01:51:19 PM
I read many science fiction books as a teenager if that's what you mean.
No, I meant the franchise tie-in novels. It seems there's a new one out each month. ;D
Quote from: 71 dB on January 15, 2010, 01:51:19 PM
Why? Movies are supposed to be memorable experiences that enrich our lifes. Ever heard of the phrase "larger than life film"?
Sure, but it's still just movie fiction. Going a step further, I can't imagine Star Wars enriching anyone's life, never mind feeling that "Star Wars is my life". Isn't your family more important to you than a movie series?
Quote from: Bulldog on January 15, 2010, 02:27:03 PM
Sure, but it's still just movie fiction. Going a step further, I can't imagine Star Wars enriching anyone's life, never mind feeling that "Star Wars is my life". Isn't your family more important to you than a movie series?
Yes. Seriously; can any entertainment be more important than life? In case it is you have some serious issues going on in your existence.
Quote from: Beethovenian on January 15, 2010, 02:00:59 PM
No, I meant the franchise tie-in novels. It seems there's a new one out each month. ;D
Oh, I see. I have read only one (splinter of the Mind's Eye). I am not into all the "expanded universe stuff" either. The movies are what I like.
Quote from: Bulldog on January 15, 2010, 02:27:03 PM
Sure, but it's still just movie fiction. Going a step further, I can't imagine Star Wars enriching anyone's life, never mind feeling that "Star Wars is my life". Isn't your family more important to you than a movie series?
You take things too seriously. Loosen up man. :D
Quote from: DavidRoss on January 13, 2010, 11:04:09 AM
My contenders, though, for most overrated are the fictions by Michael Moore that have won Oscars as documentaries.
(http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:C8rOiLnu4oqfJM%3Ahttp://www.sparkplugging.com/marketing/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/bullseye.gif)
A number have been mentioned that I also agree with, but with a sweeping gesture, and keeping
Ed Wood out of the conversation, anything that Tim Burton directed....or will direct. ;)
Technically, your actual life is more important, but there's nothing wrong with films, TV/whatever being more interesting or influential in your life. That's just how they are designed to be.
Overrated means it doesn't live up to its ratings. Many bad films are not overrated. They were never rated high anyway.
Truly overrated films are those that have high artistic or philosophical ambitions but come out corny, bloated or otherwise unable to live up to lofty promises.
The Star Wars prequels were universally disliked by fans, and critics sat on their hands too. Just plain bad cinema. The first three films had the chops. Nerve, humour, surprise and suspense. The prequels are unnerving, humourless, unsurprising and devoid of suspense. Since everyone agreed they were duds, they don't count as overrated.
I can't think of worthier contenders for the crown than Cameron's Titanic and Peter Jackson's Lord of the Ring films - the whole bloody trilogy. Titanic: primitive gooey sentimentalism slapped onto an otherwise well made catastrophe movie. It would have been infinitely better without Di Caprio and Winslet. I mean, not them personally, but their totally redundant characters. Just make a new director's cut without their characters. LOTR: Infantile cartoonishery. Grandiloquent verbal puffery. Insufferably detestable or mushy characters. Acres of night scenes. Couldn't anybody light a torch or something?
What's that movie with the bouncing camera and the witch story? All shot in the dark in shades of grey and fluo green. Horrible. Horrible.
Other goodies: Lost in Translation . Bill Murray's terminally dazed look is one for the books, really. He looks enbalmed from shot one. One of the worst pieces of acting ever. Then American Beauty. So pretentious. Yeccchhh. Give me Ferris Bueller's Day Off any day over this. Moulin Rouge and Gangs of New York are other overambitious clunkers that are heavy on razzmatazz and devoid of any significance. They founder under the weight of their sets and costumes. Oh, and is there any story?
A few european films rivalize in pretentiousness and ridicule. Coincidentally, most are italian: L'Eclisse, L'Avventura (Antonioni), La Dolce Vita, Last Tango in Paris (disgusting to top things off). All are depressing, navel-gazing stories of bored beautiful people. As artistic as they are (honest), I find them revolting all the same. Pasolini's Teorema at least had some guts to it. If you're going to picture troubled people in search of a meaning to their life, you can count on Pasolini to shock the bourgeois (instead of fondling them, Antonioni-style). Resnais' L'Année dernière à Marienbad. Oh, God! Has there ever been something as utterly uninteresting? Stylized existentialist angst of the worst kind. Welles' The Trial and Duras' Hiroshima mon amour show it could be done well (great films both).
Quote from: 71 dB on January 15, 2010, 03:04:40 PM
You take things too seriously. Loosen up man. :D
No, I just need to remember that you tend to overstate.
Boo! to those of you who have listed LOTR.
Cheers, those who included A Protracted Death in Venice.
Mike
Quote from: Barak on January 15, 2010, 08:59:24 PM
The Star Wars prequels were universally disliked by fans, and critics sat on their hands too. Just plain bad cinema. The first three films had the chops. Nerve, humour, surprise and suspense. The prequels are unnerving, humourless, unsurprising and devoid of suspense. Since everyone agreed they were duds, they don't count as overrated.
Some people love them. These movies where years ahead of their time. Surprisingly many didn't get them at all. I followed closely the making of these movies (~30 months each) online. I understood very well what Lucas was doing (taking movies to the next level). No wonder I absolutely loved the new trilogy and saw each of them half dozen times in the movie theatre (+many times on DVD later on). So, I'd say they are three most
underrated movies ever.
Quote from: Bulldog on January 15, 2010, 09:28:43 PM
No, I just need to remember that you tend to overstate.
When someone says a movie is her/his life, it means that movie means significantly more to that person than any other movie. Many other things are my life too, of course.
We have Wagner's Ring. Who needs Tolkien's bad imitation? >:D . Honest, I've come to heartily dislike those films where everything is shot in the dark. IMO it' a way to conceal electronic trickery. You don't need a metteur en scène when all he does is surrender power and artistic vision to the lighting engineer or computer imaging technician.
Speaking of Wagner's Ring, it reminds me of some anecdotes related to Karajan's 1967 Met production. The Maestro spent 95% of the repetition time on lighting repetitions. The whole concept was to have everything so dark you could barely make out who was there and what was happening.
- When Rudolph Bing came into the repetitions, he cracked that he could achieve the same result by flipping off the main switch.
- Birgit Nilsson (Brünnhilde) said that she could go out for a coffee, come back and no one would notice.
- Rysanek (Sieglinde) taunted Nilsson into playing a trick on Karajan. At the next repetition, Nilsson arrived onstage with a miner's helmet complete with searchlight and valkyrie horns on the side.
Karajan never made another Ring at the Met.
Quote from: Barak on January 16, 2010, 07:34:50 AM
We have Wagner's Ring. Who needs Tolkien's bad imitation? >:D .
Hey, Tolkein's books were (mostly) pretty good. The movies were still laughable.
And, I share your dislike of nighttime cinema. Most of my favorite movies are brightly lit, coincidentally or not.
Quote from: Brian on January 16, 2010, 01:39:48 PM
Hey, Tolkein's books were (mostly) pretty good. The movies were still laughable.
Agreed.
Not to mention Wagner's work is imitation of music to begin with ;D
Hm, I didn't think much of the second and third films in the series, but actually believe that Fellowship is a really great movie (and, IIRC, the press it got wasn't all that enthusiastic, especially compared to the other two). I pretty much loved (and still love) almost everything about it. Much closer in spirit to Tolkien than the other two - it really does read (or watch) as a parable about the ostensible weakness of good. The Christian underpinnings are there. Some of the shots are reminiscent of Christian/Medieval iconography, and I feel some of the scenes are great illustrations of Medieval imagination/literature (Tolkien's achievement primarily, but it wasn't lost in the adapting process). Oh, I could go on, but I'm sure I won't convince anyone anyway (and that's not what I'm aiming at). ;D (Of course, the film has its weaknesses; I'm not particularly fond of the acting of Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen, for example.)
Otherwise, Andre, I pretty much agree with everything you say. With the exception perhaps of Marienbad. I think it is a quite fascinating film (even if more than a little boring :P).
What does everyone think of this list?
Top 50 top-rated animated films by vote:
http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Genres/Animation/average-vote
It's actually pretty surprising to see the top ones. #1 is one I've hardly even heard of! :o No one talks about it or anything, which is weird.
#2 is Spirited Away, which I thought was great, too, although I'm a bit surprised at the ranking.
My top 5 (from what's on this list) would probably include Toy Story 1 and 2, Monsters, Inc. I do really need to see quite a few Studio Ghibli movies that are on that list.
Going back a bit, I noticed some animosity towards Mullholland Drive.
I haven't seen it, but - sheeeeeeer coincidence, no doubt - it was voted this week 'Best Movie of the Decade' by the L.A. Film Critics' Association 0:) - (retreating into safer ground...) ;)
Quote from: Barak on January 16, 2010, 06:48:38 PM
Going back a bit, I noticed some animosity towards Mullholland Drive.
I haven't seen it, but - sheeeeeeer coincidence, no doubt - it was voted this week 'Best Movie of the Decade' by the L.A. Film Critics' Association 0:) - (retreating into safer ground...) ;)
Those critic folk in and around LA might get a kick out of the film because it's home turf but as to the rest of the sober planet....
Quote from: 71 dB on January 16, 2010, 02:06:35 AM
When someone says a movie is her/his life, it means that movie means significantly more to that person than any other movie.
I never heard of that one - but whatever.
Quote from: Barak on January 16, 2010, 06:48:38 PM
Going back a bit, I noticed some animosity towards Mullholland Drive.
I haven't seen it, but - sheeeeeeer coincidence, no doubt - it was voted this week 'Best Movie of the Decade' by the L.A. Film Critics' Association 0:) - (retreating into safer ground...) ;)
I LOVE most of David Lynch' dream-nightmarish work, and Mulholland Drive certainly belong to my top 10 list of all films.
Overrated movies for me are Citizen Kane (a bit boring to be the best movie of all times, should rather be Tarkovsky), Star Wars (just not my thing at all), The Big Lebowski (must be some internal American comedy expressions I don't catch up here, maybe? - cause i generally like the Coen Brothers a lot).
I just saw THE HURT LOCKER, speaking of overrated...
Quote from: Beethovenian on January 17, 2010, 05:34:00 AM
I just saw THE HURT LOCKER, speaking of overrated...
!
I'm actually in the middle of watching it myself - care to elaborate?
Quote from: Brian on January 17, 2010, 07:53:37 AM
!
I'm actually in the middle of watching it myself - care to elaborate?
You're watching it; you can see for yourself it does nothing and goes nowhere.
The Piano
Quote from: Beethovenian on January 17, 2010, 07:54:47 AMYou're watching it; you can see for yourself it does nothing and goes nowhere.
I just watched it and couldn't disagree more.
Frank Capra as a director.
Everything by Clint Eastwood.
Lawrence of Arabia is a very good movie, but hardly deserving of the encomium it's received (I recently watched Lean's Brief Encounter and thought it was much better).
The Virgin Spring (Bergman) — As much as I love many of his films, this one just seems to be a revenge fantasy clothed in medieval garb.
Vehemently disagree with Stalker being mentioned.
Quote from: Corey on January 17, 2010, 09:43:01 AM
Everything by Clint Eastwood.
"Gran Torino" was a poor movie, but everybody seems to be in love with it. I gave it two stars in my university newspaper and have never heard the end of it, including an online comment, "the worst review I have read in my life." :( But I won't say anything else or supply a link for fear of offending MN Dave!
Quote from: Brian on January 17, 2010, 10:24:00 AM
"Gran Torino" was a poor movie, but everybody seems to be in love with it. I gave it two stars in my university newspaper and have never heard the end of it, including an online comment, "the worst review I have read in my life." :( But I won't say anything else or supply a link for fear of offending MN Dave!
Nah. Go for it. Won't bother me in the least.
Quote from: Todd on January 17, 2010, 09:30:08 AM
I just watched it and couldn't disagree more.
I seem to be in the minority but it won't be the first time.
The English Patient - Elaine Benes was damn right about that one.
Quote from: rubio on January 17, 2010, 05:27:51 AM
I LOVE most of David Lynch' dream-nightmarish work, and Mulholland Drive certainly belong to my top 10 list of all films.
Yep, definitely my favorite Lynch movie, I think it's more or less perfect.
If they gave Oscars for 'Best Lesbian Sex Scene', then Mulholland Dr. would certainly come up on top! :D
Quote from: zorzynek on January 17, 2010, 11:35:45 AM
The English Patient - Elaine Benes was damn right about that one.
Yes, I enjoyed it but also found it rather pretentious and 'knowing'.
Quote from: Greg on January 16, 2010, 06:28:27 PM
What does everyone think of this list?
Top 50 top-rated animated films by vote:
http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Genres/Animation/average-vote
It's actually pretty surprising to see the top ones. #1 is one I've hardly even heard of! :o No one talks about it or anything, which is weird.
#2 is Spirited Away, which I thought was great, too, although I'm a bit surprised at the ranking.
My top 5 (from what's on this list) would probably include Toy Story 1 and 2, Monsters, Inc. I do really need to see quite a few Studio Ghibli movies that are on that list.
What is really odd about that list is that all of the movies (OK, I only looked at the first 15, but that's more than enough to see what's going on) are full length features. But "real" ("artistic") animated films are rarely longer than 20 minutes (usually much shorter, and thanks to that - often available on YouTube! ;D). Cf. for instance the work of Piotr Dumała (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=piotr+dumala&search_type=&aq=f), Julian Antonisz (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=antonisz&search_type=) and Ryszard Czekała (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ryszard+czekala&search_type=) - three of my favorite Polish animators; heck, seriously, take any famous animator. Eg. Yuri Norstein. OK, Skazka skazok is about 30 mins, and Fuyu no hi is 105, but the rest of his work is all around 10 mins long. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney-type full-length animated movies, they can be great fun, but in terms of artistic execution they are totally generic. It's always the same technique and you can't tell the work of one animator apart from that of another. :-\
Quote from: vandermolen on January 17, 2010, 08:54:47 AM
The Piano
this was giveaway in sunday times today - yes would agree overrated but still quite enjoyed despite sam neill and harvey keitel woefully miscast imho (not great fan of Michael Nyman also ) ???
Quote from: Maciek on January 17, 2010, 12:32:20 PM
Yep, definitely my favorite Lynch movie, I think it's more or less perfect.
I generally like Lynch films even though tend to be too hip and pretentious at times - my fav is still his first film Eraserhead - a nightmare journey in an alien landscape - terrif ;D
Quote from: Maciek on January 17, 2010, 12:56:37 PM
I love Disney-type full-length animated movies, they can be great fun, but in terms of artistic execution they are totally generic. It's always the same technique and you can't tell the work of one animator apart from that of another. :-\
Seconded. There's nothing so boring as
The Little Mermaid, Beauty and The Beast and other Disney marshmallow cartoons. Artistically, they're almost insulting.
My 2 year-old granddaughter plays playdoh, crayons and just about everything else while
Madagascar is playing. But she is transfixed and dead silent watching
Babe.
'Plenty' (most inappropriate title for a completely empty film).
Most overrated film award, of all time, has to go to:
Shakespeare in Love
Lost in Translation.
Quote from: Scarpia on July 03, 2010, 04:01:42 PM
Lost in Translation.
I guess that movie is something you either "get" or "don't get." I didn't "get" it at all. I found it to be one of the most boring, drab movies I've ever watched. There are a lot of fans, though. I would be interested in knowing what they see in it.
1989 best picture oscar - Driving Miss Daisy
This was a mercy ocsar for Jessica Tandy who was very old, movie was nothing special for me let alone best picture material
Forrest Gump
1994 best picture oscar - Forrest Gump
Never understood the raves this movie received, Tom Hanks tried something slightly new and different as a character......but I failed to connect with this work
(Brahmsian read my mind!)
Quote from: DarkAngel on July 03, 2010, 05:00:07 PM
(Brahmsian read my mind!)
Yes, I have special powers! ;D
You know, I actually really liked Forrest Gump when it first came out, and saw it in the theatre. However, I find it hasn't aged well, and on the repeated viewings, found it hokey.
Quote from: Brahmsian on July 03, 2010, 05:04:31 PM
You know, I actually really liked Forrest Gump when it first came out, and saw it in the theatre. However, I find it hasn't aged well, and on the repeated viewings, found it hokey.
With you there. I liked Gump a lot the first time I saw it; the second time, I hated it so much I felt embarrassed watching it.
Capote = Philip Seymour Hoffman doing a funny voice.
The Piano
Plenty (an absurd title for such an empty film!)
Pulp Fiction - pretentious and boring :-[
Quote from: Corey on July 04, 2010, 11:10:23 PM
Capote = Philip Seymour Hoffman doing a funny voice.
And there's that scene where his eyeballs twitch back and forth. I've always wondered how he did that.
I had a neighbor who did it (probably compulsively) all the time. I refused to make eye contact whenever I talked to her.
Quote from: Corey on July 04, 2010, 11:10:23 PM
Capote = Philip Seymour Hoffman doing a funny voice.
There were two Capote films made at nearly the same time dealing with pretty much the same material. The other had Toby Jones as Capote. One of them, however, was rather subdued, and the other was over-the-top. I can't remember which was which, but I'll let you guess which film I think was more in tune with the original material and more fun.
The other is Infamous IIRC. I'd be willing to see that. Capote was dull as hell though (and this is coming from someone who likes Antonioni!).
Quote from: ChamberNut on January 17, 2010, 12:40:48 PM
If they gave Oscars for 'Best Lesbian Sex Scene', then Mulholland Dr. would certainly come up on top! :D
I used to bicycle up and down Mulholland Drive with my two brothers, aunt and uncle. We never saw cheerleaders standing up in the back of a convertible pass us by. Bad timing, I guess. The film was intended to be a long, drawn out mini-series. Mr. Lynch just cut and pasted this and that and everything else and made it into a feature film. I guess he liked the lesbian love scenes the best. I really thought it might be a thriller in the Raymond Chandler style. Boy, was I wrong.
Star Wars. I liked it when it first came out, but I grew up.
Avatar
People talk about pulp is if it were something of the past and has nostogia value now...
"Winter's Bone" got nominated for best picture???? It's insipid and filled with long patches of backwoods mumbling. And half the time, I wasn't sure who's related to whom.
Likewise, "The Fighter" is a mediocre contender at best, and Christian Bale's over-the-top freakishness is baleful.
Anything by Woody Allen after his initial self hating splurge. Especially any film where he places himself at the centre of it in a relationship with a woman half his age.
Death in Venice: I fell for this film when it first came out. But I don't think it has weatherd well and the ponderous, self indulgent prettyness of it now makes me grind my teeth.
Pulp Fiction and subsequent film by Tarantino right up to Inglorious Bastards. Another self indulgent film maker.
Mike
Quote from: Schlomo on February 04, 2011, 08:59:35 PM
"Winter's Bone" got nominated for best picture???? It's insipid and filled with long patches of backwoods mumbling. And half the time, I wasn't sure who's related to whom.
In the backwoods, the whole "not sure who's related to whom" thing is actually pretty common. ;D
Quote from: knight on February 04, 2011, 11:16:43 PM
Pulp Fiction and subsequent film by Tarantino right up to Inglorious Bastards. Another self indulgent film maker.
...but excluding
Jackie Brown. Probably the least well-known Tarantino film, precisely because it's the best.
Quote from: Brian on February 05, 2011, 03:34:17 AM
...but excluding Jackie Brown. Probably the least well-known Tarantino film, precisely because it's the best.
I agree. I think Jackie Brown is the only film of his I like to watch.
Another vote for Mulholland Drive as well. I don't know why people like it so much.
Quote from: ukrneal on February 05, 2011, 04:15:18 AM
I agree. I think Jackie Brown is the only film of his I like to watch.
Another vote for Mulholland Drive as well. I don't know why people like it so much.
well, I've got to see it now. ;)
Quote from: ukrneal on February 05, 2011, 04:15:18 AMI don't know why people like it (Mullholland Drive) so much.
Because people are DIFFERENT! If internet has teached me anything it's that people are different. When I read what other people write online I see how fundamentally different they are. Sometimes someone might agree with me about something but most of the time not.
So, I don't care if you don't like Mulholland Drive. You shouldn't care I consider it a masterpiece. You have your masterpieces and I don't care what they are.
People are different. That's why they like something you don't (and vice versa).
Btw, I also happen to think Jackie Brown is perhaps the best film by Tarantino. ;)