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5 most overrated movies ever......

Ah such fun is being had on that other thread it's now time to take the axe to movies..........

1.Gladiator-for some reason "everybody" seemed to think there was some reason to feel emotional about this poor remake of Spartacus,the drawn-out revenge storyline trying vainly to add weight to little more than a CG generated WWF extravaganza,and the acting..oh dear..failed Aussie soap star Russell Crowe even won the oscar obviously Tom Hanks didn't make a movie that year...This films biggest crime is that it has the audacity to take itself seriously......watch it again in 5 years and wonder why you thought it was any good.
2.The Usual Suspects-with 20 minutes of this movie still to go I wanted to leave the cinema,who cared who Kaiser Sauzee was?
Off the back of Resevoir Dogs-a so-called hip movie that was all style over substance-absolute tosh,how very clever to have a script where the narrator lies to you,who cares if there were clues,who cared about any of these characters?, like a super-effective laxative launched a million movies with twist endings....
3.Blue Velvet--ah David Lynch-shocked us all with the fact that small town America had a dark side,didn't he watch the news?,read the newspapers,total junk,conceptual film-making without the concept,truly lazy nonsense,no script,only considered weird by those who like Lynch were ignored at school....unbelievably followed this up with worse movies with even more obvious points to make.
3.Platoon-some how at the time this was judged to be the movie that showed America had come to terms with the Viet Nam war..eh?
Hadn't anybody seen Coming Home,The Deer Hunter,Apocalypse Now,Bat 21?
All better movies made earlier,started Oliver Stone's trend to take serious subjects and condense them into nothing much to popular and critical acclaim.
Don't even start me on JFK.
Weren't the 80's crap.....
I don't care if he was in Viet Nam ,this movie is rubbish....
4.Braveheart-made me ashamed to be Scottish,historically inaccurate beyond belief,with an Australian playing a Scot,no doubt made ex-pats teary eyed the world over,made me cry with laughter
5.Anything with Tom Hanks-the modern day American everyman turns up everywhere,doomed space rockets,football pitches,WW2,you always know when he's in a movie that it will be sentimental populist tosh-Saving Private Ryan was great till he turned up signalling the end of any realism...oh and those Oscar speeches.............

Fire away fellow Audiogon Movie fans.........
ben_campbell
tarsando
578 posts
 
Star Wars Episodes 1 to 5,000. Clones one and all.
centurymantra
133 posts
 
I'm pretty much with you on those points Ben.Gladiator - yes...empty spectacle, although I walked from the theatre with a bit of appreciation for the entertainment value of the sheer spectacle and attempt at classic movie grandeur. Certainly a pale approximation of a 'real' classic though. Odd thing is, I ended up watching it again and liked it a bit more. I must refrain from watching it again, lest I'm deluded into actually liking the film!Usual Suspects - I liked Reservoir Dogs (even though that is probably another 'overrated' film), but Usual Suspects did leave me scratching my head at the rather adamant recommendations for the film. Didn't hate the movie, but can't say it made an impression. Everyone seemed to love Kevin Spacey's role, but he's done better for sure...Blue Velvet - I have a sizable appreciation for abstract, experimental and so-called 'difficult' cinema, but I'm VERY lukewarm on Lynch's material. It often wallows in weirdness for weirdness sake, as if to say (while nudging your shoulder in wide-eyed exclamation) 'hey guys! wasn't that crazy daddy-oh weird!!' Lost Highway (a film I consider nearly worthless) exemplified this to the tee, though I was also left very cold by Blue Velvet. I have considered re-watching it to re-assess my opinion after reading a rather excellent book called 'Illuminating Shadows: The Mythic Power of Film' in which the author studies several dozen films to trace their lineage to common mythic themes. I immensely respect the mans ideas and writing on film and he picks a few surprising and unusual films as inclusion in the book. Blue Velvet was one of them. I did happen to like Mulholland Drive quite a bit, thus restoring a little bit of faith in the possibilities of Lynch's work.Platoon - (ditto)Bravehert - didn't see it...for good reason I supposeTom Hanks - I just don't think about the guy too much.Might I add a couple more to the list, without going on about them at length (my fingers are starting to stiffen up on me with all this typing). *Silence of the Lambs*A Beautiful Mind
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
Guess we all have different tastes. (Not that there is anything I have just read -I dissagree with)
Fargo:-- Not one single character I liked. The good guys;the bad guys --all gave me a pain. After seeing the movie I wanted to shoot everybody,director included.
Blair Witch. ---If I enjoyed people bickering and arguing;I'd have stayed home and gave the money to my kids (I thought I was at home.---)
In fact, most any movie with a hand-held that pans endlessly;zooming in and out;going around in circles drives me crazy.
killerpiglet
374 posts
 
Just to rattle off a few, limiting to those that received "critical acclaim" (emperor's new clothes syndrome):

Gladiator (*poof* any respect anyone possibly had for the Acadmy Awards goes off in a cloud of marketing)

Braveheart (pet peeve: chain mail doesn't slice like polyester!)

Dance with Wolves (hey, dude, let's go the the teepee, light up, spin some Zeppelin; besides, Kevin Costner's acting can put a crack fiend to sleep)

Tootsie (go watch Some Lik it Hot for a good version, or "Ed or Edna" for a campy version. Either one is funnier)

The Crying Game (wow, like the Adam's apple didn't give it away)
Fatal Attaction (or was it Friday the 13th part 12?)

Bonus Pick: Independence Day (ok, not critically acclaimed, but what bad movie list can be complete without this tribute to absolute idiocy?)

KP
ozfly
887 posts
 
The Mexican -- worst movie of all time. I so wanted the main characters to die and put us out of our misery. The best character was the hit man, who was killed. Sigh ... This may not be considered as overrated since most reviewers didn't give it many stars -- but even one is too many.

Armageddon -- how many feet exactly did they have to drill? And they determined that from how far away? Just one example of the really crappy science -- pet peeve that science fiction should have some science in it (unless it's camp)

Terms of Endearment -- like the Mexican, "just die already". Acting was great but story was blase, trying way too hard and derivative, which leads to ...

Star Wars 1 & 2 where the acting was horrible and the story was well, not exactly creative. Yes, the special effects were great, but a little teensy bit of acting would have helped.

Titanic -- overrated even beyond Gladiator. But then again, I'm not a teenage girl and that was their target audience and the group who kept the movie afloat, at least financially. The movie was better than the Poseidon Adventure and a host of other disaster films, but the operative word for all of these is disaster.

Great post Ben. I'm generally with you on Tom Hanks too -- nice movies, but hardly up to the hype and glory (though I did enjoy Splash and Big).
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