Most Over-rated Films

[Waxing_Gibbous]

What are your THREE most over-rated, films of all time?
I'm talking about films that critics are raving about 50, 40, 30 years later. Films that have an iconic status or are deemed "important" (I think there's no such thing as an important film unless it has real aliens or God Hisself in it :D).
And most particularly, any films you were shown in art college where your tutor sniffled in the back muttering: "Superb. Brilliant. Masterpiece!" :)

My three are:

The Blues Brothers - Some of the worst acting and contrived scenes ever.
Bluto and Daddy Conehead appear out of it for the entire movie and there's only so many times I can listen to "Minnie the Moocher" or "Rawhide"in a 5 minute period.

Annie Hall - Unless you are a neurotic New York Jew who writes films simply to string one-liners together, I have no idea why anyone thinks of this as anything other than a 90 minute soap opera.

????? - I've blanked the name, it's such dross. That one where Max von Sydow plays chess with death. Set a whole generation of film-makers to thinking they could get away with dreamy, existentialist, self-absorbed nonsense, poorly shot and badly edited.

And yours?

[PCH]

Good call Peter,

there are many to choose from, but I guess if I mention three that I've paid good money to see, and then walked out less than half way thru, that should pretty much count... how does that sound?

1) Blade Runner with Harrison Ford .... tripe from start to my finish, which was about half an hour into it. Could not get into that at all. Plotless junk.

2) The Fisher King with Robin Williams ... drivel. I'd barely finished my popcorn before leaving ;)

3) Inception with Leonard di Caprio ... the plot was so obscure to me. Totally unfollowable. Maybe I'm not as smart as the average bear, but this was plop from start to finish, and I defy anyone even now to tell me what it was about.

Just my 2c. And I'm really sure that HF, RW and LdC really value my thoughts on how well they're doing :D

[Poita]

Inception was just Total Recall with some Matrix thrown in. It was visually pretty, but I found it disappointing. Didn't find the plot all that hard to follow though - it was a bit of a rip-off of an old Duck Tales comic :)

http://coa.inducks.org/story.php?c=D+2002-033

[blindman]

Sorry, Blade Runner is the best Science Fiction movie ever.
If you missed title Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergmann) then you probably love
cheap new age violent movies which are easy to understand, I would say.
My 2 cents - most of last few years movies without any point and meaning.
No offence, cheers all.

[Zaps]

Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but the older I get the less interested in movies I become. Maybe it's like how you mostly grow out of music after adolescence. Anyone else at the point where they couldn't care less about stuff like movies?

[multiweb]

:lol: Well... just when I thought I heard them all.

[Terry B]

I can Only think of 2.
Barton Fink. Won canne in 1991 and was a complete load of self indulgent tripe. Blue Velvet is in the same category.
I like Bladerunner especially after reading the book it was based on- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

[taminga16]

I am sure there must be more, but....

The English Patient.

Greg.

[Octane]

Zaps,

Agree with you, re: not caring for movies as I get older.

Completely disagree about the music, though. I find myself getting deeper and deeper into music as I get older. Then again, all the stuff I let grace my ears is obscurantist stuff that no-one's really heard of. :)

H

[TrevorW]

How about under rated

such as "Moon"

overated

must agree "Inception", I also found the plot easy to follow and didn't really care if I see it again soon

disagree about "Blade Runner"

[multiweb]

I go at least twice a month with some mates. We make it a regular thing. Mostly sci-fi stuff.

[DJDD]

:d

[big_dav_2001]

Pretty much anything by Baz Luhrman.. Every one of his movies has been hyped beyond belief, and every one that I've seen has been pure rubbish.

I like supporting Aussie talent, if there's talent there to begin with...lol

Davin
:cheers:

[GrahamL]

Brokeback mountain !!...And not because of the gay cowboy stuff
it really didn't go anywhere , sure these two guys go have a romp every year or two and they get older etc etc,but not much else in there, great acting, scenery but way below the hype it seemed to gather imo.

oh and I forgot anything with Woddy Allen involved

[Paul Haese]

This was tough as I get a little from every movie but some are just plain crap.

Titanic. What a titanic waste of money. It was utter garbage and you know what the ending is right from the start.;) I cannot see what all the hype was about. I heard of people seeing this 25 times. Once was enough and even then I nearly turned it off right near the end.

Gone with the wind. Utter southern drivel and in two parts and quite a few hours. Yes I know it has some deeper meanings about love and justice, but it is too long.

Dances with wolves (or should I say not another Kevin Costner film). I bet this was looked at as being crap by the Indian nations in America. This film was a total nonsense really, was raved about but had no depth. I could go onto include any other piece of crap he made, but the list would be too long.

[Octane]

Paul,

You will be pleased to know that Titanic is being remastered in 3D, lol.

H

[koputai]

AVATAR by a huge stretch. Absolute dross. Agree re Blues Brothers and Blade Runner too.

Cheers,
Jason.

[TrevorW]

The Royal Tenenbaums is a 2001 American comedy-drama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy-drama) film directed by Wes Anderson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Anderson) and co-written with Owen Wilson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Wilson). It stars Wilson along with Danny Glover (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Glover), Gene Hackman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Hackman), Anjelica Huston (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anjelica_Huston), Bill Murray (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Murray), Gwyneth Paltrow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwyneth_Paltrow), Ben Stiller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stiller) and Luke Wilson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_Wilson).
It follows the lives of three gifted (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gifted) siblings who experience great success in youth, and even greater disappointment and failure after their eccentric (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentricity_%28behavior%29) father leaves them in their adolescent years. An ironic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony) and absurdist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absurdism) sense of humor pervades the film.
Hackman won a Golden Globe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Globe) for his performance. The screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Writing_Original_ Screenplay).




"overated, got half way through the DVD and wondered when it would get funny"

[Paul Haese]

God no. Never seeing that.

[Octane]

I liked The Royal Tenenbaums. But then, I like everything with Ben Stiller in it. In fact, he should be in every movie. :P

H

[renormalised]

It'll be the only time that particular film will have any real depth:P

[fuso]

A clockwork orange.
Would have to be the dumbest, idiotic, overrated, pathetic movie I ever started to watch(I walled out after 20 min).
Don't get me wrong, I love rated R, horror, violence, sex....etc, but this movie is just pure whale crap(It sinks faster).
Also a movie I rented call "Chicken Park". A comedy spinoff of Jurassic Park, biggest waste of 2 bucks I ever spent.

[Steffen]

Maybe you shouldn't have…

Cheers
Steffen.

[OneOfOne]

Best in show comes to mind...we hired the movie and watched waiting for something funny to happen....we barely smiled.

The first Star Trek movie? It was just a remake of an episode, although I am a fan of all things Star Trek, I am afraid this just didn't do it for me. They spent too much of the movie being in awe of one another, the movie set and special effects, they neglected to put something original into it :(

Can't think of another one at the moment.....

[Steffen]

"Most overrated" would imply somewhat highly rated without justification, right?

I think I go for "Lord of the Rings" 1, 2 and 3. The movies were heaped with Oscars and nominations, I just couldn't see what for.

Cheers
Steffen.

[[1ponders]]

Beyond Thunderdome :sad:

[Octane]

Steffen,

I tend to agree re: LotR.

They were fun... but, I don't know...

H

[trek1701]

Independence Day for me.

Disagree about Bladerunner.:eyepop:

Cheers Mark

[AdrianF]

Loved the blues brothers. Watched it about 5-6 times.

Couldn't watch inception (boring) couldn't watch Sunshine, the movie where there was a mission to the sun to get it reignited and didn't really like Avatar.
All three over rated


Adrian

[BPO]

Totally agree about the 'Lord of the Rings' movies being overrated. Boring, and like watching a hairdressers convention sometimes. (Those elves.)

And 'Avatar' left me cold too. Some of the SFX was very nice, such as the jungle foliage, while a fair bit of it was laughable (the magic marker drawing giant mining machines come to mind, for starters), and the story was just 'Dances With Aliens'.

[TrevorW]

Although I loved Avatar, I was disappointed in the overuse of CGI, it lacked the realism I would have liked, just wasn't seamless enough.

Likewise with LoR dynamic not grab me by the seat of the pants want to see again the next day

Maybe getting too old

[FlashDrive]

Harry Potter ..... :screwy:..... and I mean all of them....!!!!

[Lee]

+1

+1 for Inception too....

[Moon]

Great idea for a thread. Let me get this off my chest:

Any TV Movie with Brian Dennehy - shocking!
Avatar - the only movie where I have seriously considered walking out
Sex and The City 2 - I only watched this to keep the peace. There was no need to make this movie. Seriously.


I feel much better now. :)

Luckily there are so many good movies around. Here are two I recommend in case you haven't seen them yet:

Into the Wild :thumbsup:
Barneys Version :thumbsup:


James

[Nightshift]

Ooohhhhh, I'll buy in to this one, my vote all time over rated has to be Pulp Fiction, what a load of drivle, I just didnt get it, I even watched it twice in one night to try and see what the hype was about and still didnt get it. Typical Quentin Tarantino rubbish yet I know others will argue?????

Lets not forget the original King Kong with Fay Ray, the CGI was crap. LOL.

[Waxing_Gibbous]

Neven, Neven,
Its because I like films with substance and hidden meaning that I dislike Seventh Seal.
It is shallow and by-the-numbers Marxist-Freudianism.
A terrible re-hash of DaDa-ist and Surrealist imagery married with the pretentions of a film-school graduate, the soul-less self-absorbtion of existensilist angst and the general depressiveness of Scandanavian artisme.
Dali and DuChamp did better years earlier.

I'd forgot Titanic.
Dang that's a bad film.

[astroron]

Lets not forget the original King Kong with Fay Ray, the CGI was crap. LOL.

Hi Dennis,:hi:If you remember that movie you must be old:P:lol:
Cheers

[leon]

Must be something about getting older and movies, I don't care for them at all now, :shrug: haven't been for years, and never watch a DVD.

Even if i get free tickets for birthdays and such, i give them away.

However the once that I did go, with Alice, because she really wanted to use up a freebie, we went Gold Class, and you wouldn't believe it we were the only ones in the small theater, :eyepop: truly, I kid you not. :lol:

That was a real experience to have the place to ones self ;)

The picture had Mel Gibson in it and I think the name was something like, To The Edge, or the Edge of something, From the Edge, :shrug: cant remember, it was quite good actually :)

Leon :thumbsup:

[AstralTraveller]

For overrated movies has anyone mentioned Australia? I only saw the last 10-15 minutes but my better half said it was as bad the whole way through.
---------------------------
As a lover of the book the movie of LotR I was always going to have mixed views about the movie. On one hand I was thrilled someone was making a serious attempt at an adaptation but I had to accept that it is a movie based on the book, not a movie of the book. Having seen how compressed the narrative is in the movie it's obvious that a movie of the book would run for a week and so can't happen. I know a few hobbitophiles and the views about what part of the adaptation worked and what didn't are a bit mixed. (I'll be talking to a few tomorrow night so I'll bring up the subject.) One thing that didn't work and couldn't is the power of the Nazgul. The chill feeling in the heart, the mindless fear could never be conveyed on screen. Likewise the effect of wearing the Ring.

I don't think I'm a good judge of acting but it seems to me to be generally OK. I quite like Gandalf, Aragon, Sam, Gollum and (eventually) Gimli. One problem is that Frodo wasn't always as convincing as I'd like but, again, it's that issue of visually expressing an inner torment.

One thing that I got into and is brilliant is the costume and sets. The realism, the attention to detail, the way it is used to convey background information and context is just great. So many people didn't just want to make something good enough, they wanted to make it as good as they could and you can see this; it gives it a visual richness. I know that you couldn't get an armourer in Australia (and probably elsewhere) while the movie was in production. These blokes are amateurs who make armour for the love of it, even when they sell it, and who often are (so I am told) LotR fans. So they made things as works of art, not just as a prop. My favorite story concerns the scene where Theoden is being fitted out in his armour before leaving for the Battle of Helm's Deep. The back and breast plates have padded leather lining and on that lining, in a place where it could never appear on screen, is embossed his coat of arms. Bernard Hill, who played Theoden, said that when he saw that he felt like a king, and there are similar stories from other actors.

[norm]

The Hurt Locker...... Even more so that it won the Oscars as best film 2008 !

Norm

[Ric]

Any movie with Steven Segal in it, now that's over rated.

[Liz]

Had to walk out on Armageddon, drove me bananas. :poke:
Also walked out on Australia, and normally like Nicole and Hugh. :argue:

[bartman]

It's funny how when you type in " most over rated movies " in google, you get a cazillion different findings.
Each to their own I guess. I am waiting for the movie "Paul" to come out on dvd, so I can see for myself what all the fuss is about. ( same goes for Rango).
By the way.....I love Blade Runner and am going to watch it right now....again! How dare it be over rated!
Bartman

[fuso]

I still say a clockwork orange is pure junk.

[BPO]

Wow, what happened to my post?

[multiweb]

Clockwork orange is a classic IMHO. Like blade runner. A cult movie. Ground braking at the time. It's easy to trash in retrospect 30 years down the road. This thread has turned into a massive whinge. Should start a thread with a positive attitude next time like 'What's the best movie you've ever seen'. Love to go out for a movie and socialising. Don't like the movies. Just don't go watch any and go back complaining about the clouds. :P

[Darth Wader]

2001: A space Odyssey. Maybe I should have dropped acid before wasting those two hours of my life. Should have read the book instead.

Agree 100% about Blade Runner. Just plain boring.

Anchorman. Will Ferrel comedy gets talked up by almost everyone I know. I didn't laugh once, turned it off after twenty minutes, and called the video shop too see if they had a satisfaction guarantee.

[Octane]

lol Wade, gold.

H

[Kevnool]

At least i can say is that ive seen most of these movies.
But at least ive seen them.

Cheers Kev.

[lacad01]

a) Eyes Wide Shut
b) Pearl Harbour
And would have to agree with many of the others especially Titanic :)

[Matt Wastell]

Interesting thread.

There are 1000's of bad movies of which few are genuinely critically acclaimed!

My list without too much thought!

Castaway
Dances with Wolves

..........still thinking!

[Rob_K]

How true! :thumbsup:

My 'blockbuster' list, off the top of my head:
Forrest Gump
Castaway
Apollo 13 (get the drift? :P )
Australia
Titanic
Dances With Wolves

All-time favourite movie: Cars - with 4 grandkids I've probably watched it 50 times and it still enchants & excites me (= simple soul :lol: ).

Cheers -

[Satchmo]

Sound like `Hollywood' has killed it for you. Check out out some of the limited theatre release stuff when it comes out on DVD. And Torrents have reinvigorated my interest in movies because I can get anything once it has been released no matter how obscure it is.

[starlooker]

So much blasphemy. :eyepop:

Brokeback Mountain, Blade Runner and Avatar were AWESOME!

[starlooker]

Now let's talk about overrated films:

1. Atonement
2. The Lost Boys
3. Twilight, New Moon and ever film henceforth
4. All the Harry Potter flims.
5. Hurt Locker
6. The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. (so bad I couldn't finish watching)
7. Night at the Museum 2
8. Quantum of Solace
9. Romulus, my father.
10. The chronicles of Narnia : Prince Caspian.

Shall I go on? Lets.

11. The brothers Grimm.
12. The golden compass.
13. Ocean's 12 & 13
14. Batman Returns & The Dark Knight
15. Xmen 2, 3 & Wolverine.
16. Shutter Island

I think that should be enough for now. :thumbsup:

[Waxing_Gibbous]

THREEEEE! I said THREE!! :D

[Rob_K]

Sorry, not familiar with Three. Who starred in it?

Cheers -

[tlgerdes]

I watched Paul on the plane 2 weeks ago. I thought it was hillarious, but then again I can laugh at a match burning.:screwy: :lol:

Two though that come to mind:

The Piano.

Kill Bill, didnt even bother with #2

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

Agree about that. Shallow and cliched.

[GeoffW1]

I had never thought anyone rated him in the first place :rofl:

[dugnsuz]

"Lost in Translation"
:mad:

[GrahamL]

you guys are way to hard his newer work is really top shelf.:D



http://hypervocal.com/news/2011/putting-the-force-in-police-force-sheriff-joe-arpaio-raids-unarmed-citizen-with-help-from-steven-seagal/

[ballaratdragons]

well what did you expect when it has such a negative orientated title? :lol:

There was a thread in here about a year or two ago about 'What are your Favourite Movies' :thumbsup:

But besides that one, here is a small example of the large amount of threads that have been based around Movies!

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=60776

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=53410

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=53296

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=43926

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=42225

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=7205

and another old thread along the same lines as this one is: :rolleyes:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=43951

plus about 14 different threads on individual Movie titles like 'Star Trek Movie', 'Day the Earth Stood Still', 'Avatar', 'The Dish', etc.

It seems that Movies are a popular topic for some.

Then there are the threads 'What are your favourite TV series?', 'Your favourite Sci-Fi's', etc etc, and on it goes :lol:

Do we really need ANOTHER thread of 'your favourite Movies'?

[multiweb]

Well I guess... But I really don't give a toss about what people hate either. On the other hand if there's a movie they recommend that I haven't seen yet, then yeah, I am all ears. :)

[ballaratdragons]

Me too Marc.
I'd rather go see a movie and make up my own mind about how I like/dislike it. Not whether others like/dislike it.

I have seen movies that people have told me are rubbish and I enjoyed them. But also visa-Versa.
We all have a different taste in movies, so the title of this thread is really subjective.
But it still makes for interesting reading ;)

[multiweb]

Yep - some people really need to get out more. :lol: and enjoy life by the same token. :P

[Steffen]

"People the world over recognize me as a great spiritual leader." - Steven Seagal

:lol:

Cheers
Steffen.

[allan gould]

I just can't believe no one has mentioned these so far.
Transformers I, II and III - what incomprehensible rubbish with no story line. The director was even caught using scenes from other films!
Total trash.

[TrevorW]

Meagan Fox in tight shorts, whats wrong with you man ;)

[ballaratdragons]

The worst Movie of all time (verified) is a Sci-Fi film starring John Travolta called 'Battlefield Earth'.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185183/

It won seven Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture and Worst Screen Couple (John Travolta and "anyone on the screen with him").

In 2005, an eighth Razzie (for Worst "Drama" of Our First 25 Years) was awarded to the film, and in 2010 the film won a ninth Razzie at the 30th Golden Raspberry Awards for "Worst Picture of the Decade", the most of any film in the history of the awards. (IMDB)

The film Grossed less than half of it's total Production costs! losing more than $22 million.

[Octane]

Ken,

Sc**nt*l*g*sts the world over love that film with a passion, lol.

H

[ballaratdragons]

no wonder it flopped ;)

:rofl:

[renormalised]

You mean deluded L Ron Hubbard devotees:P

None of his books were any good.

[irwjager]

I dedicate all my 3 votes to Inception as well (though I was tempted to reserve one for the Battle: LA).

A convoluted and contrived plot does not make for a 'deep' film.
Bad dialog, unsympathetic characters (it's not a good sign when I, the audience, wish for the protagonists to die :P ), excruciating bombastic music even during scenes where nothing is happening, inconsistencies all over the place (and that's even with cutting the film some slack because, you know, it's all a 'dream in a dream in a dream'). I liked Memento, but this...

[luvmybourbon]

the Highlander sequels, They really should have stopped at the first one

[GeoffW1]

Oh, right, OK :rofl:In my case it means he makes me want a good strong drink :P

[troypiggo]

Over-rated films. What about this one, everyone's heard of it, but it's pretty bad - "Debbie does Dallas".

[AdrianF]

Should have mentioned District 9 in my over rated list

And I bought the movie without checking it out first.

Adrian

[TrevorW]

Adrian I though Dist 9 was great, put another Prawn on the BBQ

[AdrianF]

Tried to watch it 3 times and have fallen asleep 3 times but in different places in the movie It would take at least 20 viewings to watch the movie through start to finish.:lol:

Adrian

[sasup]

most hype and most over rated has to be 2012. This was a work of pure over the top try hard rubbish. second might be water world

[TrevorW]

Troy it wasn't that bad, just turn down the sound ;);)

Have to agree with 2012 good SFX though, loved KC's the boat on Water World

[bojan]

Where do you find enough (good) sci-fi nowadays for twice a month watch ;) :shrug:

[renormalised]

Independence Day is not that far behind.

[dugnsuz]

"The Tourist" with Depp and Jolie.
Director of photography did a good job of showing off Venice but that's got to be the only saving grace in this stinker

[sally1jack]

the complete Star Wars series .....................just yankin your chain ;).

how about anything with vampires in it . give me a break with all this vampire crap
phil

[multiweb]

Right now to just name a few, latest Transformers (if you hurry) , Green Lantern (next week), Captain America (Marvel Comics playing now), Cowboys & Aliens. That should get you started :D

[bojan]

Errr.. not my cup of tea :eyepop:

I have read too much of the stuff when I was young(er).. so my acceptability bar is set way too high for this :shrug:
:P

[multiweb]

A movie will never replace a good book. It's always a subset of it but the medium can be as immersive. Just different.

[bojan]

Yes, I know..

Good example is Stanislaw Lem and his "Solaris"
Book is ... well, it was out of this world (at least for me, then, 16 yo when I read it first time).
As for movies based on this novel..
Tarkowsky's version was pretentious, very different, somewhat slow but quite good - a bit of acquired taste. A VERY hard task to put it in the new media
The Hollywood version was waste of celluloid tape (and waste of watching time)

[multiweb]

When you're 16 and you really like a book there is an emotional baggage attached to it. The interpretation of any director who puts it on the big screen will always let you down unless that person is in sync with how you felt at the time and that's very unlikely or purely coincidental if it ever happens. A lot is open to interpretation.

I like movies for the visual and immersive experience. It's a good break from daily life and a good excuse to go out with mates for a time out from work and home.

[bojan]

Totally agree with above. :thumbsup:

[TrevorW]

Agree, I remember reading all the Dune books then watching the movie and TV series and being somewhat disappointed in the outcome as my preconceived visual interpretations differed from what I viewed.

De Laurentis really made a mess out of "Dune" IMO, yet I still enjoyed the movie even though the FX wasn't that good.

I visualised a more sophisticated modern milateristic society. This is one book(s) that IMO has yet to be portrayed visually as I think Herbert would have wanted it.