You're being way too literal. Of course it's a zombie movie. The MacGuffin is irrelevent.
Agreed. Awful movie. Hugely overrated.
You're being way too literal. Of course it's a zombie movie. The MacGuffin is irrelevent.
Agreed. Awful movie. Hugely overrated.
I thought Fargo was highly overrated. Gene Siskel once said that he could watch this movie every day. Once was enough for me. Maybe it was all the hype built up too much expectation. And I know this is heresy, but I didn't care much for The Big Lebowski either. Same reason.
The problem with Tarantino isn't *just* that his movies are full of mindless violence and precious little else. It's his dialogue. I can't stand watching something where every character is a smartass. That's also why I can't stand anything written by Joss Whedon either. Everybody's so damn clever.
The irony is, Gene Siskel would agree with you on the second assessment.
He called The Big Lebowski and The Hudsucker Proxy the only two Cohen Brothers films he didn't like.Personally; I love both films and Lebowski turned me into a fan of their work; but eh... a more recently overrated film would be Atonement. It's okay; but it's not great, and I can't recall an award it won (of which there are more than a few) where I felt it was the best in its field.
1. Citizen Kane - this film is often listed among the best films ever made (if not THE best film ever made)...but I just don't see it. I mean, it's an okay film and all...but it's not even Orson Welles' best, IMO, let alone the best film ever made by anyone. All that hubbub over a sled. 
2. Lawrence of Arabia - way, WAY too long, and unnecessarily so. Great cinematography...and I can never get enough Omar Sharif. But 4 hours of riding around in the desert, random skirmishes, and Arabs arguing to no avail just seems excessive. They could have easily cut an hour to 90 minutes out of this movie and it would have been alot better.
3. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - I though this movie was ending about 5 times before it actually did end. In fact, we had so many false-start endings that when it did end, I didn't believe it and sat there for a minute longer, just to make sure. Now...you'd be hard pressed to find a bigger luster-after-Orlando-Bloom than I....but this is another film that could easily have been edited down to some sort of reasonable length. And yeah...yeah....I know, they left some stuff out as it was.
But it was too damn long. That's my story, and I'm stickin' with it.
As for Quintin Tarantino...I don't love him...but I do like Pulp Fiction quite a bit. It was a revolutionary film when it came out, after all. And you can't beat how it goes full circle.
As long as we are dissing the quirky, however, I have to throw David Lynch into the pot. I've seen Mullholland Drive about 3 times and I STILL don't get it.
Frankly, a film just should not be THAT difficult to understand. I'm okay with the whole 'making you think' thing...but this film is WELL past that. For those of you who included The Matrix films in this list, those films are childsplay compared to the WTF factor of Mullholland Drive.
2. Lawrence of Arabia - way, WAY too long, and unnecessarily so. Great cinematography...and I can never get enough Omar Sharif. But 4 hours of riding around in the desert, random skirmishes, and Arabs arguing to no avail just seems excessive. They could have easily cut an hour to 90 minutes out of this movie and it would have been alot better.
3. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - I though this movie was ending about 5 times before it actually did end. In fact, we had so many false-start endings that when it did end, I didn't believe it and sat there for a minute longer, just to make sure. Now...you'd be hard pressed to find a bigger luster-after-Orlando-Bloom than I....but this is another film that could easily have been edited down to some sort of reasonable length. And yeah...yeah....I know, they left some stuff out as it was.
But it was too damn long. That's my story, and I'm stickin' with it.
As for Quintin Tarantino...I don't love him...but I do like Pulp Fiction quite a bit. It was a revolutionary film when it came out, after all. And you can't beat how it goes full circle.
As long as we are dissing the quirky, however, I have to throw David Lynch into the pot. I've seen Mullholland Drive about 3 times and I STILL don't get it.
Frankly, a film just should not be THAT difficult to understand. I'm okay with the whole 'making you think' thing...but this film is WELL past that. For those of you who included The Matrix films in this list, those films are childsplay compared to the WTF factor of Mullholland Drive.
I happen to love films which screw with my head (provided they do it well). Films which are so densely inscrutable I ponder them for days afterwards. Even getting it isn't the whole point - being lost is part of the fun. And some of these films thrive on the sense of confusion and strangeness more than any explanation - Eraserhead being a classic example. Many of Lynch's films are basically fever dreams or drug trips but not necessarily a linear narrative explicable by rational means, and I love (some) of them for that.
The Matrix would really be a very good film if it simply did this. I mean, screwed with my head. At some point in its running time. It doesn't really do this. Ever. The film's failing is it thinks it's a lot smarter and a lot more confusing than it really is.
Mulholland Drive is probably the most straightforward movie Lynch has ever made. The first half is a dream; the second half isn't.
Well, I get what you are saying. And like I said, I do enjoy a good think - I LIKE walking out of a movie and wanting to think about it for a few days, or go read about it on the web, etc. I love a good think piece. In truth, I enjoyed some of the web debates about The Matrix films. I agree with your criticisms...but at least the films were understandable in the end, if one was willing to think and discuss the various religious symbolisms, etc.
But no matter how much thought I put into Mullholland Drive, I STILL came up with a big fat 'WTF?' on a number of issues. Even after a few re-views to see if I missed anything. And that moved it from the 'fun' column into the 'work' column. And understanding a film should not be work.
Anyway...those are my thoughts.
Thinking = good
Thinking to no avail because there IS no answer = annoying
Love 2001: A Space Odyssey. It got me into film-making. I can understand it not being someone's cup of tea, though.
Citizen Kane is still an amazing film. I've seen it several times, once projected, and loved it on every occasion I've seen it. Welles' photography was groundbreaking, and the story is surprisingly poignant. Yes, I even like the ending. Anyone expecting more than a sled just doesn't get the character of Charles Foster Kane.
Thought Juno was very overrated. For all the hip unbelievable nonsense the character seems to be into, the film manages to shove an awfully conservative and unoriginal theme down our throat.
Thought the same about Little Miss Sunshine. Saw every twist in the plot before they happened. When I saw the movie in the theatre, I turned to a friend and said "the grandfather is going to die now." She got mad at me for spoiling the twist--only I hadn't read about it and didn't know it was going to happen beyond the way it was completely telegraphed to us on screen.
Citizen Kane is still an amazing film. I've seen it several times, once projected, and loved it on every occasion I've seen it. Welles' photography was groundbreaking, and the story is surprisingly poignant. Yes, I even like the ending. Anyone expecting more than a sled just doesn't get the character of Charles Foster Kane.
Thought Juno was very overrated. For all the hip unbelievable nonsense the character seems to be into, the film manages to shove an awfully conservative and unoriginal theme down our throat.
Thought the same about Little Miss Sunshine. Saw every twist in the plot before they happened. When I saw the movie in the theatre, I turned to a friend and said "the grandfather is going to die now." She got mad at me for spoiling the twist--only I hadn't read about it and didn't know it was going to happen beyond the way it was completely telegraphed to us on screen.
I should have put a smilie there I guess.
I'd also like to add all three of the Lord of the Rings movies. God, did a lot of people get swindled out of their money with those!
Absolutely. I love Lords of the Rings, and the movies did a decent job of converting the books to the screen, but the grandeur and pompousness was a bit much.
Also: Indiana Jones, all three parts.
Well jeez....I think I kind of KNOW that.
But regardless - if you are gonna slap something up on a screen and charge people to see it, it should make some sort of sense if one is willing to think about it long enough.
Watching David Lynch's non-nonsensical stream-of-consciousness bullshit is not my idea of a fun way to spent $10.
If I want to interpret nonsensical dreams that in the end, mean a whole lot of nothing, I'll interpret my own for free.
Which is exactly why I find this film to be the epitome of arrogance and pretension.
E.T. I hate that movie. I hated it when I first saw it, back when it was released. I went with a friend of mine (we were about 14/15 at the time) and the movie had been out about two month. My friend's mother started arguing with me, telling me that I liked it and espoused how wonderful it was. I reaffirmed to her that I thought it was stupid. To this day I refuse to watch it.
What is there not to get? The majority of the movie is a dream. The surreal quality of the cinematography and imagery kind of made that obvious. It's the perhaps the best portrayal of the dreaming landscape I've have ever seen in a movie. Lynch managed a very in-depth and realistic exploration into the suicidal psyche of the wannabe starlet Diane (Naomi Watts). Noticed that all the competent people Diane hates in her real life are quite pathetic by comparison in her dream (the director and the assassin for hire). The vice versa is also true for her own persona. In real life she is a small timer who gets caught in the fancies of a bisexual star named Rita (Laura Harring) and then turns jealous followed by a emotional breakdown when she gets spurned and humiliated. However in the dream she is a dazzling upcoming actress named Betty (I thought the audition scene in the movie was the most stunning performance by Naomi Watts ever). The real life assassin did his job very well in killing Rita while in the dream Rita was not killed due to an accident. This reveals a sense of extreme regret in Diane's mind at having hired the assassin in the first place. Anyways I should stop here before I waste more time writing an essay on this movie.
The Matrix - Entertaining but way below what I feel it should have been plus it's got some really bad scenes with absolutely pointless and gratuitous violence that pull it down badly in my view.
Tarantino movies - I enjoyed Pulp Fiction but it's nowhere near a classic IMHO. Also, one of the things that sincerely bothers me about his movies is that I always get the feeling this man actually likes violence. Some would say he exaggerates it (which is certainly true in some cases) but at the heart and core of it I can never shake the feeling that he enjoys it in a way I find highly unpleasant and unlikeable.
Sin City - I don't know how many people might actually consider this a classic but I did hear quite a bit of praise. I think it's really a total waste of time. It's a good-looking exercise in bad writing, dialog and gratuitous violence. Much like the comic that I read just a few weeks beforehand, actually
Aliens - Good action but little else. Inferior to episodes one and three IMHO in just about every way. Uninspired, boring and (as is to be expected from a movie from that time centered around a group of space marines) insufferable dialog.
On the positive side of things, I think 2001 is a total classic. I think it might be the best movie ever made. I've become pretty sure it's my favorite just ahead of Blade Runner and A Scanner Darkly, probably. 2001 is a filmed work of art IMHO.
Tarantino movies - I enjoyed Pulp Fiction but it's nowhere near a classic IMHO. Also, one of the things that sincerely bothers me about his movies is that I always get the feeling this man actually likes violence. Some would say he exaggerates it (which is certainly true in some cases) but at the heart and core of it I can never shake the feeling that he enjoys it in a way I find highly unpleasant and unlikeable.
Sin City - I don't know how many people might actually consider this a classic but I did hear quite a bit of praise. I think it's really a total waste of time. It's a good-looking exercise in bad writing, dialog and gratuitous violence. Much like the comic that I read just a few weeks beforehand, actually
Aliens - Good action but little else. Inferior to episodes one and three IMHO in just about every way. Uninspired, boring and (as is to be expected from a movie from that time centered around a group of space marines) insufferable dialog.
On the positive side of things, I think 2001 is a total classic. I think it might be the best movie ever made. I've become pretty sure it's my favorite just ahead of Blade Runner and A Scanner Darkly, probably. 2001 is a filmed work of art IMHO.
Alien
2001 - so boring i nearly fell asleep. never even got to the bits on the Moon, i was bored rigid during the interminable docking sequence.
Apocalypse Now - only the attack on the village was any good
Superman - Ooooo, the heresy, but i just don't like it.
2001 - so boring i nearly fell asleep. never even got to the bits on the Moon, i was bored rigid during the interminable docking sequence.
Apocalypse Now - only the attack on the village was any good
Superman - Ooooo, the heresy, but i just don't like it.
In general I agree with this sentiment. There's nothing stopping a movie from being great and entertaining.
However, if any movie gets a pass for being boring, 2001: A Space Odyssey is it.
My nominee for being overrated: No Country for Old Men.
Oh, and The Matrix - just a compendium of old sci fi ideas that might have come off as original to an audience that doesn't read sci fi. Which, of course, is everyone.
This thread seems to be full of movies that aren't considered great to begin with (Titanic, for instance - a blockbuster, sure, but since when was it ever a critical darling? I recall just the opposite about the reviews.)
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Gone with the Wind - Why do we care about spoiled little rich girl?
Because she becomes more than a spoiled little rich girl. She becomes a heartless, ruthless capitalist!
Yeah, not an improvement, but give Scarlett a break, I'd call her an example of an anti-hero being able to carry a story. I'm rather fond of the anti-hero type...
Gone With the Wind - much, much too long, with an incredibly dreary plot and some of the worst acting I've seen (even Leslie Howard was appalling).
Citizen Kane - cinematically innovative, certainly, but otherwise it has very little going for it. Whether or not I "get" the central character is beside the point when said character is thoroughly uninteresting to me and is part of a story I find singularly unengaging. To each their own, however.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - I've tried any number of times to watch this and always give up after about 20-30 minutes. Watching another iteration of Jack Nicholson playing himself simply doesn't appeal, and neither does the rest of the movie.
There are others but those are always the first ones I think of when this sort of subject crops up anywhere.
Citizen Kane - cinematically innovative, certainly, but otherwise it has very little going for it. Whether or not I "get" the central character is beside the point when said character is thoroughly uninteresting to me and is part of a story I find singularly unengaging. To each their own, however.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - I've tried any number of times to watch this and always give up after about 20-30 minutes. Watching another iteration of Jack Nicholson playing himself simply doesn't appeal, and neither does the rest of the movie.
There are others but those are always the first ones I think of when this sort of subject crops up anywhere.
Oh, for the record, I also love Citizen Kane. Not the best movie ever made or the best American movie and maybe, just maybe not the best Orson Welles movie; but it's a very good movie nonetheless. And Lawrence of Arabia is simply David Lean's indelible mark on cinema.
Amen. It's a dull work whose age and astonishing popularity has somehow backed it into the status of classic.
Amen. It's a dull work whose age and astonishing popularity has somehow backed it into the status of classic.
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