Most Overrated Films of All Time?

[Rushmore]

OK. I'm calm now.

Blue Velvet is an excellent, beautiful film. I cannot be convinced otherwise, so do not bother trying.

Wild at Heart is a comedy of sorts, and has some very good bits, but all in all, a disappointment.

Lost Highway, which you somehow forgot to mention (along with Eraserhead and Dune--but that's a whole other story), is a truly creepy and disturbing piece of work which I quite enjoyed.

Mulholland Drive was, in my humble opinion, a big piece of crap. I thought Lynch was reading his own reviews and got a little carried away. I wasn't interested in anything about anyone in this movie.

Except maybe the lesbians, but, again, that's another story.

The Big Liebowski was awful. Never understood the clamoring to praise it. Barton Fink and Fargo were, indeed, brilliant, but you can't tell me that The Hudsucker Proxy and Miller's Crossing are "great."

I must admit to being one of the only Cohen Bros. fans who didn't fall all over myself loving the hell out of Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou.

But Blood Simple was pretty damned good.

[XlgJoe]

'On Golden Pond' should be on this list.

Actually I don't remember how high the movie was rated, but that Henry Fonda finally got his Acadamy award for the movie.

[Vehn]

This thread really begins and ends with Titanic but also:

Anything by Michael Moore. Duh. Actually mildly entertaining but still way over rated. Same with Christopher Guest (best in show et al).

Anything by M. Night particularly the 6th sense.

The Usual Suspects/Memento - in the top twenty films of all time on IMDB. Hardly. The Godfather - best movie of all time? Cmon.

But by far the most overrated in my mind is the LOTR stuff. Did everyone else on the planet watch a different movie, because I swear I was watching Willow 2.

How about overrated actors? One that immediately comes to mind is Anthony Hopkins. I caught that Chris Rock spy movie the other week and was appalled by him sleepwalking through. Thought he sucked in Red Dragon too.

[Utah]

I'd vote for Saving Private Ryan, which is one of the most overrated films of all times - although the grandiose nature of this film is a very different, it certainly fits the "Emperor's New Clothes School" bill.

The story was lame and there was no real message to the movie, other than war is violent.

Spielberg got so much credit for this movie and all he really did was ratchet up the violence.

Band of Brothers kicked butt over this piece of trash.

Does Forest Gump fit the type of movies we are discussing? If so, that would also be on my list?

[J.R.]

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The Big Liebowski was awful. Never understood the clamoring to praise it.

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Most of those leveling praise for this film are on a 'higher" plane.

[nicky g]

"OK. I'm calm now.

Blue Velvet is an excellent, beautiful film. I cannot be convinced otherwise, so do not bother trying."

Just to state my opinion: it's deliberately whacky arthouse nonsense. There's no logic or sense to it - it just tries to be as "out there" as possible. There's no reason to have Dennis Hopper in that ridiculpus mask, or the absurd musical sequence with what's his face from Quantum Leap. It's garbage. I am open to persuasion, however, so if you want to try to convince me go ahead. Noone in the class I took on Lynch managed to say anything remotely intelligent in its defence; they just shouted "it's really good" and "you just don't get it" and muttered something about "Lynch's universe", while the teacher said "That's right".

"Wild at Heart is a comedy of sorts, and has some very good bits, but all in all, a disappointment."

It's awful. I would have walked out when they start doing that kick-dancing in the desert, but I had to watch it for a class. It isn't remotely funny.

"Lost Highway, which you somehow forgot to mention (along with Eraserhead and Dune--but that's a whole other story), is a truly creepy and disturbing piece of work which I quite enjoyed."

I wasn't trying to review every work by each film-maker - just a few examples. Lost Highway is pretty good. Haven't seen the others.

"The Big Lebowski was awful. Never understood the clamoring to praise it. "

Hurrah. I'm not alone.

"you can't tell me that The Hudsucker Proxy and Miller's Crossing are "great.""

They're very good. Not great as in "best films of all time", but very enjoyable, intelligent films. Though it's years since I saw HP. Better than Blue arseing Velvet [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

"must admit to being one of the only Coen Bros. fans who didn't fall all over myself loving the hell out of Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou.

But Blood Simple was pretty damned good."

Not seen either of them.

[Rushmore]

Same with Christopher Guest

I guess you haven't seen This is Spinal Tap, truly one of the funniest films of all time.

Anything by M. Night

Agreed about The Sixth Sense, but I thought Signs was actually really good.

The Usual Suspects was very entertaining. That's about it.

How about overrated actors?

I don't want to give myself carpal/tunnel.

[Rushmore]

I'll give it a shot:

Blue Velvet is about generally-unseen horror, alienation, and perversion, particularly as it is juxtaposed against Jeffrey Beaumont's mundane and caricaturishly naive world-view. Lynch's use of artistic license as regards Frank Booth's pathological and, again, caricaturishly evil nature is just that: artistic license.

All of this becomes even more permissible if you view it in the context of the overriding theme of the film: a dream.

Yes, art/film-school types will climb on board bandwagons and make statements they cannot begin to defend. I have never taken a class in film or art in my life, but I can certainly evoke a vision of that Fleeber guy from The Freshman. ("Guns and provolone," indeed!)

Anyway, I loved it. I thought it was, as intended, a fantastically alienating film.

[Baltimore Ron]

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Gone With The Wind

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Andy,

In the interest of Equal Time, I'll nominate "Dr. Stangelove. Or how I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

BR

[andyfox]

No argument from me. GWTW and Titannic were super-hits in terms of box office and at the Oscars, that's why I felt the distance between the hype and the actualitiy was greatest for those two.

As far as I'm concerned, all of Kubrick's movies stink. I loved 2001 when I first saw it, but I saw it recently and I realize it's not quite as good when you're not on speed.