There was one moment in Avatar, when all the ‘good’ guys were dying, before the planet wakes up to answer their call (IIRC) when I was actually excited about the movie. This could be good! This could be great! A Hollywood blockbuster may be about to kill off all its leading characters and present a gritty and realistic view of life and how it works. Then it went right back to being one of the worst movies I had ever seen.
The Best Years of Our Lives was a critical and popular success when it was released, and I imagine there are very few fans of classic movies who haven’t seen it at least once (it plays on (U.S., at least) television a lot) and don’t love the crap out of it. The scene 10 minutes or so in, with Fredric March returning home earlier than expected and Myrna Loy “sensing” him standing in the hallway … I get misty, Dobe, every time …
As for Overrated, has Oscar-winner Amadeus been mentioned? A wafer-thin premise for a play, and subsequent movie, making a “profound” statement (incidentally, not all that true, never mind profound) about “genius” … er … “childlike genius” and enabling even yokel moviegoers to have the satisfaction of having sat through a bona fide “work of art” about “classical music,” no less …
Major thumbs down, then and now, to American Beauty, Gandhi, Crash. But Tootsie (and the radiant therein Jessica Lange) is (still) terrific!!
This is the OP here. I’m glad I got see an interesting discussion among all of us. I’ll add a few things: Some of the movies listed here by others I did enjoy (“The Godfather” for example). But many of you reminded me of other films that I’d forgotten about. FYI–I have seen “Citizen Kane” on the big screen uninterrupted more than once, and my opinion still stands: it’s a good move but NOT the “Greatest American movie ever made.”
I hate “The Hangover” with a passion but I must admit that the only reason I watched it was to confirm what I had suspected all along. Another one that I forgot about was “Clerks” which has to be one of the dumbest most unfunny movies I’ve ever seen! I seriously did not care one iota for ANY CHARACTER in that film! A buddy and I asked a co-worker about it once, and our co-worker said that “well if you’ve ever worked in a convenience store, it’s a realistic depiction of the types of people you meet there.” My response: Yeah, so what? That doesn’t make it funny or clever; I work in a mundane job during the week as well, and I cannot think of a reason to make a movie about me and my co-workers.
“Avatar” was just offensive to me; manipulation at its worst plus the fact that it ripped off “Dances With Wolves.” And while we’re at it, I refuse to sit through “Mrs. Doubtfire” because it appears to have ripped off “Tootsie” which also appears on this list.
Re: “Shawshank Redemption” Yeah I liked it but again I have to wonder what all the hoopla over it reflects. Thankfully I saw it early so I couldn’t be disappointed by it.
Re: other movie topics such as underrated films. I have been inspired by several of you on this board to start that thread, along with a few others. Stay tuned.
No. Rethink it.
Mrs Doubtfire - divorced dad dresses in drag and takes a job as nanny to his own kids to get to spend time with them. Random comedy ensues.
Tootsie - asshole actor dresses in drag to get a part on a soap opera. Various stuff happens to show how living and working as a female is different from as a male.
Very different.
I actually think that *Amadeus *has a pretty strong premise. It’s based on the verse drama “Mozart and Salieri” by Pushkin, which in turn is based on the Cain and Abel story. It’s at heart a theological drama, about the seeming arbitrariness of God’s favor, and the sin of envy (the name “Amadeus”, fittingly, means “God’s love” or “loved by God”).
The problem with the movie is just how far it goes in libeling its main characters. People often don’t realize how much of the story is completely made up, and walk away from it thinking that Mozart was an infantile moron and that Salieri (spoiler warning!) was a lunatic who murdered him, neither of which is supported by historical evidence.
We watched it one New Year’s Eve - we had long conversations during the movie, and didn’t miss anything. What a snoozefest!
I love this movie. Different strokes for different folks. 
We watched this recently - another snoozefest. I guess I could see what he was trying to do, but the entertainment value was almost non-existent.
Nope.
MAD magazine ruined me for this movie - I can’t see the title without thinking, “A Crock Of Sh*t Now.” 
Popular movies that do absolutely nothing for me are the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. I know they’re not supposed to be high-brow or anything, but they just don’t entertain me at all. And I usually love Johnny Depp!
The Matrix. I so looked forward to seeing it, and I fell asleep almost immediately.
Given that the whole point of the movie was that no-one but Lecter took Starling seriously professionally, the ending was thematically sound.
Name your friends, sir. It was a quiet, well-made movie, with lots of internal struggle mirroring external struggles.
While I can sympathize with some of your points it appears as if you simply don’t “get” what was going on in some of these movies like “Silence of the Lambs”. Calling Hopkins a “weak villain” indicates you really did not understand the movie at all, which is fine as far as it goes, but it does throw into question your overall critical acumen.
Another vote for Shawshank Redemption. It’s good, say a B+ grade, but not enduringly great. It felt like it was directed in a paint-by-numbers way from the Ron Howard guidebook. Competent, but never straying from convention. And while I enjoy Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, they didn’t show much range beyond just playing their own generic dramatic personas lifted from other films. The tension and fear of the prison environment, as excellently portrayed in the book, seemed missing in the movie.
Next vote, the recent Batman reboot movies. There were a few memorable set pieces, but Christian Bale and whoever the various ladies in the lead roles were were bland and forgettable. The action scenes were terribly edited. These will be remembered only for the supporting performances of Gary Oldman and Heath Ledger.
I watched Blazing Saddles for the first time last month, and God help me, I wanted to like it so bad, but I just couldn’t. It wasn’t funny. There were, maybe, three or four jokes that I really laughed at, and the rest just felt like a two hour broken record of, “it’s funny 'cause we said the n-word.” I thought maybe the comedy was just too dated for me to enjoy, but then I went back and watched an earlier Mel Brooks movie, The Producers, and I laughed my ass off. Go figure.
I’ve gone on record before as thinking that Pulp Fiction is overrated. The non-linear storytelling is confusing, the dialogue is painfully banal and desperately needed a good editor, and the violence (which was considered “edgy” at the time) feels like it’s tacked on just to get you to put up with the aforementioned confusing and banal story. And the whole “anal rape” scene at the end is so absurd, it’s actually funny.
I’d never heard that it was based on a work by Pushkin (which, I must admit, I’ve never heard of). Peter Shaffer never mentions it - he claims it’s an original work. Like many of Shaffer’s dramas, it’s not really based on the historical event it’s nominally about, but is about God and Man. I certainly wouldn’t say it’s Cain and Abel – Salieri is consciously waging war on God by destroying his Beloved, Mozart – he’s not simply trying to kill him, and he isn’t just peeved that God prefers the other. The plsay does a much better job of getting you inside Salieri’s madness. It seems quite reasonable on stage. In the film, he seems just to be crazy.
You skewered all of my cows with your first post, so I don’t want to play…
…But I will…
Brokeback Mountain: Take out the awkward gay sex scene and you have a travelogue about Montana.
and before I got flamed for the “awkward gay sex scene” comment, for those of you who have seen it, really? When did you ever (gay or straight) have an encounter like that? Not even in a Penthouse letter…
Yes.
If you compare the #1 and #2 contenders, Crash vs Brokeback Mountain, IMO BBM was a Boy-meets-boy, Boy-loses-boy, In-Montana film, while Crash tapped into everyone’s fear and prejudice about different races and ethnicities.
American Beauty. For its sheer creepiness (think of A Clockwork Orange), yes. For a gripping plot, I think the Green Mile should have won.
While agree that Forrest Gump is terribly overrated you are wrong about the should-be winner form that year. It shoulda been L.A. Confidential.
I also agree with Blade Runner being overrated, although I do like the movie. But Ridley Scott is not a hack. Alien and Black Hawk Down are fantastic movies.
Another vote for The Hangover. All my friends seem to love it, but I honestly don’t remember laughing more than one time. To me, it seemed like a rehashing of all the sophomoric humor done over and over in similar, earlier movies. Maybe that was the point; maybe I missed the point.
Oh yeah, allow me to second Sideways as over-rated. Why do women like this movie? The one guy is a shameless cheater: he’s getting married in a week or so, and he’s out at bars banging random waitresses. I mean, jeez, I felt like I should take some video with my phone and e-mail it to his fiancee back home, so she knows what she’s getting into.
LA Confidential was the 1997 Oscars. It lost to Titanic.
Natural Born Killers was stylish but terrible.
Platoon was just terrible.
I haven’t enjoyed a Tim Burton movie since Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and I credit that to Paul Rubens vision ot to Mr. Burton.
Raimi’s Spiderman movies were pretty awful.
Iron Man & Iron Man 2 were terribad.
I liked the first 2 Harry Potter films, hated the 3rd and felt the 4th & 5th were sobad that there was no point in watching the last of them.
I love Ridley Scott, but Gladiator and Prometheus sucked ass.
Now, who was starting that “under-rated movies” thread and where is it?
Who the hell wants realism in a movie?