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'The 10 Most Overrated Films of All Time'

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CassSept

Member
Slumdog is overrated? I mean, it's not an amazing film, it's ok, but I don't think I've seen people rave about Slumdog that many times. Not worthy of the Best Picture? Yes. Overrated? Nah.
 

Dabanton

Member
I despise the word 'overrated' which is usually now cultural shorthand for 'something I don't like so neither should you' I find something is only as 'overrated' as the person doing the rating. In something like Skyfalls case most of the points in the article in the OP were said by most level headed members when the film actually came out. But that's when hype is at it's highest of course people were going to say it was the best thing since sliced bread.

To me the film is enjoyable but a mess and to think some people on here were saying Skyfall was better than Casino Royale.
 
Not a bad list at all. Inception should be first, but Skyfall is an excellent contender. Goddamn those movies are overhyped here.

They are? Pretty much any thread that has even the slightest mention of inception has people rushing to come in and remind everyone how shit it is. It got a pretty positive response initially but since then it has been nothing but hate. Skyfall has been heading in a similar direction, positive initial reaction but has been receiving an increasing amount of backlash.
 

daviyoung

Banned
Slumdog is overrated? I mean, it's not an amazing film, it's ok, but I don't think I've seen people rave about Slumdog that many times. Not worthy of the Best Picture? Yes. Overrated? Nah.

Not worthy of Best Picture (and all the other awards) = overrated
 

genjiZERO

Member
Clockwork Orange is definitively his worst film. All the problems I have with 2001 are mirrored in ACO but with the added detriment of the awful script and some really badly framed scenes.

I would agree that 2001 is a 'truly artistic' sci-fi film but I would not want other filmmakers to try and make another one. The wonder of science and space is limited by Kubrick's vision. When I think of art and science and fiction being mixed together perfectly, I think of Cosmos (the original). Kubrick's version of space and the future is one of stark boredom and advancements catalyzed by strange and god-like forces, whereas Sagan's version of space and the future are optimistic and very much anthropomorphic.

Maybe it's a tonal difference that I can't agree with.

Those are fair points.

However, just a couple of things. I don't think 2001 (the film) can be fully understood without also reading 2001 (the book). The two were written together to be this grand experience with each format playing up on it's strengths to present an idea.

Also, as far the the bleakness - I'd interpret that not as a bleakness of science or the future, but literally how being in space like that would feel. 2001 isn't really hard science fiction. It's about the mind and its expansion*. So in a way then it's like being in a sensory depravation chamber except, here, that depravation chamber is the depths of space. As a result, I think it shouldn't be judged as being about what the future may bring (as Cosmos is) - it's not futurist - but rather, as a psychological piece on growing as a mental being.

*there are a bunch of other themes too including: drugs, 1960s America, the Cold War, etc.

I don't know about that. Lolita is pretty garbage.

Yeah, that might be true. But Lolita is sorta in between periods so I give it a bit of a pass.
 
To me the film is enjoyable but a mess and to think some people on here were saying Skyfall was better than Casino Royale.

Skyfall was a lot of fun. It is continuing the trend after every new Bond the films get campy. To me there is a division of Bond films that can't be compared to each other between campy and serious ones. All of the films eventually go to the campy side with time.
 
You're not addressing the point though. People not enjoying Kubrick's filmmaking style in 2001 does not automatically mean that they enjoy Michael Bay. Can you expand a bit on why you think that?
I just quoted you saying The Rock is better than 2001. I think I addressed the point pretty well. Unless it was too subtle? ;)
 

3rdman

Member
You can't say "overrated" and not include "Gone with the Wind"...The movie is boring, long, and unevenly directed. It sucks even before you begin to forgive it's happy slaves "digging for the South"!
 
Just switch Double Life of Veronique with Mulholland Drive and I'd agree with that point.

I don't see Network as overrated. It's got some good parts but also plenty of problems / things that didn't age well, which is how I've seen pretty much everyone describe it.

Also, number one movie on any "overrated movie"-list I'd make would be Pulp Fiction. I won't make any lists though cause labeling movies as overrated is pointless.
 

3rdman

Member
Just switch Double Life of Veronique with Mulholland Drive and I'd agree with that point.

I don't see Network as overrated. It's got some good parts but also plenty of problems / things that didn't age well, which is how I've seen pretty much everyone describe it.

Also, number one movie on any "overrated movie"-list I'd make would be Pulp Fiction. I won't make any lists though cause labeling movies as overrated is pointless.

It's been a while since I've seen Network but the parts I do remember seem even more prescient today than ever. When it still aired, Glenn Beck's TV show was scarily reminiscent of it.
 
I might have taken it a bit seriously if it wasn't a shit list, it wasn't grasping at straws trying not to offend certain groups, and it wasn't so ridiculous as to say "all time" only to have half the list be from the last 10 years.

The Departed and Inception are shit, and Slumdog and Million Dollar Baby meh, though.
 

The Hermit

Member
Agreed with Inception. And all of the Nolan Batman films.

I actually expected to see at least one of them, especially TDK. I loved it at the time and watched more than once at the theater, but every time I watch again my eyes rolls a bit
harder.

Also agree with Million Dollar Baby ( I´ve watched the Sea Inside /Mar Adentro a couple of weeks before and it destroyed MDB) and the Departed ( the final scene was a rat?? come on!)
 
The list will be updated when he sees Fight Club.

Fight Club has more of a cult fanboy following who think it's the greatest slice of cynicism ever put to celluloid. Personally, I can't stand it.

It's actually David Fincher's shittiest film, by FAR (along with Benjamin Button, which was just forgettable).
 

DECK'ARD

The Amiga Brotherhood
The disdain for Skyfall in this thread makes me sad.

Same, I think the backlash is overblown. Skyfall was great.

It added back a lot of what was missing in the reboot of Bond, it felt more like a Bond film and the more personal take it took on things set the films up perfectly for what comes next.

I think it set things in place much better than Casino Royale which for me fell apart after the poker game and descended into some cringeworthy stuff.

Maybe Skyfall will be better appreciated again depending on what comes next. They are still searching for the template of modern Bond really, but I think they are almost there now.
 
Yea Skyfall was a good action movie, but not a good Bond movie. Still enjoyable though. Inception was good. Don't think the movie itself is overrated more like anything Nolan does gets extra press.
 
At this point, everyone should realize that "overrated" actually means "people like it but I don't".

While I get your point and agree that's often the case, well thought out reasons that show understanding in the medium are always welcome (not saying that's the case here, though). Not every movie can be good, and the whole "people have different opinions" mantra seems to go against that.
 

thekenta

Member
Oh, the internet...

People on the internet saying that timeless classics like Amarcord, Ikiru, Videodrome or the Double Life of Veronique are overrated, became overrated by itself.
 

Jarmel

Banned
Oh, the internet...

People on the internet saying that timeless classics like Amarcord, Ikiru, Videodrome or the Double Life of Veronique are overrated, became overrated by itself.

Nobody even knows Ikiru or Videodrome other than film geeks.
 

zoukka

Member
They are? Pretty much any thread that has even the slightest mention of inception has people rushing to come in and remind everyone how shit it is. It got a pretty positive response initially but since then it has been nothing but hate. Skyfall has been heading in a similar direction, positive initial reaction but has been receiving an increasing amount of backlash.

The people who hype these movies have already moved on and found new shitty movies to hype like Gravity and Frozen.
 
Same, I think the backlash is overblown. Skyfall was great.

It added back a lot of what was missing in the reboot of Bond, it felt more like a Bond film and the more personal take it took on things set the films up perfectly for what comes next.

I think it set things in place much better than Casino Royale which for me fell apart after the poker game and descended into some cringeworthy stuff.

Maybe Skyfall will be better appreciated again depending on what comes next. They are still searching for the template of modern Bond really, but I think they are almost there now.

I agree.

I love Casino Royale a great deal, but going back to it can get tedious because it's pretty relentless in the way it goes from one big action set piece to the next, every one of which feels like they could be THE climactic finish to just about any action film. Casino Royale is at it's best when it slows things down to give the characters some room to breathe, and most of this happens at the casino.

For me, though, Skyfall's direction and cinematography (Roger Deakins for the win, mawfukkas) alone put it on another level of filmmaking. Sam Mendes strips Bond down to the core, leaving him with his most basic and primal elements and forcing him to "evolve with the times or die". The villain is brilliantly realized and has a very personal motive which makes him the perfect foil for Bond; he's everything sinister and ugly that guys like Bond could have ended up being, a reverse image of Bond. Not every Bond villain needs grand schemes for conspiracy or world domination.

It's an elegantly simple and effective Bond film, and it's brimming with characterization and subtext. Also, Roger Deakins just plain kills it as DP...what a goddamn gorgeous film to look at:

deakins3_620_110812.jpg


rsz_roger_deakins_2__130208215842.jpg


2012-oscars-snubssurprises-skyfall-full.jpg


skyfall-2v.jpg


Overrated, they say? I laugh.
 

zma1013

Member
I'll agree with Skyfall and Inception although I don't think they deserve to be in "The MOST overrated films of all time" list. There are many other that fit in there above them, I just simply think they are a little bit overrated. I haven't seen or don't remember if I've seen all of the other films.

Skyfall, while being an incredibly beautiful movie with an awesome theme song, has far too many faults in its story logic. I all too often heard it was the best Bond ever, even though the superior film, Casino Royale, exists. I think many people just got all mushy inside by all the Bond fan service they injected into the movie.

Inception is a good movie, but I feel it didn't do enough with it's interesting premise and had solid, but forgettable action scenes.
 

marrec

Banned
I just quoted you saying The Rock is better than 2001. I think I addressed the point pretty well. Unless it was too subtle? ;)

I was obviously being a bit tongue in cheek there. I mean, Nic Cage really phoned it in for The Rock which was very disappointing for me seeing as he's my favorite actor.
 
I agree.

I love Casino Royale a great deal, but going back to it can get tedious because it's pretty relentless in the way it goes from one big action set piece to the next, every one of which feels like they could be THE climactic finish to just about any action film. Casino Royale is at it's best when it slows things down to give the characters some room to breathe, and most of this happens at the casino.

For me, though, Skyfall's direction and cinematography (Roger Deakins for the win, mawfukkas) alone put it on another level of filmmaking. Sam Mendes strips Bond down to the core, leaving him with his most basic and primal elements and forcing him to "evolve with the times or die". The villain is brilliantly realized and has a very personal motive which makes him the perfect foil for Bond; he's everything sinister and ugly that guys like Bond could have ended up being, a reverse image of Bond. Not every Bond villain needs grand schemes for conspiracy or world domination.

It's an elegantly simple and effective Bond film, and it's brimming with characterization and subtext. Also, Roger Deakins just plain kills it as DP...what a goddamn gorgeous film to look at:

deakins3_620_110812.jpg


rsz_roger_deakins_2__130208215842.jpg


2012-oscars-snubssurprises-skyfall-full.jpg


skyfall-2v.jpg


Overrated, they say? I laugh.

Could you explain what makes these shots good? Honest question.
 
Network? Really? It's a satire, of course it's drawn in broad strokes. I thought that was the point. The increasing bombastic, larger than life nature of TV news. The breaking down of audiences to demographics and archetypes. The increasing sociopathy of the business leads on top. It was brilliant for it's time, and has aged quite well. I don't see how it's overrated.

Shaking my head over here.
 

Switch Back 9

a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
Can we put Hot Fuzz in this list?
Why people jizz their fucking pants over this film (and world's end, aka the same fucking movie mixed with SOTD) blows my mind.

I can't STAND the fanbase this movie has, it drives me absolutely bonkers.
 
Could you explain what makes these shots good? Honest question.

Composition, lighting. The kind of painstaking work it takes to obtain shots like these. To either frame a shot where a character is illuminated or darkened by natural lighting, to that effect, is pretty damned impressive.

To me, this stuff is fascinating, and it makes a film more pleasing to the eye and more enjoyable to watch (and elevates the material and the characters).

Also, if the plot of Skyfall is dumb to someone, then that person must think the same of a movie like The Dark Knight, or The Avengers. It's insane how relative that sort of notion is.
 
No, he's quite correct. The Rock shits all over 2001.
If you measure quality in cheap thrills, sure.

EDIT:

I might have taken it a bit seriously if it wasn't a shit list, it wasn't grasping at straws trying not to offend certain groups, and it wasn't so ridiculous as to say "all time" only to have half the list be from the last 10 years.

The Departed and Inception are shit, and Slumdog and Million Dollar Baby meh, though.
I have never seen Slumdog, but I agree about Inception. The Departed had enough irony in it for me to like it, but it's far from my favorite Scorsese film.
 
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