What's new

Overrated Movies

Edward M

Strata Poster
What are some movies you don't really see why they are loved so much or just plain don't like?

I hate The Avengers with a passion! So I do find it very overrated. The most overrated film ever though is Shawshank mainly becuase of its status on IMDB's list. I just really don't think Shawshank is THAT good. I personally prefer Green Mile between the two. Shawshank is not deserving of IMDB's #1 spot at all. I just don't think it is as good as any of the films in my personal top 10. Maybe I don't think something, but until I find it, I am going to think that Shawshank is very overrated.
 

Youngster Joey

Strata Poster
GTFO. Shawshank is brilliant. Especially when you dissect it.

Monty Python and the holy grail. Some good laughs but so hit and miss for me
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
Shawshank is deep and intelligent with good acting, but not the best film of all time. Still like it though and probably one of my 100 favorite films just over Pulp Fiction, really?

Another one, I'm gonna get gallons of **** for this one but Godfather. Like it, don't love it. I personally prefer Apocalypse Now.
 

tomahawk

Strata Poster
Any Tarantino film, such ****. Also Daniel Craig as Bond. Wall-e for animated.

Sure I will think of more.
 

furie

SBOPD
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
I think on things like IMDB, there's a definite degree of "accessibility". Shawshank always does well because it a very watch-able film, everything about it is "good". It never has pretences to "art", it never steps into the bounds of fantasy (which The Green Mile does). It's just an incredibly solidly made film, telling an incredibly solid story, with incredibly solid acting and compellingly solid characters.

It's a film that everyone can enjoy easily. Is it the best film ever? No. It's the one film that almost everyone who has seen it will agree is a good film though. I guess it's the best quality vanilla ever ;)

I always watch it when it's on (even though I own the film). Jurassic Park is the same (though I think Jurassic Park is massively flawed - it's just so entertaining still) and I think that's important; a good film is one you can watch over and over.

A great one though can change the way you view the world, or films , forever.

Tom mentions Wall-E above. I love Wall-E until he leaves Earth, then I don't give a stuff. Until that point, it's a gloriously romantic film. The character of the film is sublime, it's just a wonderful, emotive piece of film-making. It's that "art" thing though - watching a film just for the emotions it conjures in your mind rather than the story it's telling. If you watch Eraserhead or The Seventh Seal (more so the former than the latter mind), it's about trying to see the world through the eyes of the artist and it's open to interpretation and what you get from the film is entirely subjective.

I like those kinds of films too, but they're much harder to get a fix on. I think Seventh Seal is a better film than Shawshank for instance, but I would want to watch it all the time, and I certainly wouldn't expect others to love it.

I agree with Tom about Tarantino films to a degree. I think they're overrated, but I still think they're good. There's a particular way you need to watch the films to have them work. They don't often tell a "complete story", but are rather a collection of scenes that vaguely fit together. They can be hard films to enjoy because they just don't work along normal film templates. They don't fit. I think that quite often, people mistake for being really clever when it's just a different approach. Inception does something similar, it fools the viewer into thinking the film is much cleverer than it actually is. When you break through that though, Tarantino films are still excellent (where Inception is a bit meh). His character interactions/dialogue are witty, cutting, sharp and brilliant. His "big scenes" are always made to perfection; the use of music, shock, character or ambience is always spot on. Often they kind of stick out a little from the rest of the film, but they're meant to. Tarantino gives us memorable moments, holiday snapshots that convey the best of the cinematic vacation we've just been on.

I've already mentioned one film I find overrated, Inception. I was wowed at the cinema, then it slowly sunk in I'd been conned. A second watch was proof. It uses clever techniques and misdirection to fool you into thinking it's much deeper and cleverer than it really is. In reality, it's very simple with a "twist" to make you go "oooo" and think you're clever for spotting the twist. It's a well made film, but it's not actually anywhere near as deep as people seem to think.

I'm the same with The Dark Knight. I just don't think it's a brilliant film. I think there's a lot of really great stuff in there, but there are some real extraneous scenes which add nothing but an extra ten or twenty minutes to the film, which is an issue as the film is about twenty minutes too long. The Harvey Dent/Two Face stuff went on for too long and it really needed to be dropped into another film, but I understand in terms of "The Trilogy" why it was important. It just dragged the film on from being sharp and exciting to "bum numbing".
 

Jer

Strata Poster
Avatar, it was pretty, but it was also long and boring, I dont understand all the love for this garbage.
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
Another overrated one is Lion King. It isn't as good as Beauty and the Beast but still good. Just not the epic masterpiece people call it.
 

nealbie

CF Legend
Edward M said:
Another overrated one is Lion King. It isn't as good as Beauty and the Beast but still good. Just not the epic masterpiece people call it.

Care to elaborate on your point?

You cite there being only ONE Disney film being better than The Lion King, yet are calling it overrated. Is Beauty and the Beast the only decent Disney film then? Because what you've just said is effectively the same as saying Django is overrated because it's not QUITE as good as Inglorious Basterds.

For me, Aliens is the most overrated film. It's basically to Alien what Jaws 2 is to Jaws. Takes an amazing thriller/suspense concept and turns it into a full on, in your face, action film. Which, whilst entertaining, simply puts it in the "socially acceptable sequel" category and not the "OMG AMAZING AWESOMESAUCE" one.
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
nealbie said:
Care to elaborate on your point?

Sure. I think the film is still good may I first note. A few good things, The animation is some of Disney's best. Be Prepared and Circle of Life are good enough (the rest are annoying as ****, especially Hakuna Matata). Probably my biggest problem is the message. At first, it is good. What Rafiki says is very clever, You can either run from the past or learn from it. A good enough message yet when he goes back to comfront Scar, his family isn't behind him when he says he killed Mufasa. So the message is, never take responsibility for what you've done unless you didn't do it in the first place. If he had accidentally kill Mufasa, he would have died. What sort of message is that? Others things, Matthew Broderick is terrible. Scar turns into a complaining, lazy idiot in the second half. Most of all, I hate Timon and Pumba. I just do. They irritate me. Better Disney films are: Beauty and the Beast (as said), Bambi, Fantasia, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Alice in Wonderland.

I still like this movie just not the best Disney movie.
 

kimahri

CF Legend
I'll be honest, I've been jumping back and forth into this thread trying to think of a movie I think is actually overrated. There have been times where my initial opinions on a certain movie left me feeling disapointed, Totoro and American Pyscho for example, but they grew on me and I started to appreciate them more.

Do Michael Bay movies count? They're **** and you know they are but sequal after sequal!!!
 

Smithy

Strata Poster
Titanic. But that's by the by.

Main one in which I know I'll be in the minority of is Godfather. Any of the three. Just can't get into them, can't appreciate them, find them utterly boring most of the way through. Especially given out of the three sort of 'classic' films we used to go on about in sixth form (Goodfellas, Scarface, Godfather) it was the weakest of the three by a country mile for me.
 

marc

CF Legend
All the Back to the Futures are over rated, they were not even great in their time.

The Avengers, don't even get me started. Was ok until the battle where it became transformers 3.

Iron Man 1 and 2, just boring and silly. I actually liked the main person but just did not like the story and the fact that any one could just jump in the suit.

Up, hated it. The talking dog and the boy just done my head in. It's a shame as it started off well but went down hill very fast.

Brave. Worst Pixar film ever. Poor story and was just weak.

Harry potter 2 and 3 bored the hell out if me. Bad effects did not help. The snake in 2 looked so bad and the flying car in 3 looked like something from the 80's. I also don't like stories where they go back time and redo things. Yes I don't like Ground Hog day either.

Transformers 3 (avengers) was just poor from start to finish. Was not excepting much but got less than I was expecting.

Cars 1 and 2. Just found 1 to slow and 2 just lost the plot. It was like a film within a film, cars meets bond.

The Hobbit. I thought the effects just made it look to unreal. The Lord of the Rings I love and felt part of it but with this I could not connect. I think it went on to long and I started playing Candy Crush.

Seems like I don't like some of the biggest films of all time lol. Oh well they are my views.
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
^ Oh Yeah! I hate The Hobbit so much. One of the most aggravating films to sit through. There are three 3 and a half hour that have about 2 hours worth of material
 
Top