Are there any films out there that you consider to be highly overrated? If I were to go with one (and please don't be mad at me) I would go with Boondock Saints.

I'd have to say Manchurian Candidate (the new one). It's just OK, but nowhere near as good as the original.

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written by jakal40
If I were to go with one (and please don't be mad at me) I would go with Boondock Saints.

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Uh...do you mean underrated? Since when was the Boondock Saints critically acclaimed? If it were overrated (meaning it recieved more positive reviews than it deserved) then wouldn't people go out and see it in the theaters? I don't think anyone saw this movie in a theater. As a matter of fact, I don't even recall ever seing it released in any theaters.

It was definately underrated when it was released. That's why no one saw it until it was released on DVD. After it's DVD release, the film has spread like Jenna Jameson's legs, and now everyone has realized it's actually a legitimate movie.

And don't worry, I'm not mad...I'M F*CKING PISSED!

Haha, just kidding.

But yeah...Boondock Saints is far from overrated.

K-Dog

This message has been edited. Last edited by: K-Dog,

Well, an obvious choice for overrated movies are the three films in the "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy. Clearly they are not as profoundly wonderful as some have claimed.

I also believe that "Apocalypse Now" is vastly overrated.

Have you been drinking or something? What makes LOTR so "clearly" overrated?

Candler...seriously, if you're honest with yourself, you know as well as everyone else, that the LOTR trilogy was one of the greatest accomplishments in cinema history. Was there a lot of hype? Yes. Was it well deserved? Yes. Did it live up to the hype and expectations? Most definately.

I always thought Gladiator was somewhat overrated.

I'm also curious as to how LotR is overrated. I'm predicting that the reasoning involves a comparison to the book. That's probably the only complaint I've heard regarding the movie and I think it's unfair to compare the two. I've read the books and I honestly think Jackson could not have done a better job in the time he used.

I totally disagree with the LOTR movies as being overrated! However, I completely agree that Apocalypse Now is! There are so many problems in that film. I'll add The Sixth Sense, and I know I'll hear about this one, Schindler's List. I thought it was very affecting the first time I watched it, but repeat viewings have left me feeling that is overrated. The usual complaints about Spielberg(who I tend to enjoy)are showcased in this movie a lot if you are willing to watch it objectively. Another more recent movie that I have mentioned my dislike for elsewhere that I feel is overrated is Capturing the Friedman's. I felt the movie skewed the facts, and the presentation was amateurish. A & E would have a made a better hour long show out of the subject matter, and refrained from sensationalism. All just my opinions of course!

Well, Smenky, I'm not going to blast anything YOU say. YOU have an unlimited "Get Out of Jail" card as far as I'm concerned.
Yours Truly,

Mr. Objective

I'd have to say "The Last Samurai" for one, "Gladiator" for 2, and 3 would have to be "Shakespeare in Love". "A Beautiful Mind" would be up there too. Basically, I have a problem with who oscar votes for. Thank god "Samurai" didn't get it!!! I have to say LOTR deserved it!

I'm reading the topic and thinking.."I'll be flayed for saying what I really think here -- Schindler's List is probably the MOST overrated movie in cinema history." And as I'm scrolling down and reading the comments, there's Smenkharon's little missive!! Oh joy! Thanks for breaking the ice!

Here's why I found it so offensive (and I'll mention right up front that I'm Jewish and I only saw it once, which was plenty for me):
1. Of all the stories about the Holocaust, Spielberg picks the ONE with a relatively happy ending -- the one where the good Nazi SAVES the Jews!
2. The Nazis were portrayed as businessmen....
the "labor camps" were just good business.
3. The sadism/insanity of the camps could be traced to the one clearly crazy and out-of-control Nazi (Ralph Fiennes).
4. It wasn't until A.I. that Spielberg finally became a mature filmmaker. (OK, the Normandy scene in Private Ryan was mature, but the "gee, was I worth it?" reflection framing the beginning and the end of the movie was pure Spielberg corn). The thing that he has ALWAYS excelled in (and he does get credit for this) is knowing how to manipulate an audience...and there is NO riper material for manipulation than the concentration camps! What is more emblematic of humanity's ultimate suffering and cruelty than that? It's a virtual freebie! Boxcars full of suffering Jews; a kid in a latrine; naked old people humiliated in the yard. And one little girl in a red coat -- PUH-LEESE!!!

Carol, you took the words right out of my mouth! I was saving all that in case I had to defend my choice from someone, but your comments have validated my opinions perfectly!

I'm not going on a tirade about this; I firmly believe that everyone has a right to their opinion. Carol, you and I tend to agree on many posts, I think, but I just want to know if you REALLY believe that "Schindler's List" is "probably the MOST overrated film in cinema history." The film is based on actual events. If you BELIEVE that Spielberg skewered the actual events to suit his "pure-corn vision", that's fine, but I'm not sure that there's any way you could prove it. There are tens of thousands of REAL people alive today because of that money-grubbing, woman-chasing, Nazi businessman, who one terrible day "saw" a little girl in a red coat and came to an understanding that life was more precious than wealth.

My love for "Schindler's List" derives mostly from the fact that Spielberg and scripter Steven Zaillian brought a totally-original approach to storytelling. The film begins and you have to sort out what and who you are watching, and you're often not really sure. But eventually the rhythms of the editing and music increase until all of a sudden, you completely KNOW who and what you are watching, and you're sucked in.

Obviously, the "business" that was being done at the slave labor camp where Schindler and Goethe were was to supply the German forces with either equipment or munitions. If you can tell me of a single, solitary Nazi soldier who is presented in a sympathetic light, I would be surprised. However, some of the monsters may be presented as human, since unfortunately, they were. On the other hand, Schindler is being indoctrinated, albeit subtly by his conscience, Stern. I'm going to halt this because I really only wanted to make a short comment.

However, if you think that Spielberg should have presented the world with a film which didn't have a light at the end of the tunnel, that's OK too. I'm not sure which story that is. As far as I'm concerned, the film stands on its unwaveringly-artistic blending of human drama, historical reflection, bravura camerawork, overwhelming acting, and consummate technical skill. That's just an opinion, and only a very superficial one, at that.

Overrated - King Arthur, The Village, Catwoman

These are OK films but defo not worth paying full price to see.

Possibly the most overrated film in my opinion is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. This film pissed me off so much in the theatre and did it again when I gave it a second chance at home. I have watched a LOT of old-school martial arts movie's, and CTHD was full of scenes that were blatant rip-offs from other movies. I enjoy a good homage a la Kill Bill, but outright scene theft like the whole desert chase over the comb crap, bothers me. The movie cheapened the whole mystique of the old films with it's ridiculously over the top flying scenes, attempting to look beautiful with little of the harshness or humour that is typically present in the films it steals from. I thought the film was very disjointed, and done with little respect for the sources it pilfered. It was blatantly trying to "cross over" and be some sort of kung fu date movie, which is just plain wrong!

There are some good qualities to the film, but it is seriously overrated in my opinion.

Well Smenky, what I can say in response to that is, of course, only my opinion, and second, only what I understand. I loved the movie. It was such a far cry from the usual martial art junk we had been seeing and, as far as I am concerned, was original. What I understand (and somebody correct me if I am wrong here) is that pretty much the entire story was based on ancient Chinese myth/legend. The Chinese believe that the great masters of old could actually fly as they did in the film. Maybe I'm way off base here, but that is why I found the movie so fascinating.

I've thought about responding to Mark F's Schindler's List post for several days, as I found his comments (as usual) to be serious and thoughtful. (And thanks to Smenky for the shout-out, as well). These are only my opinions, and I've tried to keep this post relatively brief.

What I originally said about the movie still goes, but I agree that the music, acting, cinematography, etc. were all first-rate; these two sentiments do not contradict each other, oddly enough. The thing that I found most offensive about this film is that it was overrated-- that is, given WAY too much weight and credit for what it was. To me, the context of this movie was the source of its "overratedness," and there were three kinds of contexts at work here.

1. My personal context: as an American baby-boomer who grew up as a reform Jew (not unlike Spielberg, I suspect), I have seen newsreels of the concentration camps since I was 10 years old; I have seen bars of soap made from the fat of the corpses and lampshades made from their skin. I personally think that a movie about this topic SHOULD be disturbing, as it was one of humanity's darkest moments.

2. Spielberg's career context: if you recall, when this movie came out, Spielberg was known for his engaging, exciting, and/or sentimental blockbusters. I checked the back seat of my car for sharks on the way home from Jaws, and we laughed and cried at ET. Spielberg was to movies what McDonald's is to food -- mega-popular, tasty, fun, and hugely financially successful. He'd been nominated for Academy Awards twice but didn't win. His attempts at a "serious" film (The Color Purple & Empire of the Sun) were pretty much flops. So, he used the "atomic bomb" of movie subjects -- the Holocaust -- to ensure his Oscar. As you may recall (or not), he said something like, "It's been a long, dry spell before this drink of water" when he accepted the award. Sounds a little like a feeling of entitlement to me. However, not be entirely cynical (which I can be at times), I think he did end up like Schindler -- he started out to make a movie that would make people take him seriously and get him the Best Director award and ended up being so moved by filming in Poland and meeting the survivors that he created and financed the project of videotaping the camp survivors for future historians.

3. Historical context: the Nazis kept meticulous records, and it is generally accepted that they killed about 6 million Jews and 5 to 6 million others (Catholics, homosexuals, Gypsies, etc) in the concentration camps. Oskar Schindler saved 1100 people. How about some proportion here?! So, it's a true story and does follow Spielberg's apparent philosophy of finding the good in people in any situation. As an auteur, he makes films in his view of the world. However, by the time Schindler's List came out, Stephen Spielberg was STEPHEN SPIELBERG and any historical film he made would be a "cinematic event". Some say that because he made this "watchable," more people will know about the Holocaust than if it had been too awful to stand (like the outstanding The Grey Zone by Tim Blake Nelson, which probably only 87 people saw). An excellent (and award-winning) film about a Nazi who gave reign to his human side was The Pianist. So, again, I think that by pulling his punches, making the Nazis "human" (except for Ralph Fiennes), and putting forth the one story where the Nazi saves the Jews, Spielberg made the concentration camps palatable -- which I believe makes this movie overrated.

(Sorry if this isn't that brief.)

I did see The Grey Zone Carol, and although I felt it was lacking some cinematic qualities (I thought the script could have been a little better) it was put together well by Tim Blake Nelson. It left me feeling empty inside, which I hate. And I suspect that was the desired effect. A tragic story that should be seen.

Carol, I enjoyed your last post. I'm glad we're friends. I hope it will stay that way when I say the following: even Ralph Fiennes is presented as a human. True, he may be the most-inhuman human, but his entire character is presented in the context of not only Schindler, but Embeth Davidtz's character, who has an incredible scene where she explains that she's at fear for her life every second because there's no right or wrong way to act. Maybe Goethe (Fiennes) will kill you, maybe he won't; there are no rules which you can follow to ensure survival. Goethe claims he wants to spend the rest of his life (after the war) with Davidtz, which of course is a horrifying idea for her. But soon enough, he turns the tables on her and calls her several unmentionable names and starts beating her.

Carol, have you seen "Night and Fog", a 30-minute film made 10 years after the "liberation" of Auschwitz? It shows in color what the camp looked like in 1955 and contrasts it with b&w photos and film of what it was like during the war. It is one of the calmest, yet soul-shattering, experiences that any real human can have. The best to you and yours.

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Originally posted by JackietheBlade:
I did see The Grey Zone Carol, and although I felt it was lacking some cinematic qualities (I thought the script could have been a little better) it was put together well by Tim Blake Nelson. It left me feeling empty inside, which I hate. And I suspect that was the desired effect. A tragic story that should be seen.

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Agreed, Jackie. The thing about this movie that REALLY creeped me out was how it made me think, "what would I do in this situation?" It gave out the bleakest, most oppressive vibes .....