It’s a pretty good movie but the fact that AFI ranked it #4 all time is incomprehensible to me. It’s a good commentary on how the athlete dreams his whole life of making it to the top but the destination is ultimately fleeting and unfulfilling and he’s lost after that, and yes, De Niro got impressively fat…but number 4 all time??
It’s a pretty good movie but the fact that AFI ranked it #4 all time is incomprehensible to me. It’s a good commentary on how the athlete dreams his whole life of making it to the top but the destination is ultimately fleeting and unfulfilling and he’s lost after that, and yes, De Niro got impressively fat…but number 4 all time??
I agree, landing at #4 all time would make Raging Bull overrated (AFI is a horrible list regardless). I DO think you might have largely missed what the movie is about. It might be the best movie ever about men's mental health. Boxing was less a dream for LaMotta, rather the only form of therapy he had access to, even if inadequate. His mental problems existed from the start. Retirement only ended a form of therapy he had. As most men from his era (and probably the same for a lot today) and as depicted in the movie, the male relationships he kept certainly wouldn't help him deal with his mental health problems (rather, quite the opposite). It's a movie about the alpha male's depression, anxiety, fear, and feelings of inadequacy, filmed with spectacular cinematography.
It’s a pretty good movie but the fact that AFI ranked it #4 all time is incomprehensible to me. It’s a good commentary on how the athlete dreams his whole life of making it to the top but the destination is ultimately fleeting and unfulfilling and he’s lost after that, and yes, De Niro got impressively fat…but number 4 all time??
I agree, landing at #4 all time would make Raging Bull overrated (AFI is a horrible list regardless). I DO think you might have largely missed what the movie is about. It might be the best movie ever about men's mental health. Boxing was less a dream for LaMotta, rather the only form of therapy he had access to, even if inadequate. His mental problems existed from the start. Retirement only ended a form of therapy he had. As most men from his era (and probably the same for a lot today) and as depicted in the movie, the male relationships he kept certainly wouldn't help him deal with his mental health problems (rather, quite the opposite). It's a movie about the alpha male's depression, anxiety, fear, and feelings of inadequacy, filmed with spectacular cinematography.
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Good interpretation.
I think there’s room for both interpretations, but yours is surely the bigger, more important one.
The Wild Bunch is one of the those works of art that's better in the collective imagination than when actually viewed. Peckinpah's best is Straw Dogs (1971).
The Wild Bunch is one of the those works of art that's better in the collective imagination than when actually viewed. Peckinpah's best is Straw Dogs (1971).
Well, at least you like his movies, but The Wild Bunch is one I can rewatch every few years.
EEAAO once was an obnoxiously stupid and grating film that tells a simple message in unnecessarily complicated way. Rambo: Last Blood is also obnoxious and stupid but KNOWS it. The violence is over the top and it doesn’t aspire to be anything more than it is. EEAAO wants to be so deep and meaningful. It isn’t. And don’t come at me about not getting it, as I’m mega pretentious and spend more money on Criterion films than anything else.
First of all, those of you saying Forrest Gump is overrated need to get your head examined.
Gonna break the rules a little bit and do more than one.
Overrated (in no particular order):
The Big Lebowski: Yawn fest Rocky Horror Picture Show: I know it didn't do well initially and became a cult classic, but it doesn't deserve to be a cult classic. Avatar: Too long. Too uninteresting. Star Trek, The Wrath of Khan: It's the only movie I ever walked out on. By far the worst Star Trek anything.
Underrated (in no particular order):
Punch Drunk Love: Adam Sandler is amazing in this non-typical Sandler movie. The whole movie and cast is great. Napoleon Dynamite: Yes, a lot of people love it, but it's not in their top 5 movies of all time, and that's where it deserves to be, so underrated. Crazy People: A good comedy starring Dudley Moore. Underrated because people give it bad ratings, but it deserves much better. Has some very funny moments. Shattered: A well done mystery.
I agree on Rocky Horror Picture Show. I think a critic called it more a cultural phenomenon than anything that represents a movie. I'm all for experimental films, but if you're going to do one, at least make one that makes me think.
Avatar I give a 2/5 - didn't even know people rated it highly anymore.
The Wrath of Khan I am conflicted on. I absolutely enjoyed it, great score, special effects, good movie if you are watching it in the mindset of watching a B movie. My problem is it made cinematic star trek closer to star wars than what cinematic start trek should/could have been. It replaced the wonder of space/unkown and scientific possibilities, with space battles. Star Trek the motion picture I thought stayed true to what star trek could have been.
Punch Drunk Love is another one I don't know how it can be considered underrated. 2/3 of users on letterboxd give it a 4/5 or above! I am a huge fan of PT Anderson, but along with Licorice Pizza, I found Punch-Drunk Love to be a big swing and miss, and would go on my most overrated list. Sandler himself I thought was overrated for just giving a performance that was atypical for him, but not any better than any capable actor could have pulled off. I found the narrative plot points to be as unearned as any other Sandler comedy. Might as well had a boxing match with bob barker thrown in.
Most of the people reading this and who you would ever ask have never heard of Punch Drunk Love. Sandler did such a great job in that movie that he should have been nominated for an Oscar. Super great. That movie deserves more than that, and that makes it underrated.
Deep Throat is overrated. It has a good premise and historical significance including mob financing, but isn't a great watch today.
Anal Mania is underrated. It gets lost in the many sequels and explosion of that genre in general, but it's still a classic. My friend used to play certain clips from the audio onto people's message recordings.
Jaws is a perfect movie, great dialogue, unique animal/horror movie at the time, insanely scary in a most visceral way, changed society. No movie has even built suspense and doom in such a visceral way. All with a rookie director and a fake shark.
Hardly a rookie director. Watch Duel (1971), "Just when you thought it was safe to drive down the road." It earned a Golden Globe nomination for best TV movie. The ending is pure Spielberg. Producers wanted a HUGE explosion. Spielberg got it right.
I guess Jaws was not his first he actually had a movie at Canne as well 1 yr before jaws., but he was 28 on Jaws! Never given that much leeway for a film. On location ( first time ever shooting on open ocean for a movie), crazy shark, big actors, and a disastrous shooting, over budget....
"Citizen Kane" may not have been the greatest movie ever made, but it was a great movie. I love black and white movies. (Kubrick's "Lolita," "Street Car Named Desire," "Days of Wine and Roses," Ozo's "Tokyo Story," Kurosawa's "Lower Depths," "The Maltese Falcon.")
Brad Pitt was hilarious in the Coen Brothers movie, "Burn After Reading."
Jack Nicholson was hilarious in "The Fortune." It was made before he was 'full of himself.' So was "Five Easy Pieces," "The Last Detail," and "The Passenger."
Another really funny little gem was "Summer of '42."
"Play it Again, Sam," Woody Allen's funniest.
Glad you brought it up.. Burn After Reading was utterly riveting and funny (malkovich was great) on its way to the best Cohen by far...then it sort of ended weird. It was right there for the podium then fell flat for me.
Boon Dock saints was the most underrated-- RT gave it 27% critics, 91% audience?
Last Jedi overrated at 91 critics, 42 audience.
And all early Sandler-- Grandmas Boy, Waterboy, Dirt Work, Joe Dirt.. them critics no likey the Sandman. Audiences say yes.
Generally I don't think this is a good measure. 1) I factor the audience into how a movie is rated. 2) You are comparing apples and oranges, and the audience score is wildly biased, as almost all critics will review a movie whether the want to watch it or not, while the audience is almost entirely people who wanted to watch the move. Boon Dock Saints is a good example, the audience will be mostly people that wanted to see that specific movie for one reason or another. The critics will be mostly people that have to watch that crap as part of their job.
Deep Throat is overrated. It has a good premise and historical significance including mob financing, but isn't a great watch today.
Anal Mania is underrated. It gets lost in the many sequels and explosion of that genre in general, but it's still a classic. My friend used to play certain clips from the audio onto people's message recordings.
This post reminded me of Sid in Hollywood and Wine: