"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.
I'm another fan of Burn After Reading, solid 4/5 movie. Perfect example of "coen-lite", has something to say about our society, but still prioritizing fun entertainment. It was also a dream cast for such a movie. I had less of a problem with the ending, as it felt about as "anti-climatic" as you'd expect in reality when a case is being wrapped up by a bureaucracy. Character arcs were also severely lacking - no character really changed or grew from beginning to end, which may have been a subconscious turnoff for lots of viewers. Normally I'd have a problem with such absences, and I think it may be why a lot of viewers didn't feel fulfilled by the movie, but I don't hold it against this movie. The most important "character" was the US government and its workings, and the lack of growth or progress for that character was part of the point of the movie. My only real problem was despite the Coens, and whoever did the score, setting wonderful vibes for the movie, it was the wrong vibes for this particular movie. The score was great on its own, felt lifted right out of a cold-war ultra serious thriller, but it often conflicted with what was being shown on screen. Alternatively, some of the delivery of lines or comedic slapstick could have been adjusted to fit the vibes of the cinematography or the score. Either case, they didn't mesh well and didn't do each other favors IMO. Coen movies usually have the perfect vibes for the stories they are telling - this was one they missed.
Overrated: Oppenheimer. Too long. Too much just talking. No action. No characters I could really care about. Distracting soundtrack.
Underrated: Tremors (1990) with Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward. It only made $16M at the box office.
The sequels have been awful, but the original had suspense, great characters and dialogue, comedy, action, and some great one-liners.
"Running's not a plan. Running is what you do when your plan fails!"
"Broke in the wrong ?!$%$ rec room, you ?!%$%"
"D#mn it, Valentine, you never plan ahead, you never take the long view, I mean here it is Monday and I’m already thinking of Wednesday… It is Monday right?”
Tremors put Reba Macentire on the map for other than country music. She was cute, not great looking but real. Seen her these days? Shudder.
Overrated: Oppenheimer. Too long. Too much just talking. No action. No characters I could really care about. Distracting soundtrack.
Underrated: Tremors (1990) with Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward. It only made $16M at the box office.
The sequels have been awful, but the original had suspense, great characters and dialogue, comedy, action, and some great one-liners.
"Running's not a plan. Running is what you do when your plan fails!"
"Broke in the wrong ?!$%$ rec room, you ?!%$%"
"D#mn it, Valentine, you never plan ahead, you never take the long view, I mean here it is Monday and I’m already thinking of Wednesday… It is Monday right?”
Tremors put Reba Macentire on the map for other than country music. She was cute, not great looking but real. Seen her these days? Shudder.
I was actually thinking of Tremors as a very underrated movie. I would also say Tremors 2 is underrated. It was actually pretty good for a sequel. Tremors 3 was very dumb though.
Jaws to me is the Bekele of movies. With Duel being the Geb of movies, who was the prequel to Bekele. Tremors is almost literally like a version of Jaws where you replace water with dirt.
I've seen so many movies. Many of them crap, many good, but I can't recall many of the names of them. Other underrated movies that I really like are Cliffhanger, Quiet Murders and many many more. Don't want to spend all day listing stuff.
I think almost all Vampire and Superhero movies suck, as well as most of the over the top massive budget sci fi action movies
Totally agree about Tremors being underrated! It's one of those hidden gems that really delivers on fun and suspense. As for overrated movies, I'd say Avatar gets way too much hype for me. While visually stunning, the storyline feels a bit lacking. Speaking of , have you seen any recent releases that surprised you?
Citizen Kane is considered one of the greatest movies but doesn't connect well with many people today.
3000 Miles to Graceland received terrible reviews but is quite hilarious.
A big problem with Citizen Kane is that one reason it is so well regarded was because of so many innovations in the way the movie was made/shot, but those became pretty common and standard. The story itself is still really good, but it was the technical aspects that made it so good.
I think of it like 2001: A Space Odyssey. When my college age kids watched that a few months ago the special effects (for the most part) were not that "special", but when that movie came it was a game changer. (And to me holds up really, really well.)