Overrated Movies

Not a big movie buff, but ..

* Every superhero movie other than the first couple that came out. I remember watching the modern rendition of Spiderman when I was in jr high and of course that was good. How Hollywood has been able to keep this modern superhero movie craze going on for over a decade boggles my mind. Seen one or two of them, seen them all.

* Every Will Ferrell movie.Elf is one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time? Are you kidding me???

* Every movie with the Hill/Cera/Rogen crew, except for The 40-yr-old Virgin and Old School. So the franchise started out with a creative flavor or comedy but they got lazy and stopped giving their films any redeeming value or new jokes.

I have an even bigger dislike of, and bafflement with the popularity of, every TV show that is popular. Just not my thing. And I'm sure that what I find to be quality entertainment seems lame to everyone else.

"The English Patient". Dear Lord...*please* tell me I'm not alone on that one.

Thinker of extreme deep things wrote:

Blade Runner. I've tried watching it three times and failed to finish it three times.

This is another good one. Consistently ranked among the best science fiction movies or all time. I was able to finish it the second time I started it, but only after reading "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and watching it with the goal of seeing how it differed from the book.

A lot of the suggestions on this thread are movies that are merely *popular* but not highly rated.

You're definitely not alone on "English Patient." I liked two scenes, the rest was a complete bore

Lost in... wrote:

Lost in Translation.

I like the actors. The cinematography is kind of cool. But I don't get it. Or rather I get the strangers in a strange land disaffected pseudo love/understanding story but it has no real impact for me.

Oh, good choice! I didn't get it either.

Second vote for Avatar. Titanic also makes the list.

I no longer trust critic or rotten tomato ratings. Critics want readers and it doesn't help to be overwhelmingly negative. Rotten tomatoes has lowered the bar for what it considers a "positive" review.

Cames Jameron wrote:

Second vote for Avatar. Titanic also makes the list.

I no longer trust critic or rotten tomato ratings. Critics want readers and it doesn't help to be overwhelmingly negative. Rotten tomatoes has lowered the bar for what it considers a "positive" review.

Yes. The "reviews" are, essentially, assessments by the reviewers of how much the general public will like the movie. It's kinda like speculating in the stock market: you buy stocks not because you think the company is valuable but because you think other people will think the company is valuable and thus push up of the price of the stock.

well.... wrote:

Thinker of extreme deep things wrote:

Blade Runner. I've tried watching it three times and failed to finish it three times.

This is another good one. Consistently ranked among the best science fiction movies or all time. I was able to finish it the second time I started it, but only after reading "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" and watching it with the goal of seeing how it differed from the book.

A lot of the suggestions on this thread are movies that are merely *popular* but not highly rated.

The question is do you like any Sci-Fi type movies (versus fantasy movies like star wars)? There is also a lot of personal biases in these things where an ok movie in a genre you like become great while a great movie in a genre you don't like. Personally I find most of the court room drama type shows to be a bore.

And of course there is aging. The wizard of oz was a marvel of special effects in 1939. Not so much today.

My personal blah movie is ET. Gets a lot of love but it is really a big of snoozefest and the plot doesn't make a ton of sense. I would say bad things about "A hards day night" but I only made it about 15 mins through it.

I'm seeing a lot of people just list movies they don't like. For instance, someone mentioned Adam Sandler movies. I don't think of those as overrated. They're usually rated (appropriately) as terrible. Gravity would be great example: lots of critical praise but we all know a lot of people who don't like it.

I didn't like The Interview, but I think it was more a victim of all the hype it got after the Sony hack if anything.

Everyone that says a movie is overrated is saying that because they personally don't like it, while most others did.

Some movies are better with more viewings.

I agree with that view on the Big Lebowski. I fell asleep the first time I saw it but I now I can pick it up at any point in the movie and enjoy.

Pulp Fiction also gets better with more viewings as you learn the characters.

But it's hard to watch a movie again if you didn't like it the first time.

My pick is Avatar.

That got a lot of hype when it came out and was up for Best Picture.

I didn't see it in a theater and couldn't get through it when I tried to watch it on TV.

I guess I have to really see it to judge it, though.

jamin wrote:

* Every movie with the Hill/Cera/Rogen crew, except for The 40-yr-old Virgin and Old School. So the franchise started out with a creative flavor or comedy but they got lazy and stopped giving their films any redeeming value or new jokes.

None of them were in Old School

racket wrote:

jamin wrote:

* Every movie with the Hill/Cera/Rogen crew, except for The 40-yr-old Virgin and Old School. So the franchise started out with a creative flavor or comedy but they got lazy and stopped giving their films any redeeming value or new jokes.

None of them were in Old School

I meant Superbad.

AZ wrote:

Gravity and Avatar top thend list for me.

+1

Avatar was awful, apart from the visual effects.

The only movie that I've seen with the Hill/Cera/Rogen crew and enjoyed was "This Is The End".

I can't believe this thread has 100 posts without even one mentioning ET. Drek. Just terrible. Speaking of Drek, I'd add Shrek to the list.

And to you Kubrick haters: You're like the philistines who, looking at a Picasso, mutter 'anyone could do that'. You really don't know what you're talking about. Along with Kurosawa and, maybe, Fellini he is among the very best, most influential film makers in the history of the art. Kubrick is Spielberg's idol. In spite of ET, that's pretty heady praise.

Million Dollar Baby. So many stupid things and inconsistencies, but the killer is the girl's family, who are caricatures that make the Beverly Hillbillies look realistic. Awful movie praised only because it was "controversial".

jamin wrote:

* Every superhero movie other than the first couple that came out. I remember watching the modern rendition of Spiderman when I was in jr high and of course that was good. How Hollywood has been able to keep this modern superhero movie craze going on for over a decade boggles my mind. Seen one or two of them, seen them all.

+1. I can't stand the genre today; it's boring, the plot lines are terrible and it's usually just an excuse to blast you with 90+ minutes of CGI.

Others:

Annie Hall

American Sniper

Love Story

Jaws

Raging Bull

Zero Dark Thirty

Too many to list. The problem I have is not so much with specific movies but with directors who are elevated to Godlike status even though their output is mediocre. The best example is Steven Spielberg. IMO Poltergeist was good, but pretty much all the rest is typically badly paced and boring. The ideas are great, I just don't like the execution. Also I am still waiting for a really good one from Ron Howard (and he's made some stinkers).

For box office to 'ratedness' ratio Titanic is my winner. Far too long and just could never get past the ridiculous love premise. Agree with 'Lost in Translation' - my award for Biggest Disappointment. All the elements were there for it to be a classic, but BM sleepwalked through it with a downer expression and none of his usual twinkle. Screenplay awful.