I will interpret the term "overrated" literally, which in my definition means films that were well loved, won awards or were critically acclaimed. (This eliminates insipid movies such as Star Wars Attack or the Clones, Dune, Ishtar, etc.)
Brazil - sucked and I LOVE weird arty movies.
Out of Africa - should have been called "Out of Ambien."
Titanic - so bad I didn't see it.
Good Will Hunting - implausible, sophomoric, amateur, terrible.
The Sixth Sense - perhaps the most overrated movie of all time and one of the worst.
A Beautiful Mind - moronic fictionalized and Hollywoodized retelling of a decent story. Russell Crowe looks like John Nash like Manute Bol looks like Danny Devito. Jennifer Connelly looks like his wife like Oprah Winfrey looks like Halle Berry. What about the fact that he was also gay? Lilo and Stich is a more faithful adaptation of this interesting story.
Platoon - two words, not in order: Now Apocalypse
Do the Wrong Thing - there must be at least twenty African American directors better than Spike Lee, although I couldn't name one of them.
Pulp Fiction - Not bad, but overrated.
The English Patient - hate to sound sexist, but I do have a Y chromosome, which prevents me from "getting", "liking", "digging" this one.
Saving Private Ryan - for sanguinary scenes check The Wild Bunch. For a war movie based on historical fact you're better off watching Kingpin.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - I knew a few Ninjas. They didn't use wires. Jet Lee in Fist of Legend didn't need them either.
Signs - Another sign that M. Night whatever his name is.... is grossly overrated. I don't know what is worse, his believing his hype or the critics.
Spiderman - I didn't like comics as a kid nor did I like Tolkien. Both Spiderman and LOTR were faithful adaptations and excellent realizations of the source material. Having said that: LOTR made Spiderman look like the Teletubbies.
and the most overrated:
In The Bedroom -an amateurish stinker from a first time director that looked like an amateurish stinker from a first time director. Except it was nominated for all those Academy Awards. Marisa Tomei might do a good Brooklyn accent, but Fritz Hollings can do a better Maine accent than she did in this waste of film. And to think she was nominated for an Oscar!
I vehemently disagree with those who didn't like, or rather "get" the phenomenal Fight Club. It was not comedy (I read the book in hardcover before the movie rights were sold, saw the movie 10 times and have the Collector's DVD.) Nor is it homoerotic IMHO. It is instead a scathing Swiftian satire....a condemnation of our soulless fake society and its commercialism, as well as a brilliant depiction of white male rage. Fincher is brilliant and the movie is clearly misunderstood. Like a `97 Napa Cabernet, this movie will only get better with age.
Lord of the Rings - If you don't like it because you don't like fantasy and adventure, fine. But saying it was overrated or not a good movie is like saying blue is a bad depiction of color. There are few instances that a book has been better realized on film. It was robbed of the Oscar.
I am now eagerly awaiting a "Critically Overlooked/Underrated Movie" thread.
<img src = http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/kaga.gif>
thanks ADF for the SigPic!!
I'll take that Chesterfield now...
This message was edited by Chairman_Kaga on 12-10-02 @ 5:10 AM