Note: thanks to Scott for pointing out that Premiere has removed the article from the link below. You can still access the article via the Google Cache: The 20 Most Overrated Movies Of All Time.
Premiere Magazine has an article up on its site in which it attempts to list The 20 Most Overrated Movies Of All Time. Like any ‘20 Most Whatever’ list, this one will outrage some, amuse others, and be completely meaningless to those who live in countries where they don’t have cinemas, the internet, or either.
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The thing that surprised me about the list is that it has entries for movies that I’ve never seen [1] - and that’s left me thinking that maybe I’m an overrated moviegoer. After all, if a movie makes it to an overrated list, then at some point, according to at least a subsection of popular culture, the damn thing must have been considered worth watching.
Of the movies that I do know that Premiere has declared as being overrated, only one made me want to get busy with the voodoo cursing - Kevin Smith’s Clerks; but only because, fairly obviously, I enjoyed the hell out of it. As to things that aren’t on the list that I would have put there? Everything else by Stanley Kubrick [2], and anything by Quentin “This Scene Needs More Violence And Swearing And Possibly Can We Fit Uma Thurman In It Somewhere?” Tarantino. … All right, maybe with the exception of Reservoir Dogs [3].
Interestingly enough, I happen to know that our resident Head Practitioner Of Voodoo Evil - or Darren Saturday to the friends he hasn’t poisoned yet - is something of a cinema buff, and I suspect he has more than one opinion he’d like to share about overrated movies.
So, what say you Mister Saturday? What makes your list, and what do you disagree with on Premiere’s?
| 1. | Nashville and The Red Shoes, just to name a couple. |
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| 2. | 2001: A Space Odyssey has a well-deserved place, as far as I’m concerned. |
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| 3. | Sweet Mamma, that man makes self-indulgent movies. Seriously, if I have to watch someone fondle himself - even at a metaphorical distance, through the movies he makes - I’d like him to be better looking than Tarantino, thanks. |
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A jarring list indeed. One must ask the question, has Kevin Costner EVER done anything that was even rated, let alone overrated? To me he is the David Hasselhoff of movies, and that’s being harsh on the Knight Rider.
I’d like to remake Scanners just to cast Costner as the news hack whose head explodes, but do it in that multi-dimensional slow-mo Matrix kind of way, and with textual overlays like “BOOM” and “KAPOW” just like in the old Batman TV shows. Graphic, yes, gratuitous, of course.
Is there a difference between overrated and overhyped? Is one a more academic moviedom quality whereas the other is simply a marketing faux pas? I think all of the latest 3 Star Wars movies were overhyped yet I cannot go beyond Titanic is perhaps my favourite overrated movie of all time. Sure the visuals were great but the story was as insipid as a week old dry tea-bag.
As to your comments regarding Tarantino. His whole career was overhyped and overrated, Reservoir Dogs included, in much the same self-indulgent crapfest as Woody Allen too. Now there is someone so totally overrated it makes my eyes bleed just watching anything he’s done.
Laugh - hi Dave, and welcome as the first person to leave a comment on VLo!
I was actually wondering very much the same thing in terms of ‘overrated’ vs ‘overhyped’. I’m no expert on cinema, but I suspect movies that are overhyped - examples for me would “Jurassic Park” and “Independence Day” - rarely become thought of as ‘classics’, and probably aren’t in line for inclusion in an ‘overrated’ list.
I agree Star Wars Episodes I, II and III bit the big one, and that’s even without ever having seen Episode III.
Don’t know about Woody Allen, though - he had some hits and misses, sure, but I generally enjoyed his movies. I guess that’s the problem with lists like these - ultimately they’re about personal preferences.
Except when it comes to Quentin Tarantino.
All the best,
Murray @ Midnight
Movies fall into 2 distinct categories, those that are considered technical achievements that secure one award after another, make the Top 10 All-Time lists and are generally fawned over by people like Leonard Maltin, or those that are simply deemed cinematic wallpaper.
I would suggest the former are where you find the overrated, the later where the overhyped exist. Blockbusters are rarely considered technical achievements, they tend to return more cash in merchandising than in bums on seats.
Then again its not hard to see how some of these so-called “experts” can confuse cinematic mastery with the “straight to DVD/Video” set. Art is subjective as you have pointed out. You can please some of the people some of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time.
That being said, I would like to see you Voodoo Boyz point the Fickled Finger of Fate, or the Bumpy Bone of Bejeezus at some of these. It’s long overdue.
So, Dave, one thing I was wondering - what are some movies you like, and why?
All the best,
Murray @ Midnight
Movies I like? Good question, and sure to raise a laugh or two from Mr. Saturday as I bow to his superior knowledge of the inner workings of the motion picture industry. In such matters I am a mere Philistine.
I like The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, not because they areboth prison pieces, but the story and characterization is engaging, the acting is excellent and they are films that although I have seen dozens of times, I would happily sit through them another dozen times.
Mr. Holland’s Opus, The Usual Suspects and Black Robe are also three more films I love. I would also concur with Mr. Saturday that The Mission is hauntingly satisfying as a film.
I invariably disagree with the Oscar winners (it’s far too political to be taken seriously) and it’s almost always connected to commercial success and the smarts of marketing than true cinematic genius, yes alas even the technical awards. There are exceptions, I will not deny that, but winning an Oscar to me is never a sure fire reason togo and see a film.